      VOLUMX   XXXIV                                        NOVEMBER 15, 1957 -  GRAND F~APIDS, MICHIGAN      .                      NUMEER  4

                                                                                   lamb with~ its throat cut: The blood has saturated its crinkly
                                                                                   woolen fleece. The wound is open, showing its crue1 slash-
                                                                                   ing. And there it stands. Are you going to sing? They do
                                                                                   in heaven. Why nat you? - 1 seem. to se.e a look of pity oq
            IN THE  MIDST. OF THE  THRONE                                          your face. Why, we would almost  weep when  viewing such
                                                                                   a picture._.Is  it possible to paint a picture that wil1 portray
              "And  I  beheld;,and,   10, in the midst of the throne and of the
               four  beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as       in more poignant lines very,  injured innocence?  Y,es, we can
               it. had been  slain   `. . .  ."  -  RW.  5:6a                      imagine that you would weep., but sing ? .ay,  it seems morel       -.
                                                                                   than strange: it seems an abnormality.
     If you+ stood by, the side of the pearly gates and would
 look towards the  centre  of heaven, you would see a strange                        Yes; the mind that is of the earth earthy wil1 weep about
 spectacle; strange to your earthy vision. Is it not strange                       that  slain Lambkin ; while the heavenly minded wil1  sing
 that millions of saints and the four beasts as wel1  as millions                   because of it as the day is long.  "Weep not for me,  ye
 of angels are singing in beauteous melody about a slain lamb-                      daughters of Jerusalem  !"
 kin ?                                                                                 And whynot?  Because that slain Lamb is God revealed
     On earth we read  that the foremost of God's  saints had                       in the flesh ; because it is Immanuel, Jesus Christ the Saviour.
 determined  to know nothing but -the Cross of Jesus. But it.                       He is not the object of pity  but the fitting object of admira-
 seems as if that Cross  wil1  be the sum total of adoration in                    tion, of wonder, of adoration. It is the streng Arm of the
 h e a v e n   also.                                                                Lord. -- .
     We read  that a throne was set in heaven, and One sat                             The  Apostle  John saw this little lamb in the heavens
  on the throne. And He  that sat was to look  upon  like a                         but  `he had also seen Him on earth, bleeding out of many
 jasper  and a sardine stone : and there  wasa rainbow round                        wounds. "AS it had been slain"-is  the heavenly echo qf earthly
 about the throne like  untol an emerald.                                           Calvary, the accursed tree, where Jesus bled and poured  out
    1 would say, that there we have a beautiful picture. It                         ,His soul unto death.
  would be worth our while to see it. But a bleeding lambkin,                          It is the heavenly culmination of the deep way of sorrows
 its woolly &ece painted red because of the cruelly slashed                         that John  views when  standing as it were by the  side of the
 throat.! How passing strange it seems to US that the throngs                       pearly gates. NO longer  is the fiery red on the woolen fleece
 would sing and sing again, repeating in every chorus: Oh                           a  token  of present suffering. From then on it  Gil1 be the
 Lambkin:  Thou art worthy to receive blessing, honor, glory,                       token  of honor, power, but also adoration. For in it we see
 p o w e r .   ~                                                                    somewhat of the unutterable love of God and His manifold
     1 glean  the strange vision from the Revelation of Jesua-                      wisdom.
 Christ which God gave unto Him, to show unto &is servants                             The Lambkin stood in th midst of the throne.
 things which musteshortly  come to pass ; and He sent and                             That tells me that He is  God.. For. the throne  John
  signified it by His angel unto His servant John. You may                          speaks of is the throne of `God And properly  no ene can be
  read of it in R'ev. 5 :6. That is, a portion  of the test. And 1                  in the midst of it than very  God Himself. That truth was
" beheld, and 10, in the midst of the throne . . . . . stood a Lamb,                evident even on earth. Standing on two feet with two arms,
 as it had been  slain . . . . It is not even a lamb, for the                       that is, while in the likeness of men; 1 hear Thomas pray :
  original calls it a lambkin  ; in the Greek it says : "een lam-                   My Lord `and my God! That Lamb is God revealed in the
 metje."                                                                            flesh. And that God-man had  come through the way of
     Let us- visualize it if we can. Suppose you saw a little                       terroi such as no man or angel shall `ever  taste. He stood

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

      as  slain.  All. the  fiery  darts of the  devil  and devils were      Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. Always,
      aimed at Him  and these darts had found their mark. Al.l the           yes, always even in the wakes  of that stil1 eternity before the
D     taunts and jibes of puffecl up humanity were  and had been             mountains were brought forth or ever the fountains- were
      His lot: and He bowed the head : received them all. Al1 the            heavy with water, did God delight in that slain Lambkin. For
      burden of the. wrath of God pressed  Him down to the very              He is also the very  Wisdom of God. When God counselled                   1
      bottom of hel1 and standing, nay, crawling there in the dust           (and when  was this ? j He counselled the best and` the most
      of death, H,e said : -1 love Thee so, My only Father  ! "As it         glorious Way to reveal Himself unto  sans  and  daughters..   _^
      had been  slain." But in the midst of the throne. !B.ecause  He        God knows that He is lovable and good. But He mished tot
      humbled Himself He was highly exalted. And according  to               reveal it unto sons.  Adam   did know that God was good,
      His Divinity He belonged in that throne. In the  very  midst           the  very songs of created things told him so. His own heart
      of it.                                                                 thrilled to the Divine touch of love and lovingkindness. But _
             Secondly, He is in the midst .of the throne. It tells  me       Adam did not stand by the side of the pearly gates to view
      that the whole program of untold and eternal sufferings  of            the Lambkin  as it had been slain. Oh, for God so loved the
      that woolly  Lmb were thrugh God, to be praised forever.             world . . . .
      NO,  my  jother, do not  con&zzte   to' stare at weak  -Pilate,            The Lamb  is in the midst of the throne with  al1 His
      pompous  Herod, raving Pharisee and wildly seething mobs               wounds and al1 His bloed. It is a revelation of love that wil1
      of Jews. For they  al1 are the agents, even  though  willing           be the  cause  of rapturous singing. The bleeding Lamb tells
      agents,  agents  stil1 of the Triune God  who counselled. "For         me how lovable  and. how good God is. .
     -of a truth against Thy holy Child Jesus, Whom  Thou bast
      anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate,. with the Gentiles               Imagine the throng of the sons and daughters of God as
      and the people of.  Is.raei, were- gathered together, for to do        they have become through sin and guilt. They are  al1 ugly,
      whatsoever Thy hand and Thy  counsl  determinecl  before to           ai1 filthy : abominable things are h their vessels. Speak to
      be done." The  Lambkin  stood in the midst of the throne. It           them of God, nay, 1 warn you, do it not: they  wil1 rend you.
      stood there also as. to its idea while the howling mob cried           They have become enemies of God. Is that God  revealed               _
      into the ears .of Pilate:  Crucify Him, crucify Him  ! For by          to them, 1 mean to the elect as they are bom in sin and-deceit,
      His hand and by His counsel  the things happened. It is  the           if they may see God in the works of Wis hands or in the
      threacling forth .of that counsel which-you  saw in anno 33 or         Holy Scriptures, then they will-go  to the trouble to send mes-
      34. And the Lamb was fully conscious of it. "Weep nat, that            sengers to Him ancl say : Depart from US, for in the knowl-
      is, weep not for Me, oh, ye daughters of Jerusalem! Because            edge of Thy ways we have no pleasure. If God persists and
      of Me in My suffering, the angels have sung in the. fields,            shows Himself in the garb of a weak and defenseless man,
      of Bethlehem. At last they have understood the wonder of               they wil1  turn out of their way and crucify Him. And in the
      th  mercy  seat. Peace on  earth toward men of eternal good-          midst of the roaring, cursing, blaspheming throng of the
      will ! Weep not ! And if you are to weep at all.: weep for             elect, God says in the Lord Jesus: Father,  forgive them for
      yourselves. For ye are sinners. 1 am in the midst of` the              they know not what they do !  Can you  grasp  such love? And
      throne, standing as 1 had been  slain. 1 am a Divine wonder            yet they do not listen. So, against their will, He  regenerates
      of love- and goodness. So lovable and so good that throngs             them, and .pours His love and lovingkindness in their hearts
      such as cannot be numbered shall sing and play. eternally : Oh         so that they by irresistible grace begin to weep because of
      Lamb, Thou art worthy to  receive power,  riches,  wisdom,             their filth and crookedness. Then they receive eyes to see the
      strength, honor, glory, blessing. (5 :12 j When  Jesus `cried          bleeding Lamb and they begin to see that He bled for their
      out: Why, o why forsakest Thou Me, My Father?  then the                `sin and guilt. And behind the Cross  ; beyond the hill of
      Father must have said: 1 slay Thee, My  Lamb, because I                Golgotha  they behold  the Love of God. And they begin  to
      wil1  glorify Myself .in the throng of redeemed children. I            sing, with tremulous lips  :. "Unchanging is the love of God!"
      forsake Thee, in order that I may draw nigh to Thine  own;             He loved US even while we were yet sinners. Cbrist died  in
      sheep. Indeed;  the Lamb is in the midst of the throne.                that sense for the ungdly. And He did so as the realization
             Thirdly, it is in the mi.dst of the throne.-  That is, it is    ,of the Divine Idea of the bleeding Lambkin. For He stood
      in the very heart and the mind of God. Now we know that                in the midst of the thrne as He had been slain.  .
      the throne was set in heaven and we also know that God saq                Finally,`He  is-in the midst of the throne. That is, eetemity
      on that throne. But God,  Triune God,  cannot be  comp&-:              shall never end. So that He shall continue to stand there.
      hended.  in the heaven of heavens. Properly speaking, God              Always, oh always, we-shall be able to sing and singing we
      cannot even dwell in the heavens that shall be bom  again.             shall ask : Why are Thy robes so spotted with the fercy  color o
     For He inhabiteth eternity,                                             of  bloed? And singing the Lamb  wil1 answer:  1~ am the
             Our  Father  had this  slain Lamb with  Him  even in            bleeding heart of love of the  Father.  Alone,  al1 alone 1 have
      etemity. It is the mind and the kil1 and the heart of the              trodden the winepress. Alone 1 went down, ever downward
      Father  to so reveal Himself as John saw it on Patmos. That            in the pit that burneth of fire and brimstone. For there you



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                                                   THE   STAiNDARD  :BEA-RER                                                                                                                                         75

were, My sons and  My daughters. And coming there in your
captivity 1 gathered you  in eternal arms. Underneath are the                                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
everlasting:arms.  Is it then a wonder that the arms of Jesus                                      Semi-mo&ly,   exeept   monthly   during   June,  .Jt4ly  and  .August
are  very safety? But doing it 1 gave  NIy blood. It is  the                                        Published-by tbe REFORMED  FREE  PUBLIS&NG  ASSOCIATIO~
                                                                                                   P; 0. Box 881, Madison  Square Station, Grand Rapids  7, Mich.
good pleasure of My  Father   to, shed My blood for  al1 of  YOU
and you and you. And His loving eyes  wil1  see you.  Al-                                                                Editor  - REV. HEPZWAN.  HO~SEMA
                                                                                                   Communications relative  to  contents   should  be addressed to
thoggh,there  are millions, He  wil1   know  every one of  US.                    -                             Rev. H. Hokksema,  1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
                                                                                                                                    Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
     And  when   al1 is said and done the elders  wil1   fa11 down                                 All matters relative  io subscriptions should be  addressed   to Mr.
 before the throne of God and while the four beasts say : Amen,                                    G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand  Rapids  7,  Mich.
 they shall worship  Bim  that sits  upon the  throne and  Hem                                     Aunounceients  and Obituaries  must be mailed to tbe above
 holds   in.His  bosom the bleeding  Lamb.                                                         address  and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.
                                                                                                   RENEWAL: Unless a definiite request for discontinuance is re-
     If you stood by the  side of the pearly  gafes  you would                                     ceived it is assumed tbat tbe subscriber wislies  tbe subscription
                                                                                                   to continue without  tbe formality of a renewal order.
 sec  .a lovely and glorious  spect+cle  in the  centre of thc
 heavens.  You `would see a throne and He that sits  upon  it.                                                            Subscription  price:  $4.00 per year
 And  seeing  Him `you would see the  eter&1  versior  of  Gol-                                   Entered as Second  Class  matter  at Grand  Rapids,   Michigan
 gotha.  ,And, no, you  wil1  no  longer   pity the Lambkin whose
 wooll~ fleece is red. 1 notice that your lips open to the  song                                                                 C O N T E ` N T S   .
 that  is born in your heart. `And as the beasts. and' the elders.
 and the angels vie in heavenly  `song, you wil1  vie with them.                            MEDITATION  -
                                                                                                        In @e Midst of tbe Tbrone  ___.....................................................                           73
 Herein  y& agree with them: no  honor  or  -majesty.  is tod                                                   R e v .   G .   V o s
 high for  such love.                                                                                                                                                                                  .
                                                                                       EDITORIALS  -
     And we' that are on the earth  ? We are privilege; to  tast                                        The Standard Bearer and Our Future ,........___._._____...........  . 76
 a shadow of that Calvary in the midst of a pack of  ravening                                           Daane's Distortion of Reformed Truth   _________...........................  77'
                                                                                                                Rev. H.  Hoeksema
 wolves.  When we are cursed we  Wil1  bless  ;  when  we are
 revile again, we wil1  do good unto them that despitefully use                             QUESTION Box ____,,...._____~  _.,......_.________....................................................  78
                                                                                                                Rev. H. Hoeksema
 US.  Doing.ii   we shall  be  beaiers of the  eter&1 Idea of  .the                         OUR  DOCTRINE-
 Suff ering Lambkin.                                                                                    The Book of Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . .___................____  :...78
                                                                          G.V.                          R e v .   H .   Hoeksema

                                                                                            THE  DAY  OF  Swows  -
                                   .-                                                                   The Prophecy of Zechariah __._.,..__.,___,_.......................................  81
                                                                                                                Rev.  G. M. Ophoff                              Q
                             IN MEMORIAM
                                                                                            FROM   HOLY   WRIT.  -  '                                      '
    The' Martha Ladies'  Aid of the Prot&ant  Reformed Church                                           Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12-14 .__....,...._______........................  84
 of Huil,  Iowa, expresses. its sincere sympathy to our members,                                                                                                                   .
                                                                                                                Rev. ,G. Lubbers
 Mrs. Albert Vogel,  Mrs. Frank  Vogel  and Mrs. Torn De Jong
 in the loss of their  husbad   and  father,                                               IN  HIS  FEAR   -
                                                                                                        Spiritally Sensitive . . . .__. ___._: ____ ____ __: _........._ :.. ___ .._ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
                           MR.     ALBERT-  VOGEL            :            4'                                    Rev.  J. A.  Heys
on  Octber  17, 19.57.                                                                CONTENDING FOR THE  FAITH   -
                                                                                                        The  Church  and  the  Sacraments   _.___  ~_______....,..______..................  88
    Mak the God of  al1  grace give the comforting  knowledge  that                                             Rev. H.  Veldman
 al1 His doings are for the good of His own.
                                                                                            TH;  VOICE OF  `OUR FATHERS  -                                           .
                                         Rev.` J. Heys, President                                       The Canons of Dordrecht _.,.....___._....__............  ~.....____.__..............  90
                                         Mrs. T. Hoekstra, Secretary                                             Rev.  H. C.  Hoeksema

    0  -                                                                                    DECENCY  AND   OHDER  -
                             I N   M E M O R I A M                                                      Sovereignty Denied ( ?? )  ..__ ___  ._,  .._  .._____  . __  ._ ___  ._.  ..92
                                                                                                                 Rev. G. Vanden Berg
    The  Ladies'  Aid Society of the  Protest'ant Reformed  C'hurch                         R
    Edgerton, Minnesota, herewith  extends.  its sympathy  to one                                 EPORT OF EASTEHN  LADIES'  LEAGUE ._.___._..,...,...._........................~  . 93
                                                                                                                Elsie Kuiper
    its  memb&,  Mrs. Joe Brummel, in  the, death of  ,her   father,
                                                                                            ALL  AROUND  US  -
                     M R .   A L B E R T   V O G E L                                                    Notes from the Baptist Examiner . .._________.....  . . . . . .._______.............  94
                                                                                       .                A brief hut Beautiful  Meditation __ ____  _.  .._ ___  ___.....  . ..%
     Mziy our  ,Heavenly  Father comfort the bereaved and grant                                                  Rev. M. Schipper
    the blessed assurance that  to die in Christ is gain.          .._                      REPORT OF WESTERN LADIES' LEAGUE. ___ __._____. . . . .._____  _._.__ . . .96
                                   -       Rev. H.  Veldman,  President                                          Mrs. G. Broekhouse
                                           Mrs. G. Gunnink, Secretary  _

                                                                                             c


 76                                           T H E   ST-&NDARD   BIZARER   -  .-'
                                                           -
 Il                                                                   of our paper in which `we, from the. beginning,  exposed the
       ,-  EDITO~RIAh!G                                               fallacy of `the decisions of the synod of the Chri&an Re-
                                                                      formed  Church and the "Three Points," was, no doubt, ene
                                                                      of the immediate  causes  of our deposition as ministers in the
         The Standard  Bearer  amd Our  hure                          Christian Reformed Church.
       The question now is,: how is  Tlze Standard  Bcarw   re-          Now the question is, `as was announced in. the subject on
 lated to the history we have just rdated and, especially, to         which S was asked to speak  tonight : what  does The Stand-
 our deposition  from office in the Christian Reformed Church?       ard  Bearer   have  to do with the future of om- Protestant
 And what`significance does it have in respect  .to the future        Reformed  Churches?  On  the  very  face of it we would say
 of our churches?                                                    that the two are intimately related. The future of our
       Some of US will, probably, stil1 remember Tite M/ztncss,      churches stands closely connected the continuance and well-
 n paper which was first published after  the synod of 1920, at      being of our publication. We understand, of course, that
 the  time of Janssen'controversy. The purpose of  this publica-      Tlze Standard  Bea,mr   is by no means the only factor that
 tion was chiefly to, combat and expose the-fallacy  of the in-      must be taken into account when  we consider the  well-being
 struction of Dr. Janssen, not merely in a negative way buts         of om- churches in-the future. When we speak of the future
 also in the way of positive development of the truth. We felt,      of our churches we do not mean the mere  existente  of our
 at the time, that there was no room for this in Tke Bamw or         churches as  such regardless of  their  maintenance of the
 DB  tVacht&r;  and-because  Dr. Janssen had been justified by       truth. On the contrary, we refer to the definite, continued
 the synod of 1920, and because, after that synod of 1920, new       existente  of  our churches as maintaining the Protestant
 light had been shed on the instruction of Dr. Janssen by the        Reformed truth. Shall we keep the faith and continue to con-
 student notes,  it was considered advisable to organize a  sper     fess it .in al1 its `purity in the midst of the churches and in
 cial publication.` This, then, was Tlze J4'itkw.  To the staff      the midst  of the world? This is the question with,which we
 of this publication belonged;  among others, the professors         are concrned: And this depends, of course, chiefly on the          .
.Berlthof  and Volbeda, and also the Rev. H. Danhof  and my-         grace  of our God Who only  can make US faithful unto the
 self were members.                                                  end. But, in that  grace of God, it  also clepends on  many
       After Dr. Janssen had been deposed in 1922 there was          God-given   means  and  factors evn besides  The  Standa:rd
little practical  reason anymore  for opposing bis. teaching and     Biarer.  Chief  of these is always  the pure and full. preaching
for continuing  the publication of  Tlze  Witness.   However         of thc Word. &u- ministers must be diligent and faithful
it was continued for some time. However,  since the .Janssen         in the searching of the Scriptures  ancl in the proclamation of
men in the Christian Reformed Church had determined to               the truth as. espressed in the Protestant Reformed faith.
get the Rev. H.  Danhof  and undersigned   out of the church         They must do this from  the pulpit  as wel1  as in the catechism
on the basisof our denial o&"common  grace,"  they. i.e. the         classes. $Ioreover,  closely connected with this stands the
two ministers just mentioned, decided to infrm the staff of         instruction  fhat is  oFfered in our theological school  where
 7% LV&ness that they intended to write on the question of           men are instructed and trained for the ministry'of  the Word.
"common  gracve" and to espose  the fallacy of that theory           of God. We- must emphasize, as  much  as. possible, the
in our publication. The rest of the staff, -however, refused         .richness and purity of the Protestant Reformed truth over
to  let LIS write on the' yuestion, partly because they were         the radio. We must have our own schools and Protestant
*afraid to stir  LIP  another .controversy  and disturb the peace    Reformed  teachers  as  much as possible. We should  teach
of the church? partly, too, because they themselves  believed.       the truth as we believe it in om- Sunday schools and .discuss.
in common  grace. We then informed  them that we resigned            ,it in our societies. Al1 these means and others must be taken
as  members  of the staff of  -e  Witness   and would  write         into account  when  we speak of our future, i.e. of the future
no more for it. The- final  .result  was the pub,lication  of our    of the Protestant Reformed  Churches:
Standcwd  Bea.rzr.                                                      But  also  Thc  Standaud  Beamu  `must be taken into ac-
       If was first published in Oct. 1924, the year, therefore,     count in considering our future. It wil1 be ancl serve as a
that the "Three points" were adopted. Its  immediate   pur-          guide to ministers and laity together. This, we may sy,O is
POS; was to expose the fallacy of the "Three Points" and to          the purpose which our publication has served in the past.
develop positively the Reformed truth of  the  sovereign   grace     And 1  am-  also confident that  from the volumes of  Th
of God with respect to election  and reprobation. You  must          Stmda.yd  Bemw that have been published thus far and which
remember that our paper was first published when we were             many of US stil1 pqssess,  both ministers and laity may and
stil1 in the Christian Reformed Church. We were not de-              do stil1 gain important. information  and instruction in  the..
posed from office til1 Jan. 192.5. The staff  of The Stand&          Word of God. Thus it may also be in the future. 1 say : it
Bearer consisted of the Revs. H. Danhof;  G. M. Ophoff, Mr.          $pLay be thus.  If,  however.  it is to stand in  the service of
G. VanBeek  and myself.  It was published, as we know, by            this important purpose, it stands to  reason  that it must re-
the Reformed Free Publishing Association. The publishing             main faithful to the  cause for which the Reformed Free Pub;


                                                                                                                              ~.
                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D -   BEA.RER                                                          77
                                                                .             ~.:        --
  lishing  Association was originally organized  and our maga-            Scripture and the Reformed Confessions or  from-  Reformed
  zine was first published. That  cause is the maintenance as             theologians.
  wel1  the development of the Protestant Reformed truth which               `The centra1 idea of the, paragraph is, no doubt, that Re-
  we hold dear and the rejecting and combatting of al1 heresies           formed  theology equates, put on the same line as of equal
  that are in conflict with the truth. If The Standakd  Bewer,            value, without subordination of reprobation to election,  tha
  thus~  remains faithful it will, no doubt, continue to be an im-        truths of election  and reprobation. What is stil1 worse, ac-
  portant factor in the preservation and development of our               cording  to the above paragraph,  "God's  sovereignty was  no
  churches in the future.                                                 longer  expressed  in terms of God's gracieus  election  to salva-
      1 must. stil1 discuss  our future, in the lighf of the promises     tion, but in  ferms of God's sovereignty of reprobation, which
  of God.                                                                 came  to be regarded as the clefinitive key  to  God's  sover-
     But about this in  our next issue,  the Lord willing.                eignty." Yea, Daane expresses himself  stil1 more  boldly  and.
                      -                                         H.H.      also erroneously, when  he writes  : "In actual fact, sovereignty
                                                                          defned in terms  of sovereign reprobation became the centra1
                                                                          doctrine.?'
         Daane's,  Distortion  of Reformed Truth                              I ask the Rev. Daane: Where,  in Reformed theology, is
     Daane, in his article in The Reforwwd  Jo&nal, so uttrly            reprobation ever eqated  with election,  so that they are of
  distorts the truth of Reformed theology that the question               the same value, and so that the former is not subordinated
 arises in my mind whether he ever understood its `teaching               to the latter? 1 claim that this is a downright untruth. Let
  or even whether he ever read many works on the subject.                 Daane prove the contrary which he  can never do. 1  promise
     Fact is that he never substantiates his utterly false con-           him, if he asks for it, that 1 wil1 prove that in Reformecl
  tentions and misrepresentations by literal quotatons from               theology, regardless of the questioqof  supra or infra, election
  Reformed authors. This, of course, he could  .not do. 1                 and reprobation are never equated.  Where,  in Reformed
  challenge him to attempt  it. Al1 he does, in his aritcle, is to        theology; was  God's  sovereignty expressed only in terms of
  present. his own philosophy. He is an able writer as .far as            reprobation and not  also in God's  gracieus   election?  My
  style and language is concerned, but the  contents  of  h.is            answer is : nowhere.  The very opposite is truc. This 1 am
  article 1 consider very unscholarly.              .                     able to prove and wil1 prove, provided that Daane first makes
     To prove my contentions let me quote, first of ali, the              at least an  attempt  to prove his contention. Otherwise 1 do
following  paragraph  from his article:                                   not even consider  it worth while to prove my own contention
      "At this point in the process of theological reflection a           so-wel1  and universally known it is by Reformed theologians
  transformation so subtle took place that it frequently escaped          that it is correct. Where,.  in.Reformed  theology did Daane
  notice.   Election   and reprobation  having been equated as            ever read that sovereignty as defined  insovereign reproba-
  equally definitive of divine  svereignty,  election  suffered  dis-    tion is the centra1 doctrine ?  Again  1 say :  nowhere..  Let
  tortion by being equated with reprobation. God's  sovereignty           Daane prove his contention, ,which he does not, and 1 wil1
  was no  longer  expressed. in  terms  of  grticious   election   toe    answer him.
  salvation, but in  ter& of the sovereignty of reprobation which             1 have a sneaking  suspicion that Dane,  in the aboave para-
  came to be regarded as `the definitive key to the understand-           graph,, refers to me as he frequently does in the rest of the
  ing. of God's sovereignty, In actual  fact, sovereignty  defined        article. That is, he refers to me, not in my real self, nor in
  in  terms  of the sovereignty of reprobation became the centra1         regard to my views asexpressed  in any of my writings and
  doctrine. This  may be illustratd by a reference to Christ.            several publications, but from the viewpoint of his own philo-
  Sovereignty was not defined in terms of the Lordship   of+              sophy and jmagination. It is easy to prove that he is alto-
  Christ, which looms so large in the New Testament teaching,             gether mistaken  if, at least, it is true that-he  also refers to me.
  and which is there described as God's  triumph over sin  andi           For proof 1 wil1 offer just one quotation. It is found in Vol.
death and  hel1 through the events of  the cross and  the                 V of The Trijle knowledge,  p. 39 :
  resurrecfion, nor in terms of. the Christ who wil1 return at                "There  is  only one answer to this question: not the
  history?s  end to execute judgment, as Paul  says,  `according          original creation  and. human race are first in. God's  counsel,
  to  my gospel.'  Rather,  the  Lordship  of Christ was, within          not these are the end He has in view ; but the Church and al1
  Reformed theology proper, defned,  when  it was considered             the glorified creation in Christ. The Church is not an  after-
  at all, within the limits of the simple fact Christ, as the agent       thought of God, it is not the product of repair work: it is
  through  whom  God executed his sovereignty of  election.  and,         ~God's  original design. He purposed to glorify Himself by
  reprobation, saved some and not ethers."                                realizing His everlasting covenant  of friendship in Christ
     It is almost  inconceivable that the above paragraph could           Jesus His son,  .and, through  Christ,  in the millions  upon
  have been written  by one whoc-  poses as a Reformed theolo-            millions of elect that constitute His body, and in whom  tha
  gijn. There is, 1 make bold to say, not a word of truth in it.          glory of God in Christ must shine forth in the highest pos-
      Nor is there any proof of Daane's contentions either from           sible degree. That is the end. And  al1 the rest, creation and


      7%                                                  THE           ST;~`NDA~RD             BEARER

       the fall, reprobation and al1 the powers of darkness,  a+d al1
       the history of the world, are, in the decree  of God; but means
       unto the realization of that end."
            1 hardly suppose  that Daane wil1 agree with this.
            Nor do 1 care whether he agrees or disagrees. Al1 1 wish                            TNE  BOOK OF' REVELATION
     _ to emphasize  is that this quotation out of one of my works                                            CHABTER 13
       gives the lie to the entire paragraph of Daane  which 1 quoted
       abov&                                                                                            THE FOUR HORSEMEN
            I certainly do not put reprobation on a par with electionj                                      Reveiatiori  6 :l-8
       but place it in a subordinate position and that, too, f8r a de-
       finite purpose, the  +rpose  of the redemption and  glorifica-                   Nor is it difficult  ,to see that the same genera1 truth is
       tion of al1 things.                                                          applicable to the influence of the last threchorses:  Also these
            Here 1 must stop for the time being.                                    have a two-fold effect- according s, they meet with different
                                                                          H.H.      objects.  What is evil to the world is by.no means  evil to the
                  . .                                                               ehi!dren  of God. The same adversity causes the one to rise in
                                                                                    rebellion and curse God, the other to humble himself and be
                         QUESTION BOX                                               patient. The same affliction hardens the one, and brings the
                                                                                    other to repentance nd sanctifies him. The same tribulation
                                    As.J~  t h e   BiblF-Text                       that brings despar to the one  causes  the other to  glorify his
            On this 1  received the following question:                             God. And therefore, we  may be comforted as people of God
                                                                                    from the outset. Al1 these horses  come into contact with al1
            Dear Rev.  Hoeksema:                                   i                men, without discrimination. But they  al1  wil1  be beneficent
            1 would like to have your  judgment  on the  differente                 in their influence ar& effect upon the people of God, while
       versions f the Bibl.  Which one do you-prefer,  what is the                they are harmful to the children of evil. And thus we can
       differente,  and why do you prefer either one or all, please ?               already  in a genera1 way discern hpw they must ultimately
                                                     David J. Broek,                .bring the kingdom  of Jesus Christ while at the .same time
                                                     Steen, Minn.                   they wil1 lead to the defeat of the power of Satan and Anti- i
            Answer :                                                                christ in the world.  Al1 things  werk  together  -for good  to
                                                                                    them that love God, to them that are called according to His.
            1. The different versions of  the Bible are not  merelp                 p u r p o s e .
       different  translaticys,   l&t they represent different Copies of                What then is the effect of the first horse and its rider in
     . the original  manuscripts.  The  King James  version  is the                 the world? In genera1 we may answr that it causes  separa-
       oldest. Since that time many.  different copies of Scripture
0                                                                                   tion  This `is not difficult  to understand. If there never had
       have been found. This refers, we must understand, eipecially                 b-en  any operation of the power of grace in the hearts of men,
       to the Greek New T&.ment. It is by a critical comparison                     if there never had been any influence of the Word and of the
       of al1 these original  texts  that the text is discovered and estab-         Spirit, is it evident that never a separation would have been
       lished which  constitutes  the  bisis' for the  revised versions.            accomplished  between the seed of the wor'nan  and the seed of
            2. It stands to reason  th?tl  in many respects,  because of            ithe  serpent.,  It has been aoeged  sometimes that sin is the
      the labors.of  the science of what is called textual criticism,               factor that causes  separation between man and man. And in
       the revised versions are more accurate than the King James                   .a certain sense this is, of course, true. But we should nevel-
       version, although in.some ,instances 1 stil1 prefer the latter.              forget that without the  p&er  of  grace  operating  in the
            3. WhiLh  do 1 prefer ? In an'swer `let me say :                        world there would be no fundamental  sepafation,  would be
                                                                                    no split in the ranks of humanity afterall. Grace is the wedge            _
            a. At hom& 1 always use the King  James Version.  1 pre-                that in this sinful world makes separation and diiides  al1
       fer this especially because of the language. 1 like it  very                 men into tw6 principally different and opposing campS.  This,
       much when  the very language of the Bible differs from every                 then, is the.general  effect of the werk  of this first rider 
       day  Eng@ as is largely used iti the other versions.                                                                                           upon
                                                                                    the world of men. On the one  hand? a people of God is wlled
            b. For the same reason, we  stil1 use the King James                    into conscious existente  in the midst of the world. The Spirit
       Version  `in our church, and 1 dare say, in our churches. both               of God regenerates, so that th& inmost being of man is placed
       in the pews and on the pulpit.                                               in a new relationship to God and to the.  .entire world. The                   -
            c. For my own use, in my study, ancl also in our theologi-              Christian is a new man. Principally he has become a friend
       cal school, 1 alwaps  use the original and, if the original tests            of God, and belongs to His party in the midst of the woylcl.
       differ, 1 try to determine for myself what is the best text.                 The Word  calls and brings that new  map to consciousness of
                                                                         H . H .    his new life, of his new relationshifi  to God and to t&e world.


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                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R  _                                                 79

 so that he begins to live and manifest.@mself  as' a `subject.of to every sphere of life and every institution of fhe w6rld. The
 the  kingdom  of God and a  member of His  co$enant.   The               home is an institution txisting primarily for the perpetuation
 people that are thus formed  in the midst .of the wrld ac-. of God's covenant in the world. The school is an institution
 knowledge  again the highest sovereignty of the God of heaven            for the purpose  of instructing  the covenact children accord-
 and earth, and that too, in every sphere of life. Thy begin             ing to the principles of Holy Writ for every sphere of life.
 by  recognizing  the righteousness and holiness of  God,.'  They         `Society, with business and industry, art and science, and al1
 are conscious of their sins and transgressions, and confess              things that ex& must, according to them, be controlled  by
 them  before the countenance of Him that sitteth upon the                the  principles  of the Word of God, and be made subservient
 throne. And they acknowledge Jesus Christ .as tle represent-            to the idea of God's kingdom  in the world. In a word, they
ative of the righteousness of God, but also as their Savior               have 5 new life-view. They are members of God's  covenant,
 ard Redeemer  in His atoning power. Hence, they  stand in               His friends in the world,. subjects-of His kingdom.  And in
 an entirely new relation to God and  alSo  to the world.                 principle  at least, they want to live the life of that kingdom
 Formerly they stood over against  Him in rebellion, hating               also in the present  world..            9
 Him with al1 their heart ,and mind and soul and strength.                    But this is not all. This, in fact, is only onei side of the
 Now they  humbly bow  before  His throne,  asking,  "Lord,               influence of the  white  horse and iti rider in the midst of the
 what wilt Thou have US do ?" Formerly they.imagined  in the              world. And that white horse  also has influence  upqn  the  un-
 wickedness  of their corrupt nature  that al1 things existed for         godly and the reprobate. Upon  the enemies of the kingdom  it
 them, for man. And man, to  thenl, was god.  ,Now they                   inevitably has this effect, that it enlightens them with regard
 realize that ll things exist for the glory  of God, and that the `-to the idea of the kingdom,  but at the same time it accentuatcs
 Lord of heaven.&d  earth' is God alone. Formerly they em-                their hostility `and embitters them al1 the more. They also
phasized that al1 things should exist and be arranged accord-             learn to taste the powers of the age $0 come and to see the
 ing to their ,own evil imagination,  and they did not ask for            beauty  oi the  kingdom  of God. That this is true  wil1 be
 the ordnances of the Most High. Now they -insist that al1               evident the moment you  compare  the Christian world in
 things must be based `on the principles  of God's  Word, and             general with the world of heathendom. The Word of God
 that Christ is King. The result is that they come to the world           has a genera1 enlightening influence. There is what might
 with a principally different life-view a.nd with a new demand.           be called even a civilizing influence of the Word and Spirit.
 Al1 things must be made subsrvietit  to the glory of God and            Intellectually the children of evil understand the truth. `But
 His kingdom,: and in every sphere of life the, precepts of their         the  principle of enmity against God remains unchanged. They
 King must be maintained. For  al1 of life they have their                do not come to repentance.  -They  refuse to acknowledge the
 own demands: The state,  according  to them, is an institution           righteousness of God. They refuse to bow  befo& Him  ae
 of God, established for the maintenance of jusfice and right-            their Sovereign. They deny  Christ, not indeed  perhaps as a
 .eousness  in the world. for the punishment  of evil-doers and good man, but certainly  as the representative of God's right-
 for the protec$on  of the good, in order that ,Gocl's people may         eousness.  .They deny that Jesus is the Christ?  the Son of God.
  have room to develop in the midst of a sin-cursed world. The            They  remaii   antichristiafi  in their deepest  principle. And
 church ?s essentially the body of Christ, and, as instiiuted,            thus they naturally come to this, that they also wil1 establish
  it exists for the upbuilding  of the saints, a witness of God in        a kingdom,  in form like the kingdom  of God, whose beauty
  the  worlcl to the extension and establishinent  of His  king-          they have learned to see. But it is a kingdom  without Christ
  dom. It must needs remain  separate from the-state.  The two            arid without His atoning  sacrifice.  Instead of God, man  is
  differ in ,character.  They differ in purpose. And they must            absolute  soveieign  in this  kingdom.   In. that  kingdom~  it is
  never amalgamate:  The church is universal;-  the state is na-          eniphasizeb  that the powers. of this world must be brought
 tional. The church is eternal ; the  state is temporal. The church       to complete devdopment and that man must have dominion.
  stands for the  ternal and absolute righteousness of God in            over  al1  things.  `Progress in business and industry and  coml
  the world; the state maintains,  or rather,  is called to naintain,    n?erce, in art and science, is characteristic of this kingdom,  -
  the righteousness of God iti the present dispensation. Thc              al1 without God and without His Christ. Stil1 more:  also
  state  fights with the sword ; the church never cioes. Surely,          in this kingdom  they speak of righteousness and brotheriy
  her members  in this dispensation are citizens.  of a certain           love, and only clean men and  women   can enter  into it. They
- country, and they are subject to authority. Neither do they             demand outward righteousness? and they  insist  upon brotherly
  refuse as such to go out and meet the enemy in battle. But              love.  They strive to realize the univrsal brotherhood of man.
  the church as such des not fight the battles `of the world.             They struggle .to arrive at the realizstion  of a great inter-
  She has- a spiritual warfare to accomplish:  The church as such         national confederacy. And they want to establish. universal
  sings no national songs. but she sings of the country beyond,            peace. They want to abolish the effects  of sin, and bring
  of the city that hath foundations. The church as such has unive&l bliss to the world. In a word, they aim at nothing
  no national emblem,  but unfurls the banner of the cross. And           less~ than the,consummation  of what they cal1 the kingdom  of
  thus the people of God have their own  life-view  with  regard           God in the world.  l?or.they  are enlightened, and have  come


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80                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   :BEIAR.R
                                                                         -

 inta  external   ,contact  with the  whife horse and its rider.            But if'the case is thus, you wil1 have no difficulty t6 un-
 But the principal trouble with theh  is .that they  deny that           derstand  that this white horse cannot run alone .with its
 Jesus  is the Christ. The old  enmity!  instilled in the hearts         rider thrugh the world of men. Just ask the question : what
 of .men by the ser,pent  in  paradise,   constitutes   the principal    would>.be-the  result  if this first horse were not followed by
 motive of all` their aspirations. They are not  regenerated.            the red and the black and the pale, in other words, if there
 They'are children of evil. They do not stand in a new rela-             were tio war,  .no social  struggle, no death in al1 its forms ?
 tion to God. And the result -is that their so-called kingdom            The answer. is evidently : the result  would be that the king-
 is  after   al1 no kingdom  of God, but a  `kingdom  of man,  by        dom of Antichrist would  reach the height of its development!
.man, and for man.. The -state  must legislate  men into this            prematurelyy  The sinful World, striving to establish a  world-
 kingdom,  and by force of  law they are -made to practice               kingdom,  would soon succeed to organize- into an. intern?-
 temperance and to manifest their love to the brother. The               tional federation of nations, and thus  constitute  the  formid-
 state,  in combi$ation  with other states, wil1  enforce  universal     able world-power that is pictured in the thirteenth chapter  of
 peace. Al1 the  ntions  mst  unite:  A great world-power              this boek  of Revelation. Peace and happiness would reign
 must soon be established, controlled  by a centra1 committee,           supreme, and no more bloody  wars  would. b fought.  Al1
 in  or$er  that  war  may be abolished and the  kingdom  -of-           things would be under fihe control  of this world-power. It
 pace may presently  be ushered in, Eor the establishment of            would employ by main force the powers of church and state,
 this kingdom  thc cooperation of the church is also invited.            of home and school, of business and industry and commerce,
 The church must preach associal  gospel. The old message of             and stablish the antichristia.n,  order  of things. Social con-
 5inand   guilt,  of total depravity, of righteousness and holiness,     trast would cease  to  appear.~  Al1 would enjoy  equally   much,.
 of the necessity of  atonement  through blood and of  regnera-          or at; least approximately so, al1 th& products  of the.  earth ;-
 tion  by the Spirit' of Christ bas * become antiquated, is noi          and  al1 competition, strife, and revoltition  would have an
 more adapted to the needs  of the present time. Instead, a              erid. But this tremendous world-power, with al1 things under
 new gospel has come. to the forefront,  - the gospel of love            its own  con&ol  in the most complete  sense of the word,
 and peace for  al1  Inen, without Christ. Not that man is               would naturally leave no standing room for the true church
 spiritgally  impotent,  but rathir  that he is divine ; not that h,e    of God on earth. It  would   persecute and, if possible,
 is guilty and  condemned,  but  rather  that he `is by  nature          destroy the kingdom  of God in the world.
 good and a child  of God, must be emphasized with a view to                 Btit this  may not be. At least not yet. The  time  wil1
 the new era we ar about fo enter  upon.  And the church                come, inde+, when  Christ wil1  allow a partial-realization of
must  also allow-herself to become a powerful agency for `the            .this antichristian world-power to maintain itself for a  time.
 establ&hment  of this universal kingdom  of peace and right-            And that time wil1 be most terrible for the children of the
 eousness. The School must serve the  same purpose. It must              kingdom.  These l&er shall, accordiqg  to Scripture, be able
 not 6e separate. It must not be sectarian. It may not teach             to buy or s& no more, that is,. they wil1 be social outcasts.
 a definite religion. For that would not be in harmony with              And so terrible wil1  be those latter days, that even the elect
 the idea of the universal brotherhood. But it must be general           would not persevere were' it not that those days were
 in its instruction, and inculcate the genera1 irinciples of love        shortened. `But as  iet this  order of things  may not be
 to humanity.  Society must be transformed according to the              realized. For these  cvents the  time is not yet ripe. The days
 same  principles.  Differences must be removed. Competition             may not yet be shortened. And, therefore, the formation of
 must cease. The socialistic  state Of things must be established,       this tremendous  world-power must be  checked,  must be  pre-
 to cover up the sore spots of covetousness and greed;  And              vented for the  time being. And, therefore, Christ  who pos-
 in as far as family life  would obstruct, the development and           sesdes-all'power  in heaven and on earth and who opens the
 the  ultimate   realization  of this idea, it  also must be trans-      book with its seven seals, sends war, sends the red horse into
 f.rmed.   Free-  love  wil1 perhaps never be  advocated   .oq  a       al1 the earth..  Not as if Christ were the sinful cause  of war.
 large`  scale. And  the form of  ih family  wil1 remain  un-           NO, thus we never conceive of. the matter. But the principle
 changed.   `But if the murdei- of children or the destruction  of       of sin  es& and  reigns  .in the heart of the world. This
 seed is advantageous  to the establishment of. this kingdoni,           principle of. sin must -anifest itself in sotie-way.  And `Christ
 its practice must be encouraged. Thus -is the tendency of               so controls  the sinful passions of individuals and nations that
 the present age. You may verify it with your own observa-               w& `ensues.  H does  this thru historica1  factors. If you
 tion. The great aim is t establish a kingdom  that it is out-          peruse the pages of histry you  may  observe that never  any
 ward form like the kingdom  qf Gpd  as it is pictured in Hly           great and powerfui  nation  was allowed to exist `for any leng+
 Writ, But the principal- motive is enmity against God and               of  time as sole lord  .of the universe.. NO sooner lias one
 against  His, Christ. In a word, under the inflence  of the            nation&cetided  to the zenith of its power and apparently be-
 same white horse that calls  to. life the covenant   .peple  of        come undisputed lord of al1 the world, but another nation
 God in the world,`also the kingdom  of Antichrist ieaches its           develops and  becomes its  competitor  for world-power.
 development  and consummation.                                                                 0                                    H.H.


                                             TH-E,STANDARD                        BEARER
                    0                                                                                                                                81
                                                              '
                                                                          in the subsequent verses  (11:4ff),  and that are to-come  upon
 I/          THE  .DAY  OF SHADOWS'  11 the kingdcm  of Israel. This View is firmly supported by the
                                                                          accura&e of the expression "flock of slaughter"  in the suc-
                                                                           ceeding  verse (11  :4). That this flock is  the  kingdom  and
              T h e   P r o p h e c y   o f   Z&hariah  -                 house of Israel is  ciystal   clear from the context and is there-
                                                                          fore ,disputed by no one. What is fortold by the imagery
                               Chapter 11 :l-14                            of these verses  is the overthrow  of Israel from the time of
                                                                          the tterance of this prophecy to-the coming of Christ. Israel
         1. Open thy-doovs,  0 Leba,non,  that the fire w~gy devour        must go under, `yhich it wijl through its own wickedness,
 thy  cedam.  2.  Howl,  fir  tree,  for the  cedw  hari  `fallen, for    the reason being that, when  Christ ,will`haae  come, kingdom
 &e  lofty  a;Ye  lqid  wete;  howl ye oaks of  B#ashan,   for  the'      and people wil1  have served the& purpose- as a, shadow of
 high fol-est bas gone down: 3. There is a. so:mzd of the howl-           the  kingdom  of heaven. The typical Davidic  kingdom   wil1
 ing of the shepherds! For their glory is laid w&; a sound,               therefore be destroyed  completely  and vanish away  forevei.
 of the  rom+tg  of  yomqg   Gons ? For the pl-ids  .of `Jordan id         Only if it be allowed that the imagery of these verses  refer tos
 lad waste.                                                               the fa11 of `Israel wil1  the-flow:  of- thc&ght  of the verses that
         Libanon `is the mountain range wes; of the Jordan in             follow be  coirectly discerned.
 the northern  territory  of Canaan. The cedars were the
 glory of Lebanon. At one time they were very abundant.                        4. Thus sath Jeitovah,  wty God, Feed the flock of slmhgh-
 Next to the cedars the fir trees were the choicest trees of               t e r ;   5 .   Whose   bibyers  slaughteu   them  a.nd  a r e   n o t   gu,ilty,
 Lebanon. Cedars  and fir trees  we& used for Solomon in the               and their sellevs say, Blessed  be Jehovah, fok I WVS getting
 construction  of the  temple:   Bashan  is the most  northerly-          rich,   ,and  their shepherds  spared   tlaewb~   not. 6.  For  I  wil1
 part of Ca&an  .west of the Jordan. At one time it was rich               910 more  -spade  the  inhabitmts  of the  land.,  saith the Lord:
 in oak forests.          .                                               bnt, 10,  i  wil1 deliver the  men  every  ene  %nto his  neighbor's
        Lebanon is to be visited by a great fire that wil1 devour         hand, and ,nto the hand of ?zis king; And they shall &ite the.
 its trees. An identical catastrophe is in store for the oaks of,         land, and o& of `their h,and  I wil1 not deliver  thevq. 7. And I
 Bashan  and its rich pastures, the glory of the shepherds. Thee          fed the  flock  of  sla,ughter  therefore,' the poor  sheep, and  I  s
 fire wil1 sprad to the Jordan and Gonsurne the thickets  and-           took to *tiyself  &wo  staves; the one I called Beaztty,  the ether
 reeds, the glory of Jordan, which grow so luxuriantly on its             I  called Bartds, and I fed the flock. 8. Three shepherds also
 banks and afford-so  safe and convenient  a lair for the lions:          I cut off in one month;  and "zy so~u.1 was gyeved  becmse  of
.Shorn of  al1 vegetation and with the soil of  thee ground                them,  and their soul also abhorred  `fine.  9. Then said I, I wil1 _
 blackened by the fire, thc regionsnntioned wil1  be the scene           rtot  sheph>,rd  y~ci.  Tha.( which dieth, let it die;  and that
 of complete aevastation.  The voice of howling wil1  everywhere          which  ,is  to be  cu_of,  let it be  cut  off, and let thti rest eat
 be heard. The prophet  hears the cry of shepheyds  over the               every  ene tlze flesh of bis neighbor. 10. Apzd  I took uuzy  staf,
 loss of pastures. With  this is mingled the  roaring of the               even  Beazty?  and cut it  asmtnder,  that  I  might break  my
 young lions driven from their haunts by the hot breath of                covenant  which I  Jiad  &ade  mi&  al1 the  people.  11. And  it
the fire.                                                                 -was  broken  in that da,y. And so the afflicted of the flock that                    -
       Viewing this representation in the light of `its context,,         waited upon me knew t&t it was the word of the'Lord.  12.
 one perceives that in the final oinstance it is a 6rophecy  of the       Aitd I said ztnto them,  If it be goed-in your eyes, give me my
 overthrow of great ones in the earth, men of potier and re-              rewm-d;.   md,' if not forbenr. So they zveij-hed  for sty reward
ngwn. Cedars, firs and oaks symbolize men as 40 alSo.  the                th,rty pieces of silier. - 13. ,And the Lord said unto me; Cast
 lions of Jordan.  Devoured by the wrath of God, they shall               it  ,unto the  potter:  a noble  pvice  a.t which  I  a'yN  valzned of
 fa11 and be laid waste. And their glory shall depart  from them.          fhem.   .4nd  I  took  ,th.e  thirty-p,ieces   o f  &lver,   amd  tast  it.
        It is plain from  the context that the passage is prediction      into tlze home  of the Lord, to thti potter. Then I cut asmnder
 and not merely a description of what already  has  come to               -&ine  ot/zev staf, even  bnnds,  thnt  I  might  break the brother-
 pass.                                                                    hood betweeh  Jztdah and Isvael.
        Of which powers is our prophet here speaking ?' Accord-                Our prophet sets out (verse 4) with presenting  Jehovah
 ing to one view these  verses  are the conclusion to  the  prom-         as mandating that the flock of slaughtr  be shepherded. He
 ise in chapter  X that the dispersed Jews wil1 be reestablished          does not say  -that the mandate cqmes to him. Yet it is plain
 in Lebanon and Gilead  (18:10),  for they  state what  wiil              from verse 7 `that it is the  prophet  to  whom  the Lord is
 become of the present heathen  occupants of the land: they               speaking.  The pronoun  I  in this verse, "And 1' fed the
 uiill be  completely  annihilated:  Th; view is  theti that the          flock," refers to our  prophet.  Thee  task given him of the
 judgment in these verses  is a judgment upon the heathen  and            Lord is to shepherd the flock by which is to be understood
their rulers that now occupy the territory of the dispersed Israel, the post-exilic  covenant people. Regarding this
 covenant  people. But this is not  Correct. These  verses  are           people our  prophet is commanded to  perform  the  whole
 rather  `a figurative representaiion  of the judgments foretold          ,work of a shepherd, which incldes besides feeding,  guiding,


   52           :                                T H E S .T- AN D A R-D `-B E A R E R

  protecting and ruling the flock. The verse  ,gives rise to two        agency of its own kings as involved in mortal combat the
questions : 1) why is Israel called the flock of slaughter ?            one with the other. But that  .in' this verse the prediction is
  2) Why must the prophet shepherd the flock?                           that of the slaughter of Israel and not .of the heathen  nations
          Verses  5-6. These verses  are the answers to the above       is plain from he main line of thought of the verses  4-6 which
 1 questions. The thought of verse 5 is this`: There are those          is this:  Shepher,d  theeflock  of slaughter (4a) . . . because
  who buy and sell the covenant people. They make merchand-             1  wil1 no  longer  spare the inhabitants of the land (6a) . .
  ize of the flock or sheep especially of- the poor and the de-         Surely in this reasoning the irzhabitants  of the land is Israel,
  fenceless among them. These traders in men- slaughter theirl          tize' flock `of shuglzter of verse 4. And the very  reason that
  victims, that is, they shamefully ill-treat them in every-  way.      the covenant people  .arei called the flock of slaughter is that
  And they are.not.guiity  in their own eyes, that is, They pious-      it is  going  to be slaughtered. In the language of'verse 6 the
  ly praise the Lord. They say, "Blessed  be Jehovah, for 1 am          reason is that the Lord wil1 no longer  spare I?Iis covenant
  getting  rich." It shows that they regard their ill-begotten          people but wil1  give them up intd the .hands  of their neigh-
  gain as His gracieus  gift to them, and that their vile imagin-       bors and ,of their kings. Whether these kings and neighbors
  ing causes  them to conclude that their act is in accord  with        are foreigners or Jews cannot be determined. It is not im-
  His will, that it.met  with His approval and that Mis. bless-,       probable that the reference is to the total of godless rulers
  ing rests upon it. It seems that these rulers `are Jews and           and men  of-violente,  both foreign and Jewish, by which the
  not fcireigners seeing that they take upon their lips the             flock wil1 be aff licted -and killed through the years.
  name of Jehovah. They say, `3Blessed  be Jehovah."                        Statements occur  in:the succeeding  verses  forbidding  th
          The shepherds of this verse are the rulers of the covenant    view that limits the expression "flock of slaughter" to the
 -people.  Of the rulers it is sfated that they spared .them `nat.      reprobated Israel. Denoted is the  whole  flock? the carnal
The pronoun  tize?  looks to the flock. Evil men slaughter the          seed and the spiritual seed alike. The sufferings in store for
  flock and the rulers resist  them not. What is done to the-           the flock wil1 ngulf also God's believing  people, the spirit-
 `sheep  is of no concern  to them. That it cannot be  deter-           `ual Israel. But they have the victory over  al1 their enemies.
  niined'whether the rulers are Jews or foreigners is of little         (See the promises to the flock  contained  in the previous
~  .importante. It's their attitude toward the flock that is sign- chapters).  Them  -the Lord  wil1  deljver   out of  dl  their
  ificant. Buyers and sellers, who must be the same people,             troubles. They are the little flock that  wil1 be given the king-
  are perhaps the powerful, rich .and godless rulers in the com-        dom. But the~others  wil1 net-be  delivered out of th hands
  munity subject to the rulers but having  nothing  to fear from.       of their  kings.
  them seeing t-:hat i-ulers and nobles were alike wicked.                  The flock of slaughter, then, contains within itself  as with-
     `The argument of these  verses  (4-7) leaves no doubt that         in a shell a spiritual seed. And therefore the mandate to the
  the subject treated in -verse 5 is the same-as that treated in        prophet:  Shepherd the flock of slaughter.  Tke  oversight
  verse 6, namely  the slaugliter of the covenant people. -But          over. it. -Protect  and guide it. Exhort it.  Proclaim  t'o it
  there is this differente  to be noticed. In verse 5the slaughter      God's  Gospel and the promises thereof. Tel1 it al1 that the
 `of the flock.is  set forth solely as the act of godless men, while    Lord wil1  do. Withhold nothing. For the flock of slaughter
  in verse 6 it is set before our eye as willed also of .the Lord1      houses a spiritual seed. And this seed has ears to hear and
  and as a work of His that  He accomplishes through  the               hearts to understand.
  Wicked  as His agents.  Thee  doleful  message  of verse 6  is'.          7. So the prophet, as  dida   al1 the prophets before him,
  this : ,"For I wil1 no longer  spare . . ." The pronoun I denotes     shepherded the flock of .sla.ughter,  therefore the afflicted sheep.
  the Lord. The speaker here is He saying what He wil1 do.              So  leads the italicized part of this sentence in the original
  He wil1  no more.spare the inhabitants of the land but wil1           text. In verse 11 the a%flicted  shcep are plainly the true be-
  ~deliver   them-  one and al1 in& the hand of their neighbors         lievers in the flock, so that the meaning of the italic  words
  and into the hand of their kings, and they shall smite the            seems to-be : 1 shepherded  the flock of slaughter, 1 shepherded
  land, and out of their hand the Lord wil1 not deliver them.           therefore the  afflicted  sheep, that is,  the true people of God
  This is doubtless the thought of this verse which reads liter-        in the flock. Though the prophet  shepherds the whole  flock
  ally, "And 1  wil1  no more spare the inhabitants of tlie land,       of slaughter, the carnal as wel1  as the spiritual Israel, his
  saith,  Jehovah, but, behold, 1 wil1  deliver ths wben each into;     concern is with the true believers. They alone were  capable
  tlzc ltu&d of 1zis neiglzbor  and into &e hand of ibis king."  The    of being shepherded. They alone have ears to hear and hearts
  meaning cannot be that for every individual man there is              to understand.  -.
  going to be a different pair of kingly hands for him to be                The shepherd is in need of a stave. S the first act of the
  delivered into in the sense of : as many men, so many kings;          prophet is his taking  to himself Bot one but two staves to
  a king for  each man. According to some, the expression               which he gives names. The one .he calls Bemty and the- oher
  iacib  Mn denotes a distinct  heathen  nation,  so that  what,.       Bands. They are not therefore ordinary staves such as any
  according to this view is being foretold in this verse (6) is         shepherd mght bear but staves with  as special  `significante
  the overthrow of the  kingdoms  of the world through the              such as for example the bread of holy communion.  = Jointly
                                                                                      .
                                                                                                   ._


                                                 T H E   -STANDARD   BEA,RER                                                                          83
               4
they  signify the office of spiritual shepherd, the dut& that              10. The prophet  now takes his staff of Beauty and breaks
belong  thereto,  the right to perform these duties and the              it in halves. This  action with the staff is. symbolical.  It
 spiritual qualifications  that go with this right. But more must        denotes the Lord's breaking,  annulling His  covenant  with
be said. With the names given them of the prophet imposed                `al1   the people.  `As the -Lord made no  covenant  with the
 upon  them  -  Beauty   and  Bands  - they jointly symbolize,           heathen, the expression,  "al1 the people," denotes Israel.
as appears  from the succeeding  verses,  the spiritual beauty and       Bnt  how can the verse speak of the Lords  annulling .His
 unity of the redeemed and glorified flock of God. They &o               covenant-  with Israel?  The covenant is the Lords. He estab-
 stand for the functioning of our prophet in bis office of spirit-       lishes it in- the hearts of His people by a grace  that is ir=
 ual shepherd of the flock of God. For the very  next state-             resistible: And He keeps covenant  trust forever. Never wil1
 ment the prophet makes, after  having taken to himself these            He become unfaithful to His promises. What therefore the
 two staves, is, "And so I shepherded the flock of slaughter."           prophet   means is that  when  the Lord  wil1 have drawn  al1
                                                                         His elect out of the carnal house of Israel of the old dispensa-
    8. The only act of bis as shepherd to which .the prophet
 points is his cutting off in one month three worthless shep-            tion, He wil1  take His covenant  away from that house. This
 herds'of  the flock.                                                    He wil1  do, because His covenant  is only with His elect. It
                          He  tells  US that'his soul had been sorely    includes only them. Unto them alone are al1 its promises.
 grieved  by these .rulers. This is cited to shed light on the
 character of the prophet's rule as shepherd. He was fearless            And in their hearts alone is it established. This was told this
                                                                         house by Christ,  namely, that the kingdom  of God is taken ,
 in his devotion to the cause  of his God, But it is also cited
 to explain tlie attitude of the reprobated Israel-  the carnal          from them and ,given  to a nation  bringing forth the fruits
 sheep, toward the prophet.  They abhored and despised  him,             thereof (Matt. 21  :43).
 so we read in `this verse. It may wel1  imply that they tried               ll. This verse states, "And `it was broken  in that day."
 to do away with  him.  That. it is not revealed  who those              The reference is to the-covenant.  It was not already in that
 three cut-off shepherds were,  makes  no essential  differente.         day  broken actually. It was  broken  figuratively by the
 And therefore it is futile trying to make  out who they were.           action  of the prophet whereby he cut assunder His staff of
 It is also more than likely that the three shepherds were cut           beauty. To say that this staff with the name beauty imposed
^off not actually before the eyes of mn hut that the events             upon  t symbolized-the  beauty of the redeemed flock of God
 and actions of which these  verses  speak took place in vision,         is but to say that it symbolized the beauty of God's  covenant
 as was the case with the prophesying of Ezelel and the                 with the flock. `Therefore the breaking  of the staff symbolized
 resultant shaking and coming together of the  dead  bones  in           the annulling  of the covenant  in the sense just explained.
 the-midst of the  valley (Ezekiel 37  :lff) . What is important             In this verse mentionis  made of the afflicted of the flock
 is that it be undrstood why the doings reported in the verses          that gave heed to the Lord and His propht. The reference
under consideration were made to take place  be it perhaps.              is to God's believing people in the flock. They knew, spirit-
 in  vision.  The purpose was to expose the  heuse  of Israel            ually discerned that it was the Word of the Lord, al1 that the
 in its loathing and  batred  of God as revealed in the face of          prophet  spake, and foretold, made known to fhem by word
 al1 the prophets ancl finally in the face of Christ in .order  that     and symbol.                                          .
 it miglt  be seen that God was fully justified in destroying                                                                                 G.aM.0.
 this house. There wil1 be for the house of Israel a final  judg-
 ment in which it wil1  pass away as an organized nation.  .The
 house of the Jerusalem that kills the prophets a.nd stones
-them  that are sent unto her wil1 be left desolate unto her                                          IN MEMORIAM
 (Luke,  13  :34, 35).                                                      On October 17, 1957, it pleased  om Heavenly  Father  to take
    9. Such bking the reaction of the flock, the carnal Israel,          f r o m   US  and'  unto   Himself  om  beloved  h u s b a n d ,   father   a n d
 tci His ministry, the prophet  resolves no longer to shepherd           grandfather,
 the flock, and gives it over to destruction. "1  wil1 not                                    :        ALBERT VOGEL,
 shepherd you," he says to them,  and further, "That `which              at the age of 68 years.
 dieth, let it die ; and that which is cut off, let it be cut off,          -Although  it is for  US' a loss, we trust in His  promises..  "For
-and  let every one eat the flesh of his neighbor."  This is nat         we know  that if  the esrthly house of this tabernacle  were-ais-
                                                                         solved, we hav a  build,ing  of God, an house not made with hands,
 an idle wish that originated in the sinful flesh of the prophet         eternal in the  heavens,"  11 Corinthians  .5  :l.
 nd to which he gives utterance moved by carnal anger that                                                      Mrs.  A. Vogel
 was kindled by the reaction of wicked men  to  bis ministry.                                                    Mr.  and Mrs. Frank Vogel
 The  prophet  curses  because he must  curse.  The Spirit of                                                    Mr. and Mrs. Joe  .Brummel
 prophecy is  upon him demanding and foretelling through him                                                     Mr. and Mrs. Adrian Buren
 as His organ the destruction f the haters of God and the                                                       Mr.  and Mrs.  T,om  G. De Jong
 despisers of His name. God's Word is here being spoken,                                                         Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Leusing
                                                                                                               and 31 grandchildren
 .a word, tlierfore, that always accomplishes  what it says.`              Hull, Iowa.


84         -.                                       T H E   STANDARD,+EARER

ll                                                                          neither marrying nor given in marriage,, Matt. 22  :31. And
            FR0.M  HOL'Y  WRIIT  11 does not .Paul write in Gal. 3 :27-29, "FOL as muny of yoai
                                                                            as have been baptized into Christ have put on %hrist.  There
                                                                            shall be neither  Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond not free,
                 Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12-14                          there  is neither male nor female: for ye,are all` on in Christ
                                                                            Jesus . .  ."
                                                                                            Certainly, if words have meaning, Paul here
                                   XIV.                                     places  the womati  (female)  on a par with the man (male) in
                                                                            Christ Jesus. As image-bearers of God in their soul and
                       ( 1   C o r i n t h i a n s   14:33-40).   -         spirit  2nd body  women are not inferior  creatures.                She
       In this section of the 14th Chapter of Corinthians  Ptiul            toe, was created in the image of God jn the Oeginning  (Gen.
rebukes a few  women in the congregation,  who did not,                     1:27).
evidently, understand their God-ordained place in  relation-                    And man; of the "gift?  spoken of in 1 Corinthians 12 :l
ship to' th-e male members in the church. Fact is, that they                through 1 Corinthians 13 ' are given to the woman in the
were those  who did not understand this place in the church                 church, as the Spirit wills, counsels  to do. Many  a sister in.
because they did not know  these first principles  in the hom.e,            the Lord has received gieat  gifts of faith, knowledge, wisdom,
in the marital relationship of husband and wife!                            patience, meekness, etc.
       It seems quite likely that the Corinthian women were                     Paul,  however,  is not speaking of the latter in this pas-
rather  free and bold in their conduct so that Paul had occa-               sge !
sion in Chapter 11 :l-16 to instruct, correct and admonish                      He is  speaking  of  their.  place "in the church," that is,
them in their conduct in the.services,  coming witb their hair              in the congregational  zerorship.  Here there waS speaking with
shorn, .assuming   masculine  mannerisms, hair-do and dress !               tongues. prophesying, al1 to the edification of. the church ;
      Surely  what Paul has to say to the Corinthiani  is  also             also for the edification of the "wotien" in the church,  -as
applicable in our day for the women in the church.                          living members f  God's  church !
      Th; passage here in 1 Corinthians  14:34-36   keads  as                   The fact that a- woman (female) has equality in Christ
follows,  `fLet yozbr woman keep silence in tke clutrclz~s:  for            with the man (male) does not imply that they have  eqzhaliiy
it  &T  mot  pen&tted   unto  thyt to  sfimk:  .batt  tlaey are  CO'W-      in this ~life  in the institutidnal  life of the church. Also here
mznded  to  b,e  md'er  obedience,  as  a.lso  sa:ith   he  law.  And       the  natura1   is  fust;  afterwa:rds  that  whiclz is  spirit,ua2!  (See
if  tlzey  ieriU.Iearn   &ytl&g, let  tlze&   ask  tlzeir  hztsbunds  at    1  Cor. 15  :46),. A  woman has no more equaiity  in the  in-
home:  for  it'is a  slzame   fol  wouzan to  speak in  the  chzurch.       stitutional life of the church than what she has  inthe marital
What?  ca,me the word of God, 0rt.t f~om  yoztP~or  ca~he it unto.          relationship with her husband. Hr's is the `place of obe-
yoat  0nly:n"                                                               dience  to her husband!
 Now' surely this passage is stil1 concerned with the                           Thus it is written  in the "law."  "For it is not permitted
"spiritual gifts" in the church, be it then'by way of a sort of             unto them to speak ; but they  are commanded to be undcr
an appendage. It calls a halt to the sinful emancipation of                 obedience, as also saith the law." Hence, this is not simply
the woman in the church, which simply  yust lead to the wife                a rule which must be applied to a few unruly  women  in  the
ruling Over the husband. That is against the Yaw"  of God,                  church at Corinth; it is a universal rule layd down for al1
God's created ordinances as they are  "fioin the  beginning  !"             climes and ages, and which hs always been practiced by
It destroys the mystery of God as portrayed in the relationship             godly  women, true daughters of Sara. 1 Peter 3 :l-4.
of Christ to the church. See Ephesians 5 ~22-33. Such con-                      And this is x rule which the consistory  in Corinth must
duet of `women betrays a lack `of spiritual sensitiveness 06                practice,'  and which must be insisted upon by  al1  christian
what is-right  and proper in sight of God. And a husband,                   husbands in the Gorinthian congregations! Not to do so
who allows h& wife to rule ver him, too, shows a la& of                    would demonstrate even the consistory and the  husbands'a5
spiritual manhood, ieflecting  the- headship of Christ over the             Such,  who do  n@ understand the  very  A-B-C of  God's
.church. And a consistory which allows women to rule in the                 ordinarce. Paul does not address  the "women"  here in this
church  also  shows  that it is  composed  of men,  who do not              section, but addresses the congregation, that. is, the Con-
kno"w  how  to. rule their own  bouses  wel1   ;  such members              sistory to.this  Effect.  Says he: Let yoztr women  keep silence
should not be in office'! 1 Tim. 3 :l-13.                                   in the churches.
      Surely paul is not militating against the spiritual equality              For surely the "law"  here does not simply refer to the
that a woman (female) has the man (the male) in  ,Christ                    Decalogue   .(although  the  principle  of the priority of the
as a living member by  fa.ith in Christ. In the spiritual body              "father"  is suggested in the fifth  command-ent)  but refeys
of Christ theie is really no prerogative which the male has                 to the entire.Word  of God, as this Word is the norm of faith
over the female. For in Christ al1 are one. And presently                   and life. in the hoine and in the church. Fact is, that this is
in heaven the distinction is really wholly gone betwaen male                the rul; layed down by God in the first wedding, namely, that
and female. For there `we shall be like the angels in heaven,               of Adam afid  Eve in Parad&e.  Seen Gen. 1:27 ; Gen. 2 :7 and


                                                                                                  .
                                                THE*STANDARD   BEARER                                                                                        85

   22. And we know how ill it `fared with Eve when  she- did             clin& the  pulpit   betimes  were  she  .in a  `positin  to do so.
_ not stay in her role, but- was in the -transgression  by speaking      HOW wel1  a minister of some twenty-five years of experience
   with Satan in the form of the serpent; without consulting             knows this !
  her  `husband:   -She spoke  out of  turti.   Sec 1 Timothy 2  :11      . IS she then in no wise to be a  prophet?  Has the Holy
   where  wc  read, "Let the  woman (female)  les-  in  silence          Spirit not also anointed the believing  mother  ,with the-office
  with  al1 subjection. But 1 suffer.not a woman to teach, nor           of  believer,  prophetess, priesteress and -`ah, queen?
  to usurp atithority  over the man, but to be in silence. For              Her place is in the home. She speaks in relationship to
  Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not de-                  the children. She is to be honored as such by them -next:
  ceived, but the  woman  be&.g deceived was in  transgres-              to and under the father!  And what  a beautiful place she
  sion . . . ."                                                          graces in the home.
      Two  principles  ar'e here  tq  be.remembered.  The first is           She is the very picture of christ  in her "silence" tqward
  tee  principle  of the fact that Adam was first created, and           her husband.. She is  beautiful`as  was Sara of old.
  that the woman was taken  out of th& man. The second is,                   When  she grows ,old she must teach the young women, the
  that the &man sinned first, ,eXactly  because she usurped a            daighters  by example and precept to love their husbands, to
  place over the husband! And, we may add; that Christ has               love their:  children,  to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home,
 _- come to establish the original order  of creation, and,  there-      good, obedient  to their own.husbands,  that the Word of God
  fore; goed  order (rank) and decency is that a woman  shall not        be not blasphemed ! Titus 2 :3-5.
  tach in the congregation, shall in ro wise rztle  over the nan !       Yes, 1 have anticipated the question of oir christian  school
      Turning to the pages -of Scripture, one might cite the             teachers,  our Sunday school teachetis,  who are sisters in the
  example of Deborah in the days of the judges,  and that of             Lord? Does this then  mean  that we should not  teach?   1
  Hulda,q the prophetess in the days of King Josiah. ~ (See              answer : Paul is speaking  of the offices  in the church. Min-
 . Judges 5 and 6 and 11 Kings  22 :14 -2nd 11 Chron. 34 :22).           isters, elders and deacons. These must be men. He is, not
  Both of these  woman were prophetesses. nd one of them,               spealing of the school as an  extension  of the home. Such are
  Deborab,  even ruled over di Israel. For we read in Judges             our day schools, are they not? Are they not ruled and
  4:4, "And Deboiah,  a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she            governd by tha "Board." Men, they are.  -Let. the, teachers
  judged Israel .at that time. And she dwelt under the palm              remember.  And yur Sunday Schools  ?  Here.woman  do not
  tree of Deborah between  Ramah and Betbel in meount  Ephra-            teach  men, do they ? They tach classes of children. In a 1
  im: and the children of Israel  came up to her for judgment."          sense, they are helpers of the Ministers. But in so doing they
      Now, wha; must be said of this ?                                   ofteti.receive  instruction at the teacher's meeting  froti, min-
     We re certain that in al1 cases where  woman  rules, it           isters, either in the Instructor or personally.
  was always in. very  abnormal  times in the church, when  the             If any in Corintli would desire it different, and insist. 09
  very foundations were about to be destroyed.  It is the ex-            having women  sbeak, have their own confusion of speaking
  ception to the. rule in  Scripfure,  and, therefore!  in. each case    with tongues and prophesying, Paul  ask5 in effect with Job,
  establishes the rule layed down in the law. At such a time             "Has  wisdom  died with you  ?" Did the Word of God go
  men did nat- quit themselves like men. It was not a case of a          forth from y&? Are you the very  archetype of wisdom  and
  wbman. ruling over a man, hut it was rather  a case that the           ktiowledge?  The whole army of the saints is out of step, ea-
 foundations of righteousness and the service of God should              cept ye Corinthians, says Paul ironically ! Or did the Word
  stand,  S.uch was the case in the days of  Debor&h. What               of God only come to you. You alone know, what is righb?
  courage  ( ?) did Barak ,exhibit to fight the battles of Jehovah          Well, be assured, that what 1 tel1 you in this letter  is the
  when  he said, "If thou wilt go with me, then wil1 1 go !" And         "commandment  of the Lord."
  why dici the glory of this battle go to a `woman by name of               If a kan is too ignorant to learn, let him be ignorant and
  Jael ? %Vhy must Sisera  lay prostrate t her feet ?              /    suffer the consequences.
     Surely this.is  an indictment against the men in Israel in             Meanwhile let al1 things be done decently and in order.
  Deb&-ah's  day.                                                           And last but not least : in the.love  of Christ Jesus !
      And what about the days `of King Josiah?  Was that too                                                                                               G.L.
  not a time when  the teachers in Israel had utterly failed to
  instrucf  the people in the law? Was the scroll of the law                                           IN MEMORIAM
not found by the  workmen  in the temple  ?  Trulf  that  th
  prophetess, Huldah, must be inquired after  by the uery leaders           The Martha  Ladies Aid of the Protestant Reformed Church
                                                                         of Huil, .Iowa!  expresses its sincere sympafhy to one of our mem-
  in Israel is an indictment .against  Israel! It was the excep-         bers, Mrs.  Nlck Kooiker, in the  loss of her sister                       1~
  tion  that confirmed the rule.                                                                       MRS. JOHN  VIS
      In The church women are to be silent.                              on October  20, 1957.
      They  are not to climb  the pulpit;  neither are they to rule         May  our triune God  -comfort  and  .sustain  her in  her.sorrow.
                                                                                                              Rev.  J .   H e y s ,   P r e s i d e n t
  the "roost" at home! The latter type of wo,m- would surely                                                      Mrs. T. Hoekstra,  Secyetary


                                                                                                                                   .  .


 86                                            T H E '   STANDARD   BEA..RER
                 -. -__-
 I/                                                                                And,' of cours, we touch the world with the sensation of
                 IN  HS  JEAR                                                feeling. We are able to fee1 - as wel1 as `sec - whether -thee
                                                                              things in the world are rough or smooth. But we also ex-
                                                                              Berience whether they are wet or dry, whether they  are cold
                      Spiritually  Se&tive                                    or hot. And, for one who has lost his faculty of sight, this
                                                                              sense of feeling serves to acquaint him with the size and
        In  live ways our souls come in contact with the world in             shape of the things. near him.
.which we live.                                                                                                                                     . .
                                                                                   ~Marvelously  were we made !
        Or if you will, that world that is al1 around US enters our
 SOU~S  in a five-fold way.                                                        What atheistic philosophy to believe that  al1 these delicate
                                                                             sensations and valuable faculties  came into being by an
       We. have contact with that  world- by the sensation of                 evolutionistic  process as man evolved from creatures  - plants
 sight. We see the world. There is a sensation of its color,                  for example - which `do not have these abilities ! What
 size,  shape, height, length and depth. The blazing  color of                atheistic nonsense that man, Who,  even by the evolutionist, is,
 the bed of flowers, the clear  blue.of  the sky, the soft green              cqnsidered to be the acme of earthly creatures, should evolve
 ,of the field, the brilliant whiteness of the snow, tlie.beauty  of          into .a being in which these faculties are far less keen than ,
 the rainbow al1 enter our souls through the ey. The lofty                   in the beasts from which they evolved. Indeed  there mst be
 mountain  peak, the depth of the  .canyon, the broad expanse                 some "devolution"  along~  with the evolution. Who can deny
 of the desert al1 become known ti, US and make an .impres-                   that the sense of smell, of hearing of sight and of taste are
 sin  upon our souls through that sensation of sight. NO                     far more delicate in many beasts than it is in man ? Nay,  hut
 power shines fort11 out of the eye as the beam of light that                 we were made by an ALL-wise God and made in His
 emanates out of your flashlight. The eye is rather  like the                 f..-- - p                                                  0
                                                                              irnagL.
 camera with its lens and sensitive  film.; The light that radi-
 ates  from  an object enters through the lens and strikes  the                    Of Him we read frequently that He sees,  hears, tastes and
 sensitive film upon which it makes an impression. SO the - smells. The first two, no doubt,  wil1 not be questioned. But
 color,  size and shape of the things in this world enter into our            let US quote a few verses  of Holy Writ to substantiate this
 souls through the eye.                                                       claim that we s read of Him. Genesis 1:31, "And God saw
       We'hear  th world. Sound waves are constantiy moving                  very  thing that He had made, and, behold, it was  very
 through  this  world_in  which  we  live.  They  are picked  up  by          good." Or again in Psalm 33  :13, "The Lord  loketh  frOlTl
 the ear; and we hear music, singing and laughter. Or we                      heaven ; He beholdeth  al1 the sons of men." In that same vein
 hear crying and  moaning. The sound of the bird's singing,                   in Genesis 6 5, "And God saw that the wickedness of man
 the roar of the jet plane flying overhead al1 make an impres-                was very great in the earth. That He hears is stated  in such
 sion   .upon our  souls; We are  moved  to laugh and to sing.                passages as Psalm  116:1,  "1 love the Lord, because He hath
 We are hrought to tears and grief by these sound waves that                  heard my  .voice and my  supplication."   W.ere  that not the
 reah our souls through the sensation of hearing. In our .ears               case, that God hears us,.all prayer would indeed  be folly. But
 are spoken the words of sudden death and bereavement,  to.                   Solomon prays to God, "If  any man  trespass against his
 o,ur souls  come the  message of impending  war and of the neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to  cause  him to.
 enemies  approach ; and fear grips  US, sorrow  floods our                   swear, and the oath come before  thine altar in this house:
 sols.  So it is also with sounds that bring joy and'laughter.               Then hear Thou in heaven, and do and judge Thy servants."
 Through our ears the things in the world round about                         1 Kings 8:31, 32.
                                                                US
 are brought into our souls; and we react one way or another                       That He tastes and smells are also mentioned although
 to that which is brought into our souls.                                     not so frequently. These sensations are not presented  liter-
       We taste the world and that which is init. We delight                  ally (that is, of tasting) nor as clearly, therefore, as those of
 in what we taste or e1s.e we spew it .out of our mouths in sight and hearing. We do read in Revelation 3 :14-16, "Ancl
disgust. But whether the taste is pleasing or not, it is through              unto the angel of the Church. of- the Laodiceans write : . . . 1
 om- tongues and the sensation of taste that we further explore               know -thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot : 1 would
 the world in which- we live and come in contact with that                    thou were cold or hot. So then because thou are .lukewarm;
 which it contains. Similarly we smell the world ; and its                    and neither cold nor hot, 1 wil1  ,spue thee out of my mouth:"
 aromas touch our souls with pleasure or with sickening  dis-                 The implication  of fasting that they are neither hot nor cold is
pleasure. We interpret that whjch we experience through the                   strongly made here. And, of course, with God these  ex:
 sensation of smell as a stench or as. a fresh, exhilarating                  periences are nat, as with man. He does not see, hear, feel,
 smell. But he who cannot smell that which is in the world 2                  smell and taste as man does. Nevertheless these expressions
both the perfumes of the flowers and the stench of decompos-                  indicate  that He knows the  whole of His creation  fully,
ing matter -is cut off from much of- that which is in this                    experiencing  al1 that which He  causes  to take  place in it. As-
world.                                                                        far as  smelling~  is concerned, we do have the literal  state-

                                                                        _


                                                       TH-E.`STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                                               8 7
                                                                                                                                 -                         L-
                                                                                                                                                                .  -
  ment, "And the Lord smelled a swket savour; and the Lord                       tremely distasteful to others. ne likes his steak wel1 done ;
       said in His heart,  wil1 not again curse the ground any more             the other prefers it rare. The one relishes an onion  or even
for  man's sake  .I . .  .," Genesis  S21.                ---                    garlic flavor  ; the other .would find his food spoiled by this
                                                                                 addition: The one finds this perfume too sweet and sicken-
  .       Bnt what interests  US especially, as we consider this mat- \ ing ; the other finds it just what his nostrils desire.  The one
  ter of being  spiritmlly   sensitive, is that Scripture speaks thus            likes it hot; the other likes it cold. The one is moved to tears
       of  usas far as our spiritual life is concerned. We see, hear,            by  music that  makes  no impression at  al1 on others. And
       taste, smell and touch spiritual things. And we have spiritual            so it goes; It is not strange, then, when  there are those who
       sensations. We would, therefore, cal1 your attention to a few.            fee1 as the Psalmist when in -Psalm -119 :136 he declars,
~ -passages  of Holy Writ that express these things.                             "Rivers of water run down mine eyes, because they keep not
                                                                                 Thy law," while there are others who rejoice and celebrate
          A combination  of two of these spiritual experiences when -when God's law is not kept. The one is a regenerated child
       the things of spiritual world enter our souls is found in Psalm           of God who has the eye, the ear, the tongue of faith which
       34 $3, "0 taste and see that the Lord is good : blessed is the            delights only in that which is good in God's sight and to
       man that trusteth in  Him," the psalmist decares.  Note -that            His glory.  1 The other's heart  :and mind is under the pwer
       by the word "trust" he indicates  that it is the act .of faith            of. Satan and of sin so that his eye, his ear, his tongue, his
`~ whereby we taste and see that God is good. Similarly in the                   nose and hand can reach out only toward wickedness.
       Netherlands confession, article XXXV, we  read that faith `5s'
       the hand and mouth of our soul." This matter of seeing is                    A n d   y
                                                                                                . . .? o
                                                                                                                u
                                                                                                            How spiritually sensitive are you.5
       again presented in John 3 13 where Jesus says, "Except  a                    Does the lie have to be presented.  in its strongest form
man be born.again  h cannot see the kingdom  of God." That                      before you can smell that it is a lie? Does a work have to. be
       kingdom  is a spiritual reality,.  and those who have not been            one of bold, blunt and extremely obvious wickedness before
       born again have no spiritual eye. They, therefore, -cannot                you can see that it is not according to God's law? Can you
       see this spiritual reality and cannt  believe that there is such         hear, things that insult the Living God and not realize that
  a kingdom.  Spiritually  they are blind ; and to them it is as
                                                                                 such is the case ?
       thugh tliere were no such kingdom.        -
                                                                            -       And does. wickedness cause you to shudder or to laigh  ?
        In Hebrews 6 :4-6, we  read of  "tasting  the. good word."               Are you attracted to the lie or do ~you wish~to stop up your
- The author writes, "For it is impossible for those who w.ere                   ears when  it is proclaimed and propagated?
       once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift and were                                                                                   _
       made partakers of the Holy`Ghost,  And have tasted  the'good                 -We wish to say more about-  these things next time, the
       Word.of God . . . . if they shall fa11 away, to renew them.               Lord willing,  and to point out that -we and `our children  can
       again to repentance  ; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son          be and should  be trained in our spiritual sensitivity that we
       of- God afresh, and put Him to an open shame.`J                           be not "dull of hearing" .as the author of the epistle to the
                                                                                 Hebrews states but instead those `<who by reason of use have
          In Hebrews 5 :ll- the author  speaks of being`  "dull of
                                                                                 their senses exercised to  discern both good and evil."
       hearing" a,nd in Hebrews 5 :14, he speaks of those who "by
 reason of use have their  senses exercised to discern both                                                                                                     J.A.H.
       good ,and evil.".

           In Philippians 1 : 9, 10 the  apostle  Paul has this to say,
       "And this 1 pray, that your love-may  abound yet more and                                                                                           D
       more in knowledge and  al1 judgment; That ye  may approve                                              . .
       things that are excellent (or as in the -original,  things that                                               I N   MEMORIAM
       differ) ; that ye may be sincere and without offence  til1 the               We hereby  iyish to express  our  sympathy  with  our fellow
d a y   of'christ."           _                                                  member, Mrs. Hrriet  Lubbks, in the death of her  Father,                        .
           There is, therefore, a certain spiritual sensitivity.                                GERRIT KLOMP, aged 86 years.

          .This is not something that is peculiar to the child of God.              May  the  Father of  al1  mercies  com-rt  the  bere,aved  by point-
       Also amongst the unregenerated thre is a certain experience icg  theni to- His faithful'  promises of the resurrection from  the
       of spiritual things. Only the reaction is the opposite in the             dead.   - 1 Cor. 15 55-57.
- regenerated from what it is in the unregenerated. That is                                                          T'he  Ladies'  Society of the Hudsonville
       true even of  US as far as our physical sensitivity is concerned.                                             Protestant Reformed, Church :
       What"  to the eye of one  may be a breathtaking scene, full of                                                                  Rev. Gerrit Vos, President
       color and -grandeur,   may  leava another  cold. What  may  be                                                                 Mrs. `Peter J. Lubbers,
       a  very  pleasing   and stimulating flavor to one,  may  be ex-                                                                   Assistant  -Secr.-treasurer


   88  .                   .-                       T H E   S T A N D A R ` D ` B E  R E R
  ll                                                                          lost.- Prompt measures showed him equal to the emergency.
                  Contending. For The Faith                                IJ He wrote that the stone he had erected to be the head of the
                                                                              corner had becom.a  rock of offence. Like Rachel he mourned
                                                                              over his son whom *he lamented to have made king Otto was
                ,  The.Church and the  Sgcraments                             excommunicated and a meeting of magnates at Numberg,
             V&vvs   DURING  THE  THIIU)  PERIOD  (750-1517 A.D.)             1211, declared him deposed, and, pronouncing in favor of
                                                                             - Frederick,  sent -envoys  to Palermo to convey  to him the in-
                        THE  SUPREMACY OF THE  POPE                           telligenee. Otto  crossed  the  Alps  to  reclaim his power, but it
                INNOCENT  ANQ THE  PAPACY  (1195-1216  A.D.)                  .was too late.  Frederick   started  north,  stopping  at Rome,
              In Germany, Inncent  became the umpire of the imperia1 - where Innocent saw him for the first and last time, April, m
 election.  The electors  were divided between two aspirants to,              1212. He was elected and crowned king at Frankf&~De-
  the throne, Philip of Swabia, the brother of Henry VI, who-                 cember, 1212, and was recognized .by nearly al1 the princes
  was Crowned at Mainz, and Otto, the son of -Henry the.Lion,                 at Eger  the year following. Before  setting out from Italy he
  who was crowned at Aachen by Adolf, archbishop of Cologne.                  had again recognized Sicily as. a fief of Rome. At Eger he
  Ottowas the nephew of Richard Coeur de Lion and John of                     disavowed al1 imperia1 right to the State of the Church.
  England,  who supported  bis. claims with their gold  and                       Otto joined in league with John of  England  and the
  diplomacy. Both  `parties  made their appeal to Rome,. and it               Flemish  princes against Philip Augustus of France] but his
  is not  3 matter of surprise  that Innocent's sympathies were               hopes  were dashed to the ground on the battlefield of `Bou-
  with the Guelf, Otto, rather  than with the Hohenstaufen. vines,  Belgium;  1415. His authority was thenceforth  con-
  -Moreover,  Philip had given  offence by occupying, as duke of              fined to his ancestral estate. He died 1218. Innocent had
  Tuscany,  the estates of Matilda.                                           gained the day. His' successors were to be  defied  by the young
             Innocent made the high claim that the German throne              king,  Frederick,  for nearly half a cntury. (The Roman
  depended for its occupant  `<from  the beginning and ultimately"            Catholic Church claims that the power of the pope is spirit-
  upon the decision of  the papa1 see. Had not the Church trans-              ual, that he ruled over the nations of the world also by bis.
 ferred the empire from the East to the West? And had not                     spiritual power as the vicar of Christ upon this earth. How-
  theaChurch itself conferred the imperia1 crown, passing by                  ever, how often  `is it not truc' that the pope's  power and in-
  the. claims of  `Frederick  and pronouncing Philip  %nworthy                flnence  upon.and  controf of worldly monarchs  .did not lie ia
  of empire ?,' Innocent decided in 1201 in favor of Otto, "his               his spiritual power but in the fact that he could exercise-over
  dearest sonin Christ who was himself devoted to the Church.                 them  the sword power of this world 7 This was truc of Gre-
  and on both sides was descnded from devout stock." Tlae                    gory VII and also of Innocent 111. And, incidentally, this
  decision inured to Rome's advantage. By the stipulation- of lies in the nature of the case. It is-simply a fact that he could
  Neuss, subsequently repeated at Spires, 1209, Qtto promisecl                not have received from Christ his authority and power to rule
  obedience to the pope and renounced al1 claim to dominion in                over earthly monarchs,  and this for the simple reason that
  the State of the Church and also to Naples and Sicily. This                 Christ did not delegate to the pope  such powers. Hence,  the:
        .
  written  document was a dangerous ratification of the  real OD              popels  power was simply a power which he usurped unto
  pretended territoria1 rights  and privileges of the papacy from             himself and which he therefore cold  never exercise  except
  Constantine and  Pepin down:                                               twith  the- force of arms. - H.V.) .
             Civil war broke out, ar& when. the tide of success  turned          With equal spirit and decision, Innocent mingled in the
  in Philip's  favor, the pope released him from the sentence of              affairs of the other  states of Europe.  In,  France, the  con:
  excommunication  and was about to acknowledge  him as em-                  troversy was over the sanctity of the marriage vow. Philip
peror. (The  very  archbishop of Cologrie  who had crowned                   Augustus put away his second wife, a Danish princess, a few
  Otto now put the crown on Philip's headj -when  the murder-                months  after their  marriage,  and took `the fair Agnes of
 ous sword' of Otto of Wittelsbach,  -in 1208, brought Philip's              Meran in her stead. The French bishops, on the plea of  re-
 career to a  tragic end. The year following Otto was crowned                mate  consanguinity, justified the divorce. But Innocent,
 in St. Peter's, but he forgot his promises and proceeded to                 listening to the appeals of Ingeborg, and plating  France  under
 act out the.independent  policy of the rival house of the Hohen-            the interdict, forced  the king to take her back. (Notice,  once
 staufen (Otto had sought to join the fortunes of the two,                   more, that the  power of the pope,  also in this case, was
 houses by marrying Philip's daughter, Beatrice, who died                    purely external).
 soon  after the nuptials). He laid- heavy hand  upon Centra1                    The Christian states of the Spanish peninsula felt the
 Italy, distributing  rich estates and provinces   among his vas-            pontiff's strong hand. The  kingdom  of Leon was kept under
 sals and sequestrating the revenues  of the clergy. He then                 the interdict five years til1 Alfonso 1X consented  to dismiss
 marched to Southern Italy, the territory of Frederick,  and                 his wife on account of blood relationship.  Pedro,  king of
 received the surrender of Naples.                                           Aragon, a model of Spanish chivalry, received  his crown  at-
             Al1 that Innocent had gained seemed in danger of  being         Rome in 1204 and made his realm a fief of the Apostolic  see.
                                                                                                                        _


                                              T,HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  * 89
                                                                                                -

 Sancho, king of th,e newly, risen kingdom  of Portugal, was          phmdred-churches'  and convents to pay his debts and satisfy
 defeated in his effort to break  away from the pope's-suzer-         bis avarice, and yet he never undertook a journey without
 e i n t y .                                                          hanging  charms  around his  neck.  The contemporary  anna-
     In the North, Sweden  accepted  Innocent's decision in           lists know no words too black to describe John's character.
 favor of the house of Schwerker, and the Danish  king-,   who        Lingard   says, "John  stands before US polluted with mean-
 was attempting to reduce the tribes along the Baltic to Chris-       ness, cruelty, perjury,  murder, and unbridled licentiousness."
 tianity, was protected by the pope's threat of interdict  upon       Green,   after quoting the words "foul as hel1 is, hel1 itself is
 al1 mlesting  his realm. The king of England  was humbled           defiled with the foul presence of John,"  says, "in his inner
 to the dust by. Innocent's word. To the king of Sctland a           soul John was the worst outcome  .of the Angevins . . . _ But
 legate was sent and a valuable sword. Even Iceland is said           with the wickedness, of his race he inherited its profound
 to have been the subject of Innocent's thought and action.           abilities." Hunt  uses. these  words,  "He was  mean, false,
                                                                      vindictive, abominably  cruel,  and scandalously immoral."            '
     In the Southeast, Johannitius of Bulgaria received from              Innocent came into collision with John over the selection
 Innocent his crown  after  bowing before his rebuke for having       of a successor-  to Archbishop Hubert of, Canterbury,. who died
 ventured to accept it from Philip of Swabia. Ottoker,  prince        1205. The monks of  Canterbury,`exercising   an ancient priv-
 of Bohemi, was anointed  by the papa1 legate, ad Emmeric  of      ilege, chose Reginld one of their number. With the king's
 Hungary made a vow to lead a crusade,  which his brother             support, a minority proceeded to another  election  and chose
 ,Andrew  executed. Thus  al1 the states of Europe west of            the king's nominee;  John de Grey, bishop of Norwich. John
 Russian were made to  fee1 the supremacy of the papa1 power.         was recognized  by the suffragan bishops `and put into posses-
 The conquest of Constantinople and the  Holy'  Land,- as we          sion by the king.
 shall see, occupied an equal share of attention from this tire-
 less and masterful rul&,  and the establishment of the  .Latin          An appeal was made by both parties to Rome, Reginald
 Empire of Constantinople, 1205, was regarded as a signal             appearing there in  person.   After a delay of  a.year,  Innocent
_ triumph for the papa1 policy.                                       set aside both elections nd .ordered  the Canterbury  monks,
                                                                      present in Rome, to proceed  to the choice of another candi-
                                                                      date. The choice  fel1  upon  Stephen   Langton,  cardinal of
 Innocent atid King Joh of England.                                   Chrysogonus. Born on English soil, Stephen  was a man of
     Under Innocent,  England'comes,  if possible, into greater       in-disputable  learning and mora1 worth. He had studied in
`prominente  in the history of the papacy than during the con-        Paris and won by  bis  merits  prebends in the cathedral
 troversy in the  reign of Alexander  111, a genertion before.       churches of Paris and York. The metropolitan dignity could
 Then the English actors were Henry 11 and Thomas   Becket.          have been intrusted to no shoulders more worthy of wearing
 Now- they are  Henry's,  son  J.ohn and  Becket's  successor.        it. His scholarly tastes are attested by his sermons, poems,
 Stephen   Langton. The pope was  victorieus,  inflicting the         and comments on books of the Bible which stil1 exist in the
 deepest humiliation  upon the  English  king  ; but he afterwards    libraries of Oxford, Cambridge, Lambeth, and of  France. He
 iost the advantage he had gained by supporting John .against         is falsely credited by some.with  hving been the frsf `to divide
his barons and denouncing the  Magna  Charta of  -English             the entire Bible into  chapters.  While he has no title to  saint-
 popular rights. The controversy  forms one of the most in--          ship like  Becket, or to theological genius  _like Anselm,
 teresting episodes of English history.                               Langton  wil1 always occupy a place ampng the foremost of
     John, sumamed Sansterre or Lackland, 1167-1216,  suc-.           England's  primates as a. faithful- administrator and the ad-
 ceeded his brother Richard 1 on the throne, 1199. A man `of          vocate of English popular liberties.
 decided ability and rapid in  action  but -of ignoble spirit, low       The new archbishop received consecration at the  gope's
 morals, ancl despotie  temper, `he brought  upon his realm such      own hand, June 17, 1207, and held bis office til1 his death,
 disgrace as England  before or since has not suffered. His           1228. Innocent, in his letter to John of May 26, 1207, de-
 reign was a succession of wrongs and insults to the .English         clared he would turn neither to the right nor to the left in con-
 people and the English church.                                       firming the election.  The English king met fhe notification
     John had joined Richard in a revolt against theii:  father,      with fierce  resistance, confiscated the property of the Canter-
 soght to displace his brother on the throne during his tap-         bury chapter,  and expelled the monks as guilty of treason.
 tivity after the Third Crusade,  and was generally believed          Innocent replied  with the threat of the interdict. The king
~by contemporaries to have put to dath his -brother Geoffrey's       swore by  Go.d-`s teeth (one  of`John's favorite forms of  ob-
 son, Arthur of (Brittany,  who would have been Richards suc-         jurgation) to follow the. censure, if pronounced, with the
 cessor-if  the  law of primogeniture.had  been followed. He lost     .mutilation  of. every Italian in the realm appointed by In-
 Normandy, Anjou,  Maine, and. -Aquitaine to the English:             nocent, and the expulsion of al1 the prelates and clergy. The
 Perjury  was no barrier to the accomplishment of his plans.          sentence.. was published by the  bishops of London, Ely,  and
 He set aside one- wife and was faithless to another. NO wo-          Worcester, March  22, 1208. They then -led the kingdom.
 man was too wel1  born to be' safe against his advances.  He                                                                 H . V .


     90 .                                           T H E   ST,ANDARD   B E A R E R

                                                                                meant  by the expression "stock and  black"?  The  very  es-
                                                                                pression  has come to carry a certain  derogatory connotation
     1'                                                                   i[    when  applied to one's doctrine concerning man. And ,while
                    .The Canons'of  Dordrechl                                   it may be granted perhaps that the meaning of the term is.
                                                                                rather  self-evident,. it is nevertheless wel1  that we give  care-
                                PART  T~O                                       fd  account  of.  its meaning. The expression, as is  also plain
                      ~ZSPOSITION  OF THE  CANONS                    .          from this article by infe;e&e,  denotes a: creature without in-
              THIRD  AND  FOURTH  HEADS OF  DOCTRIXE                            tellect and will, one without any self-cotisciousness  and with-
      OF  THE  CORRUPTION OF  MAN,  HIS  CONVERSION  TO.GOD,                    out  anp self-determination. A  creature  that'is  utterly and
                      AND TtiE 'wINNER TXEREO~                                  passively subject to the wil1  of another, so that it is in its
                         Article 16  (continued)                                very   nature   incapable  of  any rational and volitional activity,
0       Before proceeding with our  exposition  of this  article,~we            incapable   pf  thinking and  j willing,  incapable  of  any  self-
     want to cal1 attention  to the fact th,at this, accusation, that           determined activity, - that is a stock and black.  The terms
     Reformed doctrine makes of man a stock and black> has come                 that are used in the Latin refer in the first instance  to a log
     to be used as a sort of bogey-man. and that toe? rather  suc-              or  tru& or stem of a tree. Hence, we may conclude that
cesslully in some cases. For some reason, possibly because of                   when  this- charge is registered against the Reformed truth
     a faulty understanding of  thii" accusation and of the truth               concerning man's fallen stafe and his conversion, it means
     over against it, there are those who are rather  easily frightened         that according to the Reformed view, fallen man is really with-
     out of their  Refornled  position by  this charge. Instead of              out intellect and will, without the power to think and to                    ,
     standing their- ground and- gainsaying the .charging  of the               deterniine  and to choose, without the power of  any  self-
     enemy, they give up the battle when  this charge is brought conscious activity, just as a log is without such power or just'
     against them rather  easily, and soon acknowledge  that after              as a tree is devoid of any such powr. And it also means that
     al1 there remains  some goed in man and that this good is a                in the whole work of his regeneration and conversion man is
     ccntributing factor in h'is salvatioi,  more specificially  in his         also  incapable  of  any self-conscious activity and  self-deter-
     regeneration and conversion. They admit then  thai natura1                 mi&tion,  any thinking  and willing action,  just as such a log
     man can seek, desire,  long for, and even pray for his saluation.          r  tree.  When  man,  -  such is the idea, or  rather,  the
     Thry  wil1  grint that man must walk  in the covenant way in               caricature of the Refrmed truth which  this charge intends
     order to be rxeived into Gocl's covenant, and that the fermer              to, convey,  - is translated o& of the kingdom  of darkness
     is prior to the latter, Thus they beat a hasty retreat from  the           into the kingdom  of God's dear  Son, that whole  work is to
     sound Reformed position. And thus they adopt the Arminian                  be compared  in every respect. to the moving  of a log from
     position, which, of course, is the  very purpose of those  who             one .place to another. When man is converted and brings
     bring this accusation.                                                     forth the fruit of faith and repentance and good works, then
        Let  ui  notice;  however,  by way of genera1 comment on                he does that just as a tree brings fort& fruit, without any
     this article, that it is not the purpose of our fathers  what-             conscio.us  and volitional and purposeful activity.
     soever to retreat from  their Reformed position. They neither
     change their teaching concerning  the corruption of  the                       NO; what is the fallacy of this charge?
     natura1 man, -nor compromise  their doctrin  concerning the                   It is this, that it simply assumes  that the creature man
     strictiy sovereign and efficacious operation of the grace of               can be  changed  as a  creature into a stock and  black. Or
     God unto the conversion of the totally depraved sinner.~  And              rather,  it assumes  that such a change of man from one kind
     on the ether  hand, they refuse to grant that-  there is any               of  creature (rational and moral) into another kind of cre-
     truth whatsoever in the accusation that they by their doctrine             ature (non-rational and  non-horal) is even conceivable.
     lilake of man a stock and black.  They  completely deny  ihat              And it wildly charges  &r. Reformed fathers  wit11 that  satie
the charge has any validity at all. In fact, at the very  basis.                impossible  assumption.  That, in the  frst  place.. In the  sec-
     oC the fathers answer to this charge irr Articl  .16 is the fact          ond place,. it sim$ly assmes  that a creature upon whom  God
     that the charge is aii.impossible'one.  The terms "man" and                operates sovereignly and efficaciously must  needs be a stock
     "stock and black"  are in the fathers' view mutually exclusive.            `and black, - that a stock and black is th& only kind of cre-
     There is no such thing as a man that is a stock and black:                 ,ature that  can be the  bject  of  grace   that is.  absolufely       -
     And finally, tlie fathers make  it plain that anyone who brings            sovereign and efficacious. It is indeed  passing strange that -
     such a charge either against the Reformed doctrine of man?                 men wil1 grant that the existente  and activity of a stone or
     total depravity or aga$st  the Reformed doctrine of regenera-              a tree or any other brute creature  can be subject to God's
     tion  and conversion  ii guilty of a  misnderstariding  and mis-          sovereign cntrol and direction, but that a man, just because
     construction of those doctrines, either wilfully or inadver-               Le is a creature  ivith  mind and will, cannot be subject to such
     tz.ntlyl With.that  in mind,  lt US look at some of the details of        sovereign control  and direction of the Almighty. But such
     this,parag?aph  a bit more ciosely.                                        is indeed.  the assumption  of this charge of the Arminians. And
      Probably the first question-  we ought ti ask is : what is                in the third place,  it is &bviouS  that the Arminians wilfully


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      31

  confuse man's essential nature  as creature with the spiritual,            What is implied  in this operation as far as man's rational,
   mora1  state and  condition  of  that  nature.  They confuse the       mora1  nature  itself is concerned? The following:,
   forma1  with the-spiritual.  In their view, it is impossible  that         1.. The wil1 and its properties are not taken away. When
   a thinking and willing creture can be a creature of totally           God's grace- operates; man is not deprived of his will. Nor
   evil  mind and will, a creature incapable  in that very  mind          is he deprived, `even temporarily  of the properties of his will,
   and wil1 of thinking, willing, or `doing the' good. In their           that is, the power to determine and to choose. The  very  op-
   view, it is also impossible that a creature with mind and wil1         posite is true.' Man's wil1  and its properties remains very
   can be so totally corrupt in his mind and wil1 that'the only           much in the picture. It is exacty that wil1 that is the object
   way out for him is that bis totally corrupt mind and wille  be         of God's. gracieus  and efficacious.  work. And because  it is the
   sovereignly and efficaciously changed into a good mind and             wil1  itself tht is the object of God's operation, it can never
   will. But we may wel1  ask: where is the conflict in the Re-           br said that God forcibly  compels  the wil1  of man against its
   formed conception ? Where is the problem ? If it is conceiv-           own desire.  The power of God's grace is not compelling, but
   able that a tree, a creature without mind and will, exists,            impelling.  God's  grace does not act as an obstruction or
   grows,  produces  fr.uit, and undergoes al1 the changes attend-        blockade on the path of man's wil1 ; it operates internally,
   ant upon a tree's  existente  slould  exist and develop strictly      changing the will.
   within the confines of God's sovereign  determination  and                2: The nature  of that change is such that in the spiritual,
   operation, why should that nat also be conceivable of a man,           ethica1 sense of the word that wil1 is quickened, healed, cor-
   a creature with mind and wil1  ? Why should that be thought            rected, and  powerfully  turned  from within. Hence; the
   a thing impossible,  - except  it be, of course, that sinful man       change of conversion is never unpleasant, though it is effica-
  -does not want the absolutely sovereign God? This is the very           cious.  .Un$easant  it would indeed  be if God's grace treated
   crux of the matter. This charge of the Arminians  is as sinful         man as a creature without wil1 and intellect when  he had a
   as it is absurd!  .And in this case-the fathers answer'the fool        wil1   and mind. Unpleasant in the extreme would conversion
   according to his folly.                                                be if man's  wil1 were not  touched by the power of God's
      In the first place,  they maintain  that man through the fa11       grace  while  he was nevertheless  forced  to go in the way
   did not cease to be, hut remained man, a creature endowed              of God's commandments.  But now God changes the sinner
   with intellect and will. Sin is a spiritual,-ethica1 reality. And      out of his unwillingness and perverseness into a willing and
   therefore sin, w-hen it pervaded the entire human  race,, ,did not     docile  and humble  and obedient and believing  child  of-,His.
   deprive man of bis essential nature  as man. Al1 that sin could        Mark you well, God changes .him. And He does it alone!
   do was to affect man from  a spiritual,-ethica1 point of viw.         Man  contributes absolutely nothing towdrd that change. But
   And this it did: that man, with a man's nature, sin dpraved           God always deals with His creatur,es according to the  nature
- and  spiritually   slew, so that he, with  al1 his heart and            which He  Himself  gave that creature in creation. He deals
   mind and soul and strength, was changed from a good and                with man as with a man, whether  in the state of rectitude; or
   righteous and holy man to an evil and guilty and corrupt               in  bis fallen  state,  or in  grace. And when  in  absolute:y  sov-
   man. The  result  was therefore  nat, that man could no more           ereign grace God deals with the rational, mo,ral  creature,
   think and wil1 ancl act at all, but that he couldonly think and        man, and  converts him, then he attains to the true and spirit-
   wil1  and act the evil. Al1 this we have observed before, even         ual renewal and freedom of the will. In deed,  ,if one would
 as the Canons have treated this subject -in connection with              speak of a free will, then he must not only speak of that
 man's natura1 light..                                                    forma1 and psychological  freedom of the wil1  whicli is spirit;
       Hence, the first proposition in the answer of this article         ually bondage, but he must speak of the true spiritual free-
   may be briefly  formulated  as follows: Sin  indeed  operates in       dom, the liberation from the power of sin and death.
   men as a spiritual, ethica1 power unto depravity and spiritual             Finally, the.article calls attention to the crucial importante
  death ; but it operates as in' men, not as in stocks and blocks.        of this truth. It as it were plces US before the alternatiye of
       From- this the second proposition  folows :  The divine            this blessed  truth of free and sovereign grace or utter hope-
   grace of regeneration operates in  elect men efficaciously  (:ir-      lessness  as far as  any wy  out of the bondage .of sin and
   resistibly j and sovereignly ; hut when  it `operates,  it operates    death is concerned. In other words, oie  may talk about
   as in men, not as in stocks and blocks.                                stock and blocks, and bring  al1 kinds of objections against the
       The  principle is that through  al1  the spiritual, ethica1        ~truth of God's sovereign grace. IBut when  he stands face to
   changes which a  man undergoes he always remains a man.                face with the stark reality of his own total depravity and the
   When   he stands in original righteousness in  Paradise,   he          hopelessness  of bis spiritual death, then there is only one .way
   does so as a rational, mora1 creature. When  he falls, into            out, and he shall have to acknowledge itl He plunged himself
   total depravity and spiritual death, he does so as a rational,         into ruin through a free will. But he can never extricate
   mora1 creature. And when  he is restored and raised unto life          himself  from that ruin by the same free will. Unless the ad-
   in Christ  through sovreigngrace,  also this change  comes            mirable Artificer of every good deals in this manner with US,
   upon  him as a ratio&, mora1  creature.                                there is no hope.                                           H.C.H.


                                                                                                              _.

92.           .                                     T         H    E          STANDARD-BEARER   -

                                                                             mans  d.enia.1 of the fact. What can be taken out of Mr. Van
                   DECENCY and ORDER                                         den  Berg's  reasoning  hut that he would make  man's  ex-
                                                                             perience to be of no significant account? This is the essence
                                                                             of fatalism,  whether it be that of Mohammedanism or of a
                    Sovereignty Denied  (??)                                 pervision of Christianity."
        In conluding our answer to the writings of Rev. M.                       Then again  he charges : "The tendency of Mr.  Vanden
MacKay, we desire  to briefly comment  upon his last article,                Berg  to. veer off in the direction of fatalism is seen  kin stil1
appearing in the September, 1957 issue of the Contendev,                     another  way:- This is in connection with the acknowledged
and in which he attempts  to show that those who maintain                    fact that sin has rendered man .from  the time f Adam on-
the  principle  of separation between church  and~  state are                ward u:nable to do what he ought to do, that is, what God
guilty of denying. the Sovereignty of God !              -                   commands him to do in His eternal law, the Ten Command-
                                                                             ments. Now there is no disagreement between Mr.  Vanden
        This is a, very serieus charge!        ,                             Berg and The Contendw  .on the fact of such inability. Mr.
        If this indictment  had any truth in it, a complete revision         Vanden  Berg's fatalism is seen  L not in stating the  fact it-
of our position on church and state would be-mandatory and                   self - but in his attitude toward this fact."
a change of our Confession demanded at the earliest possible                     Stil1  later MacKay, although he lacks the courage  to do
moment. Just that  serieus  is the matter!                                   so  outrightly, feigns to charge  US  with, Barthianism. We
        However, we  hasten  to add that the writings in the                 quote : "We cannot help bt see a certain philosophical re-
Contender attempting  to prove these charges are far from                    semblance between Barthianism and the way Mr. Vanden
convincing. They are a big disappointment.  McKay   writes:                  Berg's position  reveals  itself. The Bible te&  US that it is
                                                                             sin, and sin alone, which has separated man from God, and
        "Furthermore,  those  who believe in the separation of               set up the woeful train of conseqnces  which has plagued
church and state (for  example  the Chr. Reformed Church                     this planet since Adam.' However, Barthianism, in its pro-,
and the Protestant  ,Reformed  Church(es) whose 1910 state-                  fessed zeal to maintain God as the Altogetlzer-Othev  One, -
ment is chiefly devoted to criticising the historie Presbyterian             His trancendant greatness - has tried to portray the gulf
and Reformed doctrine of church and  state,  and then briefly                that separates man from God as a metaphysical gulf rather
contradicts itself-  by inserting .the remark  that it believes              than a mora1 (sin-caused  j gulf. That is to say, Barthianism
that the  state  bas an obligation to the first table of the Ten             tries to make out that the distance between man and God is
Com&andments)   di  not  b.elieve in  the  a.bsohte   sovmeignty,            one of creation or nature  rather  than of morality. Now Mr.
of God for they would limit the acknowledgement which the                    Vanden  Berg veers off.  somewhat  L though not altogether-
state  is morally bound to  ,render  to God." (italics  ours).;              in the same direction. This tendency is seen in fatalism as           1
    Not only does the author fail to prove this charge but the               in Barthianism. This `is, it would teach that God is so  qreut
charge itself is based on a  fa&inference  and interpretation                that what separates Him from man is man's natwaZ SM&
of the 1910 statement and, therefore, cannot be proven. For                  ness as wel1  as bis sin. This is found also in the fatalism of
this our readers may refer to our previous article.                          Mohammedanism. Of  course, Mr.  .Vanden  Berg does not
   Then, too, the author veers from the  main point in  ques-                deny at al1 that sin has separated man from God. But this
tion  (wliich is whether the church, by maintaining that                     other `angle' is also at work in Mr. Vanden  Berg's thinking
church and state are separate institutions, each sovereign in                And it is dangerous  toe."
their own sphere and .morally responsible in that- sphere,                      The author then continues to assert that our position  fails
denies the absolute sovereignty of God) and devotes the                      `Yo give due consideration  to. what the Bible says about the
largest share of his article to discussing the question of the               condescension of God" and that  it  tends "to disparage man,
relationship between the  sovereignty  of God and  human                     putting him in an unnecessary bondage." Then he  con-
responsibility. In connection  wiih this discussion  he does  US             cludes  by saying, ."It only goes to show that where there is
serious injustice and  places   US in an altogether wrong light              an  &wba~la;nce   in the doctrines of God and man,  and their
before the readers of The  Contender.                                        relationships, the net result  is a sure loss in that true spirit-
   Unjustly he charges                                                       ual freedom wherewith Christ  came to set 
                              US with i~~a.talisw~`J  when  he writes  :                                                      US  free."
"We were not questioning or denying the  fact that GOD IS                       Space does not permit US to quote more.of TIw Contender.
GOD, as Mr.  Vanden  Berg puts it,  that is, God's  absoluter                For those of our readers who may be interested, a year's sub-
sovereignty over men and nations. Now what  does this mean                   scription to Tlze Contender `can be had for only one dollar.
if it does not mean that Mr. Vanden  Berg is veering  sharply                Undersigned wil1 gladly furnish  YOU with the  address.
in the, direction of fatalism ? If not, why would he make                       The allegations contained in the above writings we em-
such a statement? As we said before, we do not question the                  phatically deny  and we are aiso convinced that MacKay puts
fact of God's sovereignty,  - we are  concerned  only with                   us in a wrong light.  when  he so falsifies our position before


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   93

the mind of his readers. we are not interested in answering            refer  him to Lord's Day 4 of our Heidelberg Catechism  and
al1 these charges since that would involve endless rebitition  of      also to our article in the November 1, 1957 issue of The
what we have already  written  in this series.- Our `former            .!?thdarvd  Bea:my.
articles speak for themselves and we are `satisfied to leave              5. In conclusion,  we must say that we hope to hear again
The Standa,rd  Bea.y,er  readers judge for themselves the valid-       Erom MacKay on this matter &d, particularly : (a) of his
ity of these accusations.                                              defence of the position of chrch and state expressed  in the
     We are intei-ested in bringing this discussion to a con-          Westminster Confession and, (bj of his admission  that he
clusion in order that we  may  proceed  with our treatment of          has publicly falsified our position on the subject when  he.
the articles of our church order. In doing this we wish to             read into it heresics .it never expressed.
present a brief summation of the issue  here.:                            Next time then, D.V., we wil1  begin to discuss  the 31st
     1. Both  Tlze  Contendev   and we are in agreement  with          Article of our Church Order.
respect to the matter of the fact of tlze Sovereignty of God.                                                                G.V.D.B.
     2. 1 believe  tl& we are  also  basicaliy  agreed on the
matter of ackrtowledging  that fnct and that if MacKay wogld
correctly evaluate om- position instead of. drawing  from it                    Report of  Eastern  Ladies' League
false inferences and conclusions, he would  als see  that,               The.  Fa11 meeting of the Eastern  Ladies  League was held
NO where did we ever write that the state,  the civil author-          at our Hudsonville Prot. Ref. Church the evening of Oc-
ities, are not obliged  to. acknowldge tbe fact of God's ab-          kober 24. 1957..
solute sovereignty and, this implies of course, to conduct the
affairs of. the  state  in harmony with that acknowledgment.              The -meeting .was opened by siiging  Psalter No. 58 and
We are agreed with Tlte Contendel-`s  criticism of the First           Psalti 89 :l, after which our presibent,  Mrs. M. Jonker, read
Amendment   t?  thee  Gonstitutioi  of the U.S.A., which, in           Proverbs 4 and lead US in prayer. She extended a word of
substance, asserts that the state is to be neutral  in things          welcome  to -al1 ?he ladies present. Mrs. E. Cammenga from
pertaining to God. Of course there is no  Scriptural basis for         our Holland church favored US with a vocal solo entitled,
that position. However,  our contefition  with MacKay does             "Great is Thy Faithfulness.
not arise on -this point but rather  commences  when  he at-              ?he president then introduced  our speaker, Rev. R. Veld-
tempts to  read the  salfie  interpretation  into the Statement of     man,  who  .following  a suggestion from the Delegate Boarcl,
1910, appended to Art.  36 of our Confession, as he reads in spoke on th subject he had treated at the Young People'S
the U.S. Constitution. Our previous article treated this mat-          Convention, "Obedience in the Home." He spoke from +he
ter and we need not. repeat  here., The Constitution and the           viewboitit  of the child, and asked that we together take the
Statement of 1910 are not th& same and it is unjust to read            position that we are talking  to our Covenant young people.
them as though they wei-e.  Here MacKay is in error!                       He called our attention to the fa& that this is a timely
     3. In the  main we  can agree with  M&Kay  when  he               subject, since there is much disrespect, adolescent conceit,
write that the' "relationship between God's.  Sovereignty ,and         and back talk in the home,  as-wel1  as in the school.
man's responsibility is an  awesome and insolvable mystery."              We pacents  are als0 far from perfect, often  too carnal,
We have sent .him a copy of a lecture on the subject, de-              money-minded, and pleasure mad to be concerned about obe-
livered by the Rev. .R. Veldman,  and wil1  await his reaction.        dience  from our children. But despite failings of parents,
For the rest, our particular department in  The Standwd                children are called upon to obey.'  Disobedience  to parents.
Bea8~~e~~  is not the proper place to elaborate upon  this subject.    and stiperiors  is forbjdden in many places  in Scripture, and
Much  has been said and writt.en  about this within our ciicles        our  Comtiunion  Form forbids the disobedient  to,  come to
in the past and most of our readers, wc assume, are familiar           the Lord's  Table,.  as  wel1 as murderers and drunkards.
with the views we have~always  taken on the matter. Though             "Honor thy  father  and thy  mother"  is the first  command-
it is true, as MacKay  writes,  that `a wrong emphasis on              ment with promise.
"man's  responsibility" results in  Arminianisi and a false               Authorify  implies  the right to command  discipline. Chris-
emphasis  on "Divine Sovereignty" leads to  fatalism,  we  deny        tian discipline is so difficult. It is subject  to.  God's  law.
that our position is either. Arminian of fatalistic.  .r`hat Mac       .Pa&nts  must love. They  must not be abusive  ; but a cool
Kay  misinterprets  our position and then proceeds to ascribe          head, a warm heart and much prayer is required. Parents
fatalistic  conclusions to this interpretation does not make US        need the forgiveness of their childre  too at times.  Parents
f a t a l i s t s   !                                                  must also be o&dient, faithful to their calling,  so that their
     4. MacKay's copclusion  that we deny  mora1 obligzition  on       children are able to respect them. If pafents cannot  obey
the basis of  man's inability is entirely  unwarranted.  He            their superiors, they cannot  expect  obedience from their
argues that we reason away God's  demand   upon the sinner             children.
from  the  fact of man's  inability  to keep that  demand.  We                                (Continued  on page 96}


   94                       -                     T;HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                            / -                       -.
                                                                                There are no meritorious conditions to sahation.  God
                  ALL AROUN'D US                                            does not'say, "1 wil1 save you, if you perform such and such
                                                                            %n act." That would be salvation by works.
                                                                                Furthermore, it would  b'a denial of man's total depravity
   Notes  frowz  &e Baptist  Exauniner.                                     and inability (John  6:44,  Ephesians 2  :l). Grace  bring.r
         A brother, colleague in the ministry, sent me several              salvation  to the spiritually helpless sinner. Some Baptists
   samples  .of the publication  called   `The  Ba.ptist  ExawLiner,  a     refer fo repentance and faith as "conditions"  of salvation.'
   paper published in Kentucky and edited by Bob  L. Ross  and              But if -salvatio&  is conditioned upon the sinner in the very
   John R. Gilpin.  Our since.r.e thanks for this kindness.                 beginning;  then why not al1 the way to the end 7 Repentance
         The papers which we  .read contained several remarkable            and faith are not cond,itions  to salvation ; they are the meafis
   articles, al1 of which clearly indicate  the position  of the writers    hof God in, bringing His people from sin unto Christ. 1 say
   as being strongly opposed  to every semblance of Arminian-               the "means of God," for repentance and faith are "insepar-
 ism. A striking example of this we  noticed  in an editorial               able graces;  wrought in our souls by tlze regenerating  Split
   written  by Bob L. Ross. The editorial contained the follow-             of God.  (B,$aptist  Confession of Faith, New Hampshire).
   ing sub-titles: Salvation  Qy The Grace of the  Devil,   Uncon-          .The elect do not of themslves perform repentance and faithj
   dition.al  Salvation, Good Works  Necessary,  and God Sales              but the Spirit  Produces these  graces in the  ere&, "in  con-
                                                                            nection with divine  truth."
   Against the Old  Will. We are  republishing.  the editorial
   exactly as it was  written,   and trust that our readers  wil1               Our salvation is conditioned upon one only, even our
   appreciate  what is good in it. Here follows the editorial:              God. If we, as helpless sinners, are to be saved, it depends
                                                                            entircly   upon   Hi&. We are what we are "by the  grace of
         SALVATIO.N   BY  THE  GRACE  0F  THE  D~VIL                        G o d . "   (I.Corinthl&   15:lO).
         The BIBLE TEACHES  sajvation  by the  grace of God                     :-                     *  $  *  *  .
   (Ephesians 2 is-10).  The Arminians teach that -salvation  is
   by the grace of the Devil, and here is how:                                              GOOD WORKS  NECESSARY
         The Arminjans teach that God does al1 He can' possibly                 Works  ARE- NOT necessary.  toe  obtain   salvation, for
   do to `save  al1 men without an  exception   ; but the Devil's           salvation is the gift of  grace (Ephesians 2  :S, 9). -But works
. power holds. a great number from God, and they go to Hell.                are necessary as an vidence of election  and salvation.
   .In the words of the rank Arminian, Noel Smith, "God Al-                     The person who professes to be elect or to be a Christiai,
   mighty Himself couldn't  save them ! He did al1 -He could.               yet has no works, and no hunger for righteousness, has no
   He failed."                                                              evidente  of his lection or salvation. Without repentance
         Now, if the Devil   can keep sinners from being saved,             and~faith, no one can lay claim to salvation through Christ.
-. then his power is certainly greater than God's and he could              Without a holy  walk in life, no one can lay claim .to having
   keep everybody from being saved, if he so desired. But some              repented and believed. Understand, these things do not  ob-
   men get _saved  and go to Heaveri,  so the Devil  must have              tain or merit salvation ; they simply evi?lence  salvation. They
   permitted their  saliration,  for he could have blocked it. This         are the fruits of. the Word sown in  "goed   ground." The
   simply  means that al1 that get saved are saved by the grace of          seed was first sown,  then  came the fruits.
   the  Devil, and they go to Heaven, evidently because the                     The free-willers and  merit-mengers   rcverse this order;
   Devil  -wouldn't- have ,them in Heil.                                    they  have the fruits before the seed. They are endevoring
         -That  is certainly' some "salvation"  which the Arminians         to  merit. or  gain  saivation   by works. But John  the Baptist
   preach. The Bible teaches US of a`great salqation,  however.             taught that "fruit? were an  evidente.  Paul  Raid we are
   It teaches US of salvation by the sovereign, eternal, immutabl,         created-"unto good works"  (Ephesians 2 :lO). Al1 good works
   elective   grace of God. This  grace brings  salvati&   nd  gives       are the fruit of the Spirit's work. NO good thing can come
   it `unto  the elect of God. (11 Thessalonians 2 :13, 14). How            from the flesh:  Thus,  every good work is  of God. If we do
_' would you rather  be. saved : by the grace of th& Devil, oT by
                                                       0                    it, it was wrought in  US' by Him.  Al1  p&ise ges back to
   the grace of God ?                                                       His throne, no flesh can ,glory  !
                                 *-*:*+           -                                                     *  *  *                _
                UNCONDITIONAL SALVATION                             "                 GOD' SAVES  AGINST.. THE OLD WILL                         a
         There ARE NO meritorious acts -whereby  salvation is                  The WILL is nothing more than the expression of one's
   gained.  God is not in the business of  peddling  His gra;               nature.  -an'snature  is sinful, so he wills  to sin. Since man's
   upon certain conditions.  Merit-mongers  despjse  salvation'by           nature is void of any spiritual good ("no ,god thing in the
  grace, and the- God of al1 grace equally  despises the doctrine           flesh" - Romans 7 :13), then man cannot have a wil1  to do
   of salvation by  human  effort.                                          that which is spiritually goed.  He wil1 never have a wil1 ta


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                                              `    T    H      E          STANDAR-&-BE-ARER                                              95
                                        _

 repent,  nor a -wil1  to believe ; he has only a wil1  to  %in,  f&     .    That .is part of the vibrant Reformed tone to, which 1
 his nature is t$ally depraqed  by sin.                                  referred above and which our Protestant Reformed people
      When God saves the simier,, the Spirit quickens. to life           love to hear. God is everything. Man nothing. This is in-
  (Ephesians 2 :l, John 6:63). This imparts to the sinner a              deed a far cry from the anthropocentric presentatins  so pre-
 n.ew  na.twe. This new nature  is a divine nature,  being given         valent in the writings even of- so-called Reformed men today.
 by God.  Thus,:the   person  wil1 have a  nezo   will.  HiS  wil1            The  Reverend  Greenway then by way of contrast points
 wil1 then be to ,love godliness and hate iniquity. This wil1            out the vast  differente   betwe&  the  Scripturai   appraisal  f
  opposes the old nature's will. This wil1 leads to repentance           goodness and that of the appraisal of modern man. Writes  he :
of sin, and faith in Christ. It continues to cry out for right-                                                                    .-
  eousness, and there is a  continual  warfare between the two                "In this great doxology th apostle recognizes  that the
 natures .- the old and the new. (Romans 7  :14-25). The old             most desirable of al1 blessitigs  are such as are in their`nature
  remains unchanged. The new wars against the old nature's               spiritual, heavenly, and eternal. He speks  of `every  spiritual
  lusts,-and puts them down.                                             blessing in the heavenly  places  in Christ.' It is not the fashion
                                                                         Dof om- age to evaluate benefits that way. The modern man is
      What has happened ? God has saved a sinner ,agaitist his           taught to find his  supreme god (1 presurne  this is a typo-
  old nature's will. God has "made" one willing, by imparting            graphical error of the printer, and should be "goed" - M.S.)
  to him a new  -nature.  The old  nature  "wil1 not  come" to           iep things that are physical, earthly, and for this life -,s@,n.
  Christ ; but by giving a sinner a new nature,  God works in            Much  of modern education  is geared to that principl.  The
  "him both  t.o  wil1  `ard to do His good pleasure."  (Philip-        thing that counts in most class rqoms is getting ahead and
  pians 2  :14).  I                                                      doing  wel1  in this life. The  here and  n0.t the  itweafter  re-
                              *  *  *  a                                 ceives  the attention. That is  al1 wrong  .according  to the
    Though we would xpress ourselves  quite  differently than           apostle Paul.  Tlze  Ch-istiart's  chef' good` is  bis  spGifim1
  the writer of the editorial above,  w& nevertheless  appreciate        bounty  in Christ. That is where his happiness lies.
 the studied attempt  to  negate  the  Arminian  argument.                    "The Christian has bes; chosen in Christ. ?he choice was.
                                                                         God's and he made it with the view of conferring benefits
                                                                         Kuch  as sinful man-&oes  not naturally care for; namely,  `that
      The Rev. L. Greenway' in the November, 1957 issue of               we should be  holy and without blemish before him in love.'
  Torclt  and Trwwq?et  writes  a brief but beautiful meditation         Holy ineans sepamted,  consewated,  d&oted  to God..  For this
  based on `Ephesians 1 :3-5, and entitled : Blessed Be God !            end we were elected. Our selection by God was unto our
      When  we say that the meditation is beautiful we are riet          sanctification  before God.  We are to be his in the  fulle&
  speaking of it or judging it in the  formal  sense. The beauty         sense of the word - his husbandry, his building, his temple,
  to  which we refer is the  vibr& Reformed tone that is                 his iiuing  saciifice,  his fruitbearing vine. Ths was nat our
  sounded         throughout.      .                                     choice. It was his !"
      "Blessed  be God !" the writer says, is "the keynote of this            The  Reverend  Greenway then proceeds to show what  .it
  epistle and particularly of the grand doxology that begins             means that the -divine choice wa+. made "before the founda-.
  with verse 3 and extends through verse 14."                            tion  of the world," and "according .to the good'pleasure of his
      "To bless," w.e are told, "literally means `to speak well.'        will, to the  praise.  of the glory of his  grace." Hisclosing
  When  God blesses US, he speaks. wel1  of US and to US. When           sentence  is : "Here, as in al1 Holy Scripture, .Gad is gil and
  we ,bless God, !we speak wel1  of him and to him. However,             i n   a l l . "
  this is not a reciprocal actin. It'is not n exchange of favors.           It was a beautifgl  mditation,  hut very brief: Personally
  We  can  rtevcr  confer  a benefit on  God! The creature'never         1 would have liked to have him say more in the following
  remunerates  the Creator. Man  can never obligate God. It              paragraph, which 1 quote : "Why ,did h choose US 7 Was
 is wel1  to keep that in mind when  we talk about doing some-           his election  a selection of the best? Emphatically not ! There
  thing for the Lord. Always God is  tlae Giver,  aid we the             is no `best' among unworthy Winners.  Paul's answer is that
  receivers.                                                             God chose US `according to the god pleasure of his will, to
      "God blesses. We bless. B& when  he sieaks  wel1  to.us,           the praise of the glory of  gis  grac.'  Here, as in  al1  Holy
  he speaks with power - creative power, transforming  power.            Scripture, God is  al1 and in-all." The question that arose in
  When we speak wel1  of him and to him, we declare that he              my mind was : Is R&. Greenway supra or infra Japsarian  ?
  is good  and-gracieus.  He  blesses in  word and deed, and             The above paragraph which 1 quoted  makes  me suspicious
  thereby enables US to proclaim  his Name and to acknowledge            that he is the latter. If this is so, whtit  wil1  he do with the
  that he is what  he reveals hi&elf to, be, We taste that he            rest of chapter  1 of Ephesians which to my mind thoroughly
  is good,`but  .he was good before we tasted. Thirsty, we drink         supports the supra view  ?
  of the Fountain. Never does the Fognfain  drink of US."


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                                                                     .-i;.g&-  sJ,AND-AR-D   BEARER   _`.
.  96                           `.    `i                                                                                                                -  _i--.-.   ._.---- .  .-.-  -.--  -..-  ?
                  :                    .            L-             _.-.  -
                                            ..i     _.     ,-                 _                      _ .            .< .                     ~          ( .          *                 _         `._.                _
                                                                                      _                                       _              _                                                                     -_  3
                                                                                                                                                   :
                                                                                                         .   RepqSB  o f  Westerq  Ladies'  League   m'
               . . . . .              (Ccytined   frm, pa& 93)              "'                      &:.the                  aft       -                  -                    ..                        .
                                                                                                                                   erfloon of  Octobgr  4th; 1957, the Western
         Young- p&ope  are stil1 children in &l&ioti  to' parents.                                  Ladiest Lagu.  gather'ed for- their fa11 meeting in the Prot-
  Their  -calling  is  &  hor@`  and  obey,'  .&i,`.  be+&e  &.`,fear  of                           -eStant.RefTmed  Churcb:of-  l&on, .Iowa-..
  punishment,  and not  otily  2s  -100~m  aS  parent?"   .ire  reasonable-                                                                                                _                 r.,_ .:`.` . . `. 1 :c - -..-
 and  right,  in  theii-:   acti&s',  ~but..~~~ca~se   &$ii~~`authority is                           : Our meeting &s~&led `to order' bi Vice President; Mrs.
  from  God.  .The. only  tit%e  &  must not  obey  is  $h&i what                                    G.: Van' -Ba&  `and -we.   oien~ed  wth the singing of Psalter
                                                                        _-
  they.re&ire.in+ol<es   US  .in  si&  i                          r  :.  -  .-  -.                   tiumbers'2?5  1. tid $3 n$the  reading of `$sl&  27: R&. j: A.
         Childrn  n& love &d..obey  ,tl$ir  .&ents; `n& &Jy with                                    Heys   &d  1praper;   .iOur  sec-&ry,  Mis.  T .   I&oiman?   read
  a natura1 love, but for God'; sakai &d &%' f love for God.                                        the ini&tes, of' &ie $r&i&s tietihg and-or treasurr, Mrs.
  Show your love in special ways  how while they are  stil1                                          S.  Broekhuis,   gav  the treasurer's report. During the sing-
 -with you. Don't be  impatient  and  rebellious  or look  down                                      ing of number  106 an offering was taken for the Reformed
 on them if they were not able to get the education they work                                        Witness Hour.
 so hard to give you. Uneducated parents  sotietimes  have                                              Rev. Heys  was@roduced~l+s   the speaker  fo; the  after-
  1,000. per cent more common  sense than their college edu-                                         noon. The theme  of the meeting and Rev. Heys text was
 cat:d children. Love  prokes itself best in  "obedience.  We                                       taken from Isaiah'  40:31, "Wait  upon the Lord." As  chil-
 love and honor them more as we get older, and we care for                                           dren of God we wa.it  @on the Lord for everything-for  al1
 them.                                                                                               of our physical  needs  and spiritual needs. They that wait
         W'ho can heed this divine command ? Not the natura1 man,                                   ztpo?z  the Lord also wait fpu the Lord, and they  trust Him,
 but only the children of God redeemed by Him. That is  the                                         and believe  Him and are renewed in their strength and are
 secohd part of the- Covenant. We are obliged to new tibe-                                          -Carried  up with  dngs as eagles. Six  te& were quoted
 dience,  to  walk in a new  and  holy life. If you have  trans-                                    which contain words related to  atid  -contained  in the idea of
 gressed this command and dishonored your parents, confess                                          waiting, namely,  Micah  7 : 7 look unto ; Ezekiel 19 :5 to see ;
 now and  ask.God  for forgiveness. Do not let them go to                                           Psalm 39 :7 hope ; Psalm 62 :5 be silent ; 1 Chronicles  6 :33
 the grave with that grief. Pral tliat yours may be the prom-                                       stand stil1  ; Numbers 8  24 serve  ; and Acts 10  :7 persevere.
 ise, the heavenly Canaan. Jesus says, "If ye know these                                            T+,erein  we have a beautiful picture of waiting  upon the
 things, .happy are ye if ye do them."                                                              Lord. We look intently unto our God for salvation, we see
         A follection for The Standafa+d  Bsarer was taken while we                                 God's revelation,. our hope and trust is in Him, we are
 sang Psalter N. 215. The bti+ess. of the evening was taken                                        reverently silent, we stand stil1 that we may hear His Word,
 care of,  after   which   Mrs. G. Spruyt gave a report on the                                      we serue Him always and we persevere unto the end. Fur-
 activitics of Eunice Society. of First Church of Grand R,apids.                                    ther to wait upon the Lord` means  first of al1 to believe and
 Miss  ErlIla  Kortering,  from  `our Holland  church,  gave  a                                     be sure that Christ is coming  and this confidence comes from
 vocal solo entitled.  "God Hath Not Protiised."'                                                   Him. Then it  tieans that our trust and confidenee comes
         The  new `Board members were  introduced,  and  OUT:                                       from Him. Then it means that `our trust and confidence  is
`president extended & word of thanks to the. retiring officers.                                     in Him alone.'  And lastly our whole atterition .is focused on
 Mrs. Jonker  also thanked the Host Society and  al1  who took                                      that which we  expect, namely,  His.coming,  and therefore we
part in the program. Psalter No. 373 was sung,  and Mrs. M.                                         walk  obediently. As a result- those that wait cannot fa11 away
 Schipper`led US in a prayer of thanks t9 God for a Spiritually                                     and they shall receive that for which they wait, they do not
 bneficial and enjoyable evening.                                                                  wait in vain. They shall be joyfully stitisfied.
         Refreshments  were served  in the church basement.                                             Rev'.  Van Baren  answred questions from  and. in  ex-
                                                           Elsie `Kuiper, Reporter                  planation of Ecclesiastes  11  :l, Revelation 18  :18, Matthew
                                                                                                    27 :34, 1 Timothy.  2 :4 a.nd 1 .Timothy 4 :lO.
                                                                                                        Doon  rendered a vocal  duet. from the Psalms and Ed-
                             THE CHURCH OF CHRIST                                                   gerton  a  vocal  solo,  "Seek Ye the Lord." -We  closed with
                            Zion, on the  holy  hijls,                                              the singing of number 213 and Rev.  .Van Baren offered
                       I      God, thy Maker, loves thee  wel1                                      prayer. The ladies from Hul1 were om- hostesses and se&d
                            Al1 thy courts His presence fills,                                      a most  delicieus  lunch during which we enjoyed a  social
                              He delights in thee to dwell.                                         h o u r .
                            Wondrous-shall thy  glory be,                                              And so through this meeting also God has renewed our
                              City, blest of God, the Lord ;                                        strength and certainly has Carried  US up with  `wings  in the
         _.                 Nations shall be born  in thee,                                         assurance that we are His and we may wait upon Him for
                              Unto life from  dath restored.                                       everything.
                                                                                      Psalm 87:l                                                          Mrs. G. Broekhouse, Reporter


