           VOLuhm  XXXIV                                                              FEBR~JAIZ$+~,   1958  -  GRAND   ,RPDs,   MJ.~+GAN               _              NUIWBER  9

                                                                                                                         When  1 was a child I heard my elders say 1 "God  verlo-
                                                                               Y  B  o-P(                            ren: al verloren  !`l Freely translated, that  means:  If  you
     i                                                                                                              Iose God, you have lost everything.  _
                                                                                                                       But- again : d{d Jesus have so much to restore  ?
                   A B S O L U T E   ABMEGA~~~N:                                                                                                * * 8 *
                         ,I                           then  I restored-that  which  I took not  away  . . . .  ."
                               ,     .     .     .
                                                                                                   Psalm  69Ab           The Anglo-Saxon word "schuldeischer"  is so much more
                                                                                                                     graphic  than om- "creditor." It is the t`demander  of guilt."
           There was,  after   ah,  nat  much for  J,esus   to  restore   !
                  . .                                                                                                    Well, -Jesus; was surrounded by "schuldeischers." From
            That is, looked at from a. certain viewpoint.                                                            the manger to the cross He was-surrounded, yea, even per-
            A manger in a filthy stable;`a set of swaddling clothes; a                                               meated with  thee  bowling  of schuldeischers.         1
`    mother  with  .a sword piercing her poor soul  ; a father ( ?)                                                   The correct reading of Isa. 53  :6b and 7a wil1 give  you  -a
     who was seen for a few  -days,  and  then heard of no more;                                                     glimpse  of this. It should read this way : The Lord. caused
     an  existente   among  men that was  rather  insignificant; and                                                 al1 our iniquity  to run to Him, and when it al1 was demanded
     what shall 1 more say ?                                                                          .              of Him, He was afflcted!
            We might accentuate  this thought, and.point  out His lack                                                   Oh yes, there was much that Jesus possessed coming into
     of a pillow to lay down His head ; the need of some miraculeus                                                  this sin-soakecl world of ours.
     catch of  fis11 to  pay His tax; a bed here or there  f a few                                                       He  posses&ed  a beautiful soul and spirit, and a body
     square feet of term fin+za; a fisher's  boat for a pulpit;  mostly                                              which, though  weak and mortal, was pure and holy. His in-
     the open air for a church.                                                                                      nocence was  a symphony of beauty and splendour. His body,
                                                                                                                                   -,
            NO; Jesus was not rich in worldly goods. There was not                                                   soul and spirit *was in one word devotion to God. His very
     much to  restore.                                                                                               meat  and drink was loving obedience to God's holy will.                 L
            The Holy Ghost tells the story in a few words : "He be--                                                     Jesus had little to  restore   ? Perish the thought. If we
     came poer." 11 Cor. 8:9b.                                           '                                           could but catalog His possessions when lying in the manger,
            But still, in this  psalm.He  cries  to His  ~Father  :  "then   1                                       and living~among  US for a little more than 33 years, we would
     restored that which 1 did not take away !"                                                                      see a whole world of unsurpassed glory and majesty, virtue
                                                                                                                     -and power. Attend to  this: that Babe, that  Child of God
            You believe with me that He is speaking in this psalm,                                                   was inhabited by the fulness  of the Godhead. Oh, but Jesus
     do  `you not ? With the exception of psalm 22, there is no                                                      was rich !                   _.
     other psalm that is guoted so often by the Holy Ghost-than
     this one to describe the suffering of Jesus.                                                                        He is the very foundation of  world that shall stand for
                                                                                                                     aye !
            I-Ie was poor when He came to do His Father's will, -hut
     He became poorer as He journeyed to the end i and what                                                              Yes, there  was~much to  restore.
     an end!- .                                                                                                          An eternity of possessions did He restore.                    `.:
            At the end He gave up His life. There was nothing left                                                       Until  there was  nothing  left.         '
     to rstore. 1 think that was the moment when He felt Him-                                                                                .8**+.
     self forsaken of God. Yes,  that must have been the end' of
     this  restoration..  It was absolute.  .There.  was nothing left
     to give back, to return, to `restore.                                                                            _ Then 1 restored that which 1 took nota away'!


   1 9 4                                                 T$iE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

        Properly  translatd from the Hebrew  it  shodd  read:                            Oh, you do not have  60 ask me, you, and the  whole
   that which 1 did not rob !  -                                                       world know this. He gave and gave and gave !
        Jesus never robbed  anyone or a$thing.  It was !&ightfully                        He restored that which He did not rob.
   His.                                                                                   Peter finally cried  in his soul : th$t is enough ! He grasped
                                                                                       his sword, and would have s@lit the sliull of the hated soldier
        But as soon `as He appe&ed  among US the hobling mob                           nearest  to him. `The  mati  muit have ducked for he  ony
   of creditors  came  upon Him. And they  neyer   .left,  off de- sheared off the ear.
   manding  from  Himr They finally  demand&  thd  very heart                           - It  -did .not fit Christ's  pr&gr&  `of giving,  rtiturning,
   beat of Jesus. They  asked.  and got His  bloed, His blessed                        restoring, surrendering.
   body, His clothes, His natura1 modesty,  naiiing Him naked
   on the accursed  tzee,  His life, the few  squ8r.e: feet of  trra                     Listen to Him:. "Thinkest thou that 1 cannot now pray
   fi~~ci : He hung suspended between  heaveni  and  earth.                            My Father, and He  shall  presently give Me more, than
                                                                                       twelve legions of angels ?- But how then shall the Scriptures :
        And though  He. could  have destroyed  ailc His enemies; be- fulfilled,  that thus it must be?"                               .'
   men  and devils, He, gave and restored,  H'e' returned  and.
   surrendered  al1 His possessions.  ,-            !                                     1 think that: -Jesus must have thought of my text : then 1
                                                                                       restored that which 1 took not away.. And exactly because
        Even  Peterj our representative, helped  22 little in this                     of this program of continual restoring, He picked up the ear,
   clamok.  of "schuldeischers" : He disowned   hi+Lord.  It must                      and miraculously  healed it.' The-Scars  must be on Jesus, not
   have been a bitter drop in the cup He dreaded so much.                              on the world.         _
        And, strange to say, it seemed as though the living God                           A n d   t h e y   continued.   _
   joined this mob of  "schuldeischers." In  fa& He was the                               They  took away, they demanded everything from Him
   greatest by  f&. His  demand on  .Jesus   waq so great, that                        which it was in their power to get hold of: His peace of
   it  is evil to  mention  it in one breath with  -the demands of                     mind, His.  dignity,  His apparel, His  modesty,  His  well-
   men and devils.                                         ; i                         being, His skin, His blood, His life.
        Yes, Satan had waited 4000 years to  snatih the  Man-                             David  suf?ered  something  like  this, and  tremble when
   child, and finally the devil caught Him : he~rece%ed  his hour                      1  write this last  sentence'   dowti. The similarity is so  in-
   o       f      detianding.                              :  i                        significant. It  may refer to  &e throne. of  Israel  which  .he
        Man, lost in sin and death, denianded of jesus, privately                      gave up to Absalom,  fleeing  the while. That entailed  much
   and  publicly,  before the Sanhedrin and  Pilate   end Herod,                       for David: his  huse, his peace, his  wivei, his. household
   and received  their share.                                                          stuff,  bis people.  ~But   when we look  frst at David  when
                                                                                       writing this pitiful tale in psalm 69, and then at Jesus in
        But God demanded of Jesus too.                      .  t                       Gethsetiane  or at the cross,  - words fail  US. The first  in-
        But this demand stands 311 by itself, and mito everlasting                     stance is but a shadow, the latter  is reality.
   you  wil1 not be able to measure the  sums, fhe  sums, the
                                                             1                           - B&ides, &vid. remembered h& foolishness and his sins.
   sums !                                                                              He was not an entirely innacnt victim of the  "schuld-
        It'stands  ali by itself, 1 said, and that is  &ht. It. stands                 eischers." Sce: verse 5 and 6. But `Jesus. is  Le  grand  In-
 by. itself, and it is  beautiful:  1  can say it, 1  cah qualify this                 ncence.
   demand, 1  can describe it and  wil1 be correct: it was the                                                          *  *  *  *
demand of righteousness.
        But the  demand of my text was the evil  demand of                                And so we stand aghast  at this absolute abnegation.
   Jesus' enemis.                                                l                       Shall we pitjr Him?
        But the  demand of my text was the evil  demand of
 .Jesus' enemies.                `%                                         _!            Shall we cry hot tears of sympathy for  this~poor Jesus?
        The  connectin  wil1  tel1 you. They were Ris  enemies                           NO;                     ,_
   wr&gfully.  They hated Him without a  cause,.  _ Their one                             The daughters of Jerusalem did, and they were rebiked.
   urge-was  : we want- to destroy Him ! You find it literally in                      Their pity Was misplaced. They should have cried and- wept
   the New Testament. Listen to a raucous cry :  i Away with                           for themselves and -their children.
   Him ! Away vith Him ! Nothing less than obli$eration- was                              This is even so with respect to'the  saints  who  wer&  also -
   their purpose. And the motive  7 It' was' hatred.  '                           -    persecuted and asked to  restore  that which they  took-not
                                                                       i                                . .
                                                                                       away.
                                       + *  *-*.                       I                  When  you pity them, or when you pity yourselvs, your
        And what did poor Jesus do ?.                                                  pity is misplaced.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   .-BEARBR                                                                                                                     195

   The same Jesus  who  allowe'd  everything  to be taken  from
  Him said : Rejoice and be exceeding glad !                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D  BEARtiR
      If you must nelds  pity, then pity Caiaphas, .Pilate,  Herod,           Semi-montl&   exeept monthly  du&g.  June,  July and  August
  and the  jeeiing multitudes.                                                `Published by`the  REFORMED  FREE   PUBLISHING  ASSOCIA-&N
                                                                              P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
      How often must the four soldiers  who divided the clothes                            1  Editor  -  FEV.   HERMAN   HOEKSEMA
  of Jesus, stil1 warm with the warmth of Jesus' blessed body,                Commi&atiofis   kelative  to  contents  should be addressed to
  have' cursed themselves in hel1 !                                                         Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
                                                                                                                       Grand  Rapids 7;  Mich.
      And you know how the thirty pieces of silver burned the                 All matters rel&ive to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
  pocket, nay, the heart and soul of poor Judas.                              G. Pipe,  lg63 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand.  Rapi+   ' 7,  Mich.
                                                                              &ouncements  and Obituaries must be  mailed to the  above'
      If you must pity, pity them.                                            address  and  ,will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each   notice.
      And that is right. That is praiseworthy.                                RENEWAL,:'   Unless a definite request for discontinuance is  re-
                                                                              ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes  the subscription
      Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.                  to continue without the  forma& of a renewal order.
      Do not pity Joseph,. stript of his. many  coloured coat, in                                  Subscription  price: $5.00 per  year
  the pit, on the way to Egypt, to Potiphar's wife -(the harlot),             Entered  as  Syconcl   Glas3  matter at  Grand  Ra&,  Michigan
  the dungeon, but pity Judah with bis twenty piees of silver.
     .It must be gruesome io appear before God with Jesus'                                           3
blood on your hands.                                                                                                         C O N T E N T S
      And above--&  "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves,              MEDITATION-   ?.
  but rather  give place unto wrath : for it is writteix, Vengeance               Absolute Abnegation . . . . . . . . . . .  .._... 193
                                                                                           R e v .   G .   V o s
  is Mine : 1 wil1 repay, saith the Lord."                               EDITORIALS-
      Rather  listen to Jesus : "Ye have heard that it hath been                  The Attitude of Fa&.                                         .`.... . .                                          ..196
  said, Thou shalt love  thjr  neighbor,  and  hate thine  enemf.                          Rey.   H               .           
                                                                                                                              Hoeksema
  But 1  say unto you, Love your enemies, bless  t&!rn that              ASTOBOOKS-:                                                    .
  curse you, do good to them that hate you, alid pray for them                   -Christelijke Encyclopedie ____ . . . . . .  ..____.  ..___   _....  ._.__  198
  which despitefully  use you, and- persecute you ; that you may                  Commentz&  op het Nieuwe Testament, 1 Korinthe _______..___  198
  be .the children of your Father which is in heaven . . . ."                     Comtientaar op het Oude Testament, Ezechiel....... . . . . . . . . . . . . ,198
                                                                                  Op de man af .   ..__..____   ~  ..__..........................................,......                           1 9 8
      Stephen saw the  rain f stones and the wrathful faces                      A 008dlJi Heritage ..: . . .                                                      ..____             ..__._._ 198
                                                                                           R e v .   H .  
                                                                                                                                     Hoeksema                                     -
  of  the'  Jews, but prayed: Lord,  lay not this sin to their
- charge! And having  said that lie fel1 asleep  in Jesus.               OUR   DOCTRINE-
                                                                                  The Book of Revelation.  .._....  .  _.  .._. ___ ___  ___.  _._  ..199
      1 know, and it is difficult.                                                         kevi H.  Hoeksema                                                                            0
      Btit deep down in rny heart 1 want to, 1 want to.                  THE  DAY  OF  %%ADOWS-
                                                                G.V.              The Prophecy of Zechariah  ____  :I... . .  .___..._....  ,202
                                                                                           Re! G. M. Ophoff
                                                                         FROM  HOLY  WmT-
                                                                                  Expositi?n of 1 Corinthians 7 (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
                                                                                    R e v .   G .   Lubbers
                 GRACE  A N D  GRATITUPE                                -  IN  HIS  FE.+"~
              1 waited for the Lord Most High,                                    Spiritu&lly SensXve (6) . .._............................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
                                                                                           Rev. J. A. Heys
              And He  inclin'ed to hear my cry ;
                He took me from destruction's pit                       -CONTENDING   F~R  THE  FAITH-
                                                                                  The Church and the Sacraments   ~......................................   2 0 9
              And from the miry clay;-                                                     R e v .   H .   Veldman
                Upon a rock He set my feet,                                                                            ~.
                                                                         T
              And steadfast made  `my way.                                 HE  VOICE  OF  OUR  FATHERS-
                                                                                  The Canons of' Dordrecht..  .Y.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
                                          ,-       .
                            .                                                          Rev.. H. C.  Hoeksema
              A new ahd joyful soni.of praise                            FEATURE  ARTICLE-
             He.taught my thankful heart to raise ;                               The Sign of  the Son of Man in Heaven  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..__....... 213
                And  many, seeing me restored,                                             Rev. R.  Veldman
           Shall fear the Lord and trust;                                ALLAROUNDUS-
                And biest are they that trust the Lord,                           TFe Church in Soviet Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
              The  hum& and the just.                                                      Rev. M. Schipper
                                                   Psalm  4:l,  2
                      .'



                                                                                                      .     .     .


 196                                        TBESTANDARD   B E A R E R

                                                                     Rom. 8 :28 : "Al1 things work together for good to .them that
                EDITORIALS'   I                                      love God." Then there is no reason to complain: "Al1 these
                                                                     things are against me." !B,ut  when things that are seen  ap-
                                                                     pear to be against  US,  when adversity is our lot,  when the
                  The Attitude of Faith                   1          wicked are in power and rise up against  US,  when they
     As we wrote last time,  as churches we are passihg through      attempt  to take away our name and  place  in the world or
 a period of trouble.                                                even in the church,  when our punishment is there  -every
     Or let me  rather say that we did pass through  such  a         morning,  -  then,,   indeed, it  wold  seem justifiable to  com-
 period for, except for the question about the property,  which      plain that all'things  are against US.`
 in comparison with the  principle  of the  cdn&oversy  is a            Thus it appeared to be with Jacob.              .  `i
 minor matter, the trouble is settled, those that departed from         First of all, let US- notice that, at the time of this outcry,
 the Protestant Reformed truth have left US, and'  our churches      an old wound had been cruelly torn open in the patriarch's
 have come out ,of the fire of the trouble and dissension puri-      heart.  Several  years before  this, Joseph, the son of  bis
 fied and strengthened.                         :                    beloved Rachel, had been sent from home  to visit his
     Such is the attitude `of faith which is the only proper         brethren and he had never returned: a blood soaked  gar-
 attitude for the church and the people of God in the wor.ld        ment had told the story. Grief and sorrow are never  quite
 to  assume.                                                        .forgotten, we continue to carry them along in om- memory
  It is the attitude expressed in Rom. 8  :31:  "1-f God be         on life's pathway. In our present life in the world our tears
 for US, who can be against US ?" Or, as it is ekpressed in the     are never  quite dried. Thus Jacob had spoken at the  time
 same chapter  : "And we know that al1 things' werk together        of Joseph's disappearance..  He refused to be comforted and
for good to them that love Gd, to them whb';are  the called        said : "1 wil1 go down into the grave unto my son mourning."
 according to his purpose."                                         Now, at the  time of this outcry of the patriarch, the old
    Even the people of -God do by no  means `always stand            wound about Joseph's disappearance had been cruelly torn
 on the height of faith from which they~ are able to make this      open.                                               _-
triumphant confession.                               3               . For a new wound had been struck in Jacob's heart. There
    Asaph, according to Ps. 73, experienced  times  when he         was famine  in~ the land of Canaan and in Egypt, according to
ws deeply discouraged. There he tells US: "But  as for me,         reports, there was plenty of torn. And so the brethren, the
my feet were almost  gone ; my steps had wel1 nigh slipped.         sons of Jacob, except Benjamin, had been sent there to buy
For 1 was envious at the foolish, when  1 saw the .prosperity       torn. For a long time, longer than might have been expected,
of the wicked. For there are  no bands in their death:  hut         the brothers had been gone.  When  they finally returned
their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as ether  men ;     they told a  very strange story about that-  ruler in  Egypt.
neither are they plagued  like other men. Therefore pride           And not only this, but  ,they, had to leave Simeon behind.
compasseth  them about as a chain  ;  violente  overeth them       For Jacob that meant not only that Simeon was gone, but
as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness ; they have         it  also reminded him of the disappearance of Joseph: the
more than heart could wish. They are corrupt and  speak             old wound was bleeding again. "Al1 these things are against
wickedly concerning oppression  ; they  speak  loftily. They        me."
set their mouth against  the heavens, and  their tongue                 B.ut there was stil1 more. Intentionally, Jacob had kept
walketh through the earth. Therefore his people return              Benjamin at home with him. After  Joseph's disappearance,
hither; and -waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.. And       al1 the love of Jacob's heart had fixed itself upon this second
they say, How doth God know ? and is there knowledge in             son of Rachel, and, therefore, he had not let him go with the
the most High ? Behold, these aren the ungodly `who prosper         brethren to Egypt;  lest any evil should befall him in the way.
in the world ; they increase in-i-iches.  Verily 1 have cleansd    But tht strange  ruler in Egypt had inquired about their
my heart in vain, and washed my .hands  in innocency."              family in Canaan and  also about Benjamin. And  when  he
    Thus it  often is or appears in the lives of the children       had finally sent the brethren away, keeping Simeon with
of God in the world. Judging by the things that are seen,           him, he had adjured  the brethren that, if they  should ever
al1 things frequently would  seem.to  be against  ,them.            ,return for more torn, they `would have to take their youngest
    From the viewpoint, not of faith, but of the things that        brother with them. Did it notlook as if al1 things conspired
are-seen, we can understand the outcry of the old patriarch         against the  old patriarch ? Joseph  gene,  Simeon gone, and
Jacob:  "Al1 these things are against me." Gen.  .42:36.  Ap-       now Benjamin? Oh, for the time being, he could easily refuse
parently, for the  time being, this outcry was . justified.         to let Benjamin go with them to E,ypt, but he realized, too,
Such is always the case. Lamentations, outcries  of fear and        that this would be a futile resolve. The famine was in the
despair-and unbelief, are not likely to arise  when  al1  ap-       land, and before long he would surely have to send his sans
pears bright to the natura1 eye.  When  the way is  .smooth         to  Egyptto  buy  torn once more. Then they would have to
and we live in outward prosperity so that every  desire of our      take Benjamin with them. Once more, 1 say, from the view-
heart is satisfied, it would  seem  rather easy  to shout with      point of things that are seen, there was plenty of reason for


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D .   BEAR.`ER                                                       197
                                                                             :
      Jacob to cry out: "Al1 these things are against me."               called'-themselves.  the Church, they became the false church ;
          Nevertheless, it was not a `confession of faith but an out-    or they constantly harassed the true believers and caused
      cry of unbelief.                                                   them to suffer.
          Faith always confesses:  if God be for US, nothing can be         This'is  also the case with our churches today.
      against  US. It makes  al1 the differente  in the world whether       Indeed,  as churches we have suffered in the past.. Or do
 _ you look at God first and then  at.things, or first at things         YOU  not think that it was suffering for  US to be  tast  out of
      and then at God. The latter did Asaph for a while according        the  Chrisiian   !Reformed
                                                                                                .       Church-in 1924-25, and that, too,
      to  .Ps. 73. His conclusion was the question of unbelief :  IS     for the sake of,the truth ? It certainly was.          '
      there knowledge  in the .Most  High ? This was  also the case         B.ut in  .a  \ray  ' our recent history is the cause of more
      with Jacob. In fact, when he made his outcry, he forgot God.       bitter suffering still. Men that were with  US for several
      But when we look at God first, and, in the light of the.knowl-     years,  occupied  a  place  as ministers of the Word in our
      edge of Him, at things, the situation becomes radically dif-       churches, had al1 their education in our Protestant Reformed
      ferent. Then we say : 1 know that God is in absoiute control       Theological $chool and pretended for some time to be Prot-
      of  al1 things  ; I  know that He loves me and that He is for      estant Reformed, now departed from the truth and even are
      me ; therefore, no matter how things may appear, they can          attempting to , re-enter the Christian Reformed Church and
      never be against me:  .all things work together for good to        reveal their  readiness  to sign the "Three Points."
      them that love God, whom He has called according to His               Moreover, as you may gather from the missive De Wolf
      p u r p o s e .                                                    and his  elder pent to the consistory `of the First Protestant
          Such is the language of faith.                            -    Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, and which we published
         In the life of Jacob it was even revealed that the things       in the previous number of our Stcmdard  Beamr,  they claim
      ?which,  in his unbelief, he imagined were against him,  .all      to have the  r{ght  to the name: Protestant Reformed.  Al-
      were in his favor. For God had  controlled the  way from           though De Wolf and the elders that followed him `we legally
      beginning to end. Presently, he would see again, not only suspended and deposed ; although they and others with them
      Simeon, but  also Joseph. Besides,   when Jacob took his           organized a  new  Classis East; although it is  very evident
      journey into Egypt and  came to Beersheba, the Lord  ap-           that they have  al1 departed from the Protestant Reformed                 .
      peared to him there in a vision and said to him: "1 am God,        truth  ; yet  they claim the right to the name Protestant  Re-
      the God. of thy father : fear not to go down into Egypt ; for      formed, mqstlp, of course, with a view to being in a position
      1 wil1 there make of thee a great nation; 1 wil1 go down with      to claim the property.
      thee into Egypt.; and 1 wil1 also surely bring thee up again ;        Suff ering,`  indeed.
      and  `Joseph  shall- put his hand  upon thine  eyes."  Thus           Sufferingdor the cause of the truth.
      Jacob's unbelief was put to shame. Instead of  al1 things             But it is exactly because of the  very' evident  fact that
      being,  against him, they were al1 in his favor.                   our opponent's have  forsaken the truth while we have always
          But this is by no  means always manifested in our ex- maintained nd  stil1 do maintain it, that we  can and do
      perience in this present time.                                     have assurance in om- hearts that God is for 
          Our way as individual people of God may very'well be                                                               US. And if He
                                                                         is for US,- we know that no one and nothing can possibly be
      a way of suffering and adversity, day by day, even unto the        against LIS. And then we know, at the same time,  that what-
      end. Our  whole  way  may be  dark or  predominantly  dark,        ever may betide, al1 things work together for our good and
      from the veiwpoint of things that are seen.  Pain and grief        for the goed' of our churches.
      may be our lot. Even then, yea, then especially, we must
      live by faith which is an evidente  of things unseen, and the         Such is ?he attitude of faith.                           -.
      substance of things hoped for. Even then, and then especially,     - In that faith we shall never be put to shame.
      we must take the  language  of the Word of God  upon our                        I                                                    H.H.
      lips : "If God be for LIS, who can be against  US ?" and also :
      "Al1 things work together for good to them that love `God,
      whom He has called according to His purpose."                                           otice for Classis `West
          The  *same  is true of the way of the Church of God in
      the midst of the present world. Oh, what a way of trouble              Classis West of the Protestant Reformed Churches  wil1
      and affliction, of suff ering and grief that way of the church     convene,  the Lord willing, in  .Doon,  Iowa, Wednesday,
      has  .been throughout the ages ! Always there were the             March  19, `1958.
      enemies of Christ and His Church that aimed at her destruc-           The consistories are reminded of the rule. that  they  are
      tion and caused her to suffer. `These enemies wer not by          expected to  nominate  an  elder  or elders  who are  able  to'
      any  means always in the world outside of the Church. Very serve as synodical delegate. And, al1 matters for the classica1
      often .the carnal seed remained  in the Church and corrupted       agendum must be in the hands of the stated clerk not later
.-    her  from within. And they either gained the victory so            than thirty; days before the date of Classis.
      that there were no true believers left and, though  they stil1                                      Rev.  H!  Veldman,   Stated  Clerk


                                                            1


 198          _                                THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                                . .
ll                                                                        by Dr. A. Noordtzij. (The Books of the Chronicles, part 11;
                     AS TO, BOOKS i                                       11 Chron. 1-36). Price f 9.75.'
                                                                               1 believe that 1 reviewed this book before in The Stand-
      Clwistelijke  Encyclopedie  (Christian  En&lopa&ia)   .             ard  Beuker.  This-  is the second  -edition.  This is a popular
Second Edition. Edited by Drs. F.  W:`Grosheide  and G. P.                but, nevertheless,  very thorough commentary. As  it is  an-
Van Itterzon. Price f  29.5Q  per vol.                                    nounced on the title page, thiscommentary is an explanation
                                                                          of the Chronicles from `the original Hebrew, yet in the Dutch
        Of this  werk. we  received   two volumes.,  16 stands to         text of this commentary the Hebrew is entirely omitted so
reason that we cannot be expected to read through a. work                 that anyone  who is  able to  read  the Holland language  can
of this  nature,  and we did not. Nevertheless we perused these           very profitably consult it.
two volumes and read several articles in detail :rather care-                  Once more 1 perused this work on 11 Chronicles. 1 like
fully. Our conclusion is that this is a  very gopd work,  in-             it very much and heartily recommend it.                   H.H;
deed. It is  rich in information, its  viewpoint:  is Christian
and 1 may- even say that, on the whole, is `Calvinistic.                       Op de man af (Hitting the nail on the head  j, by Rev.
       We have one  remark.  This  ncyclopaedia:presents   pre-          Okke Jager. Price f 3.50.
dominantly  the Dutch view of the subjects  which it discusses.                This book contains, first, a series of radio talks by the
Perhaps this can be expected, yet in an encyclopaedia this                author  ; secondly, some addresses delivered by the same
should not be the case. 1 refer, e.g. to  the  articles on labor          author before gatherings of the Interchurch Youth Evangeli-
and the labor question. They do not speak of fhe labor ques-              sation..
tion and the labor unions in the United Statesl':  1 could men-                The style of this book is very popular and pithy. The book
tion other instances, but lt this be'sufficient.  ,                      can easily be  read by anyone  who is acquainted with the
      Nevertheless, 1 repeat that 1 consider this. a  very-good           Dutch. Perhaps, because of this  very  attempt to  reach his  -
work and 1 heartily recommend it to al1 that are able to read             audiences, the author, in these talks, is not very profound,         _
the Holland language.                                   :         H.H;    to say the least. Often 1 could not find very much of a line in
                                                                          h i s   s p e e c h e s .
       Commentaar  op het  hieztzve  Testautzent,   1 Korinthe                But read it for yourself. You wil1 enjoy it.
(Commentary on the  `New Testament, 1 Corinthians). By                                                                              H.H.
F. W. Grosheide. Price f 19.25.                 -                             A Goodly  Hevtage,   by Marian M. Schoolland.  Pub-
       This 1 consider a  very good commentary  `and a  rather            lished  by  Wm:  B; Eerdmans  Publishing  Co. Price $2.00.
thorough exegesis of the text. Although it is,  pf course,                    This book is a biography of the late Professor K. School-
based on the original text, and is rather  freely interspersed            land. To me, this book is very interesting because it brings
with Greek  an is, for that reason especially  `designed  for            back to my mind  al1 sorts of memories. In' th  first  place,
ministers and students,  nevertheless, 1 believe that even the            Schoolland was for five years my professor in Greek and
genera1 reader,  who is  .able to  read the  Hollabd language,            in Dutch and he was always  very thorough. The students
can profitably study this commentary.                                     in my day used to  cal1 him the professor of the "fijne punt--
       Personally, -1 would have liked a little mor explanation          je.? which. was pnly another way of saying that he was  a
of the  concepts  in 15  :42ff. especially of the  question   con-        very thorough. Personally, I always greatly appreciated
cerning the psychical and the spiritual, the  ear!thy  and the the instruction of professor Schoolland. _ In the second place,
heavenly, the corruptible and the incorruptible, the mortal               the book. even reminds me of the days of my youth. From
and the immortal.                                                         Kampen  ~the late professor went to the city of Groningen,
       Hearfily recommended.                                 :    H.H.    where  1 used to live. In Groningen he boarded for a while
                                                                          in the- home of a bookbinder, Albracht. This party 1 lso
       Cowzmentuar op` het Oude Testament,  Ezeckil.   (Com-' knew  rather  well, not only because he was an  elder in our
mentary on the Old Testament, Ezekiel). By Dr. G. Ch.                     church at the time,  but also because; when 1 was twelve  years
Aalders.                                                                  old and had graduated from the grade school, 1 almost be-
       This is the second volume of  Aalder's. commentary on              came employed by Albracht  to learn -the bookbinder's trade,
Ezekiel. It contains  chapters  25-48.                                    something which, if it had  succeeded,.  would have altered the
       This commentary is  very sound and thorough and is,                entire course of my life.
of course, based entirely on the original Hebrew. For this                    1 could  mention  more. But  rather  than go  any further
reason, 1  can hardly recommend it to the  genF,ral reader.               into this, 1  wil1 heartily recommend the book by Miss  School-
It is designed for ministers and students, for  ,those  who               land. It is  written in  very  clear style and ought to be of
`are acquainted with the Hebrew language.                    -            interest  -especially  to the former students of Professor K.,
      `The interpretation of some passages is .rather. brief ; cf:        S c h o o l l a n d .                                     H.H.
e.g. ch. 33. We like his interpretation of 45 :l-8 ind- 47 :l'ff..            N.B..  Al1 the Dutch books 1  reviewed  above are published _
       Also this commentary we heartily recommend,                H.H.    by the well-known Kok of Kampen, the Netherlands.
       De  Boehen der- Kronieken,  tweede deel, 11 Kron. 1-36,                                                                     H.H.


                                                  T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                            199

                                                                           aren  now discussing,  can  also  very easily be pointed  outj so
                                                                           that  you can al1 see what is its error. The trouble with such
   /          O       U       R         DOCTRINE   11interpreters  is that they do not and ca\nnot distinguish sym-
                                                                           bolism  from reality.  When,. for instance, we  explained,, the
               THE  BO0.K OF  REVELATION                                   four  horses   as being symbols of different  forces in history,
                             CHAPTER   X            V                      no one can possibly  question the truth of this interpretation.
              The  Shche-ufi  of  the  Physical   Universe                 And why not? Simply because the  very representation of
                                                                           these horses  immdiately  left  you' with the impression that
                           Revelation 6 :12-17                             they could nat. possibly  be explained literally, but that the
        Especially those that are of the opinion that in these             interpretation must be symbolical.  When,  for instance, we
   seven  seals we have  reference,  to things that  already               read of the forth horse, we fee1 immediately that the power
  happened in the past, reference to definite historica1 periods,          of death does not ride upon a real  horse, and that real heil,
  are bound to apply this  principle   also to the sixth seal.  Al1        or  hades, does not follow  such a horse. Hence, the  whole
  kinds of different interpretations have been presented. We               is clearly symbolical. The same is true of the fifth seal. When
  wil1 not tire yourattention  with al1 of these- explanations of          we interpreted'  the souls under the altar as being symbolical
  the sixth seal. Just  ene of them we  wil1  mention in this              of a  higher  historica1 reality, no one of  US could possibly
  -connection,  just to give you an idea as to  how the Word of            object. Why nat? Because we realized at once that spiritual
  God has strangely been interpreted in the past and,how it is             souls and material  altars do not belong together, except in .a
  sonietimes interpreted -even in the present time. According              symbolical   wa$. The same is true of other  portions of the
  to the interpretation we are now referring to, the earth is the          Book of Revlation.  When  in the first  chapter  we  read of
  Roman Empire. And the shaking of the earth by the earth-                 stars, no  -ene  thinks   at.  al1 that they are  real bodies in the
  quake is the shaking up of that empire ,at the time of Con-              universe, or in' the firmament of heaven. Why not? Because .'
  stantine  the Great, about the year 313 A.D. `The sun,  ac-              of the simpl fact that these stars are found in the hands of
cording to  this interpretation, is the  chief   ruler   of.  the  ern-    Jesus, and therefore, if we would. take the term literally, we
  pire, the person of the emperqr.  And the moon represents- his           would run into impossibilities. When  we read in chapter 8 :8
  fellow  ruler on the throne, while the stars are symbols of              of  a great  mountain   tast into the sea, we certainly do not
  important personages throughout  the  provinces  of the Roman            think of a  real  mountain. Why not? In the first  place,
  Empire. Again, according to that interpretation, the eclipse             because the text  there does not say  `<a  -mountain,"  but "as
  of sun and moon and the falling of the stars stand for the               it were a great mountain."  Not only this, but that we cannot
  eclipse  of the  glory of the rulers of the  empire  and  their          think of a  literal mountain is  also evident from  -the effect
  falling  from  oflice through the conquering power of Con-`              that that mountain has  upon the sea in which it is  tast..
stantine the Great. The  heaven,  according to this  explana-              When  in  thel  thirteenth-  verse of the same chaptr we read
 tion,  ,is the place  hof the Roman deities, which  also  fel1 from       of an eagle .ip mid-air, we do not think of that mighty bird
  their  place of glory at this  time since the Christian religion         in the  literal sense of the word, and there is no danger  -
  replaced the pagan worship at the period here referred to.               at  al1 of  such  n interpretation. Why not? Simply because
  And  mountains  and islands  represent  the territoria1 divisions        it  cries  with a  human  voice,   "Wee,  woe,  wee." The  locusts
  of the Roman dominion, while their being moved  out of their             out of the abyss, the beast with the horns, the woman  with the
  place  symbolizes  that they are wrested from the power of               moon on her head, and  many  other things are  al1 immediately
  Rom.  Such is a fair example of the symbolic interpretations,           conceived as  symbolical,   simply  because the connection in
  with which we cannot possibly agree.                                     which they  al1 occur  makes  a  literal  explanation an  impos-
        Even though you  may not be able to point  out the                 sibility.
  fundamental error of such modes of interpreting Scripture,                   But  how is this in the  portion we are now discussing?
  and particularly the Bok of Revelation, you must neverthe-              The answer is: it is just the opposite: Here the  literal
  less spontaneously  fee1 that there is something radically               interpretation is the only explanation possible. In the first
  wrong with such explanations. The very fact that those es-               place, let me! cal1 your attention to `the fact that the whole text
  planations are so numerous and that in detail they al1 differ            is very natura1 from this viewpoint, and that no symbolical *
  from one another would, at the very best, leave the church               interpretation is necessary whatsoever. It is  very evident
  fundamentally in doubt, wondering whether perhaps fhey                   that in the text the earth is the earth as we see it and know
  cannot add  many interpretations to  these that  are. offered            it, and nothing else. And  when  it quakes,  real  mountains
  ah-eady. Besides, you al1 would realize that if such were the            and  real islands are removed  out of their  place. The stars
  true meaning of this particular passage, the church of today _ fa11 from the heaven, that is, from  the firmament. And in
  would have  `no interest in this entire  portion, excepf in as           the firmament they are. And therefore, also in regard to this
  far as it  would show  how in the past prophecp has been                 there is noihing inconceivable or impossibl. The sun men-
  fulfilled. But- the fundamental  mistake  of  such a way of              tioned in the text is evidently the luminary in the firmament
  interpreting Scripture, and particularly of the passage we               as we know it, and there is.nothing  in the context or in the


           200                                          T H E - S T A N D A R D   BE-ARER   '

          text itself that  indicates  the contrary. The same  may be          alizations  of the sixth seal have frequently occurred in the
           said of the moon :  also it is  simply the luminary  3 in  the      past although the complete realization of this seal carries US
           firmament as we'see  it at night. In a word, it can only be by      to the time immediately before the coming of the Lord. This
           a method of putting our own thoughts into the test that             latter  fact is but natural.  The effects of the coming of Christ
           we can possibly conceive of this part of the Book of Revela-        upon the physical universe are naturally last. Just as in our
           tion as symbolical. But there is more. If we  attemptto   im-       individual redemption  the spiritual precedes the physical, so
           pose the symbolical interpretation  upon the text, we run           also in the `redemption of the universe  al1 the spiritual factors
           into serious difficulties. For in the second part of this pas-      must first be ready and prepared.  After  that the physical
           sage we are told that because  -of this  shakeeup of  the           universe   wil1 begin to' show the full signs of its coming re-
           physical universe, kings and princes and chiefs and free men        demption. Nevertheless, also the sixth seal has been- opened
           and  bondmen  are struck with fear and consternation. Now           ever since the time that John received  this revelation. Earth-
           it stands to reason that if you take the first, part of this        quakes have occurred very frequently .in the past, as we al1
           passage as being symbolical and as referring $0 kings .and          know. Of them we  read  already in  Holy  Writ. Just  after
           princes and  emperors  and  great men in  the;earth, we  .are       Christ had been crucified and killed, the earth quaked. And
           obliged  also to apply the symbolical interpretation to this        also when Paul` and Silas were about to `be delivered from
           second part of  the text.  However,  this is  neger  done, even     prison, an earthquake occurred:  Innumerable  earthquakes
           by those that wish to apply the symbolical interpretation to        have occurred ever since, some of them in alarming force and'
           th.e passage. They  interpret kings as referring to real  kings     proportions. In the year 1875, so we are told by the science
           in the world ; .and the same is true of. the rest of the great      of seismology, as  many  as ninety-seven earthquakes occurred ;
           men mentioned in the text and even of free men and borid-           and in the following year one hundred four. The  same science
           men. They are al1 interpreted as referring to  real  men and        informs US of the fact that between the years 1600 and 1850
           to nothing else.  Such an interpretation,  however,  is  com-       there were as many as six thousand or seven thousand earth-
           pletely arbitrary. And even if we would  grant that  such           quakes in various parts of the earth. Surely, this is sufficient
           arbitrariness of interpretation is allowable, which it certainly    praof that in this respect  also the sixth  seal is opened
           is not, the  result is a strange contradiction.  ,For then you      throughout   this dispensation in a limited way. The same is
           come to the conclusion that the text pictures the effect of         true of the darkening of the sun and moon. They also have
           kings and chiefs- and princes  upon themselves, which,  .of         occurred more than  once. We do not now refer to the
           course,  is impossibl.  And finally, we must remember that it      regular  eclipses  of sun and moon, as are  recorded in our
           would be an impossibility to. describe things that happen in        calendars, but to extraordinary obscurations of the- heavenly
           the physical universe  in terms of symbolism. )The physical         bodies. Thus, we are told that in  the year 1780 a strangely
           universe  and elements  of it may be used as symbols of things      :dark day was witnessed in the northeastern part of
           spiritual and  historical,  but  how shall the shake-up of the      America,  so strange that it has gone down in the annals  of
           physical  universe  be  symbolized   ? Hence, there is nothing      history as supernatural, at least as unaccountable. Also the
.          strange in the  fact that~ though heretofore, we have had  noth-    red appearances  of.the  moon have been frequently witnessed.
           ing but  symbolism  in this part of the Book of Revelation,         When  the text speaks of the falling of the stars, we must not
           John beholds in vision physical realities here. Thus,  at least,    think  of those bodies in the heavens that are larger than our
           we understand  the passage.  Just as in the second. part of         earth : for then it were impossible  that they should  fa11 on the
     I     the text real  kings and real  princes and captains and bond-       earth. Rather  do we think of those atmospheric phenomena
           men and free men are indicated, so in the first part nothing        that  ar,e called meteors, or shooting stars. One of these
           but real stars and real sun and moon and real  mountains and        shooting stars, a large bal1 of fire, thus we are told, is able
           islands are beheld by John in the vision as al1 being shaken        to light  up an entire landscape in the night. It is very bright
           up.  What. we have in the sixth seal is  very plainly the           and light for a moment; then suddenly it is extinguished
           shake-up of the physical universe.  When  that seal is opened,      and disappears. And soon  after its disappearance a loud
           the stars  fa11 from heaven, the sun is black as sackcloth of       detonation is heard in  al1 the surrounding region. These
           hair, the moon is weird with a color as of bloo$ the moun-          meteors have frequently fallen in such large numbers as to
          * tains tremble, and the islands are removed out of their place.     strike fear and consternation into the hearts of al1 that were
           Nothing in al1 the physical world remains stable and secure.        witnesses. In some instances they have fallen  very thickly.
           Al1  seems to turn into chaos. The  whole world is passing          In 1872 some observers  counted as  many as ten thousand
           away.                                                               of these shooting stars falling within two hours  time.  In
                  Perhaps we raise the objection that the liter& intepreta-    regard  to  such a  shower  of stars happening in the tenth
           tion of this passage does not fit in with the interpretation of     century one witness testifies that it had  lasted   "from  mid-
           the other seals. Concerning the other seals we explained that       night ntil morning.; flaming stars struck one against another
           they have occurred -in the past, that they stil1 occur, and wil1    violently, while being born eastward and westward, north-
           occur in the future. But  can this  also be said of the sixth       ward and southwar'd, and no one could bear*to look toward
           seal ? In my opinion this is  very wel1 possible. Limited re-       the hesavens  on account of this phenomenon." One of these


                                                                                                            ,
                                                                                                      :


                                              T.H   STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                            201
          L
showers we have on record with the testimony of a witness              and who can abide' it ?" Jel  2:10, ll. Again,  .he speaks of
who informs US that people were thrown into constemation               that terrible day of Jehovah  when he says : "And 1  wil1
and  cried   out to God  the Most High with  confused  clamor.         show  wonders  in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and
From the year 900 to about 1850 there occurred as many as              fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned in& dark-
sixteen  of such extraordinary star showers, in as  far as we          ness, and thelmoon  into bloed,  before the great and terrible
have them on record. Hence, also this elementhas  occurred, day of the Lord come."  Thus also, in the prophecy of Hag-
time and again'in the present dispensation. The same is true,          gai we read: "For thus saith the Lord of hosts  ; Yet  once,
as we know, of the  removal  of the mountains and the islands.         it is a little while, and 1 wil1 shake the heavens;  and the earth,
It is `a well-known fact that mountains have been blown to             and the sea, and the dry land ; And 1 wil1 shake al1 nations,
pieces or entirely wiped  out, and that  many an  island  that has     and the desire  of al1 nations shall  come  ; and 1 wil1  fill. this
once existed  can be found no more. In a word, it cannot               house  with.glory,  saith  the Lord of  hosts." Haggai 2  :6, 7.
be said that this seal-has not become manifest throughout  the         Of the same  shake-up of the physical  universe we  read  in
his.tory of the present dispensation.                                  the New Testament  also. In  Matthew  24:29 we  read, in
    But of course,  al1 these phenomena must increase in force         connection with the coming of the Lord for judgment: "Im-
and ge.neralness of manifestation. The sixth seal wil1 not be          mediately after  the tribulation of those days shall the sun be
completely realized  til1  al1 these natura1 phenomena have            darkened, and the  moon shall not give her.  light, and the
become completely universal, so that al1 men wil1 be able to'          stars shall fa11 from heaven, and the powers of the heavens
witness  them. Earthquakes  wil1 occur that affect the entire          shall be shaktn.: And then shall appear the sign of the Son
surface of the-earth. Darkening of the sun and a bloody ap-            of man in heaven: and then shall al1 the tribes of the earth
pearance of the moon  wil1 be seen that  wil1 be lasting and           mourn,  and they shall see the Son of man coming in th
not again be changed  to normal  conditions. And a universal           clouds of heaven with power and great gl,ory." The same we.
storm of these fiery  balls wil1 occur that wil1 affect the whole      read ;n the Gspel according to Luke 21:9-11:  "But when ye
earthly world. To be sure, the world laughs at this, and the           shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these
people of God ,are called fools to believe this coming  catas-         things must' f&-st come to pass ; but the end is nat by and by.
trophe. But the  wisdom" of the world is foolishness. And              Then said he unto  athem,   Nation shall rise  against  nation,
the louder their laughing and mockery  now, tik wilder will,           and kingdoms  against kingdom  : And great earthquakes shall
be' their consternation  when  al1 this shall appear. For the          be in diverse places,  and famines and pestilences; and fear-
time  wil1  surely   come  when, according to the writer of the        ful sights and great signs shall,  there be from heaven."  And
epistle to the Hebrews, the eai-th and the heavens  shall shake,       in vss. 25 and 24 the Lord speaks of the same things : "And~
the sun shall be darkened and shall refuse to shed her com-            there shall be signs in the sun, and the moon, and the stars;
forting  light   upon  the scene of wickedness, that men shall         and  upon the earth distress of nations, wit11  perplexity ; the
move `about in darkness,  only horrified al1 the more by the           sea and  ther waves roaring ; Men's  hearts failing  them for
deluge of bloody light  shed upon it `by the moon; and. that           fear, and for looking  after those things which are coming on
the stars shall  fa11 to the  earth without  ceasing,  and the         the earth; for the powers of heaven shall be shaken."
heavens shall  -appear  to be rolled  together  as a scroll. Our          Al1 these  portions  of Scripture speak evidently of  the
Lord Jesus Christ is King, King  also over  the physical  uni-         same even&  that are coming in, the future, and that too, in
verse. He is mighty  to fulfill al1 His Word. Hence, fools may         the same connection, namely, in connection with the coming
laugh at this al1 ; the children  of God look forward in earnest       of the Lordrfor  judgment. And therefore, in general  we may
espectation to  the.  time  when  dl  these things  wil1  come to say  that  the sixth seal brings  upon the earth the signs that
pass. To be sure, the  time is  -nat yet.  First the great             immediately  precede the  comin,u  _
                                                                                                             of the Lord. Then these
tribulation must come. First the number of souls under the             signs shall .be realized in al1 their fulness. In order that you
altar  must  becme full. But  after this, surely,  also this sixth    may be able fully  to understnd the meaning of these signs
seal shall  reach its full reality and spread horror and  con-         and their connection with the  coming  of the Lord, it is
sternation upon al1 that have trampled  under foot the bloed           probably expedient for me to employ an illustration. Imagine
of. Christ.                                                            that you stand at a railroad station, waiting for the train.
    Even before we answer the question as to the significante          At first  ah- is quiet: nothing tells you that in the next half
of these.occurrences,  we must first of al1 refer you to Scrip-        hom a train  wil1  come roaring into the station.  Only now
ture. For the Word of God is full of assurances that these             and then a passenger arrives at the station, purchasing a
things  wil1 actually  come to pass.  When  Joel pictures  the         ticket. But  gradually   the scene  changes.  More passengers
-coming of the Lord for judgment, -he says : "The earth, shall         arrive, and the environment becomes a busy scene. The em-
quake before them ; the heavens shall tremble  : the sun and           ployees inlthe  station begin to hustle. Baggage, trunks, and
the moon .shall bee. dark, and the stars shall withdraw their          suitcases-  ?re piled up and put in a convenient  place for load-
shining : And the Lord shall utter his voice before his army  :        ing them in the baggage car attached to the coming train.
for  ,his  tamp is  very  great-: for he is  streng that executeth     People begin to be restless.  Al1 these are signs to you that
 his word : for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible ;       the train is coming. But-other signs presently appear. `H.H.


    2 0 2                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                                   `.It is  plain  then  that  it is the Spirit that is here being
    11: - - THE DAY OF SHADOWS <                                           ll prmised, the very Spirit who is of one and the same essence,
    "           -                                                          `1    majesty and glory with the Father  and the Son from eternity
                                                                                 proceeding from the Father and the- Son and herein as the
                      The Prophecy of Zechariah  .'                              eternal power and might distinguished from both and there-
                                                                                 fore Spirit in whom. is the fellowship of the Father with the
                     Penitential Mowning a.nd  Supplica$on   '                   Son and the Son with  the  Father   .within the being of the
                                                                                 Godhead.  However it is as the Spirit f Christ that He wil1
                              Chapters 12.:lO  - 13 :l           '               be poured  upon the house of David, that is, as the Spirit
                                                                                 _that the triune Jehovah through the blood of Christ merited
          10. And  I  -wil1  poaw  ztpon   the  home  of DaV;B,   and  upon      for Christ and His~ body the church. As the Spirit of Christ
    tlze  inl~abitants  of Jemmilem,  the  sp&t  of grace and of sup-           .He wil1 be given,, or from our vantage point has been given
    plications:   and tkey  slmll look  upon  me  zvhoh they  ham?               to the church to make her partaker  of al1 His benefits. And
    pierced, and they hall mourn for kim, as one mawn&~  for `He,  the Spirit, is and  wil1 be in  .the church, for He abides
    bis only sen,. ad ska11  be in bitterness as one is irt bitterness          with her everlastingly, the  principle,  the fountain, source,
    f or kis fik-  b om. 111  In that day  shall  the?e be  a. great             originator  of her life, of  al1 her glory and blessedness, of
    mourning   ipt Jerusalem,  a.s  tlze  mourning  of  Hadadriwwion             `al1 her good  works,- her prayers and supplications, praise,
    i"rt  the  valley  of Megiddo.  12. And  the land'  sha.11   moitrn,         thanksgivings and adorations. From Him, as the Spirit of
    cvery  fa$&ly apart; the family  of the home of David apart,                 Christ, the  elect  are born. By Him they are led  into  al1
   `and  tkeir  zwives   apa.rt;  .tke family of the  koztse  of  Na.th&         truth. For the Spirit searcheth  al1 things, even the deep
    upar!, and  $eir  m@es  apa.rt.  13:  The  family of the  home of            things of God. For the things of God knoweth no man but
    Levi tipart, and their wives apart; the family o$ the Shimeit@               the  Spirit.-  And He reveals  them unto  US. Things they are
    apart  a,nd their  wives  apa.rt.  14.  A.11 the  rewmini~~g   fa.&lies,     that eye hath not seen; norear heard, neither have entered
    family by fa,mily  apart and  theik  &ves  ,apart.  Chapter  13 :i.          into the heart of man- things that God hath prepared for
    In  tht  da$  tlzere  slzall be  a foztntain opened td tlze house of         them that  love Him (1 Cor. 2  :9ff). But  al1  .that He, th
    David and to the inhabitants of Jerzt.sale~&, fop sin and un-                Spirit, gives and shews He takes of that which is Christ's,
 clea~nness.                                                                     whose Spirit He is (John 16  :14):
          The expression f`in that day" occurs also in1 this section.                Spirit of  Grace.   Grace  in. this expression denotes  the  :
    Froman examination of the promises that set forth what the                   total of gifts imparted. That these gifts are called gifts of
    Lord wil1 do "in that day,:' it is evident that the-reference is             grace has its reasons. First, they are gifts of spiritual beauty
    to.a stretch of time that extends far beyond the'limits of the               that beautify the recipients. (The word grace means beauty).
_ old dispensation.                                                              ,Born of  the flesh they were  flesh, vile sinners doing the
                                                                                 works of their  father  the  devil.  But born now of the Spirit
          10. In that day the Lord  will'pour   upon  the house of               they are spirit. They are new  creatures  in Christ Jesus
. David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of                    partaking of God's nature and reflecting His glories. Second,
    grace and supplication. At the time of the utter-ante of this                the gifts of the Spirit are called grace because they are un-
   prophecy it was stil1 the dispensation of shadows.: The Spirit                merited and therefore free and freely given and given to men
   was not,yet,  seeing. that Christ had not yet died. And there-                unworthy not alone  hut ill-deserving as  well. The wind blows
   fore insight into the mysteries of the Gospel was  stil1 limited.             where  it chooses and its sound is heard, but .it cannot be said
   Doubtless therefore the people of God of our prophet's day                    whence-it.   comes and whither it  goes. So is  every one born
   took the promise  with which we here deal to mean that the                    of the Spirit  (John 3  :9). He is one  who in Christ is the
   Lord  would pour His  grace  upon  the  spirits of  211 His  elect            object of God's  eternal and  soveregn  love for  whom Christ
   and:tht,  as possessors of spirits filled with His  grace,  they             therefore died and whom the Spirit graces.
   would supplicate. But that the word  "spirit?   in the  ex-
   pression "spirit of grace"  denotes the second  Person  in the                   Being the Spirit of  grace the Spirit is therefore at  once  :
   Trinity as the  Spirit of Christ and that therefore  .what  is                the Spirit of supplication, of  al1 true prayer. Only they
   here promised is that the Lord wil1 pour this His Spirit upon                 graced by the Spirit  can pray. For prayer is seeking  after
   His church,  when,  the day of Pentecost has  fully   come, -God for .God's sake. It is the panting of the soul after God.
   follows from this,  namely,  that the  prophet   goes' on to say              It is the thjrsting of the soul for God. The supplicants have
   that these supplicants `wil1  look upon Him whom they' have                   none in heaven hut God and none on earth'that  they desire-
   pierced and that the. one to be pierced is Christ. This .latter               after  Him: They long to sec God as  He'is. And because his
   we learn  from the apostle'  John,  who tells US that the doing               hope is in them they purify themselves, l~~y  off sin and put
   of the soldier by which he pierced Christ's side with a spear                 on Christ. And in true cntrition of heart they confess their
   was  the fulfilment of the prediction of- our prophet,  "They                 sins and taste that the Lord is  -gracieus  in the assurance
   shall look on him whom they have pierced."                    i               that their sins are forgiven them.  And,they  besiege the throne


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                                                                                       :
                                                                   _           `...
       of grace for grace., And seeking- they find and asking  they         the  implicit trust in God that characterized David, the
       receive grace for grace. Having  they receive and have more          mighty man of valour in Israel. But now in this new  dis-
       abunclantly. True prayer then is the heart open to grace. It         pensation of the Spirit it is different. The stumblers are like
       izthe soul drinking  from the river of grace that flows from         David,  2nd .the huse of David is like God, like the angel of
       the Throne.                                                          the Lord before them. Al1 with courage fight the god fight.
                                                                            Al1 know and  al1 prophesy. For  al1 now have the anointing
          The Spirit was poured upon the church as represented in           and revelation has been  completed  and has become the
       the vision of our prophet  by the house of David and. the in-        property of  al1 the saints. In the Old Dispensation it was
       habitants of Jerusalem and the families and,-their  wives of. not so, seeing that in that day the Lord communicated His
       which mentio is made in verse 12. When  the day of Pente-           revelations  only .to a limited number of His people, called
       tost was  fully   come, the  incarnte Son of God, our Lord          prophets,.  and seeing that they alone were mandated and
       Jesus Christ,  having  redeemed His people from their sins           qualified of the Spirit to proclaim tihat had been revealed.
       by His blood, and being by the right hand of God `exalted,           In  gathering,  the church the Spirit uses  means.  Now this
       received  of the  Father  the  promise of  the  Holy Spirit, and     means  is the  promise fulfilled, the  glorined  and Spirit-filled
       shed Him forth (Acts 2 :33). It was now that the Spirit was          Christ as  presented  to  viev through the Scriptures. In the
       given, seeing that-the Son of God had assumed the flesh and          Old Dispensation the  `means   ~was the shadows of the  law,
       blood of His brethren, had suffered .and died for His people         the promise as unfulfilled. That even long before Christ died
       and was glorified.  Nat that in the Old Dispensation-the             and was exalted there could be these preliminary  workings  of
       Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of Christ, was not active in.gather-      the Spirit is owing to the  fact that Christ was  slain  from.
       ing the church. He was certainly. For the church is gathered         before the foundations of the world.
     ,, from the beginning  to the end of the world. But in that day
       the Spirit was not active as the Spirit of the inmmzate   Son            The prophet  goes on to say in this verse that "they shall
       of God. In that day therefore the church was not yet as              look  upon  mei  whom they have pierced,  and that they  shall   _
       the body of, Christ, seeing that He was without a glorified          mourn for him . .  ." It has  already  been shown that the
      human  nature.  Before  $Ie could properly becme the true            pronoun  WW  fooks to God revealed in the flesh, our Lord
      vine, the true.bread  and the living water, the sanctification,       Jesus Christ. ~ The pronoun they looks back to the hose  of
      justification and redemption of His people, He first had to           David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Implied in these
      become flesh and receive the promise of the Spirit` in it. It         statements is the prediction that this house and these  in-
       explains why the Spirit was not poured  upon the church              habitants  wil1  pierce Christ. And so they did. They  cruci-
      before. He first had to be poured upon the flesh of Ghrist.           fied Him.  Said Peter to the men of Israel in reply  to their
      And. so He was - He the Spirit of al1 grace and supplica- reactions to the pouring of the Spirit on the church  when
      tion. There is therefore grace  only for that people, His             the day of Pentecost was  come,  "Hear  these words: Jesus
      people, grafted in Him by a living faith. For with Him and            of Nazaret.h, a man approved of God among you by miracles
      Him alone dwells the Spirit of grace. In Him and in Him               ,and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst
      alone. dwells the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Not to be            of you, as yf yourselves also know : him, being delivered by
      in Him is to be without grace everlastingly. Said Jesus to            the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have
      the multitude,  "1 .am the bread of hfe. Your fathers did eat         -taken, and by tiicked  hands have crucified and slain"  (Acts
      manna in the wilderness, and are  dead. This is the bread             2  :22, 23).  What   is. being told  US  also here is that  also the
      which cometh down from heaven, that a ma  may eat thereof            church, the heuse  of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem
      and not die. 1 am the living bread, which came down from              had a hand, m piercing, crucifying Christ  - the church in-
      heave.n; if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever ;        cluding  the elect. This is further confirmed hy Christ's prayer
_     and the bread that 1 will. give is my flesh, which 1 wil1 give        in the hour of His crucifixion, "Father forgive them, for they          _
      for the life of the. world"  (John G :48ff).  Let  US take notice,    .know not @hat they do." And of this -amazing  sin al1 God's
      the bread that Christ wil1 give is His flesh, His Spirit-filled       people to the last saint are  guilty.  For we by  nature ar
      assumed humanity.                                                                                   0
                                                                            no better  than they. Had we been  walking  among them in
                                                                            that. day, also our cry would have been, "crucify Him," ex-
          And  upon His flesh the Spirit was poured, and  there-            cept restrained by the redeeming grace of God.  iBesides,
      upon poured of Him  upon His body, the  chiu-ch-poured
      was the Spirit, that is, given copiously, bundantly,  without        piercing God is the essence of sin, and the saints sin continu-
      measure.  Though  active in the Old Dispensation, it cannot           ally. Surely God commended His love toward  US in that
      be said that the Spirit was poured upon the church of that            even while we were yet sinners Christ died for  US (Rom.
      day. The Scriptures  also contain  clear  evidences of this           5  :S) . The men of Israel crucified Christ. But, sid the apostle
      differente  between the two dispensations  of- the Spirit. In         unto them later, "And  now, brethren, 1 know that through
      the language of our prophet  there were feeble in the- church,        ignorante  ye did it, as did  also your  rulers."  .They did not,
      stumblers. In courage-and  daring they were far from measur-          know. that rthe blood of Christ was the blood of the atone-             '
      ing up to David. They were not endowed of the Spirit with             ment. And therefore the great sin could be forgiven them.


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 And it was  forgiven  them in  the way of their repentance.           th Spirit of grace and supplications. And the fruit thereof
 Surely they, theelect~of  God, repented. For upon the.house           wil1 be that they wil1 see their God whom `they pierced, and
 of David and the inhabitants  of Jerusalem the Lord had               they  wil1 weep and  lament  on account of their sins with a
 poured  the Spirit of grace and supplication.  And-  al1 the          great lamentation. And  so there  wil1 be a great thirsting
 saints  repent  with them. For not to  repent  of this great sin      after the tiding  that a provision has been made for sin and
 is to approve it. It is to crucify Christ afresh and put Him          uncleanness, and that provision is this fountain:
 to open shame. But as to  al1  such with  whom  dwells-.the               But is it to be a fountain the waters of which wil1 be for
 Spirit  f grace and supplication, looking  upon Him  whoni           the cleansing of the penitents or for the quenching of their
 they have pierced with an.eye  of faith, they, in the language        thirst  ? The  .question  can  also be stated thus : Is it to be a
 of. our prophet, mourn for Him as one murneth for his only           fountain for sin and  uncleanness,  or, as the Holland Bible
 son and are in bitterness as one in bitterness  for* his only son.    has it, against sin  ? The Hebrew binds  US to the former of
 The thought that they pierced and through their daily  sinning        these two renderings. For th preposition used is the lamedh,
 continue to pierce the only begotten One, the God of their            which never means against but always  joy, to,. belomjing  to,
 salvation, fills them with sorrow unspeakable. :                      ai to, iti respect to. It is this a fountain the- waters of which
        ll. And so, through the ages, there is a great mourning        are  for, to, in respect to sin. But this does not yet  ..answer
 in Jerusalem, as  the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the  valley          the question  how and why the waters of this fountain are
of Megiddon. The plain of Megiddon was the scene of one                for Sin? Is it because the waters of the founatin as drunk
 of the .most disastrous events in Hebrew history, the mortal          are a  cure, a remedy for sin and death and the  pollution
 wounding of the God-fearing king Josiah (11 Iiings 23 :29,            thereof ? Is this the idea of the imagery ? It is more likely that
 30). For many years a publik  lamentation was held in com-            the fountain of which this verse speaks is on whose waters
 memoration of the  death of this king (11 Chron. 35  :25).            are, for the  washing  away of sin. They are waters for
 Hadadrimmon is the  place  where  Josiah fell. With this              cleansing and not for drinking.
 mourning the  weeping  of  al1 saints over their sins is  here
 compared.                                          I            i.        The Hebrew word here used for sin  means  missing the
                                                                       mark, as for example the archer  misses the mark at which
        12-1-4.  These  verses  describe the  universality  of the     he aims. His  missing the mark,  however,  was not what he
 lamentation.  Al1 parts of the  church   wil1  participate.  Their    purposed, For he took careful aim. But the natura1 man
 wives apart.  - The men were `the  .,moving  spirits in the           misses the mark deliberately, and this mark is the glory of
 piercing of the Saviour, but the women  fee1 themselves  in-          God. The  sinner"  wil1 not make God the purpose of his
 volved in the  guilt. They as  wel1 as the men are sinners            existente.  The shrine before which he is prostrated is that
 before God. The family is the clan  or tribe. David . . .             of his own ego, and al1 his thoughts are that there is no-God.
 Nathan  . . . Levi . . . Shimeite.   - In the first'  instance the    This is his misery. And this is his great  guilt  before God.
 house of David means  the successors of David, that is, the           The word  uncleanness.  in this verse has rference  to' the
 rulers. The house of Levi represents the priesthood. The              spiritual pollution of his  nature,  to the corruption of  his-
 house of  Nathan might  denote- the prophetic order. The              heart, the darkness of his mind and the perverseness of bis
 Shimeites are  the  descendants  of Shimei, the  ,grandson  of        will.
 Levi. Al1 the rest of the families wil1 repent,  the obscure pnes
 and whose names are therefore not mentioned.-  Thus  al1 wil1             But there wil1 be a fountain opened for the cleansing of
 repent,  the women as wel1 as the men, the prominent as wel1          al1 sin, - the sin of the penitent ones, the contrite of heart.
 as the obscure. What we deal with here is type and symbol             And  sthis fountain is He  Who was made unto  US  wisdom
 foreshadowing the weeping  of the Spirit-filled church over           and righteousness and sanctification and redemption - the
 her sins.           -                                                 cr-ucified, glorified and Spirit-filled Christ.  .For His blood
                                                                       cleanses from  al1 sin. And it was the  Father   who opened
        Chap. 13 :l. The Gospel  of-this verse is  that.in that day    Him through His smiting Him  for  our iniquities. For  om--
 there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to         transgressions He was wounded, for our iniquities He was
 the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness. The         bruised. Upon Him was the-astisement  of our peace. And
 expression "in that  day",  heads  also this verse. In that day       it is by His stripes  that we are healed.
 a fountain shall be opened. The reference is to the moment                                                                      G.M.O.
 in which this opening wil1 take place and to the entire day
 in which the grace of the fountain wil1 flow. It is the same
 period that in the previous chapter  is indicated by this ex-                    OVERSHADOWING PROTECTION
 pression. The expression  looks back especially to- the final                      The man who  once has found abode
 verses  of the preceding  chapter:  There it is stated that in                     Within the  secret  place  of God
 that day the Lord wil1 defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem                       Shall with Almighty God  abide,
 and that He wil1 seek to destroy al1 the nations. .But in the                     And in His shadow safely hide.
 same day he wil1 pour  out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem                                                                  Psalm 91 :l


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                                                     T H E   STANDARD   B.EARER                                                                   205

                                                                                 Israel;  the  holy seed, was not to marry`with the  heathen
                                                                                 nations of the land, but was called  upon by the Lord to
                                                                                 utterly destroy them with the sword of Jehovah. While in
                                                                                 : the New Testament dispensation the  heathen  nations too
                Exposit.ion  of 1 Corinthians 7                                  have the;gospel preached in their midst. God calls  his church
                                     IV.                                         also from the  -gentile   `peoples. And  such were these  Corin-
                                                                                 thians. They were those who. were "not my people" but are
                        (1 Corinthians            7:12-16)        -     .:       now called (Ammi) my people; they were not the  objects'   .
   ,We now  come to the passage in which Paul speaks of                          of mercy,  but now they receive mercy !
what has  ,often been denominated: the matter of  p&ed                              -This  basic   differente  between the  fact that in the 0.  `T:
naar9iages!                                                                      dispensaton the gentiles were strangers of the covenants,
    This passage reads as fellows  :."But to the rest speak-I, -outside  of the  commonwealth  of Israel, and that now they
not the Lopd:  If a.ny  brothr have .a. wije that believeth not,                 are  "jointheirs"  with the Jewish christians of the hope of
and  slae be  pleased to  che~l   zuith  hi.m, let  hh  utot  put  her'          Israel, has far-reaching  consequences `also in the interpreta-
away. And  the  zvo1Tacn  which  hath  an  huba.ndl   that  be-                  tion of the Scripture passage under consideration!
li'cveth not, a.nd ij he be pleoxed to dweil  wit?a her, let her nat                 Hence, we read in Deut. 7 :l-6 as follows in part : "When
leave  I&PL,   (put  him  a.way)  .  FOY  tlze  `~unbelievi~~g   husbahd  is     the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither
sanctified  by  the  wife,  &td the  unbelieving   wife is  ssrnctified          thou gest to possess it, and has tast out many nations .be-
by tke  kusband:   else  zveie  yo,~r  children  ztnclean:  but  now             fore thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites,
a.re  tlzey  holy.   Batt  if  the  uxb&eving   dcpart,  let  hi~~  ~depart..    and the Canaanites, andthe  Perizzites, and the Hivites, and
A  brotlzer   o+ a sister is not under bondage  ih  suclz  cases:                th Jebusites, even nations greater and mightier than thou;
hut God hath c&ed zu to peace (in peace)-.. For zwliat  knowest And  when the LORD thy God  shall deliver them before
tlaou,   0   wij;,  wlzethe9~   thou  slzalt  s a v e   thy  hztsbartd?   Or thee ; thou shalt  smite them, and utterly destroy them : thou
how  (what) knowest  tkozt, 0  -,wz,an,   wlzetlzer   thoat.   halt save         shalt   mal&  no  covenant  with them, nor show  mercy unto
thy  zwiie?"                                                                     them:  neitlte?*  slzalt  thou  WLnke  ~&zv&ges  with  thevM. . . . .
    We should  notice that Paul emphasizes that what he                          For they  wil1 turn away thy son from following me, that they
says  here cncernng  "the rest,"  that is, concerning those                    may serve  ether  gods:  so  wil1 the anger of the LORD be
families and relationships between husbands and wives  where                     kindled  aganst  YOLI~  and destroy thee  sud'denly . . . . . For
one is a belever and the other is not, is a matter in which                     thou art an laoly people unto the LORD thy God: the Lord
Paul had no direct revelation from God. He had  ,lo  ex-                        thy God hath chosen  thee to be a special people unto him-
plicit teaching of the Lord Jesus on this point. Paul's teach-                   self, above al1 people that are upon the face of the earth."
ing  was.not such as he had received  from God through the                          From  this passage it is evident that  Israel in the 0. T.
medium of the other apostles. See Gal.. 1  ril. Concerning                       dispensation was limited to the  natura1   descendants   .of
the Lords Supper he had received  a very defihte revelation                      Abraham.  The-nations,   whom God would destroy and have
"from the Lord." See 1 Cor. 11  :23.  Also concerning the                        Israel  destroy, formed a "mixed" marriage when they mar-
relationship between husband and wife he had a definite and                      ried with the sons kand daughters of God. Thus it was  also
explcit word from Christ hmself, as. we- have ponted.  out                    before the flood `And it came, to pass, when -men began to
in our former essay when we commented on the verses 8-11.                        multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters "were born
However, here Paul had no  such definite word. Hence, he                         untp them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men
says, "1 say" and "not the Lord." .                                              that they were fair, and they took them wives of al1 which
    It should be observed that this does in no way imply                         they chose."  Gen. 6:1, 2. That was a bonafide case of "mixed
that this might for the very reason, that it is "not the .Lord,>`~ marriages."-
but Paul who speaks, be considered a teaching which would                         . In  "suyh cases" a man was surely under the "bondage"
nat be a rule of faith and conduct. It certainly is. And we                      of sin. Such was Esau wit11  his heathen  wives, showing him
do ~well to give heed and direct our life out of faith, accord-                  to. be a profane  person.  Gen.  26:34. 35. Surely Isaac and
ing to  God's.   law, and unto His glory, the  glory of His                      Rebekah saw the horrible implications of Esau's "mixed"  mar-
grace!             _                                                             rages for we read, "And  Esau  was forty years old when he
    In the matter of the so-called "mixed  marriages"  we                        took to wfe Judith the daughter of Beeri  .the Hittite, and
should remember `that there is a  basic  differente  between the                 Bashemath `the daughter  .of Elon the Hittite : which were a
forbidden "`mixed  marriages".  in the Old Testament  dis-                       grief of  inind unto Isaac and to Rebekah."
pensation and  the matters spoken of in the  verses  12-16 under                    They saw before their  very eyes that  Esau was "under
consideration.                                                                   bondage" of sin as a profane person!
    What is that distinction ?                                                    Smal1  wonder that Rebekah says to Isaac,  `? am weary
    Briefly it is  ths: in the Old Testament it  mear$ that                     of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a
                               .-


     .                     _
  206                                           T H E .   STPNDARD   B E , A R E R

  wife of the daughfers of Heth, such as these are which are                Christ had  come.  into  such a  fa&+ according  ti the  law
  the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?"              of- elective  grace !
  Gen:          27:46.          ._                                            This implies that not the believing  parent   atid the  chil-
          How  jealously  the  LC)RD  maintains the  hotior of His        dren live with the unbelieving  parent, but the contrary  .is
  election   of  grace for His chosen people  we again see in the t&e that the unbeliever lives with (dwells with) the  be-
  days of Ezra.  We read in Ezra 9 :1-4 as follows, "Now when            lieving  parent  and  the, children, be this  parent  the  father
  these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The            or the mother.
  people of Israel and the priests, and the Levites have not                  Now such an unbelieving  parent  (either husband or wife)
separated  thmselves  from the people of the lands, doing ac- -can live willingly with  such a believing family  or he  wil1
  cording to their abominations, even of the Canaanites,  the Hit-       riet  wil1 to live there. The term to  Oe  @asad  is in  Greek'
  tites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moa-          a compound  yerb  : suneudokei; that is,  n&ally  w%ng to
  bites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. FOY they have taken- dweil with the believing family. It. implies to agree to, to
  of their da~.glzfe~s  for thmmelves,  and for their so& : so that      be  `pleased  together with.:' Tien-there is no problem. But
  the  holy seed have mingled  themselves  with the people of :suppose  such a  person  wil1 not live in a family  where the
  those lands : yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been        spiritua.1  status  qz~o   h&  changed,  and actually leaves the
  chief  in this  trkspass  . . .  ."                                    domicile,  what then ? There is then nothing to do about it.
          And what must be done with these wives (woman)  and            Let  .such a one  depart.  She  changed  her  place  of dwelling.
  the childr'en  -whom  they begat by them ?. Both the wiv& and          Her leaving doesn't change ,the sanctity of the family. The
 the children, borri  of them, must be put away. For in "such            children are stil1 holy because of the believing parent.
  cses" in the O.T. dispensation the children were not clean                However,  such leaving is not tantamount to an  annul-
  by an unholy thing. Wherefore  we read in Ezra 10 13, -"fiow . . ment of the marriage before the face of God.  Marriage is
  therefore  let~us  malie  a  covenant  with  our.  God.  to  p,ut  a.zuaJJ a natural. tie of the  flesh, which is sanctified by faith in
  a.11 -tke -wive.s  a.nd SUC~L as a"Te bom of the,, according to the    Christ through the  Holy Spirit. The  fact that the  unbe-            _.
  counsel of- my Lord,. and of those that tremble at the coni-           lieving partner in marriage  changed  his  place  of dwelling
mandment  of our God ;  and let it be done according to the               (choorizoo) does not affect the tie which God had  effected
  law."                                               ;     ._           in marriage! The fact`that if one of the parents is an unbe-
     In these 0.  T., mixed cases  &.e are dealing with  quite  a        liever it does  nat change or  annul. marriage, is  etident  from
  different situatiori from  &at  tic have in  th  church  at           the instruction `of Paul thaf if the unbeliever is desirous to
  Corinth in the N. T. dispensation!                                     .remain  that he be not put away !
                                                                             Besides, it should not be overlooked that Paul stil1
      Would anyone in the N. T. dispensation,  who'has  married -denominates the party  who has left the family which is
  an unbelieving  or a disobedient wife,  also  wil1  .to take the       sanctified in Christ, a "husband" and  "wife",  shows  eith
  consequences of  sending  off the children with the putting            indisputable certainty that  such "leaving" does not  annul
  away of such an errant wife ? Methinks not !                           the marriage-tie  before the Lord..
      Nor is such the case in the N. T. dispensatiofi,  particularly         Certain what Paul says in verse 39 is not conditioned by
  in the church at Corinth. For here we are  d.ealing with a             some  such exception as `provided he  or she is not an  un-
  situation which has been radically  changed  because now they,         believer !`f
  who were sometimes far,  have been  brought  nigh  through                 And, as we hope to point out in a future essay, Paul does
 the blood of Christ Jesus. For the situation of the congrega-           not say that a brother  or a sister is not  "bound"  in  such  a
 tion of Corinth is  such that they were  al1  once  heathen.  But       case by the  law of the husband,  hut.  rather  that "in  such  ,
  God has chosen them to the fellowship -in the : Gospel `in             cases a brother  or sister is not  tender  bondage."-
  Christ. He says to Paul in a revelation, "1 have much people               More of that in our consideration of the verses  17-24.
 in this city." Acts  18  IlO. And these people believed, `as                                                                        G.L.
 many as were ordained to eternal life  .at God's time, unde?
 the preaching of  the gospel. Thus there  were cases  where
 either a man or a wife believed, while their respective wife                                       KN  M E M O R I A M
 or  husbarid  did not,  or did  nt  yet  believe.  However, even          Ruth'Society of Hope Piotestant  Reformed Church expresses
 so,  i? was not a mingling of the  holy seed, between  I&ael            sincere sympathy to its sister  member,  Mrs. Gerald Korhorn, in
 and the unclean nations. It was simply a  case  -of.  a new             the loss of her brother
 status  .qzto, a  new spiritual status in the entire far+ly.  For                                 GEORGE KORHORN                              0.
 the word had entered not merely to sa+e an individual man               aed  also  her.  brother-in-law
 or woman, but the "promise  is to you and to your children,                                        HARI@' VISSER
 euen `as  wmny as  the Lord  our God  slm?l  ca@."  &ts 2  :39             "The' eternal God -is thy refuge, and underneath ar the ever-
  (Joel 2 :32).                                                          lasting arms." Deut. 33:27.
                                                                                                               Rev. H. Hanko, President
     A new status quo !                                                         0                            Mrs. D. Eerdmans,  Secretary


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  207
                   - --__
   ll                                                                      even twenty minutes men are told to smile in suffering, be
                  INMIS                     FEAR                  -.
                                                                   l/- polite, never complain and such sins as gossip, backbiting,
                                                                           unfaithfulness to promises, dishonesty  as  sim  against   MAIN.
                                                                           may be hammered home. And the congregation goes home
                       Spiritually Sensitive                               congratulating.  itself on  having   secured   such a practica1
                                                                           preacher:  Jealousy, greed are furiously condemned and love,
                                                                           pity, ~living  as a brotherhood of al1 men, being good citizens
                                  (6)                                      who take interest in the cultural and educational standards
         "Fear God  and keep Wis cominandments."                         b of the community are  strongly   advocated.  The cross,  the
                                                                           Church as the body of Christ, the Trinity, justification, sanc-
         That, Solomori declares, is the sole duty of man.                 tification,' the means  of grac, God's counsel and a host of
         But let US be sure that. we understand that these two are         other doctrinal  subjects  are carefully avoided as being too
   inseparable. These are not two duties of man. Solomon                   dry, too  stuffy. and fit for a ministers' conference,  perhaps,
    speaks of the sole duty of man and not of the chiefest duties          but not for the pulpit. And though the audience goes home
    of `man. We arenot  to fear God some of the time and keep              stating, "What a fine, practica1 minister we have !" they do
    Wis commandments the rest  of. the  time. The  duty of a               not  practice  the  princ$es  of true godliness.  Often-  very
   custodian may be to keep the building  clean and to keep the            gross sins are committed and sponsored by that  very church.
   lawn neatly mowed. These, however,  he is not to do at the              For it is insensible spiritually to these wicked  ways:  Its
    same time. Nor does .he mow the lawn in order to keel3 the             spiritual sensitivity is  almost,  if not entirely, gone. It is the
 building  clean. These are separate works that belong to his              church with a superficial doctrine that begins to sponsor
   duty. But in order to keep  God;s commandments we  wil1                 dances,   to defend divorce, to uphold membership in  secret
   have to be fearing Him. And al1 breaking of His command-               organizations that  demand one to swear allegiance to it above
   ments  is~ due to the fact that we have ceased to fear Him.            al1 other organizations atid thus above allegiance to God in
         Now to fear Wim is to  beheve  in Him as the only true            His Church. They sponsor lotteries  which even the world
   God. To fear Him means  that we have pureness of doctrine.              condemns  as-gambling  and often forbids these churches. They
   It means  that we have and believe the truth concerning Him.           extol Hollywood and their adulterous generation and ad-
   It means `that we believe in Him as the God that He is and             vocate seeking its entertainment. They harbor in their midst
   notas the god of mans imagination.         .                           unmolested those who deny the divinity and virgin birth of
                                                                           Christ, the  sljiritual  character of the  kingdom  of God,  the
         Therefore one cannot truly be spiritually sensitive unless       atonement of Calvary, the,infallible  inspiration of the Word
   he is that in  regard  to doctrine. Not infrequently we  hear  1 of God. They strain and become red'faced in their vehemence
   men clamoring for less doctrine and for more practica1 preach-         to  stram at a few  gnats and they swallow with relish  a
   ing.  gat too infrequently  also these same people become              camel !
   highly indignant  when in the fulfilling of this  "request" of
 ,, practica1 preaching the sins in which they are walking  are               There is a reason for this, The chief  distinguishing mark
   called  such and their life has been shown not to be one in            of the true c.hurch is the pure preaching of the Word. Where
   His fear. Very. often the first toe clamor for practica1 preaching     you have that, this word wil1 advocate and realize the exer-
`- are also the first to defend the sins that this practica1 preach-      cise of Christian discipline. Where the preaching becomes
   ing condemns.  But apart from that, this often - though not            impure, discipline  falls  by the wayside. And although. the
   always - accompanies the request for practica1 preaching.              cry is raised:for  practica1 preaching rather than doctrinal, it
   So that we may say that the cry for practica1 preaching is             is al1 too often due to the fact that men want t practice  evil.
   not sincere unless it is rooted in a deep and spiritual love for           Of course there is practica1 preaching in the good sense
   doctrine.                                                              of the word. Of course there is aneed for practica1 preach-
         And have you ever noticed that the more superhcial  the          ing. The congregation must be shown  how these doctrines
   doctrine becomes, the more liberal  the stand `becomes over            affect US in practica1 life. We must be taught how to practice
   against the lusts of the flesh, the lust `of the eyes and the          faith and godliness. We must be taught  how to  practice living
   pride of life ? And have you ever taken note of the  fact              in His fear and keeping His commandments, which Solomon
   that  the-shorter the sermons become the more loosely the              says is om- sole duty. iBut .theie is so much of that clamoring
   congregation lives, without a word of condemnation being               for practica1 preaching that is due to the  fact that its  ad-
  spoken from the pulpit? Oh, indeed, there may be ten, fifteen           vocates   are'not spiritually sensitive. They want you to  tel1
   minute "sermons" in which some `worldly mora1 is loudly                them  each' step of the  way  what they must do,  how they
   arid vehemently-maintained.  But the shorter the sermons and           must behave as children of God. They claim that they do
   the more superficial the preaching, the more the Sabbath-              not know in a given circumstance just what to do ; what tu
   the part that is left  after  these abbreviated services  --is         reject and what  to.  receive;  what to seek and from what to
   spent in.anything  but spiritual exercises. For ten, fifteen or        flee;  what is right in God's sight and what is evil ; what they


  208                -                          T H E   S T  N D A R D   BEARER.

 may do and what they  may not do;  what is keeping His                   right and.  wrong as long. as there is no spiritual sensitivity
 commandments and what is not.                                           as to what'is the-truth and what is the  lic.
       What they need is doctrinal preaching.  They have  be-                 It is for that reason that the Church of Christ does not
 come, as the author of the.epistle to the Hebrews declres,              yield to  every  cry for  ecumenicity:  The Church of Christ in
 "dull of hearing." And anyone who reads the context of his               her spiritual sensitivity shudders at the beliefs and doctrines
 words  wil1 understand that he is speaking  here'  of being              that fill  the  world  today.. She is not attracted but repelled
 dull of hearing the doctrines of Scripture. For he states,               by the philosophies of man. And before unions and alliances
"For  when the  time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need                are made, she must be absolutely.  certain that  al1 the  doc-
 that one teach you again which are the first principles  of the > trines to be held and to be defended jointly are the teachings
 oracles  of God ; and are become such as have need of milk,              of Scripture. She  wil1 not stand for  a moment for  any
 and not of streng  meat."  Hebrews 5 :ll, 12. We plan to say .dishonoring  or dethroning of God. She  wil1 not  walk   with-
 more about this later but at this point we make mention  of              those  who want the lie in  any  farm,. whatsoever. She is
 it because doctrine and life go hand in hand. We must fear               highly suspicious of anything that smells the least bit like the
 God in order to keep His commandments. And there wil1 be                 liet And because she sees  al1 manner of wicked  practices;
 no spiritual sensitivity in regard  to-what is right and wrong           because she sees evil condoned instead of condemned, she
 as long as there is no spiritual sensitivity as to what is the           knows that the doctrine cannot be pure. And she shies away
 truth and what is the lie.                                               from  any  merger that even threatens to  result in an  off-
                                                                          color doctrine.
       The  fa11 of man in paradise clearly  reveals  that~truth.  It         Union for the sake of oneness is -as wicked  as union for
 was the lie that Satan used to lead man into sin. Ge sought              the sake of greatness.  Indeed  Jesus said,  "That they  may
 to destroy man's fear of God in order to make him cease to               be ene" ; but He does not say that they may be one in body
 keep His commandments. Not fearing God and not keeping                   and organization alone. He surely  means one in doctrine,
 I&s commandments are cleverly  woven  together in Satan's
                                                                 r        one in faith, one in dedication to the cause of God? glory,
 first question, "Yes, hath God said, Ye shall nat eat of every           one in purpose-f-hert to fight al1 heresy.
 tree of the garden  ?" It was corrupt doctrine, a false
 -presentation  of God that he employed in order to make man                  A church seeks  merger with another church either  be-
 cease keeping  God's commandments. His firsf object is to                cause it is spiritually sensitive and is attracted by the true
 make man insensible to the truth and to change bis opinion               doctrine of the -ether  or is spiritually dull of hearing, is no
 of *God,  to corrupt his doctrine in order to make him corrupt           longer  hurt by the lie in the other church. It comes down to
 his way. We must not, therefore, simply ask whether a man                this : they are one already  because both have become insen-
 is spiritually sensitive enough to detect right from wrong,              sible to the lie and are *no longer  attracted by the truth ; or
 righteousness from sin, God's wil1 from His hot displeasure              the one  finds that it has been in error and now, through
 in  any given circumstance. We must also, by al1  means,  ask God's  grace,  bas been  caused to see the beauty of the truth
 whether a man is spiritually sensitive enough to detect  the             in another church and realizes its doctrinal oneness with it.
 truth from the lie, the doctrine of Scripture from the heresies          There is, of course,  the remote possibility that two churches t
 of man, God's Word from the philosophies  of the world,  yea             are one, perfectly one, in doctrine and  only recently have
 Gods Word from Satan's.                                                  become acquainted with one another. But the fact remains,
                                                                          union is due to oneness of spiritual sensitivity  already   ex-
 -.    We must not  fa11 into the error of considering Satan to           isting and  already  evident  *in oneness of doctrine or it is
 be one whose only and chief purpose is to tempt man into                 oneness of spiritual insensibility that is ready to cal1 nones-
 wicked practices.  Rebellion, riot, murder, theft, deceit,  lying,       sential what formerly it deemed essential enough for separate
 adultery, j ealousy and covetousness are  readily  cnceded              existente.    Dullness of hearing then, has brought  union,
 to be works into which  Satn  has deceived and led man.                 unwillingness to hear the voice of Christ.
 But. let t be maintained just as readily that heresy, false                `.We have no  space left for  this  time. We do want to
 doctrines, blasphemies against God, against His Christ and               make one  final  remark which we plan to develop further
 against. His Church, and mental  images of God are not only              nest  time, the Lord willing. Because the preaching of `the
 works  in which he delights greatly but also works which he Word is  the  chief earmark of the true church, and it  deter-
 strives incessantly to  produce  in man. And although he                 mines   what shall and what  shall  not be  disciplined  in the
 does this in order to realize  al1 marmer of  wicked  deeds,             church; it is impossible for one spiritually sensitive to what
 these are not  simply  means unto an end. He is as pleased               is the truth nd  what is the lie, to seek  merger with  those-
 with the  heretic  as with the murderer. He  delights.  in the           who plainly reveal that they are insensible to what is right-
 foul speech of the false propliet  as in the adulterer. He re-           eousness and what is sin. No one so spiritually sensitive
 joices over  the lie spoken against and concerning God as                that the truth fills his soul with joy and the lie in every  form
 much as in the false witness against  man And `we repeat,                irritates him is going to  held  conferences to see whether
 there  wil1 be  no spiritual sensitivity  in.  regard  to what is                             (Continued on page  2;2)


                                               THE'S-TANDA.RD  B E A R E R                                                           209
II                                                                      emperor the anathema. In view of these  repeated   fulmina-
           Contending For The Faith                                     tions it is no. wonder that the papa1 legate, Albert of Bohemia,
                                                                        wrote from Bavaria  that the clergy did not care a bean for
                                                                        the sentence of excommunication. The sentence charged  him
             The  ChuSch   and the Sacraments                           with .stirring  LIP sedition against the Church in Rome from
                                                                        which  Gregory had been  forced to  flee in the  conflicts  be-
      VIEWS  DURING   THE  THIRD  PERIOD   (750-1517 A.D.)              tween the Ghibelline  and Guelf parties, with seizing territory
                                                                        belonging to the Holy  Sec, and with  violente   iowards~   pre-
                  THE  SUPREMACY   OF  THE  POPE                        lates and benefices.  The Ghibellines were supporters in Italy
                                                                        of the German emperor in the  eleventh  to the fourteenth
        THE  PAPACY   FROM  THE  DEATH  OF  INNOCENT   111              centuries. Concerning the Guelf  party we have the following.
                  TO  BONIFACE   VIII. 1.216-1294.                      A Guelf was a member of a German royal family, so named
                                                                        from Welf, its original home in Swabia.  So a Guelf was a
                             (Continued)                                supporter of the  hose' of  Guelf  which became  the royal
                                                                        family of Hanover  and also of England  ; later, a member of
       We  wil1  -recall  that we  concluded   our preceding article    the papa1 and popular  party in medieval Italy, opposed to
by  calling  attention to  the treaty  .which  was arranged  be-        the imperia1 and aristocratie  party `of the Ghibellines.
tween Frederick 11 and  Gregory  1X at Anagni, Sept. 1,                    A conflict with the pen  followed  which'has a unique  place
1230,  upon Frederick's triumphant return from Jerusalem,               in the history of the papacy. Both parties made appeal to
the hly city. The army  of the emperor had been victorieus,            public  opinion, a thing  which was navel  up to that time. The
and the shrewd pontiff evidently considered that prudente               pope   compared  the emperor  to. the beast in the Book of
was the better part of valer. He deemed it wise to form a               Revelation  which "rose  out of the sea full of words of
truce with the conquering emperor, Frederick 11.                        blasphemy and had the feet of a bear  and the mout11  f a lion,
       The truce lasted four years,  Gregory  in the meantime           and, like a leopard in its  ether parts, opens its mouth in
composing, with the emperor's help, his difficulties .with the          blasphemies against  God's name, his  dwelling   place,  and
municipality of Rome. Again he addressed Frederick as "bis              the saints in heaven. This beast strives to grind everything
beloved son in Christ." But forma1 terms of endearment did              to pieces with his  claws and teeth of iron and to trample with
not prevent the renewal of the conflict, this  time- over               his feet on the universal  worldr" He accused Frederick of
Frederick's resolution to force his authority upon the Lom-             lies and perjuries, and called him "the one of lies, heaping
bard cities. This struggle engaged  him in  war  wit11  the             falsehood on falsehood, robber, blasphemer, a wolf in sheep's
papacy from this  time forward to his death, 12351250.                  clothing,  the dragon emitting waters of persecution from his
After  crushing the rebellion of his son Henry in the North,            mout11  like a  river." He made the famous declaration that
and seeing his  second son Conrad crowned, the emperor                  "as -the king of  pestilente,  Frederick had openly asserted
hastened  South to  subdue  Lombardy. Henry died in an                  that the world had been deceived by three  impostors,  -
Italian prison.  Conrad,   whose  mother  was Iolanthe, was             Jesus, Moses, and Mohammed, two of these having  died n
nine years old at the time of his coronation. In 1235 Frede-            glory and Jesus having  been suspended on the cross." More-
riek-married for the third time Isabella, sister of Henry 111,          over, he had denied the possibility of  God's becoming  in-
of  England.  This marriage explains Frederick's repeated               carnate of a virgin. This charge was made in an encyclical of
appeals to the clergy and people of  England.   "Italy,"  he            Gregory sent forth between May 21 and July 1, 1239. These
wrote in answer  to the  pope's  protests,.  1236, "Italy is my         words, incidentally, are  truly terrible words  - H.V.  The
heritage, as  al1 the world  wel1  knows."  His arms seemed to          pope here accuses the king of the most terrible heresies, that
be completely successful by the battle of Cortenuova, 1237.             Jesus was an impostor, and that 2 was impossible for God
But  Gregory  abated none of his opposition. "Priests are               to  become   incarnate  of a virgin. This  means  that the  em-
fathers and masters of kings and  princes," he wrote,  "and             peror denied that Jesus is the Son of God.
to them is given authority over men>s  bodies as wel1 as over              This extensive document is, no  doubt,. one of the most
their  SOL&." It was his policy to  thwart-  at  al1 hazards            vehement personal  fulminations   which  has ever proceeded
Frederick's designs  upon  upper Italy, which he wanted  tos            from Rome. Epithets could go no further. It is a proof of the
keep independent of Sicily as a protection to the papa1  state.         great influence of Frederick's personality and the  growing
The accession of the emperor's  favorite son Enzio to the               spirit of democracy  in the Italian cities that the emperor was
throne of Sardinia,  through his  marriage  with the princess           not wholly shunned by al1 men and crushed under the dead
Adelasia, was a new  cause  of offence to  Gregory. For  Sar-           weight  of  such fearful condemnations.
dinia was regarded as a papa1 fief, and the pope had not been
consulted  in the arrangements leading to the marriage. . And              In his retort, not to be behind his antagonist- in  Scrip-
so for the fifth time, in 1239,  Gregory  pronounced upon the           ture quotations, Frederick compared  Gregory to the rider


            210                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D ,   B E A R E R

            on the red horse who destroyed peace on the earth. As the             weeks before his death he wrote, in sublime confidence in the
            pope had called him a beast, bestia, so he would cal1 him a           papa1 prerogative: (`Ye faithful, have trust in God and hear
            wild beast, Oel~a,  antichrist, a second Balaam, who used the         his dispensations with patience. The ship .of Peter  wil1 for
            prerogative of Messing  and cursing for money. He declares            a while be driven through storms and  between   rocks, but
            that, as God had placed the greater and. lesser lights in the soon, and at a time unexpected, it  wil1  rise again  above  the
            heavens, so he had placed the-priesthood,  mcerdotium,  atia          foaming  billows  and sail on  unharmed,  over the  placid   sur-
            the empire, &@e&t~>~, on the earth. But the pope had sought *face."
            to put the second light into eclipse  by denying the purity of            The Roman,  communion  owes to  Gregory   1X  the  collec-
I           Frederick's faith and comparing him to the beast rising out           tion `of decretals which became a part of its stature book. .He
            of the sea. Indignantly denying the accusation .of the three          mad the Inquisition a permanent institution and saw it en-
            impostors, he declared his faith in the "only Son of God as           forced  in the city of Rome. He accorded  the honors of canon-
            coequal   with'the   Father  and the Holy Spirit, begotten from       ization to the founders of the mendicant orders, St. Francis
            the beginning of  al1 worlds. Mohammed's body is suspended            of Assisi and Dominic of Spain.
            in the air, but his soul- is given over `to the torments of heil."
            And there is apparently no reason whatever to doubt the                   Concerning  Gregory  1X the New  Schaff-Herzog   Ency-
            truthfulness. of -this claim of the emperor. - H.V. One re-           clopedia has the following  : "He began his spiritual  career
            ceives the impression that the one tried to outdo the other in        under Innocent 111, his uncle,  who created him cardinal
            the bitterness of his denuciations of the other.                      deacon and afterward  appointed  him cardinal  bishop of Ostia.
                                                                                  Honorius 111 honored him with important commissions. His
               Gregory  went further than  words and offered to the               name is lilewise intimately connected with the history of the
            count of Artois the imperia1 crown, which at the instance:of          rise of the `Franciscan  order, while Dominic, the founder  of
            his brother, Louis  1X of  France,  the  count declined. The          the  Dominican order, likewise had his support.  Gregory
            German bishops espoused Frederick's  cause.  On  the. other           quickly  came into strained relations with  Frederick 11 of
            hand, the mendicant friars  proved   truc  allies  of, the pope.      Germany,  although they had previously been on -goed terms.
            The emperr drove the papa1 army behind the walls of Rome.            He also gave attention to crusading plans,  and was occupied
            In  spite. of enemies within the city, the aged pontiff went          with thoughts of missions. His early relations with the
          forth from the  Lateran  in  solemn  procession, supplicating           mendicant orders proved to  their advantage, though the  divi-
            heads of the Apostles Peter  and Paul.  When   Frederick  re-, sion among the Frnciscans began even in his  time. His
            treated,  it seemed as if .the city had been delivered by a           converting the  battle against heresy, on the conclusion of `the
            miracle.  However, untenable we  may  regard  the  assump-            Albigension wars, into a permanent institution of the Church
            tions  of the -Apostolic  see, we' cannot withhold admiration         cam  to be of  epoch-making   significante'   fol' the medieval
            from the brave old pope.                                              Church, for the laws affecting heresy, as developed in his
               Only one source of possible relief was left to,Gregory, a          time,  maintained themselves. His  importante  for medieval
            council  of the whole %hurch,, and this he summoned to meet           philosophy and theology was due to the fact that he approved
          _ in Rome in 1241.  Frederick  was'  equal to the emergency,            the study of Aristotle. Finally, Gregory's  pontificate  was of
     ,      and with the aid of his son Enzio checkmated th pope by a            the  utmost  importante  in the sphere  -of canon  law, since
            maneuver  which, serious as it was for  Gregory, cannot fail          through his -chaplain, Raymond of Pennaforte, he had a col-
            to appeal to the .sense of the ludicrous. The Genoese fleet           lection of decretals compiled  which gained universal recogni-
            conveying the prelates to Rome, most of them from France,             tion as a codification of canon law and thus contributed to
            Northern Italy, and  Spain,  was  captured  by Enzio, and the         the victory of the pope's legislative authority. Gregory died
           .would-be councillors, numbering,  nearly one hundred and-  in-        Aug.,  22, 1241. He  may be called great in his  *zeal  for  the
            cluding Cardinal Otto, a papa1  legate, were taken to Naples          Church. That he was blinded `by his  hatred of.  Frederick
            and held in  prison: In his lettr of  condolence  to the  im-        and unscrupulous in his aggrssive measures is the blot on
           prisoned dignitaries the pope represents  them as awaiting             his reputation. - end `of quote from the New Schaff-Herzog
           their sentence  from the new Pharaoh. Brilliant  .as was the           Encyclopedia.
            CO@  de.  ,uda;n,  it was destind to return to trouble the  in-          Indeed,  the use of unscrupulous measures. to establish
           ventor. And the indignity heaped by  Frederick   upon the              themselves  upon the throne of St. Peter characterizes the
           prelates  was at a later time made a chief  charge against him.        popes throughout fhis amazing history of the supremacy of
               Gregory  died in the summer of 1241, at an age greater             the pope. And we repeat that  such unscrupulous  use of
            than the age of Leo X111;  at that pope's death. But he died,         measures to establish themselves is hardly  in harmony with
            as it were, with his armor on and with his face turned to-            the  principles  of the Word which they were supposed to
          wards his imperia1 antagonist, whose  army  at the  time  lay           guard and to champion. The next time,  the Lord willing, we
            within a few hours of the city. He had fought one of the              wil1 continue  wifh the reign of  Frederick and his struggle
           most strenuous  conflicts of the Middle Ages.  To. the last            w i t h   .the  popes.
           moments  bis-.intrepid   courage  remained  -unabated.  A few                                                                     H.V.


                                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                        211

                                                                                       due  ltkely  to the  fact that Arminian preaching in its modern
      `1I          The VoCcs of Our Fathers ll                                         farm does not  busy  itself-very'   meuch with  basic doctrines.
IS                                                                                q Besides, it is mostly Christological and Soteriological in its
                                                                                       emphasis, that is, it deals directly almost solely  with matters
                            The Canons of Dordrecht                                    concerning Christ and salvation, and that too, of course, in -a
                                                                                       very sentimental and false way. This does not  mean,   how-
                                          PART  TWO                                    ever, that  Arininianism  is not a doctrine. Nor does it mean:
                                                                                       th& the  false doctrine treated in this article of our  CationJ
                                  EXPOSITION OF THE  CANONS                            is not stil1 the Arminian doctrine. It is. And it stil1 forms
                                                                                       the doctrinal basis upon which modern  Arminianism builds
                  THIRD  AND.   FOURTH  HEADS   OF  DOCTRINE                           its whole false schem  of doctrine. Basically Arminianism is
             0;  THE  CORRUPTON OF  MA-N,  HIS  CONVERSION  TO  GOD,                  humanistic. And because it  is, we  may  wel1 look for some
                                                                                       of its key errors in regard to its implicit  doctrine`of man, its
                                  AND THE  MANNER  THEREOF                             anthropology.  Hence, we' do  wel1 to  pay attention to the
                                REJECTION  .OF ERRORS                                  error that is treated here.
                                                                                          What is  thst error?
                       Article  2.  Who  teach:  That  t'he spiritual gifts, or           .The first -aspect of the  erroi is stated as  fellows in the         _
                       the good qualities and virtues,  such as:  goodne?s,
                       holiness, righteousness, could not belong to the wil1           article : "That  it was impossible  for the spiritual gifts, or the
                       of man  when he was first created, and that these,              good qualities and virtues, such as goodness, holiness, right-
                       therefore, could not have been separated therefrom              eousness, to have tlieir place in the wil1 of man, when he was
                       in the fall. For such is contrary to the description of         first created." The question is,  however:  what did the Ar-
                       t'he image of God; which the Apostle gives in Eph.              minians  mean by this ?
                      ,424,  where  he declares that it  cosnsists   ip  righteous-
                       ness and holiness, which undoubtedly  belong to the                -In the first place,  the Arminians maintained that the-wil1
                       will.                                                           as such, conceived of apart from any action of the will, any
                                                                                       act of willing,   any determination,  any choice, is simply the
               The  abov translation is  subst.+tiaily  correct, though it            faculty  or power of the soul to choose. The will,  .therfore,
      might  be possible  to improve upon it as to some of the finer                   is  able  to choose either good or  evil, and, in  fact, is  ablei to
      points. We would prefer to bring  out the thought in the                         choose good and evil. In the second place, it follows, accord-
      first part `somewhat as  fellows,:   "Who  teach : That it  was                  ing to this  s&me   conception,  that the  wil1 itself, as a faculty
      iipossible  for the spiritual gifts,, or the .good- qualities and,               or  power of the soul, cannot be described in terms of the
      virtues,  such as goodness, holiness, righteousness, to hav                     spiritual and ethical.  You cannot speak  of. a holy or an  un-
      their  place  in (to reside in ; Latin  : locuutz habere  non #otztis-           holy will, a good  or  an,evil  will, a righteous or  an  unright-
      Se) the  wil1 of man,  .when he was  fikst created, and that                     eous will. The spiritual gifts, or the good qualities, and
      accordingly it was impossible  for them to be separated from                     virtues, such as goodness, .holiness,  righteousness, could not
      his  wil1 in the fall." We would  also make  tbe minor  cor-                     belang   to the  wil1 of man  when he was first created. NO
       rection of changing  "undoubtedly"-  to  "entirely"   or  "`alto-               more  than,  you  can speak of a circle in terms of its  being.
       gether." However, it  probably  takes a little explanation no                   square or out of square, no more -can you speak of a wil1 in
       matter- which  way the translaiion  reads before we properly                    terms of its being  holy,- righteous, goed,  or-unholy, unright-
       understand this error.                                                          eous, evil. The two  categories of  thsught  do not  belang   to-
              Before,  we proceed  with this explanation we wish to. re-               gether.  Why  not, according to the Arminian ? Simply be-
       mark that this and  tllc two  following  arficles are  rather                   cause  that is tiot part of th-e creation of man.
       dosely  related, and that the relation is such that these three                    The  second  aspct   -of the Arminian  &or in this connec-
       articles form three steps in the  Arminian  reasoning  con-                     tion is expressed as follows in the article: "and that these  _
       cerning man's so-called "free will." And this present article                   (spiritual gifts), therefore, could not have been  sebarated
       is rather fundamental to the whole chain of reasoning. This                     therefrom in the fall." This is, of course, a conClusion from
       can readily be  understood.  The  -article  :$eals  with  man's                 the  preceding   propo'sition. And we may add too that it is a
       creation, with his original position and nature  by virtue of                   perfectly logica1 conclusion if you grant that the premise on
       his creation. And it stands to  reason that what you  Say                       which it is based is correct. -1t.certainly  follows that if these
       about mz+n's creation `wil1 determine to no smal1 de@-e&  what                                                                                   _-
                                                                                       spiritual gifts did not belong to the  wil1 of  &n by virtue
       you say about his fa11 and, in turn, about his conversion or                    of creation, they could not be separated therefrom inthe fall.
       r e s t o r a t i o n .                                                         The  wil1 couid not lose what it did not have to begin with.
       _       At the same t;me we may rem&  that today ii Arminian                    And we may insert  at this point that here is a plain example
      preaching one does not very easily meet with the error con-                      of the fact that if you say  "A" you must  sajr "B", and that
       demned in this article in this direct form. This is probably                    it is of crucial-  importante  to be  very careful and precise in


212                                             T&E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                     .-

regard  to your doctrine of man's original state and his crea-             throw  the Arminian position? In answer, let  US note the
tion. What you say. about man's creation wil1 certainly de-                following  elements.:-
termine  al1 fhat you say about his .fall and his restoration.                 1.  Kotice that the passage in question speaks exactly
    Now what do the fathers say of this error?                             of spiritual gifts,  or good qualities and virtues. This is im-
                                                                           portant. It does not speak  merely of a righteous or  holy
    We  may  notice  that in this case they do not  bother  to             action or a righteous  or  holy choice. It  speaks of qualities, .
classify this Arminian error,  with Pelagianism. It most                   virtues, spiritual gjfts.
certainly  is- Pelagianism. The same old errors of Pelagius,
that  sin, is only in the act, not in the nature  ; that the wil1              2. Notice, in the secotid place,  that these qualities, virtues,
remains free to choose good and evil; that you  can never                  gifts  themselves   constitute  the image of God.
really speak of a corrupt wil1 as .such ; as yell as the implied               3. Now if we remember that the image of God was'not -
error of individualism, - these may al1 be discovered in this              something  added to nlan, but something which he possessed
statement 6f the Arminians. In  fact,  it is  almost   amazing             by virtue of his  very being created, so that the Scripture
that  such an error could ever have arisen in  -Reformed                   says that he was  crea.ted in  God's  ivuage,   a.nd  after  God's
circles. Nor would it be difficult to show the similarity be-              hkewess,  then it  must be plain that this righteousness and
tween this doctrine and Thomas Aquinas' `doctrine of man                   holiness were  indeed qualities of  han's  wil1  when. he was
irt pz&s nati~&iO~t.s and his cotiception  of the- image of God            created. Man was not  neutral.  His creation  after   God's
as a donr0pL  sQe9~additiu7~a. Neither, however,  do the fathers           image certainly did not mean  that he was merely created a
at this -point argue against this doctrine by  p'ointing  to its           creature  with the power of will.  It  means   very definitely
evil consequences for the rest of our doctrine. For it certainly           that he was created with a righteous and  holy will. His
does not take much vision to sec in what-direction  this error             righteousness and  holiness,  were in-created.
takes one. The effect of this error is going  to be an inevitable              Al1  this does not  touch, of  `course,  on another  phase  of
denial of man's total depravity, - a denial that is indispens-             man's creation, namely,  that his righteousness and holiness
able to the idea of a conditional salvation.                               were in-created  in  such a way that the first man was lapsible,
    NO, the method of the fathers here is to- take-US step by              could  fall, and  coitld  l&e his spiritual gifts and good qualities
step  along the Arminians' line of reasoning. The  conse-                  and virtues. But  that is another question. That man could
quences of this teaching in Article 2 wil1 become  plain in the            change and  fa11 and becom corrupt is certainly not to be
following articles. But at each step th& fathers point ut the             explained by saying that his wil1 as sch had no qualities of
most fundamental error of the Arminians, namely,  that they                righteousness and holiness to begin with, and that it was
oppose Scripture : "For sucli is  conti-ary  to the  description           neutral,   capable  of  tiilling  both good and evil. Then you
of the image of God, which thi Apostle gives in Eph. 4 :24,                deny the  fall.  And, in  fact, the Arminian  denies  the  very
where  he declares that it consists in righteousness and holi-             possibility of man's.  fa11 in the error at present  under  dis-
ness,  which undoubtedly belong to the will."                              cussion. But Reformed and-Scriptural  it is to say that these
    In the passage referred to we read: "And that ye put on                spiritual gifts resided in  maijs  wil1  wl!en he was at first
the new man, which  after God is  created in righteousness                 created. Reformed and Scriptural it is to say that therefore
and true hliness."                                                        these good qualities could be and  were  separated from man's
                                                                           wil1  when  he  fell. And Reformed and Scriptural it is to
    Concerning this passage, the followng :                               reject the ArJninian error that is repugnant  thereto; and to
    1. The fathers are correct  in finding  here a description of          do so expressly.
the image of God. It is true  that the image of God is not                                                                            H . C . H :
literally mentioned  here. But nevertheless the idea is plainly
stated in the expression, "created  after God." This is the same                                        IN  HIS  FEAR
as saying "created in God's image, aft.er  His likeness." This                                  (Continued  from  page  208)
is confirmed also by.the  sometihat  parallel passage in Colos-
sians 3 :lO : "And have put on the new mav, which is renewed               merger  with churches that are \so spiritually, insensible that
in knowledge  after the image of him that created him."                    they defend divorce, membership  in godless unions,, member-
                                                                           ship in lodges and si&lar si&, which  plainly reveal that the
    2.  Y'hai as far as the present article is  concerned,  the           doctrine of Scripture concerning these matters is no longer
fathers are correct in quoting it .with a view to man's crea-              maintained in these churches. The Church of Christ  shud-
tion. For while it is certainly true that the text in point                ders before these sins and knows that essentials of doctrine
speaks of man's recreation, we must not forget that salvation              are  denied  where  these  things are practiced. Peter  Meider-
implies  that the image of -God is restored in the  child of               lin is reported to have stated, "In  essentials,   unity; in  non-
God. In other  words, you have a description here of the                   essentials; liberty  ; in  al1  t@ings, love." We would like to
image of God, whether in creation or in recreation.          .             say a few things about that next  time. It requires spiritual
    The question remains yet : how does this argument over-                sensitivity to determine what are essentials.  -,           J.A.H.

                                                                                    -


                       ,



                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                   213

         THE  SIGN OF  THE SON OF MAN                          -.    and he shall giye you another Comforter, that he may-abide
                            I          N      HEAVE-                 with you forever ; Even the Spirit of truth; -whom the world
                                                                     cannot  receive,   because  it seeth him not, neither knoweth
   I You reacl about it in the 24th chapter of Matthew; that         him : but -ye know him ; for he dwelleth with you, and shall
 classic and in a way dreadful passage on the return of our          be in you." John  14:16, 17. And then He adds, "1 wil1 not
 Lord  Jesus  Christ at the end of this present dispensation.        leave you comfortless: 1  wil1  come to  you." Vs. 18. In  fact,
    Jesus and His disciples are on  the Mount of Olives.             Scripture even  speaks of a coming of the Lord throughout
 Frim  where,  they are sitting-  they  can see the  Holy  City      the ages. Remember what Christ said to. Caiaphas' and the .
 stretching  out before them. Somewhere near the middle of           Sanhedrin in the dreadful hour of His condemnation,  "Here-
 the city ark the royal  palace and the temple  buildings. Just      after  (from now on) shall ye see the Son of man sitting on
 previous to coming to this beloved  rendez;ous  Jesus had           the right hand of power, and coming in the  clouds of
 told His disciples concerning those very `buildings,  "See ye       heaven." Matthew 26 :64.
' not -11 these things? Verily 1 say unto you, There shall not          However,  this `(sik of the Son of man" stands in connec-
 be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown       tioti with the Parousia, the final com&g of. the Lord Jesus to
 down." Vs. 2. That prophecy weighed heavily on the minds            judge the quick and the  dead.. "Immediately  after  the  tribula-
 of the disciples and evokes from them the question, "Tel1 US,       tion of those days shall  the sun be darkened, etc. AND
 when shall these things be? and wh& shall be the SIGN of            THEN shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heiven."
 thy coming, and of the end of the world?" VS: 3. Obviously,                                   .+  +  *  +
 even the disciples expected a special sign in connection with          It need  nc&  grea'tly  surprise  US, that  many   &d varying
-the  final advent of the Lord Jesus. This question in turn          interpretations are off&ed by scholars of Holy  Writ of this
 leads  to the entire wonderful discussion of His  second            phrase. The question is : Is this sign of the Son of man to
 coming, which comprises  this most significant chapter. The         be distinguished from the Son of  nian Himself,  or are the
 Lord speaks. of the many things that must take place before         two to be identified ? Also : if a definite distinction must be
 the end can come. `He warns of the numerous antichrists  and        made between  "sign"  and  "San of  nian;"  does the former
 false prophets that wil1 come in His -name and  wil1 deceive        merely   accowqa.wy   the coming of  Christ   or is it something
 many. Then too, they wil1 hear of wars and rumors of wrs.          that precedes  and heralds the latter?
 Jesus speaks, toe, of the great aposfasy that lies ahead &d            Calvin teaches the former. He distinguishes between the
 the preaching of the gospel to al1 nations before the end of        sign and the Son of man, but not between the appearance
 the world  can  come. Especially does He warn them  con-5 of the fermer  and the actual, personal coming of the latter.
 cerning the  fiery  persecutions that must befall the  church,      They  a& not two distinct moments in the whole of Christ's
`before that gret day of their redemption'can come. Finally second advent. The sign accompanies, but does not precede,
 we hear Him say, "Immediately  after  the tribulation of those      the coming proper. "And therefore He declares that He wil1
 days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give         appear  ,openly at His last coming,  and; surrounded by the
 her light, and the stars shall  fa11 from heaven, and the powers    heavenly @ower,  which wil1 be a sign erected on an elevated
 of the heavens shall be shaken:  And then shall appear the          spot, He  wil1 turn the eyes of the  whole world  upon  him-
 SIGN OF THE SON OF MAN IN HEAVEN: and then self." According to Calvin, "the  Beavenly   power,  by  which
 shall al1 the -bes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the       He shall be surrounded,.  wil1 serve as a standard displayed
 Son of kan coming in the clouds of heaven with power snd            to  compel the  whole world to look at Him." This  chuich
 great  glory." Vss. 29, 30.                                         father,  therefore,  to whom we are so greatly indebted, does
    Especially in  verses  3 and 30, therefore, we  find direct      not identify sign and thing signified, but he does  synchronize
 reference to this sign of the Son of man in heaven.                 them.
                                 *     + * *                            Barnes  takes the same position  when he says, "At the
    It is &vious that our Lord here speaks of a special sign         end of the world the sign of -His coming-wil1  bc His personal
 to be revealed at the  final,  .personal,  visible coming of the    approach with the glory of His Father and the holy angels."
 Lord Jesus Christ,, also known as the Parousia.                        "Some effort," says Lenski, "is made to find a distinction .
    Scripture  speaks  of various comings  `of Christ. The           between  the sign of the Son of man and its appearance, and
 judgment~of  God whereby the earthly Jerusalem was ravaged          the Son of man Himself coming on the clouds of heaven with
 may certainly be characterized as a coming of the glorified         powei and great  glory. But  wby seek for a distinction?"
 Jesus. There  can be no question that  much in Matthew 24           To him it is simply the sign by which he shows His presence.
 has reference to &is dreadful type of the final advent of, the      The sign does not precede the coming in any way; it merely
 Savior. Perhaps, too,.we may speak of the moment of every           accmpanies  it. "NO sign, say a glowing,  dazzling light shall
 Christian's death as a coming of the Savior for the deliver-        hang over the earth for a shorter  or longer  time after which
,ance of His own from the earthly house of this tabernacle.          sign the Son shall arrive. (Is this a touch of sarcasm?  What
 Pentecqst definitely marks a return of Jesus. to His church.        Lenski  here suggests and denies is indeed extremely possible.
 Had He.n.ot  promised His disciples, "1 wil1 pray the Father,       R.V..) Al1  wil1 be one grand act."

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

       With al1 the above we cannot agree. .It is,our considered         ness of His glory:" Certainly, there would seem to be merit
opinion that Meyer does far more justice to the passage in               in this  reasning.   Howeve;,.  take  all these for what they
question. He speaks of "the sign of the Son-of man inquired              are worth  ; the simple  fact stands  that Christ does not divulge
about in verse 3, that phenomenon,.namely,  which is &medi-              the precise nature of this sign.
ately  to precede the coming Messiah, the .Son of man, and                   Certainly, there is  nothing-  forcign to the idea that the
which is to  indicate  that His  second  co-ing  is now on the           wonder of the  Savior's return should be  accompanied  by  a
point of taking place, which is to be the s$k of ,the latter             great sign.  The  incarnatioti  was realized via the sign of al1
event."                                                                  signs, the Viigin Birth. The death of Christ and His  resur-
       With this the Rev. H,  Hoeksema  also  agrecs, as those           rection were accompanied by  mighty signs in  nature:  the
familiar with his  exposition of  the Heidelberg  Catechism              rending  of the veil, the rending  of the rocks  and `opening of
may know. "It seems, theti, that we must make a distinction              graves, the earthquake. Why should it seem strange that the
between  His sudden appearance in the clouds of heaven, to               final, all, including &d al1 concluding wonder `should be ac-
al1 that shall live on the earth at the t&e of His advent, and           companied by a  ~rnost  majestic and unmistakable sign  ?
His complete  revelatioi to  al1  that.have ever lived in  thc               Not only must such a sign accomfiarzy the miracle of the
world,  af'ter the resurrection. It  would seem that  Scripture          return, but it is  quite necessary that  it.shall  precede  it.  Be-
makes this distinction in Matt.  24:30.  Whatever  this  "Sign           member  that the Parousia  (the final coming) is a wonder of
of the Son of man in heaven" may be it seems that it must                grace,  spiritual and heavenly in  nature,  and  therefre  itself
be distinguished from  His full and  final revelation." Vol.             imperceptible  & far  as  our present;  earthy  senses  are  con-
IV;  p. 132.                                                             cerned.  It belongs to the  "ether   side."   Indeed,  the coming
                            4: *     *     x                             of Christ  wil1 be personal  and  visible.   However, the body
                                                                         with  ,which  He is coming wil1 be hevenly, not' earthy ; spirit-
   We believe and maintain,  therefore,  that this, "appearance          ual, not  natural.,  The point is: Christ in His advent  wil1 be
of the sign of the Son of man in heaven" must b definitely              viSible  only to  creatures   already   transformed  and in their
and clearly distinguished from the coming proper of the Son              resurrection bodies. For the living and the dead  to see the
of man in the clouds of heaven, and that so? that the former             Lord in His glory, the resurrection  of the dead wil1 have to
precedes the latter in the one grand -wonder of the return               precede His actual coming.  And so it will. That the resurrec-.
of  our Lord  _ Jesus to judge  the quick and  the  dead'  nd           tion of the dead must precede the coming proper of Christ is
make al1 things new.                                                     also evident from the fact, tht every eye shall see Him, also
       An unforced reading of  the  texti from Matthew  would            those  who pierced Him. That certainly presupposes the  resur-
appetir  to press  to this conclusion,  .especially   tle twice  oc-    rection. That does not mean, however,  that this. resurrection
curring  expression "and then." "Immediately  after  the  tribu-         of the dead wil1 take place without any warning and indication'
lation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon             of the coming of the Lord. Al1 wil1 be preceded by the sign of
shall not give her' light,  . . . . AND THEN shall appear the            the Son of man in heaven, the sign in the realm of the  natura1
sign of the' Son of man in heaven: AND THEN . . 1 . they                 that  \vill  be visible  to al1 on the earth and that wil1 mark the be-
shall see the Son of man coming  in the clouds. of heaven with           ginning of that &raculous chain  of events that wil1 culminate
power and great glory." - That this sign shall precede the               in the end of al1 present things and the eternal glorifcation  oi
coming. proper is indicated as  wel1 by the  qu?stion of the             Christ and His church  in the new heavens and the  n+ earth.
disclples  in verse 3, "What shall be-the sign of Thy coming,            It vyould  appear, therefore, that thevery natur of the return
and of the end of the world ?'                                           of Christ, transcendent and heavenly as it wil1 be, .indicates
       What shall constitute this sign of the Son of man ? Who           tbe propriety and necessity  -f just such a preceding sign of
shall say ? We cannot know what God has not been pleased                 the Son of mn.
to  reveal  to  US,  noi.  can there be prfit in idle speculation.          The order of events in- the Parousia, therefore, wil1 per-
Augustine and others have ventured the guess, that this sign             haps be as fellows : a.. When  the counsel  of God w$h respect
wil1 be in the  nature of a cross appearing in the heavens.              to  al1 things  sh.;11  have been realized and the great tribulation
Interesting and intriguing, perhaps, but  quite  ground!ess.             shall have taken place, the signs in nature wil1 occur which
Others  conjecture  that it  wil1 be in the  nature of a special         are described to US in Matthew  24:29.  b. Then shall appear
star. These  people are  thinking  of  hTumbers   24:17.  Per-           the sign .of the Son of man in heaven. c. Then the resurrec-
haps Meyer is nearest the truth, when he says, "Jesus does               tion of the  dead  %+ill take place,  the good and the bad. d.
not say what this is to be  ; therefore it should be `left  in-          Then Christ HimSelf  shall come in the full yeyelation  of $s
definite. Only this  much  may be  inferred from what is                 glory and al1 shall see Him, righteous and wicked, in their
predicted in verse 29 about  th  darkening  of the heavenly             resurrection  bodies.  e. Then  wil1 be the last judgment, the
bdies, that it must be of the  nature of a  manifestation of            passing and exectition of the sentence, atid the creation of the
liglst, the dawning of the Messianic glory  Which  is  perhtips          new heaven and earth, wherein  only righteousness  wil1 dwell.
to go on increasing in `brilliancy' and splendor  until the              Then the wicked wil1 be destroyed forever,  while the right-
Messiah Himself steps forth. from the mi+t of it. in the ful-            eous wil1 shine as suns in-the heavenly Father's  realm. R.V.


                                                                              .

                                               +HE           STANDARD.                    BEARER                                         215

                                                                         dishfileship.  When  asked what the preachers did to combat
               A L L   AROUND   .US                                      Communism,  the pastor of the  Khpkov  Church  pointed  to
1'                                                                 ,,    the Scripture verse in the glass  stained window and quoted,
                                                                         "We  preach Christ crucified."
 The  Clkurck  in Soviet  Rwsia.                                           From  1917 to 1935, the  nu&ber  of Russian Orthodox
        In the latest issues of Life magazine a serial  appears  ac-     Churches  fel1 from 46,000 to 5,000, the  .number  of priests
 quainting the readers with the history of the rise to power of. from. 50,000 to 5,000. Today  -ere are more than 35,000
modern Soviet Rssia.  The story begins with the narration               Orthodox priests and 20,000 churches with approximately
 of the pomp and glory of the Czarist  ;ule before the turn              40  million  members.
 of the century, and develops the steps that led to the over-               Lutherans  are  growing -in both  Latvia  and Estonia. In
 throw of  tliat government and  tl-e rise to power by  the             Latvia.  Lutherans are organized into 15  districts and 300
 revolutionary communist regime that is threatening the                  parishes  with` more than 300 churches. There are 110
 existente  of al1 so-called democratie  ideologies. Thee  reading       Lutheran  pastors  who are, in most instances,, rkquired to
 of this series,' which tretits the subject- from a merely secular       serve more than one parish. In Estonia, the population is
point of vieti, may prove to be instructive to the reade;  who           overwhelmingly Lutheran. Parishes  are large with an aver-
1tnow.s little or nothing of the history of that nation.                 age of from 6,000 to 10,000 people in each parish. Churches
        ClzristiaGty  Today,  in its December 23, 1957 issue,.also       destroyed during World War I are beirig  restored, courses
 presents an instructive article, entitled:  Christ  arid Marx:          are  offered for  such church vocations as  the piiesthood  and
 The  Church  in Soviet  Ruksia,  which 1 found to be most               ministers of  music.  Al1 told there are approximately  150.
 interesting.  It presents facts little known by the most of US,' Lutheran  pastors in Estonia and 100 churches with a total
 and perhaps even  contrary  to the conceptions  of many that            adult membership of 350,000.
in Soviet Russia which is said to `be thoroughly godless  there             This year Russian Baptists are celebrating their  nine-
 arc no churches at all.                                                 tieth anniversary. I 1867 Nikita Voronin was the first
      Fqr the  benefit  of  our readers 1  am  goirg  to' quote as      Russian  t? be baptized into the Baptist faith.  To-day there
liluch-  of the article as 1  can, and  desist  from  any further        are more than 550,000  Russian.  Baptist church members.
 comment  of my own. The article is,  written  by Henlee H.              There are approximately four million  people over whom the
 BarnetJe,  Associate  Professor of Christian Ethics at Southern         Baptist Churches have an influence. Today these churches
 Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville,.Kentucky,  who, as            are baptizing annually from 12,`oOO to 15,000 converts'  When
the article indicates,  bas visited RussiX and gives his report.         1 bragged to a pastor in  Kharkov  that 1 represented eight
 He writes  :                                                            and one-half  million  Southern Baptists, he chided me by
        The Church of Christ has  Survived  and even  fiourished         saying that Russian  BaptiSts  would soon catch  up-with   US!
 under al1 kinds of governments.-  It was born in a totalitariati        Russian people are deeply religious and; if they could throw
 Roman world -and survivd the persecution of Nero, Diocle-              off the Communists  who dominate them, there would be one
 tian, and other dictators. Al1 the powers of the underwqrld,            of the greatest revivals of religion in the histori of the church.
 the  agiiostics, the atheists,  principalities,  powers in high            In addition to Greek Orthodox, Evangelical Baptists and
 places,, have not been able to destrciy this fellowship of the          Lutherans, there  ire in Russia smal1 groups of Roman
 redeemed. Civilizations rise and  fall,  kingdoms   crumble,            Catholics,  MYethoclists,   Reformed,   Mennonites,   l?riends,  and
 ideologies have their day and  cease  to be, but the Church             Adventists.
 endures. The gates  of hel1 cannot prevail against it.                     Article 124 in the Constitution. of the USSR declares that
        The invincible nature of the Chrch is dramatically de-          Church and  State are separated and the school from the
 monstrated in Communi&  Russia today. The powers in the                 Church. There is "freedom of  r&gious  wofship  and free-  -
 Kremlin have not succeecled in stamping  out Christian faith.           dom of anti-religious propaganda." Christians cati gather in
 Not only is the Shurch  surviving in Communist dominated                State owied  churches or smal1 private buildings licensed by
 countries,.it  is growing in strength. In the semmer of 1957,           the government for worship purboses.  NO form of religieus
 for  example,   1  discouered  that the Church in Russia is  sur-       education  is permitted.  There are no Sunday Schools, Train-
 rounded by anti-God forces, Christians are persecuted,.  and            ing  Unions, libraries, handcraft clubs, or organized groups.
 Spviet officials,  ,inveigh.   ag+inst  God. Even under these           The churches sponsor no hospitals, orphans' homes,   or any
 circumstances the Church endures. Here qre reasons why.                 sort of welfare program.  Such would be an offense to the
 TtiE GOSPEL- IS PREACHED                                                government which claims to care fm everyone's social  needs
        On the stained glass  .window  of  the  Khrkov  Baptist         from the cradle to the grave. Preachers are not  aliowed   to
 Church in the Ukraine are the following words, "We preach               criticize the government. Those  who have challenged the
 Christ crucified." This is the-  message  of the Russian Baptists       Communis'ts-  have  _ suff ered persecution. Some-  have been
 to the Communist world. They preach  "Christ  crucifid"                shot, others sent to Siberia and to slave labor camps.                -~
as the  revelation of the sinfulness  of man, the  manifestatioti            Buf in spite of a limited  religieus   freedpm,  the churchei
 of the  Grace of God,  and" the  $sclosure  of the  meaning  of         are growing. Reeently,  the Communist press printed 15,000


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  hymn  books  for  Bapti&  along'  with a few Bibles.  Thisis          -Nicolai  of Moscow  who  ,alsO  holds the position of  Vice-
  the  same' Communist press which  bas turned  -out tons of             Patriarch  of,  al1  :the Greek Orthodox Churches of Russia.
  anti-God literature. Today it is turning  out Bibles  for              He admitted that the Communist revolution  ,made at least
  domestic  use  and for export. The  Ambassador  of Sweden              one positive contribution to  .the-  Greek Orthodox Church.
  to Russia told a group of  US that the  Russian  government           He explained  by saying that prior  to the revolution the
  has been more considerate  of the Church due to the fact that church forced everyone, atheists and- believers, -to belpug to
  during'World  War 11 it needed the aid of the Chrch. Hence,          ihe church and to  lttend the services, and to support. the
  the Communists became less  hostile-  to religion in Russia           churches` financially. XTow,  he observed,  that the church and
 purely for politica1  purposes-  Another reason for the  so-           State are separate `and. that only those who really want to
  called "soft policy" toward the churches is due to the fact that       attend, church are present -at the services.       ..,      "
  so  many of  the letters  came from Russian  soldiers  on- the            Another reason the Church  in.Russia   can take  heart  is
  battle-fields and in  the hospitals begging their Christian           the presence of the living Christ. Professor Emil Brunner,
  parents to pray for them. Indeed  so  many  of these letters          attending a conference of Christian workers from  al1 coun-
  were  written that tlie government officials began  to discourage     tries, met a young Russian who as an officer  of the Russian
  any serious  attcks-upon the churches and Christian people.          army was taken prisoner for fiv years and had been doing
  YOUNG PEOPLE  AN.D FAITH                                               Christian work among fellow prisoners. His  father,   who
       With the exception of the Baptist Church in Russia, the          was once a diplomat and later turned- to the priesthood, was
  churches are filled with  adults. About twenty percent of             so' persecuted by the Communist party that his wife, the
  those  wlio attend Baptist Churches are young people. A
                                                              .-        mother of the young man, collapsed  and died in terror. One
  number of these youths are preparing themselves  for leader-          night his  father was  ,tken away and disappeared in the
  ship in churches in the  offices  of pastors, choir  directers,       mines  of Siberia.  The young man told  how he had been
  deacons, deaconesses and lay preacherc Another evidente  of           present at an Easter service in the region of Odessa back in
  the strong appeal of the Christian faith to the youth of .Russia       1940.  Forty thousand Christians  came to this Eastertide
  is seen in the fact that during the summer  of 1957, 400,000          celebration i.n order to worship. The Communists organized
  young people were expelled from the  Iiomsomols  (Young               a counterblast assembly to disturb the Christian worship in
  Communist  .-League)  . They were guilty of "immorality" and          every  way possible. Later they compelled the 40,000-people
attendance at religious services.  This is happening in  spite          to listen to` their godless  Communist propaganda for hours.
  of the fact that al1 their lives these young people have been         Then one of the Christians got up and announced his desire
  taught  by their public school teachers that God is a myth            to speak. He was at first refused, but  when  he promised
  and that religion  .is a  superstition. Recently the Kremlin : to say only four words they allowed him to  come to the
  bas become  alarmed at this rising interest of youth in religion.     platform. These were his words:  "Broth.ers and sisters,
 .School teachers are given slogans to pass along to th chil-          Christ is  risen." The  whole  40,OO  responded with the
  dren. They  read, "Religion is  poison."  "Food  comes froni          Easter greeting : "Yes,, he has  risen indeed."   After  40 years
  collective farms, not ~Christ.?  "When  God. is forgotten life is     of suffering at the hands of the Communists the people held
  better." Teachers are urged`to use every  means available to          fast to their convictions that they were serving a living
  combat  the Christian faith.                                          Christ. Today more  than 50 million  Russians  profess faith
       In July, 1957, two `communist guides accompanied a               in the Lord Jesus Christ.
  group of Americans, of which 1 was' a member,  to the Bap-                In Soviet dominated  Poland the Church is manifesting
tist Church in Moscow. It was the guides' first  time to be             new life and strength. Recently 1 visited Warsaw of which
in a church service. The  -Holy Spirit worked so mightily               seventy per cent was destroyed during  the last war. On the
  upon their  hearts that one f them.  went  out of the church         facade of a  rebuilt church were these  challenging  words:
  in the middle of the worship service. During the singing of-          sz~r~z~vtc  Corda.. In the midst of rubble,  rin,  &d a  Com-,
 the closing hymn 1 turned fo see tears upon the other one's            munist   State,  here is a church with a  message  of  hope-
  checks.   God's Spirit- had moved  upon their hearts.  Therel         Lift up your heart !
 after  they:  became- more tolerant and concerned about tle               The Church  wil1  triumph:  During the racial movements
  Christian way of life. Perhaps someday these young people             in the fifth century the Roman Empire fel1 but the Church
 wil1  make a clean break with the godless Communists.        .         endured. The renaissance of the fifteenth century uprooted
  GOD'S "ROD OF  ANGER"                                                 the medieval  way of life, but the Church survived. The
       Communism could be God's judgment upon the Church                Church was  divided-in  the Reformation of the sixtenth
 of Russia. The Greek Orthodox Church had become politica1              century, but  al1 branches became. stronger. The Church
 and worldly. Today the magnifcent church  .buildings  of              suffers under the Red regime in contemporary Russia. She
-.Russia have been made into museums. A church can.becone              wil1 never be at peace while  the Communists rule, but the
                      z_
 `a museum, passing on embalmed `traditions,.  if it loses a con-       gates  of hel1 shall not prevail against her. S~~~SUWL  Corda!
.cern for the  needs of the people. 1 talked witli Metropolitan                                                                     M.S:


