 voLuhmxxxIv                                                                           MAR~H 1, 1958  -GRAND  RAPIDS,.MICHIGAN                                                                `NURKSER   1    1

      _                                                                                                                                 Today we see the greatest Court Case of al1 the ages.                      *
I               M E D  I T A T  I  ,O N  :/.I Christ, the Son of the living God is the Accused.
                                                                                                                                        Jehovah  God stands before the tribunal of man.
                   THE GREAT "SKANDALON" '                                                                                                              Y        *     *     *     *
                                                                                                                                                                                        8
                                                                                                                                                                                        5.

                  " A n d   t h e y   led  J e s u s   a w a y   t o   t h e   h i g h   p r i e s t :   a n d   w i t h   h i m        Let 
                   w e r e   assembled   all  t h e   chief   priesis   a n d   t h e   e l d e r s   a n d   t h e                             US look for a while at that judge there.
                   scribes.                                                                                                             I+s name is Caiaphas. And he is a judge among the
                   Then   t h e   h i g h   p r i e s t   r e n t   h i s   clothes  .   .   .   .                                  judgs.  :I-Ie is the High Priest.
                   Y e   h a v e   h e a r d   t h e   b l a s p h e m y :   w h a t   t h i n k   y e ?   a n d   t h e y   al1
                   c o n d e m n e d   H i m   t o   b e   guilty'  o f   d e a t h . "                                                 What kind of man is he ?
                  "T,he   L o r d   h a t h   sworn,   a n d   wil1  n o t   repent,   Thou   a r t   a  P r i e s t                   -First, he is of the sect of the Sadducees. 1 hear you ask:
                   fore&  after the order of Melchizedek."                                                                          Is that bad ? And the answer is : yes, that is very bad. Th
                                                                               M a r k   14:53,  63a,  6 4                     I
                                                                               Psalm  110:4                                         Sadducees were the materialists of the day of Christ's trial.
           What is a "skandalon"   ?                                                                                                They were the Hellenists, that is, those who.  were   charmed
                                                                                                                                    by the Greek culture of the day. They were those  who
           It is a Greek word, meaning : the movable stick or trigger                                                               denied the  existente  of spirits  and~angels,  the resurrection
of a trap.. That is the literal meaning of the word. Further                                                                        from the  dead, and of heaven. They were a  very carnal,
it  also  means  a' stumbling  black,  a trap, a snare;  any im-                                                                    sinful Sect. Caiaphas belonged to the rich, cultured,  material-
pediment placed in the way and causing one to stumble  `and                                                                         istic  class. You  may sum it  al1 up in saying that he was
fa11 r an occasion of stumbling.                                                                                                    worldly minded.
           It's a purely  Biblical  word, and, as you'know, it refers                                                                   What kind of man ought he to be ?
to Christ.                                                                                                                              Oh, but that is beautiful. He ought to be  the represent-
           Christ is the great Skandalon. (Incidentally, this Greek                                                                 ative of God,  the,Redeemer  of Israel. He ought to  be-thq
word found its way  into. the modern  ianguges,  but the                                                                           representative of the love of God. It belonged to the office
original meaning is almost  lost: Dutch: het schandaal f Eng-                                                                       of the High Priest to be full of love and compassion for
lish : the scandal ;. German der Skandal.;  French : le scandale.) ' those that were miserable, and then especially, miserable
           I3ut  Christ is the rock of offense. And He is placed among                                                              because  of sin and guilt. A High Priest  should,  be  very
wicked men so that they. may stumble  over. l!Iim  : the trigger                                                                    concerned about  ,the  sins of the people. It belonged to his
goes off, and they are ground  to powder.                                                                                           office, in`  fact,  $.&vas  the very heart of. his  office to appear
           We see this today  when we enter- a  court" room: the                                                                    before God with  al1 the sins of God's Israel, and confess them,
Sanhedrin.                                                                    -                                                     pray and supplicate regarding them to the God of Israel, and
                                                                                                                                    to make atonement for those sins, by prayer and sacrifice.
           Oh yes, it is indeed a court scene. There are the judges,
the witnesses, tlie Accused.  `                                                                                                        But a High Priest especially should have a loving heart :
           Court  scenes  are fascinating. They always have  a  par-                                                                toward God and toward the people of God.
ticular  charm  for me, although 1 must  hasten  to add thatOnce  eaih year he must carry the blood of atonement
the.charmedOfeeling  is nat unmixed with fear and trembling.- before the Face of God the Redeemer. Today we would say :                                                                                                 _
           And the reason for this attraction is simple:  when you                                                                  the High Priest must take Jesusand carry Him to God the
enter a court room, you have a `pre-audition. and pre-vision                                                                        Father  in the midst  of the songs of his heart !
of the great Judgment  Day.                                                                                                            But, alas,Lthere  is not an inkling left of al1 those beauties


                242        _                                       THE  STANDARD.BEARER                         . . .
                                                   _
                in this man Caiaphas. He is'an evil-doer,  a man  who tram-            No, Jesus `is the great Skandalon.
                ples under foot  al1  law and justice. He  piles sin  upon sin       - Remember the trigger of the trap?
     -, and tramples Luider  foot the very God of Israel's redemption.               . Caiaphas is one of those who is set for the fall, for the
                                             *' *  =k  *                           awful `fa11 into heil. And He who is the occasion  for this
                   .Now look at the Accused !                                      fa11 stands there before him.
                    Who is He ?                                                        Tonight, while despising this  miserable  Jesus, he does
                                                                                   not  realize  that he is going to  weep  in  hel1 for  al1 eternity.
                    He is the real High Priest. The other is a pseudo-priest.      The trap wil1 be sprung soon enough.
                    But this One is the true High Priest. Stands even at this.
                moment before the Face of God, doing the very work of the          . Oh, this wondrous High Priest is the great Rock of
                                                                                   off ense.
                High Priest,.  .'
                    Remember the qualifications of the High Priest ? He must                                   * * *       Q
           ~ have the love of God and for God in His heart, and also the
                love of God for God's Israel.                                          And when the day of reckoning wil1 come, it wil1 become
                                                                                   very plain.
                    Well,  that is al1 truc of this Man!
                    He certainly is concerned with the sin of God's Israel.            God wil1 be j,ust when -He judges : you can rely  on that.
      ~          Al1 the High Priests of the-former ages bore the blood                NO, in the  real  sense Jesus is not on trial here, but
                                                                                   Caiaphas is, and with him- the whole,  Sanhedrin.
                of `atonement  in. their censers, and sprinkled it on the mercy
                seat, in the  Holy of  Holies.                                         They were  beautiful  men, that is, externally.  Member-
                                                                                   ship  among the  castes  of  chief  prists, elders and scribes
                 `But this Man-is even now shedding His own blood: His             did not  come easily. They were men of repute. Whenever one
                heart is slowly breaking, and  wil1 break completely before        of  them passed the market  place  with solemn steps, he
                the day is done: Good Friday.                                      heard  it from every  side and at every  step : Rabbi ! Rabbi !
                : He is  .the ONLY -High Priest. His was the ONLY
                sacri.&.  -`He  is priest, altar  and sacrifice,  al1 in one.        They were -leaders,  chiefs,  masters-in Israel, the church.
           -       : g& `tio& :- He is the real `High Priest, although without-        But be not fooled by outward  appearance.  There are
           pomp and circumstance.                                                  and have been very many crooked judges. The whole history
     .-                                                                            of the world  cries  for a true JUDGMENT.
                 -  : What do 1 say ? His appearance is, the very opposite
                of pomp and circumstance.                                              There are  many crooked judges, lawyers,  witnesses,
                .Look at  Him ! "Ecce Homo  !"              _                      prosecuting attorneys.
                    Bloody, weary with an eternal weariness, bound: He .               This "outfit" belongs to them,  is composed  of them.
                could not  wipe away either the  bloed, the spittle of  coun-          It is no trial : it is a mockery of justice and righteousness.
,               sellors, the sputum of the soldiers or the saliva of the mob.          Caiaphas, and the whole Sanhedrin with him, is working
                    And they all.laugh  Him to scorn.                              a  werk of darkness.  What do 1 say? They are working the
                  -.~Oh,-leave   Him be! He is doing the Holy work of atone-       greatest work of darkness ever !
                ment.                                                                  There is no- trial which can be compared to this trial.
                    He. is interceding for the elect church of God.                    It  militates  against  al1  concepts  of justice and truth.
                    He is paying the awful price of God's demanding  right-            Attend to this:
                eousness..                                                            Sanhedrin must meet at a  neutral  place:  here  they meet
                    NO, you cannot  read  all' that in the pages of Mark 14.       in the palace of the high priest.
                Or, for that matter, in the whole Bible.                               They might  not begin a trial in the night.
                    You  need with  al1 that faith, the power to see spiritual         There might not be.a hearing on the feast days.
                things.                                                                Al1 witnesses had to be severely warned against lying :
                    Caiaphas did not see the Godhead of this High Priest,          here they entourage,  they seek for fnlse witnesses.
                -doing there at his feet the work of atonement.  Al1 he saw            The  witnesses  do not agree, yet they  punish  and condemn.
      was. a Man  who had  bothered,  him no end. And  whatr                           Accusation and witnesses had to be ready before the trial
                bothered thjs wicked high priest'? His goodness,  His sublime      began : here they have to seek for crooks while the hearing
                goodness, His unbelievable goodness. The goodness of this -is in progress.
           Christ of God shone in, this  very judgment hall. Why look
                for false witnesses,  except because you know you have a               The Sanhedrin hated and envied Him.             -
                r o t t e n   c a s e ?                                  D             Contrary to  al1 righteousness, they condemn Him of


                                                 TlX~~S+ANDARD   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                                   243
                                                                                                  -          _
  Whom heaven  and earth, yea, and even hel1 testified to- His
  goodness : He went about the country doing good  ; the                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
  necessity of falso witnesses  testifies of His truth ; the dream                 Semi-monthly,   &eept  monthly  dwing  Jurze,   July and  August
  of Pilate's wife;  God's-voice  from heaven: This is My  be-                     -Published  by the  REFORMED  FREE   P&LISHING   ASSOCUTION
  loved Son!; Judas' poignant cry : 1 have shed the innocent                       P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station,  Grand Rapids  7,.  Mich.
 `BLOOD!                                                                                                          Editor - REV. HERMAN  HOEKSEMA
      Note the terrible conduct, condoned by the judges ( ?) , and                 Communications relative to  contents should be addressed to
                                                                                                   Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
 participated in by them : they spit upon Him, cover  His face                                                              Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
  and buffet  -Him  ;  mock  Him :  Prophesy  to  US :  Who beat                   All  mtters  rela&e  to subscriptions  should  be addressed to Mr.
                                                                                   G.  Pip; 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
  you  last? They strike Him with the pahns of their hands.
  They laugh at Him and set Him at nought.                                         Aimouncements- and Obituaries must be  mailed  to. the above
                                                                                   address  and  will  be  published at a fee of $1.00 for  each  notice.
                                                                                   RENEWAL:   Unless  a definite request for discontinuance is  re-.
                                                                                   ceived it is  assumed  that the subscriber wshes the subscription
      And what is the real High Priest doing al1 this time                         to continue without the  formality of a renewal order.
      H is saving you and me, my brother ; He is. redeeming                                              Subscription  price:  $5.00  po year
you, my sister.                                                                    Entered  as  Sscond  Class matter  at  Grand  Rap&,  A4ichigan
      H,e is often silent, thzit is, about His disciples and doctrine.
      Why?  .'
     .He  wil1 not divert the attention from Him.                                                                                C O N T E N T S
      He beholds a Vision  of God, there, there, behind the seat          MEDITATION -
  of the judge Caiaphas.  .-                                cl                         The, Great "Skandalon".. . . . . . . . .  ..:  _...  :. .  ..___  __... .  .._...._  241
      Jesus  has seen the Godhead.                                                                Rev. G. Vos
      He knows it is beautifully jus;.                                    EDITORIALS~
      It becamtie  Him : al1 this sweat, tears, blod, spittle, shame,                 The Declaratjon of Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~ . . . ..___.___....__......  $44
 dishonor,  pain? anguish, yes, and finally,  death, eternal death.                    Waiting  Til1  Next Synod  __._............___.......................................  245
                                                                                                  Rev. H.  Hoeksema
      Be  very stili now : your Jesus is suffering .eternal,  ever-
 lasting torment of death for you and me.                                 0x1~  DOCTNNE-
      The trap is set;  wil1 be sprung, is sprung. The wicked                          The Book of gevelation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
 - judges. are ground to powder by the Rock.                                                      Rev. H.  Hoeksema
      And what wil1 we do ? We .will worship, we wil1 worship !           THE  DAY  OF  SHADOWS-
                                                                  G.V.                 The Prophecy of Zecharial?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._..................... 248
                                                                                                 Rev. G. M. Ophoff

                                                                          FROM  HOLY   WRIT   -                                  _
     Attention: Synodical Stckding  Comnittees                                         Exposition of 1 Corinthians 7 (6) . . . . . . . . . :: -..: ___._...__..._  :___. 251
      We  cal1 ttention to Article 9 of, the  Rules of  -Synod,                                 Rev. G. Lubbers
 part 1 which reads : `6Tlte r+of*ts of al1 covtzvtzittees, except  of    IN  HIS  FEAR  -
 the  st&nd&~   cowwmlttees   shall  b e  pitblished   thre'e  wonths                 Spiritually Sensitive ( 8  ) . . .  I.... . . . . .  ..__.._. __ . . . .  ..253
 before  Synod convenes,.so  that al1 the churc&es   fyzay be. -datly                            Rev. J. A. Heys
 informed."
   "Wi.11 the following  committees  kindly take note-: Commit-           tiONTENXNG  FOR THE FAITH-
                                                                                      The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . .._............................. 255
tee. on  Lifurgy,   Rules,   Catechism  Books, Foreign Missions,'                                Rev. H.  Veldman
Declar@in   of.Principles,
                                                                          THE  VOICE  OF  OUR  FATHERS   -
  .*. .  .-                     G. VANDEN BERG, Stated Clerk                          The Canons of Dordrecht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :..1..: . . . . . . . . . ..____.__......... 257
                                                                                                 Rev. H. C.  Hoeksema

                        Teacher Needed'                                   F E A T U R E   ARTICLE-   -
                                                                                      Church & Sect.  .:.. . . .  :. . . . . . . . . . .  ..___........ 259
         The Hope  Protestant  Reformed School  wil1  need a                                     Rev. H. Hanko

                                                                          CONTREKITIONS                              2                ".
                                                                            -~.       Improper Discemme& . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ..~ . .._............._.... 261
                                                                                                 Rev. H. H. Kuiper                                             .  ...
                                                                                                                                                                 .


                                            TJiiE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                     Declaration soundly `Reformed and in accord  with the con-
               E D I T O R I A L S                                   fessions so that  thos'e that  departed  from  US  forsook  and
                                                                     denied the Protestant Reformed truth and became  schismatic?
                                                                         ?The latter is, undoubtedly, the truth.
         The Declaration of Principles                                   Even the schismatics never protested against the  Declara-
                                                                     tion on the ground that it was not Reformed. The most that
    This, as practically al1 of US know, is a' document which        Kok declares in the above grounds is that it is  extra-con-
was  composed at the  iequest  of the  Mission  Committee  of        fessional nd even this is not the &-uth.
our  -churches,  was  pro@osed to the Synod of the Protestant            But that it  may become perfectly evident to  al1 our readers
Reformed Church. in 1950; and was finally adopted by our             that the Declaration of Principles is not the  cause of the
synod in Oct. 1951.                                                  schism  in  our churches, but that  rather they  who repudiate             _
    1 would consider this Declaration of Principles one of  the      this Declaration are the  cause, 1 wish to  cal1 attention to
most important  documents  that was ever adopted by our              this document that was dopted by our churches.
churches, a document that was proved fo be very necessary                The complete title of this Declaration is :  "A Brief  De-
and salutary for the continued  existente of our churches and        claration,of  Principles of the Protestant Reformed Churches."
for the maintenance of our Protestant Reformed faith and                 It then continues to  state that the Protestant Reformed
principles.                                                          Churches stand on the basis of Scripture as the infallible
    If the Declarition had not been adopted it is not impos-         Word of God as wel1 as on the basis  of the Reformd Con-
sible that we would have been  swallowed.  up  by. the  SO-          fessions, the Heidelberg Catechism,  the NeJherland  or Belgic
called "Liberated." In  fact, that was what  some of those           Confession, and the Canons of Dordrecht. These'  confes-
who, at the time, stil1 belonged'with US, especially De Jong         sions are briefly called the Three Forms of  Unity.   More-
and Kok, wished to see accomplished. It is evident that;             over, in its introductions the Declaration  also states that
when they made their trip to the -Netherlands  and remained          the  Profestant  Reformed Churches accept, as confessions
there fo; some time; they -already  denied th& Protestant Re-        as a minor order the several forms that are used in public
formed  truth and were willing to sell our churches to  Jhe          worship,  such as the Baptism Form, the Form  for the  Ad-
*Liberated.                                                          ministration  of the Lord's Supper, and others.
    And now, according to  al1 reports that  reach  me,  they            And now 1 quote literally :
are about ready to agree with the "three points" of 1924,                "On the basis of the Word of God and these confessions  :
and would like to  join the Christian Reformed Church if  pos-           "They  repucliate the errors of the Three Points adopted
sible.  Al1 this is  sufficient   proof that those that departed     by the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church of Kalama-
from  US and from the Protestant Reformed truth are not              zoo, 1924, which maintain :
men of  principle  and have no  definite  convictions. 1 am              "A. That there is a  grace of God to  al1 men, including
referring especially to their leaders. NO doubt, ther are           the reprobate, manifest in the common  gifts to hall men.             '
others that are simply led astray by them and would not go               ",B. That the promise of the gospel is a gracipus  offer' of                -
along if only they had different leadership.                         salvation on the part of God. to al1 that externally hear the
    In our  Standaard  Beawr   of Jan. -1, 1951,' you may find       gospel.
au article by B. Kok under the caption "The Declaration, A               "C. That the natural man through the influence  of com-
Mistake." In it, the Rev. Kok condemns  .the Declaration of          mon grace can do good in this world.
Principles on four alleged  grounds.  They are: 1. The  deci-            "D. Over against this they maintain :
sion to propose  this Declaration was in conflict with Art. 30           "1.  Tha; the grace of God is always particular, i.e., only
of. the Church  Order  ; 2. The Synod of 1950  acted  toe            for-the  elect, never for the reprobate.
hastily  in the matter. 3. The adoption of this Declaration niay         "2. That the promise  of the gospel is not a gracieus  offer -
cause  *a schism  in our churches. 4.. The questions involved        on  the part of God to  al1 men, nor a conditional offer to
are extra-confessional and, therefore, should not determine          al1 that are born in the historica1 .dispensation of the cov-
membership  in our churches.                                         enant,. that is, to  al1  that'are  baptized,  but an oath of God
    In the same'number  of The  Standa.grd   Bea.rer   the reader    that He wil1 Tnfallibly lead al1 the elect  unto salvation and
may find my answer to the alleged objections to the Declara-         eternal glory through faith.
tion.                                                                    "3. That the unregenerate man is totally  incapable  of
    At present,  however,  1 wish to  cal1 special  attention  to    doing  any good, wholly depraved, and therefore  can only
the third of these alleged grounds- namely, that the adoption        sin."
of the Declaration may cause a schism  in our churches. For              This,  then,  is the first part of the Declaration of  Prin-
this  schism  has now become actual fact. And the question that      ciples.
arises and should be answered is : what was the cause of the             That this is  based on the Word of God  atid the  Re-
schism  ? Was it the Declaration of Principles  7 Was the            formed Confessions has been repeatedly  proved. Moreover,
Deilaration  itself of a schismatic character  ? Or is that          the schismatics never denied this.  Thei  never  even made


                                                TH.E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                    I                         245
                                                                           -

   an  attempt  to prove that this is not true. We, therefore,                     How could they accept a statement such as that under 2
   wil1 hot, for the present, try to show the truth of this again.              above :
- But this has always been the truth that is disitnctively con-                    "That the  promise of the gospel is not a  gracieus  offer
   fessed by and  proclaimed  in the Protestant Reformed                        on the part of. God to al1 men, nor a conditional offer to al1
  Churches.                                                                     that are born in the historica1 dispen$ation  ,of the covenant,
       And the question that is of immediate  importante  to                    that is, to al1 that are baptized, but an oath of God that He
                                                                     US
   is : Is this Declarafion of Principles the cause of the schism               wil1 infallibly lead  al1 the  elect  unto salvation and eternal
   i n   o u r   c h u r c h e s   ?                                            glory through faith."
       Our answer is an emphatic NO!             -                                 This statement, although thoroughly Reformed and em-
       Not we  who maintain this Declaration but those that                     phatically Protestant  .Reformed,  the liberated would never
   deny and repudiate it are the schismatics.                                   accept  &d, therefore, Kok and De  Jong and the rest that
       Already they have officially- repudiated this Declaration.               deparied  from  US, could not condone. For the sake of be-
       We  may ask the question: why did they repudiate and                     coming big they were willing to compromise the truth.
   reject it?                                                                      At the present  time,  however,  it seems that their  union
       My answer is : not as  matter of `principle,  hut because               with the  liberated  has lost some of its attraction. Hence,
   they were not satisfied with the fact that, as churches, we                  they now attempt  to join the Christian Reformed Church.
-. were small. They wanted to become big and in order to                                                                                        H.H.
   grow outwardly they were  wiiling  to compromise and to
   deny the truth.
        This is the reason why, first of all, they were willing to-                             Waiting kil1 Next Synod
   compromise with the liberated doctrine of the covenant.                          On the seventeenth of February we, the First Protest-
   When  Kok and  -De Jong were in the  Nctherlands,  they                      ant Reformed Church of  Graqd Rapids,  Mich., had a  con-'
   openly denied the Protestant Reformed truth of the covenant                  gregational meeting in order to decide what to do in regard
   and catered, to say the least, to the liberated conception.  This            to an answer to the schismatics and their claim to the
   became evident from a letter of Professor Holwerda to the                    property of our congregation.
   liberated church in Chatam, Ont. In that letter Holwerda                         It was a very  nice meeting, and a very good spirit  pre-
   stated that, according to Kok and De. Jong, Hoeksema's con-                  vailed even though opinions differecl  somewhat in regard  to
   ception of the truth of  election   tias not the doctrine of the             the proper course to follow.
   Protestant Reformed Churches, nd that nti one was bound                         The schismatics, in their correspondence with  US, were
   by it.  Some, according to them,  emitted  a totally different               very  bold and insisted that the property is theirs, in spite of
  `Sound.  This refers,  pf course, to the relation between  elec-              the  fact that the supreme court of the  State of Michigan
   tion and the covenant. The liberated must have nothing of                    assigned  the property to  US. They evidently base their
 _ the truth that only the elect  are in the~covenant  even though              contention on the decision of the same supreme court in
   in the historica1 realization of the covenant the carnal seed                thecase  f the Second Church of Grand Rapids.
   appears together with the spiritual. And this touches the                        Personally, 1 do not agree with this contention of the
   very  heart of the Protestant Reformed truth. Again,  ac-                    schismatics.
   cording to Holwerda:  Kok and De Jong said in the Nether-                        But we shall see.
   lands: that most of the Protestant Reformed people and                           In the above mentioned  congregational  meeting, tbe con-
   ministers do  nat agree with  Hoeksema and  Ophoff,  which                   gregation  was first of  al1  informed  about ll  th&t  the  cn-
   refers, of course, to the same doctrine of election  in. relati-             sistory had done bout  the property.
   to the coveriant. They even  said; according to Holwerda,                        After  this a proposition of the consistory was adopted by
- that there was  much  sympathy   in  thi: Protestant Reformed                 a very  large majority to the effect that we assume a waiticg
   Churches for the doctrine of the Liberated even as regards                   attitude til1 the time of the next synod in June.
   their conception of the covenant, and that, in our churches                                                                                  H.H.
   there is ample room for this doctrine. Now, if we remember
   that this refers to the Heynsian doctrine of the covenant of
   grace,  we can understnd how far, even already  at that time,                                         IN MEMORIAM
   Kok and De Jong had departed from the truth as it is con-                       The Mary-Martha Society of the Manhattan Protestant Reformed
   fessed in ur-churches.  ..                                                  Church hereby wishes to express -its sincere sympathy to Mrs. Harry
                                                                                Leep and family  in the loss of her mother,
        Not the Declaration of Principles is the cause of the                                                                         i(  .
   schism in our churches but those that left                                                       MRS. WILLIAM ALBERDA
                                                      US are the cause.
        In the light of the  above,. we  can readily understand, how-              May the Lord -comfort them .with the assurance that al1 His
   ever, the opposition that was raised by the  schismatis  against            ways  are for the good of His own and that for the believer death is
                                                                                g a i n .
   the Declaration of Principles, even to the extent we quoted it                                                     P. Vis, President
    a b  v e .                                                                                                       Mrs. Chris Visser,  Secreiary


     246                         -.                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
     -                                                                                              ~

                                                                          solute sense, that no Jew can be saved. On the contrary, the
                    OUR DOCTRINE                                          apostle  argues that he too is a real Jew, and yet he is saved.
                                                                          And he quotes from the  time of Elijah to prove that even
                                                                          then there was a remna&  according to  the*election  of grace,
                    THE BOOK OF REVELATIOW                                the seven thousand that did not bow before Baal. And thus
                                                                          it is also now. Even in the days of the New Testament there
                               CEIAPTER  1                                is undoubtedly a remnant  also among the Jews, that  cer-
                                                                          tainly wil1 be saved. But they wil1 be saved in no other way
          Ijle  Se&ing  of  the  Onze  Hu:ndred  Forty-foztr   Thmnd      than the Gentiles are saved, that is, by the righteousness
               *                                                          which is by faith in Christ Jesus: And therefore, though
                              Revelation 7 :l-8                           Israel as a  nation failed, that remnant  according to the
           Spiritual Israel, and not  Israel,  as a  nation,  must  be    election  of  grace  wil1 certainly be saved in Christ. Hence,
     considered  the true  Israel.  Rom.  9:6-X   And therefore, we       in the New Testament day this is the relation. If Israel
     must distinguish  also in th days of the Old Testament              is likened unto an olive tree, then many  branches have been
     between Israel as a nation and the true, spiritual .Israel. Not      cut  out of the olive tree. For a hardening in part has  come
     al1 the national Jews were true Israelites. But  al1 true            over Israel. But instead of those branches that have been
     Israelites in the Old Testament were  also Jews,  belonging          cut out of the olive tree, other branches are grafted in, and
     to the nation.  True Israel, that is, the true, spiritual people     that from Jew and Gentile both. And thus, the apostle con-
     of God, were enclosed in Israel as a nation.  NOW, howevcr,          cludes, al1 Isral, namely, the true, spiritual Israel- shall be
     this has been changed.  The nation as such has been rejected         saved. When  the fulness of the Gentiles has been ingrafted
     in the days of the new dispensation. And spiritual Israel,           upon the olive tree of Isrel in the spiritual sense, and the
     the  elect of God, are now gathered from  Jew and Gentile            fulness of  .Israel  also have  .been  ingrafted  upon that same
     alike, as  also  Moses  had  already  prophesied, 9 :24-29. The      olive tree, then  al1 Israel shall have been saved. Thus is
     result is this, that the Gentiles,  who did not seek  after the      the `reasoning of the apostle. And therefore, in short we may
     righteousness of the law, have obtained the righteousness!           conclude these principles  : in the first place, that true Israel,
     which is by faith, while Israel,  who- was seeking in itc            in the old as wel1 as in the new dispensation, is spiritual, and
     national. blindness after the righteousness of the law and of        not carnal Israel. In the second place,that the nation as such
     works, failed to obtain the righteousness in Christ Jesus by         has served its ,purpose,  and that true, lspiritual  Israel in the
     faith, 9 :30-end.                                                    present dispensation is gathered from Jew and Gentile both.
                                                                          And in the third  place, that there is  .no  differente  betwen
          This righteousness, which is by faith in Christ Jesus, -        the two in the present dispensation. They can be saved  only-
     so Paul continues in chapter 10, -is the main and the ouly           in the same Christ and by the same righteousness which is
     truc blessing and characteristic of the people of God in the         by faith. In Christ there is no  Jew.or  Greek. And therefore,
     old as wel1 as in the `tiew dispensation. There is, therefore,       if you would be Scriptural, then the only conclusion is that
     in the days of the New Testament no  differente  between             there is no  such thing in the new  dispensatioti  as a  8pecial
     Jew and Gentile: "For there is no distinction between Jew            nation  with special privileges over and  .above the Gentiles,
     and Gentile, for the same Lord is over al1 and is rich unto          and perhaps with a special future. This certainly is not the
     al1 that cal1 upon his name." t `was in that righteousness of       case.
     faiththat the true, Israelites of  th Old Testament were saved.         Let  US now return to the Book of Revelation and to
     But the nation  as such sought  after  the `righteousness of the     the words of  om- text. If, in the light of Scripture, as was
     law, the righteousness of works. They did-not  subject them-         indicated above, we study this wonderful book, we soon find
     selves to this righteousness which is by faith in Christ Je&,        that it never  speaks of Israel in the literal and  c+rnal  sense
     and therefore as a nation they were rej'ected from that time         of the word. Thus,  when it speaks of Jerusalem, it either
     forth. And this rejection of Israel as a nation,simply  meant        refers toe apostate Christendom, that crucifies the Christ, or
     that slvation  from now on was no more confined within the          it refers to Jerusalem that is above, the bride of Christ Jesus
     limits of Israel as a nation,  but that it became the common         in  glory.  Jerusalem, Israel, the  names of Israel,  Zion,  -.all
-    property of Jew and Gentile both. If the true people of God          these are not used in the  literal sense of the word, but always
     in the days of the Old Testament were found only among               in the symbolical sense.  And the book  goes even so far,
     the Jews, the rjection of the -Jews as a nation became the          that it speaks of those who claim that they are Jews merely
     occasion of a universality of salvation.                             because of their physical relation to Abraham as a synagogue
          Finally, the apostle  in chapter 11 approaches the question     of Satan. 2 :9. And if you say that in this  portion we have
     whether Israel is then rejected of God in  such a way that           nevertheless a reference to the Jews as a.nation,m  then let me
     there is no salvation for them, either for them as a nation or       cal1 your attention t the following  clear   facts. In the  first
     for  any individual among them. And this idea the apostle            place, in chapter 9, verse 4, we meet these sealed ones again.
     refutes  very  strongly. No, Israel is  nat rejected in that  ab-    The locusts  out of the abyss hve been let loose, and they


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               247

are about to begin their  destructive work. And what is the           square, just as long as it is'  \vide, and just as the  holy of
commission  they receive  ? Whom may they hurt ? Only kuch            holies  was ten times  ten. It is therefore the number of com-
men as have not.the  seal. of God on their forehids.  Now if          pletion  and the number of perfection. `B.ut the second ques-
these sealed ones.in this chapter are only Jews, then the por-        tion arises : complete in what sense ? If one hundred forty-
tion. in chapter 9 would mean that the locusts might indeed           four thousand indicates  a'complete number of the people of
hurt the Christians from the Gentiles, but that only the              God, does it  indicate the number of God's people of  al1
saved  ones from the Jews are immune. The absurdity of                ages, or rather of these  that exist during a definite period ?
such a  position is  very plain. NO, only on  tbe basis that          In order. to answer this question we must look at the num-
with Israel in this chapter both Jews and Gentiles are meant,         ber a little more closely. The basic numbers of ene hundred
the spiritual Israel of the New Testament,  can that  portion         forty-four  thousand are evidently ten and  twdve. Now
be explained. And therefore, as such we accept it. Secondly,          twelve  is the number of God's people on earth from the
lef US look at the portion itself. First of all, let me cal1 your     point of view of their free salvation. It is like the  number
attention to the  fact that in verse 3 these sealed  ones are         seven  in that it contains both  thee  and  four, but with an
called the servants of God. The  serv&ts of God must                  important differeice.  As w know, the number seven  is alscr
receive the seal. Are then the Jews only the servants  of             employed in Scripture as a symbol of the church and of the
God, or also the Christians from the Gentiles ? The answer            completed   kingdom  of  _ Christ. And so  also is the number
is, of course:  also the  latter. Further,  notice the haphazard      twelve.  But Scripture does not simply employ these different
way in which the twelve tribes are mentioned. Ephraim                 nunibers for the sake of variety, but to express a different
is not'mentioned here, nor is Dan. Have they then forfeited           thought. The differente  between the nunber   seven  and the
`~$11 right to salvation ? Must we then assume that there wil1        number twelve is evidently this, that sme'n is the mere union
be no saved ones at al1 from these tribes ? Secondly, Joseph          of &ee.and  fott;r, while twelve is'obtained by th process of
is mentioned,  who as  such never formed a tribe among                multiplication of  foztr by  thee,  thus representing the  in-
Israel. And if  you would argue that this name takes  the             fluence of  thee  upon  fozcr.  If you bear this in mind, the
place of his two sons, then you are again mistaken: for               thought is  clear.  Seven is employed with a view to the
Manasseh, one of the sons of Joseph, is mentioned  indeed             church  where  the  union of  the church and their  head,- the
by name. In the third place, they are mentioned without any           unon of four  a.nd  thee,  is to be indicated, as, for instance,
arrangement as to order. Judah is first, and then  Reuben,            in the first chapter of Revelation. But twelve is the number
while  also  Levi has a  portion  here as one of the tribes of        of  God's people from the point of view that they are the
Israel, though in actual  fact he never did have a  heiitage          ones  -that are saved by  grace, by the free  grace of God. It
among  them. Now, whatever else this  may be found to in-             points to the influence of God upon the world,  thee being
dicate,  it certainly tells  US that we  may not think here of        the .number of the Trinity,  f0.r being the  number  of the
the literal tribes. of the  nation of Israel, but of the spiritual    w&-ld. Hence, we have in this number twelve an  indication
Israel here upon earth, or  rather,  of the church of the new         of the people of God from the point of view of their reconcilia-
dispensation gathered from  Jew and Gentile both. Finally,            tion to God through the influence of divine  grace.  In the
1 also insist that if one part of this portion is taken literally,
consistent interpretation of the Word of God  demands that            second place, twelve is lso the number of the people of God
we take the whole in the same sense. Then we must dare to             from the viewpoint of their earthly existente in any.period
assnie  that this text literally tells  US that there  wil1 be       of time. In the Old Testament  there were twelve patriarchs
exactly one hundred forty-four  thousand Je& in the future,           and twelve tribes of Israel. And in the New Testament there
or in this entire dispensation, that  wil1 be saved. NO one           are ttielve apostles  and twelve elders. In ihe state of perfec-
wil1 accept  such an interpretation.                                  tion they are combined,  and you obtain the number twenty-
   H.ence, we  maintain  that  also this  portion of the Book of      `fo.ltr. But here upon earth, the church, both in the Old and
Revelation must be understood in the  symbolical  sense of            in the New Testament, appears under the  symbol of the
the word. Israel is the-church  of the new dispensation. And          number  twelve.  And thus we come to  this' conclusion, that
the ohiy question that is stil1 to be answered is: how must           this number,  twelve times twehe, is the symbol of the church
we conceive of this church according to the passage ? It is           of God from the viewpoint of their  reconciliation  to God
evident that the number must give  US the answer to  .this            ihroigh His .free grace, and' that also, during any period of
question. One hundred  forty-four  thousand is the number             their existente.  And since, as we found, ten is the number of
John heard, twelve.  tbousand  out of every  tribe. It needs no       God's decre, and this number is  contained  in  the one
argument that, in the first place,  we have here the symbol of        hundred forty-four  thousand three times, we evidently have
completion. Dominant in the number is the number  ten.                here the complete number  of God's elect people, reconciled by
Moreover, it is the number of completion also because of the
fact that one hundred forty-four  contains the number twelve          grace,  as they are upon earth in  any period of this present
multiplied by itself. It  makes                                       `dispensation:
                                     US  thi& of a square, even as
the  perfected  Jerusalem is  also represented as  perfect                                                                      H.H.


   248                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D  BtiARER
                    ---1

  11 THE DAY OF SHADOWS  11 voice from heaven. In the context these p&sons are the in-
                                                                           habitants of Jerusalem including the people who later as God's
  1'                                                                  4 penitent ones .will mourn for him whom they have piercd.
                   The Prophecy of Zechariah                               According to the counsel of Gd they must  slay His shepherd
                                                                           at a  time appointed of God in His  counsel.  And as this
        The Sword  Awalzened a,gainst  the Shepherd  and bis Flock         t&e is now at hand, God speaks, "Slay  my shepherd," and
                                   Chapter 13  :7                          it is done. For it is God who speaks - God whose word--
                                                                           the word of His  power- never returns to Him void but
          Awake, 0 sword, against the shepkerd;  and against a mm,         always accomplishes what it says. Not that He  can be
  ~l:ny fellow,  saith  tlze Lord  of hosts:  s&ite the  skepkerd  and     charged  with  being-the  creator or author and in this sense
  the  sleep  hall  be  scqttered,   a.nd I  wil1 stretch out my hand      the cause of the great sin that the smiting f the shepherd in-
  upon  tlze  little  ones.   .                                            volves the smiters. God is not  the creator of sin. Sin has
         Here again there is an abrupt change of  subjects.  The          not its origin in Him. But He did  create  the smiters,  when
  prophet  at  once passes from recounting th evasions of a false        He created the first man in His image. And, therefore, being
  prophet  interrogated regarding wounds between his hands to              His  creatures,  they exist solely by  %Iis power. In Him do
  another  represcntation  of the good shepherd. It is this               they live and  move.  They have in Him their  very being.
  shepherd's fourth appearance in this  discotirse.  In  tfie 9th         What,  therefore, could be essier  for Hiin than by the word
  chapter he is the lowly king of Zion who comes to his p.ec&,            of His power turn the  hearts of the smiters to  hate and
 as riding  upan the tolt of an ass. In the 11th chapter he is            smite the shepherd without implicating  Himself in  their great
. set forth a? an olSject of abhorance to the flock of slaughter.         sin or destroying their accountability to Him, as once by the
 Here there is a distinct allusion to his suffering. The implica-         same word of His power He had turned the hearts of the
 tion of chapter  12.:10  is that he is pierced by the  covenant          Egyptians to  hate and oppress His people (Ps. 105  :25)  ?
 people. In the verse now under consideration he is brought -Surely  the good shepherd was  @ven over by the word  of!
 into focus as  Smitten of God  through  men's agency. That               God's power in  accordance  &th the counsel of His  tiill,
 the good shepherd is Christ has already  been established on             which is sovereign. - It was. God  who reigned at  Chrst's
 the basis of the New Testament Scriptures. Attention  may                cross and not men and devils. The cross, therefore, was not
 yet b caled  to the fact that the words, "Smite the shepherd           an accident.  How, if it were, could it be true that He was
 and the sheep shall be scattered," were quoted by Christ in.             wounded for our transgressions? If by the word of God
 a  somewhat  modified  farm  .to show that  al1 His disciples            the sword was wakened to smite the shepherd, it is correct
 would be offended because  of Him that night because it was              to say that it was God who  smote Him and not m.en except
 written (Matt. 26 :31). Hereby He again indentified Himself              as His responsible agents.
 with the good shepherd of our prophet's  vision.                             The sword is bidden to awake against  "my shepherd,"
         The verses  7-9 farm a distinct passage closely connected        and "against a man, &y fellow." This shepherd is God's. He
 with the 14th chapter, the final section of this prophecy. The           is God's in a sense and for reasons that no other shepherd
 predictons and promises are the same, with this differente              is  God's. Of al1 men He alone as man w'as not begotten  by
 that in-the 14th chapter they receive a fuller  treatment.  The          another man but was born of a virgin overshadowed by God's
 good shepherd  wil1 be smitten  - the church, centrally Christ,          Spirit.  Also in His  humzmity,  therefore,, He is the  only  be-
 wil1  come in the crucible  of affliction. A way of escape wil1          gotten Son of God. He is God's as the Lamb t&at took away
 be pened for the surviving remnant, tihich wil1 be further              the sin of the wortd, for the human nature in which He bore
 refned and  ultimat& given the victory. Christ  wil1 reign              the penalty .of our sins was prepared for Him of God in the
 over the whole earth, and Jersalem   wil1 be exalted. `These            womb of ,the virgin. He-is God's as the Christ, for He was
 are here the promises, the germ of which was the  proteiangei            anointed  of God. He is God's as our sanctification, justifica-
 that was proclamated in the first days of paradise. These                tion,  wisdom, and redemption, for so He was made of God
 promises, therefore,  are not new in the sense that they were            unto US. He is God's as the resurrection, for God raised Him
 now being proclaimed for the  .first  time. They form the                up. He is God's as our life, for the fulness of the godhead
 themes  of al1 the prophets upon which each of them as God's             dwells -in Him. bodily. He is God's as head over al1 things
 organ shed a new light, and in the totality of whose  dis-               in the church. For God -gave hm for this purpose. He is
 courses they  continued  to unfold through the ages  of the              God's as one  who reigns over the  whole earth, for God
 old dispensation.                                                        exalted Him. He is God's as one w$h a name-above every
         The first part of verse 7 is a  command, the  speaker  of        name, for God gave Him this name. He is Gd's  as the me-
 which  can be none other than God. The  command   is  ad-                diator  .of an  .eternal   covenant,  for the covenant   is  God's. He
 dressed to the sword,  "Awakc,  0 sword, against my shepherd             is God's shepherd  and. as  such the shepherd of Israel, the
 . . . smite the shizpherd."  Actually acldressed are the. persons        god shepherd who laid down His lif for His sheep.
appointed to take up the sword against the shepherd, which                   And He is God's fellow, friend, companion. With God
 does not mean that they .are, being mandated by an audible               He walks. With  Go< is His fellowship. He is of the party


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               249

of God and so He takes God's  side always. The  zeal of             reign as  `Israel's  king with  them at His  side as His  chief
God's house consumes  Him. To do the  wil1 of His  Father           ministers, and with al1 His and their enemies His footstool.
is His  meat and drink. To fight the good fight is His only         How they would bask in the light of His glory. They under-
ambition, to love God and run  the, way of `His  commands           stood not that this earthly  kingdom,  seeing that it was but .
His only delight. And He knows no sin at  ah. He is  holy,          shadow, had served its purpose now that Christ was come,
undefiled and separated  from sinners and, therefore,  .capable     and that, therefore, it was  cm the  verge of vanishing away
of a perfect devotion. Such a one is God's shepherd. Surely         together with the rest of the shadows of the  law. They
He is God's fellow, He alone of  al1 men. That the Lord             understood not that the real kingdom  is heavenly - the king-
should waken the sword against Him ! Surely, yes. For He            dom that Christ was now about- to establish by His suffer-
is Jehovah's shepherd and as  such the shepherd of a flock          ings and `death upon the cross. That Christ ought to suffer
ill-deserving and condemnable in itself for whose sins it           these things and to enter  .His. glory was not in  al1 their
pleases God to  make His soul an offering. Unjust? No.              thoughts.
For the good shepherd Himself is God, so that, in being                The shepherd is smitten and the sheep are scattered.
smitten, it is God in the assumed  humanity being smitten of        Surely, the sheep are scattered. This is true in the first
God, or rather God smiting Himself for the sins of the sheep.       instance of the  eleven  disciples. It is true of them in the
Amazing   ? Yes, amazing love.                             .        hour that Jesus. gives Himself over into the hands of His
    But if the shepherd is to be smitten, what is to become         enemies. Then are -the  sheep-  scattered. But it continues  to-
of the sheep ? They wil1 be scattered. Also for the fulfilment      be true of them also in the hour of Jesus' trial in the courts
of this prophecy we must go to the Gospel narratives. When          of His earthly judges. Then, too, are the sheep scattered.
the multitude, with swords and staves, from the chief  priests      It continues to be true of them in the hour of Christ's cruci-
and the elders of the people is .come and lay hold on Jesus,        fixion and in, the hour that He lies in the tomb. Then, too,         I
al1 His disciples forsake Him and flee. So is the shepherd          are the sheep scattered. If so, their being scattered must
smitten and are the sheep scattered. They are scattered.            men something more than  tht`they  locally  forsake Jesus
They forsake Jesus and flee,                                        and flee in the hour  .that" the enemies  lay hands on Him.
    Yet these men, the disciples of the Lord, are not cowards.      As was pointed out, Christ sees in their being offended be-
Nor ar they lacking in devotion to their Master. They are          cause  of  H,im the fulfilment of the prophecy, "And the
resolved to fight for Jesus to the death. Peter gives the           sheep Shall be scattered." ,This tells US .wherein their being
signal, for the attack. He begins swinging his sword and            scattered really consisted. It reveals to  US what it  really
neatly shaves off the ear of one of them in the multitude.          means   that they be scattered. It does not  mean that in the
Doubtless the stroke was meant to split the scalp of  -the          dark hours that intervene between their laying hands on
victim. But the zeal  of Peter. draws from'christ the sternest      Jesus and His resurrection His disciples are locally separated
rebuke, "Put up thy sword into the  sheath,"  says Jesus to         from one another.  .Surely  also during these hours they
him, "the cup which my Father  hath given me, shall 1 not           seek  each other's presence. That in these hours they  be'
drink it?" Presently Christ is taken, bound, and led away.          scattered meas, according to Christ's own words, that they
So it  goes with Him because He allows not His followers            are offended because of Him. And this in turn  means first
to fight for Him ,and refuses to cal1 in the help of His Father,    that, when they see Jesus delivering Himself into. the hands
which He could have done and the  Father  would have                of the adversary, and that especially  when they see Him
responded  by giving  Him more than  twelve  legions of angels.     hanging  on a cross, they are amazed, confounded and troubled
Or He, Himself, could have vanquished the adversary simply          in their hearts. This is'what  it means that they be scattered.
by the .bre.ath of His mouth. But He forbears and voluntarily       That they be scattered  means,  further, that doubt  rises  in
gives Himself over into their hands. Said He not to the             their  minds as to whether He really is the Messiah.  Once
soldiers  who  came  to take Him  captive,  "If it is me that       more, that they be scattered  means that their faith nearly
ye seek, it is 1." What  can be plainer than  that He wants         ceases.  That it does not  cease  is only owing to the fact that
them to  lay hold on Him? To the disciples His behaviour            Christ prays for them. Again, that they be scattered  means  ..;;
is soul-agonizing. It confounds and grieves them. For `He           that in these terrible hours they  walk in  -thick darkness.
has blasted by His behaviour  ai1 their  hopes and made  al1        The Scriptures  -plainly  foretell that Jesus must suffer and
their expectations to perish. This throwing Himself  into           die  for. the sins of His people. The sufferings and death
the hands of His enemies, what  can it  mean for His  cause         of Christ, His resurrection and glorification and the resur-
but that it perishes ,with Him. And doubtless they also fear        rection and glorification of. His church with Him is the very
lor their own  lives.  So they  al1 forsake Him and flee. The       theme of al1 prophecy. Besides, they have the instruction of
sheep are scattered.                                                Jesus. And He has spoken plainly. "Behold," he said to
    The root of al1 their troubles is their misconception. of.      them at the close of His public ministry, "Behold, we go up
His  calling.  They imagined that He was  come to  restore          to Jerusalem ; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the
Israel's earthly kingdom  with its headquarters in the earthly      chief  priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn
Jerusalem  where,  Yhey fondly had imagined, He would               him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock,

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

  an'd to scourge, and  to. crucify him, and the third day  he         been he which should deliver  Israel."  The  proof  ,that the
  shall  rise again" (Matt. 29 :X3-19).                                redemption  of Israel by His blood was not in their thoughts
      They have then, the sure word of prophecy that, as  a            is  th repy of Jesus, "0 fools and slow of heart to believe
  light, shines in a dark  place.  But they do not take heed           al1 that the prophets `have spoken : ought not Christ to have
  unto it.' As blinded by their unbelief and carnal prejudices,        suffered  these things, and to enter into his glory? And
  they do not comprehend the. light. And not comprehending             beginning  at  Moses  and  al1 the prophets, he expounded
  the light, they  walk in total darkness in those first hours.        unto them in  al1 the Scriptures the things concerning  him-
  It need not be doubted that they are together locally. But           self."
  though together; they have no true and conscious fellowship.           The sheep are  scattered,. Should  nat the scattered sheep
  with God and with one another. For characteristic of the             be thought of as including al1 the people of God, the elect,
  darkness is that it separates.  How  can their fellowship be         that were stil1 to .be .born through. the ages to- come? Thus                        _
with  God- and with one another as long as they .be offended           be thought of as including also US ? For had we been living
  because of Jesus. Walking  in darkness, each of them walks           in the hour  -of His crucifixion,  Tour reaction would have
  alone, silent as the grave, For what have they subjectively          been identical to that of the disciples. We would have been
  in common to rejoice in and to speak about ? Not the Christ          just as offended because of Christ, just as amazed,  con-
about to rise again with His people from the dead. For they            founded; disappointed and grieved, just as unbelieving and
  believe  not  thafHe   wil1 rise again. Not the  Father. as the      scattered. Is not saying this just as right as the teaching of
  God of their redemption. For they have no understanding              the apostle to the effect that while we were yet sinners
  of the meaning of the shedding of Christ's  bloodl  Al1 they         Christ died for US?
  have in common is a gret grief that each of them nurses in              And may the saints that were ah-eady in heaven at that
  silence,. If  any of them does open his mouth to speak, it           hom be: counted among the spectators of the crucified Christ ?.
  is .for voicing thoughts of unbelief and despair.  To see how        If  so, were they, too, amazed but without sinning? Or had
  true this is  -we need but listen to the unbelief of Thomas,         they attained to  ,a perfect knowledge? This is not  likely
  "Except.  1 see in his hands the print of his nails  and put my      seeing that the  Holy Spirit stil1 had to be poured  also on
  finger   into. the print  of his nails, and  thrst my hand  into    the church in heaven. It is not  likely   also in view of the
  bis. side+  1 wil1 not believe." This is his reply to the glad       Eollowing : Of the salvation that Christ by His suffering and
  tidings  that Christ is  risen. Indeed  the sheep are scattered.     death on  the cross was preparing for  His people, the
  And yet, eert.ainly,  they are reborn men with a genuine and         prophets of the. old dispensation inquired and searched dili-
  imperishable, love of the Saviour. But they are woefully             gently. They searched what the Spirit of God that was in
  lacking,&   ?nderstanding, For the Spirit is not  yet. And           them did signify,  when He, the Spirit, testified  .beforehand
  they -are sinful men. And oh, that terrible cross ! But seeing       the sufferings of-Christ and the glory that should follow. In
  that they have the word of prophecy,  how is this amazing            this  same connection it is stated that  the angels desired to
  unbelief. and  ignorante  on their part, particularly in these       look into these things (1 Pet. 1 :lOff).
  first hours, to be accounted for ? We must end also with this            The shepherd  is smitten and the sheep-are scattered. `But
  unbelief and  ignorante  of the disciples in God. He willed          this  is'by no  means the end of  .it. For the verse with which
  it. And doubtless His  principal  purpose was to show  US            we are now occupied contains a  promise.  It is this: But 1
  how needful it was that the crucified,  resurrected and-glori-       wil1 stretch  out my hand  upon the little  ones. If it is the
  fied  :Christ  receive  the promise of the Holy Spirit `and pour     Lord  who smites the shepherd and  who  scatters  th sheep,
  out' His Spirit .on the church that she might be led of Him          it is  also He. and none other  who gathers them again. He
  in al1 .truth.                                                       gathers them by  .-stretching out  upon them His `hand. This
      Surely(  the- sheep are scattered. And the scattered sheep       hand of the Lord is the crucified, resurrected and-  glorified
  must be thought of as including al1 the people of God that           Chiiist. He made a beginning of gathering His scattered
  were living -during  that dreadful hour when Christ was on           sheep  immediately'after  His resurrection. He did so by as-
  the cross. The sight of the crucified Saviour amazed,  con-          suring them-in their hearts through-His appearances that He
  fused and confounded them all. Al1 were just as bewildered,          was  risen   indeed from the  dead and that He, therefore, is
  and just as profoundly grieved and disappointed. For Christ          the Messiah  indeed,  who by His sufferings and death on
  was being cut off in th midst of His days, and the earthy           the cross  ,truly.,:did redeem Israel from  al1  bis sins. And
  kingdom  of Israel had  stil1 to be restored. And that, they         through the `ages  -He  continued  to  gather  His  scattered
  al1 believed, was to be  the task of the Messiah,  when He           sheep by that same Gospel as sanctified unto their hearts
  should have come. So He could not be.the  Messiah after all,         by His Spirit that as the glorified Christ He poured  out
  as they all`had so hoped. That these were the cogitations of         upon' His church when the day of Pentecost was .fully come.
  al1 of them is plain from the communications of the  way-            And the scattered sheep, as gathered, are one by  a::con-
  farers to the  village   .of Emmaus. Said they to  Jesus,   `YThe    scious and  floweri,ng  and  commo.n,$aith,   in-.:Him   -their  .risn
  chief priests and ..rulers delivered him to be condemned             Lei-d.,  And  walking   in.,the  lightj they  <have fellowship with
  toe death, and have crucified him, but w trusted that it had                          (G&&ued         on'page      ,264)    ..  ..  ,--    .- ..- . .


                                                 T H E   STANDARD-BEARER   _                                                                      251

.l                                                                              6.9:it is quite evident that the relationship of husband and
              FROM  HObY  WRli-`--  1 .wife;parents  and children, quite naturally falls into the same
                                                                                classification:  of the relationship `of the natura1 to the spiritual,
                                                                                as in. the'. css  of sIave: .to master and `of. master to slave;
                    Etiposition  of 1 Corinthians 7                             It is the question of `sanctifying  al1 the relationships by faith
                                                                                in Christ, by virtue.of Dur having-been made free in Christ,
                                    Vl.                                         His property, bought with a  price.  We are to  walk.  in the
                                                                                freedom wherewith ,Christ  has made US free, by a faith. that
                                                                                                                                     . .
.`,                     _ (1 Corinthians 7 :17-24)    ..              .         is energized  by love.
       It should be borne in mind that Paul is discussing various                    In  the  verses  18-20 we read  the following:  "I?  arzy  man
questions pertaining to the matters of matrimony, celibacy,                     called being  circuw~cised?  Let  him not  become   wncrcz~w~-
as these  relate to our calling as christians in the midst of                   &ed. Ij a.ny called 68 ztncircwwision?  let him rt-ot  be circwn-
this world in a  walk of thankfulness. We have noticed in                       cised. Civcsw~~ci~ion  ,iS no thing,  aid wcircwmcisio~  is no th-
former essays what Paul has to say concerning .,the honor:                      ing., hut t&e kbepiutg  of the cowkmndwtents of God. `Let evry
ableness-  of'lnot entering into the  marriage-st,ate,  provided                vzah abide in the same caUing  whejvein hk wa.s  called."
one has  tle  `@ft of continence. He  touched   upon the  ..un-                     At the close of this passage, verse 20, Paul reiterates the
married and the wdows in relationship to  remarriage.  He                      principles  which he-orains in al1 the churches. For the fact
maintains the word of Jesus in relationship to the unchange-                    that a man was in a certain station in life when called is not
ableness of the marriage-tie. And he gives sanctified.  advice,                 his own doing. That was the "distribution" of God to every
applying the principle  for- the marriage  state as given by                    man in his counsel and providence. And in this wil1 of the
Jesus to  such marriages  where  one is called unto faith and                   Lord a man is to rest, shall he ever rest at ah,' and not suffer
the other is not, showing the new sta3ty quo in such a:-family                  his soul to  be*: in "bondage,"  where  God has made him
due to Clirist's having  come to sanctify such a hoi%,`caiising                 s p i r i t u a l l y   free.'
also the children to be  holy for the sake of the  believing.
parent.                                                                              What Paul here  writes  about "abiding in the calling"
                                                                                where  one was, when called, is not a good piece of -advice,
       To this matter we have given  considerable  attention in                 but it is something "ov-diined  in  al1 the  .chwches."   It is a
the fermer  two issues of l% Standard  Bearer.                                  universal rule of Christ for his people to be the light of the
       We noticed that even in such cases, it stands "wlat  God                world and the salt of the earth. Only. thus  wil1 the church
hafh joined together, let not man put asunder"  !                          "    not be  revoktiongyj   in society, but she shall be the  ne.w
       Although the believer-partner  is.not under "bondage" but                leavcn  in. an old  li@,   ,the  mustard-seed  that shall  fill the
                                                                                                                     ._
a free-man in the Lord ; in such cases, he does not have the                    entire earth !
prerogative nor the calling  to.  set. aside' God's inviolble                       Paul applies this to `two classes in the verses 18-20. He
ordinance concerning marriage, but must maintain that tie                       first speaks to  thosef  who were "circumcised"  when called
in the fondliope  of being an instrument in the hands of God                    unto faith  .and obedience in Christ. These `must not try  to
to save the unbelieving  husband  or wife. For  God% power                      undo the physical mark of circumcision by artificial means.
to save such an  unbelieving  partner is not to be doubted.                     Let  it  remain  as it is, It  means  nothing. It is neither  honor-
       To show that such is indeed  the intention of .God, and is               able nor dishonorable as such. It is simply to be viewed as
a rule in  al1 the churches, Paul elaborates just  a'bit more                   having  no meaning  in itself. That one was thus when called
upon' the relationship of the natura1  ties to the spiritual                    to faith is God's  "distribtion."  Rest in it. On  the other
ties in  Christ-; the natura1 is  also here first, and then the                 hand, is one in the "foreskin" when called, do not have the
spiritual.                                                                      physical act of circumcision performed. It is not necessary.
        -      :                                             -.  -L.-:\e  >     Should one attribute real  significante  to the external  rite of
       From this  fellows  that in these  verses   Paui  does not go            circumcision,  such a one  places  himself under  `the "bond-
off on a tangent in the verses  17-24 from the genera1 subject                  age" of the law from which- Christ has come to `set US free.
he is treating in this chapter,  but rather  expands a genera1                  We are to stand as the sons of Sarah  in the freedom where-
principle `to other relationships to which this -same principle                 with Christ bas made US free..-`.
of the  relation'ship   -of the natura1 and the -spiritual is  ap-
plicable  in'life.  We take this stand in spite of what Meyer                        To do either the one r the  ether would be, becoming
says in his Commentary of this  chapter.   "Writes  he:  "A                     the  "servants of men"; it would be a denial  of the Cross -of
further  explanation of .this injunction (to abide in that place                Christ through  which,  we have been' crucified unto the world
where we were when called, G.L.) by way of example, and                         and the world crucified unto us.
not bearing on the case of those christians-living in mixed                          Paul  demonstrates  ,this principle of the liberty-'  which we
marriages."                                                                     have in Christ also in the case of. two classes of men in so-
       When  we compare  what Paul ~writes  in Ephesians 5 :22-                 ciety :  the..slave  `and the  free-Mn.  We  read in  tle  verses


  2 5 2                                         T H E   STAN,DARD.BE.ARER

 `21-24 as follows: "Avt  thou  called  being a servant?  Carte          Th& they  would not  walk, in their new role as servants
  not for it; but if thou utmyest ba made free, use it ratker.  For      before  God, but would again fa11 into servitude.
  he that is mlled in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's              And now we  come to the application of this. entire matter
  freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's      to the case of the man or woman (brother or sister) who has
  sekmnt.  Ye are  bought with a prke: bs wat  ye the servants           an unbelieving partner.
  of `men, Brethren,  let evcry man, wherein  he is ca.lled, .therein       What does this  principle  of spiritual liberty imply ?
  obide'with God."          .                                            License ?. Nat at al1 !
  .    Notice: the slave is a free-man in the Lord!                         It simply  means that  when a man by the "distribution"
       Again : the free-man is a servant in the Lord !                   of God has an unbelieving partner, he is to let the ordinance
       He  who is interested to study this just a bit more  may          of marriage as  .it was "from the  beginning"  stand ! To do
  find that Paul has worked  this matter  out a little more in           otherwise is to walk in sin, not to trust (in either possibility
  detail in Ephesians 6:5-9  where  we  read, "Servants, be              of`a saved partner, or a "distribution" of God) in God which
  obedient  to them that are your masters according to the               is  -freedom   -from sin, keeping the commandments in true
  flesh, with fear and tremblin g, in singleness of heart, as unto       liberty.  Any other course  places a man "under bondage,"
  Christ; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the                bondage unto men and to the relationships between men.
  servants of Christ, doing the  wil1 of God from the heart;                Thus Paul does not "play out" the original ordinance of
  with good wil1 doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men:          marriage against a circumstance in life  where  `clearly the
  knowing  that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same            cross of Christ must be borne, which is not a hard yoke,
  shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free."             nor is it a heavy burden! He consistently maintains the
       Here we see the freedom unto which God has brought the            relationship of "as things were from the beginning"  and as
"siave."  His  freedoej,  paradoxical as it  may seem, is in  serv-      they have again been set  upon the Rock Christ Jesus,  who
  ing al1 the more his master, in view of the reward which he            came not to `destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfil it.
  wil1 receive when he keeps the commandment of "love" to                   Not  al1  can receive this word but to  whom it is given.
  his master. Only thus  wil1 he  walk in the freedom  where-            The spiritual man puts spiritual things with spiritual  also
  with  h-e is free. He is "free"  from the servitude of slavery         in this matter. If our flesh says, "If the case of a man be
  in the measure  that he serves his master in the love of Christ.       such with a woman, it is expedient not to marry," then the
  Such is, incidentally, also the teaching of Paul in the letter to      Lord says, "There be Eunuchs   who have made themselves
  Philemon. For the old relationship has a new and  higher               Eunuchs for the Kingdom's sake."
  principle  in it. It is the new relationship to the "master"              This  may be the way then of self-denial. But it is the
  because of the superceding new relationship to Christ.                 way of God. The way of  pain and a good conscience is
       Conversely it is also true that the "master'? relationship        always far to be preferred above the way hof indulgente  and
  to this slave has principally undergone a change in Christ's           anguish of heart.
  sanctifying work. Thus it was with Philemon. He was a                     And thus Paul ordained in al1 the churches.
  free-man indeed. Yet, he was truly a servant of God. In this
  he and his run-away slave were on  the. same  level. There                                                                        G . L .   -
  was' the new relationship of being a "brother in the Lord"
  which  changed  the relationship of the master  to his slave.
 They were equals in their inequality. Christ has placed them
  on the same levels,  -even while they stood on different levels                         Notice for Classis West
  in society.                                                               Classis West of: the Protestant Reformed Churches wil1
       Only  when this is seen  wil1 there be no revolution in           convene,  the Lord willing, in  Doon, Iowa, Wednesday,
  society, nor wil1 there be civil war.:.Indeed,  Christ has come        March  19, 1958.
  to'make  peace among the "men of His good-pleasure,"  even                The consistories  ,are reminded of the rule that they are
  there where  it seems most impossible. It is a bit of heaven           expected to  nominate  an  elder  or elders  who are able to
  in the sin-infected world-order.                                       serve as synodicaldelegate.  And, al1 matters for the classica1
       Thus Paul ordained in  al1  the world. Christ's  kingdom          agendum must be in the hands of the.stated clerk not later
  was not of this world indeed... It was from above and really           than ,thirty days before the date of Classis:,
                                                                                      i-  *
  and actually  made al1 things new!'                                                                 Rev. H.  Veldman,   StatedClerk
       For a christian  slave to "care for" social  freedom is wrong.
  If it is offered to him let him use it as a good gift from the            Those desiring lodging  for the coming meeting of Classis
  Lord. And for a Jew to wish to be as a Gentile is erroneous,           West, please  write to: Mr. Edward Van  Egdom, Rt. 1,
  even as it was erroneous for a Gentile to wish to be as a Jew !        Box  82; Hawarden, Iowa.  "


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                2 5 3
 I/-11 areetold that "the apostle (in Acts 20) exhorteth (these
                                                                      elders) to watch diligently aganst the wolves which might
                                                                      come in the sheepfold of Christ; for the performance of
                                                                      which the elders are in duty bound diligently to search the
                    Spiritually Sensitive                             Word of God, and continually be  meditating  on the mysteries
                                                                      of faith." That is quite a different picture from the one we
                                (8)                   .               usually  see today. And lest we quickly brush this aside'  nd
                                                                      refer this to others since we are not in the office of elder  in
    ,Tremendous  strides have been made. in the printing and          the church of God, let 
 publishing world since the Scriptures were  written and                                         US remember that the elders are so
                                                                      exhorted that they  may  protect you, one of the sheep.  COn- . .
 published as one book. When  the various books of the Bible          sider -also that in this same epistle  of -:Pal  ti, %mthy .and., :e,
 were written by the men whom God moved, guided and il-               in the same  chapter  from which we quoted above,  &i
 lumined, they existed for a long time as bulky rolls of parch-       writes, "Al1 Scripture is given by inspiration  of: God, and is
 ment.  Thus- in Nazareth Jesus  could be given the  boek  of.        profitable for doctrine, for  reproof,  .for correction, for  in-
 Isaiah from which to read. But now in a very compact book            struction in righteousness: That the man of God  may be
 containing al1 the books of the Scriptures the Bible may con-        perfect, thoroughly furnished  unto al1 good works." The man
 veniently be carried in one hand. And thousands upon thou-           of God is not simply the man of God in Timothy but in
 sands of copies are distributed over the length  and breadth         every   child of God. The Scriptmes were not given; in other
 of the earth. You  wil1 find one in  wel1 nigh  every  hotel         words, simply for Timothy's;sake `that he might be perfect,
 room, motel room, hospita1 waiting room. And it is stil1             thoroughly  furnished  unt  `al1 good  works,  but the man of
 considered to be the best seller of any book on the market.          God wherever he  may be  ;--every   child of God. And these
     Religious  material  (and  often irreligious  material passes    words were not preserved up til1 this day for none others
 under the name religious material) likewise is quickly and           than elders in the Church of Christ, but for al1 the people of               .:
 neatly printed, bound and sold over the ounter  or placed on        ` G o d .                    .' .--                               <_-  ,>."_  `.
                                                                                                                                           -
                                                                                                                        .
 the library shelf. Religious magazines in countless numbers
 are running off the presses every  day. Pamphlets, tracts  and           Or if you  will, the author of the epistle `to the Hebrews  [
 brochures, likewise, run into the thousands upon thousands           writes  in Hebrews 3 :13, `SBut exhort one another daily, while
 and appear in neat form and are set up with type that is easy        it is called Today ; lest any of you be hardened   through'the-  ,-:
 on the eyes and requires the least amount of Strain for the          deceitfulness of sin," and again in  Hebrew~&~lO:24;  25, "And
 eyes.                                                                let US consider one another to provo& unto love: and:to. goed-,
                                                                      works, not forsaking the assembling of.  ours,eeves  -t,og,ether:asl-
     Means  of transportation of  .the present day  also have         the manner of some is; hut. exhorting one .another::  and. so.
 made tremendous strides in the way of progress compared              much the more, as ye see the day approaching.`:
to the things our forefathers accepted  as the ultimate  of travel
 facilities. Today we speed smoothly in cozy, warm automo-                These passages certainly refer ,to al1 themembers in .the
 biles,  seated  upon foam rubber seats, over leve1 roads of con-     congregations. And yet we fear. that  many   of:-,our, families
 crete or asphalt pavement.                                           have no  actual  study and  discussion  of th  Word. of God
    And yet we find today that there is less and less interest        from the last service on  one$Sunday  to  thei,~~~~.~~~~uice,~o;n
 being shown in reading these religious magazines and to              the  following.  Sabbath. 0;  there is  `a  little.   r.ead&g at the
 congregate  for spiritual edification. Societies organized for       table without  any thought  giv-en  to  ivh.at  is  read  oi without
 the  purpose  of the study of  God's Word, for the searching         a pause to reflect  upon.  w.hat,is.  red. There is'n reflection
 of the Scriptures, for the instruction and spiritual upbuilding      afterward on what is  read,:or   study of'the Scriptures  .to se
 of the  child of God are  poorly  attended. Usually a  very          more clearly what  is'  meant.by   .what' is  read.  .No actual  in:          '
 smal1  fraction of .the membership of the congregation shows         struction fromthe  Word issought, and more than even super,. 1
 any interest in the study of God's Word. A lecture or speech         ficial contact with it there  is. not,  except  once or  twice, for
 on a religious topic today draws only half of an auditorium's        a short time- on the Sabbat&,.:  And meanwhile the wrld and
 capacity in distinction from the  time  when travel to and           al1 that it contains-crowds wll nigh al1 thought of the spirit-
 from such a lecture was much harder on the flesh.                    ual  out of  our lives. Our magazines have to be  read from
                                                                      cover to cover - except religieus  magazines - and we would
    This is not a healthy sign.                                       not think of leaving our daily newsp$&s remain unread be-
     It does indicate that more and more we are approaching           fore we`retire at night. How we.hate to miss our daily news-
 and living in those days of which the apostle speaks and             tast of the radio station of our choosing. We surely want to
 which he calls perilous times  that are coming when men shall        keep  .ppsted on material,  earthly things, the things of the
 be lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, 11 Timothy           kingdom  here below. We simply have to hear what  prices
 3 :4b; We have in our churches a farm for the ordination of          are being paid for our commodities and  read and analyze
 elders and deacons wherein-the elders bout to be ordained           carefully the claims and counterclaims of the politicians of

                                                                                                                        .

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

our Republican and Democratie  parties. And we learn'6  be              close to Gocl's Word. And-the closer we live to it, the more
pretty shrewd, too, in  our analysis of world affairs. With             .we study it, and not simply thoughtlessly read it, the more
our great  wisdom  we.  are. able to point  out the folly of            spiritually sensitive we  wil1 become. With  al1 the  religieus
learned politicians and authorities over US: We usually  have           literature that  can be gotten so easily we ought to be a people
a  `solution- for the problems which they cannot  solve. And            that reads and studies more rather  than less `than our fore-
then, sometimes  om knowledge of the Scriptures is as scanty            fathers. With our modern automobiles with their  greater
and vague as the man who, in referring t the saints in the             comfort and speed, we ought to be a people that would wel-
Old. Testament, was able to say to  US nothing more than                come the opportunities  of gathering for an evening of edifica-
"Jacob and  .those  ether men." Doctrine we avoid.  Discus-             tion when the things of God's kingdom  and of our salvation
sion of our confessions with their rich heritage of the truth           are treated in a lecture..  Pet we find a growing tendency to-
we'  deern  too `deep for US. 0, yes, but our  minds are pretty         wards greater laxity in both.
sharp and keen when it comes to buying and selling,  politics.              To be sure; these are not required of US .by the rulers in
and business. But Jesus said,  .did He not,  "Where  your               the  church.  We wil1 not be-put under discipline if only we
treasure is, there  wil1 you heart be  also,"  Matthew  6:21.           show up in the services for divine worship on the Sabbath.
Let US not cal1 Him a lir. Weg have no interest in the study           That is not the point. The question never is whether we
of His Word? We  can  fnd a million dozen reasons of the               can satisfy the demands of. men. The question always is
flesh why we ought- not do so ? Our answer to al1 this is; "Go          whether we are doing that which God demands of US. The
tel1 Him that  !" After  all,  ,it is before His  judgment  seat        question always is whether we -sincerely  hunger and thirst
that we must appear and not before the bar of the whims                 after righteousness and  after  God and the knowledge of Him.
and fancies  of men. And can we honestly say that our heart
is in th study of God's Word and in the things spiritual when              We firmly believe the words of Jesus,  "Where your
we so carefully and repeatedly avoid  it ? When  our hearts are         treasure is there-wil1  your heart be also." Do you say, But 1
not in it, can we honestly say before Him that His Word is              do attend services on the Sabbath. 1 do  read my  Bible.
om treasure ? We do the very minimum, we come in con-                   Well, but do these not result in an increasing desire  for more
tact,with His Word no more than is absolutely necessary to              knowledge and the joy of ,its truth? And must we not judge
avoid bing an object of discipline by the church; and then             how greatly you treasure the things spiritual by your activity
we say that we hunger and thirst  after God and after right-            in seeking  them  ? A healthy  child is always sking  for
eousness  ? Let                                                         food, and  when your  child begins  to nibble a little bit and
                    US not deceive ourselves.  For it is certain
that we do not deceive God.                                             leave  the food on the table untouched,  you correctly conclude
                                                                        that he is getting  Sick.  How  often do you leave untouched
       And the sad thing is that we are caught up in a vicieus          the truth and the things spiritual which God bas made avail-
circle. Because we are not attracted to the Word of God as              able for you? You say that you have good reasons ? We
we ought ; because  we are not sufficiently strong to approve           say again, Go, tel1 Him, and be sure that your case is goed
the things that are excellent, we  stay away from the  very             and that `He  wil1  say that `you do  indeed live in His fear.
                                                                                    _,
thing that we need for improvement. And instead we turn
to the world, its. entertainment, its vain pleasures and                                                                                 _  J . A . H .
treasures. The  result is that we learn to love these things
of the world and-of  the;flesh  so much better, and our craving                            . .
for them grows so greaf that we become more and more                                                    IN MEMORIAM
strangers to the truth of God? Word. And more and more
we condone the things of the world and find fault with the                  On February 1, 1958, it pleased our Heavenly  Father to take  out
doctrines of Scripture and wifh  the, limitations it imposes            of our midst and unto Himself  `om beloved husband,  father,  and
upon our walk of life. I.nstead of exhorting one another `lest          g r a n d f a t h e r ,
any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sir?' and instead                                          JAKE MERKUS                       .
of "prvoking one another unto love and to good works" we               at the age of 72 years.                                                                 - -
forsake even, more `fthe assembling  of ourselves together" and
                                 .                                          Although we  shall.miss  him, we know and experience  that  ". . .             ~
set an evil example for .our brethre-n  and, even worse, for our        al1 things work together for good to them that love God, to them  who
children,.  who -are happy to sec such freedom and sparation           are  the  called according to his purpose." Romans  8:28.   '
from the things of God's kingdom.                                                                        Mrs. J. Merkus (nee Cecilia Kuipers )
       It  simply  is a  fact- that. little nourishment  cannot make                                     Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Sawyer (Alice)
a strong man. The author of the epistle to the Hebrews:like-                                             Mr.  and Mrs.  Marvin Paauwe (Florence)
wise declares that some are dull of hearing because they do                                              Mr. and Mrs.  Wilbur  Terpstra (Grace)
not have, by reason of .use, their senses  exercised to discern                                          and twelve grandchildren.
both good and evil.                                                     -Redlands,  Califomia.
                                                                                                   -     Also two sisters and one brother in  the
       If we are t be spiritually  sensitive we wil1 need to live                                       Netherlards.


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                255

Il                                                                          knw fhat:one  has done barm to the ether,  but which is the
                    Contending  For The Fath                               offender  1 do not know. Him, however,  as far as my author-
                                                                            ity goes, 1 denounce. and excommunicate,  that is, the one who
                                                                            harms  the ether, whichever of the two it be, and 1 absolve
                    The Church and the Sacsaments                           the one which.suffers  under the injury  which is so hurtful
                                                                            to the cause of Christendom."
        REWS  DURIN'G  THE  THIRD.   PERTOD  (750-1517 A.D.)                   Innocent was now free to convoke again the council
        `.  i:.c       TRE  SUPREMACY OF THE  POPE                          which  Frderick's  forcible measures had prevented from
                                                                            assembling  in Rome. It is known as  .the First Council of
             THE  PAPACY  F~OM  THE  DEATH OF  INNOCENT IJ.1                Lyons, or the Thirteenth Oecumenical Council, and met in
                       TO  BONIFACE   VIII. 1216-1294.                      Lyons,  1245.  The measures the papa1 letter mentioned as
                                                                            calling for  action wre the provision, of  relief for the  Holy
                                  (continued)                               Land and of resistance to the Mongols whose ravages had
                                                                            extended to Hungary, and the settlement  of matters in  dis-
      Th  j%st  Coxncil  `of Lyons  a.nd  thc  Close of  Fvederick's        pute between the Apostolic see .and the emperor. One hun-
      CaGey.  1241-1250.                                                    dred and forty prelates were present. With the exception of
           Gregory's successor, Coelestin IV, survived his  election        a few representatives from England  and one or two bishops
      less than three weeks. A papa1 vacancy followed, lasting the          from Germany, the attendance was confined to ecclesiastics
      unprecedented period-of twenty months. The next pope, In-             from Southern Europe. Baldwin, emperor of Constantinople,
      nocent IV, a Genoese, was an expert in the- canon law and             was there to plead his  dismal cause.  Frederick  was  rep-
      proved himself to be more than the equal of  Frederick  in            resented by his able counsellor,' Thaddeus of  S'uessa.
      shrewdness and quickness of  action.  At his  election  the            . Thaddeus promised for his master to  restore  Greece to
      emperor is reported to have exclaimed that among the  cardi-          the Roman  communion  and  proceed  to the  Holy Land in
      nals he had lost a friend and in the pope gained an enemy.            person. Innocent rejected the promises as intended to  de-
      Frederick  refused to enter into negotiations looking to an           ceive and to break up  the council. The axe, he said, was
      agreement  of peace until he should be released from the ban.         laid at the root, and, the stroke was not to be delayed. When
      Innocent was prepared to take up Gregory's conflict with              Thaddeus offered the kings of England  and France as sure-
      great  energy;   Al1 the weapons at the  command  of the              ties that the emperor  would keep his  promise,  the  pope
      papacy-were brought  into.requisition: excommunication, the           sagaciously  replied  that in that case he would be in danger
      decree  of.a genera1 council, deposition, the election  of a rival    of  having  three princes  to antagpnize. Innocentwas plainly
      emperor, and the  active  fomenting of rebellion in Frederick's       master of the situation. The council was in sympathy with
      dominions. Under this accumulation of burdens Frederick,              him.  Many  of its  members  had a grudge against  Frederick
      like a giant, attempted  to bear up, but in vain (a certain M.        for having  been subjected  to the outrage of Capture and im-
      Paris says  he had never heard of  such bitter  hatred  as the        prisonment  by him.
      hatred  between Innocent IV and  Frederick).  Al1 Western                At one of the first sessions the pope'  delivered a sermon
      Christendom was about to be disturbed by the conflict. In-            from fhe test,  `(Se&  ye  who pass this way, was ever sorrow
      nocent's first move was to  out-genera1  his antagonist by            like unto my sorrow  ?" He dwelt  upon five sorrows of the
      secretly leaving Rome. Alexander 111 had set the precedent            Church corresponding to the five wounds of Christ : the
      of delivering himself by flight. In the garb of a knight he           savage cruelty of the Mongols or Tartars, th schism  of the
      reached .Civita  Vecchia, and there met by a Genoese galley           Greeks, the growth of heresy, the desolatin of Jerusalem, and
      proceeded to Genoa, where  he was received  with the ringing          the  active  persecution of the Church by the emperor. The
      of bells and the acclamation, "Our -soul is escaped like a bird       charges, against  Frederick  were sacrilege and heresy. As
      out of the snare of the fowler." Joined by cardinals, he              for the charge of heresy, Thaddeus~  maintained  that it cquld
      continued  on bis journey to Lyons, which, though nominally           be answered only by Frederick  in person,  and a delay of two
      a city of the empire, was by reason of its proximity to France        weeks was granted that he might have  time to appear.  When
      a place of safe retret.                                              he failed to appear, Innocent pronunced upon him the ban
           The  pope's policy.proved toebe a master stroke. A deep          and declared him deposed from his throne. The deliverarice  _
      inipression in his favor was made upon the Christian world            set forth four grave offences  ; namely, the violation of his
      by the sight of the supreme  pontiff in exile. The division of        oath to keep peace with the Church, sacrilege in seizing the
      European sentiment is shown by the method which a priest              prelates on their way to the council, heresy,  and withholding
      of Paris resorted to in publishing .Innocent's  sentence of ex-       the tribute due from Sicily, a papa1 fief. Among the grounds
      communication  against the emperor.  "1  am not ignorant,"            for the charge f heresy were Frederick's contempt of the
      he  Said, "of the serious  controversy  and unquenchable  hatred      pope's prerogative of the keys, his treaty with the Sultan
      that has arisen between the emperor and th pope. 1  also             on his  crusade,   allowing  the name of Mohammed to  ,be

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

                 publicly proclaimed day and  night  in the temple,  having                     firming   King  John's charter of tribute. The only notable
                 intercourse with Saracens,  keeping  eunuchs over his women,                   achievement of the council of Lyons, was the defeat of
                 and giving his daughter in marriage to Battacius, an excom-                    Frederick. Innocent followed it up with vigorous measures.
                 municated prince. The words of the  fel1 sentence ran as                       Frederick's manifesto he answered with the reassertion -of
                 follows :`fseeing  that we, unworthy as we are, hold on earth                  the most extravagant claims.. The  bishop of Rome was  en-
                 the authority of our Lord Jesus'Christ, who said to US in the                  trusted with authority- to judge kings. If, in the Old Testa-
                 person  of St. Peter, `whatsoever ye shall bind'n earth,'  etc.,              ment, priests deposed unworthy monarchs, how much more
                 do hereby dclre-  Frederick, whb has rendered himself- un-                   right had the vicar of Christ so to do. Innocent stirred up
                 worthy of `the honors  of sovereignty and for his crimes  has                  the flames of rebellion  in Sicily and throughout the mendicant             -
                 been deposed from his throne by God, to be boun  `by his                      orders fanned  the. fires of discontent in Germany. Papa1
                  sins  andcast  off by the Lord and. we do hereby sentence  :and               legates  practically usurped the government of the German
                  depose him; and  al1  who are in  any way  bound to him by                    Church from 1246 to 1254. In the conflict over the election
                 an oath. of allegiance we forever release and absolve from                     of bishops to German  dioceses,  Innocent usually gained his
                 that oath; and by our apostolic authority, we strictly  forbid                 point,  ar?d in the year  1247-1248  thirteen of his nominees
                 any one obeying him. We  decree  that  any  one'who  gives                     were elected. At the  pop's instigation Henry Raspe,  land-
                  aid to him as emperor or  king Shall be excommuniaated  ; and                 grave of Thuringia, was  chosen  emperor, 1246, to replace,
                 those in the empire on  whofll the selection~  of  -an emperor                 and at his death, a year later, William of Holland.
:                 devolves, have full liberty to elect  a su$essor$  his place."
                                                                 ._.                               In Italy  civil   war broke out. Here the mendicant orders
                         Thaddeus appealed from the`,decision,to  ahother  council.             were also against him. He met the elements of revolt in the
     _           His  master  Frederick, on hearing what was  done, is said to                  South and subdued them. Turning to the North,  success
                 have asked for his crown  and to have `placed -it more firmly                  was at first on his  side but soon left'him. One fatality  fol-
                  on his head. In vain did the  king%$   ,Fra&e, meeting In-                    lowed another. Thaddeus of Suessa  fell, 1248. Peter de
                  nocent gat Cluny,. malie a plea for the emperori  finding,  as the            Vinea, another shrewd counsellor, hd abandoned his master.
                  English chronicler  I said, "but  very.  .littl.  of. that humility
                                            ;  ._.,  _.-  ,.  .. .                              Enzio, the emperor's son, was in prison.  Utter defeat  fel1
                  which he had hoped for  n' that  servant  of the. servants of                upon him before Parma and  forced  him to abandon  al1                ._
                  God.". Freder.ick's  manifesto irr reply"t%re  council's  act was            Lombardy. As if there had not been cursings enough, In-
          ,_     addressd  to .the king.,of. .England  aid otler princes,  and re-           nocent, in 1247, had once mor,e launched the anathema against
                  minded them of the low birth of the prelates who set them-                    him. Frederick's career wasat an end. He retired to Southern
                  selves up against lwful sovereigns, and denied the pope's                    Italy, a broken  man, and died near Lucera,  an old Samnite
                  tempora1 authority. He warned  them that his fate was likely                  town, Dec. 13, 1250. His tomb is at the side of the tomb of
                  to be theirs and announced  it as his purpose to fight against                his parents'in the cathedral of Palermo. He died absolved by
                  his oppressors. It had been his aim to recall the clergy from                 the archbishop of Palermo and clothed in the garb of the
                  lives of luxury and .the use of arms to apostolic simplicity                  Cistercians.  This? incidentally, s the more credible narrative.
                  of manners.  When  this summons was heeded, the world                         Villani  tells the story that  Manfred brjbed Frederick's  cham-
                  might  expect again to see miracles as of old. True as these                  berlain and stifled the dying man with a wet cloth.
                  principles  were: and boldzand  powerful as was their advocate,                  S&t.po~   wkbt&$  the Wonder of  the World- this is the
                  the time had not yet come. for Europe to espouse them, and                    title which Matthew Paris applies to Frederick 11. Europe
                  the character of Frederick ~was altogether too vulnerable to                  had not seen his equal as a ruler since the days of Charlei
                  give mora1 weight  to his words. Too much credit must not,                    magne. For his wide outlook, the diversity of his gifts, and
                  be given to Frederick for a far-seeing policy based  upon  a                  the vigor and versatility of his statecraft he is justly compared
                  love  -of truth or a  perception  of permanent  principles.  The              to the great rulers. Morally the inferior of`his grandfather,
                  rights of cqnscience"  he nowhere hints at, and probably did                  Barbarossa, Frederick surpassed him in intellectul breadth
                  not dream of.` t                                                              and culture. He is the most conspicuous politica1 figure of his
                   The council's discussions of measures looking to a new                       own age and the most cosmopolitan of the Middle Ages. He
                  crusade   @cl  nat  haye  any  immediate   result.   T h e   c l e r g y ,    was warrior, legislator, statesman, man of letters. He won
                - besides being called  upon..to give a twentieth for three years,              concessions in the East and was  the' last Christian king of
                  were instructed to see to it that wills contained  bequests for               Jerusalem to nter his  realm:  He brought order  out of con-
                  the  holy enterprise.                                                         fusion in Sicily and Southern Italy and substituted the uni-
                         One of the interesting figures at the council ws Robert               form  legislation  of the  Sicilian  Constitutions for the  irres-
                  Grosseteste,  bishop of  Lincoln,   who protested against  ec-                ponsible jurisdiction  of ecclesiastical court and baron. It has
                clesiastical abuses in  England,   such as the appointment of                   been said he founded the system of centralized government
                  unworthy foreigners to  benefices,  nd the exorbitant  exac-                 and prepared the way for the monarchies  of later times. He
                 tions for the papal. exchequer. The pope gave no relief,  and                  struck out a new path by appealing to the judgment of Chris-
                  the English bishops were commanded  to affix their seals con-                                     (Co,ntinued  on page 264)


                                                T    H    E      STANDA.R.D   BEARE.R                                                 257

                                                                      piace, the acute awareness of a lack, \he consciousness of need.
                                                                       That awareness' of a  lack is the  consciousness  of sin.. It is
                                                                      -the consciousness  of guilt  and condemnation, the awareness of
                                                                      one's corruption and perversity, the knowledge of his trans-
                   The Canons  of Dordrecht                           gression and iniquity. He  who hungers and  thirsts   after
                            PART TWO                                  righteousness is spiritually aware of the  fact that he  lacks
                                                                      righteousness as to his state,  as to the condition  of his nature,
                    ESPOSITION  OF THE CANONS                         and as to his actual  walk.  .And if you  would see this  con-
                                                                      sciousness of Sin in its real  nature,  then you must notice that
          THIRD AND  -FOURTH  HEADS OF  DOCTRINE                      the Lord Jesus calls him blessed precisely, not who is right-
                   RE JECTION OF ERRORS  .-                           eous in himself; but  who  merely hungers and thirsts for
                                                                      righteousness. In the  secord  place, to hunger and thirst  aiter
                      Article 4  (continued)                          righteousness implies a deep-seated spiritual yearning. for
    The meaning of the' Arminian doctrine that is. here op-           justification,   a longin g for the  forgiveness  of sins and for
posed is .in itself quite clcar,-and  is in need of little exposi-    the state of one who is declared righteous by the only Judge
tion. It is a: plain and simple contradiction  of the Scriptural      of heaven and earth:  It includes, moreover, a longing to be
and Reformed truth concrning man's total depravity : "The            free from the corruption of our nature and from the bond-
unregenerate man is not really nor utterly dead in sin, nor           age of sin, and to be set spiritually free. And it implies the
destitute. of  al1 powers unto spiritual good."  T.his is the         earnest desire  for actual righteousness of walk, for a walk ac-
main proposition here, the key to. the Arminian thought. He           cording   -to  al1 the commandments of God. That is the life's
must maintin this in order to maintain what he is really             need of him who hungers and thirsts after righteousness and
after, namely, that the unregenerate man can yet hunger and           eternal  14fe. His  want of righteousness is a matter of need,
thirst-  after righteousness and life, and offer the sacrifice        a matter of life and death. He lacks righieousness,  is destitute
of a contrite and  broken  spirit,' which is pleasing to God.         f it. His want is a matter of suffering, of misery, of sorrow.
11~ this respect we must at least give the Arminian credit            He must have righteousness or perish. And certainly, this is
for consistency, if indeed it may be cailed credit. His reason-       possible  only for one  who is alive. The  dead hunger not,
ing is  quite correct by itself, This  wil1 be plain `if we  tast     neither do they thirst. He  who is spiritually alive, though
his doctrine in the form of a syllogism, as fellows:                  stil1  in his sinful flesh, he who has the beginning of this right-
                                                                      eousness in him, - he alone can know the spiritual reality
    1. The unregenerate man is not really nor utterly dad            of a hunger and thirst  after righteousness.
in sin. .                                                                 And from this point of view. it must certainly be granted
   2. The unregenerate man is, accordingly, not destitute of          that if al1 men are hungry and thirsty, if al1 men have the
al1 powers unto spiritual good..                                      capability of offering the  sa&-ifice  of a contrite and  broken
   3. Therefore, the unregenerate man can yet hunger and              spirit, if al1 men belong  .to those  who  labor and are heavy
thirs.t after righteousness.  and life, and cai do that which is     laden, - as .is proclaimed  either expressly or by implication~
pleasing to God, namely, offer the sacrifice of a contrite and        from so many pulpits,  also Reformed pulpits,  today, - then
brok& spirit.                                                         al1 men are not really nor utterly  dead in sin. And yet, as
                                                                      we have said, this is exactly the message,  literally expressed
   The consistency of the Arminian lies herein, that he rec-          or implied, that is heard from many  a pulpit. Some dare nof,
ognizes the fact that a man who is really  dead in sin could          it seems, express this forthrightly. But they imply as  much
neither hunger and thirst  after righteousness nor offer a            when they make of the gospel a general,  well-meant offer of
sacrifice of a  broken and contrite spirit.  `And by the same         salvation. For what, pray, is the sense of offering  grace to
token, the error of the  Arminiar   iies  herein, that he  denies    a mn  who has not even-the capability to know his need of it,
that the unregenerate man is really and utterly dead in sin.          to  desire it, to yearn  after it?  Thc  very idea of a genera1
Hence, our fathers, as we shall see  pres`ently,  were  quite         offer of grace pre-supposes that those to whom the offer is
correct in concentrating  al1 their effort  upon this one error       made are capable  of accepting it. Others are more bold, and
of denying man's utter death in sin.                                  wil1 openly  decl,are  that  al1 men  belang to this  class  of the
   And  indeed, just as in  th6 natura1 sense, so  also in the        spiritually hungry and  thirsiy,  or at least, that  thy have.
spiritual sense of the Word, hnger and thirst is possible            the capability to hunger and thirst if  only they will. The sad
only  where  there is life. The dead do not hunger ard thirst.       part of it is that`this is even don& in the name of the Reformed
In the physical sense of the word,  when  once a man has              faith, the faith that maintains the truth of man's total de-           1
breathed his last and his body is  placed  ili the coffin and         pravity. And  then either one of two things must be true.
laid away in  th'e  grave,  he knows the need for bread and           Either the teaching that the unregenerate is capable  of hung-
water no more. And so  also in the spiritual sense. To                ering and thirsting after  righteousness and life must utterly
hunger and thirst  after  righteousness implies, in the first         vitiate ~the doctrine of `total depravity, so that it is neglected

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

 and left unproclaii!led  and finally  is officially denied ; o? the    made  alive." In Ephesians 2 :l we read : "And  you hath he
 preaching of these two contradictory doctrines becomes a               quickehed,  who were  dead- in  tyespasses  and  sins:" And
 piece of teriibly absurd folly. Absurd because they are ob-            again, in Ephesians 2 :5 we rad : "God (vs. 4), even when
 viously contradictory, and terrible beca'use  he who so preaches       we were  dead in sins, hath quickened  US together with Christ,
 must needs become guilty of tantalizing  the totally depraved          (by grace ye are saved)  ." Now  place,  i f   y o u  will,  .the
 sinner  (who at the same time hungers and thirsts  for right-          Arminian doctrine over `against this direct testimony of
 eousness) with a  delicieus   meal of grace of which he  can           Holy  Writ: "The unregenerate man (the man  who is not
 nev&- partake. NO, in this respect 1 would far prefer to be a          yet  `qui&ened')  is not really nor utterly  dead in sin." NO
 consistent Arminian. For the, Arminian, though he is wrong,            more direct contradiction of the testimony of  Holy  Writ
 is at least consistently wrong. He at least maintains that a           could be imagined. And we cannot refrain from remarking
 man  who is really dead cannot hunger and thirst, and then             in this connection, as we have before, that it is  also  quite
 maintains that the natural, unregenerate man is not really             ohvious which! the Reformed or the Arminian, is the simple
 and utterly dead in sin, nor destitute of al1 powers  unto spirit-     and  lucid doctrine. How Arminians love to charge that the
 ual good.                                                              Reformed  doctrine is involved and beyond the pnderstand-
     But, of course, the Arminian, though consistent, is  zewong!       ing of the ordinary  child of God! But  how  totally beyond
 And his error is that he  denies that man is  dead in sin.             the comprehension of any mother's son is the doctrine that
 Notice that now 1 have left out the words "really" and "ut-            the unregenerate  man- is  dead  in sin, but is not really nor
 terly." And this omission serves to clarify the issue. We              utterly  dead in sin! Let the Arminian try to explain this
 say : the unregenerate man is  dead in sin. The Arminian               conundrum  in the light of Holy Scripture's language. To the
 really says : the unregenerate  man is not  dead in sin. We            simple question whether the natura1 man -is dead in sin the
say: the unregenerate man is destitute of  al1 powers unto              Reformed man gives a simple and unequivocl ,"Yes, that is
 spiritual good. The Arminian says : the unregenerate man is            the testimony of Scripture." But to that same. simple ques-
 not destitute of al1 powers unto spiritual good. For, after all,       tion  al1 Arminians and their ilk must  needs answer :  "Yes>
death is not something relative. A man is either  dead or  h           but . . .  ." And this, by the way, regardless now of the
 is not  dead.  When   h& is  dead, you do not have to add the          Arminian conception of the gospel that is taught by the First
 words "really" and  "utterly."  When  he is  merely   sick, you        Point of. 1924, is also one of the most serious -objections  to
 do not  cal1 him  dead: for then he is  stil1 alive.  When  he is      tlie teaching of the Second and Third Points. It vitiates the
 only dying, you do not cal1 him dead : for then too, though he         Reformed doctrine of total depravity. It makes  if impossible
 may be dying, he is stil1 alive. The folly of the Arminian doc-        to give an unqualified and unequivocal yes to the question
 trine is that its words are deprived of their  real  meaning. The      whether the  .unregenerate  is  dead in sin. The tendency of
 Arminian says that the natura1 man is dead in sin (because             the  Second and Third Points is Pelagian and Arminian.
 Scripture uses this language), and then he interprets this as          They too say that the unregenerate man is not really nor
 meaning : unregenerate man is not really dead, but only ap-            utterly  dead in sin, though they arrive at' this conclusion
 parently dead, only make-believe dead, that is, actually alive,        along another, and  probably  more devious, path.      <
 -- so alive that he can stil1 experience the pangs of spiritual                            .
 hunger and thirst  after righteousness and life.                          To the statement that the unregeneratemman  is nqt desti-
                                                                        tute of al1 powers unto spiritual good, the fathers also have a
     Now our fathers see through this camouflage of  thc                direct Scriptural answer. It is the answer of Genesis  6:5  :
 Remonstrants, and they perceive that for the Arminians                 "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
 words do not have their true meaning, and therefore they               earth, and that  every  imagination of the thoughts of his heart
 take the most direct and simple means of exposing the Ar-              was only evil continually."  It is the answer of Genesis 8 31 :
 minian  error. They might very wel1 have engaged in the ar-            ". . . . . for the imagination of man% heart is evil from his
 gument which we used above, and pointed out that death is              youth . . . ." Again, the truth is very simple. How is it pos-
 in its  very  nature an absolute idea, and that if one is not          sible in the light of such a Scriptural declaration to maintain
 really  dead,  .then he is  `alive.  And, in  fact, this thought is    that the unregenerate man is not destitute of al1 powers ,unto
 presupposed in the argument from Scripture which the                   spiritual good ?
 fathers use. But their argumerit as such is very simple, and
 for that reason very powerful. They employ the weapon of                  And finally, - because this matter is  indeed important
 the Word of God directly, without  any argumentation. "These           with respect to the very preaching of the gospel, - the fathers
 are contrary to the express testimony of Scripture." What is           point out the positive truth, namely,  that to hunger and thirst
 the  tes.timony of Scripture  ?  This :  "Ye were  dead through        after deliverance from misery, and  after life, and to offer
 trespasses and sins." Where  i,s that testimony found  ? It is         unto God the  sacrifice of a broken  spirit, is peculiar to the
 found in Ephesians 2 :l and .5,.and. found in a connection, by         regenerate. This is plain,  first of all, from Psalm 51:19, taken
 the way, which makes it plain bkyond a shadow, of a doubt              in connection with vrse 10 of the same psalm. J?or there the
 what Scripture means  by "dead in trespasses and sins." For            psalmist  confesses  that it is  only  when the Lord  creates in
 f'death" in this passage is the very opposite of "quickened,                                    (Continued on page 264)


                                 ,t           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   259
                    CHURCH OR SEC?                   '                 and were filled with indignation." The Pharisees are  also
                                                                       called a sect in Acts 15 :5 and again in Acts 26:s. The term
    When  1. was attending a  class in Sociology in Calvin             is applied to the Christians almost  with reproach  in Acts 24 :5,
 College, the professor there gave the following definition of         14,'  although-`in  the  latter  verse, it is again translated by
 a  sect :.  "Any group of people organized for a  religiqus           "heresy.`!  And again we find this word applied to the
 purpose which is separated  from another religious group  and         Christians by the Jews of Rome in Acts 28 :22 ; and here the
 which  tends to emphasize  almost  exclusively the doctrinal          Jews evidently considered Paul to be the leader of this sect,
 tenet  which caused the separation." The important part of            although they had no direct contact with the church, but had
 this definition is the last part of it : ". . . which tends almpst    received  reports only through hearsay.
 exclusively  to emphasize the doctrinal  tenet which caused the           Now, in connection with al1 these texts, it is rather  strik-
 separation?  At the  time  when this definition was given, it         ing that we find the term used whether it be translated as
 seemed  quite `obvious to me and to  0ther.s  that he had in          "sect"  o r  "heresy" only in connection with the established
 mind particularly the Protestant Reformed Churches,  who              church of the New Dispensation. Scripture leaves the very
 had, according to him, separated themselves from the Chris-           strong  impression that only  when there was an established
 tian Reformed Church, and  who had in their past history              church, in the New Testament  times  that there could  also
 emphasized  very  strongly  the-~errors  of "common  grace." The      be  sects. And this is undoubtedly true. It is only  when the
 more, according to this man, that we forgot about the issue           Spirit of Christ dwells in the church, and  when that Spirit
 of common  grace,  and turned our attention to other doctrinal        guides the church into the truth,. that it is possible also to
 elements, the more we lost the characteristics of a sect and          hav  sects.
 became like a church.                                                     As a matter of historica1 fact, since the time of the Ref-
    It  bas been said by others in  ou'r history, and probably         ormation, the Roman Catholic Church has taken the position.
 most often in the past, that we had, no right to cal1 ourselves-      that al1 Protestant churches are in reality sects. They had al-
by the name of. church, but rather we should be considered             ways maintained that- they were the only true church. And
 as .nothing more than a sect, a splinter group from the true          this position was not altered by the Reformation. It did not
 church of Christ. Now, this al1 has changed  in recent years.         take  much imagination to brand  al1 deviations from the
 Apart from the sad history of 1953, there were  very  few             Romish Church  mith the name "Sect." In order to  sub-
 reformed churches in the whole world who did not recognize            stantiate their -position, they have pointed to the fact that the
 the  fact that  .tie were one of this fellowship. This was            Protestant Reformation  has resulted in many denominations
 evident from the recognition.  we received,  and from the con-        of every  conceivable confession. The ones who have left the
 tact which our churches have had both with churches in the            fellowship of the mother  church have become hopelessly di:
 Netheriands and in this country.                                      vided and splintered so that they alone retain the confession
    Yet'this al1 gives some practica1 significante  to the ques-       "one holy catholic church." And such seems to be, at least out-
 tion of "Church Or Sect.?                                             wardly, the case. It appears as if the confession of the Ref-
                                                                       ormation churches, that they believe in one  holy catholic
    The word  "sect" is found in a  few  places in the New             church, is certainly out of harmony with the facts of church
 Testament. It comes from the Greek word "hairesis" which              existente.  And it  would appear that at the least this  con-
 means  literally; "an act of taking, choosing ;" or, "that which      fession is a  rather abstract doctrine which has no concrete
 is  chosen; one's chosen  opinion ;" or  "ene  who holds to such      meaning  in the everyday experience of the saints.
 an opinion." It is sometimes translated by the word "heresy"
 in our  Kng James  Version.  So it is in 11 Peter  2:1, "But             The question is therefore, What  is the true church ? And
                                                                                                                       >
 there were false prophets  also among the people, even as             in close connection with this, What is a Sect. In our answers
 there shall. be -false  teachers among you,  who privily shall        to these questions we  may.  also  wel1 ask, Is it possible to
 bring in damnable heresies, even  denying.  the Lord that             point to  any xisting church denominations and  cal1 them
 bought them, and bring upon themselves swift  destruction."           either denitely  a church or a sect?
 The  same `is true of 1 Corinthians  10:19: "For there must               It would seem that the definition which we give to the
 be  also heresies  among you, that they which are approved            church wil1 also determine the definition which we give to a
 may be made manifest among you." And in Galatians 5 20                Sect.  .This is the  significante   also of the use of  the word in
 this word is mentioned as being among the works of the                the New Testament. It was only  when the .church was
 flesh. Now it is possible that in some instances it would be          established by the Spirit of Jesus Christ on the day of Pente-
 better to translate the word as  "sect"  rather  than  "heresy."      tost and through the` instrumentality of the apostles, that
 But the- interesting fact which is brought out is that heresy         other religious groups could be called  sects. There was no
 and  sect ar closely related.  Our- King James  Version   also       such possibility of other religious groups in the Old  Dis-
 translates ,this same word "sect" in some instances. Thus, we         pensation. For the light of revelation shown only in the land -
 have in Acts 5 :17 : "Then the high priest rose up, and  al1          of the Jews. And although the church often apostatized, never-
 .they that were with  him, (which is the  sect of the Sadducees,)     theless, the true church could never  withdraw  from the

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

       apostate element; but had to stay in close ecclesiastical rela-       to an ever clearer grasp of the profound truths of salvation
       tion to it.        _                                                  by grace.
                                                                                 Now it is overagainst al1 this that we must define  a Sect.
              But because of this, we  may  dismiss  as nonsense the         A  sect is a group of people  who deviate from this line of
       definition advanced for a  sect by the department of Sociology        the truth of the' Confessions. Men arise  who refuse to be
       in Calvin College. Certain it is that if that definition is truc;     bound by what the Spirit has said to the church in the past.
       the whole Protestant Reformation  would have to be called a           They introduce into the church and into- the preaching their
       sectarian  movement,  and the  Romish Church is right  after          own word. They are not guided by the Spirit or by the
       all. Besides, it is the calling of the church, beyond a shadow        church of ages gone by. And these men always have their
       of doubt to emphasize the truth over against the lie. And if          follwers.  .Thus.  they gain adherents to heresies which are
       this takes concrete form in a church  controversy   where   a         contrary to the confessions of saints of ages past and there-
       particular. denomination or a part of it  departs from the            fore contrary to the Word of Christ. By this means,  divisions
       truth, thatby no means brands those who remain faithful as            are created in the church and a se~ctarian  spirit arises. The
       a  Sect.. It simply is necessary at  times in the history of the      church is splintered as an institution.  Al1 this'comes about
       church, and this has been the case from the very  beginning           because there are people bom in the line of believers  who are
      -of church history, for the church to emphasize the truth  over-       apostate seed and  who soon show disregard for the truth and
       against a particular lie. This happened in the important and- contempt for the Word of Christ. When they introduce the
       fundamental- trinitarian and Christological controversies  of         words of men and gain  fo,llowers,  when they refuse to be
       the first live centuries A.D.; this was the case at Dordrecht;        bound by confessions, sects are created who become groups
       this is'true of the church at any time during its history. And        of people organized to oppose the church of Jesus Christ.
       if .the church is preqccupied  at a certain time with exposing            These sects-are many and varied. Every  thought of man
       a certain heresy; so that it does not emphasize. in its teach-        goes under the cover of religious teachings. In the United
       ings and writings ther truths of Scripture, this does not            States, with its  principle  of  "freedom  of  worship," there is
       mean that this is true of  .the  whole life of the church, but        fertile soil for the development of  every  conceivable deviation
       only emphasizes  that the truth is one, and that to attack  one       from the truth. One need only pick LIP any book on sects- to
       part of it endangers  al1 of it. It was not true that in 1924         see that this is true. And in almost any part of the country
     - our church was given over exclusively to a study of "common           any passing acquaintance  wil1 reveal to you anotlier  Sect. And
       grace." Om theological school, our pulpits, our papers, our           yet we ought to notice,  that although these sects may be very
       societies were busy with the whole Word of God. But error             far from the truth, any ,deviation  from the confessional stand-'
       always lias the beneficial result for the chnrch that the saints      ards of the church is a  manifestatio'n   .of a sectarian spirit
       are led to a clearer understanding of God's Word. The truth           and an  attempt  to  create division in the church of Jesus
       is developed overagainst the lie ! - this is the grand theme          Christ. We  may certainly  cal1  al1 doctrinal aberrations  sea-
       of church history from the beginning of its existente.                tarian.
              The church of the New Dispensation is one. It is one               The question arises whether it is possible for  US to say
       throughout al1 the ages of time. Christ is present in that church     with surety that any denomination is a church, while any other
       by His Word and Hs Spirit. He dwells in that church in is a  Sect. Is. there a denomination on earth which  can be
       such a way that the Spirit leads the church into the truth of         called the church? Are there.other  denominations which can
       the Word of God. Christ is not here physically. He is in              be called sects 7 It seems to me that we can ,answer  `rYes" to
       heaven and we are on earth. But nevertheless Christ is the            both of these questions. There are pure manifestati-s in ~this
       constant companion of His people, His own elect  body. His            world of the body of Christ, churches that remain faithful
       Spirit  unites that church into  an organic  whole and  welds         to the confessions of the church of the past. It is undoubtedly
       it together by His Spirit. Their confession, their hope, their        true that even these denominations contain in  them the carnal
     battle,  their calling is  al1  fh  same.  They have a deep  unity     seed; for this seed is born in the generations of believers.
       in the truth. And  s the glorious truths of Christ's Word            And it is also true undoubtedly that 5 denomination is not
       are unfolded through  the Spirit, the church incorporates  that       altogether  doctrinally sound in  al1 its preaching by  al1 its
       truth into her confessions and hands them to the next  genera-        ministers in every  sermon. But- this is'not the question.  The
       tion so that they  can in turn  build  upon that foundation.          Spirit of Jesus Christ leads the church into the truth. This
     Those  who stand in the spiritual  line of the truth of the             truth is kept and preserved in confessions. The church that
       apostles and prophets as it has been developed by the church          adopts these confessions and keeps them as its  precieus
       in the past  may claim  a right to  the name "Church." And            heritage is also that which may be rightly called "Church."
       it is  wel1 to  en1phasiz.e  that fhat truth is clveloped only in    This Church seeks ever to be more faithful to Christ's Word
       connection with th preaching of the Word. For when and               as it  daily  searches  the Scriptures. This Church asks for
w      where  that Word is preached, Christ's voice is heard talking         the Spirit always-to  guide it tht it may build upon the body
       to His people, and His Spirit is in their hearts leading them         of truth which has been handed to it from the past. This


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                             _                 261
  -    -
  church is one with the church of al1 ages in confession and                In this essay it is our purpose to examine the validity of
  hope and calling  by the Spirit of Christ.                             that last assertion. Let it be said, before profeeding, that this
       In the same way there are undoubtedly denominations               is not a personal debate with brot.her Feenstra, nor was the
  who manifest that they are sects. They have completely                 original  article by undersigned aimed at the correction of a
  discarded the heritage of our fathers and`silenced  the voice          purely local situation. Our conviction is that there are more
  of Christ  with the shouts of men. They are certainly sects.           thruout our denomination addicted to the same view as that
  There are other denominations who have left the confessions            held by the brother mentined and only therefore did we  ex-
  principally and started on the road to denial of  them  alto-          press our thoughts on this matter before the reading. public
  gether. We must nevertheless say that in as  much as they              of  The  Standa:rd  Beww.
  stil1 retain the confessions. of the past, and in as much as`the           Now let.  US ask exactly what our Confessions do teach
  voice of Christ is stil1 heard in their fellowship they  can           regarding the true and false church. And then we find the
  certainly be called  "Church." But on the same basis,  in as           following plain teachings in the articles 27, 28 and 29 of the
 much as they have coirupted the confessions and caused d-              Belgic  Confession :
  vision by heresy in the church institution, they have revealed             1. Article 27 speaks of the church universal, according to
  a -sectarian  spirit and taken upon themselves the beginnings          her spiritual being, that is, the mystical body of Christ and
  of the characteristics of sects.'                                      therefore  as  such `is not the object of our sight but faith.
       Yet, let                                                          That body of Christ,  chosen  in Him from  al1 eternity, is
                    US  remember  that the church is one. The  unity
  of the church is not ultimately dependent upon external  unity,        gathered by the Son of God Himself from al1 nations thruout
  but is a unity by the Spirit which dwells in the body of Christ.       the history of the world. This church is conceived of as
  God knows the heart of men and recognizes His people wher-             visibl and invisible, designations, by the way, not of two
  ever they  may be. It is for                                           different  scopes but  aspects  of the church. The church  in-
                                       US to be faithful to the truth
o of  God's Word.  also as it is given to                                visible is that body of Christ from the point of view of her
                                                 US by the Spirit of
  Christ through our church fathers, and. to go on to develop            spiritual life : her union with and life .in Christ. The church
  it in purity on the basis of God's Word. Let                           visible is that same church from the aspect of her manifesta-
                                                         US seek the
  unity of the church by .keeping  it pure, not by compromising-         tion in the midst of the world in the-administration of the
  our heritage. 1 have no doubt but that our churches, by the.           Word and -the sacraments, her public gatherings in worship,
  grace of their covenant  God, do exactly this.                         her confession' and  walk. This church is one, universal
                                                           H. Hanko      (catholic) , holy and Christian as to her essence or organism.
                                                                         Her,  unity is in her Head, Christ. Tho  ,differences  exist of
                                                                         creed  and confession, language and nationality as wel1  as of
                       COhJTRIBUTION$                                    geographical location, she is one, feeds from the One Word,
                                                                         is guided'by one and the same Spirit. Eph. 4:4-6. Catholic,
                                                                         universal, is she both as to  time and  place,  so that she
                    IMPROPER DISCERNMENT                                 extends from the beginning to the end of this present time ;
       Such, we believe, explains the way of reasoning of those          and she is found among  al1 nations, tongues and climes.' And
  who hold that  al1 churches outside of our own are necessarily         her holiness (Eph. 1:l; 1 Pet. 2 :9) is due to her being one
  a manifestation and'segment  of the false church.                      with Christ and the mighty sanctifying work of the Spirit of
       Some  time ago we wrote on this matter (cf.  Standwd              Christ in her. And wher-and  whenever that church becomes
L'ea~,e~.~ Vol. 34, page 71) and, to briefly  recapitulate,  stated      manifest you have the institution of the church of Christ.
 .it as om- conviction that; altho the mystical body of Christ,             2. Article 28 speaks of our  duty to  join this church as
  THE church of al1 ages, the elect, is one, the manifestations          she  manifests  herself historically. That this admonition  re-
  of that Church thru different denominations vary as to purity          fers to .joining the church as institute is plain from the fact
 `and therefore we are able to nd must speak ofthe purest and           that it is impossible for. man to  join her as organism. That
 less pure manifestations of-the church in the midst of the              is the work of Christ thru His Spirit . . . and His exclusively.
  world.  From the  article referred to it is  also plain that in        But we become memberof  the institute and so strive t obey
  speaking of the true and false church we cannot identify               Christ's mandate  to manifest our oneness in Him. And this is
  those descriptions to one denomination on the one hand and             solemn  duty as  wel1 as spiritually requisite for  al1 the
 to al1 others on the ether..                                            believers. Apart from that institute there is no life, for life
       It now appears that brother K. Feenstra,  who  may  ex-           is thru the Word and Spirit of Christ, both of which H
 press the view of others thruout our denomination, does                 gave to the church.
 not agree with US. (Cf. Standard Beuver, Vol. 34, page 192,)               3.  Upon the foregoing article 29 naturally follows. If it
 Moreover, by implication, thru the quotation from Article.29            be so our solemn duty to join the institute of the true church
 of the Belgic  Confession, he maintains that our fathers held           and,  antithetically  to reject ali that is false, we must learn
  the same view he does.                                                 to distinguish clearly between the two. And those  aids  .


 2        6    2    ,                             T H E , S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

 whereby we  may distinguish, and  quite readily, the true from           church; that ever loomed before them  as a terrible ogre,  it is
 the false  .manifestations  of the church, are in this article           significant that the baptism by that church has been and stil1
  referred to as "marks  ". These marks are really one. We                is recognized, implying  that at least that sacrament is validly
  might,  perhaps, better speak of a three-fold mark because              administered. Be that as it may, with our fathers of that time
  really  al1  fa11 under one and  receive `their authority in the        the line of demarcation  fell between those churches' that in
  one norm: the Word of God. Surely, for a full and beautiful             varying degrees of purity manifested-the  true church on the
  explanation of that the content of the thirty-first Lord's Day          one hand-and the false, wholly corrupted gatlerings, called
  of the Heidelberg Catechism  can stand without further com-             churches  but actually  sects, on the other.
  ment. That Word tells what the preaching of the pure                        2.  This view .is further evident to be the right one from
  gospel is ; what `is meant by the keeping of the sacraments             quotations of Reformed  theologians since that  time. Briefly
 *according* to the institution f `Christ; what constitutes the          w e   q u o t e :
  proper exercise of `discipline.' Where these are lacking and
  usurped by their opposites you have, tho they may be called                 a. Calvin,  speaking  of the Roman  Catholics  under the
  church, nothing but sects, as our fathers spoke of them, or             Bope says : "Hence it appears that we by no means deny that _,
  a manifestation  .of the false church. Where these are present,         Churches   may. exist, even under his tyranny  ; but he has
  you have the .manifestation  f the true church.                        profaned them by sacrilegious impiety, .afflicted  them by crue1
          What is highly important now, is-to remember that there         despotism,  corrupted and almost  terminated their existente by
  are varying  degrees  of purity in the church  institute.  In           false and  pernicieus  doctrines, like poisonous potions  ; in  such
                                                                          Churches, Christ lies half ,buried,  the gospel is  suppressed.
  ether words `<truc" and "purity"  are not synonymous as to
  application in scope. We must remember tht a church be-                piety exterminated,  and the worship of God almost abolished ;
  comes false only by stages of a process. This does not in the           in a worcl, they are altogether in such a state of confusion,
                                                                          that they exhibit a picture of Babylon, rather than of the holy
  least minimize  the sinfulness of the first departure from the
  truth,.  however  insignificant it  may appear. And especially          city of God. To conclude, 1 affirm that  they are Churches,  "
  for                                                                     inasmuch as God has wonderfully preserved among them a
          LIS  upon  whom are the end of the ages, deformation is
  accentuated greatly. But in  any event becoming a false hurch          remnant of his people, though miserably dispersed and de-
  is a process. Gradually the Holy Spirit withdraws from the              jected, and as there stil1 remain  some marks of the Church,
  erring church, taking with Him al1 the benefits and blessings           especially these,  the efficacy of which neither the,craft of the
  of- the true chureh, so that in the end al1 the cardinal truths         devil nor.the  malice of men can everdestroy." Institut&  IV,
  are gone and in their stead are found al1 the marks of the              2, 314, 315.
 false church,  which-   means that  al1 that is left is a  sect or a         b. Dr. H. Bavinck in his Dogmatics Vol. IV, Ch. 9 pages-
  manifestation of the false church under the direction of anti-          299 and ,300 writes: (my translation, H.H.K.) "Although
  c h r i s t .                                       ,.                  there be some la& in the purity of doctrine or of the sacra-
          In  light  of the abo,ve we assert that  al1 erroneous views    ments, although the sanctity of life and faithfulness of the
  stem from improper  discernment. The point of departure'lies servants (officebearers ?) leave much to be desired, one may                       -
 herein  .that virtues of the truc church (organism) are applied          not  therefore.   immediately  leave the church . . . .  Al1 saw
 to the' church institute.  However, then to  join the church             themselves  forced  to  acknowledg  with Calvin, that in the
 institute would be forever impossible because institutionally            truc church much impurity.  in doctrine and life can appear,
 the church in this world is never perfect. Her purity is al-:            without this giving right to separation, and that often much
ways relative.  .And the conclusion is that we must  join the             good is found in separated churches. So the concept true and
 pureit  institute, according to the rle .of the Word of God.            false church underwent a significant change. On the one hand
                                                                          one had to admit, that a true church in the absolute sense is
      To show that  such has  always been the proper view of              impossible here upon earth ; there is not a single church that
 the matter, we shall let the  "fathers" speak as follows :               perfectly and in  al1 parts, in doctrine and life, in the  ad-
          1. In the evaluation- of the various churches  of their own     .ministration of:Word  and Sacraments,  answers to the demand
 time. In the articles referred to above it is plain that. they           of God. And on the other hand it became evident that also'
 distnguished between the true church (institutionally) and              a false church cannot exist in the absolute sense, because she
 sects. The  latter were certainly' so  many manifestations of            would then no longer  be a church ; though Rome was a false
 the false church, tho stil1  calling  themselves church. However .church  inasfar as  -she was  papal, there remained yet  many
 not  once is this verdict applied to other churches,  existent           remnants  of the true church. There was therefore differente
 also at that  time, as e.g.  fhe` Lutheran. Moreover, without            between true a&l pure church (Vera  and pura ecclesia) . True
 a doubt, our fathers of Dordt would' have refused  the hand              church.became  the name, not of one church with exclusion of
 of fellowship to representatives of the false church. Yet we             al1 others,  hut of  many sorts (velerlei) churches,  `that stil1
 find  them  synodically gathered with those of  many other               held to the cardinal truths of Christendom, the' fundamental
 churches  of that day. `And even tho the language in the articles        articles, but for the rest departed far from  each other in
 of faith  indicates  a  stro@ aversion to the Roman Catholic             grades of purity ; and false church became the name of the


                                                                                                                                       .


                                                                                                                       .
                                              T H E   STAN-DARD   B E A R E R                                                           263

 hierarchical  power of superstition and unbelief (bijgeloof en
                                                     .  --            their  midst  was due to the fact that we were expelled,  nat'
                                                                                                                                -
 ongeloof) which raised itself in local churches and ascribed         because they had become thru the adoption of the Three
 to itself and her o.rdinances more power~and authority than          Points, a false church, in which it certainly would have be-
 to the Word of God."                                                 come our  duty to leave. Incidentally, that must have  also
      -c. Finally, a few  excerpts from Gravmeijer are pertinent,    been the thrust of the note of the Editor of  Tlze  Sta.ndwd
 the more because of'his historica1 proximity to the fathers of       Bea.yer under the article of brother Feenstr. 1 know  and', .I am
 Dordrecht, having  written circa 1860. These excerpts (trans- _sure that  also  the editor, Rev. H. Hoeksema, knows that
 lation  mine,, H.H.K.) are from  bis  Gersforzseevde   Gelooft-      brother Feenstra is  very  wel1  read in  regard  to  al1 of our
 leef',  Vol. 3, ch. 19, and read: "That there should be an out-      history. Personally 1  know-that  he has  every  issue of  Tize
 ward affiliation that would exclusively and only be the true         Stap$a.rd   Bewer to date. He also reads them. And.so  1  .am
 church, is unthinkable." Upon the question to which church           sure he knew  very   wel1 that we did not LEAVE  the  Chris-
 we must  join ourselves he answers: "We cannot answer                tian Reformed Church,. but that we were expelled. Nor, if 1
 otherwise nor with more certainty than: that church of               may presume to exegete the note a bit, was the intention of
which the acknowledged confession  upon which she is                  its writer to correct merely  an error from the historica1 point
grounded,  conforms  most nearly to the Word of God . . .             of view. That is important, beyond any- doubt and we ,must
Each (Lutheran,  Reformed, etc., HHK.) has her own  ban-              never let- anyone say fhat  differently:  !B.ut 1 `se.in' this' rte
ner, that is, her confession, the expression characterizing her       a,  cqrrective  as to the main argument of brother Feenstra's
doctrine and life. The pure Scriptural  light  did not  pene-         article, .and that is this :' Had the Christian Reformed Church
trate everywhere on al1 points with equal clarity" . . . "NO          become a false church, we should surely have HAD to leave
Reformed  man, no true Protestant  expects, within this  dis-         and would stil1 be  there today, were it not for our expulsion.
pensation, a wholly .pure church formation."                          If 1 am wrong in this explanation, the editor can append a
                                                                      note to this article toe.
      Let it be understood that the above quoted views have                       `6..
been underwritten by US as Protestant Reformed  Churches.              / -. ' Therefore  it'  al1  comes down to this : a church institute
To that the teaching of the leadership among  US testifies.           may apostatize in respect to one or more of the "marks," may
With  this 1 -refer not only to privately expressed opinions          be an erring church and stil1 npt have as yet become  a false
and the genera1 tenor of the teaching at our school, but to the       church. This is plain from many-examples  in the Scriptures.
written word as, e.g., in Vol.. 27 of  Th  Stmdwd  Beafper,           How  the Galatians had defaulted! But Paul, thru the  in-
page 107, Rev. H. Hoeksema  has this very significant thing           spiration of the Holy Spirit, knows them as Church of Christ.
to say :  "The third item' to which 1 want to  cal1 attention         What  horrible sins in doctrine and  walk were prevalent in
in this connection is the letter of brother Van Spronsen in           Corinth . , . but  manifestation of the body of Christ  none-
the  same Concordia as above. He wants  US to adopt the               thel'ess.!  I :IIo% departing from the mandate of the Word in
wholly untenable position that, in a certain  place, there is         many respects,  in varied degrees, the churches mentioned in
but one true church;  and that by excluding anyone from that          Revelation !. Yet Christ Himself .attests to the fact that they
church you consign  him to hell. Hence, he argues, we must            are  manifestations  of His body, for  each is stil1 by Him
bind no one by  such a Declaration of  Principles  as we              named: Church. And if it be argued that at that time neither
propose. Now? it is not true that we believe in the Kuyperian         Paul nor even Christ could  very  wel1 advise to leave them
conception `of the pluriformity of the church, as the brother         (assumed  false churches) because there was no other church
supposes. But neither do we accept the absolute distinction           at the time, our answer is that Christ is certainly not bound
between true and false church which he wants US to adopt.             to circumstances like that and would have CAUSED another
That would be impossible even from a geographical view-               church  .: . .  .' but  fact.is  .H DID NOT.
point. But we do confess that as Protestant Reformed                     Finally a few  questions :
Churches we are the purest nianifestation of the body of                ' 1. .What,  With a view .to al1 this, is- our calling  ?` Takng
Christ. Nor. do we  exclude  anyone  from the  kingdom,  .of          the teaching of our confessions to heart, first of all, to  join
heaven when he does not agree with the truth as we confess            that church.which  is the purest manifestation of the body of
i t . "                                                               Christ, which proclaims the trut11  in the purest form. And
     Let  US  remember,  too, that this view is the testimony of      let none say that this is nat important, that it is nly a degree
our history. In 1924 the Christian  Reformed Churches  at-            of differente  anyway. We have said before and- say it again
tested to the fact .that we were fundamentally  reformed  and         here, to  depart   from the truth in-  any degree is  ha sin  that
advised that the question of common grace be taken in serious         wil1 surely be sought out and visited by punishment, unless
study and. so, were it not for the  action of their synod of          repented of; and that this punishment is the gradual with-
1926 in upholding church politically unauthorjzed actions of          drawal  of the Spirit nd'it is not long before such departure
two of their Classes, we could have remained in that  denomi-         ends in  false  church or,  really.. NO church. That is the
nation and doing so would have admitted that it was still. a          reason that those'still remaining within the pal of apostatiz-
manifstatin of the.true  church. That we did not remain  in         ingChr.rches,`all  testimony notwithstanding,  commit sin. How


                                                - -.._ -_-        --.                                   _~.___.~_
2 6 4                                             THE-S"TNDAR-0.   B E A R E R  
                                                                                                                  .'       . .

great then the sin of those that  were   once free from those                                   CONTENDIilG   F O R   T H E   F A I T H
errors,  who once walked in the fellowship -of the purer  mani-                                          (Continued from page 258)'
festatio.n,  now-return `willingly, either doctrinally already,  or
actually denominationally in the near future if  tendencie3                       tendoin. With an enlightenment above.h&  age, he gave tolera-
                                                                                                                                                    .
m a t e r i  l i z e   !                                                         tion to  Jew and Mohammedan.
    2. What the calling is of others ? Naturally, to leave the                          In his conflict with the pope, he was governed, not by
churches that have  defected  and  join the purest. That is                       animosity to the spiritual power,. but by tlie determination to
calling with a view to themselves and to their children. That                     keep it within its own rcalm,  In genuine ideal opposition to
is so plain, it needs no further explanation.                                     the hierarchy he went further than any of his predecessors.
                                                                                  Dollinger pronounced  liim the greatest  and most dangerous
    3. What of the future ? As to our attitude : let US walk  in                  foe the papacy ever had.  Gregory and Innocent IV called
al1 humble gratitude. That  means,' let  US refrain from  al1                     him "thee great dragon" and declared he  deserved  the  fate
judging. That is in good hands, let's leave it there. God is                      of Absalom. Atid yet he &d not resoi-t to his grandfather's
righteous. Here let it be said that even to these that are op-                    measures  and set  LIP  an anti-pope. Perhaps he refrained
posed to what we here  write and maintain, disclaim  that they                    from so cloing in sheer disdain...
judge individuals and even grant that. there are peple of                                                                                                H.V.
God in other ,denominations,  logically, inevitably ther view- ::.
point M.UST  lead to judging of people. Let                                       -.
                                                              US explain that.
If a  church  is false, it  means it no lnger has the gospel,                                           THE DAY OF SHADOWS
Christ is not its Head, His Spirit no longer  operates benefi-
cently there. Yet how then could elect  in such a church ver                                            (Continued  from page 250)
be fed ? Surely spiritual life does not thrive, cannot exist on                   God through the  risen Christ and with one another. And
the lie. It must have the truth,  ,even if it be presented in                     they are  &  longer  offended because  ,of Him but in His
well-nigh  starvation rations. But then  the. Spirit is there!                    cross' alone they now glory.
And then Christ is present . .  .' and you stil1 have a mani-                           They-  are called the "little  ones" and with reason. The
festation  of the true church tho in crumbling and speedily                       pride of their hearts has been thawed  out by His  grace.
deteriorating form. Let's hold to that and so testify unitedly                    In Christ's God alone, threfore, do they put .all their con-
and we have a sure future, let  come what  may thru God's                         fidence and from Him alone do they expect al1 their salva-
providence. With this 1 conclude and  deern objections  an-                       tion.
s w e r e d .                                                                           But  also this prophecy  wil1 not be finally fulfilled  until
                                           .                                                                                      .
                                                                H. H. Kuiper      the church appears with Christ in glory.
                                                                                                                                                         G.M.O.


                                                                                                          IN MEMORIAM  _
                        THE VOICE OF &JR FATHERS                                        The  Consistory of- the  First Protestant Reformed Church of  Red-
             .-                                                                   landt, California, hereby expresses its heartfelt  sympathy with  om-
      ..'          i      (Continued  from  page 256)                             brother consistoj member, Deacon H. Sawyer, in. the  loss of his
                                                                                  father-in-law,
him a clean heart, and renews in him a right spirit, that he                                               J A K E   M E R K U S
can offer the pleasing  sacrice of  .a  broken spirit:  "Then                   who  passed away  February  1.  May  our God  abundantly comfort the
shalt thou be pleased with  -the  sacrifices   ,of righteousness,                 bereaved by His Word  and Spirit,  and `strengthen them in the hope
with burnt off ering and whole burnt off e&g : then shall they                    of the  saints.                          The Consistory. .
offer bullocks upon thine altar." And this is proved, in the                                                               President, Rev. H. H. Kuiper
second  place,  .from Matthew 5  :6. For there the Lord calls                                                              Clerk, A. Karsemeyer.
these that hunger and thirst after righteousness blessed, that
is, saved. For- when a man hungers and thirsts after  right-                                                  IN MEMORIAM
eousness, he is blessed already.  It. is only the saved already,                        The  iadies' Aid Society of the  First Protestant Reformed Church
that is, the regenerated,  vho are able to hunger and  thiist                    of  Redlancls,  Califomia, hereby  wishes  to express  its sincere sympathy
                                                                                  to two of its members, Mrs. Jake  Merkus, in the loss of her husband,
after Tighteousness.  That is the blessed gospel. Do you hunger                   and  to Mrs. Harvey  Sawyer, in the loss of `her  father,
and thirst  after righteousness ? -0, to be sure, then the prom-                                              JAKE MERKUS
ise is that  you  shall be satisfied, -in the future.  IB.ut  don't                     May the God of  al1  grace comfort  and  sustain  the bereaved in
you understand  ?  Then  the truth is that God has  already                       their sorrow. .
wrought  in you the new life ! You are blessed ! By  grace.                                                             In the name of the Society,
only ! Sovereign grce !                                                                                                   Rev. H. H.  Kviper, President
                                                                      H.C.H.                                               Mrs. Shirley Feenstra, Vice  Ali.


