       VOLU&IE         XxxIv                            JUNE   1, 1958  -  GPIAND  ~SAPIDS,.MICHIGAN                                   NUMBER   17  -

                                                                                      of grace'and supplications, but in Revelation the people see
`!           MEDITA~TlOhi                                                  ] // Him whom they pierced and mourn for Him, and are un-
                                                                                 :    speakably miserable ; they are lost.

      PENTECOSTAL   -BLESSINGS IN PROSPECT
                                   .. .                                                   This is what we wil1 do. We wil1 treat this  iext, and in
                    . "Ad  I  will  peur  upon.the   house of David, and  upon        the eirplanation  of the text, the apparent conflict wil1 vanish.
              the inhabitants  of  Jebualem,   the Spirit  of  grace ad  of
              supplications: ad they  slla12  look upon Me whoni they                     Let'  US  first look at the downpour of grace and of sup-
              have  pierced, and they shall mourn  for  Him, as one                   plicatioti.        _'
               mourneth  for  bis only  sen, and shall  be in  bitterness
              fop Him,  as ene that  is  in  bitterness for  his frstborn.".             On whom is this downpour ?
                                                                 ZECH.  12:lO             And the text says : On the house of David and upon the
                                                                                      inhabitants of Jerusalem.
      Readihg  this text for the first  time, and  superfici&ly,  it  r
`does not sound like Pentecostal Blessings in Prospect.-                                  What. does this  mean   ?
      We  read of supplictions and of mourning and  bittq-ness,                          Here we have  again  the  characterization   cif God's elect
while in Acts 2 we find an entirely different picture. There                          people. You find that  often in God's Word. They are men-
is gladness and joy. Here is bitterness and mourning.                                 tioned throtighout  the Bible and with many different naGes.
      However, we stil1 think that we have here a prophecy                            But  the import is ever the same.  Sometimes God simply
of Pen+tost.  This Scripture is akin.to Joel 2, where  w read                        addresses  His elect people by the name  .Jacob,  or church,
also of the pouring  out of the  Holy Spirit.                                         or My people. Sometimes they are called by a name which
                                                                                      reveals thei- inmost heart  and soul, such as the texts where
      Moreover,  there is another difficulty with this Scripture.                     we  read : the hungry, the thirsty, the meek, the pure in heart,
      It is t'qis : In this text the objects  of this Spirit that shall               the  misefable,  the needy, the weary and heavy laden, the
be poured  upon  `theni  .are  blessed.  There  can be no  dotibt                     believing  ones, the willing, the mourning, the humble, and
about that. @ut it is said of them that they pierced the God                          a host more.
of their -slvation.  And. John, standing near the cross of the                           In  this  Scripture  they are those  who are characterized
dead Christ, looks at the blood and water flowing from the                            by David and by Jerusalem.
side of Jesus, &nd says: "And again another Scripture saith,
They shall look on  Him  whom~ they pierced." And John                                    D a v i d !
there has in mind the wicked. Again, in Revelation 1 :7 we                                Perhaps the most beautiful name you  can choose for your
read:   "Behold,  He c&neth with  clouds; and  every  eye shall                       son. It  means  th& beloved.
see Him, and they also which pierced Him: &d al1 kindreds
-of the earth shall  wail because of Him, Even so, Amen."                                 David ! It &o means "the man afte?  God's heart" !
Therefore, in this  latter case it is. again the wicked world                             The  objects  of the Pentecostal blessings in prospect are
thtit not only shall look upon the same God in Christ whom the men and  women and children  that are the beloved of
they pierced, but they shall also wail because of Him, even                           God, and those happy beings  who ai-e after God's heart.
as we  read  in"Zechariah  10 :12.                                                       -In this connection we ask: what made David a man after
      What must we think of this ?                                                    ,His own heart  ? And the answer is easy  : because there is
      In Zechariah the people that see the  .God  whom they not a man  livin,m who revealed himself as humble  as David.
pierced are saved and blessed,  for they  receiye  the  .Spirit                       I$specially  when you must remember the times  in which he

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

lived,  the power which a king possessed  i&is  times. Yet,            It is the beauty of God, the beauty of His attitude  to the
see how he humbled himself. Read his psalms, and note how              things  He made, the beauty of God by which He makes the
`he bares  his heart. See how he reveals al1 his sins in public,       sinner  beautiful, and the beauties of His blessings He
and  trawls in the dust before God.  How  many of  you  wil1           bestows on US.
compose a Psalm, setting forth your sin and your corrupticm,               In  this text 1 am inclined to believe that it is the beauty
confessing before God and before the sun that you are w&-thy           of God as a power by which He makes  the elect  beautiful.
of  hel1 and damnation, and crying for  mercy  ?  How  many
of you, after composing such a dirge would go to the directer          That is plain, for it is followed by supplications. Now, there
                                                                       is nothing so beautiful as a man,  woman, or  child  that
of public singing in G&l's  House, and say to him : Here is            supplicates the living God. Have  ,you not  read  thai there
my 51st  Psalm,  and here is the superscription :  "To the
chief  musician. A Psalm of David, when Nathan  the prophet            shall  be joy with the angels of God in heaven over one sinner
came unto him,  after he had gone in to  Bathsheba."                   that repents?  When  you lie on your knees and know not
                                                                       how to say one word to God, bec&se of your shame and dis-
    Here was a  juicy  bit of scandal which the gossips iin            honor, and when you cry hot tears to God, you are beautiful
Jerusalem could feast on!                                              in the eyes of both God, Christ and the heavenly angels.
    But the king had to meet the faces of al1 God's~people  in             That is supplication.' Supplication is the same thing as
his shame.                                                             prayer, only more so. Supplication is intensive prayer.
                                                                       Prayer is like a murmuring brook. Supplication  .is like a
    And he did.                                                        mountain  Stream,  rushing,  irresistible.
    They are the people in  my text.                                                             *  *  *  "m
    And  also  the inhabitants of Jerusalem.                               And when the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ gives you this
    The meaning is  clear.  They are those that are  char-             grace and its subsequent supplications, your eyesight of faith
acterized by theepeace of God. For Jerusalem means literally :         is keen and  sharp.
The City of Peace. It is the  place  wheye  God touches the                For then you wil1 see the God whom you pierced.
earth. If you are inclined to be poetic you might  say.:                   God pierced is Jesus on th"e cross.
Jerusalep  is the place where  God kissed  the earth, and you
`.would be right.                                                          And the piercing of God is our sin. Al1 sin is the pierc-
                                                                       ing of God.
    But, in order to be able to kiss the earth, God must be
pierced.                                                                   And the differente  between the sight of the pierced God
                                                                       in Zechariah and in John 19 :37 is- this : the former see that
 .' But, at  any  rate, now you know  who are meant in my              they have sinned  against God with a heart that loves Him,
text. The house of David are the people  after  God's own              and so they weep and  mourn  and are in bitterness. The
heart  who are characterized by sweet  .humility,  and  the            latter see  ,this piercing of God too late,  &d with a hard,
inhabitants of Jerusalem are the people who have the peace             wicked heart, and their mourning and bitterness is because
of God in their heart.                                                 of selfishness. They simply fear retribution, they simply fear
                           *  * :k  *                                  hell.
    Al1 that is fulfilled at Pentecost.                                    You see, my dear. reader, you and 1 and al1 God's people
                                                                       are privileged to have our Judgment `Day early, and the
    First unto the  elect  out of the Jews. And later  also on         .others have  theirs late,  very late. Yes, too late.
the  elect   out of al1 nations and tribes.                                Our Judgment Day is twofold.
    Attend to this : "And they of the circumcision which
believed were astonished, as  many as  came with Peter,  be-               First, and foremost, our  Judgment  Day is the Crucified
cause  that on the Gentiles  also was poured  out the  Holy            Jesus.  When  He bows the head in death, the Judgment is
Ghost."                                                                passed.  Al1 our sins are forgiven and we are  justified. We
                                                                       must  needs go to heaven. Before our  -very eyes God is
    And by the same token  the Gentiles that believed are of           pierced, and the  Holy Spirit  who interprets the Word  `bas
the House of David  and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.               taught US in that the dying Jesus, is the satisfaction of God's
    And they  al1  received  the Spirit of  grace  and. of  suppli-    justice for us.
cations. Grace and supplications are related as  cause  anld               Second,  our Judgment Day is  every  day.  Every day
effect. That is  rather  Qain.   Grace is the  grace of God, and       we lie before His face prostrate. Even though we know that
the  grace of God is the beauty of God.  After  studying for           God loved US from al1 eternity ; even though we know that
many years the concept of grace in the Bible, 1 have come              Jesus has satisfied the justice and righteousness of God com-
to the conclusion that the best definition of grace is beaut,y.        pletely  ; even though we know that the Lord wil1 never visit


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B~EARER                                                                                                                           .387

our sins against US : we know,and  experience that sin is verf
real.                                                                                           THE  STA.NDARD   B E A R E R
                                                                              Semi-monthly,   exeept   monthly dwing  June, July  and  August
   -.And, we hate `it !                                                        Published   by the  REFORMED  FREE  PUBLISHING  ASSOCIATION
    And, we mourn for it, and are in bitterness.                (             P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
                                                                                                       Editor   -  REv.  HERMAN   HOEKSE~IA
    We love God and Christ so much that we hate to pierce                     Commutications  relative  to  contents  should be addressed to
Him.                                                                                         Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
                                                                                                                   Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
    Attend to this, beloved, and tremble.                                     Al1 matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
                                                                              G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand  Rapids  7,  Mich.
    Even after we have understood the Gospel, even after  we                  Announcements  and  Obituaries  must be mailed  to  the above
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Therefore a Chri.stian when he bies is full of days, is satiated                                        Subscription  price: $5.00 per year
with days. Therefore the day when a Christian dies is better                  Entered as Second  Class matter at  Grand   Rapi&   LMicAigan
than  when he is born. Therefore there is a longing, a                                                                                                                                                  E
yearning to be with Christ.                                                                                             CONTENTS,
    Therefore we hear the cry of the Christian: 0 wretched
                                                      ._      -_-..        MEDITATION  -
man that I  am! Therefore the publican  cried  :  `0  tiod! be                     Pentecostal BBessings in Prospect..  ..__.   __,  .,.___.  __..._..__.   ._.. . ..385
merciful to me, the sinner !                                                                Rev. G. Vos
    It  al1  comes from the  Holy Ghost of Christ. It  al1 is              EDITORIALS  -
                                                                                   The Declaration of Principles..  __ _.__ . . _.. ._. _. .._ __ . . .._. __ . . ..388
Gecause  you are made beautiful, humble, lowly minded, and                                  Rev. H.  Hoeksema
fu!l of supplications al1 the days of your life.                           OTJR   DOCTBINE  -
    There are days, or hours, or minutes that we see the                           The Book of Revelation __..........__.____. . . . ..__._.......___.................. 390
whole picture.                                                                              Rev. H.  Hoeksema
    And in  such days, hours,  minutes,  we begin to  smile                THE  DAY OF  SHADOWS   -
through our tears, and begin to understand  some  very                             The Prophecy of Zechariah ____ .___ __ _, .__ .___... .._____  _... . . . . ..392
                                                                                            Rev. G. M. Ophoff
mysterious words of Paul.                                                  IN,.H.Is   FEAR  -
    They are these: "As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing."                           Freedom From Fear (5) .  .._..______._..........................................  395
                                                                                            Rev. J. A. Heys
    The end of the  Pentecostal  Blessings is peace. Peace
with God. Amen.                                                            CONTENDING  FOP. THE FAITH -
                                                                                   The Church  and the Sacraments   _.._..............__........................  397
                                                                G. Vos                      Rev. H.  Veldman

                                                                           THE  VQICE  OF  OUR  FATI-IER~  -
                                                                                   The Canons of Dordrecht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399
                                                                                            Rev. H. C.  Hoeksema

                       WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                 DECZENCY  AND ORDER -
                                                                                   Voting Rights __.  ._ . . . . . . __. _.. . ..____. ..___  . . . . . . . . . . . .._._ 401
    On June 8,  1958, the Lord  wieling,  our  dear  pare&                                  Rev. G.  Vanden Berg

              REV. AND MRS. MARINUS SCHIPPER,                              ALL  hOUND  US  -
                                                                                   United Theological Education in Northern Nigeria? . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
hope  to  commemorate  their 25th wedding  anniversary.  We are  thank-            A  Question   About Dramatics  ..__.______...______.............................  404
ful  to our God  Who has given them  to  US, and that He  may continue                      Rev. M. Schipper
to bless them as  tic has done in the past is the prayer of their
grateful  children.                                                        FEATUHE  ARTICLE -
                                                                                   Revelation .                                                             ._                                               .405
                                Mr. and Mrs. James Marvin Schipper                          Rev. H. Hanko
                                Paul Warren Schipper
                                Kenneth John Schipper                      CONTRIEXJTIONS  -
                                                                                   To My Surprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .___......____...................... 408
                                Lois Carolyn Schipper                                        Cecil Van Der Molen.
    Though no  invitations  have been extended by mail, open house                 Regarding Article on Improper Discemment __........  . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
will be held June 11 from 2 p. m. to 5 p. m. and  also from 7 p.m.                          K. Feenstra
to 9 p.m.                                        i


388                                         T H E   STl$iJDARD..BEARER

                                                                       efficacy of the most precieus  death of his Son should extend
           E D I T O R I A L S                                         to  al1 the elect, for bestowing  upon them alone the gift of
                                                                       justifying faith, thereby to bring them infallibly unto salva-
                                                                       tion: that is, it was the wil1 of God, that Christ by the blood
             The Declaration of Principles                             of the cross, whereby he confirmed the new  covenant,  should
    It is alleged sometimes that the article of the Canons to          effectually redeem  out of  every  people, tribe,  nation, and
which we last referred, i.e.  11, A, 5, contra.dicts the first         language,  al1 those, and those only, who were from eternity
article of the Declaration of P-rinciples. The  latter  empha.-        chosen  unto salvation, and were given to him by the Father;
sizes that the  `promise of God is not  a conditional offer to         that he should confer upon them faith, which together with
all, hut an oath of God that He wil1 infallibly lead al1 the elect     al1 the other  saving. gifts of the  Holy Spirit, he purchased
unto salvation and eternal glory through faith.  But art.  5           for them by his death, should purge them from al1 sin, both
of the second chapter of the Canons teaches that the promise           original  and  actual,  whether committed before or  after  be-
of the gospel must be proclaimed to al1 nations and persons            lieving;  and  having  faithfully preserved them even to the
without distinction. And this makes the proclamation of the            end,  should at last bring them free from  every  spot and
gospel-promise  quite  general,  In  fact, the Synod of  the           blemish to the enjoyment of glory in his own presence for-
Christian Reformed Church, 1924, discovered in this article            ever."
a proof for the theory of common grace.                                    Read this article in the light of article 5 mentioned above,
    Yet, this is quite erroneous.                                      and determine for yourself whether in the latter, which, be-
                                                                       sides is  clear  in itself, the  promise of God is presented as
    The article  makes  a distinction between the  promise  of         genera1 or particular. Here the entire promise of God from
the gospel and its proclamation.                                       beginning to the end is presented as the work of God alone
    The former is particular, the  latter  general.                    aud as realizecl only to the elect. It is absolutely sovereign,
                                                                       particular, and unconditional. It is certainly not confession-
    For, according to the article, the promise  of the gospel is       ally Reformed to preach: "God promises every  one of you
"that whosoever believeth in Christ crucified, shall not perish,       that, if you believe, you shall be saved."  God certainly wil1
but have everlasting life." This  certainly is neither -general        have this particular  promise proclaimed to  every  one that
nor conditional, unless you ascribe to al1 men the power of            hears the gospel but He `does not  promise to al1 and every
faith.  This-the Canons  deny as we shall see presently.               one salvation. Nor is it confessionally Reformed to preach
    But, according to the same article, the proclamation of            that "our act of conversion is a prerequisite to enter into
this  promise of the gospel "ought to be declared and  pub-            the  kingdom  of heaven."
lished to  al1 nations, and to  al1  persons   promiscuously  and.        Al1 these heresies are maintained by those that left the
without distinction, to whom God out of his good pleasure              Protestant Reformed Churches.
sends the gospel."
                                                                          N
   It is,  therefore,  evident  that  the Canons  teach   a genera1         O wonder that they ah-eady  suggested that they might
                                                                       sign the "Three Points" of 1924 if they were only explained
proclamation of  a particular  promise.  And this is exactly           to them by the Christian Reformed Synod!
what is taught in the Declaration of Principles.
                                                                          With respect to article 9 we need not go into detail.
    Moreover, this is exactly what is taught in the  rest of           Throughout, however,  it emphasizes that the promise is only
this chapter of the Canons. For after, in art. 6, this chapter         for the eled.  This is true especially in the last part where  it
has emphasized that unbelief on the part of those that are             is taught that Christ shed His blood, not for all, but only for
not saved is not to be attributed to  any defect in the sacri-         the elect: "who  as a bridegroom for his bride, laid down his
fice of Christ but "is wholly to be imputed to themselves,"            life for them (i.e. for the elect, according to the entire arti-
they emphasize that "as  many as are truly delivered and               cie, H.H.`)  upon the cross." It is evident that, if the blood
saved from sin and destruction through the death of Christ,            of Christ was once for al1 shed for the elect only, the promise
are indebted for this benefit  solely to the grace of God, given       of God which is the centra1 and objective  realization of that
them in Christ  from everlasting, and not to  any  merit of            promise  cannot be genera1 but -must be particular.
their own." This means,  of course, that although the procla-
mation of the gospel is  general,  God realizes  His-  promise            We do not have  to  discuss  in detail the rejection of
only by His own sovereign grace in whomsoever He wills,                errors under this second head of doctrine since these do not
and, therefore, the promise itself is particular.                      refer directly to the subject we are discussing, that is, the
                                                                       prticular and  unonditional   promise of God. The first  arti-
   And that this is true is expressed stil1 more clearly and           cie of these rejections mentions and  condemns  the error of
definitely in article 7 of the same chapter. For thre we  read  :     the Arminians that the death of Christ did not as  such
   "For this was the sovereign counsel, and most gracieus              redeem anyone and might have redeemed all. The second
wil1 of God the  Father,  that the quickening and saving               article speaks of  the `error that by  the death of Christ the


                                            THE  STAND.ARD  B E A R E R                                                                389

new covenant was not confirmed but merely  the right was               elect alone. God, on His part, thus prof. L.  Berkhof,  is filled
merited that  the  Father  might establish  any covenant with          with tender mercy and love to save al1 the ungodly. And this
man He chose. The third article condemns the error of the              is exactly what is condemned in the article of the Canons
Arminians according to which the death of Christ  merely               quoted above.
merited for the  Father  the right  to prescribe to man new               This is condemned, foo, in the Declaration of Principles
conditions, the fulfillment  of which depends on the free wil1         which those  that departed  from  US rejected because they
of man. The fourth article condemns the error of the Armin-            preferred to  teach  that God promises to  every  sinner that,
ians according to which we re not saved by faith as  it               if they wil1 believe, they shall be saved; and that our act of
accepts  the merits of Christ, but by faith as it is obedience         conversion is a prerequisite to enter into the  kingdom  of
to the  law. The fifth condemns the error that no one is               heaven.
condemned  any more because of original sin, because  al1 men
have been received  into a state of reconciliation.                       The last article of this part of the Canons  may sound
                                                                       strange but is  meant  to be  a denial of  election.  We  wil1
    The sixth article,  however,  is  ,more interesting and  re-       quote it here:
lated to  om- subject. For this reason we  wil1 quote it here:             "Who teach  : that Christ neither could die, needed to die,
    "Who use the  differente  between  meriting and  appro-            nor did die for those whom God loved in the highest degree
priating, to the end that they  may instill into the  minds of         and elected to  eternal  life, and did not die for these, since
the imprudent and inexperienced this teaching that God, as             these did not need the death of Christ. For they contradict
far as he is concerned, has been minded to apply to  al1               the Apostle who declares : `Christ loved me, and gave him-
equally the benefits gained by the death of Christ ; but that,         self for me,' Gal. 2  :20. Likewise:  `Who shall  lay anything
while  some obtain  the pardon of sin and eternal life,  and           to  the charge of  God's  elect?  It is God that justifieth;  who
others do not, this differente  depends on their own free will,        is he that condemneth  ? It is Christ Jesus that  died,'  .Rom.
which joins itself to the grace that is offered without excep-         8  ~33, 34, viz. for them  ; and the Savior  who says : `1  lay
tion, and that it is not dependent on the special gift of mercy,       down my life for the sheep,' John  lU:15.  And: `This is my
which powerfully  works  in them, that they  rather than others        commandment, that ye love one another, even as 1 have
should appropriate unto themselves this  grace.   `For these,          loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man
while they feign that they present this distinction in a sound         lay down his life for his friends,' John 15 :12, 13."
sense,  seek to instill into  the people the  destructive poison
of the Pelagian errors."                                                 It is evident that the Arminians here by stating that Christ
                                                                       did not have. to die and did not die for those whom God loved
   Here, too, the basic  error is, of course, that Christ died         did not mean to say that there are such men whom God loved
for  al1 men and not for the  elect only. On this basis it  is apart from the death of Christ, but simply meant to  deny
possible to teach  that God, on His part, is willing  "to apply` the truth of' election.  Christ, they meant to say, did not die
to al1 equally the benefits gained  by the death of Christ." On        for the elect alone, hut for al1 men without distinction. And
this basis, too, one may speak of a genera1 offer of grace 70          the fathers of Dordt contradict this by several texts from
al1 without exception.  But, of course, if this is  accepted   as;     Scripture which plainly  teach the love of God in Christ is
the truth, one is in need of conditions which man must fulfill         first and that the death of our Lord is. exactly rooted in
in order actually to  receive  the  grace that is offered. The         that love.
free wil1 of man must join itself to the grace that is offered             And that love of God in Christ, manifested  in His death,
t o   a l l .
        .:                                                             is for the elect only.
    This error is  also implied in the first of the "Three                                                                            H.H.
Points" of 1924. This is evident from the interpretation of
that first  .point by the late professor L.  Berkhof.  In his                             TViDDING ANNIVERSARY
pamphlet  on the "Three Points"  he plainly  teaches,  in his             On June 6, 1958, our  dear  pvents
explanation of the text in Ezekiel, wel1 known to US, he em-
phatically declares that God desires the salvation of al1 sin-                       MR. AND MRS. HENRY MEULENBERG
ners and not ,only of the elect : "mark you well, that he does         wil1 commemorate  their 35th wedding  anniversary. We give tha&s
                                                                       to our covenant God for all the blessings  He has bestowed upon
not say : `of the elect simier,'  hut entirely in genera1 : `of the    them and US; and our prayer is that if it be His good pleasure, they
sinner' and the tender calling  which we hear in this witness          may be graciously spared for one another and for US, for many  years
                                                                       to  come.
of His great love of sinners and of His  desire to save the                               Their grateful children,
ungodly,"  p. 21. Again, in his interpretation of Ezekiel 33  :ll,                                    Mr. and Mrs. Henry P. Meulenberg
the  same author  writes: "are not these words of tender                                              Mr. and Mrs. Gerrit Bol
                                                                                                      Mr. and Mrs. David Meulenberg
mercy,  in which a Father  implores His departing children to                                         Mr. and Mrs. Ronald Meulenberg
return to the house and the heart of Father  ?" p. 22. Mark                                           Mr. and Mrs. John Bos
you well, al1 this is written of al1 the ungodly and not of the                                       Daniel and Judith Meulenberg
                                                                                                      12 grandchildren


  390                                         T H E   STANDAR~Q   B,EARE~R

                                                                      angels. It is true, of course, as we know, that sin did not
            O U R   D O C T R I N E                              ll have its origin in -the world of man, but in that of the angels.
                                                                      Satan, the prince of the devils, was the first one to fa11 away
                                                                      from and to rebel against his God. Nevertheless, that  fa11
             THE  BOOK.  OF REVELATION                                and rebellion of the devil afiected  only part of the world of
                                                                      angels, and the rest remained perfect and upright.  Never-
                          CHAPTER  111                                theless, it cannot be denied that the angels are deeply,  in-
                                                                      terested in the redemption `of God's people and of the entire
         The Song of the  Redeemed and of the Angels                  universe. In the first place, this is true because in their state
                                                                      of perfection they must have a far clearer view and deeper
                       Revelation 7 :lO-12                            insight into the meaning of al1 that  happens in the present
                                                                      world  `than we do. They know the mighty Satan far better
     Now we  can only faintly  fee1 what it  means that we            than we do. They have had fellowship with him while stil1
  are stil1 in the pow& of sin and death ; then we shall clearly      he was perfect. They knew that he was one of the mightiest
  un'derstand how deeply we had fallen and from what depth of         among the mighty, yea, perhaps we can say that Satan was
  misery we are saved. Stil1 more. In this present life the           the very mightiest, of all. They also clearly and fully  realize
saints of God were in tribulation. The enemy,  - Satan,  sin,         the awful power of his rebellion. On the other hand, they
 the power of the antichrist,  - left them no  rist. Some of          live for the glory of the Most High that sitteth  upon the
 this numberless throng have been in the hottest  of the -battle.     throne. They long to see His glory fully historically  realized.
 They were poor and despised. They  were persecuted and               They know that this glory of their God shall not be  fully
 subjected  to the most awful suffering. They were bearers            realized before the redeemed have  al1 been gathered and  per-
 of the cross. But now they are perfectly delivered.  The;y           fected, the world shall have been renewed, and the mighty
 live in the new heavens and in the new earth. Wherever               Satan shall have been forever subjected and  tast  out into
 they turn, there is fullest freedom. Wherever they  g,  the         outer darkness along with al1 that took his side in his rebel-
 Lord their God spreads His tabernacle over them.  Wher-              lion against the Most High. Hence, the angels long to see
 ever they go, there ,is their God and their Savior.                  that day of universal perfection.
 Wherever they turn, there `they sec the beauty of their Godl,           They are even eager  to catch a glimpse of it. They  re-
 and they may serve Him day and night in His temple. Thqy             joice over every  sinner that cometh to repentance. They are
 do nothing else. Constantly they serve Him that sitteth upon         always ready to serve in the bringing of that glorious king-
 the throne. They are now perfectly redeemed. They there-             dom. Besides, we must not forget that because of sin  also
 fore can realize now the contrast fully  and clearly between         the harmony between heaven and earth has been disturbed,
 what they were and  tihat they are now, between'their former         even the harmony in the world of angels. That world has
 and their present condition.  And it is smal1 wonder that they       been  broken  up by the fa11 and rebellion of the devil. There
 altogether cry out in their song with a tremendous shout of          is  disharmony  everywhere, a disharmony that is to be  re-
 deliverance: "Salvation  belongeth unto the Lord that sitteth        moved and to be replaced by perfect harmony under Christ
 upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." It is the song of their         Jesus, the eternal King,  und& God, over  al1 creation,  -
 deepest conviction. It is the song of their fullest knowledge,       King  also over the angels. In that eternal  kingdom,  in
 their clearest consciousness. It is the song of their own            which heaven and earth shall be reunited, they  also shall
 deepest personal experience.                                         have a place, a definite place, a place  which they cannot oc-
     The same is true of the angels. We know, of course, that         cupy  til1  al1 shall have been accomplished. But now, at the
 it is not true in the same sense as of the redeemed throng           moment  when these angels respond to the song of the re-
 that constitute the new humanity. However, we must never             deemed,  al1 is  accom$lished  and  perfected.  Satan has now
 forget that also the angels are interested in the plan of God        been  tast  out and destroyed forever. Now  al1 the works of
 with  regard  to the salvation of the world.  P'ersonally   the:y    darkness have come to an end. Now heaven and earth are
 were not  affected  by  s& and misery. They are and  re-             the temple of God, in which  .angels  and men,  uider  Christ
 mained in the state of perfection. God had created the angel         Jesus as their everlasting head;  serve God forever, day and
 world differently from the world of mn. Man was created             night. And therefore  also they are perfectly qualified as
 an organism. And therefore a man could not sin and  fal.1            singers in this heavenly choir, and they sing with perfect
 away from God as a  m&-e individual. Man was created under           consciousness and from deepest emotion when they respond
 one head. Adam was the head of the whole human race, the             to the. outcry of the redeemed : "`Amen : Blessing, and glory,
 head both in a legal and in an organic sense of the word..           and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and
 Hence, when that one head fell, al1 the members of the human         might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen."
 race were involved and dragged down to the abyss of sin                 Let  US  pay attention for a moment to the  contents of
  and death. This, however,  was not the case with the world od       their song. The redeemed throng sing :  I'Salvation to our


                                             T H E   STAN-D.ARD   B E A R E R                                                         391

God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb." In               they go, they find themselves in the temple of their God. And
order to understand this song we must make an attempt  to               they  fnd themselves  covered  by His  taberqacle.  They find
place ourselves on the  standpoint  of the redeemed in the              that they dwell with Him, and He with them, and that they
glor&ed creation. Only then  can we fully  understand what              serve Him day and night. For not only they personally have
they mean by salvation. The meaning of the entire sentence              b'een saved, but  also  al1 creation has been completely re=
of this song is rather clear  : t,hese people out of al1 nations and    deemed, according to their present perfect state.  Al1 things
tongues and tribes  mean to say, "Salvation belongeth  unta'            have now been brought into subjection to man in Christ
our God  ; salvation is entirely  out of our God; God is the            Jesus their Lord. Al1 creation has become a kingdom  under
only Author of sahation  ; and salvation therefore can  only            man, in Christ, a kingdom  with its king standing before the
be to the glory of the Triune God." It is plain that this is            throne of the Most High, serving Him day and night.. In a
not a preaching of the gospel: for the gospel cannot  be                word,  when these redeemed sing of their salvation, they
preached in perfection. There is no more an audience  tal               understand it in its all-comprehensive sense, and they refer
whom the gospel can be preached. The saints in this throng              to the redemption of al1 the world in its fulness and to the
do not mean to proclaim  the glad tidings that there is salva-          restoration of perfect harmony in `the new heaven and the
tion with God and that the Most Higheis  willing  and able to           new earth. In a word, salvation is the  state of universal
save. For the work of salvation is at an end. There is no               perfection.
salvation to be accomplished any more.  ,All that had to be
performed is now fully  finished.  Hence, these redeemed and               What do they sing of this salvation? The answer is that it
these angels can only think of the complete wonder of the               is unto God and unto the Lamb. That implies that they ascribe
work of salvation. Just as we can speak of creation in more             to God and to the Lamb al1 the authority, al1 the authorship
                                                                        and power, al1 the- perfection and completion of what they
than. one sense of the word, so also these redeemed now em-             behold in the new creation and of what they now experience
ploy the word "salvation" in the setise that al1 is now finished.
1  can imagine that Adam in paradise,  when he beheld the               in everlasting glory. This implies, in the first place, by way
                                                                        of contrast, that it is in no sense of the word the work of
-wondrous  works of God round about him, when he was still
standing in perfect  knowledge  and was conscious of his                the  creature,  that it is not at  al1 the iyork  of man, and that
Creator in al1 things, would sing, "Creatioi unto our God."             man has no part in it whatsoever. Salvation belongeth unto
The meaning naturally would be that Adam recognized that                God and unto the Lamb, and to no one  else.  It is a song
the works round about him were the finished product of the              which, it would seem is often difficult to sing in the present
                                                                        world ancl in the present dispensation. There seem to be even
Almighty Creator,  Who had wrought  al1 these things and.
through al1 of them glorified Himself. So it is also with the           among the people of God in this world who cannot accept this
                                                                        truth now which once they hope to sing with the throng in
song of these redeemed. Salvation has now been realized. It
is a completed  work. And when they sing of it, they take it            the new creation : "Salvation is of our God and of the Lamb.`"
as they see it, as they have it before their very eyes, and as          To be sure,  tbey probably  wil1 go a good way along with
they experience it and  enjoy it.  They*sing of it in its  all-         you and Scripture in confessing that salvation is of the Lord.
comprehensiye  sense. By it they refer, in the first place, to          They  admit  with US that Chrisf  has performed al1 the work
their own  condition  and  state,  as  wel1 as to  al1 that was         that is needed  to be done for our salvation. He has paid
                                                                        the debt. He has fulfilled the  law. He is our  all. And we
necessary to lead  them to this  state. of glory. They were             come empty-handed. And with 
guilty and miserable. They were in the  pqwer of sin and.                                                US they  wil1 confess : "Surely,
                                                                        He hath borne our sin and om- transgressions. The chastise-
death. They were Condemned, as far as they were concerned,
to everlasting corruption. And they were subject to fhe just            ment of our peace was  upon Him. And by His  stripes  we
                                                                        were healed." But for the rest, they make salvation, in part
wrath of the righteous God. They might sitig with the poet              at least, dependent upon man. Christ has opened the way,
of old: "Cords  of death compassed me  about."  And now                 but that is al1 He could possibly do. If man now refuses to
they are delivered from  al1 sin and death and corruption, and.         walk in that Christ-opened way, then God stands impotent,
they enjoy the fulness of eternal life and glory. There is no           and His kingdom  wil1 be a failure. And it is after al1  due to
guilt,  nor any consciousness of guilt,  that oppresses them any        a large  extent to this willingness of man to believe in Christ
more. There is no power of sin any more that corrupts them.             and to accept Him that God is successful in the realization of
and  rules over them. There is no darkness that beclouds their          His  kingdom. Or, what is worse, and what is surely impos-
minds. There is no  transgr.ession   that perverts their  will.         sible for a Christian to maintain, according to the modern
There is no  hatred  that  causes  them to rise in rebellion            view, Christ has simply taught US the .principle of His king-
against their God. There is but one life, but one desire;  but          dom, and He has by His life shown  how to realize it, and
one constant longing  : and that is to enjoy the full communion.        now it is up to us. We must bring the kingdom  of God in
of Him that sitteth  upon the throne of the Lamb. They  do              the  w8rld.  We must be up and doing. And if we do not
not look for it in vain. Their  every   desire is now satisfied.        bring the kingdom,  it wil1 never  come and be perfected.
They hunger no more, neither thirst  any more. Wherever                                                                              H.H.

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

Il                                                                            persons, whether Jews or foreigners. But in that day  there
         _ THE DAY OF  SHADOWS                                          ll shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord, but
                                                                              only His chosen  people, they that overcme  and inherited al1
                                                                              things. But the fearful and the unbelieving  wil1 have their
               The Prophecy of Zechariah                                      part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.
                                                                              Surely the prophet  does not mean to be saying here that the
        Jerusalem and Judah Holy unto Jehovah, 20, 21                         saints in glory are going to appear before the Lord with
20. In that day thsre slmll be on the bells of the laovses,  Ho&              animal   sacrifices.  We understand this-understand that
ness  unto the Lord;  an.d the pots in the  LOY&S  house  shall               what we deal with also here is imagery, figurative speech,
be  like.  the bowls  beforc  the  alta,y.  21 Yca,  every pot  ZR!           or with a doing of the prophet  that consists in his foretelling
Jemsalem  and  in  Jztda.h  hall be holiness  ,unto  tlw Lord of              and describing the purged state of the church in glory in a
Hosts;  a*nd  al1  tkey  tht  sacrifice  hall  coww and take of               language  borrowed  from forms and conditions of the old
them,   a.nd  seethe  Gerein.  And  in  tlzat  day  tizpve  shll  bc  noi'    dispensatioti.
`wbom   the  Ca.mmite   irt  the  home of  tlw  Lord  of Hosts.                                               *  *  *  *
                                                                                   This completes the exegesis of this prophetic  discourse,
      From the prediction of the destruction of the hostile                   which may now therefore be provided with an introduction.
nations the  prophet  returns to complete the description of                                     Content-and Outline of the Book
the glory of Jerusalem and of the Holy Land ; verses  20 and
21, therefore, are a continuation of verse 2. The expression.                 1. Messages of exhortation, of  consolation,  and of  en-
bells of the Izolpses  has reference to bells worn by the horses                  couragement to the church contemprary  with Zechariah
or to  metal plates-which make a  tinkling sound  when  thth                                                                       Chaps. i, 1 - viii, 23
horses   move-upon which is inscribed, Holiness unto the                      1. Cal1 to repentance ____ ,,__._......__....  .._.......................... i, 1-6
Lord. Doubtless the reason  that  mention  is made of the
horse-the horse of  al1  animals-is  that  horses  were the                       These  verses, in which the necessity of repentance is
beasts of war between the nations. In battle they drew the                    stressed, are plainly an introduction to the entire collection
chariots. In the new age they wil1 be devoted exclusively to                  of discourses. The book thus opens with a cal1 in which the
the service of the Lord, whose name wil1 be inscribed on the                  prophet  exhorts the people to return to the Lord. He warns
bells or plates as that of its owner. What the prophet  means                 the people against following the example of their fathers,
to be saying is clear  from the context. Horses wil1 no longer                who had turned a ,deaf ear to the remonstrances of the Lord,
be used for warlike enterprises by the nations ; for- nation                  and to  whom the Lord therefore had done as He had
wil1 not lift up a sword against  nation,  neither shall they                 purposed,  whom He had recompensed according  ;o their
learn  war  anymore  in that day. For the Lord  wil1 smite al1                ways and doings, as He had foretold. Implied in these words
the people that fought abainst Jerusalem ; and the remnant                    is the warning that disobedience on the part of the present
of the nations wil1 go up from year to year to worship the                    generation wil1 surely result in its being overtaken by similar
king, the Lord `of Hosts, and to keep the fcast of the taber-                 catastrophies, for the word of the Lord never returns to Him
nacles. And whoso  wil1 not  com up of the families of the                   void; it always accomplishes what it says.
earth,  even  upon  ihem   wil1 be no  rain. So  wil1 the earth be            2. Eight night visions  .______..__......................._.____..__  i, 7-vi, 8
cleansed from the race of men by which it is now being cor-
rupted, and as so cleansed be in the possession of the meek                       About three months after the communication  of the first
of the earth. And the brute  creature,  too-here represented                  message  there  came to the  prophet  in one single night the
by the horse-now subject to vanity, wil1 be delivered from                    word of the Lord in the form of a series of eight symbolic
.the bondage  of corruption into the glorious liberty of  the                 visions, the meaning of which was explained to him by a
sons of God.                                                                  heavenly interpreter.  Al1 these visions are connected  to-
                                                                              gether by one single purpose, which is to entourage  God's
      The pots in the `Lord's house, in which the flesh of the                people to continue the work of rebuilding the temple and
sacrifice was  cooked for the priests and the common  Is-                     the city.
raelites, possessed no ceremonial holiness, that is, they were
considered to be  secular   objects.  But in the new era these                (1) The horsemen  riding upon red horses  . . . .._...._____..  i, 1-17
pots  wil1 be like the bowls before the  altar in which was                       The Gospel of this vision is. that, though the overthrow
caught the blood of the sacrifice ; they wil1 be holiness unto                of the  kingdoms  of the  nationsj which had been promised
the Lord and every  pot in Jerusalem and Judah as well. Al1                   (Hag. ii, 7,  8) and through which the deliverance of  th2
they that  sacrifice  wil1 be allowed the use of these  sacred                church could only be  effected,  had not yet taken  place, it
vessels ; they wil1 come and take of them and seethe therein,                 wil1 surely  come to pass, and the Lord  wil1 return to Je-
al1 they without a single exception, which would be  im-                      rusalem with an abundance of mercies  : His house shall be
pos$ble,  if the worshippers included  also Canaanites, impure                built in it, and a  1iq.e  wil1 be  stretched forth  upon the city,


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                              393

and His cities through prosperity wil1 yet be spread abroad.             from two overhanging branches of these trees oil  flowed
(2). The four horns and the four  smiths  or                             without interruption to  suppll  the bowl and the  lamps.
                                        crpenters __ _. . ..i. 18-21    Symbolized is the church for what she is in Christ, namely
                                                                         a  nekv  creature,  and as  such a creatural reflection of the
   The horns  tast  out by the smiths-a picture of the judg-             glory of Christ's Father.  According to the interprcting  angel,
ments  upon the nations that ill-treated the chosen people.              the vision in its entirety is, the word of God to the prophet
(3) The man with the measuring line .._..................... ii, 1-13    setting forth this truth, "Not by might, nor by power, but
                                                                         by my Spirit," meaning that the church is gathered and built
   Here the  promise  is that of a glorious restoration.                 not by the power of man, nor even by the power of God
Jerusalem wil1 not be encompassed by walls but wil1 spread               by which He destroys the enemies of His people, but by the
over the whole ea;th ; such wil1 be the growth of her popula-            Spirit of Christ breathing in the hearts of  meq  th life of
tion. And the Lord  wil1 be unto her a  wal1 of fire sound               Christ. Christ  builds His church by His Spirit, and there-
about, and wil1 be the glory in the midst of her. The volun-             fore  also before Zerubbabel (Christ) the great mountain
tary exiles in Babylon exhorted to escape to  Zion, for                  shall become a plain-the world-powers shall be destroyed-
Jehovah is about to visit the oppressors with judgment,  for             and Christ shall bring forth the head stone, that is, the top
he that touches His people, touches  the apple of His eye.               stone completing the temple, God's spiritual house, which is
And He wil1 come and dwell in the midst of Zion, and many                the church. The day of smal1 things, therefore, must not be
nations shall be joined to Him there. And the Lord shall                 despised ; for the church  wil1 surely be gathered ; for in His
inherit Judah His portion in the holy land, and shall choose             Spirit Christ is everywhere present in this earth  calling
Jerusalem again. Al1 flesh is therefore exhorted to be silent            His own by His Spirit and His Word. The two  olive trees
before Him ; for He is raised up out of His holy habitation.             are the two anointed ones, Joshua and Zerubbabel, the piiest
   It is plain that the Gospel of the second and third vision            and the king, which is Christ.
is a further expansion of the message  of the first.                     (6) The flying rol1 . ..__.__.  ___... ,,...._...........  __........____.......... ..v, 1-4
(4) Trial and  acquittal  of the high priest  Joshua....iii,   1-10          In this  vision the  prophet  sees  flying  through  space an
  -In the fourth vision  Zechariah sees the high priest Joshua.          immense rol1 in size twenty by ten cubits. Symbolized is the
standing before the angel of Jehovah  ; at his right hand.               curse of God  upon doers of evil of  every  kind.  Th  rol1
stands Satan, prepared to lodge accusations against him and              enters the house of  every  man and consumes it utterly.
Israel whom he represents. Indeed  a sinful nation ; a people            Promised is the removal  of al1 iniquity by the destruction of
laden with iniquity is Israel. It was because  the measure               t h e   w i c k e d .
of iniquity had been filled up that the Israel of the ten tribes         (7) The woman in the ephah . . . . . . . .._...........____........_____..  v, 5-11
had been scattered among the nations, and Judah led into
the  captivity of the exile. But before the accuser of God's                 In this vision  the prophet  beholds an ephah ; in it sits a
people  can point to a single sin, he is rebuked  of the Lord.           woman ; upon its mouth is a cover. Two women with wings
He has chosen Jerusalem, is His word to the  adkersary.                  bear up the ephah and convey  it through the air. The prophet
After  the rebuke is administered  to the adversary the angel            is told that the  woman is to be deposited in Shinar. The
of Jehovah instructs the servants to take from Joshua the                interpreting angel explains the symbolical meaning. The
filthy garments with which he is clothed, and to clothe him              woman personifies wickedness of which the land is  re-
instead with the rich garments  of the highpriestly office, in-          presented as being freed through her removal to the  far-
cluding the  miter.  So it is done. The  whole  action is  sym-          distant  Shinar,   where  it is to be established forever.
bolical. Preindicated is the working of God whereby He                   (9) The four chariots with horses  of differing colors....vi, 1-8
redeems  the church from al1 her sins by the blood of Christ
and clothes her with salvation. Joshua is now instructed in                  In the eighth and last  vision the  prophet  sees coming
the  duties and responsibilities of his office, and promised             from  between  two mountains of brass four chariots drawn
access  to the Most High, if he wil1 discharge his duties faith-         by red, black, white and pale  horses  respectively-the last
fully, judge God's house and keep His courts. The angel                  named are  also said  `to be strong-and identified with the
declares  also that the high priest and  .his fellows are &gns           four spirits  of?he heavens coming  forth from standing before
of the coming  of Christ, "the  Branch,"  who wil1 remove the            the Lord of  al1 the earth. The black  horses  as followed by
iniquity of "this land" in -ene day, and wil1 restore  peace and         the white go forth into the land of the north; and the pale
prosperity forever.                                                      into the land of the South.  The streng'-desire  and receive per-
                                                                         mission  to go to and fro through the earth. Those that go
(5) The golden candlestick and the two olive trees.....iv,  1-14         forth into the land of the north cause the Lord's Spirit to rest
   In this vision  the prophet  sees a golden candlestick with           upon that land. Elsewhere from the Scriptures it is  clear
seven lamps ; on top it has a bowl of oil which is connected             that the white horses  symbolize the Gospel of God ; the red,
with the lamps through pipes. Beside it stoo'd two olive trees ;         war and  bloodshed   ; the black, scarcity and hunger and  al1

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

 marmer of distress  ; and the pale, death and the grave.                               11.  .THE  FINAL TRIUMPH OF THE  KINGDOM
 Generally speaking, the message  of the vision is that through                                       OF CHRIST . . ..__....__..__._.................. ix, 1 - xiv, 21
 the ages the Lord  wil1  excute  judgment  upon the nations,                              With ix, 1 begins the  second  main part of the book of
while simultaneously gathering His church by His Spirit and                             Zechariah, consisting of various prophecies dealing with events
 Gospel.                                                                                that are  climaxed by  the  ultimate triumph of the  Kingdom
 3. The crowning of the high priest Joshua  _..  .___.... vi, 9-15                      of Christ.
     Zechariah is instructed to adorn the high priest Joshua                            1. Prophecies dealing with the founding of Christ's
with a crown,  made of the silver and gold taken from the                                   kingdom . . . . . ..________.......__  ix, 1 - xi, 17
hand of visiting exiles from Babylon,  and to proclaim  him as                              (1) Judgments upon the surrounding nations ; preserva-
the type of  "Branch"  (Ghrist),  who  wil1 bring to  com-                                        tion of Jerusalem  - . .  .._............................. ix, 1-8
pletion  the  building  of the temple, and is to be a priest                                Judgments wil1 be upon the nations surrounding Judah ;
upon the throne with the counsel of peace between them  both.                           they wil1 be destroyed, while Jerusalem wil1 remain unhurt.
And the crowns  are to be placed in the temple,  where  the:y                           The judgment  wil1  proceed  from the northeast. Hadrach,
wil1 be unto God's believing people for a memorial  of IBranch                          Damascus, and Hamath, representing Syria,  wil1  fa11 first;
until He  comes. And they that are  afar  off shall  come and                           Phoenicia wil1 come next ; from there the conqueror wil1 in-
build in the house of the Lord.                                                         vade the Maritime Plain and smite the cities of Philistia.
4. The question of whether the fasts had stil1 to be                                    The -population  wil1 be put to the sword or deported; a
                                        r observed  _...._.. vii, 1-viii, 23            bastard or foreign race wil1 take its- place,  which in time wil1
 (1) Occasion of the prophetic utterance vii, l-;3                                      turn to Jehovah and be saved. In the meantime Jerusalem
                                                                                        wil1  dweil  in  safety.
     About two years after the occurrence of the eight night
visions a deputation came to the priests and the prophets to                                (2) The coming of Christ and His reign . . . . . . . . . . . ix, 9, 10
inquire whethef or not it was stil1 obligatory to observe the                               The prophet  has just foretold the overthrow of the world
fasts instituted in commemoration of events connected with                              powers and the preservation of Zion ; that he now introduces
the destruction of Jerusalem.                                                           Zion's king  can only  mean `that with His  appearance  the
 (,2) Fasting not essenti the true require-                                             salvation of the church is inseparably connected. He comes
                                                       ments  ..__....__ vii, 4-14      to Zion; He, .her king, just, saved and lowly, riding upon Sn
                                             :                                          ass. He  wil1 reign in righteousness and peace, and His
     ?he  prophet  points  out that fasting is not an essential                         dominion  wil1 be from sea to sea.
requirement;  fasting is a good werk only if done under the
constraint of love of the Lord and not simply under  the                                    (3) Deliverance and felicity of the covenant  peple
stress of custom or tradition. He points the inquirers to the                                                                                              ix, ,ll-17
weighty  `things of the law, for whose disregard the fathers                                The  captives  in exile  wil1 return to the stronghold, and
had been overtaken by terrible judgments.                                               the Lord wil1 use the restored prisoners to fight against th.
.(3) The promise of always greater blessings . . . . . ..viii. 1-15                     hostile  nations; the  struggle  wil1 be hard, but He  wil1 save
                                                                                        His people in that day unto the praise of His glory.
     Reaffirming  Jehovah's jealousy for  Zion, the  prophet
then pictures the prosperity and glory in store for Jerusalem.                              (4) The Lord the only fountain of al1 good ____........ x, 1, 2
The Lord wil1 return to Zion and  wil1 dwell in the midst o:E                               With the terrible history of the past generations of his
Jerusalem. He wil1  gather  His people and they shall dwell                             people before his mind,  .the  prophet  exhorts the afflicted
in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be His people,                                covenant  people of his own day to ask of the Lord rain, that
and He shall be their God in truth and in righteousness.                                is, to  expect  al1 their salvation from Him alone, and not
                                                                                        from idois and diviners, who speak vanity, see lies, and tel1
 (4) Message of admonition   _._  ._ __  __,  .viii, 16, 17                             false dreams.
     These are the things that they shall do : speak every  man                             (5) Restoration of Judah and Israel and the overthrow
the truth to his neighbor, and execute the judgment of truth                                      of the kingdoms  of the nations _...............  x, 3 - xi, 3
and peace in their gates.  And let none of them imagine evil
in his heart against his neighbor, and let them Ive no false                                     (a) The  quickening  of Judah and Ephraim, x, 3-7
oath. For al1 these are things that the Lord hates.                                         Because of their abominations, the people of Israel had
                                                                                        fallen under the dominion of heathen  rulers, styled shepherds,
 (5 )- ,Fasting  to be changed  into rejoicing . . . . . . . ..~.......  viii, 18-23    by  whom they are being oppressed. But their salvation is
     Eventually the question of fasts  wil1 solve itself; they                          near ; for the Lord's anger burns against the shepherds ; He
wil1 be  changed  into seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful                         wil1 cut them off and thereby deliver His oppressed flock.
feasts to which multitudes wil1 gather  from al1 parts of the                           He  wil1 transform His people into mighty men of valor  ;
land  ; even many and strong nations shall come.  to seek the                           they shall fight, and the Lord wil1 give victory.
 Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.                                                        `.                                       G. M. 0.


                                            T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                         395

                                                                      infinite and  holy being. As we said before, He is not free
             I N  H,  I S F E A  -R                              ll to sin. But that is not due to the fact that there is a power
                                                                      besides Him and outside of Him that wil1 not let Him do so..
                                                                      NO, His Own  holy being  wil1 not  allow Him to sin. And
                   Freedom From Fear                                  as  impossible  as it is for Him to  sic, so impossible is it for
                                                                      Him  t6 have fear.
                                (5)
    Freedom is liberty.                                                   Not so is, it with man  who was made in God's image.
                                                                      Man was created to fear. He  was  created  to fear God in
    Webster  says,  "Freedotn   and  libwty  are  often  inter-       Whose image he was made. That is why we wrote last time
 changed.  But  freedonc oftener  implies   absente  of restraint     that freedom from fear for man cannot possibly mean  that
 or repression  ; liberty commonly suggests previous restraint ;      he is set free from  al1 fear. Man, exactly  because  he is a
 as, the freedom of the press; to set a slave at liberty."'           creature,   wil1 have limitations. He  can  never-be  free from
    Freedom from fear, then, as the expression is used today          fear in the sense that God is free from fear. He wil1 always
 by the man on the street  means  absente  of fear. It  means         be bound by things outside of his own being. He not only
 freedom in the sense that  Webster  presents it as  quoted.          has those who are equal to him, he also has those who are
 above. Man wants no fear of any kind. He &lls to be free             superior to him, more powerful than he and  having  more
 from it in  every  conceivable way and in  every  conceivable        authority than he. He is  always.  bound by God's laws as
 form.  Al1 restraint and repression of fear must be  `gene.          He has placed them in this great and wide creation and as
 And yet although that is what man means when he speaks               He created man according to a definite spiritual  law of
 of freedom from fear, what he seeks actually is liberation           obedience before his Maker. We must remember  that. For
 from fear. The very   fact that he seeks  after  "freedom from       this situation and status of man never changes.  Even though
 fear'f shows that at present he is under the restraint of fear.      we  often  read of the ungodly that there is no fear of God
`. Fear is al1 about man - as we have already  shown - and            before their eyes, they stil1 have a calling  to fear Him and
 in spite of  al1 his efforts, new  causes  for fear  aiise.  Thus    morally  are not free  from the obligation to fear the Lord,
altliough he desires  a freedom from fear, what he seeks is           although spiritually they are utter  incapable  of living  ac-
 liberation from his present fears. He seeks to break the             ,cording to that fear.
bonds of a very real and ever-present -bondage.                          Abraham lied about  Sarah  his wife when he sojourned
    It stands to reason, then, that only God truly has  free-         in the  kingdom  of Abimelech. And he gave the reason to
 dom from fear. He is never delivered or set free from                King  Abimelech  for this behaviour in these words, "1
anything. He has never been `in bondage or slavery to                 thought, Surely  the fear of God is nat in this place ; and they
anything. Perish the very thought ! He is God. And whereas            wil1 slay me for my wife's sake," Genesis 20 :ll. Now Abra-
al1 things were made by Him and depend  upon Him, He can              ham concludes from certain actions and behaviour of- the
never be-brought into bondage by anything. He has perfect             people of the land~that the fear of the Lord was not in that
control over  al1 things at  al1  times.  Never does He become        place. They had certain freedom from the fear of the Lord.
the victim of circumstance or find  Himself in an awkward
      .                                                               As far as their actions were concerned these actions were
situatlon.  Of what can He possibly be afraid?  Who is going          performed  by hearts and minds that were not ruled by God's
to hurt Him ? As the Ahnighty One, Whose is al1 fhe might             feay.  To  .refer  again to  Webster  we could say that there
and not simply the greatest measure of might, who can pos-            was no repression or restraint  upon their deeds of `wicked-
sibly be a threat to Him  ? What has He to fear  ? Before             ness because' there Was no fear of God in their hearts to
whom should He bow His head in  reverence  and respect?               keep  them from these evil deeds. In that sense Abraham
Who stands even on the same leve1 with Him ? Surely you               judged that their hearts were free from the fear of the Lord.
can never speak of God being set free from anything. Surely           Yet as far as their obligation is concerned, they were stil1 un-
you cannot speak of God being set free from fear. There is            der the compulsion to fear God and to keep His command-
no liberation of God! There is a freedom of God.  There is            ments. As Salomon declares, "Fear God and keep His com-
even a liberty of God. For in Himself He has the right to do          mandments, for this is the whole duty of man," Ecclesiastes
as He sovereignly pleases.  ,But liberation  from anything            12:13. So you see, man never is and never  may  be. free
whatsoever there cannot be in God. For al1 things came from           from that fear. He must fear God. If you  will,  here. is an-
Him and there is nothing beside Him from which He can                 other test which declares the same thing from another view-
be or needs to be set &-ee. He has the true and perfect free-         point, "But there.is  forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest
dom and therefore also the true and perfect freedom from              be feared," Psalm 130 :4. God wants  US to fear Him. And
fear. And by His freedom from fear we mean that there is              He forgives our sins even in order that w may again fear
nothing outside of His Own infinite being that brings  any            Him. Therefore this  time we want to say something more
restraint or repression of fear  upon Him. There is nothing           about this fear of the Lord from which we may never be set
whereby' He is ever bound but that which is in His Own                free and which is the  very beginning of  wisdom for him.


    396                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE-ARER

    At the same  time we must not lose sight of the principle            God and to be  controlled by that faith. It  means that we,
    which we mentioned at the beginning of this series : Only in         respect Him and stand in awe before Him & God. Whereas
    .His fear do we have freedom  from fear. There is a fear from        faith is a certain knowledge and  a- hearty  confidence,  the
    which we may be freed and  indeed most certainly and per-            term ~~LZY  of God looks somewhat beyond this knowing and
    fectly are set free. But this we have only in the fear of the        being certain  anti confident to the reaction in the soul of
    L o r d .                                                            man to tbis fact that He is God. In His fear we believe that
           `There are two things, or  rather two classes of things       He is God. We  know and are convinced that He is God.
    which we fear. We fear that which is more powerful than              And we can fear Him only when we have this faith in Him.
    we are. We fear that which we cannot  control because  oE            +st the fear of the Lord is a reverence  and respect, a holy
    its greater  power, because of the harm it can bring upon US.        awe which fills our SOUIS because we believe that He is God.
    And we fear that which is higher  than we are. That is, we               There is, therefore,  also the element of love in the fear
    fear those whose authority and honor is above ours. We do,           of the  .Lord. Even the  devil knows that there is one God,
    then, fear man on both accounts.  We fear him when he has           and he has no doubt in his soul that Jehovah is God alone.
    a power which can barm  US and over against which we have            James even declares that knowing these things the devils
    not  sufficient   power to restrain and repress. Then we fear       believe and tremble.  Even  that element of trembling before
   `the damge, the pain, the evil ?r death which he may inflict         God, that element that we so readily associate with fear is
    upon US. But we also Gave fear for the king, for the politica1      common to the devils who hate God with al1 their being. But
    superiors. And in ScyiptuTe we are admonished  to have such         to fear Him is to believe in Him in love. It  means that we
    fear  of men.                                                       rejoice  that He is God, that we have no  desire  to change
           But al1 this fear of the authorities we must have because    Him or dethrone Him as God. It  means that in  holy awe
    we must fear God. For as Paul writes, "There is no power            and wonder, in deep respect and reverence  we acknowledge
    but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God," Ro-            Him to be what He is and bow in humility before Him.
   `mans 13 :l. So that this command to fear the authorities is              There is that element of trembling yet of which we must
   and must be the fear of the Lord. Here, too, is a fear from          speak. Paul writes  to the Philippians that we work out our
    which man  may never  .be set  free. He must fear  al1 those        own salvation with fear and trembling. We wil1 not go into
   whom God  places  over him  with authority.  " That is  the          that matter at this  time  except to point  out as we stated
   very  idea of the Fifth  Commandment.  In this  instance;  fear      above that man fears that which is above him in the sense
   means reverence,  awe, respect. It means to acknowledge and          of  having  authority over him, but  also that he fears that
   to know these as having  authority over US by the ordinance          which is more powerful than he Is. To know God to be
   of God. It means that we fear God as the Supreme Author-             our God surely  means  .that we know Him  &o to be the
   ity Who is pleased to rule US through men. That fear is the          Almighty One. He is not a  Supreme Authority  Who has
   beginning of wisdom for it means that we know God to be              no power or a limited power to  execute his will. One
   the God that He is. He who does not know that and is not:            soon  loses respect for an authority  who cannot  execute his
   governed by that fact in al1 his works and ways wil1 walk in         wil1 and is helpless to punish the evil doers. NO this is an
   folly, for he wil1 not keep God's. commandments.  Note that          important part of the fear of the Lord. And although the
   in Psalm 111  :lO that relationship is presented to `US. We          redeemed, regenerated  child of God by faith takes hold of the
   read, "The fear of the  Lord is the beginning of  wisdom:  a         promises of God so that  he has a certain knowledge and a
   good understanding have  al1 they that do His command-               hearty cobfidence  that he has nothing to fear of the torments
   ments:  His praise endureth for ever.". It is true that here         of hell, yet he fears God as an  Almighty and  Holy God
   the words His commandwcents  are in italics because they do          whose name, the psalmist declares in Psalm 99 :3, is great
   not appear in the original. Nevertheless that is the idea as         and  tep4le:  for it is  holy. The Lord willing we  wil1 say
   we may also gather  from Ecclesiastes 12 :13, where  we read,        more of this next  time.
   "Fear God and keep His commandments  : for this is the whole                                                                          J.A.H.
duty  o       f     
                   man."That  same relationship between  having  the
   fear of the Lord and  keeping  His  commandments  is to be                                       IN MEMORIAM
   found here.                                    _'                        The  members  of our societies wish to extend  their  sympathy  to
                                                                        their  fellow members, Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Windemuller, and
           We  may say, therefore, that the fear  0; the Lord which     their family, in  the home going of their beloved  father  and  grand-
   is  commanded  of us is that we be governed always by the            father
   principle that He is God. In that respect the fear of the                                MR. FRED  WINDEMU`LLER
   Lord approximates  very closely  the matte; of faith, of  be-            May the Word of God be their consolation: "Behold, 1  come
                                                                        quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy
   lieving. And for that reason the expression "fear of the             crown." R e v e l a t i o n   3:ll.
   Lord" is  often called the Old Testament equivalent of the                                                  The Holland  Ladies' Aid Society
   New Testament conception of faith. To fear God  means to                                                    The Holland  Men's  Society
   know Him to be God alone. It means  to' believe that He is              P.S.  - This  ahnouncement   should  have appeared in an earlier
                                                                        issue of our paper. This oversight is acknowledged with regret.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                         397
I/                                                                             real  descendants  of those  jurisconsults   who, on the plain of
            Contending For The Faith                                   ll Roncaglia, advocated the same theory in the hearing of Fred-
                                                                          erick of Barbarossa. Two hundred years after  the conflict be-
             The Church and the  Sacraments                               tween Boniface  and Philip the Fair, Luther was to fight the
                                                                          battle for the spiritual sovereignty of the individual man.
      VIEWS   DURING  THE  THIFCD  PERIOD  (750-1517 A.D.)                These two  principles,  set aside by the priestly pride and
                   THE  SUPRBMACY OF THE  POPE                            theological misunderstanding  of the Middle Ages, belong to
                                                                          the foundation of modern civilization (of course, we take
      THE  DECLINE OF THE  PAPACY AND  &IE  AVIGNON  EXILE.               issue wit11  the remark that Luther was to fight the battle for
                          A. D. 1294-1377.                                the spiritual sovereignty of the individual man. Luther did
        The humiliation of Boniface  (a certain writer relates that       not fight for the individual man, but for the True Church of
Boniface   fel1 into a rage and,  after  gnawing his staff and            God in Christ.  The statement which we criticize can stand
striking his head against the wall, hanged himself) was the               if the emphasis be laid upon the word "spiritual," and also
long-delayed penalty of the sacerdotal pride of his predeces-             if we bear in mind that the "individual man" is the man in
`seks  and himself.  H+suffered  in part for  the hierarchical            Christ Jesus.  - H.V.).
arrogante  of which he ws the heir and in part for his own.              .
presumption. Villani and other contemporaries represent                               BONIFACE'S BULL,  UNAM SANCTAM
the pope's latter end as a deserved punishment for his un-                        The great importante  of Boniface's bull, Unam Sanctam,
blushing  nepotism, his  pompous pride, and  bis implacable               issued against Philip the Fair, Nov. 18, 1302, justifies its
severity toward those who dared to resist his plans, and for              reproduction  bot11 in translation and the original  Latin.   It
his treatment of the feeble hermit who preceded him. One of               has rank  among the most notorious deliverances of the
the chroniclers reports that seamen plying near the Liparian              popes and is as full of errors as was Innocent  VIII's  bul1
islands,  the reputed  entrance to  heil, heard  .evil spirits  re-       issued in 1484 against witchcraft. It presents the theory
joicing  and exclaiming,  "Open, open ; receive  pope Boniface            of th supremacy of the spiritual power over the temporal,
into the infernal regions."                                               the authority of the papacy over princes, in its extreme form.
        Catholic historians like Hergenrother and Kirsch, bound           The following, in quotation  marks,  is a  literal copy of this
to  the ideals of the past,  make a brave  attempt  to defend             famous document by  Boniface  VIII.
Boniface, `though they do not overlook bis want of tact and                       "Boniface,  Bishop, Servant of the servants of God. For
his coarse  violente  of speech. It is certain, says Cardinal             perpetual remembrance  :-
Hergenrother, that  Boniface  was not ruled by unworthy                           "Urged on by our faith, we are obliged to believe and
motives and that he did not deviate from the -paths of his                hold'that there is one  holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
predecessors or overstep  the legal conceptions of the Middle             And we firmly believe and profess that outside of her there
Ages. Finke,  also a Catholic historian, the  latest learned              is no salvation nor  remission of sins, as the bridegroom'
investigator of the character and career of IBoniface,  acknowl-          declares in  *the Canticles,  `My dove, my undefiled, is but one ;
-edges the pope's intellectual  ability, but also emphasizes his          she is the only one of her mother; she is the choice one of her
pride and arrogante,  his depreciation of other men, his dis-             that bare her.' And this represents the one mystical body of
agreeable spirit and manner, which left him without a per-                Christ, and of this body Christ is the head, and God is the
sonal friend, his nepotism and his avarice. He hoped, said                head of Christ. In it there is one Lord, one faith, one bap-
a contemporary,  to live til1 "al1 his enemies  were suppressed."         tism. For in the time of the Flood- there was the single ark
                                                                          of Noah, which prefigures the one Chui-ch,  and it .&as. fin-
       In strong contrast  to the  common  judgment  of Catholic          ished according to the measure of one cubit and had one
historians is the sentence passed by Gregorovius. "Boniface               Noah for  pilot and captain, and  outside  of it  every  living
was devoid of  every  apostolic virtue, a man of passionate               creature  on earth, as we  read, was destroyed. And this
temper, violent, faithless, unscrupulous, unforgiving, filled             Church we revere as the only one, even as the Lord saith
with ambitions  and lust of worldly power."  And this wil1 be             by the prophet,  `Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling
the judgment  of those who fee1 no obligation to defend the               from the power of the dog.' He prayed for his soul, that is,,
papa1 institution.                                                        for himself, head and body. And' this body he called one
       In the humiliation of  Boniface  VIII, the  state gained a         body, that is, the Church, because of the single bridegroo-m,
signal victory over the papacy. The proposition, that the                 the  unity. of the faith, the  sacraments, and the love of the
papa1 pretension to supremacy over the tempora1 power is                  Church. She is that seamless- skirt of the Lord which was'
inconsistent with the rights of man and untaught by the law               not rent but was allotted by the casting of lots. Therefore,
of God, was about to be defended in bold writings coming                  this one and single Church has one head &d not two heads,
from the pens of lawyers and poets in France and Italy and,               - for had she two heads, she would be a monster, - that `is
a half century later, by Wyclif. These advocates  of the sov-             Christ and Christ's vicar, Peter and Peter's successor. For
ereign independente  of the state in its own domain were the              the Lord said unto Peter, `Feed my sheep.' `My,' he said,


  39s                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B1EARE.R

 speaking  in generally and not particularly, `these and those,'      to  bis. successors by Christ  himself,   whom Peter confssed,
by which it is  to be understood that  al1 the sheep are  com-        even  him  whom Christ called the Rock. For the Lord said
 mitted to him. So, when the Greeks or others say that they           to Peter himself, `Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth,  etc.'
 were not committed  to the care of Peter and his successors,         Whoever,  therefore, resists this power so ordained by God,
 they must confess that they are not-.of Christ's sheep, even         resists the ordinance of God, unless perchance he imagines
 as  the Lord says in  John, `There is one fold and one shep-         two  principles  to exist, as did  Manichaeus,  which we  pro-
 herd.'                                                               nounce false and heretical. For  Moses testified that God
         "That' in her and within her power are two swords, we        created heaven and earth not in the beginnings but `in the
 are taught in the Gospels, namely, the spiritual sword and beginning.'
 the tempora1 sword. For when the Apostles said, `Lo, here,'              "Furthermore,  that every  human creature is subject to the
 - that is, in the Church, - are two swords, the Lord did             Roman pontiff,  - this we declare, say,  define,  and pro-
 not reply to the Apostles `it is too much,' but `it is enough.'      nounce to be altogether necessary  to  salvation.`J  -end of
  It is certain that whoever  denies that the tempora1 sword is       quote of this bull.
 in the power of Peter, hearkens  ill to the words of the Lord            The most astounding  clause  of  this deliverance  makes
 which he spake, `Put up thy sword into its sheath.' There-           subjection to the pope an essential of salvation for  every
  fore, both are in the power of the Church, namely, the spir-        creature. Some writers have made the bold  attempt  to
  itual sword and the tempora1 sword ; the latter is to be used       relieve  the language of this construction, and refer it to
 for the Church, the  fermer  by the Church  ; the former  by         princes and kings. So fair and sound a Roman Catholic
  the hand of the priest, the latter  by the hand of princes and      writer as Funk has advocated  this interpretation, alleging  in
  kings, but at the nod and sufferance of the priest. The one         its favor the close connection of the clause  with the previous
  sworcl must of necessity be subject to the other, and the           statements through the particle $o~~~o,  furthermore, and- the
 tempora1 authority to the spiritual. For the Apostle said,           consideration that the French people would not have  re-
  `There is no power but of God, and the powers that be are           sented the assertion that obedience to the papacy is a condi-
  ordained of God'; and they would not have been ordained             tion of salvation. But the overwhelming majority of Catho-
 unless one sword had been made subject to the other, and             lic historians take the words in their natura1 meaning. The
  even as the lower is subjected  by the other for higher  things.    expression "every  human creature"  would be. a most unlikely
  For, according to Dionysius,  it is a divine  law that  the         one to be used as synonymous with tempora1 rulers; Boni-
 lowest things are made by mediocre things to attain to the           face made the same assertion in a letter to the duke of Savoy,
 highest. For it is not according to the law of the universe  that    1300,  when he demanded submission for  every  mortal,  -
 al1 things in an equal way and immediately  should  reach  their     omnia anima. Egidius Colonna paraphrased the bul1 in these
 -end, but the lowest through the mediocre,  the lower through        words, "the supreme pontiff is that authority to which every
 the  higher.   But that the spiritual power  excels the earthly      soul must yield subjection." That the mediaeval Church ac-
 power in dignity and worth, we wil1 the more clearly acknowl-        cepted this construction is vouched  for by the. Fifth Lateran
 edge just in proportion as the spiritual is  higher  than the        Council, 1516, which, in reaffirming the  buil, declared "it
 temporal. And this we perceive  quite distinctly from the            necessary to salvation that al1 the faithful of Christ be sub-
 donation of the tithe and functions of benediction  and sancti-      ject to the Roman pontifI" (and this surely lies.in  the nature
 fication,  from the mode in which the power was  received,           of  the case. Is not Peter the representative of Christ  upon
 and the  government  of the  subjected  realms. For truth            earth ? Did not the Lord bestow the keys of the Kingdom
 being the witness, the spiritual power has the functions of          upon Peter? Are not the popes the successors of the apostle
 establishing the tempora1 power and sitting in judgment on  it       Peter? And does it not lie in the  very   nature of the case
 if it should prove to be not good. And to the Church and the         that the same obedience and submission which we owe the
 Church's power the prophecy of  Jeremiah   attests : `See,  11       Lord Jesus Christ must  also be bestowed  upon His  repre-
 have set thee this day over the nations and  kingdoms   to           sentatives in His Church upon earth ? The Roman Catholic
 pluck up and  *t break down, and to destroy and to  over-           doctrine surely .demands that submission to the pope is an
 throw, to build and to plant.'                                       indispensable  condition  to salvation. This  can hardly be
    "And if the earthly  power deviate from the right path, it        denied. - H.V.) .                                              H.V.
 is judged by the spiritual power; but if a minor spiritual
 power deviate from the right path, the lower in rank is judged                                      IN MEMORIAM
 by its superior ; but if the supreme power (the papacy) de-             The Mary-Martha Society of the Protestant Reformed Church
 viate, it can be judged not by man but .by God alone. And            of Redlands, California, hereby  wishes to express its heartfelt
                                                                      sympathy to one of its members, Mrs. William  Feentstra,  in the
 so the Apostle testifies, `He which is spiritual judges  all         loss of her,  father,
 things, but he himself,  is judged by no man.' B.ut this author-                                     C. H. BIRT
ity, although it be given to a man,. and though it be  exer-            .  May the God of  al1  grace comfort the bereaved and sustain
 cised by a man, is not a human but a divine power given by           them in their  sorrow1
 divine word of mouth to Peter and confirmed to Peter and.                                                    Rev. H. H. Kuiper, President
                                                                                               `.             Mrs. H. Sawyer, Secretary


                                                       T H E   S T ' A N D A R D   BEAR'ER                                                        394
                                                                               ! condemned by the fathers in this section. It is fully in har-
`1I           The Vcice of Our Fathers                                         /I mony with the Arminian conception of man; of man's fall,
                                                                                    of the nature of faith and conversion, and of the  nature of
                                                                                    the grac of conversion, that he now teaches that the grace
                     The Canons of Dordrecht                                        of conversion is resistible.
                                                                                        Let  US briefly investigate this doctrine of the Remon-
                                   PART TWO                                         strants, first of all, in order to see just what is their error.
                       ESPOSIT~ON  n~i  TUIC  CANONS                                    In the first  place,  the Arminians  teach something again
                                                                                    about the manner of the operation of God's grace in conver-
                                                                                    sion : "God in the regeneration of man does not use  such
                                                                                    powers of his omnipotente by which he potently and infal-
       OF  TTIR  CORR~JPTION   OP  MAN,  Hrs  CONVERSION   TO  GOD,                 libly  bends man's  wil1 unto faith and conversion." Let  US
                       AND TIIE MANNER ~YHEREOF                                     note the following here:
                      REJRCTION  OF ERRORS                                              1) The article speaks not of the act of faith and conver-
                                                                                    sion as  such, but of the source and fountain of that act in
                                   Article 8                                        man,  namely,  his will. It therefore is speaking about the
                                                                                    very origin of conversion, its earliest beginning, namely,
                     Article 8.  Who tech: That God in the regeneration.           regeneration.
                 of man does not use  such  powers of his  omnipotente as
                 potently and infallibly bend man's will to faith and.                 2) The article does not  deny directly that God is om-
                 conversion; but that all the works of grace  having  been          nipotent, almighty, but simply states that God does not we
                 accomplished, which God employs to  convert  man, man              such powers of his  omnipotente as' potently and infallibly .
                may yet so  resist  God and the  Holy Spirit,  when  God            bend man's- wil1 unto faith and conversion. This is worthy
                intends man's regeneration and  wills  to regenerate him,           of note. The conception of the Arminians as here stated
                 and indeed that man often  does so resist  that he prevents
                 entirely  his regeneration, and that it therefore remains          implies  that though God is almighty, and though He coulcl
                in man's power to be regenerated or not. For this is                therefore employ  the. powers of His  omnipotente to  bend-
                nothing less than the denial of  all the efficiency of God's        man's wil1 potently and infallibly unt faith and conversion
                 grace in our conversion, and the subjecting of the  work--         if He willed to do so, yet He does not do so. In the case
                ing of Ahnighty God to  the will of man, which is  con-             of God's operation in the conversion of man, He does not
                 trary to the Apostles,  who  teach:  "That we believe  ac-
                 cording to the working of the strength of his power,"              act omnipotently. This is a  very   clever  rust It apparently
                 Eph.  1:19. And: "That God  fulfills  every   desire  of  good-    leaves the Arminian free from  any possible accusation of
                 ness and every  work of faith with power," 11 Thess. 1: 11.        denying God's  omnipotente,  and at the same  time free to
                And: "That his divine power hath given unto  US  al1                maintain   hit conception of resistible grace. But let  US  care-
                 things that pertain unto life and godliness," 11 Peter 1:3.        fully note the fallacy. The Arminian teaches that God is
         The. above translation  may stand with but one                             omnipotent, but that He can use or not use that omnipotente
                                                                         minor
correetion. Correct  usage, especially in Reformed  terminol-                       as He  may please. The truth is that God is the Ahnighty
ogy, requires that the term "efficiency" should be "efficacy."                      One from eternity to eternity and unchangeably. And there-
Otherwise,  with the restriction that the textual citations                         fore  every  work that God ever performs He performs by
should be quoted from the King James Version,  the above                            an almighty power. God has no power that is not an almighty
is a correct rendering of the original Latin.                                       power. And reverently speaking, God cnnnot lay aside .that
                                                                                    omnipotente,  and  cannot   perform  any of His works  except
         In this article we -deal directly with the Arminian error                  by His almighty power. Dogmatically speaking, the  Armin-
as it was stated  already  in the fourth  of. their Articles of                     ian here  -makes separation between the attributes of God,
Remonstrance in 1610 : "But as  respects the mode of the                            and is guilty of denying God's oneness and simplicity. And
operation of this grace, it is not irresistible,  inasmuch  as it                   specifically, the Arminian separates the attributes of God's
is written concerning many, that they have resisted the Holy                        omnipotente and God's grace. If we bear in mind that God
Ghost. Acts  7, and elsewhere in  many  places."  The  differ-                      is His attributes, and that al1 His attributes are one in Him,
ence is that here this error is not only stated  generally   and                    we can never arrive at this error.
in negative form  ("nat irrisistible"), but is set forth  rather                       In the second place, -the Arminians  quite logically follow
in detail. Nor is there anything essentially new in this article                    this first proposition, which separates God's grace and His
as compared with the preceding articles of the Rejection of                         omnipotente,  by their second proposition, that man can and
Errors. The error treated here, namely, that God's  regen-                          often does' successfully resist the grace of conversion. This,
erating and converting grace is resistible, is  simply  the                         of course, follows with undeniable  logie.' If God. does not
logica1 outgrowth of and climax to  al1 the  previous  errors                       employ such powers as bend man's wil1 potently und ,infnl-


400                                      T    H    E      STANDARD   BEARER

libly, then it must be that He employs such powers as bend             conversion."  Notice that they speak of  "al1 the efficacy."
man's  wil1  impotently  and  fa.llibly;   and then it stands to       This points LIP the truth of what we have written  above. In
reason that man can and does resist God's grace of conver-             the view of the fathers there is no  such thing as a  partia
sion, and can do so successfully, that is, in such a way tha.t         denial of the- efficacy of grace. It is  al1 or nothing. Either
he entirely prevents his regeneration.                                 God's grace of conversion is efficacious, or it is not  effica-
       And  thus, in the third place, the Arminians  teach   that      cious. Either it potently and infallibly  bends  man's.   wil1 to
it remains in man's power to be regenerated or not. It must            faith and conversion?  or it does not bend man's wil1 to faith
be remembered  that this third proposition can be maintained           and conversion at all. Either God  converts the sinner, or
only on the Arminian  premise  that the  wil1 of the natura1           the sinner remains unconverted. And the fathers  main-
man is itself "able to  wil1 and to choose, or not to  wil1  ancd      tain that under the Arminian view there is no efficacy
not to choose, al1 manner of good which may be presented               left in God's grace of conversion: it is powerless to accom-
to it." If it be granted that this is  xtrue,  then if grace is        plish anything at all. In, this connection it is worthy of note
resistible' it is in the power of man both to be regenerated           once more that the fathers do not choose to speak of "irre-
and not to be regenerated. If,  however,  it be  maintainesd           sistible  grace" but of the "efficacy of God's grace in our
that the wil1 of man is incapable of willing and choosing the          conversion." It is no doubt due to the fact that the Remon-
good, then, if grace is resistible, man can only wil1 not to be        strants spoke of  resistible  gmce  that the term  &&sfiible
regenerated. And  herein,  of course, is the hopelessness of           grace  came into  usage. But  the impression cannot readily
this doctrine of resistible grace. The fact is that the natura1        be avoided by the use of this term that grace is in the nature
.man is incapable of willing and choosing the good. And                of a power of outward compulsion, an overpowering force.
therefore, if God's grace is resistible, then  al1  the natura1        And this  impression  must be avoided. For this reason, as
man  wil1 ever do is to  resist God's grace. He will, even             we have stated before, the term efimciozu  is to be preferred
though God wills to regenerate him and intends his ,regen.-            even over against the Arminians' "resistible."
eration, always  wil1 not to be regenerated. And thus his                 And in the  second place, the fathrs condemn the  Ar-
regeneration  wil1 be forever impossible. What a hopeless,             minian  error,as "the subjecting of the working of Almighty
comfortless doctrine this is !                                         God to the wil1 of man." Here they point out  very  sharply
       And let  US be  warned,  in this connection,  once more         the wicked folly of this view. It  places the Almighty God
against those  who would-introduce this doctrine in Reformed           under the  wil1 of the sinful  creature,  and  makes  His  wil1
circles. For this error becomes more and more common in                dependent upon that of the creature  of His hand. God wills
our day not only in avowedly Arminian circles, but  also               mans conversion ; and H also employs His grace to`accom-
among those  who go under the  Reformed  name. This is                 plish man's conversion. But man does not  wil1 his own
very plainly the error of the First Point of 1924 in regard  to        conversion. And man's  wil1 is  decisive.  What sinful folly !
the preaching of  the' gospel. If it be so  that God in the            What a wicked caricature  of God's almighty power !
preaching of the gospel reveals Himself as willing and in.-               Finally, the `fathers support their position by an appeal
tending  and well-meaningly offering to save  al1  who  hear,          to Scripture itself. And as we have noticed before, it is
elect and reprobate alike; and if it be so, - and it is so, -          certainly true that if only we take Scripture at its word, at
that al1 who hear are not saved ; then the only possible con.-         its face value, it is  clear  beyond  any question that the Re-
clusion is that God's grace can be and is resisted. And the            formed view is the view of Scripture. Arminians love to
serious practica1 result of this teaching is that the elect are        malie the claim that they simply  take the Bible at its word.
deprived of their comfort. And in Reformed circles this is             But this is not true. Take the three texts  cited in this  arti-
much more serious and emphatic even than in openly Ar-                 cie without  any  attempt  at explanation, and they leave no
minian  circles. For the Arminians are at least consistent :           other impression than that al1 the efficacy of the work of con-
they openly deny total depravity and maintain  the inheren.t           version is not of man, but of God.  Read them, Eph.  1:19,
goodness of the natura1 man as wel1 as the resistible char-            "And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to  LIS-
acter of God's grace. But there  can be no more hopeless               ward  who believe, according to  the working of his mighty
position than to try to  maintain  total depravity on the one          power." 11 Thessalonians 1 :ll, "Wherefore  also we pray
hand, and, on the other, genera1 and resistible grace. This,           always for you,  that our God would'count you worthy of
by the way,  also  tends to explain the  fact that  where the          this calling,  and fulfill al1 the good pleasure of his goodness,
error of genera1 grace  makes inroads, there the  truth of             and the werk of faith with power." 11 Peter 1 :3, "Accord-
total depravity in  its.,real   significante  is increasingly  com-    ing as his divine power hath given unto US al1 things that
promised and denied.                                                   pertain unto life and godliness, through the  knowledge  of
   `Hence, the fathers are  quite correct in their  criticism          him that hath called  US to glory and  virtue."
of this error of the Arminians.                                           Such is the teaching of  Holy  Writ:, And never does it
       In the first place, they answer that "this is nothing           speak of a grace that is resistible..
less than a denial of al1 the efficacy of God's grace in our                                                                    H.C.H.


                                                 THE.STANDARD                             BE.ARER                   X                               401

                                                                             mete  out  justce  mder the two-Classes set-up  since  in  al1
            WENCY and ORDER                                                  cases zwhere 0~18 of the Classes is involved, that Classis must
                                                                             either sit in judgment ztpon its own. case or the ma.ttm must
                                                                             be decded by one-half of fh,e Synod which amounts to the
                        VOTING RIGHTS                                        othelf  Clams.
    The Church Order states: "These  who are  ddegated   ta                      We quote the argument of the overture  :
the assscmblies  . . . shall  ha.ve a vote  in  `al1  uutatters,   except        "We a.re of +he opnion that a chartge in O,W ecclesiastica,l
such as  p.articula.rly   concerx their  persons   0I  cizu48es.J'           set-up would be adviiable.  The hstory of the past few years
    The necessity of this exception to the rule arises from the              has provsd to `LU that t is q&te Gnpossible  for a twoklasses
fact that also in the church, as she stil1 is in the midst  of the           clmrch  organ.izaton  to mete oztt  proper justic-.  First,. in the
present evil world, there is much imperfection and sin. If it                event of  ,a  division   between the two classes  such  as we  ex-
`were true that  every  member of the church or  that  every                 perienced  dzkng the recent  conto-oversy   tizere  s no proper
member to the assemblies was perfect and could always  con-                  way  out of the  dificulty, There is no third classis to tast
sider  every  matter that is brought up with perfect objectivity             the deciding vo te. Secondly,  those  protesting   agaimst-   or
so that the pure interests of Christ's cause, which is the cause             appeal&g  f~o~tz  .a  decson  of a  cla.s&cal   gathe&g have no
of Truth and Right, were always sought, there would be no,                   wa,y of obta.inng far and pyopev treat,tucenf  6f a given case.
need for this "exception clause." However, this is not the case.             NO jztstce  is based on a set-@ whmein  the defendant in the
When  matters of a personal nature or matters that concern                   case is  also the  judge. In  reality, the  same applies to  any
one's local congregation are the object of decision, sinful                  matter  brought  to the  ntte&on of Synod by  eithm-  one of
bias and  prejudice   often enters in. In the interest of justice            OUY classes. A classis decides  to recovmxend   a, certain mat-
it is better that those directly involved abstain from voting                ter to  Sylzod.  When  this  sa.me  mutter is  trea,ted at Synod
on these matters.                                                            the classis  recommenditig  the matter  in the  first  place   has
                                                                             fifty per cent of  the votes. Under   the present  set+ there
    Furthermore,  if this rule were not maintained, many  in-                pzever   `is  0~  majoyity   of~~~pa~rtial   delega.tes.  We do not  fee1
equities could conceivably exist. For example, suppose that                  tha,t this is desirablc."
a member has a protest against his consistory. He  voices
certain charges of wrong doing and failing to convince the                       We fee1 that the Southeast  Church has a strong point in
consistory of these, he appeals the matter to the Classis. If                its argument. Since this matter has been brought to  light,
the above rule were not maintained, the consistory involved                  we also see where the two-classes set-up unavoidably leads
in this case would have two votes to tast while the protesting               to a  violation  of the church order rule which we are  dis-
member has none. This could conceivably  alter  the entire                   cussing. "These  who are delegated to the assemblies . . .
outcome of the case and, therefore, it is only proper that in                shall have a vote in  al1 matters  except   mch as  pa.rticularly
al1 such instances, the individuals or churches concerned  are               concel'n  their  persons   or  clzzwc1~e.s"   means,  in the first  place;
forbidden the right to vote and the decision in the `matter is               that no  consistorial  delegate  may vote at the classis in a
properly left to those  who  can decide the matter with  im-                 matter that particularly concerns the church he represents
partial objectivity.                                                         but it must also mean, in the second place, that no Classica1
                                                                             delegate to Synod  may vote at the Synod in matters that
   Sometimes  the question is raised as to whether or not a                  particularly concern the Classis which he represents. Under
certain church is sufficiently involved in a given matter to                 the present set-up the observance of this rule leads to prac-
deprive its delegates of the  voting  right.  When  this is the              tical difficulties as the overture has plainly indicated. The
case the assembly should be called upon to decide and to the                 result  is  that  either the rule is abolished with resulting  in-
desire  of the majority the delegates in question should submit.             justices or that `the function of the Synod is greatly  im-
                                                                             paired.
   It  wil1 be of interest and  importante  to our readers to
know  that this particular point is stressed in an overture                      The overture of the Southeast Church, therefore, should
that appears on the agendum  of the coming Synod request-                    be given serieus study and attention. How thoroughly Clas-
ing a change in the present Synodical-Classica1 set-up of our sis East looked into the matter we do not know but they did
churches. The overture comes through Classis East from the                   not fee1 that the request of the overture to ask the Synod to
Southeast  `Protestant Reformed Church and pleads a thor-                    appoint a committee  .for study and the findings of this com-
ough Synodical investigation and study by  al1 the consistories              mittee referred to the consistories for study should be fol-
of a  two-fold  possible change: (1) Either revert to a one                  lowed. They apparently felt that  action could and should
Classis  denomination  and  meet> as  combined  consistories as              be taken immediately for they advise Synod as follows:
we did in the early history of our churches or, (2) Change                    "A  moton   is  um.ade   aid  szcpported   to adopt the  overtztre
the Classica1 boundaries of our churches so that we have                     of  the  So&east  Protestant  Refomed  Church  zuith respect
three instead of the present two Classes. The overture rests                 to the proposed  systeyt of three  cla.sje.s, and to so overt,ure
upon one focal point. That point is  that  a Synod  cannoz?                  Synod  of 1958, with the following proposals:

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

    1.  As to the  dvision  of  Classis  (A  suggcsted  divijon  is                 2. To  @epnre   a.nd  patblish  tlae Acts!
          cted).                                                                     3. To  notify  special  comvxttees   appointed by  Synod of
    2.  Also to  oyertwe   Synod to  reduce   the  rmmber of                      tkeir  appo'ntment  and  t?Ler  mandate.  This shall be done
          delegates to  three ministers and  tlme elders  fier                    witlan   -two  months   after Synod  adjourns.
           Clamis."                                                                   4 .   T o  remind  Synod's   Corpamttees   tlaat   their  reports
       With this decision of Classis we agree although there is                   a.re due.
in our opinion a certain amount of investigative work that                            5 .   To  inforwz   S y n o d   concwning   a.vzy  committtees   tlmt
should be done before this should be adopted. We do not                           have been  neglgeat   Zn  repo+ting.
agree that this should require a special study committee but
fee1 that this .could be `done by Synod itself. NO doubt such                         6.  To  receive  and  acknowledge  al1  covrespondence   ad-
a move wil1 make for a stronger Synod but it wil1 also weaken                     dressed to Synod,  batt not to  amme  a:ny  prmogatives  of
the various classes and whether  this is advisable is debatable.                  Synod i?> rega.rd  to such cowespondence.
Synod  wil1 have to confront itself with this question and                            7.  To  car/ry   out  al1  com-espondence.   specifically   charged
whatever is done, it wil1 be interesting to follow for the out-                   to kim by Synod.
come wil1 affect every  one of our churches.
                                  *  *-*                                              8.  To  mairtta&z   tJae  archives   of  Synod.
       Appended to Article 33 of om- church order is  also the                        9. To be  p+esent at  a.11 synodcal meetings in order to
following decision :                                                              fawnisk   Synod,  upon  yeqa~est,  with  any  needed  nformation
                                                                                  frovva  the  archives.
       "The  +kLajor  asselnblies  shall  also have a  sta.ted   clepk,
who howcver shall not hold the positon  of permanent secre-                        10. To report to Synod  unm~ally   ,ii  wl-iting.
taly, and  who  sh6.11  not be  a,  member  of the  assembly's   offs-              l l . To fumish list of committec  vacanties  to be fll,ed."
cers..  b,ut  tha,t of  a,  deputy to  serve the  cla.ssis  or'  synod   witlz
semices  which  woztld  otlmwise   consttatte the  task of  such                    From this description it is evident that the office of Stated
a f2tnc tiorl.ary."                                                               Clerk is not identical with the office of the  Clerk of the
       Concerning this decision we would note the following:                      assembly.  The  latter  is mentioned in Article 34,  concern-
                                                                                  ing which we wil1  write later, D.V.  The rule quoted states
       1. This  means that the stated  clerk of an ecclesiastical                 expressly : "The Stated Clerk sha,ll  not hold the position  of
assembly,  by virtue of his office of stated clerk, has no vol:-                  pen~~anent  secretary, and sha.11  not be a member of  the &-
ing right, either advisory or real,  at the meeting since he is                   sembly's  officers." As the above  also  indicates,  he is the
not a delegated  member  of the body but an appointed or                          servant of Synod  who is to perform various tasks for the
elected off icer.                                                                 Synod during the interim between Synodical meetings. And,
    2. This does not  mean that the stated  clerk cannot be                       of course, the same is true of the Classica1 Stated Clerks.
delegated and thus serve in  a double capacity, that of a  dele-                      We wonder why this decision is incorporated in connec-
gatecl member  of the assembly and that of the stated clerk.                      tion with Article 33 which deals with the matter of "Creden-
This is frequently the case.                                                      tials." The answer probably lies in that this decision shows
       3. That as to the duties or labors expected of the stated                  that the Stated Clerk has  no credential and, therefore, no
clerk,  we believe that the committee appointed by the last                       delegated authority to  participate  in the activities of the
Synod to draft a set of  "Rules  For Synodical Procedure"                         assembly.
has presented a complete circumscription of those duties in                                                                                                   G.V.D.B.
its report.  Section  IV, 4, of the report reads s follows:

       "4. The Stated  Clerk:

    a. The Synod shall  elect  a. Stated  Clerk, electcd for a                                                    I N   M E M O R I A M
term of three years,-  frow~ avyzong the ministers and shall des-                    The Mary-Martha Society of the  Proiestant Reformed Church
ignate hs salary.   Synod shall also elect an alternate for Q                    of Redlands, California, hereby  wishes to express its sincere  sym-
term. of three  yeam,  -who shall fitnction  in case  ,it  becomes-               pathy to one of its members, Mrs. Dick  Hofman, in the loss of
impossible  for the Stated  Clerk to function.                                    her  mother,
                                                                                                            MRS. JEN'NIE  PORT,E
    b. His  d,&ies.,   besdes those  designated elsewhere  in                       May  o u r   H e a v e n l y   Father   c o m f o r t   t h e   b e r e a v e d   a n d
tlaese  rules,  shull be:                                                         strengthen them in the hope of the saints.
                                                                                                                                  Rev. H. H. Kuiper, President
       1.  To  prepare and  patblsh  the Agenda!                                                                                 Mrs. H. Sawyer, Secretary


                                                THE  ST.ANDARD  B E A R E R                                                       403

                                                                     Board opposing participation, but that their report  failed
            A L L   A R O U N D   US                                 to carry at the Board meeting.
                                                                         Now  it is the claim of Rev. Kuiper that the  real  issue
                                                                     was not understoocl in 1957. The misunderstanding was
    Unitcd  Theologieal   Education  in  Northerw   Niger@?          due to the way the proposition was  placed  before synod.
    This is the question that  `for some time has confronted         Now, however,  it becomes plain that it is not a local church
the Christian Reformed Church and Concerning which much              in Nigeria that  wil1 participate in the project, but the
                                                                     Christian Reformed Church that  wil1 participate not only
has been written pro and con by some of tlie leaders of that
denomination. It is 3 question  also that must be settled by         in the erection of the seminary, but also in the teaching staff
the coming synod of that denomination.                               of that seminary.
                                                                         It is  also the claim of Rev. Kuiper and others that this
    The Rev. Henry J. Kuiper  contributes  an enlightening           would be  a compromise with Arminianism  when support
article on the question in the May-June,  1958, issue of `Torch      cwould  be given  to such  an interdenominational school "which
and Trumpet, He  makes  it  very   clear  in this article  that      wil1  teach Arminianism  and. probably other errors as  wel1
his answer to the above question is emphatically negative.           as Calvinism." Rev. Kuiper  writes "This is a betrayal of
His article is an answer to the question: "Shall We Betray           our cnviction that the Reformed faith is the only undiluted,
`Our Reformed Faith in Nigeria  ?" We do not hesitate to             unadulterated, and complete presentation of the gospel as
express only praise for the unequivocal position he assumes. revealed in  Holy  Writ. By  making  the Canons of Dort one
in defense of the Reformed faith as over against a studied           of its doctrinal standards the Christian Reformed Church
movement to co-labor with those of Arminian tendenties  in           has taken an official stand against al1 Arminianism. By sup-
the matter of united theological education in -Nigeria.              porting the proposed  seminary  we woulcl be encouraging  anb
    That our readers  may know something of what the                 aiding  the propagation of unsound doctrine . . . We cannot
                                                                     consistently endorse the establishment of  a school  where   such
question  is about, it wil1 be necessary briefly fo restate some     doctrines are taught . . . We are committed to the Reformed
of the  facts as  prsented  by the Rev. H. J. Kuiper in his         faith and are in  duty bound to withhold support from  all.
article.                                                             institutions and teachings which are in conflict with that
    It appears that there are' several denominations  who            faith."
have been conducting  mission  work in Nigeria, North  Africa,           Moreover, Rev. Kuiper claims, contrary to the  conten-
namely, Episcopalian, Baptist, Brethren, Lutheran, as  wel1          tion of some, especially Dr. Harry Boer, that  a Reformed
as Christian Reformed Churches. It  also appears that this           witness in  such  a  seminary  is impossible and must lead
complex $roup have decided in unison to establish what is            eventually to doctrinal confusion both in the  minds of  the..
called United Theological Education in Northern Nigeria.             pastors that would be trained as  wel1 as in the faculty of
The purpose of  tl$s school or  seminary  is to train native         such a school itself.  Very  pointedly he agrees with Prof.
pastors to continue the work initiated by the hissionaries  of       R. B. Kuiper who in an earlier edition of Torch and Trumpet,
these churches. A Board representing this complex group              opposed t'he views of Dr. Boer expressed in his book "That
has been established which evidently has appealed to the             My  H,ouse  May   Be. Filled." Dr. Boer  wrote on page 39 of
Board of.Missions  in the Christian Reformed Church to lend          his book: "In proclaiming this  message  we must not, we
a teacher for native pastor training. This  appeal   came as         repeat,  regard  it as our primary concern to make men Re- .
early as 1955 to the synod of the Christian Reformed  Churcb,        formed. The message  which we proclaim  is not the message
which request was granted  in the person of Dr. Harry Boer.          of a particular communion,  however  much a particular com-
    In 1957 the Board of Missions of the Christian Reformed          munion may proclaim  it. We do not preach the gospel of the
Church  received   a  proposal  from the Board of United  Mis-       Reformed Churches. We preach the gospel of the Lord
sions for the erection of  a  seminary  as  wel1 as  a teacher in    Jesus Christ." Rev. Kuiper writes concerning this quotation
that seminary. The initial  contribution for the first buildings     of Boer, "Dr. Boer's statements imply that there is a distinc-
to be $12,600. The synod of 1957, irrespective  of a minorsty        tion between the gospel of the Reformed Churches and that
report of the Board of Missions  and a protest of  a classis         of the Lord Jesus Christ. The fact is that the gospel of the
against such a project, nevertheless decided to go along tiith        Reformed Churches is none other than the gospel of the
the  proposal  of the Board to  collaborate with the project.         Lord Jesus  Christ."
The Classis Sioux Center which protested did so on the                   Rev. Kuiper concludes his article with a warning note.
grounds that  "we cannot and  may not compromise our                  "Any plea for donations to  a  united*seminary  would meet
doctrinal and  ecclesiasiical   principles."                          with  a  cold shoulder in  many of  om- churches. And  it
     At  the 1958 synod a  proposal  of the Board  wil1 appear        &ould! Our churches are not ,ready to give support to any
recommending to the synod that it parficipate in the program          brand of ecumenity which puts unity ahead of truth."
for United Theological  Education  in Northern Nigeria.                  With -is position of Rev. Kuiper we can wholeheartedly
 Rev. Kuiper reports that  again  there is a minority on the          agree.

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

 A  Question   Ab&~t  Dramatics.                                       service if he would see to it that  copies of his articles on
        In the same ,issue of Torch and Trumpet above referred         dramatics as  wel1  a$ of his book would be  placed  in the
to, -Dr. Leonard Greenway answers in part a question about             hands ol the school boards for serieus study.
 dramatics in his rubric called  "Teener's   Corner.J'                    The reading of the above article brought back memories
  . The questioner asks : -"Wil1 you give further explanation          of arduous  debate we conducted  when we' served for two
 of your position respecting dramatics  ? 1 am referring espe-         years in the board of one of the Christian High Schools in
 cially to what you  write  .in your book,  Basic  Questions           the vicinity of one of the churches we were serving. For
 Aboztt Clm2tia.n  Behavior,  page 86: `Some of US are inclined        two long ycars the question of dramatics  was the perennial
 to believe that  dramatic  and theatrical filming is  basica1J.y      problem we had to face. As strongly as we, along with
 wrong. We believe that God has given every  individual his            especially one other Christian Reformed  ,brother,  opposed
 own unique creatural distinction in life and that it is sinful        the introduction of plays in the school, just as strongly the
 for anyone habitually to reshape  _his individuality and to           majority of the board fought for them.  We can stil1 see the
 twist his  personalitl for  dramatic purposes. To make love           blood vessels in their necks and foreheads register as
 or to display anger, sorrow, fear or elation under artificial         thermometers of their ire  when we  came to them with  ar-
 itimulation  is a profanation of gif&  and powers which -God          guments from Scripture and our Reformed Confessions as
 intends  shall be used only in sincerity and truth.' "                wel1 as from the history of theatricals itself to show  how
        Dr. Greenway answers as follows: "1 believe that there         they had no place in a Christiafi institution.  Al1 our debating
 is something unique about  each  .individual  and that it :is         seemed to be in vain, for the very next year  after our term
 God's  wil1 that we respect this uniqueness and that we               of office expired the school had their  annual  play and has
 endeavor thereby to reflect the amazing diversity of  hiis            had it regularly since.
 creation. Each  of  US, 1 am persuaded, is  cal'led  to reflect           We argued first of al1 that historically drama as we know
 Go<)s  glory in  a different way. In this connection 1 am             and see it today had its origin in the ungodly Roman  and
 remmded of Proverbs 22 :6, the .better reading of which is            Grecian  world  of which the  apostle  Paul gives  a vivid
 `Train up a  child  acco,&ng  to  bis  wa.y'   (italics mine-i.e.     description especially in Romans 1 and in 1 Corinthians 1
 Greenway's  j.  Just as no two leaves on the same tree are            and 2. That in itself bespeaks drama as something the child
 alike, so no two individuals are alike. Each person bom into          of God ought to eschew as ati evil thing.
 this world is  a fresh new soul. We are  What we `are; we
 cannot be truly other than ourselves.                                     Secohdly,  we defined drama as the  attempt  to act  out
        "A minister of the Gospel, who in his college days assisted    life, the attempt  of one person to assume the personality of
 as a coach of dramatics, once said that if he had to live his         another, partly for the sake of amusement and partly for
 life over he would positively refuse to have anything to do           the  sake of  profit. In this connection we emphasized  the
 with dramatics. He said that his conscience stil1 disturbs            sin of attempting to dramatize life which is a serious reality.
 him when he recalls how in several instances he was partly            How impossible it- is for the Christian to dramatize the life
 responsible as dramatics coach for producing strange quirks           of  a  pagan with his idolatry and demon worship. How
 and sophistications in student actors  whom he had rigorously         impossible for one to dramatize the serious, spiritual expe-
 trained  for their performances. He said that these assumed.          rience of a man like Martin Luther as  he.  struggles- on the
 characteristics  have remained with these .people  to this day.       floor' of his monastery c&*with the matter of his justification
                                                                       before God.  How impossible for the Christian to  relive the
        "To this testimony 1  can add one of my own. 1 know            experience of  a Judas Iscarot. It is surely forbidden that
 a `young ,lady who took a leading  role in a high school play         the Christian should  dr&Zze sin. And yet, if the drama
 that required of her  an exhibition of intolerable snobbishness.      of life is to be complete, it  `i&st certainly reckon with the
 That girl played her part exceeding well-too  well! She               fact of sin.
 gave herself over to imitating someone whom she had not
 originally resembled at all. She did it so strenuously that it           We concluded finally that the  only dramatics the Bible
 warped her personality. Two of her friends remarked in my             knows of is that spoken of by the apostle  Paul in Ephesians
 presence  ,that in their opinion that play did lasting  barm          5  :l, 2 "Be ye therefore followers  (mimickers,  imitators) of
 to her.                                                               God as dear children and  walk in love, as Christ also  -hath
                                                                       loved  US," etc. In other words,  God  would have 
        "In the next issue of Torch and Trumpet 1 shall  ha+e                                                                  US  imitate
                                                                       Him simply on the grounds that me are His renewed image-
 something more to say about this."                                    bearers in whom the Spirit of Christ dwells. If we are really
        We were pleased with this partial answer of Dr. Green-         children of  light,  we  wil1  desire  to give  nat another  imita-
 way, and are looking  forward to his next article.                    tion. And our children should be taught to reflect no other
        It is our  fii;m conviction that Dr. Greenway would do         image than that of our  covenant  God. A Christian School
 the Christian High Schools, which are predominantly pupiled           that  ceases  to reflect only the image of God is not worthy
 by Christian Reformed young people and  controlled   b:y              of the name.
 boards composcd  mostly .of Christian Reformed men, a great                                                          Rev. M. Schipper


                                           T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                         405

                       REVELATION .                                  to know Him at all. We cannot ascend up to God ;. He must
                                                                     conie down to 
    To Rev. Woudenberg and myself were assigned articles                               US. We cannot arrive at the knowledge of
                                                                     God ; God must give 
on "Revelation Through Visions"  and "RevelatiOn  Through                                    US that knowledge of Himself through
                                                                     the revelation of His being. We cannot make God the object
Dreams." We decided, however,  that in order for our articles        of our study  ; God  causes  
not to overlap, it would be better if one of                                                          US to know Him by revealing
                                             US would write on       Himself to 
the genera1 idea of revelation, while the other would write                         US, and giving  US  al1 that we need in order to.
                                                                     know Him as our God in Jesus Christ. If God would not
on the subject of dreams and visions as means of revelation.         reveal  Himself, then it would be forever  imp.ossible  for 
This is the explanation for the title of this article.                                                                               US
                                                                     to  conie to  any knowledge of Him whatsoever. This  fun-
    Revelation is a wonder which never ceases  to amaz&  the         damental  truth, by the way,  also stands at the heart of the
faithful child of God  who knows his God and .loves His              whole of the Reformed faith.
Word. To know God is after  al1 the deepest yearning of the             But that immediately makes  revelation an amazing won-
sanctified saint; for th&e  is nothing more blessed in al1 our       der. For by  means of revelation we  can know God. If you
life on earth than to come to .a saving knowledge of God as          consider for  a moment  how  lolvly and  smal1  man is, and
He has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. "For this is eternal        how tremendously great our God is, then you can begin to
life,  that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus        appreciate  the wonder of revelation. God so reveals Himself
Christ,  whom thou hast  sent." But even as the  knowl-              that man  can know Him as God. This implies : 1)  Revela-
edge of God is a great blessing, so also is it a most amazing        tion is adapted to man. Revelation is given in  such a way
wonder.                                                              that man  can know and understand. It is adapted to our
   After  all, God is infinitely  exalted above al1 His creation.    lowly  existente and inferior position. It is given in  such  a
He is the absolutely transcendent One, Who is glorious and           way that, although there. is  an infinite  differente  between
perfect beyond the ability of  any  creature  to understand.         God and the  creature,  nevertheless this  creature  can know
He is essentially different from  al1 creation in heaven and         God. `It is given in  such  a way that we  can see it or hear
on earth. He is so great that there is an unbridgeable chasm         it and perceive it with our senses.  2) Revelation is accurate.
between the Creator and the creature over which we cannot            When  men know God through the means of revelation, then
cross. The Lord Himself explains and emphasizes His                  they  indeed know God. They do not have some empty
altogether unique character in Isaiah  40:12-25,  the theme          and false picture of God, som&  faint shadow, but they know
of which is  "`To  whom then  wil1 ye  liken God ? or what           Him as  indeed He is.  When  men  come into contact  with
likeness  Wil1 ye compare  unto him  ?" vs.  18. Or,  "To  whom      revelation, then they come into contact with God and come
then  wil1 ye  liken me, or shall 1 be equal, saith the  Holy        to know God as  indeed He exists and is in Himself as the
One?" vs. 25. God is absolutely incomparable and wholly              infinite God of eternal perfection, highly enthroned above
and absolutely different from the highest angel in glory and         His entire creation. Revelation gives no misconceptions -or
from the most exalted sairrt.                                        false pictures ; it is accurate and true, a perfect revelation
                                                                     of the God ,of our salvation. 3) Revelation, while it reveals
   As far as our subject is concerned, this means that God is        God to  US and reveals to  US  al1  that  is necessary for our
absolutely invisible. He  cannot  be seen by the  creature           salvation, nevertheless at the same time points beyond itself
whether that  creatqre  is in heaven or on earth. He cannot          to infinite depths in God that are not revealed and that
be known in any way. He is simply beyond the range of om-            cannot be fathomed by one  who is  a  mere man. We know
perception,  and it is forever impossible for  US to  come  to       God ; we know Him as He is ; we know Him to our salva-
know Him as He is in Himself. This, of course, immediately           tion  ;  hut we know at  the same  time  that  God is infinitely
makes  al1 knowledge of God absolutely impossible. If the            exalted above  US and that He  remains  eternally the  in-
knowledge of God were left LIP to man, we could end this             comprehensible One. There are depths of  glory, infinite
article at this point, and conclude with the remark that He          reaches of perfection that man cannot plummet and fathom.
is simply the Unknowable One.                                        If one  lays hold on these truths, then we  can only bow in
                                                                     humble adoration before our God Whom we know. But we
   But God has chosen  to reveal Himself. The unbridgeable           wil1 never cease  to be profoundly amazed at the exceeding
chasm which man cannot cross, God has  chosen  to cross.             great wonder of revelation.
And  it is  only  when God  reveais  Himself, that it is  also
possible to know Him. Revelation is at the heart of al1 the             But there is more to this wonder of revelation. 1 would
life-the spiritual life of the believer in this world.  Revela-      like to establish the proposition that the reveiation f God
tion is simply not an abstract concept with no bearing on            is always through Jesus Christ: There is revelation  when
the life  and hope of the believer, but is instead  a wonder         God speaks His Word. God's Word is always the revelation
that exactly means everything to the child of God that seeks         of His own being and essence, of His glory and perfection,
the knowledge of God in order to be saved. But if God                of His  works  which He performs according to  al1 His
did not reveal Himself, then it `would be impossible for US          counsel.  When  God speaks, He reveals  Eimself.  When  He


405                                       THE  STANDA$D  B E A R E R

utters His Word, then there is the revelation of God to His        when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own
creature. Now, the point which 1 would like to emphasize           right  hand in the heavenly place,  Far above al1 principality,
is that the only Word of God which He speaks is the Word           and power, and might, and dominion, and every  name that
which is Jesus Christ. Tbis is very  important to understand,      is  named, not only in this world, but  also in that which is
for this is also the Scriptural teaching concerning revelation.    to  come : And hath put al1 things under his feet, and gave
Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary and lived on eartlh       him to be the head over al1 things to the church, Which is..
for  some thirty-three years. He suffered and died on the          his body, the .fulness  of him that filleth al1 in all."
cross for al1 the sins of His people and rose again from the           Revelation is by  the Word of God. And this Word of
dead  victorieus  over sin and death. He was exalted  to  :a       God is Christ. To establish the proposition that  al1  revela-
position of highest glory in heaven where  al1 authority and       tion is through Christ, we  may briefly treat the history of
power and dominion  is given to Him in order that He ma:y          revelation in this article.
accomplish al1 the Father's good pleasure. In His'bosition  in         There is first of  al1 Paradise. There in Paradise, God
Heaven He rules sovereignly in the name of God. in order           had  concentrated the glories  of His creation. Now, creation
that He may gather  His church which is given to Him and           was by  .the Word  of God. God spoke His  creative  Word,
for  which He died and take  it to heaven with Him  where          and  al1 things  came into being. "God said, Let there be
it  shall  participate in  al1 His glory. It is the purpose of     light; and there was  light.!' Genesis 1  :3. Psalm 8, Psalm
God to unite al1 things in Christ so that Christ wil1 be Head      19, Psalm 33 and  many others speak exactly of  this truth.
over  al1 and His glory and exaltation reflected not only in       The  result was that Adam stood in  the niidst of God's
the church, but also in al1 the renewed and restored creation.     creation and saw the revelation of God. He heard  God's
But this gloriously exalted Christ, as He shall be when the        Word speak to him in the trees, the flowers,' the animals
church is  finally  redeemed?  and  when  al1 things are made      which he named, the cool breezes of the  vening,  the
new is  also the highest conceivable revelation of God. In         twinkling stars of the heavens, and al1 the glorious creation
the abstract, we  may probably say that God could have             in the midst of which he stood. He could see and  fee1 and
realized His glory in an infinite number  of ways. But it is       hear  and taste and  smell  the revelation of God in  al1 the
certainly true, that this highest and most glorious revelatiom     things that were made. But even this creation, although this
of God is  the best and most perfect way for God to revea.1        Adam could not see until  after he  fell, was  already  the
Himself and to  achieve  His purpose.  When  heaven and            revelation of God through Christ. The creation, even as it
earth are one ;  when they are restored to heavenly glory ;        was originally formed,  was adapted to the purpose of God
when the church, as Christ's body is perfected  ; then there is    Who had determined that this original creatioa would come
revelation in the highest sense of the Word. The purpose           :mder  the  curse and would be restored in Christ in glory.
of God is the glory of His name. And this glory is realized        Thus, as we gaze about  US we  can  also perceive  this  very
through the means of this revelation.                              clearly. The new leaves of a tree long dormant speak of the
       There are  many Scriptural passages to which we  may        resurrection and  glorification of the creation in our Lord. The
turn in order to prove this point. 1 have in mind, e.g., John      glorieus colors of a canyon  speak of a horrible rend of the
1 :l-3, 14: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word           curse,  but of the glory of  grace which renews  arid.  makes
was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in                beautiful. The moon,  th stars,  + new  day,.the  glory of the
the heginning with God. Al1 things were made by him, anti          sun, the beauty of the  lily of the-  valley  and the rose of
without him was not anything made that was made. And               sharon  al1  proclaim  the glory of Christ as revealed in the
                                                                                                                               <.
the Word became flesh, and dwelt among  US, (and we beheld         creation.
his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,)          But such was also the case after the fall. Revelation came
full of  grace and truth." Or again we  read in Hebrews            to Israel in  many different ways. And  each  means  was
1  :l-3 : "God,  who at sundry  times  and in divers manners       adapted to the dispensation of types and shadows,  where
spake in  time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath         the revelation of God was stil1 obscured  by the shadows of
in these last days spoken unto- US by his Son, whom he ha&         the  law. There were feasts, the  sacrifices,  the temple, the
appointed heir of  al1 things, by  whom  also he made the          whole ecclesiastical and even politica1 life of  the people of
worlds;  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the            srael that were  after  al1  means  of revelation. David's
express image of His  person,  and upholding  al1 things by        throne, Solomon's glorious  kingdom,   Israel's  history as a
the word of his powe:, when he had by himself purged our           nation, the land of Canaan, the furniture of  ,the  temple-
sins sat down on  the.right hand of the Majesty on high."          these were  al1  means  which God used to reveal Himself.
Or again,  Ephesians  1  :18-23 : "The eyes of your  -under-       Not only that, but there were the means of the prophets who
standing being enlightened ; that ye may know what is the          received  the revelation of God through dreams and visions,
hope of his  calling,  and what the riches  of the glory of his    through the Urim and Thummin, through the direct speech
inheritance in the saints, And what is the exceeding great-        of God, through the appearance of angels and the Angel of
ness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the         Jehovah.  Al1 these things were modes of revelation. But
working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ,           they were even  then  through Jesus Christ, the  incarnate


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      407

 Word. For  al1 the types and shadows of Israel's  econoq              Spirit. And even in heaven, this Spirit wil1 not depart  from
 spoke of Jesus Christ being shadows of Hiti. The prophets             US. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
 received  the Word of God only through the Spirit of- Christ          of  God." John 3  :3.
 that was given to them and of which oil was a symbol. The                 This  means,  of course, that revelation is only for the
 kings  ruled by the Spirit of Christ; the priests  performed          elect. And this is undoubtedly  true. Only the people of God
 their duties by this same Spirit; the people understood the           can  receive  the revelation of God. It is impossible for the
 Word of God because the Spirit of Christ that had been                natura1  man devoid of  grace and  darkened   in heart and
 promised was given to them.                                           mind ever to  receive  this glorious revelation of the truth.
    And so finally  al1 these things were fulfilled in Christ          It is simply inconceivable that one who lives in outward and
 Himself  when the Word became flesh. As the Heidelberg                willful  rebellion,  whose heart and mind are devoted to the
 Catechism  so beautifully expresses it: "Whence knowest               service of sin, can know God in any way. This is not to deny
 thou `(thine only Mediator) ? From  the  holy gospel, which           that even to the natura1 man, God  causes.  the things that
 God  himself  first revealed in Paradise; and afterwards              are seen to testify of His power and Godhead. Even the
 published by the patriarchs  and prophets, and represented            most backward  heathen  in the outer  reaches  of uncivilized
 by the  sacrifices  and other ceremonies of the  law; and             courrtries have a certain revelation through the things that
 lastly,   bas. fulfilled it by his only begotten  San." But since     are made. But this is only a revelation of God as the only
 Christ is now in heaven, and the church in part stil1 remains         truc and living God Who ought to  be served. And wicked
 upon earth, this does not mean that revelation bas come to            man, no matter  where  he  may be, simply  holds always  the,
 a halt. For this is not the case. Now the preaching of the            truth under in unrighteousness and changes  the glory of the
 Word as the gospel which Christ preaches through His                  incorruptible God into an image like unto corruptible man.
 church is the  means of  revelation:  And  when the  truc             Ram. 1  :14-23. He  can never  come to  any knowledge of
church of Jesus Christ hears the preaching of the gospel,              God. And it is for athis reason that he is also without excuse
 God is revealed to them in the face of Jesus Christ His Son.          in the great day of Jesus Christ. But there is no revelation
 And by the revelation  of God through the preaching of the            of God through  Jesus  Christ outside of the preaching of
 Word, believers  can see and know God through  al1 the  works-        the gospel, and the  operation  of. the Spirit of Christ. This
 of  His, hands. They  can above al1 else know Him through             is reserved only for the elect; and this is their salvtition.
 the record of God's revelation which is  contained  on the               While we live on this earth, we are not made perfect.
 pages of Holy  Writ, the infallibly inspired record of Jesus          It is for that reason that we have the truth only in part.
 Chris!: There in Scripture it  al1 is  contained,  for God gave       Paul describes our knowledge of God now as being that
 it by ,inspiration which could and did prevent the authors of         which we  can know seeing through a mirror darkly. But
 Scriptu-re from erring in the least.                                  ah-eady we are deeply and profoundly moved as we catch
    And this brings up another point. That point is that               glimpses of the glory of the revelation of God.. But presently
`al1 revelation is through the Spirit of Jesus Christ. Although        we shall be in heaven. And  thcn we shall no  longer  look
 Adam could know God in Paradise through the glorious                  through a mirror darkly, but we shall see God face to face
 creation in which he stood and of which he was a part in              as He has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. And then we shall
 the  state of rectitude, nevertheless this did not last  very         not only  receive  the revelation of God,  hut. as the body of
 long.  Nat only was revelation objectively silenced somewhat          Christ, the church of the living God, we shall be the means
 through the Word of God's curse,  but Adam lost the ability           also whereby God reveals Himself in the highest and most
 of his nature to see and understand that revelation. He lost          glorious sense of the Word. There shall be the full and
 the light of his mind, the love of God in his heart, and the          complete revelation of al1 the glory and infinite perfection of
 whole creation became to him a  closed book the pages of              Him  Who is the Lord of  all. And there, as the seraphim
 which he could no  longer  turn and  read. This is only               in Isaiah 6, we wil1 only cover our faces and say with them
 restored in the elect  through the Spirit of Jesus Christ Who         and  al1 the church, "Hol),  holy,  holy, is the Lord of hosts:
 comes to take up His abode in the hearts of the faithful.             the whole earth is full of his  glory.".
 He comes to dweil in those who belong to Christ. He comes                                                                      H. Hanko
 to give life and light to the heart and mind and wil1 of man
 so  that  once again the people of God are placed in contact                                     IN MEMORIAM
 with  `heavenly  things and spiritual realities-the revelation        The  consistory of the First Protestant Reformed Church of
 of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And so the preaching              Redlands, California,  expresses its heartfelt sympathy to one of its
 of the gospel, as al1 revelation, is only to those in whom `is        members, deacon D. Hofman  and his family in the loss of
 the Spirit of Christ  calling  them  out of darkness into  -1ight.                             MRS. JENNIE  PORTE
 Al1 revelation in the Old as wel1 as in the New Dispensation,         who passed away April 25, 1958.
 in the preaching as  wel1 as in the things that are made, is             May the God of al1 grace comfort the bereaved in the glori&s
 only to those in whom is the Spirit of Christ calling  theni out      thought that "Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord."
 of darkness into light.  Al1 is only by  means of  Christ's                                                Rev. H. H. Kuiper, President
                                                                                                            A.  Karsemeyer, Clerk.


  4&                                             THE     STA~DARD                                  BEARER                .--            -.        `.
                                                                                                                         _-:
  ll                                                                             Your mistake  is that you~bring in the opinion of Bavinck
                                                                            and others. R&. Kuiper, iye.have  not officially adopted` the
                                                                            quotafions  from those men. We have .adopted the  Belgic
                                                                            Confessions and they are definite on the subject. Therefore
                                                                            you must  stay by the  Co%fessions,  &ch you did  nat. do.
                                   `.                                       You said in your article that  .institutionally  the church in
        A  friend   if  tiiie handed me `fhk  Re&  Guardian  of April       this  wqrld is never perfect.`-Wil1 you prove from the Con-
  -10 in which the consistiory..of-Pella-had  an overtui-e to. their        fessions  that the Protestant Reformed Church has not the
  Classis to' overture. Synod to seek- contact with the churches            perfect Doctrine of- Salvation  ?  Y& believe, of course, that
  who left  them. Whn 1  read  this 1  was  shocked.                 .'    1924.  was.  truly a  reformaiion.  Wha<   happens to a  Chrch
        Do thei not know &at we stil1 have the truth. which- we             when-  God'Calls  a  reformation?  What do you understand
  confessed for over thirty years, and they have accepted  the              6y a reformation  ? Had she not then  arrcved  in 1924,  just
  statements of Rev. De Wolf?  And~ now  they   cme to                     like the schismatics had arrived in  1953?
   Classis to seek contact with US ? A few years ago they had                                                             Yours in  Christ,
  an overture to Classis to put our professors out of office and                                                                                              K. Feenstra.. -
  appoint new missionaries. 1 thought how can this be possib1.e             819 Sylvan Blvd., Redlands, Calif.
  without confessing such a sin before God. Do they not know
  that God is a God of order? 1 know that 1 wil1 be accused
  also as 1 was in the consistory  at that time. But 1 have con-            ?.,.l     ;       *
  fessed my sin before God and man, and have peace  and joy                 -1~.             I      i'      `Psalm.  118 (Psalter No. 318)
in my soul. 1 would also urge you in- the name of the King
  of. the Church to confess your sin and  tialk in the way of                                       The glorious gates  of righteousness
  obedience. Now you are a laughing stock to the  chuiches                                                Throw open unto me,
  round about US. The question was put to xie so often: "Did                                        And. 1 wil1 enter them &th praise,
  you not have a school c&nmittee ?" Of c&rse we did. Was                                                 0 Lord, my God, to Thee.
  the consistory ever informed by this  committee that the
  profes?ors were not teaching the Prot.. Ref. truth ? Of cogrse                                    This is Thy temple-gate, 0 Lord,
  not. A minister said to me:  "Zoo gek  heb, ik het nog  noo,it                                          Thel just shall enter there  ;
  gehoord." 1 would like to warn our churches  when they have                                       My Saviour, 1 wil1 give Thee thanks,
  discussion  wit4 them to be very careful that they first con-                                           0 Thou.  that hearest prayr.
  fess their sin: We must not forget the History of the past
  with these people. Had it not been that God had put watch-                                        The stne rejected and despised
  men on the walls of Zion to sound the alarm  they mould  have                                           Is- now the corner-stone ;
   destroyed  our Prot. Ref. truth which God had entrusted                                          How  wondro'us  are the ways of God
  unto                                                                                                    Unfathomed            and            unknown!
           US.
                       (\y.s.) ~Cecil  -Van Der Molen, Pella, Iowa.                                 In this the day that Thou hast made
                                                                                                          Triumphantly we sing ;
                                        Redlands, Calif., May 5, 1958                               Send now prosperity, 0 Lord,
  Rev. H. Hoeksema,.               -                                                                      0 Lord, salvation bring.
   1139 Franklin St., S.  `E., Grand  Rapids 7,  Mich.           -                                  Hosanna!  Ever blest be He
  Dear Rev. Hoeksema,                                                                                     That cometh in God's Name,
        Wil1 you plac this in the Standard  Bearer in answer to                                    The blessing of Jehovah's house
  Rev.  Kuiper's article in the Standard- Bearer of  March   `l.,                                   Upon you we  proclaim.
  1958 ?                                                                                            The light of joy to shine on US
        Regarding your article on Improper Discernment, you                           .,.                 The `Lord our God hath made ;
  wrote that 1 maintain that our fathers held the same view                                        Now be the  precieus   sacrifice
  that 1 hold. 1 was ot referring to the fathers as individuals.                                         Upon His  altar laid.
  What 1 was referring to was the fact of the fathers as the:y
  brought forth those confessions as we have them  toda;y                                           0 Lord, my God, 1 -praise  Thy Name,
  through the Church. Just as the Church brought forth  the                                               Al1 other nmes  above ;
  Declaration of  Principles;  which was  brought  forth by  an                                     0 give Him  thanks,  for He is good
' act of faith.                                                                                           And boundless is His love.                    ..


