                                                                                      .
     VOLtmx  XXXIV                           SEPTEMBER  1, 1958 - GR&D  ~WIDS,  MI&&AN                                         NTJMBE~  20
                                                       :
                                                                            the sheep and clathe `themselves with their Wool and let the
I           M E  D  1  T  A--T  I  0  N                                     sheep  go.. hungry.  ' They never  gather  but  alwys   scatter.
                                                                            They .are robbers `and thieves in the holy things. Therefore
                                                                            thev are the most abominble of sinners.  .-
                  THE  GOOD  SHEPHERD                               "           At the time `tht Jesus walked the. land they were called
                             "1  am the good  Shepherd!"  John  1O:l  la    and they called themselves the shepherds of Jehovah's flock.
                                                                            They were `confident that they were a guide of the blind,
. There are  many abominable occupations in this sorry                      lights  of them which were in darkness, instructors of the
world.                                                                      foolish, teachers of babes,  . teaching others  ; - but  .what a
                                                                            tragedy ! They murdered the Son of that same Jehovah and
     Think, for instance, of the murderers, thieves, panderers,             they persecuted al1 those that were sent by Him to the lost,
white-slavers,  brothel.  keepers, etc. Enough to make one's                sheep of the house of Israel. Al1 the ages  Christ wanted to`
stomach  turn.                                                              gather the children of Jerusalem hut they  would not let
     Still, one and all, they are not the worst of the lot                  %Iim. They obstructed this ingathering at  every  step. `And
of sinners. This motley throng of evil doers shall rise in                  heaped  LIP wrath. Presently their.hqmes  are left them deso-
judgment with another class  of sinners that are much worse                 late- when they burn in flaming  helle i . .
than they and shall condemn them. It wil1 be more tolerable                    And Jesus' pronouncement of wee ,upon thse hypocrites:
to the panderer  and the pimp,  the keeper of the brothel than              is but the New Testament  -echo of Jehovah's  :.?Woe  be  to
this other class.                                 :                         the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not
     The denizens of the dark alleys and the  slums are not                 the shepherds feed the flocks ?"
nearly as horrible as this other  clss, even  .though they                    They are the most unhappy of beings,  next to the devils.
look and speak and  .walk ever so sweetly. But  when the                    For them is reserved a plac that shall be  dradful~ More
Great Judge and Arbiter  shall turn them inside  out it  shall.  -
                                                                            t o l e r a b l e   t o   S o d o m   a n d   G o m  r r a h   !
be seen to the abhorring of al1 flesh that they were reaily the
worst of offenders, that they are filled with al1 uncleanness.                 0, God! make  LIS faithful!
Then it wil1 be proven conch&ely  that they were the corps                     On the background of this clismal picture of  &ost
d'echt  of the devil.                                        .              wickedness the Lord paints the picture of the beautiful,  fair
     1 have in mind the false shepherds of Israel. Whores                   and lovely Shepherd.
and publicans shall go into the  Kingdom of God  before
them.                                                                          1 am the Good Shepherd-. That is Jesus.
     But why ?                                                               The word that is  translated.  good is a  rich word. The
                                                                            Greeks  used it for things that were pleasing,  beautiful,   ex-
     Jesus had seen their doings.  A  miserable  sheep of His               cellent,  eminent, choice, surpassing,  precieus, useful, suitable,
flock had come to conversion and because of that conversion                 commendable,  admirable. And why  ?  Because-  the primary
and his talk of conversion before the Pharisees they threw                  meaning of the word is sound, hale and whole.
him out.                                                                      Jesus is the fulfillment of the eternal idea of the Shepherd.
     They are the worst of the lot of sinners. They are the                 On earth we find but the shadow, remote, weak, faulty, im-
unhappy beings that do the unpardonable sin. They cal1 the                  pure. The  whole`  shepherd is in Jesus. He is in His
work of the  Holy Ghost a  werk of the  devil. They eat up                  Shepherdship hale and sound. He fills it to the utmost.


458'                                         T H E   S-TANDARD,   B : E A R E R

   It: is the reason  for the absolute  success  of Jesus as a     their  very  safety, from the wolf. He has laid down His
Shepherd. He"cannot fail for He is the True Shepherd.              life, but as the conquering  Hero over death and hell, He
                                                                   arises Triumphator. He is their eternal Shepherd.
   Oh,, beloved, wat& Him !            *-
                                                                       And now it must be admitted: it does seem strange how
   He came to the fold and called His sheep by name. The           these sheep are in the world, in the  very  midst of wolves
deathblow to  al1 universalists and free-willists. Jesus  in-      and hateful ravening devils. Are not the children of God
deed is softly and tenderly calling His sheep, even to-day.        like unto orphans in. the storm? And do we not see them in
But He does never  cal1 at  random.  He calls His sheep  by        "crue1 mockings, sawn asunder, tempted,  slain   with the
name. Presently He tells the Father  that He has taken care        sword : we see them wander  about in sheepskins and -goat-
of  ihe sheep that were  given  I%m by the  Father..  He has       skins ; being destitute, afflicted, tormented . . . they wander
not lost any of them..                                             in  deserts, and in mountains, and in  dens and  caves of the
   The sheep that hear their name are gifts of the Father  to      earth !"
Jesus. And  also the  Father  knew them. He knew them in              Listen ! Let 
everlasting love and determined their individual name.                                 US steal, unaware to  them,  close to them in
                                                                   their blood and persecutions. Be quiet,  very  quiet, and 1
   Oh no, the Good Shepherd does not  cal1 you by the              assure you that your riddle wil1 be solved. Ah, while tears:
name that your parents gave you. He calls you by the name          are streaming down their  hollow  checks, while the  exefu-
that God- gave you.                                                tioner  pauses the downward sweep of the sword, 1 hear them
   That name : the hungry one for God ; the man and woman          in sweet refrain: "But we see Jesus! Crowned  with glory
and child that stammers in the yearning of his heart: When         and  honor !" Heb. 2.
shall 1 appear before God ? That name: the laboring one and           There is your answer. He is crowned Lord of lords and
heavy laden: their sins are such a load, too heavy to bear.        King of kings.  Al1 things are in His hand. Things in heaven,
And they hie themselves to the Cross. of the Shepherd. The:        things  on earth and things in hell. They al1 are His servants.
believing  ones and  the meek, the poor in spirit and the          Also the stake and bonds and the suffering of His sheep. It
sorrowing  ones, those that have no spiritual money to buy         is but His leadership. It is the negative  pasture for the
heavenly bread and wine: they are al1 bidden come, come to         sheep. The sheep have heard His  voice and they follow
the Saviour.  How wonderful!                                       Him. They have heard His commentary of the  way  to:
   And when they rest in the bosom of the Shepherd, when           .heaven  : "that we must through much tribulation  enter into
they could not any more go for weariness, and He gathered          the Kingdom of God." Acts 1422b.
them in His arms, they told Him : "It is Thou, oh Shepherd,           And if you are .interested  to know .the deeper reason we
that hath made  US, and not we  ourselves-;  we are Thy people,    are told that  al1  -this  .suffering  burns the dross from the
and the sheep.of Thy pasture  !" Ps. 100.                          pure gold of  the  nature of the sheep. The character of the
   His  Father gave the name in  al1 eternity : the name.          sheep is  also foreknown and aforedetermined. We must
as the revelation of their essence ; His  Father  gave these       become as sweet and as fair and lovely as  the Good
named sheep to His Son, the Shepherd, the Good ; and He            Shepherd. For that reason al1 the impure elements must be
softly and tenderly is calling to-day, calling to-day !            burned  out of US. We are treated like gold which in its im-
                                                                   pure  state is  tast into the  crucible.  And the fire burns. But
   And they know Him  also.  When  they hear His soft              presently the glistening'  and glittering gold is found at the
and tender voice on a thousand hills, in the ravines and on        bottom of the cup. We must be chastened for our profit. We
the mountaintops, they listen raptly and answer Him. They          must be pressed sore so that we obtain ,muCh of God's holi-
recognize His  voice, they long for His words of truth and         ness. It is  pasture for the sheep.
consolation, they are led by Him along the  very quiet waters,        And in the midst of this suffering He is stil1 near them.
they lie down in green pastures. And they rest in His bosom.       He whispers to them in His Word. Beautiful words of
Happy, a thousand times happy are the sheep of Christ.             Jesus! How they  charm  even in prison. And while the
   And He  cares  for them. He  knows their  needs and 1           furrows of wicked stripes  show red of your blood, you wil1
am blest. For from hour to hour  .He  feeds and nourishes          sing Psalms with Paul and trust with  Stephen,  the martyr.
and cherisles His own sheep.  They  never go alone in the         It is the green pasture  of the Good Shepherd.
wildemess of this awful world. His protecting care and His             And not for long shall you suffer. There is an end. The
guiding love are their safety.                                     Lord has heard the  -cry of His sheep : Return, Oh Lord,
   And He leads the way.                                           how long and it  repent  Thee because of Thy servants. He
    But, oh horror, there is  the wolf. NO fear, never fear,       comes quickly.
for the Shepherd gives His life for His sheep. And  when               And then for the last  time through the  valley  of  the
we would pity the sheep that are bereft of their protecting        shadow of death. But even there is the Good Shepherd.
shepherd, we must not, for the laying down of His life is          He has made the valley  bright with His Cross. The beams


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                                                                                                     459
                                                                 .z-          .  .  :              i. _
of eternal  mercy   shall  lighten  the dreadful  valley.  Hence,            -.
death has no  ,sting for  the- sheep. They sing  when the                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
Doctor says in whispers low : He is failing ! They sing, for                  Semi-monthly,  except   monthly dwing  `June,   July and  August
through the mists of their fever they hear the first strains of                 Published  by  the  F~FORMED   FREE  PUBLISHING  ASSOCIATION
heavenly singing. They sing, for they see the guard of honor                  P. 0. Box 881, Maclison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
that Jesus sends. "Ancl it came to pass, that the beggar died,                                                Editor  - REV. HERMIAN  HOEKSEMA
and was carried by  the angels . . ." Yes, he was carried to                  Communications relative to  contents  should be addressed to
                                                                                                    Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
the eternal, heavenly pasture,   where the fountains are ever                                                              Grand Rapids 7,  Mich.
flowing.                                                                      Al1 matters `reiative  EO subscriptions should  be addiessed'  to Mr.
        Therefore we would plead with you not to detain US, for               G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore  St;, S. E.,  .Grand  Rapids  .7,  Mich.
we must move onward. We have  once heard the  voice of                        Announcements and Obituaries must be  mailed  to the above
                                                                              address  and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for  each   notice.
the Shepherd say :  Come unto Me, My sheep, and I  wil1                       RENEWAL:   Unless a  definite request for  discontinuance  is  re-
give you rest.  AndU   once hearing the beautiful words of                    ceived it is assumed that the subscriber  wishes  the subscription
Jesus, we are enchanted, captivated by this silvery speech of                 to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
the Christ. We have once tasted that the Lord is good and                                                       Subscription  price: $5.00 per year
gracieus,  and now we long for the eternal diet of rest and                   Entered  as  Second   Class  matter  at  brand  Rap&, Michigan
peace with God.                                                                                                                                                                                                   -
        Yes,. the most horrible occupation is to be a false shepherd
of Israel; "to whom is reserved the blackness  of darkness  for                                                                 C O N T E N T S
ever."                                                                     MEDITATION  -  '
        But, methinks, the most .beautiful occupation is to be an                   The Good Shepherd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..,_..__..............,.......  457
undershepherd of Jesus. Then we  may take the beautiful                                            Rev. G. Vos
words of Jesus and  tel1 them to the sheep. And they and                   EDITOIUALS  -
we  may then feast on the  -banquet  of words. They are                                  The Synod of 1958 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._..._.__...................... 460
dainties "of fat things, a feast of  wines on the lees, of fat                           The Declaration of Principles.  . . . . . . .  .._  _._......_.  461
things  full of marrow, of wines on the lees  wel1 refined."                                       Rev. H.  Hoeksema
        And we  may then grow together, the sheep and the                  OIJR  DOCTRINE  -
undershepherd, sheep one and all, for the  pasture  of the                               The Book of Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ._.j . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
Good Shepherd is surpassing in deliciousness.                                                      Rev. H.  Hoeksema
        Oh, Good Shepherd ! Cal1 US, feedus, guard US and save             SPECIAL ARTICLE -
                                                                                    Transcript of Address and Question Hour . . . .._.___.__.._._.....  j .___. 464
LIS to the uttermost !                                             G.V.                            Rev. H.  Hoeksema

                                       P                                   FROM  HOLY   WRIT -
                    Notice  for Classis West                                        Exposition of Matthew 24 and 25 (5) .  ..______.___..____..............  466
                                                                                                   Rev. G. Lubbers
        Classis West of the Protestant Reformed  Churches   wil1
meet, the Lord-willing, in Oak Lawn, Illinois, Wednesday,                  IN HIS FEL -
September 17, 1958. The consistories are reminded of the                            Covenant Joy ____....................... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .._... . ...1...468
                                                                                                  Rev.  J. A. Heys
rule that al1 matters for the classica1 agendum must be.in  the
hands of the stated  clerk not later than thirty days before               CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH  -
the meeting of Classis.                                                             The Church  and  the  Sacraments   :..................................,..  470
        Anyone  needing  lodging is requested to  write Rev.  G.                                   Rev. H.  Veldman
Vanden  .Berg,  9402 South 53rd Court, Oak Lawn, Illinois.                 THE  -VOICE  OF  OUR  I?ATHFXS  -
                                 Rev. H.  Veldman,  Stated Clerk.                   The Canons of Dordrecht  ._..____   ______.._:  .__._____._...,.............,...,..  472
                                                                                                  Rev. H. C.  Hoeksema

                    Consktories,  Attention!                               FEATURE ~TICLE -
                                                                                    Jesus' Baptism by John: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
        By mid-September the following catechism  ,books wil1 be                                  Rev. R.  Veldman
available for use in our churches: Bible Stories For  .Begin-
ners  (Boek,  One), Old Testament History For Juniors, and                 ALL  AISOUND  US  -
                                                                                    Mistaken Notions on Marriage 478
Old Testament History For Seniors. For  copies- of these                            Synod Condemns Televison... . .                                                                                    .,.            ,478
books contact the Rev. G.  Vanden Berg, 9402 South 53rd                                           Rev. M. Schipper
Court, Oak Lawn, Illinois. The  price of the books is  3Oc                 CONTRIB~TIONS -
each. Please send the price of the books with your order.                           Missionary Notes __.                                          __.              .__.              ..: .                           ..480
                                The  Catechism  Book Committee,                                   Rev. G.  Lubbers
                                            J. A. Heys,  Secretary.
  z-                                                                                                                                                                                                              .  -

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

                                                                          Church might  recognize the Protestant Reformed Churches
                    E  B  I  ---T 0 R  I A L S                        ll as Reformed. By implication they do this already.
                                                                              1 would suggest that at our next Synod it be decided that
I                                                                         we invite the Christian  .Reformed Synod to  such a con-
                         The Synod of 1958                                ference as was suggested by them. Then we  can, at least,
         There  -is one  more item of  importante  in  regard  to tha     discuss   matters, present our  side of the case, and publish
     Synod of 1958 to which we must  cal1 your attention. It              the results of such a conference so that al1 our churches may'
     concerns a matter of correspondence with the Christian Re-know what was said and done.
     formed  Church.                                                         The Christian Reformed Synod  placed, from the outset,
         The Synod had  received  another letter  from the Synod          three restrictions on  such a conference. With two of these
     of the Christian Reformed Church in  regard  to fraternal            we can agree at once. They are that such a conference must
     relationship with them. To this the Synod decided to reply           proceed  from a  common Reformed basis, and that the purpose
     as follows :                                                         should be a fuller expression of our oneness in Christ.
         "The Synod of the Christian Reformed Church.                        The  rst of these restrictions,  however,  1 do not  quite
         "Dr. R. J.  Danhof,  Stated Clerk.                               understand. It is that  such a conference must not have for
         "Dear  Brethren :                                                its purpose  "polemical   rehearsals of past history." Now, it
         "In answer to your letter  directed   to  US as of July 24,      is true, of course, that the term "polemical"  has a somewhat
     1957, we once more wish to inform you of our deepest sin-            harsh sound. It suggests a battle,  a fight. But suppose that,
     cerity expressed in the letter to you, dated June  10, 1957,         instead of using the term polemical, we speak of "fraternal
     in which we ask you to rehearse with  US the history  0              rehearsals of past history." . This  could not possibly be  ob-
     1924-25.                                                             jectionable. And 1 cannot see how such fraternal discussions
         "We fee1 deeply grieved with the sentiments expressed            of past history could possibly be avoided in such a proposed
     under B, 2 where  you tel1 US, `The tone and contents  of the        conference. Remember  :
     letter are not  such as give  promise  of fruitful discussion,'          1. In 1924 the Christian Reformed Church tast US out on
     whereas you present to  US no grounds whatever for this              the basis of  the  fact that, if we did not agree  with the
     conclusion.                                                          notorious  "Three  Points," we were un-Reformed: We did
        "We once more wish to impress  upon you our willingness           not, of our own will, leave the Christian Reformed Church.
     to discuss with you at any time the differences that separated       .In  fact, at the  timk, we had no intention to leave. Besides,
     US these many years. '                                               we  had-the perfect  &ght to  remain,  for the Synod of 1924,
        YMoreover  we fee1 it is your bounden duty to accede to)          although the commit&e of pre-advice  in the matter of "com-
     our request, even though the two churches may not again be           man  grace" had advised discipline if we should refuse to
     united into one, that nevertheless brotherly relations  may'         sign the "Three Points," did not adopt that part of the
     again be restored between  US.                                       report and, therefore, evidently did not favor discipline.
        "With Christian greetings,                                        Nevertheless, what the Synod refused to do, the two classes,
                        The Synod of the Prot. Ref. Churches,             Grand Rapids East and West, in a very  illegal manner, ac-
                              Rev. G.  VafidenBerg,  Stated Clerk.       . complished.  The three pastors, Rev. H.  Danhof,  Rev. G.
        From  l%e  Rnnnev  of August 1, 1958, we quote the                M. Oihoff  and the undersigned, with their consistories and
     following :                                                          congregations, were expelled from the Christian Reformed
        "It was decided  that Synod reply to a  cominunication            Church. And this is the origin of the Protestant Reformed
     from the Protestant Reformed  Church.of   America  (Rev. H.          Churches.
     Hoeksema group) as follows :                                            2. Now,  the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church,
        `Dear  brethren: We are in  receipt  of your letter dated         in the second point of its restrictions on the discussions in
     June 12, 1958, in which you reaffirm your interest in inter-         such a proposed conference, mentions that  there must be a
     denominational  discussion. Although your rejection of  om-          common Reformed basis. With this, of course, we  agree.
     sincere invitation to om- Centennial Synod has erected a bar-        But  how is this possible? Did not the Christian Reformed
     rier to  such discussion we wish you to know  that we are            Church in 1924-25 tast US out because we were un-Reformed ?
     always willing, upon your invitation,  to enter into such con-       Is it not then, established  from the outset  that  there is no
     ference.  However, we judge that such discussions must nat           common Reformed basis, according to  1924-25?  Hence,
     be polemical rehearsals of past history, should recognize a         must not this common  Reformed basis be discussed  at the very
     common Reformd basis, and should point to a  fuller   ex-           beginning of the conference  ?
     pression of our oneness in Christ.                                      3. It seems to me, therefore, that especially two questi,ons
                              `Yours in Christ,                           must be discussed  at such a pruposed conference, and they
                              `The Synod of the Chr. Ref. Church.' "      cannot possibly be avoided. The first 1 intentionally wil1 put
        Well, it seems to me that this decision presents, at,least       .in this way :  Can anyone that  denies the "Three Points" of
     a glimmer of hope that, ultimately, the Christian Reformed           1924, as we certainly do, be soundly Reformed? If, in the


                                           T H E   STA.NDARD  B E A R E R                                                          461

conference, this question is answered in the negative by the            And  al1 the rest of this  chapter  of  `fhe  CFons  certainly
Christian  Refrmed   members  of the conference, the matter        emphasizes that the application of  the  promiseof God and of
is settled: no common basis can be found. Jf, however,  they        salvition  is by sovereign grace alone.
answer the question in the positive, one more question must             Thus, for  instance  already  in art. 6: "What therefore
be answered. It is this: Did +e Christian Reformed Church           neither the light  of%t<irc!;::nor
                                                                                             _.-,           the law could do, that God
do right or did it commit a serious error,  when they  tast         performs by the operation of his  Holy Spirit through the
out of their fellowship good Reformed men and their  con-           word or ministry of reconciliation; which is the glad tidings
gregations.                                                         concerning the Messiah, by  means wliereof it hath pleased
   These questions must be answered.              ~,                God to save such as believe, as wel1 under the Old, as under
   And 1 would  propose  that  -our  next Synod send an  in-        the New Testament."
vitation to the Christian Reformed  Syn~.d for a conference             And  .again,  after the Canons have emphasized that the
for the purpose of  having  a fraternal (not polemical)  dis-       unbelief of those that are lost and reject the salvation of God
cussion  on these questions.                              H.H.      is not the fault of the gospel nor of Christ presented  in the
                                                                    gospel, but that it lies in  themselves,  Article 9 continues
               The Decl~ration  of Principles                       to  teach  that, nevertheless,  the  fact that others  receive  the
                                                                    gospel must and- cannot be ascribed to themselves or to th?
   Canons 111, IV treat of the corruption of man and of his         exereiSe  of their free will, but to God alone:  %ut  that others.
conversion to God.                                                  who are called by the gospel, obey the  call, and are converted,
   The frst five of these articles do not directly concern US      is  nat to be ascribed to the proper exercise of free will,
here, since we are particularly speaking of the proniise of God.    whereby  -ene  -distinguishes  himself above others, equally
The first three of these articles deal with the fa11 and total      furnished with grace sufficient  for faith and conversions, as
depravity of man which is hereditary.  Al1 men are conceived        the proud heresy of Pelagius maintains, hut it must be wholly
in sin, are totally depraved,  dead in sin and in bondage           ascribed to God, who as he has chosen  his own from eternity
thereto, `land without the regenerating  grace of the  Holy         in Christ, so he confers upon them faith and repentance res-
Spirit, they are neither able nor willing to return to God, to      cues them from the power of darkness, and translates thern
reform  the depravity of their nature,  nor dispose themselves.     into the kingdom  of his Qwn Son, that they may show forth
to reformation." Art. 3.                                            the praises of him, who hath called them out of darkness into
   The fourth article is of interest to US, because the Chris-      his:marvellous  light ; and may glory not in themsel+es,  but in
tian Reformed  Synod,  in 1924, quoted  t in  proof of their       the  L8rd  accordirig  to the testimony of the apostles in various
contention that the natura1 man, by so-called common  grace,        places."  Art. 10.
is able to do good in the sight of God. The trouble is that             It is very  plain from this that God realizes  His, promise
they, no doubt intentionally, failed to quote the entire article    only in those whom He wil1 save, that is, in those whom He
and by this failure distorted and corrupted  the whole article.     has  chosen  from before the foundation of the world. It follows.
In the beginning of this article, the Canons speak of the           that, since God cannot lie, the promise  is not for al1 hut for
glimmerings of natura1 light,  "whereby  he  retains  some          the elect alone. The presentafiion  of the gospel may and does
knowledge  of God, of natura1 things, and of the differente         come to al1 that hear, but the promise itself is not for all, hut
between good and evil, and discovers some  regard  for virtue,      for the  elect alone.
good order in society, and for  maintaining  an orderly.  ex-           That this is true is  also evident from He.  6:13-18:  "For
ternal deportment."                                                 when God made promise  to Abraham, because he could swear
   Thus far the Synod quoted the article.                           by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing 1
   But the Canons.here  continue : "But so far is this light  of    wil1 bless thee, and multiplying 1 wil1 multiply thee. And so,
nature sufficient  to bring him to a saving knowledge of God,       after  he had patiently  endured he obtained the promise.  For
and to true conversion, that he is incapable  of using it aright    meri verily swear  by the greater : and an oath for confirma-
even in things natura1 and civil. Nay further, this light such      tion is to them an end of  al1 strife. Wherein God, willing
as it is, man in various ways renders wholly polluted, and          more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise  the im-
holds it in unrighteousness, by doing which he becomes in-          mutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by
excusable before God."
   By this last part of the article, the Canons, reveal  very       two immutable  things, in which it was impossible for God to
                                                                    lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for
plainly that they niust have nothing of the good which natura1
man can do by "common grace."                                       refuge to lay hold on the hope set before -LIS."
   But this is passing.                                                 Such is the promise  of God.         `6
We are, at present, dealing, not with the  second, but                  It is an oath of the Most High.
rather with the "First Point" of so-called common  grace,               It is an oath to the heirs of the promise.
with the "Declaration  of Principles," and with the sovereign,          It is an  .oath for  th&e that are  known in the immutable
unconditional promise  of God, which those that recently cle-       counsel of God, that is, therefore, for the elect.
parted  from our churches rejected.                                     It is  absliitely  unconditional.  `.                   H.H.


462                                           T H E   STA.NDAR.D::  BEARER

11                                                                     as  being  offered to the throne of God. As the seven angels
             OUR.DOCTRINE                                          il that stand before God are stil1 reverently waiting, another
                                                                       angel  comes with a golden censer  and stoops over the altar
                                                                       that is before the throne of God, in order to offer the intense
              THE BOOK  OF REVELATION                                  which he receives  with the prayers of the saints to the Most
                                                                       High. As he does so, the sweet vapor  rises  to Him  that
                          PART TWO                                     sitteth  upon the throne, and evidently is well-pleasing and
                           CIIAPTER   IV                               acceptable  to Him.  Such is the presentation  of the text. The
                                                                       cluestionis  oft& asked whether the altar  that is tientioned  in
                         Revelation 8 :l-6                             the text is the altar of intense,  that stood in the holy place,
          The Presedation  of the  Prayers of the Saints               or the altar of burnt offering as it stood in the outer court.
                                                                       According to some, it is even interpreted as being the ark
      . . The saints whose blood was shed pray for  that  par-         of. the covenant, that stood before Jehovah in the most holy
ticular form of judgment that is connected so  close@                  place. Moreover, the suggestion is even made that the angel
with the shedding of their own blood. But  al1 the saints              that comes with the intense  is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself,
nevertheless through the Spirit of  `Christ that is in                 since He alone makes our prayers well-pleasing in the sight
them,   .waiting  and longing for the glory of God and the             of God Almighty. It is our opinion,  however,  that  al1 these
perfect fellowship of His covenant through the coming and              detailed explanations are unnecessary, and raised questions
completion  of the kingdom  of Chris!, pray for judgment, that         that cannot possibly be answered. It really makes no differ-'
God may be vindicated and the everlasting economy  of glory            ence whether the altar  here is the altar of intense  or of burnt
may be established.                                                    offering. As far as the fire is concerned that is mentioned  in
       That this is actually the correct view of the matter is         the text, it seems to have been the altar of the burnt offering.
alSo  clear  from the  fa& that the text speaks of the prayers         And as far as the intense  is mentioned, it seems to refer to
of  nll the saints:  nat of the prayers of a few, but of the           the altar of intense:  And as far as it stood in the presence of
prayers of all.  This  implies  al1 the saints in the strict sense     God, it may have been the ark of the covenant. But al1 these
of the word.' It implies, in the first place, the saints of al1        questions are immaterial to the explanation of the passage.
ages, the saints that have ever appeared in the history of the         The essential idea is that prayers are upon the altar before
world. This prayer of the saints is heard at  any  time. We            God, and that intense  is added to the prayers, thus symbol-
mus't not make the  mistake  of imagining that  there  is one          izing that the prayers now rise to God Almighty. The same
definite period in history in which these prayers of the saints        applies to the  question  concerning the angel that is  men-
rise. For then they could nat be the' prayers of al1 the Saints.       tioned in the text. The question as to  who is this angel is
And yet  this is emphatically stated. Hence,  also- this scene         altogether irrelevant to the essential idea. That it was not
of  th& seventh seal, as  al1 the other seals, evidently covers the    Christ Himself would seem to be implied in the  fact that
entire period of this dispensation. It refers to  al1 the saints       he receives  the irense:  it is given to him. At any rate, what
of al1 lands and from among al1 nations of the eayth.  It im-          is revealed here is simply this : in heaven the prayers of al1
plies the saints that have  already  entered  .into glory ever-        the saints are made  acceptable  unto God, so  that they rise
lasting.  Btit, in the  second place, this word  al1  indicates        before Him and are well-pleasing in His sight, even as the
that we may not think here of- the particular prayer of the            vapor of the intense  is sweet and pleasing in His nostrils.
individual saints, but exactly of those prayers which they. al1           -This is the symbolism. And what is the reality  cor-
have in common. As saints they have common  needs and                  responding to this ? We must remember that the Lamb has
common desires. As saints, under the control of the Spirit of          received  the book with the seven seals. And the Lamb opens
Christ, they utter but one great prayer, to Which al1 the rest         that book: seal after seal is broken by Him. This book with
of their life and their prayer is  subservient  : "Hallowed be         its seals represents, as we have seen, the decree  of God Al-
Thy name. Thy  kingdom   come. Thy  wil1 be done on earth              mighty as a living force,. completing the  kingdom  He has
as it is in heaven." Al1 the saints, as members of the body of         given to Christ. And therefore, as Christ opens seal  after
Christ, pray for the coming and the perfecting of that king-           seal, He thereby completes and  perfects  the  kingdom  of
dom of Christ. And it is that prayer that is here presented            heaven. Thus. it was with the other seals, as we have seen
to the Almighty. Thaf prayer is always heard from the lips             before.  Al1 these seals became  forces, living  forces in the
of the saints. But that prayer,  under  the influence of the           history of the world which would ultimately lead to the
Spirit of Christ, wil1 grow more fervent and more powerful             perfecting of the  kingdom  of Christ. Thus Christ uses the
as the  time draws near  when the Lord shall  come, until it           gospel. Thus He. employs  war. Thus He uses the  social
really becomes  the prayer of the longing quoted at the close          contrast in the world. Thus He employs the very power of
of the Book of Revelation: "Come,  Lord Jesus, yea,  come              death. Thus He  energizes  the  outcry of the saints  under
quickly."                                                              the altar. And thus He .cases the shake-up of the physical
       It is those prayers of the saints that are here presented       universe.  To  that enci He  also  sends forth the angels  with'


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 463

 the seven trumpets presently, that constitute the second part        throne. And' the answer that is sent to the earth is the fire
 of this seventh seal. But thus it is  also with the prayers of -of God's wrath, taken from the same altar befre His throne.
 the saints. These prayers are, in the first place, included in       That fire tast upon earth reveals itself in omens of judgment
 the book of God's decree. God Himself has from eternity de-          and destruction. It reveals the presence of the Judge. Voices,
 creed  that  the saints should pray. Before the  kingdom   can       and  thunderings,'  and lightnings, and earthquakes are sym-
 come, their prayers must be full according to the measure  of        bols of judgment. And therefore, the passage means to teach
 that decree. Hence, Christ Himself, as the head of His body,         US that in answer to the prayers of  al1 the saints  for  the
 employs these prayers of the saints as forces to bring the           perfecting of the  kingdom  the judgments of the King are
 kingdom of heaven unto perfection. -Of these prayers He is           sent to the earth. It is through these judgments, it is through
 the author, for we do not pray of ourselves, but through the         great upheavals, - through war and bloodshed and changes
  Spirit of Christ that dwells in  US. Christ therefore prays         in the physical world, - that the everlasting kingdom   wil1
 within  US through His Spirit. He teaches  US, He  causes   US       surely  come. And for that very reason these judgments are
 to pray for the coming of the kingdom.  And thus the prayers         an answer to the prayers of the saints, assuring them: "My
 of these saints rise to God Almighty, crying for the perfec-         kingdom   wil1 surely  come. It is coming now. It  wil1  come
 tion of the kingdom  of heaven. He adds to them the sweet            til1 it al1 shall be completed.  And My name shall receive the
 intense  of His atoning blood. And on the basis of that aton-        honor and the power and the glory and the wisdom forever-
 ing blood He presents them to the Father,  and says : "Father,       m o r e . "
  1 wil1 that these prayers be heard."  When  these prayers are
 full, according to the measure of the decree of God, they wil1          The same answer the saints that prayed in heaven  receive.
 be one great outcry of longing, rising from the body of the          For we  read in the closing sentence of our passage: "And
  Savior : "Thy  kingdom   come, 0 Lord."                             the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared
     Is that prayer answered? It certainly is. It is sad enough       themselves to sound." In what this preparation'  consists the
 that we so  often fail to see the answer of the Almighty to          text does not  tel1  US, and it is of minor  importante.   Suffi-
 His praying.people. But the answer is there. This answer             cient  it is to notice that -they  prepare themselves visjbly, so
 is indicated in the last part of our text. For we read:  "And        that John in  th.e  vision,  and therefore  also the saints in
 the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar,     heaven, could see their preparation. Again, this preparation
 and tast it into the earth : and there were voices,  and thunder-    is an answer to their prayer. When  these angels sound the
 ings, and lightnings, and an earthquake."  The idea evidently        trumpets, they know it, that judgments wil1 come. And along
 is this, that the saints, praying for the kingdom  of God, re-       the way of judgments the kingdom  of God wil1 be perfected.
 ceive a preliminary answer even before the  kingdom  cometh.         And therefore their preparation immediately  after'  their
 That is the entire purpose of this passage, to show                  prayer assures them that their prayers are heard and  ac-
                                                           US that
 our prayers are not lost in space, but that we can see their         cepted by the Most High, and that presently their  inmost
 answer already  here upon earth. Oh, we do not see this if we        desires shall be granted. So is the picture.  +And therefor,
 are blind for these effects  of our prayers. We certainly can-       this is the practica1 lesson of our passage. In the first place,
 not see this if we have never learned to pray as the saints          it teaches US that we shall pot be disturbed about the judg-
 of Christ pray. We do not see this if our prayers stil1 con-         ments of Christ that come upon the world. These judgments
 centrate  around ourselves and around our earthly and carnal         are  upon earth nw. And they shall increase. They must
 needs, and if we have identified ourselves with the present          increase. For in no other way can the kingdom  of God come.
 world. Then  indeed we pray wrong, and we understand                 Sin and unrighteousness  wil1 develop, must develop. And
 wrong, and we judge the present history of the world in a            this sin and unrighteousness must be destroyed. And  the
 wrong  light,  and we cannot see the fulfillment of our prayers.     glory of Christ must be revealed and, vindicated, and can be
 Of course not! If Israel had  identified  itself with Egypt, do      vindicated only by the judgments  upon the world. Be not
 you think that it would have seen an answer to its prayer in         disturbed, therefore, and by no means implore God that He
 the plagues that were sent upon the land ? 1 tel1 you : nay,         may stop bringing  l%is  kingdom  in the way of judgments.
 but it would have prayed the Lord that these judgments               And if you should fee1 that your prayers .are not answered,
 might be taken away. It would not have understood that the           then know that there is something wrong with your conscious
 fire had been taken from the altar  in heaven and tast upon          life. The prayers of  al1 the saints are certainly answered.
 the land because their prayers for deliverance ,had risen  to        And the `beginning of their fulfillment you may see in the
 the Lord Sabbaoth. And the same is stil1 true, It is because         judgments.  of  Ch,rist  `upon earth. Bring therefore your
 we identify ourselves with the world that we do not  rec-            prayers in harmony with the revealed wil1 of your God. And
 ognize the answer to the prayers of  al1 the saints, and do          spiritually separating yourselves from  the world, let your
 not see that God is bringing the kingdom  according to His           prayers be in the true sense of the word: "Hallowed be Thy
 promise. And yet, so it is. The saints pray for the coming           name. Thy kingdom  come. Thy wil1 be done on earth as it is
of the  kingdom.  And these prayers are presented as forces           in heaven."
  with sweet-smelling  intense  to God  Who sitteth  upon the                                                                    H.H.


                                                                     .
     464                                         T H E   STAND.ARD:zBEARER

                 TRANSCRIPT OF  ADDRESS  AND                              to give account of `myself, even though I'm not here for that
                       QUESTION HOUR                                      purpose. This meeting is purely meant to be an informative
                                                                          meeting. 1 want to give you information. And the informa-
      held under the Auspices of the Committee for Protestant
                 Reformed  Action,  Hull, Iowa,  July, 1954               tion wil1 have to be given in the way of facts, in the way of
                                                                          the  plain and  clear  truth. 1 have nothing  to hide, nothing
                        Speaker : Rev. H. Hoeksema                        whatsoever. And 1 wil1 present the case as it developed.
                                                                             And then 1 wish to say, in the first place, that 1 wil1 enter
     Beloved Brethren and Sisters :                                       in, after a brief introduction concerning the situation in my
            In many, many ways and for many reasons 1 am very glad        uwn church, with which you are not acquainted, of course, -
     that 1  may  address  you tonight. In the first place, because       1 want to enter in, in the first place, into the doctrinal issue.
     it is my conviction that the history we are  making,  and            After  ah, that is of  chief   importante  to you and to me. If
     especially the history -we have made in the First Protestant         there is no doctrinal issue, w could nat possibly have separ-
     Rformed Church of- Grand Rapids, is in  many  ways similar          ated as.we did in the First Church. But there is a doctrinal
     to the history we made in 1924. 1 think It was in this salie         issue. And that doctrinal issue I'm going to make plain  to
     spot, if I'm not mistaken, -at least in the Community Hall           you.
     of HUN--  tliat in March, 1925 1 explained to the people in             In the second  place. I'm going to enter into the fact, the
     Hul1 and in Sioux County, in the afternoon and in the eve-           question, of the church politica1 procedure. And I'm going
     ning,-day  after day, the differente.  that separated US from the    to  tel1 you exactly what happened in that respect.
     Christian Reformed Churches. 1 explained in detail at that              First of  ah, then, let me try to acquaint you with my
     time the well-known  Three Points that were adopted by the           church in Fuller  Avenue.  You understand, of course,  that a
     Christian Reformed Churches in Kalamazoa in 1924. 1 ex-              thing like this, that causes  separation in a congregation, does
     plained and emphasized that in genera1 there is no common            not  come as a thunderclap out of a clear sky. Itlwas not sol
     grace, and that particularly the preaching of the gospel  is         in  Fuller  Avenue.  Certainly; you  can understand that  a
     not grace to everyone that hears the gospel, but is grace only       serious thing as a split in a congregation, which is liable to
     for the  elect.  .On that basis the church in  Hull, and  af,ter-. extend in the  churches,  is not coming  al1 of a  sudden, and
     wards the other churches  in Sioux County were organized;            did not come of a sudden in. the church which 1 represent.
     and  .still later, the church in.  Edgerton,  and the church in      There's a long history even in  Fuller Avenue. 1 believe 1
     Manhattan was established. On that basis, and on no other            read in  Concor&  that it is too bad that what belongs  to-
     basis. It is my conviction, as 1 hope to show tonight, that by       gether has been torn asunder. That is not true. What  be-
     this time, 27 or 28 years later, we have again departed from,        longs together has remained together. And  what does not
     that basis. 1 do not enter in tonight into the controversy  that     belang  with US has torn itself from US, as it should be. That
     has been rging in our churches about the question of condi-         is the truth. And  that is not  only a question of one or two
     tions. That is not necessary, and it would certainly tempt me        statements that were proclaimed from the  pulpit. But that
     from the course which 1 intend  to. follow. 1 want you  to.          is the question of the history of our congregation in the
     know that 1 am not here to  convert anyone. 1 do not  con-           last,  - 0, - the last 6, 7, 3 years. The thing developed. It
     vert people. I'm not here to represent  any  faction in our          gradually became more and more evident that there were in
     churches. There is no such thing as a Hoeksema-faction in.           our midst that were not Protestant Reformed at heart and
     our churches. ,I represent, - and you may controvert  me, if         in their confession. It started to manifest itself very plainly
     you wish, - 1 represent the  cause of the Protestant  Re-            and very clearly when we finally  determined to establish om-
     formed truth: the. same as' 1 represented in 1924, and  .nof         own Protestant Reformed Christian School. 1 always agitated,
     other cause.                                                         1 always recommended to my people from the very beginning
            In the second place, 1 want to say a word of introduction     of the history of 1924 that we should have a school of our
     as  `to the purpose of  my speech. You must not  expect  any         own. Because if our children were instructed in the schools
     oratory from me tonight. Al1 1 want to do is present to you,         of the Christian Reformed Churches, we could never expect
     the mkre facts. I'm not even going to try to color the facts.        them to remain Prot. Ref. But for a long time there was no
     1 .wish to prsent to, you the truth of the whole  controversy       action. But  when that  action was finally started, -maybe
,in  our Protestant Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, and                  some 10 years ago, - the opposition to that movement be-
     nothing  more than that trmh. If, after presenting that truth,       came  very manifest. There were  many that opposed that
     you are  nat quite convinced, you  can present your questions  ;     movement with  al1 that was in them. They hated the very
     and 1'11 try to answer them to the best of my ability.,  1 think     idea of establishing a Protestant Reformed Christian School.
     that is as fair as anybody  can possibly  expect.         "'         And they did nt go along. That that is true may be evident
.           In the third place, 1 want to say that I'm  nat here to       to you from the fact that even now, when we have established
     talk about personalities. 1  wil1 avoid  al1 personalities, in       a school of om- own, have established 9 grades of lower
     which 1 am not interested. If  any of  yo",  however,  want          education, there are in al1 Grand Rapids, drawing from tha
     to ask personal questions that concern me, 1 am very glad            four churches in Grand Rapids, - representing, 1 think, some


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  465

650 families, - only 300 children that attend om school, no         say, could  irot possibly condone and, support that heresy  and
more. That,  F think, is a bad sign. 0, 1 know, that Prot-          let the Rev. De Wolf continue to preach  as he did. 1'11 make
estant Reformed schools cannot easily be established every-         that  plain presently. But it is not  .even true  that  it was a
where. But wherever it is established, and wherever it  can         question of two statements, and nothing else. 1 have here an
be established, 1 think it's a  very  evil sign that Prot. Ref.     official document which 1 presented to our Consistory, and
people  oppose that movement, and refuse to send their              which later went to the Classis, in which 1 relate the history
children. Now we have separated, most  al1 of our people that       of the case. 1 want to read that to you, and explain as much
meet Sundays in the Christian High School of Grand Rapids           as is necessary. 1 have here "A brief history of the case in
are in favor of that school. That is evident- from the  fact        re the sermons preached by the Rev. H. De Wolf in April,
that from our people alone we collected'for the Adams Street        1,951, and in September, 1952. The sermons preached.  The
Chr. School, our own school, just as much in one collection         sermon of April 15, 1951. On this date the Rev. De Wolf
as otherwise we  collected  in the  whole congregation together.    preached a sermon which 1 did not hear personally." 1 want
That's one thing. That, of course, filled me not only with          to emphasize that : 1 did not hear that sermon. They say
grief, but  also with apprehension.                                 that this is a  Hoeksema.case.  It's not true at all. This  was.
    The second evidente  that things were not as they should        not a  Hoeksema case  from. the  very beginning, not at  all.
be was manifest  when the Declaration of Principles was             1 didn't even start the case. It. was more than a year after-
adopted. That Declaration of Principles, which is a  tho-           wards that 1  entered  into the case  ; not before. You must
roughly Protestant Reformed document, and which should              remember that personally 1 am often not present at my own
have been adopted at the beginning of our history, - that           consistory meetings. If the Consistory were here, ,they would
Declaration of Principles was the second offense, the second        know that. My doctor advises me, because of my condition,
occasion that many took offense in my own congregation.             and because of my sickness 6 years ago, the doctor dvises
    There are other signs. Our English Men's Society a year         me to avoid excitement as much as possible. And because of
ago was in the habit  of asking  after-recess  speakers from the    that, and also because the consistory meetings always took
Christian Reformed Church : Calvin College professors, De           place on Monday evening, and at 8 o'clock the next morning,
Vries,  Monsma,  Stob, Van Til, and others, were preferred          or 9 o'clock,  1 have school, theological school, 1 avoided the
above and to our own Protestant Reformed ministers. ,And            consistory meetings as much as possible. In the second place
they  spoke for them on  al1 kinds of  subjects.  Some of our       1 say then: 1 did not hear that sermon. 1 could have`heard it,
ladies attend the Reformed Bible Institute, a Christian  Re-        because 1 have a loudspeaker in my own home connected
formed institution of  very dubious character. And there            with the-church,  and 1 could easily have checked  up on that
they enjoyed themselves  very   much,  and they  learned,  as       sermon, but 1 did not. But immediately  after  the sermon
they say, to witness for Christ. Al1 these things developed in      several people called  me up, and said, "What's' the trouble
om congregation.                                                    with the Rev. De Wolf tonight? He was certainly not
    And then, the sermons of the Rev. De Wolf, to which             Protestant Reformed." They called me up. 1 told them:  "1
protests were lodged, was the next objection, and the next          did not hear the sermon, and you better go and visit the
item, and the next stage of development in the history. 1           Rev. De Wolf." 1 don't. know what they did. But then,  the
can tel1 you now we have separated, - or rather, now they           Consistory  received   protests on that sermon in April, 1951.
have separated from US, - and we meet in a separate build-          And there were.several  protests. 1 wil1 not mention  the name
ing,  al1 our people are glad. With  ene  accord,  with one         of the protestants at that time, but there were several. And
mind, with one heart^and soul, they join in worship as they         these protests, -let me first of  al1 say this : 1 did not hear,
never did before. That is true of myself. 1 was  very glad          1 say, the sermon personally ; but at which according to the
when finally we had gone apart. 1 could not live anymore in         protests  received  by the consistory, the Rev. De Wolf spoke
that atmosphere, in that atmosphere of corruption that char-        QS fellows  : "God promises everyone of you that, if you be-
acterized  om- First Protestant Reformed Church. That was           lieve, you shall be saved." 1 quote more: "You, have nothing
true of  the Rev.  Hanko,  who was  very glad and relieved          to do with  election  and reprobation. Your responsibility is
when finally we worshipped in a  place by ourselves. That           to believe. If you  wil1 believe, you  shall  be  saved."  This,
was  truc of our  whole consistory, and that was true of  al1       according to one protest. According to another, he said.
our people. Brethren and sisters, 1 assure you we did not           "Election  and reprobation have nothing  to. do  wit- the
belong together anymore. And we  wil1 not  join together            gospel." Listen : the Rev. De Wolf denied having  made these
again, unless the Lord works miracles and gives to those            statements. There is no record of it. We usually have
people repentance. That is the fact.                                records of sermons, but there was no record of this sermon.
   Now about the sermons,  it has been said more than once          Nevertheless,  there  were two testimonies which agreed at
that the whole thing in Fuller  Avenue, in my church, was a         least in this, that the Rev. De Wolf belittled  and deprecated
question of a  couple of statements. Even if that were the          the truth of election  and reprobation, which is the basis `and
case, 1 ought to tel1 you that those statements were serioust       the heart of the Reformed truth, and especially of the Prot.
and implied  very  serious heresies. And the Consistory, let me     Ref. truth.


466                                           T H E   STANDAR'D--BEARER

ll                                                                           The passage which we would discuss  in this essay reads,
           FROM  *HOLY  WRIT.                                        ll in part, as follows : "When ye therefore shall see the abomina-
                                                                         tion of desolation, spoken of by Daniel tIze prophet,  stand in
                                                                         the holy place (whoso readeth, let him cmderstarzd).  Thepz 1eB
            Exposition of Matthew 24 and 25                              thenz  which  be in  J,zt.dea flee into the  mo,ztpztaipzs:  Let  Jziw.
                                                                         ~hkh~i.s   in the home-top rzot  cqme down to take  a.ny thing
                                V.                                       mt of  the  heuse. Neither let  hiltz which is  ilz the  feld
                                                                         retzmz back to take bis clothes. . . . . . WCzerefore  if they say
                       (Matthew 24 :15-28)                               unto  you, Behold he is in  the  desert, go not  forth:   behold
                                                                        he is in the secret cha?pzbers:  believe it not. For as the light-
      We should keep in  mind that Jesus is addressing his              ning co%eth o& of the east, avzd shirzeth  even ctnto the west;
disciples in this Chapter and the next; it is an eschatological         so  shall  also the  cowhing   of the Son  of Man  be.  FOV  where-
discourse. Two closely related questions are here answered              soever   the  catmse is, there  wil1  also the eagles be  gathered
by our Lord. They are concerning the fact, that, according               together."
to Jesus' word, not one stone in the temple would  remain
standing and that would not. be thrown down! The  utter                      (We suggest that the attentive reader  read  this passage
                                                                        in its entirety from his own Bible !)
destruction of the temple in the light of the prophetic word !
We do wel1 to give heed unto' it as unto a light which shineth              There are various elements in this prophetic description
in a dark place until the day dawn and the day-star of eternal          which cal1 for -a bit of esplanation.
hope arise in our hearts.                                                   The first matter to which we would  cal1 attention is
                                                                        verse 15. We refer to the sentence: "When  ye therefore see
      We have noticed together that Jesus is answering two
questions. They are : 1. When shall these things be. 2. Wlzcf           the abomination of desolation stand in the  holy place, spoken
wil1 be the sign of Christ's Parousia, and the consummation             of by  Daniel  the  prophet  . .  ." In this sentence we would
of the ages. This last does not refer to two different chrono-          single  out the following.
logica1  times and events in history, but refers to the one point           a. That Jesus here pin-points the  time  when we shall
of history from two different aspects.  The Parousia of Christ          see the  "sign  of the Son of man" and of His Parousia. It
is the consummation of the ages ! Let it be remembered  when            is the indication that the Son of man is about to come with                 ,
reading this prophetic discourse of our Lord.                           the  clouds of heaven. It is a  culminative  point in history !
                                                                        When  ye see the abomination of desolation stand in the
      First of  al1 Jesus emphasized that the history of  the           holy place, then history has really  come to its  cztltizinativt?
world  wil1 be characterized by  much unrest, wars and rumors           .,point in wickedness among men, and the  time has  come
of wars; in diverse places  there shall be earthquakes. False           that God's people' be delivered with the complete and final
prophets  wil1  come with their  panaceas  for the world's ills.        deliverance !
But be not deceived. Al1 these things must come to pass in
order that from the womb of  God?s counsel the First-born                   b.. That Jesus speaks of the  "a.bo&na.&on  of  desolation."
among  many brethren, the Son of Man  may rise to his ap-               It should be noticed that this is a quotation from the
pointed pre-eminente. Hence, the- end is not by and by,                 prophecy of  Daniel.  It is a  rather  free rendering of Dan.
but these are the beginnings of birth-pangs in history.                 9  27, 11  :31 and 12  :ll. In  al1 of these passages  Daniel  is
                                                                        being instructed concerning the holy city and, the temple of
      Secondly we  pointed  out, that in this history there  wil1       God.  Daniel  had  .been searching  out from the prophecy of
be  much  tension,  unrest in the bosom of nomina1 christen-            Jeremiah 25  :11, 12 concerning the  time of the captivity of
dom.  Al1 men  wil1  hate the true church. And this  hatred             Israel and of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the  holy
shall be especially from the false church. However, he tha-t            temple. The angel Gabriel explains the meaning of the Holy
endureth to the end shall be saved.  Worl&history is, at                Spirit concerning the SEVENTY WEEKS, based evidently
bottom, clzztyclz-history.                                              on the 70 years of captivity in Babylon. In this history  al1
      We now  come to the instruction of our Lord in the                is based upon the separation between what is holy and com-
,verses  15-28.  Also here we are dealing with apocalyptic              mon, between what is inside and outside of the holy place.
(prophetic) revelation and not with a description simply                It is particularly abominable to have idols and idolatry in
of  historie  facts, foretold in chronological order!  It. is  wel1     the temple. As `long as idolatry is outside of the temple
to allow this to sink deep down into our hearts. This is not            and God's people  can worship God according to His  or-
a passage to simply satisfy our curiosity, but a word which,            dinances  al1 is yet well.  However, as soon as the idols are
when we  read, we must give heed to, study it, and learn                placed in the temple in the stead of the worship of God,
to read the "times"  in the light of this prophetic word ! Where-       pretending to be the true worship of God, then  al1 is dif-
fore we have the solemn word of Jesus: "Whoso readeth, let              ferent. That is  the  abomination! Nothing offended the
him understand" (verse 15 j and, again : "Behold, 1 have  told          religious sense of God's  people.  as did this. It made the
you  before"  (verse 25).                                               worship of God officially impossible. It was the extermina-


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  467

tion of the true worship of God by way of  abokzation.                These warnings are uttered in  language  derived from the
    c. And  sch abomination (to deprecate as  ominous-               time and place  in which they were ~spoken.  Hence, we reacl
detestation in the highest degree) is therefore in this case the      of Judea, the mountains, etc.  However,  the entire discourse
abomination  of  desobtioa.   Because of its  utter  uncleannessl     of Jesus is couched  in apocalyptic language. Rising from the
such abomination barred  al1 religion. It  corrupted the true         plain of the present historica1 setting in true prophetic style,
worship of God so utterly that it could no longer  be recog-          a universal pattern of things is portrayed. We wil1 need to
nized. It made of the most Holy Place  an utter desolation. It        reflect when we read, and, in faith, read our times in the light
is like the desert. Nothing can thrive and grow there. .Where         of them. (See Matthew 24 :32 ff .)
the songs of praise used to rise to God, there is  utter                  Wherefore, the warnings of Jesus in the  verses  16 through
silence.                                                              20 are not too difficult to understand.
    d. There were  times  in history in the 0. T.  when this              When  Jesus speaks of those in Judea to flee to the moun-
happened. Often such was. in part the case when evil kings            tains, ancl that he which is on the housetop is not to come
were on the throne in Judah. However, always again there              down to take something  out of the house in flight, etc., it
was reformation, that is, a returning to the worship of God           simply means to depict times  when flight is the only- recourse,
as ordained by Him in His  holy temple. In the days of                and  also that flight is utterly hopeless. The church  wil1  be
Daniel there was nothing but ruin. The temple would be                so hemmed in  - that deliverance  can only  come from
rebuilt.  In the days  of Jesus the temple of Herod had been          above. It can only come by a total destruction of al1 wicked-
in the process  of construction for  forty-six years.  However,       ness and wicked men.
there..was  much which was abominable. Think  how Jesus                   It  wil1 be a  time of  utter ruthlessness. The pregnant
twice cleansed the temple symbolically. It was necessary to           woman is in "normal"' ( ?) times  given the utmost considera-
cleanse  the house from being a "den of thieves." Yet,  that          tion!  Such is  also the lot of the sucking  child. But in  times
was  not yet  the abomination of iniquity. The instituted             such as those it wil1 be the culmination of al1 ruthlessness of
service of God could go on. However, in such times as those a universal  scale. The powers that be  wil1 be  turned  loose
of Antiochus Epiphanes then there was abomination in the              against the righteous and there wil1 be no defense.
temple, and also as of that of Herod, when he mingled the
blood of the Galileans with the blood of the altar.                       Yet, then Satan  wil1 have his hour. He  wil1  try at  such`
                                                                      `a time by seduction to tempt God's people to the false christa
    e.  However, Jesus is  looking  toward a later date in this       and the false prophets. Then they wil1 try to have men bow
passage. He has in mind that time immediately before His              before the abomination of desolation. The people of God  wil1
return in His Parousia,  when the Man of Sin  wil1 be  re-            be tried. It  wil1 be beyond a long endurance. The  .way of
vealed, and- when the Mystery of sin wil1 be unfolded. Then           disobedience  wil1 be presented most attractively.  Al1 kinds of
al1 organized and instituted worship of God  wil1 be banished         escapes  wil1 be presented  - the  secret chamber as  wel1 as the
from the earth. Antichrist wil1 have succeeded in setting up          desert. But in hiding is no defense. That is not the victory.
"the abomination -of desolation." The Son of God  wil1  be            The church cannot go "underground."
denied in His. Deity ! If only man wil1 worship the Man of               -She   wil1 endure  to the end. The days wil1 be shortened.
Sm, sitting'as  a god in the temple of God, then one wil1 nat         -God  wil1  come marvelously to our  deferse.  The Son of'
need to suffer !                                                      Man  wil1 hear in heaven. He  wil1  come suddenly, visibly
    f. These wil1 be days the like have never been yet, nor           like the flashing of the lightning from the one end of heaven
shall they afterward. They wil1 be days that if they were not         to the  ether.  Al1 the wicked shall be terrified, and wail.
shortened no .flesh would live,  who would fear God.  For             They shall look on Him whom they pierced. And retributive
the elects' sake they are  to be shortened. And, if it were           judgment shall be righteous, swift and final.
possible, the very elect would perish !                                  And tbe scene ? Where the dead bodies lie there shall the
    Of this  time  Daniel  spoke  already.   Such is the  explicit    vultures be gathered. It is the scene of those conquered in
word of Jesus. Jesus connects his word with that which was            battle- like Pharaoh's hosts on  the shores of the Red Sea.
spoken by God through  Daniel.  This word was  kn.own  to,               He that readeth let him understand!
the disciples. Hence, they must turn their attention to that                                                                      G.L.
word of  Daniel.  And frqm thereon they must  read of the
coming of the Son of Man and of His Parousia. And they.
must  know that  when  such a time  comes, which is an  iIzfal-
hble  tign of His coming, since  it  can  only  come  once (see                                   TRIO
Daniel  12:l and Matthew 24 :21) then they can lift up their             Revs. C. Hanko, J. Heys and G. Lubbers at Loveland,
head knowing that redemption is nigh!                                 Colorado.
    In connection with this  "great tribulation" than  which                                    CALLED
there is none greater, Jesus utters a series of warnings.                Rev. Gr. Lubbers by Loveland, Colorado.


   468                                        T H E   STANDAR:D'.BEA.RER

                                                                        said in his heart, There is no God.". That the evolutionist
                164  IHIS  F E A R                                      says  when he wants  `to attribute the  existente of  al1 things
                                                                        and the present form of al1 things to a process  in which there
                                                                        is no God and  when he  "explains"  al1 things in the denial
                         Covenant  Joy                                  of God. He is a fool, God says. And a fool is not a man in
      `What  joy! `What a thrill ! when the attending physician         his right mind.
  approaches with extended hand to congratulate you on the                  Surely he is not spiritually in his right mind  when he
  birth of a bouncing baby boy or o;f a bright-eyed baby girl.          denies the  very God  who has made him. Surely  al1  hiss
      What a joy! What a thrill! for a  mother  to  receive  her        naturai  knowledge and  wisdom is so  much nonsense, folly
  n<w-born  babe, cherish it in her arms and fondle this little         and  ignorante  when he ignores the Supreme Being. Would
  ,,bundle  of life for which she had waited so long.                   YOU  consider that man as  having  his right mind  who,  when
                                                                        nsked to name al1 the living creatures of this earth, not only
      There it lies, a perfect little being. Every little finger and    deliberately left  out man but  also,  when his attention was
  toe in place, delicately  formed and equipped with such cute,         called to this  fact, vehemently denied that there is  such  a
  little nails. Its peaceful, if not innocent look of contentment       creature  as man ? Is, then, that man who denies God, ignores
  and/or  lusty yell for food gives  evidente  that inside,  where      Him, rules Him out of His Own creation, while he is utterly
  the eye cannot se,e,  al1 the various organs are there in their       dependent  upon that God for al1 things, is that man then a
  places with the amazing network of nerves and blood vessels           man in his right mind?
  running through the whole to make it the most wonderftilly
  designed and marvellously constructed body that  can be                  We do  wel1 to bear in mind that "in his right  nlind"
  found here in this vale of tears. It gives  every   evidente  Op      means in the mind wherewith God created man in the be-
 \ soon displaying what a wonder-work of wisdom and divine              ginning. In his right mind a man knows God even as Adam
  power has been wrought in the formation of its mind, what             was created in the image of God with a mind that was filled
  powers it  wil1 have of memory and imagination, what ability          with true knowledge of God and of al1 things. 0, indeed, as
`of reading, writing, deducting, reasoning, calculating  and            far as natura1 things are concerned, man  after  the fa11 did
  planning are created in its brain.                                    not become an idiot. He did not lose his reasoning power
     What man in his right mind could ever attribute this' and did not become like the brute beast of the field. NO, it is
  product to some evolutionistic  process  and claim that  2            worse than that ! Although he remained a thinking,  willing
  evolued from the lower creature we cal1 the monkey? What              creature,  he lost  al1 his spiritual power to think and  wil1
  man in his right mind coul'd believe  that this wonde&1  and          corredly. Now he is able to think and  wil1 only in terms
  awe-inspiring body, mind,  heart and soul had its origia              of the lie and of sin. That definitely is not his right mind.
  billions of years ago in an original cell, whose origin cannot        He may become a genius according to the standards of this
  be explained but is vehemently denied to be the work of               world. He  may be hailed for his brilliant mind and the
  the living God ?                                                      mental  gymnastics which he  can  perform.  But the  regener-
                                                                        ated  child of God has niore understanding than this depraved
     We say it, and we make no excuse or apologies for it !             unbelieving man of the world. The entrance of God's word
     NO man in IzZs right *j&zd can say and believe >uch things         gives a light that this atheist, this sin-darkened man of the
  concerning the new-born babe. And surely he would never,              world never  receives  into his mind. And note that the text
  never say it of his own flesh and blood that he now sees .after       underscores  what we say when it. declares, "It (God's Word)
  well-nigh a year of anticipation.                                     giveth light to  the simple." Ah, then, without that word
     We make no apologies for the expression.                           they are simple and not in their right mind. And if the fear
                                                                        of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the unregener-
     Why should we ?                                                    ated, unbelieving evolutionist has not even that beginning,
     God says that of the evolutionist. Why shouldn't we ? He           that  principle  of  wisdom,  how  can we say that he is in his
  does say that. Through the psalmist he says in Psalm 111  :lO,        right'  mind  ? And what saith the Scriptures about  this
  "The fear of the Lord is the  .beginning  of  wisdom . .  ."          further? This : Through the Apostle Paul God admonishes
  Through another psalmist He  writes  in Psalm 119  :99, "1            His people to let this mind be in them which was in Christ,
  have more understanding than  al1 my teachers: for Thy                Philippians 2 5. There, indeed, we have One whose mind is
  testimoni&  are my  meditation."  In the same Psalm, verse            right, in  Whom there was the fear of the Lord, whose
  130 is a  text that speaks the same truth. The psalmist               heart  and mind were filled with God's Word,  Who never
  declares there in God's  nane,  "The  entrance of Thy word           denied God but confessed Him every  step of the way. With
  giveth light; it giveth  understanding  unto the simple." ,We         His mind in US, which we have through regeneration and the *
  could go on and multiply the texts which speak this same              power of His Spirit, we are in our right mind: right before
  language. Let  us quote but one .more,  and that one which            God, right according to God's  decree  that we should  be  tos
  presents  .the ,matter  from a different angle, "The fool hath        the praise of the glory of His grace.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   469

   The covenant parent,  who is spiritually in his right mind,      little piece in public at this or that program. It does give
who sees his child for the first - whether it be his first-born     hiin joy to see that child develop, takc his dr her.own  mate
or his twelfth- he only has a joy that is a covenant joy. To        for life. And who  wil1 deny that  it does give him joy ,and  a
be sure, he rejoices in the fact that God has given him a child.    thrill when this child of his prese&s  hik with the right  and
For  FXDYB  than nine months  `he had made this a matter of         honor of being called "Grandfather"  ?
prayer and waited as God was performing marvellous things                 But here is the greatest joy a covenant parent  can have:
which eye could not see. And when the child which he has            He hears, he sees and knows that his child walks in truth!
had al1 these months he now can see and handle and tend,            That  means that he  sees that work of God in his child  ac-
his joy is great over this gift. NO question of that when you       cording to which he knows that his child's mind is spiritually
are speaking of a covenant parnt. But at the same time -           right, that he is in his right mind spiritually. He sees that
and not afterward - he also rejoices in that he has received        his child walks in that truth.
covenant seed. It is not simply a joy that now his name may
be carried on and that `he leaves seed behind when he dies.              And you  7
It is not simply a joy at having  received a child of his own             The question is not simply  whethei  you have had  that
and of receiving a being that he can love and caress as his         joy, whether it has been your blessed experience to hear that
own. He rejoices in God's covenant. He rejoices in seeing           your flesh and blood walks in truth. There is a deeper and
the Church of God grow and in seeing  the citizens of the           ~nore  important question : Do you consider  that to be the
kingdom  of heaven being born and the day of the King,              `greatest  joy that you  can experience in this life  .as a  cov-
Christ, being prepared.                                             enatit parent?  Are you deeply and sincerely iiterested in the
   But there is another covenant joy which we have in mi-           spiritual achievements and activities of your child  ? Or is
with our title above; It stands in connection with that  joy        the greatest joy that you  can hear the word that your  sen
which the covenant  parent  experiences  when he sees the           or daughter has attained to this or that degre, to this or
child for which he prayed and which he desires +to receive  as      that position, to this or that honor among inen ? These may
a covenant child.                                                   give you joy. Do not misunderstand. But is your stand that
   It is a greater joy.                                             of the Aptistle  John that you say- and  mean it  - that you
                                                                    have  no GREATER joy than to hear that your children
   It is the greatest joy a covenant  parent  as  parent   can.     walk in truth ? Is this the pinnacle, the acme,, the height of
have.                                                               joy for you in regard  to what you hear of your children ?
   John speaks of it in his  third epjstle, verse 4, "1 have              And again, it is not a questin as to whether you can say
no greater joy than to hear' that my children walk in truth."       that with John, and whether you can say that to, me and to
   That applies, of course, to the man  whom God calls  tol         your fellowmen. Can  and do you say it before God  ? And
feed, comfort and instruct in the  truth' in the Church. A          do your actions say it ?
pastor, a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, a missionary'           We have  come to the point of our observation for this
of the Word of God has no greater joy in his office and             time of life in His Fear:  Wil1 your children this year be
work than to hear, to see, to know that his spiritual children      taught by those who are in their right spiritual. mind, and
walk in truth. It  cheers him. It  makes.  him rejoice. And         who know that truth in which you say you desire to- &e above
how he can weep inwardly - and sometimes outyardly and              al1 that your children walk ?
openly  - when they  wil1 not walk in truth and despise God's
covenant ! What grief it brings to his soul ! What anguish!               Can you be sincere when you do not send them to those
He has the experience of the psalmist who declared, "Rivers         who know and teach  the truth ?
of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not Thy                   Wil1 God be convinced  ?
law," Psalm 119 :136.                                               2     Never mind whether you can satisfy men and convince
   But it certainly also applies to the natura1 father  and hie     them that you speak the truth,  when you say that  your
own flesh and blood. He rejoices to  receive  a child from          greatest joy is .to hear that-your  children walk in truth. Can
the Lord. Though  with fear and trembling he begins to              you convince God and even yourself that withholding the
train up that child in the fear of the Lord  ; yet he has no        truth from your children and subjecting them to the lie and
greater joy than to know that his child walks in truth and          things taught by those  who are nof in their right spiritual
that God is pleased to  gather  HIS children  out of his  chil-     mind wil1 bring you that greatest coven&t joy ?
dren. NO greater joy can a covenant parent  have.                         Let US be honest  about the whole thing : if your gmatest
   He rejoices in the physical and  mental  progress his            joy is to hear that your children walk in truth, wil1 you not
child  makes. It causes him sorrow when his child suffers in        put forth EVERY  effort to have them learn and know -that
the physical sense. He has joy  when that child  groks,             qruth so that they  can  walk in it?                      ,
comes home, from school with good marks,  speaks his first                                             .,          <_         J.A.H.


4.70                                             T H E S-T  A# ti.? A R D ti  E.A R E R

             Contending For The -Faith                                 11 `were dragging  on in their slow course in France, Clement
                                                                             was trying to make good his authority in Italy. Against
/j                                                                     .*    Venice he hurled the most violent anathemas and interdicts
              The Church and the  Sacraments                                 for venturing to lay hands on Ferrara, whose territory was
       VIEWS   D                                                             claimed  by the Apostolic See. A  crusade  was preached
                    URING  THE  THIRII   PERIOD  (750-1517 A.D.)             against the sacrilegious city. She was defeated in battle,
                      THE  SUPREMACY   OF THE  POPE                          and Ferrara was committed to the administration of Robert,
      THE  DECLINE OF  THE  PAPACY AND THE  AVIGNON  EXILE.                  king of Naples,  as the pope's vicar.
                             A. D. 1294-1377.                                    Al1 that he could wel1 do, Clement did to strengthen the
       The explanation of  Phiiip's violent  anim&ity  and  per-             hold of France on the papacy. The first year of his  pontif-
s&tetit  persecution is his cupidity.  He coveted the wealth of              icate he appointed 9 French cardinals, and of the 24 persons
the Templars. He robbed the bankers  of Lombardy and the                     whom he honored with the purple, 23 were Frenchmen. He
Jews of France,, and debased the coin of his realm. A loan                   granted to the insatiable Philip a Church tithe for five years.
of 500,000 pounds which he had  secured  for `a sister's dowry               Next to the fulfillment of his obligations to this monarch,
had involved him in great financial straits. He appropriated                 Clement made it his chief  business to levy tributes upon ec-
al1 the possessions of the Templars he could lay his hands                   clesiastics of al1 grades and upon vacant Church livings. Hel
upon. Clement  V's subserviency it is easy  to. explain. He                  was prodigal with  offices  to his relatives. This was a lead-
was a  creature of the  king. When the  .pope hesitated to                   ing feature of his  pontificate.  Five of his kin were made
proceed  against the unfortunate order, the king beset him                   cardinals, three being stil1 in their youth. His brother he
with the case of  Boniface  VIII. To save the memory of bis                  made rector of Rome, and other members of his family re-
predecessor,ethe   pope surrendered the lives of the knights.                ceived Ancona, Ferrara, the  duchy of Spoleto, and  ~the  du-
Dante, in representing the Templars as victims of the king's                 chy of Venaissin, and other territories within the popels gift.
avarice,   coinpares  Philip to Pontius Pilate.                              The administration and disposition of his treasure occupied
                                                                             a large part of Clement's time and have offered an interest-
                "1 see the modern Pilate,  whom avails                       ing subject to the pen of the modern Jesuit  scholar,  Ehrle.
                    NO cruelty to sate and  who, unbidden,                   The papa1 treasure left by Clement's predecessor,  after being
                    Into the Temple sets his greedy sails."                  removed from Perugia to France, was taken from  place   to
        The house of' the Templars in Paris was turned into a                place and castle to castle,  packed in coffers laden on the back
royal residence, from which Louis XVI, more than four                        of  mules.  After  Clement's death, the vast sums he had  re-
centuries later, went forth to the scaffold.                                 ceived and accumulated suddenly disappeared. Clement's
        The Council of Vienne, the fifteenth in the list of  the             successor, John XXII,  instituted a suit against Clement's
ecumenical councils, met Oct. 16, 1311, and  after  holding                  most trusted  yelatives to account for the moneys. The suit
`three sessions adjourned  six months later,  May 6, 1312.                   lasted from 1318-1322, and brought to light a great amount
Clement  opened it with an address  on Psalm 111 :l, 2, and                  of information conceming Clement's  finances.        Ehrle  the.
clesignated three  subjects  for its considration, the case of              Jesuit  scholar,  calculates  that Clement's yearly  income  was
the order of the Templars, the relif of the Holy Land and                   between  200,000 and 250,000 gold florins, and that of this
Cliurch reform. The  documents  bearing on the council are                   amount he spent 100,000 for the expenses of his court and
defective.  In addition to the decisions concerning the Tem-                 saved the remainder, 100,000 or 150,000.
plars  and  Boniface  VIII, it condemned the Beguines and                       His fortune Clement disposed of by will, 1312, the total
Beghards and listened to charges made against the Francis-                   amount being 814,000 florins; 300,000 were given to his
cari, Peter  ,John Olivi (died 1298). Olivi belonged to  the,                nephew, the  viscount  of Lomagne and Auvillars, a man
Spiritual  wing of the. order. His books had been  orderei                   otherwise known for his numerous illegitimate offspring.
burnt, 1274, by  on&  Franciscan   general,  and a  second                   This sum was to be used for a  crusade;  314,000 were  be-
,general  of the order, Bonagratia, 1279, had. appointed                     queathed to ether relatives and to servants. The remaining
a commission which found thirty-four dangerous articles in, 200,000 were given to churches,  convents,  and the poor. A
his writings. The council. without pronouncing against  Olivi,               loan of 160,000 made to the king of France was never paid
condemned three articles ascribed to  hiin, bearing on the                   back.
reltion  of the two parties in the  Franciscan  order, the                     Clement's body was by his appointment buried at Uzeste.
Spirituals and Conventuals.                                                  His treasure was plundered. At the trial instituted by John
        The council has a place in the history of biblical scholar-          Xx11,  it appeared that Clement before his death had set
ship and university education by its act ordering two chairs                 apart 70,000 florins to be divided in equal shares between
each, of Hebrew, Arabic,  and Chaldee established in Paris,                  his successor and the college of cardinals. The  viscount  of
Oxford, .Bologna,  and Salamanca.                                            Lomagne was put into confinement by John, and turned over
       While the proceedings against  Boniface  and the Templars             300,000 florins, one-half going to the cardinals and one-half


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    471

  to the pope.  A few months after Clement's death, the count           promised   the Italian  faction in  the  curia never to  mount an
                                                                           .' :
 made loans to the king of France of 110,000 florins `and to            ass  except  to start on the road to  Rome.  But he never  lef-
 the king  of England  of 60,000.                                       Avignon. His devotion to France was shown at the  very
      Clement's relatives showed their appreciation of his              beginning of his reign in the appointment  of eight cardinals,
 liberality by erecting to his memory an elaborate sarcophagus          of whom seven were Frenchmen.
 at Uzeste, which tost 50,000 gold florins. The theory is that              The four notable features of John's  pontificate  are his
 the pope administers moneys coming to him by virtue of bis             quarrel with the German emperor, Lewis the Bavarian, bis;
 papa1 office for the interest of the Church at large. Clement          condemnation- of the rigid party of the Franciscans,  his own
 spoke of the treasure in his  coffers as his own, which  he            doctrinal heresy, and his cupidity for gold.
 might dispose of as he chose.                                              The struggle with Lewis the Bavarian was a little after
     Clement's private life was open to the grave suspicion  of         play  compared  with the  imposing   conflicts  between the
 unlawful intimacy  with the beautiful Countess Brunissenda             Hohenstaufen and the notable popes  of preceding centuries.
 of Foix. Of  al1 the  popes  of the fourteenth century, he             Europe looked on with slight interest at the long-protracted
 showed the least  independente.  An apologist of  Boniface             dispute, which was more adapted to show the petulance ancl
 VIII, writing in 1305,  recorded-this  judgment: "The Lord             weakness of both emperor and pope than to  settle  per-
 permitted Clement to be elected, who Was more concerned                manently  any great  principle.  At Henry  VIPS death, 1313,
 about tempora1 things  and in enriching his relatives than.            five of the electors gave their votes for Lewis of the house of
 was Boniface, in order that by contrast Boniface  might seem,          Wittelsback,  and two for  Frederick  of Hapsburg. Both  ap-
 worthy of praise where he would otherwise have been con-               pealed to the new pope, about to be elected. Frederick  was
demned, just as the bitter is not known  except  by the                 crowned by the archbishop of Treves at Bonn, and Lewis by
 sweet, or  cold  except  by heat, or the good  except  by evil."       the archbishop of Mainz at Aachen. In 1317 John  declared
 Villani, who assailed both popes, characterized Clement "as            that the pope was the lawful vicar of the empire so long as
 licentious, greedy of money, a simoniac,  who sold in his              the throne was vacant, and denied Lewis recognition as king
 court  every  benefice  for .gold." Villani tells the story that at    of the Romans on the ground of his' having  neglected to sub-
 the death of one of Clement's nephews, a cardinal, Clement,            mit his election  to him.
 in his desire  to see him, consulted  a necromancer. The mas-              The battle at Muhldorf, 1322,  left  Frederick  a prisoner
 ter of the dark arts had one of the pope's chaplains  con-             in his rival's hands. This turn of' affairs  forced  John to
 ducted by demons to heil, where he was shown a palace, and             take more  decisive   action,  and in 1323 was issued  against
 in it the nephew's soul  lay on a bed of glowing fire, and.            Lewis the first of a wearisome and repetitious series of
 near by a place reserved for the pope himself., He  also  re-          complaints and  punishments  from Avignon.  The pope
 lates that the coffin, in which Clement was laid, was burnt,           threatened him with the ban, claiming authority to approve
 and with it the pope's body up to the waist.                           or  se$ aside an emperor's  election.  A year later he  excom-
     By a single service did this pope seem to place the Church         municated Lewis and  al1 his supporters.
 in debt to his  pontificate.  The book of decretals, known as              In answer to this first complaint of 1323, Lewis made a -
 the Clementines, and issued in part by him, was completed              forma1 declaration at Nurnberg in the presence of a notary
 by his successor, John Xx11.                                           and  ether witnesses  that he regarded  the empire as  inde-
 The  Pontificate  of  Joh XXII.  1316-1334.                            ,pendent  of the pope,  charged  John with heresy, and  ap-
     Clement died April 20, 1314. The cardinals met at                  pealed to a genera1 council. The charge of heresy was based
 Carpentras and then at Lyons, and after  an interregnum of             on the pope's  treatment  of the Spiritual party  among  the
 twenty-seven months elected John Xx11, 1316-1334, to the               Franciscans.  Condemned by John, prominent Spirituals,
 papa1 throne. He was then seventytwo, and cardinal bishop              Michael of Cesena, Ockam  and Bonagratia, espoused Lewis'
 of Porto. Dante had  written to the conclave begging that              cause, took refuge at his court, and defended him with their
 it `elect an Italian pope, hut the French influence was irresis-       pens.  The politica1 conflict was thus  complicated  by a
 tible.                                                                 recondite ecclesiastical  problem.  In 1324 Lewis issuecl a
     Said to be the son of a cobbler of Cahors, short of                second appeal,  written in the  chapel of the Teutonic Order
 stature, with a  squeaking   voice, industrious and pedantic,          in Sachsenhausen, which again renewed  ,the  demand  for a
 John was, upon the whole, the most conspicuous figure among            genera1 council ancl repeated the charge of heresy against
 the  popes  of the fourteenth century, though not the most able        the pope.                                                   H.V.
 or worthy one. He was a man of restless disposition,  and
 kept the papa1 court in constant  commotion.  The  Vatican
 Archives preserve 59 volumes of his bulls and other writings.                             TheologcaE  School
 He had been a tutor in the house of Anjou,  and carried the                I heological school, the Lord  willing,   wil1 begin its  ses-
 preceptorial  method into his papa1 utterances. It was  .his           sions September 10, at 9 o'clock a. m.
 ambition to be a theologian as  wel1 as pope. He solemnly                                                           Signed Rector

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

11                                                                       the brazen audacity to quote John 10 :28 in this very article :
           The Voiate of Our Fathers                                ll "NeitheT  shall any man' pluck them out of my hand." But
                                                                         this was neither  honest doubt nor  ignorante.  This is  ththe
                                                                         language of men  who knew  very   wel1 that the  Reformed
                 The Canons of Dordrecht                                 truth included the perseverance of the saints. It was the
                             PART  TWO                                   language  of men who were wel1 acquainted with the beauti-
                                                                         ful confession of assurance of preservation  placed on the lips
                   ESPOSITION   OF  THR  CANONS                          of the saints by the Heidelberg Catechist in connection with
                                                                         the doctrine of the holy catholic church : ". . . . and that 1 am
                   FIFTIE  HEAD OF  DOCTRINE                             and for ever shall  remaiti,  a living member  thereof." But
             `OF THE  PERSEVERANCE OF THE  SAINTS                        the Remonstrants were  wel1  aware.  of the  fact that in their
                                                                         denial of this  precieus  truth they could never  come "with
 Introduction                                                            the wooden shoes on." They had to  "soft-pedal"  their d'enial.
       For a correct understanding of this fifth  chapter  of our        Hence, they tried to give the appearance of leaving  them-
 C?Lons  two things are necessary. In the first  place, we              selves open to conviction on t.his subject. But in reality they
 must remember that this chapter forms our fathers' reply                already  clenied the Reformed doctrine of perseverance when
 to the last of the Five Articles of the Arminians. And                  they  said earlier in the article:  "That  those  who are  in-
 secondly, we must bear in mind th& this fifth head of doc-              corporated into Christ by a true faith, and have thereby be-,
 trine is the  fiftlz,   that is, that it follows  upon and  can  her    come partakers of his life-giving Spirit, have thereby full
 understood only in  the light of the  preced'ng   chapters   o#        power to.strive against Satan, sin, the world, and their own
 these articles against the .Remonstrants. Hence, we do well,            flesh, and to win the victory; it being wel1 understood that
 behore entering upon a detailed discussion of this chapter, to          it is- ever through the assisting grace of the Holy Ghost ; and
 elaborate a little concerning the two  factors,  mentioned              that Jesus  Christ assists  them through his Spirit in  al1
 above.                                                                  temptations,  extends to them his hand, and if only they are
                                                                         ready for the conflict, and  desire  his help, and are not  in-
       As  to the first, we must  ,remember  that the Arminians          active,  keeps them from falling, so that they, by no craft or
 officially denied the doctrine of the perseverance of the               power of Satan,  can be misled nor plucked  out of Christ's
 sainfs. They could never avoid this. He who denies election             hands, according to the Word of Christ, John 10  :28 : `Neither
 and makes atonement  genera1 and presents conversion as de-             shall  any man  plu& them  out of my hand.'  "  Notice the
 pendent upon the free wil1 of man must needs end by leaving             following, please :
 al1 of salvation in doubt, by allowing  al1 to depend  on free
 will, and by denying the perseverance of the saints. In this.               1) Nowhere do the Arminians make the flat and  un-
 connection 1 want to emphasize, first of all, that the  Ar-             qualified statement that the saints do strive against Satan,
 minians   deny  the. perseverance of the saints. We must  re-           sin, the world, atid their own flesh, and do win the victory.
 member this. The Arminians do not have any perseverance.                They  merely  have the "full po*wer"  to do this. Now there is
 of  the.saints  left at all. One might say that they  make  the         nothing wrong  as  such with the statement that they have
 perseverance of the saints dependent  upon free will. Ancl              the power to gain the  victory.  BLIK  it is not enough:  es-
 this is correct as far as it  goes. But we must  understandj            pecially  when dealing with Arminians one must ask whether
 wel1 that by this stricture  upon the doctrine of perseverance          or not the saints also g& the victory.
 they destroy this blessed and comforting truth. And  sec-
 ondly, they denied this doctrine ofiicially.  This is not merely            2) The Arminians  like  very  much to speak of  "assist-
 the Reformed opinion, but it is plain  fact.  Some have.been            ante." The saints have the assisting  grace of the  Holy
 deceived by the fact that the Arminians in their fifth article          Ghost, and Jesus Christ assists  *them through his Spirit in
 appear to leave the matter of perseverance an open question,            211  temptations.   BLIK   this is  pla&ly  synergistic. The power
 to be settled from the Holy Scriptures. But this was merely             is in `man, and Christ through His Spirit  merely  assists.
 some more of the characteristic guile and  deceit  of the               Grace is a help and a crutch. This is not Reformed  and
 Remonstrants. True enough, at the close of their last article           Scriptural, and never has been. On the other hand, the
 they wrote : "But whether they are  capable,  through  negli-           Arminians in this article nowhere speak of the absolute
 gence,  of forsaking again the first beginnings of their life in        preserving power of God's grace or of the work of preserva-
 Christ, of again returning to this present evil world,  OP              tion.  F?r a Reformed man it is impossible  to speak of
                                                                         perse,vwa,nce  
 turning away from the holy doctrine which was delivered                                    of the saints without speaking of the presemn.-
 them, of losing a good conscience, of becoming devoid `of               tion of the saints by God's almighty grace.
grace,  that must be more particularly determined  out of the               3) Even  this assisting  grace,  according to the article, is
 Holy Scripture, before we ourselves  can  teach  it with the            conditional and  utterly dependent  upon  man's free  wil1  :
 full  persuasioti  of our  minds." It is  also true that they had       Christ assists  them . . . "and if only they are ready for the


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                           473

 conflict, and desire  his help, and are not inactive, keeps them        pel*sev@vancc,  not preservation. This is not to say that they
 from falling . . ." .There you have&,  the same old Arminian            do not  mention  preservation, fpr  they do, and they  em-
 heresy : if only they are ready for the conflict and desire  his        phatically attribute the perseverance of' the saints to God's
 help and are not inactive ! And we  may  ask: what if, as               grace of preservation. But their approach is that of persver-
 has been frequently the  .saints'  predicament,  they are not           ante,  as  also the title of this  chapter   indicates.  The  result.
 ready for the conflict, do not  desire  his help, and are  in-          bas been that in these articles we have a  very beautiful
 active,  yea, actively walking  in sin ? Is it then no longer  true,    treatment  of the manner in which the grace of preservation
 "Neither shall any man pluck them'out of my hand"?  Such                operates in the saints unto their perseverance, coupled with.
 is the Arminian position.                                               a most  instructive   treatment  of the relation between the
                                                                         assurance of pres&-vation  and the Christian life. Very  profit-
     It is against this plain denia of the perseverance of the           ably, therefore, we may give heed to this instruction.
 saints that the fathers of Dordrecht were:constrained to  draw
 up the Fifth Head of Doctrine, to  present  the doctrine of
 the perseverance of the saints in its  truc  light, to  ?swer
 the evil charges brought against` this  Refo%&l doctrine, and
 to expose the false presentation of the Arminians.          ."                      `Article   1.  Whom God  calls,   according  to his  purpose,
                                                                                      to the communion  of his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and
    And this defense of the truth stands necessarily in close                         regenerates by the  Holy Spirit, he delivers  also  from the
 connection with' the preceding  chapters.  In  the doctrine of                       dominion and slavery of sin in this life; though not  alto-
 the sovereign predestination of God is the fountain of the                           gether from the body of sin, and from the  infikties  of
 doctrine  of perseverance: the believer is predestined not                           the flesh, so long as they continue in this world.
 because of foreseen faith and foreseen perseverance, but  unto              This translation is a bit  wordy, though `not essentially
 faith  atid unto perseverance as the way of his salvation. In           inaccurate. The part beginning "he delivers . . ." could, better.
 the doctrine of Christ's particular, limited, atonement  is the!        be translated : "them  indeed  h           e     
                                                                                                                           also  delivers.   from  th&
 guarantee of this perseverance. For even as Christ's death              dominion and slavery of sin,  .but not altogether from the
 is not a  mere intention or willingness to save, but is an              flesh and the body of sin in this life."
 actual and definite payment  and satisfaction for al1 the sins              Rather  unexpectedly, we would  almost  say, the fathers
 of  al1 the  elect,  so it follows that the  redeemed   can  never-     begin their exposition of the doctrine of perseverance  by
 more  come into  condemnation:  they must'persevere. In the             speaking of the Christian himself as he is in this present life.
 twin truths cif man's total depravity and inability and God's           It does not take long, however,  to discover  that this method
 eficacious   grace of conversion is the principal  realization of       of the fathers is  quite correct.  After  all, the subject is the
 this perseverance: for man is saved by almighty grace,  and             perseverance of the s&nts. And if we speak of the persever-
 faith and salvation are wholly free gifts. And the gifts and            ante of the saints, it is  .of the  utmost  importante  that we
 calling  of God are without repentance. God  wil1 therefore             understand clekrly  what is meant by a saint. It is impossible
 surely perfect the good work which He begins, and the                   to determine  who persevere and who do not persevere, and
 saints shall without fail  reach  perfection. Hence,  the  Re-          to determine whether the saints persevere at all, without
 formed Christian must  needs believe the truth of the                   determining first of al1 what constitutes a saint.
 perseverance of the saints  also.                                           And our fathers furnish a rather  caieful  iescription of a'
    This truth of the perseverance of th saints is  some-               saint here, -a description which  wil1 in large  measure
 times  also  called the doctrine of the preservation of the             determine  their further description of the doctrine of  per-
 saints. In the former term the  samts are viewed as the                 severance. In  fact, we may add  at  once, that  already  at this
 subject: they persevere. In the latter term they are viewed             juncture  the Reformed and the Arminian part ways as to the
 as object: God preserves  them. These are not two different             doctrine of perseverance. Principally the Arminian wil1 have
 doctrines, but two aspects  of the same doctrine. The preser-           to grant that  if this description of a saint is correct,  then-
vation of the saints is the  cause of the perseverance of the            two conclusions  follow:  1)  Al1  the Arminian  examples  of
 saints. The  grace of preservation becomes  mariifest  in and           the falling away of saints are stricken froin  his hand. There
 through the saints as perseverance on their part.                       is not a single record of a saint of this description that ever
                                                                         feil away. 2) The a  m away of a
                                                                                                f 11' g              sairit of this description
     However, because the  Canorcs  are an  answer  to the  Ar-          is pel* SC impossible.  In order to see this and to see how the
 minians,   who frequently  charged  the Reformed with  main-            fathers presently come to this conclusion in the articles that.
 taining a doctrine of preservation that  de&&  al1 necessity            follow, let  US  pay attention to' the various  elements  of this
                                                                                                                                    :.
 of perseverance, that made of ,the saints inactive stocks and           first article.
 blocks,  and that made men careless and profane, the fathers                In the first  place,  a saint is one  who is called by God,
 in these articles  proceed  entirely from the viewpoint of              nccording  to His purpose, We need not elaborate on this

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

 truth here, for al1 this has been established in the preceding      away of the saints.  However, a true saint is one  who is
 chapters.  Only we must  notice that by these words the             inwardly renewed by `the Holy Ghost, one who is regenerated,
 perseverance of the saints is  immediately   linked to God's .who hs the principle  of the life of Christ in his heart.
 counsel of predestination and to the divine calling.  He is a
saint not by  `virtue of anything that he has done, but by               Now concerning  such a saint two things must be said
virtue of the  fact that God has  chosen  him and called  him        that are of great importante  for the truth of perseverance:
to be a saint. Hence, in the doctrine of perseverance we deal            1) First of  ah, he is a man that is delivered  from the:
with  the question whether or not the work of God  can be            dominion and slavery of sin in this life. Through his being
 destroyed.                                                          called into the fellowship of Jesus Christ and  -bis being
    In the second place, we are taught here that a saint is          regenerated by the  Holy Ghost he is actually  changed,   re-
one  who has been called to  the communion of God's Son,             newed, in such a way that he is no more the servant of sin.
our Lord Jesus Christ.  Also this is important. For in the           He is not only free from guilt and condemnation, but he is
first place, t emphasizes  .the idea of organic  union with         ,actually  delivered from the dominion of sin. What is  im-
 Christ. To be a saint is not simply an act, but it is a state       plied  in this deliverance  ? We  can best show this by  com-
of being, a condition  of life. It implies a bond of fellowship.     parison. As a natura1 man, a non-saint, he served sin will-
To be called to the communion of God's Son, we.may add,              ingly, loved sin, delighted in sin. Sin was not only his
is at the same  time to be called  out of the f,ellowship  of the    mistress, but he was the willing slave of sin. He was con-
world and of the devil. And secondly, this element of saint- secrated to sin with  al1 his heart and mind and  soul  and
hood again emphasizes the thought that a saint is nothing in         strength, and the  enemy.of  God.  When,   however,  he is  re-
himself. He is a saint only in Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus is         generated by the Holy Ghost, this is entirely changed.  He is
the head, and the'saint is a member of His body. Al1 that`he         no more the willing slave of sin,  hut. is  become  the enemy
is and al1 that he has as a saint is only of and in Christ Jesus.    of sin in his heart. His attitude toward sin is radically
                                                                     changed.  He hates sin,  al1 sin, including the sin that he
  In the third place, according to this article, a saint is one      himself stil1  commits.
who is regenerated by the  Holy Spirit,  .and therefore  in-
wardly renewed. This is of great  importante,  for it strictly           2) But in the second place, this does not  mean that in
limits the category of the saints with whose perseverance            this life ah-eady the saint is  become a perfect man and is
we are concerned in, this  chapter.   T.here  may be men  who        entirely free  from sin. He stil1 has his flesh, and is not
perform works that are apparently good, outwardly good.              delivered  from the body of sin. Anc by this flesh is to be
And such men may be known as Christians, that is, as saints,         understood the old  nature of the Christian, the spiritual
by ZLS.  In al1 the ages of the history of the church there have     power and operation of sin as it  comes to manifestation
been such men. They may have been men that for a time led            through and operates in and through the body. And in this
a very exemplary Christian life,  men who were leaders ancl          life that Aesh and that body of sin remains with US -to the
teachers in the church, office-bearers, who to al1 appearances       very  end  ; it is not destroyed  until we die. Hence, while
were saints. But later on they become manifest as evil men.          principally the saint is regenerated and renewed, and while
They  fa11 away. They begin to lead an evil life, or they be-        according to this principle  he  comes to stand radically over
come false teachers and  attempt  to lead the church astray.         against al1 sin, he has but a smal1 beginning of the new obe-
Scripture speaks of  many  such men. There is the  example           dience, and the flesh with its  lusts' stil1  remains,  against
of Judas Iscariot,  who apparently was so highly esteemed            which the saint has to strive  al1 his life long. The saint is
that he was the treasurer of the disciples and  carried the          not a perfect man. He is not even a man that can attain to
bag, and of whom none of the disciples seemed to think when          perfection in this life.  r
the question as to the identity of the betrayer arose. But he
fel1 away. There are those  who are said to have a  "tem-                And this means,  on the one hand, that we must not ex-
porary" faith, but  who  fa11 away  when persecution arises.         peet too  much, so to say, from his perseverance..  Persever-
The apostle John mentions those  who "went  out from  US,            ante does not  mean perfection, not in this life. And on the
                                                                     other hand, this` at once.  explains the necessity, as wel1 as the
but were not of US." And the epistle to the Hebrews, chap-
ter  six, speaks of men who apparently were eminent mem-             possibility of perseverance. It explains the necessity because
bers of the church, but who fell~away  and who cannot be re-         it is exactly against his flesh and the body of sin that the
newed unto repentance. The Lord Jesus Himself also men-              saint must fight al1 his life long and in the face of which he
.tions those who prophesy and tast .out devils and do many           ,nlust persevere. And it explains the possibility, because  it
wonderful works in Hs name, but who are refused entrance            is that principle  of the new life that must be preserved and
into His  kingdom  at the judgment. And of course, if  al1           that must persevere, and that  can be preserved and  can
these are included in the category of "saints," then one- can        persever unto the end through the grace of'christ.
come to no other conclusion than that there is a  falling                                           .                          H.C.H.
                                                                              _j


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   ,BEARE.R                                                        475

                   JESUS' BAPTISM ,BY JOHN                       :          Calvary,  and  ,the first step on this  +vay of the  fulfilment   f
                                                                            al1 righteousness is this baptism by His forerunner, John.
         The broadest account of it you  wil1 find in Matthew                   Considering the  basic  note of  John's preaching  and the
     3 :13-17  :. "Then  cometh -Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto          meaning  of hik baptism, this act of Jesus is most amazing, is,
     John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad Him, saying,              it not ? John's preaching was essentially that of repentance ;
     1 have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me?             his baptism that of  remission of sin through repentance.
     And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now :            ".rohn did baptize in the wilderness,  ancl preach the baptism
     for thus it becometh US to fulfil al1 righteousness. Then he           of repentance for the remission of  sins."  Mark 1  :4. We
     suffered Him. And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up                 ask with wonder: why should Jesus be baptized with that
     straightwy  out of the water:  $nd 10, the heavens were               baptism ? His life was absolutely sinless, was it not  ? He
     opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending               was the  Person  of the Son in  human  nature.  He knew no
     like a dove,  and- lighting  upon  Him: And 10, a voice  from          sin. If that were not the case we would not now have a
     heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in  Whom 1 am                  gospel to preach. Holy and undefiled, separate from al1 sin-
     wel1  pleased."  The accounts  in Mark and Luke are consider-          ners, without even the remotest awareness of sin  - that was
     ably  briefer and contain a few significant variations from            Jesus of Nazareth. Why then submit to a baptism that
     what we  read in Matthew. In both the voice  from heaven               signified  the remission of sin and could be received  only upon
     speaks  to  kather than  abozht  Jesus.  Also, Luke speaks of          repentance ?
     Jesus "praying" in connecton with' His baptism and is a                   In this light it is most understandable, that John shoulcl
     bit more specific about the  marmer of the  Spirit's  descent,         be hesistant about baptizing this Jesus and should say,  "1
     wcen he says, "And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily                have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me ?"
     shape like a dove." John refers  t6 this baptism of Jesus              What would you have.said ? This is not disobedience on the
     more in passing. "And John  bare record, saying, 1 saw                 part of the Baptist;  merely  reluctance due to  deep-seated
     the Spirit descending fsom heaven like a dove, and it abode            scruples.  His  treatment  of Jesus is the opposite  OF that
     upori Him." John, therefore, as  wel1 as Jesus saw  this'              of the Pharisees and Sadducees.  .These he refused to baptize
'    descent  of the dove. The fact that it is  referred to in al1 the      because of their sins and impenitence.  Jesus he was reluctnnt
     gospels  attests  to  the  tremendous   significante  of this  bap-    to baptize because of His sinlessness. John looked into the:
     tism of Jesus by John.                                                 face of this Man of Galilee and, prophet  that he was, he at
                                *  +  * :k                                  once saw the  differente.  This Man needed no repentance.
                                                                            He  also  looked at  ,himself  and  was profoundly  awai-e of hik
                                                                            own natura1 depravity. "1 have need to be baptized of thee,
         TFe history is wel1 known. '                                                                          .  _*.
                                                                            and comest thou to' me ?". Surely  tlie greater should baptize
         "Then  cometh Jesus" - while John was baptizing there              the lesser; the sinful one should be baptized of the holy one.
     in Jordan and busily engaged in his ministry as the herald of          It seemed  saiirilege  and blasphemy to  dq it  thii way.  He
     the Lord Jesus. Daily  many people came to him  from Jeru-             rzcoiled  at the  whole idea. That we  can.understand.
     salem, and al1 Judea, and al1 the region round about Jordan.
     Then cometh  also Jesus.  It is  time for the Lord to step out             However,  John was in error here. Obviusly, he was in
     of His retirement and the seclusion of Galilee to manifest             the  dark. It was altogether proper and necessary that this
     Himself as Messiah and to enter upon the great office and              baptism should take place. True, as :far as the personal life
     mission  for which He had  come into the world. The voice              of Jesus was concerned the Baptist was  right:  F'rom that
     had  cried  in the wilderness : the way of the Lord has been           viewpoint there was no need; there was no place for John's
     prepared; His paths had been made straight. And now, at                baptism in the life of Jesus. He had nothing to  repent  of;
     the  time set by God, Jesus emerges  from the quietness of             no sin to b& put away. However, it bcones quite different
     Nazareth to inaugurate His work and assume His Messianic               as soon as-we see this Jesus of Nazareth as the God-ordained
     office.                                                                Head of His church and the end of the entire  law. In the
                                                                            office and mission  of that Jesus there was certainly place for.
         "To be baptized 00 John." Jesus  came, therefore, with             t h a t   b a p t i s m .
     set purpose and for a specific reason. Obviously, the impulse
     was entirely from within. There was in the case of Jesus nn                Therefore Jesus answers the Baptist as He does, "Suffer
     specific divine calling  as with the prophets of the old  dis-         it  ZO be so now : for thus it becometh  US to fulfil  al1  right-
     pensation. His consciousness as Messiah needed no outward              eousness."   Notice the note of authority here.  Notice, too,
     stimulus. His  calling  had been  clear  to  Him from the  be-         how Jesus  confirms  John's faith in His sinlessness by the
     ginning.  Already at the age of twelve, when with the doctors          absente  of any reference to repentance and by regarding His
     in the temple, He had been aware of it. Certainly it is                baptism, not as a token of personal remission and repentance
     clear to  Hiti  now. The hour is  come and Jesus acts.  Con-           on His part, but as an act which fulfils al1 the righteousness
     sciously and deliberately He takes the way that wil1 lead to           He  came to realize. What a majesty   and serene confidence

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

in this word of Jesus, the first recordecl word of Je& `since            Furth&more,   baptism  is the entering into that  covenant
he was twelve years  old.  Al1 John's  scruples  are  gently  set    through the bloed and by the Spirit of our Lorcl Jesus Christ,
aside. Jesus says, as it were:  You  are right, John, 1  am          through His death and resurrection as Israel entered Canaan
greater and  holier  than you, but for that  very  reason  you       through  *the Red Sea. Hence, the  covenant  is the end, the
must do what 1 ask. "Suffer it now." At another time it may          destination  as it were ; Christ is the way, the door, through
be reversed. "For' thus it becometh US." US ! You and Me,            Whom  we are separated from sin and the world and enter
John!  Thus it behooves you to act with Me, and Me to act            into the former. The need of this one and only way lies in  the
with you, as forerunner and Messiah, herald and King. "To            fact of sin, of course. By  nature  "we with our children are
fulfil  al1 righteousness." The principle underlying this bap-       conceived  arid born in sin, and therefore are children of
tism, therefore, is the principle underlying everything He           wrath, in so  much that we cannot enter into the  kingdom
does, His incarnation, His life and obedience, His death and         ( covenant)  of God, except we are born again. This, the dip-
resurrection. And  when He says this He is  nat only think-          ping  in, or  sprinkling  with water teaches  US"  (Baptismal
ing of this'symbolic act, but of His entire work of redemp-          Farm). By  nature  we are as far as far  can be from God
tion.                                                                and Wis covenant,  separated from Him by an infinite chasm
    "Then  he suffered Him." That's all. NO description of           of sin, guilt,`corruption,  death. Thus we cannot and may not
details as far as the baptismal rite itself is concerned. The        dwell in covenant  fellowship with` God. -l?herefore  we must:
Spirit purposely withholds al1 reference to mode. Certainly,         be delivered  from  al1  ,this misery in the only possible way
if the method  qf  baptisq immersion or sprinkling, were vita1       of atonement. And this is possible only in Jesus Christ. He
the Spirit would  h~ave  made  some reference to it.  Inter-         only is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He only lays the
esting to  me is what Lenski  writes  on this point:  "Al1           `foundation' of the  covenant  in His blood. In Him only is
the ancient pictorial representations.of  the baptism of Jesus,      atonement, forgiveness, justification, renewal, eternal life.
as  wel1 as of other baptisms, show other modes, never im-           Baptism,  therefore, is the sacrament of washing  and r&ewal
mersion,  Clement F. Rogers, Ba~j4.m  and Christian Arclzae-         `through  Christ, by faith, whereby we are  received  into the
oloc~y,  Oxford,  Cl&endon Press. This layman  collected   al1       covenant  of God. "Know ye not, that so many of US as were
the ancient pictorial representations, starting with the preva-      baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized `into His death'?
lent assumption that he would find immersion there pres-             Therefore we are buried with  Him by baptism into death:
ented.  When he found the opposite, he  changed  his view.           that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory
Even the ruins of ancient baptisteries show that these were          of the  Father,  even so we  also,,should   walk in newness of
too shallow to have permitted immersion."                            l i f e . "   R o m a n s   6:3,  (f.    -"
                              *  * +*       I                            Esserrtially   al1 this applies  also  io Jesus. He, too,  wil1
                                                                     enter into His  Iiingdom  and that through the way of His.
    .Basically  there is no  differente  between the baptism of      own death and resurrection. His own blood- is the door
Jesus  and, our baptism, that of tile  Shepherd Himseif and          through which He Himself must enter. However, in a way
the  she&p  baptized into Him throughout the ages.  Sacra-           everything is different  when we speak of Jesus, precisely
mentally, there is only one baptism. It signifies the entering       because we do not think of Him as a mere individual, bt
into the  covenant  of God. That is the  ultimate  essence, the      as the Head and Redeemer of His Church. Personally, and
`spiritual reality. Of that spiritual and invisible reality the      merely  as the  Holy Child Jesus He did not have to enter
water  baptism  is the visible sign and seal,  preching   ancl:     through atonement. But you never think of Jesus apart  from
confirming, that God has established His covenant  with us           His  elect church. He  wil1 enter into the everlasting  Iiing-
and our children, and that He causes  US, Abraham and his            dom at the head of an innumerable host of chosen sinners.
chosen  seed, to enter into that covenant  and thus into eternal     With them He -is one. Them He represents before the face
life with  Chris-  And' only  when the  grace of God has             of God. Them He  rqd redeem and them he must raise again
brought this to pass in and for  US  can we say  .that we are        at the last day. Therefore He took  upon Himself  al1 their
truly baptized. The  covenant  is the  ultimate  in the way of       sins  and,  He,  Who  knew no sin, was made sin for  US. For
life and glory for the creafure. It is the  biessed  and  never-     sinners they were,  c.hosen  indeed, but sinners nevertheless,
ending relation of friendship between God and His people;            hopelessly  lost in guilt  and death. And' therefore He coulcl
friendship, family life with the Triune  Father  in heaven.          ent-er  only in the way of His own death and resurrection.
It is our salvation, the end and purpose of all. Election  .and         That, th&, .was the wholly peculiar aspect of the baptism
reprobation, the incarnation and death and resurrection of           of Jesus :.$ was a sign of baptism .in His own blood, of en-
Christ, the werk of the Holy Spirit in our hearts, everything        tering inti-death,  hearing.  the punishment of sin, paying for
                                                                                 .  .i1-
is the  means toward the realization of this  covenant.  And         sin, and rlslhg again_  to a gew life fo' the sins and salvaiion
because this covenant  is the heart of al1 our salvation, ihere-     of His  peiple.   Al1  this. Jesus  wil1  accomplish  in the way of
fore it is only proper that  baptism  shoulcl signify  ancl. seal    obedience that I'ay ahead, especially that graat  Passion week.
om- incorporation into it.                                           Thfough  this  .way  %`  wil1 descend  in&' the deep' abyss of


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                 477

 His suffering, bear the full load of the wrath of God and  thus     "Thou art My beloved Son, in Whom 1 am. wel1 pleased."
 atone for His church. In this way He wil1  achieve  an ever-        Here is the Father's approval and  benediction   as He  be-
 lasting victory for Himself and His people and come ti His          gins His work; the Father's seal that Jesus Christ is indeed
 glorious  Kingdom in the way of righteousness:  That is the         the Father's chosen  one for this great task  ; the Father's ac-
 righteousness Jesus came to fulfil. For the sake of His people      ceptance of the Son's consecration to His Messianic calling.
 He would be "numbered among the transgressors." As their            And for Jesus Himself it means the unbroken consciousness
 Read  He would be "despised and rejected of men," bruised           of the Father's good pleasure in Him as from this moment
 and tast out, nailed in crue1 hatred  to the bloody cross, and      on He will'set face toward Jerusalem &d the great sacrifice
 thus He  wil1 "bear the  siris of  many" and "My righteous          He must bring. He has the Father's word as a light in the
 Servant shall justify  many." That was His  real and great          frightful darkness that lies ahead: "1 am wel1 pleased."
 baptism- the baptism of His Pssion. To that baptism He                                                                       R.  Veldman
 looked forward al1 His life on earth. Matthew and Mark tel1
 the story of some ambitious disciples, who asked to sit ene
 on the right hand and tbe other on the left in His Kingdom.
 Jesus looked at them and said : "Are ye able to drink the cup,                         MOTIVE TO GRATITUDE
 that 1 drink? or to be baptized with the baptisni that 1 am
 baptized with?" Thinking, perhaps, that He was thinking of                  0  come, my soul, bless thou the Lord thy Maker
 this water baptism the disciples said:  "We are able." You            "        And  al1 within me bless His Holy Name ;
 and  1, know that He was looking to that other baptism of                   Bless thou the Lord, forget not. al1 His mercies,
which this water baptism was only shadow and prophecy-                          His pardohing  grace and saving love. proclaim  .
 the  Passion   Baptism.                                                        Bless Him, ye angels, wondrous in might,
     It is with  a, view to that way and  werk that  lay ahead,                 Bless Him, His servants that in His wil1 delight.
 that Jesus is and must be baptized here by John. It signifies
 that greater baptism in His own bloed  and death. It inaugu-                Good is the Lord and full of kind compassion,
 rates  the work that lies ahead. Here he enters  upon His                      Most slow to anger, plenteotis  in love ;
 public ministry and  redemptive  work. Here he pledges, as                  Rich is His grace to al1 that humbly seek Him,
 it were, that  aso the  obedient  Servant of the Lord He  wil1                 Boundless and endless as the heavens  above.
 fulfil al1 righteousness and willingly descend into the valley              His love is like a father's to his children,
 of His own death. Here we  .have both a consent and a                          Tender and kind to  al1  who fear His name,
 prophecy. A consent to the only  method by which sin  can                   For wel1 He knows our weakness and our frailty,
 be atoned. A prophecy of that final baptism toward which                       He knows that we are dust, He knows our frame.
 His face was set throughout His ministry.
     Thus we can also understand the other things  mentioned                 We fade and die like blowers  that grow in beauty,
 in connection with His baptism by John. The  fact, that as                     Like tender grass that soon wil1 disappear ;
 He descended into Jordan He was praying, consecrating                       But evermore  the love of God. is changeless,
 Himself as the Servant of the Lord and praying for the                         Stil1 showti to those who look to Him in fear.
 Spirit without measure. Thus we  can understand the  des-
 cent of the Spirit in the form of a dove at this time. There                High in the heavens His  throne is fixed forever,
 is  little doubt, that only John and Jesus saw this  descent  of               His kingdom  rules o'er al1 from pole to pole ;
                                                                             Bless ye the Lord through al1 His wide dominion,
 the Spirit. What did it  niean ? That Jesus now  receives  the                 Bless His most holy Name, 0 thou my soul.
- Spirit for the first  time ? Of course not! There was a per-
 manent relation between  Him and the Spirit of God. He                                                                      P s a l m   1 0 3
 was begotten of .the  Holy Ghost as no  ether ever was.  Al-
 ways He lived and willed and thought by the potier  and il-
 lumination of the Spirit.  However, here there is a special
 anointing as the Lord enters upon His ministry. Here there                                        IN MEMORIAM
 is an outward, visible,  symbolic descension, anointing Him                The  Ladies'  Society of the Protestant Reformed Church ex-
 to His wholly special Messianic* office and task and promising      presses sincere sympathy to its sister member, Mrs. Adrian Lenting,
 the Son in human flesh, that the Father  wil1 enable Him t6         in the loss of her father,
 the end, and that  .the strength and  courage  He  wil1 need                                  MR. JOHN SCHAAP
 wil1 be there in fullest measure. What power thus filled Him               May   oor Heavenly  Father  sustain the bereaved in their great
 is evident from al1 His teaching and miracles and His entire        sorrow.     "The Lord  hath given, and the Lord hath taken away.
  amazing work of Salvation.                                         Blessed  be the name of the Lord." Job  1:21.
                                                                                                          Rev. H. C. Hoeksema, President
    .And thus we  also  understand.  the  voice from heaven:                                              Mrs. S, Vroegh, Secretary

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

                                                                             circtimstances,   be  declared  free of the bond of their pagan
               AL.1  ARUND  U'S                                             marriage.
                                                                              I  _
                                                                              Much   .of the  prejudice  that exists against the Catholic
                                                                             Church  springs from  ignorante  of the truth as explained
Mhken   Lotions on  .Marhagge.                                               above. Catholics should know the truth and make it known
                                                                             to others where  questions such as these arise."
       The  July 27,  la.58  bulletin of the  Holy Name Parish, a               The reader knows, no doubt, that  where  Protestant
Roman Catholic Church in  my  community,   fel1 into  my                     Churches have two, and only two, sacraments, namely, bap-
hands, part of the contents  of which we thought would be.                   tism and the  Lord's Supper, the Roman `Catholic Church
of interest to our readers. It appears that the priests in the               has seven sacraments, one of which is the sacrament of mar-
local parish use the surplus space on their bulletins to instr&t             riage. The statement under 2 above "The marriage of
their members  in the doctrines of that church. In the bulletin              rightly baptized Protestants is as much a sacrament for them
above referred to we  read the following :                                   as is the marriage of any Catholic couple," is true therefore
       "There are few subjects  on which more mistaken  notions              only from the Catholic viewpoint.
are held and handed down by non-Catholics (and even  some-                       NO doubt, too, the position expressed under 3 and 4
times by Catholics) than that of  the Catholic idea of  Maa-                 above is also motivated by the fact that the Catholic Church
riage.  Some of the mistaken  notion? one runs  across in this               considers marriage a sacrament. However, it should be
matter are the following, with the Catholic doctrine  ex-                    noticed that on the matter of divorce and  remarriage  the
plained :                                                                    position of the Catholic Church stands on firmer ground than
                                                                             the Christian Reformed Churches of this country. The latter
       1.  Tkat  ma.rriages  ,between  fzon-Catholics  are  `considered
invalid   masriages  by the  Ca.tholic   C&Y~.  This is  not  truc.          have adopted the position that remarriage of divorced per-
                                                                             sons is  permissible.  The reason why we mention  this is  be-
The Catholic Church teaches that two `non-Catholics, whether                 cause historically and doctrinally we stand  Gloser to the
baptized or not baptized,  who without  any impediment of                    Christian Reformed Church, and it hurts 
the natura1 law give the proper consent of marriage to each                                                              US-to see this church
                                                                             departing farther and farther from the truth of the  Scrip-
other are validly married. Their children are nat illegitimate               tures.  May  God give abundant  grace to the faithful in that
in the eyes of the Catholic Church and their marriage or-                    church to rise p in protest against the corrupt doctrines
dinarily binds them for life.                                                and  practices  until there is repentance  atid amendment.
       2.  Tha.t  the  ryta&ages   of  Pyote.sta.nts  are  t;econd-class'
wl.arriages  01f sohehow inferior  to the marriagc of Catholics.             Synod  Condewans   Teletisiok
This is not truc. The marriage of rightly baptized Piotestants                   Also  recently someone  saw to it that we received,  among
is as  much a sacrament for them as is the marriage of any                   several other church papers, two  copies of  The  .Bame.u Of
Catholic couple.                                                             Tmtlz, a little paper published by the Netherlands Reformed
       3.  Tht a  dizlorced  person   canrtot  become a  Ca,tholic,   OY     Congregations in the U.S.A. and  co-edited  by the Revs.  J.
that a divorced  Catholc  cannot be a.d,mitted  to tlze recept&.            Van Zweden and W. C.  Lamain. The copy to which we
of the  sa,cmme&s.  This is not true. The one thing that  may                refer in this article appeared under the date of June, 1958.
prevent a  person  from  b,.ecoming a Catholic, or from receiving            The article on "Television" was written by the Rev. J. Van
the sacraments, is remarriage  after  a divorce  from a  valid               Zweden.
sacramental marriage. One  who  tias divorced by his (or                        The writer in the first part of his article  etiphasizes   the
her) partner, `or who had the bishop's permission to obtain a                warning given by the Lord Jesus in Mark 13 :37, "And what
clivorce for grave reasons, or  who,  having  been wrong in                  1 say unto you, 1 say unto all,  Watch  !" Toward the  con-
seeking  a divorce, has repented sincerely and tried to make                 cluding part of his article he  writes as follows :
reparation, may be a Catholic in good standing and receive
the sacraments, as long as there is no intention or  attempt                    "Watch! against the great danger of television. How are
to marry again.                                                              untqld multitudes  of. worldly people, non-members of any
                                                                             church, but  also millions of religious people tempted to bring
       4.  That  divouce   and  rewmwiage   we  vak  wrong   for  non-       television into their  homes !  How  many  who have  con-
Catholics.  This is not true. Divorce and remarriage are                     demned the worldly  moving  picture shows and warned their
forbidden by the natura1 law as wel1 as by the explicit words                children not to visit  such  places,   haire now made a moving
of Jesus' Christ. That is why the Catholic Church considersl                 picture show of their own home. This evil has even entered
a non-Catholic bound to his first lawful spouse as long `as                  into our congregations in this land, and a minister from
that spouse is alive. The only exception to this is that men-                Holland wrote nie that they were also obliged to censure a
tioned explicitly b$ St. Paul in behalf of non-baptized people               member   fr bringing this  dangerous  `evil into  `bis home.
or pagans,  who, on becoming Christians may, under certain                   Members  have left the congregation, denied their confession


                                            T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                          479

made before God and the people, despised al1 admonitions             who have solemnly  ( ?) taken upon their lips the sacred  vows
and warnings, in their great desire  and zeal for this dangerous     expressed at the time of the baptism  `of their children, and
iclol. Oh, what shall the end be if they do  .not  come to           who then turn about face and actually  place their children
repenfance and they shall one day have to stand before the           before the television set and let them drink in with relish al1
great Divine Judge with their children.                              the corruption Hollywood  can  produce. We have even
    "Oh, may the consistories of our churches in the United          noticed in our audience while preaching on the Lord's Day
States, Canada! and Hollal>d,  stand with the prophet  Habak-        two youngsters seated on opposite sides of the auditorium,
kuk  upon their watchtower and take heed to the Word of              slinking down in their seats, as if hiding from  each other,
God and the decision of our Synod, realizing also that they,         and pointing their index fingers at each other as imaginary
as office-bearers in the Church of Christ, have rceived  the        guns. NO one  bas to ask  where  they got the idea. That
authority to Use the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven against           there is room for a warning to Christians concerning  the
tbose  who  deny their confession, and especially  when they         use of television in our homes, we wil1 readily concede. Nor
make a moving picture show of their home for themselves              d we hesrtate to issue such a warning both from the pulpit
and fheir poor children.                                             and on the  written  page.
    "The Synod  deel-ation  reads as follows: `The Synod              However, that the church consistorially, classically, or
condemns  the use of television in the home, judging it to be        synodically should legislate in this matter, we consider  a
in conflict with the Word of God and with the confession of          step in the wrong direction.
faith made in the presence of God in the church. The Synod               Though the editors of Thc Banner  Of Tmth  do not say
judges unanimously that  rigorous   measures  must be ado'pted       so in so many words; they nevertheless leave the impression
to  cape with the conformity to the world as regards televi-         that it is their position and that of their churches that sin
sion, since it can lead to nothing other than great detriment        is in things. This, of course, is not true. NO  more than
to the family.  The consistories are to admonish with patience       grace is  .in things, is sin in things. Sin is a matter of  the
and forbearance, but upon continued  failure to heed their ad-       heart. Now certainly the church assumes a. wrong position.
monition,  to proceed  with censure.'                                when it  decides to legislate sin.  Where   wil1 the end be  if
   "We  would  cal1 to your  r&nd what Rev.  Lamain  has             the church begins to do this? Is it not true that  many
written about  this subject a few years  agb;   also the  follow-    Christians mis-use their automobile`s,  not only in disobeying
ing :  Compare  this statement with the equally emphatic             the trafic regulations, but also to desecrate the Lord's Day ?
declaration of our fathers in the  35th  J,ord's  Day of  ouf        To be consistent wil1 not the church also have to censure her
Heidelberg  Catechism  with  regard  to the images in the            members  that fail to heed the  admonition  not to do so ?
Roman Catholic Church: `We must  nat pretend  to be wiser            Again,  many  women members  of the church mis-use  cos-
than God,  Who  wil1 have His people taught, not by  dumb            metics.  Wil1 not the church, to be consistent, have to  dis
images, but by the lively preaching of His Word.'                    cipline those  members   .who fail to heed the admonition  to,
   "Oh,  may 1 beg our readers to  watch and pray by the             be moderte in  al1 things ? Verily, there is  n0 end to the
grace of God against this terrible idol and evil- television.        legislative  processes   when  once  -the  church  begins to go in
Seek  stiength  at the throne of  grace to keep it far from          this direction.
your  homes and  chiidren.  Warn your children in  al1  dif-             In the second  place, if we are not mistaken, the Nether-
ficulties and temptations  . . ."                                    lands Reformed Churches are governed by the same Church
   That there is danger in the use of television, and `that the      Order of  Dordtrecht  by which the Protestant  Reformed
majority of programs produced  over television as they come          Churches are governed. And is not the decision taken by
into our homes today are not compatible with our Christian           the Synod of the Netherlands Reformed Churches in~ direct
principles,  and, in some instances, even morally  debasing, no      violation of Article 30 of that Church Order? which  reacls
one can deny. Even the worldling, who possesses enough so-           as follows : "In these assemblies  (namely, consistory, classis
called "common  grace"  refinement, complains of the  demoral-       and synod) ecclesiastical  matters only shall  be  transacted
izing effect of television especially on the youth of om- time.      and that in an ecclesiastical manner. In major  assemblies
   1 suppose that there are some Christians who have that            -only  such-matters shall be dealt with as could not be finished
abundant  grace whereby they can control the instrument in           in minor  assemblies,  or  such as pertain to the Churches of
its use and therefore  dia1 off those programs that conflict         ,the major assembly in common." Let the editors of  Ths
with their Christian confession and  walk. This writer has           @anner   Of  T,mth   please explain  how the use of television
observed that  every   time he looks at television his old           is an ecclesiastical matter. It is our candid  judgment  that
nature seems to have dominion and he wants to see al1 that           somethina~ positively is lacking in the preaching' of those
television has to offer. That is the reason he does not yet          churches that need to  resort to the laying down of precept
have the instrument in his own home. Perhaps  he. is not             upon precept  to curb the life and walk of the Christian who
in possession of that- abundant  grace others  can boast of.         stands in the freedom  wherewith Christ bas made US free.
To this writer it is indeed shocking to observe those parents                                                                    M.S.


                         _ .-                               -  .
                  .,. ,-q-.      I'          -..-     -'
      -._  5.;.  .  qgj;&~,~~S  _-.._  --..[ -.--  6..  -Thursday  drive. to Forbes  1SO  n&s.`.T$mrsday   eve-
                                                                       _. _-
                                  ^ `1 ;.                                           -&ig -S-:OO-9  :45 Study` of ,the Canons.
                                                                       : -7.' -l?riday  morning -.Bible- Class i :00-11 :OO. Friday
                       ,$&&&ry  Notes  c  1; --  I                     .             even+,  Heidelberg Catechism S :O til1 9 :30.
                                                                                         . . -c _i_
   Today-is the  thirtiethof  July.  It is  om last  day:here.in,      .~ - S: ~Saturclay morning 1. Bible Class -10 :00 til1 1.1 :OO.
                                                                        _
Isabel  before-we.  go `to Forbes to conduct  the,  Study of the      - Often  the undersigued  needs to .make but ene sermon in.
Canons,  teach Catechism for the adults  from  the'  Heidl-          tw'weeks  on-the  Heidelberg Cateclism,  since he can preach
berger, and the little  ' children'  `from  .History of  ..the Old    the same sermn  in  both Forbes  and.  Isabel.   However,.   mor
                                                                                                          t
Testament for beginners and more advanced.                     _      often than ot-he  must. make a different sermon' in the free-
   Just this morning we finished a seven weeks' period `of            choice text serinons,  de to different occasions and needs of
Summer  Bible School (Catechism in Sacred History)  here              t h e s e   two.  churches.~'   -:.            .           ~,
in the church at  Isabel.  During the  same period we lso                   We are happy th.at two  young,  ladies  from  Isabel  and
conducted  Catechis.m classes for the little children -at. Forbes,    two from Forbes  plan  `tor  attend.   the  Uoung People's  Con-
.at the home of Lorenz Bertsch. There was, we felt, a need            yention of our  churches.  They . plan  to  travel. with Mrs.
for such classes., The little children, from the very  nature  of     Lubbers and the undersigned to Grand Rapids. When  these
advanced instruction in -both Sunday School and the adult             lines are  read, we trust, this shall  belang   `to history.
Catechism class, do not get the attention they need or deserve.
Both the consistories of Forbes and  Isabel  consented  to the          While-   in. Michigan your Home Missionary is scheduled
holding of these classes. We have Friday morning and  Satur-          to preach three Sundays. It would be a wonderful thing if
day morning yet at the Bertsch home with the children. Then           a-  mass meeting could be  rallied  in  First  -Church   building
these classes  wil1 be ended. If  it were only for these  chil-       where  the undersigned could show some pictures, have a
dren's sake 1 fee1 a certain regret  to leave here and  "vaca-        tape played, an actual reproduction  of. a Study of the Canons
                                                                      -
`tion" in Micligan. It was with genuine joy that we  might                  unrehearsed. 1 sincerely believe this  would. bring the
conduct these classes. And, we  believe,  with  profit  for the       work of the undersigned a bit nearer  to  the experience of
                                                                      ur 
children !                                                                          people - and to their hearts.
                                                                             Too  busy during the  summer   -months  ? Let it not  be
    It was heartening that here in Isabel we began with four          said !
children in the class ; it was with seven children that we
ended. One of  the girls, 14 years in age,  also desired to                  1 would not like to  tel1 that `to the people here in
come. She took with her the  yor.&ger  sister. Another little         Forbes and .Isabel !
girl brought her cousin. Those  who would like to see a                      God willing, we shall be~back in these parts when these
"movie"  of the children playing outside of the church kindly         lines are read in  Tb Sta:vhdwd Bm-er.
contact the undersigned. We have other excellent pictures.
    It should be understood that there is no Christian day-                  May the Lord find his servants faithful when he  comes.
school in either Forbes or Isabel. Nor is there one in Love-          May  He give  grace to labor  .while it is day. The  night
land, Clorado, for that matter.  When Mrs.  ,Lubbers  and 1          cometh   when no man  can  werk.
were in  Loveland   very recently (it was  upon our own  ex-                                                                               G.L.
penses that we traveled.)  the desire  was uttered by more than
one that they would  welcome a two.  months Bible History
Course for the children there too.                                           . .
    It has been a busy time for LIS in these parts this summer.                                        IN MEMORIAM
Not much tinie to get rusty.  During the past seven weeks a                  The Ladies'  Society "Eunice" `of the Southwest  Protestant Re-
typical week's schedule looked as follows:                            formed Church of Grand  Rapids, Michigan, herewitb expresses its
    1.  ,Sunclay  - Sunday School, preaching in A. M.  Ser-           sympathy concerning a beloved .member,  `Mrs. Albert Talsma, in
       man in evening service. At  Isabel.                            the death of her sister
   2. Monday evening - Study-  of the Canons at Isabel,                                      `MRS. GERRIT  VANDEN   BROEK
       7 :30-9 :oo.                                                          It is our prayer that tbe Holy  S.pifit  of our Lord may sanctify
   3. Tuesday morning - Bible- Class from 9 :30 til1 11 :lO,          to her and the soirowing  relatives the tnrth of God's Word that ~
                                                                      "al1 things w&k together for good to them that love God, who are
   4. Wednesday morning  - Bible Class 9 :30-11   :lO.                called according to His purpose."
    5. Wednesday evening - Heidelberg Catechism 7 :30-                                                           President Rev. M. Schipper
        9 :oo.                                                                                                   Secretary Mrs. M. Schip`per


