     VOLUME xxxv                               NOVEMBER 15, 1958 7 GRAND RAPIDS,  MICHIGAN                             N~BER  4

                                                                     busy with the things of this earth when he composed this
            M E D I T A T I O N                                      psalm.

                                                                          I think that David understood very well that the things of

                                                                     this earth are but a picture of the things of a better earth and
           THE YEAR OF GOD'S GOODNESS                                a better heaven. Even as Jesus would say many years later:

           "Thou  crowv~est-the  ycxm-  with Thy goodnms;  and       "all these things (that is, the things of God's Kingdom) are

            Thy paths  drop  fahess."                                done in parables."
                                            PSALM 65 :ll
                                                                          Therefore it is so wicked to be busy on the day of Thanks-
    The minister of my infancy loved the psalm from which
                                                                     giving with the things of this earth exclusively, and to forget
my text is taken. As soon as my mind settled on the psahn
                                                                     the spiritual year of God's goodness.
and the verse for this year's Thanksgiving meditation, my
thoughts went back to the days of yore. And again I heard                 It provokes God to wrath when the world is talking
them sing : "De lofzang,  klimt uit Sion's zalen tot U met           about Thanksgiving while they stuff themselves with turkey
diepst ontzag !"                                                     and chicken, with mince pies and cranberries, but forget to

    That minister made us sing psalm 65 time and time again.         worship Him who revealed Himself as the great Savior of I
    It is a beautiful psalm.                                         His world. The world emphasizes the things. of the earth,
    It seems as though Israel had gone through a trying time         of time, of the flesh, of the natural senses, but forgets that
of drouth. And those that feared God and trusted in His              they, have a soul and body that must be used in worship of
name had prayed to Him, and made vows to. Him.                       God. They forget the "reasonable service !"

    The Lord heard their prayer and gave a plentiful rain.                Oh, I do not minimize the beauties and the delicacies of

    The results ? Verse 13 gives the conclusion : "The pas-          nature. It is %od  who filleth man with bread and gladness

tures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered          of heart. It arouses thanksgiving when our table. is spread

over with corn ; they shout for joy, they also sing."                with the bounties of His earth.

    But also in my text the results of God's visitation is sung:          But what the world forgets and we should remember is
"Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness ; and Thy paths            that man does not live by bread. The Holy Spirit even
drop fatness."                                                       says: Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not
    Literally it should read: Thou crownest the:  year of Thy        bread ? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? And
goodness !                                                           Jesus said by the same Spirit: Labor not for the bread that
    How very often must Zion have sung this psalm in the             perisheth : . . .
fall of the year when a thousand farmers gathered their                  Lazarus desired to be fed with crumbs that fell from the
crops and counted their increase in flocks and herds.                rich man's table. That was all. But subsequent events prove
    Oh yes, God very often has crowned the year of His               that he desired much more the Bread from heaven, and.
goodness so that His footsteps dropped with fatness.                 that is Jesus and the salvation of God.
   Yes, also this year the Lord has blessed us with good                 It is far better to die of hunger and thirst and to have
-crops and excellent food and drink. I imagine that. the `fat        God for your portion, than to have bread enough and to
things of the earth are stored and being stored by the               spare but to be not rich in God.. Suppose you do fare sump-
millions of tons.                                                    tuously every day, but have to spend your eternity in hell,
    God's footsteps drop with fatness here in our America of         what profit do you have of all your feasting ?
plenty.                                                                  Moreover, will not your feasting on earth be a witness

                          * * *      :!Z                             against you in the great clay of the Lord Sabaoth ?
                                                                         I shudder when I see, hear and observe the world's day

   However, it is not so that David's mind was exclusively           o f   T h a n k s g i v i n g .

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


     And I pity those who fare sumptuously every day. The          eiusness  He shall demand these sins from your empty hand.

 nights of eternity in hell will be so very, very long.                But I hear you ask: if that is so, how then can anyone be

     Yes, God crowneth the year of His goodness, and His           glad and rejoice ? Is it not so that everyone is wicked and

 footsteps drop with fatness. But when you go and exegete          perverse?

these words, be sure and mention mure  than rain on parched            Listen to verse 5 of this wondrous psalm: Terrible things

 fields, flocks in the meadows, and corn in the cribs.             in righteousness wilt Thou answer us, 0 God of our sal-

     Because it means much more than that.                         vation !

                               * 4: * *                                Do you know to what the poet refers here? He refers us

                                                                   to the cross of Jesus, tind in that cross you have your answer.
     The year of Jehovah's goodness.
                                                                       God gave that terrible answer when He bruised Jesus in
     What is it?
                                                                   the place of those whom He chose from all eternity.
     It is the same as the Day of Hiti  salvation.
                                                                       He cast away His dearly beloved Son, so that He might
     The abundant watering of the ridges; the springing corn,
                                                                   cause you and me to approach unto Him. Jesus experienced
 the green pastures of the wilderness, the merry flocks and
                                                                   hell so that you might dwell in His courts, and might go to
 herds-they all are figures, pictures, symbols of something
                                                                   church and eat and drink of the words of life. Jesus had to
 that is far better than meat and life here  below.
                                                                   become ever so hungry and cry: I thirst, so that you might
     We sing of it: "The lovingkindness of my God is more
                                                                   become satisfied with His goodness and relish all the fatness
 than life to me !"
                                                                   of God's footsteps..
     The year of God's goodness ? Jehovah has taken out time
                                                                      You are drawn ever closer to God, and finally you will
 to be gracious; He has made a &use  that refreshes; He
                                                                   rest in His bosom, but Jesus cried in the awful hour of dark-
 breaks the stream of time in order to show us an eternity of
                                                                   ness : Why, 0 why hast Thou forsaken Me? !
 love.                                 *
                                                                       You may go'to heaven. You may even taste a little bit
     Let us be glad on Thanksgiving Day, but let it be the
                                                                   of heaven here on earth, and it is well. `But remember the
 gladness of Psalm 65. Be sure and pay your vows to God
                                                                   terrible answer of God in righteousness which was spoken on
 and remember your distresses when you made that vow.
                                                                   Golgotha. Here is that answer which was so terrible: My
     Here is the year of God's goodness and His footsteps of
                                                                   Son, you must  go to hell!
 fatness : He purged away your sins and iniquity. That is His
                                                                       If you want to give thanks on Thanksgiving Day then
 goodness in negative terms. And positively ? Listen and I
                                                                   give thanks for those things that came by unspeakable terror
 will tell you in the words of David, no, of the Holy Ghost:
                                                                   for Jesus.
 He chose you and caused the men and women .and children
                                                                       Oh yes : Thou crownest the year of Thy goodness and
 of His goodpleasure to approach unto Him!
                                                                   Thy footsteps drop with fatness !
     And here is the wonder of it all: when you approached.
                                                                       Blessed ,Thanksgiving  !
 Him you were not scorched by His righteous wrath.
     No, you were not burned away because of your sins and                                   * * * *

 iniquity. The very reverse happened : He said to you that
                                                                       His footsteps drop with fatness!
 you might dwell in His courts so that you might be satisfied
                                                                       Shall we try and follow those footsteps ?
 with the goodness of His house!
                                                                       The first one we cannot see: it was taken in the never
     Oh, I think it a wonderful thing that we first go to God's
                                                                   begun eternity. That step is as old as God. He said : I love
 house on the Day of Thanksgiving, and then we go home and
                                                                   thee with an everlasting love !
 eat and drink.
                                                                      The second step was when that love found you. And also
     Let that rhythm fill all your life! And mine.
                                                                   that second step you cannot see: it was taken in your inmost
                               *    :k * *                         heart. God took that step in a place which we call your sub-

     Thanksgiving Day is a clay of merriment amid  gladness. I     consciousnes,%  It resulted in your regeneration.

 have no dbjection  at all.                                            The third step of great fatness was taken when you were

     But remember it is only so for those whom God chose           converted. At first it did not look like fatness at all, for you

 from all eternity. If you are not one of God's chosen it would    began to cry. You saw God and wept. But when such

 fit you better to begin to cry and to weep all the miserable      weeping is translated in heavenly speech, the very angels

 days of your life on earth.                                       rejoice.

     Oh, I know that these words hurt. But it is the truth.            The fourth step is the step which gave you the faith of

 What will it profit a man if he gain the whole world and          Jesus, and through it you began to know that your sins were

 lose his own soul ? Or what will a man give in exchange ior       forgiven. We call it justification.

 his soul ?                                                            The fifth step is called sanctification. And it is of the

     If your sins and iniquity are not purged away, they &all      fatness of God. It is all of Him. Sanctification means that

 stay `with you and accompany you when you make you:-'  last       you begin to hate sin and love goodness. You feel yourself

 journey to God. And according to His justice and right-           drawn to all that .is really beautiful and virtuous, `but  you


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                                              75


shudder inwardly because of all wickedness and filth, especi-

ally your own.                                                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

   And the final step is glorification. And that begins al-             Semi-monthly, except monthly. during June, July and August

ready here on earth. You can see the glorification of the                 Published by the &FORMED  FREE PUBLISHING  ASSOCIATION
saints in their eyes, you can hear it in their song, you can            P. 0. BOX 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

feel it in their behaviour. Like seeks like: you begin to                                                 Edit& -REV. HERMAN HOEKSEMA
sing: I am a companion of all those that fear Thee. There               Communic&ons  relative  to contents  should be addressed to
                                                                                             Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
is a little bit of heaven on earth.                                                                                      Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

   Have your Thanksgiving days, but remember God's day                  All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
and year of goodness, and mark His footsteps that drop with             G. Pipe, 1463 Ardmore St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

fatness. His should be the praise forever.                 G.V.         Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
                                                                        address and will be published at a fee of $1.00 for each notice.


                                                                        RENEWAL: Unless a de&ite request for discontinuance is re-
                                                                        ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes  the subscription
         Report bf East,ern  Ladies' League                             to continue without the formality of a renewal order.

   The Ladies' League meeting was held Oct. 23, at our                                                     Subscription price: $5.00 per year

Southwest Protestant *Reformed Church. The meeting was                  Entered as Second Class matter at Grand Rapids, LMichigan

opened by singing Psalter No. 374, our theme song, and Ps.

42 from the Holland Psalter. Our President, Mrs. D. Jonker,
                                                                                                                               C O N T E N T S
read from Deut. 6 vs. 1 to 15 after which she offered prayer.
                                                                    M E D I T A T I O N -
A welcome was extended to all the ladies present. A ladies'                    The Year of God's Goodness ._................................,................. 73

trio from our Hope Church sang Psalter No. 236.                                             Rev. b. ,Vos

   The President then introduced the speaker for the eve-           EDITORIALS-
ning, Rev. B. Woudenberg, who spoke on "Television in the                      Trouble About Nigeria. __ ____..  .__._ _. ..___. . .._ . . . . . . .76
                                                                               About The Three Points ___......_.................................................
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              77
Home." He showed us how a Protestant Reformed home
                                                                                            Ret H. Hoeksema
should be in complete accord with the Word of God as re-
ferred to in Deut. 6 vs. 5 to 9. The essence of our home life       OUR  DOCTRINE  -
                                                                               Tile  Book of Revelation _______.___..................................................                                                                          78
should be in the fear of the Lord with the members of the                                   Rev. H. Hoeksema

home, as also our going out and coming in. The love of God          CONTRIB~IQNS  -

should be our central theme, teaching our children about                       Ishmael                 Blessed                ___.  ___ ___ ______ __. . ._. .__ .__ ____ ___ . .._... . i9

God and they seeing the love of God in their parents. It must                              Rev. H. C. Harbach
be seen in the children going to school, the father to his work,               Missionary Notes                                  . . . :. . . . 79
                                                                                           Rev. G. Lubbers
and the mother in the home. Where then does television fit
                                                                    A C~oun  
into the Protestant Reformed home, and will it have evil                              OF WITNESSES-
                                                                               Concerning Ishmael                                       ._.  _ _ _   __. ___.   _ _ _   __. __. ._. __. .._.  8 1
effects ? Much corruption from the world. can enter from                                  Rev. B. Woudenberg
some of the programs. Others are of a neutral nature and
                                                                    FROM HOLY WRIT-
some permissible, but none of this must distract or detract                    Exposition of Matthew 2 4 and 2 5 (9) . . . . 83

from the godly life in the home. The inward desire of the                                  Rev. G. Lubbers

old man of sin is still with us on one hand while the principle     I N His FEAR -

of the new man struggles as on a battlefield, striving with our                Jehovah, The God of Arithmetic                                                             (4) y . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
                                                                                           Rev. J. A. Heys
old carnal nature, so that in the temptation to distract us
from worthwhile things, hatred finds a place in the home in-        CONTENIXNG  FOR THE  FAITH -
                                                                               The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
stead of love. The question then remains, am I and members
                                                                                            Rev. H. Veldman
of my family strong enough to resist the temptation of turning
                                                                    THE VOICE OF OUR  FATHERS -
on the good and turning off the evil ? What proceeds out of                    The Canons of Dordrecht ___._____.................................................  89

the love of God ? We should control the set and not let the                                 Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

set control us.                                                     DECENCY AND ORDER-
   Mrs. Jonker thanked the speaker for his timely address.                     The Report                        . .._ __. ___ .____.  ___ __ _____. . . . . . . . . . . . ..91
                                                                                            Rev. G. Vanden  Berg
The collection for The Standard Bearer was taken while we
                                                                    ALL 
sang Psalter No. 215. The trio again favored us with the                    AROUND  US-
                                                                               The Synodical  Decisions of 1924 on Common Grace . 93
number, "Close to His Heart." The business of the evening                                   Rev. M. Schipper
was taken care of, the new board members introduced and the
                                                                    SPECIAL ARTICLE-
retiring members were thanked for their services. After sing-                  Question Hour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  ..9~
                                                                                            Rev. H. Hoeksema
ing Psalter No. 325, our new president, Mrs. M. Schipper,
                                                                                                 OUR
closed with prayer. Refreshments were served in the base-           N E W S    F R O M                          CHuRc~s  ________.......................                                        . . . . . . . 96
                                                                                            Mr. J. M. Faber
ment.                                  Mrs. G. Spruyt, Reporter

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


                                                                      stinately persist in refusing, they shall be deposed from their
              EDIT,ORIALS                                             office."
                                                                          This is our church polity, and this at the same time

                                                                      denoted our theological distinctiveness.
                    Trouble About Nigeria                                 This surely also implies that Dr. Boer, in the capacity of

       As I said before, I do not know what the Synod of the          teacher or professor in the TCNN, is obliged to cause his in-
Christian Reformed Church meant when they instructed the              struction to be in harmony with the standards of the Chris-
committee that was appointed to come to the next-synod  with          tian Reformed Church. And this is impossible in a school
clear-cut recommendation regarding certain matters con-               where all kinds of professors give instruction.

nected with the dispute about the TCNN, also to study the                 The investigation of the committee on this point, there-

implications of the ordinations  vows made by their mission-          fore, should result in some such statement as the following:

aries.                                                                    "The relation of the Christian Reformed Church to the

       I was not present at the sessions of Synod.                    TCNN, taking into account our church polity and our theo-

       But I cannot understand the .significance  of this instruc-    logical distinctiveness, is such that it cannot support that in-

tion to the committee unless it means that missionaries never         stitution nor permit one of their own missionaries to give
promise to abide by the doctrine of the Church as expressed           .instruction there.

in the Confessions nor sign the Formula of Subscription.                  "Grounds :

       If this is not the meaning, if Synod proceeded from the            "a. The teaching of our missionaries must at all times be

assumption, that missionaries as well as ministers are-  bound        distinctively Reformed in harmony with the standards of the

by the Confessions and by the Formula of Subscription, then           Christian Reformed Church to which all professors and

either I can see no sense in studying the ordination vows or          teachers subscribe.

the committee is supposed to suggest an attempt to show                   "b. To give such distinctive Reformed instruction in the
that those ordination vows may very well be understood to be          TCNN is, in the nature of the case, impossible."
in harmony with teaching in the TCNN.                                     The rest of the items which the committee must investi-

       But the latter is impossible.                                  gate are, to me, of minor importance ; and, besides, I am not

       Dr. Boer cannot teach the Reformed truth according to          sufficiently acquainted with the situation in Nigeria to ex-

the standards of the Church in the TCNN. He will not                  press judgment on the matter.

even attempt to do so, for he realizes full well that this is an          The latter is, for instance, the case with point c, which

impossibility. Besides, the very fact that he is so eager to teach    speaks of the relation of the Nigerian General Conference to

in the TCNN shows that he does not care for the definite              the TCNN particularly as to the appointment as members of

R e f o r m e d   t r u t h .                                         the Board of governors. I hope to learn more about this when

       But we will see, the Lord willing what the committee will      the report of the committee is published.

report on this matter.                                                   The items d and F are rather interesting and suggestive.

                                 * + * *                              Item d speaks of the relation of the Benue and Tiv churches
                                                                      to the TCNN. Now it is evident from the rest of the report

       The second item which the committee is supposed to study       that, at least, the Benue church favors contact with the TC-

and concerning which it is to come with clear-cut recom-              NN. For in point 3 of the synodical  decision we read : "That

mendations to the next Synod, reads as follows: "The rela-            Synod permit special gifts to be solicited for the native

tion of' the Christian Reformed Church to the TCNN, taking            church which desires to be participate in the TCNN, and

into account our church polity as well as our theological dis-        that it be understood that this does not further commit Chris-

tinctiveness."                                                        tian Reformed Church to the TCNN at this -time inasmuch

       It seems to me that this should not be.  difficult for the     as the support is given to the native church and the responsi-

committee to decide. Our church polity is governed by the             bility for expansion of the TCNN is the responsibility of

Church Order and our theological distinctiveness is such that         the native church."

it is rather clearly and fully expressed in the three formulas          And one of the grounds, given for the above decision is

of unity. The Church Order in art. 53 states:                         that "the Benue church has requested such help."

       "The ministers of the Word of God and likewise the                This is a rather strange decision, too.

professors of theology (which `also behooves other professors            The Synod of the Christian Reformed Church does not

and school teachers) shall subscribe to the three formulas of         wish to commit itself further to the support of the TCNN and

unity, namely, the Belgic Confession of Faith, the Heidel-            does not want to be responsible for its expansion. Neverthe-

berg Catechism, and the Canons of Dordrecht, 1618-19, and             less, it recommended the solicitation of funds for a church

the ministers of the Word who refuse to do so shall de facto          of its own in Nigeria for the very and avowed purpose that

be suspended from their office  by the consistory or classis          this church may support the TCNN! I ask: is it true, then,

until they shall have given a full statement, and if they ob-         that the support of the TCNN rests only with the responsibil-


                                           T H E   S T A N D - A R D   BEARER                                                        77


ity of the native church ? If I give money to a certain party for                    About The Three Points
the support of Christian Science or Arminianism, is that                 In one of the recent copies of DC Wachter, the Holland
party alone responsible for the use he makes of the money             paper of the Christian Reformed Church, the editor, the Rev.
given him, or is not even the first responsibility mine? The          E. Van Halsema, reflects on an editorial I wrote in TlLe
latter is, of course, the truth. The same is the case here. The
                                                                      Standa*rd  Bearer about correspondence with the Christian
Christian Reformed Church cannot shed its responsibility for          Reformed Church. In that editorial I took the stand that,
the support of the TCNN by merely giving money to the                 before our churches could enter into the relation of cor-
native church though it knows that this native church `will           respondence with the Christian Reformed Church, we must
use the money for the support and expansion of the TCNN.              first have a thorough discussion about what took place in
This is nothing but camouflage and dishonesty, unworthy of            1924, not only about the notorious "Three Points,"' but also
anyone but especially of a Synod.                                     about all the history connected with them and with the en-
    But at any rate we learn here that -the  Benue church             tire "common grace" question.
favors the TCNN.
                                                                         From the above editorial of Van Halsema in De Wachter
   How come ?                                                         the editor, evidently, differs from this position of mine.

    We surmise that this is under the influence of Dr. Boer.             That is, of course, his privilege.

   And may we not also rightly surmise that this is related              But the main ground he adduces for this stand, as I un-
to item e of the matters which the committee, appointed by            derstand him, is that the history of 1924 is now thirty-five
Synod, must investigate ? This item reads as follows: "The            years old and that it is no use to rehearse it once more. We
relation of the teachings of our Missionary Professor to the          better let bygones be bygones, and the Dutch expression has
distinctive positions and practices held by the Benue and Tiv         it, "we moeten  geen oude koeien uit de sloot halen."
churches."
                                                                         With this I cannot possibly agree.
   What does this mean ? To me this sounds somewhat am-

biguous. It speaks, not of the relation of Dr. Boer to the               I have several reasons for this disagreement, but I will

Benue and Tiv churches, but of his teachings. Moreover, it            mention only one.

speaks of the relation of his teachings to the distinctive posi-         It is this that I consider it a grievous sin that, in 1924-25,
tions (doctrines, I suppose) and practices of the `two native         the Christian Reformed Church cast out faithful and
churches.     To me that can only mean one thing: that there          thoroughly Reformed ministers, two of whom, of which I
was expressed doubt on the floor of the Synod concerning              am one, are still alive, together with the large majority of
the teachings of Dr. Boer so that, while the Benue and Tiv            their consistories, by deposing them from their office.
churches hold the distinctively Reformed position in doctrine
and practice, he does not.                                               They did not leave the Christian Reformed Church, but
                                                                      they were cast out because they could not possibly agree with
   This is how I read this part of the report although I could
                                                                      the "Three Points." They did not intend to leave the Chris-
wish that Synod had expressed itself more clearly on` this
                                                                      tian Reformed Church, but they wanted the liberty to discuss
matter.
                                                                      the "Three Points" and expose their error within the Church.
   The two last items on which the committee is supposed              But they were expelled.
to shed light on the Synod of 1959 concern the relation of
                                                                         This was, for me, and for others of our ministers with me,
the Missionary Professor to the Nigerian General Conference
                                                                      especially also the Rev. Ophoff, a very grievous experience.
as, for instance, matters that concern the supervision of hi3
teaching at the TCNN and other problems ; while the very                 But it is also a heinous sin before God. It is about this sin
last item speaks of the need of a distinctively Reformed              especially as well as about other matters that we must have a
training on the Benue and Tiv field.                                  thorough discussion before we enter into the relationship of
                                                                      correspondence with the Christian Reformed Church.
   Of this last I would certainly be in favor.
                                                                         To repent and confess, - that is the only Christian way.
   I will close this review of Synod's decision by once more
emphasizing that I cannot understand how Synod had the                                           :c * * +

courage to go ahead and appoint Dr. Boer for another year                But it was not so much about the article by the Rev.
as professor in the TCNN, not only in the face of strong              Van Halsema that I meant to write.
opposition from the churches, but especially in the light of
                                                                         I mean to reflect on an article written in Torch and
what Synod states at the end of its own decision, namely:
                                                                      T~muvtpet by the Rev. F: H. Klooster.  He evidently does not
   "There are many aspects of this problem that have not              agree with Van Halsema, for he writes about 1924 and the
been defined or that have not come to sufficient clarity."            "Three Points."

   Synod should have waited.                                             About this, then, in our next issue, D.V.

                                                              H.H.                                                               H.H.

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

I/                                                                   He sends them more devils and more demons, that they may
            O U R   D O C T R I N E                               iI actually increase their sin and become ripe for the great day
                                                                     of the Lord. This we read time and again in Scripture. When

                                                                     the leaders of the Jews blaspheme the work of Jesus and
             THE BOOK OF REVELATION                                  prove that they love darkness rather than light, we find that

                         P A R T   T W O                             Jesus begins to teach in parables for the very purpose that
                                                                     the things of the kingdom of heaven may remain hid to them.

                          CHAPTER V                                  After Paul has given a description of the idolatry and foolish-
                                                                     ness of the heathen world, he continues to say: "Wherefore
                 The Locztsts Out of the Abyss
                                                                     God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of

                       Revelation 9 11-12                            their own hearts." And again: "For this cause God gave
                                                                     them up unto vile affections." And therefore we find this

      What we have therefore in the words 05 the passage we          relation in Scripture.    Man has surrendered himself to the
are now discussing is nothing but the picture of the letting         service of the devil. In this service he stands in the power
loose of one of the reserve forces of hell over the world of         and under the influence of Satan and his host generally, and
men. Satan has his regular troops.. They are the powers of           the powers of the air have dominion over him. The more
the air, the spiritual host of wickedness in high places. With       he serves sin and Satan, the more this power of the evil

them he always works. With them he always offers battle              hosts in high places is emphasized, until, when gradually the

against the Christ and His people. And against them we               world becomes ripe for the judgments of God, this power is

must be armed with the whole armor of God. With these he             made stronger by the letting loose of the reserve forces of
always stands in close contact with his human servants on            Satan, the evil spirits out of the abyss. And it is that emphasis
earth. Through them Satan influences the minds and hearts,           of the power of Satan over the wicked world that is pictured
the thoughts and the affections of men, so that he may be            in the words of our passage.     Again, therefore, in harmony
able to maintain his position as the prince of this world. And       with the character of the trumpets, there is just a little em-
over against them Christ also has His angels, strengthening          phasis of the general conditions. If the general influence of
and protecting His people. T&rough this regular army of              the powers of the air may be compared to one-fourth, the in-
Satan, under the influence of them, develops what we call            fluence is now increased to one-third by the liberation of these
"the spirit of the age." If we say that the spirit of the present    locusts, of this infernal army of the reserve forces of the
age is humanistic, we must not imagine that the development          devil.
of the same has nothing to do with the regular hellish troops            But what is the special work of these infernal spirits ?
of the devil. On the contrary, also that spirit is come to the       The text emphasizes that it is their task to torment men.
consciousness of the wicked world under the influence of the         With emphasis this is stated. Their power is as the power
powers of the air. They are everywhere. They stand behind            of scorpions. This power is in their tails. Their torment is
the throne of kings and emperors, as we learn, for instance,         as the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. They are
from the *tenth chapter of the prophecy of Daniel. They              not allowed to kill, but only to torment such as have not the
control the minds of the leaders of the people. They influence       seal of God in their foreheads. And the effect of this torment
the thoughts and the teachings of the infidel professors in our      is such that in those days men seek death, but shall not be
universities. And in a thousand ways they are influential in         able to find it. They desire to die, but death fleeth from them.
causing to develop the so-called "spirit of the age."                And they may torment these men that have not the seal of
      But of these our text does not speak. No, it speaks of         God on their foreheads for five months, From the outset we
special forces, of the reserve troops of hell, of the army of        may say that these five months have no other symbolical
maneuver of the devil. Not of the powers of the air, but of          significance than this, that these infernal spirits may serve
the spirits of the abyss, that are commonly bound and im-            their full time. The five months are evidently in harmony
prisoned but that are let Ioose at the command of Christ over        with the picture *that  is given of the locusts. We are told
the wicked world, does the text speak.                               that the time during which locusts may be expected is gener-
      And what is the teaching of the Word with regard to            ally five months of the summer. Not as if any swarm of
these wicked spirits ? When are they to be let loose ? When-         locusts would continually remain in a country for that length
ever the world is ripening for judgment. The sinner and the          of time : for their work is generally finished much more quick-
sinful world in general chooses to do the works of Satan and         ly. But five months is the time during which they may be
his kingdom. They choose to trample under foot the precepts          expected. And the meaning therefore is that these spirits
of the Most High and to walk in ways of darkness. And                may serve their full time, and do as much harm as they

therefore, entirely in harmony with their own choice the             possibly can.

Lord surrenders them to the devil and his host. And as they           But the question is : what is meant by this torment, and

continue and reach the stage of sin and evil in the which they       what is its nature ?

have fully surrendered themselves to the powers of darkness,                                                                    H.H.

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


                                                                    his eternal state here, or anywhere, negatively determined.
                   CONTRIBUTIONS                                    We do not read, `rI.dzma.el  have I' hated." Scripture, as al-

                                                                    ready indicated, says the opposite: "Ishmael . . . I have

                                                                    blessed . . ." (Gn. 17:20).
                     Ishmael Blessed                                   Hagar, also, was elect. For when the Angel of the Lord

    Whenever Ishmael is considered in Scripture, he is usu-         (the Lord Himself) met her, He spoke kindly to her,
ally, by the Reformed, regarded as a reprobate. He is so            promising her more than the mere providential gift of many
viewed in Rev. Woudenberg's recent, "The Casting Out of             descendants, but went on to prescribe the name for the son
Ishmael." Inasmuch as we do not hold with those who believe         promised (16:ll).  Where in all Scripture does God thus
God's grace can be general and common, we humbly submit             prescribe the name of a reprobate ? Invariably such instances
these thoughts pertaining to Hagar and her son.                     apply only to the elect. Furthermore, the reason set down
    As Protestant Reformed we do most firmly believe that           for giving and so naming this child was in answer to Hagar's
God's goodness is always particular, that therefore He never        prayer (Ishmael means "God heareth."), `%ecause  the Lord
blesses the reprobate, and that this being true, we cannot          hath heard thy affliction." Affliction is the portion of the
make the false distinction that some blessings are temporal,        elect, whereas reprobates are punished. Besides, this is the
rather than eternal or spiritual. For God neither blesses nor       same language God used of Israel in E,qptian  bondage: "I
loves the reprobate, no, not in time, nor in eternity. No "com-     have surely seen the affliction of My people" (Ex. 3 :7; cf.
mon grace" is ever shown to them. He gives them many                2 :23, 24). In ,short, the Angel of God bade her to "fear
good gifts ; never blessings !                                      not" (21 :17).  The Lord never directs this language to a

    Since this is all true, then Ishmael must be, not reprobate,    reprobate, not in any of the many "fear not? of the Bible.

but elect !                                                         For reprobates have everything to fear, and it would be better
    For we read that God gave Abraham in his old age prom-          for them to die on the spot in infancy or childhood than to
ise concerning his wife in the words, "I will bless HER,"           increase their condemnation by living in sin any longer.

referring to the gift of a son. Abraham responded to this not       "Fear not" is expressive of electing love. Wherefore Hagar

in the strongest faith, having his heart set (understandably)       is cast out bodily by Sarah, "in a figure" (Heb. 11:19) ac-

on Ishmael, crying, "0 that Ishmael might live before Thee !"       cording to Scripture, but not eternally by God (cf. Ro. 11 :2

Immediately this touching plea was answered: "As for Ish-           with Ps. 43 :2; 89 :38).  God blessed Ishmael, but He never

mael,  I have heard thee. Behold, I lmve  ELessed  HIM" (Gn.        blesses a reprobate. Then he is elect, tho the covenant did
17 :16-20). Abraham correctly understood the word "bless" in        not descend in his line (Gn. 17 :21). Japheth is also elect, tho

both instances to be used in the same sense of gracious favor.      the covenant did not continue in his line.              R.C.H.

It will not do to interpret the word to mean favor in the case

of Sarah, but not in that of Ishmael. It will not do to render
                                                                                        Missionary Notes
the text, "As for Ishmael, I have heard thee, - i.e., heard

thy prayer, `0 that Ishmael might live,' -and behold, I have           It is rather difficult for .our  well-fed (I mean with the

cztrsed  him !"                                                     Gospel) Protestant Reformed Churches to appreciate the

    That one thought out of all Scripture ("I  have blessed         position of the Isabel Reformed Church prior to the coming

him.") is sufficient. A similar case we have in the rich young      of Rev. H. Mensch in-April  of 1953.

ruler. In a conversation with the Lord he revealed himself as          For it can be truthfully said that the sheep here in Isabel

proud, self-righteous, avaricious and Christ-rejecting. Yet         were not well cared for by the Eureka Classis.  They were

we read that "Jesus . . . loved him" (Mk. 10 :21) . We may          short of ministers, it is true. But that does not alter the

therefore expect to see both Ishmael and this rich young ruler      fact that Isabel was receiving a very, very little shepherding

in heaven. For God blessed the one and loved the other.             by the ministers in this vicinity, such as B. E. Bosma, the

    That Ishmael in Gal. 4 is spoken of as being born after         late W. Grossmann and R. Klaudt.

the.  flesh makes no difference. Paul is employing allegory            Yesterday I went to the Secretary-Treasurer of the Isabel

(4 :24),  which is an extended metaphor (an implied com-            congregation to see the records of the congregation in the

parison), and compares Hagar and Ishmael not in their               past. I found that the congregation of Isabel during the

proper persons, but as illustrative of spiritual truth. He con-     past twenty years, prior to the coming of Rev. Mensch, never

siders Ishmael in his unregeneracy, and Hagar in her capa-          had more than nine (9) serwzons  a year ! They did not

city as a female slave. Then, Ishmael may have been as              receive nine Sunda.ys,  but nine services, and sometimes less.

mocking, as wild and spiritually senseless a character as pos-      The record shows that in 1932 they were allotted six (6)

sible. The rich young ruler was equally as wretched by              services in one year. This meant that more often than not

nature. But neither of these men were left in their sins.           the congregation saw a minister for the sum-total of ten

Whom the Lord loveth, and ,blesseth,  He doth not leave to          (10) hours ! And that in an entire year of 52 Lord's Days !

perish. The same allegorical reference is apparent in Rom. 9,          During those twenty years there is no record that the

altho Ishmael is not even mentioned in this passage, nor is         congregation ever received any financial support at all. They


        80                                          T H E   STANDAR-D`  B.JZARER


        hardly needed it. They paid out the unbelievable sum of               sermons per year, and that, too, to preachers for whom
d       $180.00 a year for preaching. They also paid out dues for             they had learned to have a profound disrespect!

        the Classis  during those years. But they received no financial          Now you can somewhat see that the brethren and sisters

        aid at all. What did they need it for; to pay that $180.00 per        in Isabel would "hold what they have"!

        year ? !                                                                 Rev. Mensch could not continue here. For that he as-

              During that time they read sermons, and that, too, mostly       sumes the responsibility. But his work stands !

        in the German language. And, I am solemnly assured, that                 And Isabel, I am sure, is profoundly grateful for the

        often they heard the same sermon every three or four weeks            labors of the undersigned and his help-meet.             G.L.

        from the aged elder ! What became of catechetical instruction

        one needs no great imagination to surmise. And that for

        twenty years ! Small wonder that the congregation dwindled              Poettt by Mrs. Alice Ba.nta,  takm  from "The Gospel of
        in number and that the faith of those who remained was                                      Grace Messenger"

        severely put to the test.                                                          T H E   T R I U M P H A N T   W O R D
              One can imagine the joy of these children of God when                      The Word of God shall triumph
        Herman Mensch, graduate from the Protestant Reformed                             0 Church of Christ, fight on!
        Seminary, came to these parts and preached here in the fall                      Though dark the night of conflict
        of 1952! That Isabel conceived the plan to call Rev. Mensch                      Soon shall the morning dawn.
                                                                                         The armor of the Spirit
     is understandable.
                                                                                         In battle shall prevail.
              On November 23, 1952, a congregational meeting was                         Ye struggling saints, despair not,
        held in the Isabel congregation. Rev. R. Klaudt, according                       Though gates of hell assail.

        to the minutes of the congregation, presided. Eureka. Classis                    The Word of God shall triumph,
        proposed that Isabel call Rev. Mensch as their pastor, and                       Though unbelief abounds,
        that he be also a kind of "missionary" pastor in Heil, N. D.                     Though worldly wisdom's error
        (100 miles north from Isabel) and in Highmore, S. D., about                      O'er all the earth resounds.
                                                                                        Though vain, deceitful pleasures
        140 miles to the S.E. from Isabel. Later also the congrega-                      In carnal hearts hold sway,
        tion of Aberdeen, S.D. (165 miles due east from Isabel) was                      And godless, taunting scorners
        added. This meant that Isabel had Rev. Mensch to preach                          Deride the narrow way.

        for them every third Sunday. They received two sermons                           The Word of God shall triumph,
        then ! Mensch also preached during the week, when he would                      Though sorrows, trials, cares
        be absent on the Sunday he should be in Isabel. Besides, he                      Becloud thy path, 0 Christian-
                                                                                        Though steadfast, earnest prayers
        faithfully conducted catechism during the week !                                Appear unheard, unanswered,.
              The Classis  Eureka did not give Isabel direct  financial                 Bow to His holy will.
        aid. This was paid Rev. Mensch (Isabel thinks it was                            His truth .abides  forever ;
        $2000.00 per year) for traveling expenses and for labors in                     He loves His children still.

        Heil, N. D., Highmore, S. D. and in Aberdeen. They                              The Word of God shall triumph.
        (Isabel) were the beneficiaries of the entire set-up! They                      Ye saints, do not despond.
                                                                                        With eyes of faith look forward
        were joint-beneficiaries with the other churches just men-
                                                                                        To Salem's realm beyond.
        tioned. At most the share of Isabel in cold figures was, as                     Built on the Rock of Ages
        best they can compute, about $l,OOO.OO  in two years. Isabel                    Your hope shall rest secure ;
        was reminded once by letter: since, we, Classis  Eureka, pay                    In God's true love abiding,
        the lion's share of Mensch's salary, don't stand in his way to                  Trust in His promise sure.

        preach in the other churches !                                                  The Word of God shall triumph.
                                                                                        When Judgment trumpets call,
              Hence, when Isabel requested in Jan. 1957 for $2,000.00                   Sun, moon, and stars shall vanish -
        support and were informed that this "could no longer be                         The earth in ruins fall ;
        given" that was also a bit unfactual on the part of the "Exe-                   But through eternal ages
        cutive."    And when Isabel was reminded that they were un-                     His truth' divine shall stand
                                                                                        The theme of songs victorious
        thankful children, since they did not express thanks for all
                                                                                        In yonder Glory-land.
        this help of $l,OOO.OO  in a fourtln  of a century, plus nine ser-
                                                                                        The Word of God shall triumph.
        mons a year at the most, it was, to be sure, a nice bit of the
                                                                                        0 blood-bought church, rejoice !
        German school-master that came to manifestation !                               Led by Ilis Holy Spirit,
              Imagine what a spectre it presented to the eye of the                     Lift up in song thy voice.
        brethren and sisters in Isabel to no longer have the preaching                  Soon shall thy vile oppressors
                                                                                        Be overthrown, cast down-
        of Rev. Mensch, Protestant Reformed preaching to be sure,                       And thine shall be the Kingdom,
        and go back to those who robbed them of their minister by                       The glory, and the crown!
      = "tabling" the matter of support, and then go back to nine                                                              - ANN HOPPE


                                          T H E   STANLDARD   B E A R E R   -                                                      8 1


                                                                          2. Perhaps of greater importance regarding Ishmael per-
11 A CLOUD OF WITNESSES 11 sonally is the prophecy concerning him given to Hagar prior
                                                                      to Ishmael's birth, and recorded in Gen. 16 :12.  This prophecy

                                                                      concerning him given to Hagar to Ishmael's birth, and

                                                                      recorded in Gen. 16:12  . This prophecy consists of three dif-
                  Concerning Ishmael
                                                                      ferent parts. The first says of him, "He will be a wild man"

                                                                      or literally translated, "He will be a wild ass among men."
    There has come to my attention since the appearance of
                                                                      He is compared to the-animal described in Job 39:5-8,  "Who
my article entitled "The Casting Out Of Ishmael" in the
                                                                      hath sent out the wild ass free ? or who hath loosed the bands
October 15 issue of The Standa.rd  Bea.rerer  (page 31) several
                                                                      of the wild ass ? Whose house I have made the wilderness,
questions concerning my presentation of the spiritual status
                                                                      and the barren land his dwellings. He scorneth the multitude
of Ishmael. These were- brought to my attention first in
                                                                      of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. The
several private conversations and now in the appearance of
                                                                      range of mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after
a "Contribution" entitled "Ishmael Blessed" submitted by
                                                                      every green thing." This would seem to designate Ishmael as
the Rev. R. C. Harbach. These responses are appreciated
                                                                      a wild unruly man unwilling to be bound by law or the will of
and I am every happy to use this article for a further ex-
                                                                      God but inhabiting the desolate unblessed expanses of the
planation of my position.
                                                                      wilderness. The second element of this prophecy reads, "his
    The question that arises is whether Ishmael in our                hand will be against every man, and every man's hand against
study of Scripture is to be considered by us as regenerate or         him."    Here it is said that Ishmael will be a pugnacious,
unregenerate, believing or unbelieving, and ultimately as             warring man, a stranger to the blessedness of peace, and like
elect or reprobate. A superficial perusal of the various              his nephew Esau living by the sword. Finally it is stated,
passages of Scripture which have reference to Ishmael                 "He shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren." Geo-
would seem to lend suppqrt to both propositions, leaving              graphically this had literal fulfillment as we read in Gen.
us with a sort of dilemma or apparent contradiction. To               25 :18 concerning Ishmael's children, "And they dwelt from
the serious student of the Scriptures, being convinced of the         Havilah unto Sliur that is before Egypt, as thou goest to-
necessary inner harmony of God's Word, this can only mean             ward Assyria."    But the text would seem to designate more
that the matter is worthy of a deeper and more intensive              - namely, that Ishmael maintained an existence independent
examination. Hence we welcome this occaSion  t6 examine the           from his brother Isaac, and for any one to maintain an ,exist-
various passages in question.    First we would like to review        ence independent from the promised line of Isaac and his seed.
those passages which speak badly of Ishmael, and secondly             can hardly be considered a blessing.
those which seem to speak more positively.                               3. That this prophecy very soon began to show its fulfill-

                                                                      ment is intimated by the prayer of Abraham recorded in Gen.
   Those portions of Scripture that reflect negatively upon
                                                                      17:18,  "0 that Ishmael' might live  before thee !" It is no
Ishmael are the following.
                                                                      doubt true that this text has its primary significance in the

    1. The birth of Ishmael was occasioned by circumstances           fact that Abraham wished that the covenant promise might

which were spiritually very unbecoming. Not only was                  be carried on through Ishmael ; but it also clearly implies

Abraham's union with Hagar bigamy, which although more                that at that time already Ishmael showed himself to be un-

frequent in Bible history is nonetheless never condoned by            willing to live before the face of God. Already at that time

God, but it was perpetrated because of an expressed lack of           he was like the wild ass of the wilderness, unwilling to submit

faith by all that were concerned. Although God had speci-             to the spiritual instruction of his father.

fically promised Abraham that he would bring forth a great               4. By far the most revealing facts about Ishmael are

and blessed seed, Sarai  after many years had passed by               those recorded in Gen. 21 and reflected upon by Paul in

doubted the promise of Gqd and accused Him of having                  Gal. 4 :22-30. In these passages Ishmael is revealed not only

restrained her from bearing. Therefore she plotted to raise           to be "born after the flesh" but he is compared to the cov-

up a seed unto herself and Abram- through the use of her              enant of Sinai, "The one from Mount Sinai which gendereth

handmaid Hagar. Abram also failed to use spiritual discre-            to bondage, which is Agar. For .this  Agar is Mount Sinai in

tion and leadership in the home when he acceded to this               Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in

scheme. Even Hagar cannot be counted guiltless for allow-             bondage with her children." Gal. 4:24, 25. It is true that this

ing herself to be used in such a way. We might feel, how-             is an allegory ; but, if the allegory is properly drawn as it

ever, that this can not be counted against Ishmael for it             must be, because it is found in Scripture, it must mean that

would hardly be just to hold him                 for the sin which    Ishinael  in-.his  life was actually in bondagd to the law. The
                                     guiity  
his parents committed even though his birth was the result of         thought is that Abraham, even so many years before the

the sin. Nonetheless Paul in Galatians <does  designate Ish-          formal law was given from Sinai, maintained the rules of a

mael as the one "born after the flesh" and evidently considers.       Godly life,.within  his household. He insisted that all of. the

.it to be an earmark of his spiritual character.                      members of his household should live in accord with the

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


   principles of the Divine Will. To the child of the promise              than of a blessing. Nonetheless the actual word "biessed"

   who was spiritually alive, life under this strict rule of his           does appear also in this passage for it states, "And as for

   father was a life of freedom for it served to lead him in the           Ishmael, I have heard thee : Behold, I have blessed him." The

   way that his inner heart desired to go. So it would have                question arises, therefore, whether there is any record in

   been for Ishmael if he had been spiritually regenerated. But,           Scripture of an actual spiritual blessing in connection with

   in fact, for Ishmael lifk  within the household of Abraham was          Ishmael; and such a blessing we do find. From Gen. 25 :13

   a bondage. He had no desire for the Godly life, and for him             we learn that the two oldest sons of Ishmael were Nebajoth

   to have to observe the strict rule of Godly life only served to         and Kedar. Concerning these two sons we read further in

   irritate his soul. This irritation of soul finally er'upted  -in his    Isaiah 60:7,  "All the flocks of Kedar  shall be gathered to-

   mockery and persecution of Isaac at the great feast that was            gether unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto

   held on the day that Isaac was weaned. Had Ishmael been                 thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and

   spiritual he would have held Isaac as being very dear to his            I will glorify the house of my glory." Thus God had ordained

   heart, for he would have recognized Isaac as being the first            eternally a blessing for Ishmael, not personally, for personally

  fulfillment of the covenant promise and the one through                  he was like a wild ass that would not submit to the rule of

   whom God would ultimately -work salvation. But Ishmael                  the covenant; but an elect segment of his seed was chosen to

   did not care for Salvation ;`and,  therefore, he recognized Isaac       be converted from the wild ways of their father so as to sub-

  ,as nothing more than his competitor for supremacy within                mit to the easy yoke of Isaac's seed.

   the family. He mocked Isaac and persecuted him, thereby
                                                                              3. One other passage which might seem to cause diffi-
   spurning the promise of God, spurning the covenant, and in
                                                                           culty in this regard is found in Gen. 21:20.  There we read
   reality spurning the Christ. It was but proper that Ishmael
                                                                           concerning the later life of Ishmael, "And God was with the
   should be cast out for he was spiritually dead. He was at
                                                                           lad ; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became
   the command of God as much as. excommunicated from the
                                                                           an archer." Although this passage might seem to imply a
c h u r c h .
                                                                           certain favorable disposition of God toward Ishmael, it need

         This conclusion would no doubt be generally accepted if           not signify anything more than that God in His providence

   it were not for the fact that there are other passages which            watched over Ishmael so that His prophecies concerning Ish-

   seem to speak more favorably of Ishmael.                                mael might be fulfilled.


                                                                              In conclusion we would reiterate our position that Ish-
         1. The first of these passages is found in Gen. 16 where
   we read that the angel of the Lord met Hagar, instructed                mael stands in the Scriptures as a type or symbol to all ages
   her return to her mistress, told her to name her son "Ishmael;          of the unregenerate seed that grows up within the sphere of
   because the Lord hath heard thy affliction," and gave certain           the covenant. Although they received the best of covenant in-
   prophecies concerning Ishmael. This. passage might be used              struction, it finds no place within their hearts. All of this
to show that there yeas spiritual'.life  in Hagar and that she             rich covenant instruction and guidance only serves to irritate
   found favor with God ; but even then we should be very                  their souls and drive them farther into sin, until at last they
   careful because we know from Scripture that at times God                must be cast out from the Church.

   deals with  people within the sphere of the covenant as if they            In regard to this symbolic significance, however, Ishmael
   were true members of the covenant, while in later life these            differs somewhat from Esau. Esau is typical of the repro-
   same people fall away and are never again restored. The                 bate; for such there is no possibility of salvation, but they
   prime example of this is of c0urs.e  I(ing Saul. Concerning Ish-        are inevitably hardened unto perdition. Ishmael is typical of
   mael ,personally,  however; this passage has very little to say         the unregenerate seed within the covenant. Many, if not most,
   apart from the prophecy which "e have already treated and               of these may be also like Esau, reprobate which can never
   which could not be counted as a favorable promise in any                be renewed unto repentance. But there may also be those
   selise  of the word.                                                    who begin their life in the unregenerate state, and who

                                                                           nevertheless in their later life are by the grace of God re-
         2. More important in this respect is the answer of .God
                                                                           generated and converted to take their place, like Kedar and
   to the prayer of Abraham found in Gen. 17 :20, "And as for
                                                                           Nabajoth, with the elect of all ages.
   Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold; I have blessed him, and

will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly ;                   Nonetheless, in regard to Ishmael personally, there is
   twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great
                                                                           nothing in Scripture to suggest or necessitate the belief that
   nation."      We should note concerning this that the passage is        such a conversion ever took place. From all that the Scrip-
   concerned in the greater part with the temporal seed of                 tures tell us, he is only the son born after the flesh who "shall
   Ishmael and the extent to which it should be multiplied. This           not be heir with the son of the freewoman," and that heiitage
  is nothing more than God had already told Hagar in Gen.                  which he did not receive is ultimately Christ.
   16:lO and does not in itself imply a favorable disposition by

   God, - that is, it partakes of the nature of a prophecy more                                                                       B.W.


                                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                83


                                                                                                             This `is evident, in the first place, from the meaning here
II            F R O M   H O L Y   w'RlT                                                             II employed by Jesus of the term itself. It is the verb
                                                                                                          greegoreoo.    This verb is really derived from the perfect

                                                                                                          tense (egreegora) of the verb egeiroo. The latter term
             .Exposition  of Matthew 24 and 25                                                            means: to raise one up, to rouse one. In the perfect tense it

                                                                                                          means : to be in a completed state of watchfulness, having
                                               I X .                                                      been roused from sleep up till the present moment. Hence,

                                                                                                          a completed state of wakefulness !
                                 (Matthew 24 :27-44)
                                                                                                             As to the content and current usage of the verb to be
      We have noticed, that, in the immediate context, Jesus                                              watchful we notice that there are various passages in Scrip-
states most emphatically that the "day"  and the "hour" when                                              ture which shed a great deal of light on the spiritual-ethical
the Son of Man Shall  come in his "Parousia" is known to no                                               nature of this watchfulness. It is a watchfulness which is
one. And to this rule there are no exceptions. Among all                                                  rooted in godly feaj*, in childlike reverence for God. Thus,
the millions of men, the great and the small, there is not one                                            to cite a classic passage, we read in Hebrews 11~7  that Noah
who can state the exact date of Christ's return. Even in the                                              preparkd an ark for the saving of his house, being "moved
angel-world there is not one, not even Gabriel who stands                                                 with godly fear."- It is rooted in the proper attitude toward
before God, who knows the day or the hour. And, strange                                                   God. Lack of.watchfulness  is always willful disregard of the
as it may seem, even the Son himself does not know this hour                                              word and warnings of God. Hence, watchfulness is certainly
as to His human nature. He too lives in faith of that day                                                 spiritual-ethical in character, an act of worshipping God!
and, therefore, as the chief prophet does not tell that day.
                                                                                                             The Scriptures in their usage of this term give a content
This would be against the manner of the manifestation of the
                                                                                                          of sa.nctijication  to this watchfulness. Thus we read in Rev.
wisdom of God in the revelation of the M.ystery  of God's
                                                                                                          16:15, "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watch-
will.
                                                                                                          eth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they

      Only the Father, the triune God, Father, Son and Holy                                               see his shame."    Watchfulness ,falls  under a beatitude of

Spirit knows this day and hour of Christ's return. Hence,                                                 Christ. One who is watchful is inwardly blessed, content,

ours is not the prerogative to attempt curiously to pry into                                              since he has been roused from sin's stupor and spiritual

this unrevealed Mystery of God's will. Ours is but to                                                     drunkenness. In *this watchfulness he fights against sin with

live by the secret counsel of God as it has been revealed unto                                            a free and good conscience, and thus he retains his garments,

us, as being necessary for our salvation!                                                                 the raiments of Christ's righteousness. Thus he shall not

                                                                                                          be found naked, the shame of his sin will not be seen, for such
      Our Scripture study deals this time with the verses 37-44
                                                                                                          a bne  is blessed of the Lord! In him sanctification is per-
of this eschatological discourse of Jesus, recorded in Matthew
                                                                                                          fected in the fear of God. II Cor. 7 :1.
24. This passage reads ai follows: "Afzd  as (were) the days
o f   Noah so s h a l l   be the Pa.?-ousia  (presence) of the Son of                                        It is, therefore, also a watchfulness of a living hope which
Man. For as in tjzose  da,ys  whicIz  we?-e  befove the flood they                                        is ours through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the

were ea.ting  and drinkirzg, marrying and giving in vzmmiage,                                             dead. Thus we`read  in I Peter 1 :13,  "Wherefore having the

until  the day that iV0a.h  -entered  into the a.rk, mzd they knew                                        loins of your mind girt up, being sober, hope perfectly for

not until the flood ca.vze,  and took them all away; so sha.11                                            the grace to be brought unto you in the revelation of Jesus
also be the Pa,mztsia.  (coming) of the Son of Ma.n.  Then shall                                          Christ." He who is watchful in hope will give heed to Paul's
two men be in the field: one shall be ta.ken and the  other                                               admonition in I Cor. 16:13, ", . . stand in the faith, quit you
left: two women  shall be gSnding  .a.t tlze  mill: one is taken                                          like Men,  be ye strong."

a n d   tlzc other   l e f t .   W a t c h   t h e r e f o r e :   f o r   y e   k n o w   n o t   o n       From this we may conclude, negatively, that this watch-
w h a t   da.y  yozlr   L o r d   co?x,eth.  But know this, tlmt if the                                   fulness is not a morbid, excited watching and waiting for the
,master   o f   the,housc  had  k n o w n   i n .   w1za.t   w a t c h   t h e   t h i e f   w a s        return of Christ. This is no watchfulness which causes 3 man
coming, he wo,ztld  lmve  wa.tched,  a.nd  would not have .rzt.ffered                                     to sell his farm, and sit on the porch, watching for the
his house  to be broken through, Therefore be ye also ready:                                              return of the Son of Man! That is contrary to all the sober-
f o r   i n   ati hoz~  that  y e   t h i n k   n o t   t h e   S o n   o f   M a n   comet/a."           ing teaching ,of Scripture.    They who do not labor shall

      The general thrust of this entire section is : Be ye watch-                                         not eat. II Thess. 3 :lO, 11. We have an office and calling
&l. Verse 42. And this element of the necessity of watch-                                                 here in life which we are to attend to as faithfully as the

fulness is once more emphatically stated in verse 44, "Be  ye                                             angels attend to their calling in heaven. Heid. Catechism,

therefore ready."                                                                                         Question 124.


      Concerning the Scriptural idea of watchjulness  we would                                               That this negative conclusion is wholly warranted is

notice that it is most emphatically a spiritual watchfulness                                              evident from various elements here in Matthew 24 and 25.
that is here referred to by Jesus.                                                                        Will not two men be in the field in their earthly calling ?

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


And will the one that "is taken" not be busy in his "office               On the day that the doors of the ark were closed by God

and calling" ? He is "watchful," is he not? And, again, will          the banquet halls resounded with women, music and wine.

not two women be at the mill ? And will not the one that "is          Eating, and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. Life

taken" be equally at her tasks as is the other. This too              went on "normally" ! It is ever thus. God strikes as a thief in

shows, demonstrates. that watchfulness is a spiritual-ethical         the night, when men do not expect it. How the horrible wa-

activity of sanctification and hope in the child of God, who          ters must have terrified those drinking and banqueting, giving

is roused from all sinful stupor. It is a seeking of the things       a toast to Noah's ark! But suddenly destruction falls upon

above, where Christ is at the right hand of God. And it im-           them, as in a moment !

plies the mortification of our members which are upon the                 Thus it was when Belshazzar at his feast, drinking from
earth.                                                                the golden vessels taken from the house of God, and praising

      We shall see more of this when we discuss the parables of       the gods of gold. and silver, of brass, of iron and wood and

Jesus, recorded in the sequence of this eschatological dis-           stone, sees the finger of God, the hand, writing on the wall,

course of our Lord in Matthew 24 and 25.                              "MENE,,   M E N E ,   T E K E L ,   UPHARSIN."

      The underlying truth which makes this watchfulness ne-              Yes, it was a surprise to the wicked. But not because

cessary is the element of s~@ri.se  in the Parousia of Christ         the word was not clear. It was a willful ignorance!

and His coming with the clouds: We know not the day or                    However, these things are our examples to the end that

the hour! In this matter of surprise we have the objective            we be warned and excited unto watchfulness, rooted in god-

as well as .the subjective. However, that objective surprise          liness.    For these things happened unto them by way of

element is not disastrous for those who are watchful unto             example : and they are written for our admonition, upon

prayer right in and through their office and calling in life.         whom the ends of the ages are come. I Corinthians 10 :ll.

The disaster is for those who are "unprepared," who do not                We can learn from the example of a good man of the
heed the Word of God, but are held captive by the drunken-            house. He did not know when the thief would come. Hence,
ness and stupor of sin ! There is a great deal of difference          his house was broken into. He was not ready.
between Lot and his wife,. not only after and during the               `We are to be ready. We, the people of God, are to be
destruction of .Sodom, but equally before the manifestation           busy seeking the things above, where Christ is. All our
of God's righteous judgment upon. Sodom. Lot's wife, evi-             labor is to be in view of the Parousia of Christ. Let the
dently, never understood nor sympathized with her husband's           world send their false prophets. We will not hearken to
"being sore distressed with the lascivious life of the wicked"        them. We will look for "our Lord," who has purchased us
and with his "vexation of soul" over the lawless deeds of the         from all our sins with His blood and be comforted. And
Sodomites ! Scripture leaves no doubt that here too the one           in all our sorrows and persecutions, with uplifted head, we
is taken and the other is left! Both are surprised when God           shall look for the selfsame  One, who before offered Himself
destroys Sodom. The one is delivered and the other becomes            for us, and removed all the curse from us, to come as the
a pillar of salt ! II Peter 2 :7, 8 ; Gen. 19.                        Judge from heaven, who shall cast his and all our enemies
      Thus it was also in the days of Noah, prior to the Flood,       into everlasting damnation, but shall take us with all His
the cataclysm. See the difference between Noah and the men            chosen ones to Himself into heavenly joy and glory.
of his day. The one was moved by godly fear and the others                Unto that we are admonished to be watchful.
flaunted the Most High God.                                                                                                       G.L.

      In these wicked men on Noah's day there are evidences,

by way of negation, what watchfulness is,

                                                                                      GOD THE SOURCE OF JOY
      The lack of watchfulness, or the opposite of watchfulness

is here in evidence. The dictum here is, as always in the                          Almighty God, Thy lofty throne

world, "Let us eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die."                       Has justice for its cornerstone,

It was a time when, very evidently, men were mockers and                           And shining bright before Thy face

scoffers of the Most High. It was a time when those who,                           Are truth and love and boundless grace.

had been under the preaching of Enoch  and others, having                          Thy Name with gladness they confess,
their hearts fattened and their eyes blinded, rushed forward                       Exalted in Thy righteousness ;
on the way to destruction. The time was one when the                               Their fame and might to Thee belong,
church went a-whoring after the world! It was a time of                            For in Thy favor they are strong.
amalgamation of church and world, that is, of the wicked

and false church with the world. The church was finally very                       All glory unto God we yield,

small. Only eight souls. And God was very longsuffering                            Jehovah is our help and shield ;

over his people. Gen. 6 :l, 2 and I Peter 3 :20. God would                         All praise and honor we will bring

save his church by means of the water and in the ark ! He                          To Israel's Holy One, our King.

would save them from wicked men !                                                                                      Psalm 89:1, 3, 4


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                8 5


                                                                    one.`, It is not always true, as men frequently state, when
Ii              I N H `I S F -E A R                                 observing a criminal going to the electric chair, "There', but
                                                               II for the grace of God, I go." That is relatively a little thing:
                                                                    to go to death in the electric chair! To go to hell is in-

            Jehovah, The God of Arithmetic                          describably more horrible. And if a man is on the way to

                                                                    hell, perishing in his unbelief, then it is not by the grace of

                               (4)                                  God that he does not die as a criminal. For God's grace is
                                                                    everlasting (we come to this in a moment) and does not

      "I AM that I AM."                                             cease .at death. That grace if it is upon a man in this life

      Thus did God speak concerning Himself when Moses              follows him also thru death and the grave into the life to
asked Him what he should say to the Israelites when they            come. But that a man does not die as a criminal is accord-
would ask the name of the God who had appeared to him               ing to the will of God. We can say, that is, those who perish
                                                                    in their sins can say, "There but for the providence of God,
and had promised deliverance from the bondage of Egypt.
                                                                    there but for the will of God's sovereign decree, I go." We
      This is the richest name which we have of God, and it is      depend upon God's providence. We are controlled by His
full of significance. It signifies His sovereignty first of all.    will. Rain and sunshine, famine and plenty, war and peace,
In this name He declares that He is what He will be. He             sickness and health, life and `death come by His decree. And
asks no one's permission. He bows before no one's law. He is        though we`  should not say, "I am alive by the permission of

His own law. We are to such a great extent that which men           God,' for to permit is not the language of: thought of Scrip-
desire us to be ; and in the absolute sense of the word we          ture in regard to God's works-we can and should say, "I
always are what God wants us to be. We dress the way men            am alive by the support and providence of God." God Him-
fashion our clothing. We are bond or free according to the          self, however, never speaks that way. Nor can He. He says,
influence and authority of men over us. We work or are              "I am." He is that apart from all the creatures. Apart from
barred from work by the wishes of men. We go to the schools         any other being, for there is no God besides Him and all
our parents choose for us or else to a certain district school      creatures and all other beings owe their existence unto Him.
according to the dictates of the civil authorities. And so one      He does not say, "I, too, Am." No, He alone says, "I Am."
could go on. We are hemmed in on every side and have to             He is the self-sufficient One Who has all His life in Himself
say to such a great extent, "I am what men allow me to be."         and therefore is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.
But, as we said, we always are what God wants us to be. A               But in this name, Jehovah, He also expresses the truth
child is born. We may secretly have wanted a son. A daugh-          that He is the unchangeable one ; and that truth He has
ter is born. We may have looked for a daughter and a son            caused to be reflected so beautifully in the world of numbers
is presented to us. We had nothing to say. And the chiid            which He designed. I Am means exactly that! Never does
is what God wanted it to be. It may be talented or mentally         God say, ."I was', or "I will be." Always He speaks that one
retarded, a normal child or one deformed, a strong child. or        truth concerning Himself, "I Am." We must say that we
a weak and sickly child. We are what God wants us to be.            were children, and if He wills we shall some day be old men
And we are `on this earth just as long as He wishes to have         and old women. With us there is constant change ; so that
us here. I am here as long as God wants me here. Never              it is claimed that in seven years we will not have one single
can I say, as He says, "I am that I am" and put the period          cell in our bodies that present day. They will all be changed.
right there ! Never can we say this without any ifs, ands or        But Jehovah, the Self-Sufficient One Who sovereignly does
buts as God does: He is what He will be ; and no one can            as it pleases Him, knows no change of any kind. Also in this
change that. No one has even the right to desire to change          respect He is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow and
that! He is that which He desires to be; and He denies all          until all eternity.
others the right to change this, for He sovereignly decrees             This, we said, is reflected in the world of numbers which
t h e i r   b e i n g .                                             He has designed. We compute exactly as Adam did in

      But this name, Jehovah, also expresses, therefore, His        Paradise. We may call our digits or numbers by different
self-sufficiency. He IS. He does not become something. Be-          names; but these numbers or digits retain the same value
cause we are dependent upon so much we can never say,               over against each other. This never changes. Two and two
"I will be."    If it is' Gorl's will, we will be here tomorrow.    always is four. That has not varied in the least through all
If it is His will, we will be healthy and do the things which       the centuries of this world's history. And you could not
we planned to do. And we can look back and say, "I was this         teach your children anything else! That is truth and you
or that. I was a child. I was born on such and such a day.,,        cannot make a man believe anything else. Try it and you
But then we always have to add, "I was this or that by God's        will run so stuck that nothing will work out anymore. 0,
providence. I am alive at this moment but not independent           indeed, as we said, you can rearrange the numbers so that
from God.,' However, God says, "I Am." Never does He                your series of numbers runs thus, one, four, three, two, five
add, "By the kind. permission or support of this one or that        and so on. Then four and four will make two. But you have


 8    6                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


 not changed, the basic principle that the second digit in your        lasting to everlasting is not from the mom&t that one be-

 series multiplied by itself equals  the fourth digit. This you        gins to fear God. It goes back into God's counsel in eternity.

 cannot change. And you can never teach a child to follow              The thief on the cross did not fear God all the days of his

 that way of confusion. Leave the numbers in the order in              life. Ruth did not know and believe God in the early days

 which we use them and call them by those names and then               of her life. Yet since God's mercy was (or rather is) from

 try to teach that two and two is five; the child will not go          everlasting to everlasting upon these children of His who did

 along with you because he will discover upon his own fingers          fear Him in the latter parts of their lives, it was upon them

 that two and three is five, and that therefore two and two            also before they repented and believed. Let us grasp and hold

 cannot equal the same number. The value of these numbers              with all our might and main to that blessed truth that exactly
 - call them what you may-always retain their value ac-                because His mercy was upon them in their unconverted

 cording to their position in the series; and nothing can              state, He caused them to repent and believe. Is not that what

 change that because the I Am is pleased to have it that way.          Paul writes when he says that "it is not of hi& that willeth,

 And all your and my desires to change this will be to no              nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy,"

 avail ; for He truly does as He pleases in His good pleasure.         Romans 9 :16. No, God does not change ; and the attitude He

 You can run against Him only to your own h&t and con-                 assumes now overagainst a man is the same attitude He will

 fusion.                                                               everlastingly have over against him in the new `creation.

      So unchangeable is God in all His works. As we re-                  Let us be sure that we do not corrupt that truth. And

 marked at the outset of this series, water will always freeze         if we do, we will find that even the system of numbers which

 at the same temperature ; light always travels at the same            He has designed and created will rise up to testify against

 speed ; and sound also has its own definite, invariable rate          us. He never makes two and two equal anything more than

 of speed. These are God's works in the realm of the natural.          four, nor anything less, And we can find com.fort and have

 They show us how exact He is but also'how invariable are              peace of mind in that truth that He is the Unchangeable I

 His ways, how unchangeable He is. His sun rises and sets              Am. For then we know that His promises to us are sure.

 with amazing accuracy. The moon goes through its four                 We know that He will keep every word and every letter

 phases on an unchangeable schedule. Men figure on it and              of them. We know that even as we cannot make two and

 depend upon this unchangeableness of God.                             two equal three, so can we not make Him fail to keep His

      But so are His dealings with men unchangeable. His               promises to us. No conditional promise does He give LE.
 fierce ,wrath burns unchangeably against the wicked, "God is          Then He would not be the I Am but the I Might Be- If
 angry with the wicked every day" is the testimony of Psalm            You Let, or the I Would Like To Be (your Saviour). Paul
 7:llb. It is not true that as long as man is on earth in this         writes that nothing present nor to come can possibly separ-
 life God loves him, has pity upon him, and looks with a               ate us from His love. That means that your and my sins and
 certain common grace upon him and then suddenly at death              unfaithfulness, too, cannot keep Him from being unchange-
 changes into a God of fury and terror which is unrelenting            able in His promises to us. In my sins I may lose the
 and unchangeable. He does not say, "I Am one thing while              consciousness of His promise. In my sins I may find that I
 you are in this life ; and I will become the opposite when once       have no reason to believe that His promise is for me. But for
 you take your last breath of life." He says, "I Am that I             those whom He from eternity has promised it, nothing can
 Am."       Is it really true that He hates sin but not the sinner?    possibly enter to work unfaithfulness and a change in Him.

 Why, then, does the sinner .die,before  God has caused him               Indeed all these things cannot be taught thus to the child

 to repent? Is God's love for him not strong enough to work            in the arithmetic class ; but a serious effort ought to be
 in him both to will and to do ? Jesus says, "No man can               made, not now and then, or &imply at the beginning of the
 come to me, except the Father Who hath sent .Me draw him :            year but from time to time to impress these truths on the

 and I will raise him up at the last day," John 6 :44. Is that         child's mind as he works with God's numbers.
 grace, that mercy of God ndt strong enough to draw this
                                                                                                                               J.A.H.
 sinner that He loves and now lets perish in his unbelief and

 sin ? Listen, for this awful !, you who know yourself to be

His child and expect to see His face in glory, can you be

 sure that He will not change also towards you, if after death

 He does change His attitude towards some of whom you

 claim that He does show grace, does pity and does love?


      Let us-  rather hold fast to His name and its beautiful              We fade and die like flowers that grow in`beauty,,

 meaning : He IS and does not change in any way or in regard                  Like tender grass that soon will disappear;
 to anything. Listen to His own word through the psalmist,
                                                                           But evermore the love of God is changeless,
 "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting

 upon them that fear Him . . .," Psalm 103 :17. From ever-                    Still shown to those who look to Him in fear.


                                         T H E   STANrjARD   B E A R E R                                                       87


                                                                  Religious Encyclopedia : "On June 5 he was tried for the
        Contending For The Faith                                  first time,. and for that purpose was transferred to the
                                                             !I Franciscan monastery, where he spent the last week of his
                                                                  life. He acknowledged the writings on the Church against

         The Church and the Sacraments                            Palecz and-Stanislaus of Znain as his own, and declared him-
                                                                  self willing to recant, if errors should be proven to him. Huss

  VIEWS DURING THE'THIRD  PERIOD  (750-1517 A.D.)                 conceded his veneration of wyclif,  and said that he could

                                                                  only wish his soul might some time attain unto that place
                   THE SUPREMACY OF THE POPE                      where Wyclif's was. On the other hand, he denied having'

                                                                  defended Wyclif's doctrine of the Lord's Supper, or the
          REFORMERS BEFORE THE REFORMATION                        forty-five articles; he had only opposed their summary con-

                    JOHN HUSS (continued)                         demnation. The king admonished him to deliver himself up

                                                                  to the mercy of the council, as he did not desire to protect
   We concluded our preceding article with the remark that,       a heretic. At the last trial, on June 8, there were read to
in spite of the papal bulls that were hurled at him, John         him thirty-nine sentences, twenty-six of which had been
Huss continued to preach and to condemn the Church.               excerpted from his book on the Church, seven from his

   Finally, a general council was convened for Nov. 1, 1414,      treatise against Palecz, and six from that against Stanislaus.

at Constance. This council was convened by the emperor            Almost all of his articles may be traced back to Wyclif. The
Sigismund. Sigismund was the heir to the Bohemian crown           danger of some of these doctrines as regards worldly power
and he was anxious to clear the country from all accusations      was  explained to the emperor to incite him against Huss.
of heresy. Huss and his followers had been put under the          The latter declared himself willing to submit if he could be
ban. Besides, the emperor was also desirous to heal the           convinced of errors. He desired only a fairer trial and more
Great or Papal Schism. He, therefore, convened this council.      time to explain ,the reasons for his views. If his reasons and
He invited John Huss to attend and promised him safe-             Bible texts did not suffice, he would be glad to be instructed.
conduct to and from the council. And Jqhn Huss was ap-            This declaration was considered an unconditional surrender,
parently eager to attend &e meeting. From the sermons             and he was asked to confess ( 1) that he had erred in the
which he took along it is evident that he purposed to convert     theses which he had hitherto maintained ; (2) that he re-
the assembled fathers. to his own principal doctrine. And         nounced them for the future ; (3) that he recanted them ;
provided with sufficient testimonies concerning his orthodoxy,    and (4) that he declared the opposite of these sentences. He
and after having made his will as if he had divined his death,    asked to be exempted from recanting doctrines which he had
he started on his journey on Oct. 11, 1414. He arrived in         never taught ;    others, which the assembly considered er-
Constance on Nov. 3. He was ready to testify for the prin-        roneous, he was willing to revoke; to act differently would be
ciples he prized above everything else and, if need be, to        against his conscience. These words found no favorable re-
die for them. This council of Constance had been convened,        ception. After the trial on June 8, several other attempts
we repeat, by the emperor, Sigismund to clear the land of         were made to induce him to recant, but he resisted all of
Bohemia of heresy and to heal the Papal Schism.                   them. The attitude of Sigismund was due to political con-
                                                                  siderations -he looked upon the return of Huss to his coun-
   In the beginning of his stay in Constance Huss. was at         try as dangerous, and thought the terror of execution would
liberty, living in the home of a widow. After a few weeks,        not be without effect. Huss no longer hoped for life, indeed
however, his opponents succeeded in imprisoning him, on           martyrdom responded to an inner desire of his being.
the strength of a rumour  that he intended to flee. He was
                                                                     "The condemnation took place on July 6 in the presence
finally cast into the dungeon of the Dominican monastery.
                                                                  of the solemn assembly of. the council in the cathedral. After
Sigismund  appeared to be greatly angered because of the
                                                                  the performance of high mass and liturgy, Huss was ied
abuse of his promise of safe-conduct to the Bohemian re-
                                                                  into the church. The bishop of Lodi delivered an oration on
former, but finally accommodated himself to the circuinstsnces
                                                                  the duty of eradicating heresy; then some theses of Huss
when he was told that, should he insist on his promise of
                                                                  and Wyclif and a report of his trial were read. He protested
safe-conduct, the council would be dissolved. Shortly after-
                                                                  loudly several times, and when his appeal tb Christ was
wards Huss was imprisoned in the castle of the archbishop
                                                                  rejected as a condemnable heresy, he exclaimed, `0 God and
of Constance where he remained seventy-three days. Here
                                                                  Lord, now the council condemns even thine own act and thine'
he was separated from his friends, chained day and night,
                                                                  own law as heresy, since thou thyself didst lay thy cause
poorly fed, and tortured by disease. The promise of safe-
                                                                  before thy Father as the just judge, as an example for us,
conduct had been repudiated and the fate of John Huss was
                                                                  whenever we are sorely oppressed.' An Italian prelate `pro-
thereby sealed.
                                                                  nounced the sentence of condemnation upon Huss and his

   -And now follows a description of the trial and condem-        writings. Again he protested loudly, saying that even at this

nation of John Huss as set forth in the new Schaff-Herzog         hour he did not wish anything but to be convinced from Holy

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


   Scripture. He fell upon his knees and with a low voice                          THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS.
  asked God to forgive all his enemies. Then followed his
                                                                         The name sacrament is given to seven sacred Christian
  degradation-he was enrobed in priestly vestments and
                                                                     rites in the Roman Catholic and Eastern churches, and to
  again asked to recant; again he refused. With curses his
                                                                     two, baptism and the Lord's Supper, in the Protestant
  ornaments were taken from him, his priestly tonsure was
                                                                     Churches. The word.sacraTpLgnt  is not derived from the Scrip-
  destroyed, and the sentence was pronounced that the Church
                                                                     tures. However, this is not the only word which we use that
  had deprived him of all rights and delivered him to the
                                                                     is not derived from the Holy Scriptures. Words such as
  secular powers. Then a high paper hat was put upon his
                                                                     providence and Trinity are not Scriptural terms either. The
  head, with the inscription Haeresiarcha.  Thus Huss was
                                                                     word sacmamerzt  is derived from the Latin word Sacrawzentwz.
  led away to the stake under a strong guard of armed men.
                                                                     The Greek word wzusteriorz.,  mystery, used in the Eastern
  At the place of execution he knelt down, spread out his hands,
                                                                     Church to designate these rites, is taken from the New
  and prayed aloud. Some of the people asked that a con-
                                                                     Testament, and contains a reference to the hidden virtue be-
  fessor should be given him, but a bigoted priest exclaimed,
                                                                     hind the outward symbol.       The Latin word sauawzentwz
  a heretic should neither be heard nor given a confessor. The
                                                                     means somkthing that is consecrated, more particularly an
  executioners undressed Huss and tied his hands behind his
                                                                     oath, especially a military oath of allegiance to the standard ;
  back with ropes, and his neck with a chain to a stake arpund
                                                                     and also the sum ~1 money deposited in court by the plaintiff
  which wood and straw had been piled up so that it covered
                                                                     and defendant previous to the trial of a case, and kept in
  him to the neck. Still at the last moment, the imperial
                                                                     some sacred place. The term was applied to Christian rites
  marshal, Von Pappenheim,        in the presence of the Count
                                                                     ,in the time of Tertullian, one of the early Church Fathers.
  Palatine, asked him to save his life by a recantation, but Huss
                                                                        Regarding the etymology and the classical and patristic
  declined with the words `God is my witness that I have never
                                                                     usage of the word "sacramentum"  Hodge, in his Outlines on
  taught that of which I have been accused by false witnesses.
                                                                     Theology, writes as follows, page 588: "1st. It is derived
  In the truth of the Gospel which I have written, taught, and
                                                                     from sacro, %re, to make sacred, dedicate to gods or sacred
  preached I will die today with gladness.' Thereupon the fire
                                                                     uses. 2nd. In its classical usage it signified - (1) That by
  was. kindled. With uplifted voide Huss sang, `Christ, thou
                                                                     which a person binds himself to another to perform any
Son of the living God, have mercy upon me.' When he
                                                                     thing. (2) Thence a sum deposited with the courts as pledge,
  started this for the third time and continued `who art born
                                                                     and which, if-forfeited, was devoted to sacred uses. (3) Also
  of Mary the virgin,' the wind blew the flame into his face ;
                                                                     an oath, especially a soldier's oath of faithful consecration to
  he still moved lips and head, alid  then died of suffocation.
                                                                     his country's service. - Ainsworth's         `Die.'    3 r d .   T h e
  His clothes were ,thrown into the fire, his ashes gathered
                                                                     Fathers used this word in a conventional sense as equivalent
  and cast into the near-by Rhine." - end of quote.
                                                                     to the Greek wmste~iorz,  a mystery, i.e., something unknown

        The Czech people, who had loved John Huss in his             until revealed, and hence an emblem, a type, a rite having
  lifetime as their prophet and apostle, now adored him as their     some latent spiritual meaning known only to the initiated, or
  saint and martyr. The principles which he had held and             instructed. The Greek fathers applied the term musterion to
  advocated would surely strike deep roots. The end of the           the Christian ordinances of baptism and the Lord's Supper,
  Roman Catholic hierarchy, as exercising a strangle hold upon       inasmuch as these rites had a spiritual significance, and were
 _ the consciences of the people of God, was in sight. It is true    thus a form of revelation of divine truth. The Latin fathers
  that a hundred years must yet elapse before the dawn of            use the word `sacramentum' as a Latin word, in its own
  the Reformation, when the Lord raised up Martin Luther             proper sense, for any thing sacred in itself, or having the
  to nail the ninety-five theses to the church door of Witten-       power of binding, or consecrating men, and in addition they
  berg. But the fundamental weakness. of the Church had be-          used it as the equivalent of the Greek word wzusterion,  i.e.,
  come fully apparent in the trial and condemnation of the           in the entirely different sense of a revealed truth, or a sign
  Bohemian reformer. Huss laid all emphasis upon the Scrip-          or symbol revealing a truth otherwise hidden. This fact has
  tures and the Word as the only authoritative rule for doc-         given to the usage of this word "sacramentum," in the schol-
  trine and life, and he insisted that he be tried and examined      astic theology, an injurious latitude and indefiniteness of
           the basis of the truth of God's Word. This had merely     meaning . . . ." -end of quote.                               H.V.
  upon 
  evoked from the Roman Catholic hierarchy scorn and

  ridicule. The seeds of the Reformation which Wyclif and

  Huss  had sown would surely assert themselves. The pope at                           &ECIAL MEETING
  Rome-and his priestly hierarchy did not rule in the Name of
                                                                          Reformed Free publishing Assodiation
  Christ because they ignored His Word ,and trampled it under

  foot. The Church, as consisting of the elect people of the            THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 4,s o'clock

  living God, cannot be destroyed and would surely be delivered                FIRST CHURCH, GRAND RAPIDS

  out of the shackles of Rome.                                                         Sfieaker:  REV. G. VOS


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARE.R                                                      s9


                                                                          fault for the sins of the saints not in them, but in God's
 11 The voice of Our Fathers                                       -11 grace ? And are therefore the saints not to be absolved of
 I'                                                                 `I    any blame,  any responsibility, for their sins and falls ? And
                                                                          does not this necessarily produce careless and profane Chris-
                  The Canons of Dordrecht                                 tians ?

                              PART TWO                                        NOW the Arminians were well aware of these apparent

                                                                          weak points in the Reformed conception, and they capitalized
                    ESP~SITIOW  or mm CANONS
                                                                          on them, in order to hold the Reformed truth up to scorn
                     FIFTH HEAD OF DOCTRINE                               and contempt as an ethically horrifying doctrine. This ex-

                                                                          plains also why the fathers take pains already in the positive
              OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
                                                                          section of this fifth chapter to expound the true Reformed
                        Article 4 (continued)                             position.

       `For the correct rendition of this article we refer the reader         But weak points these are only apparently. And to see
 to the previous issue of The Standard Bea.rer.                           these supposed weak points one must look at the truth

       This is a very important article because it deals with the         through Arminian spectacles. In fact, the situation is thus,

 relation between God's preserving grace and the- sins and                that the Arminians rear up their own presentation of the

 falls of the people of God, and therefore with the nature and            Reformed truth, in order then to criticize it as an immoral

 the manner of the operation of God's grace in the work                   conception, one that is unworthy of God. And indeed, we

 whereby He preserves His people. And from this point of                  may hasten to add, if it were true that the Arminian con-

. view it is an important article because it concerns the very            struction of the Reformed truth is correct, it       would as-

 honor and holiness of God and of His grace as they are                   suredly be an immoral doctrine. .If it were really true that

 presented according to the Reformed conception. This is                  the preserving grace of God is itself responsible for the sins

 after all but one phase of a very old problem, the problem of            and falls of the saints, we could not possibly subscribe to

 God's sovereignty and man's sin. But here we have a very                 that doctrine. However,. is usual, the Arminians take the

 act&e  phase of that problem. It is not merely the general ques-         offensive against the Reformed faith simply in order to cover

 tion whether sin has a place in God's counsel. Nor is it the             up and to divert attention from their own immoral view.

 problem in general of God's sovereign and providential gov-              For what could be more immoral than a doctrine which main-

 ernment in relation to the sin of men. But it is a problem that          tains that the grace of the only Lord of heaven and earth can

 deals, first of all, with the sins of God's children. And there-         be overcome by the power of sinful flesh, yea, is utterly de-

 fore, in the second place, it is a problem that concerns God's           pendent upon the movement of the human will before it can

 grace, - the very power and work whereby God saves His                   o p e r a t e   ?

 people from sin, -in relation to the sins of the very people                 How then do the fathers explain the relation between
 whom He saves. -And in the third place, it concerns God's                God's preserving grace and the saints' falls ?
 grace in relation to, the sins of His people which they com-

 mit after they are saved, that is, after they have become con-               In the first place, let it be noted that they do not re-

 scious participants of that grace. And finally, it concerns the          treat whatsoever from the stand of the preceding article:

 very grace that is supposed to preserve God's saints against             "But God is faithful, who having conferred grace, mercifully

 the power of sin, that is, against these very grievous sins              confirms, and powerfully preserves them therein, even to the

 which they commit. Hence, the question is this: if you                   end."      Now this is important. This means, as we have seen

 maintain that the grace of God always must and always does               previously, that from the moment that He first confers upon

 preserve the saints, and if you maintain at the same time                His people the grace of conversion on to the very end God

 that the saints sin and fall grievously, do you not defame               keeps on confirming and preserving them in that grace. Our

 and impugn the very holiness of God, and that too, in regard             Canons will have more to say on this in later articles. But

 to the very work of God in which the glory of His holiness is            already here it is plain that the motif  of all the work and
 supposed to shine forth most brightly?                                   dealings of God with His saints, even in their deepest falls,

                                                                          is grace. Or, to express this frqm  the viewpoint of the saints,
       By the same token, of course, the whole question con-              the undercurr&t of their entire life, even then when through
 cerning this relationship brings us face to face with a most             falling into sin they may not be conscious of God's grace, is
 serious ethical problem. It is true that the Canons deal                 the preserving grace of God.
 further with this problem in later articles ; but here that

 problem is introduced, and that too, as to its very principles.              In the second place, let ii be noted that the fathers sted-

 `r'he question is : if God's grace must and does always pre-             fastly  maintain that the confirming and preserving power

 serve the saints, are not the sins and falls of the saints to be         of God's grace is so great that it cannot be overcome by the

 charged against that very grace that preserves them, and                 flesh. This stands in close connection with the preceding, but

 tkerefo+e  not against the saints tl'zewselves? Is not the               emphasizes a little different aspect of the truth. To be sure,

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


if at any stage that preserving grace of God could be over-            times He leads them thus, that according to their own carnal

come by the flesh of the saints, then the whole matter of the          inclinations and lusts of the flesh they are seduced and actu-

perseverance of the saints is in doubt. Then it is possible            ally fall into grave and atrocious sins. Thus it was very

that they cannot endure to the end. Then it must also be               plainly with Peter. For, first of all, the Lord Jesus plainly

granted that the operation of preserving grace is dependent            foretold the fact of Peter's three-fold denial of his Lord, and

upon whether or not the saints on account of their flesh resist        that too, in the face  of Peter's bold assertion that it was im-

and overcome and i-eject God's power of preservation. But              possible. Was the Lord merely venturing a guess that this

this is impossible : "The power of God which confirms and              denial would take place, on the basis of His knowledge of

preserves the true believers , . . is greater than that it can         Peter's self-assertive character? By no means; but He made

be overcome by the flesh." That always remains true. At no             a flat prediction that before the cock crowed, Peter would

point in the life of the saint does the power of the flesh over-       deny Him thrice. But in the second place, the Lord did not

come the power of God's grace, -no matter what takes place             at all prevent the fall of Peter. He c&d have. If He could

in his life. It may even appear sometimes as if he is utterly          pray that Peter's faith fail not, -and that prayer was an-

devoid of grace. It may seem to the saint himself that God's           swered, - He could also pray that Peter would not succumb

grace has forsaken him. This is never the case. The flesh              to the temptation to deny his Lord at the high priest's palace.

cannot conquer, no matter how mightily it battles against              And that prayer would be answered also. But Jesus did

d i v i n e   g r a c e .                                              not pray thus. Why not? There can be but one answer.: He

      In the third place, let it be noted that the fathers do not      knew the Father's will was that Peter should be led into
posit a conflict, an antithesis, between  the operation of God's       temptation. But He also knew that the Father's will was that
grace and the responsibility of the saints for their own falls.        Peter's faith should not fail. And according tp the Father's
Nor do they at all present this whole problem as a matter of           will He prayed ; and the prayer was answered.

a sort of double-track theology. They present. the entire                 This brings              to our fifth observation, namely, that
                                                                                          LIS  
matter  from the viewpoint of God's actuating a.n.d influenc-          even in such instances God in His gracious leading of His
z&g  the Eelievefcs.  It is true, the fathers use a negative state-    people works yig7l.teoztsl_v.  This is according to the teaching
ment here. The fact remains that they explain the sins and             of the fathers in this article: "but sometimes by the righteous
falls of the believers in this light : "The converted are not          permission of God they actually fall into these evils." We
always thus actuated and influenced by God so that they are            need not stumble over the'  term pewcissio~n  here. We may
not `able  in certain particular actions to draw  back . . . ."        safely say that this is a characteristically infralapsarian ex-
Once again, therefore: the preserving grace of God never               pression.    But we may say at once that it makes no principal
forsakes the saints. It is simply a question of how that grace         difference whether you speak of "permission" or of "leading."
actuates and influences them.                                          If I permit something .wheti  I could prevent it, the fact re-
      In the fourth place, the manner of the actuation and in-         mains that it takes place within the confines of my control
fluence of God's grace is not always such that the believers           and my decision. Besides, God's permission is active; God
do not sometimes deviate from the guidance of divine grac-e,           is the living God, the God of pure and full activity. And
and  that they do not sometimes fall into temptation and               further, it is certainly according to Scripture to believe that
comply with the lusts of the flesh. Here we really have !he            God sometimes becrds  ,into  tevv@ta.tion.  This is presupposed in
crux of the matter. What happens when the believers are                the prayer which the Lord Himself taught us to pray: "Lead
led into temptation, when they fall ? Is it thus, that the Lord        us not into temptation." However, the point to bear in mind
wants  to lead them so that they do not fall into temptation,          here is, first of all, that whether you speak of "permission"
but that the power of God's grace is overcome by the power             or use a more positive and active term, we are concerned
of the flesh, so that the Lord God is helpless to prevent their        here with God's gracious dealings with His people. We must
fall ? Was it thus, for example, with the fall of David in the         not avoid this issue and say that here we must forget about
incident of Bathsheba? Was it thus, when Peter denied his              God's grace and concentrate on God's other virtues. Not at,
Lord ? Speaking now abstractly of what might have hap-                 all ; we are talking about God's dealings with His children,
pened, could not the LQrd  have so led  David and Peter that           dealings that are always fundamentally gma.ciozhs.  And we
they would never have fallen into those gross sins? And                are speaking precisely of the operations, the actuating and
when you and I fall into sin, can that be ascribed to the              influencing operations, of God's preserving grace. And now,
inability of God's grace to prevent our falls ? Such must              secondly, the.fathers  state that even then, when the actuating
necessarily be the Arminian position : God would like to               and influencing operation of God's grace is such that it per-
prevent it, but He is powerless. But Gdd forbid that such              mits the saints to deviate from the guidance of grace, to be
should be the case! That would certainly mean that not only            seduced, to comply with the lusts of the flesh, and actual1.y
occasionally, but always, the power of the flesh is beyond             to fall, -even then God deals ~~ighteo~usly,  justly.
the control and dominion of God's grace. What then? The
                                                                           What this implies we shall see the next time, D.V.
.fact is that God in Hisgrace does not always lead His people
                                                                                                              .:
 in such a way that they  do not fall into temptation. Some-                                                                      H.C.H.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     9 1


                                                                      opposite. The Classis  employs a means to bring them back
           DECENCY and ORDER                                          from their ways that are in conflict with their own rights and
                                                                      duties.


                         The Report                                       f. The Insubordination of t?he Cons&tory:

  of the Contwtittec  of the Synod of 1924 on the Question                Distinction must be made between the departing in the
                                                                      doctrine and life that was treated in the aforementioned proc-
          "Can A Classis  Depose  A Cons&-tory?"                      ess through Classis  and Synod and the insubordination or

                                                                      refusal to submit to the decision of the broader gathering.
   d. Deposition and Enforcements :
                                                                          The question is whether a Consistory by such refusal to
   When the right to declare a judgment of deposition is              submit to the decision of the broader gathering ceases legally
ascribed to a Classis  but not the right to execute it, then the      to belong to the church and the denomination. This depends
question arises as to what ecclesiastical significance such a         on how we view the denominational bond. Does it have its
decision has ? It declares that, according to the judgment of         origin in the will of the consistory, (de mutuus consensus)
the Classis,  the Consistory should be deposed. Yet, if the           the mutual consent by common accord ; then it simply comes
Classis  is of the conviction that she has no right to execute        down to a contract that may be freely kept or broken. Voetius
this in the local church, she makes a decision while she knows        already strongly defends the godly right (het jus divinum)
that it neither can nor will be executed. Naturally this is           of the church denomination overagainst the Independents.
completely senseless and without ecclesiastical significance.         The church denomination has its origin in Christ and He, the
Actually this amounts to less than advice since that is gener-        king, uses His office bearers as His servants to order (het
ally observed. An ecclesiastical gathering makes a decision           formeel)  according to His will. The (kerkverband) denomi-
with the intent that it will be carried out. If a Classis  makes      national bond, as instituted by Christ, functions ,therefore
a decision in the name of Christ and according to his will, it        upon His authority and is officially (kerkrechtelijk) higher
must be executed unless external circumstances in one way or          than the churches and the office bearers. No consistory can
another make this impossible.                                         officially sever the ecclesiastical bond. No one can legitimately

   The. decision to depose a Consistory has, according to             do what is wrong. No consistory has a legitimate right or

ecclesiastical rule, final significance for the local church.         power to break the bond by which Christ has bound it with

There is no consistory in the church that can execute it. The         other churches. That would be secession from a true church,

Consistory is by that decision actually deposed.                      an act of human high-handedness. A local church may and

   With a view to the carrying out of such a decision, we             must alone secede from a false church, because Christ de-
must consider that there is no "form for the deposition of            mands that in His Word, the law of the church.

office bearers." The Classis  must formulate the decision, giv-           From this also follows the proper understanding of the

ing complete and accurate grounds for the deposition, and             character of insubord*ination.  Refusal to submit one's self to
send this as an official notice to the deposed office bearers         the decisions of Classis  and Synod is not an gbrogating  of

and also to those remaining faithful of the church and it             the denomination bond but insubordination ; disobedience to

must be declared in an official gathering of the congregation.        the authority of the Classis  (Art. 36),  a gathering of

                                                                      churches, office bearers in the service of Christ, which makes
   e. Intevjeying  in the Right of the Local Chwch.                   decisions in conformity with His law. This disobedience can

   The deposition of a consistory, that is, of all office bearers,    be called mwal or spirltsral  sin but all sin that, according to

is not an intervention in the rights of the local church. In-         Article 80 of the Church Order officially (kerkrechtelijk)

tervention can only take place when the ecclesiastical status         must be treated with discipline, can be named thus. All sin

of the consistory is normal, (kerkrechtelijk in normalen  staat       is moral in character but here is no official ecclesiastical con-

is). In this case the Classis  has absolutely no right to decide      flict because it does not say that it is not official according

or to do anything to such a Consistory. But we deal here              to the church. This merely signifies that it is a sin that must

with the case of a Consistory departing in doctrine or life or        be treated with discipline, that is, officially by the church. The

both and that is guilty of insubordination to the Classis  and        Formula of Subscription: "being ready always cheerfully to

Synod and that rebels against the authority of the church and         submit to the judgment of the Consistory, Classis  and Synod,

acts directly in opposition to the Formula of Agreement               under penalty in case of refusal to be, by that very fact, (ipso

signed by them.                                                       facto) supended ~YOWL  OUY  oflice."  Heri:  refusal to submit to

                                                                      the decisions of the Classis  is set forth as a sin in the official
    Naturally, mention cannot be made here of intervention
                                                                      ecclesiastical sense for which one must be deposed.
by the Classics  in the rights of the locaLchurch  and consistory.

Intervention in these rights can only mean that the Classis               g. Finally, it must be noted that the deposition of a Con-

impedes the consistory in her actions according to Reformed           sistory by the Classis  is not an act of hierarchy or coercion.

Church Order. Of this no :mention  is made here. Just the             Christ alone has the ruling power by which He has the au-


9 2                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


thority to give laws and to demand obedience and to punish           manly  prove the practice and authority of the Synods.

disobedience. The office bearers are not administrators of             (b) The power of the broader gatherings is not "private
His law-giving nor of His punitive power. Discipline is the          but cumulative," that is, it does not deprive, take away the
administration of His ruling power, the maintaining of His           power of the local church but is a power that in the broader
right overagainst those who depart therefrom. Discipline is          gatherings accumulates and flows into one, single, undivided,
no punishment but the (medisch) and pedagogical means to             greater power. Ten can do more than one. "Therefore the
humble and to save those who depart from the law of Christ.          broader gatherings ordinarily do not exercise this power over
And although this to us appears impossible, and the discipline       and outside of the local church and with her own authority
and also the excommunication do not have this result, the            do anything- in or concerning the local church except in
church may not refrain from applying discipline, because the         matters of common interest or in cases of appeal or in cases
result is neither the ground nor essence of discipline but the       of mismanagement."
maintenance of the right of Christ as the King of the Church.
                                                                          To the question whether a broader gathering has a bind-
All this applies -to the departing office-bearers in the Con-
                                                                     ing (coactivum)  power so that she can impose the decisions
sistory.
                                                                     concerning doctrine and ecclesiastical practices and can de-
                                 I I .                               mand execution under the penalty of censure, Voetius gives

       In the foregoing, in answering the question, "Does a Clas-    an affirmative answer. He proves this with a seven fold argu-

sis have the right to depose a Consistory ?", we have briefly        ment. In the second argument he says that where there is a

shown the character of the local church and the broader              regular ecclesiastical relation (denomination), "there is also

gatherings and their reciprocal relation insofar as one or           an ecclesiastical power conformable to this society and where

the other stands related to the question. We have proceeded          this power7is  it is necessarily binding (necksario  definitiva)

from the Church Order and our Reformed principles. Our               because otherwise there would be no power, no order, no

conclusion is that we give an affirmative answer to the ques-        unity." After he has noted that the local churches each have,

tion and herewith consider our given mandate to have been            in themselves an active, binding power, Voetius concludes :i

finished.                                                            (though this power remains when they act in common and

       We take the liberty to add that our opinion of the adopted    together) "On the other side, anything good added to some-

position is also supported by Voetius and this practice has          thing good produces a greater good." The aim, end (fifzia)
existed in Reformed Churches in her most flourishing period.         of the denominational bond lies in the preserving, the con-
                                                                     firmation, the promotion and reparation of the churches in
       (1) We limit ourselves alone to Voetius. Firstly, be-
                                                                     ~the common faith and godliness.
cause he is recognized by all Reformers as the best interpreter

of Reformed Church Polity. And in the second place, be-                  c. Voetius raises the question: "Whether a Classis  or

cause later writers in the main follow him and have produced         Synod, that is, a gathering of various consistories that main-

nothing new. Insofar as we have been able to note it is no-          tain ecclesiastical fellowship (collect,ione, correspo~>dentiae)

where stated in so many words in the PoLitica  Ecclesiastica         has the power to excommunicate (conpetat excommztnicandi

that the Classis  may depose a Consistory, that is, take away        potestus).  Observe here that Voetius speaks of "consistories"

the. office through excommunication. But for us this is no           gathering together in broader assembly. To this question an

more necessary as a direct judgment than that baptism is             affirmative answer is given.    In the following three cases

come in the place of circumcision proves infant baptism. The         Voetius cites excommunication to be legitimate : (1) In cases

question is solely whether Voetius attributes to the broader         of mismanagement by the local church and consistory ; (2)

gatherings authority and power (a&o&as  et p0te.sta.s)  which        In cases of appeal -to the Synod ; or (3) In cases of an indict-

includes the right of deposition.                                    ment of guilt in such a matter (delatiianis  i&us causae) that

       (a) We find the following definition with Voetius: "The       are brought to Classis  or Synod. Likewise Voetius proceeds

ecclesiastical bond of Classis  and Synod is an established,         to give the grounds here for his opinion. He says : "Foti in

abiding combination of many churches under one limited               case the key of discipline is given a particular or local church

rule (sub certo reg&ine)  for mutual improvement and pre-            or to her consistory, why shall it not be given to an as-

servation."                                                          sembly and unity of churches and consistories in which the

       The denominational forms and the later acceding to this       consistory of the particular and local church is incorporated."

relation may not be viewed as a matter of choice (of dat het         Voetius speaks of a "Synerdrizhm  incorporatum."  And with

verband  bZootweg  federaticf  zou zijn). Voetius speaks of          a view to the defense of the Presbyterial form of Church
Zibere  G&a  (initiating free-willingly). But this means :           government, he cites the case of Caspar Coolhaes, an Wustre

"without compulsion and has nothing to do with moral                 exemplzm  exco~wmnicationis."  The power of excommunica-

obligation."                                                         tion is not given to the State because the keys of the King-

       The ecclesiastical relation is clear in the practice and      dom of Heaven are given to the church and to -the ecclesias-.
example of the apostles and is set forth through the Holy            tical officials.

Spirit in Acts 15 :l-34 by which all Christian theologians com-                            (to be cqntinued)               G.V.D.B.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   BJ3ARE.k                                                       93


                                                                      elements believed to be contained in our creeds and now
            A L L   A R O U N D   U S                                ' called into dispute by Danhof and Hoeksema." Synod, accord-
                                                                      ing to Klooster, following the advice of the committee re-

                                                                      jected the proposal that a committee be appointed "to study

  The Synodical Decisions of 1924 on Cowman  Grace.                   the matter of common grace in order to come to the formula-
                                                                      tion of a dogma which could be made a part of the Con-

     The November, 1958 issue of Torch a,nd  Trzt+utpet  con-         fession." But it did recommend that "the leaders of our

 tains an article with the above title written by Dr. Fred H.        @people,  ministers as well as professors, . . . engage in further

 Klooster, associate professor of Systematic Theology at Cal-         study of the doctrine of common grace and to discuss the

 vin Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan.                                problems involved in it carefully and present them to our

                                                                      people in lectures and articles." Klooster observes further
     Obviously it is quite impossible to quote his entire article
                                                                      that "it was hoped that in this way the doctrine would be
 in our allotted space, since it is contained in about four and
                                                                      thoroughly investigated in all its aspects and that eventually
 a half pages of that paper. We can therefore only reflect on
                                                                      the time would be ripe for the `formulation of a dogma' of
 some of the high points of his article and offer a few com-
                                                                      common grace. It is unfortunate that so little of this was
 ments.
                                                                      actually done during the next quarter century. But these as-

     After an introduction on the character of -the Synod of          sertions of the Committee help us to understand how the

  1924 in which he points up that it was not a common Synod,          three points were regarded. This, it seems to me, has signif-

 Dr. Klooster divides his article into three  main sections : the     icance in judging the creedai status of the three points, which

 first, dealing with. "General Features of the Decisions of           seems to be a touchy problem in the current ecumenical dis-

  1924"; the second, dealing with "The Three Points in Par-           cussions.'

 ticular" ; and the third, dealing with "`The Reformed Char-             Dr. Klooster concludes the section of his article dealing
 acter of the Decisions of 1924."                                     with the "General Features of the Decisions of 1924" by call-

     The professor states in his introduction that he is "`per-       ing attention to the concluding witness or testimony of the

 sonally convinced that a great deal of misunderstanding does         Synod. "This testimony to the Churches constitutes a warn-

 exist concerning the 1924. decisions on common grace." It            ing against worldliness and a possible misuse of the doctrine

 appears that as he wrote he had in mind a communication              of common grace. While common grace and the antithesis

 from the De Wolf group sent to the Synod of 1957 in which            are sometimes put in juxtaposition, the Synod called for the
 they admit that "the possibility exists that we have misinter-       sturdy maintenance of both."

 preted your position. If this is pointed out to us we assure            In the second part of his article, Dr. Klooster dealing
 you that we will correct it." As we read Dr. Klooster's  article     with "The Three Points in Particular," gives the gist of each
 we felt that he had in mind throughout to untangle the               in turn. Writes he, "The first of the three points concerns
 ecumenical barriers that exist between the Christian Re-             the `favorable attitude of God to mankind in general and
 formed Church and the De Wolf group.                                 not only to the elect.' The Synod asserted that `in addition

     Dr. Klooster contends that the great deal of misunder-           to the saving grace of God unto eternal life shown only untp
 standing concerning the decisions of 1924 is due partly to           the elect, there is also a certain favor or grace (gunst of
 the fact that all the decisions of that Synod are recorded           genade) which he displays unto his creatures in general.'

 in the Holland language, and perhaps mostly to the fact that            "Need for asserting this point. arose from the fact that
 the decisions re common grace are all too abbreviated. With          Hoeksema and Danhof had clearly taken position against it.
' a view to the latter he refers more than once to the report         The Committee quoted from Zorzde fn Gerza,de  : `Grace is not
 of the committee of pre-advice which he claims greatly moved         in things, but only in the good favor of God. Gold and
 the Synod to make the decisions it adopted as stipulated in          silver, rain and sunshine, gifts and talents are not in them-
 the three points of common grace. The committee had at               selves grace. But grace can certainly work in all those things,
 least eleven points of dispute arising out of some thirty            but it always remains particular and is given only to His
 protests and appeals which it had to consider. But the com-          people' (p. 125). Of the other quotations one of the clearest
 mittee advised Synod to treat only three of them because             is a statement of Hoeksema in The Banner. After declaring
 these "were the points on which the Revs. Danhof and Hoek-           that `such an attitude of God is utterly -inconceivable,' Hoek-
  sema had taken a clear stand" and "because they concerned           sema concludes : `Hence we deny that in'any  way or to any
 matters which were expressed in our Creeds." The professor           extent, for time or eternity, God assumes an attitude of posi-
 points up that "the Advisory Committee and the Synod re-             tive favor or grace over against the reprobate' (pp. 125, 6)."
  alized that the three points did not constitute the whole doc-

 trine of common grace. The three points were not even                    It is at this point that Dr. Klooster refers to "an unfor-

 meant to constitute a well-rounded summary of the doctrine           tunate technical weakness in the Synodical decision." That

  of common grace.    They were simply a reassertion of three         weakness, he says, is that Synod failed to make the Scrip-


94                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARE-R


tural  references a part of the official decisions. For -the refer-         But, this being the case, is it not strange that the Church

ences  we have to go to the Advisory Committee's Report.                 nevertheless definitely sealed the mouths of those who wanted

                                                                         to show to all the people that Scripture and the Confessions
      "The passages mentioned are Psalm 145 :9 ; Matthew 5 :44,
                                                                         deny the doctrine of common grace ? And, is it not strange
45; Luke 6 :35, 36; Acts 14:16,  17; I Timothy 4:lO; Remans
                                                                         that, whereas Synod admitted that it had no well-formulated
3 :4 ; as well as the passages concerning the well-meant gospel
                                                                         dogma on common grace, it nevertheless denied the office of
offer, Ezekiel 33 :ll and 18 :23. Unfortunately, the Advisory
                                                                         the ministry in that Church to men who refused to subscribe
Committee Report does no more than list the passages in
                                                                       9 to the three points ? And, isn't it strange that more than
proof-text method. However, the problem involves divergent
                                                                         thirty years after Danhof and Hoeksema were banished from
exegesis of each passage. It is not possible to evaluate each
                                                                         the Church that Torch and 
passage here. It must be admitted that they are not all                                                  Tm+tpet would ask the Rev.
                                                                         Hoeksema to air his views on the subject of common grace
equally valid. It seems to me that one of the strongest pas-
                                                                         in that magazine, and after he sends in his article they return
sages in defense of the Synodical decision is Luke 6135,  36:
                                                                         it to him unpublished evidently on the ground that it might
`But love your enemies, and do them good and lend, never
                                                                         stir up more unrest in the Church ? And, ~isn't  it. especially
despairing, and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be
                                                                         strange that now after more than thirty years the Christian
sons of the Most High: for he is kind toward the unthankful
                                                                         Reformed Church is willing to discuss the subject with those
and evil. Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful."
                                                                         who admit that they may have misinterpreted the decisions
If this passage is parallel to Matthew 5~44,  45, as I believe it
                                                                         of Synod in the three points, but the Church will not discuss
is, then this attitude of kindness and mercy is applied to the
                                                                         the subject with those who do not misunderstand but are well
gifts of rain and sunshine given to all men as well.
                                                                         able to show up their fallacy on the basis of Scripture and
       "The Synodical decision seeks support for the well-meant          the Confessions ? These questions cry for an answer. Maybe
offer of the gospel by an appeal to the Canom  of Dort. The              Torch and Trumpet  would be so kind as to ask Dr. Klooster
Canons (III, IV, 8, 9j are indeed quite explicit in asserting            in another article to answer them..
the doctrine of the well-meant gospel call, for they say: `As

ma.q  as are cnlled by the gospel a.re z,i.nfeignedly  mlled.  But          Finally, we wish to say a word or two about Dr. Kloos-

I do not think the Canons say much concerning the precise                ter's discussion on the first point. Though he may be a bit

point at issue ; namely, whether this well-meant offer of the            critical of the technical weaknesses of Synod, he is very

gospel is evidence of an attitude of favor on God's part to              plainly in agreement with the general tenor of the three points

mankind in general. Perhaps the statement that `God calls                and especially is this made plain from what he writes in the

`Mzen  by the gospel and confers upon them  variozts  gijts'  (III-     -last  part of his article, to which we will call attention, the

IV, 9) comes closest to the point at issue. The Synod                    Lord willing, the next time.

claims further support for the first point by an appeal to the
classic Reformed theologians who have maintained this doc-                  Dr. Kloosfer  believes that of all the passages of Scripture
trine.                                                                   quoted, Luke 6 :35, 36 is the strongest in defense of Point I.
                                                                         But the reader will notice that like the Synod, Klooster gives
      "The second and the third points were thought to be in-            no exegesis of the passage. He simply gives his conclusion.
volved in the first, The Advisory Committee stated that it               Now, does not Dr. Klooster know that no one, including the
considered the first point to be `of central significance in the         Rev. Hoeksema, denies that God is kind to the unthankful
question which has caused so much unrest in the Church.                  and evil ? But does that mean that the text teaches that God
The other two points are very closely related to this one and            is kind to reprobate unthankful and evil ? The entire context
indeed are more or less contained in it' (p. 124)."                      shows clearly the very opposite. Yet this is exactly what

      On what Dr. Klooster writes thus far we have several               Synod and Dr. Klooster must prove with all their texts.

questions to ask and comments to make.
                                                                            As to what Dr. Klooster writes about Synod's appeal to
      We are assuming that he,restates  the historical facts quite      the Canons in support of the well-meant offer is much
accurately because we see no reason to deny them. And this               better. Here he admits that Synod picked the wrong articles
means that we accept that : 1. It was Synod's intention that             for proof,. simply because they do not prove Synod's point.
the'three  points did not constitute a well-formulated dogma.            But even here, Dr. Klooster is weak. He should have come
2. Synod wanted the Church to give considerably more study               right out with it and told his churches that they should no
and discussion to the subject before it was ready to formulate          longer hold to a general offer of grace `to all, reprobate in-
such a dogma. 3. Synod asked the ministers and professors               cluded, in the preaching of the gospel on the grounds of what
to engage in this study and present the problems to the people          is expressed in the Canons.
in lectures and articles. 4. It was simply Synod's intention
in the setting forth of the three points only to bring peace to          We will have more to say about this the next time, if
the Church which had been cast into unrest by the denial of             the Lord wills.

common grace by Danhof and Hoeksema.                                                                                               M.S.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 95


                   QUESTION HOUR                                      Answer: Certainly is. ' That would be indeed hierarchy,
                                                                   if we had to ask the consistory to form a society. How do
    Held after Address at Hull Mass Meeting                        you thi&  Tjte  Sta.ndard  Bearer  was formed in 192'3  7 The

                              July, 1953                           Standard Bearer, when we were still in the Christian Re-

                                                                   formed Churches ? The R.F.P.A., the association for The
       Questioner: Rev. H. C. Hoeksema                             Standard Bearer, was formed by a group of men. And The
       Answers  by: Rev. H. Hoeksema                               Stayzdard  Bearer was propagandized throughout the Chris-

                         (Continued >                              tian Reformed Churches. To that no one ever objected in the

   Qztestion:  You state in one of your letters to the mem-        Chr. Ref. Churches. And I assure you: no one will ever
                                                                   object, ,not successfully anyway, - to any of the consis-
bers of First Church: "Be not deceived by those who say
                                                                   tories. We are at least a free people organically. We are not
that the difference between those that are opposed and us. is a
mere matter of words. It is a matter of the whole Prot.            under the thumb of any consistory. Not in our free action.

Ref. truth. The Prot. Ref. truth is that the promise of God           Qucstio,n:  Does not suspension and deposition ultimately
is unconditional and for the elect alone. The error which          imply excommunication from the Christian church ?
they preach and support is that the promise is general and
conditional. Prot. Ref. truth is that God translates us into          Answerer:  I think it does. Although, perhaps, not always.
His kingdom unconditionally. The error they preach and             But if you think of the grounds which are mentioned in the
sustain is that our act of conversion is a condition for enter-    Church Order in Art. 79 and SO, it seems as if suspension
ing into the kingdom of God." Rev. De Wolf states in his           from office, and deposition from office, necessarily implies ulti-
letter to the consistory members of the Prot. Ref. Churches        mately excommunication. I cannot see how they can be
he has never taught that God promises salvation'% all men,         separated. The only trouble is that usually deposed office
and that it depends on man's own will whether or not he            bearers, that do not want to apologize, separate themselves
will be saved. Neither does he teach that natural man must         from the churches. That's the case here too. We cannot take
convert himself while he is in the power of darkness, out-         action anymore against the Rev. De Wolf and the deposed
side of the kingdom of God. He states : "This is contrary to       elders, because they separated themselves. ~They  are not under
anything that I have ever preached." My question is : how          our jurisdiction anymore. But I think if you consider the
do you harmonize the two conflicting statements of these           list of sins that are mentioned in Art. 79 and SO, yes, I think
two letters, and which one is true ?                               deposition from office usually must, - unless, unless there
                                                                   is deposition and at the same time apology. That is possible
   AnmeT:  I can answer that very briefly. If the Rev. De
                                                                   too. A minister, for instance, can be worthy of deposition,
Waif actually had not preached, had not meant to preach,
                                                                   and apologize without ever entering the office again. In that
had not intended to preach what he nevertheless said in those
                                                                   case he remains member because of his apology. --I But if a
two sermons, he could have easily retracted it, and apologized.
                                                                   minister is deposed from office, or an elder, and does not
He didn't. He still maintains the statement that God promises
                                                                   apologize for his sin, naturally the excommunication must
to everyone salvation if you believe. He still maintains that
                                                                   necessarily follow.
our act of conversion is a prerequisite to enter into the king-

dom of God. He never retracted. He never apologized, -                Question: From the same questioner: The word repent
which would have been very easy. He didn't. That's his own         means to turn around. Why turn around when one is already
fault. He preaches, . . . he preached what was in those two        in the kingdom by regeneration ?
statements of April 15, 1951 and September 21, ,1952.
                                                                     ~ Answeh That's quite a question. That's really a very
   Question: When in 1922 Prof. Jansen was deposed, was            interesting question. Regeneration is first. Regeneration in
he not present because no one informed him of said meeting,        the narrower sense is first. Regeneration . . . by regenera-
or did he refuse to come ?                                         tion in the narrower sense I mean the implanting of the life
   .Answer: .He  was called to come and defend himself. He         of grace through His Holy Spirit into the heart of a sinner,
refused to defend himself. But he was not again officially         even without his knowledge and without any activity on h`is
notified of his deposition. That was the question. Certainly,      part. That work of regeneration is continued by God: with-
Prof. Jansen was called again and again. In June 22 the            out the activity or the work of God, the operation of God,
elders were present,, and they were asked to apologize, and        even that seed of regeneration would never come to conscious-
they refused. But when Prof. Jansen was deposed, that's            ness. But through the Word and by the Spirit,- I mean
true, then he wasnjt  there. He wasn't asked to be there. He       through the Word in -the efficacious sense, fhe calling of the
was deposed by the Synod., But it's true that he was asked         Son of God,- and thru the Holy Spirit that work of re-
to come and defend himself and be present at the Synod in          generation is called to consciousness. Christ says to the
his case.                                                          sinner : "Arise, thou sleeper; awake, thou sleeper, and arise

    Question: It is proper to form a society for Prot. Ref.        from *the dead." That is the voice of Christ. Following upon

Action without the knowledge of pastors and consistories ?         that comes the act of repentance. Now you can consider that


                                                                                                                                               _.
 96                                                 -THE  s7xNDARD  BEARER

 whole work, the whole work of regeneration and repentance                        It seems that the choral society reported in Doon  and

 the entering into the kingdom of -God. And even that is not                   the choral society in Hull are one and the same! The new

 conditioned upon anything, but is the work of God. Or                         f&aces  in Doon  were installed none too so&  ; it was cold
                                                                        you
 can consider the work of regeneratitin  the entering in of the                enough to enjoy their heat the ,first Sunday.

 kingdom of God in the narrower sense. And even there is no
                                                                                  Although the Nov. 2nd bulletin of First Church men-
* prerequisite. And so -the act of conversion is never a pre-
                                                                               tioned that Rev. Ophoff was expected to be in church that
 requisite to enter the kingdom of God.
                                                                               day, he did not live              to the expectations. He suffered a
                         (To be continued)                                                                up 
                                                                               slight set back which prohibited his attendance, but he was

                                                                               able to tune in on the public worship service by special wire

       NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES                                                  connected to Rev. Hoeksema's parsonage. First's deacons re-
                                                                               port that the twenty-two parcels sent to Hungary wer.e  re-

                 "`A411  the saints salute thee                 4:21           ceived in good condition, and the Rev. Dobos expressed
                                               . . ." PHIL. 
                                                                               hearty thanks for the much needed clothing found therein.

                                              November 5, 1955                    What Radio station in the Virgin Islands carried a ser-

       Rev. H. Kuiper has accepted the call extended to him by                 mon last Sunday proclaiming that God does not will that

 our newest church, Loveland. The installation service will be                 everyone shall be saved, but that He calls His own from all

 conducted, D.V., by the Rev. Heys, who will be on a clas-                     nations? Station W.I.V.I. for it carries the Reformed Wit-

 sical assignment on that date, November l6.                                   ness Hour every Sunday morning at 9:30.

       The Young People's League held a mass meeting at                            Our Home Missionary, Rev. Lubbers spent a little time

 Southwest church, Oct. 28. The Rev. R. Veldman gave an                        in his home city lately. He appeared at the. Hudsonville

 interesting speech on "Martin Luther, The Man." It was well                   Ladies' Aid Society to show his pictures of Loveland, Forbes

 adapted to his audience of young people and was well re-                      and Isabel, and did the same on the after recess program of

 ceived. After recess they enjoyed a "pro and con" speech on                   the above mentioned Mr. and Mrs. League meeting. He also

 "Must A Christian's Literature Be Limited?' ; Ruth Dykstra                    preached in Creston  Nov. 2nd.

 presenting the "Pro" part and Agatha Lubbers the "Con."                           Rev. Heys had so arranged for his absence from his pulpit
 The subject then was briefly discussed by the audience.                       while in Loveland that evening services were held instead of

       The Mr. and Mrs. League met Oct. 30 at Hudsonville                      afternoons.      In that way his pulpit was occupied by Rev.

 with Rev. B. Woudenberg presiding. The Rev. C. Hanko                          Van Baren  and Rev. Veldman. Through such splendid co-

 gave a speech on "The Signs of the Times." The speaker                        operation the Hull congregation was fed by the lively preach-

 warned his audience to be on the look-out for the signs as                    ing of the Word in the absence of their own pastor.

 predicted by our Lord in Matthew 24 and other passages.
                                                                                  Another report of growth! Hudsonville has decided to
 He pointed out that, although living in the time when these
                                                                               increase the size of their consistory by one elder and two
 signs become increasingly worse for the church, the aware-
                                                                               deacons. They will elect two new elders and four deacons.
 ness of the same signs gives unspeakable comfort to the

 Christian, for he knows that he shall be redeemed from this                      .Rev.  Vos was on the sick list Oct. 26, and Rev. Hanko

 body of death af His Coming, the Parousia !                                   was called in to conduct the morning service ; Elder Zwak.

                                                                               had charge'of the reading service in the evening. The reverend
       The nineteen families that comprise our Edgerton  con-
                                                                               was back on the podium Nov. 2nd.
 gregation are very zealous in the instruction of the covenant

 `seed "as it is taught here, in this Christian church." Besides                  The men in Kalamazoo have organized a men's society

 carrying the usual burden on congregational expenses, they                    now that they have a pastor to lead them. They have chosen

 support a two room school wherein two Protestant Reformed                     the prophecy of Isaiah for discussion this season. That Old

 teachers teach thirty-one Protestant Reformed children. Their                 Testament "Gospel" is full of rich material for society discus-

 school opened the doors September, 1950. The enrollment                       sion. Congratulations, Kalamazoo !

 was cut in half after the split in the congregation, but' has                    We note that Oak Lawn and F&t churches have both.
 remained constant since. Mrs. Herman Veldmati  teaches                        been instructed from,the history of the prophet Elijah, Rev.
 grades one through four, and Mr. Herman Woudenberg has                        Hanko and Rev. Vanden  Berg both having preached a series
 charge of grades five through eight. The school has a Board                   on that wonderful man of God of the time of the shadows.
 room which is utilized Wednesday mornings for two cate-
                                                                                 `The joint School Society of Oak Lawn and South Hol-
 chism classes conducted by Rev. Veldman. It -also serves for
                                                                               land is going forward in faith, planning on building a school
 meeting places for men's and ladies' societies. Edgerton  was
                                                                               as soon as it is possible.
 without their minister for three Sundays in October when he

 served Loveland on Classical appointments.                                                   . . ; . see you in church.                    J.M.F.


