           VOLUME   x x x v                      JANUARY 15, 1959 - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.                                          NuixmmS.

                                                                                                                                           .
                                                                              token "a thousand" and "to dwell in the tents of wickedness"
     1
$                 MEDITA'TION  - -                                            are alike.
                                                                        I/        In both cases the poet has chosen the least of all. After

                                                                              all, what is one day? Or what is the job of doorkeeper?
                   THE POET'S PREFERENCE                                      While you ,sit and relax, while you have just one thing on

                                                                              your mind, and that is to lay hold- on the thought which the
                       `For a day in Thy courts  is better than a             preacher means to convey in his sermon, the janitor has I
                   thousmd.  I had rather  be a. door keeper in the           work to do.
                   house of my God, `than to dwell iut the tents of
                                                                                 I salute all the janitors in the world !
                   wickedness." Psalm 84 :lO.
                                                                                 Sometimes I motion to him to get me a fresh drink of

           This verse is a reason for that which went before.                 water.            9

           David had said in verse 9: "Behold, 0 God our shield,                 He has the wellbeing of the whole church on his mind. Is

     and look upon the face of Thine anointed."                               it too warm, or too cold ? Is there a draft, or is the atmos-

           And the text which I wrote above this meditation is a phere too stale.7                     The late-comers are his concern.

     reason for that.             .-                                              In the midst of the sermon I see him get up to adjust the

           David wants the Lord to look upon his face in order that           thermostat.

     He may see how he loves the courts of his God.                              Again: I salute all of our janitors. Oh, so often I think

           I said: "David."                                                   of this verse when I converse or see the janitor.

           I think so because of the style of the psalm ; and also be-           And what is one day in the courts of God ? The court of

     cause of the subject matter. Both are Davidic.                           the House of God is about the least of all.

           I think that the love for God's house is the main theme                And only one day ?
                                                                                                       ,
     of the psalm.
                                                                                                             * * * *
           And verse 10 is the heart of it.                        .

           Let's look at it.

           First of all, we have a strange comparative here. "For a              Yes, but let us remember the comparatives.

     day in Thy courts is better than a thousand." A thousand,                   They are            "a thousand."    Some of the renderings in

     what?  He does not say.                                                  English have. added a word. It is this : "elsewhere."

           Our English fathers have supplied the comparative : "A                And that is correct.. I do not care where you may spend

     single day within Thy courts, where I Thy beauty see, is                 that day. Elsewhere is always empty, void, evil and corrupt.

     better than a thousand days, My God, apart from Thee."                   (Excepting, of course, when you are sick, banished, or caring

          _ And they were right.                                              for the sick.)

           The Hebrews have- what is called pa.~allelism  in their                "Elsewhere" is meant without God.             .

     poetry. As a rule you find a certain truth expressed in two                 A thousand days is about 3 years.

     ways in any given text.                                                     This man would rather be one day in the lowly courts

           So also here. The second part of the text explains the             of the Lord's house than 3 years elsewhere. He would rather
     first: "I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God,             be a janitor. than to live in the tents of wickedness.

     than to dwell in the tents of wickedness."                                 Do you note that the poet knows of no third condition?

           And so "a day in God's courts," and the job of "door-               You are either in the courts of the house of God or you

     keeper in the house of my God" are alike. And by the same                are in the tents of wickedness.

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


    The comparison is the more striking when you consider                Note that when you cry to Him for help, you' worship
the job of doorkeeper in the day of the poet. He was em-             Him. For you acknowledge Him as the only One able to save.
ployed to keep order.      (Some of that we had also in Holland :        Another serves Him by cataloging all His marvellous
we feared him.) Second, he Was employed to keep undesir-             virtues, which is pure worship. You find that in many
ables out of the house of God. Third, he was in charge of            places. Cf. Psalm 145 :8, "The Lord is gracious, and full of
the gathering of the money for the service. Fourth, his was          compassion : slow to anger, and of great mercy." You can
the care of the sacred vessels.                                      multiply this example. manifold.
    But the poet would rather. be a doorkeeper in the house              Still another is in the midst of his enemies, even as the
of his God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.                 poet in Psalm 27, and enumerates all his woes. He even
                                                                     quotes his enemies. For an example, read psalm 42. "Where
    At any rate, on the day of rest he must work. Think of
                                                                     is thy God ?"
the care of -the furnace in the winter, with the removal of
                                                                         And those who act thus in the house of God are serving
snow, even on Sunday, in the winter, and you will see that
                                                                     Him. They confess His mighty arm.
the janitor's work is not an enviable lot.
                                                                         And finally there is the sinner. He assumes the attitude
   Yet he would rather be janitor than to dwell in the ten&          of the man who would rather be one day in God's courts than
of wickedness.                                                       a thousand elsewhere, and of the man who would rather have
                            * * * *
                                                                     the job of janitor. He is like unto the man of Jesus' parable:

   And why?                                                          He stood afar off. He did not dare to raise his eyes to

   The courts of the Lord are connected with the Holy of             heaven. He beats his breast.
Holies.                                                                 And his prayer is very short : 0 God, be merciful' to me
   And that short sentence gives you the full answer.                the sinner !
                                                                        And 0, what wondrous service of God.
   The heart of the nation is Jerusalem ; the heart of Jeru-
                                                                        If it were not wicked I would almost say: Here God has
salem is the Temple, or Tabernacle; the heart-of the Temple
                                                                     an opportunity to show Himself in the most wondrous way.
is the Holy of Holies  ; the heart of the Holy of Holies  is the
                                                                     I will not so speak, for it is wicked. God makes His own
Ark of the Covenant; the heart of the Ark of the Covenant
                                                                     "opportunities."
is the Mercy seat; the heart of the Mercy seat is the blood
                                                                        It was David-who spoke of the "beauty" of the Lord.
that was sprinkled on it once each year.
                                                                        I ask you: did you ever see anything more beautiful than
   And that blood was a type of the innocent blood of Jesus
                                                                     when God folds this poor publican  in His bosom ?
Christ.

   And Jesus Christ is the Great, and really the only, Mis-                                   * * * *
sionary sent by God.                                                    0, there is nothing like going to church!

   And that Missionary has a charge. And that charge is                 I can understand that Jesus went up to the synagogue,
this : Tell My people how inexpressibly lovely I am !                "as was His custom."

   Proof for this ? Look up. Psalm 27 :4. ". . . . that I may           He must have listened to many "dry as dust" ministers.
dwell in the. House of the Lord all the days of my life to              He must have been offended at the sleepers.
behold the beauty of the Lord."
                                                                        Death there was all around Him.
   And still the end is not.
                                                                        But He went to the House of His God.
   After that "beauty of the Lord" has permeated you, you
                                                                        And all through the service Jesus w&shipped. Even
begin to sing. And in your singing you try to express what
                                                                     though in the form of groaning that cannot be uttered.
you think of Him.
                                                                        We have put on our weekly bulletin this text: "How
   And that is your reasonable service of God.
                                                                     amiable are Thy tabernacles, 0 Lord of Hosts !" hoping that
   Ask the people of God why they go to church, and you,             it might help. And it does and it did. And it will. The Lord's
may receive a hundred different answers. But when you                Word will never return to Him void.
analyze all these answers, you will come to the conclusion
                                                                        It is my prayer that it will help positively.
that they went to church to serve God!
                                                                        For the poet's preference should be ours.
   And that is correct.
   And that service of God has many forms.                              After all is said and done : what is there "elsewhere" ?
                                                                     What is there in "the tents of wickedness"?
   One serves Him by pouring out all his troubles in the
Ear that gladly listens. In fact, He exactly asks you to do             Yes, `you may have a "good rest." You may stretch out
just that : "Pour out your heart, all ye My people !" Or Jesus :     in bed and say: 0, how 1. enjoy( ?) my Sundays in bed I
"He that cometh  unto Me I will in no wise cast out"; Or :           You may go to the theatre and laugh a little at the comedians,
"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I          or cry a little at the pathos of great suffering.

will give you rest."                                                    But it leaves you cold, indifferent (if not worse) to my


                                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                          171


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                                                                                                            Editor - REV.  HERMAN HOEKSEMA
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     the doorkeeper.                                                                                                                                                                               -

         Come to church and learn what deep satisfaction there is                                                           CONTENTS
     in His worship.                                                               MEDITATION -
                                                                                              The Poet's Preference                 __. __  ___.  ._ . . . . ____  ___ _... .___  .169
         Come to church,. and learn how to behave in eternity!                                      Rev.  G. Vos
     Amen.                                                                 G.V.
                                                                                   EDITORIALS -

                                                                                              The Three         Points        . .1.. . . . . . .172

                                                                                              Evolution,  Long  Periods  or Days                          ..____..........................  1'73

          Eastern Ladies' League Board Meeting                                                       Rev.  H. Hoeksema

         Delegates, the next board meeting will be held, the Lord                  OUR  D O C T R I N E -
                                                                                              The Book of Revelation                     . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..175
     willing, in our First Church on January 26 at 8 p. m.
                                                                                                     Rev.  H. Hoeksema
                                     Mrs. Jacob Kuiper, Vice-Secretary
                                                                                   A CLOUD OF WITNESSES -

                                                                                              The Courtship  of Rebekah,  A Matter  of Faith . . . .._.._.__._.._...  177

                                                                                                    Rev.  B. Woudenberg

                           WEDDING  ANNIVERSARY
                                                                                   FROM HOLY WRIT -

        On January  28, 1959,  the Lord willing, our dear parents,                            Exposition  of Luke  2:22-24  . .._..._____.___.__................................                        179
                   MR. and MRS.  GEORGE'  SLOPSEMA, Sr.                                             Rev.  G. Lubbers

     expect  to commemorate their fiftieth wedding anniversary.                    IN HIS FEAR -
        We are most grateful to God for sparing .them  through these                          <` . . . And Keep  His Commandments  . , ." (3) . . . ..___.__........_ 181
     many years for us and for each other. Our sincere prayer is that                                Rev.  J. A. Heys
     the Lord may continue to bless them in their remaining years.
                                       Miss Tressa  Slopsema                       CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH -
                                       Mr. and Mrs. Chas. W. Doezema                          The Church          and the Sacraments                      __  ___ _______  .._....  . . . . . . . . 183
                                       Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Snippe                                     Rev.  H. Veldman
,                                      Mr. and Mrs. Harmon Slopsema
                                       Mr. and Mrs. George Slopsema, Jr.           Tm  VoicE  OF OUR  FATHERS  -
                                       12 grandchildren                                  The Canons  of Dordrecht __________._......._..................................                               185
                                                                                                     Rev.  H; C. Hoeksema
     Open house - 2-4 P.M. and 7-9 P.M.

     836 S. Ottillia,  S. E.                                                       DECENCY AND.ORDER  -
     Grand Rapids, Mic&gan                                                                    The Continuation  of the  Report __,_____......_.............................  187
                                                                                                     Rev.  G. Vanden Berg

                           WEDDING  ANNIVERSARY                                    ALL AROUND us -

        On  Jan. 28, 1959, our dear parents                                                   The Infallibility of Scripture  Denied  ____....____........................                              189
                                                                                              The Perfection           of God .___..... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
               MR.  and MRS.  JOHN BLANKESPOOR, nee Drok                                             Rev.  M. Schipper

     will celebrate  their  50th  Wedding  Anniversary.
                                                                                   CONTRIBUTIONS -
        We give thanks  to God that he has spared  them  for one another                      Ishmael     . . ._ __..  . ..__.  __. .._________.__  . . . . . . __  . . . . .._...._  . .._._....____..  ..191
     and us these  many years.  Our  prayer  is that  God may continue  to                          Rev.  G. M. Ophoff
     bless  and keep  them  in all things.
                                              Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry Blankespoor    NEWS FROM OUR CHuRc~s  ____.........................................................,.
                                                                                                                                                                                                        192

                                              Mr. and  Mrs. James  Blankespoor                       Mr.  J. M. Faber

                                              5 grand&i&en


  172                                             T H E   ST.ANDARD  B E A R E R


  I/                                                                   creatures, and they are used by them as such. And they all
               E D I T O R I A L S                                  II bear fruit, either to eternal life and glory or to everlasting
                                                                       destruction. If they tend to life eteinal,  they are means and

                                                                       tokens of God's grace, whether  they are the so-called evil or

                         The Three Points                              the good things in this present life. On the other hand, if
                                                                       they tend to destruction, they are tokens of the wrath of God
        In our last editorial on the above subject we stated that      and are a curse for us, even though we bathe in luxury and
  the implied explanation of the texts in Matthew 5 and Luke 6         our eyes stand out with fatness.
-4 by the Synod of 1924 (I say' "implied" because the Synod
                                                                           This the Bible teaches throughout as we all know. ,
  merely quotes) is not only contrary to all the rest of Scrip-
  ture but that it is also impossible and leads to absurdity.              God employs the things of this present time for the
                                                                       destruction of the reprobate, and men also employ them for
        It is certainly true that there is a general providence of     the same end as rational moral creatures.
  God according to which the righteous and the wicked re-
ceive  the same things from God in this world. They all                    Thus God's counsel is realized and man remains re-
  receive rain and sunshine, health and strength, life and provi-      sponsible. .

  sions, power and talents, peace and prosperity. But let us               But there is no grace of God for the wicked.
 not forget that both the godly and the ungodly also receive               But the question is now : how must the passages in Matt.
 more under the providence of God. They alsojall  receive all          5 and Luke 6 be interpleted  ?
 kinds of calamities such as floods and droughts, earthquakes
 and upheavals, poverty and want, pestilences and all kinds                The entire passage in Matt. 5 reads as follows:

  of sicknesses, and finally death. Now if rain and sunshine               "Ye have  heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love
 and the rest of the good things in this world are "common             thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you,
 grace" must not the evil things be regarded as a "common              Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to
 curse" of God both on the righteous and the wicked ? If the           them that hate ybu, and pray for them that despitefully use
 former are tokens of God's favor on all men, are not the              you, and persecute you: That ye may be the children of your
 latter proof of God's disfavor and wrath? But this is absurd          Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to shine
 and also contrary to Scripture. For the Bible teaches every-          on the evil and on. the good, and sendeth -rain on the just
 where that, while all things work together for good to them           and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you,
 that love God, the very prosperity of the wicked is meant for         what reward have ye ? do not even the publicans the same ?
 their destruction. Thus, for instance, in Ps. 37: "Rest in the        And if ye salute your brethren .only,  what do ye more than
 Lord, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of         others? do not even the publicans so ? Be ye therefore per-
 him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who                 fect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
 bringeth wicked devices to pass. Cease from anger and for:               As to the context in Luke 6, it must not escape our at-
 sake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evil-        tention that the Lord, first of all, pronounces a fourfold woe
 doers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord,            upon the ungodly:
 they shall inherit the earth . . . . The wicked plotteth against
 the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. The Lord                 "But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received
 shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming . . . .       your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall
 A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches          hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now! for ye shall mourn
 of many wicked . . . . The Lord knoweth the days of the up-           and weep. Woe unto  you, when all men shall speak well
 right: and their inheritance shall be for ever. They shall not        of you! for so did their fathers unto the false prophets,"
 be ashamed in the evil time ; and in the days of famine they          vss. 24-26.

 shall be satisfied. But the wicked shall perish, and the ene-            It is evident that the Lord pronounces this woe upon the

 mies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs : they shall con-       wicked that are rich in this world, that are full and laugh

 sume ; into smoke shall they consume away . . . . Mark the            and of whom all men speak well. It is also evident that the
 perfect man, and behold the upright : for the- end of that man        Lord does not love those wicked or is kind to them, for they

 is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together :         shall mourn and weep. This we m&t remember when we

 the end of the wicked shall be cut off." vss. 7-38.                   attempt to explain the verses that follow.

        This is the teaching of all Scripture.                            There we read:

        Hence, it ought to be evident that we must conceive of            "But I say u&o  you which hear, Love your enemies, do

 the things which, both the godly and the wicked receive in            good to them`which hate you, Bless them which curse you,

 this present time are but a means to an end, namely, to eternal       and pray for them which despitefully use you. And unto

 glory or to eternal desolation. All these things, according           him  that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other,

 to the whole of Scripture, are received by men, as rational           and him that taketh away thy cloak forbid not to take away


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                173


thy coat also. Give to every man that asketh of thee ; and of         playing games with him, by preaching the doctrine of "com-
him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. And as             mon grace" to him and assuring him that God loves him in
ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them                his wickedness 7 Then we lie about God. Then we do not
likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank              love him but hate him. No, but we shall proclaim Christ to
have ye ? for sinners also love those that love them. And if          him. We shall rebuke him for his wicked life and walk, tell
ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have              him that in Christ is the only hope for the sinner and that,
ye.? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to             if he does not repent, he shall go into eternal desolation. And
them of whom ye.  hope to receive, what thank have ye ? for           if then he shall despitefully use us and persecute us, we shall
sinners also lend to them of whom they hope to receive as             not reward evil for evil but continue to show him the love of
much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and                God.                                           -

lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall                    More about these passages next time, D.V.
                                                                                               -_
be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest : for he is
                                                                                                                               H.H.
kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore

merciful, even as your Father also is merciful," vss. 27-36.

       Here, then is the entire passage in the context.

       Now, first of all, it is evident that the emphasis of both

passages falls on the fact that the people of God love their

enemies, which reveal their hatred by all kinds of inimical                      Evolution, Long Periods, or Days
acts. The question, therefore, is first of all: what is love?
And how do the people of God reveal this love to their ene-              We will continue the narrative of creation as recorded in
mies? It is clear from both passages that the love of the             Gen. 1 especially with a view to discovering whether there
believers must be a reflection of the love of God and even            is anything in this narrative that warrants the conclusion of
of His mercy, cf. Luke 6:36.                                          unbelieving evolutionists that, after all, it is nothing but a
                                                                      Babylonian myth and an invention of primitive minds who
       Love in God is the bond of perfectness. As the triune
                                                                      knew nothing, of course, of the great discoveries of modern
God He loves Himself, of the Father, through the Son, and
                                                                      science. We also have in view to show, positively, that there
in the Holy Spirit. It will be evident that with this love, as
                                                                      is nothing in this narrative of the creation of the world in
the divine bond of perfectness, God cannot love or be merci-
                                                                      six days that is contrary to the facts as we know them, while,
ful to His enemies as such: there is no bond of perfectness
                                                                      at the same time, it is corroborated by all the rest of Scrip-
between them and God. Yet this divine self-love is the only           ture, both in the Old and the New Testament. The narrative
love there is. It is also evident from the texts quoted above
                                                                      is simply a historical account of creation as revealed by God.
that God loves His enemies. How then is this possible, and            It must be accepted as such or it cannot be accepted at all.
how is this love of God to His enemies revealed ? My answer
                                                                      And if this account cannot be accepted as literally true, one
is, first, that this is possible only because of eternal election.    cannot accept the Holy Scriptures as the verbally inspired
God chose His own, that were to be His enemies in time,
                                                                      Word of God. Writes Keil,  Commentary on Genesis, pp.
from all eternity in Christ, and beholding them in Christ He
                                                                      39,40 :
sees no iniquity in Jacob and no transgression in Israel. Deny

the eternal and sovereign counsel of election, and,the  love of          "In contrast with all these mythical inventions, the

God and His mercy are forever impossible: God hates the               biblical account shines out in the clear light of truth, and

wicked every day. Secondly, my answer is that God realized            proves itself by its contents to be an integral part of the

this eternal love of His people in the cross of our Lord Jesus        revealed history, as which it is accepted as the pedestal

Christ, in His death and resurrection. For in Him all the             throughout the whole of. the sacred Scriptures. This is not

sins of the elect are blotted out forever `and they stand before      the case with the Old Testament only ; but in the New Testa-

God as perfect. And, finally, my answer is that this bond of          ment also it is accepted and taught by Christ and the apostles

perfectness is realized in the elect by the Holy Spirit which         as the basis of divine revelation."

was given unto Christ after His exaltation and dwells in our
                                                                         And again he writes :
hearts.

                                                                         "The biblical account of the creation can also vindicate
       Such is the love of God and it is the only love there can
                                                                      its claim to be true and actual history, in the presence of
be.
                                                                      philosophy and the established results of natural science; So
       Now, just as God loves His enemies so we must love our         long, indeed, as philosophy-undertakes to construct the uni-
enemies. We must reveal His love in our lives. For then               verse from general ideas, it will be utterly unable to under-
we shall be the children of the Highest.                              stand the creation ; but ideas will never be able to explain

       How then can we reveal that love to our enemies ? Can          the existence of things. Creation is an act of the personal

we do so by flattering him, by giving him a good time, by             God, not a process of nature, the development of which can

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


be traced to the laws of birth and decay that prevail in the       the theory of long periods with the record of creation found

created world. But the work of God as described in the his-        in Gen. 1.

tory of creation, is in perfect harmony with the correct no-                                  *    :k * *
tions of divine omnipotence, wisdom and goodness. The
assertion, so frequently made, that the course of the creation         But now let us return to the narrative of creation.

takes its form from the Hebrew week, which was already in              On the. second day God created the firmament. Of this
existence, and the idea of God's resting on the seventh day,       we read in Gen. 1 : 6-8: "And God said, Let there be a firma-
from the institution of the Jewish Sabbath, is entirely without    ment in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters
foundation. There is no allusion in Gen. 11 2, 3 to the Sab-       *from  the waters. And God made the firmament, and divided
bath of the Israelites; and the week of seven days is older        the waters which were under the firmament from the waters
than the Sabbath of the Jewish covenant."                          which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God

   As to the conclusions of science,`Keil  writes :                called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morn-
                                                                   ing were the second day."
   "By all modest naturalists, therefore, it is assumed that
                                                                       We may notice here, first of all, that also the firmament,
the origin of matter, or of the original material of the world,
                                                                   like the light on the first day, was created by the Word of
was due to an act of divine creation. But there is no firm
                                                                   God. For we read: "and God said.? And, therefore, we may
ground for the conclusion which they draw, on the basis of
                                                                   conclude that, just as on the first day God said, "Let there be
this assumption, with regard to the formation or development
                                                                   light and there was light," so on the second day God said:
of the world from its first chaotic condition into a fit abode
                                                                   "Let there be a firmament" and immediately upon the Word
for man. All the theories which have been adopted from
                                                                   of God the firmament came into being. It certainly cannot
Descartes to the present day, are not the simple and well
                                                                   possibly mean that the firmament came into existence by
established inductions of natural science founded upon care-
                                                                   gradual development from the original chaotic waters that
ful observation, but combinations of partial discoveries em-
                                                                   were everywhere. When, therefore, we read in vs. 7: "And
pirically made, with . speculative ideas of very questionable
                                                                   God made the firmament"' we must take this as a further ex-
worth. The periods of creation, which modern geology main-
                                                                   planation of vs. 6: "God made the firmament by the Word of
tains with such confidence, that not a few theologians have
                                                                   His power."    Besides, also at the end of the account of the'
accepted them as undoubted and sought to bring them into
                                                                   creation of the firmament we read: "And the evening and
harmony with the Scriptural account of the creation, if not
                                                                   the morning were the second day." And by no stretch of the
to deduce them from the Bible itself, are inferences partly
                                                                   imagination can these words be interpreted as referring to a
from the successive strata which compose the crust of the
                                                                   long period of billions of years.
earth, and partly from the various fossil remains of plants

and animals to be found in these strata. The former are                We must certainly choose, therefore, between the Bible

regarded as proof of successive formation ; and from the           and modern science. We cannot have both.

difference between plants and animals found in a fossil state         As to the firmament itself we can be brief. We may
and those in existence now, the conclusion is drawn, that          notice, first of all, that the text makes distinction between
their creation must have preceded the present formation,           the waters below and the waters above the firmament. The
which either accompanied or was closed by the advent of            waters below are those that belong to the earth as it then was,
man. But it is not difficult to see that the former of these       that is, still in its chaotic form. And the waters above are
conclusions could only be regarded as fully established, if        not the clouds, for they were not as yet and, besides they
the process by which the different strata were formed were         belong to the earth and to the waters that are below; but they
clearly and fully known, or if the different formations were       refer to the waters that were in the still chaotic heavens. The
always found lying in the same order, and could be readily         firmament itself is stretched out between these waters. From
distinguished from one another."                                   our earthly viewpoint' it is the blue sky as it stretches itself

   Then Keil goes on to show that the latter is by no means        like a beautiful dome over the earth on a clear sunlit day. In
the case. And also, according to him, the view that the fossil     reality it is nothing but an amazingly deep and wide ocean,
types are altogether different from the existing species of        in which all the heavenly bodies as well as the earth float.
plants and animals is "one of the unscientific exaggerations of    It separates, according to the text, the waters from the
actual facts." And he concludes by reminding so-called science     waters, which also implies that it separates the heavenly
of two facts which they cannot explain: the curse that was         bodies and keeps them in their places and their courses in
pronounced upon the earth, and the flood by which every-           space. And in the end, when the present world will be de-
thing perished except Noah and his family.                         stroyed to make room for the new heavens and earth, the
                                                                   firmament shall also be removed, according to Scripture, for
   I have quoted Keil  rather extensively to show that he          thus we read in Rev. 6:14:  "And the heaven departed as a
even does not belong to those that believe in long periods.        scroll when it is rolled together."

   Certain it is that no honest biblical scholar can harmonize                                                                H.H.


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                 175


                                                                                          the  earth,  and  .the things  that therein  are,  and the  sea,

          O U R   BOCTR"INE                                                               and the  things  which are therein,  that there  should be
                                                                         II               time  no longer:
                                                                         `I
                                                                                          7. But  in the  days of the  voice  of the  seventh  angel,

           THE BOOK OF REVELATION                                                         when he shall begin  to sound,  the  mystery  of God should
                                                                                          be finished,  as he hath  declared to his servants  the

                            PART TWO                                                      prophets.

                             CHAPTER V                                            It is plain even from a superficial reading of the text that

                                                                               in this part of the book of Revelation a new portion is in-
                        The Sixth  Trumpet
                                                                               troduced in the form of an interlude.
                        Revelation 9 :13-21
                                                                                  Perhaps it is well that at this point we recall once more

   You must expect disappointment if you imagine that                          the general scheme of the book of Revelation, so that we may

judgment will do what the gospel could not accomplish. In                      not lose sight of the general significance and may gain a

the midst of judgment the hearts will become more hardened                     clear view of the whole. The book, as we pointed out re-

and embittered, and people will continue in their sins. Their                  peatedly, is covered by the seven seals that are broken by the

end will be in the pool that burneth with fire and brimstone.                  Lion of Judah's tribe. When these seven seals shall all have

   Hence, the great lesson for the people of God contained                     been broken, and all that they reveal shall have,been  realized,

in this particular passage is this : turn away from such. Have                 the plan of God with a view to the completion of the king-

nothing to do with the world that tramples under foot the                      dom shall also be completely fulfilled. But these seven seals do

blood of Christ, except in as far as you are called to be the                  not maintain their form as seals, as we have also remarked

light of the world and to spread the testimony of the gospel.                  several times. On the contrary, the seventh seal becomes re-

Have no communion with their idolatry and murders and                          vealed to us under the aspect of the seven trumpets, six of

thefts and fornication. Then it may be that the bitterness of                  which we have now discussed. And the seventh trumpet

the world will seek revenge -upon  you for a time. It may                      again does not reveal itself in the form of a trumpet, but

be that you will have to bear their contempt, their hatred, and                becomes manifest as the seven vials of wrath. Seven seals,

their persecution. Nevertheless, there is no danger whatso-                    seven trumpets, seven vials, - such is the general plan of

ever. The people of God are sealed. And `therefore you                         the book we are attempting to ,explain. And as to the relation

should not fear those that can kill the body and cannot touch                  between these seven. seals and trumpets and vials, we also

the soul. But much rather fear Him that ruleth over all, and                   have remarked more than once that they are not strictly con-

that can condemn both soul and body in hell. Be not afraid!                    temporaneous, neither entirely-successive, so that the one seal

In the world ye shall have tribulation, saith the Lord ; but                   always follows the other in strict succession or so that even

be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. In the darkest                    the trumpets strictly follow in time upon the seals. But, as

night the eternal morning of glory shall surely dawn, and the                  we have seen, they are both contemporaneous and successive.

faithful shall receive the crown of glory.                                     On the one hand, they are contemporaneous, so that in prin-

                                                                               ciple the vials begin at the same time that the seals are
                            CHAPTER VI                                         broken and are realized throughout the history of the present

                            4n InteAde                                         dispensation, side by side and at the same time. But on! the

                                                                               other hand, they are also successive, so that there is an in-
                         Revelation 10 :l-7
                                                                               crease in the element of judgment. And as we study them,
           1. ^ And I `saw  another  mighty angel  come down from              we feel that we are gradually led on to the time of the coming
           heaven,  clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was  upon
                                                                               of our Lord Jesus Christ.
           his head,  and his face was as it were the sun,  and  his

           feet as pillars  of fire:                                              If with this in mind `we now look back and once more

           2.    And he had in his hand a little  book  open: and he           glance over the material we have thus far discussed, the
           set his right  foot  upon the  sea,  and  his left foot  on the     meaning and the truth of this interpretation will be rather
           earth.                                                              clear. In connection with the first six seals we saw that the

           3.    And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth:          first four picture to us in general the history of the present
           and  when he had cried,  seven  thunders  uttered  their            dispensation with a view to the bringing of the kingdom of
           voices.                                                             God from the four-fold point of view of the effect of the
           4. And when the  seven  thunders  had. uttered  their               preaching of the gospel, of the influence of war, of the social
           voices, I was about to write:  and I heard a voice  from            contrast and scarcity, and of death. The fifth seal revealed
           heaven saying  unto  me,  Seal  up those  things  which the
           seven  thunders  uttered,  and write  them  not.                    already an advance over the fourth in that at its breaking we
                                                                               heard the dry of the blood of those that were killed for the
           5.    And the,  angel  which I saw  stand  upon the  sea and
           upon the  earth  lifted up his hand to heaven,                      sake of Christ, calling for the day of judgment, while the
                                                                               sixth seal carried us face to face with the great day of judg-
           6. And sware  by him  that liveth  for ever  and  ever,
           who created heaven, and the things  that therein are, and           ment in that it revealed unto us the shakeup of the physical

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


universe and the amazement and confusion of the wicked               again upon the earth. Chapter four, verse 1, spoke of a door
world. The same feature we discovered in connection with             opened in heave$`and  of a voice beckoning John to come up
the six trumpets we have been discussing thus far. In them-          hither. Many interpreters have explained that portion as
selves the trumpets are.already an advance over the seals in         being indicative of the church's being called to heaven before
that they speak of one-third, just a little increase.in  judgment    the time of the great tribulation. Here I wish to remark that
every time. But also the relation between the six trumpets           consistency would compel these interpreters to admit that here
mutually is such that there is ti gradual increase till again        John is again upon the earth, and that therefore the church
the sixth trumpet brings us immediately befdre the time of           has also come down again. All of this is, of course, absurd.
the coming of Christ Jesus. The first `four trumpets, we saw,        It is not the church, nor the person of the apostle John that
revealed the destruction upon the world of nature. The fifth         was called to heaven in the fourth chapter, but only John as
trumpet brought an additional army of the Evil One into              he appears in the vision. And therefore, not the church, nei-
play upon the stage of the world. And the sixth trumpet              ther John comes down from heaven, but only the viewpoint
spoke of the letting loose of the four angels that are bound         of the vision is changed in the words of our text. As to the
by the river Euphrates, thus giving them the opportunity             identity of the angel that here comes down from heaven, I
to influence the nations of the Gog and Magog and causing            wish to remark from the outset that I fully agree with those
that terrible plague of universal war and famine and                 interpreters that find in the appearance of this angel none less
pestilence, symbolized in the fire and the smoke and the             than the figure of Jesus Christ in glory Himself. True, it has
brimstone.                                                           been remarked that there is no direct mention of Him and
                                                                     that the text speaks of an angel, and that the manner in
   To one more feature we must call your attention, namely,          which John addresses Him would suggest that it was not the
to that of, the interludes, or episodes, portions that do not        Savior Himself, but a mere glorious angel. But all these ob:
belong to the revelation of the seals or the trumpets or vials,      jections  count but little in the face of the description that
but that are thrown in between,  and that too, for a definite        here is given of this angel, of its similarity in many respects
purpose.      One of these we already discussed in connection        with the description given in the first chapter of this book,
with the seventh chapter of the book. In that episode we             and also of the resemblance of this entire scene offered in the
found that in answer to the question, who shall stand, the           twelfth chapter of the book of Daniel.
Lord replies by revealing that His people are sealed and that           First of ali, then, let us attend to the description that is
they shall become heirs of the great and glorious salvation          given of this angel in the text. We are told of Him that He
that is promised unto them. And the purpose of that inter-           is arrayed in a cloud. And the cloud, as we have had oc-
lude was naturally to comfort and strengthen the people of           casion to remark  before, is the symbol of divine majesty,
God in the midst of tribulation and days of judgment. This           especially of that divine majesty as it is coming for judgment.
same feature we .meet  once more in the chapter we are now           And who can read this description of the angel's being ar-
discussing. Also here we  have an interlude. The tenth chap-         rayed in a cloud without thinking of the so often repeated
ter does not introduce as yet the blowing of the seventh             assertion that Christ shall come with the clouds of heaven
trumpet. This is plain from the fifteenth verse of the eleventh      to judge the quick and the clead  ? In the second place, we
chapter, where we find the definite indication that the seventh      read that a rainbow was upon His head. In other words, thG
angel sounds. And on the other hand, this tenth chapter              rainbow is His crown. A rainbow we found thus far only.
does no more belong to the sixth trumpet or to the second            above the throne of God Almighty in heaven. It is the sym-
woe. Fbr although the fourteenth verse of the next chapter           bol of the grace and the faithfulness of God in keeping His
would leave that impression, and actually proves this accord-        covenant, especially with a view to all creation. And there-
ing to some interpreters, yet it is plain that this is not a         fore also this detai1  of the description" could hardly be fitted
mere continuation of the sixth trumpet. For first of all, an-        in with the picture of a common angel. It makes us think
other angel appears. Secondly, the point of view of John is          of the Angel `of the Covenant, of Jesus Christ Himself. In
changed from the heavens to the earth. And thirdly, this             the third place, we read that His face was as the sun, and
tenth chapter does no more speak of woe and judgment                 therefore is so glorious and majestic that it is impossible to
directly, but of something different. Hence, we regard this          look upon. And, in the fourth place, we read,  that His feet
chapter again as an interlude. Just as there was such an             were like pillars of fire. And as we have seen before, the
episode between the opening of the sixth and the seventh             fire in Scripture indicates war and judgment. Here it,indi-
seals, so also here we have an interlude between the blowing         cates  the wtir of the Almighty upon the wicked world. But
of the sixth and of the seventh trumpets.                            this judgment upon the wicked world, still more emphasized,

   John introduces this chapter by informing us that he              by the fact that. it is the feet that appear under this symbol,

saw another strong angel come down from heaven.' From this           cannot be attributed to anyone else in the world than our

it is evident that the point of -view  in the vision is again        Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And therefore, the description

changed. For the fact that John beholds the angel come               itself already causes us to think immediately of the Lord,

down from heaven clearly shows that he in the vision is              and of no one else.                                        H.H.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 177


                                                                       their loss. Not only were they assured that they would be
11 A CLOUD OF WITNESSES 11 joined again to Sarah in the eternal land of Canaan ; but they
                                                                       were also confident that God would send another to take

                                                                       the place of Sarah in the earthly line of the covenant. God

 The Courtship of Rebekah, A Matter of Faith                           had promised to keep His covenant through the line of gen-

                                                                       erations. She would be to Isaac, the heir of the promise as
                 `And Isaac brou.glzt  her into his mother  Sarah's    Sarah had been to Abraham, a God-fearing helpmeet  in cov-
               tent, a.nd  took RebekaF,  and she became his wife;     enant duties and responsibilities, a mother to bring forth and
               cund he loved her; and Isaa.c  zms comforted after      instruct the covenant children, a faithful mistress in this
               his mother's death." Genesis 24 67                      chosen household. It could not be doubted that such a woman

        Among courtships one can hardly imagine one more               the Lord would provide.
unique than the courtship of Rebekah. It was planned com-                 It was especially by Abraham, the head of the covenant
pletely by Abraham, the father. The selection of the girl was          family, that the need for such a wife for Isaac was. felt. He
made by a servant, and he also conducted the actual courtship.         realized, of course, that such a woman would have to be
The bridegroom, Isaac; did not enter the picture until every-          provided by God; but he also understood that in matters
thing else had been decided. In our day it would be called             such as that the people of God should not remain passively
highly unnatural. To suggest such an approach to our young             inactive. Trusting in the Lord and petitioning His aid, the
people would be considered utterly absurd. Yet, when one               people of God must seek and search out the will of their God.
gives serious consideration to the twenty-fourth chapter of            As he contemplated this responsibility, there were especially
Genesis, he can not escape the conclusion that there is a              two things that impressed themselves upon the mind of Abra-
beauty and a spirituality to the courtship of Rebekah which            ham. The one was that the helpmate for Isaac should not be
can hardly be compared.                                                from the daughters of the Canaanites. Abraham had very
                                                                       specifically understood from the time of his entrance into
        To truly appreciate this event we have to try as much as
                                                                       Canaan that he was to keep himself and his family separate
possible to understand the spiritual atmosphere that pervaded
                                                                       from the inhabitants of the land. They were a heathen people
the household of Abraham.
                                                                       and their daughters could not begin to fill the responsibilities
        The first and .most important fact, which must never be        of the high calling of a covenant mother. Furthermore, the
forgotten, is that the household of Abraham was filled with            land of Canaan was to be the heritage of Abraham and his
the consciousness of the presence of God. The. members of              children. They ought not, therefore, make any ties or obliga-
the household were members of God's covenant, and the life             tions with the inhabitants of the land that might seem to
that they lived was the life of the covenant. It could never be        give them a portion in the promises of the covenant. Surely
forgotten that Abraham had been distinctly separated as the            a wife for Isaac  could not be taken from the Canaanites. The
"Friend of God" : he had been called out of the land of Ur             second thought that impressed itself upon Abraham was that
to live a separate existence in Canaan ; he had been given the         Isaac himself should not be.  allowed to leave the land of
blessed promise that the Lord would be a God unto him and              Canaan'in  search for a Godfearing wife. Canaan was the
unto his seed forever; he and his household, sons but also             land of covenant promise. It should not be thought, by Isaac
servants, had been given the seal of circumcision to signify           or anyone else, that the covenant people of God could come
the portion which each had received in the covenant of God.            and go from the land at will. Even though they were yet
Always there was that consciousness that they were a blessed           sojourners and pilgrims in the land, there was yet a special
people whose privilege it was, to live, not as unto men, but           attachment to Canaan for them which was even stronger than
as unto Jehovah God.                                                   that of its legal owners. To dwell in the land was a sign of

        The second thing which we should note is that it was a         God's favor. To be separated from the land was a sign of

grieving household. It grieved because of the death of Sarah.          banishment which could only lead to sorrow. This, sadly

Sarah had filled a very important place, and her departure             enough, Abraham had learned from experience when in weak-

&as felt by all. To Abraham she had been a faithful ,wife  and         ness he had tried to escape a famine by fleeing to the land

helpmeet  sharing with him all of the sorrows and trials, the          of Egypt.

hopes and joys which are part of the life of faith. To Isaac              If, however, Isaac could not leave the land of Canaan
she had been a covenant mother who had spared nothing to               neither could Abraham go in search for a wife for his son.
give him the proper instruction and guidance for life before           Therefore, he called to him his eldest and most trusted
the face of God. To the servants she had been a loving                 servant. Although his name is not mentioned, this servant is
mistress with gentleness and kindness instructing and com-             usually assumed to have been Eliezer of Damascus on the
manding them in the way of faithful duty. Now the Lord had             basis of Genesis 15 :2. This incident took place over forty
taken her away, and her absence left a vacancy in the life of          years later than that of Genesis 15, yet it is not impossible
all.                                                                   that Eliezer was yet living and strong enough to perform that

        There, remained, however; for them a certain comfort in        which Abraham asked. Upon this servant Abraham placed


   178                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                                                                       \

  the responsibility of finding a proper wife for Isaac making      not but be impressed by the faithfulness and worthiness of

  him swear with an oath that neither would he take that wife       Abraham's GodfeMing  servant.

  from the daughters of the Canaanites nor would he allow               Neither did God refuse to answer the faith of Abraham

  Isaac to leave the land of Canaan.                                and his house. Rather the Lord led the servant of Abraham

       We cannot help but ask at this point concerning the part     directly to the woman who was ordained and  prepared by

  which Isaac played in these plans for gaining him a wife. In      Him to be the wife of Isaac and the mother of the promised

  the account of this event Isaac is not mentioned until every-     seed. She was a beautiful woman, "fair to look upon," we

  thing is said and done. From this some conclude that Isaac        read ; but she was not selected because of her beauty. S-he

  was a very timid person who was perfectly willing to leave        undoubtedly possessed a personality well suited to comple-

  this matter completely in the hands of others. In fact, it is     ment the personality of Isaac ; but she was not selected for her

  concluded that he had all his life been so dependent upon         personality. These things weigh very heavily with men; but

  his mother that after her death he was too distraught to          Rebekah was selected according to divine revelation from God,

  make any such plans himself. It is not necessary, and hardly      and God lookdh.at  the heart. The spiritual bent of-Rebekah's

  proper, however, to present Isaac as having been so com-          heart was evident already from the sign which the servant of

  pletely effeminate. We have only to .remember  the strength       Abraham wisely proposed ; it showed Rebekah to be. hospit-

  and bravery which he showed on Mount Moriah to realize            able. In our day we are perhaps inclined to minimize the

  that such was not so. Rather we should understand that            spiritual value of hospitality. Nonetheless, we should not be

  Isaac maintained a correct relationship toward his father. In     negligent of the `teaching of Scripture in such passages as

  our day it seems to be expected that when children have come      Hebrews 13 :2, "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers : for

  to years of maturity they do things on their own without con-     thereby some have entertained angels unawares." That Re-

 suiting their parents. Especially in the choice of a mate, the     bekah. possessed such a measure of hospitality was evident

  advice of parents is more often spurned than followed. This       from her willingness to give water to the servant of Abra-

  is a weakness that is misconstrued to be strength. The fact       ham. Neither was she content to show forth the minimum

  that Isaac is not mentioned in the making of these plans does     of hospitality ; but, though it must have involved considerable

  not mean that he was ignored. Rather, after being consulted,      labor, she readily offered to draw water also for his camels.

  Isaac submitted to the advice of his father and agreed to his     Thereupon she invited him to her home and ran ahead so

plans. It is a sign of Jsaac's  strength that, even though he       that he Imight  be properly greeted and received. The depth

  was approaching forty years of age, he did not consider the       of her spiritual feelings, however, became evident when the

  greater knowledge and experience of his father as something       mission of Abraham's servant was made known. She im-

  to be spumed.                                                     mediately- consented. to go ta be a wife unto Isaac, and that

       We can only marvel at the strength and faithfulness of       she did `on the. only basis which was offered, namely, that
  Abraham's servant. He was a man very conscious of his own         God: had pointed her out. It was purely a matter of faith.
  inability, and in his humility he manifested himself as being     She knew next to nothing about her future husband and
very great. Not proud because of the important matter with          future home. Trusting' in God she consented to go. Neither
  which he was intrusted, he rather took his task very seriously    would she hesitate even when her mother and brother urged
  in the consciousness of his own limitations. Already at the       her. not to -be so hasty. Being called of God, immediately she
  first request of Abraham, he showed himself careful lest he       answered, `-`I `will go.!'
  should swear to something which he might not be able to               Perhaps -it ,-was  unnatural -the courtship of Rebekah, I
  fulfill.    As he proceeded on his way he was very mindful not    mean. Surely-there are few marriages that are planned under
  to rely upon his own discretion. Approaching the well of          such unusual-circumstances. But none can deny that it was
  Nahor, he carefully bowed his head and asked for guidance,        spiritual. It was marked by faith throughout. Therefore, it
  and a sign to point out the woman of the Lord's choice, a         was' a happy courtship, and i+t resulted in a happy marriage.
  sign carefully selected to identify a woman of gracious char-     We read. co.ncerning this marriage, "and.Isaac  was comforted
  acter and worthy of a high place within the covenant of God.      after his mother's death," Gen. 2467. He was comforted
  Furthermore, no sooner had Rebekah been identified than we        because ;the Lord had provided another to take the place of
  read he "bowed down his head, and worshipped the Lord,"           Sarah as mother to the promised line.
  Gen. 24 :26. Coming to the home of Bethuel he carefully and                                                                  B.W.

  completely explained his mission, not neglecting to express

  its spiritual importance and the evident guidance of the Lord.                       Ever, 0 Lord, with Thee
  When he had made known his request that Rebekah should                               All shall be well with me,
  return with him to be a wife unto Isaac and an affirmative                              Held by Thy hand ;
  answer was received, once again we read, "he worshipped the                          And Thou wilt guide my feet
Lord, bowing himself to the earth," Gen. 24 :52. Thereupon,                            By Thy own counsel sweet,
  his mission being complete, he immediately made plans to                             Till I, for glory meet,
  return with Rebekah to his master. Through it all we can-                             In glory stand. -'        1         Ps. .73 :2


                                           T H E   STAND,ARD-  BEAREli                                                           1      7    9


I/                                                                       She understood, as did also her husband Joseph, that this
           F R O M   H O L Y   W R I T                          II her child was. indeed "made of a woman and made under the
                                                                     law," Gal. 4 :4. Hence, her child must be presented in the

                                                                     temple on the fortieth day to be presented unto the Lord.

                Exposition of Luke 2:22-24                           And Mary too must in all of her ways remember that she

                                                                     too is under the law of Moses and of the Levitical ordinances.
      The time that we call Christmas-season will be past when
                                                                         Of this Luke informs Theophilus in this second chapter,
this essay is read in The Standard  Bearer. The holidays will
                                                                     verses 22-24. Here we read the short, yet important notice,
be a forgotten thing in the mind of the world. Madly they
                                                                     "And when the days of her purification 8accor&ng  to the law
rush on to new business ventures. The world does not under-
                                                                     of Moses were accowaplislaed,  they brought him  to Jerusalem,
stand the Mystery of the birth of Jesus Christ, and it never
                                                                     to present `him to the Lord.  (As it is written im the law of
did. This was the privilege of a few elect children of God
                                                                     the Lord, every mate that operaeth  the womb shall  be catted
at the time of Jesus' birth. This befell to a Zacharias, an
                                                                     holy z&o the Lord.) And to offer a sacrifice according to
Elisabeth, an Anna and a Simeon. Particularly this was the
                                                                     tlmt which  is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle-
privilege of a Joseph, the betrothed husband of the virgin
                                                                     doves or two young pigeons."
Mary.
                                                                         This is a rather significant statement on the part of Luke;
      It was particularly Mary, the mother of Jesus, who kept
                                                                     the historian. It shows us that Jesus was most emphatically
all the significant incidents connected with the birth of Jesus
                                                                     from the very outset "under the law." And we may add that
in her heart. Had not the angel Gabriel, who stands before
                                                                     he was such that he might "redeem them that were under the
God, come to visit her in the insignificant city of Nazareth?
                                                                     law, that we might receive the adoption of sons," Gal. 4 1.5.
Had not all her fears been removed from her troubled soul
when the angel said to her, "Hail thou, blessed among wom-               This was from a certain point of view not such an extra-
en" ! Had not her path been to the hill-country of Judea  to         ordinary event that Jesus is brought to the temple. Thousands
a kins-woman, Elisabeth, who was known as the one who is             of mothers and fathers had thus brought their firstborn sons
barren ? She had gone to see'the  report of the angel that this      to the temple to present him to the Lord. For since the
Elisabeth was now in her sixth month. And there she had              exodus of Israel out of Egypt such was an ordinance in
heard the wonderful greeting of Elisabeth, "What is this to          Israel. Do we not read in Exodus 13 :l, 2, "And the L6RD
me that the mother of my Lord cometh  to me ? For at the             spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto me all the firstbo,rn,
sound of thy footsteps the babe leaped within me for joy."           whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel,
                                                                     both of man and of beast; it is mine" ?
      There was so much for Mary to keep in her heart.
                                                                         Surely this was an ordinance in Israel.
      How could she forget that the Spirit of prophecy had
come upon her, in consequence of which she had uttered that              And it belonged to the law of which Christ is the end
marvelous song of redemption, known quite generally as the           (telos)  for righteousness to everyone that believeth, Rom.
Magnificnt,  or the Song of Mary ? Or, again, could she              10 :4.

forget how the angel had mercifully come to her help when                And thus Mary and Joseph will too experience when

Joseph would have put her away privily! Had the Lord not             they present their firstborn son in the temple. They present

told Joseph that this was the word of the prophet Isaiah,            him to the Lord.

saying, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and             Incidentally, it should be noticed that this was not done
his name shall be called Emanuel, that is, God-with-us" ?            until Mary had been Levitically purified. This law was such

      And then there was that wondrous night of all nights           that every mother was considered unclean fo*r the first seven

when she had given birth to her child, her first-born son and        days if her child were a son. However, if the child were a

laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in           daughter then she would be unclean for fourteen days. In

the inn. And had not in that hour of her travail the very            the former case they were to add thirty-three more days with

heavens descended upon earth, far more glorious than in              the seven days of impurity making it forty days. In the

Jacob's dream at Bethel, `and had not all the angels sung the        case of a daughter she was to add another sixty-six days to

song of redemption's story as to its Theocentric purpose ? And       the fourteen making the total days eighty in number.

humble shepherds had come to visit them that night in the                Such was the Levitical ordinance pointing toward the
stable to see that thing which was come to pass.                     fact that all that is born from women is unclean and defiled

      There was so much for Mary to ponder in her heart.             with sin.

      Piece by piece she treasured each new manifestation of             And it should not bt overlooked that Mary made no mis-

the glory of this child. It was all so full of meaning. She          take when she too went up to the temple after she was puri-

pondered it, no doubt, in her heart in the light of the prophetic    fied. She needed this purification. She was Levitically un-

Word as it shines more and more unto the perfect day.                clean just as any mother in Israel. She is no exception to

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


 this rule. For her must be brought the sin-offering as well         to Israel. To understand this it must be borne in mind that
 as the burnt-offering for she must be atoned for by the death       Israel is God's first-born son, by virtue of the election of

 of a lamb or a dove, and she must be again wholly conse-            grace. Therefore all the first-born of Egypt must die. They
 crated to God by the burnt-offering, Lev. 12 5%                     are not elect. The elect nation, a holy people, a royal-priest-

                                                                     hood, a peculiar people must be saved. That was the Israel
        And then she can go as one sanctified, having even the       of God according to the election of grace.
 fruit of her womb sanctified to the Lord.                                                                 .
                                                                        And now this must be kept in .perpetual  remembrance in
        Yet, here all is not the same as in the presentation of      Israel. The first-born, therefore, are a picture of Israel as a
 the other first-born sons of Israel. Here is the Redeemer of        whole. Emphatically, that Israel is the first-born, is her glory.
 Israel. At this .very  incident does not an- old man, named         It is the glory of redemption according to God's sure prom:
 Simeon, enter into the temple by direction of the Holy             ise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob -in thee shall all nations
 Spirit? And is this Spirit not the Spirit both of the Father       be b1esse.d  !
and of the Son? And will not the son of Mary, her first-born,

be greeted here in the temple as the "salvation," the light of          Therefore the first-born sons are holy to the Lord. Theirs

the nations and the glory of the people of Israel? Will not         was the prerogative ideally to labor before the face of the

the purpose of Israel here be announced as coming to its            Lord in the temple. Thus was the case literally with a Samuel.

own, as the first-born of God, whom God brought forth from          However, God had made a provision in the law showing that

Israel with His mighty hand when He killed all the first-born       the first-born must too be set free from this service in the

of Egypt, and delivered His people, His. first-born, with a         temple. They are to be set free being redeemed by the Levites.

mighty hand ?                                                       The latter shall .be busy in the temple. The house of Aaron

                                                                    shall have the High-Priesthood, and the Levites shall stand
    Well may the wife of Phinehas  here be contradicted into
                                                                    in'the service of God.
silence. The glory is not really departed from Israel. Here

is not Ichabod, but Emanuel God-with-us. Here is the glory              Five shekels shall be paid to the temple treasury by.

of Israel in Mary's first-born son. Fondly and believingly          every .first-born  son's parents. to have their sons redeemed.

the aged Simeon takes the infant child into his arms and
                                                                        Such was the provision of th,e law.
says in the spirit of Jacob's dying prophecy, "Now let thy

servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salva-             And this was a wonderful provision. In it is the very

tion" ! Here is the secret of Jacob's words concerning Judah,       tremendous truth that all the law and the prophets have their

"Judah, thou art he, the sceptre shall not depart from Judah,       end in the Christ, who came to ransom his people from their

nor the law-giver from between his feet - until _ until             sins.

Shiloh come, and to him shall the gathering of the people be,"
                                                                        In general this is true in the fact that we see here the law
Gen. 49 53-10.
                                                                    of substitution. The Levites, according to the law of a carnal
    The glory is not departed from Israel.                          commandment, take the place of the first-born-the first-

    The learned in Jerusalem are not aware of it that at this       born of the other tribes ! He also takes the place of the first-
appearance of Joseph and Mary the King of the Jews is pre-          born of the tribe of Judah in whom the priesthood is not.
sented to the Lord, one who is a King-Priest forever after the      Hebrews 7 :14. He takes the place of Judah as Mary's first-
order of Melchisedec. Neither did they care. But for all who        born son.

waited for. the redemption in Israel it is good news.                   But that is not the end. He will yet have his place in

    Something special took place in the temple at this occa-        the house, of his Father as God's Firstiborn  Son, who in
sion.                                                               all things will have the preeminence. Col. 1:18.  For in him
                                                                    -dwelleth all the.fulness of the Godhead bodily. This child is
    Not simply a first-born son was presented. It was not           set for a fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a
a first-born son of a family in,Israel, the smallest unit in the    sign that shall be contradicted.
society of Israel. It was the great First-Born Son of God,
who is such by virtue of being the first-born of all creatures,         But in this way'he  will be set at God's right hand; Lord
and will manifest himself as such by becoming the first-born        over all.

out of the dead, Col. 1:15-l%                                           He is the First-born Son, in whom all the children to

    Let us attempt to understand just a little better what this     follow will be conformed unto his image.

implied that all that openeth the womb shall be called holy             Thus he is here redeemed in the temple that is earthly by
to the Lord, whether man or of beas:.                               five shekels, in order that he may with His precious blood

   To begin with we would point out that it is a remarkable         present us holy to the Lord, in the temple not made with
thing that at the very occasion of Israel's being delivered out     hands, that is, the heavenly and the better.

of Egypt the "law concerning the first-born" was promulgated                                                                    G.L.


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             181


                                                                     keep His commandments  But we do not budge one inch 1rom
 Ii              I N   H I S ' F E A R                               our position that although he must, he cannot even have thz
                                                                     desire to do it as he is by nature. Without even that desire

                                                                     being given to him by God, he is utterly void of it. Did not
       II . . . And Keep His Commandments . . O"                     Paul write to the Philippians that it is God Who worketh in

                                                                     us both to z&l  and to do of His good pleasure ?, Philippians
                                  (3)                                2 :13.
       The vtzust does not always imply the can.                         Nor is this a New Testament truth that was unknown by
       The must of keeping God's commandments does not al-           the saints of the Old Testament dispensation. The Word of
 ways imply either the ability to do so.                             God is one ; and we make bold to state that there is not a
       The holy angels before God's face in glory, who have          truth in the one that is not found in the other. The Old is in
 never fallen and come under the dominion of Satan and of sin        the New explained ; but surely the New is in the Old con-
 must obey God ; and they can do so with the power wherein           tained. The Old is in the New revealed ; but exactly because
 God created them and continues to work in them.              ._,    the New is in the Old concealed. In fact it would not be
       Fallen man, who has lost the image of God, lost his true      difficult to prove that every truth of the Scripture principally
 knowledge, righteousness and holiness, must keep God's `corn-       is to be found in the one book of Psalms.
 mar&rents,  but he cannot. He does not even have the ability            Abraham knew this truth of the unchangeable and inevit-
 to desire to do so. And he may not even have the power to           able must and of the humanly impossible can. To him God

 desire to do so!                                                    appeared with the demand that he sacrifice his only son, the
       Is that not even true of his natural physical life?           son of his love and the son in whom the promise would be

       Man must eat in order to live. He must breathe today          realized. For the flesh that was a tremendous demand. Who

in order to be able to breathe tomorrow. He must drink even          can deny that God demanded this of Abraham ? And Abra-

more than he must eat and can get along without eating               ham himself would be the first to confess that it was required

much longer than he can without drinking. Yet this must              of him. He knew it was God's command to him. That is

does not imply the can. There are times when a man cannot            exactly why he went to do it. He knew that it was required

eat, cannot drink and cannot breathe. He may be in the               of him. Everything in his flesh rebelled at the thought of

desert wastes where there is no water. He must drink in              slaying his own son. And he did it only because he said in

order to retain his life ; but he simply cannot because there        his heart with Solomon ". . . and keep His commandments

is no water available. Then again, he may be smitten with            . . . " belongs to the sole duty of man. And from the spiritual

the dreaded lockjaw or tetanus so that although he must              side, or if you will, as far as fearing God was concerned, as

drink, his jaws are tightly set so that he cannot open his           far, then as that which God demanded of Abraham as far as

mouth to.receive it. He must drink ; and he cannot. He must          his faith is concerned, he wz.ust believe that God will still
eat; and it is impossible. Or he may fall into the deep water.       fulfill His covenant promise in this son, Isaac. He roust

To live there in the water and in order to be.able  to breathe       believe that God can and will raise him up from the dead.

again tomorrow he must breathe also while submerged below            But did Abraham in that Old Testament dispensation not

the surface of the water. But he cannot. His lungs are not           know that it is God Who worketh in us both to will and to

adapted to extracting the oxygen that is in the water as the         do ? He surely did. He must obey. He must believe. And

fish is able to do. The oxygen is there ; and he must receive        he does obey and believe. But he does not believe and obey

it into his blood stream. But he cannot. The must again does         because with the must always comes the power to do. He be-

not imply the can.                                                   lieved that God would raise Isaac from the dead, and he

       Therefore, when we say, no, when Solomon - one far, far       did go to sacrifice his son in perfect obedience because God

wiserthan we - and God Who gave that wisdom to Solomon               provided these as well as the ram caught in the thicket by its

says `that to the sole duty of man is also included the must         horn For in that lamb caught in the thicket, as to its sym-

of keeping His commandments, this does not at all mean that          bolic significance, is all our faith and obedience. That is, in

we, nor Solomon, nor God say that man can do that which is           Christ, Who is The Lamb of God, is all our faith and all our

demanded of him. And, again, although we appreciate those            obedience. And when God provides Christ, He provides the

who are afraid of each and every departure from the truth,           whole of our salvation. Those who must, and cannot, re-

the title above, ": . . . And Keep His Commandments . . ."           ceive in that Lamb all the power of will, of heart and mind,

will and must stand as the demand of God upon all His                of body and soul to do His commandments and to believe in

rational, moral creatures. And let those who would accuse            Him. For of God He is "made unto us wisdom, and right-

us of denying the responsibility of man ; let those who want         eousness, and sanctification and redemption," I Cor. 1 :30.

the law and faith as conditions to the obtaining of the               And so between the must and the can we must always

promises ; let those who would accuse us of teaching a doc-          see Christ. Conditional theology does not do that. It posits

trine that makes man careless and profane take note that we          the must and then puts our believing and our act of conver-

insist that to the sole duty of man belongs this calling to          sion as the prerequisite before we come to Christ and. the

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


 salvation in Him. That is the plain teaching of such  state-        before God. You can defend and give support to those who
 ments as, "God promises everyone of you that if you believe,        maintain such heresies, but that is pride and an activity that
 you will be saved," and "Our act of conversion is a pre-            is not at all to be found in the kingdom. The citizens of
 requisite of entering the kingdom." In both statements there        heaven's kingdom are' humble as little children.
 are the must. We must believe, and we must convert our-                Again, it is a partial quote because it ignores all the rest
 selves. You have the power, conditional theology says, to do        that Christ Himself declares.    "Except ye be converted and
 what is demanded; and if you do not do so you shall not be          become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom
 saved and shall not enter the kingdom. Christ comes after           of heaven."    That is right, absolutely right. But does the
 the believing and after the conversion. And if you put Christ       "except" make it a condition we must fulfill before we get
 before the can you immediately take away the condition or           into the kingdom ? Let us not walk in that pride, but as little
 prerequisite. You can see that clearly when you quote the           children let us listen to ALL that Christ says about that king-
 words of Jesus fully. That is why we wrote at the outset that       dom. Let us at least pay close attention to His first recorded
 partial quotations are so often used to defend heresies because     utterance in regard to that kingdom and entering into it. And
 they leave off exactly that which shows that the teaching, in       let us do this not with that wicked pride whereby we want
 whose defense they have been quoted, to be in error. Jesus          to defend our own statements, the statements of friends or
 says, "Except ye be converted and become as little children,        relatives, or because of some bitterness which we are harbor-
 ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven," Matt. 18 :3.        ing in our hearts against others who condemn these state-
 He explains in that phrase, "and become as little children,"        ments. Harboring bitterness and not walking the way of
 what He means by the conversion. The disciples must be              Matthew 18 with all grievances likewise is a work of pride
 turned away from their pride. They had been arguing as to           and is not ". , . . keeping His commandments . . ." But as
 who would be the greatest of them in His kingdom. See               little children before the Holy God let us note that Jesus
 Mark 9 :33, Luke 9 :46 and Luke 22 :24. That last reference         says already in John 3 :3, "Except a man be born again, he
 in Luke 22 :24 is a very revealing one. It is a note of Luke        cannot see the kingdom of God." Now let us be humble be-
 which he makes-under the inspiration of the Spirit of               fore that truth. Let us be willing to let go of our statements
 Truth, we must remember- when he is giving to us the                and those of friends, relatives, formerly trusted pastors and
 account of the dismissal of Judas. Jesus had said, so Luke          office bearers. And let us then ask, If the except in Matthew
 points out, that the one who would betray Him sat there at          1833 presents a prerequisite which we must fulfill before we
 the table with Him. The disciples "began. to enquire among          enter the kingdom, why does not the except in John 3 :3 also
 themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing."        present a condition or prerequisite which we must fulfill be-
 And then Luke points out, "And there was also a strife among        fore we see the kingdom of heaven ? And then be humble
 them which of them should be accounted the greatest."               enough to admit that no man ever enters the kingdom be-
                                                                     cause he cannot cause himself to be born again and so can
        Now it makes no difference whether you take the posi-        never see the kingdom. Ask your pastor who is addicted to

 tion that this strife actually took place there that particular     conditional theology and has left us because of a proud in-
 night or not. That most likely is the case. For the very fact       tent to .defend  the statement that our .act of conversion is a

 that not one of them would stoop to do the foot-washing, and        prerequisite for entering the kingdom to preach unto you on
 Jesus must rebuke them and do it to their shame indicates           John 3 :3 under the theme: Being Born Again, The Prere-

 this very thing. But even if this is not what Luke had in           quisite to Seeing the Kingdom. And then insist that he show

 mind, the very mentioning of this strife at this time shows         you what you must do to be born again. Let him show you

 that the disciples were still of that frame of mind! They had       how you can fill this prerequisite.

 not converted themselves. They had not become as little                To be sure there is a must here. Who dares to deny that?

children. Though they must, if they are to enter into the            Only pride dares to do that, For Jesus says Himself a few

 kingdom, the can is not there, very plainly. Not till the Spirit    verses later, verse 7, "Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye
 was poured out on Pentecost were they converted ,from  their        NUU~ (italics are ours) be born again." But the can very

 pride. Make this conversion a prerequisite to entering the          plainly is not there. And there is no can until Christ comes

 kingdom and no man will ever enter it. No man, though he            and causes us to be born again. We must be converted and

must, can humble himself and become as a child before he             become as little children; but we cannot until the life of the

`enters the kingdom. You can make rash statements that our           kingdom is brought into us by Christ. And so, when you in-

act of conversion is a prerequisite unto entering into the king-     sist that those, who deceived you with their conditional

 dom and then defend such an heretical statement; or you can         theology, preach to you on John 3 :3, insist that they show

 defend it as made by others ; but then you neither walk in the      you how you can be converted and become like a little child

fear of God nor keep His commandments. And it simply                 before you are born again. They have insisted that we must

show's that in this you are walking outside that kingdom.            be converted before we enter the kingdom. Jesus says in

For it is nothing less than pride to maintain a teaching which       John 3 5, "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,

the Scriptures condemn. It is NOT behaving as a little chgd                              (Continwd  on page 192)


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               183
                                                                                                            -           _

 I/                                                                  which means "gratitude, thanksgiving." As such it was the
            Contending For The Faith                            II common Greek and ecclesiastical designation of the Lord's
                                                                     Supper. When, therefore, we speak of the Eucharist we refer,

                                                                     we understand, to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

              The Church and the Sacraments                             The Roman Catholic Church, we must understand,

                                                                     distinguishes between the Popish Mass and the Popish Com-
       VIEWS DURING THE THIFCII  PERIOD (750-1517  A.D.)             munion. These are not to be identified. Luther accepted, in

                                                                     principle, the Roman Catholic Communion, but he did not
                     THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS.                           accept the Popish Mass. Yet, according to Rome, they are

                                                                     inseparably connected. The Mass is always first, is called,
           . . ._    THE EUCHARIST  (continued)
                                                                     with Communion, the Holy Eucharist, makes Communion

       And, in the second place, we may also state that, although    possible.

 the term, "sacrifice," was used in connection with the celebra-        The Roman Catholic Mass is constituted of three ele-
  tion of this sacrament, it was used in an altogether different     ments. There is, first of all, the element of consecration, the
  sense than its present use in the Roman Catholic Church.           blessing of sthe  signs. Upon the Roman Catholic altar, pecu-
  According to this early view of the Church, not Christ was         liar to all Roman Catholic churches, are the bread and the
  offered but the Church offered itself, its prayers and thanks-     wine. .The bread is called the "host," having the form and
  giving, etc. Cyprian, however, because of his hierarchical         size of a "gingersnap" cookie. This consecration &ects the
  tendencies `(it was his basic teaching that the bishop is in       change of these substances. This must not be understood as
  the Church, and the Church is in the bishop, and that salva-       though the Roman Catholic priest effects this change, but the
tion without the Church and the bishop is impossible) al-            change is brought about by God.  through the prayer of the
  ready expresses the idea that not the Church but the priest        priest. Through this blessing of the priest the host and the
  offers an imitation of the sacrifice of the Lord.                  wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ. And

       As far as the second period of the `Church is concerned,      then it is not Jesus' earthly flesh and blood that now appear
  we may remark that the doctrine of Transubstantiation `was         upon the altar, but the Saviour as exalted, as He has be-
  not the accepted doctrine- of the Church `at this time. The        come grace and life, omnipresent, almighty, spiritual and
  union of Christ and the signs in the Lord's Supper were            heavenly. That Jesus Christ, full of grace and life, takes the
  often compared to the union of the two natures in Christ.          place of the host and the wine, and this must be understood
  Corresponding to the mysterious union between the two              in the sense #that every bit of the host is the full and com-
  natures of Christ in one and the same person, was the              plete Christ.

  idea of a mystical connection subsisting between the body of           The second element of the Popish Mass is that of the

  Christ and the bread in the Lord's Supper, and between His         sacrifice, intimately connected with the element of consecra-

  blood and the wine. The deeply mysterious and often fan-           tion. Inasmuch as Rome views death as separation of body and

  tastic rhetoric of the fathers, the mysterious language in         soul and the host and wine lie separate upon the altar, Rome

  which they often express themselves makes it extremely dif-        can speak of Jesus' death in the sacrifice in the Mass. We

  ficult to understand them. But we may definitely say that          must understand that this sacrifice is not another sacrifice

  the doctrine of Transubstantiation was surely not at this time     than that upon the cross, but it is the cross-death as con-

  as yet a part of the accepted doctrine of the Church. Eusebius     tinued in an unbloody manner. Only, this continual sacrifice

  of Caesarea (bishop of Caesarea in Palestine and father of         is just as real as the Lord's death upon the cross. The cross

  church hist'ory)  must have spoken of the symbols  of Jesus'       has power only inasfar as the Lord repeats His death through-

  body and blood. And, in connection with John 6, he must            out <the ages. This conception of the Popish Mass is wholly

  have stated that Jesus' words are His flesh and blood. This        in harmony with Rome's doctrine of justification. Rome ad-

  is a far cry from the Roman Catholic doctrine of Transub-          vocates a justification upon the condition of faith, regards

  stantiation. And Augustine writes that Christ's declaration        faith .as the means whereby we perform good works which

  that He would give us His flesh to eat must not be under-          merit justification. Rome curses anyone who denies that

  stood in the literal sense: "His grace is not consumed by          faith has any meritorious value, can merit eternal life, can

  toothbiting." And as far as the idea of the sacrifice is con-      effect our justification before God. However, this doing of

  cerned, the term, although used, did not convey the same           good works is possible only by the grace of Jesus Christ

  meaning which the Roman Catholic Church of the present             Who must be imparted unto         Man must eat the sacrificed
                                                                                                    LE. 

  day attaches to it.                                                Christ, and thereunto Christ Offers-Himself daily. Through

                                                                     that eating and drinking of Christ -we receive daily the power
  ROW&S view of the E~ucharist  today, briefly stated.               to do good works, and so we are justified before God.

       The word "eucharist,"  by which one of Rome's seven           The third element in the Popish Mass is that of worship

  sacraments is designated, is derived from the Greek word           and adoration. This lies in the very nature of the case. We


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must remember that, upon the standpoint of Rome, Rome                   In exegesis Radbertus was not original even in aim. His

does not worship the human nature of Christ. The full and             work on faith, hope, and love shows him to be a follower of

complete Christ lies upon the altar. This means that Jesus,           St. Augustine, and it consists mostly of repetitions of the

according to body and soul, but also according to His Divine          latter's sentences. His character as traditionalist appears still

nature, lies sacrificed upon the altar. Rome, therefore, wor-         more pronounced in De corpore,  the first comprehensive
ships, not the bread and wine (we understand this as from             treatise on the Lord's Supper written in the Christian Church,
the viewpoint of Rome                                                 and the cause of the first controversy over the Eucharist,
                           j, but the Divine nature of the Christ.
There is no bread and no wine upon the altar; these ele-              establishing his reputation for orthocloxy  securely in the eyes

ments have merely the form and taste and effect of bread and          of the future.

wine. The Roman Catholic claims to eat and drink actually                 Radbertus combined the symbolic idea of Augustine with
the' Lord Jesus Christ.                                               the transiormation  doctrine of others ; but he was thdroughly

                                                                      convinced himself that Augustine believed' that the true his-
  RISE AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPT                                 toric body of Christ was present in the Eucharistic elements.
                "TRANSUBSTANTIATION."                                 Such thoughts of Radbertus as these exhibit Augustine's

    The Roman Catholic developme$  of the doctrine of                 standpoint : Christ and his flesh constitute not a material but a
Transubstantiation implies that, according to Rome, the heart         spiritual and divine sustenance and serve only as objects of
of the Eucharist was shifted from the sacrament to the                a purely spiritual partaking (V. l-2). To eat the flesh of the
sacrifice. We will recall that the term, "sacrifice," had al-         Lord and drink his blood means nothing else than that the
ready been in use in the earlier years of the Church in the           believer abides in Christ and Christ in him (vi-vii). Only
New Dispensation, but then this term did not have the mean-           faith enables to transcend the visible and to apprehend from
ing which it now received. This doctrine of Transubstantia-           within what the fleshly mouth does not touch or the fleshly
tion was fixed as a dogma by Rome at the fourth Lateran               eye does not see (viii. 2). Christ is food only for the elect,
Council in 1215, during the pontificate of Innocent III. But          and only they are worthy to partake of him who are of his
the concept as such had already been taught and set forth a           body (xxxi. 5, vii. 13. The partaking of the flesh of Christ
few hundred years before this council convened. Paschasius            by the unworthy seemed to him impossible, hence he accepted
Radbertus was the first to teach unequivocally the complete           Augustine's distinction between the sacrament or mystery
dogma of Transubstantiation.                                          and the virtue of the same. Under the term virtue he in-
                                                                      cluded not, as in his later works, only the vitalizing power of

Pas&a&us  Radbef%u-  (as set forth in the New Schaff-Herzog           the flesh of Christ, but, in Augustinian mode of speech, what

Religious Encyclopedia).                                              was offered in the symbols to faith, or the content of the
                                                                      sacrament, that is, the flesh of Christ itself with the fulness
    Paschasius Radbertus was a medieval abbot who was                 of his saving virtues. Accordingly, the unworthy receive not
born at or near Soissons  (some fifty-six miles northeast of          anything but bread and wine. The priest indeed distributes
Paris) about 786, and who died at Corbie (nine miles  east            to all alike ; the high priest, however, distinguishes between
of Amiens)  about 865.         He lived therefore in the ninth        the worthy and unworthy ; and the latter receive the sacra-
century and was one of the most distinguished writers of the          ment or mystery only to judgment, the former receive the
Carolingian period (of or pertaining to the dynasty or family         virtue. Spiritual sustenance in Christ effects the forgiveness
of Charlemagne or a sovereign in that line - H.V.). The               of sins (iv. 3, vi. 1, xv. 3)) union with Christ (iii. 4), and
little that is known of his life is derived from scattered notices    spiritual sustenance of the whole man to eternal life (xi. 2-3,
in his own writings and from a panegiric  on him by Bishop            xix. 1-2, xx . 2). So far the points are Augustinian  ; parallel
Engelmodus of Soissons. Brought up by the Benedictine                 with these he places a thought-series teaching a transub-
nuns of Soissons, he entered the monastery of Corbie in               stantiation represented in the pseudo-Ambrosian writings.
Picardy under the Abbot Adalhard, and gained early distinc-           This tea&ng  is carried by him to its full conclusion. What
tion for his theological learning, piety, and moral enthusiasm;       by faith is received in the sacrament is the body born of
his range of familiarity with classical authors was remark-           Mary that suffered on the cross and rose from the grave
able for that period, also with the Fathers and the leading           (i. 2).' It is the body and blood;  not the virtue of the body
authorities of the Eastern and Western churches ; but he              and blood ; the sacramental body. must be regarded as the
probably knew neither Greek nor Hebrew. Because of his
                                                                      natural body of Christ, which does not exclude it from being
wealth of learning he became the instructor of the young
                                                                      considered as in the state of glorification (vii. 2). In the
monks at Corbie and had a large number of distinguished
                                                                      consecration the sensible properties remain unchanged, but
pupils ; but notwithstandipg  his eminence he never became a
priest. He was abbot in 844-851, but retired on account of            the substance of the bread and wine within are efficaciously
`Iffi u-ties Irising  from eil'orts  to reform the lax discipline.    changed into the real body and blood of Christ (VIII. 2). The

:;i ..is writings are :x:ant his expositions  of Matthew in           Lord willing, we will conclude this quotation in our following

twelve  books, and .other  writings . . . . .                         article.                                                   H.V.


                                            T H E   S.TANDARD  B E A R E R                                                          185


                                                                      seal. And just because the Spirit of Christ dwelling in the
         The Voice of Our Fathers                                     people of God is holy and has a holy aversion for all that is
                                                                   II of sin, it is also true that all sin that is unrepented of and
                                                                      unconfessed and not taken away gvievgs  Him.
                The CC&&IS of Dordrecht
                                                                          Thus, in the fourth place, we can also understand that by

                          PART `TWO                                   such enormous sins we interrupt the exercise of faith. Notice,

                                                                      first of all, that the article does not say that we interrupt
                 EXPOSJTION  OF  TBIC CANONS                          faith itself. This is impossible: there is no fall from faith.

                                                                      The truth of perseverance means exactly that our faith
                  FIFTI-J  HEAD 6~ DOCTRINE                           fails not. Faith is the bond bf communion between the saints

                                                                      and Christ. Through faith we are ingrafted into Christ. And
           OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS
                                                                      that bond, once established, can never be severed. But while

                                                                      the power of faith never fails, it is indeed possible that the
                     Article 5 (continued)
                                                                      exercise of faith -is interrupted. And when the Spirit is

                                                                      grieved and withdraws from the saints as far as their con-
    The third consequence of the "enormous sins" of the
                                                                      sciousness is concerned, that is exactly what happens. For
saints is that they "grieve the Holy Spirit." This is, of
                                                                      the Spirit is the author of faith. Not only does the Spirit
course, a Scriptural expression, taken from Ephesians 4 :30 :
                                                                      produce in us the faculty, or power of faith. Not only does
"And grieve not the; Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are
                                                                      He establish the bond between us and Christ. He is also the
sealed unto the day of- redemption." The expression refers,
                                                                      author of, faith in its conscious activity. And to the conscious
in the first place, to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Christ
                                                                      exercise of faith, whereby our fellowship with Christ is
dwelling in the church. and in the hearts of believers. It
                                                                      strengthened and maintained as far as our consciousness is
proceeds, in the second place, from the fact that that Spirit
                                                                      concerned, the article refers. When the Holy Spirit is
is tzoly,  that is, perfectly consecrated to God, loving all that
                                                                      grieved, the Spirit being the author of faith, there can be but
,is good, all that pertains to the divine life, and separated
                                                                      one consequence for our faith : its exercise, its operations, its
from and hating all $n and darkness. In the third place,
                                                                      action, is interrupted. And does not this stand to reason ?
while it must surely be kept in mind that this is a human
                                                                      Those enormous sins of which the article speaks are the very
way of expressing something  concerning the Holy Spirit,
                                                                      opposite of the faith and its exercise. They do not proceed
nevertheless there is sgmething  that very really corresponds
                                                                      from faith, but war against it. Where sin is, there is not.
to grief in the Spirit. Grief pertains to that which we love ;
                                                                      faith. And when one falls into sin and walks in sin and con-
and the Holy Spirit grieves also over those whom He loves,
                                                                      tinues in sin, it stands to reason that just as long as he con-
and that too, in & holy and perfect sense. And the reason for
                                                                      tinues in sin the exercise of faith is interrupted.
His grief is not His `own  work, the work of His grace, but

the manifestation of the old man of sin in thk people of God             Hence, in the fifth place, by such enormous sins the saints

whoni He loves. The kpirit  rejoices when the church walks            very grievously wound their consciences also. What does this

in sanctification; He grieves when the people of God fall into        expression mean ? We do not believe that the conscience be-

sin and even walk in sin. And that grief is very real. G;ieved,       comes blunted, so that it no longer bears testimony, in any

He does not give up the elect and forsake them ; but He               case. The testimony of a man's conscience never ceases, nei-

withdraws from us as far as our consciousness is concerned.           ther in believer or in unbeliever. Nor do we understand by

And the result cannot: fail to be serious for the child of God.       this wounding of the conscience a temporary silencing of the

It is through the indwelling Spirit that the people of God are        conscience of the saints: While we cannot take the time to

the conscious partakers of the blessings of salvation. And it         enter detailedly in the whole subject of conscience, we offer

is through the Spirit of Christ that they are "sealed unto the        the following explanation in brief : 1) The conscience is that

day of redemption." This is true not only objectively, so that        function of our consciousness whereby we are- immediately

by the Spirit the saints are and remain marked as the                 aware of and agree with and consent to the judgment of God

peculiar possession of the Lord to the very end. But it is            concerning the ~ethical  character and value of our actions, -

also true as far as the consciousness of the saints -is concerned.    a judgment which God Himself writes in our consciousness

The Spirit marks them as genuine, in distinction from false.          by His Spirit and Word, and which either approves or con-

The Spirit marks them as God's peculiar possession. And               demns us. 2) The saints have a good conscience by faith.

the Spirit marks them as His inseparable possession even              A good conscience is the apprehension by faith of the justi-

unto the day of redemption; the day of Christ, the day of             fying judgment of God in Christ, while an evil conscience is

complete deliverance from all our enemies and from all the            the very opposite of this. In the strict sen:e  of the word,

power of sin. By His indwelling He assures us of all this,            the Christian is not delivered from his evil conscience in

not only once but continually. Hence, if we grieve that               this life. He is aware that God's judgment condemns his

Spirit, and He departs, we lose the consciousness of His              sins, including his past sins, his present transgressions, and


1 8 6                                         T H E   S T A N D A R - D   B E A R E R


  also the defilement of his old nature. From this                    even after he has finally come to the realization of his gross
                                                          point of
  view, his conscience always accuses him. But by faith he is         sin, such an one-may  bemoan his state, and in doubt and
  conscious of a righteousness in Christ that overcomes the           temptation complain that he cannot possibly be a child of

  condemning judgment of his accusing conscience. 3) When             God when he commits such terrible sins! How he may be-
  by his enormous sins the child of God grieves the Holy              come the object of the fierce attacks of the devil, who accuses,
  Spirit, interrupts the exercise of faith, and wounds his con-       him on the basis of his enormous sins that he is not a saint
  science, the result must be that he loses that "good conscience"    at all !

  for a time. Notic.e  that he does not "kill" his conscience, but
  he "wounds" it. By that "wounding" his good conscience, his             Remember, the things of which the fathers speak here are
  awareness of the justifying judgment of God in Christ is            dreadfully real! And the truth of the sure preservation of
  temporarily incapacitated. All that he has left is that old         the saints does not detract one iota from their dread reality.
  accusing conscience, the awareness of the condemning judg-          And the fathers show in this article that they understand
  ment of God. It must be evident, once more, that this result        fully as well as their Arminian opponents, yea, more fully,
  follows inevitably upon the interruption of the exercise of         the dreadfully serious consequences of the sins and falls of
  faith. For the "good conscience" of the Christian is exactly        the saints. What is described here is the inevitable chain of
  his apprehension by faith  of the justifying judgment of God        consequences which follow through all the way to the bitter
  in Christ. And therefore, if the exercise of faith is inter-        end of losing the sense of God's grace whenever a saint con-
  rupted, that "good conscience" is wounded, silenced, and the        tinues in the way of sin. True, the article says that they
  evil, accusing conscience has full sway.                            "sometimes" lose the sense of God's grace for a time. But
                                                                      principally these consequences always ensue upon the com-

         The last consequence"mentioned  is the temporary loss of     mission of sin by the child of God. Besides, principally all

  the sense of God's grace. Here too we must note carefully           the sins of the saints are "enormous." As a rule, however,

  that the article does not say : "they lose God's grace." This       God brings us to repentance and causes us to seek forgive-

  is impossible. Once we have received the grace of God, we           ness long before we actually reach the point of losing the

  cannot lose it. But it is indeed possible and is indeed a very      sense of His grace. Nevertheless, there are also those times

  painful reality to lose the sense of God's grace. Then one          when the child of God falls deeply and walks in sin for a

  experiences what the psalmist describes in Psalm 32 : "When         time. And it is at those times that all of these consequences

  I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all           are experienced in their bitter reality.

  the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon

  me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer."                  But the point is that until we repent, or, in case we have

  One experiences that he cannot say: "This God is my God."           completely departed from the way of sanctification, until we

  He cannot say: "My only comfort is that I belong to my              return into the way of life through earnest' repentance, the

  faithful Savior Jesus Christ." He loses the experience of           fatherly countenance of God does not shine upon us again.

  God's favor upon him. He loses the experience of the in-            The way of life is the way of repentance, not the way of sin

  dwelling of the Spirit and of all the blessings of salvation        and impenitence. And only in the way of repentance can

  which the Spirit works in the saints. He loses the ex-              we have the sense of God's favor.

i perience of the fellowship of God, and experiences instead a

  dreadful separation. He experiences that God's face is hid              The sum of the matter, therefore, is this. The believer in

  from him, that the light of His countenance does not shine          the sure preservation of the saints does not lightly consider

  upon him, that His ear is not open to his prayers. He loses         the matter of sin. He does not deny, but affirms, the dread

  the experience of the communion of saints, and experiences          consequences of the sins of the saints. He does not deny,

  instead that he has no part with the people of God, does            but affirms, the need of a very real repentance. But he has

  not share their joy, their comfort, their assurance, their life.    the comfort that in the face of all the dread reality of his

  If he continues in the way of sin, he loses the blessing of         sins and their consequences, it is God's grace that surely will

  love for the brethren, and he becomes instead hateful and           bring him to repentance, no matter how deeply he falls. Yea,

  vindictive and unruly. Such a person may attend the preach-         he knows that God in His preserving grace uses even those

' ing of the Word, but he finds no comfort, no nourishment,           very consequences of his sins ultimately to bring him on his

  no edification therein. The blessed tidings of the gospel do        knees, with the penitent's plea upon his lips: "0 God, be

  not seem to be directed to him personally. He may perhaps           mercifui  to me, the sinner." And he knows that thus he may
  make use of the sacraments, but they render him no assur-           well heed the injunction of our Baptism Form: "And if we

  ance-and do not serve to strengthen his faith. He may at-           sometimes through weakness fall into sin, we must not there-

  tempt to sing the songs of Zion, but his heart is not in it.        fore despair of God's mercy, nor continue in sin, since bap-

  0, how awful can be such periods in the life of the child of        tism is a seal and undoubted testimony, that we, have an

  God ! How dreadfully real the thought can become to him in          eternal covenant- of grace with God."

  such a state that he is no child of God at all 1 How painfully,                                                            H.C.H.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 187


                                                                      mit to its decisions. And then this article says clearly that
II           DECENCY and ORDER                                  II the Classis does not have such power for Article 84 reads:
                                                                      "No church shall in any way lord it over. other churches, no

                                                                      minister over other ministers, no elder or deacon over other
             The Continuation of the Report                           elders or deacons."

      But is this conclusion just ? Not according to our opinion.        D. In the foregoing we have sufficiently indicated from

It is natural that a Classis  deposes a minister of the Word          the principles of Reformed Church Right, as well as from

according to the rule: "Who installs ,a.lso  deposes." The            the history and by references to those who among us are well

sphere of the minister of the Word reaches further than the           known as authorities of highest rank in the Netherlands and

local church. Therefore, the Classis must decide with respect         also by referring to articles of the Church Order that the

to the installation into the office as well as with respect to        question put to us for solution, "Can the Classis  Depose a

the deposition of the minister of the Word. In case a local           Consistory?" must be answered negatively.

church wants to maintain a heretical minister in spite of the            We are yet of the opinion that there is a way for us to

Classis, she would then lose the right to belong to the               come to the desired agreement. The whole committee is of

federation of churches (denomination). And as concerning              the opinion that the Classis according to Reformed Church

the deposition of elders and deacons, we must ask whether             Right has the right to set a refractory consistory outside the

this article (Art. 79) gives the right or whether it has ever         denomination. In case the church adopts the position that

happened that' a consistory of a neighboring church, without          a consistory that persistently is unwilling to abide by the

being sought by the indicted consistory, single-handedly              decisions of the broader gatherings, makes itself guilty of

proceeded to help depose a member of another consistory ?             actually breaking the denominational bond and, shall the con-

And, if a consistory does not of itself have that right, then         sistory remain unwilling, it is left out of the denomination,

this article does not ascribe this right to the aggregate of con-     as written above, so would the denomination be protected

sistories as gathered in Classis.  And no consistory would            overagainst all independentistic strivings of local churches and

ever seek another consistory or a classis  to depose itself even      consistories and also all danger of collegialistic hierarchy

though a minority of consistory members were concerned.               prevented.

Moreover a consistory is not merely the sum total of so                                       Respectfully submitted,

many consistory members but is as a.unity  the ruling power                                                  K. W. Fortuin

that Christ has ordained in a church. And the Classis,  etc.                                                 H. H. Meeter

is not a higher ruling body that as such has command over

the deposition of consistory members but are broader gather-             The two foregoing reports, submitted by the study com-

ings of equal (like) rank with the consistory. There is no            mittee appointed by the Synod of the Christian Reformed

higher power in the church of Christ than the consistory.             Church in 1924, were taken under study by the committee

      This is then also clearly expressed in Article 84 where         of pre-advice of the Synod of 1926. This committee, con-

we read: "`No  clzztrch shall in arty way lord ,it oveY other         sisting of ten men, submitted its conclusions to the Synod in
clmwches, no minister over other ministers, no elder op deacon        the form of the following report, found in the Agendum of

over other elders  or deacons." This article maintains the            the Synod of 1926, page 315. (The free-translation is by

freedom and independence of the local church even as Article          undersigned.)

29 maintains the duty of the local church toward the denomi-

nation. It indicates that the Reformed denomination is a              The Report of the Committee of Pre-Advice Concerning

federation of churches of equal rating. On the one hand it            the Question : "Can A Classis  Depose A Consistory ?"

is true as Dr. Rutgers expressed it, (vgl. J. De Jong, ColZege        Introduction :

 P'oordrackten,  pg. 1.58) that "this article certainly permits           Since 1918 a couple concrete cases of the deposition of a

that the local church leaves jurisdiction in matters she cannot       consistory by a Classis  gave occasion for instructions from

finish or that concern all the churches in common to the              Classis Sioux Center and the consistory of Chicago I to be

Classis  and Synod. Insofar the local church abdicates her            presented to the Synod of 1924 requesting that the Synod

freedpm  .and must do' this ,because  otherwise the denomina-         establish whether or not a Classis has the authority to depose

tional bond is impossible."     On the other hand, this article       a consistory.

guards against a hierarchical domination by the Classis,  etc.            The aforementioned' Synod appointed a Committee to

 over the local church.. `The present question does not con-          study this question and to report at this Synod (1926). This

 cern whether the elders, with the help of the neighboring            committee was not agreed in her judgment but brought a

 consistory can be deposed as rulers ; also not whether a Clas-       double report. The one report answered the question af-

 sis doesn't have a federative jurisdiction over the local church,    firmatively, the other negatively. With respect to various

 but whether the autonomous local church is subject to a              matters that are related to the question and the answer that

 coercive public authority of a Classical gathering so that           is to be given thereto, there is agreement in both reports. The

 such a gathering can depose a consistory that will not sub-          request came to us through a member of the committee ap-

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


pointed by the Synod of 1924 to direct the attention of this             Christ this cannot be) but yet do not abdicate the ecclesias-

Synod to the fact that the committee is agreed in judging                tical independence. (Reformed Church Right.)

that "it is lawful Bccording  to Reformed Church Right .that                 In this last case, the question immediately arises concern-
a Classis sets a recalcitrant consistory outside the church              ing the federation of these indefiendsnt  artd yet federated
federation." From both reports the Synod will find material              cizztrches,  namely, how can the independence of the local
in our advice although we do not each time give reference                churches be maintained without doing .injustice  to the bond
to the denoted report.                                                   of ecclesiastical communion ,and, reversed, how can the ec-
       Your committee, having taken both reports under study,            clesiastical federation be maintained without encroaching
renders as her judgment that the definite question must be               upon the independence of the local churches ?
seen upon the background of the broader question concern-                    C. Historically the point of departure of a group of
ing the rightful authority of the broader ecclesiastical gather-         churches lay in the local churches but organically and spirit-
ings. When the principle that lies at the basis of this general          ually her unity lay in the body of Christ of which the ec-
question is clearly set forth, it cannot be difficult to answer          clesiastical federation is the institutional manifestation, with
the concrete question concerning the authority of a Classis              the name in the Reformed sense.
to in various ways depose a consistory. Our investigation                    1. From this follows, on the one hand, that ecclesiastically
then treats :                                                            as well as spiritually, the unity of the churches of the ec-
I. The Rightful Autlzo&ty  of the Broader Ecclesiastical            _    clesiastical federation must be acknowledged. The Inde-
       Gatlzevings  in Genplral  :                                       pendentist do injustice to this unity and do not sufficiently
       II. The Real (be-mute)  Question in Particular.                   reckon with the fact that all believers are members of the

I. The Rightful Authority of tlze Broader Ecclhasticul                   body. It cannot be said that this denies the spiritual but not
       Ga.th.erings  in General :                                        the ecclesiastical unity for the ecclesiastical cowwwniox  is
                                                                         rooted in and proceeds from  the mystical spiritual unity of
   A. This question touches upon the church as institute
                                                                         the body of Christ..
and therefore bears a~ specific ecclesiastical character.
                                                                            2. On the other hand, however, follows the fact that the
       The spiritual-ethical essence (wezen)  and the ecclesias-
                                                                         foundation and life bond of the ecclesiastical communion are
tical (kerkrechtelijke) form of the church must be distin-
                                                                         the local churches and that not for a moment may these
guished. Only then can we arrive at the necessary clarity.
                                                                         churches abandon or let themselves be deprived of their in-
   With this distinction the unbreakable bond (federation)
                                                                         dependence. For :
between the spiritual essence of the church and her ec-
clesiastical form must be maintained. The church then, as she                (a) the incorporation into Christ does not concern (heft
                                                                         niet op) the individuality (personality) of the believers and
functions under the management of the office, is the institu-
                                                                         from this follows that the unity of the members that comes
tional manifestation of the mystical body of Christ. To this
                                                                         to manifestation in the local church does no injustice to the
both reports refer. (See pp. 129, 130, 149.)
                                                                         personal .freedom  of believers ;
   B. The question of the rightful authority of the broader
gatherings arises from the distinction between the local                     (b) by name in the New Testament, believers are mature
churches and the church federation in which the local                    children. They are sons and daughters who also therein
churches are related to each other.                                      manifest the rich unfolding of the image of God, that they
   It would be ideal if a local church could include all be-             according to the example of God are relatively independent
lievers but this is naturally, for various reasons, impossible.          (with God alone is absolute independence). They, who
As soon as there are more local churches, the question of the            meddle with the independence of the local church (to be
church-federation arises.                                                distinguished from autonomy) do principle injustice to the
   Now there is conceivable a three-fold federation of                   image of God and the freedom and maturity of believers even
churches that are confessionally one:                                    as they who, on the other hand, teach the autonomy of the
       (1) Either they stand in the strict sense autonomously            local church, in principle do injustice to the unity of the
next to each other so that the federation is alone of a moral            body of Christ.            (to be continued)

(that of advice) but not of an ecclesiastical -(kerkrechtelij-                                                                 G.V.D.B.

ken) (that of rightful authority) nature. (Independentism)

       (2) Or they are not alone not autonomous but have also

lost their independence through joining the ecclesiastical                  Quotable bulletin quote : The same God who directs the

communion so that in the real sense they are no more                     earth in its orbit, who feeds the burning furnace of the sun,

churches but only one, that is, the catholic church. (Collegial-         .and trims the lamps of heaven, has promised to supply thee

ism axd r&ted  systems.)                                                 with daily strength.. While He is able to uphold the universe,

       (3 j Or they maintain a federation with each other by             dream not that he will prove unable to fulfill His own prom-
which they indeed cease to be autonomous (that is, ecclesias-            ises. He that hangeth the world upon nothing, shall He who

tically over against each other for spiritually overagainst              doth THIS be unable to support His children ?


                                             T H E   STANDA.RD   B E A R E R                                                        189


                                                                        shocked by two articles in Stromata,  organ of our Seminary
            A L'L A R-O U N.D U'S                                       students and one. in Calvin College CIzivtzes.
                                                                           "These articles have caused grief as well as dismay. How

 "The Infallibility of Scripture DewYed."                               we wish the three young brethren had consulted with their
    That the infallibility of Scripture is denied by many in           professors before publishing their doubts about Scripture.
 our day, or, for that matter in any day, is not at all surpris-       Having publicly committed themselves to deviating views
 ing. Always there have been those who attempt to destroy              about the character of -Bible inspiration they will probably
 the Word of God and dare to deny its inerrancy. But it                find it difficult to acknowledge that they have erred. We
 comes as a shock to learn that there are those born and               trust they do not have a closed mind on the subject, but are
 raised in Reformed circles who dare to take this position.            still willing to be instructed in the Reformed approach to
 This experience of shock was that of the managing editor              Scripture.
 of Torch and Trumpet, Rev. H. J. Kuiper, concerning which                 "First year seminary student Marv. Hoogland wrote an
 he wrote in the January, 1959 issue of that periodical.               article in the September issue of Stronrata  entitled: `Infal-
    Writing under the above heading, he tells us he was                libility Questioned.' He defends the position that though the
 deeply shocked recently to learn from two articles in Stro-           Bible is the inspired Word of God it is not infallible since
 w&a, an organ publishd by the Calvin Seminary students,               it contains errors in matters pertaining to grammar, poetry,
 and another in Chimes,  a paper published by students of              science, and history.    It is infallible only when it teaches
 Calvin. College, that the infallibility of Scripture has been         religious truths.
 denied by young men who wrote in these papers. The Rev.                   "This article was lauded in a contribution to Calvin Col-
 Kuiper informs us that it was the intention of the men who            lege 0ziwze.s  by William Brown. It states, for example,
 publish Torch .and  Tmtzpet to write on the doctrine of Xn-           that Hoogland's article is `an example of the kind of clear
 spiration, but because of what these students have written            critical thinking so much needed in the current atmosphere
 in denial of Infallibility of Scripture he was moved to write         of uninformed polemic. Hoogland has had the good sense to
                                                               LI
 now on the subject.                                                   question a doctrine that has become an idol of the Evangel-
    Contending that     "there is no doctrine so basic and             ical Tribe.' We never thought we would live long enough to
fundamental as that of the infallible Holy Scripture," Rev.            see members of the Christian Reformed Church vilified in
 Kuiper goes on to show not only that inspiration and in-              one of our student publications for holding to the Reformed
fallibility are inseparable, but that the doctrine of infallibility    doctrine of the infallibility of the Scriptures.
 of Scripture is also a dogma, i.e., a Bible doctrine "which               "The third article referred to is another Stromata  article,
the church has enshrined in its doctrinal standards and                by J. Hoogland, the editor-in-chief, who has difficulty with
which therefore have official approval. From such doctrines            the inspiration of poetic portions of the Bible ; who also
no deviation can be permitted. The only legitimate way in              maintains that though the Bible is inspired it contains inac-
which an officer or a member of the Christian Reformed                 curacies and mistakes in its historical and scientific refer-
Church is permitted to question any article or teaching of             ences.

our creed is by way of gravamen. He must present his ob-                  "There are many questions which come to us when we

jections or difficulties to the consistory, classis  or synod that     read and reread these articles. We shall ask only one at this

the same may be there examined, and he must abide by the               time: Why are not the contributions to S&-omata  reviewed

decision made. Meanwhile he is not permitted to teach or               by Faculty members before publication ? We assume this is

 defend his deviating views either privately or publicly.              not done. We cannot imagine Faculty approval of the two

Hence if it can be shown that the doctrine of the infallibility        articles under discussion. We know that the material that

of Scripture is taught in our creed directly or indirectly, the        appears in Calvin College CZ~zes  is not submitted for ap-

publication of views which conflict with this doctrine be-             proval. So we have been told. In our opinion it is reckless,

comes a most serious matter."                                          from the point of view of public relations, to permit im-

    Now it is not our purpose to show our readers what                 mature students to write what they please. and publish it in

Rev. Kuiper produces in defence  of the inerrant  Holy Scrip-          their school paper without previous consultation with wiser

ture, all of which clearly shows thtit inspiration and infalli-        heads. That applies to the Seminary as well as the College.

bility are inseparable. Rather, we wish to show our readers            We believe it is cruel to let promising students jeopardize

from Rev. Kuiper's article how these two have been separated           their own reputations in the Church and their opportunities

by those students to whom Rev. Kuiper refers, and that thus            for future usefulness in the ministry by publishing their

these young men present views which, to say the least, are             doubts about certain doctrines which they have just begun

amazing and brazen in' Reformed circles. We quote that part            to study.

of Kuiper's article which presents the facts.                             "The infallibility as well as the inspiration of the Bible

    "Of late we have become almost inured- to shock by                 is taught by all Reformed theologians. Great Reformed schol-
things written in certain periodicals that circulate especially        ars like Kuyper  and Bavinck, Warfield  and Machen  have de-
in the Christian Reformed Church. But we were really                   fended both. Have the brethren mentioned above studied

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


what these scholars have written on the subject, before they             Dr. Daane then continues by asserting that he is partly

began to write ? Why did they not first consult their profes-        in agreement with Rev. L. Verduin who also reflected in The
sors in the matter?                                                  Refonzed  Journal  on this passage of Matthew 5. Verduin, SO

       "For some time it has been the intention of the men who       Daane tells us, "asserted that this passage teaches that God
publish Torclz  ,a,nd  Trumpet  to write on the doctrine of In-      loves `indiscriminately;' If I understand him correctly, and

spiration. The latest developments show that a discussion            may say so, I think I agree with what he means rather than

of this subject from its various angles is by no means super-        with what he says in his use of the word `indiscriminately.'

fluous . . . We have little room in this issue for a treatment       It seems clear that he means that God loves the evil man as
of this very broad subject. But let it be well understood that       well as the good man, the unjust as well as the just . . .
there is no doctrine so basic and fundamental as that of the             "To describe this gracious perfection of God as' `indis-

infallible Holy Scripture. If this bastion falls all our de-         criminate' is to say that it is common to all men, that it in-
fenses of the truth of God have crumbled."                           cludes the.unjust  and evil as well  as the just and the good

   This is certainly well said.    But most likely, as the Rev.      man; that it includes those whom the scribe etc. exclude. But

Kuiper.  also surmises, it is said too late as far as these young    this, it seems to me, obscures the nature of God's gracious

men are concerned. It is indeed amazing as it is shocking            and unique perfection, namely, that it extends (in distinction

that young men who aspire to the ministry, of whom we                from the righteousness of scribe etc.) to evil and unjust men,

would assume that they had a thorough Christian training in          that is to sinj%l men. Once the nature of God's perfection is

Reformed doctrine in <the home, school and church, will fall         clearly seen and understood, one can then, if he wishes, pro-

away into such disastrous errors as that mentioned above.            ceed to characterize it as indiscriminate, that is, something

                                                                     that is extended to all men."
"The Perfechon  of God."                                                 It is at this point that Dr. Daane places a footnote in

   Concerning the above subject the Rev. James Daane                 which among other things he promises to show in another

writes in the Dec., 1958 issue of The Reformed Jo,wrnal. He is       article whether or not Matthew 5 can be used as proof text

reflecting on the passage found in Matt. 5 ~48 where we read :       for-  the doctrine of common grace. He then continues with

"Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your heavenly Father is           the following which, of course, is quite interesting to us who

perfect." He attempts to answer the question: "What is this          are Protestant Reformed.

perfection of God which must -characterize His children?"                "One of the important arguments used by those who

   His answer in part is : "If we listen to the Scripture we         denied common grace was that the righteousness and holiness

learn that the perfection of God is much more than mere sin-         of God make it impossible for God to do anything but hate

lessness. God is indeed sinless; in Him is light and no dark-        the unrighteous and unholy sinner. It was urged that God

ness at all. But this is negative statement. It says much ; yet      can have grace and love for the elect only, because only the

it is `much' only in terms of the negative. It tells us what         elect (in Christ) is good and righteous and loving. The Bib-

God is not. But statements which tell us what God is not, do         lical teaching that love is the bond of perfection was defined

not tell us what He ais. The perfection of God therefore is by no    as the relationship of love between a perfect subject (God)

means adequately defined by the statement that God is sinless.       and a perfect object (man).      It should be observed that in

   "Only if we disengage our minds from the commonly                 this.argument  against common grace the perfection of God

held Hegelian notion that what a thing is not, determines            is defined in terms of a divine goodness for the good man,

what it is, will our minds be open to the Biblical teaching          and love of God for those who love Him, a favor of God only

concerning the perfection of God. If we listen to this Sermon        for the righteous man. But is not this definition of God's

on the Mount we shall hear that the perfection of God is             perfection the precise opposite of the definition that Jesus

more than sinlessness, for we are told that the perfection of        gives in Matthew 5? Indeed, does it not make the righteous-

God exceeds the righteousness of scribe and Pharisee, pub-           ness of God identical with the righteousness of scribe, Phar-

lican and Gentile. These have a righteousness which is of            isee, publican  and heathen Gentile ? They, too, loved those

the law, a righteousness which is definable as justice: an           that loved them, greeted those that greeted them. But in so

eye for an eye, love for those who give love, greeting for           doing they revealed that they had nothing of that perfection

those who also greet. But the righteousness of. God exceeds          of God which expresses itself in the children of God when

this . . . The perfection of God of Matthew .5 is that grace of      they love their enemies and bless those who curse them.

God which goes beyond mere justice and goes out to the evil             "If this idea of the perfection of.God which underlies this

man, and not merely to the good man ; to the unjust man,             argument against the doctrine of common grace is correct,

and not merely to the just man. In distinction from publican         then God's righteousness does not exceed that of scribe and

and heathen, God loves those who do not love Him and in              Pharisee, and God -does not do more- than publican  and

distinction from scribe and Pharisee who would not lift a            heathen Gentile . . ."

finger, said Jesus, to help the burdened, God loves the sinful          Naturally, when we read this several questions arose in

and needy, the evil and the unjust, sending them rain and            our mind which we believe Daane ought to answer. We ask

sunshine."                                                           only three now : 1. What exegesis would Daane give. to


                                          T H E   STANPARD   B E A R E R                                                         191


Colossians 3 :14 where Paul gives a sort of a definition of         produce offspring.    Born after the flesh, he was of the flesh,

love, which, says he, "is a bond of perfectness"? 2. Secondly,      a carnal. person, dead in sin. But is this not true of all God's

from what context did Daane obtain the explanation he g&es          people? It is true of all God's people that by nature they are

of the position of those who deny common grace ? It is' our         dead in trespasses and sin. What the writer means to tell

judgment that we have here again an example of his method           us h&e is not what Ishmael was by nature, but what he actu-

of presenting charges without proof. 3. And finally, how * ally was in conti-ast  to Isaac, namely, an unregenerated per-

does Daane harmonize his explanation of Matthew 5 with              son devoid of spiritual life. Was he also, in contrast to Isaac,

those passages of Scripture where God is said to hate the evil,     a reprobated one ? This is the very question that we are

and that He is wrathful over against the wicked 7      M . S .      considering. With the answer we had better ,wait  until v%

                                                                    have made a closer study of all that is written of him and his

                                                                    mother Hagar especially in this passage.
                CONTRIBUTIONS                                          Of Isaac it is stated that he was born by promise and was

                                                                    of ,the promise. The Scripture,s  shed clear light upon these

                                                                    statements. Through age the body of Abraham had lost its
                          Ishmael
                                                                    power to beget and the body of Sarah, his wife, the power  to
   The question whether Ishmael, the son of Abraham and             conceive and bear the promised child. .From  this point of'iiew
Hagar, the bondmaid  of Sarah, was an elect or one reprobated       their bodies were dead. But God came to them with His
cannot help but arise in the mind of every. alert Bible student     promise, "and he said, `I will certainly return unto thee ac-
among us. For the Bible seems to teach both. There are              cording to the time of life ; and lo, Sarah, thy wife, shall have
passages in the -Scriptures in which Ishmael seems to stand         a son.' " This was the promise -the promise of the Gospel,
before us as an elect, while others seem to set him before          essentially the same Gospel that was proclaimed by God's
us as one reprobated. So the question, what was he, an elect        own voice at the dawn of history, "I will set enmity . . .,"
or a reprobated one ?                                               and by -which God was giving promise to each and everyone

   Let us attempt to. answer the question with the Scriptures.      of His elect that He would save them from all their sins. It,

Not that it is necessary for us to know. What is more, the          the- promise, became the power of God unto salvation in the

Scriptures may not even contain a definite answer to our            dead body of Abraham and in the dead body of Sarah, his

question. That I nevertheless make the attempt to derive            wife. The fruit of the working of the promise in their dead

from the Scriptures an answer to our question has another           bodies was that Abraham received power to beget and Sarah.

reason. Attempting a thing such as this is a rewarding              the power to conceive and to bear the promised child. .Thus

engagement. As it calls for a close study of all the passages       Isaac was born.

concerned, it results in an increase of our knowledge and              In coming forth from the womb of Sarah, Isaac was as

understanding of the Scriptures.                                    one raised from the dead and therefore, Isaac stands before

   Let us now first consider the passages in the Bible in           us in the Scriptures as a mighty sign of His power to bring

which Ishmael seems to stand before us as one reprobated.           forth life out of death ; as a mighty sign of the power of His

Such a passage is Galatians 421  to the end of the chapter.         promise to change a spiritually dead man into a living saint,

In this Epistle, the apostle is exposing the folly of wanting to    to bring such a man out of the sphere of death into the sphere

be under the Law; as some of the members of this' church            of'life as a new creature in Christ Jesus. With this effect the

evidently desired. Addressing these Christians he says to           promise became the power of God unto salvation in Isaac and

them; and this begins our passage, "Tell me, ye that desire         in Abraham and in Sarah. There can be no doubt about this.

to be under the Law, do ye not hear ,the  Law? For it is            With this same blessed efiect  the promise becomes the power

written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid            of salvation in every elect and therefore, we may read in verse

and the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bond-          28 of this passage in Galatians : "Now we, brethren, as Isaac

woman was born after the flesh ; but he of the free woman           was, are the children of promise."

was by promise, which things are an allegory."                         So it is. We, God's elect, as Isaac was, are children of

   Abraham's house was the church in his locality. In this          promise. We are born by promise, are the very creatures of

house were Abraham and his wife Sarah, the freewoman, and           promise, and therefore, His children, the children air God.

Isaac who, as her son, was a freeman. In this house were               It is plain that to be born by promise means more than

also Hagar, the bondmaid  of Sarah, and Ishmael who, as her         to be born by the word of God, the word of His providence.

son, was a bondman.  With his mother he was in bondage to           All men are born by this word. This word brings a man into

Sarah. But Ishmael was not only a bondman  according to             being but leaves him what he is by nature, a sinner dead in

his social status in Abraham's house, but he was also a bond-       sin. But to be born also by the word of promise, the promise

man spiritually. He was in bondage to sin and death, im-            of the Gospel, is to be brought into being as a living saint.

plying that he was in bondage to the law and its curse. For         Of Ishmael it is not said that he was born by promise, but

of Ishmael it is stated that he was born after the flesh, under     only that he was born after the flesh.

the sinful impulses of the flesh, and by its usual power to                               (To be continued)                  G.M.O.


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192                                       -.  T H E   STAND.ARD  BEARE-R


                                                                     age. Are these Got-  all evidences of fhe answer given to the
                                                                                    .
       N.EWS.  FROM OUR CHURCHES                                     sixty-fourth question of the Catechism, "for it is' impossible
                                                                     that those, who are implanted into Christ by a true faith,
                  "A12  the saints salute thee . . ." P               _
                                                      HIL. 4:21      should not bring forth fruits of thankfulness" ?

                                                                            From >Redlands ye learn  that our -Missionary -Rev:  Lub-
                                              January 5, 1959
                                                                     bei-s, and his wife have left -ihem to return to South Dakota

       We have entered a pew year of church activities and our       to continue his ItiborS  there. While. working in the Redlands

bulletins reflect that fact: no more mentions of Christmas           area the Rev. Lubbers occupied their ptilpit for'three  weeks,

program preparations; attention being called to new direc-           surely a timely opportunity fo; a "vacant" church !

tories being printed ; societies resuming their meetings, some       DO YOU KNOW THAT-
with new programs ; new faces in consistories, new officers in
                                                                           Rev. Vos lectured before a "Study Group" of engineers
societies; instrtictions  for catechism pupils; and a new year
                                                                           from Lears Inc., Christians under varied denominational
ahead for our ministers in which  they are privileged to search
                                                                           banners ? His topic was, "What Happens to the Soul at
the Scriptures for old truths that are ever new, thereby find-
                                                                           the Moment of Death ?" That question had been under
ing new inspiration for themselves and us - leading us in tb
                                                                           debate in the group for many months and our Rev. Vos
green pastures of God's Word as undershepherds feeding His
                                                                           was called in to answer it - so well that he was invited to
flock.                                                                     come back Jan. 27 to speak on a subject of his own choos-
       From two bulletins we glean one fact, but from opposite             ing !
viewpoints : both Redlands  and Southeast announce, that Rev.
                                                                           Mr. Peter Kooistra,  of First Church, celebrated the 94th
R. Veldman has declined the call to Redlands  -to steal a
                                                                           anniversary of his birth Christmas Day 7 Is he the oldest
proverb from the Dutch: One man's bread is another man's
                                                                           member of our denomination ?
dread.
                                                                           South Holland and Oak Lawn are determined to have their
       It has been a real joy for the people at First to see Rev.
                                                                           own school by September?
Ophoff in church the last few weeks, and also on New
                                                                                                . . 1 . . see you in church
Year's Eve when Rev. Hoeksema preached on the Proverb,
                                                                                                                                        J.M.F.
"The Hope of the Righteous shall be Gladness: but the Ex-

pectation of the Wicked shall Perish."
                                                                                                     IN HIS FlkiR
       Randolph entertained several visitors at their Christmas
                                                                                               (Continued from page 182)
program held Christmas afternoon, and the children were
                                                                     he cannot enter into the kingdom." Let them show you, then,
complimented by many of them for their splendid rendition of
                                                                     that you CAN convert yourself and become as a little child
the familiar Christmas story in speech and song. To *prepare
                                                                     -that is, do the deeds which the citizens of that kingdom do
his congregation for thk approaching Christmas se&on the
                                                                     -without receiving the life of the kingdom. And at the very
Rev. Emanuel preached a series of three sermons on "The
                                                                     least have them admit to you that our act of conversion is only
Holy Spirit."
                                                                     half a, prerequisite, if they insist on `this wickedness. Jesus
       Did you wonder when you read the last issue why the           adds here in John 3 :5 also the matter of being born again.
Rev. C. Hanko's name was signed to the "Meditation" 7 It                    Let them try that out once to see where they land. Let
proves  that the "Meditator" was ill with the flu and was un-        them finish their partial quotation and at least say, "Our act
able to meet the printer's deadline, and Rev. Vos' good friend,      of conve&ion  and our being born again are prerequisites to
Rev. Hanko took over.                                                entering the kingdom."            And then ask them from whence
       Glancing  over our supply of bulletins we are reminded of     that life wherewith we are born comes. Jesus uses a word
the horseleach's two daughters and the other four things that        which means that we must be born from above. Well, now
never say enough, found in Prov. thirty ;, The various King-         that -is plain, is it not? Except a r&n  be born with the life
dom causes in our churches have the same defect of bottom-           which is from out of heaven above, he,cannot  see the kingdom
lessness. In the last two weeks the following causes were            of heaven or enter into it. B.ut  then the prerequisite is not
remembered in the offering boxes : Pine Rest, Holland Home,          our converting ourselves but God's work of putting the life
Bethesda, Gideons, Adams School, Hope School, Elim School            of that kingdom into us thereby to convert .and  humble us as
for Handicapped, Chr. Foundation for the Handicapped,                little children. Let no man take Christ away from you. Let
Prot. Reformed Education Comm., Standard Bearer, Beacon              no man have your support who places Christ after your work
Lights, and the Reformed Witness Hour.                               instead of explaining the can always and at all times as the

       Besides the above, the Western bulletins reveal that all      result of Christ coming  between the must and the can. A

their churches have helped Loveland in the expense of,, mov-         Christ Who comes after your act of conversion is dependent

ing their new pastor; Lynden in their parsonage debi,  and           upon yozl.          But faith, true faith in Christ is depending upon

Edgerton  in the purchase of lots for new church and parion-         H&Z.                                                               J.A.H.


