                                                MAR&  15, 1959 - 
      VOLUME  xx.xv                                                      GRAND FL&DS,~MIC&CXN                              N U M B E R   1 2


                                                                              He saw the Christ of God stricken, smitten and afflicted.
            M E D I T A T I O N                                               Stricken is the word for the dreaded disease of leprosy:
                                                                           the hateful disease !
II
                                                                            - Smitten of God!
                     REJECTED OF MEN                                          That is to beat with a continual beating.

                "He is despised and rejected of men; a. man of SOT-           And : afflicted. That is : to be in a place that is altogether
             rows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were        too narrow for us, so that we are pressed from all sides,
                                                                                                                     ,
             our faces frmn  Him; He was despised, and we esteemed         and `in all wavs.
_.
             Him not.                                                         Hence, He is the Man of sorrows.
                Surely He hath borne OUT griefs, and carried  OUT             That is a man whose life is so sorrowful that this char-
             sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God,
             and                                                           acteristic ruled His whole ,Personality.  He was sorrow
                   afW3ed."
                                                                           personified.

      As far as we know, there is not one prophet in the entire               Also He was acquainted with grief. And that is terrible.

Old Testament who saw the suffering Christ as Isaiah saw                   It expresses close intimate association. It expresses that

Him.                                                                       grief was the constant companion of Jesus. And if we let the

      I say: as far as we know. It is possible that Abraham knew           light of other Scripture shine on this portion, then we hear

more of Him than is written. There-are indications. For one,               a dreadful commentary. See Heb. 5 9, 8 : "Who in the

he saw His day, according to Jesus' testimony. Also : after                days of His flesh, when He had ,offered  up prayers and

he offered up Isaac, it is said of him in Hebrews 11. "ac-                 supplications with strong crying `and tears unto Him that

counting that God was able to raise him up, even from the                  was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that he

dead ; from zv1tence  also he received jail%  in a figz&e."  That          feared: though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by

last clause surely means that Abraham knew that Christ was                 the things which He suffered."
to rise from the dead. And so, also Abraham may have                       And also the Heidelberger Catechism emphasizes that
known much more .about  the suffering servant of Jehovah                   Christ suffered His entire life on earth. Indeed His con-
than isactually written in Scripture.                                      stant companion was grief.
      And then there is the greatest prophet of all, Moses. He.

saw the pattern of the heavenly things; and unto him was                                              :t * * *
given revelation regardin,
                               m the whole of the blood cultus.  He
may have known more about the suffering Christ than is                        And what was the result?

revealed to us.                                                               He`was despised.

      But as far as revealed truth is concerned, there is not                 What does that mean ? It means that we decided that
one like Isaiah:                                                           there was no worth in Him. Nay, that He was the very
      It seems as though he has stood in front of the cross and            opposite of worthiness.
saw it all. Then he went.home,  and wrote his classic chap-                   Man despises the offal, the garbage, the offscouring, the
ter 53.                                                                    abominable.
      And he knew also that his report of the suffering Christ
                                                                              Look at the dreadful stories in the four Gospels, and
would be unbelievable. Hence the introduction: Who hath
                                                                           shudder.
believed our report ?
                                                                              There you read of this despising of Jesus of Nazareth.
      Salvation through suffering and death.
      Stilvation  through a Messiah who would be rejected of                   He was denied by His beloved disciple Peter.

men, of all men.                                                               He was betrayed by the only disciple of whom we know

                               * `* * *                                    with certainty that he was from the princely tribe of Judah.

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


   He was an offense unto the totality of His followers. They        Well, explain is a difficult word. Perhaps I should say:

all forsook Him and fled.                                         I will try to explain it. That's as far as I can go.

   ,He was maltreated by everyone. The Gospels vie in                Attend to this :
showing that every class of men, even the passers-by, mocked         We could bear with this Jesus if He were stricken for
and derided Him. He- was spit upon, buffeted, set at nought,      His, own sin. We could also bear with Him if He were
tortured, scourged.                                               stricken for His own sin, but claimed to be innocent.
   Despised ?
                                                                     But this is utterly unbearable to us : He says throughout
   He received the most shameful sentence of death: He            all His ministry : I am suffering your hell !
was to be crucified. There He hangs: between heaven and
                                                                     And that is the truth which Isaiah so long before the
earth. Expressive of the despising of His fellow men. They
                                                                  actual event saw and declared: "He hath borne our griefs
meant to say: neither heaven nor earth desires Him.
                                                                  and carried our sorrows !"
   Such a Christ is good riddance when killed and buried !
                                                                  . And that is a matter of imputation. First in the decree,
   Oh yes, He was despised alright!
                                                                  and then in history.
                         8 * * *
                                                                     The decree is first. It is from before the `foundation of

   We esteemed Him not.                                           the world. There is a Scripture that says how this Jesus is

  ,. Pardon, we did esteem Him.                                   the Lamb of God that is slain from the foundation of the

   To esteem is to weigh a person with and in the balances        world. As old as God is, so old is this imputation.

of worthiness.                                                       In the decree of God's eternal counsel He gave Jesus a

   But the result of our esteem was entirely negative: We         present, and the present were you, my brother and sister!

esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God!                               But in history you became sinner and worthy of hell.

   He was so bad that God had to smite and strike Him.            And that was not only foreknown, but also determined, so

   And therefore, our Christ was utterly rejected. Even His       that it might serve the goodpleasure of God. He must be-
own disciples forsook Him.                                        come glorious, and all other things must serve that purpose.

   He was finally alone: in utter desolation.                        And so unto Him was imputed all your sin as guilt.

   We hid as it were our faces from Him.                             Surely !

   That is a graphic description. You do that when the               Note that word. It emphasizes the eternal. wonder of this

object is so miserable and filthy that you are afraid that men    marvellous substitution. It is the substitution of eternal lov-

will associate you with his worthlessness. Thus you treat the     ingkindness.

abominable.                                                          And why?

   And that actually occurred.                                       1) That sin and guilt of the elect church might be paid.
   Attend to this : He is placed on an impossible duo : Bar-
                                                                     2) That God's righteousness, holiness and truth might
abbas and Jesus. The first is a robber, a rebel and murderer.
                                                                  be satisfied. You see, we had stricken God in the face by
   The other is our Jesus of Nazareth. He is that Holy            our sin. We finally sit in the Temple of God and declare to
Thing of which angels sang. He is the sweetest and the most       all that we aye  God. And God is God. That heinous crime
lovely Thing God has ever shown to man.                           must be paid for. That virtuous God must be entirely satis-
   And what did we do ?                                           fied. And the only satisfaction is death, eternal death. Be-

   We hid our faces from Him.                                     hold your dying Christ! He is satisfying God!

   There was not one vote for Jesus.                               3) That the host of God's people might be redeemed.

    No, I do not think that Peter, John or James, or the          You see, God saw you as you will eternally be in the new

other apostles voted for Barabbas. But they were silent. .No      Paradise of God. Don't you know that you were and are

one spoke for Him.                                                engraved in the palms of God's hand ? Around about the

   We all hid our faces. We were ashamed to be reckoned"          engraving of the face of His anointed Son? You must be-

with Him. And so:       "He  was numbered with the trans-         come conformed to the image of the Son. And the only way
                                                         _ _
gressors !"                                                       to such beauty is through the death of the Son of God.

    Oh, yes, we hid our `faces alright!                              4) That the basis of the New World may be laid. You

   And shall I tell you why we hate Jesus by nature?              see, Jesus did not just pay for your sins, and fulfill the law.

    Because He comes thus to us : a worm and no man, and          Oh no, but because He is God He added an infinite worth
says : Thus I am your salvation ! I am taking your place.         to both the paying of your sin and the fulfilling of the law.
                                                                  And the result is that He does not merely set you in the
                         * *      :b *
                                                                  first paradise, but He exalts the heavens and the earth and

   How must we explain all this ?                                 makes them new. We are now infinitely closer to God. Adam


                                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   .BEARER                                                                                                                                                              267



could fall: You can never fall again. The tie binding you to

God is Divine.                                                                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

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   Adore God, my brother! It is the only purpose of the

whole "universe and of all history! Amen.                           G.V.                                                          C O N T E N T S

                                                                            MEDITATION -

                                                                                     Rejected of Men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

                                                                                                Rev. G. Vos


                    WEDDING ANNIVERSARY                                     EDITORIALS -

                                                                                     About The Three Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
   On March 22, 1959, our dear parents,                                              Evolution,                  Long Periods                         or Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..___.............. 269
             MR. AND MRS. HENRY HELMHOLDT                                                       Rev. H. Hoeksema

expect to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.                         OUR  DOCTRINE -
   We are grateful to a loving Father Who has kept them for                          The Book of Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

each other and for us. We also want to take this opportunity to                                 Rev. H. Hoeksema

express our appreciation for their love and sacrifices on our behalf;
                                                                            A CLOUD OF WITNESSES -
God bless them in their remaining years.
                                                                                     Appointed t0 Stumble.. _. _. . .273
                           Their Children,                                                      Rev. B. Woudenberg
                                          Mr. and Mrs. T. C. Hehnholdt
                                          Mr. and Mrs. John Post            FROM HOLY WRIT -
                                                                                     Exposition of Matthew 24 and 25 (XIV) . . . . . ..____..__...............  275
                                          Mr. and Mrs. Robt. Alspaugh
                                                                                                Rev. G. Lubbers
                                          12 grandchildren

                                                                            IN HIS FEAR-

                           I N   M E M O R I A M                                     Provoking One Another                                         (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

                                                                                                Rev. J. A. Heys
   The Consistory of the Southeast Protestant Reformed Church

hereby expresses its sincere sympathy to its fellow elder, Mr. John         CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH -

Dotter,  in the loss of his mother,                                                  The Church and the Sacraments . . . .._._.....  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..__............ 279

                                                                                                Rev. H. Veldman
                         M R S .   H .   D O C T E R

   "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him             THE VOICE OF OUR  FATHERS -

that loved us." Romans 8:37.                                                         The Canons of Dordrecht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
                                          Rev. R. Veldman, President                             Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

                                          John Veltman, Clerk
                                                                            DECENCY AND ORDER -

                                                                                     Classical               Jurisdiction                                          __.... ..__.. 2                                 8                                             3
                           IN MEMORIAM
                                                                                                 Rev. G. Vanden  Berg

   The sympathy of their brethren and sisters in the Lord is ex-
                                                                            ALL  AROUND US -
tended to the family of Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Kortering, and .their
                                                                                     Report of American Bar Association . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._.................. 285
children in the recent home-going of a beloved mother and grand-
                                                                                                 Rev. M. Schipper
mother,

                    MRS. MINNIE KORTERING                                   CONTRIBUTIONS -

                                                                                     Literary Cavalcade - The Green Pastures .._............_____....... 287
   May the Lord grant His grace to ease sorrowing hearts in the
                                                                                                Agatha Lubbers
knowledge of the blessed state of the righteous in glory: "For God
                                                                                     Litera;  Cavalcade - The Green Pastures . .._.........._............,  287
hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our                                   English Staff of 6. R. Chr. High School
Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that whether we wake or
sleep, we should live  together with him." (I Thess. 5:9,  10. )            N E W S F R O M OUR CHURCHES. __ _.. ..__... . __._  ..__.._....... . 288
                                  The Men's Society of Holland                                   Mr. J. M. Faber

                                  The Ladies' Aid Society of Holland

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


                                                                          the inmost recesses of the man" etc. Canons III, IV, 11.
 ii  E     D    I    T    O     R         I    A    L    S    .          ii     From all this it ought to be very plain. that the Canons
                                                                          do not and cannot teach that the preaching of the gospel is

                                                                          grace for all that hear it.

                About The Three Points                                          In III, IV, 8 to which the Synod of 1924 referred in

                                                                          support of the First Point especially three things are
    We were discussing the passages from the Confessions,                 taught :
 particularly from the Canons of Dordrecht on which the
                                                                                1. That the preaching of the gospel and its call are un-
 Synod of 1924 attempted to base -the  doctrine of the First
                                                                          feigned. God does not "make believe" but is serious, when
 Point.
                                                                          He calls men to repent and believe. Even though He would
    It referred, for this purpose to Canons I, 5, which we
                                                                          not give to any of those that hear the preaching of the gospel
_ have already discussed. But it also mentioned III, IV, 8, 9.
                                                                          the grace of faith, He would still hold men responsible and
    We will first of all quote III, IV, 8. It reads.as  follows:
                                                                          the call to believe would still be unfeigned.
    "As  many as' are called by the gospel, are unfeignedly
                                                                                2. That~it  is acceptable to Him that those that are called
called. For God hath most earnestly and truly declared in
                                                                          should come unto Him. To refuse to come is, therefore, a
his Word, what will be acceptable to him ; namely, that all
                                                                          grievous sin even though no man can dome unto Christ un-
 who are called should comply with the invitation. (This last
                                                                          less the Father draw him and give unto him the true and
 clause is a corruption of the text. In the Latin original we
                                                                          saving faith.
read: ut vocati ad se veniant, i.e. that the called should come
                                                                                3. That He seriously promises life and rest to as many
unto him. The Dutch translation has correctly: dat de ge-
                                                                          that come to Him. The promise, therefore, is not general
roepenen tot hem komen.) He, moreover, seriously promises
                                                                          but particular; it is not for all that hear the call of the
eternal life, and rest, to as many as shall come to him, and
                                                                          gospel externally, but only for those that believe.
believe on him."
                                                                                But the question is : what grace do the reprobate wicked
    It strikes us again that the composers of this First Point            or unbelieversreceive, who cannot spiritually hear the call
confuse the so-called "common grace" with the general,                    of the gospel. The answer is : none whatsoever. The preach-
saving grace as taught by the Arminians. For the article                  ing of the gospel is not "common grace" according to this
quoted above speaks about the preaching of the gospel. And                article of the Canons, but it is saving grace only for those
to be sure, our fathers never thought of making that preach:              that come and believe.
ing of the gospel "common grace" still less "general grace."                    The same truth is taught in III, IV, 9 to which the synod
To teach this would have been a contradiction of all the                  of 1924.  also refers in support of the First Point. There we
rest of the Canons which emphatically teach that saving grace            read :
is particular. and is only for the elect. It is true that they
                                                                                "It is not the fault of the gospel, nor of Christ, offered
speak of an external calling through the preaching of the
                                                                         therein, nor of God, who calls men by the gospel, and con-
gospel, and this external call of the gospel comes to all to
                                                                         fers upon them various gifts, that those who are called by the
whom God in His good pleasure sends the gospel. But this
                                                                         ministry of the word, refuse to come, and be converted : the
external calling is by no means grace for all. On the con-
                                                                         fault lies in themselves; some of whom when called, regard-
trary, they teach "that others who are called by the gospel,
                                                                         less, of their danger, reject the word of life; others, though
and obey the call, and are converted, is not to be ascribed
                                                                         they receive it, suffer it not to. make a lasting impression
to the proper exercise of free will, whereby one distinguishes
                                                                         upon their heart; therefore, their joy, arising only from a
himself above others, equally furnished with grace sufficient
                                                                         temporary faith, soon vanishes, and they fall away ; while
for grace and conversions, as the proud heresy of Pelagius
                                                                         others choke the seed of the word by perplexing care, and
maintains ; but it must be wholly ascribed, who as he has
                                                                         the pleasures of this world, and produce no fruit. -This
chosen' his own from eternity in Christ, so he'confers  upon
                                                                         our Saviour teaches in the parable of the sower."
them faith and repentance," etc. Canons III, V, 10.
    Here the Canons teach: 1. That not all receive grace even                  It is difficult, indeed, to understand how the theory of
through the preaching of the gospel. There is no "common"                "common grace" finds support in this article.             _

or general grace in and through that preaching. 2. That this                   In general, the article simply teaches that, not the gospel,

grace through the preaching of the gospel comes only from                nor Christ, nor God, but the unbeliever himself is responsible

God and that it is only for the elect.                                   for his rejection of the gospel. Man is a rational-moral being.

    The same truth is expressed in Art. 11 of the same                   God bestows even on the unbeliever various gifts of intellect,

Canons : "But when God accomplishes his good pleasure in                 understanding, reason and will so that he can dertainly  under-

the elect, or works in them true conversion, he not only                 stand the gospel when it is proclaimed unto him. Hence,

causes. the gospel to be externally preached to them, and                when he rejects the gospel, he does so knowingly and willing-

powerfully illuminates their minds by his Holy Spirit, that              ly. He refuses `to come to Christ, to repent and to believe.

they may rightly understand the things of the Spirit of God ;            He prefers to continue to walk in his own sinful way, the

but by the efficacy of the same regenerating Spirit, pervades            way of rebellion against God. And we may add that he will


                                            TH'E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     269


never and cannot will to do anything else, for he is dead in           they may be, evolved from one-another. It is reasonable to

trespasses and. sins, unless God by His Spirit implants into           believe that God first called into being the raw material of

his heart a new life `and the principle of regeneration and            the universe, the Chaos, that from that chaos He first

bestows upon him the gift of saving faith.         Nevertheless, he    separated the light by the word of His power; then separated

is responsible for his rejection of the gospel.                        from that chaos the firmament, the world-ether, in which all

    But what grace,     then, does the wicked unbeliever or            the heavenly bodies float and move, and caused the dry land

reprobate receive through the preaching of the gospel ? None           to appear; that from it, by the word .of His power, He

whatsoever.                                                            separated the various plants each producing seed and fruit

    The only possible outcome or result is that his heart is           after its kind. But it is extremely unreasonable to maintain

hardened.. And this surely cannot be called grace..                    that all these separate creatures came into existence through

    Grace is never common but always particular. It is freely          a long process of development, and that, too, out of nothing.

bestowed on whomsoever God wills to bestow it, -i.e., on the           And thus it is quite. reasonable to believe that the whole

elect only.                                                  H.H.      kosmos and all the various creatures came into existence im-

                                                                       mediately, the moment God spoke, in six successive days of

                                                                       twenty-four hours, while it is unreasonable to maintain that

          Evolution, Long Periods, or Days                             God spoke for millions and billions of years before the
                                                                       creatures came into existence.
    On the fourth day God created sun, moon, and stars by
                                                                          It stands to reason that there are many things, also in the
the word of His power. The account of this we have in Gen.
                                                                       narrative of creation that we cannot fully understand. We can
1 :14-19:  "And God said, Let there be lights in the firma-
                                                                       expect this in view of the infinitude of the divine and the
ment of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and
                                                                       finitude of the human mind. But there is nothing in the ac-
let them be for signs, and for seasons, and -for days, and
                                                                       count of creation in Gen. 1 that cannot be conceived : all is in
years : And let them be for lights in the firmament of the
                                                                       harmony with reality and full of wisdom.
`heaven to give light upon the earth : and it was so, And God
                                                                          On the fourth day God created the heavenly luminaries,
made the two great lights ; the greater light to rule by day,
                                                                       sun, moon, and stars. The wisdom of the world objects that
and the lesser light to rule by night: he made the stars also.
                                                                       the account in Gen. 1 cannot be true. So-called scientists
And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light
                                                                       have many objections.    They object that Gen. 1 makes the
upon the earth. And to rule over the day and over the night,
                                                                       earth the center of the universe which cannot be true. They
and to divide the light from the darkness : and God saw that
                                                                       call attention to the fact that the creation narrative makes
it was good. And the evening and the morning were the
                                                                       the distinction between day and night before the creation of
fourth day."
                                                                       the sun which is absurd. They object, too, because it puts
   In the narrative of creation as we discussed it thus far,
                                                                       the creation of the world of vegetation prior to the heavenly
there is nothing that is contrary to any reasonable interpreta-
                                                                       bodies, which is, according to them impossible. Besides the
tion of the origin of the universe, provided we believe in and
                                                                       account in Gen. 1 presents the matter in such a `way the
start with .God. For those that do not start with God, on
the other hand, it is quite impossible to explain the origin           innumerable large worlds are called into existence in one
of the world. They can never reach "the beginning" men-                day while six entire days are devoted to our little earth,
tioned in Gen. 1 :l. The-difference between the believer and           which is absurd.

the unbelieving evolutionist is not that the latter offers a              What about these objections ?

reasonable interpretation of the origin of the universe, while            It is -true  that Gen. 1 presents the universe as geocentric,

the former believes, contrary to all reason and experience,            earth-centered. Well, I would say that this is true, not

in nonsense and foolishness ; but that the Christian proceeds          locally, but certainly as to its significance. For not only did

from God and `from the faith that He in infinite wisdom                God create the highest creature, man, on the earth, but He

formed all things according to His sovereign will, while the           also sent His only begotten Son into our earthly world and

latter alleges to proceed from nothing and attempts to show            into our flesh. And He is the Lord of our"entire  universe.

how. all things developed from nothing, which is not only              In Him all things will'ultimately be united. From this point

extremely unreasonable but also absolutely impossible.                 of view, therefore, the universe is certainly geocentric.

   It is reasonable, as far as the origin of the world is con-            As to the second objection, namely that of the priority

cerned, to start with the almighty God, Creator of heaven              of day and night before the heavenly luminaries were cre-

and earth ; it is unreasonable and also impossible to start with       ated, we answer that on the first day light was'created  and

nothing. It is reasonable to believe in the various creative acts      must have been concentrated somewhere so that night and

performed by God in six successive days, limited by evening            day or, as the text has it, evening-morning, did follow each

and morning, according to which God called into being all              other before the sun was created. And as to the priority

things and every separate creature ; it is contrary to all             of the world of vegetation even before the sun was called into

reason and also in conflict with all reality and' experience to        being, we answer that the world of plants thrived in the

maintain that the various creatures, however widely apart              light which God had created on the first day. In regard to

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


  the objection that all the heavenly bodies were created in one
  day while six days are devoted to the creation and formation                         O       U       R           DOCTR-INE  jl
  of the earth, this is somewhat the same as the objection that

  is concerned with the fact that the earth is geocentric, but we
  wish to add that all material of the heavenly luminaries was                          THE IBOOK  OF REVELATION

  created in the beginning. Besides, they had already been
                                                                                                      P A R T   T W O
  separated into definite bodies on the second day, when God

  created the firmament, and these different bodies became                                             CHAPTER VI
  luminaries when, on the fourth day, God caused the light

  which He had created on the first day to be concentrated in                                          Ax Interlude

  these different bodies.
                                                                                                    Revelation 10 :8-l 1
       For the rest, we do not want to concentrate our attention

  on the different luminaries which God created on the fourth                   If we glance over the rest of the book and notice what
  day. All the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, the planets, and                  things John must still prophesy concerning many peoples
  all the stars were created on that day. Their purpose, ac-                 and nations and tongues and kings, we soon surmise why
  cording to the text is: "to divide the day from the light."                indeed he was in need of this special preparation. For it is
  Besides, they must be for signs, and for seasons, and for                  not a pleasing message, it is not a message of peace and
  days, and for years. Then, too, the text has it that they rule             gradual development which he brings. But it is a message
  the day and the night. Our purpose is to point out once more,              of judgment and battle and destruction and vengeance. He
  that also the fourth day is not a long period but a day of                 speaks of the fate of the holy city and of the temple and of
  twenty-four hours. And this the text proved abundantly.                    the. two witnesses that are killed in the city and taken to
  First by the fact God said and by that Word of God heavenly                heaven on account of the testimony which they give. He
  bodies came into being immediately. Then, too, by the em-                  speaks of an awful conflict between the woman that brings
  phasis placed upqn  the division of day and night in the                   forth the manchild  and the dragon that attempts to destroy
  entire, text. And, finally, by the closing statement of the pas-           the child but fails. He speaks of the-beast that comes out of
  sage : "And the evening and the morning were the fourth                    the sea and the beast of the earth and the terrible things that
d a y . "                                                            H.H.    they do in the earth. He speaks of the development and power

                                                                             of Antichrist and his war upon the people of God, of tribula-

                                                                             tion and oppression for the sake of the cause of Christ and

                                                                             His kingdom. He makes mention of Babylon, the great harlot,
                                IN MEMORIAM
                                                                             describes her greatness among the nations of the world, but
      The Men's Society of the Southwest Prot. Ref. Church extends           also pictures her final destruction. He pictures the effect of
  to two of its members its sympathy, to Mr. A. Talsma in the death
                                                                             the outpouring of the seven vials of wrath and of the complete
  of a son-m-law, and to Mr. R. Morrow in the death of a father-in-
  law. May they experience the assurance and comfort of Psalm 34:19.         drying up of the great river, so that the nations rise for war

                                        Rev. M. Schipper, President          against Zion. He speaks of the binding, but also of the

                                        Mr. Ft. Van Til, Secretary           loosening, of the devil and of all that follows. And only after

                                                                             all this has happened, and all these terrible things have been

                                IN MEMORIAM                                  predicted, it pictures the heavenly Jerusalem coming down

                                                                             out of heaven, and the new heavens and the new earth in
      The Ladies' Society "Eunice" of the Southwest Prot. Ref. Church

  extends to two of its members, Mrs. J. Piper and Mrs. R. Morrow, its       which righteousness shall dwell. In a `word, the message

  sympathy in the death of a dear husband and a father:                      which John the prophet must still bring is .a tremendous, a

                               MR. JACOB PIPER                               terrible message. It is not a message that concerns but part

      "Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth  for you."              of the world and of creation, but that is as wide in its
                     Y                                      I Peter 5:7      significance as creation itself and that involves many peoples

                                        Rev. M. Schipper, President          and nations and tongues, that involves with special mention

                                        Mrs.. B. Hafer, Secretary            kings; the great and powerful of the earth. It is, moreover,

                                                                             a message that is awful in its significance for all that do not

                                IN MEMORIAM                                  really ,belong  to the people of the kingdom, a message that

                                                                             does not speak of peace, but very definitely conveys the truth,
      The Mr. and Mrs. Society of the Southwest Prot. Ref. Church
                                                                             "There is no peace for the wicked, saith my God," No peace
  extends to Mr. and Mrs. Donald Lotterman their deepest sympathy
  in the death of                                                            till the end of the world, no peace as long as Satan and his
                               MR. JACOB PIPER                               kingdom of darkness still exist and wage war against the
  Mrs. Letterman's  father.
                                                                             kingdom of the Lord may be expected.
      "My grace is sufficient for thee." II Cor. 12:9.

                                        Rev. M. Schipper, President             It is a message of judgment and affliction and tribulation
                                        Mrs. J. Van Beek, Secretary          and vengeance, a message of persecution and sacrifice even


                                            FHE srANDA.RD  BEARER                                                                .271


 for the people of God, a message that will separate the             present dispensation. For many there are in that church

spirits definitely. And only through all these things, awful         that do not truly belong to Christ and His kingdom and

and dark for the world, it finally appears as a message of           that will hate and deny and oppose the message of tribulation

joy for all that love the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. And          and judgment. Also they will shout, "Peace, peace," though

of that universal, tremendous, awful, but also joyous message        there is no peace and though there cannot possibly be peace.

John must be witness, a living witness, together with all the        Nay, still stronger: it will sometimes be opposed by the true

ministers, and finally together with  all the church of God.         people of God, who do not always see and understand that in

And therefore he must be prepared ; and not only he, but             this world the church militant must expect tribulation and

the minister and the church of God must be prepared. And             judgment in order that the kingdom may come. And there-

the way of sound and thorough preparation is indicated in            fore it requires spiritual courage, the courage of faith, to be

the rest of the text.                                                a prophet of this message. For in spite of all the opposition,

    What must John do with the book ? He tells us that he            the prophet, the bearer of this truth, must insist: "Not a

heard the same voice from heaven which he heard before.              tiessage of peace can I bring, but a message of war and

It is the voice that had spoken to him when he heard                 trouble unto the end of the world." And in order that in

the voice of the seven thunders and when he was about to             spite of this opposition the prophet of this message may stand

write down what they spoke. It is therefore a voice that             firm, he receives the command to take and eat the book of

directs him in this entire scene of preparation. First it warns      this prophecy.

him not to write down what the seven thunders spoke. These              We have a scene similar to this recorded in the book of

seven thunders, as I surmised, spoke very plainly. But John          Ezekiel, where the preparation of that prophet for his mes-

cannot become prepared truly by simply writing down what             sage is told         In Ezekiel 2 :S to 3 :3 we read: "But thou,
                                                                                  us. 
they said. He must  not merely be informed as to the `truth          son of man, hear what I say unto thee ; Be not thou rebellious

of the future, but something else must take place. And  there-       like that rebellious house : open thy mouth, and eat that I give

fore this directing voice he now hears. again. And it in-            thee. And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me ;

structs him to approach the angel that stands upon the sea           and, lo, a roll of a book was therein ; And he spread it before

and upon the earth and that holds the little book in his left        me ; and it was written within and without : and there was

hand and to ask for the book. And as -John does so, and asks         written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe. More-

the angel to give him the book, the latter. instructs him further    over he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat

as to what he must do with it. The book is open, and there-          this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. So I opened

fore can simply be read. But he must not read the book, but          my mouth, and he caused me to eat the roll. And he said

must do something else with it. The book is open, and it             unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy

contains the revelation of the future no doubt. And therefore.       bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and

John might simply copy it and inform the church of its               it was in my mouth aS honey for sweetness." From this pas-

contents. But he must not copy it. No, he must do nothing            sage it is plain: 1) That it speaks of Ezekiel's preparation as

less than take the book and eat it, swallow it, and thus make        a prophet. He must first eat the roll and fill his bowels with

it part of himself.                                                  it; then he must go and speak to the house of Israel. 2) That

   Once more, in order, to understand this scene and its             he also must not bring a pleasant message, but a message of
significance we must bear in mind that here we have the              woe and mourning and lamentation, and therefore of judg-
                                     .-
symbolical signification of the preparation of John and every        ment upon the house of Israel. 3) That the house of Israel
true witness of Christ in the world as a prophet. John must          is a rebellious and stiffnecked people, so that he must expect
be a prophet. He must be a living witness of the truth of            opposition and persecution when he comes with the message
 Gdd. He must bear the truth of God into the world and               of woe over them. And naturally this is a reason that the
speak of tremendous things in which the church and the               prophet may become discouraged and afraid. 4) That for
whole world, in which nations and kings, are involved.               that very reason he must eat the book and fill his bowels
And the message he must bring is not one that will                   with it, so that the message may become part of his very
be sweet to the taste of the world, but one of woe and judg-         system.

ment. Hence, the message that he must deliver will meet with            If in the light of this Old Testament passage we turn once

hatred and opposition in the world. And, of course, the same         more to the text we are discussing, all will be plain. The

will be true of the prophet that bears this  testimony. The          revelation of the future, the message which John must bring,

bearer of this woeful message must not expect that all will          may not remain outside of him, so that he indeed is acquainted

accept the message unconditionally or stand for its' contents.       with its contents but for the rest is not influenced by it. That

 On the contrary, it will be contradicted and opposed. It will       would have been the case had he merely quoted what the

be opposed by the wicked world and the ,power  of the Anti-          seven thunders spoke. He would have understood what the

christ, that persecutes the church and that hates the truth and      future would be, but it would not have controlled him. -That

will speak of "Peace, peace," when there is no peace. It will        would also have been the case had he merely read the little

 be opposed, however, also by the church as it exists in the         book or copied it. Its contents would still have remained


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outside of him and would not have influenced his heart and          it will be thus ? When the book speaks of wars and judg-

mind and entire life ; but he would not have been a true            ments and tribulations, will you accept that through them all

prophet, a living witness, that would stand for the truth in        Christ brings His kingdom and that His kingdom will not

the midst of the world and that would uphold its testimony          and cannot come in any other way ? If so, the book of this

`in spite of opposition and suffering and tribulation. And then     prophecy will determine your stand over against the world.

he would easily have been silenced by the world of sin and          You cannot understand and believe and love the truth of this

by the hatred against the truth. And therefore the truth            book and at the same time cry along with the false philosophy

must be thoroughly appropriated by the prophet. John must           of the world. And if the world continues to deny the truth

eat the book. He must digest it. He must fill his bowels with       and to trample under foot the blood of Christ and-in spite

it. He must take it into his very system. It must become            of it maintains that the glorious kingdom of blessing and

part of his flesh and blood, of his soul and spirit. It must        righteousness will come and dawn upon the world by gradual

transform him, change him, make a different man of him, and         development, then you will oppose that world, condemn it

so strengthen him to bear the testimony which he must. give         uncompromisingly, because it stands against the Christless

in the midst of the world. Or to speak in terms of reality,         philosophy of the world and testifies of woe and mourning

John must assimilate the contents of this prophecy unto him-        and lamentation. But then, you understand, it is not suffi-

self. He must understand it, labor with it, believe it, be          cient merely to listen to the sound of this book. Then you

convinced8 of its truth and also of the supreme significance of     must eat it, appropriate it. It must become part of your en-

that truth. He must love it and embrace it. Nay, still              tire system and control your life, so that you know of only

stronger: the truth of this prophecy must take hold, of him.        one life, the life of the kingdom of God.

He must first take it to himself and eat it, appropriate it             At first sight we would probably think that it was strange

by faith. And after he has thus assimilated the contents of         that this little book had such an effect upon John. The angel

the book, he must come under its power and influence, so            that gives him the book warns him that it will be sweet in his

that the truth.  of this prophecy so impresses and dominates        mouth, but bitter in his belly. And thus John actually ex-

him that he can never believe anything else, that he can never      periences the effect of his eating of the book. This phenom-

say anything else, ,that he must speak about it, and that he        enon is generally explained by the different parts of the

can never be silenced, but boldly testify of all that it reveals    contents of the book. True, thus interpreters have it, the

in opposition to the world of wickedness and in spite of all        little book speaks of woe and mourning and lamentation, of.

it might do to silence the testimony of the prophet. This is        bitter things. But it also speaks of joy and peace and ever-

the meaning of the entire passage.                                  lasting life, of the new heavens and the new earth, of the

    This is the meaning of the passage for John himself.            heavenly Jerusalem that cometh  down to stay forever. In
However, this was not merely revealed for John, so that             a word, the contents of the book are bitter, but -also  sweet.
the passage would have no significance for us at the present        Thus John experiences it.       The book tastes sweet to his
time. 0-n the contrary, in the broader sense of the word            mouth, as sweet as honey. But afterwards he realizes the.
the church of Christ is the prophet, the living witness of the      bitter element; it is bitter in his belly. Yet this interpretation
name of Christ and of His truth in the midst of the world.          does not satisfy, for various reasons. If that was the truth,
And in that broader sense, the passage undoubtedly contains         then John naturally would taste both the bitter and the sweet
a lesson for us all. It teaches us what we must do with the         from the beginning. If the contents of the book are the
testimony of the Word' of God in `general, but especially           cause of it all, then there is no reason to believe that he
with the testimony of the book of Revelation. We can study          would taste only the sweet in his mouth and only the bitter
the book and listen to its interpretation from more than            in his belly ; but then he would notice both elements from the
one point of view, and also from more than one motive.              very start. And if it is argued that it is very well possible
Perhaps we find some intellectual enjoyment in its interpreta-      that one follows the other, I should think that the bitter ele-
tion. Perhaps we find our curiosity somewhat satisfied. Per-        ment would naturally come first. For not the' heavenly
haps, however, we do not appropriate it at all. But all this is     Jerusalem `and the kingdom of peace are first in the ex-
not sufficient, and that for the simple reason that the message     perience of the Christian, but the tribulations and judgments
of the book also demands a positive stand. This is always           are first while the heavenly Jerusalem follows them.

the case with the testimony of the Word of God. But it is              And therefore it seems to us that a different explanation

such especially with respect to the book we. are now dis-           must be preferred; &low it is an obvious fact that the Word

cussing. The question is whether you believe -all  these things.    of God is more than once presented in Scripture as being

When that book speaks of the development of the world-of            sweet to the mouth of the believers. The psalmist sings of

sin and iniquity, how it will fight to the last against Christ      this in Ps. 119 :103,  when he says: "How sweet are thy

and His kingdom, the question is : do you actually take             words unto my taste; yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth."

these things to be the truth ? When the book speaks of the          And again, in'-.Ps.-  19:lO the ordinances of Jehovah are

apostate church and pictures that it will ultimately have an        spoken of as "sweeter than honey and the dropping of the

alliance with Antichrist, the question is : do you believe that     h o n e y c o m b . "   ,,                                  H.H.


                                                                                                                                       273
                                                T H E  STANDARD  B E A R E R

                                                                           -The Greek word which is translated "appointed" here

 11 A CLOUD OF WITNESSES jl has a basic meaning of "to set" or "to place." The word ap-
                                                                        pears quite frequently in the New Testament but often with

                                                                        different shades of meaning so that in our English versions

                     Appointed to Stumble                               it is translated with entirely different words. To gain the
                                                                        full weight of meaning intended in the use of this word it is

                "And a   stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense,     well to examine various places in Scripture where it ap-
                even to them which stumble at the word, being dis-      pears.    In a number of places it is translated by the same

                obedient: whereunto also they were appointed."          word as used in our text, the word "appoint." This transla-
                                                         I PETER 2:8    `tion appears in II Timothy 1 :ll where Paul wrote, "I am

                                                                        asppointed  a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the
    We have received a question in response to our article of
                                                                        Gentiles."    It is found'also in Hebrews 1:2, "`(God) hath in
 February 15 which appeared under the title "That Election
                                                                        these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath
 Might Stand." We appreciate such response because it gives
                                                                        appointed heir of all things." In these texts the idea of our
 us an opportunity to learn of the reaction which our articles
                                                                        English word "appoint," to decree or prescribe a state or
 arouse as well as of the questions which they raise within
                                                                        position to a person, is quite evidently on the foreground.
 the minds of the readers. The questiqn  to which we have
                                                                        Yet further study reveals that the translation with "appoint"
 reference we believe to be of sufficient importance to warrant
                                                                        does not do full justice to the real meaning of the original
 separate consideration in this article.
                                                                        word. Another facet of its full meaning comes to the fore
    The question singles out especially the last paragraph of
                                                                        when-  we notice several other passages in which the word is
 the Feb. 15 article which we can quote in whole. "It is not
                                                                        translated "set." So Acts 13 :47  reads, "I have 
 surprising that the Arminian should put forth so much effort                                                                set thee to be
                                                                        a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation
 to try to find some other meaning for this text. (The text
                                                                        unto the ends of the earth:" This implies more than mere
 is Romans 9 :lO-13  which treats the election and reprobation
                                                                        appointment ; it includes the idea -of placement and qualifica-
 of Jacob and Esau respectively.) But the ultimate reason for
                                                                        tion. This same idea is found in I Cor. 12 :28;  "And God
 that also is that they `stumble at the word, being disobedient:
                                                                        hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily
 whereunto also they were appointed."' The question asked
                                                                        prophets . . ."    In places the translation is made with the               -
 is, if we should meet such people as stumble at the truth of
                                                                        word "make."       Frequently it is used in the phrase "I make
 election as explained in the article, should we tell them that
                                                                        thine enemies thy footstool." It is used in Romans 4 :17 with          -
 the reason for their stumbling is that God wants them to
                                                                        reference to Abraham, "I have Naa.de  thee a father of many
 do so? The problem centers, therefore, around the proper
                                                                        nations." Gathering these various thoughts together we gain
 implications and applications of I Peter 2 :8.
                                                                        somewhat `the  full meaning of the word we are considering.
    The difficulty with this text is found mainly in its last
                                                                        It means not only "to appoint" but also "to set `in position"
:.phrase,  "whereunto also they were appointed." A brief study
                                                                        and "to make or to bring to final fulfillment."
 of the text within its context will soon satisfy as to the proper
 meaning of the preceding elements in the text. Thus the                   When we'apply  this meaning to our text, we learn what
 "stone of stumbling" and the "rock of offense" refers to Jesus         is meant that some are appointed unto disobedience to the
Christ as mentioned in verse 5. Those who stumble are                   Word of God. It means that God has decreed and determined
 those who reject. Christ as, for example the Jews, the scribes         this disobedience. It means that God places certain people in
 and Pharisees and Sadducees,  who rejected Jesus as the                the position where they should stumble at the Word of Jesus
 Son of God and Messiah and, brought Him to Pilate to be                Christ. It means that God brings it to pass that they should
 crucified. Our text broadens the thought out even more to              do so.

 include all those who stumble at the Word of Jesus Christ,                This is not a popular doctrine. There are, in fact, very

the Gospel. The text refers not just to those who were                  few that are willing to talk in these terms. Yet, this doc-

 living in Palestine at the time that Jesus dwelt on earth in           trine follows directly from the truth of the sovereignty of

the` flesh and thus rejected Him as He stood before them in             God which so many claim to believe. According to His

the flesh ; it includes people from every age of time who               sovereignty God has ordained in His ,eternal counsel all
have heard the gospel of Jesus and refused to believe it. These         things which come to pass in time. In His providence He
 all are disobedient. Men at all times and in every place have          provides that this counsel may become realized. Nothing
a moral obligation, to believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ when-         escapes the almighty power of His rule.

 ever they hear it. If they reject the Scriptures either in whole         ' Furthermore, this is a current teaching in Scripture, by

or in part they are disobedient and guilty before the just              which we, mean, it is not unique to this text but is found

judgment of God. This all is rather easily gathered from the            frequently, forming a current of thought throughout the Word

text. But when we come to the appointment unto this dis-                of God. We can do little more at this point than quote a

obedience in the last phrase, we feel the need for further              few instances in which this same thought occurs. We have

elucidation.                                                            seen that the first .reference  of Peter in this chapter was to

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


the rejection of Jesus by the Jews. Concerning that we read         that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might

in Acts 2 ~23,    "Him, being delivered by the determinate          be declared throughout all the earth."

counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by                 We might illustrate this point with the example of a

wicked hands have crucified and. slain.,' Much the same is          farmer.' A farmer may not derive a special joy from the hot

expressed in Acts 4 127, 28, "For of a truth against the holy       and difficult work of preparing, seeding, and keeping his field.

child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod  and Pon-          Nevertheless, he does desire to do this work, not because he

tius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel; were      finds pleasure in it as such, but because he anticipates through
gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy            the ,means  of this work the pleasure of the harvest which is
counsel determined before to be done." In Ezekiel 14:9  we          to come. So God determines the deeds of the wicked not as

read, "And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken           ends in themselves but as means to the glory of His Name
a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet." Similar are        through the salvation of His people.

the frequent statements in Exodus that God hardened the                 Should we, therefore, meet such persons as stumble at the

heart of Pharaoh in reference to which Romans 9:18  con-            Word of God, it would not be improper to tell them that God-

cludes,    "Therefore hath he mercy on `whom he will have           has determined their sin. It is after all a truth taught in

mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.."  Besides these there        Scripture of which we need not be ashamed. Nonetheless, in

are many others, such as II Chron:  18  :21,  Luke 22 :22,  Jude    doing so we should be careful. not to leave the impression

4, II Thess. 2 :ll; Prov. 16:4,  and others, which we do not        that we teach a God who finds pleasure in the existence of

have space to quote.                                                sin God does not desire sin in the world as an end in itself;

   Having then concluded that God has determined and                but He has determined that it should be there as a means
provided that there should be people that stumble at His            to an end, as a means to the salvation of His people and.
Word, the question next arises whether it is proper to' say         the glory of His own Name. Furthermore, we should assure
that God wants these people so to stumble, or, in other words,      them that, insofar as they refuse to receive any of the
does God desire such people to live in disobedience? In             clear teachings of Scripture, their lives are not pleasing to
answering this question we must be very careful to distinguish      God. If they desire to live Christian lives pleasing to God,
clearly what we mean by God's "want" or "desire."                   they should repent from their refusal to receive that-  which
   If we mean to ask by this whether God desires or finds           He has revealed.

pleasure in the existence of sin and sinful people as such, the         But let us bear in mind that this is not a point of doc-

answer must be no. God. is not a being that rejoices in the         trine which is easy to understand. In many senses it goes

existence of sin. For example, we could not conceive of the         beyond the comprehension of the human mind. Therefore,

possibility `that God might desire to bring forth a world in        when we present it we should be careful to do so clearly,

which there would be no Christ, no -salvation, and no good-         intelligibly, and above all with proper humility. In so doing

ness whatsoever. God does not find pleasure merely in the           we may hope that our testimony may be used to bring some

fact that there are wicked that perish.                             of God's people to a greater understanding of revealed truth.

   Nonetheless, there is a sense in which. we can properly          It is the sad lesson of both Scripture and experience, how-               Z

say that God desires that there should be sin. If it were not       ever, that there are many who profess to be Christians, and

so, God `would `never have created a world that could fall          even Reformed Christians, who will not receive these doc-

into sin. In this sense God desires the existence of sin in the     trines which God has revealed. They will repeatedly retort

world, not as an end in itself, not as something which affords      that, if God controls the ways of .sin, He has no right to be

Him pleasure in itself, but as a means to the accomplishment        displeased with the sinner. They echo the ,accusation  which ,

of that which does afford Him pleasure. God has determined          was brought to Paul, "Why doth he yet find fault? For who

that there should be sin in the world because as a means in         hath resisted his will?`: Rom. 9 :19. Neither can we improve

His hand He uses it to the accomplishment of the salvation          on the inspired answer which the apostle provides, "Nay

of His people and the glory-of His own Name. So we read             but, 0 man, who art thou that repliest against God ? Shall

in Rom. 9;22, 23, "What if God, willing to shew his wrath,          the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou

and to make his power known, endureth with much long-               made me thus ?" Rom. 9 :20.

suffering the vessels of wrath fitted .to destruction : And that                                                                      B.W.
                                                                                                     ,
he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of

mercy, which he had afore  prepared -unto glory." So to
                                                                                              IN MEMORIAM
Israel God said in Isaiah 43 :3, 4, "For I am the Lord thy
                                                                       The Ladies' Society of the South Holland Protestant Reformed
God the Holy one of ,Israel,  thy Saviour : I gave Egypt for
                                                                    Church wishes to express its sincere sympathy to Mrs. Barney Haak
thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee. Since thou wast             and family in the loss of her father,
precious in my sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have
                                                                                             MR. JACOB PIPER
loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for        May our God, who is gracious, comfort those who mourn.
thy life." Also in Rom. 9:17, "For the scripture saith  unto                                              Rev. H.. C. Hoeksema, President
Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up,                                                Mrs. P. S. Poortinga, Secretary


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 275


                                                                         Since this passage too is profitable for teaching, for re-
           F R O M   H O L Y   WRl-i-                                proof, for correction in righteousness, in order that the man
                                                                     of God be thoroughly .furnished  unto every good work, let

                                                                     us proceed with our inquiry into its meaning.

                Exposition of-Maithew  24 and 25
                                                                         The passage here in Matthew 25 :31-46 is rather lengthy.

                                X I V .                              We shall quote it in part. We kindly request the attentive

                                                                     reader to read the passage in his own Bible. We quote: "But
                        (Matthew 25 :31-46)                          when the Son of wsa"n  &all co'l%e  sin his glory, avtd all the

                                                                     a.ngels  w&h him, then sha.11  he sit 
                                  a.                                                                         on the throne of ?&is glory:
                                                                     aid befbre  him  shall be gathered all the nations: ,and  he shall
    This passage in Matthew 25 :31-46  is not simply a last          sep,a,rate  them one from another., as the shepherd spamteth
section in Jesus' eschatological discourse ; it is really the        the sheed  from the goa.ts . . . Then shall the King say unto
consummation of his discourse, giving the final answer to the        the& on. his vight hand,, Come. ye blessed of my Fa.ther,  irL-
question of his disciples concerning the time of his Parousia.       he&  the kingdom prepared for you from. the founda.tion  of
-The Lord Jesus, when he utters these words, is on the mount         the: -world  : . . Then shall he say unto  them on the left hand,
of Olives. Yet two days and he will hang upon the accursed           Depart from `me ye cursed into everlasting @e which is
tree. However the Son of.man  must suffer all these things           prepared  for the devil and his a.ngels  . . . .`.'
and thus enter into his glory (Luke 24 :26).  For the joy of             What a scene the Lord here foretells!
this glory which is set before him he endures the Cross and
despises the shame and is set down on the right hand of the              "But when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and
majesty on high (Heb. 12 :2).                                        all the angels with him, then shall he sit on the throne of
                                                                     his glory" !
    In this passage the Lord ,lets  the light of the prophetical
word shine-more and more unto the perfect day. And we do                 It will be the -realization of what the God of heaven
well to give heed unto it as unto a light shining in a dark          showed to Daniel in the first year of Belshazzar, king of
place -until the day dawn and the day-star arise in our              Babylon, when he had a dream and visions of his head upon
hearts.                                                              his bed. It is the scene of the Throne of God in the midst
                                                                     of world-history, all the "nations of the world."        .
    When we pay rather close attention to this passage we
                                                                         Who is this Son of Man? Why does he sit upon the
notice that Jesus is really not introducing a new subject here;
                                                                     Throne to judge? And why is his Throne-called a. "throne
but rather is bringing to its consummation the subject he
                                                                     of glory" ?
had touched upon and further elucidated in Matthew 24 :42

through Matthew 25 :30. Had the Lord not touched upon                    Let us quote Daniel 7 :9; 10. There we read : "I beheld till
the judgment of the righteous and of evil men in the Parables        the thrones were placed, and one that was ancient of days did
of the "Faithful and Prudent Servant" in Matthew 24 :45-51?          sit : and his raiment  was white as snow, and the hair of his

And, again, had the Lord not portrayed the need of faith-            head like pure wool ; his throne was fiery flames, and the

fulness and watchfulness in the Parable of the "Ten Virgins"         wheels thereof burning fire. A fiery stream issued and came

in Matthew 25 :l-13?  And was this not against the back-             forth from before him: thousands of thousands ministered

drop of -the coming of the Lord to receive his church in             unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before

glory and to cast out those whom he "never knew"? And,               him : and the judgment was set and the books were opened."
finally, had the Lord not portrayed the need of being watchful       It is evident that this is the same Throne as seen by John in

unto prayer and diligent in "few things" in order that we            *the book of Revelation, Chapter 4.

may be set in the day of judgment over much in the King-                 But notice further the place that the Son of man has in

dom ? Such was the teaching in the parable of the "Talents,"         Daniel's vision upon his head. "And I saw in the night-

wasn't' it ?                                                         visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven

    We noticed the "warning" note in this all. It is an ex-          one like unto the son of man, and he came even unto the an-
hortation and inducement unto faithfulness in the righteous.         cient of days, and they brought him near before him. And
And, let it not be forgotten, this warning "pertains" to the         ,there  was given unto him dominion, and glory, and a king-
wicked also, and that, too, in the church ! It will be brought       dom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve
into reckoning in that day, For he that has known the way            him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall
and has not walked it shall be beaten with many stripes !            not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be
(Luke 12 :47).       However, these evil are proutiised  nothing.    destroyed," Daniel 7 :13,  14.

They are assured that as long as they walk in sin they ,shall            When Jesus speaks to Nicodemus, who came to him by

not inherit the Kingdom prepared for the blessed of the              night, he tells this teacher in Israel, the heavenly things, that

Father. The promise is to the faithful now and in the day            is, the heavenly and eternal background and plan of salva-

of our Lord Jesus Christ!                                            tion. This -is the great love of God. And this great love' is


276                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA,RER


 such that the Son of Man must be lifted up on high in the                    And is this not the theme of the song of the angels in

deep way of the Cross, death, resurrection and ascension                  Revelation 5 :ll, 12, where we read: "`And I saw and heard

at God's right hand, Lord over all (John 3 :14, 15) i For do              a voice of many angels round about the throne and the living

we not read in John 12 :31, 32 : "Now is the judgment of this             creatures and the elders : and the number.of  them was ten

world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And                thousand times ten thousandj  and thousands of thousands:

I, if I be lifted up from the earth (ozbt  of the earth) will             saying with a great voice,

draw all men unto myself. But this he said signifying what                    "Worthy is the Lamb that has been slain to receive power,
manner of death he should die."                                           and: riches and wisdom, -and might, and honor, and glory,

    From the foregoing we may learn .the following concern-               and, blessing."

ing the Son of Man:                                                           Here, too, the "glory" consists evidently in "power,

    `1.. That He is really the Son of God, who is the true God            riches and wisdom." Yet, the "key-note" of this glory is

and real and righteous man in one person. He is very God                  "power"! It is the great "ability" of the Son in our human

of God. I John 5 :20.                                                     nature that is the theme of the song of the angels. And, let

    2. That .He is the Mediator of God and man, who will                  it, not be overlooked, that these angels are singing the
be perfected through suffering. He must suffer all the weight             `praises of their Lord. See Colossians 2:9, 10,  "for in him
of the wrath of God against the sins of the "whole human                  dwelleth all the fulness  of the Godhead bodily, and in him
race," and thus be exalted on high. Thus He is "brought to                ye are made full, who is the head of all principality and
*the ancient of days" according to Daniel 7:13.                           power. " The latter "principality and power" refers, no doubt,
                                                                          to the angel-world! Confer Colossians 1:16.
    3. His being lifted up does not merely refer to his being

lifted on the Cross but implies his exaltation at God's right                 In the light of all this teaching of Holy Writ we may once

hand through death, the resurrection and ascension.                       more say: what a scene that will be when the Son of Man

    As such a .Son of Man, exalted in the deep way of the                 comes in his glory ! A glory which Satan could not give him.
sufferings of the inexpressible anguish of hell, has his own              But j it is a glory of which Jesus speaks. in the sacerdotal
peczrliav  glory. In Matthew 25 :31 we read: "But when the                (high-priestly) prayer in John 17 :l, 2, where we read :
Son of man slza.11  CO~U?  ,in. his glory . . . ! What is this glory ?    "These things spake  Jesus : and lifting up his eyes to heaven,
It is quite evident from Daniel 7 :14 that the glory is, as to            he said, Father, the hour is come: glorify thy Son, that the
its content and nature, nothing else but the "dominion given              s on may glorify thee: even as thou gavest him authority over
him." The glory of the Son of Man that He had all "author-                all flesh, that to all whom thou hast given him, he should
ity" in heaven and on earth given to him (Matt. 25 :18).  It              give; eternal life."    And, again, in idem, verse 5, we read:
should not be overlooked that this glory is not the glory                 "And now, Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with
which the Son has by virtue of -His Godhead as such, but                  the glory which I had with thee before the world was." Or,
rather the glory which is his by virtue of being the Son of               again, we read in the same chapter in verse 10: "and all
God, the person of the Son, in our flesh. The man, Christ                 things that are mine are thine, and thine are mine: and I
Jesus, is "crowned with glory and honor" ! (Hebrews 2 :9).                am glorified in them." And, finally, not to forget the beauti-
Wherefore we read that he is thus crowned with glory and                  ful passage in verse 24, "Father, I desire that they also whom
honor "because of the suffering of death" ! And, again, we                thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may
read : "though he was the Son, yet learned [he] obedience by              behold my glory, which thou hast -given me : for. thou lovest
the things which he suffered" (Heb. 5 :S) .                               me before the foundation of the world."

    And, truly, of this "glory" Jesus is very conscious during                From this all it is abundantly evident that this glory  of

all his suffering. It is the subject in the temptation by the             the Son of Man is :

Devil in the wilderness. Is not the final temptation of Satan                 1;. It is the glory which he has as the Person of the Son,
couched in the following language: "To thee will I give all               truly God, in his human nature. The man, Christ Jesus, is
this authority, and the glory of them: for it hath been de-               glorified.
livered unto me : and to whomsoever I will I give it" ? (Luke
                                                                              2. It is a glory which consists in the exhibition of power,
4 :6). Was not the isszte  which way to the glory? And is not
                                                                          might, dominion which the Father gives him over all things.
glory also here in the mouth of Satan to have "authority"

over all things! And does this not emphasize for us the                       3; It is because of this glory that Christ suffered  many
tremendous urgency in Christ's soul, who "for the joy that                things. He is perfected through suffering that many sons

was set before him endured the Cross and despised the shame,              may be brought to this glory. It is the ever repeated theme

and thus set down on the right hand of the majesty on high':  ?           and refrain of the High-Priestly prayer in John 17.

(Heb. 21 2).                                                              4: It will be the exhibition of the "throne of glory" in

   Here'is the glory of him "who is (in his human nature)                 the day of judgment, when God shall judge the world through

the very effulgence of God's glory, the expressed image of                one man, Christ Jesus.

his being" !                                                                                                                        G.L.


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               277


                                                                       Even that king, who is none other than David, the man after
                  I N   HIS'FEAR                                       God's heart, is perplexed. He was afraid of the Lord that
                                                                      day and said, "How shall the ark of the Lord come unto me ?"

                                                                      II Samuel 6 :9. That deed looked differently as seen through
                   Provoking One Another                              the holy eyes of God, Who sees into the heart, and through

                                                                      the eyes of man who judges only by the external deed. God
                                  (2)                                 never smites and punishes for a good deed. When He
        .To provoke, in the sense in which we -are using the term     punishes, you may be sure it is for sin. And the Scriptures
 at this time, is to incite, to stir up and spur on to certain        teach us that many shall be told to depart from the presence
 activity.    And it is a thing which the Scriptures demand of        of God and shall be cast into weeping and gnashing of teeth
 us.     We are not looking at it now as something to be con-         even though they shall claim to have done this and that in the
 demned but as something that ought to be `practiced. Then            Lord's name, Matthew 7 :21-23.
 too, it is being viewed as that which is possible only among
                                                                          In fact that first element of the two explains that good
 the children of God. Believers can provoke one another and
                                                                      works are only those that are done in love to God. Thus we
 an unbeliever can never be provoked by a believer to the
                                                                      find it also in the Heidelberg Catechism, question and answer
 activity with which we are now dealing.
                                                                      91. We quote it, "But what are good works? Only those
        That activity is presented by the author of the epistle to    which proceed from a true faith, are performed according to
 the Hebrews as good works and love. That is indeed a broad           the law of God, and to His glory ; and not such as are
 field, and we can comprehend under it our whole life inwardly        founded:on  our imaginations, or institutions of men." If a
 and outwardly, physically and spiritually. Quite generally           man does not consciously and willingly perform a deed for the
 good works are considered to be nothing more than works of           glory of God, it is not a good work. God will not consider
charity, works whereby man is befriended. That these works            it to be such ; and therefore it is not a good work. As we said,
are good is not to be denied.      However tha4  does not mean        a thing is good or evil according to God's opinion of it in its
that every work whereby a man is befriended and helped is             deepest motive. Those founded on man? imagination and
in itself a good work. Solomon says in Proverbs 12 :lO, "A            man's institutions are wicked in spite of man's opinion and
righteous man regardeth the life of his beast; but the tender         the judgment of the natural eye.
mercies of the wicked are cruel." A thing is good or evil
                                                                         Now we can and must provoke one another to these
according to God's opinion of it in its deepest motive. That
                                                                      works, which are good because they are deeds of love to God,
which looks so good to the eye `and  which would surely be
                                                                      by means of speech. We are to speak to one another. Of
branded as a good work by us may well be the very deed for
                                                                      course our walk should be such that it does not deny or
which God punishes everlastingly in hell. When Judas pro-
                                                                      militate against our words. But the way to stir up, to
tested the spending of a goodly sum of money for the costly
                                                                      incite one as to doing or feeling is through words. This is
ointment wherewith Mary anointed Jesus' feet, the disciples
                                                                      plainly the meaning of that passage wherein we' find literally
were greatly inclined to agree with Judas and to consider
                                                                      the calling to provoke one another unto love and to good
these words of Judas as evincing a heart of tender compas-
                                                                      works. We will quote it fully, "And let us consider one an-
sion for the poor. It looked good to them, so much so that
                                                                      other to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking
when Jesus announces at the table that one will betray Him,
                                                                      the assembling of ourselves together, as the mannerof  some
no one thinks that this will possibly'be-Judas.  All readily
                                                                      is ; but exhorting one another : and so much the more as ye
conceded the best place at the table to John, whom
                                                                      see the day approaching," Hebrews 10 :24, 25. You may note
they also knew as the disciple that Jesus loved. But
                                                                      that in explanation of this provoking the author commands
they also agreed that the place of honor on His left side
                                                                      that we exhort one another. And exhorting is done by
should be for Judas to occupy. And in full confidence of his
                                                                      means of words. The word "exhort" literally means to call to
`integrity, they let him carry the bag. He was their trusted
                                                                      one, to stand near, alongside and beside one to call to him
treasurer.     His works were good in their eyes; and they
                                                                      and thereby either encourage and comfort or instruct. The
trusted him with the good work of caring for the poor. But
                                                                      idea here plainly is that of speaking, using words.
Jesus read the heart and rebuked him. Indeed, his tender

mercies were cruel. Or again, if you will, a parade of great             That word which we use is, of course, the Word of God.

pomp and majesty is traveling down the road. Thirty                   All .other provoking is not only to be condemned but will

thousand soldiers and the king himself are in the group. A            fail to produce love and good works. Remember that we

new cart driven by a yoke of oxen and the ark of the cov-             wrote last time that the root meaning of the word that is

enant are on their way to Jerusalem. The oxen stumble.                translated "provoke" is "to sharpen, to make sharp." Only

The ark begins to shake on that cart and appears liable to            the word of God can do that to His people. It is the new

`fall off the cart. A young man walking nearby quickly reaches        man in Christ who can be stirred up to love and to good

out to steady that ark. But he falls down in sudden death,            works. He is spiritually alive ; and the old man is spiritually

smitten by the hand of God with a swift and terrible blow.            dead. And it is Christ Who is revealed in that Word and.

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


 Who incites and stirs up His people unto, love and to good          to God and enmity against Him and His law. All too often

 works. Recall that beautiful answer of the Heidelberg Cate-         such a visit is resented. And the work which was meant to'

 chism to the question, "What is thy only comfort in life and        serve the purpose of provoking unto love and to good works

 in death ?' The answer is, "That I with body and soul, both         reveals instead a rebellious attitude over against God. NO,

 in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faith-        such a visit does not provoke to hatred and rebellion. That

ful Saviour Jesus Christ; Who . . . . makes me sincerely             hatted and rebellion were already there. Forth from them

 willing and ready henceforth to live unto Him." Christ is the       sprang this action for which it became necessary to send a

 one who stirs us up to love and to good works. Therefore            committee with the express desire of inciting, stirring up to

 only as we speak the Word wherein He is revealed' to us             lo& and to good works.

 can we fulfill our calling to provoke one another to love and           The same is true in the preaching of the Word. Often

 to good works.  By man's word, by philosophy, by false reli-        what is said with the express purpose of provoking to good

 gions and heresies we may induce and persuade men to love           works and to love is the occasion for the one already walking

 the lie, to love self and the flesh, to do what men call good;      in sin to rebel-against that Word, to despise and hate the one

 but we will in no wise incite any to love to God and to works       who has proclaimed it and to consider him to be an enemy.

 that are good in His sight by anything less than His Word.          It will become manifest, perhaps, in this that he will np

                                                                     longer assemble with the saints. Either he will stay away
         For that reason also we who are being provoked must be
                                                                     fro&  church entirely or he will seek affiliation with a church
 careful of our reaction and attitude to this Word of God
                                                                     where there is no interest in provoking to love and to good
 which comes to us from the mouths of others who seek to
                                                                     woiks and where his sin is tolerated.
 provoke us unto good works and to love. It is not at all dif-
                                                                         Such things ought not to be.
 ficult for us to resent any speech df a fellow citizen of the
 kingdom of heaven when he seeks to provoke us to love and               Not only is it so that one who seeks to provoke you unto
 to good works. Let that be an individual in the congregation,       love and to good works is doing his duty before God and is
  we will' easily brand him as our enemy and avoid him. That         fully aware of the warning of God in Ezekiel that "if thou-
                                                                     dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked
 must hale  been the case also among the Hebrews who are
exhorted in the passage wherein we find  this eipression,            mati shall die in his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at
                                                                     thine hand" ;
 "provoke one another unto love and to good works," for the                              but he is indeed walking as your friend. Do
                                                                     not. treat him as an enemy.
 author quickly adds, "Not forsaking the assembling of our-                                             You do yourself tremendous
 s elves together, .as the manner of some is ; but exhorting one     harti and also all those whom you, by your words, provoke
 another : and so much the more as `ye see the day approach-         unto evil works of hatred towards God, when they, !oo, are
 ing." 0, we do that so easily. We shun ; we avoid, we steer         led ;to deem thk one who seeks to stir them up as their enemy.

 clear of those who have spoken a word to us whereby they                Fear. God and keep His commandments ; and welcome the

 have sought  to turn us from our evil way and to point us           act bf love performed by those who seek to provoke you imto

 in the right direction, seeking by the use of the Word of God       love  and to good works.       And be thankful before God for

 to excite in us a walk in love and in good works. Or maybe,         them.

 -instead of receiving the word and being appreciative of the            Do so in His fear.

 exhortation, we dismiss it from our minds in order to be                                                                     J.A.H.
 ready and "under full steam" to turn the tables and tell this

 one a few things about his walk of life. We, too, quote the

 Scriptures and show that we have been considering the life                                   Announcement
 of the other. Only our intention is not to stir up and incite
                                                                         Classis  East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will
 unto love and to good works but to get revenge, to defend           meet Wednesday, April 1, 1959, at 9 a. m. in the Creston
 ourselves in our wickedness and to turn the attention off our
                                                                     Prot. Ref. Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Consistories
 sins and on to those of the one who sought to spur us on to         will :please  take note !
 a more godly walk. Such are the ways of our flesh. And then
                                                                                                    Rev. M. Schipper, Stated Clerk
 we are-not simply doing this brother a gross injustice, we

 are also rebelling against the Christ Who is revealed in that

 Word that has been presented to us in. the exhortation to                         I)         Announcement
 walk in love and in good works.
                                                                         Attention, all office bearers, present and former. Office

    How true is this not when we consider that area of our           beal'ers'  conference to be held March 31 at Creston  Prot. Ref.

 spiritual life wherein the offices in Christ's Church .are in-      Church. Topic, "Where did the Custom Originate that the

 volved ! Let a committee be sent from the                    .to    Con&tory  Meet with the Minister before Services and Sit .
                                                 con&tory 
 provoke one whose way has been that of despising the means          Separately and should it be Continued ?" Speaker : The Rev.

 of grace, to more faithful church attendance. Let it be be-         M. Schipper. Let's all attend.

 cause of any other evil work which manifests a lack of love                                              Ted Engelsma, Secretary
                                                                         /


                                                    T H E '   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                           279


                                                                        the Lord's Supper.     However, it is surely evident that this
II            Contending For The Faith ' 11 argument cannot stand. In the first place, it is surely evident
                                                                        from the words of John 6 :48-65  that the eating and drinking

                                                                        of Jesus' flesh and blood whereof the Saviour speaks is
               The Church and the Sacraments
                                                                        essential and vital to our salvation. Except we eat this flesh

      V                                                                 and drink this blood there is no life in us. And, ,whoso
           IEWS DURING THE THIRII  PERIOD (750-1517 A.D.)
                                                                        eateth this flesh and drinketh this blood has eternal life.

                   THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS..                               However, that a participation in this sacrament is absolutely

                                                                        essential unto salvation Rome, we understand, explicitly.
            THE ROMAN CATHOLIC DOCTRINE OF                              denies. Romanists teach that spiritual life is as necessary to
                    T R A N S U B S T A N T I A T I O N .               an experience of the benefits of this sacrament as natural life

                               (Continued)                              is to the body's being nourished by food. Moreover, they
                                                                        further teach that baptism, which precedes the eucharist, con-
      "They  ascribe divine perfections and render divine hon-          veys all the saving benefits of Christ's redemption. Hence,
ours to a creature, and therein consists the essence of idolatry.       they cannot make the eucharist essential. In addition to this,
In like manner Romanists teach that latveiaia,  the worship due         does not Jesus speak in John 6 of His "flesh" and "blood"?
to God alone, is to be rendered to the -host, or consecrated            And do we not read in the Scriptures that flesh and blood
wafer. This worship, of course, is not rendered to the wafer            cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven 7 In connection
as such, any more than the worship of Christians was                    with this, if we are to understand the words of the Saviour
rendered to the body and blood of Christ, when He was here              m the literal. sense of the word, do not the words "flesh" and
on earth. But Romanisfs worship the host on the assumption              .`blood" refer to His body as He stood before the Galilean
that it is ,the  body of Christ, with which his soul and divinity       multitude ? And is it not exactly this literal and materialistic
are inseparably connected. If their doctrine of transubstantia-         conception of Jesus' flesh and blood that was entertained by
tion be false; if the host be no more the body of Christ than           His Galilean listeners, as expressed in verse 52 : "The Jews,
any other piece of bread ; if his soul and divinity be no more          therefore, strove among themselves, saying, How can this
present in it than in other bread, then they must admit that            man give us l@s flesh to eat?" This is exactly the opinion
the worship of the host is as pure and simply idolatry as the           that was entertained by the Jews,. and certainly was not
world has ever seen. As all Protestants believe the doctrine            meant by the Christ. Finally, do not the Scriptures abundantly
of transubstantiation to be utterly unscriptural and- false,            testify that "whosoever believeth in the Christ hath eternal
they are unanimous in pronouncing the worship of the con-               life," and that therefore this believing is the same as the eating
secrated elements to be idolatry."-end of quote from Hodge.             and drinking of Christ's flesh and blood? In other words,

An analysis  dj Romx's  docthae  of Transubstantiation.                 this eating and drinking of Jesus' flesh and blood must be

      Rome's arguments in support of its doctrine of Transub-           understood in the spiritual dense  of the word.

stantiation are derived partly from the Word of God and                    Another Scriptural'argument of Rome is derived from

mainly from Tradition. One of these Scriptural passages to              the well-known passage of the Word of God: "This is My

which appeal is made is John 6 :48-65;  In this familiar passage        body." -When the Saviour speaks these words at the time of

the Saviour declares of Himself that He is the Bread of Life.           the last supper in the upper room immediately before His

He continues to set forth that He is the Living Bread that              death upon the cross, He not only changed the bread and

came down from heaven, that if any man eat of this bread he             wine into His body and blood at that time, but He also ap-

shall live forever, and that the bread that He will give is             pointed at that time His disciples to be priests and laid into

.His flesh. And in the verses 53-56 we read: "Then Jesus                the words which He spoke a power which could cause the

said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye               change of the substances of bread- and wine. The eucharist

eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood ye have            as celebrated by Rome, is not only a sacrament, but it is in

no life in you. Whoso  eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood            the first place a sacrifice to which we will presently call at-

hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up at the last day. For        tention.    Whereas Christ's body and blood are not to be

My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He               separated from His human nature and His human nature

that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me,             cannot be separated from His Godhead, the entire Christ is'

and I in him."       In connection with this discourse of the Sav-      present in each element and also fully present in each particle

iour a certain Roman Catholic Cardinal, Gousset, lays down              of the elements. However, it must surely be evident that

two propositions : first, that it is to be understood of the            Rome's appeal to the words: "This is My body," is com-

Lord's Supper; and secondly, that the eating of which it                pletely in error. It must be evident that when the Saviour

speaks is oral, by the mouth, and not merely spiritual by               declares : "This is My body," He is referring to the bread

faith. If this be true, then it follows that our Lord here is           He has taken into His hand. The words: "My body," cer-

speaking of a literal eating of His flesh, and therefore that           tainly refer to His own body which He has assumed from

 His flesh must be eaten in the literal sense of .the  word at          the virgin, Mary, and which- He would presently sacrifice

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


 upon the cross. Secondly, let us presuppose that, as accord-       become an absolutely necessary hierarchy, we can rest as-

 ing to Rome, the words: "This is My body," refer to Jesus'         sured that they will do all within their power to maintain

 own flesh and blood which, then, are hidden, we understand,        themselves in this power.       The-impossibility of this concep-

 in the bread and wine which merely have the form and taste         tion is clearly set forth by Hodge in his Systematic Theology,

 and color, etc. of bread and wine. Then it must also be true       which we now quote, Vol. III, pages 683-685 : "It is a valid

 that the bread and wine had already been changed into Jesus'       objection to this doctrine that it involves an impossibility.

 flesh and blood before *the  Lord spoke the words : This is My     The impossible cannot be true, and, therefore, cannot, ration-

 body. Jesus does not say : Become My body but : This is My         aily, be an object of faith. It is impossible that the accidents

 body. Hence, these elements had already been changed into          or, sensible properties of the bread and wine should remain

 Jesus' own flesh and-body when He spoke the words: This            if the substance be changed. Such a proposition has not more

 is My body. Hence, the words as spoken by Jesus did not            meaning in it than the assertion that an act can be without

 effect <the  change at all. To this may be added other argu-       an agent. Accidents or properties are the phenomena of sub-

 ments in refutation bf the Roman Catholic doctrine of Tran-        stance ; and it is self-evident that there can be no manifesta-

 substantiation and Rome's appeal to the words : "This is My        tions where there is not something to be manifested. In

 body," to which we may return when we discuss the period           other words nothing,         a `non-ens' cannot manifest -itself.

 ef the Reformation. We may conclude with the remark that           Romanists cannot turn to the theory that matter is not a

 if jesus' words : "This is My body," must be understood ill        substance ; for that is not their doctrine. On the contrary, they

 that literal and natural sense of the word, why not also ex:       assert that the substance of the bread is transputed into the

 plain expressions such as, "I am the door," in that same           sub'stance  of Christ's body. Nor can they help themselves by

 literal and natural sense of the word ?                            resorting to the pantheistic doctrine that all accidents are

                                                                    phenomena of God, for that would upset their whole system.
    Rome, however, in attempting to prove -its doctrine of

 Transubstantiation, appeals mainly to Tradition. Rome con-                 It is moreover -impossible that the well-attested testimony

 tends that there are many doctrines which Christ and His           of our senses should be deceptive. If it once be assumed  that

 Apostles taught, which are either not revealed at all, or but      we cannot trust to the laws of belief impressed on our nature,

 very imperfectly in Scripture, and which are to be received        of which faith in our sense  perceptions is` one of the most

 on the authority of Tradition. On that authority they rely         important, then the foundation of all knowledge, faith, and

 for-their support of all their peculiar doctrines. This we re-     religion is overturned. What has Catholicism to say for itself,

 ject. Whatever doctrine is not taught in the Word of God           if the people cannot trust their ears when they hear the

 can never be an object of our faith. And, as far as tradition      teachings ,of the Church, or their eyes when they read its

is concerned, that which has been handed down and taught            decrees ? It has nothing to stand upon. It is engulfed with

 throughout the ages is valid only when it is in harm&y  with       all things else in the abyss of nihilism. To believe in transub-

,the  will of the Holy Spirit and as taught in the Word of God.     stantiaf;on  we must disbelieve our senses, and this God

 The  history of the development of the Roman CatholZc  doc-        requires of no man. It in&ves  disbelief in Him who is the

trine of Transubstantiation can be traced. And it can also          author of our nature and of the laws which are impressed

be shown that Rome, in its celebration of the Lord's Supper,        upon it. There is no more complete and destructive infidelity

 has departed from the clear injunction of Christ Himself, as       than the want of faith in the veracity of consciousness,

in its doctrine of Concomitance, the withholding of the cup         wh&her  it be consciousness of our sense perceptions, or of

from the laity. Rome admits that this is in conflict with the       the, truths `involved in our rational, moral, and religious

original institution of the Lord's Supper and the practices in      nature."      (And how about the theory of Common Grace

the early New Testament Church. Rome, however, does not             which would have us believe contradictions in the Bible be-

hesitate, if need  be, to ascribe all authority to tradition and    cause the reason why we do not understand them is because

elevate it, if need be, above tlie  Word of the Lord itself.        of the defectiveness of our mind ? As when we must believe

    This doctrine of Transubstantiation is absurd and im-           that God loves and hates the same person at the same time.-

possjble.  It was invented, as the late Dr. H. Bavinck sug-         H.V.) We wiil continue in our next article.

gests in his Dogmatics> to maintain Rome's priestly hierarchy                                                                    H.V.

and give undue prominence to that office. We can easily

understand that it is pleasing to the flesh to have as much                                       Notice
power as must be present in the priestly office when, through
                                                                    N E X T   EASTER%   M E N ' S   L E A G U E   M E E T I N G
his intercession, the' bread and wine are. actually changed
into the body and blood of the Lord., This implies, we under-                          Speaker : Student J. Kortering

stand, that the efficacy .of the sacrament, and salvation also,                  Topic: Preaching  to the Spirits in Prison
are absolutely dependent upon the priest. And when once this                             According to I Peter 3 :19

power has been given to this office, to men, it is so extremely                   Place: Hudsonville  Prot. Ref. Church

difficult to divest them of this power. When office-bearers            :      Time: Monday evening, March 30, at 8 o'clock.

in the Church have been endowed with great power and have                                                                The Board


                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      281


                                                                                    4) The Arminians teach that with respect to God also
II        The `Voice of Our Fathers                                          II such a final fall of the saints is possible ; the Reformed deny
                                                                                 this, and teach that with respect to God  it is utterly impossible

                                                                                 that the saints fall.
                      The Canons of Dordrecht                                        5) Hence, the following consequences must be drawn:

           P                                                                        a) The Arminians teach that God's counsel can be
            ART Two 1 EXPOSITION  OF THE CANONS
                                                                                changed ; the Reformed faith teaches the unchangeability of
                        FIFTH HEAD OF DOCTRINE                                  ,God's  counsel.

                O                                                                   b) The Arminians teach that God's promise can fail ; the
                     F THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS

                                                                                Reformed faith teaches tlhat God's promise cannot fail.
                 Article 8. Thus, it is not in consequence of their own             e) The A&nians  teach that God's calling can be recalled ;
                 merits, or strength,  but of God's free mercy, that they
                do not totally fall from faith and grace, nor continue          the Reformed faith teaches that God's call cannot be revoked.
                 and perish finally in their back&dings; which, with                d) The Arminians teach that the merit, intercession, and
                 respect to themselves, is not only possible,. but would
                 undoubtedly happen; but with respect to God, it is             keeeing  of Christ can be rendered ineffectual ; the Reformed
                 utterly impossible, since his counsel cannot be changed,       faith teaches that these are effectual.
                 nor his promise fail, neither can the call according to
                his purpose be revoked, nor the merit, intercession and             e) The Arminians teach that the sealing of the Holy
                preservation of Christ be rendered ineffectual, nor the          Spirit can be frustrated and obliterated; the Reformed faith
                 sealing of the Holy Spirit be frustrated or obliterated.
                                                                                teaches that this is impossible.
      There are only a few minor points of correction to be                         It is plain, then, that according to our Ca,norts, the Re-
made in the above translation. The last part of the first                       formed and Arminian views stand diametrically opposed to

sentence should read : "nor finally (i.e. with finality) remain                 one another.
in their falls or pkrish."        The second clause, beginning with                 We deal in this article with the very essence of the doc-
"which" should read : "which, with respect to themselves, not                   trine of perseverance. Article 7 teaches us concerning the

only could easily happen, but also undoubtedly would happen;                    elements of perseverance. If you ask the question as to what

but with respect to God . .' ." Our final correction concerns                   remains absolutely untouched, undamaged, even in the deepest

the word "preservation" in the last part of the article. The                    falls of the saints, Article 7 gives you the answer: God

Latin expression here is custodiia.  The Dutch has bewa,9Aing.                  hreserves  in His saints the incorruptible seed of regeneration.

The proper English translation is not "preservation" but                        And if you ask the question as to how the saints rise up again

"keeping" or "custody."                                                         out of those' deep falls, Article 7 answers : God surely and

      This is the last article in this chapter that deals with the              effectually renews them to repentance. .But Article 8 clinches

doctrine of perseverance as such. Article 9 begins the subject                  the matter. It shuts out all possibility of Arminianism. It

of the `assurance of preservation, which continues through                      emphasizes the truth that our pers&erance  is a matter of

Article 13. Article 14 treats the means of preserva-                            God's free mercy, but then in such a way that the charactei-

tion. And Article 15 is a concluding statement as to the                        of that free mercy is plainly set forth. After all, the Ar-

church's faith of perseverance. This eighth article forms at                    minians  could also prate about mercy and grace. They not

the same time a conclusion or summary as to the entire sub-                     only had to, but they purposely did so, in order to cover up

ject of perseverance as it has been treated thus far, and a                     their heresy and give it the appearance of Scriptural doctrine.

final' statement as to the `radical difference between the Re-                  But Article 8 speaks of free mercy in distinction from our

formed and Arminian views of perseverance. The entire                           own merits or powers. It speaks of God's sure preservation

formulation of this article shows very plainly that the                         in distinction from any work of man.. It brings out the truth

fathers had in mirid  the Arminian heresy, and that they in-                    that the preserving grace of God is absolutely unconditional.

tentionally set the two views over against each other. Hence,                   The perseverance of the saints is invariably initiated by God's

we can very readily draw a comparison in the form of several                    preserving grace.    And that preserving grace of God is itself

propositions, as follows :                                                      initiated by nothing and by no one outside of God Himself.

                                                                                It is unconditional.
      1) The Arminians teach that .perseverance  is by our own
                                                                                    Let us give our attention to the forceful way in which
merits and powers ; the Reformed faith denies this, and main-
                                                                                our Canons formulate this truth.
tains that it is of God's free mercy.
                                                                                    In the first place, we may notice that our fathers go dut
      2) The Arminians teach the possibility of a total fall from               of their way to mention the wonderful blessing of preserva-
faith and grace; the Reformed faith denies this, and teaches                    tion once more. They might have been satisfied merely to
the certain perseverance of the saints.                                         state : "Thus, it is not in consequence of. their own merits,

      3) The Arminians teach that such a final fall can easily                  or strength; but of God's free mercy, that they obtain this,"
happen as far. as man is concerned ; the Reformed faith                         allowing the pronoun "this" to refer to the blessings men-
teaches that as far as man is concerned such a final fall is                    tioned in Article 7: But this is not enough. They define

not only possible, but inevitable.                                              that "this" once more by adding: "that they do not totally

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


  fall from faith and grace, nor remain finally in their falls                 The important point to remember, however, in this con-

  and perish."    They rejoice in this truth. They find a special          nection is that throughout this article the fathers are speaking

  element of comfort in it. And for that reason purposely men-             of the saints, the believers. This is crucial. The issue is not

  tion this truth once more over against the Arminian heresy               whether the n&ral man, the man utterly devoid of grace,

  that the saints do totally fall from faith and grace, remain             the man in whom ,God has never worked unto salvation, the

  in their falls finally and perish. This is exactly the issue             man in whom is not found the seed of regeneration, can per-

  at stake, involving the very salvation of our                  do we,    severe if left to himself. The question is not merely whether.
                                                    souls  : 
  shall we, fall from faith and from grace and perish? The                 the natural man has any merits or powers unto perseverance.

  answer of the Reformed faith is an absolute and divinely                 No, we are concerned here with the saints, the believers. The

  guaranteed : No !                                                        question is : what would happen to them if -they were left to

     In the second place, let us notice that the fathers here put          themselves? Do those saints, who have been received into the

  the Arminian heresy in its true light. The Arminians always              fellowship of God's Son, who have been regenerated, who

  present their view of the perseverance of the saints thus,               have been delivered from the dominion and slavery of sin,

  that it is possible that the saints fall away, and even very             but who have. within them the remains of indwelling sin, -

  easily possible. Perhaps they would even admit that the                  do they persevere, are they kept from finally falling away, in

  falling away of the saints is highly probable. At least, they            consequence of their otin merits and powers ? Or, if you will,

  not only teach that the saints can easily fall away, but that            is there any condition that even a saint can fulfill unto preser-

  there are many instances of those who  actually do fall away.            vation ? This article concerns so-called "Reformed condi-

  The fathers point out that this is not really the Arminian               tions."    The saints are in fellowship with Christ. They have

  doctrine, but that the consequence of the Arminian heresy is             the .new life. They have freedom from the dominion and

  that there is no perseverance of the saints possible. They point         slavery of sin. Now then, can they through this grace fulfill

  out that as far as the saints themselves are concerned, they not         any conditions unto preservation ? The Arminians taught

 .only easily can, but undoubtedly &ozdld fall awny.  This is the          that this was possible: "God does indeed provide the believer

  consequence `that must be accepted. as soon as you deny the              with sufficient powers to persevere, and is ever ready to

  Reformed doctrine of perseverance. It must be remembered                 preserve these in him, if he will do his duty; but that

  that the Arminians exactly maintained that the saints are left           though all things, which are necessary to persevere in faith

  to-themselves in the matter of perseverance. 0 yes, the Holy             and. which God will use to preserve faith, are made use of,

  Ghost assists them. And Jesus Christ assists them in all                 it even then ever depends on the pleasure of the will whether

  temptations, and extends to them His hand. But they must                 it will persevere or not." Canons  V, B, 2. This is nothing

  be ready for the conflict, must desire His help, must not be             less than the theory of "Reformed conditions." God gives us

  inactive. .And  only then does He keep them from falling.                grace ; through this grace we fulfill the conditions ; and then

  Hence, in the last instance the perseverance of the saints de-           we receive the blessings of salvation. But the,fathers  rule this

  pends on their own will. From this the Arminians derived                 out completely. Not only the natural man, but the saint, the

  their doctrine of the possibility of a fall from grace. But our          believer, the man endowed with grace, if he is left to himself

  fathers go a step farther, and they insist that as soon as the           will undoubtedly fall from faith and grace totally and fall into

  perseverance of the saints depends on their own will, that               everlasting perdition.    There is absolutely nothing of man, -

  perseverance becomes impossible and their fall from grace                not even of believing, saved man, - in the wonder of per-

  becomes inevitable. This. we must plainly see. The issue is              severance. And is not the child of God taught to pray

  not a sure perseverance over against a possible perseverance,            exactly in harmony with this truth in the sixth peti-

 but a sure per-severance over against no perseverance at all.             tion of the Lord's Prayer, according. to our Ca.techims?  There

  As soon as you adopt the Arminian position, perseverance,                we read: `I. . . . since we (the saints) are so weak in our-
 - and with it the whole of salvation, - becomes a hopeless                selves (again : the saints, regenerated children of God), that

 case:                                                                     zve cannot stmd a momertt . . . do thou therefore preserve and

     It is in this connection that this article emphasizes, in             strengthen us by the power of thy.Holy Spirit, that we may
 the third place, that the perseverance of the .saints  is not in          not be overcome in this spiritual warfare, but constantly and
 consequence of their own merits or powers. This stands .in                strenuously may resist our foes, till at last we obtain a com-
 close connection, of course, with the preceding, and is not               plete victory."

 in need of much explanation. The Arminian teaches that the                                                                        H.C.H.

 saints are preserved on account of their own worthiness to be

preserved: they are willing to be preserved, and therefore

 God preserves. And he teaches that the saints are preserved

 in consequence of their own powers: Jesus Christ extends
                                                                                      Attention, Sunday School Teachers
 His powerful hand to them, but they must grasp that hand.

 Hence, the saints are really left to themselves when it comes                The inspirational mass meeting will be held at Hudson-

 to perseverance.                                                          ville Church Friday, March 20, at 8 :00 p. m.


                                            T H E   S T A N D - A R D   B E A R E R                                             253

                                                                iI government does not tolerate group-disciplining. Discipline,
             DECENCY and 0RDE.R -                                   according to our Reformed conception, is always individual
                                                                    and never communal.

                                                                        "Is it then permissible `for a Classis  or Synod to depose
                 Classical Jurisdiction                             individual office-bearers ? Regarding Ministers Article 79

   For some time now we have been busy in this depart-              clearly stipulates that a dual Consistory meeting may

ment with the `decision of the Christian Reformed Synod of          suspend a minister. Furthermore, the article reads, `Whether

1926 in which they took the ppsition  that it is proper for a       these shall be entirely deposed from office shall be subject to

Classis  to depose elders, deacons and ministers of the Word.       the judgment of the Classis, with the advice of the delegates

This decision was based in part upon Article 36 of the Church       of the (Particular) Synod mentioned in Article 11.' This

Order. It followed the reasoning that since this article speaks     provision is clear. No .minister  shall be deposed unless the

of the ju,Gsdiction  of the Classis  over the Consistory, this      Classis  concerned judges that deposition is in order. Deposi-

jurisdiction includes the prerogative to exercise the power of      tion of ministers `shall be subject to the judgment of the

deposition from the office.    In this connection we have given     Classis.' And Classis  shall be guided in rendering its opinion

the lengthy reports of a divided committee that was appointed       by the advice of the Synodical  delegates according to Article

in 1924 to study this question and also the report of the com-      11. Without the concurring advice of these delegates, no

mittee of Pre-advice to the 1926 Synod. The latter report           Classis  may decide that a certain minister should be deposed.

contained the conclusions drawn from a study of the two parts       This last provision was added to Article 79 as an additional        .

of the divided committee report and its summation was, in           safeguard by the Holland Churches in 1905, and by our

effect, the basis upon which Synod finally arrived at its           Churches in 1914.

decision.                                                               "Regarding elders and deacons Article 79 specifies that

   At this time we are not going to discuss in detail the con-      these shall be suspended or expelled from their office by

tents of these lengthy reports. Our purpose in presenting           sentence of their Consistory and that of the nearest Con-

them was informative and we can leave our readers judge             sistory.

for themselves as to which side of the issue they. wish to take.        "If any case is so involved aiid  so complicated that the

It is our own conviction that the Synod erred in this matter        two Consistories concerned judge that the judgment of all the

and should have followed the advice of the second part of the       Churches of the Classis  is needed,- then the matter should be

study committee report which concluded as follows:         '        brought to Classis.    In such a case the Consistory is expected

   VVe are yet of the opinion tht there is a way fov us to          to abide by the decision of Classis.  The Consistory follows

come to the desired a.greement.  The whole cowvaittee  is of        the advice of Classis.  The Classis  in such a case has a, full

the opinio%  that the Classis  according to Reformed `Chzt~h        right to appoint certain delegates who are to serve the Con-

Right has the right to set a refractory  consistory outside the     sistory with advice and who are to help the Consistory to

denomimtion  . . , ."                                               carry out the conclusions of the Classis.

    Even this, however, does not yet touch upon the essence             "If the case of an elder or deacon is brought to Classis  by

of the evil perpetrated by the Classis  and Synod in connec-        way of appeal on the part of individual members of the

tion with the origin and history of our Protestant Reformed         Church, or on the part of one or more consistory members,

Churches in these years. We will come to this a bit later but       the appellants feeling and claiming that the Consistory as a

before doing that we want to show that in Reformed circles          whole is negligent or in error, then what is the correct proce-

and even within the Christian Reformed Church there is no           dure ? The Classis  deliberates and draws its conclusions. If

unanimity with regard to the question of Classis'  jurisdiction.    the decision-is to the effect that the Elder(s) or Deacon(s)

For example, in connection with Article 79 of the Church            should be suspended or deposed, the Consistory concerned is

Order, Monsma and Van Dellen  raise the question: "May a            informed regarding this decision and proceeds to execute the

Classis  Depose Elders and Dea.cons?"  This is found `in the        judgment rendered.      Again, the Classis  has a full right to

Church Order Comzl+$entariy  pg. 327. We want to quote their        appoint a committee to help the Consistory in the execution

writing on this question in full because of the significance of     of its task. If a Consistory feels that it cannot in good con-

this matter. They write as follows :                                science accept the advice, it may appeal to Synod. If Synod

    "Some. have contended that a Classis  may depose Con-           sustains the Classis  the Consistory should give immediate

sistoriks. The present authors feel that no major assembly,         execution to the judgment of Classis. That is to say, the

according to Reformed Church polity and the Church Order            Consistory should suspend or depose the office-bearer in

has the right to depose a minor assembly. The deposition            question. Failure to do so would bear dire consequences. For

of a Consistory, for example, by a Classis  or Synod would          in such a case those Consistory members and individual

seem to be a violation of the integrity and of the rights of the    members of the Church concerned who desire to adhere to

particular church concerned, whereas the Church Order in            the decisions of Classis  and Synod should meet and declare

more than one article seeks to safeguard this integrity and         the deflecting or recalcitrant Consistory members to be out

these rights. (Cf. Arts. 30, 84.) Moreover, Reformed Church         of office, and new Elders and Deacons should he elected in


  284                                            T H E   -STANDARD   B E A R E R


  their place forthwith. An extraordinary congregational meet-               "We realize that both during the formative period of the

  ing of this kind should be called under the guidance of                 Reformed Churches and during their more advanced history,

  classical delegates, or of a neighboring Consistory, preferably         Classes and Synods have sometimes deposed, Elders and

  the former, to give assurance that all things will be done in           Deacons and even Consistories. But no one would dare to

  good order.                                                             claim that the Reformed Churches have always been true to

                                                                          themselves in matters of church government and that they
         "If any Consistory member thus deposed refuses to ac-
                                                                          have always interpreted their own Church Order correctly.
  knowledge his deposition and seeks to exercise his former
                                                                          Precedents do not decide this issue either one way or the
  rights, he makes himself liable to discipline as an individual
                                                                          other. We should seek to determine the basic principles fun-
  member.
                                                                          damental to Reformed denominationalism, and we should
         "If one or more deposed Consistory members, together             seek the correct historical and exegetical interpretation of the
  with certain adherents belonging to the Church concerned,               various articles of the Church Order which concern this
  refuse to honor the acts of deposition and the election of              question. Then we should draw our conclusions as to `what
  new office-bearers, and when these moreover begin to hold               is proper and improper."
  separate meetings for worship, Classis  should declare these
  members to be a schismatic group, outside of the Christian                  Our comments on this position of Monsma and Van
  Reformed denomination and having forfeited all rights and               Dellen  will have to wait until next time. In conclusion we
  privileges.                                                             would observe that if the Classes of the Christian Reformed
                                                                          Church had maintained this position in the Hoeksema-Dan-
         "It is true that Article 30 specifies that matters which can-    hof-Ophoff history instead of following the corrupt practices
  not be finished by minor assemblies, though rightfully be-              they did, the pages of history would today record a brighter
  longing to their domain, become the business of the -major              picture than they now do. Likewise, in our own history of
  assemblies. But in view of the fact that the. disciplinary              1953 ff. the principle of Classical jurisdiction was flagrantly
  articles of the Church Order clearly specify how discipline             violated. Had this not been the case, that history too might
  regarding office-bearers is to be exercised ,and in no way in-          have followed a wholly different course. But to all of this we
  timate that Elders and Deacons can be suspended or deposed              must come back in later writings, D.V.
  by the major assemblies, we do not believe that the appeal to
                                                                                                                                        G.V.D.B.
  Article 30 is justified. We believe that it is reasonable to

  assume that the early Synods at which our Church Order

  originated purposefully refrained from incorporating a

  provision in the Church Order that would allow our major

assemblies to suspend and .depose  Elders and Deacons. As                                      W E D D I N G   ANNIVERSAkY

  has been pointed out before, the early Reformed Churches                   On March 6, 1959, our dear parents,
  were eager to safeguard the integrity and the rights of the
                                                                                     MR. AND MRS. JUSTIN H. KORTERING
  particular Churches. The significant 84th article of our
                                                                          celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary. Our heartfelt  thanks are
  Church Order used to be Article 1 ! Let us also recall that
                                                                          to God for sparing them these years, in order that they might train
  it was not until 1581 that the Churches decided that hence-             us in the way we should go. Our prayer is that He may bless them
  forth no Consistory would suspend or depose an Elder or                 and us together unto tlie day we shall be gathered within the fold

  Deacon without the concurrent judgment of its nearest                   of the Lamb.

  neighbor Consistory. Furthermore, it cannot be denied that                                   T h e i r   c h i l d r e n ,

  the question of deposition of Elders and Deacons is an im-                                             Lafern
                                                                                                        Erma
  portant one. It is not unreasonable to assume that a provision
                                                                                                        Jess
  permitting major assemblies to depose Elders and Deacons                                           Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Schuitema

  was left out of Article 79 purposefully. For notwithstanding                                           Mr. and Mrs. Jason L. Kortering
  the fact that Article 79 tells us how Elders and Deacons shall                                        Ervin

 ' be deposed it does not provide for the deposition of Elders

  and Deacons by Classes or Synods. And yet the same Article
                                                                                    "OPEN HOUSE" for MR. GERRIT BERGSMA
  does specify that Ministers shall be deposed by the judgment

  of the Classis.                                                            In grateful acknowledgement of the eighty-i?&  birthday of Mr.

                                                                          Gerrit Bergsma,  occurring this month, we, his children invite .&is
         "We believe, moreover, that it can be contended success-         relatives and friends to greet him at "Open House" in his honor on
  fully that the deposition of minor assemblies by major as-              Saturday, March 28th, between 2 and 4 p.m. and between 7 and

  semblies constitutes a negation of the general office of all            9 p. m. Place: 1942 Sherman St., S. E. (Corner Laurel), East Grand

  believers, which should begin to function when certain ab-              Rapids, Michigan.
  normal situations -arise,  and that it likewise involves an in-                                                       Mrs. Aldrich Bergsma
                                                                                                                        Mrs. Henry G. Keegstra
  fringement upon the right of' reformation which should ever                                                           Stuart and Mildred Bergsma
  be held inviolate by the Church of God.                                                                               Joseph and Rena Alberts


                                              T H E   S T A N D ARD~   B E A R E R                                                           285
I 1.                                                                    ,i     Committee reports of Japanese espionage by fishing vessels
I II           A L L - A R O U N D   Us                                        were ridiculed as headline hunting. Capt. Laurence Safford,
                                                                               who was recently awarded $100,000 by a grateful Congress

                                                                               for his World War II coding and decoding inventions, had

   Report of American Bay  Association.                                        decoded all the Japanese pre-Pearl Harbor war messages for

                                                                               his superiors. Yet, the_attack  came as a stunning surprise.
        We are indebted to a friend and brother who sent us a
                                                                                   "Most persons who are informed on communism think
   copy. of a pamphlet entitled "Report Of American Bar As-
                                                                               our country is now in greater danger than were the Titanic
   sociation, Special Committee On Communist Tactics, Stra-
                                                                               and Pearl Harbor. The thesis of J. Edgar Hoover's new
   tegy, And Objectives."    The report is prefaced with a brief
                                                                               book, Ma&m Of Deceit, is:
   note informing the reader that though the American Bar
                                                                                   `Communism is the major menace of our time. Today, it
   Association took no action on the report, Senator Styles
                                                                               threatens the very existence of our western civilization.'
   Bridges succeeded in having the report inserted in the Con-
                                                                                  ."In his speech to the 1957 National Convention of the
   gressional Record.
                                                                               American Legion, Mr. Hoover warned:
        We have read and re-read the pamphlet rather carefully                     `To dismiss lightly the existence of the subversive threat
   and feel that it contains information on `the threat of com-                in the United States is to deliberately commit national sui-
   munism which every citizen of the United States should                      cide. In some quarters we are surely doing just that.'
   know. If our readers are interested in obtaining a copy,                        "On July 6, 1958, Prof. J. Sterling Livingston, a Pen-
   they can write to : American Opinion, Belmont 78, Massa-                    tagon consultant, stated :
   chusetts, and include 20# in your request for a single copy.                    `The doctrine of pre-emptive war is definitely a part of
        This pamphlet is one of the most informative on the                    Soviet strategy. The Russians plan as part of their strategy
   subject we have yet come across, and we understand that it                  to strike a forestalling nuclear blow against their enemies.'
   is being widely commented on by our citizenry. Its descrip-                     "The lawyer-author of the Gaither  report to the Pres-
   tion of the communistic ideology is so vivid and appalling.
                                                                   .           ident on national security recently told our association:
   that one shivers to think that it should ever succeed. We                       `Our security is in unprecedented peril . . . The ulti-
   hasten to add that, according to the pamphlet, much of the                  mate objective of international communism is world domina-
   communistic plan is already achieved or in the process of                   tion, and the Soviet Union will pursue this objective ruth-
   `development. The pamphlet, which contains some 21 pages,                   lessly and relentlessly, employing every possible political,
   is naturally too large to quote in its entirety. However, we                economic, subversive, and military strategem and tactic.' "
   wish to give our readers a general survey of its contents,                     The five chapters of the pamphlet are headed by the fol-
   and a few pertinent quotes.                                                 lowing titles: I. Court Decisions On Communism. II. Corn--

        The Report contains five main chapters which have a                    munistic Tactics. III. Hindsight Or Foresight. IV. Current

   brief introduction under the subtitle of "Paul Reveres Are                  Fallacies About Communism. V. Safeguarding Our Republic.

  `Not. Always Heeded."      The purpose of this introduction is                  Chapter I makes it very plain, on the one hand, that there

   to impress the reader with the menacing nature of com-                      have been Supreme Court Justices who assumed a very rigid

   munism and the warning not to let this alert go unheeded.                   attitude and policy against any and all communistic infiltra-

   We remember from our history books that the Paul Revere                    . tions into our system ; while, on the other hand, it shows

   of the days of the American Revolution sounded the warning                  with twenty concrete cases how our courts have often quashed

   that the British were coming, and how the colonists responded               the decisions of lower courts and the efforts of anti-subversive

   to that warning. But, the pamphlet shows, all Paul Reveres                  committees whose purpose it was to stop the communistic

   have not always been heeded. Illustrations of this are given                effort in its -tracks. We receive the impression from the read-

   in the case of the Titanic which sank in the Atlantic bringing              ing of this chapter that our courts are generally hamstrung

   1635 people to an unexpected watery grave on April 15,                      when it comes to stopping the communistic effort. Also we

   1912. We are told that "five iceberg warnings were sent by                  were impressed with the fact that the reporting committee

   wireless to the Titanic. When the sixth message, `Look out                  of the American Bar Association has very little respect for

   for icebergs,' came in, the Titanic's operator wired back:                  the Fifth Amendment which can so easily be invoked to hide

   `Shut up, I'm busy.'      Just thirty-five minutes later, the               the guilty.

   ship, whose captain had said `God Himself could not sink                       Chapter II of the Report was most enlightening, con-

   it,' was sinking."                                                          taining several quotations which summarize communist tac-

        The Report goes on to say "The phrase `Remember Pearl                  tics, strategy and objectives. We quote here rather liberally:

   Harbor' should remind us that we, people and leaders, were                     "Communist Russia has been called `a riddle wrapped in

   cocksure and complacent before the afternoon of December 7,                 a mystery inside an enigma.' This is true only for those

   1941. The FBI had warned of frequent messages from the                      who are ignorant of Communist writings. The Communists

   Japanese consulate at Hawaii to Tokyo telling of the presence               have set forth their master plan of world conquest even more

   and absence of American warships at Pearl Harbor. Dies                      forthrightly than did Hitler in Mein  Kam$f.  The Com-

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


 munist Manifesto said : `The Communists disdain to conceal             Much more is quoted in this section, but this will

their views and aims.' Communists have never deviated from          suffice to show the awful objectives Russia has in mind. The

the theory enunciated- by Marx and the strategy devisea  by         following are the major Communist tactics: 1. Nullification -

Lenin.                                                              of the Smith Act and other anti-Communist legislation. 2.

       "For- those who want to understand communism, we             Muzzling the FBI and congressional investigations. 3. Elim-

prescribe, not a fifteen-day trip to Russia, but fifteen days       ination of Federal -and State security programs. 4. The

in a library studying the Communist conspiracy. The follow-         peace offensive. 5. Summit conferences. 6. Cultural ex-

ing are an accurate summary of Communist tactics, strategy,         changes. 7. Recognition of Red China. 8. Halt nuclear

and objectives.                                                     tests. 9. East-West trade. 10. Propaganda. 11. Humiliation.

       "The Communist master for world conquest was stated          This last refers to the method they use of deprecating our

by Lenin iri these words:                                           government and its leaders.

       `First, we will take Eastern Europe, then the masses of         Some of the major fallacies about Communism which the

Asia, then we will encircle the United States, which will be        pamphlet mentions in chapter IV and explains, are the

the last bastion of capitalism. We will not have to attack. It      following : 1. "Communism in the United States is dwindling

w?ll  fall like an overripe fruit into our hands.'                  in power because the party is dwindling in numbers." 2.

       "During the.last twenty-five years, the United States has    "The Communist Party is just another political party." 3.

had 3,400 meetings with the Communists, including Teheran,          "Poverty breeds communism." 4. "The only alternative

Yalta, Potsdam,  Panmunjom, and Geneva. The negotiators             to peaceful coexistence is World ,War III with nuclear des-

spoke 106 million words (700 volumes). All this talk led to         truction of our cities."

fifty-two major agreements, and Soviet Russia has broken               Chapter V treats of "Safeguarding Our Republic." The

fifty of them. The Communists have followed Lenin's dictum          Report recommends the following actions be taken : 1. Reme-

about treaties and agreements :                                     dial legislation : Under this heading the committee urges that

    `Promises are like pie crusts -made to be broken.'              "careful consideration be given to congressional legislation

"During the last three years, the United States has                 or judicial construction which will : Restore to congressional

met seventy-three `times at Geneva with the Chinese Reds to         committees the right to determine whether the questions

negotiate the release of 450 American prisoners. Not one            asked of pro-Communist witnesses are pertinent. Restore to

American serviceman has beed  accounted for or released. The        congressional cominittees  the same freedom to investigate

Communists have followed Stalin's principle of diplomatic           Communists and pro-Communists that these committees have

intercourse :                                                       always had to investigate businessmen and labor leaders.

    `Words must have no relation to action - otherwise what         Restore to the States the right to enforce their own antisub-

kind of diplomacy is it? Words are one thing, actions an-           versive laws. Restore to the Smith Act the provision which

other. Good words are a mask  for concealment of bad deeds.         makes it a crime to teach or advocate the violent overthrow of

Sincere diplomacy is no more possible than dry water or iron        the Government. Restore to the Smith Act. the meaning of

wood.'                                                              `organize' which includes organizational work done after `45,

    "Marx and Engels  stated this objective in the Communist        so that Communist organizers cannot hide behind the statute

Manifesto :                                                         of limitations. Restore to the executive branch the right to de-

    `The  theory of the Communists may be summed up in.             termine and to dismiss security risks in both sensitive and

the single sentence: Abolition of private property.'                nonsensitive positions of the Government. Restore to the

    "Lenin gave  this command to Communists: `We have to            States the right to set standards high enough to exclude from

use any ruse, dodges, tricks, cunning, unlawful method, con-        public employment and education those who refuse to testify

cealment, and veiling of the truth.' _                              about their Communist activities and associates. Restore to

    "On another occasion Lenin added: `As long as capital-          the executive branch the right to question aliens awaiting de-

ism remains we cannot live in peace. In the end one or the          portation about subve&ve associates and contacts, and the

other will triumph- a funeral requiem will be sung over             right to deport aliens who are Communists at any time after

the Soviet Republic or over world capitalism.'        -             entering the United States. Restore to the executive branch

    "On September 17, 1955, Nikita Krushchev warned us :            the right to deny passports to those who refuse to sign a

`If anyone thinks that our smiles mean the abandonment of           non-Communist affidavit. Restore to the States the right to

the teachings of Marx, Engels,  and Lenin, he is deceiving          exclude from the practice of law those who have'been mem-

himself cruelly. Those who expect this to happen might just         bers of the Communist conspiracy or who refuse to testify

as well wait for a shrimp to learn how to whistle.'                 about Communist activities."

    "Krushchev  made this statement to Western diplomats              2. Re-evaluate the policy of recognition of Soviet Russia

at a Moscow reception on November 18,' 1956: `If you.don't          and its satellites. 3. Be prepared with a plan of action. 4.

like us,. don't accept our invitations and don't invite tis to      Study Communism.

come to see you. Whether you like it or not, history is `on            We found the pamphlet very helpful to interpret atid to

our side. We will bury you.' "                                      keep abreast of the times in which we live.               M.S.


                                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 287


il                                                                              School, but not because some teacher "assigned" a section
                           CONTRIBUTIONS                                   II of literature which is not to be appreciated but is to be
                                                                                evaluated and criticized.

                                                                                                               Yours in Christ,
                                           1125 Franklin St., S. E.
                                                                                                                             Agatha Lubbers
                                           Grand Rapids 7, Michigan

                                           March 9, 1959
                                                                                                                               March 5, 1959
      Rev. Herman Hoeksema
                                                                                Dear Mr. Editor:
      1139 Franklin  St., S. E.
                                                                                   The English Staff of Grand Rapids Christian High.School
      Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
                                                                                was sorely disappointed this past week to read the column
      Esteemed Editor :                                                         entitled All Aro,md  Us in the March 1 issue-of The Standard
          In the March 1st issue of The Stmdard  Bearer I read'an               Bearer.     We were disappointed because we feel that our
      article above the signature of Rev. M. Schipper that I felt               school has been misrepresented and that oin-  good name has

      degr&ded  the quality of The Sta.ndard Bearer.                            been maligned. The purpose of this letter is'to set the facts

          I am convinced that articles of this nature should not                straight. We call the attention of the readers of this periodical

      appear in'a periodical of the caliber of our Standard Bearer.             to the following:

      I do not believe that The Stan&d  Bearer is or ever was                       1. The Litera:vy  Cavalcade is a monthly magazine of con-
      intended to be a medium to propagate material in which                    temporary literature for senior high school English classes.

      motives are misrepresented or are not investigated. This, I be-           At G. R. C. H. it has been used with considerable profit over

      lieve, Rev. Schipper did when he'called the name and reputa-              the past many years -long enough to establish our faith in

      tion of Christian High School into question by referring-to               its regularly high-caliber offerings.

      an article in Lsiterary  Cavalcade which was supposedly as-                  2. Presently, the Litemry  Cavalcade is being used in

      signed to all the students of a particular class.                         three of our English classes, all for non-college preparatory

          I ani convinced that a writer may never rush into print               seniors.

      unless he has first consulted the party in question and in this               3. In reference to the play under attack, The Green

      case I am sure Rev. Schipper never did. If he did,he should               Pastures by Marc Connelly, the Reverend M. Schipper errs

      tell us.                                                                  when he charges that one of our teachers has "compelled the

          I do not'believe that such journalistic ethics may be left            student to read this k&d of stuff." To set the record straight

      unchallenged nor should they be tolerated. Matthew 18 al-                 -no assignment was given at any time to have the students

      wgys applies, it seems to me, whether we are dealing with                 read The Green Pastures. In fact, the teacher involved

      one personal or a communal organization.                                  deliberately avoided this selection and even cautioned at

          The statement which follows is also very unnecessary, it              least one of his classes concerning its use. In the light of

      seems to me.                                                              this, we find especially objectionable Reverend Schipper's

             "We are primarily critical of ou; Christian institutions           censor of "the Teacher who most likely believes that due to

                  of learning that will resort to this type of literature as    the common grace of God we have here a work of art which

                  a means of instruction, and the teacher who most              our covenant children should appreciate."

                  likely believes that due to the common grace of God              4. ,We also sometimes use T&ze  Ma.gazine,  Newsweek,

                  we have here a work of art which our covenant chil-           and The Rea.der's Digest as supplements to some of our

                  dren should appreciate. (Italics mine.)                       courses. No one of these is free from occasionally objection-

          This statement is highly questionable because the writer-,            able material, no more than is the newspaper which comes

      Rev. Schipper, assumes something that he cannot prove be-                 into our homes.

      cause .he apparently never talked with the teacher who "as-                  Apparently the Reverend Schipper has been misinformed.

      signed" the work. Rev. Schipper assumes that the teacher This is not surprising in that he himself says that he received

      thought this was a work of art which the student should                   his information secondhand. We close with the suggestion

      appreciate.                                                               that, in deference to the spirit of brotherly, love enjoined upon
          Literature is not always intended nor used for mere                   us by Scripture and out of concern for the good name of our

      appreciation. Literature must alsb be evaluated. Does Rev.                Christian schools, those taking exception to any report or
      Schipper know whether the teacher intended to evaluate the                rumor concerning the educational program of our school
literature in question ?                                                        should consult us directly. It is at this level, rather than in
          Rev. Schipper used it and he then evaluated it and the in-            our church papers, that remedial action can best be taken if
      stitution that used it. How about that ? .                                and whenever it is needed.
          May we measure with two measures ?                                                            The English St&  of Grand Rapids
          In closing I want to say that I too believe that we                                                   Christian High School
                                                                       wm.st
      have Protestant Reformed Education. I too believe that the                  -Rev. Schipper will answer this in the next issue of The

      time is come that we have a Protestant Reformed High                      Standard  Bearer.                                           M.S.


                   .               _           - ._
             :                                                                            _.- -~~__~~:  - -~~
 288 -(`-. ,.                                   THE  ST.A.NDnRD-?3&A.RER  -

   _- _.                                                               know mine  -end;  and the, geasure  of. my days, what it is ;

     -NEWS FR0.M OUR CHUR&tiES                                         that I -may' know how frail I am."
                                                                        ,DOXOU   A G R E E , '   t h a t          / -*
             .., 'f,@ the,saint.s  salute thee ; . ." PHIL. 4:21                .,. .

                                                                          When the mit&ter,.in. the  Communion service, says, "The
                  _ _                                                  bread which we bkss," or "The cup of blessing' which we
                                                  March 5, 1959
                                                                       bless," he means, "which we pya.ise"; and,: when he holds his
     Creston's Men  and Ladies' society was iuest at the Young         hand above the bread, or the wine; he th&-eby~  merely in-
 People's S@&y  Ineeting  of Feb. 24. The after recess                 dicates the objedt  of praise, and does not pronounce a blessing
 program cop&ted.  of pictures- of Miss Borduin's world                upon it like  a: Romish priest does upon the first:spadeful  of
 travels; the twid postponed tobbggan  party With Kalamazoo            dirt at .a dedicat:on  `ceremony ; and,  therefore it might be
 was finally held Feb. 17.  at Echo -Valley'  in Kalamazoo ; and,      preferable that her would hold his hand, palm up, so as not to
 Cornelius Lubbers,  so& of our Missionary will be inducted            give children a wr,ong  impression ?
 into the Army March 5 `for- .a six month duration.                       Rev. Harbach"of  Lynden, spoke in the Christian' High
    _ Rev. l!I. Veldman  .has requested the following to be his
                                                                       Library for the Moth& Club, Feb. 20. His topic: "Under-
 contribution from Edgerton  :~ The church of Rev. P. DeBoer           standing And -Teaching The Five Points of Calvinism To
 has requested admittance into the Christian Reformed Church.
                                                                       Our Children" ; further, Ljrnden  will hold the annual Prayer
 The Minnesota' Classis,  convening Feb:  25 appointed a com-
                                                                       Day service a week early  because the pastor has a classical
 mittee to confer with DeBoer and .his consistory.                     appointment at Rgdlands,  March 8 and 15 ; and, despite the
     Edgeltcin-rejoices  in the ownership of a two-manual reecl        pleas to the contrary, the radio statioh  that carries our pro-
 organ donated by a local piano company, while Oak Lawn                grani  out there has transferred all week-day religious broad-
 still struggles with the raising of necessary f;lnds  t6 purchase     casts to a Sunday spot.
 an instrument $or their services ; and, despite  the reputation
                                                                       - _ In Oak Lawnjs  bull&in, the Church Extension Commit-
 of the Northwest for having Severe blizzards, Edgerton  has
                                                                       tee reports, via News Letter, that they send out 75 copies of
 not cancelled a single catechism class due to winter weather.
     Seven young  people of First Church made confession of            The Standard. Be,arer  on a six month trial basis ; having
 faith before the consistory Feb. 23; further, the consistory          covered the DeMott,  Ind. area, they now are reaching
 has decided td resume.  the former practice of taking collec-         people in Highland; Ind., and Western Springs, Ill: They
 tions without congregational ,singing.  The purpose being to          have also sent out 2,000 copies of "The Unbreakable Bond-Of
                                                                       Marriage," by Rev. H. H., besides their other- activities. The
 iecognize  the sanctity of both offertory and, congregational
 singing.                                                              -purpose of the committee is, "to disseminate the Protestant
     The Smorgasbord put on by the Mothers' Club of Adams              Reformed Literature, which we believe to be the Word of
  School is history arid will live long in the memory pf the           God, and our mandate in the world."

 diners. The Mr. and Mrs. Society of South East Church used              ~. Loveland has welcomed into their communion a family

 that opportunity to sell household necessities in one of the          with two- baptized children, coming to them from the' First

 other ropms,  the proceeds going into their Organ Fund.               Presbyterian Church in Hastings, Nebraska ; and, an an-

     The Young People's Society sf Holland scheduled Glen              nouncement was made that a meeting has been called for

Windemuller on the after recess program with an essay on               March  23 for all those interested in a Christian day school

  "Religious Beliefs of Youth."                                        of our own! A three week  advance notice of that meeting

     From Hope's bulletin we learn that service-man Dale               was given in order that they might have ample time to

 Mensch has returned to the States atid  is hospitalized at Great      provoke (Rom. 11:14) one another towards that worthy

  Lakes where he must remain for some time.                            goal.

     Hull's Young People's  Society was host to a combined                Rev. Emanuel quotes Rev. Hoeksema (speaking at a
 meeting with that of Doon and `of Edgerton. That meeting              Sta,ndard  Bearer Annual meeting) in his Feb. 21st bulletin
 represented a lot of mileage-even across State lines ! The            under "Worth Thinking About" as follows : !`A11  our people
 communions  of saints on the young people's level also sur-           ought to be readers of The-Stcmdard  Bearer;.  . . . All of our
 .mounts  those (to us, Easterners) huge distances. Hull's new         people should be readers, ypu  must not put the magazine on
 clerk is J. Hoekstra, Bo~yden,  Iowa; and the Treasurer is H.         the shelf . . . neither must you select certain articles that
 Hoksbergen, Hull, Iowa.                                               perhaps strike  your fancy. You must be readers of the whole

    - We note that this winter has pioduced  quite a crop of           Staridard  Bearer." _
  broken bones;          arms, legs and hips. First's bulletin, for        Grand Rapids area folks are looking forward to March
 -instance, welcoming back a member who has not been in                19 and April 5 when Easter programs will  be rendered by
 church for months due to a broken hip, while another member           Adams school., and Hope Choral Society, respectively.
  is hospitalized for the same malady. Truly calling for an
  echo. of Ps. 39 :4 when David prays, "Lord, make  me to,                       . . . . See  you in church. -                  J.M.F.


