    voInME XXXVI                             NOVEMBER 1, 1959 - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                    NUMBER 3


                                                                      con+letion,  but are choked down..  That's not correct either,
              M EDITATIO'N                                            and for the same  reason as cited above.

                                                                             They cannot be called "secret" anymore.

                                                                            What then ?
                    . SECRET ERROIiS

                                                                            The word: "errors" means the sins which are made
              ~`,Wlao can understand his eproys?  Clea;uzse  Thou     through stupidity, blindness and hardness of heart.
              me frown ~ecrit  fdts.~    PSALM 19 :12.
                                                                            We sinned, but knew not that we sinned.

   The contekt  of my ttxt is a strange one.              .                 Ah, but there we haye  a terrible picture ! The root of

                                                                      the word "errors" is to pierce, `to cleave,, to separate. And
   The first six verses speak of the glory of God in creation,
                                                                      its idea is the action whereby we tore ourselves from the
with the sun in its center. The.following  five verses speak
                                                                      light in order to walk in dark, evil ways. And we knew
of God's doctrine and its glory. And then, all of a sudden
                                                                      it not.
a cry of the sinner : "Who can understand his errors ? Cleanse

Thou me fro&  secret faults." (And the last word is not in                  The secret faults are the dark corners of our heart. And

the text.)                                                            that is not innocent `either. Our secret errors are the fruit

 I think that we should explain it as follows :                       of the. original error of Adam.

   -First, the inspired, poet points to the glory of God in                  Let us take a classical example. Luther, storming at the
nature, and outlines the place of the sun in that glorious            brethren regarding the Lord's Supper. He would have the
                                                                      wine and bread to be the actual body and blood of Jesus
spectacle.
                                                                      Christ. Luther did not know that this was an error. He
    Secerid,  he refers to the doctrine of God, the law, which        was serious, sincere. But it was an error nevertheless,
finds its type in the sun.                     k
                                                                            Do you remember the long and bitter fights in church
    Third, the cry of the sinner is the result::of  the searching.    gatherings regarding "Kleine  bekertjes" ? (I refer there to
power of God's doctrine, and more specifically, in'his heart.         the small cups in the Lord's Supper, rather  than a few large

   And so I would talk a little of that cry.                          C U P S . j

                                                                            Argument was placed overagainst  argument,. reasoning
                         * + * *                                      against reasoning, heads and heartsi  became bitter, friends
   The key-word is "errors."                                          were estranged, and brethren were torn apart.

    What are they ?                "                                        Secret  -faults, because  the unity is not in the vessel but

   There &-e some explanations which are not correct.                 in the wine. But the people thought that'they  were fighting
                                                                      for God.  and against -the modern lie,
    Some.say  that they refer to the sins which we committed                               _
in secret.                                                                  Ah, secret faults!
                                                                                                -.
   Now we admit that a very great number of sins are com-                                             +`+- * *

mitted in secret, but I do not think that they are meant
here. That is plain from the peculiarly questioning form                    And David cc&fksses  them.

which implies the answer, namely: No one! No. one can                       David saw many sins in his life, both in his outward life,

understand his errors.                                                but more so in his inner life. And he confessed.

    There are others who say: the sins that do not come, to                 He enumerated his sins : but, oh God ! there so many; I


                                                          T,HE   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

I cannot number them at all. And so we hear him say: I am But there is more than that in this. cleansing.
           evil, born in sin!                                                   It is not so that we are merely cleansed from our sins.

              And when the light of God's Spirit shone in his heart he       No, there is much more. When we are cleansed we are
           saw many, many sins.                                              exalted to a heavenly beauty,. purity and innocence.

              But he also saw the very dark corners in his. heart where         God does not merely place us in the first Paradise where
          he could not taste and value: And he distrusted. those             Adam and Eve dwelled.

          corners. He feared lest he forgot some sins he committed.             No, but He places us in a Paradise which beggars descrip-
           No, that is not the right word. It was not a matter of "for-      tion. Read the last two chapters of Revelation.
          getting" sins, it was a matter whether or not he even saw
                                                                                Moreover; He so renews us that we can never sin again.
           sin for what it was.
                                                                                And if you should ask me : but how is this all possible ?
           He feared that many sins escaped being seen and rec-
                                                                             Then I would answer you: its possibility .and  reality is in
           ognized.
                                                                             the cross of Jesus Christ.
              Beloved friends! Read the foregoing sentence over and             That cross spells forgiveness, cleansing and sanctification.
           over again. He feaTed  that many sins escaped behg seen and
           recognized.                                                          And the Agent who cleanses us is the Spirit of grace,
                                                                             the Spirit Who was poured out on Pentecost and Who dwells
            Oh, but this is Contra Na.tzwawz.                                in the Church of `Christ ever since.
              According to our old nature we .do the very. opposite.

          Then we try to ?vzin&&ze  sin. But when the goodly light of                                  * + * *
           God's grace enters our hearts we become very careful. Then

          comes consciousness of guilt.                                         The end is Beauty of Holiness.

              And then comes &s&t  of self.                                    And so, don't be stupid.

              Do you see the picture now?                                        Stupidity is the cause of the secret errors. Then- you

              A very humble man is speaking in our text. A man who           fume and fight, but, it is for bad things. Hot heads and
           does not fly upon the shoulder of his neighbor to destroy         cold hearts.

           him. A man who is much harder on SELF than on the                    Instead, learn from Jesus Christ: "Take My yoke upon
          neighbor.       A man who is filled with the love of. God. A       you, and learn of IMe ; for I am meek and lowly in heart,
           man who because of that hates sin. He hates sin, of course.       and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy,
           But he hates even the sin which he cannot see in his own          and My burden is light." Matt. 11 29, 30.
           heart. He thoroughly distrusts himself. And he throws him-           Do not be blind.. I am speaking to the disciples of
           self in the. arms of God, with the prayer: Oh God! I do           Christ. I am speaking to myself. There is- much blindness
           not trust my heart. There are dark corners in my heart. I         left in the regenerated heart. .And  blindness causes secret
           may be doing .things  which definitely are against Thee and       faults. They are faults that are secreted from your own
           Thy law. 0 God! cleanse Thou me from secret faults !              consciousness.

                                      *    *    *    +                           Instead, let the light of' the glorious Gospel of Christ
                                                                             shine unto you. And that light is the glorious knowledge of

              Yes, David asks the Lord to cleanse ' him from those           God in the face of Jesus Christ. Then you become wise unto
           secret faults.                                                    salvation. Then you know what you should think, speak and
              David is not yet satisfied.                                    act. Then you do not stagger in your very behaviour over-
                                                                             against the brethren.
               It is not enough to know our sins.
               It is not enough that we desire to be forgiven.                   Do not be hard and cruel.

             But we want to be cleansed from them.                               There is much hard-heartedness left in the living church

               There is a text in God's Word which at once comes to          of Christ.

           our consciousness. It is found in Isaiah 1 :18, "Come- now,           And that also is a cause of the secret faults. Father did
           and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins      so and so, and it is good enough for me. And you go on in
           be as scarlet, they shall'be.as  ,white as snow; though they      your way of self-deception.
           be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."                          Instead, learn of Christ for He was of a meek and lowly
               Oh yes, we want the cleansing of them.                        heart.       He learned obedience by the things which He
              To cleanse means to be beautiful, to be pure, to be inno-     `suffered.
           cent again.


                                                                                                       * * -* *


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R ' E R                                                                                                51


         And even then, there shall be the dark corners of your
     heart.                                                                                    T H E   S T A N D A R D .   BE.ARER
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         We, all of us, shall have opportunity to pray the prayer                 Published by the REFORMED FREE  PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION
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         It shall be good to pray his prayer: Who can understand                                      Editor 1 REV. HE&AN HOEKSEMA
     his errors ? Cleanse Thou me from secret faults !                          Communications relative to contents should be ad&essed  to
                                                                                              Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
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                                                                                                James Dykstra,' 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
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     any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."
                                                                                                                    C O N T E N T S
     Psalm 139:23,  24.
                                                                             M E D I T A T I O N  -
         `The love of God shall be your guide, your prompter.                         Secret Errors . . . . __..  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..49

         For it is the love of God which will teach you to hate                              Rev. G. Vos

     sin, especially your own sin.                                           EDITORIALS -
                                                                     G.V.             Evolution,. Long Periods, O r Days.. . . . _. _. . . . . . .52

                                                                                      As To Being Protestant Reformed . . . . . . . . . . .._...............................                    53
-
                                                                                             Rev. H. Hoeksema


                                                                             OUR  DOCTRINE -

                                                                                      The Book of Revelation ._. .._ ______.  . ..__  . . _, ._..__.... . . . . . . . . . . . . ..54
                       Deacons'  Conference                                                  Rev. H. Hoeksema


     All present and former deacons are invited to the Deacons' A CLOUD  OF WITNESSES -
     Conference,                                                                      The Meeting of Jacob and Esau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..~..................  57
                                                                                             Rev. B. Woudenberg
                      NOVEMBER 20, at 8 :00 P. M.

                                                                             FROM HOLY WRIT  -
               at the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church.                         Exposition. of Romans 14, 15 (9) _....,..___._______...........,.............                        59

                                                                                              Rev. G, Lubbers
                                   Topic :

                                                                             CONTENDING 
      -"What. af*e  the Fz6nda*mentn,l  Require+Nents  of a Deacon."                            FOR THE  FAITH -
                                                                                      The Church and the Sacraments __.......,....._..............................                         61
                    Speaker: REV. H. C. HOEKSEMA                                             .Rev.  H. Veldman

                                   The Diaconate of the Hudsonville          Tr? VolCE OF OUR Fans -
                                                                                      The Canons of Dordrecht ___.............__........................................                    63
                                   Prot. Ref. Church                                         Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

                                  H. Boer, Secretary                         DECENCY AND ORDER -                      -

                                                                                      Deacons' Meetings (continued) ._._..._._______................................                       65

                                                                                              Rev. G. Vanden Berg


                                                                             ALL  AROUND Us -
                               `IN MEMORIAM                                           "The Debate Over Divine Election". .__._......  .._ ._.. . . . . . . . . . ..__...___  67

                                                                                      "Is Capital Punishment W r o n g ? " .   _.. .._.  _. .___..  __..............._ 67.
         The Men's Society of South West Protestant Reformed Church                   The Rights of Consistory Members at Congregational                                                  .
     wishes to express its sympathy to two of our fellow members, Mr.                     Meetings ,....___..,......._.............................................................        68

     Richard Kooiker and Mr. Peter Cnosen, in. the loss of their                              Rev. M. Schipper

                                 MOTHERS                                     SPECIAL hTICLE-  -

                                                                                      The Standard Bearer's Witness _______.__..,...................................  69
         May God give grace to the bereaved so they may know that all                         Rev. B. Woudenberg
     things  .work  together for good to them that love God.
                                                                             NEWS FROM  OUR CHURCHES  . . . ..___....____.....................~..........................                       71
                                          Rev. M. Schipper, President                         Mr. J. M. Faber                           _

                                          Isaac Kuiper, Secretary

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


                                                                           cannot have been days as we know them but must have been
               E,DITORIALS                                                 long periods. This, however, is absurd and impossible. For,
                                                                           if from the fact that neither evening nor morning are men-

                                                                           tioned in the account of Gen. 2 concerning the seventh day,

              Evolution,  Long Periods,  Or Days                           the conclusion is clrawn that, therefore, this day was without
                                                                           end, it must' follow that also the six days of creation, sup-
        -Before  we finish the present series on the days of creation,     posing they were like. the seventh day, must have been end-
  we still have to call attention to the seventh day which God             less. And this is absurd. Hence, we maintain, that also ,the
  instituted as the sabbath for creation and especially for man.           seventh day, as it was sanctified by the Lord for the crea-ture
        Of this we read more than once in Scripture.                      and especially for man, was an ordinary day limited by eve-

        First of all in Gen. 2 :2, 3 : "And on the seventh day God        ning and ,morning.  This is corroborated by the fourth com-
  ended his work which he had made, and he rested on                      mandment which speaks of the `six days of creation and, in
 .the  seventh day from all his work which he had made.                   the very same connection, mentions the seventh day as the,
 And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it; because               day on which God rested. This is also the explanation of
  that in it he had rested from all his work which God created            Iieil  in his commentary on this passage. Writes he: "But
  and made."       And in the law, as recorded in Ex. 20 ~3-11:           true as it is that the Sabbath of God has no evening, and that
  "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt              the mbbatismos,  to which the creature is to attain at the
 thou labor, and- do all thy work: But the seventh day is the             end of his course, will be bounded by no evening, but last
 sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any                 forever ; we must not, without further ground, -introduce this
 work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant,               true and profound idea into the seventh creation-day. We
 nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is           could only be warranted in adopting such an interpretation,
 within thy gates : For in six days the Lord made heaven and              and understanding by the concluding day of the work of
 earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh          creation a period of endless duration, on the supposition that
 day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hal-                the six preceding days were so many periods in the world's
 lowed it."      And in Ex. 31 :15-17:  "Six days may work be             history, which embraced the time from the beginning of cre-
 done ; but in the seventh day is the sabbath of rest, holy to the        ation to the final completion of its development. But as the
 Lord: whosoever doeth any work on the sabbath day, shall                 six creation-days, according to the words of the text, were
 surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall           earthly days of ordinary duration, -we  must understand the
 keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their                seventh in the same way ; and that all the more because in
 generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between              every passage, in which it is mentioned as `the foundation of
 me and the ehildren of Israel forever : for in six days the Lord         the theocratic Sabbath, it is regarded as an ordinary day."
 made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and                 With this we agree.

 was refreshed." And in He. 4 :4-9 : "For he spake in a certain               2. The question still remains, .however:  how we must

 place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest on the           understand this rest on the part of God ? We realize, of
 seventh day from all his works. And in this place again,                 course, that for the eternal God there are no days. There is

 If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth          no time at all in God. But we would mention two things con-

 that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first              cerning this rest of God on the seventh day. First of `all, it
preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he                    means that, on that created seventh day, God ceased from
 limiteth a certain day, saying in David, after so long a time;           creating ; creation was finished and completed. This is
 as it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your          evident from Gen. 2 :2: "And on the seventh day God ended
 hearts. For if Jesus had given the rest, he would not after-             his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh
 ward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore               day from all his work which he had made." And also in
 a rest for the people of God."                                           vs. 3: "in it he had rested from `all his work which God had
        Now, what does this all mean?                                     created and made." This, therefore, is the first meaning. God
                                                                          did not create anymore. We must understand, of course, that
        1. First of all, the question arises whether the seventh          this was a revelation of God in time, a revelation for us. As
 day also was an ordinary day like the six days of creation.              we said above, for God there is no time: there are no days
 This, you understand, stands in immediate connection with                and months and years.     For that matter we may say that in
 the subject we have been treating in these articles.                     His eternal decree God eternally creates and eternally rests.
        Some have denied this. First of all, because the text does        But in time God reveals Himself in the six days of creation
 not limit the seventh day by evening and morning' as was                 and the seventh day. of rest. On that day God finished His
 the case with the six days of creation. Some have even gone              work of creation and He created no more. Secondly, it also
 the length of reasoning backward from the seventh day to                 means that God, on the seventh day, also entered into the
 the six days of creation and maintain that just as the seventh           enjoyment of His perfect work, for "God saw every thing
 day was no ordinary day so also the six days of creation                 that he had made, and,. behold, it was very good."


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     53


    3. This seventh day God also blessed and sanctified so          Synod of the Christian Reformed Church in 1924. And
that it became a sabbath for man: "And God blessed the              historically that origin lies in the fact that three of the min-
seventh day and sanctified it," Gen. 2 :3. Here, surely, it is      isters of the Christian Reformed Church, the Rev. H.
evident that also the seventh created day, like the six preced-     Danhof, the Rev. G. M. Ophoff and the undersigned, could
ing ones, was an ordinary day of twenty-four hours. Man,            not conscientiously subscribe to those "Three Points" because,
who was created after the image of God, was also to enter           according to their conviction, they were not Reformed but
into God's rest. For man was created as the friend-servant          Arminian:  The result was, to make a very long story very
of God and as such he might live in God's fellowship. That          short, that the three ministers were deposed. and that they
was his rest and of that rest the weekly sabbath was both a         did not submit to that deposition but continued to function
picture and a partial realization. Hence, God blessed the.          as ministers in their own congregations while by far the
seventh day and sanctified it.                                      majority of their churches followed them.
   4.    However, this was not the end, Man did not enter into          The three ministers appealed to Synod, chiefly on the
creation-rest of God permanently. He fell into the restless-        basis that, the whole matter of "common grace" had been
ness of sin. But God .had provided some better thing for us.        before Synod, that Synod, had, indeed, adopted the "Three
Although His works were finished from the creation of the           Points,"     but that it had not demanded agreement with
world, Hebrews 4:3, and although He rested on the seventh           those points and certainly had deliberately avoided all sug-
day from all His works, Hebrews 4:4, and although man,              gestions of discipline. Hence, the ministers claimed that the
through sin, failed to enter into the creation;rest  of God, yet    two classes, -Grand Rapids East. and West, had no right to
God spoke of another day. That day is the eternal rest ac-          depose them. It stands to reason that the Synod of 1926
cording to which the people of God in Christ Jesus our Lord         did not even consider the appeal in view of the fact that the
will dwell in God's tabernacle forever. Of that final and ever-     ministers .had not submitted themselves to their deposition
lasting day the seventh creation-day is a shadow.                   but had continued as ministers in the Christian Reformed
   However, in conclusion, we reiterate that the days in            Church.
.Genesis  can by no stretch of the imagination be explained             During, the interim of their appeal, our churches adopted
as long periods of thousands or millions of years. Honest           the name of Protesting Christian Reformed Churches, ex-
exegesis demands that we conceive of them as ordinary days.         pressing thereby that they still were and wanted to .be .,
                                                          H.H.      Christian Reformed but, at the same time            were protesting
                                                                                                                  .J
                                                                    against the illegal actions of the- Classes Grand Rapids East

                                                                    and West.
          As To Being Protestant  Reformed                              In the meantime, even before our appeal was decided upon

   To write a few articles on the above mentioned subject           by Synod, we lost our proper@  and immediately built new
seemed to me to be quite proper and expedient.                      edifices.
   Many of us hardly-can give an account of the reason why              However, after Synod had rejected our appeal, we
we are' Protestant Reformed in distinction from other Re-           desired to have a new name because the name of Protesting
formed Churches and, especially from the Christian Reformed         Christian Reformed Churches had no sense anymore. A com-
Church. This is especially true of the younger generation as        mittee was appointed to propose a name to the Combined
well.  as of those that joined our churches since 1924 and          Consistories (the only form of organization we had as yet at
that have not had the experience of those that, in 1924, were       that time) in order that .the  latter might decide upon a new
ejected from the Christian Reformed Church.                         name for our churches. Two names were proposed to the
   Yet, it is not only proper but also necessary that we all        meeting :    the- name Reformed Protestant and the name
be able to give such an account. We must be able to give a          Protestant Reformed. The latter name was chosen and that
reason before God and also to anyone that asks us why we            is still our name.
are Protestant Reformed, a reason for the right of our                  Now, what is the meaning of that name ?
separate existence as churches. How did we come to exist                It expresses two ideas.
in separation. from the Christian Reformed Church? What                 First of all, of course, it expresses. the truth that we are
is the meaning of the name Protestant Reformed ? And above          Reformed and stand on the basis of the Reformed Confes-
all, what is the distinctive doctrinal basis, on which the          sions. And this is certainly true even till the present time,
Protestant Reformed Churches stand ? Is that basis only             our enemies being witnesses to that truth.
negative, such as the denial of the "Three Points" adopted              And as to the first part of the name, "Protestant," it does
by the Christian Reformed Church in 1924, or is it also             not express that we are still protesting against the actions of
positive ? These questions, and especially the last, I propose      the Christian Reformed Church in 1924, or even against the
to.answer,  the Lord willing, in the ensuing articles.              "Three Points," but it `denotes that we stand on the basis of
   I do not have to dwell long upon the history of the              the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century.
origin of our churches.     Doctrinally that origin must be             This, I think, is a beautiful name.
traced to the adoption of the "Three Points" by the                     Let us continue to make ourselves worthy of it !         H.H.

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


                                                                         battle in heaven; and therefore it was fought when Satanwas
             OUR DOCTRIW                                                 still there. It is a battle the result of which is that the place
                                                                   !I    of the devil is found no more in heaven, exactly correspond-
                                                                         ing with' what we know of the rebellion of Satan before he

              THE  BOOK OF REVELATION                                    came to the earth. And in the third place, the devil and his
                                                                         angels are cast down to the earth, again explaining his

                              PART TWO                                   work in paradise and ever since.         Nevertheless this `ex-

                                                                         planation is soon proven to be impossible if we only
                              CHAPTERTEN                                 study the text once more. The great voice in heaven tells US
                                                                         of more results of this spiritual battle. It tells us that now
                            Revelation 12 :7-12                          the salvation and the power of` the kingdom of -God  have

      For this is the opposing side. The dragon and his angels           come, that the authority of Christ has appeared, -things that
are fighting here with Michael and his angels. We need not               surely could not be said immediately after the first rebellion
dwell very long upon their identity and power. We have                   of Satan and his angels. There was as yet no salvation.
seen that the devil is a most powerful monster, bloodthirsty             There was. as yet no manifestation of the`authority of Christ.
-and fierce, with terrible hatred in his bosom against the man           But there is more. The devil is here called "accuser of our
child, as the great opponent of God and His kingdom, who                 brethren." And by brethren is here meant the saved in Christ
has usurped the power of the kingdom but who is limited in               Jesus evidently. It. is in that capacity evidently that he
his power by the decree of God. At present we `need not                  fought this spiritual battle. It is also in that capacity
pay any more attention to him. He is here called the old                 that he was defeated.     For the joy in heaven is caused
serpent, the devil, the old deceiver, and Satan. And no doubt            especially by the fact that the accuser of the brethren
these names are here given him with a special purpose: But               as such is cast down. The same great voice speaks of the
the meaning of these we shall learn later, as well as the purpose        fact that there were saved in Christ that have overcome
for which they are given to him in this connection. He comes             through the blood of the Lamb and the testimony which they
with his angels. No doubt he has a large army of them, as                gave. All this gives us an entirely different impression. The
we have learned from the preceding portion: he dragged                   time during which. this battle is fought is not before the
along in his fall from God a third of the angels in heaven.              entrance of the devil into paradise: for at this time there are
And though I do not think that he has all these evil spirits             already saved in Christ Jesus, brethren that fight through the
at his own disposal at any time, nevertheless we may well                blood of the Lamb and that overcome, that have loved not
imagine that he is there `with a large and powerful army, to             their lives even unto death. And at this time the devil al-
give battle to Michael and his angels. Such, then, are the               ready appears as the accuser of the brethren, who accuses
combatants in this war. It is a spiritual war-between the                them before the countenance of God day and night.

mightiest among the mighty of God's spiritual creatures,                    On the other hand, it cannot be the time of the end that

those that fell away from Him and hate Him and strive                    is here referred to. Thus other interpreters'have  it. There

after His authority, on the one hand, and those that remained            are some who maintain that the woman referred to in the

obedient and subject to God and that therefore fight His                 first part of this chapter is the visible church and that the

battles, on the,  other.                                                 man child whom this woman is about to bring forth is the

      It will be of importance to ascertain, in the second place,        church invisible, the real spiritual children of God. Their

the time of this battle. For this will help us to determine the          birth is their final glorification. When all the children of God

significance and the object of this war to a large extent. As            shall have been gathered into glory, the visible church, as

we have said in the beginning, we understand this portion as             pictured in the sign of the woman shall have finished her

running parallel with the preceding, so that the time of the             giving birth to the church invisible, and the latter shall be

devil's opposition against the woman and the time of this                caught up in glory to God's throne. But now, after the

battle coincide. The scene differs,. the stage of the one being          final glorification of these real spiritual people of God has

upon earth, of the other in heaven ; but the time is the same.           taken place in the end of time, the devil makes a last and

.We must therefore not think of a spiritual battle in heaven             bold attack upon them, in order to draw them down to hell.

before Satan entered into paradise to deceive man. It is true            And in this last attack they are defended by Michael and his

that at a superficial reading we may receive the impression              holy angels. In itself this were possible, were it not against

that this is the battle referred to and that we are here taught          the plain indication of the text. First of all, it is against the

that when Satan and his angels rebelled against God, the                 simple meaning of the text to make of the man child the

Lord employed the good and holy angels to expel them from                church invisible instead of the Christ. Such an explanation

heaven. It is also true that some have interpreted this pas-             leads us into all kinds, of difficulties from which we cannot

sage in that sense, and that especially poetic imagination is            extricate ourselves. But besides, when the birth of the man

fond of drawing this picture in this connection. Then it                 child in the sense of the church invisible shall have been com-

should seem as if the text were really explained. It is a                pleted, there shall be no more people of God upon earth. Or
  ,--


                                                 TH,E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     55


     to speak plainly, if the giving birth to the man child represents    it began immediately after the death of Abel, that it con-

     the visible church giving birth to the invisible in her final        tinued all through the time of the Old Testament, and that

     glorification, then it is plain that when this birth is finished     it was finished contemporaneously with the exaltation of

     and all the people of God shall have been caught up to the           J e s u s   C h r i s t .
     throne of God, there shall be no more children of God in                 I think that this interpretation will become all the more

     the church militant upon earth. Y,et we read that after this         acceptable if we for a moment consider what might be the

     battle .is finished there is still the woman, there is still the     object of the devil in making this attack. in heaven upon

     church of God upon earth. For the devil persecutes her in            Michael and his angels. Was it his object to drag down these

     his wrath. And not only is it true that there is still a church      mighty ones, even as once he did with one third of the stars

     of God on earth, but there are also faithful children of God         of heaven ? `Did he aim at the fall of Michael and his

     who keep the commandments of God and who hold the testi-             angels ? This does not seem likely from the outset. For, in

     mony, vs. 17. All this makes it sufficiently plain that this         the first place, the fact that Michael is here defending and

     battle is not fought at the time of the end, when all the people     battling with the devil as the one who stands for the children

     of God shall already have been taken up into glory. And              of .God's people and who once fought with the devil for the

     therefore also this interpretation must evidently be discarded.      body of Moses, immediately makes us think that also here

         Finally, we also discard the interpretation that has it          he is fighting not in his own defense, but in behalf of the
     that this battle is fought immediately after the exaltation of       people of God. The people of God are the object of the
     Christ. This interpretation imagines that in this chapter we         wrath of the devil. And Michael is sent, is appointed; to
     have a strictly chronological order of events. First the devil       defend them. And besides, in the record of. the great voice,
     stands watching the people of God to devour the great seed           which evidently sings of the victory of this spiritual battle,
     they are to bring forth. Then, when the child is born and            there is not even mention made of either Michael or of his
     he fails to crush it and it is caught up to the throne of God        angels. They do not sing of victory because they have been
     in heaven, the devil immediately after the exaltation of Christ      delivered from danger, but because of the deliverance and
     also attempts to ascend to heaven, in order that he may at-          the victory of the brethren. And therefore, it is not likely
     tack the glorified Christ, in heaven. But aside from the fact        that Satan's object in this attack is the angels themselves,
     that we read no where of such an attack upon Christ in               against whom he is fighting, but rather the people of God of
     heaven, in the which He was defended by Michael and his              the old dispensation in as far as they have already entered

     angels, it certainly must be evident that this is also against       into glory. This, therefore, is our interpretation. We think
     the plain `indication of the text. Not the Christ, but the           that all through the' Old Testament days there was a battle
     brethren are the immediate object of this attack of Satan.           fought in heaven for the souls of those that entered into glory
     And as we shall presently see, he appears here especially as         before the suffering and exaltation of Christ, -a battle that
     the accuser of the brethren, who is overcome by them because         was the logical concomitant of the battle the devil was fighting
     of the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.            against the church to prevent the coming of the Great Seed.
     And therefore also this interpretation cannot be maintained.         Just as certain as the devil was. in his fight to prevent the

         There is but one possibility left. That possibility, which       coming of the Messiah, just as determined he had to be to
     is fully warranted by the text itself and satisfies all the ele-     fight this spiritual battle in heaven for the souls of the saved
     ments, is that our text gives us a picture of a battle fought        ones of the old dispensation. And therefore, once more, our
     in'heaven  between the devil and his angels all through the          explanation is that the devil fights a battle in heaven all
     old dispensation. At the same time that the devil-carries on         through the days of the Old Testament for the possession of
     a war upon earth and watches the church, in order to devour          the souls that already had entered into glory from the days
     the Christ as soon as He is born, or even to prevent His             of Abel on, and that in this attack he is opposed by Michael
     birth, he also wages war in heaven with the spiritual powers         and his angels, who stancl for the children of God's people.

     that remain standing. All during this time there were                    That this is but logical is clear. Christ had not yet come.
     brethren as the accuser of whom the devil appears. All               And that meant that historically speaking the debt of the
     through this dispensation there were those that loved not            sinner had not yet been paid. Historically the sins of Abel
     their life unto the death. It is therefore a battle fought all       and Enoch  and Noah, the patriarchs, the prophets had not
     during this time. It is a battle, however, that must neces-          yet been atoned for. And therefore, historically they died as
     sarily end, as we shall see, with the manifestation of Christ's      sinners. Historically Christ had not yet crushed the head
~    glory and victory and His completed work, so that the battle         of the serpent, had not yet assumed dominion. Historically
     is won through the blood of the Lamb. And if we take this            speaking, the devil still was sovereign, and all the world lay
     view, we can also explain how the devil, after having suffered       at his feet because of the sin of man, all during the time of
     defeat in this spiritual battle in heaven, still can come down       the old dispensation. True, in God's counsel it was different.
     to the earth to persecute the rest of the seed of the woman.         In -God's  counsel it was established. In that counsel Christ
     For  these others are the faithful of the New Testament day.         had been appointed head and mediator of His. people, and

     And therefore, as to the time of this war we would hold that         all His people had been given to Him. In that counsel not

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


only the people that should be born on earth after His own          the righteousness of God they must be lost, they must go
appearance, suffering, and exaltation, but also those that. were    to hell. Michael replies that God Almighty has declared -them
born before this had been given to Christ. Also Abel ,and           righteous and that His Word alone is sovereign. The devil
Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all              maintains that they are not righteous since they themselves
the saved in Christ of the Old Testament were given to this         have never paid for their sins and no mediator has yet ap-
head.of  the covenant. They were in Him. And because God's          peared. Michael answers that God has revealed that He
counsel is absolutely sure, therefore these men of the Old          would send the Great Seed to perform this work of salvation
Testament did not have to wait for their salvation till all         and that to Him all these saints have been given. The devil
was finished. But being justified in the decree from all            finally assures Michael that he is fighting a great war on earth
eternity, they entered into glory before the Savior had actu-       and that he will surely prevent the coming of this man child,
ally come and paid for their sins.                                  or, if he comes, will certainly devour him. Michael's answer
       But Satan did not figure with this-counsel of God. Nor       is that God is mighty to fulfill all His Word and to crush the
could he imagine how certain that counsel of the Almighty           head of the serpent. And thus this spiritual battle continues
was. He could not know that all these men were justified            all through the old dispensation. The battle here pictured is
from all eternity, for the simple reason that in the counsel        a battle for the possession of the saints of Christ that have
of God they were given to Christ. -On the contrary, it was          died and entered into glory during .the time of the old dis-
against that counsel, in as far as he knew it, that he fought       pensation, that have not loved their lives unto death, that
the battle on earth. Satan actually must have had the hope          have clung to the word of their testimony, and that were
in his devilish heart that he could so thwart the- purpose of       accused day ,and  night before the countenance of Almighty
the Almighty that the Christ would never be born, would             God by the devil, that old serpent, that deceives the whole
never pay for the sins of the people of God, would never            world and that slanders the people of God from age to age,
enter into everlasting glory with them. And therefore, ac-          day and night.
cording to -Satan's  view of the matter, all these saints of the       Thus we can also understand that this battle must end
Old Testament entered into glory as sinners, upon whom he           with the historical realization of the salvation of Christ. When
had a righteous claim, as sinners that deserved to go to hell       Christ comes, suffers, pays for the sins of His people, ascends

because their sins had not yet been atoned for. God acted           to heaven, and is glorified, the contest is decided in favor of
according to His counsel, however; and that counsel was cer-        Michael and his angels. It is become plain, so plain that even

tain as to its fulfillment. But .Satan  took the historical view    the devil cannot contradict it, that the saints of the Old Testa-

of. the matter, and maintained that all these souls that en-        ment had a right to glory on the basis of the future expiation

tered into glory belonged rightfully to him, that' they had         of their sins and guilt. And therefore the conflict must end
sinned against the Almighty, that they according to His own         here. The devil is defeated. He cannot continue. Michael can

sentence were condemned to death, and that therefore they           now point to facts. He can now point to the finished work

might not be in heaven. And thus we imagine that the devil          of Christ and overwhelmingly convince the devil that he
goes to heaven to accuse the brethren. Now we also under-           fights a vain battle and that God was righteous in saving the
stand the text. Now we understand why he is called the old          saints of the old dispensation. Then we can understand why

serpent, the devil, that is, the slanderer and accuser, why he      in the song of victory, sung immediately after this battle is
is called Satan, the old deceiver. He slanders the saints of        finished, no mention is made of the angels, but only of the

the Old Testament before God. He lies- about them. He says          brethren that were accused ,but that had gained the victory
that they have no right to enter into glory because they are        through the blood of the Lamb and their faith in Him. Then

condemned sinners. He accuses them by lying and slandering,         we can understand why this great voice sings, "Now.is come

and at the same time he slanders the name Bnd  the righteous-       the salvation and .the power and the kingdom of our, God,

ness of God Who takes sinners into everlasting glory. Thus          and the authority of his Christ." It is the death-blow to

we can also understand the nature of the battle. to a certain       Satan. It seems to me that Michael and all his angels shout

extent. The devil comes to fight for the souls of Abel and          this at the same time in the ears of Satan at the moment that

Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and of               Christ enters into His exaltation. Now is come, that is, now

Moses and Samuel and of all the prophets and of all those           has appeared, now has `been revealed, the salvation and the

that had the promise and that lived and died by faith, en-          power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His

dured the shame and mockery and persecution of the world            Christ. All was still hidden in the Old Testament day. It had

in the old dispensation, and loved not their lives unto the         not yet been historically revealed. And therefore there was

death. And God sends Michael against him, to guard these            room for argument on the part of the devil, and he could

souls and to defend the righteousness of God and the rig$t          wage this war. But now has come the realization of the whole

of the saints to glory. The devil claims that they are sinners ;    thing. Satan, you must go ; you have no argument, left. These

Michael retorts that they are righteous. The devil maintains        saints of the Old Testament day belong to Christ, and they

that they have sinned in paradise in Adam, and that they            have a right to His inheritance.                    :
have sinned all their lives, and.  that therefore according to                                                                 H.H:


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARER                                                     57


                                                                     in God to care for him. In the second place, we should note
I/ A CLOUIJ  OF WITNE'SSE'S  -1                                      that Jacob's greeting was purely formal. After the fashion of
                                                                     oriental peoples, this approach was very elaborate ; but in

                                                                     the terms of any land, there is no more cold and distant
             The Meeting  of Jacob and Esau                          greeting than seven formal bows. Jacob was not yet ready to
                                                                     meet Esau with a friendly or brotherly greeting. Although
                And Jacob lifted ztp his eyes, (and  looked, and,    he repented from his self-willed actions which had been so
             beheld, Esaat  came,  and with him four hundwd
             wzen . . : :                                            offensive to Esau in the past, there still remained between
                                                                     them a basic conflict. Jacob loved the covenant of God ;
                And he passed oveY before them, and-dowed*
             himself  to the ground seven times, u&i1 he came        Esau did not. Jacob sought the way of the Lord ; Esau would
             ne+zr  to his brother.                                  have nothing of it. Jacob was a friend of God ; Esau had
                And Esau man to meet hhn, and embraced  hi%          always revealed himself an enemy. Until Esau too showed
             and fell on his neck, and kissed  him: and they         some sign. of true repentance, Jacob could show no real
             wept,                          GENESIS 33 :,l, 3, 4     warmth in his greeting.     With seven. formal bows Jacob
                                                                     greeted his brother.
   As the glory of the morning sun broke forth in the dawn
of another day, it was a new and different Jacob that reunited          Equally interesting is the greeting with which Esau ap-         .
himself with his family.- Much of his old strength was gone.         proached  Jacob. A day or two before when he had met the.
Externally he was a cripple, destined henceforth to limp             messengers of Jacob, `his attitude had been very doubtful.
haltingly on a wounded thigh. Internally his old self-con-,          Their message had not been at all warlike, but he was not
fidence was crushed ; no longer did he feel capable of caring        ready to accept this. With good reason he did not trust
for himself; much less, did he think that somehow he had to          Jacob. Always in former years Jacob had been a schemer,
help God in the realizing of the promise. The scheming Jacob         plotting to gain the upper hand. Usually he had succeeded.
was gone ; in his place stood Israel, the prince who had             Esau was not ready to let this happen again. He was ready
struggled. in faith with God and conquered. He had learned           to. meet Jacob with whatever approach he took. If Jacob
life's most difficult lesson, the lesson of true humility and        wanted to battle, he would battle too.. If Jacob wanted to
meekness.                                                            be crafty, he would be crafty too. He was ready to resume
                                                                     their former conflict, determined this time to gain the upper
   Lifting his eyes toward the distance, Jacob saw approach-
                                                                     hand. Should it prove necessary, he was ready to carry out
ing him Esau, his alienated brother, with his four hundred
                                                                     his oath of former years to slay his younger brother.
armed men. As we might expect, there still lingered in the
heart of Jacob that sinking feeling of fear as he thought on            As Esau hastened to meet with Jacob, however, he came
the great harm that the power of Esau could easily inflict;          first to the gifts that Jacob had sent ahead. With the first
but now he was able to prepare for the coming of his brother         flock of animals he began to wonder what the scheme behind.
with much more calmness than he had the day before. Quietly          them could be. But as there came another and another and
he arranged his family for the meeting. Still maintaining his        still another, his attitude toward Jacob began to. soften. What
old preference for Rachel and Joseph, he gave to them the            ulterior motive Jacob could have by placing all of these
safest position in the rear. Leah, the handmaids, and the            valuable cattle in his power he could-not imagine. The
other children, he arranged in order before them. He, alone          message of the various servants, "They be thy servant
and defenseless, went ahead to meet with Esau.                       Jacob's: it is a present sent unto my lord Esau," he found
                                                                     to be most flattering. Esau, of course, was unable to under-
   As Esau approached, Jacob bowed himself seven times to            stand that Jacob intended to show humility and meekness in
the ground. This action of Jacob we must be careful to               this way. Such things had no meaning for Esau. He could
understand correctly. In the first place, it was a sign of           see only that Jacob was cowed and afraid. Jacob was afraid
Jacob's newly acquired humility. There remained with Jacob           of his greater power and wanted to be friends. Impressed by
a feeling of guilt concerning those former actions which he          Esau's strength, Jacob was ready to renounce all conflict and
had perpetrated against &au.  Although basically he had a            even the goal of supremacy in their family. Partly accurate,
love for the promise of God, he had sought to obtain it in           yet basically erroneous, was Esau's interpretation. He under-
his own strength rather than in faith and reliance upon God.         stood that Jacob wished to renounce their outward conflict
He had fought with Esau after the flesh. Now, by his                 in the flesh ; but he could not understand that there would
bows, at a time when actions spoke louder than words, he was         yet remain between them an inner conflict of the spirit.
telling Esau that he was renouncing -this former, carnal             Nonetheless Esau was satisfied. When finally Jacob ap-
approach. It was not that he was renouncing the blessing of          proached and bowed before him seven times, Esau was con-
God which he had sought, that was assigned to him by God's           vinced that he intended no harm.
election and could not be reversed ; but he was renouncing
the carnal manner in which he had sought it. Thus he could              Once he had come to this conclusion, Esau wasmore  than
stand before Esau, alone and without defense, for he trusted         willing to meet Jacob on a friendly basis. As though suddenly

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


   overcome with a wave of tender emotion, he threw himself           anger and to make him kindly disposed toward Jacob. As

   upon his brother embracing him, kissing him and weeping.           soon as Jacob saw that Esau was no longer angry at him,

   A few hours before he had felt very cold toward his brother,       he saw as it were also behind Esau's  change of heart, the

   ready to meet him in battle and destroy him. Now in a              favor of God turning away the wrath of his enemies. It

   moment it was changed, for it looked to him as if he would         is this latter view which we would feel must come closest

henceforth be able to dominate over Jacob completely. It              to what was actually intended by Jacob.

   looked to him like he was the victor, and it was flattering to        As soon as that was decided, Esau suggested that they
  his pride. It pleased him greatly to play the part of a             proceed on their way. He was still of a restless nature, and
  patronizing lord condescending to be kind to an undeserving         to extend the formalities of greeting was not to his liking. His
   servant. As long as Jacob did not contest with him for the         suggestion was that as Jacob.&ntinued  to travel, he and his
   leadership but submitted to him in all things, Esau was more       four hundred men would accompany them, protecting them
  than willing that he should live. Impulsively he threw the          thereby and guiding them.      To this plan Jacob could not
   whole of his emotional nature into welcoming his brother           consent. He explained to Esau, "My lord knoweth that the
  home. Should Jacob make one mistake those same emotions             children are tender, and the flocks and&herds with young are
  would change in a moment to bitter hatred. Until that time          with me: and if men should overdrive them one day, all the
   Esau was pleased to receive his brother back.                      flock will die. Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his

         In accord with the patronizing attitude which he had         servant : and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle that

  taken, Esau inquired into the identity of the family that           goeth before me and the children be able to endure." That

  followed Jacob. In this Jacob found an occasion to give             the flocks and children of Jacob could not keep pace with his

  testimony to Esau of his continued.faith  in Jehovah God. He        fighting men, Esau, of course, could not deny. Thus he

  told him that these were the children that had been graciously      acceded to the suggestion of Jacob. Underneath, however,

  given to him by God. To this testimony, however, Esau               Jacob had a far deeper reason for not wanting to follow

  was completely unresponsive. Although his emotions could            Esau. He discerned in Esau a desire to remain on very

   respond so profusely to the greeting of a brother, they had        friendly terms with Jacob but in such a manner that he

  absolutely no appreciation to talk about God. No sooner had         could dominate -Jacob's life. To this Jacob could never

  Jacob's family givkn their formal greetings, than Esati             consent. Esau was a Godless man and their ways bf life could

  rapidly changed the subject.                                        not be allowed to intermingle. There could be no real friend-

                                                                      ship between them. He pushed this point very strongly until
         "What meanest thou," asked Esau, "by the drove which
                                                                      Esau consented and made his way alone toward Sier.
   I met?'     Those flocks which Jacob had sent ahead to meet

  him, still continued to perplex Esau. He could not imagine             We could wish, of course, that Jacob would have been

  that anyone would sacrifice such a large and valuable gift          more bold and direct in testifying of his faith toward Esau.

  freely. Neither did he feel free, in his newly acquired             We-cannot escape the impression that Esau was often allowed

  attitude of patronizing favor, to accept the gift as offered.       to come to conclusions different from those which lived in

  `Jacob, however, was quite determined that Esau should ac-          the heart of Jacob, but Jacob said nothing to correct him.

  cept this gift. This transaction would serve as a testimony         We would like to read that Jacob laid very clearly before

  and seal to the- fact that he had been received back by Esau        Esau exactly what was his true status before God. We should

  with kindness. It would more or less obligate Esau to be            remember, however, that it was only the night before Jacob

  kind to him and his family in the future. Upon the urging of        had been at Penuel. Not until then had he seen clearly
  Jacob, Esau finally consented to take the gift.                     the necessity of leaving behind his old way of life, the way of

                                                                      relying upon his own strength and ingenuity. Although we
         Rather difficult to understand, in this connection is the
                                                                      cannot excuse it, we can easily understand that he was at
   statement of Jacob's, "If now I have found grace in thy
                                                                      first hesitant to speak out concerning his new found under-
   sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I
                                                                      standing. In fact, how many are there not of us who although
  have seen thy face, as though I had seen, the face of. God,
                                                                      they understand full well, are still after many years hesitant
  and thou wast pleased wit6  me." The difficulty is to under-
                                                                      to speak out concerning their convictions, and in far less
  stand how Jacob could say to Esau that he saw his face as
                                                                      trying circumstances than those of Jacob?
  though he had seen the face of God. This has beeti  explained                                                     -            B.W.

  in two different ways. The one explanation is that in that

   day it was a common figure of speech to compare a pleasant            "If the doctrine of the apostles and prophets be the

  meeting with seeing the face of God. This common  figure            foundation of the Church, it must have been certain, a&e-

  Jacob made use of without' expecting that it would be taken         cedently to the existence of the Church . . . It is a very false

  by anyone in its literal meaning. The second explanation is         notion, therefore, that the power of judging of the Scripture
  that Jacob saw very literally in the approach of Esau the           belongs to the Church, so as to make the certainty of it de-
  work of the hand of God. It'-was the favor of God toward            pend on the Church's will."

   him, Jacob, which had worked in Esau to turn away his                                   Calvin's In&z&~, Book I, Chapter VII


                                               T : H E   S T A N D A R ' D   B E A R E R                                        59


                                                                    tures the things concerning himself." And, again in verse 44
           FRqOM   H O L Y   WRIT                                   of this same Chapter from Luke we read: "These are the
                                                                    words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with- you,

                                                                    that all things must be fulfilled, which were written `in the
                Exposition  of Remans  14,15                        law of Moses, and in the Prophets and in the Psalms con-

                                                                    cerning me." And thus we have it here. Moses, the Psalms,
                                 IX.                                and now, finally, from the Prophets, to wit, the prophet

                                                                    Isaiah! It must be obvious to the careful exegete of Holy
                          (Remans-  15 :12)
                                                                    Writ, that, in this discourse from the prophecy of Isaiah, the

     We now come to the last passage, quoted by Paul, to            Holy Spirit of Christ shows more of the salvation which is to

  substantiate the truth that Christ received (in love) glso the    be realized in thk fulness of time in the Only Begotten Son,

  Gentiles ; that Israel's mission as a n&on was exactly that       than what we can learn from either Moses or from the Psalms.

  salvation and mercy should come through them, in their            In this passage the seasoh  of grace in the fulness of times.

  great Son, to the Gentiles! Thus the word, spoken by the          looms clearly into view. Pentecost seems about to break, the

  Lord to Abraham, is fulfilled,' "In thee and in thy seed shall    morning of the New Dispensation will dawn, the eternal

  all nations be blessed." Gen. 1s :lS ; Gal. 3 :S.                 spring-time will come, when the grace shall also be for the

     As the attentive and painstaking reader will have noticed,     Gentiles !

  we have, in our former two issues, studied Paul's quotation ip        2. To form a somewhat clear picture of this "glad-

  Romans 15 from Psalm 18 :50 (II Samuel 22 :50) and from           tidings" which resounds here in the "prophetic word" in
  Deuteronomy 32 :43 and Psalm 117:1,  which passages from          Isaiah 11 :l, 10, we believe that the following should "be kept

  Moses and the Psalms teach that Christ will become the min-       in mind :

  ister of the circumcision that the Gentiles might glorify God         a. That Isaiah uttered these prophetical discourses, re-
  for his mercy.                                                    corded in chapters 7 through 12, at a time when the hand of

     We notice that Paul quotes, here in Romans 15 :12, from        God was beginning to be heavy upon the land, even upon

  the Septuagint Version of &aiah  11 :l and lo.-  This quota-      Judah. These prophecies signal the approaching judgments

  tion is as follows: "And there slznll  be a root of Jesse, and    of God, than which there will be none greater; upon Israel.

  he that keth a ruler of the Gentiles u.popoa  hint shall ths      Although the people, who will not believe, do -not take notice

  Gentiles hope."                                                   of it, yet there are appearing ominous clouds of great and

      In the Hebrew text we have a slightly different render-       terrible jtidgments  upon the horizon. The "news-analyst" of
  ing. We read, "And there shall go forth a rod out of the          that day could not see this perspective of prophecy. The men
  stem of J&se, and a Branch shall go out of his roots . . . .      of worldly diplomacy talked about alliances ahd  counter-
                                                                    alliances. This matter of alliances with Syria was the burning
  and in that day there shall be a root of Jesse. To it shall
  the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious,"' Isaiah       question of the hour. The question was : how shall Judah
  11 :l, 10.                                                        continue to exist? Had not Resin, king of Damascus (Syria)
                                                                    allied with Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Samaria.  And
  - It is a rather remarkable thing that the Holy Spirit            were not the hearts of the kings moved even as the "leaves
  thrpugh  Paul.  here simply gives the sense and gist of the       of the forest are by the wind" because of the threatening dis-
  Old  Testament passage. It is entirely possible and quite         aster from these two allied kings ? Had they not covenanted
  likelk  that this passage was  known to Paul's readers in the     together and agreed and said: "Let us go up against Judah
  version ,of the Septuagint. If it does not give the "words" of    and vex it, and let' us make a breach therein for us, and set
  God here, it certainly gives the inspired Word of God. Such,      a king in the midst thereof, even the son bf Tabeal"? And
  in passing, is the infallibility of Scripture and its divine      did it not appear more than likely that they would succeed
  authqrity.                                                        in their evil imaginations ? For had they not slain in the
     We should take more than a cursory notice of the text in       field of battle, in one day, one hundred and twenty thousand

  question as recorded in the prophecy of Isaiah.      .            valiant .men  of Judah ? (II Chron. 27 :6). And had not two

     Without any pretense of being exhaustive and minute,           hundred thousand men, women, sons and daughters. been
  we believe that pains ought to be taken to notice the follow-     carried off to Samaria  ? And what would stop them from
  ing salient points in the text as given in Isaiah 11.             placing one on the throne,.who would simply be a vassal king,
      1. That this passage from Isaiah is here-  quoted the last    not of the line- of David ? !

  `in order, being taken from the "prophets," since it is really        a. Forsoothe, this is bad. However, this is but the rum-

  the clinching link in the argument of Paul. For that reason       bling of the more distant thunder of the judgments of God to

it really stands in a climactic position here. It reminds us of     come upon Judah by the hand of Assyria, the very kingdom

  what we read in Luke 24 ~27: "And beginning from Moses            ,with which Ahaz intended to make an alliance against Resin

  arid all the prophets he explained unto them in all the Scrip-    and Pekah, aforementioned. For when that happens all the

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


 curses written in the book of Moses would come upon them.             of Jesse." The word stem is really more clearly expressed in
They will be utterly taken from the land, the land of Im-              our word "stump," that is, all that is left of an tree, however
man& God-with-us ! They will be. carried abroad. l?or                  great it once really was or appeared to be! The "stump"`of
Assyria is really the World-Kingdom of Babylon, Medo-                 Jesse ! A cut off trunk ! What woe-be-gone spectacle is here

Persia, Macedonia and Rome!                                           portrayed by the Spirit of prophecy. All that is left of the

                                                                      glory and former lustre of David's house in Solomon and all
       c. All this talk of alliance and confederacy means nothing.
                                                                      the kings is a stump. To all appearances it suffered the same
It will all be of no avail. Thus Isaiah speaks in these chap-
                                                                      lot as did the kings of the earth, the world-powers that were
ters. And thus- all the prophets. of the day, roar! For the
                                                                      laid low like a great forest laid low, humbling all its pride
Assyrian wjll truly come into the land of Immanuel.  God will
                                                                      and arrogancy.  Ichabod, the glory is departed from David's
take' the wise in iheir  own craftiness. Then all shall seem
                                                                      h      o    u    s    e    .
stark and despairing, for the true Israel of God; which clings

to the promise of God. It will seem that God's promise  fails,               2. This figure, evidently, refers to David's house as it

that he has clean forgotten to be merciful to his own ! The           shall be when all the terrible and certain judgments of God
wicked will then say : "Where .is the promise of his coming,"         shall have come upon them, being chastened by the "rod of
and, they shall curse God.                                            men." Then shall there be indeed a remnant returning to the
                                                                      land, but there shall be no king sitting upon the throne of
       d. Yet, this will be exactly the fulfilment of the word
                                                                      David. It is simply- compared with its former glory- a
spoken to David by the prophet Nathan.: "And if he commit
                                                                      mere stump.
iniquity 1 will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the

stiipes  of the children of men," II Sam:  7:14. Howbeit, the                3. That it is called the stem, the stump of Jesse is,

mercy of God will not be taken from David's house as it was           evidently, to indicate that then the cohdition  of Jesse will

from the house of Saul before him. David's house shall be             have to return to its low estate as it was once in the days of

established  forever before him; it shall be established for-         Jesse, before David is exalted by the Lord. Was not David's

ever! Such had been the word of God's promise to David.               exaltation really something wonderful when one considers

And had it not -been spoken by Jehovah of Hosts ?                     whence he was taken ? Does not the Lord of Hosts remind

                                                                      David through the prophet Nathan of this lowly origin when
       e. Hence, in Isaiah 11 :l and 10 the prophet utters the
                                                                      he says to him, "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee
sure word of prophecy unto which the righteous gave heed
                                                                      from the sheep-tote, from following the sheep, to be a ruler
as unto a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawned
                                                                      over my people, over Israel"? ! It was a. day of small be-
and the day-star arose in their hearts, the hope of God's
                                                                      ginning, a mere stripling, a shepherd boy, young and tender,
sure promise which cannot fail, and of His mercies which.
                                                                      having the fear of the Lord in his heart. Nor was he from
cannot be shut off ! After the night and through the night
                                                                      noble, kingly birth. `Was  he not from Jesse, a son of Obed,
of judgment` the breaking of a new and better day is promised.
                                                                      5 son of Boaz and Ruth, the Moabitess, a child of incestuous
It is glad-tidings of good things in him which is to come. In
                                                                      parents, Lot and his daughter? And was there not Rahab,
glad strains the sign of the virgin is proclaimed even to an
                                                                      the harlot, the mother of Boaz ?
unbelieving king. "And this shall be a sign unto you. Be-

hold, a virgin shall conceive, and bring forth a Son, and he                 4. Thus shall be the lot bf Jesse once more.. The king's
shall be called IMMANUEL, Godlwith-us."  And in that                  sons shall not be dwelling in palaces. We will find them in
setting bf gloom and darkness the glad-tiding is proclaimed:          lowly Nazareth, whence, as the proverb has it : "Can anything
"For unto us a child is born, .for  unto us a son is. givep, and      good come from Nazareth." Here will then dwell, under the
the government shall be upon his shoulders, and his name              heel of the Roman government, a virgin. Here will be the
shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty dad,  the            betrothed husband, Joseph. He is a mere carpenter. Nothing
Everlasting Father, the Prince of peace" ! Isaiah 7 :14 ; 9 :6.       great in the land. Thus it will be. A mere trunk. And pos-

       Here ,are  truly Christological-eschatological prophetical     sibly not even having the power to perpetuate itself. Does
perspectives !                                                        not Mary say : I know not a man ? And mtist not a mixacle
                                                                      take place, the -"sign" of the Virgin 7
       It should further be noticed that the passage quoted by

Paul Fere is very beautiful and instructive concerning the                   5. But from the tr;unk  shall grow a Branch. The lineage
realization of the Promise, showing forth the glory of                of David will have a Son. God will come into the flesh.
Jehovah's work. Briefly, we call attention to the following           Immanuel will be born. Jesus will be his name. He it. is
elements in the passage of Isaiah 11 :l-10.                           that will save all his people fi-om  their sins, and the judg-

                                                                      ment of God will never more come upon His people. And the
       1. That the prophet employs picture language, a figure of
                                                                      house of David will truly be fruitful. Hallelujah! Amen.
speech, here -in the text to depict that lowly point of `the

house of David, and also to make clear the new and better                                             (Will be cqntinued)
day that God shall bring upon it when He will once more

visit them in grace from on high. He speaks of the "stem               _.                                                       G.L.


                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R   .                                             61


                                                                          explain how their being peculiarly gifted is related to the

              Cont&ding For The Faith                                11 oil and the restoration of these sick. And, finally, it is de-
                                                                          clared that what we read in James 5 :14 was applicable only

                                                                          to the time when this epistle was written and is no longer

               The Church  and the Sacraments                             in effect today.

                                                                             Howe;er, against this interpretation are most serious
       VIEWS `DURING THE THIRD PERIOD (750-1517 A.D.)                     objections. First, notice that we read of afflicted ones in

                   THE S&EN  SACRAMENTS.                                  verse 13 and of .the sick in verse 14. It is generally agreed
                                                                          that the afflictions of verse 13 -must be.  regarded in the.
                        EXTREME UNCTION                                   physical sense of the word. The word means: to endure or

                                                                          suffer hardships, troubles. The word, for example, occurs in
                               (continued)
                                                                          II Tim. 2.:9, and we quote : "Wherein I suffer trouble, as an
        We concluded our preceding article with the remark that           evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not
     Rome's appeal to James 5 :14-15 and Mark 6:13  is com-               bound." And the word also appears in verse 3 of the same
     pletely unfounded. Rome administers this sactament  to those         chapter, and we again quote : "Thou therefore endure hard-
     who are gravely ill and in imminent danger of death. Rome            ness as a good-soldier of Jesus Christ." Now, if both words
     declares that "this unction is to be applied to the sick, but to     ("afflicted" in verse 13 and "sick" in verse 14) refer to
     those especially who lie in such danger as to seem to be about       physical troubles, why must the afflicted of verse 13 pray for
     to depart this life: whence also it is called the sacrament of       himself and the sick of v&se 14 be admonished to call the
     the departing."    We have all read, at one time or another,         elders of the church to pray.for  him ? Why may not also the
     how .Roman  Catholic priests will move quickly among the             sick of verse 14 pray for himself? Secondly, verse `if& evi-
     dying, in times of disaster, to administer these last rites.         dently referring to the sick of verse 14, declares that "ye may
     "And if the sick should, after having received this unction,         be healed."    And this healing is connected with the con-
     recover, they may again be aided by the succor of this sacra-        fessing of our faults to one another. Does this not indicate
     ment, when they fall into another like danger of death."- It         that this healing is spiritual ? Thirdly, we read emphatically
     is evident from this quotation from the decrees of the Council       in verse 15 that the prayer of faith shall save the sick and
     of Trent that Rome's sacrament of Extreme Unction is ad-             that the Lord shall raise him up. The commentators really
     ministered with a view to death. But the passages  in Mark           do not know what to do with this. They say that this must
     and James inform us that these sick will recover. Hence,             be understood cdpditionally, was depending upon the will of
     Rome has .no Scriptural support whatever.                            the Lord. But the text states very positively that they will
        We now wish to make a few remarks about the passage               be healed and that the Lord will raise them up. In fact, we
     in James 5 in general. James 5 :13-16 reads as follows: "IS          read that the prayer of faith will save them. And it may also
     any sick among you ? afflicted ? let him pray. Is any merry?         be of interest that the word "sick" in verse 15 is not the same
     let him  sing psalms.. Is any sick among you ? let him call for      word in the original as the word "sick" in verse 14:
     the elders of the church ; and let them pray over him, an-              First of all, why is it that `the afflicted of verse 13 are
     ointing him with oil in the name of the Lord : And the prayer        exhorted to pray for themselves and that the sick of verse 14
     of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up;       are admoniihed  to call for the elders of the church? It seems
     and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.           to me that the answer to this question is obvious. The afflicted
     Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another,        of verse 13 are able to pray for themselves but the sick of
     that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a right-      verse 14 are not able to do so. The reader will notice that         .
     eous man avaiieth  much." And then the holy writer quotes            James, in the verses 15-16, speaks of sins and faults co&
     the example- of Elijah in the Old Testament as he prayed             mitted.  against one another. Obviously, therefore, the sick of
     that it might not rain and again that he prayed that it might        verse 14 is in the position that he cannot pray for spiritual
     rain, and. these prayers of the fearless prophet of the Old          reasons and because of sins which `he has committed against
     Dispensation, as we know, were answered.                             the brethren. The elders, therefore, must be called in to
        All commentators whom I have read are agreed that the             "pray over him."
     sick of verse 14 are physically sick, although they are also
     agreed that there is no support in this passage for the Roman           Secondly, as far as the word, "sick," is concerned in verse
     Catholic sacrament of Extreme Unction. They are also agreed          14, we remark the following. It is undoubtedly true that this
     on this, that this anointirig  with oil must be understood in the    word"  does appear in Scripture as referring to physical sick-
     natural sense of the `word, although they also  declare that the     ness and distress. The word itself means : weak, infirm,
     restoration of the sick must not be attributed to any magical        feeble. This is evidently the meaning of the word in John
     power in the oil. These elders whereof we read in this pas-          5 :5 : "And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity
     sage must, according to some commentators, be regarded 5s            thirty and eight years."    And it is- surely also of the same
-    elderly men  who were peculiarly gifted, although they do not        significance in John 11:4 ; "When Jesus heard that, He said,

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


 This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God,         be sought in any magical power `of healing in the oil but
 .that.the  Son of God might be glorified thereby." However,        because of its relation to the elders of the church. An elder
 this word also has a spiritual connotation in Holy Writ. It        is a- person ordained and qualified by God to speak His
 surely does not have a physical significance in Romans 8 :3 :      Word and this, we understand, regardless of the age of the
 "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through        elder. There is a good reason why the apostle, in writing to
 the-flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful       Timothy, urges that he not be despised because of his youth.
 flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh." Neither does      And this also explains the words : In the Name of the Lord.
 this word have a physical meaning in Romans 6 :19, where           This expression does not merely mean that such an elder
 the word "weakness" surely refers to the human nature, and         spoke by the authority-of the Lord, but also that he acted in
we quote : "I speak after the manner of men because of the          the po.wer of the Lord ; the power of the Lord Jesus Christ
 infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members       operated through this office of the elder which God in Christ
 servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity ; even       has instituted in the midst of the church. This anointing of
 so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto           the sick with oil surely means (apart from the question
 holiness."    So the. word surely does not have a physical con-    whether natural oil was symbolically administered, actually
 notation in Romans 8 :26 : "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth       applied as a symbol) that through the prayer of these Divinely
 our infirmities : for we know not what we should pray for as       ordained elders the Spirit was imparted unto the sick. These
 we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us         sick are not to be regarded as sick in the physical sense but in
 with groanings which cannot be-uttered." And the same also         the,  spiritual sense. This is fully apparent for reasons which
 applies to Romans 5 :6~' "For when we were yet without             we. have already stated. Why, for example, is he unable to
 strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly." We have        pray whereas the sick of verse 13 can pray for himself? Why
 already remarked that the word "sick" in verse 15 is different     is it stated that the sick of verse ,14 will be healed if and
 than the word "sick" in verse 14. The word "sick" which            when this prayer of faith is uttered in his behalf? Why do
 appears in verse 1.5 is tirincipally  the same word as that        we read of sins and faults if this sickness is merely physical ?
 which is translated "wearied" in Hebrews 12:3: "For con-           Hence, because they are spiritually sick, infirm, weak, they
 sider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against       cannot pray. They do not have the spiritual strength to pray.
 himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds," and          And through this prayer they receive the Spirit (in their
 in this verse it is used with respect to the mind or soul. We      consciousness, we understand) whereof the oil (which may
 surely have a right, therefore, to ascribe to it a spiritual       have been used) was a symbol.

 significance in James 5 :14.                                          This also explains the rest of this text in James 5. A

       Thirdly, in connection with this "anointing him with oil     prayer of faith is a prayer that has its origin in faith and is

 in the name of the Lord," we wish to make the following            also prompted by faith, the bond that unites us with God in

 comments. The expression : "and let them pray over him,            Christ, .and therefore the fear and love of God. Such a

 anointing .him with oil in the name of the Lord," can mean         prayer, prayed by the elders and in which the spiritually sick

 that this anointing with oil accompanied this prayer and also      concurs, will heal and raise him up. He will be healed. All

 that this anointing with oil refers to the prayer, so that we      such sick persons will be healed by God through the prayer

 can read this text as follows: and let them pray over him,         of faith. This also emphasizes that physical sickness cannot

 thereby anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. The        be meant. Indeed, a physically sick person cannot draw from

 expression, "anointing with oil" can surely be interpreted as      the Word of God the assurance that if only elders pray for
 a participial phrase which modified this prayer of the elders      him he will be healed. However, this is spiritually true.
 and further explains it. We all understand, of course, that        And that such a spiritual healing and sickness is meant is also

 no magical power of healing must be ascribed to this oil,          evident from what follows in the verses 15-16 where we read
 provided that we understand this anointing as actually oc-         of the confession of faults and sins. These are the general
 curring in the natural sense of the word. Even if this an-         remarks we wished to make in connection with the passage

 ointing occurred in that natural sense of the word, it surely      in James 5.

 accompanied this praying of the elders of the church because                                                                   H.V.
 of its symbolical significance. What, then, is the significance

 of "anointing with oil" in Holy Writ? Oil, we know, is a

 symbol of the Holy Spirit. It was always used in connection           "With the greatest justice God exclaims by Isaiah that

 with the anointing in the Old Dispensation of the prophets,        the prophets and all the people were his witnesses: because.

 priests and kings. This needs no further comment at this           being taught by the prophecies, they were certain that God

 time. And to be anointed with oil symbolized that act of the       had spoken without the least fallacy or ambiguity . . . . I
 Lord whereby He'ordained,  and qualified a certain person to       speak of nothing but what every believer experiences in his

 be busy in the things of the house of His covenant, to             heart, except that my language falls short of a just explica-

 proclaim His Word, be it. as prophet, priest, or king. The         tion of the subject."

 significance, therefore, of this anointing in James 5 must not                              Calvin's Institutes, Book I, Chapter VII


                                                      T H E   ST.ANDARD  BEA,RER                                                    63


                                                                     article, they-do not reason at all, but simply state what is not

11         The Voice of Our Fathers                             11 the Reformed view and what is the true Reformed faith.
                                                                        What presentation of the matter do the Arminians make ?

                                                                     They claim that if a saint falls into sin and walks in sin for a

                 The Canons of Dordrecht                             time, and that if such a saint through God's preserving grace
                                                                     is efficaciously brought to realize his sin, to be sorry for it,
                               PART Two
                                                                     and to repent of it, and that if -thus such a saint attains to a
                    EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS                         renewed confidence of persevering, then the result will be
                F I F T H  HE A D   O F   D O C T R I N E            that he becomes licentious and that the renewed confidence of

             OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS                       persevering in such a fallen and restored saint will be
                                                                     detrimental to godliness on his part. He will reason, so they
                      Article 13 (continued)                         say, that he is perfectly free to live as loosely and carelessly

      As we indicated in our remarks concerning the translation      as he wants to. Believers cannot fall permanently from grace
last time, this article is really a continuation of the preceding    anyway ; ultimately God always preserves them and brings
paragraph. In Article 12 the general objection, namely, that         them back, no matter how deeply they fall. Besides, he has
the certainty of perseverance produces a spirit of pride and         learned by experience now that when he falls into sin, God
renders men carnally secure, was faced by our fathers and            restores him. Hence, he does not need to be concerned about
answered. Here, in Article 13, we have a specific and em-            his walk. He does not have to be careful to live a godly
phatic instance of that general argument. The objection is           life. In fact, he may carry this line of reasoning a step
raised by the Arminians that in the case of those saints who         farther: his deep falls serve to magnify the power of God's
fall and who are restored from their fall, and who thus have         preserving grace, so that the more he sins, the more the
the rerzewed  confidence of persevering, - that in that case         preserving grace of God abounds. Such is the Arminian posi-
there surely must be the result that they become careless and        tion concerning the Reformed view: the renewed confidence
profane: That renewed confidence of persevering in those             of persevering in those who are restored from backsliding
that are restored from backsliding must produce in them              produces licentiousness and is injurious to piety.
licentiousness and must be harmful to piety. Therefore the              Let us remember that this is a charge that is brought, and
article begins as it does : "Neither even in those who are           that can be brought, only against- the Reformed view of
restored from backsliding . . ." The Arminian claims that            perseverance and of the assurance of perseverance. What is
in their case there surely must be carelessness and profanity;       the very genius of that view? It is this, that in absolutely,
but we, the. Reformed, claim that this is not even true in their.    sovereign grace God never completely deserts His saints,
case. On the contrary, the Reformed view is that the very            even `in their deepest falls, but always efficaciously restores
opposite is true. In the. end, the whole process of their fall,      them and renews in them the assurance that they are and
their restoration, and their renewed confidence of persevering       forever shall remain living members of His church. Persever-

works together for' good to them that love God, who are the          ante  and the assurance of perseverance, both being the work
called according to His purpose : it produces in them a greater      of sovereign grace, they are in no sense of the word the work
concern for carefully observing the ways of the Lord, which          of man. Well now, the Arminian reasons : if they are in no

he hath prepared, that by walking therein they may keep the          sense the work of man and entirely the sovereign work of
assurance of perseverance.                                           God, unconditional, uninitiated and unaided by the saint, then
      Such is the general thrust of this article.                    all reason for a careful godly walk and all incentive for

      In order to appreciate its instruction more fully, let us      piety on the part of the saints is removed. And he reasons
enter more detailedly into the objection that is raised, the         further : if a saint once actually experiences this, experiences,

denial that is made by the fathers, and the positive truth that,     so to speak, that he can fall into sin and walk in sin and

is laid down in this thirteenth article.                             "get away with it," then he will surely become wanton and
      The possibility that is suggested by the Arminian ob-          careless in his walk. If he once experiences that he can actually

jector in' this article could only arise out of an ethically         walk in sin and still be preserved, he will do th.e same thing

perverted mind and could only be based upon a warped con-            againand  again, without any fear`and without any restraint.

ception'of the moral character of the operation of God's grace.      You understand, do you not, that as soon as you introduce
And one who raises this objection against the Reformed view          into the work of perseverance and the assurance of persever-
of perseverance and of the assurance of perseverance either          ance any element of man'? work us an kdegral  part of the
has never understood that view or else he deliberately twists        worlz  of perseverance, as a first step, as a condition, a

it and presents it in an evil light. Our fathers in this article     prerequisite, a cause, or meritorious reason, at that moment
purpose to counter-act this Arminian objection, whether              there is no room at all for this argument of the Arminians.
raised out of misunderstanding by those who are uninitiated          That was just their "sales point." But then let it also be
to the truth or whether raised out of malicious mischief.            understood that the Arminians betray themselves in this argu-

Hence, while there is plenty of sound reason behind the              ment. No, they seldom or never want to put it just


 6     4                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


 that way. They always like to say too that it is all                 from backsliding and when the joy of his salvation -is restored

 of grace, that it is only through the work of the Holy               to him, he becomes licentious and less concerned .about

 Spirit, etc. But the alternative to the argument which               godliness? The very idea is offensive to the Reformed be-

 the Arminians raise here is that there is no perseverance            liever. With our fathers and with the apostle Paul he will
 except that which man accomplishes, and that there is no             reply to this suggestion : "God forbid !"

 certainty of perseverance except that which rests upon un-               And why is this denial so flat and emphatic?

 certain conditions of man's fulfillment. The Arminian claims             It is because there is one fundamental flaw in the argu-'

 really that if you want a pious and God-fearing saint, one who       mentation of the Arminians. They come with an apparently

 is truly diligent to observe God's precepts, then you must           strong and iron-clad argument against the sovereignty and

 scare the devil out of him. You. must make- the `Christian           the efficacy and the unconditionality of God's preserving
 "run scared." You must tell hi-m that if he does not persevere       grace.    But they forget or deliberately ignore the fact that
 (with the understanding, of course, that he is able to do            sovereign-grace is the grace of a holy and.pure and righteous
so, if `he wills), he will never reach the inheritance. God will      God, and that therefore sovereign grace always operates in
 not pres'erve him unless he is willing to persevere. God will        a holy and pure way.     It can never produce a saint who is
 -not hold his hand unless he will hold God's hand. You must          licentious and unmindful of the requirements of true god-
 tell the Christian : "It all depends on you." Then he will be,       liness. The Arminian seems to think, -and many are misled
 so the Arminian presents matters, so concerned .about  his sal-      by this thinking, - that sovereignty and holiness in God's
 vation that he will never be bothered by any false sense of          gracious dealings with a rational, moral creature, in whom
 security. If he falls once and manages somehow to extricate.         God also requires holiness and godliness, are mutually ex-
 himself from- the clutches of, the de.vil, he will have learned      clusive. And he therefore attempts to assault and to destroy
 such a lesson that he will never fall again. But, so the op-         the sovereignty and efficacy of preserving grace and to put in
 ponent claims, if you tell that Christian that he is surely          its place conditionality and free will by means of the weapon
 preserved and instill in him the confidence. of this certain-        of divine holiness and morality. He would. have us choose

 perseverance, he will be unconcerned about sin to begin `with,       between sovereignty and morality. And the Reformed be-
 and the more he falls into sin the more unconcerned he will          liever insists that the antithesis presented by the Arminian
 become.    Now what shall we say to this?                            is false, that there is no conflict whatsoever between the two.

      Shall we admit that this is indeed a danger under the               God's grace preserves. But how does it preserve the

 Reformed view? Shall we become panicky and concede the               fallen or backsliding saint? That grace never totally deserts

 whole struggle to the enemy ? Shall we say that there is             him. Always the incorruptible seed of regeneration remains
 truth in the Arminian charge, and that we ought to stress            in the Christian. Notice: that seed is iwovmptible,  that is,

 the "other side" of the truth a little more in order to counter-     holy. Where is the. conflict ? There is none. Moreover,, that
 act any potential fatalism and passivity ? This is the ap-           grace certainly and effectually renews the backsliding saint

`preach of some. They follow a double-track theology. But             unto repentance and to a sincere and godly sorrow for sin,

 by following this double track they in reality forsake the           .so that he again seeks and obtains remission in the blood of

 track of the truth. By admitting that there is at least an           the Mediator. Is it possible that such a restored backslider

 element of truth in this Arminian charge they concede in,            becomes licentious ? Is it possible that true piety in him is

 principle that the Reformed view is wrong, that it is danger-        injured ? That is impossible in the very nature ;of the case.

 ous for Christian morality. But our fathers concede nothing!         If he is licentious and disregardful of piety, then he has not

      The fathers state flatly that the renewed confidence of         repented, then he has never corn,,,  to a sincere and godly

 persevering even in the case of those who are restored from          sorrow for sin. He would show by his very licentiousness

 backsliding does not produce licentiousness and is not in-           and impiety that he has not tasted that grace which is at the

 jurious to godliness.                                                same time both sovereign and holy, efficacious and pure.

      As we have said, the fathers do not give any reason in             God's grace supplies the confidence of `persevering and
 this article for their flat denial. In the present article they      also the renewed confidence of persevering. But it operates
 are only concerned about gainsaying this accusation. This            always in the same holy and pure way. The. renewal of the
 does not mean, however, that there are no sound grounds.             confidence of persevering is never produced apart from a
 for this denial ; nor does it mean that the fathers have not         serious and holy desire to preserve a good conscience and to
 produced the reasons. This article must be considered in its.        perform good works. He who is licentious and impious has
 context once more.. And we may profitably consider that              not tasted this reassuring grace. His confidence, if he claims
 context presently. But for the present let us view this state-       to have assurance, is false.

 ment of the fathers just as it stands there in all its nakedness.       No, the preserving grace of God, which is always both

 This too is profitable. Is it not the expression of Christian        sovereign and holy, when it operates in the elect saints, even

 experience? Is it not the natural and the first reaction of          in their deepest falls, can never produce licentiousness and

 the sanctified child of God exactly -to deny flatly and un-          impiety. That is contrary to its divine character.

 equivocably  the very suggestion that when he is restored                                   (to be continued)              H.C,H.


                                             T H E   S.TsANDARD   B E A R E R                                                          65 .


                                                                     16 of the Church Order where, among other things, the duty

            DECENCY and ORDER                                        of the office of the minister is stated to be that he is "to watch
                                                                     ov'er  his brethren, the elde?-s  and dea:cons."  Certainly this .

                                                                     provision-refers to a supervision of ecclesiastical duties.
                    Deacons'  Meetings                                   Now it inay appear .a bit strange that this duty is ascribed

                                                                     to. the ministers rather than to the elders. Has not the
                           (Continued)                               government and supervision of the church been entrusted to

                                                                     the elders ? And in our churches do we not have the estab-
                            Article 40                               lished custom according to which one of our elders visits the

                 Supervision by the &linisters                       meetings of the deacons in turn? Is not this supervision
                                                                     adequate ? Why then does this article stipulate "Mz.inisters"

   rlhe  40th Article of our Church Order makes provision            instead of "elders"?
for regular and periodic me.etings  of the deacons. It also              In attempting to answer this question we should note

stipulates that these meetings, wherein the business of the          firstly that there is no real conflict between our present
deacons is to be transacted, shall be attended with Vze              practice and the ruling of this article. The article, as we

calling ftpon  tke Name  of God." To these provisions is added       have seen, does not require the minister's presence at these

the words "whereunto the ministers &all  t'ake good heed and         meetings but the presence of the elders or a representation of

if necessar/jr  they shall be present."                              the elders it would seem is mandatory because the work of

   The question first of all arises as to what is the antecedent     supervision is entrusted specifically to them. In the second
of the word `cwhereuwto"  in this phrase. Does it refer to the       place, when the minister functions according to the prescrip-

`rcalling  on the nawze  of God" so that the meaning is that         tion of this article, he functions in the capacity of an elder . . .

it shall be the task of the minister to see to it that this is       a teaching elder. And that, in the third place,  would seem to
done at all meetings ? This can hardly be the case since the         indicate why he is specifically mentioned in this article. The          ~

article does not require the minister's presence at the meet-        deacons may need and desire advice and instruction with

ings and unless that was also made mandatory it would be             regard to the proper functioning of their ofice. The minister

quite impossible for him to see to it that all. the meetings         is undoubtedly best qualified to give this. The deacons may

were opened and closed with prayer.                                  want to consult him periodically with regard to their duties.

   Does this phrase perhaps then refer to the meetings of            The minister must then make himself available and offer the -

the deacons as such so that the idea is that the ministers must      necessary assistance in order that the office of deacon may

take.heed to-see that the deacons meet regularly and-if neces-       be in proper function. The minister, by virtue of his special

sary every week.2 We hardly think so because this sort of            training, is best qualified for this task.' However, it must also

supervision would belong to the office of the elder rather than      be observed that the minister does not have to wait for an

that of the minister of the Word. As a matter of good order          invitation to attend the meetings of the deacons. He may

it would be the elder's prerogative to see to it that regular        certainly present himself at any of these meetings, only his

meetings are conducted and in which the work of the                  prerogative then is not to preside or lord it over the diacon-

deacons is executed. The deacons are under the supervision           ate but he should retain the status of a visitor and advisor.

of the Consistory and not of the minister alone.                     Where all the Church Order provides what I will call `<ad-

   It appears, therefore, that the most likely application of        ministrative supervision" over the diaconate by the elders, this

the phrase "whereunto the ministers shall take good heed and         article provides "`pedagogical superz?ision"  by the ministers

if necessary they shall be present" is that it refers to the         of the Word.

matter mentioned in the earlier part of the article and in
                                                                                              Article 41
which it is stated that the deacons shall meet "to transact the
bu&ess  pertaining to their office." The idea then is that             "The_  Classical meetings shall consist of neighboring
the ministers must see to it that the deacons on the one hand        churches that respectively delega,te,  with proper credentials,
do not engage in any labors that do not belong to their              a minister and'an  elder to meet at such time a,nd place as was
specific office, and, on the other hand, that they do perform        determined by the previous classical meeting. Such meetings
the tasks pertinent to their office and in particular the spirit-    shall be held at least once in three months, unless great
ual function of that office. This the `ministers of the Word         distances render this inadvisable. In these meetings the
could do .even  though they are not present. at the deacons'         ministers shall preside in. rotation, or .one  shall be chosen
meetings since Article 25 requires that the deacons render an        to preside; however, the same  nsinister  shall not be chosen
account of their labors to the Consistory. `From this report         twice in succession.
the minister as well as the consistory could determine whether           "Fztrthermore,  the president shall, artzong  other things,
there is neglect of duty and if so the minister must take heed       put the follow&g  questions to the delegates of each church:
that it is corrected and, if necessary, even attend the deacons'         1. Are the Co&story  meetings held in yoztr  church?
meetings. Moreover this would also harmonize with Article             2. Is church discipline exercised?


66                                                   T H E   STAND.AR-D   B E A R E R


      3. Are the  fioor  and the Christia.n  schools ca~e'd for?           church. These men, with proper credentials, are authorized

      4. Do you need the judgment and help of the classis  for             to deliberate and decide upon all matters that are legally
 the proper  govevnnzcnt  of your  chawch?                                 brought before the body. The Classis,  so constituted, is,

      ",4nd finally, at one but the last &eeting  and, ,if Ytecess'ary,    however, more than a deliberative body. By mutual agree-
a,t the last vtzeeting  before the (pa.rticular)  synod, de1ega.te.s       ment the churches represented in the Classis  will either
shall be chosen to attend said synod." (A,rt.  41, D.K.O.)                 respect and keep the decisions made by the Classis  or, as
                                                                           the Church Order provides in other places, appeal any dis-
                              The Clmsis                                   agreeable decision to the Synod. ,
      In this article and several that follow in the Church Order
                                                                              The Christian Reformed proposed revision of the Church
various matters relating to the Classis  are treated. The
                                                                           Order makes a slight change in the provisions for delegation
 Classis is one of the four kinds of ecclesiastical assemblies
                                                                           to the Classis.  The revision would read : "`Each &urclz  z&&in
mentioned in Article 29. It is' one of the major or broader
                                                                           the Classis  sha.11  delegate a minister z&h' proper credentials.
assemblies of the church.         "
                                                                           If a church is vacant or the minister is prevented from at-
      Article 41 mentions several matters which we will attempt
                                                                           tending, two' elders shall be delegated" (Art. 37). From this,
to discuss in the following order: (1) The organization of
                                                                           as well' as from the original reading, it seems that emphasis
the Classis,, (2) Delegation to the Classis,  (3) Time and
                                                                           must be laid upon the fact that `rthe eldms" constitute the
place of Classical meetings, (4) Frequency of Classical meet-
                                                                           proper delegation to Classis.  Deacons are not to be delegated.
ings, (5) Presiding officers of the Classis,  (6) Questions for
                                                                           This has not always been observed and in some cases it is
the delegation of Classis  and (7) The matter of delegates
                                                                           very possible that a consistory has no alternative other than
to Synod from the Classis.
                                                                           sending a deacon as delegate or lack a full representation at
                     O?*ganixation  of the Chssis                          the Classis. For example let us take a consistory that is very
      This article dates back to 1581 when the Synod of Mid-               small and consists of' only two elders. It happens that the

delburg combined a number of previous rulings for Classical                church is without a minister and at the time of the Classis

gatherings into the present form. Prior to this time there                 one of its elders is sick and unable to attend. It-would under

were several Classes in the Reformed Churches but they                     such circumstances not be wrong to delegate one of the

were not too well organized, As early as 1568 the Wezelian                 deacons. In such cases the deacons are already added to the

Convention had urged that Classes be organized as soon as                  consistory under the provisions of Article 37 and serve `in
the conditions of war and persecution permitted. And in                    the capacity`of advisory-elders anyway. However, we do feel

_ 1571 the Synod of Emden  drew up a set of rules governing                that wherever possible the delegation to Classis should con-

Classical organization but the disorganized state of- affairs is           sist of elders and the appointment of deacons to this function

reflected in the decision of the Synod of Gelderland in 1582               should not be used as a convenient substitute for elders who
which expressed "that it is neither advisable nay edifying,                may be able but unwilling to fulfill their obligations and

that a. few churches sh.oatld  continue to- exist, by themselws,           office. As an emergency measure only it may be permissible.

but ea.clz  clawclz  is bound to join itself to a Classis.:'  Of course       The manner in which the delegates to Classis  are to be
no church should or could be coerced to join itself to the                 appointed or chosen must.be  left to the choice of individual
federation of churches but virtually all Reformers, including              consistories. The usual method is to delegate by rotation.
Dr. Bouwman, are agreed that it was and is the moral duty                  Either the elders are listed alphabetically or according to their
of each church to do so. Dr. Bouwman advanced four reasons                 tenure of office and in that order they take turns attending
for the necessity of Classical organization and to these others            the classes. It is also conceivable that the consistory votes
could likely be added. He held this to be essential : "( 1) be-            delegates each time but ,if this method is followed there
cause of the unity of the churches in Christ ; (2) because the             should be an understanding that the same elder is not dele-
churches need each other for their continuance, extension,                 gated twice in succession. All the elders should share in this
and purity in faith and conduct; (3) because the liberty of                work even though it may be granted that there may be some
the congregation must be maintained and classical organiza-                elders who are more particularly qualified for it even as there
tion will be a safeguard against domineering .and  arbitrary               may be other elders who are more fitted for other particular
office-bearers; (4) in order that all things may be regulated              work in the congregation.    However, coping with problems
in the church according to the Word of God, and order and                  of the church on a denominational level and familiarizing
discipline may be maintained in the congregation." It                      one's self with ecclesiastical procedures on the broader level
would appear evident that the advantages and benefits of                   is a profitable experience for all the elders and none should
classical organization far outweigh the few minor objections               be barred from participation. It is even good' for the Classis
that might be lodged against it.                .                          to have this change in personnel. It is a preventive and

                      Delegafiion  to the Chssis                           somewhat a safeguard against certain dangers and evils that
      According to the provisions of this article, the Classis             may otherwise quite easily creep into the church.

shall consist of an elder and minister delegate from each                                                                         G.V.d.B.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               .67


                                                                      divine predestination in election and  reprobation, you are
 II                    ALL AROWUD  US                                 guilty of being a deterniinist, a fatalist, or some other ist
                                                                      who impedes the work  of the church to evangelize and win

                                                                      the world for Christ.

 "The Debate Over Divine Election"                                        4. Interesting as the djscussion  proved, we were sadly

                                                                      disappointed. When you read the subject: The Debate Over
        The October 12th issue of Christianity Today presents
                                                                      Divine `Election, you expect that one of the members of the
 among other interesting articles a "Feature Interview" on
                                                                      debate will be affirmative. This I failed to observe. The
 the subject stated above.
                                                                      debate was a failure therefore.
        Dr. Carl Henry, editor of the periodical, served as moder-

 ator and directed the questions to the panel members. The            -"`Is  Capital Pmishutzent  Wrong ?I,
 panel consisted of Dr. Roger Nicole,, Professor of Theology
                                                                          In the same issue of Christianity Today mentioned above,
 at Gordon Divinity School in New England ; Dr. Geoffrey
                                                                      Jacob J. Vellenga gives his views on the above question.
 W. Bromiley, Professor of Church `History at Fuller Sem-
                                                                      Dr. Vellenga, author of the article, is connected to the
 inary; and Dr. H. Orton  Wiley, President Emeritus of
                                                                      United Presbyterian Church.
 Pasadena College in California.
                                                                          He expects all who accept "the authority of Scripture"
        The religious and ecclesiastical background of each of
                                                                      to agree with him that "the issue of capital punishment must
 these men is interesting when you consider the subject under
                                                                      be decided on what Scripture actually teaches and not on the
 discussion. Dr. Bromiley stems from the Anglican Church,
                                                                      popular naturalistic ideas of sociology and penology that
 and I+-. Nicole from the Baptist Church, and as the discus-
                                                                      prevail today." We agree with him.
 sion brings out he claims to lean heavily toward Calvinism ;
 while Dr. Wiley is minister in the Nazarene Church and he                Dr. Vellenga succeeds pretty well, we believe; in present-
 does not hesitate to declare that he leans in the direction of       ing all the modern arguments against capital punishment
 Arminianism.                                                         and then destroying them with Scripttiral  arguments.

        As could be expected the debate on Divine Election                There are at least two good points emphasized in the
 brought into discussion such other related doctrines and con-        article which we appreciated :

 troversial matters as : Predestination, Foreknowledge, the               1. The Christian of the New Dispensation is, according
Remonstrance, the Supra-Infra Lapsarian order of decrees in           to the doctrine of Christ, to live by the law of liberty which
 the counsel of God, Reprobation, Depravity of Man, Com-              -does not abrogate the natural laws of society and civil govern-
 mon and Particular Grace, the Gospel Offer, etc.                     ment, but it inaugurates "a new concept of law written on

        The "Debate" brought out two or three points very             the heart where the mainsprings of action are born."

 clearly :                                                                2. In the argument against "capital punishment too much

        1. None of the panel members was what you would call          is made of the value of physical life. Dr. Vellenga points up
 a strong Reformed man. Even Dr. Nicole who purports to               that `(the  sentence of death on a killer is more redemptive
 be Calvinistic in his views' does not appear a strong man in         than the tendency to excuse his crime as no worse than
 the discussion. We would suggest that Christianity Today             grand larceny."    He emphasizes that "laxness in law tends
 conduct another symposium on the subject and this time ask           .to send both soul and body to hell. It is more than a pious

 one or two men who are really Reformed in their views to             remark when a judge says to the condemned criminal `And

 talk on the subject of Election. One might just as well ask          may God have mercy on your soul.'

 Mr. Krushchev  to express hi? views on Capitalism as to ask              "It is significant that when Jesus voluntarily went the
 out and out Arminians to express their views on Divine               way of the Cross he chose the capital punishment of his day
 Election. You expect to get a shaded answer.                         . as his instrument to save the world. And when he gave

       2. It became sadly apparent that aside from a very few         redemption to the repentant thief he did not save him from

 dyed in the wool Calvinistic denominations which still cling         capital punishment but gave him Paradise instead which was

 to the doctrine of divine election as developed by Calvin,           far better. We see again that mercy and forgiveness are
 most of the Protestant denominations have long departed               something different than being excused from wrqngdoing."

 from or are in the process of forsaking the fundamental                  "No-  one can deny that the execution of a -murderer is
 truth which Calvin calls "The heart of the Gospel," in favor          a horrible spectacle. But we must not forget that murder is
 of doctrines that smack of universal atonement, humanism,             kore`horrible.  The supreme penalty should be exacted only
 e      t    c    .                                                    after the guilt is established beyond the shadow of doubt and

        3. We also concluded from the discussion that it is the        only for wanton, willful, premeditated murder. But the law
 opinion of big church men today that if you .are strict              pf capital punishment must stand, no matter how often a
  enough and Scriptural enough to stand on the doctrines of            jury recommends mercy. The law `of capital punishment
                                                  L

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


must stand as a silent but powerful witness to the sacredness-            Co+&on:  At a congregational meeting every member
of God's given life. Words are not enough to show that life           @ay eiipress- liis opinion, but it is not wise for consistory
is sacred. Active justice must be administered when the               members to argue in the presence of the'church. That under-
sacredness of life is violated."                                      mines the influence of the consistory."

      With the above conviction we are in complete agreement.             In the main we are happy with this advice. It has not
                                                                      happened often, though it has happened, that a consistory
 T'he Rights of Cotisistory  Members at                               member rose to the floor at a congregational meeting to
 Coltgregational  Meetings.                                           oppose a proposal adopted-by majority vote in consistory. To

      Reverend Herman Be1 answers questions sent to him by            say the least this `weakens the proposal `in the minds of the

the readers of The  Banner in the department: The Reader              members. of the congregation, no matter how well the

Asks. Most generally we find this department both interest-           proposal was grounded. It is conceivable that a member of

ing and instructive. We found this also true of the article           the consistory will oppose a certain intended proposal in

appearing in the October 2nd issue of this denominational             consistory, vote against it, and the decision having been

paper of the Christian Reformed Church.                               rendered notifies the cons,istory  that for conscience' sake he

      There the reader asks: 1. Whether a consistory mehber           wants a negative vote registered in the minutes and that he
may speak against a proposal introduced by the consistory ?           will  speak against fhe proposal in the congregational meeting.
2. Whether every consistory member- who favored the pro-              That is his privilege, it seems to me. However, when he al-
posal niay  speak on the'-motion ?                                    lows the vote to be taken in consistory without voicing his
                                                                      objections to the proposal and fails also' to notify .the con-
      It was  the opinion of the questioner "that members of:
                                                                      sistory that he will let his voice be heard at the congregational
the consistory who are against the proposal ought to keep
                                                                      meeting, he has no moral right at `the congregational nieeting
still and that also those who are for it ought to keep still.
                                                                      to oppose a proposal adopted `by majority vote in consistory.
 If the congregation is in need of information the president
                                                                      Even though he is `still opposed he should keep silent at the
should give it."
                                                                      congregational meeting and allow the congregation to voice
      Because the questions are of practical importance and they      its opinion and judgment without coaching.
often come up in the church, also in our churches, we deemed
                                                                          We certainly agree with Reverend ,Bel  that in, cases
-it well to give- our readers Reverend Bel's reply. The reply
                                                                      where the consistory members are sharply at odds on an
is as follows:
                                                                      issue the issue had better not be brought to the congregation
      "1. Let me call attention to the fact that we cannot .speak     .until  the debate has ended and a majority opinion in con-
of right 01' wrong,  since there is no rule for the conduct of        sistory has been obtained.
congregational meetings in our Church Order.
                                                                          What is said above respeciing  negative opinions on a
      We can only point to z&sage  and custovvz  in these matters.    certain proposal applies also to. positive opinions. It stands
      2. Though we cannot speak of the right and wrong in.            to reason that if a proposal comes to the congregational meet-
these matters `we can speak of the wisdol+z  of speaking against      ing it got there by a majority vote of the members of the con-
a motion introduced by the consistory, and also the wisdom            sistory.    Surely these especially should keep silence at the
of all the members-who were in favor of the matter -getting           congregational meeting lest they ieave  upori the congregation
up to speak in defense of the same.                                   the sense of pressure. The congregation should be left free
      It gives the congregation the feeling of division and of-       to decide the matter without any undue pressures by the mem-
using pressure methods.                                               bers of the consistory. If all is done right and the proposal is

      After all the purpose of the congregational meeting is          really ready for the congregational meeting, the proposal will

to gain the advice of the members of the church. Let them             be so well grounded and explained by the president that the
                                    _
speak. .                                                              congregation will need very little other. information or opin-
      When the division of the consistory members is sharp-           ions from the con&story members;

I doubt the advisability of bringing the proposal to the con-                                                                        M.S.

gregational meeting.

      3. However, the majority rules. What has been decided

by a motion, properly `discussed, and carried is binding ac-             "But sirice  we are not favoured with daily oracles from
cording to our Church `Order, unless it can be shown to               heaven; and since it is only in the Scriptures that the Lord
conflict with the Bible, the Confession, or the Church Order.         hath been pleased to preserve his truth in perpetual remem-
      4. A consistory is not compelled to consult the churchj         brayce,  it obtains the same complete credit and authority
but it is wise to do so unless the matter is controversial.           with believers, when they are. satisfied with its' divine origin,

      There is one exception, the consistory                          as if they had heard the very words pronounced by God
                                               un&t consult' the                                                                -
church on matters of finances, spending, buying and selling,          himself." -
.etc. See Articles on Incorporation.                                                        Calvin's Institutei,  Book I, Chapter VII
                                                                                       a


                                                                                      .
                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                            69


      THE STANDARD BEARER'S  WITNESS*  `.                               As inight be expected, especially the early issues of our
                                                                     paper were in a large- part dedicated to exposing the errors

     The subject which I have chosen to consider with you            in the theory  of common grace. The truth of God's grace was

 this evening is "The Standard Bearer's Witness."                    examined from every point of view and foimd always to be

     The first thing which we ought to do in approaching             particular. The challenge went out from the pages of our
 this subject is to clearly lay hold of what we have in m&d          paper to all that would deny this. Few were willing and
 when we speak of                                                    none was able to tieet this charge of The Stan&& Bearer.
                    The Standard Bearer. In general, of course,
 we may very briefly state thaf                                      From this, perhaps; more than from anything else, The
                                     The Sta.ndard Bea.rer  is a
                                                                     Standard Bearer has received its reputation ; it denies and
 Reformed theological journal. Thus, in the first place, it is
                                                                     opposes the error of common grace.
 a theological journal or magazine. As such it is not primarily
 concerned with the more external aspect of church life. It             In close relationship to this we find the second distin-
                                                                    guishing mark of The Standard  Bearer which we would note
 is, for example, not concerned usually with the activities,
                                                                    -its  pdsitive exposition of Reformed doctrine. This is in a
 projects,    and happenings which take place within our
                                                                    sense nothing more than the other side of the samk coin.
 Churches. Such activities may, of course, be reported and
 -reflected upon by the paper, but this is only of secondary        It is the positive side of opposition to common grace. Such
 importance. The primary function of our paper is to treat,         positive development. is always vitally necessary. One can
                                                                    not oppose evil who does not know the way of righteousness ;
 discuss, and develop those things which are of theological
 impoitance:  The goal toward which we aspire is that the           one can not hate the world who does not have the positive
 truth of God revealed in Scripture may be studied, analyzed,       love of God within his heart; one can not expose error who
                                                                    does not know the truth. The same is true of a theological
 and expounded. Our primaiy  concern is with doctrine, the
 doctrine of the Word of God. In the second place, our              journal; in order to serve its purpose it must positively ex-
 paper is a Reformed magazine. This is evident from the name        pound true doctrine.
 of our association, The Reformed Free Publishing Associa-              The positive side of the common grace controversy is the
 tion. We are dedicated, thereby, to the theological truth          -Setting forth of Reformed truth. Common grace in essence
                                                                    calls into question and compromises each one of the five
 which was set forth by the Great Synod of Dordt in the
                                                                    points of Calvinism or the five  heads of doctrine of the
 three forms of unity. That truth we believe to be a correct
                                                                    Canons of Dordt. The Standwd  Bea.wr  not only refuted
 rendition of the revelation of God in Scripture. Its elucida-
                                                                    negatively but it expounded these principles of Reformed
 tion and propagation we seek. This all we state in a general
 way. We are more or less familiar with it, and we need not         doctrine positively.    This it began to do in the very early
                                                                    issues of the paper.  All different aspects of Scripture study
 spend a great deal of time in its consideration this evening.
                                                                    and doctrine have been set forth in harmony with the prin-
    Of. more particular concern to us this evening are the          ciples set forth by our fathers. This has become one of the
 distinctive features of our particular paper.  We want to know     most beautiful and enduring characteristics of our paper.
what it is that sets our paper apart from others. There are            The third feature which we would notice about our
actually many papers that claim to be Reformed journals of
                                                                    paper has raised it to a very unique positicin - it has been
 one sort or another. We are concerned with those features
                                                                    used in the development of new theological insight. This is
which distinguish ours from these others.                           a blessing which we should be sure to appreciate as a unique
    The most generally recognized of these features is, per-        pi;ivilege.  Many are the years and,decades  which have passed
haps, one that derives from the history of our association and      at times in the history of the Church  when doctrinally speak-
of our magazine- the antithetical stand which we have al-           ing the best that could be said was that the Church held its
ways maintained overagainst the error of common grace.              own. In the comparatively short history of our paper, how-
This,, we said, derives from our history. The error of com-         ever, the Lord has blessed us with the services of the Rev.
mon grace, instilled into the Reformed Churches- by. Dr. A.         H. Hoeksema and in that position has used him to provide
Kuyper, was first publicly called into question by the Rev.         new insight into the doctrines df the Church of Jesus Christ.
H. Hoeksema through his writings in The Banner. For many               The one development in doctrine of which we would take
years these writings  went relatively unchallenged until the        particular notice this evening is-in regard to the truth of the
controversy of 1924. One of the byproducts of that con-             covenant of grace. The Reformed Churches. have always
troversy was that Rev. Hoeksema as well as Rev. H. Danhof           felt that the doctrine of the covenant holds a very important
was refused the right of expressing his views in the                place in orthodox theology ; but, they have not always shown
publications of that day. As -a result our association was          great clarity of vision in understanding it themselves. At-
founded to provide `freedom of theological .expression  also        tempts have been made. Some have said that the covenant
?o those men.                                                       is an agreement between God and man; others have found

                                                                    its essence in the promise of God to His people ; still

                                                                    others have merely called it the way in which God saves His
* This is an abbreviated form of the speech offered on September
  24 for the annual meeting  of the R.F.P.A.                        people, These all have, proved disappointingly superficial qt

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


best; and at their worst have led to very serious error. (We            can only be performed by one who is officially called and sent
might almost wonder if the error of common grace has not                by the Church to preach the Word of God`to those that are
developed in the past in connection with one of these er-               without. This work we cannot perform.. We can not do it
roneous views of the covenant.) It was .the editor of our               as individuals. .Neither  can we do it in association.

journal, the Rev. H. Hoeksema, who first developed this doc-            `Witnessing,. however, is another thing. That is a duty
trine of covenant from an entirely different point of view.             which belongs -very particularly to the office of every be-
He found the essence of the covenant of grace to be, not                liever. This witnessing consists of giving testimony to the
merely  an agreement or promise, but the relationship of                truth which God has given us and implanted within our
gracious love and friendship which God has established with             hearts. By the grace of God we have received the truth and.
His elect peqple  in Jesus Christ. This has shed an entirely            concerning it we may not keep silent. As servants of God we
new light, not just on the various aspects of the covenant              must express that truth. We are like a city set on a hill
doctrine, but upon the whole scheme of Reformed theology.               -which must not be hid in darkness. This is true of us as in-
It serves as a unifying principle which brings all doctrines            dividuals ; it is also true of our association. We have con-
into close and intimate relation with each other and with               sidered together the living-heritage of true doctrine which we
personal spiritual experience and life. Through it all doc-             have in our publication, The Standard Bearer. Having this
trine becomes very practical, not with the superficial prac-            heritage we may not keep it to ourselves. We must also give
ticality of a concentration upon externals, but by bringing             expression `of it to others.
all of the revelation of God into profound significance for
our experience of covenant communion with our God.                         This was quite evidently the intention of our association
           Finally, there is one more feature of our Paper which        from the beginning. We read in our constitution that the
must be considered of major importance- that is the con-                purpose of the R.F.P.A. is "to witness to the truth contained
tribution of the Rev. G. M. Ophoff in the exposition of the             in the Word of God' and expressed in the Three Forms of
Old Testament Scriptures. In a very real sense Rev. Ophoff              Unity." This is also the clear implication of the name of our
has opened up the Old Testament Scriptures for us. His en-              paper, "The Standard,`Bearer."  The standard referred to here
deavors in this field have been thorough and unceasing. Never           is equivalent to the emblem, banner, or flag which is borne
has he been content to find in the Old Testament nothing                before troops which are entering a battle. Such a stand-
-more  than a series of moralistic lessons such as is only too          ard is intended to serve a dual purpose. It encourages the
commonly done. From Genesis through Malachi he has sought               men that follow it, and it testifies to those who. do not. This
out and found the gospel of God's covenant grace in Jesus               is quite exactly the function which our publication should
Christ. Clearly he has shown that the Old Testament saints              serve for us. It bears before us the standard of the truth of the
experienced it, the types and shadows reflected it, the songs           Word of God. In doing this it should encourage us who
of Israel exclaimed it, and the voices of the.  prophets ex-            follow it, and it should be a testimony to and against those
pounded it. The unifying principle of all Scripture has                 who do not.

been lucidly revealed through his pen. I am sure that all                   More concretely what this means is that we should take
of our ministers will readily agree that nothing is more help-          care that the truth which is written upon the pages of our
ful in interpreting the Old Testament Scriptures than the               paper should be distributed very broadly. Good Reformed
writings of Rev. Ophoff in our Standard Beu+er.                         writings are only too rare in our day. Having them, we
           In conclusion, therefore,. we find that in our paper, The    should not keep them to ourselves but should distribute
Standird  Beare?-,  we have a very distinct and precious heri-          them about us on every side.     Many of us have rather close
tage. `In' the past-it has been used by God for the defense,            contacts with members of the Christian Reformed Church,
exposition, and development. :of the true doctrine of Jesus             to say nothing of those who left us in 1953. They should
Christ within the Church., : In. the present we believe that            be given the testimony of' Reformed truth found within our
these same principles continue to distinguish our paper. We             paper. More broadly, we live in communities in which there
can only hope and pray that He will also so use us on into              are members of Reformed Churches, Presbyterian Churches,
the future.                                                             Methodist and many `others. To them our witness and

                                                                        testimony should be brought. Ideally the witness of The

                                                                        Standard Bearer should go forth. throughout our nation and
           This brings us to the second main aspect of our subject,     even unto the `very ends of the earth.
namely, the witness of The Standard  Bearer.                                                                      ' i
 Concerning this we should note, in the first place, that

when we speak. of witnessing we do not have reference to a
                                                                           This brings us in conclusion to the very real problem
sort of missionary work. Missionary work is an official
                                                                        of how we can possibly do this.
function which belongs exclusively to the institute of the

Churchof Jesus Christ. It can not take place through papers                It is encouraging for us to note that our Board has taken

and publications. It is the living preaching of the Word. It            steps in this direction already. For the last few years it has
                                             a'
      -


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                     7    1


 been making extended work of distributing copies of The

 Stamdard  Bea.yey  to many that are not on our subscription            NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES                                               1
 i&t. . There is one difficulty, however, against which we al-
                                                                                         "`,&l  the saints sahte thee . . ." PHIL. 4 :21
 ways meet. We cannot afford to make free distribution of                                                                                   b,

 our paper to a large number of people for any extended

 length of time.                                                                                                        Oct. 20, 19s9
     Because of this fact I have -a concrete suggestion which I
 would like to submit this evening. Should it be not com-                Rev:  G. Lanting, of Grand Haven, received the call from
 pletely practical in itself, it may nonetheless set us to think-    Holland from a trio which included Revs. G. Lubbers and
 ing in the right direction.    The various phases of this sug-      G. Vanden  Berg.

 gestion I will divide into three different steps. 1. A request          Rev. J. A. Heys, of Hull, is considering a call from South
 should be sent to the editorial staff of our paper asking that      Holland. The other members of the trio were .Revs.  G. Van-
 they prepare a special series of articles which in a. concise       den Berg and B. Woudenberg.
 and a direct manner would set forth the various facets of
 our Protestant Reformed truths. 2. Once these articles were             Rev. G. Vanden  Berg ,declined  the call extended to him
 printed, we could have the printer re-arrange the type in           from Edgerton.

 shorter columns and reprint them in the form of pamphlets.
 This would involve a minimum of expense. 3. These pam-                                REPORT OF CLASSIS EAST

 phlets could then be forwarded to such groups as the Prot.                                        October 7, 1959
 Ref. Action Committee of Doon,  Edgerton  and Hull, the                                      Hudsonville, Michigan
 Church-Extension Committee of South Holland and Oak-
 lawn, and to individual committees that could `be organized             Rev. G. Vos, chairman of the July Classis,  led in the
 in our various congregations. These committees could then           opening devotions.

 mail them out to various people of their communities and.               All the churches of Classis  East were represented by two
 states, and perhaps in some instances even more broadly             delegates except Creston  and Grand Haven whose ministers
 than that, both nationally and internationally.                     o n l y   w e r e   p r e s e n t .   -_

     Before we close, we can hardly resist speculating upon              Rev. B. Woudenberg, following the order of rotation,
 what the results of such a program might be. In the first           presided at this session and acquitted himself well of his
 place, such a series of pamphlets as is proposed would be           t a s k .
 beneficial for our own people. Properly preserved and in-
                                                                         After the approval of the transcribed minutes of the July
 dexed they could form a handy source of reference in every
                                                                     meeting, Classis listened to and received for information
 home. In the second place, such broadly distributed reprints
                                                                     various reports from the Stated Clerk, the Classical Com-
 from The Standafd  Bearer would serve as a very good means
                                                                     mittee and the Committee for Church Visitation.
 of advertisement for our paper and could easily lead to an

 increase in the number of subscribers. In the third place and           The report of the Classical Committee revealed that the

 more than anything else, we would be filling our obligation         ,kev. J. A. MC Collam  had resigned-from the ministry in the
 to our God to witness as broadly as possible to `the truth          P.rotestant  Reformed Churches and particularly from his

 which He has given to us.       Finally, however, it is not in-     pastorate in Holland. The Classical Committee had ap-
 conceivable to expect that such a broad program consistently        pointed Rev. G. Lanting to be the counselor of Holland and

 carried out could lead eventually to the opening up of new          made' arrangements for classical appointments to help this

 fields in which the official missionary ministry of our             church in her need.

 Churches could engage.                                    B.W.          The Church Visitors reported concerning the general

                                                                     well-being of the churches in Classis East. Our churches

                                                                     accordingly are prospering and experiencing the favor of

                                                                     God.
     "It is necessary that the same Spirit, who spake by the
 mouths of the prophets, should penetrate into our hearts, to            Classis also considered several requests for classical ap-
 convince us that they faithfully delivered the oracles which        pointments, two coming through Classis  West to supply the
. were divinely intrusted to them. And this connection. is very      churches in Randolph and South Holland, and one from
 suitably expressed in these words `My Spirit that is upon           Holland. Classis acted favorably and adopted the following
 thee, and my word which I have put in thy mouth, shall not          schedule of appointments :

 depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, .nor     HOLLAND - Oct. 18, M. Schipper  ; Oct. 25, H. Hanko;
 out of the mouth of thy seed's seed forever.' "                             Nov. 1, Open ; Nov. 8, G. Lanting ; Nov. 15, bpen ;

                      Calvin's Institutes, Bo.ok  I, Chapter VII             Nov. 22, G. Vos ; Nov. `29, A. Mulder ; Dec. 6, Open ;


         -Dec. 13, R. Veldman ; Dec. 20, Open ; Dec. 27, B. Wou-                    The Office,  Bearers' Conference held October 6 at Hud-

          denberg  ; Jan. 3, Open ; Jan. 10, C. Hanko.                        sonville  .was  well-  attended. Rev. G. Lanting, from Grand
                                                                       Haven, gave an excellent speech on the topic; "Praying For
     R A N D O L P H -Oct.  18, R. Veldman; Oct.  25,  B.  Wou-               Those In Authority" as found in I Tim. 2 :l, 2. After recess
          denberg  ; Nov. 1, Open ; Nov. 8, Open ; Nov. 15, M.                the reverend answered many questions regarding his subject.
          Schipper, Nov. 22, H. Hanko ; Nov. 29, C. Hank0  ; Dec.,            The evening proved to be one of spiritual benefit and edifica-
          6, Open ; Dec. 13, G. Lanting ; Dec. 20, G: Vos ; Dec.              tion.

         27, Open ; Jan. 3, Open ; Jan. 10, A. Mulder.                 --.                                     - 1

     SOUTH HOLLAND - Oct. 18, A. Mulder i Qct: 25, C.                               Rev. G. Vanden  Berg, from Oak Lawn, is conducting. all
          Hanko ; Nov. 1, G. Vos ; Nov. 8, Open ; Nov. 15, R.                 of the catechism classes in South Holland.

          Veldman ; Nov. 22, Open ; Nov. 29, B. Woudenberg ;

          Dec. 6, Open ; Dec. 13, Open ; Dec. 20, M. .Schipper  ; .-                An excerpt from Hope's bulletin: "Yesterday (Oct. 17)

          Dec. 27, H. Hanko ; Jan. 3, Open ; Jan. 10, G. Laming.              Rev. and Mrs. H. Hanko brought their baby to St. Mary's

                                                                              Hospital for treatment of spinal meningitis. Not too much
         Classis West also requested two sermons from each min-               is known at this point as to his condition."
     ister in Classis  East to be used in their reading services.

     This request was granted.                                                      Both the Eastern and Western Ladies' Leagues and Mr.

         First Church of Grand Rapids requested that Classis East. and Mrs. League held meetings in the, month of October.
     discontinue publishing a report of their sessions by means               Those, and other reports, will probably be found in the next
     of a fly-leaf in The Standard Bearer, and inform Classis  West      issue.

     of the action if adopted. Classis  decided to instruct the
     Stated Clerk to send this material to the News Editor of                       Hope P.T.A., held October 9, featured a round table dis-
     The St,am@ard  Bewer  for inclusion in his column. Two                   cussion  on "Foreign languages in the elementary school."

     reasons moved Classis to take this step. -One, considerable

     expense will be saved for our churches. Two, our people will.             (    The Mr. and Mrs. Society of Hudsonville held a."coffee"       .
     have a permanent record of the actions of Classis  rather                recently to help defray the expenses of remodeling the base-
     than one that can be easily lost on a' fly-leaf. Classis West            ment of their church.
     was also informed of this action and it is hoped they will

     follow the same procedure.                                                     See you in church . . .                             J.M.F.

        First Church also asked for the increase of censure. After
.    the necessary light had been shed, Classis decided to grant

     the request.

        The Consistory of Loveland presented Classis  with a-                                "Thine own musician, Lord, inspire,
     letter informing the churches of Classis  East of their great                            And let my consecrated lyre

     financial need incurred recently by the procuring of a min-                              Repeat the Psalmist's part.
     ister and a parsonage. Classis decided to grant their request-                           His Son and Thine reveal in me,
     to ask for collections in our churches to help them in their                    .        And fill with sacred melody
     need.                                                                                    The fibres of -my heart."

        Rev. R. Veldman was appointed to thank the ladies of                                                                 i Charles Wesley
     our Hudsonville Church for their excellent catering services.

        Classis decided to meet next time on January 6th in First
                                                                                           Thy right hand shall thy people aid ;
     Church.
                                                                                              Thy faithful promise makes us strong ;
        Questions of Article 41 of the Church Order were asked                             We will Philistia's land invade,
     and answered satisfactorily.                                                             And over Edom chant the song.

        After the chairman expressed appreciation for the co-                              Through thee we shall most valiant prove,
     operation he received in this session of Classis and after he
                                                                                              And tread the foe beneath our feet;
     expressed the hope and prayer that God bless our decisions,
     Elder P. Schipper of Holland closed the meeting with thanks-                          Through thee our faith shall hills remove
     giving.                                                                                  And small as chaff the mountains beat.

                               REV. M. SCHIPPER, Stated Clerk                                                                   - Anonymous


