                                                                                                                                                _-

     VOLUME  =vI                             NOVEMBER  15,  1 9 5 9   - GRANDS  RAPIDS;  MICHIGAN                               NUMBER  4


                                                                               It is a holy relationship in God's Own economy. God al-

                                                                          ways seeks God, That is life. You also may say it this way:
            .M.E~D I t A -I- I 0-N
                                                                     I    Life is the utterance of Holy Self-Love.
                                                                                                                                   `.
                                                                               God walks on that pathway of Life from everlasting to_
      TI$Z BLESSED KNOWLEDGE OF THE
       I                                                                  everlasting. You sing : "To live apart from God is death,
                          PATH OF LIFE                                    `Tis good His face to seek."          Well, this last sentence would

              Thou                                                        be a very good definition of Life. For that is exactly what
                        wilt show `me the path of life: in Thy
                                                                          God does. He ever seeks His Face, and that is the -Son.
              presence is fdness  of joy; at Thy right  hand                                                                                            _
                                                                          God seeks God.
              there a;r-e pleaswes  for evwwww."  PSALM 16 :ll

                                                                             Relatively, life is in. God's creature: man; beast and. _ --2.
    The sixteenth Psalm is highly Messianic.
                                  ._                                      plant.

    It is quoted in Acts 2, where `Peter preaches to the Jews                  And in the creature it is that urge wherebv -all things
 and the Gentiles following the outpouring : of the Spirit of             continually move. toward God : the `very fountain of Life.
 Christ. See verses 25-28. "..                                            They do so consciously or unconsciously, formally, .materially              `. -. -A_

    It amazes us whenever we read such .exegesis  of the Old              o r   s p i r i t u a l l y .                                          r
 Testament by -the "inspired writers of the New. When you                      A path comprises three things : process, direction and
 read David in Psalm 16 you hear of k-; experiences. `But                 destination. And when you connect- the path with Life it is
 when you read Peter you hear that the real Subject .is the               directly a matter of the heart. That is, when man is con-
 Lord Jesus Christ. And that is so, not only here in Psalm                cerned. From out of the heart, through the mind and will
 16, but it is true in many other parts of Holy Scripture.                and all his functions, man moves toward God. That is life
 If. we did not have this exegesis of Peter, we would never               for. man.
 have thought that the Lord Jesus Christ was involved at
                                                                               Such it was .at the morrow of creation in Paradise.
 all. In fact, we read much more of the sufferings of the Lamb

 of God in the Old Testament than we read of the same. in                      And the fruit of life for him was knowledge of God, of

 the New. See, e.g., Psalm 22.                                            the Triune God:

   . My text is closely related the very heart of the Gospel,                  But, man fell away from God, and died.

 such as it was lived-before. by David, and fulfilled in Christ.               And death is the very opposite of life. Death is departure

  - .It ~&es  down to'.this  : the path of Christ is the path of          from God: "To live apart from God is death !" You sing that.

-Life. And this Life consists of, first, joy in God's presence;                And death is also a pathway. You go from death to more
 and, second, sweetnesses are found at God's right hand. The              death. Paul is our teacher here. The Gospel preachers are                          .
 original Hebrew word which is translated in our English                  death unto death to the wicked. That is, they are dead when
 Bible by pleaszwes  comes from a word which means meet-                  Paul began to preach to them, and they'are more dead when
 aess. The name of Naomi comes from the same root, and                    Paul finished his sermon.
 means really My Swef&zesi.                                                    And so it goes in our churches: the wicked are deader .-.

                             *,* * *                                      when they depart than when they entered the house of God.
                                        .

                                                                               Because the pathway of death has  in it a process : you ad-

    The path of Life.        *                                            vance~  in death. Until you arrive in that Awful  place which

                                                                          is called the second -death.
    Now, Life.is a-virtue .of God. We read of the l&&g  God,

 or of the God of. Life.                                                       And at the East of the'  garden of .Eden there were set
                                                                                                                   _    .y                ,-
                                                                                                                  4. I.                    :
                                                                                                                                    -.
                                                                                                           f


                  74                                              T H E   .S~TANbARb   B E A R E R



                  Cherubim and a flaming sword -which turned every way, to              A prophecy fulfilled : "And all thy children shall be taught

                  keep the way of the ,tree of life.                                 of the `Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children,"

                                                                                     Isa. 54 :13.
                        That's the way it is when we are born here on this sorry
                  earth.                                                                You know, the pathway of life is a `matter of vision.
                                                       * * * *                       Where there is no vision, the people perish. And it is not a

                                                                                     natural vision, it is a' spiritual vision ; you see God or you

                        If no more- was said or done by God, we would be born        do not see Him. You see sin or you do not. You see the
           _ of dead parents, we would be dead at our birth, we would                Redeemer of sin or you do not. It's that simple (or terrible).

                  proceed upon our pathway of death, growing deader every

                  second, and arrive finally at the place that is called second                                  * *.* *
                  death.
                                                                                        And the fruit of that pathway of life is .wonderful.
                        But, thanks be to God, He revealed life again.
                                                                                         You could also call it the end of that pathway of life.
                        In Paradise was the Tree of Life.                                I call it a fruit, and I have my reasons. If it were only

                  And that Tree of Life is shown again. But what a                   of the end, the conclusion of the journey of life, I would have

                  difference !                                                       no room for the sweetness of the present. Oh, I know, I know,

                                                                                     that we are not in heaven, I am perfectly aware of the fact
                        It is Jesus ,Christ  our Lord.
                                                                                     that we have our journey among the serpents and the lions.
                        His Person, His work, His life and His death, and His        But there is something sweet now already.
                  resurrection and ascension at the Right Hand of God are
                                                                                         Attend to this : In -Thy Presence is fulness  of joy !
                  the Tree of Life whose leaves are for the healing of the
          n a t i o n s ;                                                                You ought to sing the following sentence: The flaming
                                                                                     sword is out of the way!
                        And there stands that Tree.
                                                                                         Eternal death, which is the reward of the wicked, is gone.
       .--:-. -_._ 2 Oh yes, the form is somewhat different. It is in the
--.
                  shape of a Cross.                                                      Jesus swallowed it all up. He has destroyed that sword.

                                                                                         What is the meaning of joy?
             1          But there' He stands !

                                                                                         It is this : Joy is your state and condition when all your
                    In the midst of the dead. Here is a description of you
                  and of me as we are by nature. "There is a way that seemeth        needs  are fuhilled'
                  right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death !"         Watch a little bird in its cage: when it has eaten a few
          P r o v .   14:12.                                                         seeds, and drunk a little water: it sings! It is contented.
                                                                                     I t   j o y s .
                        And in the midst of all this death the Tree of Life is
                                                                                         Many years ago I heard a program, and their theme
                  G o d ' s   r e v e l a t i o n .
                                                                                     song was : I sing, for I'm contented !
                        What good will it-do ?
                                                                                         That was right. Oh I do know that they did not speak
                        Listen to Isaiah's cry : "Who hath believed our report?"
                                                                                     of the things of God, but in a formal sense they were right
                        Who is going to listen to the preaching of this Tree of      nevertheless.      They were Divinely right. When your needs
                  Life? Preaching the whole way of life is telling of the story      are fulfilled you feel like singing. You taste joy.
             -of Jesus as He walked right through the flaming sword that
                                                                                         So also here. When you .live, when you walk on the
                  kept the way. For Him to walk the pathway of life was to
                                                                                     pathway of life to the heart of God, you feel like singing.
                  walk through all the wrath of God which is over the sin of
                  mankind.                                                               God knows that, and He prepared a book of songs for
                                                                                     you: the 150 Psalms of David. Do not dilute the heavenly
                        That flaming sword meant for Jesus that He had to die
                                                                                     quality of such singing with your hymns, will you ?
                  the eternal death.
                                                                                                                 * * *- *
                        But He did. And therefore Jesus said of-Himself: I am

                  the Way, the Truth and the Life !                                     And : At Thy Right. Hand are sweetnesses for evermore.

                        God showed first of all the way of life to Jesus, and God        Note that those sweetnesses are only at the Right Hand
                  showed Him the way through hell to heaven.                         of God. That has to do with God's Righteousness. They are

                        And, God be thanked, then God shows the way of life to       the enjoyments of the righteousness of Christ. And right-

                  all His people. And God shows this way of life through Jesus       eousness means that yod ape  goo8. To be good is to be

                  Himself. Christ is the-great Preacher. He does that preach-        righteous.

                  ing through His Almighty Spirit and the Word Divine.                  The goodness of Christ whose name is The Lord our

                        All that are given to Jesus by the Father are taught by      Righteousness, is given unto us. It envelops us as a cloak.

                  Him and they begin to walk on. the pathway of life.                When we walk with the Lord as the justified saints of God,


                                                                              T     H      E          STANDkRD  BEARER                                                                                                                                                                                 $5
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   .'
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       .-
     He treats us as though we had never sinned, yea, as though

     we had personally fulfilled all His righteous demands.                                                                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

          And this righteousness is also given to us as a small prip-                                                    Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and Augm-
                                                                                                                             Published by the REFORMED  F
     ciple in our walk of sanctification.                                                                                                                                                                   REE PUBLISHING ASSOCLYITON
                                                                                                                        P. 0. BOX  881,  Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
          It is sweet to walk with the Lord.                                                                                                           Editor - REV. H&MAN  HOE~~EMA

          It is like unto the honey and the honeycomb of which the                                                       Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
     Bible speaks. It is the meeting and the tasting of God.                                                                                Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
                                                                                                                                                                         Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
          The text tells us that at His right hand these sweetnesses                                                    All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
     are for evermore.                                                                                                                      James Dykstra,' 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
                                                                                                                                                                   Grand Rapids -7, Michigan
          Well, you do not have to wait to taste this sweetness, for                                                    Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
     they are yours even now while we walk in the valley of the                                                          address and will be published at a fee of $2.00 for each notice.

     shadow of death.                                                                                                   RENEWAL:  Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
                                                                                                                        ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
          However, they are not tasted un&.red.                                                                         to continue without the formality of a renewal `order.

          Here on earth they are mixed with the bitter taste of sin.                                                                                     Subscription price: $5.00 per. year

          But when our weary journey to heaven is finished you                                                            Entered as Second Class matter at Grand Rapids, Michigan

     will taste them unmixed. "There's a land that is fairer than

     day !"
                                                                                                                                                                              C O N T E N T S
          And you will taste them for evermore.                                                                       MEDITATION  -

                                                                                                         G.V.                  The Blessed Knowledge of the Path of Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
                                                                                                                                          Rev. G. Vos

                                                                                                                      EDITORIALS -                                                                                                                                                                                         -- *    .-
                                 Deacons' Conference                                                                          Union?               . . . . . . ..:.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
     All present and former deacons are invited to the Deacons'                                                               Explanation                      . 1.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
                                                                                                                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema
     Conference,
                                                                                                                      OUR DOCTRINE -
                            NOVEMBER 20; at 8:00 P..M.
                                                                                                                               The Book o f Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78                                   I ~._
               at the Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church.                                                                        . . Rev. H. Hoeksema
I                                                   Topic :                                                           A CLOUD OF WITNESSES  -
      "`.What  alpe  the Fundamental Reouimutzents  of a Deacon.J'                                                            Shechem                   .._.. .._ __. ._. ___._.  . . . . . . ..___........  81

                        Speaker: REV. H. C. HOEKSEMA                                                                                      Rev. B. Woudenberg
                                                                                                                      FROM HOLY WRIT -
                                                    The Diaconate of the Hudsonville                                           Exposition of Romans 14, 15 (10) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._........................  83
                                                    Prot. Ref. Church                                                                     Rev: G. Lubbers

                                                   H. Boer, Secretary                                                 IN HIS FEAR-

                                                                                                                               Freedom of Speech (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I . . . . . ..__.................  S5

                                                                                                                                          Rev. J. A. Heys.
                                             IN MEMORIAM
                                                                                                                     CONTENDING FOR THE  FAITH -
         The Priscilla Society of the First. Protestant Reformed Church of                                                    The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  57
     Grand Rapids extends our sincere sympathy to two of its members,
                                                                                                                                          Rev. H. Veldman
     Mrs. T. Van Eenenaam and Mrs. C. Emaus,  in the loss of their hus-
     band and brother                                                                                                 THE VOICE OF OUR FATHERS -
                                      TOM VAN EENENAAM-                                                                       The Canons of Dordrecht.. ..___  . . . . . . . . . . ..______  . ..S9
         May the God of all grace comfort them in the hope of eternal'                                                                   Rev.-H.  C. Hoeksema

     blessedness in the life to come.                                                                                DECENCY  AND ORDER -
                                                               Mrs. E. Kooienga, President                                    Article 41                   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  : .__........__  91
                                                               Mrs. C. Pastoor, Secretary                                                 Rev. G. Vanden Berg

                                            IN MEMORIAM                                                              CONTPJBUTIONS  -
                                                                                                                              Report of Eastern Ladies' League...: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..___...............  92
         The Board of the .Federation of Protestant Reformed School                                                                       Mrs. R. Clawson
     Societies wishes hereby to express its -heartfelt sympathy to the                                                        Report of Western Ladies' League . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
     bereaved family of its former secretary                                                                                              Mrs. Clarence Klein

                                 THOMAS VAN EENENAAM                                                                  ALL AROUND Us -
     whom the Lord tobk'out  of our midst so suddenly.                                                                        Study Posits Hell On Way Out . . . . . . . . . . ..____................................  94
         May the Lord comfort the family through His Word and Spirit.                                                         "Some Thoughts                                 On Infant Baptism" . . . . . . . . . . ..___...... . ..__......____  94

     P s .   73:26:   " M y   f l e s h   a n d   m y   h e a r t   f a i l e t h ,   b u t   G o d   i s   t h e                         Rev.' M. Schipper

     strength of my heart and my portion forever."                                                                   NEWS     FROM OUR CHuRCHEs  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
                                                              H. Meulenberg, President                                                  .Mr.  J. M. Faber

                                                               J. Prince, Vice Secretary'

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


                                                                             and deposed at the time because they would not subscribe to

                     EDIPORIA.LS                                             the decision of 1946?  I am thinking now, e.g. of Prof. K.
                                                                             Schilder. And if the decision of 1946 is not of binding force

                                                                             today was it not a grievous error that it was made of binding

                                                                             force in 1946, and that thus the split was caused at that
                                     Unibn?
                                                                             time in the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands ? Should

              The Synod of the Reformed Churches (Gereformeerde              then not the Synod of 1959 also have apologized for what
        Kerken) that gathered this year in Utrecht, made an im-              was done by the Synod of 1946?  It is very good, indeed, to
        portant decision regarding union with the Liberated (Gere-           seek union, but this must be done in. the right way.

        formeerde Kerken, Art. 31).                                              Suppose that the Christian Reformed Church would seek

              We quote and translate from the C`Rijnlandsche  Kerk-          reunion with the Protestant. Reformed `Churches, which

        bode" :                                                              means, of course, not the schismatics, for they never were and

                                                                             are not now Protestant Reformed as becomes more and more
              "Regarding the doctrinal expression of 1946, the so-
                                                                             evident; but which refers to the churches that are faithful
       called replacement formula (Vervangingsformule) , the Synod
                                                                             to the !`Declaration  of Principles." Suppose, moreover, that
        decided `to put her aside, without putting another in her
                                                                             they decided to set aside the "Three Points" so that they
       place, but adhere, for the rule of faith in regard to the doc-
                                                                             would not be of binding force anymore, but at the same time
       trine of the church concerning the covenant and baptism, to
                                                                             declare that these points were Scriptural and Confessional.
       that which is expressed in the Three Forms of Unity.' "

              According to the same Synod, as quoted in the paper                Could we, on that basis, reunite with the Christian Re-
       mentioned above, this decision does not mean that the Synod           formed Church ?

        would regard the objections brought in against the doctrinal             We could not.

       expression of 1946 to be correct. The contrary is true. The
-                                                                                I could mention several reasons for this negative state-
        Synod even expressed that she cannot accept those objections
                                                                             ment, but I will mention only two.
       .and still considers that the so-called replacement-formula is

       in harmony with the Word of God and the Confessions.                      The first is that according to our deepest conviction the

                                                                             "Three Points" are neither Scripturally nor confessionally
              This is, to my mind, a strange, ambiguous and also contra-
                                                                             Reformed. They are false doctrine and-can never be accepted
       dictory decision.
                                                                             by us. And to reunite with the Christian Reformed Church
              First of all, I ask the question: what does it mean "to set    on that basis would mean that we admitted that those three
       aside" the replacement-formula (haar terzijde te stellen) ?           points are Scriptural and Confessional. The only basis on
       Evidently, it does not mean the same as to retract, for the           which we could possibly reunite with that Church is that
       Synod at the same time expressed that this formula is in              the Synod of that Church would loyally retract all the deci-
       harmony with Scripture and the Confessions. "To set aside"            sions of 1924 concerning "common grace."
       must mean that it is still on the table of Synod and that it
       can be taken off at any time. It also means, and this is, no             But the second reason why we could not possibly reunite
       doubt, the chief purpose of this decision, that it is no longer       with the Christian Reformed Church on the basis above men-
       of force, that no one has to subscribe to it and that no one          tioned is that their Synod would not only- have to retract
       can be disciplined for teaching anything contrary to it.              but would also have to confess that in 1924 they had sinned.
                                                                             We did not leave the Christian Reformed Church. They
              But how is this possible?                                      cast        out. They deposed officebearers. Now either that
                                                                                  us 
              The Synod itself, and to this I mean to call attention in      deposition was valid and just, and then those officebearers

       the second place, expressed once more that the replacement-           could not be received without apology in the Christian Re-

       formula is in harmony with Scripture and the Confessions;             formed Church. Or that deposition was unjust and corrupt,

       and, personally, I believe it is. But, at the same time, and          as I believe it was, and then the Christian Reformed Church

       this is the ambiguous and contradictory element in the deci-          has `to admit that they sinned in 1924.

      sion, it also virtually declares that it is not binding and that
                                                                                This is the only possible and right way.
       it sets it aside, so that anyone may teach .anything  contrary

       to it with impunity. How is this possible? Does it not                   If this way is not pursued we have to remain separate

       amount to the same thing as to set aside Scripture and the            and we will have to appeal to Christ who will presently judge

       Confessions ? To my mind it does.                                     all history, also the history pf 1924.

              Besides, if the Synod now wants to declare, as it does,           But we will wait for the reaction of the Liberated to this
       that the `decision of 1946 is not of binding force, should it not     decision of Utrecht 1959.
     \ do more ?

              Were not officebearers disciplined (I write from memory)                                                               H.H.


                                              TH.E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  77



                            Explanation                               out of the abyss.        He oppresses the church. He persecutes
                       -                                              the believers that witness against him and that perform

   More than one have asked .me a question or questions               these wonders.          He kills some of them undoubtedly and

about an article I wrote in the July issue of The  Siandard           succeeds in declaring the entire church of Christ dead so

Bearer, an article about the book of Revelation. The ques-            that -their testimony is silenced and they are objects of

tions concerned especially what I wrote about the two wit-            greatest scorn and contempt as is expressed in the figure of

nesses mentioned in Rev. ll and more particularly about the           their bodies lying unburied in the streets of Jerusalem for

fact that, before the time of the end, they are taken to heaven.      three days'and a half. But we also find a general' picture of

I even heard rumors that in this article I was teaching the           the final victory, or rather of the ultimate deliverance of the

premillennial view. A word of explanation, therefore, may             church. The days are shortened for their sake. They are

not be out of order. Let me, first of all, state I studied that       raised, changed, and taken to heaven even before the time

particular passage once more and that, on the basis of the            of the end." . . . .

text, I must conclude that my interpretation must stand.                  This, to my mind, .is the only correct and possible ex-
Strange I think it is that, while I preached on the entire book       planation of Ch. 11 of `the book of Revelation. The only
of Revelation three times and the-  third time I gave printed         question that remains is whether this refers only to the
outlines of my sermons to all that heard me, I never heard            church that is on earth at the time of the great tribulation
a remark on my interpretation of chapter 11 before. Never-            or to the church in general. There are passages in Scripture
theless, I am glad that the remark is made now, for in the            that would seem to indicate that all the dead, wicked and
first place it shows that The Standafrd  Beare+  is read, and,        righteous, shall rise at the same time. But we must never
secondly, the young people asked me for the outlines above            forget that when Scripture speaks of "the day of the Lord"
mentioned to be printed in Bea.con  Lighti and to be used as          and even `of "the hour" it does not refer to a common day
a basis for discussion in their Bible study. And I surely             of twenty-four hours or to an hour of sixty minutes, nor does
would not like to lead them astray in the paths of pre-               Scripture always speak in detail of the events and T of `the
millennialism.                                                        order of the events that shall take place in that day or in

   Let me first of all quote the passages from The Stand-             that hour. Nevertheless, I am strongly inclined' to' believe

ard Bewe}?  about which the questions were raised. I quote            that Rev. 11 does not speak of the whole church, or of .the

from pp. 414, 415:                                                    resurrection of all the saints and their change to glory, but

                                                                      only of those that live and died at the time of the great
   "The first part of that week is the time of the great tribu-
                                                                      tribulation, very shortly before the end, and before the rise
lation. But after the time of the great tribulation, after the
                                                                      of Gog and Magog which also shall take only a very short
church has been dead and her testimony has ceased for some
                                                                      time.
time, Christ shall cause a certain revival. A spirit of life
entered into them from God and they stood upon their feet                 But my explanation of Rev. 11 has nothing to do with
once more. A voice comes from heaven, and calls them up               premillennialism or with. the rapture.

thither, and they ascend into heaven in a cloud . . . In other            Premillennialism believes in two peoples, Israel and the

words, before the time of the end, while Antichrist and Gog           Church. These two peoples are essentially different and shall

and Magog are still on the earth, the church shall be taken           forever remain separate. Christ is King of Israel, not of

away from her shame and persecution and terrible suffering.           the Church. In eternity the Church. shall go to heaven, the

The living saints shall be changed. Those that have died              Jews shall forever remain on earth. We believe, on the clear

shall be raised. And the church of Christ shall be glorified.         testimony of Scripture, that there is only one people of God

The days have been shortened for the elects' sake."                   from the beginning to the end of the world and unto all

                                                                      eternity, that Christ is both the Head and the King of that one
   .And again :
   I`                                                                 Church, and that this one Church shall forever reign with
         . . . When the testimony is finished, the Antichrist will    Christ in the new heavens and earth.
be allowed to develop and to persecute the church. The time
of the great tribulation shall follow, of which. Scripture has            Premillennialists  believe in the rapture. They conceive of
                                                                      the order of "the day of the Lord" as follows : 1. The rapture
warned us so frequently. But that time of the great tribula-
                                                                      in which only those saints that live in the expectation of the
tion is to be cut short. At the darkest hour Christ shall de-
                                                                      coming of the Lord at any time shall have a part. And these
liver His church. History shall be continued for a while, with
                                                                      saints shall not go to heaven but into the air. 2. Then follows
Antichrist and Gog and Magog as the inhabitants of the
                                                                      the great tribulation which shall be especially for the Jews
earth, till Christ shall come with His church and shall
                                                                      but which shall also concern the .saints that remained on
establish His glorious kingdom forevermore" . . .
                                                                      earth because they did live in the expectation of the coming
   And once more :                                                    Lord. 3. Next is the resurrection of the righteous with the

   "Finally, we found in this chapter a general indication            first coming of the.  Lord. 4. Then follows that-strange mix-

of the final rise of the Antichrist, the beast that comes up          ture which is called the millennium. At the close of the mil-


 7        s                                      T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEA


 lennium  there shall arise Gog and Magog which the Lord

 shall destroy by fire froin  heaven. 5. Finally, comes the

 second resurrection, the judgment and the eternal state when

 fhe Church will go to heaven and the Jews will occupy the

 earth or the land of Canaan forever.                                              THE BdOK  0% REVELATlION

      We must have nothing of all this.                                                           P A R T   T W O

      On the contrary, we believe that, towards the end there
 will be great tribulation such as never was before, caused                                       C H A P T E R -   TEN

 by Antichrist. We believe that for the sake of the elect that                                 Revelation 12 :7-12
 pass through that tribulation. the `days will be shortened.

 Those saints of the tribulation will rise from the dead while             For their sins have been atoned by Him. Your defeat is

 the living shall be changed. Do nit say-that this is impossible.       accomplished. The accuser of the brethren in that sense of the

 Enoch,  Elijah and Moses were changed to glory, and there              word is cast down. For the shout of victory which the

 were saints that arose and were glorified at the time of the           apostle uses in this same connection may now be heard : "Who

 resurrection and ascension of Christ. But this has nothing             shall lay anything to. the charge of God's elect ?" The result

 to do with the rapture which is supposed to be before the              of the war therefore is that Michael and his angels have the

 great tribulation and which is supposed to take the saints in          spiritual victory in this battle for the saints of the Old

 the air. There will be a short time, therefore, when the living _ Testament.

 saints will be no more on the earth but the Church is only                There is, however, a second result. And that is that the

 in heaven. During that short period there will be the brief            devil will now direct all his efforts toward the persecution of

 battle between Antichrist and Gog and Magog. Then follows              the church militant. the  has been cast down, and he cannot

the end, the general resurrection, the judgment aKd  the                fight the battle for the church triumphant any more. And

 eternal state.                                                         therefore that same voice shouts: "Woe to the inhabiters of

                                                                        the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto
      That, on the basis of Scripture. is my conception of the
                                                                        you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath
 end of all things and also my explanation of Rev. 11.
                                                                        but a short time."    What he does in this short time against
      `That interpretatioti,  therefore, Still stands.                  the church militant we must see in the future. There is, how-
                                                              H.H.      ever, one comforting thought with which H may close this

                                                                        discussion. It is this, that in the fight against the devil we

                                                                        have the company of Michael and his mighty angels. Not

                                                                        only in the old dispensation, but also in the new, and especi-
               VERSIFICATION OF PSALM 65
                                                                      ally at the time of the end and in great trouble, he is the

               The goodness of thy house, 0 Lord,                       prince `that standeth for the children of God's people. The
                                                                        Lord is our King. Directly He fights for us. And millions
               The joys thy holy courts afford,
                                                                        of his angels, with mighty Michael at the head, He sends to
                   Our souls shall satisfy.                             our protect+.  To be sure, the defeat, the final defeat, of the
               By fearful deeds in justice wrought,                     devil is `certain. Stand therefore, and overcome through the

               The Lord will grant us what we sought,                   Lamb and the word of the testimony.

                   Our Saviour, God Most High.

                                                                           The Conflict Between The Wowtan  And The Dmgon

               On whose sustaining are depend
                                                                                               Revelation 12 :13-17
               To earth's and sea's remotest end,

                   All men, in every age,                                          13: And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto
                                                                                   the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth
               Who girt with strength, sets fast the hills
                                                                                   the man child.
               Who roaring seas and billows stills
                                                                                   14. And to the woman were given two wings of a
                   Who calms the nations' rage.                                    great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into

                                                                                   her place, where she is nourished for- a time, and times,
               The tribes of earth's remotest lands                                and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

               Behold the tokens of thy hands,                                     15.    And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a

                   And fear the earth throughout.                                  flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be
                                                                                   carried away of the flood.
               The east, where beams the  morning light

               The west, in evening glories bright                                 16. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth
                                                                                   opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which
                   By thee in gladness shout.                                      the drag& cast out of his mouth.


                                                         TANDA.RD   B E A R E R
                                                                 /.


             17. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and          the other hand claimed that the dead that died before He had

             went to make war with the remnant of her' seed, which     come and before their sins were atoned belonged to him and
          keep the commandments of God, and have the testi-            had no right to glory. Then we could also understand why
             mony of Jesus Christ.
                                                                       the devil is called the deceiver and .the accuser of the brethren,

     The beginning of this passage calls to our mind what              the slanderer of God's people. For all during this period he
. Immediately precedes : "And when the dragon saw that he              must have slandered the people of God that had died in the
 was cast down to the earth . . ." We will ,remember  that             days of the Old Testament alld accused them of their sins
 these words refer back to the battle that was fought in               before the countenance of God: And then we finally .also
 heaven, as pictured in the words that immediately precede             understand that when the man child is brought forth and
  those of the present passage. We found that this war was a           caught up to God's throne in glory, the battle between the
 battle between spirits. And for that very- reason we also             spirits in heaven must come to an end;  and the devil must
  drew the conclusion that it was indeed a very real war, but          be defeated. For it was exactly through the suffering and
  nevertheless one that must not in all respedts be compared           exalt&ion of the Lord Jesus Christ, the man child, that
 to the battles fought among men. It was not fought with               Michael and his angels were placed in the right as they
  sword and cannon, and it did not leave the battlefield strewn        defended the right of the Old Testament saints to their glory
 with wounded and killed. But it was a spiritual battle,               in heaven. And tse result was, on the one hand, that the
 fought with spiritual weapons of intellect and argumentation,         devil and his angels were c&t  out from heaven, so that he
  of righteousness and law, a war that could only end in the           can no more carry on this war there ; but at the same time
  casting away from the battlefield of one of the opposing             the result is that he is cast down to the earth, so' that he will.
 parties. Michael, so we found, was the general on one side.           pay all his evil attention to the church in the world. Here
 `He is not to be identified, so we found, with the Christ; but        our text begins, and it speaks of the tremenddus conflict be-
  Scripture pictures him to us as an angel that is a prince over       tween the woman and the dragon.

  other angels, and whose special task it is to fight the battles          We must call attention, in the first place, to the fact that

  against Satan in behalf of the people of God. This is also           in the words of this passage we have a continuation of the

  true of the passage we studied last time. In this instance he        symbolism which we met with in verses 1 to 6. Here we have

  was fighting against the devil, the old serpent, the great red       no plain reality, but a symbolical representation of the things

  dragon and opponent of God. As to the time of this battle,           that are melitioned  here. That was not the case in verses 7

  we concluded that it would not have been the time before             to 12. In that passage there was nothing to indicate symbol-

  the entrance of sin into paradise, and therefore could not           ism, and therefore without any difficulty we took it as plain

  refer to the first rebellion of Satan and his angels in heaven,      i-eality,  as a real war fought between  real beings with a real

  for the simple reason that the text calls him the accuser of         purpose and with real results. Literally we explain that

  the brethren and that also in other ways it indicates that           portion. But that is not the case here. There is no one

  already during the time of this battle there were people             that takes this woman for a real woman. Nor are there any

  of God, saved in Christ Jesus, upon the earth, saints that           interpreters that understand the dragon as a real animal, or

  loved not their lives even unto death. Nor is it the time of         the stream which he casts out of his mouth as a real stream,

  the end in the strictest sense of the word that is referred          or the wings which the woman receives as real wings. In

  to in the preceding passage. For even after this war has             so far there is no difficulty. But in spite of this all it is

  been fought, there are still saved bf God that have the              necessary that we remind you of the fact that here we have

  tegtimony  of Jesus and keep the commandments of God on              no literal +resentation  of facts, but rather an allegory, which

  earth, which certainly could not be the case were the war            does not allow of literal interpretation. For although all

  that is here fought one that must be placed after the glorifica-     agree that this is not a real woman with real eagle's wings,

  tion of the saints in Christ. We concluded, therefore, that it       and that the dragon mentioned here is not a real dragon, and

  is a war that is fought all during the time of the old dis-          that the stream of water he casts out after the woman is

  pensation. Only in the old dispensation there are brethren on        not a real stream of water, yet there are interpreters that

  earth that love not-  their lives even' unto death, as is so         make the mistake of singling out that wilderness and of

  beautifully recorded in the eleventh chapter of the epistle to       maintaining that it, at all events, must be taken in a literal

~ the Hebrews. It is a war fought  between Michael and his             se~ise  of the word. The woman, so they say, is at this time

  angels and the devil and his angels all dul'ing  the time of the     evidently in Jerusalem, the Old Testament holy city: And

  old dispensation, and that too, for the prize of the saints that     as she is attacked by the enemy, she flees into a literal

  had died and had been glorified in heaven in the days of the         wilderness somewhere in the vicinity, where she is hidden

  old dispensation. Thus `understood, all is clear. Then we            twelve hundred sixty days, even as at the time of the destruc-

  understand that the devil had to fight this war just as well as      tion of Jerusalem the disciples fled to Pella. Now this is

  the battle to prevent the coming of the great seed was fought        violating one of the most fundamental rules of interpretation,

. by him on earth. For Christ had not yet come. A.Fd the               and especially of the Apocalypse. And we must guard against

  devil, on the one hand trying to prevent His first commg,  on        it. There is no right to single out one element `in an allegorical

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


 representation of things and to take it in the literal sense.       we have met before and which we do not have to interpret

 And therefore it is well that we remember from the outset           again. The woman, so we have learned, is the church. In

 and bear -it in mind throughout our interpretation of this         the first part of the chapter we have become acquainted with

 passage, that here we have a continuation of the symbolism         her.. But there is a little difference between the woman as

 we met with in the first portion of this chapter.                  she appeared in the first part of this chapter and as she ap-

       In the second place, it may also be said that the sym-       pears in the present passage. In the first passage she was

 bolical. representation as such is very clear. There is no dif-    still travailing to bring forth the man child ; and therefore

 ficulty in obtaining a picture of it in our minds. The woman       she represented the church of the old dispensation. There

 that has brought forth the man child, -of whom `we have            she was the symbol of the people of God, of the church, as

 lost sight for a moment because of the record of the war in        the mother of Christ. But here she appears after she has

 heaven that intervened, - is still on earth. And as is plain       brought forth the Christ, and therefore in the new dispensa-

 from the seventeenth verse of this chapter, she brings forth       tion, as the mother of the New Testament believers, the rest

 still other children. For that verse speaks of the rest of her     of her seed. In parentheses we may notice that also here the

 seed, that keep the commandments of God and-have  the testi-       Word of God teaches us the essential unity ,of the church of

 mony of Jesus Christ. The dragon now comes down to the             all ages. It is the same woman all the time, representing the

 earth. He has failed in every respect thus far. He failed          same church, only in different dispensations. And therefore

 to prevent the. birth of the man child, and he failed to           it will not harmonize with Scripture to maintain that there

 devour it when once it was born. And he also failed to gain        was an essential difference between the church of the Old

 his point in the war which he fought with Michael and his          and of the New Testament days. But this in passing. The

angels in heaven for the possession of then saints of the old       second element in the symbolism with which we are ac-

 dispensation. And because of this absolute failure, on the         quainted is that of the dragon. He is the devil. He is the

 one hand, and because of the fact that he also realizes that       great opponent of God. And we must remember that as

 he cannot continue to fight indefinitely and that his time         the opponent of God his great and only purpose is to

 henceforth is short, he is filled with raging fury. And thus       prevent the establishment of the kingdom of God and to

 he comes down to the earth for the purpose of persecuting          maintain his own sovereignty. It is for that purpose that he

 the woman that brought forth the man child. But the woman          battled against the woman in the Old Testament, to prevent

 receives wings of a great eagle. Already in the sixth verse        the birth of her man child. It is for that same purpose that

we read that the woman fled into the wilderness, where she          he went to heaven to question the right of the Old Testament

had a place prepared of God. But now we are told once               saints to enter into glory. And itis again for that same

more, and definitely, that she received wings of a great            purpose that he now attacks the woman as we meet her in

eagle and that with them she flees into the wilderness. The         our present passage. The devil does not care for the woman

idea is clear. She cannot outrun the dragon. If she comes           as such. He does not care for her seed as such. But he

in contact with him, she cannot stand the battle. And there-        knows that she must be instrumental in the completion of

fore there is but one place of escape, and that is the wilder-      the kingdom of God and in the realization of God's counsel,

ness. There the dragon cannot live, for there is nothing for        and therefore fights her to the last ditch.

him to feed on. There the woman is nourished in a mirac-                This last thought brings us to the next question: why

ulous way, and there she is hid from the face of the serpent.       does the devil persecute the woman after she has brought

And at the same time, there is but one way of escape, and           forth the man child ? Why does the devil still persecute the

that is through the air. And therefore it is in perfect har-        church after she has given birth to the Christ? Was it merely

mony with the symbolism of the entire passage that the              a streak of vengeance that led him to do so ? That is some-

woman received wings, and that she flees away from the face         times the impression that is received from the symbolism in

of the serpent into the wilderness. The serpent pursues her         the text. The dragon, so the idea often is, has failed twice

up to the very edge of the desert, but cannot follow farther.       in his. attempts to thwart the plan of God. He failed to

And therefore in his rage he casts a stream after her, not          devour the man child, and he also failed in his war in'heaven

to drown her exactly, but evidently to carry her away and           to bring down the saints of the old dispensation to hell. And

out of the wilderness, so that -he may be able to approach          now he is just raving mad. The woman really has served

her. .But  the earth opens her mouth and swallows up the            her purpose, and she is of no account to him any more. But

stream, which again is in perfect ,harmony  with the idea of        in spite. of that fact, and in spite of the fact that the dragon

the arid desert, where the water easily disappears. And             well-  knows that he is defeated and that his attack upon the

finally, the dragon, seeing that also now his efforts are vain      woman will not help him even if he should succeed to destroy

and that all his attempts to destroy the woman meet with            her, he just means to wreak vengeance and to empty his

failure, turns to her individual children, in order that at any     raving madness and fury upon the head of the poor woman.

rate he may destroy them. Thus is the symbolism.                    But we might know from the very outset that this is not

       In the third place, there are also some elements in the      the case.

.symbolism  which we understand immediately and with which                                                                    H.H.


                                             ?rHE  STANbARD   B E A R E R                                                             81


II                                                                     and more social ' contacts would be possible. Unable to
      A CLOUD OF WITNESSES j                                           withstand the plea of his family, Jacob finally consented, and
                                                                       they moved to the vicinity of a city called Shechem, named

                                                                       such after its most prominent citizen. It meant that Jacob

                           Shechem                                     had to do what neither Isaac nor Abraham had been willing

                                                                       to do before him, buy a portion of land on which to dwell
              - And Dinah the daughter of Lea.+%,  whiclz  she         with his own money rather than waiting for the Lord to give
             ba.re  +t,nto  Jacob, went out to see the daughters of
                                                                       him his inheritance. It was a faltering move and evil were
             the land.
                                                                       its results.
                 And when .Shech.euut  the son of Havtzor the
             Hivite, p&ce  of the country saw her, he took                 Soon the children of Jacob began to circulate freely with
             her, a,nd lay z&h  her, and defiled her . . .             the citizens of Shechem. It was an attractive city, small and

                And it came to pass . , . that two of the sons         prosperous ;    and the citizens, although very wicked, were
             of Jacob, Simeon  and Levi, Dinah's brethren,             quite willing to be friendly with a family as wealthy as
             -took each man his sword, and came upon` the city         Jacob's. As the attachments to this city grew, Jacob's in-
             boldly, and slew all the males.                           fluence over his children dwindled. Even Dinah, Jacob's
                And they slezv Ha.mor  amd She&em  his son             young daughter, was going without the consent of her father
             with the edge of the sword and took Dinah out
                                                                       to visit with the young women of Shechem. Free and un-
             of Sheclaem's  house, and zvent  out.
                                                                       attended she soon attracted the attention of the city's most
                                       GENESIS 34:1,  2, 25, 26
                                                                       prominent citizen, Shechem, the son of the prince, after

      A great change had taken place in the life of Jacob when         whom the city was named. Flattered by his attention, Dinah

he ,wrestled  with the Lord at Penuel. There, at Penuel, he            consented quite willingly. It was not long before she was

had learned the folly of his former, self-willed way of life.          led by the hand into his house, there to be seduced and defiled,
He learned in humility to subject his way unto the Lord.
                                                                           The alert citizens of the city were quick to note Shechem
Not again do we meet with an arrogant Jacob cleverly vying
                                                                       entering alone with Dinah into his house, and of the mean-
for dominance in his own strength. Henceforth he is
                                                                       ing of it there could be no doubt. Quickly the report was
Israel conquering in the way of faith. But, nonetheless, al-
                                                                       carried to Jacob. These people had little moral discernment
though Jacob's life was converted, the fruits of his former
                                                                       and expected that Jacob `would be flattered by the attention
evil walk still remained with him. As in the flesh he con-
                                                                       paid by'the  young prince to his daughter. Hardly able to be-
tinued to halt upon his thigh, so in his heart he repeatedly
                                                                       lieve it, Jacob listened to the report. He might have expected
had to suffer from the evils that  he had brought upon him-
                                                                       it from-the course that his children had been following, but
self. He had entered into bigamy, in fact actually polygamy,
                                                                       he had closed his eyes to the danger. Now he was shocked
and he suffered from a division in his family until almost
                                                                       and bewildered; he knew not what to answer. Overcome by
the end of his life. And even worse, in former days Jacob
                                                                       his grief, he just sat and waited for his sons to come in from
had been an example of deception and ambition ; now he
                                                                       the field ; perhaps, they would know what to do. Nor did he
had repented from this sin, but the evil lived on in his chil-
                                                                       have long to wait, for the report was also carried to the ears
dren. Never was he to escape the shadow .of that sin, multi-
                                                                       of Dinah's brothers in the field. Their moral senses had not
plied many fold, which he himself had taught his children.
                                                                       yet become so dimmed that `they did not feel the shame.
So great did that sin become in Jacob's children that soon
                                                                       Filled with rage they hurried together to their father's tent.
he was no longer able to control them. In their self-deter-
                                                                       Folly had been wrought upon Israel.
mined way the children of Jacob controlled the family in-

stead of submitting to their father. He, swept along like a               Meanwhile, Shechem,. enamoured of Dinah and over-

leaf in a wild, rushing stream, was almost helpless to restrain        whelmed by his passions, determined that he should have her

them. Sad and painful was the reaping of the fruits which              for his wife. He had won the girl and-  needed only the con-

he had planted.                                                        sent of her family. In fact, he did not even really need this

      After parting with Esau by Jabbok, Jacob went with his           consent for he had the girl in his home and had no intentions

family to settle in a place called Succoth. There they dwelt           of letting her return to her family. However, it would be

together in comparative peace for several years at a distance          better if he could, maintain peaceful relations with the family

from all of the wicked peoples that inhabited the land of              of Jacob.. .Thus  he told his father to go to seek the consent of

Canaan. It would appear that, although few, these were some            Dinah's father and brothers.

of the most quiet and pleasant years of Jacob's life, the only            Hamor,  Shechem's father, saw in this a wonderful op-

years which he spent free from all outside influence and in-           portunity. It would be all to their benefit if they could form

terference. Soon, however, as the children grew older, pres-           a very close alliance with a family,as  strong and wealthy as

sures began to develop within the family to move to a more             Jacob's. By the time he arrived at Jacob's tent he knew ex-

thickly populated portion of the land. There the pastures              actly what to say. "The soul of my son Shechem longeth for

would be greener, the economic advantages would be greater,            your daughter: I pray you give her him to wife. And make


82                                         ?`Hti   S T A N D A R D   .BEARER



ye marriages with us, and give your daughters unto         and         out. He was held in greatest honor in his father's house' and
                                                        US, 
take our daughters unto you. And ye shall dwell with                   did not expect that it would be hard to convince the She-
                                                                US:
and the land shall be before you : dwell and trade ye therein,         chemites  to be circumcised. The reward which he could

and get you possessions therein." It was a plan of the devil to.       promise them would be very attractive. $0 also it came to

-destroy the identity of Israel. Moreover,' She&em followed            pass. Upon returning to their city; they gathered the people

close behind to add his part to the plea. "Let me find grace in        together and spoke to them.     "These men are peaceable with

your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give. Ask              us ; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein ; for

me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according             the land, behold, it is large enough for them ; let us take their

as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife."              daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters.

      We may suppose that at this time the family of Jacob             Only herein will the men consent unto us for to dwell with

withdrew from the presence of Hamor  and Shechem to                    us, to be one people, if every male among us be circumcised,

consult together concerning an answer. In fact Jacob him-              as they are circumcised. Shall not their cattle and substance

self, troubled and confused by the whole matter, withdrew              and every beast of theirs be ours ? only let us -consent unto

himself completely leaving the answer to the discretion of his         them, and they will dwell with us." Thus, under the coercion

children. Neither was it an easy situation in which to know            of their leaders, and with the promises of much earthly gain,

what to answer. On the one hand there was the danger of                the men of Shechem all submitted to being circumcised.

offending Hamor  and Shechem. This would be bad because                 Once this -had  been done, it was possible to bring the
Dinah was in their power locked up in their house. Should              plan of Simeon and Levi to fulfillment. It was a dastardly
Hamor  or Shechem become angry there would be very little              plan, unworthy of the people of God. In fact, after thinking
to defend her. On the other hand, however, to actually grant           it over, the brothers of Simeon and Levi were too ashamed
their request. was impossible. The children of Jacob, in spite         to cooperate with them in carrying it out. When the men
of their many weaknesses, were true children of God. They              of Shechem came to the most painful point of recovery from
held within their hearts a principle of love for God's cov:            their operation, Simeon and Levi entered the city. One by
enant.  They could never allow the chosen people to lose their         one they went around to the men of the city, helpless and
identity through intermarriage with the heathen.                       defenseless with pain, and slew them in cold blood. Thereupon

      This problem of what to answer was extremely difficult.          Dinah was released from the house of Shechem, and the

Jacob's sons struggled- with it not knowing what to do.                other brothers entered the city to aid in taking the spoils. The

Finally Simeon and Levi came up with a suggestion. The                 city was utterly spoiled. It was nothing less than a matter of

"others did not especially like it; in fact they found it              mass murder. Had they thought only to punish Shechem for

rather repulsive ; but because they had nothing better to              his defilement of Dinah, it could be understood. But now,

suggest, they allowed it to stand. "We cannot do this thing,"          incensed by their anger, they slew a whole city without

they said to Hamor  and Shechem, "to give our sister to one            command or authority of God. It was an atrocity of a -most

that is uncircumcised ; for that were a reproach unto us :             grievous sort.

But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be,             When Jacob heard of what his sons had done in Shechem,
that every male of you be circumcised ; then will we give our          it only served to bring him into deeper grief. This deed dis-
daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to. us,            honored the name of Israel, and therefore also of his God,
and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.             before all of the inhabitants of the earth. He saw it as a very
But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then            threat to the continued existence of his family and of, the
will we take our daughter, and we will go." Once again                 covenant of. God. In misery he exclaimed to Simeon, and
we see the old deceptive nature of-Jacob making its appear-            Levi, "Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the
ance ; this time in his children. The trouble was not that             inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites, and the Periz-
they were angry with Hamor  and Shechem. Surely it had                 zites : and I being few in number, they shall gather them-
been a great evil which had been done. However, they should            selves together against me, and slay me ; and I shall be
have gone to their God confessing their guilt in the matter            destroyed, I and my house."     It was the beginning of Jacob's
 of, bringing their sister into this place of temptation, and          suffering at the hands of his children. It left a mark upon
asking `of Him guidance as to what they should answer. In-             his heart which he could never forget so that even upon his
stead they made use of an outright lie, for they had no in-            death bed he exclaimed, "Sirneon  and Levi are brethren; in-
tentions of intermarrying with the Shechemites. Even more,             struments of cruelty are in their habitations. 0 my soul, come
they introduced circumcision, the holy sign and seal. of God's         not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour,
covenant, to be used as nothing more than a stratagem of               be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and
war.                                                                   in their selfwill  they digged down a wall. Cursed be their
      To. Hamor  and Shechem this suggestion seemed very               anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel; I
agreeable. Especially Shechem was pleased by it for he                 will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel."
desired to remain on good terms with Dinah's family and it

 did not seem that ,this  plan would be too difficult to carry                                                                     B.W.

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


                                                                         described. Here we have a very beautiful description of the
II         F `R 0 AA Ii=!! -0 L Y W R I T                          II person and office of Christ. And we find the exact counter-
                                                                         part of this description of the Christ in the New Testament

                                                                         Scriptures.

               Exposition of Remans  14,15                                  2. Concerning the Spirit resting upon the Christ we notice

                                                                         that the term "rest" in the.Hetirew  "nachah"  means really to
                                X.                                       descend upon! It implies a descending upon which is of such

                                                                         a nature that the Spirit never more leaves the man, Christ
                  (Romans 15 :12  - continued)                           Jesus, the person of the Son in our human nature. Once he

                                                                         has come he never departs.from  Christ, but dwells in him as
      It should be remembered that we are still discussing the
                                                                         in the Head of the Church and presently in the believers as
truth that Christ became a minister of the circumcision in
                                                                         members of Christ's body! This is corroborated by what we
order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.
                                                                         read in Matthew 3 :14 : "And behold the heavens were
      Such is the glorious reality of the work of God,           that
                                                          SO             opened, and he saw the spirit of God descend upon him . . .
both Jew and Gentile are saved in Christ, constituted one                and behold a voice out of heaven saying, This is my beloved
new man in him.                                                          Son in whom I am well-pleased." We notice that in the
      There is a danger that this central theme be lost sight of         Greek the verb for "descend" is a participle which really
in this rather elaborate discussion.of  what-the Old Testament           means ricoming  upon him" !     This present participle under-
Scriptures teach concerning this coming' of the Christ and               scores the truth that this is an eternal, incessant coming upon
the hope of the Gentiles. Yet, such is very really the theme             Christ of the Holy Spirit in his human nature. Moreover
here.                                                                    this same truth of the constant coming and abiding of the

      And it is wonderful to notice how the Spirit of Christ in          Spirit upon Christ is literally stated thus in John 1 :32 where

Isaiah foretold of the sufferings to come `upon Christ and               we read: "And John bare record saying, I saw the Spirit

the glory to follow. Rightly considered one sees the very                descertdipbg  from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him."
outline of the twelve Articles of Faith already in these Old             Also here the term for "descending" is a present participle

Testament Scriptures. It is what we have in "one sum" in                 (Ka.tabainon  j . That the term means to come to stay is evi-
these Articles called the "Apostolicum" !                                dent from the addition "and it abode upon him." It remained

      But let us continue our discussion of the passage quoted           (emeinen) upon him !

in Romans 15 :12  : "And again Esaias saith, There shall be a               This unction of the Lord is the secret of the greatness of
root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gen-             this King of peace, who comes in the strength of God !
tiles ; in him shall the Gentiles trust."
                                                                            3. Further -it should be noticed that the Spirit as here
      In our former essay we noticed that the .Christ  has a             spoken of `is virtually the seven Spirits which are before the
very lowly beginning. He is but a little shoot out of a cut-off          throne. We further read in three pairs of two a fuller
tree.. Yet, this little Branch grows into a great and fruitful           description of the Spirit as he rests upon the Christ. Also
tree, becomes the King of the Kingdom of David, to sit on                here the Spirit gives as hs wills. And here he gives to this
his throne forever.                                                      Christ without measure in order, that he, in turn, may grant

      There are some very wonderful characteristics related us           unto each member according to the measure of the gift of

of this king here in Isaiah 11, the passage which is quoted by           Christ (Eph. 4 :7, 8 j . Let us take more particular notice of
Paul in part-in Romans 15 :12.                                           the following from the pen of God, the Word of God con-

      What a contrast between this king and the king of As-              cerning his Christ.

syria.    The king of Assyria boasts in himself, in his arm of              a. The Spirit is the "Spirit of ztisdo~z  and ztndevitanding."

flesh, in human might and force and destruction. And, even               Now wisdom is that virtue of God whereby there is wisdom

so, he belongs to the kings of the earth who call themselves             and purpose in all things, so that the best means are. em-

"benefactors"! But this king of Zion is different. His is                ployed to attain to the highest end. Such wisdom is objective

power and greatness because he is equipped and qualified                 given us.in  the work of God in Christ through his death and

from the LORD, that is from the Covenant God who is yes-                 resurrection. The Spirit of this wisdom is meant. He is also

terday, today and forever the same! He is not simply a na-               called the Spirit of understanding. The term' employed in
tional `hero. He is the Lord toward whom "all nations" shall             the Hebrew (binah)  means to distinguish, to separate. This

look when the promise made to Abraham is fulfilled : "In thee            really means insight into the relationships and the power

and in thy Seed shall all nations be blessed."                           to judge intelligently of all things and all relationships. Now

      We notice the following in the text :                              the Spirit is called the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

      1. That the Spirit of the LORD rests upon this stem of             since he is the Author of the same. Does he not search out
Jesse. He is the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ. In               all things, yea, even the deep things of God ? (I Cor. 2 :lO, 11).

the :verses 2-5 we see the person and work of the Mediator                   b. He isalso the "Spirit of counsel and might." The term


84                                                      .THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


in the Hebrew for "counsel" is "eetsah." This is the  power                   t6 portray this picture.     Since I believe' that the picture is
and might to make proper decisions, and that, too, sub-                       best drawn by the Holy Spirit himself I will quote it: "And
ordinate to. and in accordance with this wisdom and under-                    he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove
standing. This is the more executive side of Christ's equip-                  after the hearing of the ears; but with righteousness shall he

ment from the Spirit. The term' "m?ght"  is the actual- power                 judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of ihe

to execute what is decided: Nothing can stand in his way.                     earth : and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth,

With the breath of his mouth he destroys the wicked, and                      and with the bresth  of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And

discomfits them by his very appearance !                                      righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and fiithfulness

                                                                              the girdle of his reins."
      c. Finally the Spirit is called "the Spirit of Knowledge
and of the fear of God."                    The term knowledge (daah) does        It is especially the "poor?" those who are weak and power-
not simply refer to intellectual knowledge, the bare knowing                  less whose cause he shall take up. -They  are the oppressed by
of facts, but refers to that spiritual knowledge of God and                   injustice, such as is meant when Scripture speaks of the
of his will whereby he walks with God, always doing his                       widow and the orphan. He will not be as are the cruel and
will. He is the perfectly obedient viceroy of God. In close                   oppressing kings of the earth which call themselves bene-
connection with the truth of the knowledge of God is the                      factors.

"fear" of the Lord. This fear is not a slavish wincing                            And since he is such a King, the time will come when the
before fhe Lord God, but is a delight in the law of the                       very creature itself shall be delivered from the bondage of
Lord. That completes the description, the pleroma of the                      corruption. The vanity of vanities of the preacher will be
gifts of the Spirit to this "root" out of Jesse. But it also is               overcome. The "vicious circle" will be no more ! And, there-
the guarantee of the great fruitfulness of this "shoot" when                  fore, the perspective df peace on earth good will among the
it shall grow out in all his power, even at the right hand of                 men of his good pleasure is portrayed to us as the object of
God, Lord over all!                                                           our hope and patience in the present night of.sin,  corruption,

      There is a very beautiful touch here in the text which                  wars and rumors of wars.

wk  must yet underscore.                                                          What a beautiful picture. It is not "Paradise .Lost"  but

      We refer, of course, to the somewhat difficult construc-                it is "the former things shall be remembered no more."

tion of the text in verse 3 where we read in the Kitfg  James                     I read: "And the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
Version: "and he shall make him quick of understaiding  in                    and the leopard shall lie down with the kid ; and the calf and
the fear of the Lord." It is interesting to notice that in both               the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child
the Staten Vertaling of the Dutch and in Luttier's  German                    shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed: their
translation we- read, "And his fragrance shall be in the fear                 young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall @at
of the Lord."           Literally the Dutch translation has: "En zijn         straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the.
rieken zal zijn in de vreeze des HEEREN."  The idea is                        hole of the asp, and the weaned child  shall put his hand on
evidently, in this Hebraism, that the fear of the Lord is very                the cockatrice' den. And. they shall not hurt nor destroy in
delightful to Christ. It was a sweet savor in his nostrils.                   all my holy mountain : for the earth shall be full of the knowl-
It was his de&g&  to do the will of God. Does he not say:                     edge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."         -.
"my  meat and drink is to do the will of God:"  He thrived
                                                                                  In earthly terms, in beautiful contrasts, we have here
o n   i t !   B e a u t i f u l   t o u c h !
                                                                              described to us the eternal state in the new heavens and
      Here is the ideal King out of David. He is David's'Lord                 new earth, when the tabernacle of God shall be with man  !
and Son. Of him the sacred chronicler will not relate, "and
he did that tihich  was evil in the sight of the Lord," as' is                   That is not a premillennial state in earthly Canaan, but
the constant refrain of all the Kings. And of him it will never               it refers to the heavenly Canaan, the promised land, which
be said what was said of David: "But the thing that David                     Abraham too saw from afar and rejoiced to see Christ's day.

had done displeased the Lord." Wherefore the kingdom shall                       And in the hope of this Beulah land not only the Jew

prosper in his hand. He shall forever be busy in the things                   rejoices, but also the Gentiles have been received..

of his .Father  !
                                                                                 Let not then matters of "adiaphora"  stand in the way of
      This one shall be a minister of the circumcision. Mercy                 this hope of both, but rather let both Jew and Gefitile  iti one
will come through him to the Gentiles. And they shall glorify                 mouth praise God for his mercy.
God for his mercy in Him. -And this glorification is. not
simply a matter of the .New Testament dispensation. It shall                     For upon this one do the Gentiles hope.

be forever, even in the ages to come! It shall be thus                           The very one of whom Isaiah spoke, preaching the eternal
presently in the new heaven and new earth where righteous-                    dawn in the darkest night of the church's life!
ness shall dwell.

      And what a description. Artists have outdone each other                                                                               G.L.

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


                                                                     obedient to the .wisdom  of the just : to make ready a people
II             IN~MIS  FEAR                                     II prepared for the Lord:" Plainly this is also a message of the
                                                                     nearness of the day when the promised Messiah will appear.

                                                                     One does not appear to prepare the way for Him centuries

                    Freedom of Speech                                and centuries before He comes. One does not prepare- the
                                                                     meal for honored guests years and months before the arrival

                                 (2)                                 of the guests. The birth of this son to Zacharias - a son that
                                                                     would be great in the sight of the Lord- can only mean
      His name was Zacharias.
                                                                     the nearness of the birth of that Son of God Who is the
      And he `had a wonderful message to deliver. He knew            promised Messiah. Besides, does not the angel speak of this
something that no other man on earth knew. He had the                son coming in the spirit of Elias ? And the last prophecy that
"news scoop" of the day.         He had knowledge of that for        God spoke through one of His servants, in fact the very last
which man had waited &roughout  the ages. To him had                 words which God spoke in the Old Testament dispensation
been revealed that which shbuld be cried out from the                in -Malachi 4 :5 were to the effect that Elijah would come -
housetops.                                                           this John the Baptist-and that he would come shortly be-

      Yet he was unable to utter one word, one syllable of it!       fore the appearance of the Messiah. Indeed, Zachariati  has

                                                                     a message for which the church was and had been waiting lo
      The stGry  is well known to you without any doubt. But
                                                                     these many yedrs.      Of all men on' the face of this earth
let us get it clearly before our minds. Zacharias was a priest
                                                                     Zacharias alone had knowledge of the nearness of that day
to whom the privilege had been given to offer up incense on
                                                                     and of the coming of that Messiah.
the golden altar in the Tkmple  of God. Only once in a

lifetime was a priest given this privilege. And in his old              Today men would call that a "news scoop." Today the

age the lot fell on Zacharias for this work before the face of       newspapers and magazines would pay Zacharias a handsome

God. He and his aged wife Elizabeth had entered the twi-             price for an exclusive interview and for exclusive rights to

light of their earthly existence uttefly  childless. And an angel    his story. Special editions of the newspapers would be printed.

of the Lord appeared to him there in the Holy  Place with            Newspaper boys would cry out their "Extra ! Extra" !

the astounding message that even now, when humanly such                 Cry it out then, Zacharias !
things were without a shadow of doubt completely impossible,
                                                                        Outside in the Temple is a multitude of morning wor-
they were to have not only a child but a son !.
                                                                     shippers.     How happy they will be to hear these words And
      That in itself was a matter ihat  would be too good to         this news.     Send them home rejoicing,. Zacharias! Do not
keep to orieself. Would the man not rush home to tell his            keep such a glorious truth to yourself. Comfort God's people.
wife, Elizabeth about this wonderful message which he had            You are 2 priest, Zacharias. You function in the office of the
received from `God through His angel ? Would he not hasten           mercy of God. Reveal that mercy of God to His Church by
to her side ? to cheer her yet in her old age with that promise      transmitting to that Church what God in His mercy has
which every woman in Israel longed to receive: the birth of          revealed to you. When you -go out to the congregation to
a son. No, it was not that they desired no children. It was          pronounce the blessing .of God upon those assembled, give
the will of God that they be kept from having children until         content to that blessing and preface it with this message
this time that He might show forth His glory. And now                which shows that God is indeed blessing His people. Cry,
when the two of them had both given up hope and saw the              Zacharias ! Shout and sing !
hopelessness of it all, the promise is given them of a son to
                                                                        But no, Zacharias cannot utter a word.
be born within the year. Run home, Zacharias ! Hasten and

watch the sparkle of joy return to the eyes of your barren              He beckons to them but remains silent. And they pre-

bride. Tell her  the news as quickly as you can. Do not let          suming -and that correctly- that he had seen a -vision

the poor woman spend another day, another hour with that             went home without the good news revealed in that vision.

hopeless feeling and empty longing for that which now seems          We can but wonder how Zacharias felt at his utter helpless-

impossible.                                                          ness to speak one word of this glorious truth.

      But Zacharias returns home a deaf and dumb man, utterly           But we can explain it. He was speechless through un-
unable to speak this joyful word unto his wife.    (That he was      belief. Unbelief always is speechless. The unbeliever can

both deaf as well as dumb is evident in that when the child          speak. In the natural, physical sense of the word, he finds

was circumcised, "they made signs to his father, how he              no difficulty it all. He may be a silver-tongued orator. He

would have him called," Luke 1:62.)                                  stands up and shouts and cries out his unbelief. Freely and

      Still more, this was no ordinary child that would be           at length he can speak of things natural. And even though
given unto them.     "He  would be great in the sight of the         he may speak the Word of God from memory or read it with
Lord. And he shall go before Him in the spirit of Elias to           perfect diction, proper emphasis and with modulated voice,
turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the dis-         because of unbelief a man remains speechleSs,  He is ngt fyeg:


86                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B.EARER


to speak the things that count; is not free to confess ,God and       Christ His only begotten Son. Paul, who had this true free-
 his sins : is, not free to praise, bless and thank God ; is not      dom of religion' and also therefore was free to speak the
 free to instruct his children in the things that have everlasting    truth says abdut  this in Romans 8 :2, "The law of the Spirit
 value. Instead of having freedom of speech he is a slave of          of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of
 the father of lies.                                                  sin and death."    There you have it ! The man who is not
                                                                      free from that law of sin and death has no freedom of reli-
      Zacharias could not believe this good news of the angel         gion. He is still a slave ~to the lath of sin and death; and .a
 and asked for a sign. And the angel gave him that very               slave is not free by any stretch of the imagination, and 
sign  of being deaf and dumb exactly to illustrate that truth                                                                   knows
                                                                      himself every day that he has no freedom. Although in our
 that, through unbelief we are speechless. He who does not            land this freedom of religion is relegated to the background-
 believe can have nothing to say concerning that matter. Still        though once our Pilgrim Fathers fled to this land to seek it
 more, our everyday life will reveal that the child who is            - and freedom from want and fear are deemed more im-
 born deaf wili never learn to speak. Not hearing the sounds          portant, jret this freedom of religion is basic. He who is not
 of the words he is not able to sound them for you. Zacharias         freed from the law of sin and death must live in fear of our
 turned a deaf ear to the words of the angel when he said to          God Who is a cons'uming  fire. He wants the thing that he
 the angel, "Whereby shall I know this ? for I- am an old man,        needs above all and can never have the joy of the freedom
 and my wife is wefl stricken in years." And if he did not.           from want. He wants (lacks) God's favour and blessing.
`deceive  this word of the angel, how can he speak about it and       He wants- (lacks) Christ. He cannot say, "The Lord is my
 proclaim it to others.7    If we close our hearts and minds to       shepherd, I want nothing."      And all his speech will only
 the truth, how can our tongues, which express what is in our         reveal that. he is a slave under the law of sin and death.
 hearts and minds, speak that truth? How can the well  give
                                                                         Our Church Fathers spoke of this true freedom of reli-
 forth water which it has never received? By faith we. re-
                                                                      gion with. its freedom of speech-and we will not bother
 ceive the word into our souls; and then with our mouths
                                                                      you with the Latin phrases-when they spoke of Adam in
 we express that which we believe. Paul writes, "For with
                                                                      Paradise before the Fall as "able not to sin"; of man after
 the heart man believeth  unto righteousness; and with the
                                                                      the. Fall as "not able not to sin" ; and of man as he is freed
 mouth confession is made &to salvation," Romans 1O:lO.
                                                                      from the law of sin and death and will be seen in the- New
      Therefore freedom of speech, is not something that men          Jerusalem as "not able to sin." There, indeed, is the highest
 can give unto you. It is not something the government can            freedom, to be free only to do good and to speak the truth.
 guarantee you and promise you. It is something that God              Righteous Adam, we may say, was free to speak the truth.
 gives you through the-Spirit of His,Son.  Listen to the words        That was his freedom of speech. Fallen Adam was freed
 of Him Who created the tongue and had the true freedom               (separated) from speaking the, truth. And redeemed man
 of speech. Jesus said, "If ye continue in my words, then             walking .upon  the street of gold in the New Jerusalem will
 are ye my `disciples indeed ; And ye shall know the truth,           be free only to speak the truth.
 and the truth shall make you free," John 8 :31,  32.. The truth
                                                                         Freedom of speech is only for those who fear God, for
 makes us free from fear, free from want and bestows upon
                                                                      freedom of religion, upon which it is based, is freedom to
 us freedom of religion and therefore freedom of speech.
                                                                      live in the `fear of the Lord. Walking after the Spirit is

      .It all comes down exactly to that fact, even as we men-        walking in His fear. And the law of the Spirit of life in

 tioned it in passing last time: Freedom of religion and              Christ Jesus has made us free from the law of sin and death.

 freedom of speech are inseparable. You will never find the           We are freed from not walking in His fear and made free

 one where the other is lacking. Freedom of speech is im-             to walk in His fear. Therefore it is the regeqerated  child of

 possible where  there is not freedom of religioll,.  And freedom     God alone who has the true  freedom of speech. Walk in that

 of religion will always produce freedom of speech. We say            freedom.                                                  J.A.H.
 again, that which men call freedom of religion really is no

freedom of religion but rather freedom of irreligion, freedom

to propagate all the. false religions of the world unharmed              "It must be maintained . . . that we .are not established
`and with equal - if not superior-right to the freedom of             in the belief of the doctrine till we are indubitably persuaded
the true religion of Jehovah, the only true God. And herein           that God is its Author. The principal proof, therefore, of the
also you see the close link between freedom of religion and           Scriptures is every where derived from the character of the
freedom of spe,ech. In our land freedom of religion means             Divine ,Speaker.  The prophets and the apostles boast not
the right  to speak out our beliefs and ,to teach them  to our        of their own genius, nor any of those talents which conciliate
children, to express them without fear of penalty or persecu-         the faith of the hearers: nor do they insist from arguments
tion for them.                                                        of reason ; but bring forward the sacred name of God, to

      .But this is true freedom of religion: The-            and      compel the submission of the whole world."
                                                      liberty 
power to serve God according to His self-revelation in Jesus                                Calvin's Instifitites,  Book I, Chapter VII


                                                      T H E   S.TANDA.RD   B E A R E R '                                              57



                                                                                                CHAPTER III.

                                                                             That Or-de?-.  Is Truly  And Properly A Sacrament.

                                                                           Whereas, by the testimony of Scripture, by Apostolic

                                                                       tradition, and the unanimous consent of. the Fathers, it is
           The Church and the Sacrammts
                                                                       clear that grace is conferred by sacred ordination, which is

   Vrmvs  D                                                            perform&d by words -and outward signs, no one ought to
               URING TEE THIRD  PERIOD (750-15i7  A.D:)
                                                                       doubt that Order is truly and properly one of the seven

                T H E   S E V E N   S A C R A M E N T S                sacraments of Holy Church. For the Apostle says: I ad-

                                                                       monish thee  that thou stir up the grace of God, which is in
                        HOLY   O R D E R S                             thee by the imposition of my hands. For God has not given

                                                                       rts the .$&it of fear, but of power,,  a.?Ld  of love, a.nd of so-
    A sixth sacrament of Rome's seven sacraments, to which             byiety.
we must call attention, is- known as : Holy Orders. The

Roman Catholic Council of Trent has also expressed itself                                       CHAETER  I      V     .

on this so-called sacrament in four chapters as follows.          '        On The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, And On Ordhatioiz.

                             C                                             But, forasmuch as in the sacrament of -Order, as also in               .
                                  H A P T E R  I .

                                                                       Baptism and Confirmation, a character is imprinted which
On The 2mtitution  Of The  P&.&hood Of The New La.w.                   can neither be effaced nor taken away, the holy Synod with

    Sacrifice and -priesthood are, by the ordinance of God, in         reason condemns the opinion of those who assert that the

such wise conjoined, as that both have existed in every law.           priests of the New Testament have only a temporary power;

Whereas, therefore, in the New Testament, the Catholic                 and that those who have once been rightly ordained can again

Church, has received, from the institution of Christ, the holy         become laymen, if they  do not exercise the ministry of the

visible sacrifice of the Eucharist; it must needs also be con-         Word of God. -And'  if any one affirm, that all Christians in-

fessed, that there is, in that Church, a new, visible, and             discriminately are priests of the New Testament, or that  they                  -

external priesthood, into which the old has been translated.           are all .mutually  endowed with an equal spiritual power, he
And the sacred Scriptures show, and the tradition of the               clearly does nothing but confound the ecclesiastical hierarchy,

Catholic Church has always taught, that this priesthood was            which  -&as an -army set <in aTray;  as if, contrary to, the dot-     .

instituted by the same Lord our Saviour, and that to the               trine of blessed &ul, all were apostles,  all prophets, all evan-
Apostles, and their successors in the priesthood, was the              gehts,  a.11 PU$OIY,  all doctors. Wherefore, the holy Synod

power delivered of consecrating, offering, and administering           declares that, besides the other ecclesiastical degrees; bishops,

his body and blood, &s also of forgiving and of retaining sins.        who have succeeded to the place of the Apostles, principally

                                                                       belong to this hierarchical order; that they are placed, as the

                            CHAPTER II.                                same apostle, by the Holy Ghost, to rule the Church of God;

                                                                       that they are superior to priests; administer the sacrament
                      On The Seven Orders.
                                                                       of Confirmation ; ordain the ministers of the Church ; and

    And whereas the ministry of so holy a priesthood is a              that they can perform very many other things; over which

divine thing ; to the end that it might be exercised in a more         functions others of an inferior order have no power. Further-

worthy manner, and with greater veneration, it was suitable            more, the sacred and holy Synod .teaches,  that, in the ordina-

that, in the most well-ordered settlement of the Church, there         tion of bishops, priests, and of the other orders, neither the

should be several and diverse orders of ministers to minister          consent, nor vocation, nor authority, whether of the people,

to the priesthood, by virtue of their office,;  orders so dis-         or of any civil power or magistrate whatsoever, -iS required in

tributed as that those already marked with the clerical                such wise as that, without this, `the ordination is invalid: .

tonsure should ascend through the lesser to the greater                yea rather, doth it decree, that all those who, being-  only

orders.    For the sacred Scriptures make open mention not             called and instituted by the, people, or by the civil power

or& of priests, but also of deacons ; and teach, `in words the         and magistrate, ascend to the exercise of these ministrations,

most weighty, what things are especially to be attended to             and those who of their own rashness assume them to them-

in, the Ordination thereof; and, from the very beginning of            selves, are not ministers of the Church, but are to be lqoked  -

the Church, the names of the following orders, and the min-            tipon  as thieves and robbers, who have not entered by the

istr&ions  prbper to each one of' them, are .known to have             door. These are the things  yvhich  it hath seemed gopd ,to,

 been in use; to wit, those of subdeacon, acolyth,  exorcist,          the sacred Synod to teach the faithful of Christ, in geiierzil

 lector, &d doorkeeper ; though these were not of equal rank ;         terms, touching the sacrament of Order. But it hath resolved

for the subdeaconship is classed amongst the greater orders            to condemn whatsoever things are contrary thereunto, in

 by the Fathers and sacred Councils, wherein also we very              express  and specific canons, in the man&r  following; in order

ofteti.read  of the other inferior orders.                             that all men, with the help of Christ, using the rule of faith,


88                                          `THE STANDARD BEARER

may, in the midst of the darkness of so many errors, `more                Before we make any remarks of criticism upon this

easily be able to recognize and to hold Catholic truth.              Roman Catholic doctrine of the sacrament of Holy Orders, it

                                                                     `might" be of interest to our readers to define some of the
      Having quoted the chapters of the Council of Trent which
                                                                     orders mentioned in Chapter II of the Council of Trent,
positively set forth the Romish doctrine of the sacrament of
                                                                     namely : deacon, subdeacon, acolyth, exorcist, lector, and
Holy Orders, we will quote the Canons of this Council in             doorkeeper.
which this Council. anathemizes all those who deny this
                                                                      A deacon in the Roman Catholic Church is a church
sacrament.
                                                                     officer who ranks below the priest. He is also any cleric, as
      Canon 1. - If any one saith, that there. is not in the Nkw     a bishop or priest, who acts as chief assistant at a high mass.
Testament a visible and external priesthood ; or, that there             A subdeacon is a member of the order of-the ministry,
is not any power of consecrating and offering the true body          next below that of deacon, who assists at the Eucharist.
and blood of the Lord, and of forgiving and retaining sins,
                                                                          An acolyth is an attendant for subordinate duties on the
but only an .oflice and bare ministry of preaching the Gospel ;
                                                                     ministers officiating at a sacred rite; especially, a member of
or, that those who do not preach are not priests at all: let
                                                                     the highest of the four minor orders of the Roman Catholic
him be anathema.-
                                                                     Church.
      Canon II. - If any one saith, that, besides the priesthood,         In connection with the Romish -Order  of Exorcist, we
there are not in the Catholic Church other orders, both              wish to quote from Vol. 4, page 250, of the New Schaff-
greater and minor, by which, as by certain steps, advance is         Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge: "The ex-
made unto the priesthood: let him be anathema.                       pulsion of evil spirits by conjuration or magical or religious

      Canon III. - If any one saith, that order, or sacred           exercises. This article is confined to exorcism in connection

ordination, is not truly and properly a sacrament instituted         with the rite of baptism.

by Christ the Lord; or, that it is a kind of human figment                It is easy to understand how the primitive Church came
devised by men unskilled in ecclesiastical matters ;. or, that it    to use the rite of exorcism on its catechumens; it is also ob-
is only a kind of rite for choosing ministers of the Word of         vious that in so doing it departed from the Scriptural stand-
God and of. the sacraments : let him be anathema.                    point. Resting its pradtise on the healing of demoniacs  by

      Canon IV. - If any one saith, that, by sacred ordination,      Christ, it undertook to heal by exorcism a large number of

the Holy Ghost is not given ; and that vainly therefore do the       morbid conditions, which it considered of diabolical origin. It

bishops say, .R,eceive  $e tJ%e Holy Ghost; or, that a char-         had a class of officials set apart for this function, though not

acter is not imprinted by that ordination ; or, that he who has      originally by any form of ordination ; according to' the

once been a priest can again become a layman: let him be             Apostolic Constitutions (viii. 26) they possessed a "gift of

anathema.                                                            healing,"       and their work was thus the exercise of a gift

                                                                     rather than of an office. Their method of treatment included
      Canon V.-If any one saith, that the sacred unction
                                                                     prayer and laying on of hands. In the third century this
which the Church uses in holy ordination is not only not re-
                                                                     sort of exorcism was applied to catechumens coming from
-quired,  but is to be despised and is pernicious, as likewise
                                                                     paganism, on the theory that the pagan world was the realm
are the other ceremonies of order: let him be anathema.
                                                                     of evil spirits, and that those who came into the Church from
      Canon VI. - If any one saith, that, in the Catholic            it must thus be delivered from the power of evil. In thus
Church there' is not a hierarchy by divine ordination in-            deserting the original ground of exorcism, as an influence
stituted, consisting of bishops, priests, and ministers: let         brought to bear in order to cure a morbid condition of the
him be anathema.                                                     psychico-physical organism, for an attack upon the ethical

      Canon VII. - If any one saith, that bishops are not            power of the kingdom of darkness over souls, the practise

superior to priests; or, that they have not the power of con-        entered upon a career which led toward fantastic magic.

firming and ordaining ; or, that the power which they possess        Satan was commanded to come forth from the catechumens ;

is common to them and to priests; or, that orders, conferred         and the thought that the winning of each new convert from

by them, without the consent or vocation of the people, or of        paganism to Christianity was a manifestation of the victory

the secular power, are invalid ; or, that those who have             of Christ over the prince of this world finds dramatic ex-

neither been rightly ordained, nor sent, by ecclesiastical and       pression in these exorcisms." The next time, the Lord

canonical power, but come from elsewhere, are lawful min-            ,willing,  we will continue with this quotation.

isters of the Word and of the sacraments : let him be ana-                                                                         H.V.

thema.

                                                                         `I
      Canon VIII. - If any one saith, that the bishops, who                    . . . How will the impious ridicule our faith, and all men

are assumed by authority' of the Roman Pontiff, are not              call it in question, if it be understood to possess only a

legitimate and true bishops,. but are a human figment : let          precarious authority depending on the favour of men !"

him be anathema.                                                                            Calvin's Institutes,  Book I, Chapter VII


                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             89


                                                                     godly dearer than life." This is as near as the fathers come
II The Voice of Our Fathers II to any discussion of God's activity as such during the Chris-
                                                                     tiara's  times of backsliding and restoration. In fact, we may

                                                                     even say that the-fathers nowhere discuss this relationship as .

               The Canons of .Dordrecht                              such between God's preserving grace and His child's back-
                                                                     sliding.    But it is very plain nevertheless that they had some    -

                              PA3T Two                               definite views on this matter. And those views we may.

                                                                     distill from this article. After all,  the Christian whose ex-
                  EXPOSITION' OF THE CANONS.
                                                                     periences are discussed and described in Article 13 is the

                 F                                                   Christian who is the object of preserving  gmce. He is always
                   IFTH HEAD OF DOCTRINE

                                                                     the object of preserving grace. And now the specific question
           OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS                         is : what is the relation between preservation and backsliding?

                                                                     Is the backsliding an exception to the preservation ? Is the
                      Article 13 (continued)                         relation such merely that preserving grace is ultimately

                                                                     victorious? Is it thus, that we can only say negatively that
    We must now consider the positive part-of this article.
                                                                     in our deepest falls God's preserving grace does not com-
The Arminians, as we have seen, bring against the truth of
                                                                     pletely desert us? And is the only positive statement we
perseverance and the truth of the assurance of perseverance
                                                                     may make this, that it is the power of God's preserving grace
 (both sovereignly wrought) the charge that it produces
                                                                    that eventually restores us and brings us out of our fallen
licentiousness and is injurious to true piety. They do this in
                                                                     condition, so that though we fall as children of God, we
order to attack and destroy these truths. The fathers flatly
                                                                    cannot permanently fall ? The Cartons, I believe, have. al-
deny this, and then go on to state the truth of the matter.
                                                                    ready said a good deal about these questions: but in the
And the fathers maintain that the very opposite from what                                                                                     I
                                                                    present article there is a further implication, which is an
the Arminians say is true. In the backsliding but restored
                                                                    advance upon all that the fathers stated earlier in this Fifth
Christian _ the renewed confidence of perseverance produces
                                                                    Head.
a greater spiritual concern to walk diligently in the ways of

the Lord. This renewed confidence of perseverance produces              Article 4, as we have already seen, deals rather exten-

in the fallen and restored child of God a greater measure of        sively vvith this same question. There one might almost get

holy fear for the snares of temptation; a holy fear of falling      the impression that the Christian's falls are an exception  to

again into that bitter condition wherein he experienced that        the Holy Spirit's preserving operation. But I say "almost"

God's gracious countenance was turned away from him.           -    because even in' that article the presupposition is that the 1

    Now this' is a remarkable statement of the fathers. It          Holy Spirit continues to influence and actuate believers. The
reveals; first of all, that they had a clear discernment .of the    article merely makes a negative statement concerning that in-
experience of God's child in this process of fall and restora-      fluence and actuation : "converts are not always so influenced
tion. For any true child of God must admit that what the            and actuated by the Spirit of God, as ,not in some particular
fathers state here is the true description of what takes place      instances sinfully to `deviate from the guidance of divine
in the Christian's life in such a time of backsliding and           grace . . ."     This article also emphasizes even that "some-
restoration. But it reveals too that our fathers had a correct      times by the righteous permission of .God (converts) actu-
understanding of the matter of temptation and backsliding,          ally fall into these evils." And thus it -goes so far as not to
and that too in relation to God's preserving grace. And to          exclude the temptations and falls from .God's direction. Morel
both of these remarkable features of this article we may            over, here too we must remember that this is the "righteous
profitably give our attention.                                      permission" of .the very God that preserves His saints.

   Beginning, then, with the last-mentioned feature of this             Moreover; other articles, especially ,6. to 8, teach us that

thirteenth articIe,  let us try to understand the fathers' view-    God never completely withdraws His grace from the elect,

point here. True, the fathers do not mention this matter in         letting them plunge themselves into everlasting destruction.

so many words, and do. not expressly state what is the rela-        They teach us that God's preserving grace cannot be

tionship between God's preserving grace and the backsliding         rendered ineffectual, that it cannot be frustrated. They em-

and restoration of the Christian. But it is not difficult at all    phasize the positive truth that-  the incorruptible seed of

to see that there is a very. definite viewpoint underlying the      regeneration is preserved in the saints at all times. And they

entire'article.  The fathers discuss the problem treated in this - maintain that it is God's preserving grace that "certainly

article solely from the point of view of the spiritual ex-          `and ef?ectually  renews them to repentance, to a sincere and

perience of the Christian.    And in connection therewith, they     godly sorrow for their sins, that they may seek and obtain

speak of the fact that God at times turns away "his gracious        remission in the blood of the Mediator, may again experience

countenance" from His children, and at other times causes           the favor of a reconciled God, through faith adore his mer-

them to behold that gracious countenance, "which is to the          ties, and henceforward more diligently work o.ut their own


  9 0                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R



  salvation with fear and trembling." And  in Article 11, as we         Spirit's effectual grace) and recovers from that backsliding

 saw not long ago, the Canons even circumscribe the limits of            (so that Fe has a sincere and godly sorrow over his sin and

  temptation by placing these temptations within the scope of           seeks and obtains remission in the blood of Christ), and

  God's sovereign power and direction. God "does not suffer             when, furthermore, that Christian consequently obtains the

 -them to be tempted above that they are able, but. will with           renewed confidence of persevering (the renewed assurance

  the temptation also make a way to escape, that they may be            that he is and ever will continue a true and living member of

  able to bear it, and by the Holy  Spirit again inspires them          `the body of Christ) ,--- what is the moral, spiritual result in

 .with the comfortable assurance of persevering."                       the life of that Christian? And the fathers maintain that the

                                                                        moral, spiritual result is a good one. It is salutary. It causes
         But nowhere is the specific question and problem now           the Christian to grow in sanctification. It renders him more
  under discussion treated in all these statements. The ques-           careful diligently to keep the ways of the Lord. It makes
  tion still remains : is this all that can be said? After all, does    him more careful and more fearful of abusing God's fatherly
  not the temptation and the fall and backsliding of the Chris-         kindness.     The result, not when you look merely at the
  tian, even though it is completely within the limits of               temptation and backsliding, but when you look at the whole
  preserving grace, and  even though preserving grace is always         process of temptafion and backsliding and restoration and
  ultimately .victorious,  even to the extent that the Christian        renewed assurance, is a good bne. It produces a better, a
  obtains the renewed confidence of persevering, - does not             more sanctified Christian.
  the temptation and fall and backsliding of the Christian re-
                                                                            But then by definition that is the result of God's own
  main something bad, something bitter, something that he
                                                                        preserving grace. It is no accident that the Christian emerges
  would better do without? True, -as we shall see, if you look
                                                                        from this experience a stronger, a more sanctified Christian.
  at this temptation and backsliding solely from the viewpoint
                                                                        There are no accidents.' It is not the result of his own activ-
  bf the spiritual experience of the Christian,. the gnswer  to
                                                                        ity. No, it was God's sovereign direction that led him along
  this question would be, in the affirmative. It is bad for the
                                                                        this deep and devious path of temptation and backsliding. It
  Christian to fall. Jt is wrong of him. And it is a very bitter
                                                                        was God's sovereign grace that led him back to the light.
  experience for him. From a spiritual point of view, he could
 far better do without backslidings. He ought to stand and              It was God's sovereign grace that gave him the renewed con-
                                                                        fidence of persevering.
 to persevere. But we are looking at the matter now from                                              And while that Christian, on his
 the viewpoint of preserSing  grace. And then the ,question             part, sinfully deviated from the guidance of divine grace,
 remains, to be sure.     Do not these falls somewhat dim the           while he on his part despised that grace temporarily, the
 glory of that preserving grace ? Is it not possible, to put the        operation of that grace was in. no wise dependent on him.
 question very boldly, to conceive of a better method of                God, while He indeed turned away His gracious countenance
 preservation, a still better grace ? IS' it not possible to con-       from that Christian, so that he could not behold God's benign
 ceive of such a grace that would never for a moment let the            face, did not for a moment remove his favor from that elect
 Christian go, would preserve hiln.so  that he would not even           child, did not for a moment swerve from His preserving
                                                                        purpose.
 fall temporarily, would preserve him so that it would not be                        Through it all God was indeed causing- all. things
`necessary for him `to be restored and to obtain a -renewed             to work together for good for His child. Through it all God
 confidence of persevering ? ,To put it another way : is it true        was achieving a good purpose, aiming at a good result, to
 `with respect to the temptations and backslidings of God's             be attained by His own good grace. Through it all God was
 children that "all things work together for good to them               intending, by teaching His child a spiritual lesson, in. the
 that love God, who are the called according to his purpose" ?          hard and bitter school of experience, to strengthen and sanc-
                                                                        tify him.
 Or must these temptations and back&dings be excluded from                           And we may certainly say too that through it
 the "all things" of Remans-8  :28  ? Do these temptations and          all God was achieving this good result                 the .o,nly  way  pos-
                                                                                                                       ,in 
 backslidings "work together for good,`? Or can it only be              sible, according to His own all-wise counsel.

 said with respect to them that everything works  out all right                                   (to be continued)
 in the end ?
                                                                                                                                           H.C.H.
     This thirteenth article gives us the answer to these ques-

 tions. The answer may only be implied here, but it is in-

 herent in the position which the fathers take in this article,            "The Canonicity of the Books of the Bible is rooted in

 especially when considered in the context of the whole Fifth           their very existence.     They possess authority in themselves,
 Head of Doctrine.     Let us note this; it is inescapable. The         jure sue, simply from. their very existence. It is the Spirit of
 article ansivers the question: when a Christian (that is, by           the  Lord which gave guidance in the writing, and which
 the definition of the canons:  an elect, regenerated, believing,
                                                                        caused them to be acknowledged in the congregation."
 converted, preserved child of God) falls into sin and be-

 comes guilty of backsliding, and when, moreover, that Chris-                                    Gereforwzeerde  Dogwmtiek,  H. Bavinck,

 tian is restored (by the influence and actuation of the Holy                                    Vol. I, page 371


                                            TtiE  S     T    A    N    D    A     R       D         BEARER.                             91


                                                                       would' be a good policy for the Classis  to meet in as many

                                                                       of the churches as is pract~ically  possible and not to be satis-

                                                                       fied to meet in just a few select places. For example, in

                                                                       Classis  East there would seem to be no reason why each

                          Article 41                                   church could not have a turn, barring those churches which

                                                                       at present have been deprived of their properties. In the
                          (Continued)
                                                                       West the situation is quite different.

            Time a.n.d  Place of Cla&cal  Meetings                          In connection with- this it should be noted that Classis
                                                                       d. signates the place of its meetings but it does not appoint a
    In the sixteenth century it was a custom in Reformed               ::&ing church. This is different than the practice of con-
churches that the meetings of the. Classis  be held by rotation        vening a Synod. Synod does designate one of the churches
in all of the churches. Although this custom has been dis-             as the calling church for the next Synod and that church in
carded, there are things that may be said in favor of it.              turn is charged with making all the necessary arrangements
The practice itself was enacted as a safeguard against the             and providing the necessary facilities for such a meeting.
danger of certain churches lording it over other churches.             This includes the arrangements for a worship service preced-
Our fathers were very careful, and rightly so, to set up               ing the meeting of the Synod. This part of the Synoclical
protectorates against any possible tendencies toward hierarch-         meeting is often not given enough prominence. And in the
ism and this was necessary too. Their close contact with the           case of the me:tings  of the Classis  this is not even done. The
evils of the Roman Catholic Church necessitated this. They             latter merely expresses that its next meeting will be held in
could not soon forget those evils that had so long plagued             a certain church. It is taken for granted that the consistory
the church and they were extremely cautious to see that they           of this church will provide the necessary facilities and it is
were not easily ensnared in the same bondage of corruption             left              to the Stated Clerk of the Classis  to make an an-
                                                                                 LIP 
again.                                                                 nouncement at the proper time in w.hich the attention of all

    Although the churches today are not so directly con-               the consistories is directed to the coming meeting of the

fronted with the same dangers and, under the Presbyterial-             Classis.  Although this arrangement has worked out satis-

 Synodical  form of church government, it is not likely that           factorily and has proven orderly, we do not believe it is the

this evil will readily threaten, we feel that the custom of            best. Certainly, no valid objection can be raised against the

 distributing the meetings of the Classis  to all the churches         Classis'following the same procedure as is followed in the

 merits some consideration. There is something commendable             convening of the Synod. Thzn,  at the designated place, the

 in this practice even apart from the threats of hierarchism.          meeting of the Classis  would be preceded with a worship

 It is good for the Classis  to meet in different churches and         service under the supervision of the local consistory and at

 it is good for the churches individually to have the classis  in      this service the president of the previous Classis  would be

 their locality. It enables all the members of the church to           asked to preach the Word. Such a service would be proper

 observe the functioning of the broader ecclesiastical bodies.         and it would have the added advantage of giving the Classis

 It stimulates interest and it tends to promote a feeling of           opportunity to hear all its ministers preach the Word over a

 equality and unity among the churches. All of these things            given period of time. Then, too, at such time as there is `to

 are`  conducive toward strengthening the ties of denomina-            be a candidate for the ministry examined by the'classis,  ex-

 tional oneness.                                                       ception to the rule requesting the president of the previous

    Today each Classis  decides the place of its next meeting.         Classis  to preach could be made, and the candidate would

 Consistories may and frequently do invite the classis to meet         then be called upon to preach the Word before the congrega-

 in its church and such invitations are generally honored. As          tion instead of before the delegates of the .Classis. In such

a result of this there are some churches where the Classis             cases far greater justice would be done to that part of the

 has never met while others have been the site of Classical            candidate's examination and an important part that is! How-

 meetings many times. -Of course; there are practical con-             ever, such procedure is not required in the Church Order or

 siderations which enter in here and that are without any              in the regulations of our ecclesiastical assemblies, and, con-

 question valid reasons why this situation prevails. Some              sequently, it is not practiced in our churches. Perhaps there

 churches are not geographically situated so that it would be          are objections to such a custom but if so, we fail to see them

 advisable to hold meetings of the Classis  in them. The ex-           at present. At least this practice will not be enacted unless

 penses involved in bringing all the delegates to those places         and until some consistory overtures Classis  to do so.

 makes this prohibitive. Other churches are not equipped to                 The time at which each Classis  is to meet is also. deter-

 entertain Classis  and to schedule a meeting of this nature           mined by the previous Classis  prior to its adjournment. In

 in those places would only be to impose a burden upon that            our churches this is generally taken care of by a standing rule

 church. This would not be advisable. All of these things              but whereas that rule is subject to change and may in some

 must be taken into account in selecting the places where the          cases even necessitate a change because of certain circum-

 Classis  will periodically meet. We believe, however, that it         stances arising that conflict with the usual time for the next


                                                THE STANbARb BEARER

meeting, each Classis  must specify when and where it shall               cumstances necessitated that the best qualified and most cap-
                                                                                                                   -
meet- again. Apart from this there are then also special                  able men be entrusted with this responsible position. Later

provisions whereby an earlier meeting of the Classis  may be              circumstances changed and provision was made whereby all

called if that should prove necessary.                                    the ministers in the churches of the Classis  were given op-
                                                                          portunity to preside in rotation. This is the practice cui-
                  Frequency of Classiml  &I ee tings                      rently followed in our churches and, as a rule, it- works out

    Ideally the Classis  should meet every three or four                  very satisfactorily. Its' advantage is that it tends to stress

months. It is good that the churches have frequent official               equality among the ministers.     This method, however, is not

contact with each other. It is also good when circumstances               mandatory and if a circumstance should arise where very

and matters arise in a particular congregation that require               involved and weighty matters are to come before a Classis  at
Classical action, that these things are not permitted to linger.          which it happens to be the turn of an inexperienced minister

If the matter is of serious consequence and too long a time               to serve as president, a motion would be proper to the effect

elapses before the Classis  meets, irreparable damage may be              that Classis  depart from this custom and elect a president
done in the congregation which might conceivably have been                for that particular session.    This, of course,. would be done

avoided if the sessions-of the Classis  were held at more fre-            only in extenuating circumstances, and for most weighty
quent intervals. And even if there is no pressing business br             reasons.

any matter that urgently requires attention, it is even                       Article 41 adds to the regulations concerning the pres-
beneficial to the denominational life of the churches for the             idency of the Classical meetings this limitation : .`however,
Classis  to meet in brotherly fellowship and that officially!             the same minister  shall not be chosen twice irz s'tlccession.JJ
    The Church Order stipulates that Classis  shall meet at               Although, strictly speaking, this limitation can apply and is,

least four times a year or once in three months. This is the              therefore, meant only when the practice of electing presidents
rule observed in our Classis  East. The Church Order also                 is followed, the thought, nevertheless, that it expresses may
allows exception to this rule when it adds the-phrase, "unless            well apply to the entire matter of choosing presidents,
g;lpea.t  dista,nces +ender this yule inadvisa,ble."  This phrase fits    whether by rotation or election. The idea is that the fathers
the circumstances in our Classis  West where, because of the              again wanted to avoid any possible hierarchical tendencies
`great distances, the Classis  meets only twice during the year.          and, therefore, deemed it a matter of sound judgment to avoid

This. arrangement has many disadvantages but until such time              having the same minister preside at two consecutive Classes.

as circumstances -warrant a change we shall have to cope                  Again, strictly speaking, the article does not make this im-
with this situation.     The"`distances  by which the churches            possible but if the spirit of the Church Order is observed
are separated simply do not permit more frequent meetings                 rather than the letter, this will be avoided regardless of
however desirable this may be:                                            what system is followed in selecting the presiding officer.

                                                                                                                                 G.V.d.B.
                  Presiding Oficers of the Cla.ssis

    Ministers of the Word and elders constitute the proper
                                                                                      Report of Eastern L&dies' League
delegation to the Classis.    Yet, the Church Order assigns the

role of the presiding officer of this ecclesiastical assembly to              The, Ladies' League meeting was held October 22 at our

the ministers only. The reason for this is not to be found                Hudsonville Protestant Reformed Church. The meeting was

in the fact (which is not -even  true) that the office of the-            opened by singing Psalter No. 30 and Psalm 42 :l. Our pres-

minister is a higher or more authoritative office than that of            ident Mrs. M. Schipper  read I Peter 3:1-17 and I Tim.

elder.      If it were a question of "office" there could be no           2 :9-15 and offered prayer.

valid reason that an elder could not be president of the                  After being introduced our speaker, Rev. A. Muldkr,

Classis.  From a strictly legal point of view he has as much              spoke on the topic, "The Place of Christian Women in Chris-

right to that position as a minister. His delegation is equal             tian Service."

in every respect to that of the pastor's. It is rather then a                Under the thought of the "Christian Woman and Her

matter of expediency and the rule of Article 41 is motivated              Position," we were told to first understand the home, the

by the fact that the minister is, or should be by virtue- of his          product of the union of male and female, which must belooked

special training, better qualified to function in this capacity.          upon as a oneness.    Here the children respect and give -obe-

This same is true of the rule of Article 37 which automatic-              dience  to the parents and the wife to the husband. She

ally makes the minister the presiding officer of the con-                 helps and serves him and on her hinges the welfare of the

sistory.                                                                  home. In many respects she is superior to her husband by

    The Church Order provides two ways in which a minister                surpassing him in beauty, dedication, devotion, thoughtful-

shall be selected to serve as the president of the Classis.  He           ness, self-control and self-denial.

may be chosen by vote of the Classis.  This practice was in                  By reason of creation, the husband is primary, the woman

vogue during the early history of the Reformed Churches                   secondary and her position is inferior to the man, being

when things were very unsettled and irregular. Those cir-                 created for him. In the world she claims equality and some-


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              93


 times becomes dictatorial. Even Christian women often try            topic into these three parts: the purpose, the principles, and

 to rule the home and influence their husbands in the church.         the teaching of prayer.

   `Under the thought of "The Place of the Woman in Chris-                Prayer is often for some thing that we want-a means

 tian Service," we learned that her place is primarily in the         of begging God for that which we want. Such is not the

 home being a mother and instructing the children in                  purpose of prayer to God. Nor does prayer "change things"
                                                             God's
 Word. Not only bearing children, but rearing them also.              as is often the conception in this day. Prayer does not
 Each child is a big responsibility and older children cannot be      change `God. He is unchangeable!! God has determined all
 neglected.                                                           things in His counsel. Prayer really does not change us
     In church we must be submissive to the men placed in             either. We are changed by the Spirit of God- the work of
 the rule. In subjection and modesty we can teach, Sunday             God. Rather the purpose of prayer is the means of thanks-
 school and in society may lead, pray and discuss freely. We          giving of the child of God to his God. This is not a certain
 must be modest in dress and adornment, wearing on the                payment for what He has done, but it is a beautiful expres-
 outside what we find inside.                                         sion of thankfulness. It is a reflection of thanksgiving back
    If we live according to all this we are a picture of how          to God Himself-a reflection of His work within us. Al-
 the church stands in submission over against her head Jesus          ways keep that `in mind when you pray. Also, prayer is the
 Christ.                                                              means whereby we experience His blessings upon us. He so
    Even though having a position of inferiority we bring             works within our hearts that we see our own need in all

 forth the man-child and are the mothers of life and are saved        things, that we realize that He is the fountain of all good
 in child bearing.                                                    things, and that we must be supplied always from Him. As
    During the singing of Psalter No. 360 a collection was            He works prayer in us, so too He blesses -us  constantly with
 taken that was divided between Hope and Adams St. Prot.              all spiritual blessings.
Ref. Christian Schools. A report on the activities of the                 Next he explained the three principles of prayer:
 Holland Ladies' Society was given by Mrs: J. Van Kampen                 a. The fact that God must be the center (the object) `of
 and special numbers were given by a quartet from First               all our prayers. God is God! The glory of our God is in all
 Church Ladies' Aid. -The  business of the evening was taken          things ! Christ instructs us thus in-the Lord's Prayer. Prayer
 care of and the new officers'were introduced. After singing          must always be God-centered -nor is it easy always so to
 Psalter No. 374 our retiring vice-president, Mrs. Vander             pray because of our sinful flesh.'
 Wal, closed with prayer. Refreshments were served in the                b. Prayer must be based upon the work of Christ. Never
 basement.                           Mrs. R. Clawson,  Reporter       think that it is based upon our own value or worth. If it
                                                                      would not be based upon the work of Christ, we would not

                                                                      dare to come before the face of God.

                                                                         c. Prayer is that which is based upon, or according to,

                                                                      Scripture. We must hear "what His Word has to say about
            Report of Western Ladies' League                          prayer.    A prayer for what zple  want is no prayer, but we

    The Western Ladies' League met in Edgerton, Minnesota             must always pray a spiritual prayer according to His will as

on Oct. 9, 1959, with the ladies of Edgerton  as our. hostesses.      revealed in the Word of God. God will most definitely answer

    The meeting was opened by singing Psalter numbers 15              and fulfill such a prayer. We must therefore seek to pray in

and 72. Prayer was offered, and Psalm 71, our Scripture les-          our daily lives in harmony with His Word.

son, was read by our president Mrs. G. Broekhouse.                       His final point was: instruction in prayer. How do we

    A short business meeting was held consisting of minutes           teach our covenant children to pray ? Children ought to be

being read by our secretary, Mrs. J. Brummel; and a finan-            taught from their infancy the habit of prayer. It is an im-

cial report by our treasurer, Mrs. James Blankespoor. Psal-           portant part of their lives. They should be made familiar

ter number 179 was then sung while the collection was taken           with the art of prayer through hearing their parents pray

for the Edgerton  Free Christian School.                              daily. They should also be taught by leading them to pray.

    Our speaker for the day, Rev. G. Van Baren,  was in-              This way they should be taught while they are yet young,

troduced. He spoke on the topic, "Lord, teach us to pray,"            though this is not often done, so that they too may lead in

taken from Luke 11 :l. The speaker pointed out that the               prayer when it is required of them. Finally, they must be

theme which was chosen indicates a wonderful thing. It                taught the need of prayer.    Impress upon them the spiritual

means first of all that we, as Christians, have a strong desire       need of prayer. At the same-time this means that we too

to pray. That itself is an indication of the work of God's            should know how to pray, that we may be able to teach them.

Spirit within our hearts.    Secondly, it indicates that we desire       After the speech, a special number was given by the Hull

to pray a!zf! That is a beautiful thing for the Christian.            ladies : a round table discussion on "Reading." After this,

Thirdly, the theme reveals that.we want to be taught to pray          Rev. J. Heys conducted the question hour in which he an-

in the right way by Christ, and in the final analysis it is only      swered a question from each society. Questions that yet

Christ who can teach us to pray. The speaker divided his                                   (Continued on page 95)

                                                                                                                                        r

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





                                                                        Such is the title of a small pamphlet sent to us through

                                                                     the mail recently. The pamphlet's author is not mentioned

                                                                     by name. No particular church denomination is indicated on

Stiudy  Posits  Hell On Way Out                                      the cover as distributer of the pamphlet. All that is indicated

                                                                     is that it is distributed by the Publishers of Quotations and
      The October 26th issue `of Chktiartity ,Today  and the
                                                                     Reflections, Post Office Box 507, Grand Rapids 2, Michigan,
November issue of Christian Hemld  both contain articles
                                                                     and a postscripturn at the conclusion of the pamphlet is
reflecting on a statement produced by an official study com-
                                                                     signed with the initials K.W.
mittee of the United Church of Canada which "discards

eternal punishment, revises the doctrine of hell, holds out             The author informs us-in the postscripturn that the occa-

hope for the ultimate salvation of all men, approves prayers         sion for the pamphlet was a friendly discussion, on the sub-

for the dead, and teaches that Christ's second-coming need not       ject of infant baptism. He claims that he was urged to set

occur in a `physical manner'."                                       forth his views in writing for a more deliberate perusal.

      The Executive of the General Council of*the above men-            As appears from the first part of the pamphlet, the views

tioned Church gave general approval and commends the 11%             of especially the Baptists and the Christian Reformed

page statement as "worthy of study in the church."                   Churches came into the discussion. The author insists that

      The Christian Herald believes the statement "is enough to      he does not agree with either of these churches.

stoke up a substantial amount of discussion." While Cl&s-               The pamphlet is not so much concerned with the rrmodk,'

tianity  Today  tells us "The report has provoked much criti-        of baptism as it is with the "objects" of it. In respect to the

cism." The United Church of Canada is that country's largest         latter we are told "Baptism is a sacrament of the Covenant

Protestant body.                                                     of Grace, for the New Testament dispensation. Baptism

      We quote from. the report given in the Christian Herald        does not convey grace, it is a sign and seal of it."

the following :                                                         "A person may have grace, and not the sign of it, like the

      "Admitting that the book contains `beliefs that may seem       thief on the cross. A person may have the sign, and not the

new and dangerous to many people,' the authors go on to              grace, like Simon Magus.  A person may have neither sign

declare that hell need not last forever; that there is. a. second    nor grace, like Pilate. And a person may have both grace and

chance at salvation after death ; that prayers of the living         the sign of it, like Lydia."

may help the dead. The next world is not two irastly  different          "The only baptism that conveys grace is administered by
and wholly separated conditions or places called heaven and          Christ Himself, who baptizes His people with the Holy Ghost
hell, but could be thought of `as one world which is heaven          and with fire . . . .
and hell according to the soul's level of spiritual growth,' they
                                                                         "Baptism is a sacrament of the Covenant of Grace. The
suggest.
                                                                     disagreement with the Baptists (and for that matter also
      `T `We have no right to interpret hell as the place of         with the Chr. Ref. people) flows from their conception of
everlasting fiery torment. Hell is `to be without God and            the covenant. They think and speak of the Covenant of
without the fellowship of those who love Him. Hell is a              Grace, only as it is in its essence, but they overlook the fact
state of infinite loneliness, desperate deprivation and final        that the Covenant of Grace is not only essential, but also
frustration; We cannot conceive at all of everlasting physical       has a form in which it is ministered: they identify ministra-
torment in fire.  We~can  conceive of torment in the fires of        tion and essence.
shame and remorse.- though we cannot see how the repent-
                                                                         "To explain the difference between the covenant as es-
ance that would be involved in this state of mind could fail
                                                                     sential and as a ministration it will be necessary to call atten-
to lead to salvation.'    Doubting ,that the dead are so suddenly
                                                                     tion to the fact that from the beginning the Lord has shown
transformed at death as to put them beyond all need of grace
                                                                     that He included many in the ministration of the covenant
or prayers, the -authors  say, `We believe that serious and
                                                                     that did not belong to it, essentially considered. God has also
sympathetic consideration should be given to the point of
                                                                     revealed that in His dealings with mankind creature (not
view of those who believe in prayer for the dead,."
                                                                     with angels) He had respect to family ties, both in His
      The article in Chktianity Today has seen, and correctly        blessings and in His punishments ; in other words, in His

SO, that "The study deprives Scripture of revelation-status."        dealings with man God had regard to the solidarity of the
We agree also with the last paragraph in the above mentioned         family . . ."
article where the author writes: "Instead of being sent to
                                                                        At this point, the -author to great lengths produces ex-
the churches, the study might better have been returned to
                                                                     amples from Scripture, from both the Old and the New
c.ommittee for more searching of Scripture and less exchange
                                                                     Testaments, to prove his point. And then he continues :
of, opinion." But, there again, even this would not help when

God's Word is no longer divine revelation.                              "After this lengthy introduction (necessary to give ample

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



proofs from Scripture of the solidarity of the family) `I'll             1;    they are with their parents included in the ministration

come to the point in question. I've remarked that both, Bap-          of the Covenant of Grace ;

tists and the Chr. Ref., disagree with us as a result of their           2. by the sign of the covenant they must be included in

conception of the Covenant of Grace. The Baptists go to one           the instruction and discipline of the Church ;

extreme, and the Chr. Ref. go to the opposite extreme.                   3. they- must be distinguished from the children of un-

   "While the Chr. Ref. say that believers and their children         believers, and be told that Christ is their Lord, but that in

belong to the Covenant of Grace, in other words, are in the           order to be saved and to be enabled to serve and to love Him,

covenant, essentially considered, the Baptists hold that only         He must also become their Savior."

those who believe and are baptized are in the covenant and               So far the pamphlet. There is more in the pamphlet which

will be saved. - Campbellites with their baptismal regenera-          we do not have space to quote, nor is it important that we

tion, go a-step farther than the Chr. Ref. with their pre-            quote the rest. From what is quoted above, however, we make

sumptive regeneration, but both, Campbellites and Chr. Ref.,          the following notations :

consider the children of believers to be in the state of grace,          1. I am not so sure that all of the Christian Reformed

while the Baptists believe that the children of believers are         people will agree with the author's presentation of their con-

in the state of nature. And they are right: Paul says of the          ception of the necessity of infant baptism. I have a feeling

Jews, the. covenant people, `By nature ye are the children of         that if ministers in the Christian Reformed Church also re-

wrath, even as others.' No one is bow in a state of grace,            ceived this pamphlet, there may also be some replies forth-

or brought into it by baptism. These words of Christ to               coming.    I know that there is also among the Christian

Nicodemus apply to all -`Ye must be born again.'                      Reformed considerable ,difference  of opinion on' the subject.

   "Why do the Baptists refuse to baptize infants ? They con-         and the author of the pamphlet surely expresses the view of

sider that the infants are not believers and consequently are         many in that church.

not entitled to the sacrament.                                           2. It is clear from what is quoted above that the author

   "But what do Scripture events teach us regarding, the              of the pamphlet should also be set straight on a few things

ministration of the covenant of grace. ( 7)                           in connection with the sign of baptism and its application fo

   "When the Lord established the covenant with Abraham,              infants, children of believers. We gather from his explanation

He gave him the sacrament of circumcision, called in Rom.             that he would separate the sign from the thing that is sig-

4 :ll, `the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of      nified and sealed. It also appears that he conceives of the.

faith which he had.' Who received it? Abraham did. Was                ministration of the sacrament to infants conditional. Does he

he entitled to it? Certainly, he was .a believer, .and as such        also believe that in the ministration of baptism to infants God

he should receive the sacrament. But (and here is where               promises salvation to them all and that this promise is re-

the difficulty for the Chr. Ref. and for the Baptists comes in)       alized in them when they come to years of discretion and

God commanded that on the very same day-that Abraham                  accept the promise? He does not say this in so many words,

received the sacrament, it.was also to be administered to Ish-        but are we right in making this conclusion from the very last

mael and to the 318 or more men of his house, born -in his            part of the quotation above ?

house, and bought with the money of the stranger. Ishmael                3. We therefore are sending to the publisher of the

and all these men received the `seal  of the righteousness of         pamphlet "The Biblical Ground for the Baptism of Infants"

faith.' Were they all believers? Scripture does not say a             written by Reverend Herman Hoeksema for his perusal and

word of the faith of any of these men other than Eliezer,             instruction. Maybe he will have to write another pamphlet

the steward of Abraham's house. But suppose all these men             on the subject after he reads it.

believers, Ishmael was not, and God commanded him to be                                                                           M.S.

circumcised. Why? Because it pleased the Lord to include                                            -_
Ishmael and the men of Abraham's household in the mitiistra-

tion  of the covenant. And if God wants the members of our                       REPORT OF WESTERN LADIES' LEAGUE

household to be included in the ministration of the covenant,                             (Continued from page 93)

we have no right to exclude them . . .                                remained in the minds of some were asked and Rev. Heys

   "The Baptists and others will say, `We are not living in           then answered them.

the Old Testament days.' True, but-is it, in the New Testa-              A musical number was given-by a group of ladies from

ment days different in regard to the solidarity of the family         .Doon - two Dutch Psalms.

and the ministration of the covenant? I have quoted some                  Our president thanked our speakers and also those who

portions of the New Testament, which instances prove that             took part in the program. We sang our theme song, Psalter

in baptism as well as in circumcision, the Lord deals with            295, after which Rev. Van Baren  closed with prayer.

families, and includes in the ministration of the covenant all            Edgerton  ladies, our hostesses, provided a wonderful

that belong to the household of a, believer.         "                lunch during which we had a social hour in which we en-

    `!If the question is asked, `Are infants also to be baptized ?    joyed the communion of saints.

our answer is, Yes, they are, because:                                                             Mrs. Clarence Klein, Reporter.


                                                                                    churches. which were to be- received in a special collection
                                                                                                 _ ._                             _
                ..kEWS.,FROM.OURCHURCHES  j                                                    Nbv. 8    .
                                                                                            The Holland Ladies' Aid Society is happy to have secured
                             `r&~ the saints  mhte the . .,.",                 i
                                                              PHIL. 4 :21      1    the services of -Mr. Tom Elzinga tollead  them in their Bible
                                                                                                                             .
                                                                                    discussions.
                                                       November 5, 1959                     Hope's bulletin reveals that Rev. and Mrs. H. Hanlo's

                  Rev. J. A. Heys announced his decision to heed the call           baby has returned home from the hospital after a satisfactory

         from South Holland, thereby disappointing Edgerton  which                  r e c o v e r y . .

    :      had also. called him.                                                            The Hull Young People'sSociety  sponsored a Reforma-

                Rev. G. Lanting,.also  faced with calls from two congrega-          tion Day program Sunday, Nov. 1, scheduling Rev. G. Van
., .-      tions, chose to accept the call from Holland and declined the            Baren  as speaker. Vocal numbers and group singing rounded

           one from Randolph.                                                       out the evening.

                 Rev. H. Hoeksema lectured to a very attentive audience,                    The Men's Societies of South Holland and Oak Lawn

           Oct. 28, in the Women's Literary Club at Holland, Michigan.              met in joint session Nov. 2. The Rev. Vanden  Berg an-

           The subject of the speech was, "The Infallibility of the Scrip-          swered the question, "Is present day man delving too deeply
           tures."    The Reverend spoke of the Canon of the Scripture              into the. secrets of nature with the attempt at space travel ?"
           which is the rule of our faith and life, the Spirit testifying           A general discussion of the subject followed the speech.

           with our spirit that it is the truth. The `speaker further                       The Hudsonville congregation. donated gifts of fruit,

           treated the inspiration of the Bible, and stated that it was             linens and cash for the Holland Home and for Pine Rest

           the revelation of Jesus Christ throughout. Those in attend-              through. the efforts of the members of the Ladies' Society

           ance testified that `it was truly an evening of edification and          who canvassed the congregation for that purpose.

           spiritual joy.                                                                  The Fall Mass meeting of the Young People's Societies

                The Mr. and Mrs. Society League meeting was held in                 was held at Hudsonville Nov. 5. The Rev. B. Woudenberg

           Southwest Church, Oct. 30. Rev. R. Veldman, of Southeast                 was scheduled to speak on, "What is implied by the inspira-

           Church, was the speaker. He spoke on the great leader of the             tion of Scripture."       Also scheduled was a debate on, "Re-

           -Reformation, Martin Luther, and his work in liberating the              solved. that P. R. churches should sing hymns in the services."

           church frpm  the robbery of the Pope and his clergy-4  ,The                      Did You Know . . . ? That a Federation of Prot. Ref.

           speaker brought out the fact that the two basic principles of            Christian Schools has been in existence for over three years ;

           the Infallibility and the Authority of the Bible alone were              that it is composed of the Adams, Hope and South Holland-

           restored to the church through the Reformer, after they had              Oak Lawn societies ; that this year Mr. H. Meulenberg, of

           been all but lost under the doctrines of men. The Reverend               Adams school, is president; that one phase of its work is the

           deplored our complacency regarding Reformation Day, sur-                 conducting of monthly seminars at Adams school, said sem-

           rounded as we are by witches, false faces and legalized                  mars being attended by teachers, prospective teachers and

           bribery, trick-or-treat. The speaker called the members to               ministers in the area ; that the main subject of the seminar

           diligent study of the Scriptures in order to find the Word of            is,     "Psychology and Pedagogy," currently discussing the

           God, and in it the knowledge of the way of salvation.                    Scriptural principles of psychology; that the Rev. H. Hoek-

                 The Hudsonville Mr. and Mrs. Society held their Oct.               sema has answered the question of soul, mind, will and emo-

           27th meeting at the Children's Retreat and Training School;              tions; that Prof. H. C. Hoeksema has discussed the influence

           and the Sr. Mr. and Mrs. of First Church enjoyed the same                of sin upon the person ; and, that Rev. G. Vanden  Berg

           privilege the next evening. Mr. Zuidema, a teacher at the                presented a study on the influence of grace and the operation

           Training School, conducted the society through the building,             of the Spirit upon the nature of man ;' and, finally, that these

           showing some of the work of the children, The tour was                   seminars are conducted by the reading of a paper by a min-

           enjoyed by all, especially as they realized, in a small measure,         ister or a teacher, followed by group discussion.

           the work accomplished by those dedicated men and women                           Bulletin Quote (Rev. Harbach quoting from the works

           of the staff; being reminded of the statement of our Savior,             of A. ,Fuller) : "Man loves to think, and cannot live without

           "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto these little ones, ye have             thinking; but he does not love to think of God ; `God is not

           done it unto me."                                                        in all.  his thoughts.' Man delights in activity, is perpetually

                 The first public program for- the purpose of `raising funds        in motion, but has no heart to act for God. Men take pleasure

           for our P. R. Christian high school  has been announced for              in convev&tian,  and are never more cheerful than when en-

           N                                                                        gaged in it; but if God and religion are introduced they are
                OV. 22 at Hope Church. The Hope Octette, assisted by

           other musical numbers will provide an hour of listening                  usually struck dumb, and discover an inclination to drop. the

           pleasure with songs of praise worship of our Covenant God.               subject."

                 Adams School board is conducting a deficit drive to ob-                    Surely Mr. A. Fuller was not -describing us, was he?

           tain $10,000. They have mailed pledge cards throughout the                        , . . . . see you in church.                    J.M.F.


