_ --
.             voLuME  XXXVI                                                                                                                         5
        ,.                                                DECEMBER 1, 1959 - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHCGAN                                    NUMBER 

                                                                                      sence  c,onstrains  Him to be good and to do good unto His
... II-...:             M E D I T A T I O N                                           people; in and through Jesus Christ the Lord, and from ever-
                                                                                               .
                                                                                      lasting. to -everlasting.                               --

                                                                                         If and when God's lovingkindness is -over you it is well.
y;;%lE PRAISE OF GOD'S LOVINGKINDNESS
                                                                                      Then, nothing is against you; everything cooperates unto
     . -:                 "How `prcellent  ;.s Thy lovingkindnelrs,  0 ,G.od!         your everlasting welfare.
                           thiuejoye  the childjrelz  o f   ~WIJPL  put t&e& trust
                           under &e slzffi,dow  of Thy  zuings.. T%<y  shall be'         A striking example of such lovingkindness .you find in
                          abundanf(y  satisfied with $e- fatness  of Thy              Deut. 33 :26-29.  ,
                                                                                      . .
                           home;  and Thou shit make  &em drink of the                   Then the Lord-  rideth upon the heavens to your help and
                           rivea of i%v ideasawes.  For- with Thee is the
                          f&atain'  of @et in Thy light &all  we see light."          I&' excellency in `the skies. `Then the Eternal God is your
                              :                                  PSALM 36:7-g         Refuge;. and beneath are the everlasting arms. Then the
      ..-                                                                             Lord precedes you in' your battles: and sayeth!  Destroy.! Then
              The transgiession  of the wicked saith within my heart
                                                                                      the heavens drop dew. at every step you take,`and  He becomes
       that-there is no fear of God before his eyes!
                                                                                      and is the -Shield of your help and the Sword of your ex-

        -' That's the beginning of this Psalm.                                        cellency. '
      I_,..

       -,         And the poet will enlarge upon that premise.                           How excellent, literally: how precious, is such loving-

                  Those wicked men prove. their own wickedness, for he                kindness! Nothing can be compared  to it. It is more
       flattereth himself so long in his own eyes that his iniquity be-               precious than gold, yea, than much fine gold, and sweeter
. comes hateful. His words are iniquity and deceit; there is                          than `honey and .tlie honeycomb.

       neither wisdom nor goodness ; he deviseth mischief upon his                       And the `result is that men put their, trust in Him  and

       bed and carries it .to its baleful fruition: he abhorreth not                  seek refuge under the shadowy  of His `wings. It is the image

       evil.                                                                          of the protecting &ings  of ~God against the hateful birds
        .!`A.
             `l And all this is done in the midst of the awful Self-revelal           that seek to destroy you : the hen gathereth, her frightened
                                                                                                                        _. _
                                                                                      chicks under her protecting wings.
       &n  o f   J e h o v a h .

        _      .The  heavens and the clouds speak of His faithfulness and              1. God's lovingkindness is. great over those poor chicks in
                                                                                      the face`of the d&ii, and all wickedness:
       mercy ; the mountains tell us of His righteousness ; the great

       deep thunders of His judgment; and the Lord preserveth                                                      *    ***.

       both man and beast.

              -' And all this is lovingkindness for the church. The moun-              Lovingkindness ?

       tains skip and the hills make their noise heard, for His                        But it is so long ago that this song was written.

       mercy endureth forever.
                                                                                         Two thousand years ago this song was already old. And

        ~: L. How great, how excellent is this lovingkindness of God!                 so much has happened since it was first set to music. Oh,

        .t(:`Let's talk of it ,awhile.                                                lovingkindness was a-`lovely  concept to David, the servant
        _i ;1
                                                                                      of the -Lord. But what shall .we  say today? In these days
        i y;;,                          ****
                                                                                      when we look forward to the warm days of Christmas ?

                  What is this lovingkindness ?                                          Lovingkindness of our God is the Lord Jesus Christ!

                  It is one of God's attributes, one of His wondrous virtues.           And the Lord Jesus Christ today means that there are

                  It is that virtue-of God wherein His entire Being or Es-            untold millions of hands, reaching -downward to- you -in ,your

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



misery. You may be lying on your deathbed, and those hands                      That fatness is the knowledge of our God, and the love

are reaching for you. in order to soon lift you up to heaven's              of God from all eternity. It is the knowledge that we are

rest. Lovingkindness. of Jehovah means a million melodies                   justified by faith in His Son. It is the assurance that all

and a million songs that are sung about the great salvation in              of the children of God are being sanctified and glorified. It

the blood of Jesus. How precious is that lovingkindness for                 is the absolute assurance that we shall finally arrive in the

you in the midst of this wicked and dreadful age. This age                  land that is fairer than day.

speaks of wars Andy rumours  of wars as never before. The                       God shall make them drink of the river of His own
whole world is now really an armed camp.                                                                                       ,
                                                                            pleasures.

      Where shall we go ?                                                       It shows that this enjoyment of His lovingkindness is His

      There' is no place on earth where you are safe anymore.               Own Covenant life.

If and when it breaks the very heavens shall be filled with                     Thy `pleasures are the pleasures of God destined to be for
fire and destruction.               And you will breathe the killing at-    you and me. God is the ever-blessed God. Psalm 42 tells
mosphere of fall-out -and quick or slow death.                              us of the song of God. God is eternally happy and blessed:

 '    -Do not worry. God's hands and song and music is there                God is full of pleasures.

for you. He is filled with His precious lovingkindness. When                    And of that flood you may drink. Its essence is the
these things begin to happen turn your faces toward the                     praise of God. God praises Himself, and you may sing along
heavens, and know that your deliverance is nigh.                            with God.

      Seek the shadow of His wings, and take your trust there.                  You will become drunk with spiritual happiness !
Ypu are safe, now and for evermore. He suffered no man

to do them wrong.

                                                                                                         * *. * *
      When devils rage and the wicked with foot and hand

devise to hurt you, when the power of evil within you

threatens to devour and lay low, His lovingkindness will                        Its origin?.
reach and find you. It will save you every day. It is new
                                                                                Listen to God : "For with Thee is the Fountain of Life !"
every morning. Jesus is always nigh unto the sheep.

                                                                                Listen also to a' later prophet : "In that day there shall
      Oh, how precious is the Lord's lovingkindness!
                                                                            be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the in-

                                       * * * *                              habitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness." Zech.
_'                                                                          13 :l.

 T h e   t e x t   i s   e t e r n a l   t r u t h .                            Oh yes, God is the Fountain of all this lovingkindness.

      Listen :     "They shall be abundantly satisfied with the                 God is the Fountain of His Own life.

fatness of Thy house !"                                                         He is the .Fountain  of the life of the creature.

      The House .of God : what is it?                                           He is also the Fountain of the Life of Christ.

      Its type was the temple on mount Zion.                                    And, finally, He is the Fountain of the life of the church.

      Its fulfilment is Jesus our Lord.                                         And the Water of Life bubbles forth and shall bubble

      It is the Holy Place where God blesses His people every               forth unto all eternity.

day. Its Altar of Incense is the fellowship of prayer. Its                      Drink of that Fountain. Drink of that God in and through
table of Shewbread is the feeding on the Bread of Life. Its                 Christ Jesus the Lord.
Golden Candlestick is the testimony that Jesus and His
                                                                                He stood .one day upon the earth, and looking at His
people are the very Light of the World. And once each year
                                                                            sheep, He said: Let him that is athirst  come unto Me and
the High Priest went into the `inner sanctuary to make rec-
                                                                            drink.
onciliation and blessing. It symbolized the blessed com-

munion of the eternal Covenant of grace.                                        What opened that Fountain ?

      We have a little shadow of all these things in the places                 The very death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The

where we worship, adore God on Sunday. But also in                          wonder of wonders. Life came from death, which is the

the prayer cell, every day and every hour, the blessed God                  greatest miracle. , Power through Him who is the worm.

calls us effectually to prayer and worship. The time shall                  Riches through His poveety9  IIeaven  came and comes from

come, said Jesus, that God's people shall worship neither at                His hell. Understand it if you can..

Samaria  nor at the Temple in Jerusalem, but they shall                        Are you filled with sin and uncleanness? Is your sin so
worship God in Spirit and in Truth. And that is fulfilled.                  great that doubts assail you ? Do -you feel inclined to say

      Note: the fatness of Thy Hou.se!                                      with Peter: Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man?


                                                         THE  S T A N D A R D   .BE.Ai&R                                                                                                                                                 99


Are your sins more than you can count, and do you feel like

the poor publican  who stole into the temple and dared not                                                    T H E   STAiJDARD   B E A R E R

                                                                                       Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August
SO much as to raise his eyes to heaven ?
                                                                                         Published by the 
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                                                                                       P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

all your sins away, my dear sister.                                                                                Editor -' REV. HERMAN HOEKSEMA

        It is purposely opened for the house of David and for                          Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
                                                                                                        Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that it may cleanse them.                                                                        Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

        Out of it come the floods. of God's pleasur.es.  Out of it                     All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
                                                                                                          James Dykstra,'  1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
comes the precious lovingkindness of your God.                                                                               Grand Rapids 7, Michigan

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grace and lovingkindness.

                                                                                       `IIENEGAL: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-'
        "In Thy Light we shall see Light !"                                            ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
                                                                                       to continue without the formality of a renewal -order.
        That is the death. for all filthy heresy which prattles of                                                   Subscription price: $5.00 per year

the will of man unto salvation.                                                         Entered es Second Clu.ss  mutter -at Grand Rbpids;  Michigan

God places us-  within the Light that streams from His

face. And Light of God is all virtue, all beauty and splendour
                                                                                                                                      C O N T E N T S
of the Godhead.
                                                                                 M E D I T A T I O N -
        And standing in the shaft of His light, we see the light.                          The Praise of God's Lovingkindness. .._. _._ _..............  . . . . . . . . . 97
                                                                                                      Rev. G. Vos
We see His great salvation. We hear Him say: I love you.

I loved you yesterday. I loved you before the world was                          EDITOIUALS-
born. I loved you from all eternity !                                                      As To Being Protestant Reformed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

                                                                         G.V.              The Question o f Reunion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
                                                                                                      Rev. H. Hoeksema


                                                                                 O
        "               there has very generally prevailed a most pernicious          UR DOCTRWE  -
             . . . .                                                                       The Book of Revelation . . ..___..._.....___.......................................  102
error that the Scriptures have only so much weight as is                                              Rev. H. Hoeksema
conceded to them by the suffrages of the Church ; as though
                                                                                 A 
the inviolable truth of God depended on the arbitrary will                            CLOUD OF WITNESSES-
                                                                                           Returning to Bethel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..106
of men. ' For thus, with great contempt of the Holy Spirit,                                           Rev. B. Woudenberg                                                    -

they inquire, Who can assure us that. God is the author of
                                                                                 FROM HOLY WRIT-
them ? Who- can with certainty affirm, that they have been
   1                                                                                       Exposition of Remans                                   14, 15 (11) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..___.....................  108
preserved safe and uncorrupted to the present age? Who can                                            Rev. G. Lubbers

persuade us that this book ought to be received with rever-                      IN HIS FEAR -

ence, `and that expunged from the sacred" number, unless all                               Freedom of Speech (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  110
                                                                                                      Rev. J. A. Heys
these things were regulated by the decisions of the Church?

It depends, therefore, (say they) on the determination of the                    CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH-
Church to decide both what reverence is due to the Scrip-                                  The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . .._.____..............................  112
                                                                                                      Rev. : H. Veldman
tures, and what books are to be comprised in its Canon."

                                 Calvin's institutes, Book I, Chapter `VII       THE VOICE OF OUR F~rmms.-
                                        .                                                  The Canons of Dordrecht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1;4

                                                                                                      Rev. H. C. Hoeksema


                                     IN MEMORIAM                                 DECENCY AND ORDER-
                                                                                           Questions on Article`41 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . :..: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
        The Radio Committee of the First Protestant Reformed Church                                   Rev. G. Vanden Berg'
hereby wishes to express its sincere sympathy to one of its members,

Mr. Howard Van Eenenaam, jn the loss of his father,                              A L L  ARO& U s -
                                .TOM  VAN EENENAAM                                         The Fight Against Obscenity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
                                                                                           Lessons on Matthew 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
        May our God comfort the bereaved in their sorrow.                                             Rev.,' _M.  Schipper  ,_
        II Cor. 3 and 4: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord

Jesus Christ . . . who comforteth us in all our affliction.                      NEWS FROM Ouq ~H~RCKES..:..................~..........................................  120
                                               Gee. Yonker Sr.:  President                            Mr. J. M. Faber

                                               Thelma Pastoor, Secretary


`100                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


II                                                                 places man in the garden of Eden, with the tree of life and
             EDIPORIALS                                            the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He it is that issues
                                                                   to Adam the probationary command not to eat of the for-

                                                                   bidden tree. And He it is that threatens death to Adam in

            As To Being Protestant Reformed                        case he should eat of that tree. There is not even a sugges-
                                                                   tion of a covenant in the sense of an agreement or in any

      In my last article under the above heading I asked the       sense in the text of Gen;  2 and 3.

question, What is the distinct doctrinal basis of the Prot-            2. According to this so-called covenant of works man
estant Reformed Churches ? Do they merely deny the "Three          could merit something (eternal life) with God. But this is
Points" of "common grace" adopted by the Synod of the              a corrupt notion. Man is a creature and God is the Creator.
Christian Reformed Church in 1924 or do they stand on a            The creature can never merit anything with the Creator. He
distinctive doctrinal basis even apart from the theory of          owes everything to God, his body and .his soul and all his
"common grace" ?       Have they, standing on the basis of the     faculties, his very place in creation, his food and drink, his
Three Forms of Unity, made a further development of                very life `and existence. He can give nothing to God what-
certain truths maintained in these Confessions ?                   soever. It is true that it was his calling to serve God and to
      The answer to these questions is that, although the          love Him with all his heart and mind and soul and strength,
adoption of the theory of "common grace" and of the "Three         but this was not a work by which man would become meri-
Points-" certainly was the immediate cause of the separate         torious before God, but a privilege bestowed by God upon
existence of the Protestant Reformed Churches, the mere            him. Even the very name "covenant of works" is a mis-
denial of "common grace" is not the distinctive doctrinal          nomer.
basis of these churches. On the contrary, they have further
                                                                       3. According to the "covenant of works," that which
developed and placed a new emphasis on certain very im-
                                                                   Adam could merit by his work of obedience was immortality
portant Reformed truths and these belong to the basis on
                                                                   or eternal life. But also this is not Scriptural and, therefore,
which they stand.
                                                                   not true. That God promised Adam eternal life if he did
      One of these truths is the important doctrine,of the cov-
                                                                   not eat of the forbidden tree is a pure invention of the
enant.
                                                                   imagination. It is evidently deduced from the fact that God
      We believe that, according to Scripture, there is but one    threatened death as the penalty of eating of the tree of
covenant : the covenant of friendship of God with His people       knowledge of good and evil. It is argued that, since death
in Christ Jesus our Lord.                                          was the penalty upon disobedience, Adam would have entered

      We believe, too, that this covenant is. not a means to an    into the state of eternal life if he had obeyed God's command.

end but is the end, the goal, the purpose of the whole work        But this does not follow at all. It is true that, in that case,
of salvation.                                                      Adam would. not have died for death is the punishment for

      We believe also that there are no parties in God's cov-      sin. But neither did he have the promise of eternal life. Had

enant but that, although there are, as the Baptism Form has        he obeyed, he would have been confirmed in the state of life

it, "parts" in the covenant of grace, God is His own party.        in which God had created him. No doubt, eternal life is and

      Let me elaborate a little on these ideas.                    can be attained only by the death and resurrection of our

      Reformed theologians have developed the so-called "cov-      Lord Jesus Christ. It is a life that is not of the earth, earthy,
enant of works," although this theory of the covenant was          as was the life of Adam, but is heavenly. It is a life that
never received in or expressed by our own Reformed Con-            requires as its basis the union of God and man as it was
fessions. This covenant of works is usually defined as an          realized. in the incarnation of the Son of God. No promise
agreement between God and Adam consisting in a condition,          of eternal life, therefore, could possibly have been given to
a promise, and a penalty. The condition is perfect obedience       Adam and the keeping of the probationary command was
to God as tested in the negative probationary command not          not a condition unto that higher, heavenly life in the so-
to eat of the forbidden tree ; the promise was eternal life ;      called covenant of works.

and the penalty was death.                                            Hence, for all these reasons, we do not believe in the cov-

      To this view we have several objections.                     enant of works.

                                                                      But, perhaps, you make the remark that, when I write
      1. This "covenant of works"  is supposed to be a mutual
                                                                   that "we do not believe in the covenant of works," I merely
agreement between God and Adam according to which Adam
                                                                   express my own opinion, that this has never been adopted
agrees to obey and God agrees to give him eternal life. But
                                                                   officially by the Protestant Reformed Churches, and that,
in Scripture there is not one word about such an agreement.
                                                                   therefore, every one can have and express his own opinion
The whole so-called agreement is one-sided. God does it all.
He it is that created man in His own image and by doing            on the matter.

so already made him a covenant creature destined to live in           This, however, is hardly true.

covenant fellowship of friendship with God. He it is that             Do not forget that our Churches.adopted the Declaration


                                             TH.E S.TANDARD  BEAR(ER                                                              101



of Principles. This document the schismatics refused to             that it no longer considers it binding-upon the churches. But

adopt and, in fact, it became the occasion or rather the real       the second item concerns the question of discipline which the

cause for their departure from the Protestant Reformed              Synod of 1946 exercised over some officebearers. '

Churches. For in this Declaration of Principles the distinc-            At that time I did not have the complete report and did

tive Protestant Reformed truth is briefly set forth, not only       not know whether the Synod had decided anything at all

over against the doctrine of the `fThree  Points," but also in      about the matter of discipline. But in the issue of De Bamh

distinction from other aberrations from the Reformed truth.         of Oct. 23 occurs the, complete report; and in that report

This distinctive Protestant Reformed truth the schismatics          there also appears a paragraph about the matter of the above

did not want and do not want. No wonder that they can so            mentioned discipline.

easily unite with the Christian Reformed Church! They                   I will quote the paragraph and translate it:

never were Protestant Reformed in their heart.                          "The synod -considers that the matter here brought up

    Now, it is true that also in this Declaration of Principles      (that' is the matter of the doctrinal decisions in connection

the covenant of works is not even'mentioned.  But there are         with disciplinary actions,- H.H.) concerns an extremely

two items that, nevertheless, support my contention that we,        tender point. Tender- for the liberated brethren, because

i.e. the Protestant Reformed Churches, do not believe in the        these consider themselves attacked in what they deem their

covenant of works. The first is found in the introduction to        `right and honor as officebearers in the church of Christ.

this Declaration which reads as follows :                           Tender for the Reformed Churches, because in this matter

    "The Protestant Reformed Churches stand on the basis            they are being reminded of a painful. attack upon (as they
of Scripture as the infallible Word of God and the Three            feel it) ecclesiastical faithfulness with which the liberated
Forms of Unity. Moreover, they accept the Liturgical Forms          brethren were once connected with them, and to the keeping
used in the .public  worship of our churches, such as the           whereof they, especially the ministers among- them, `had
Baptism Forms, et elii, as confessions of a minor order."           obliged themselves in the formula of subscription. Since these
                                                                    convictions are so radically opposed to each other, the Synod
    Now, the so-called covenant of works is not mentioned at
                                                                    does not consider it possible in this respect to make, con-
all in our Confessions and, therefore, is not confessionally
                                                                    cerning the past, from one side such general declarations that
Reformed. I realize that this is negative, but if anyone would
                                                                    the truthfulness is not denied and that, at the same time, the
-subscribe to and teach the covenant of works he nevertheless,
                                                                    mutual approach may be benefited."
would have to remain within' the boundary of the Confessions
                                                                       This is all.
and that would be rather difficult, yea, I dare say-impossible.
                                                                       In other words, the Synod, evidently, still feels that in-
    But, positively, I want to point out that, although the
                                                                    1946 they were right in exercising discipline over ministers
Declaration does not speak of the covenant of works, it                                                                                  *.
                                                                    and other officebearers because they had broken their oath of
strongly condemns all conditions and conditionality. It does
                                                                    office as expressed in the formula of subscription. But, on
this throughout.      I will have occasion to quote from the
                                                                    the other hand, they feel that they can do nothing'to  change
Declaration in another connection and, therefore will not do
                                                                    the -decisions of 1946 in respect to discipline over office-
so at present. But the covenant of works speaks, as we have
                                                                    bearers. This, to my mind, means that they still maintain
-seen, of an important condition which man had to fulfill in
                                                                    those decisions.
order to obtain eternal life. And this is not Reformed but
Pelagian.                                                              Although we can in the main agree with the doctrinal
                                                                    decisions of the Synod of 1946, we cannot condone the fact
    Hence, I still maintain that the Protestant Reformed
                                                                    that they deposed local officebearers.
Churches officially do not believe in the covenant of works.
                                                                       But, even apart from the principle of the thing, will it not
   `More about the Protestant Reformed view of the cov-
                                                                    make re-union practically impossible if the Synod of the
enant next time, the Lord willing.                         H.H.
                                                                    Reformed Churches does not first retract the decision of

                                                                    1946 concerning the deposition of local officebearers ? Many

                 The Question of Re-union .                         of the- deposed officebearers are, no doubt, still living. If the

                                                                    churches re-unite what are they going to do with them? They
    By the above title I am not referring to our re-union with
                                                                    cannot agree to re-install them in the ministry. What then ?
the Christian Reformed Church, but to that of the Reformed
                                                                    Leave them in the ministry
Churches of the Netherlands with the Liberated or Reformed                                        ? That is, from the viewpoint of
                                                                    the Reformed Synod also impossible, for that would be
Churches, Art. 31.
                                                                    `tantamount .to a confession that the.  Synod of 1946 did
    We wrote about this the last time. And I mentioned
                                                                    wrong by deposing them.
especially two items in that report as far as I then had it
                                                                       This is, indeed, quite a problem.
in my possession. The first item concerned the "terzijde

stkllen,"    the setting aside of the doctrinal decision of 1946       It shows very plainly that it may be easy for a church to

which, according to the decision of the last Synod, means           split, but it is very difficult to re-unite unless the right way

that it still maintains the truth of the decision of 1946 but       is pursued even to the very end. .'                        H.H.


,' 102                                        T H - E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                                                                     blessings of God's covenant in her bosom. And it is as such
  II          O U R   D O C T R I N E                           II that evidently the church appears in the words that we are
                                                                     now discussing.     For as we have maintained already, the

                                                                     passage makes mention of the rest of her seed, of her spiritual

               THE BOOK OF REVELATION                                children. She is the mother of all the true children of God,

                                                                     of all the subjects in the kingdom that is to be established in
                           P A R T   T W O                           the future. That is her great importance.

                           CHAPTERTEN                                     NOW the devil knows this. He knew from the beginning
                                                                     that the great seed which this woman is to bring forth is the
        The Con&t  Between The Woman  And The Dragon                 all-important factor in the entire war which he wages. If he

                                                                     can prevent His coming or devour Him as soon as He is born,
                      Revelation 12 :13-17
                                                                     he does not have to trouble himself about the rest of her

        The devil is not. a mad fool. He certainly is a fool, and    seed. And therefore all his efforts are directed toward that

  he also is mad. But he is not a mad fool in this sense; that       `end in the old dispensation.    And because he is so certain

 he does things that have nothing to do with the plan of God         that he will succeed in that battle against the woman and

 Almighty. And you may `depend on it, if the woman after             surely prevent, the birth of the great seed, he also thinks it

 she has brought forth the man child was of no account any           strange and without justice that all the saints that are born

 more, the devil would not trouble himself about her. He             and die before the coming of Christ go into glory. But he

 has but one purpose, and he lives from but one principle.           has failed. And now he knows too that the church still

 It is the purpose and the principle of opposition against God       exists. He knows that even as that same woman has not only

 Almighty. This principle he never denies. And whatever              brought forth the great seed, but was also the mother of

 has. nothing to do with that principle he leaves severely           Abel and Enoch and Noah and the patriarchs and Moses

 alone. That is already plain in the individual lives of the         and all the prophets and all the faithful believers of the old

 people of God on earth and in the church. If you are of no          dispensation, so she will continue to bring forth seed in the

 account to the coming of God's kingdom and are in no way            new dispensation. Also in the New Testament day she will

 related to the glory of God, the devil does not trouble his         have children. She will bring forth children of the kingdom

 head about you. It is only when he begins to surmise that           that will fight the battle of the kingdom here below and that

 you also are one of the followers of Christ and that you con-       will enter into the glorious kingdom hereafter. And since he

 fess him that he begins his action against you. Thus ,it is         cannot fight directly against the King of the kingdom any

 also `with the woman. The very fact that the dragon in              more, Who is caught up to the throne of God, and since he

 raving madness indeed turns against the woman, to persecute         cannot go to heaven any more to dispute about the right of

 her, already causes us to surmise that she is still of great        the glorified saints, lie will persecute the woman and try `to

 importance to the kingdom of God and the fulfillment of His         destroy- her at all events before she has brought forth many

 plans.                                                              more children that will serve as subjects of the kingdom that

        Nor need we search very long to find the answer to this      is to be established. And therefore he goes and persecutes
 question. What is the motive of the devil in persecuting            h    e    r    .

 the woman even after she has brought forth the-man child?                Now the text tells us that when the dragon comes to

 This woman, as we have had occasion to `notice before, is           persecute the woman, two wings of an eagle are given to her,

 the church, the visible church as she exists on earth. In the       in order that she might fly into the wilderness. The question

 former passage we noticed how she appeared as the mother            as `to the meaning of the eagle's wings, as if they could be

 of the Savior, of the King in the kingdom. The church brings        interpreted to mean work and prayer, or anything else, is

 forth the Christ. Christ is the great seed of the woman. He         certainly irrelevant. The figure has perhaps been obtained

 is the Son of Mary, out of the house of David, of the tribe         from Exodus 19:4, where we read that Jehovah says: "Ye

 of Judah, born from Israel, out-  of the loins of Abraham, in       have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare

 the line of Shem and Seth, and finally born from Eve as the         you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself." And

 spiritual mother of the holy seed. But this is not all. The         the idea is evidently that God Himself provides the church

 church as she exists in the present dispensation is not only        with means to escape the fury of the devil. Different, how-

 the mother of Christ, the great seed. But she is also the           ever, it is with the idea of the wilderness. Also this has

 mother of us all. She is the mother of the true, spiritual          been obtained from- the episode of the people of Israel's his-

 children of God. As such it may be said that the church             tory in the desert. Even as there God delivered His people

 visible, as a visible institution on earth; brings forth the        from the fury of the world-power in Egypt by bringing them

 church invisible, the true believers, from age to age. The          into the wilderness, so also now He brings His people into

 church is the mother of the true children of the kingdom.           the wilderness to escape the rage of the devil. But the dif-

 These are born from her, are baptized by her, are nourished         ference is that in Israel's case it was a real wilderness into

 through her, receive their strength and life and all the            which they were `led, while evidently in ~this  case the figure


                                           T H E   S T A N D ' A R D   B,EARER                                                      103
                                                                                                                               -


is employed to represent something different. And the ques-        spiritual children. Only Christ is King. From this it follows

tion is : what is the meaning of this wilderness into which        that the church has its own laws. There may be laws

God enables the church to fly in the new dispensation in           established and ordained by the- worldly ruler regarding the

order that she might- escape the wrath and persecution of          existence of the church in this world, regarding her buildings

the devil. It has been said that the wilderness is here used       and property, et cetera ; but the church in this world, in

to the want and deprivation of the people of God, so that          regard to her real existence and life, acknowledges no other

they must suffer in the world. They are the despised of the        power, no other sovereignty, than that of Christ. No world-

world; and there are not many noble and mighty among               power, no emperor, or king, or president, can formulate her

them. They must suffer all kinds of persecutions and               creed. She does so herself, in obedience to Christ her King.

deprivations in the world. And therefore that world is a real      `NO  world-power. can regulate her worship, can compose her

wilderness to .them. And, of course, this is true in itself.       hymns and her forms, can dictate how she must pray and

But it is not the meaning of the text. For, in the first place,    .what  she must preach. No world-power can tell her how and

the church is driven into this wilderness after the birth of       when and why she must censure her members and exercise

Christ and after His exaltation. But it cannot be said that        discipline over them. The church as an institute is a separate

the being subjected to want and deprivation of all kinds is        institution.    She has her own King, her own laws, her own

peculiar of the people of God in the new dispensation only.        life. She does not mingle in politics as such. She may in-

Also the. long list of witnesses mentioned in Hebrews 11           struct her children how to behave in regard to the powers

could tell you of them. And therefore, this cannot be meant.       that be ; but she herself does not mingle in the politics of

In the second place, it is difficult to see how this could pos-    the world. She has no armies. She does not fight with the

sibly be a means of hiding them from the face of the devil,        sword. Again, she may instruct her children that even in

so that. he could not attack them. Yet this is evidently the       regard to the battles of the world they must be subject to

purpose of it all. The woman received these wings to.fly into      the authorities, and obedient.; but she herself,- as an institute

the wilderness in order that she might be able to escape the       and as the mother of her spiritual children, does not take

wrath of the devil, and so be safe. And in the third place,        part in the battles of the world. She lives in separation.

the wilderness is a place prepared for her by God, where she       Even as the children of .Israel  in the desert lived in separa-

does not suffer want and deprivation, but is nourished by          tion from the world-power in Egypt, and even as they re-

God for a time, and times, and half a time, or twelve hundred      ceived their own laws from their own King in that wilder-

sixty days. And therefore, that cannot be the meaning of           ness, so also the church of the New Testament is in the

the term wilderness  in our present passage.                       wilderness with regard to the world and its power and its

   We would rather adhere to the symbolism, and derive the         life. The church does not do business. The church does not

meaning from the representation itself. In the literal and         mingle with the affairs of this world. She owns no property

natural sense of the word the wilderness, or desert, is a          for its own sake. She has no factories. She has no army

place in the world, but not of the world. It may lie right         and navy. She fights her own battles and does her own

in the midst of the world, yet it is absolutely separated from     work. The church as an institution is separate from the life

the life of the world. There is no plant life, no vegetation to    of the world. She has received a God-prepared place in the

speak of, no animal life, no human life; there are no houses,      wilderness.

no cities, no rivers and streams. It is a place in the midst           Only in this sense can we see, in the first place, that. this

of the world,' yet separated from the world. If one, is in the     condition commenced actually in the new dispensation and

wilderness, he is separated from the life of the world. If we      with the exaltation of Christ. In the old dispensation among

adhere to this meaning, the explanation of the symbolism can-      Israel church and state were intertwined in the theocracy.

not be difficult. It reminds us of the w;ords of the Savior,       Israel was the people of God. Israel was the church. They

"In the world, .yet  not of the world." And it tells us that       were not identical, but they. were inseparably combined. For

the visible church in the new dispensation is an institution       that reason the people of God also could have an earthly

separate in every respect from the world-power as such. It         king, could fight the battles of Jehovah with bow and sword,

exists indeed in the world, but it exists as a separate in-        could have an earthly country of their own, could have pos-

stitution. That is not true of her children individually. They     sessions and do business as a people of God. With the new

live right in the midst of the world, and they live the life       dispensation this is changed. The church does no more live

of the world, even though they are spiritually separated from      in a certain land, but is spread all over the world and among

that life, and live it from the principle of the kingdom of        all nations. One and the same church, with the same King,

God. But that is true of the church. The church as such            with essentially the same faith, with the same life, now exists

is a separate institution in the world. She has her own            among all the nations of the earth. And as the most general

King. And as an institution it does not recognize any other        confession has it, "I believe an holy catholic church." But

ruler. No earthly king has any dominion over her. There is         at the same time, and for that very reason, the church is now

no worldly ruler to be king or president or dictator that          in the wilderness. It is separated from the world-power. It

can exercise dominion over the church as the mother of her         does not acknowledge any other authority for her life as


 104                                       THyE STANDABD   B E A R E R


 such than the authority of Jesus Christ. But, in the second       church has to suffer from the attacks of the dragon. In this

place, it is also very plain that this is exactly her safety in    entire period God has prepared her a place in the wilderness

the present dispensation.    The world-power is and remains        in. separation from the powers of the world, and that too, to

 on the earth, earthy. It has a temporal purpose, and ulti-        her own safety.                    - ,

mately shall unite, as we shall see, to make war against the           That this is actually so is also plain if we .study for a

 Christ and His kingdom.     If the church did not live as a       moment the manner in which the dragon attacks this woman

separate institution, living her own life, acknowledging her       in the wilderness, and how he fails. Symbolically the text

own King, regulating her own affairs, making her own laws,         indicates it by saying that the dragon, when~he  saw that he

establishing her own forms of belief, and controlling her own      could not pursue her into the wilderness, cast a stream of

worship, she will be gone, and. ultimately unite with the          water after the woman, in order that she might be carried

power that ,rises  against the Christ and His kingdom. No          away with the flood. Evidently this does not mean that the

matter whether this would realize itself in one or in. the         devil makes an attempt directly to destroy the woman while

other, whether the church would have dominion over the             she is" in the wilderness. On the contrary, especially the

powers of the world and over the affairs of the world, as          original gives us reason to believe that the purPose  is differ-

the Romish Church would have it, or whether the power of           ent. -He knows that he cannot approach the woman in her

the world would exercise authority over the church of Christ       isolation in the desert. He cannot touch her. She must

as an institution in the midst of the world, the same result       remain there. He must leave her alone. And hence, he casts

would necessarily follow, namely, the destruction of the           a stream of water after her, that she might be `borne up by

church as the mother of the faithful subjects of the kingdom       that flood and be carried out of the wilderness. Especially the
of Christ. The church is in the wilderness of this world,          word used here in the original gives us that very idea. He

separated from the power of the svorld,  and must needs be         does not mean to drown her: that would be impossible. But

in that wilderness for her own safety.                             he means to lift her from her isolation. And therefore he

   The measure of time here indicated need not detain us very      casts a stream after her, -in order that she might be carried

long. It is plain from the context that time, times and half a     away by the stream, and thus be borne into the world from

time is the same period as the twelve hundred sixty days           the which she. fled.

mentioned in the first portion of this chapter. This leads us         And understood in that sense the meaning is not difficult

to the conclusion that time, times, and half a time indicates      to grasp. The devil realizes that in the isolation of the church

three and one-half symbolic years. One symbolic year, and          as an institution from the powers of this world lies her

two symbolic years, and half a symbolic year. One sym-             strength, and that as long as the church remains in this

bolic year is calculated to be three hundred sixty days,           state of separation he cannot do anything against her. And

which, multiplied by three and one-half, .gives  us the twelve     therefore he makes the attempt to establish an alliance, to

hundred -sixty  days. And again, this is evidently the same        unite the church and the world. He tries to carry the church

period as the forty-two months of the two witnesses. For,,         into the world and either offer her the dominion over the

taking a symbolic month to' contain thirty days, forty and         powers that be or subject her to the powers of the world.

two months would again -give us twelve hundred sixty days,         Then he may be sure that her strength is gone. Then he

or three and one-half years.    All these indications of time      is certain that she will also bring up her spiritual children

refer, therefore, to the time of the new dispensation, from the    as subjects of the kingdom of the world, which -is his king-

exaltation of Christ to the very end, as has become plain          dom. Then he is `certain that the. kingdom of the Christ

before. Only, the three and a half times indicate this period,     shall at least be deprived of its subjects of the new dispensa-

in the first place, from the point of view that the history of     tion. Clearly you may see this attempt. Now the devil tries

the world is divided, as it were, into two halves, because of      to subject the churqh  as an institution to the powers of the

the coming of Christ. If seven is the symbolic number in-          world, and establish a state church, as in various countries

dicating the completion of all that God does in time, and          of Europe has been and still is the case. In that case the

therefore also indicating the complete period of the history       worldly rulers are at the same time the rulers of the church,

of the present world, both before and after Christ, then it is     and they establish its creeds and forms of worship and con-

plain that three and one-half must indicate the period of          fessions. The church is ruled by the worldly power. Now

one dispensation, in this case that of the dispensation after      he tries to gain his point along the way of offering the

the coming and exaltation of Christ Jesus. And in the              church dominion over the powers of the world, as in the time

second place, this number also indicates that the period of        of Constantine the Great, and ever since, in the Romish

the /church being in the wilderness shall be cut short. The        Church. But the devil always failed. That does not mean

days shall be shortened for the elects' sake. But whatever         that he never saw results. He surely did. Church after.

this number, which also occurs in Daniel, may indicate,            church was affected by this stream of water he spits after

certain it is from a 6omparison  of the different places in        the woman. Now the church is actually subject to the state;.

which it occurs, that it points to the entire period of the        now she has absolute sway over the powers of the world.

new dispensation, even to the end. In this entire period the       And every time she lost her true `character. But it never


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARcER                                                                10.5


  succeeded completely. The woman always remained in her             for there we have the description of the power of the Anti-
  isolation.    And even today, although the tendency is once        christ.
  more to bring the church into the service and the subjection           Let us now close this particular passage with the applica-
  of the worldly power, and although the church has a hard           tion of the text. In the first place, the church is in the
  fight to remain in her God-appointed place in the wilderness,      wilderness.        Neither must she attempt to rule over the
  nevertheless in many places the church stands as a separate        powers of the world or to mingle with the affairs of the
  institution, and also in our own land the separation of church     world, nor must `she subject herself to these powers. Christ
  and state is still constitutionally established. And therefore,    iS King, and no other beside Him, over the church. There
  the devil fails in principle. And our text tells us that he        are many rulers in the world  ; there is but one King in the
  will fail. Surely, also in the future many a church will be        church. In the second place, love the church as your spiritual
                                                                     mother.
  carried away, and her- subjection and unification with the                         More than once we find this presentation of the
  worldly power will be one of the factors in her apostasy.          church in- relation to her members. She exists for your
  But nevertheless, the church shall always stand, shall always      spirifual  care and. nourishment, that through her you might
remain ,as an institution and as a separate institution, shall       be strengthened with the bread of life, and that too, through
  always bring forth and nourish her spiritual children, till the    the preaching of the Word and the administration of the
  last one of God's elect shall have been gathered into the glory    sacraments. In the third place, walk as her faithful children
  of the kingdom.                                                    in the midst of the world. Keep the commandments -of God
                                                                     and hold the testimony of Jesus.           `And finally, be assured

      If we have understood the text correctly thus far, it is       that all the attempts of the devil shall surely fail. He shall
  not difficult to understand the last verse  of this passage,       fail in his attempts to destroy the church as such. She shall
  where we read that the dragon, being enraged with the              remain, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her.
  woman and yet realizing his impotency to destroy her as            And if you must exper'ience  the wrath of the great red dragon
                                                                     Bs her individual children, never you fear: Christ has over-
  `such, goes to make war with the rest of her seed, that keep
                                                                     come the  world !
  the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus                                                                            H . H .

  Christ. At first sight we may think that this is a somewhat

  strange expression. Is the church after all not the sum-total'                      "Woe's me that I in Meseck am

  of all her seed ? And how then must we conceive of this idea                           A sojourner so long;

  that the devil, after he has failed to destroy the church~  as                       That I in tabernacles dwell

  such, can still turn to her children, to the rest of her seed ?                        To Kedar that belong.

  This is not difficult to understand, however. The woman
                                                                                       My soul with him that hateth peace
  represents the church as such, the church as a visible institu-                        Hath long a dweller been.
  tion in the world. And as such she is the mother of'the  true                        I am for peace: but when I speak,
  spiritual children of God. At first the devil makes  the at-                           For battie  they are keen.
  tempt to destroy the church as an inititution  by making her

  part of his own kingdom and by uniting her with the power                            My soul distracted mourns and pines

  of the world. But when this fails, he turns to the individual                          To reach that peaceful shore,

  believers, in order that he may persecute and destroy them                          Where all the `weary are at rest

  and bring them to apostasy. These individual members move                              And troubles vex no more."

  about in the world. In every sphire  of life they claim -that                                                        - A N O N Y M O U S

  they must live according to the principles of the Word of

  God, that they must keep His commandments, and that they

  must proclaim that Jesus Christ is King over all. And so                            VERSIFICATION OF PSALM 65

3 they attempt to realize these principles in the midst of the
                                                                                      Before thee, Lord, a people waits,
  world. They have been brought up in the commandments of
                                                                                      To praise thy name in Zion's gates;              _
  God by their mother, the church. And they havelearned  to
                                                                                      To thee shall vows be paid.
  embrace and keep the testimony of Jesus. And therefore, in
                                                                                      Thou hearer of the suppliant's prayer,
  every sphere of life, in the home and  in society and in the
                                                                                      All flesh shall unto thee repair
  state, wherever they go and whatever they do, they keep these
                                                                                0     To seek thy gracious aid.
  commandments and refuse to live from the principles of the

  world. They come into contact with the world, and therefore                         How great my trespasses appear!

  the devil can approach them. He can employ that world to                            But from all guilt thou wilt me clear,

  make  life hard for them, in order that by his persecution he                       All my transgressions hide.

  may bring them to destruction. It is not told us how the                            How blest thy chosen, who by grace

  devil attempts to accomplish this in this chapter. The follow-                      A@  brought within .thy dwelling-place

  ing chapter pictures' to u,s this tremendous attempt in detail,                     That they may there abide.

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


                                                                             Why Jacob hesitated to return to Bethel, we cannot tell
 11 A CLOUD OF WITNESSES 11 for certain. However, it seems to be implied in the com-
 1'                                                                      mand which Jacob gave to his household, to put away their

                                                                         strange gods. It comes somewhat as a surprise to find that

                      Returning to Bethel                                idolatry was practiced in the household of Jacob. Evidently

                                                                         Rachel still carried with her the images of her father, and
               And God mid unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth4
                                                                         perhaps some of the servants had still others. Jacob had not
               #and  dzvell  thetie:  and titake  the-ve an altar u&o    maintained enough control over his -household to have these
               God, that appeared unto ,thee when thoti  fleddest
                                                                         removed. Undoubtedly Jacob refused to serve these idols
               from  tlzb  face of Esazt  thy brother. GENESIS 35 :l
                                                                         himself and perhaps even warned the others against them..

        Shechem was a revelation to Jacob showing to him the             But at the same time he did not exert enough authority to

 actual spiritual state of his' family. At Penuel  God had               have them removed from the camp. And as long as they

 taught him the danger of relying upon his own sinful flesh,             were in the camp Jacob did not dare to return to pay his

 but he had still retained considerable' respect for the discre-         vow at Bethel, lest coming with idols in his possession he

 tion of his maturing children. To their insistence he had               should make it more of an occasion of mockery than of

 yielded and moved from Succoth  to Shechem. At Shechem                  worship.

 he had left his children free to mingle with the inhabitants
                                                                            When, however, Jacob saw at Shechem the results of
of the city, confident that their spiritual discretion would
                                                                         the evil way in which his family was going, and when he
keep them -from evil. But the worst had taken place, for
                                                                         received the direct command from God to pay his vows at
 Dinah was defiled by the prince of the city. Relying still,
                                                                         Bethel, there could remain no more doubt with Jacob as to
 however, upon the `spiritual strength -of his sons, he had left
                                                                         what ought to be done. With an unusual ring of authority
 it to them to deal with Shechem concerning this folly which
                                                                         in his voice, he commanded them to put away the strange
 had been wrought in Israel. Overwhelmed with bitter anger,
                                                                         gods, to clean themselves, and to .put on new garments. All
 they threw aside all restraint and destroyed the city com-
                                                                         of the charms and jewelry which had been carried with them
 pletely with all of its inhabitants through the means of deceit
                                                                         for many a year were given to Jacob and buried together
 and treachery. Suddenly Jacob began to realize the evil way
                                                                         under the oak which was by Shechem. It was a ceremonial
 into which his children were falling. By this deed of cold-
                                                                         cleansing of the household of Israel and a sign of renewed
 blooded revenge, they had put the name of Israel to shame
                                                                         consecration to the Lord.
 before all of the nations of the earth, and it troubled Jacob

 no end. He began to understand that not only his own carnal                The journey from Shechem to Bethel was for Jacob and

 nature but also his children had to be subjected to spiritual           his -family a difficult journey indeed. The massacre of the

 control. Slowly Jacob was being led by God in the way of                Shechemites by Jacob's children had made them, just as

 sanctification.                                                         Jacob had anticipated,    "to stink among the inhabitants of

                                                                         the land." The Canaanites felt that the men of Shechem had
       "It was at that point that the Lord appeared to Jacob and
                                                                         been their kinsmen and the fact that they were so deceitfully
 told him to arise and. go up to Bethel. It was a shame that
                                                                         slaughtered by the sons of Jacob made them angry. As Jacob
 that command had to be given. Many years `before while
                                                                         traveled toward Bethel he had to pass through the territories
 fleeing from the wrath of his brother Esau, he had spent the
                                                                         of many of these now hostile nations. Cold stares and looks
 first night of his .journey  there at Bethel. That night God
                                                                         of hatred could be seen by them on every side. Only one
 appeared to him in a vision, standing at the top ,of a stair-
                                                                         thing prevented them'from being pursued and slain in revenge
 way filled with ascending and descending angels. Beautiful
                                                                         by the Canaanites, "the terror of God was upon the cities that
 words of covenant promise were spoken to him and he was
                                                                         were round about them, and they did not pursue after the
 assured of a safe return to possess the land of Canaan. Arising
                                                                         sons of Jacob."    Although the Lord too found no pleasure in
 in the morning he had been filled with joy of thanksgiving
                                                                         their destruction of Shechem, still He would not allow his
 and had anointed the spot with oil. In solemn oath Jacob
                                                                         chosen people to be destroyed by their enemies in the land..
 had made a vow that morning. "If God will be with me,

 and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me                   The arrival back at Bethel must have caused a deep

 bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to            stirring of old memories for Jacob. Over thirty years had

 my father's house in peace ; then shall the Lord be my God :            passed since he had stopped at that spot on his journey to

 and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's           Padanaram. Then he had nothing more than the staff that

 house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give            was in his hand. Now he was the father of a large family

 the tenth unto thee."      It was over thirty years before that         and the lord over great amounts of wealth. The promises

 he had sworn that vow, and over-ten years since he had                  which God had given him in his dream there at Bethel had

 returned to the land of Canaan, but still he had not paid               come very literally and very fully to pass. Overwhelming

 that vow. It was a shame that God had to appear and corn-.              waves of thanksgiving must have filled the heart of Jacob as

 mand  Jacob to return to Bethel.                                        he gathered the altar stones so that. he might fulfill the vows




                                                                                     .


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARcER                                                    107



 promised by him to God so many years before. Only then,               Almost parenthetically in the account of Jacob's stay at

 when he had paid his vows.  upon the altar and gave due            Bethel is interjected a notation concerning the death of

 thanksgiving to the God who had blessed him, was he truly          Deborah, Rebekah's  nurse. At first it seems hardly worthy

 returned from Padanaram..  Actually he had been back in            of note, and yet, because it is recorded in Scripture, proves

 the land of Canaan for well over ten years. But Padanaram          worthy of special note. A mere servant, her position was far

 was more than just a locality or place where Jacob lived for       from imposing. Nonetheless, she had filled it faithfully and

 a while. From a spiritual point of view,' it was a banishment      well. Upon her knees' Jacob had been raised, and from her

 from the promised land of Canaan because of the presumptu-         lips he had received many words of instruction and comfort.

 ous sins of his youth. Even when he had returned-to dwell          Some time after the death of her mistress, she had been

 in the land of Canaan, this sense of banishment persisted,         taken into the household of Jacob. Thus she spent the clos-

 he felt distant and cut-off from the promised-inheritance          ing years of her life continuing to encourage the child who

 of his fathers. Only after he had expressed his vows of thanks-    had become her master. Only a servant, she proved herself

 giving to God, acknowledging Him as the source of all of           to be a` sister in the Lord. Her final death was a cause of

 his blessings, did Jacob receive a real feeling of belonging       sorrow for all for her resting place was called Allonbachuth,

 to the inheritance promised to his fathers.                        "the  oak of weeping."


    We might give expression to this same thought a little
                                                                       As Jacob was traveling from Bethel toward Ephrath, once
 differently by saying that at Penuel Jacob left behind the
                                                                    again God. answered the prayers of Rachel. For many years
 sin of self-reliance, while at Bethel he learned to give full
                                                                    she had been barren and through her lack learned to ap-
 acknowledgment for all of his blessings to God. At Penuel
                                                                    preciate the privilege of bringing forth covenant children. It
 Jacob repented from the sins. of his youth ; at Bethel he
                                                                    was on this journey that God answered her for a second
 entered full spiritual maturity by -giving  full and complete
                                                                    time and she brought forth a son. The birth, however, was
 thanksgiving to God. The two together mark the important
                                                                    very difficult, .and  in, it her own life began to expire. In
 changing. points in Jacob's full entry into the promise of the
                                                                    fact, so great was the pain as to convince her that neither
 covenant. There at Bethel he built an altar and offered a
                                                                    would the child be able to survive. The attempts of the mid-
 sacrifice of dedication unto God. Henceforth the tenth of
                                                                    wife to comfort her were of no avail, and with her dying
 his possessions was to be consecrated unto the Lord. This
                                                                    breath she named the child Benoni, "Son of my sorrow.!'
 time he called the place Elbethel -because he had experienced
                                                                       This anticipated an event which was to take place many
 the strength of the God who had appeared to him in this
                                                                    hundreds of years later at the very spot. At that time the
 same place before.
                                                                    last band of Israelites was gathered together in Rama  by

    After Jacob had offered this sacrifice to God, the Lord         the Chaldeans so as to be sent away into Babylon. Con-

 appeared again to him, this time not in a vision but directly,     cerning that event Jeremiah wrote (31:15),  "A voice wasi

 perhaps in the form of an angel. Once again He spoke to            heard in Ramah,  lamentation, and bitter weeping ; Rachel

 Jacob the covenant promise.      "Thy name-  is Jacob: thy         weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her

 name shall not be called any more ,Jacob,  but Israel shall        children, because they were not." To all appearances Israel

 be thy name: and he called his name Israel. And God said           was being taken into captivity from which they would never

 unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply, a           return. With bitter tears like those of Rachel, Israel would

 nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings        not be comforted because of the conviction that they would

 shall come out of, thy loins ; and the land which I gave           never return to life; life in the promised land.       i            I

 Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed            Rachel's child; however, did not die ; and Jacob, though

 after thee will' I give the land." In essence this was the         deeply grieving for the death of his dearest wife, refused to

 same promise that had been given to him thirty years before        look upon the child as a son of sorrow. With this child he

 in Bethel including both the multiplication of his seed and        had received twelve children from the Lord;  the number of

 the possession of the promised land. However, there is a           the covenant was made complete in his own family. .He

 new. element also included, kings were to come forth from          would not call the child Benoni, but he named him Benja-

 him. His seed was to be a seed of royalty. The reason for          min, meaning "son of my right hand." It was as though he

the introduction of this new element into the promise was           heard the words of the prophet in his ears, "Refrain thy

 the fact that he was no longer Jacob but Israel, no longer         voice from weeping and thine eyes from tears : for thy work

 the supplanter but a prince who had power with God and             shall be rewarded." Jeremiah 31 :16.                        B.W.
 with man, and had prevailed.


    Once again before leaving this sacred spot, Jacob erected a               God is the judge who ends the strife

 pillar of stone as a memorial unto that which had transpired.                   Where wit and reason fail.

Upon the newly erected pillar he poured forth wine as a                        Our guide through devious paths of life,

 thankoffering and oil of consecration. This was truly                           Our- shield when doubts assail.

 "Bethel," the place where God dwelt  with his people.                                                         -ANONYMOUS


 108                                          TH+E  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                                                                      you with all joy !and  peace in believing, that ye my abmnd
 II         F-R0.M  H O L Y   W R I T                              II irt hop@ in powey~  of the Holy Ghost".
                                                                          Let us take notice of the various elements in this beautiful

                                                                      prayer.
                Exposition of Roma&  14, 15,                              There is first of all the designation `Yhe  God of          Hope'-'
                                                                                                                             the 
                                                                                                                                 \
                                 X I .                                which should receive our attention.
                                                                          Since in the Greek the definite article is used with the
                         (Romans 15 :13)                              term hope (elpidos)  we believe that Paul is here referring

       What a grand theme Paul is developing here in these            to the definitely known and revealed hope of the Scriptures

two chapters in his epistle to the Romans. It is the theme            which he had just quoted, and to which Scripture passages

 of the unity of the elect Jews and Gentiles, as they are con-        we have given some special attention in. former, essays in this

stituted one new man in Christ. The enmity consisting in              rubric. The "hope"      is the great objective salvation and

commandments and ordinances is once and for all wiped                 blessedness which God has thought out, purposed and re-

away ! For the righteousness of God in Christ is such that            alized in Christ Jesus,. His Son! In and through Christ's

now it is for both Jew and Gentile. Christ has become the             death and resurrection this "hope" is realized. And this

minister of the circumcision for the establishing of the truth        great and glorious work .of God in Christ, as the God of

of God, in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for His          our salvation, shall finally be revealed in the day of .our Lord

mercy! Romans 15 :7, 8.                                               Jesus Christ.

       And this is the great plan and purpose of God.                     In this sense of the objective hope, the things hoped for,

       This is not simply the teaching of some isolated Scripture     the things which eye hath not seen, and ear hath not heard,

passage but it is~the  truth, the very marrow of all the Scrip-       and which have never entered into the heart of man, Scrip:

tures. Thus is the clear and indisputable teaching of Moses,          ture speaks repeatedly in various contexts. In Cal.  1:4, 5

the Psalms and all the Prophets. And, as we might notice in           we read : "We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord

many Scripture passages, all through the Old Testament the            Jesus Christ, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus,

hope of Israel, the very quintessence of her existence, is that       and of the love which ye have to all the saints for (because

the Gentiles may come to her light. Salvation is out of the           of) the hope which is l&d  UP for yo'tl in heaven, whereof ye

Jews ! John 4 22.                                                     heard before in the word of truth of the gospel." And, again,

       For in these Scriptures we do not merely have the word         we read in Ephesians 1 :lS : "the eyes of your understanding

of holy men, uttering their pious wishes and aspirations, but         being enlightened : that ye may know what is the hope of his

we have the Word of God, the Word which God Himself                   calling, and what the riches of the glory of lzis  inhetitance  in

utters through the prophets.       Do we not read in Hebrews          the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power

1 :l that very ponderous and beautiful utterance, which is            to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his

the end of all contradiction: "God, who at sundry times and           mighty power . . . which he wrought in Christ . . ." !

in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers through            It'is quite clear from these Scripture passages that the

the prophets . . .`I? It was God who spoke unto the fathers           "hope" is, indeed, the things which God has prepared for

of hope and joy and peace in Him who~was  to come_!  He               His people and for Himself in Christ Jesus. And this "in-

did this in divers manners and at sundry times, yet always            heritance in the saints,' of course, is that which the church

it was He who infallibly spoke to us His sure Word of                 now longs and hopes for. Is this not the very scene portrayed

prophecy unto which the church gave heed as unto a light              in Isaiah 11 :6 : "And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and

shining in a dark place-until the day dawned and the                  the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the

day-star arose in her heart !                                         young lion and the fatling together . . . ."? And, again, in

       Small wonder that Paul, after having quoted. all these        verse 9: "And they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy

infallible, clear and perspicuous Scriptures from Psalm 18 :49,      mountain . . ."? !

Deut. 32 :34,  Psalm 117 :l and Isaiah 11 :l and 10, speaks              The hope is, therefore, first of all the objective hope laid

of God as the "God of the hope" ! And, again, is it not              away for us in heaven. It is the inheritance, incorruptible,

wholly within our ."reasonable  worship" (Romans 12 :2)              undefilable and that which fadeth not away ! And it `is

that this God of the hope alone can fill us with "all joy and        ready to be revealed in the last day (I Peter 1:3, 4).

peace in believing, in order that we abound in the hope in               But "hope" is also something very subjective within us,

power of the Holy Spirit"? !                                         according to Holy Writ.      It is the new life of regeneration

       And does He not do this by means of the Scriptures?           bursting forth in glad and joyful and certain anticipation of

       And are these Scriptures not God-inspired, "God-              entering into the final rest. It is in this (`hope" that we are.

breathed," so that the Holy Spirit speaks to us in these             patient.

Scriptures, filling our hearts with patience and consolation?            That God is called "the God of the hope" in this passage

Remans  15-:4.  Well may and does Paul utter this prayer in          is very meaningful.     Three times Paul employs this `kind

our text here in Remans  15 :13  : `<Now the God of hope-fill        of `description of God in this chapter. In verse 5 he calls


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                109


  Him "The God of the patience" and -in verse 33 it is "The              this "joy and peace" is a spiritual-psychological requisite of
  God of the peace."    Here it is <`the God of hope"!* We refer         abounding in hope. It belongs, so to speak, to the very fabric
  those who wish  to study this construction a bit more to such          of hope. Ho'pe  is in its very nature joy and peace. And all
  passages as Romans 16:20,  II Cor. 13 :ll, Phil. 4:9, and I            are the fruit of the Holy Spirit.
  Thess. 5 :23.                                                              But what, then, is this joy and peace ?

      Surely that God is the God of pe,ace,  of patiertce,  of hope,         rrJ~yf'  is really a little bit of heaven, on earth. It is the
  indicates, first of all, that God is the foztntain  of all these       deep, genuine contentment and blessedness of the man who

  virtues.    This expression does not indicate primarily what           is created after the image of God, in, true knowledge, right-

  God does, but it refers first of all to what God is. God is            eousness and holiness. Joy is only possible when man attains

  His virtues, and all His virtues are one in Him. Hence, God            to the end unto which God has created him. There is no joy

  is wholly a .cod of love, of grace, of patience, of hope, of           in sin, guilt and unrighteousness. Christ often speaks of
  peace! That He is in each instance as the Infinite One.                this,. joy to His disciples. Says He in John 15 :11 : "These

  There is no end to his being the God of hope and of peace              things have I spoken unto you that wry  joy might be in you,

  and consolation. .Hence,  Paul turns his heart. and mind to-           and that your joy may  be made full"! Joy is, therefore, the

  ward the infinite God in this prayer.                                  joy which is peculiarly-Christ's, as He came to fulfil the law

     Of course, such an Infinite One, when He works peace,               for us and in us. And we have joy in Christ's saving us.

  joy and hope for and in His people, is the SZ~~?-YUTVL  Bo+zum!            Often "joy" is associated in Scripture with the final salva-
  There is no end to His glorious perfections. And that, too,            tion in Christ; as a fruit of His sorrow. Thus we read in

 is expressed here in this passage. And, we may add, it is for           John 16 :20  : "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall

 this reason that God is "the God of the hope" that He will              weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice . . . ye shall

 surely be ,able  and willing to perform this prayer. He takes           sorrow, but your SOVOW  shall  be turned into joy." And,

 great pleasure in granting His people hope in their hearts.            again, "A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because

 That is His glory!                                                     her hour is come, But when she is delivered of the child,

     Paul prays that &is God fill the saints with all "joy and          she remembereth no more the anguish for joy that a man is

 peace."                                                                born into th,e world!' (John 16:22).  And, finally, in the

     Of both of these `concepts we will presently have just a           sacerdotal prayer Jesus says, "But I come to thee: and these

 few remarks to make. However, we will first call attention             things I speak in the world, that they might have pwy joy

 to what the apostle writes in the latter part of this thirteenth       fulfilled in themselves" (John 17 :13).

 verse, "that ye may abound in hope in the power of the Holy                From these passages it is abundantly evident that this

 Ghost."                                                                "joy" is not earthly, but is basically heavenly in its origin

     There is certainly no hope in our hearts apart from the            and nature. ,It is from above. It is, in fact, the "joy" which

 almighty operation of the Holy GhoSt. The Spirit lie?e                 Christ Himself received and merited for Himself and for all

 spoken of is certainly the same Spirit that "rests" upon               His own. Do we not read in Hebrews 12 :2: "Looking unto

 Christ as the Head of the church. He is the third person               Jesus, the author and perfedter  of our faith, who for the joy

 of the Divine Trinity, co-equal with the Father and with               that wa.s  set before him, endured the cross and despised the

 the Son. His is the "power," the ability to make alive, and            shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of ihe throne
 to grant each member in the church from the fulness of                 of God."

 Christ, as He wills. He. is the Spirit of life. There is hope              This joy is possibly basically "eternal life"  !

 in our hearts only because of the love of God shed abroad                  When our fathers in the Heidelberg Catechisn?  explain

 in our hearts. Romans 5 :4.                                            what really constitutes eternal life they speak as follows:

    The question is : What does it mean to abound in hope?              "since I now feel in my heart the begin&g of etema.1  joy,
 The word abound in Greek really means to overflow. The                 after this life I shall inherit perfect salvation . . ." Question
 idea is that the hope in our hearts is such that it causes             55. And in Question 90, speaking of the putting on of the

 Us to rejoice in the perfect salvation, reaching out for `it in        new man.in  Christ, this is said to consist in "a sincere joy of

 earnest and great expectation. Hope then is the well-spring            heart in God through Christ."

 of all that we think and do. And, in relation to the particular            Such "joy"  certainly is a requisite of hope. For hope is .

 situation here in the church at, Rome, it would m&an  thai             really the joy, in the present, of the future blessedness of .

the believers will look for the final realization of the church,        heaven. Hope is the life of the Christian as it'rises to its own

both Jew and Greek, when with one mind and in one voice                 level, that is, the heavenly.

' they shall perfectly praise' and glorify God.                            But there is also more that is required in us. And also

    But shall this be a reality- this abundant and overflow-            this the Holy Spirit alone  can, and does give us.

ing hope in the hearts-then there is a spiritual-psycholog-                It is the gift of peace. Both joy and peace are gifts of

ical reality which must be the portion of the saints. And this          the Holy Spirit. Do we not read in Galatians 5 :22,  23:

spiritual-psychological reality is that God must then fill our          "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,

hearts with "joy and petice" ! We may, .<herefore,  say that                                (Continued on page 120)


1         1    0                         _ .TH'% STAtiDA:gRD   B E A R E R                          ,


                                                                       only way to know that which God-has  revealed of Himself
                    I N   M I - S   F E A R                            as the God of our salvation in Christ. For the blind the
Ii ,-'                                                           /I    recording may be the only way in which he can receive it.
                                                                       For the deaf -the reading of that Word of God is the only

                       Freedom of Speech                               way for him to be instructed by it. But who would dare to

                                                                       claim that the one derives more benefit than the other be-

                                 (3)                                   cause the mode of his reception is superior? The God Who
                                                                       spoke also moved men to write His Word. We never hear
     Freedom of speech has to do with words.                           Him speak audibly and personally today as He did to Adam

 So obvious is that fact,.that  it might seem utterly un-              in Paradise, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to the prophets

necessary even to mention it. Speech and words belong to               in the Old Dispensation.    But is that truth which we have

each other, for-when we speak, we speak words, That again              from these upon -the printed page of less value ? Does the

is so obvious that it seems superfluous. Yet the point r we            printed page lose some of the power and beauty of the truth ?

wish to make is indicated in that other form of expression             Then why did the glorified Christ give to the Apostle John

that is used, when men speak of freedom of the press rather            on the Island of Patmos letters to the.  seven churches ? Why

than freedom of speech. Freedom of speech as we know it in             did He not send a man over there to speak the same words?

our land is not simply the freedom or liberty to speak up                 But consider this, by the printed page and through the
and express one's convictions without fear of penalty or               freedom of the press as we know it in our land, man's speech
persecution. It means that he may also print that which he             is preserved for ages to come. Though a man be long dead
believes and set up words in permanent form for educational            he can yet move men to tears or to laughter by his words
purposes.                                                              penned down centuries before. By his words on the printed

     Speech is the expression of thought and desire. And it            page he can move you to suspense and shivers by his'horror

makes little difference whether that expression is sounded             and mystery tales. Though his earthly frame has long re-

out by"th.e-spoken  word or whether it is set down on paper            turned to' the dust, he can yet by his words which he left ^

by means of letters, whether it issent  forth into the air by          behind in that printed form hold you in rapt attention or

sounds or-shown by the printed letter. It is because of this           comfort you in your anxious moments. Though he is no

freedom of speech or of the press that we have our news-               longer in the land of the living he can make you enjoy the

papers, our magazines and books. In these the thoughts of              things of life by -his vivid and beautiful description of the

men are expressed, propagated and even preserved for un-               things of' creation. He can fill your soul with poetry and a

born generations.                                                      song even though his own soul has left this earth many cen-

                                                                       turies ago. .
     .And  let us not underestimate the power of this written

word nor underestimate both its value and its danger. Con-                Scripture speaks. that way. The author of the epistle to

sider once what joy floods the soul at the receipt and reading         the Hebrews says of Abel in Hebrews 11:4,  "By faith Abel

of a letter from a loved one. What an impact likewise a                offered .untp  God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by

letter containing sad news can have upon the soul of the               which he obtained witness that he is righteous, God testifying

reader. Whether the word is spoken or whether it is read               of his giftsi and by it he being dead yet speaketh." And

makes little difference. It is the idea behind the.words  spoken       again in the first verse of the next chapter he states that in

or written that counts. They produce the, one effect or the            all these "heroes of faith" of whom we learn on the printed

other. The policeman does not need to stand on the corner              page of Holy Writ we have a cloud of witnesses. They speak.

of the street and shout at you the..word,  Stop! It is sufficient      to us from the pages -of. the Scriptures, the Holy Writings.

to have it written irrletters upon the sign., And the summons          And this they do though their tongues have long ceased to

to appear in court that is handed to you, -and  consists of a          move and have instead returned to the dust from whence

series of letters printed upon a sheet .of.paper,  carries all the     they came.

power that the diplomatically tempered,. and mild-spoken                  So it is likewise- with those who have not the true free-
*words  of the officer `who filled it out and handed. it to you        dom of speech and are-under the power of the lie. They still
carry.         Or it might have been left under the windshield         speak to us and will speak to the coming generations. Their
wiper of your ,car  while you were busy~  elsewhere and violated-      wicked philosophies, their immoral thoughts and God-dis-
the parking ordinance.                                                 honoring opinions did not die with their bodies. Their evil

     Even more. We have the speech of God in printed form.             thoughts are still free to circulate amongst men of later

We have the Scriptures or the Writings. It is the Word of              generations. So significant and dangerous is this speech that

God. It .is His speech to His. Church. There is not more               is written and preserved after the soul of the speaker has

value in hearing it on a tape recording than in reading it             departed for another realm. At the moment of this writing

from the printed page. The one may be easier for us than               there is a nation-wide scare concerning contaminated cran-

the other. The one may be impossible and the other the                 berries which might induce cancer. People refuse to buy

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


 ani  cranberries. Suggestions are being given ai to substi-            Are you a parent who turns his child loose and  gives

 tutes for the Thanksgiving Day turkey dinner which tradi-           ,him  the freedom to read and believe what he pleases 7 Do

 tionally calls  for cranberry sauce. A thing like that men fear.    you believe that he is free to take into his soul the filth of

 Cancer is a dreaded physical disease. It means death. But           the world, if he likes? Let me assure you tliat this is not

 this spiritual cancer, this rottenness that circulates so freely    viralking  in His fear. And I can likewise assure you that

 in our land in magazine and book strikes little fear in the         your children will not be free to speak God's praise and to

 hearts of men. And the right and liberty of man to propagate        bless Him. Need we point out that the overwhelming major-

 and preserve for generations to come that which is written          ity of the books and magazines written today are written by

 to eat away at the soul of the believer and his children to         the unbeliever and express his wicked ideas of unbelief and

 destroy their  faith and bring about their spiritual death is       ridicule for and contempt of the things spiritual. Let us keep

 defended. After all that is the democratic way of life. Men         it away from our children as zealously as we strive to keep

 are known and lauded for taking the stand that though they          contaminated cranberries off their table. Be as serious about

 disagree with another they will fight for the other's right to      their spiritual wellbeing as you are about their physical well-

 maintain and propagate his contrary views. Now  that is             being. And remember that it is your calling' to keep them

 perfectly all right when there is nothing spiritual or ethical      free from the wicked speech of men. In that respect there

 involved: But I surely may not set my seal of approval upon         are `also many radio programs from which you must keep

 the right of the false teacher to propagate his evil views and      them, programs wherein the speech is corrupted by cursing

try to deceive me and my children and turn me away from              and swearing, blasphemy and ridicule of the things spiritual.

 Christ. I may not grant him that right. The Apostle John            We may not invite this wickedness into our homes, and surely

 says, "If there come any unto you,. and bring not this doc-         we may not promote its entrance into the hearts and minds

 trine,. receive him not into your house, neither bid him god-       of our children. It may be an educational program, one that

 speed; For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of             imparts scientific knowledge and widens the vision of your

 his evil deeds," II John 11, 12. No, we do not mean to say          child in regard to this great earth wherein our covenant God

 -that it is the duty of the civil authorities to exercise Chris-    has placed us. But'if it is not free from this evil speech, it

 tian discipline. It has its own sphere and the Church has its       may not have access into y&r home.

 sphere- of action, and each  one must exercise discipline in its       You may call that a very narrow minded and old fash-

 own sphere. Before God the false teacher has no right to            ioned idea. So freely do men. speak their hatred of the things

..try to influence and persuade others by his lie. Before me,        spiritual and holy that they have the freedom to call the

 therefore, he may not have that right either, and I may not         things of His fear by such names. But let me remind xou

 grant it to him. That it is not in the domain of the State to       or inform you of that which old fashioned. and narrow

 punish him for this evil work does not imply that he has            minded but saintly men of God wrote in a time when the

 the. right. The king may walk in all manner of evil and be          Church took a definite stand about such matters. In the

 immune `from the discipline of his subordinates, but that           Heidelberg Catechism the treatment of this matter of curs-

 .does not mean that he actually has the right to walk  in           ing and swearing has this question and answer, "What is re-

 wickedness and that men must grant him that right.                  quired in the third cqmmandment?  That we, not only by

     And for you and me it surely means  that we do every-           cursing or perjury, but also by rash swearing, must not

 thing in our power to keep from our children these theories         profane or abuse the name of God ; nor by silence or con-

 and heresies except to show them the error therein. We              nipance be partakers of these horrible sins in others . . ."

 may not let them read, study. and digest what is written            And again, "Is then the profaning of God's name by swear-

 without warning them dgainst  the errors that militate against      ing and cursing, so heinous a sin, that His wrath is kindled

 the truth which we desire to have them believe. Nor can we          against those that 40  not endeavour, as much as in them lies,

 expect the words of their mouths and the meditations of             to prevent and forbid, such cursing and swearing? It un- '

 their hearts to be acceptable to God when they are allowed to       doubtedly is, for there is `no sin greater or more provoking

 read all the evil thoughts of depraved men without care-            to God, than the profaning of His name: and therefore He

 fully and faithfully exposing to them the errors and godless-       has commanded this sin to be punished with death." That

 ness in these writings. We may not let them be free to              is language that manifests the fear of tile  Lord. Neither by

 absorb any speech they please and to believe anything that          silence or connivance are we to be partakers of these terrible

 -co&es 6ff  the printing press. That is a freedom of speech         sins. We are to prevent and forbid as much as in us lies the

 which we as parents and as office bearers `in the Church of         practice of these- evils. Does that not mean that we forbid

 God may not allow. Our government may give the wicked               our children to read and listen to it whenever we can keep

 the freedom to publish and distribute these evil thoughts and       it from them ? This thing which men call freedom of speech

 may even classify them as beautiful thoughts, but as Chris-         and is lauded as one of the benefits of Christianity is so. often

 `tians it is our calling to point out to our children that they     the principal tool of the Antichrist. Watch out for it, and

 are not free to believe all the words that they may read or         keep your children` free from his spoken and-printed ,speech.

 h e a r . .                                                                                                              J . A . H .

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


                                                                           later .within  the Lutheran ranks, and to be the subject of

11 Contending For The Faith 11 reproach on the part of the Calvinists. When not forced by
                                                                           such attgcks  to defend the practise, the Lutheran theologians

                                                                           freely admittkd  that it was a non-essential, and at the Cassel

            The Church and ihe Sacraments                                  Conference of 1661 expressed their willingness to change it

                                                                           to a prayer for deliverance from the power of Satan. In the

  V                                                                        rationalistic period at the end of the eighteenth century, it
       IEWS DURING THE  THIRD PERIOD (750-1517  A.D.)

                                                                           finally disappeared from one service-book after another, and

                 T H E   S E V E N   S A C R A M E N T S                   now, since its general abandonment by the Lutherans, the

                                                                           ceremony has no place in the rites of any Protestant Church."
                         H O L Y   O R D E R S                             - end of quote.

                                                                              Concerning the Romish order- of Lector, we read in The
       We now continue with our quotation from The New                     New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge,
Schaff  -Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge oti the                Vol. 6, page 437, as follows : "In the early Church, an ec-
Romish Order of Exorcist.                                                  clesiastic in minor orders appointed to read to the congrega-

       "The first certain evidence of the employment of exorcism,          tion froni the Scriptures and other religious writings was a

in the case of catechumens is offered by Cyprian in 256 ; it               lector. From the very first the oral reading of the sacred

is found here in use both in the Catholic Church and among                 Scriptures occupied a large place in religious services, and

heretics, so that it is evidently no new thing. Another men-               for a long time it was the sole, or at least the principal means

tion of it, possibly somewhat older, is found in the Canon@                of imparting Scriptural knowledge to the congregation. Since

HippoZyti.  It is doubtful whether Tertullian knew of the                  during the first two centuries Christianity diffused itself

practise, or whether the Clementine Homilies (III. 73) in-                 especially among the poorer  classes, and the congregations

tend to refer to it in the description of the daily laying on              were frequently small, it was not always easy to find a com-

of hands during the preparation for baptism.                A t   t h e    petent reader of the sacred books, written as they were with-

Cartheginian council of 256  in which it is first clearly men-             out spacing between the words. The position of the lector

tioned, certain bishops requested that it, tpgether with bap-              in the congregation was consequently an important one. In

tism, should be employed at the reception of heretics-into                 addition to reading, he often expounded passages of Scrip-

the Church ; the reason given, that "heretics are worse than               ture, especially as the sermon was riot yet an official duty.

pagans, " shows how definitely exorcism was still connected                Alphaeus, lector and exorcist at Caesarea (died 303), was

with the thought of paganism.         In the same context it is in-        "preacher a&d teacher of the Word of God" at that place,

teresting that an early Greek form for the reception of a                  "and had great fortitude before every one." During the early

convert from Judaism contains a renunciation, but no exor-                 centuries the lector appears to have been reckoned with the

cism. When exorcism was thus once brought into connection                  spiritual leaders of the congregations, with the prophets,

with baptism,  it was applied to the baptism of infants in the             evangelists, and teachers who were accustomed to conduct

same unreflecting way as were the other ceremonies origin-                 divine worship. Certain expressions in liturgies of the later

ally belonging to adult baptism. As in the service for infant              time reflect the ancient estimate of the lector's office ; thus the

baptism the various liturgical acts of the catechumen's prep-              Stattdta  eccleme ant&pa  observe of the prospective lector, "he

aration were combined into a continuous function, the various              is to have a part with those who minister the word of God,"

exorcisms which found a place in that were here also in-                   consequently the lector occasionally took precedence of the

cluded. At the outset came the exmflatio,  a thrice-repeated               deacon and subdeacon.       The development of polity in the

breathing in the face of the child, with the words "Depart                 Church catholic from the second century downward was un-

from him, thou unclean spirit, and give place to the Holy                  favorable to the dignity of the lector's office. The bishop or

Spirit, the Paraclete" ; after the giving of: salt, there was a            the presbyter was accustomed to appropriate the sermon, and

long exorcism, three times repeated, each time with a differ-              sometimes the preacher included the Scriptural reading as a

ent command to the devil to depart from the child. This re-                part of hts functions, with the result that the lector became

mained substBntially  the same until the end of the Middle                 Superfluous. In the ceremonially ordered public worship from

Ages. The Ribale  Romanum  of 1614 condensed it con-                       the fourth century onward, the reading of the Gospel was

siderably,`retaining  only the  exwfbatio at the beginning with            regularly reserved to the deacons or presbyters, and the lector

the last of the three exorcisms and its introduction.                      came to be reckoned with the c&ici  m&ores,  being of the

       Luther saw no objection tp the exorcism in the baptismal            next to the lowest ranks  in the order of ecclesiastical promo-

office, which he retained in his own of 1523, abbreviating it,             tion. In many church districts, children and even catechumens

indeed, but not on any theological ground. In that of 1526                 were adxnitted  to the lector's ranks, an impropriety which
it was further abbreviated, and the exsufflatio  omitted; but              Justinian sought to correct. The ritual for the installation of
relics of the Roman function passed from this into the major-              the lector was furnished by the liturgies. It usually consisted

ity of the Lutheran service-books, to excite bitter controversy            in the d&very of the  codex  of the sacred Scriptures. In the


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R ' E R                                                113


  Roman Catholic Church. the lector's ordo still exists, but in         ment to an ofice.     His apostles were appointed by Him
                                                    .
  a merely formal sense. -                                              merely by means of a word, without any ceremony, Matt.

      And, finally, another of Rome's minor orders is the Door-         10 :l f.f., 28 :19.  At the appointment of Matthias (we under-

  keeper. Concerning this holy order the New Schaff-Herzog              stand, of course, that the question whether Matthias was

  Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge has the following, and            actually appointed to the office of the apostleship is a matter

  this article appears in Vol. VIII, page 283 in connection with        of doubt, H.V.), Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Luke, etc., mention is

  a man named Ostiarius, and we quote : "Ostiarius was pri-             never made of a laying on of hands ; it was surely no common

  marily a porter and later one, of the minor orders of the clergy.     practice in connection with the introduction into an ec-

  Originally the porter was a slave (cf. Mark 13 :34  ; John            clesiastical office. But the laying on of hands did take place

  10 :3 ; 18 :17;  Acts 12 :13)  ; but when the Christians came to      by healing, Acts 9 :l 2, 17, by the imparting or communica-

  possess their own churches, they were compelled to have               tion of the gift of the Spirit, Acts 8:17-19,  by the appoint-

  porters, who, after the second half of the third century, were        ment of deacons, I Tim. 4 :14,  II Tim. 1:6; according to I

  reckoned among the minor clergy. From Rome the employ-                Tim: 3 122  it had become general in connection with the ordi-

  ment of porters spread,, so that most Western and some                nation to an ecclesiastical office and according to Heb. 6 :2
  Eastern communities possessed them in the fourth century.             it belonged with the first principles of the doctrine of Christ.

  Since the office was entrusted only to persons of settled age,        But it was not an actual bestowal of the spiritual gifts of an

  and since frequent changes were undesirable, the ostiarius was        office. .For  we read in Acts 6:3 that the deacons, who had

  debarred from ecclesiastical advancements. An ordination              been chosen, had to be full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom

  rite, with the giving of the keys of the church as its central        before the laying on of hands. In Acts 13 13 the laying on

  feature, is given in the Statatta  ecchiae  antiqzm,  and, more       of hands does not occur with the ordination, but with the
  fully, in the Sacramentary of Gregory. In the East the order          sending out of Barnabas &nd  of Paul, who already were in
  declined earlier than in the West, though ostiarii are men-           office. `According to I Tim. 1 :iS, 4:14  the appointment of
  tioned as late -as the Trullan Council of- 692. Also in the           Timothy to be an evangelist was confirmed by prophetical
  Roman Church sacristans are no longer clergy, though the              testimonies. (getuigenissen) and by the laying on of hands.
  ostiarius ordination is still conferred, as a matter of form, at      It is true that in `II Tim. 1:6 the gift of God was in him by
  the beginning of the clerical career."                                the putting on of hands, but I Tim. 4 :14 teaches that it was
     In criticizing this conception of the Romish sacrament of          given by prophecy, with the laying on of hands of the pres-

  the Holy Orders, we wish to call attention; in the first place,       bytery; which proves that prophecy and the laying on of
  to the fact that the Romish. Church accuses all those who             hands were not the source of the gifts, but the means where-
  deny this teaching of being guilty of creating a human fig-           by they were brought over in the service of the congregation
  ment as the product of the imagination of men who are                 and were appointed unto that end."

  unskilled in eccelesiastical  matters. This is stated repeatedly         We herewith conclude this `quotation from the Dogmatics

 in the chapters and canons which we quoted in our preceding            of Dr. Bavinck as far as this article is concerned. Time and

  article as decreed by the Romish Council of, Trent. We ask            space forbid us to continue with it. The Lord willing, we

  in all seriousness : where is the proof from the Word of God          will resume this quotation in our following article. It is

that subdeacons, apolyths,  exorcists, lectors  and doorkeepers         certainly true what we read in the Systematic Theology `of

  are offices in the Church. of God and that these men must             C. `Hodge : "The Apostles, however, had only the power of

  be ordained by the laying on of hands ? _ These are indeed            communicating miraculous gifts. They neither claimed nor

  human figments that have been devised by men. All this                pretended to exercise the power of conferring the sanctifying

  merely indicates and `establishes how everything in the               or saving influences of the Spirit. As the Church of Rome

  Romish Church is inseparably connected with the hierarchy.            claims for its clergy a power far above that of angels or

  The priesthood and the dependence of the people upon this             archangels, so it claims for its bishops powers far transcend-

  priesthood is indeed the cardinal principle of the Roman              ing those of the Apostles.                                  H . V .
  Catholic Church.                                                                                                    -

     We conclude our appraisal of this Romish sacrament with

  a quotation from the Dogmatics of Dr.' H. Bavinck, Vol.  IV,

  pages 365-367, and we quote (we translate) : "With the
                                                                           "Let it be considered, then, as an undeniable truth, that
  calling and the examination comes finally yet the ordination
  which occurred especially by the laying on of hands. This             they who have been inwardly taught by the Spirit, feel an

  practice was in vogue in Israel with the blessing, Gen. 48 :14,       entire acquiescence in the Scripture, carrying with it its own

  Lev. 9 :22,  the offering, Ex. 29 :lO, Lev. 1 :4 . . ., at the ap-    evidence, and ought not to be made the subject of. demon-

  pointment to an office, Numbers 27.:18-23,  later also at the         stration and arguments from reason, but it obtains the credit
  installation of `judges and the promotion of teachers (lee-           which it deserves by us by the testimony of the Spirit."
  raars). Jesus laid the hands upon people, to heal, Matt. 8 :15,

  etc., but we read nowhere that He did this at the appoint-                                 Calvin's Imtitattes, Book I, Chapter VII


ii4                                                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                                                                               whether it is possible and whether it is necessary to explain
II                    The Voice of Our Fathers                            II this relationship.
                                                                                   Ifwe turn~to  Scripture with our inquiry as to whether the

                                                                               fathers' presentation is correct or not, it is not difficult to

                                The Canons of Dordrecht                        find examples of the very picture which the fathers .draw.
                                                                               Let us take two examples, one from the Old and the other

                                        PART Two                               from the New Testament, - examples which the Cunons

                                                                               themselves cite in Article 4. The first is that of David, an
                                 EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS                      Old Testament saint. The expression of his experience you

                                                                               find in Psalm 51. The occasion of this psalm is that of his
                                 FIFTH HEAD OF DOCTRINE                        sin with Bathsheba, after which Nathan the prophet was sent

                      OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS                        to him to reprove him for his sin. If you read the Psalm,

                                                                               you will discover, first-of all, that this example fits the situa-
                                   Article 13 (continued)                      tion of Article 13. David was a saint. He was a saint who

                                                                               had fallen deeply into sin and who had compounded his sin
      . We now face the question, however: does the fact that                  of adultery with the sin of murder. And he was a saint who
even the backslidings of the Christian are not to be divorced                  temporarily was unrepentant; he persisted in his sin `and
from God's preserving grace but are rather subservient to                      refused to confess it until virtually forced to do so through
the purpose and work of the preservation of the elect mean                     the message from Nathan.         Then he became a saint (in
that these backslidings and deep falls are as such and in                      the language of the Canons)  who was certainly and effectu-
themselves a reason for spiritual joy and pleasure on the                      ally renewed to repentance, to a sincere and.  godly sorrow
part of the child of God ? Is it so that the Christian ex-                     for his sins, who sought and obtained remission in the
claims, looking back upon such backslidings: "Blessed fall                     blood of the Mediator, in order that he might again ex- -
into sin !, How glad I am that I fell into such a depth of                     perience the favor of a reconciled God;through  faith adore
iniquity" ?                Does it mean that the. child of God deliberately    his-  mercies, and henceforward more diligently work out his
aims to sin, more and to fall again, in order that grace may                   own salvation with fear and trembling. Cf. Article 7. He
abound so that he may experience more of those "good                           was a saint, therefore, who was restored from backsliding.
results" wrought by God's preserving grace through the                         All this you can plainly discern in the language of Psalm 51.
means of his fall and backsliding ?                                            Now what was David's reaction to this experience ?- Did it

           If the answer to the above questions is in the affirmative,         make him careless and licentious ? Was it injurious to David's

then the Arminian is entirely correct in his evaluation of                     piety ? If you approached David and asked him whether he

the Reformed doctrine of perseverance. Then it is indeed an                    would like to go through that whole experience again, would

immoral doctrine. It will surely produce licentiousness in                     he answer enthusiastically in the affirmative ? The very op-

those who -are recovering from backsliding ; and it will be                    posite is true, as is plain from what the psalmist himself says

harmful to true Christian piety. And such a doctrine would                     in this fifty-first psalm.    Listen ! The poet is much more

be unworthy of God, the Holy One. In that case we must                         careful diligently to keep the ways of ~ the Lord, for he

revamp our whole doctrine of perseverance along Arminian                       says : "Create in me a clean heart, 0 God ; and renew a

l     i     n    e    s    .                                                   right spirit within me . . . . Then will I teach transgressors

                                                                               thy ways ; and sinners shall be converted unto thee . . . .
           But the fathers maintain that this is not true. We said
                                                                               My tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. 0 Lord,
last time that this thirteenth article reveals that they had a
                                                                               open thou my lips ; and my mouth shall shew forth thy
clear discernment of the experience of God's child in this
                                                                               praise."    Such is not the language of one who is licentious
process of fall and restoration. We referred, of course, to
                                                                               and who shows a disregard for piety. The poet is afraid of
their claim that the renewed confidence of persevering renders
                                                                               ever passing again through the dreadful experience of having
the restored saint much more careful and solicitous to con-
                                                                               God's gracious countenance turned away from him, or, to use
tinue in the ways of the Lord, and to their claim that it
                                                                               the language of the psalm, of experiencing that ,God  had
renders the restored saint much more fearful of abusing
                                                                               broken his bones and that he could not hear joy and gladness.
God's fatherly kindness and of experiencing the withdrawing
                                                                               For he prays': "Make me to hear joy and gladness ; .that  the
of God's gracious countenance from him.
                                                                               bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face
           Which is correct, the Arminian or the Reformed claim?               from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities . . . Cast -me

           The fathers in this connection state reality, but they do           not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit

not attempt to explain the relation between the truth which                    from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and up-

we expounded last time and the truth concerning the Chris-                     hold me with thy free spirit." Such is Christian experience.

tian's actual experience when he is restored from backsliding.                 Such is the experience of any fallen and restored saint.

And .we may follow their example first, and later inquire                         Our second example is Peter, the Lord's own disciple and


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  115


apostle. H'e  fell so deeply that he denied his Lord thrice,       deliberately seek to pass through them, especially not if he

though severely and plainly warned against that very sin.          has once experienced them. The basic reason, however, lies

He too fits the situation described in Article 13. He was a        in the unchangeable norm of God's holiness according to

saint who fell and who recovered from backsliding, and that        which His grace ever operates. Thus the prophet indicates

too, through the preserving grace of God in Christ. For            in the second verse of Isaiah 59: "But your iniquities have

remember that the Lord Jesus says: "But I have prayed              separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid

for thee, that thy faith fail not." And `what was Peter's          his face from you, that he will not hear." Because the

reaction when through preserving grace he was restored ?           Lord cannot countenance sin, because His `eyes are too pure.

In the first place, it is obvious that the Lord's disciple did     to behold iniquity, therefore the blessings of His grace can

not assume an attitude of conceited carelessness and licen-        be experienced always and only in the sphere of perfect

tiousness;  only think how in humility he was scarcely ready       righteousness and pure holiness.

to say that he loved the Lord at the Sea of Tiberias. In              But then just because His grace is not dependent on us,

the second place, if you would ask the apostle later on            but functions in the sphere of the perfect righteousness and

whether or not that whole experience was good for him from         holiness of our Lord Jesus Christ, our sins and iniquities

the point of view of the fact that it had cured him perma-         cannot interrupt the current of His grace. In His very

nently of his boastful self-confidence and converted his for-      gracious purpose, yea, while His grace continues to operate,

ward and assertive nature into one that was ready to preach        God causes the saints. to en-perience  all the dreadful torments

the gospel with all boldness, he would undoubtedly have an-        of the withdrawal of His countenance as long as they con-

swered in the affirmative. But, in the third place, if             tinue in sin.     But He uses that very experience in all its
                                                           you
would also ask him whether he would gladly' pass through           dreadful and soul-rending bitterness as a-means to bring His

that whole experience again, he would undoubtedly have             erring child back, first of all. And in the second place, that

said: "What? Deny my Lord? Experience again that pen-              grace, which has never basically and internally forsaken the

etrating.`look  of my Savior? Feel that I had no right to; be      saint, ultimately goes into action to renew the backsliding

called a disciple and an apostle? Endure the excruciating          saint unto repentance and sorrow. And thus, coming to

pain of that question, thrice asked, `Lovest  thou me? I           repentance and sorrow over sin through free grace only, the

would indeed go into prison and into death for the sake of         child of God has the renewed confidence of persevering,

my Lord ; but never let me experience that agony of denial         enjoys the light of God's countenance, and through the same

again !"                                                           grace strives to maintain that assurance with renewed zeal

   For we must remember that God's sovereign and preserv-          and watchfulness.

ing grace, the grace that preserves the saints even in and            You feel that problems remain concerning the relation-

through their deepest falls, always operates in an unchange-       ship of these truths ? True, we cannot fully understand the

ably holy way, even as it has a holy purpose. And this can         dealings of our God in this respect, no more' than we can

only mean that the saint must feel the reaction of God's un-       fully understand the relation between God's sovereign counsel

impeachable holiness whenever he sins. No, that grace never        and providence and the fact of the fall and of sin. But this

lets the child of God completely alone. But when he walks          is not necessary. Suppose the two truths stood side by side

in sin, God, according to His gracious purpose and in His          in the Scriptures, and that it was entirely impossible to say

gracious dealings, makes the backsliding saint feel as though      anything about the relationship between them: would that

that grace has let him go. When he walks in sin, God hides         impossibility on our part destroy either of these truths? Not

His gracious countenance from that backsliding saint. When         at all. But now we can do more: we can at least glimpse a

he persists in sin, God turns a deaf ear to the petitions of       little of the beauty of God's matchless grace in the wonder

that unrepentant child, and makes him feel it. In other words,     of a preservation that keeps us so securely that even our

as far as the conscioztsness  of the child of God is concerned,    deepest falls must tend to our salvation. And then, rather

his salvation and the joy of his salvation is gone. And our        than .join the Arminian calumniators of the truth, we can

Canons mention the dreadfulness of such times for God's            only fall on our knees in thankful adoration, and exclaim:

children. To experience that God's gracious countenance is         "My God, how great Thou art!"

toward us, so that we behold it, is dearer than life for the                                                               H.C.H.

godly. For the same godly man to experience that God has

withdrawn His gracious countenance, so that he cannot see

Father's face, so that he cannot reach Father's ear with his

petitions, is more bitter than death, and results in grievous                 The. night is the mother of the day,

torments of soul. From our point of view, the point of                              And winter of the -spring ;

view of our conscious spiritual experience, we feel, in the                   And ever upon old decay, .
words of Isaiah 59 :l, that the Lord's hand is too short to
                                                                                    The greenest mosses spring.
save, that His ear is heavy, so that it cannot hear. But those

times are so dreadful that no child of God would ever                                                              - ANONYMOUS

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


                                                                   need the advice or help of the brethren, regarding the govern-

           DECENCY and ORDER                                 1     ment. of their church ; and other like matters."

                                                                       The obvious intent of all this was that the churches might

                                                                   conduct a mutual supervision over each other. The questions

                   Questions on Article 41                         were designed to ascertain whether all things in the churches
                                                                   were done in decency and in good order. In order to deter-

    The president of the Classis  is called upon to put the        mine this the president, asking the questions, could not be

following questions before the delegates. This is usually done     bound to a stereotyped list but had to be given a certain

at the conclusion of the meeting and to these questions each       measure of latitude so that he might also ask about other

consistory must answer through its delegates. The questions        matters as. he saw fit. Today this practice has become ob-

asked are: ,. ,                                                    solete and the supervision is limited to the four prescribed

                                                                   questions.
    "1. Are the consistory meetings held in your church?                         Now, perhaps this can be explained somewhat
                                                                   from the fact that a more careful supervision is made by the
    "2. Is church discipline exercised ?                           Classis  through its Church Visitors but even then, this can

    "3. Are the poor and Christian schools cared for?              hardly be used as an argument against restoring a bit of

                                                                   flexibility to this function of the classis through giving the
    "4. Do you need the judgment and help of the classis
for the proper government of your church?'                         president of that body broader powers whereby the scope
                                                                   of this investigation might be enlarged. Although there is
    In the proposed revision of the Church Order these ques-       certainly a danger that such power might be abused with the
tions appear in Article 37. (This- is the proposed revision of     result that a classical hierarchy is established, we, neverthe-
the Christian Reformed Church.)             Several changes are
                                                                   less, feel that there is as much danger in "too little super-
suggested. Instead of asking whether the consistory meetings       vision"    as there is in "too much supervision." Both are
are held, the question is asked,. "How often does. your con-       detrimental to the church and the welfare of the church is
sistory meet ?'     Instead of the general question concerning
                                                                   best served when a proper balance is attained. Further,. be-
the care of the poor and Christian schools, it is specifically     cause circumstances and conditions not only vary in different
stated, rrH~w  does your consistory promote the cause of           congregations but in themselves are always subject to
Christian day schools in your locality ?" and nothing is asked     change, we feel that this power cannot be kept in proper
concerning the care of the poor. Then there are two addi-          balance by restricting it to stereotyped questions and answers.
tional questions which are not found in the old redaction of       (This would ,also apply to the questions asked in Church
this article. One of these is evidently intended to take the       Visitation, see Article 44, D.K.O.)  Today the tendency is
place of the omission concerning the care of the poor. These       too strong toward rigid adherence to the latter and this is not
two questions are:
                                                                   good for the church. In a matter such as this the aim of the

   "How does the office of deacons function in your church ?,'     Church Order would be more readily attained if the spirit of

   "Do all the members of your church receive a home visita-       this article were given proper stress. There would then be

tion .call  at least annually by the minister and the elders ?"    much less danger that this custom of mutual supervision

                                                                   degrades into a mere formality appended to the Classis.
   Another noteworthy change enacted in this article is
                                                                   `There are evidences that this latter has already become
found in connection with that part that prescribes the duty
                                                                   reality to a certain extent and this is very detrimental to
of the president of the Classis  to put these questions to the
                                                                   the true welfare of the church.
delegates. The article merely states that "the president shall,

among-other things, put the following questions to the dele-           A few remarks must be made yet concerning each of

gates of each church."     The revision, however, states : "At     the questions asked in this article. The first has to do with

the .beginning  of each classical meeting the president shall      the "Consistory Meetings."    This is strictly a matter of good

interview the delegates of each church as to its. spiritual'       order and is of fundamental importance. The Classis  does

condition and its faithfulness in doing the work of the .Lord.     not interfere here with the work or function of the Con-

Among other things the following questions must be asked."         sistory nor does she inquire into the internal affairs of the

This then is followed -by the questions.                           church over which the Consistory has sole jurisdiction. She

                                                                   does not ask what is done at the consistory meetings or how
   This revision is more in harmony with the original idea
                                                                   those meetings are conducted. Over these matters the Classis
of the article for already in 1578 the Synod of Dort decided
                                                                   has no supervision. She may only inquire into one matter
that "The president having offered prayer, -shall ask each
                                                                   in this connection. That is : "Are  the consistory meetings
delegation in particular, whether the ordinary discipline is
                                                                   held ?"
being maintained in their congregations ; whether they are

being attacked by heresies ; whether they doubt the correct-          This question, however, ought to be changed somewhat.

ness of any part of the accepted doctrine; whether they are        A minimum change, would be that the word "regularly" be

giving good heed to the poor and the schools ; whether they        inserted after the word "held." Otherwise, for example, in


                                            T H - E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              117



 a Classis  where the meetings of Classis  are held twice a year     the more vigilant to be assured that every possible measure

 or once in six months, this question could be asked and a           is taken to safeguard the church against these evils and to

 consistory that has met only once or twice in the interval          preserve her in the truth and in righteousness ? It is easy

 between Classis  could answer it affirmatively. This would          to follow a formality by asking a. general question but it is

 not be right. Although the answer is undoubtedly correct,           something else to really investigate the matter of exercising

 the very purpose of the question is defeated. The supervision       discipline. Yet, -even where it may cause pain, the latter

 intended is not accomplished. The question really means,            must be done either by the consistory itself or through the

 "Are the consistory meetings held regularly, i.e., at regular       processes of this mutual supervision. Finally, it is certainly

 intervals ?'    Does the consistory meet in compliance with         better to unveil any lack or wrong doing in this respect when

Article 37 of the Church Order? This is generally under-             it can still be amended than after it has done irreparable

 stood to mean that in every church the consistory shall             damage to the church.

meet at least once a month. That, it seems, would be the                .The third question that is asked concerns the proper care

minimum requirement. More frequent meetings may, and in              of the poor and the Christian schools. These two may be

many instances should, be held. This is fundamental to gopd          considered separately since they are not really one and the

order for the affairs of the church are regulated and executed       same. A church may, for example, provide for its poor but

through the offices which Christ has instituted in the church        neglect Christian education or in another case the reverse

and then when the oflice bearers do not conduct regular meet-        may be true. First of all then, the question is whether each

ings, there is something fundamentally wrong in that ,church.        consistory sees to it that its poor are taken care of. This is

This the Classis  has the right to know. Thus it would be           very necessary because this work is a reflection of t&e  mercy

better to ask whether the meetings of the consistory are held       and love of Christ. It is a question then as to whether or

regularly or, as the proposed revision suggests, "How often         not the High Priestly office of Christ is truly reflected in the

are they held ?" Then the president might ask further whether       church. Moreover, the church has received a direct com-

the frequency of the meetings in a given church is adequate         mission from Christ to look after the poor whom He said,

to meet the needs of that church. If the answer to any of           "Ye have always with you.!"      It is a question whether this

these questions is negative, the guilty consistory must be          command of Christ is being observed. The matter touches

admonished by the Classis  and, if necessary, further in-           upon the other question that is inserted in the proposed

vestigation be made of the matter.                                  revision, namely, "How  does the office of deacons function

    The next question concerns the administration of Chris-         in your church ?"

tian discipline by the consistory. This, too, is a very im-             Concerning this we have written at length in connection

portant matter because where discipline is neglected the            with Articles 25 and 26 of the Church Order. We need not

inevitable ruin of the church follows. Inasfar as is possible,      repeat that here. We must remark, however, that caring

the church must be kept pure. She is the body of Christ in          for the poor consists of more than setting up and taking

whom God dwells through the Holy Spirit. That body must             offerings for a Charity or Benevolent Fund. If there are no

be properly maintained.     Of this discipline we shall have        poor in a congregation, the diaconate can and should render

occasion to write, D.V., in connection with later articles of       assistance as the need may be in other churches or in in-

our Church Order and so we need not discuss that here.              stitutions of mercy where the sick and. afflicted are cared for.

It may be noted, however, that the matter of discipline in          A church that shows a sizable income in its benevolent fund

connection with this question may and undoubtedly should            and very little or no expenditures is lacking in a most im-

be taken in the broad sense of the word. The question then          portant work. The alms of God's people must not only be

does not mean simply whether the consistory actually has            diligently collected but they must also be distributed with the

cases of censure and perhaps occasion to excommunicate the          same diligence. Some diaconates are efficient in the former

impenitent and recalcitrant members. Rather the idea is             but lacking in, the latter. Is this done in your church? How

whether the consistory observes that all things, doctrine and       is this important work carried out?

life, are maintained in the church in harmony with the Word             Also in connection with this the president of the Classis

of God. Does the church faithfully punish evil doers with           might make further inquiry with a few direct and related

the spiritual power of the keys of heaven's kingdom? The            questions to the delegates of each co&story. If this were

preaching of the Word is itself a chief means of discipline         done, some churches would undoubtedly be found to be in

and, therefore, this question may also well imply an inquiry        need of admonition and in the place of bank accounts

into whether or not the Word is so preached that its dis-           collecting interest there would be poor assisted in their misery

cipline is felt in the congregation. In connection with this,       and afflicted alleviated in their sufferings.

therefore, the president of the classis  has room for several        Next time, D.V., we shall continue the discussion of

pointed questions if he is allowed the liberty to depart from       ,these  questions with the one pertaining to the support of

the "form questions" and broaden the scope of his inquiry.          Christian schools and the last one dealing with the help

The devil, the world and all the powers of sin are very busy        and judgment of the. Classis  in the government of the local

to spoil and break down the  church. Should not we then be          church. ~                                             G.V.d.B.

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



                                                                                `<How do dealers in obscenity get names of children for
                      A L L   A R O U N D   U S                             their mailing lists ? The names of youngsters are secured in
        II .                                                                a variety of ways. In some instances the dealers in ob-
                                                                            scenity buy mailing lists from legitimate list brokers who

        The-Fight Against Obscenity                                         are not aware of the use to which the lists are to be put.

               In- several of the periodicals which we have perused re-     In other instances they build their own lists by assembling

        cently, religious and secular, we have noticed that there is        the names and addresses of graduates of high school classes,

        consid.erable  alarm raised with respect to and protest against     Boy Scout .or Girl Scout' groups, church clubs or other or-

        the corrupt literature and pictures being sent through the          ganizations of youngsters. In other instances, they advertise

        mails to our American youth.                                        model airplanes or stamps or doll dress kits to youngsters

               I have before me at the moment two articles both of          at attractive prices and actually send them these articles for

        which sound alarm and encourage a fight against obscenity:          the money received. However, their primary purpose is to

        one appearing in Ckrist&t  Economics, and another in Chris-         get names and addresses by this procedure."

        tia~nity Today, November 3 and 9, 1959, respectively.                   "What can parents do to stop this racket? If parents

           ~Christian  Economics tells us that "a survey of the maga-       find any obscene sales solicitations in the letters sent to their

        zine stands in the city of Spokane revealed over 100 period-        youngsters they can help us stop this racket by doing these

        icals featuring sex obscenity in varying degrees." We are           two simple things :

        also told that a non-sectarian organization called the `Citizens        1. Collect all the material received, including the en-

        for Decent Literature, Inc.," has been organized to help            velope.
.. .    stamp out the scourge. In one campaign conducted in Decem;              2. Deliver this material, along with the envelope, to their

        ber, 1958 this organization caused over 30 magazines to dis-        local postmaster in person or by mail.

        appear from circulation. This organization believes that the           The Post Office Department will handle the matter from

        fight must be carried on by other local organizations. formed       there on. It is not necessary for the parents or their children

        in each community throughout the country, and that with             to sign a formal complaint or to appear in court."

        national concerted effort this evil can be removed from the             "What is the Post Office Department doing to drive
        American scene.                                                     obscenity from the mails ? For the past six months the Post
           Ch.&&&y  To.day published an interview with Post-                Office Department has intensified its efforts to drive ob-
        master General Arthur E. Summerfield in order to show to            scenity from the mails. We have testified before the Con-
        its readers the seriousness of obscenity in the mails. Mr.          gress as to the seriousness of this problem. We have ex-
        Summerfield reveals some startling- figures and observations.       posed this racket in' considerable detail to the press, the
        Here are some of the questions he answered:                         radio and TV. We have made numerous speeches about this
         "What kinds of obscene materials are sent through the              menace before many religious, parents' and women's groups
        mails? Obscene and lewd pictures, slides, films, and sex            around the country. Right now the Postal Inspection Service
        literature' as- well as material dealing with the vilest per-       is spending a major portion .of its time on pornography
        versions. Much of it is so filthy and revolting in nature that      cases. In the past year it obtained 45 percent more convic-
        it defies  description."                                            tions than in the previous year."
               "Is mail order obscenity increasing? The mail order ob-
                                                                                Mr. Summerfield is `also hopeful that this devastating
        scenity racket: has tripled in the past five years and can menace can be and will be wiped out when parents `and civic
        double again in the next few years unless it is stopped."
                                                                            groups and the proper government agencies concentrate on
            "How large a business is it? Our Inspection Service
                                                                            the problem.
        estimates that sales from mail order obscenity are now
                                                                                It surely behooves us. to heed these warnings and not
        running at the rate of a half billion dollars a year. They
                                                                            assume .an indifferent attitude respecting this problem. Let
        further estimate it will become a billion-dollar racket within
                                                                            us not as Protestant Reformed parents think that our chil-
        the..next  several years if it progresses at its present rate of
                                                                            dren are immune to this infectious scourge that is fast en-
        speed."
                                                                            gulfing the youth of our nation. Rather, let us also watch
           "Filth peddlers will invade American homes by soliciting
                                                                            and pray, lest we fall.a.prey.
        at least a million teen-age youngsters in the next 12 months.

        That's one child out of every thirty-five of school age in
                                                                            Lessons On Matthew 5
        America !"

           "How does it operate ? Most dealers in mail order ob-             n In the November, 1959 issue of Torch and Tmmpet the

        scenity' are relatively small-time operators with very little       Reverend Henry Vander' Kam gives brief expositions on The

        capital invested in their business. Profits are so large that       Sermon on the Mount. With two of these we take exception.

        many of them have fantastic returns on their investments.              Commenting on Matthew 5 :13-16 and particularly on the

        Increasingly they are directing their sales efforts toward. the     expression of Jesus : "Ye are the salt of the earth," he makes

        yputh`of  America, both boys and girls."                            the following. observations :         .L


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R '                                              119



       "Those whose hearts have been renewed ' have a very            pointed to Deuteronomy 24:l  where Moses allows a bill of

  specific task to perform in this world. They are the salt of        divorcement to .be  given a woman if she does not please her

the earth. This is stated as a fact, not as something which           husband due to `some unseemly thing' which he has found

  must still ,be  accomplished. If they should not act as             in her. This provision, of course, was not found in the law

  a salt they are worthless. They have received all their             of Sinai. Divorce was practiced during Old Testament times.

  qualifications from above and that makes them a salt. The           In order to protect such a woman, Moses commanded that

  statement : `If the salt have `lost its savor' means that their     she should be given a bill of divorcement stating that she

  qualifications as citizens of his Kingdom are lacking. Those        had not been guilty of adultery and was free to marry another

  who are what the Beatitudes demand are the salt of the              man.

  earth.                                                                 "In chapter 19 Jesus says that Moses allowed this be-

       "Salt is used for two purposes: to.make food tasty and         cause of the hardness of the hearts of the people, but that God

  to preserve it. It is this latter function which Jesus has in       had not made this allowance from the beginning. Jesus

  mind when he speaks of his people as the salt of the earth.         points back to the beginning. This is his `but I say unto you'

  Salt was the only preservative known to the people of Jesus'        over against the. prevailing teaching of his day. .According

  day. It was, therefore, one of the most important things in         to Jesus, there is only one ground for divorce; viz., adultery.

  their daily lives. .Without  salt food would spoil in a very        No other ground can be found in all his teaching. Marriage

  short time.                                                         is a divine ordinance, a lasting bond. Man may not put

       "As the salt of the earth God's people prevent the decay       asunder what God has joined together.'

of this sinful world. Without the presence of his people this            "The teaching. of our Lord in regard to the problem of

  world would fall into utter ruin. Had there been but ten            divorce is. quite different from the common practice today.

  righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah, these cities would          Divorce is easy. in many places and almost any ground suffices.

  have been spared. God spares the world because of the               The church of Christ is faced ,with  this problem more and

  presence of his people . . "                                        more. The Scriptures should be our only guide. Marriage

       Concerning the above quotation we remark:                      must be safeguarded because it is a divine institution and

       1.    That the Rev. Vander Kam should have known better        the most fundamental of all institutions among men.

 than to give the above interpretation concerning the signifi-           "What does it mean when Jesus says that the woman who

  cance of salt. He himself tells us that "salt is used for two       is put away, who is not guilty of fornication, is made an

  purposes : to make food tasty and to preserve it." Without          adulteress ?` Is she made guilty by the sinful deed of her

  testing the former significance, he makes the definite observa-     husband?. This. can hardly be true. There are commentators

  tion that "it is this latter function which .Jesus  has in mind     (Bouwman, Grosheide, Hendriksen, et alia) who emphasize

  when he speaks of his people as the salt of the earth." This        the fact that a-verb is used here in the passive voice. This

  is a case of poor exegesis.                                         changes the wording considerably. Instead' of the reading,

       2. That he is in error when he asserts that salt must be       tmaketh  her an adulteress' the reading would be, `causes her

  understood here in the preservative sense. He is evidently          to suffer adultery.' Among the Jews a woman could not

  so much under the influence of the common grace doctrine            divorce her husband but the husband could divorce his wife.

  that he cannot understand how God's people is the only              Jesus lays .a11  the emphasis on the fact that the husbamd  is

  morsel left in this corrupt and rotten world that is tasty to       guilty. He does wrong ; his wife suffers wrong. If the-

  God. He tells us that Jesus is stating a plain fact here, but       husband puts away his wife when she is not guilty of the sin

  he ignores this statement of fact and wants to make it an           of adultery; he causes her to suffer the reproach of one who

  imperative that the children of God must preserve this. rotten      isactually  guilty. She must now face life alone and will be

  world. I would ask him the question: What good is it to             tempted  to marry.another. The bill of'.divorcement  has not

  put salt with rotten and decayed meat? He knows the an-             severed the marriage bond in God's sight. Should she then

  swer is that it serves no purpose at all. Neither do the chil-      marry again she will actually be an adulteress. The man

  dren of God preserve this rotten world, nor is it their calling.    who marries a woman who has been put away ?:y  her first

  He knows `too that when the very last of God's people has           husband also commits adultery . . ."

  been saved out of this rotten world, then the world will be            For lack of space we can only make this one comment.

  destroyed as were Sodom and Gomorrah.             -                 Why.didn't  Rev. Vander Kam take this wonderful opportun-

  .    We also take exception to what Rev. Vander Kam writes          ity to instruct his readers, especially those Christian Re-

  concerning Matthew 5 :27-32. Our objection is not so much           formed, and broaden out on the statement "The bill of di-

  as to what he writes as to what he doesn't write. We have           vorcement has not severed the marriage bond in God's sight."

  in mind especially the exposition` of the verses 31 and 32.         Had he done this his churches might have been helped and a

  Writes Rev. Vander ~Kam  :                                          beginning might have been made to deliver them from the

       "In this same connection -Christ  gives attention. to the      divorce hroblem they have created when they asserted that

  problem of divorce. The people of his day were being mis-           divorce, grounded by adultery, does sever the marriage bond.

  informed regarding this problem. The teachers of the people                                                                   M.S.


                                                                        ". _.-.                                      . .

                                                                        Sunday..:.Dec.  20,. open for, the Prot. Ref. Men's Chorus
                                                                       -Gh".t  -_ `. .
. li -NEWi FROM OU'R CHLiRCHES'  11                                           ris mas -Program to be given after the evening service.in
                                                                        First Church. `The following week the Hope Choral Society
                    `All  the saints sahte thee 1 1 ." PHIL. !:21
                                                                        plans to ,ive its' annual Christmas Program in their church.
                                                                        .
                                                    Nov. 20, -1959      Two consecutive Sunday evenings providing splendid Chris-
                                                                        tian entertainment to the glory.of the Babe of Bethlehem,
        Edgerfon'has  named the following trio : Revs. C. .Hanko,
                                                                        Who,  is our ,Lord and Savior. : -- ~               ::
     G. `Lubbers and B. Woudenberg. I                        .          .___../
        The trio selected by the consistory of Hull consists of the     Hulls,  Young People's Society sponsored a Reformation
                                                                        Day-program Nov. 1, inviting the Doon-people  to share with
     Revs.' C. Hanko, G. .Lanting.and  G. Vanden  Berg, -
     . The` Mr.` and Mrs. Society of Southwest was .host to the        them. .the  interesting program planned. Beacon Ligh$ts  was
                                                                       the recipient of the offering taken. .
     Sr.. Mr..and  Mrs. Society of First Church Nov .13.  The-Bible
                                                                              -This. bit of news came to us over the signature of Mr. E.
     discussion was on The Doctrine of the Last Things, follow-
                                                                        B. Gritters, clerk of Redland's Consistory, "The congregation
 ing an outline by .Rev. M.. Schipper,  Southwest's president.
                                                                        of Redlands  has experienced many welcome changes in- the
 After recess the joint societies enjoyed color.ed  slides of Yel-
                                                                       past. few &onths. First of all, after nearly nine months of
     lowstone  Park. Seymour Beiboer, of First ~Church, was the
                                                                       vacancy' Rev. "H.  Veldman of Edgerton, Minn., accepted the
 photographer, and' also narrated the showing thereof. Mr.
                                                                       call to labor in. Redlands. Secondly, after meeting in Legion
     Beiboer has shared his beautiful pi'ctures  with the Men's
                                                                        Halls and similar buildings since 1953, the congregation has
     Society and the Y.P. Society of his church on some of, their
                                                                       purchased the church, social hall, and parsonage formerly
     after recess programs.
                                                                       owned by the Free Methodists, at Colton Ave. and Webster
        The Adams St. School Athletic Ass'n served a pancake
                                                                        St. in Redlands. With a good deal of volunteer help by both
     supper Nov. 7 to raise money to build a paved turn-around
                                                                       .men  and women of the congregation our Building Committee,
 for the school busses, and for a basketball court for the older
                                                                       consisting of M. Gaastra, -T. Feenstra and H. Sawyer, has
 children. That evening, like its predecessors,' provided op-
                                                                       completely remodeled and redecorated the parsonage. We-
 portunity for friendly visiting, and for contributing towards
                                                                       thank  God Who has so prospered us, and pray for His, con-
 the goal of the Association.
                                                                       tinued -guidance and blessing in the future."
        Did yo-u krtow-  . . . . that the three-fold purpose of the
                                                                                          . . see you in church.
 Federation of Prot. Ref. School Societies is: 1. Supplying                                                                            J.M.F.

 and training Prot. Ref. teachers; 2. Supplying a Prot. Ref.           -       -    -

 course of study and textbooks ; 3. Attaining ,cooperation                                          FROM HOiY WRIT
 among schools in reaching the goal of distinctive Prot.. Ref.                      -.             (Continued from page 109)      '
 education for our children, and, that Miss Thelma Pastoor,            kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, . self-control,

 of Adams School, has been assigned the next seminar paper             against such there is no law."

 entitled, "Development of the child, physically, emotionally,                 What a gift of grace this peace  is. Especially when we

 socially, intellectually and spiritually," and, that about eight      are full of all joy and peace ! When this joy and peace are

ministers and fifteen teachers and prospective.teachers,  attend       in us then we live at peace with the brother and sister in the

these seminars whenever possible ?                                     Lord. Then we shall be longsuffering and patient in hope.

        We surmise,that  Rev. G. Van Baren,  of Doon, will miss        And the law will  not condemn us. We will walk at liberty.

Rev. J. A. Heys very keenly after the brother leaves Hull to           We shall -be truly free.

settle in South Holland. The cooperation between those two                   : Of this we must be made full from the fountain- God !

ministers made it possible for their congregations to enjoy                   He.is the God of the hope. He is the God of the  peace.

at least one preaching service on the Sundays that their own           He is the God of the patience. When He fills us by His

pastor was away on Classical appointment.                              Spirit He fills our heart, our mind, our soul, our strength.

       Because of the shortage of ministers Rev. G. Hanko is           There are various facets to this `peace and joy in life. There

busy occupying various pulpits in the area. Due to this fact           are as many as there are relationships to God and man, and

First Church sometimes alternates the Catechism sermons                to the creature ,about  us.

from morning to evening.                                                      When we are tilled with joy it is from the hea.rt  that we

       Add to the list of churches that include the sign of the        love and are at peace! And thus also with our soul and

pouring of the wine as a part of the ceremony of the-Lord's            strength. .Thus  doing shall the saints at Rome truly receive

Supper: Hope Church, whose consistory decided upon this                each, other. They shall not judge in meat and drink any

action this month.                                                     longer, but shall see that all is the Lord's. Then in hope and

       Rev. G. Lanting conducted both services in Holland Nov.         faith and joy ,of the Holy Spirit, whether we eat or drink,

8, the day the bulletin carried a copy of his letter accepting         ,whether  we live or die, we are the Lord's.

the call extended him.                                                        Thus shall  we, with one mind and out of .one mouth,

     -Some of the area bulletins are asking people to keep
.                                                                      glorify God for His mercy !                                      G.L.


