              VOLUME XXXVI                           DECE~UBER  15, 1959 - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                   NUMBER 6


     II                                                                     II       Neither do we know from where they came, except that
                   M E D I T A T I O N                                            it was from the East. Also that information is immaterial
                                                                            II for our moment. Suffice it that all `these questions will be
                                                                                  answered in the Judgment Day. -~

                    THE VISIT OF THE WISE MEN                                        But this we know : they were Gentiles.

                     "Now  when  Je.&s   w a s   born  i n   Bethlehertz   o f       And that is important. It, bodes well for the Gentile
                      Judea. in the days of Herod  t?ze kirtg,  behold,           world that their representatives are sent by God from the
                      there ca,me wise men  front the East  to Jemsalem.          far East to Jerusalem, and later, to Bethlehem. It is wonder-
                      Saying, Where is He that is born King of the                ful that the heathen may join in the worship of the Son of
                      Jezws?  fo'r we hve seen His star in the East,              God, appearing in the flesh.
                      -and'a*l'e  covtte to womhip  Him."     -MATT. 2:1, 2

                                                                                     Yes, they went to Jerusalem. Of course they did. Jeru-

             Well, the, time has` come for all of us to again go to               salem  is the city of the King. If anywhere, there they would

     `Bethlehem,                                                                  be able to answer the burning question of these heathens :

             The wicked, but also the good; the heavens with their                Where is He that is born King of the Jews?

          star, together with the representatives of the Gentiles wend               Jerusalem is the city where the Temple of God was built,

          their. weary way- West in order to find the King of the Jews.           and where the house of the Kings of Israel stood. There are

             And ever since, the whole Christian world has gone to                the wise and the prudent, the masters of Israel.

          Bethlehem during the warmest period of the Christian year.                 Certainly, Jerusalem will know.

             The days of Christmas are happy days for, us.                           .And  there they come.    Indeed it is late after the birth of

             0, I know that every day is good ; for God is for us.                Jesus, maybe even two years after the angels sang,. the
          But we are very human, and the human being likes his feasts             shepherds worshipped, and the world forgot.

          and his special days. I find no quarrel with our holy days.                But, never mind all that, they are here.

          They are days when the high-lights of the Christian calendar               They pause and ask ; they stop again and wonder ; they
          receive their proper emphasis.                                          repeat their wonderful question: Where is He?
1            And so we will wend our way to Bethlehem.

                                                                                                          * + * *
             To see the King of the Jews and to worship Him.


                                    * *     * *                                      Yes, it is a wonderful question.

                                                                                     They are Gentiles, .born and living in a great darkness
     .       There came wise men. s                                               which had lasted four thousand years, far from the dear

             How many ?                                                           children of God, far from the fathers that were so beloved

                                                                                  of God. While Israel had dwelled in the midst of beautiful
             We do not know, the Catholic Church notwithstanding.
                                                                                  light and splendour, they were Gentiles, heathen, dogs, cast
             And you need not be .a Roman Catholic in order to think              off. God allowed themto  wander and stagger in filthy dark-
          and to speak of three wise men. I catch myself in the same              ness and ignorance.
          mistake. For mistake it is. No one knows how many wise<.
                                                                                     But wait a minute: they are Gentiles alright,  but they
          men from the East travelled to Bethlehem almost two, thou;
                                                                                  had seen His star!
          sand years ago. It makes no difference either. If it did,

          God would have revealed it.                                               Look at that last clause or sentence and ponder a while.


1            2          2                     T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R ,


      How did they, know that the star they saw in the East            heavens to our help and His excellency in the skies ! What

was His star?                                                          wondrous happiness for the rest of the journey.

      There is only one possible answer, and that is : God must             They approach the little village of Bethlehem; they look

have,  shown it to them. They must have had access to the              and see the Star stand still, exactly above the house in

Old Testament Scriptures. And that is very easy to believe,            which the little Jesus lay.

for there was the eastern dispersion. Many, oh so many Jews
had gone east, and stayed there. But wherever they went,                                                * * * *

they took with them the Holy Scriptures.                                    One of these wise men knocked on the door ,of the ,house

      And God must have revealed to them that the strange              where the Holy Family dwelled. The door opens -and the

star they saw was the star that heralded the birth of Christ.          delegation of blessed Heathens enters the house where God

                                                                       dwelled in human garb. Let's enter with them.
      0 yes, these,  blessed travelers had seen the Star ; they had

received the Scriptures, and they also had received personal                0, but these men have thorough. knowledge of Theology !

revelation from God. To run ahead a little: did you note               Look! After introducing themselves to Mary and Joseph,

how God contacted them on the way to Bethlehem?                        and the owners of the house where Jesus lay, they fall dozerlz!

      Listen: they knew God!                                                That action shows that they knew God!         ..

                             * * * *                                        Did you ever notice how angels and the souls of men

                                                              -1       made perfect behave in heaven ? They do as these wise men :
     . Can you imagine the disappointment of these strangers           they fall down with their faces to the ground. Even angels

when they arrived at the City of the King ?                            do. And they never sinned.

      There is no feasting, no rejoicing, no gladness in Jeru-              Here is the fine point : they know God !

salem.                                                                      You know, what this meant? It means that they have

      What do they find ? "Business as usual !"                        learned the first and the most fundamental law of the King-

                                                                       dom of Heaven: hzw&ity.
      What did they really find there ? A troubled Jerusalem

and a troubled, hateful king Herod. They find deceit, hypoc-`               Do you want to be a man, a woman, a child after God's

risy, a murderous lot.                                                 own heart?

      But the trusting souls `did not see this at once. 0 no.               Fall down before Him!

`They trust the king, the chief priests, and the scribes.                   `God loves little people.        And I don't mean physical

      They receive all the information they wanted, and they           stature when I employ the adjective little.

wend their way to Bethlehem: Micah had written.
                                                                                                        * * * *
      And they go to Bethlehem, eager to see the King of the

Jews, in order then to return and tell King Herod,  so that                 Now apprehend their further behaviour !

he also may be able to go and worship.                                      They worship the Child. And that is heaven, that is

      And still, I think. that they were quite disappointed.           eternal : it shall have no end. In all the ~countless  eternities

They had imagined it all so different. And I tell you why              before us, this worship will go on and on. It will make

I think this. Did you note how strongly the Holy Ghost                 heaven musical forever. Singing, dancing, making music on

emphasized their subjective condition when they saw the                the harps of God : it is all worship, adoration, ecstasy, heaven-

star on the way to Bethlehem ?                                         l      y           splendour.

      Notice : "they rejoiced with exceeding great joy !"                   Worship, what is it?

      The Holy Ghost could have written: they saw the star                  Worship is when you catalog all the graces, the beauties,

and rejdiced.  Or, they saw the star and rejoiced with great           the wonders of God.

joy. But no, the Holy Ghost tells us that they rejoiced with                Worship is when you `tell Him carefully how adorable
e;rceeding  great joy. That shows clearly that their faith had         He is in all His virtues.
been severely tested in Jerusalem. And' that now everything
                                                                            I will give you an example from Holy Scripture.
was made clear again.

                                                                            "The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion ; slow to
      That bright and twinkling star in the clear heavens gave
                                                                       anger, and of great mercy." Psalm 148%
them the trust and repose they needed so sorely. Why, it

was the answer of Jehovah Himself! 0, can you not see                       And here is a verse from the New Testament: "Saying

them ? They stop dead in their tracks, they look and smile,            with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to

nay, they shout and cry: There is that Star again, brethren!           receive power and, riches and wisdom, and.  strength and

All is well! God is in His heaven and moves the very                   honour and glory, and blessing." Rev. 5 :12.
                                                                                                        *


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEAR:ER                                                                                                                                                                     123



   Note the wonder of the moment: The Heathen are bow-

ing down and giving worship to our Jesus ! It is surpassing                                         T H E   .STANDARD   B E A R E R
                                                                            Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and August
in beauty.
                                                                                  Published by the REFORMED  FREE PUBLISHING ASSOCJA-~ION
                           * ;;: * $                                        P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids -7, Mich.

                                                                                                         Edit& - REV. HERMAN H O E K S E M A
   But there is more.                                                       Communications relative to. contents should. be addressed to
                                                                                               Rev.  H. .Hoeksema,  1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
   They open their treasures !                                                                                        Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

   And they give to Jesus their gifts !                                     All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
                                                                                                 James Dykstra,. 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
   Gold ! .%hat it means ? It means that they indicate that                                                    I Grand Rapids 7, Michigan

this Child will have Royal honor! Is this Babe not the Icing                Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
                                                                            address and will be-  published at a fee of $2.00 for each notice.
of kings and the Lord df lords ?' 0, these Heathen know
                                                                            RENEWAL:  Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
their theology !                                                            ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscriptitm
                                                                            to continue without the formality of a renewal `order.
   Frankincense. What is it? They confess in that gift that
                                                                                                          Subscription price: $5.00 per year
i?Ie should be worshipped unto all eternity by the whole                          Entered as Second Class  matter at Grand  Rapids, Michigan
Universe.     He is so worthy of it, for He is to be slain, but

shall rise again : Christ Triumphator !

   Myrrh. Ah, but this tells a gruesome story. Myrrh tells                                                               C O N T E N T S
                                                                      MEDITATION -
of His suffering and death. He shall be ground to powder.                           Visit of the Wise Men .._______.,......_._................................:                                                                           . . . . . . . 121
`He  shall be spent in eternal death.                                                         Rev. G. Vos

   But wonder of wonders: it shall be a fragrance, unto               EDITORIALS -
God a sweet smelling savour. God loves Golgotha.                                    As To Being Protestant Reformed _.._______._._....._.....................  124
                                                                                    An Attempt to Discipline ._.,....,..._____........................................  125
   Go then,  go to Bethlehem !
                                                                                              Rev. H. Hoeksema
  Fall down after you have found Jesus.
                                                                      OUR DOCTRINE-
   Open your treasures and give Him gold, frankincense                              The Book of Revelation .,.......______._.........................................  126
and myrrh.                                                                                    Rev. H. Hoeksema

   Worship Him unto all eternity. Amen.                  '            A CLOUD OF WITNESSES -
                                                              G.V.                  The        Dreamer              ___ ___ __ _.. .__ ._. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

                                                                                              Rev. B. Woudenberg


                                                                      F
                      A n n o u n c e m e n t                            ROM HOLY We-
                                                                                    Exposition of Luke 1:46-52  . . . ..____..___......................................  132

 Classis  East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will.                                      Rev. G. Lubbers

meet, D.V., on Wednesday, January 6, at 9 A. M. in the
                                                                      IN HIS FEAR -
First Prot. Ref. Church of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Dele-                            Freedom of Speech (4) _.._.........__,..__........................................  134
gates from the respective churches of this classis  will please                              Rev. J. A- Heys

take notice.

                              REV. M. SCHIPPER, St&d Clerk            CONTE*ING  FOR THE FAITH-
                                                                                    The Church and the Sacraments _...........:  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

                                                                                              Rev. H. Veldman


      What wondrous things the Lord hath wrought!                     THE VOICE OF 0~3~ FATHERS -
     The stone the builders set at naught,                                          The Canons of Dordrecht . . . . . . . .._._._____......................................  138

      Established by no human hand,                                                          Rev. H. `C. Hoeksema

     The chiefest corner-stone doth stand.
                                                                      DECENCY AND ORDER -

                                                                                    Questions of Article 41............................................................  140
      In. this the day the Lord hath-made
                                                                           . .                Rev. G. Vanden Berg
      To Him be joyful ,honors  paid ;
      Let us Thy full salvation see,                                                                                                                                                                                              ..,
                                                                      ALL AROUND us -                                                                                                                                                    . .c.
      0 Lord, send now prosperity.                                                  The Population Problem _. _. . . . . . . . .y . . ._ _. . . . . . . .142
                                                                                    Eligible for a Call                        . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

      Hosanna!  Praise to Him proclaim                                                        Rev. ,M. Schipper

      Who cometh in Jehovah's Name ;
                                                                      NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   :: . .._...  144
      May blessing from God's dwelling place                                                  Mr.. J. M. Faber
      Descend on us in boundless grace.

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


II                                                                       of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost assures us by this holy
        E D I T0.R I A L S                                               sacrament, that he will dwell in us, and sanctify              be
                                                                                                                                  US to 

                                                                         members  of Christ, applying unto us, that which we have in

                                                                         Christ, namely, the washing away of our sins, and the daily

            As To Being Protestant Reformed                              renewing of' our lives, till we shall finally be presented
                                                                         without spot or wrinkle. among the assembly of the elect in

 1 We said last time that one of the distinctive doctrines               life eternal." All this is still the promise and must be applied

which the Protestant `Reformed Churches maintain concerns                to all the children of the church without exception. And if

their view of the covenant.                                              you would ask Heyns how it is possible that all the baptized

      All Reformed churches consider the covenant idea `im-              children are not saved when the Holy Spirit dwells in them

portant.                                                                 and applies all the blessings of salvation to. them, he replies

      But they do not all have the same conception of that               that the Form does not state that the Holy Spirit dwells in
covenant. Among recent theologians Dr. A. Kuyper  Sr. de-                them but that He w&! dwell in them, presupposing, of course
fines the covenant as an agreement between two parties, God              that we must also will it.

and man, against a third. Although he first based the cov-                   Here, then, is something objectively sure: the promise of

enant idea on the trinity, and even spoke of it as a relation            God for all the children of the covenant. Here we do not deal

of friendship, yet later he defined the covenant as an agree-            with supposition, such as presupposed regeneration, but with

ment. Dr. H. Bavinck speaks of the covenant as a way along               objective facts : the covenant is the promise.

which God leads His people to eternal glory, although he,                    Nor` must this promise be identified, according to Heyns,

too, first speaks of the covenant relation as being rooted in            with a mere offer of grace and salvation. The latter comes

the life of the triune God.                                              to all.`men,  but the promise of God comes only, to the children

      According to Prof. W. Heyns, usually followed -by the              of the covenant and is far more than an offer. It is a be-

Liberated in the Netherlands, the essence of the covenant is             quest. God bequeaths upon all the children of the covenant

the promise : "I will be your God." He wants soniething                  all the blessings of salvation. He gives to them all the right

that may be applied to all the children of the covenant or to            to the blessings of salvation so that they are heirs and have

all the seed of believers, to all the children of and in the             the right to eternal life.

church-without distinction. And this he finds in the promise :               But, as you have already surmised, this promise of the
"I will be your God."         This promise is for all the children of    covenant is conditional. If it were not, the only conclusion

the covenant individually, head for head and soul for soul.              to which we could possibly come is that all that are born

In the Baptism Form the church confesses:                                in the' church would be saved. And Heyns also knows

      "Holy baptism witnesseth and sealeth unto us the washing           better. Hence, the promise is not absolute but conditional.

away of our sins through Jesus Christ." This is the promise              In all covenants, accol;ding  to Heyns,.there  are two "parties."

and this concerns all the children that are baptized.                    In the cbvenant  of grace these parties are God and man.

      Again  the same form has it that i`when  we are baptized in        God's is the promise and He will surely fulfill it but only on
the name of the Father, God the Father witnesseth and                    condition that man, as the second party fulfills His demind.
sealeth unto us, that he doth make an eternal covenant of                This demand is : "Walk before me, and be thou upright."
giace  with us, and adopts us for his children and heirs, and            Such is the condition which man must fulfill.

therefore  will provide us with every good thing, and avert                 But can man~fulfill  the condition ?

all evil or turn it to our profit." This is the promise of God              Some answer: no but God Himself fulfills the condition

and the pronoun "us" refers to every individual child of the             by implanting faith in the heart of the sinner by His sover-

covenant and not to elect seed only.                                     eign grace. But this does not solve the problem.

      The same form also Confesses: `LAnd  when we are                      IS not the promise general and is it not for all the children

baptized in the name of the Son, the Son sealeth unto us, that           of the covenant in the outward sense of the word, head for

he doth wash us in his blood from all our sins, incdrporating            head and          for soul? Does not the promise include the
                                                                                      soul' 

us into the fellowship of his death and resurrection, so that            gift of the Holy Spirit, that "he may dwell in them and

we are freed from all our sins, and accounted righteous be-              sanctify them to be members of Christ" on condition of

fore God."    Also these words refer to the promise of God               faith or on condition that we walk before God and be up-

and must be applied to all the baptiied children, so that the            right? If, then, the promise is general, why does not God
            "we,"  `Lus,~~
pronouns                      and "our" in these words include the       fulfill the condition in all the children of the church? He

carnal as well as the elect seed of the covenant, The promise            evidently does not for many are lost.

is for all without distinction.                                             This, therefore; cannot be the solution of the problem.

      The same is true of what the Baptism Form says about               ' Either the promise is general but on a condition which

the work of the Holy Ghost in connection with baptism. We                all the children of the covenant must themselves fulfill, and

quote : "In like manner, when we are baptized in the name                this is not Reformed but Arminian ; or the promise is par-




                                                                                                                           _ .


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                125


ticular, is only for the elect, God surely fulfills it, and there    because it reveals that there are others, outside of our
are no conditions. This is Reformed.                                 churches, that still fight for the truth of Scripture and the
                                                                     Confessions. The reader may secure a copy of this pamphlet
   Heyns felt the difficulty and, therefore, invented the
                                                                     by writing to the following address: Presbyterian Laymen,
theory of a certain pre-venient grace. According to this
                                                                     Inc., Box 396, Selma, Alabama.
theory, every covenant child receives a certain grace from

God by which he is able to bring forth good fruits of faith              On the title page of this pamphlet there is the following

and obedience but which does not prevent him from re-                statement, printed in capital letters :

jecting the promise and bringing forth corrupt fruit.                    "Every member of the Southern Presbyterian Church
   By this grace, therefore, the covenant child really re-           should read this factual account of how a small group of
ceives a free will, which is not Reformed but Pelagian.              liberal ministers have gained control of the organized leader-

    Needless to say that this is not the Protestant Reformed         ship of our church, and are fast destroying it as a spiritual

view of the covenant.                                                organization by turning it into a political and social organiza-

   That this is true may be shown from the "Declaration of           tion."

Principles"      which the schismatics rejected, but which our           The chief contents of this pamphlet consist in a protest

churches adopted. This declaration was composed at the               against Dr. E. T.. Thompson, professor in the Union Theo-

time especially because some favored the covenant view of            logical Seminary, by Mr. Tom Glasgow, elder of the church

the Liberated which is virtually the same as that of Heyns.          in Charlotte, N.C.

    In this declaration we read:                                         In an introductory statement to the whole pamphlet,

    "Seeing then that this is the clear teaching of our con-         however, we read that Dr. Thompson C.S. also made a direct
fessions,                                                            attack, through the General Assembly, upon the Confessional
                                                                     Standards of the Southern Presbyterian Church, particularly
    "A. We repudiate:
                                                                     (as might be expected) upon the doctrine of predestination.
    "1. The teaching :
                                                                     We quote:
    `<a. That the promise of the covenant is conditional and             " . . . . They are openly attacking, on the floor of the
for all that are baptized.
                                                                     General Assembly, the Standards of our Church, which they
    "b. That we may presuppose that all the children that            avow they believed, such as the doctrine of predestination.
are baptized are regenerated, for we know on the basis of            The recent General Assembly authorized the Moderator (Dr.
Scripture, as well as in the light of all history and experience,    Thompson). to appoint an Ad-Interim committee to study the
that the contrary is true.                                           matter and report its findings to the next General Assembly.
   "c. The teaching that the promise of the covenant is an           This Ad-Interim committee, as were all the appointments by
objective bequest on the part of God giving to every baptized        Dr. Thompson, is composed. of all liberals, so that we can
child the right to Christ and all the blessings of salvation.        be assured that their report to next year's Assembly will

   "B. And we maintain :                                             weaken our Standards from what they are now concerning

    "1. That God surely and infallibly fulfills -His promise         the doctrine of predestination."

to the elect.                                                            Of this there can be no doubt. If liberals get their hands

    "2. That when He so fulfills His promise and established         on the Confessions of the Church, particularly with respect

His covenant, the elect are not mere stocks and blocks, but          to the doctrine of predestination, they certainly will "`weaken"

obliged and willing to fulfill their part of the covenant, to        them. And it stands to reason that the only possible way they

love the Lord their God with all their heart and mind and            can "weaken" them is to deny the true doctrine and to adopt

soul and strength, to forsake the world, crucify their old           the Arminian conception instead.

nature, and to walk in a new and holy life.                              One thing I do not understand and that is how so many

    "3. That the `ground of infant baptism is the command of         liberal ministers can occupy pulpits in the Southern Pres-

God and the fact that according to Scripture He establishes          byterian Church that they, together with Dr. Thompson,

His covenant in the line of continued generations."                  control the entire General Assembly. Two things, it seems to

    This, then, is the officially adopted doctrine of the            me are apparent. The first is that these liberal ministers are
Protestant Reformed Churches concerning the promise of the           dishonest and wholly disregard the vow they took at their
covenant.                                                  H.H.      ordination. And the second is that it reveals a woeful lack
                                                                     of discipline both by the local churches and by the broader

                                                                     gatherings. If discipline had been exercised properly and in

                  An Attempt To Discipline                           time, a situation as now exists in the Southern Presbyterian

                                                                     Church could never have arisen.
    From an organized group of Presbyterian laymen in the

Southern Presbyterian Church I received an interesting and               About the protest by Mr. Glasgow I hope to write next

very important pamphlet which all our readers ought to read          time, D.V.                                                H.H.

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


                                                                                church and the power of the world ; and again he failed, at
II QUR  D O C T R I N E                                                         least in this respect, that the church as such is not destroyed.
                                                                                by him. And finally, we just mentioned that the devil deter-

                                                                                mined at least to make war with the rest of the seed of the

             THE BOOIC  OF REVELATION.                                          woman, that is, of the church, -with the individual believers

                                                                                on earth. And we already mentioned the fact that in this
                               P A R T   T W O                                  thirteenth chapter we would be told in what manner the

                                                                                dragon makes this war with the, saints, and principally with
                             C H A P T E R   E L E V E N
                                                                                the God of heaven and earth and with His Anointed, Jesus

                        The. Power of the Antichrist                            Christ our Lord.

                                                                                    In short, it may be said that the devil in this last attempt
                             Revelation. 13 :l-10
                                                                                to oppose God's plan simply realizes his own kingdom, or

                                                                                attempts to realize it, and boldly sets it up. The first at-
             I. And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a
             beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten           tempts were rather negative in nature, always aiming at

             horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his                 the destruction of God's kingdom first of all. But this last

             heads the name of blasphemy.                                       attempt really consists in this, that the devil now ignores

             2.     And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard,          all that has been done by God Almighty, ignores that Christ

             and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth             has come and is King, ignores that the church exists and

             as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him-his                that there is already a kingdom of Christ in principle
             power, and his seat, and great authority.                          established in the world, and simply proceeds to realize and

             3.     And-1 saw one of his heads as-it were wounded to            establish his own kingdom before Christ has an opportunity

             death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the                (speaking from the devil's point of view, of course) to do
             world wondered after the beast.                                    so. We have in this chapter a complete picture of the anti-

             4.     And they worshipped the dragon which gave power             Christian power and kingdom and its king. T'here is, as far as

             unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying,             I know, no controversy about this truth. And therefore we
             Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war                proceed from the' assumption that this may be regarded as
             with him?                                                          an established fact. He gives us a picture of Antichrist. That

             5. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking                   it is deemed of greatest importance that we should under-
             great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto             stand the picture is clearly proved by the solemn conclusion
             him to continue forty and two months.
                                                                                of the text: "If any man have an ear, let- him hear." If we
             6.     And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God,           have no ear, it is, of course, quite a different question. But
             to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them                if by the grace of God our ear has been opened, and we may
             that dwell in heaven.
                                                                                have a spiritual understanding of what God has revealed to

             7. And it was given unto him to make war with the                  us, let us hear, that we may be instructed from the Word of
             saints, and to overcome them: and power was given                  our God, and from it derive light and strength to stand in
             him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
                                                                                the evil day.

             8. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship                     Let us then call your attention, in the first place,. to the
             him, whose names are not written in the book of life
                                                                                description of, this beast as it is given in the text. John
             of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
                                                                                beholds how out of the sea rises a frightful monster. Very
             9.     If any man have an ear, let him hear.
       _.                                                                       naturally it is described in the text, just as John must have

             10.     He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captiv-       beheld it in his vision. What he saw first he describes first.

             ity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with            Naturally the horns appeared first of all ; and John. tells us
             the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the               that it was a beast with ten horns. Naturally also the heads
             saints.
                                                                                followed ; and John continues to inform us that the monster

   I need not give a long introduction to show the connec-                      had seven heads. He further notices as details in the descrip-

tion between the present passage and the preceding text.                        tion that the ten horns had ten crowns, royal diadems, and

Already we have studied three attempts of the devil to                          that on the heads there were names of blasphemy written.

frustrate God's plan with a view to establishing His king-                      And finally, he is able-to give a general description of this

dom. First we saw how the devil attempted to oppose the                         dreadful monster, and informs us that its general appearance

plan of God with a view to the birth of Christ, and how                         was like that of a leopard, while its feet were like those of

he failed. Secondly, we noticed that contemporaneously with                     a bear, and its mouth a lion's mouth. And as a detail, which

the first war on earth the devil also carried on a war with                     at first he probably did not notice, but upon closer examina-

the angels in heaven for the possession of the saints of the                    tion he observed, he remarks that one of the heads appeared

old dispensation, and how he was defeated. Thirdly, we saw                      to have been smitten in the past with a deathstroke, but that

that the devil attempted to amalgamate the power of the                         the stroke now was healed.


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                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  127


      Let           investigate into the meaning of this highly sym-       And I would say that this beast neither represents merely a
             us 
 bolic picture. For that here we have again symbolism needs                person, who in personal power and by personal strength

 no further argument. The text itself indicates this more                  without any aid conquers and subdues and controls the
  than plainly. The sea is the birthplace, the source, the origin,         whole world and all that it contains, nor only a kingdom or
  of this beast. In this case there is little doubt that it must be        dominion, without its head. and government, but that it rep-
taken in the sense of peoples and nations and tongues' as                  resents both. And not only do we find it so in Daniel, but
  they live on earth under the power and principle of sin. We              it stands to reason and lies in the very nature of the case.
  read of the sea in that sense more than once in Scripture.               A king is powerless without his kingdom. And a kingdom
  Isaiah says in his fifty-seventh chapter, verse 20: "But the             without a king is inconceivable. The two are inseparable.
  wicked are like the troubled sea ; for it cannot rest, and its           And therefore, we come to the conclusion that this beast is
  waters cast up mire and dirt." In Daniel 7:2, 3 we read:                 the symbol of a political government as we know it, -1 care
  "Behold, the four winds break upon the great sea. And four               not whether you are thinking now of a kingdom, or empire,
  great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another."            or republic, or a worldly dominion, -as it naturally culmi-
  And the entire context shows. very plainly that nothing else             nates and is represented by its head. Again, I care not
  can be` meant than the troubled sea of nations. Indeed, a                whether you conceive of this head as a king, or emperor, or
  very fit symbol it is too.        The peoples and nations of the         president, or even as a group or body of persons.

  earth as they are under the power and principle of sin and                  Let us call your attention further to the fact that this

  as they develop according to this principle are indeed like              world-power as described in our passage is a consummation

  unto the troubled sea, war-swept, revolution-swept, plague-              and culmination of all that has gone before and of all

  and famine-swept as they are. And that this same. sea of                 separate kingdoms that might possibly exist or have existed.

  nations and peoples is meant in the words of our text is                 It is well that we have our attention called to this feature.

  clearly proved by Revelation 17 :15, where the same beast,               For it is one of the main features of our text. This power

  together with the harlot, is described once more, now with               as it is here pictured is not merely consisting of one nation

  a view to its final destruction, and where the angel, inter-             and one people; but it combines within itself all the king-

  prets :    "The waters which thou sawest, where the whore                doms and empires and republics of the world, and at the same

  sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues."         time it constitutes a combination and accumulation of all the

  And therefore we arrive at this conclusion, that the beast               power of all the empires and kingdoms and republics of the

  finds its origin, its source, its birthplace, from among the             past. This is plain, in the first place, from the various beasts

  peoples and nations and tongues of the earth as they are                 that are represented in this one beast. First of all, we may

  developing themselves under the principle and power of sin.              notice that they are all wild beasts, and therefore destructive

  The picture is that this sea of nations is swept and in uproar           in their nature. In ordinary circumstances they would not form

  and rages and foams till finally this beast comes up as a                a unity, but rather exist to their mutual destruction. But in

  result.                                                                  the second place, it cannot escape our attention that in this

      In the second place, looking at the beast proper, let us             wild beast we have a combination of the beasts pictured to us

  notice, first of all, that it is a beast, and that too, a wild beast,    in Dan. 7. There also we read .of the beast like a lion, and like
  a monster, just as the dragon was a monster. We may be                   a bear, and like a leopard, and of a fourth beast, not accurately
  more or less familiar with this figure ; and in this case the            described, but terrible. And there these beasts constitute four

  Word of God gives us the unmistakable key to its inter-                  separate kingdoms, the fourth of which finally blends into
  pretation. In Daniel we also read of beasts, especially of               the vision of the Antichrist in the little horn rising among

  four. And in Daniel the interpretation is given by the                   the ten. Here, then, we have a combination of all these. The

  guiding angel that directs the prophet. And this angel inter-            kingdoms of the world, ordinarily like wild animals, existing

  prets the figure of the beast as referring both to kingdoms              to their mutual destruction, have succeeded to form a unity.

  and kings. In Daniel 7:17 we read: "These great beasts,                  And even as the spirit of the one beast is in all the beasts, -

  which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the             the lion and the bear and the leopard, -and, on the other

  earth." And in verse 23 of the same chapter: "Thus he said,              hand, the spirits and powers of these various beasts have

  The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth."                combined in the one, so the world-kingdom that is represented

  Evidently, therefore, the figure of the beast represents a               by this beast is one that combines in itself all the power and

  great political world-power, together with its government .as            glory and ambitions and spirit of all the kingdoms that have

  its head. There has been a great controversy all through the             aimed at world-power in the past and that do aim at it at the

  ages of the new dispensation about the question whether this             present time. Secondly, this is also more or less symbolized

  beast, or the Antichrist, is a person or a power or a system             in the ten horns and sevenheads. Although we do not inter-

  or a kingdom. But it seems to me that this controversy is                pret these ten horns as representing ten different kingdoms

  not necessary; Daniel tells us that the beast is both, the               or the seven heads as seven different kings, yet the general

  kingdom and the king. Or to speak just a little more gener-              idea is expressed that this beast represents a combination of

  ally, it represents both the world-power and its government.             all the kingdoms of the world. Hence, also the resemblance


 i.28                                       T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


 of this beast with the dragon. It is the incarnation of the        to- be a combination rather than the dominion of one in-

 dragon, who possesses all' the kingdoms of the world. The          ,dividual  or group. .They planned to form a mighty federation,

 dragon has ten horns and seven heads; so has this beast.           a mighty league, with a common center in the city and tower,

 And the idea is ,clearly  .that the devil, to whom the kingdoms    with common aims and purposes. But then it received the

 of this world belong, who could say to the Christ, "Fall           death-stroke for a time. That death-stroke consisted in

 down and worship me, and I will give thee all the kingdoms         the confusion of tongues and the consequent separation into

 of the world," now has succeeded in combining all his king-        nations with their national differences and aspirations and

 doms under one head and inspiring them all with the same           the resulting wars and strifes. But that death-stroke is now

 principle. The only difference is that he does not succeed         healed. After many an individual power has made the at-

 in giving to his kingdom the complete  and perfect aspect of       tempt to gain the world-power and to obtain control of the

 the kingdom of God. Ten is the number of the world-king-           whole earth, the nations have finally come to the conclusion

 dom. Seven is the number of the kingdom of God. For a              that the way of combination is the only way. National differ-

 long time the dragon wore his seven crowns on his seven            ences have been overcome ; national aspirations have now

 heads. But now his authority and strength are both rep-            been combined into the aspiration of all. No more world

 resented by the number ten. And though it ds true that he          wars, no more strife and competition, but a great world-

 still has seven heads, no one can mistake them for heads of        wide empire, including all nations and comprehending them

 the kingdom of Christ: for names of blasphemy are written          all under one head, has now been realized. The death-

 upon them. And finally, that this is a world-power including       stroke has been healed, and what was prevented in the days of

 all the existing powers-of the whole earth is also plain from      Nimrod now is accomplished.

 the fact that the head of this power  has authority over all           Let us now call attention to the power of the beast. Let

 peoples and nations and tribes and tongues. Vs. 7. And             me say, first of all, that the power of this beast originated

 therefore we come to this conclusion so far: the beast rep-        in the dragon, the old serpent, the devil: "And the dragon

 resents a consummation of all the world-powers that have           gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority." In

 been in the past. It combines within itself all the power of       regard to this, we may remark, in the first place, that the

these dominions, all the glory of them, all the ambitions of        -dragon's power and authority itself is limited. He bears the

them, all their aspirations and aims and accomplishments.           number ten, and his kingdom bears that same number. And

 And, in the second place, it is itself a combination, a con-       that number refers to God's own sovereign decree. It is

federation, of all nations and peoples and tongues and tribes       well that we bear this in mnid, for it is to our comfort. It
. that may exist at that time under one head and under one          assures us from the outset that the power and authority of
.government.                                                        this kingdom of the beast, however great, is not unlimited,

    If we understand this, we shall also be able to comprehend      and that Christ, Who has all power, is mightier than the

the significant detail of the scar this beast has in one of its     Antichrist. But the fact remains that the dragon is permitted

heads. We read: "And I saw one of his heads as it were              to give his power and authority and throne to the beast. He

wounded to death ; and his deadly wound was healed."' This          has now realized what he failed to establish when he tempted

does not refer to the fall of the Roman Empire or to the fall       Christ. He also made the offer to Christ. You see, the devil

of the Grecian Empire or to the fall of the Babylonian or the       is a spirit; and as such he cannot establish an earthly throne

Egyptian Empire, or, in fact, to the fall of any particular em-     in person. He must have some human agent or agents that

pire or to all of .them combined. It is true that many attempts     will take the position. He wants to establish a world-king-

have been made to realize this great world-power in the             dom. For he aims at nothing short than the power of the

past. Babylon made the attempt; Persia also made. the               kingdoms of the'world. But he, cannot rule over that world

attempt; Greece was filled with the same aspirations ; and          in person.    $Ie  must have human beings, or a human being,

Rome advanced a good way to its establishment. It is also           to be his vice-regent. That is why he offered the position

true that all failed, and that they were smitten unto death.        to Christ. He thought Christ was powerful and able, capable

But there are two things which lead us to the consideration         of filling the place. But there was one condition to be'ful-

that the fall of any or of all these empires together cannot        filled : this great vice-regent of the devil had to worship and

be meant by this. death-stroke. In the first place, the death-      fall down before him, otherwise the devil would lose the

stroke here meant was healed; but the death-stroke of these         very dominion he sought. He himself must remain lord.

empires was final. And, in the second place, these empires          And this condition Christ refused to fulfill, for the simple
in the past consisted of the domination of one nation over          reason that He was the anointed Vice-regent not of the devil,

all the rest of the world, and not of a combination of them         but of God. But now the devil has found someone. I think

all, as is indicated in this beast. And therefore there is but      we must conceive of this in such a manner that-in general

one thing in past history that can be indicated by this scar        the power of the devil is vested in the entire dominion that

on one of the heads of the beast. It is the attempt in the          is pictured in the beast: For the authority and power-is given
days of mighty Nimrod and the building of the tower of              to the beast as a whole. But in the second place, we must

Babel `to establish a universal world-power; Also then it was       also maintain that this power and authority will be con-


                                             T H E   S T A ' N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             `129


centrated in the governing head of this world-power. It             therefore can make war: "And there was given him author-
makes `no difference now whether this governing head is a           ity over every tribe and people and tongue and nation." All
person or a group of persons, a sort of central committee,          nations freely and willingly obey the' one government. That
that rules the whole world. At this stage of history this is        one government has its own laws, that hold for all the na-
difficult to say. But the fact is that in the future there will     tions of the world. It has its own' police force and its own
be the full realization of a great world-power, combining in        representatives, that have authority in every clime and over
itself all powers of the earth, with a government that has all      every nation. And perhaps it will succeed even in establish-
the authority of the dragon, the old serpent, the devil. That       ing one language. At any rate, all the nations are now one
world-power in general, and that governing head in partic-          nation.    There is no more competition ; there is no more
ular, we may therefore fitly describe as the very incarnation       difference and war. It is a peaceful kingdom. And, in the
of the devil.                                                       second place, universal that kingdom is because all things
   In the second place, the text tells us that this Antichrist,     will be under the control of its central government. If I may
this central government, in combination with its kingdom            just run ahead for a moment, the rest of the chapter tells us
will do great things. Do not make a mistake here. Y                 that this central government has the power over buying and
                                                             OU
must not imagine that the whole world will.groan  under the         selling, so that you cannot`buy the necessities of life and can-
yoke of Antichrist and long to be delivered from it. That is        not do business and live along in society unless you are al-
perhaps what the devil tries to tell us, in order that we           lowed to do so by the beast. It must be a government, there:
should not recognize the power of Antichrist when it is             fore, that not only has complete control over all the in-
established. It will be" just the opposite. This Antichrist         habitants of the historic world, but also controls all things
will be attractive and inspiring. The whole world will be           connected with their life and existence in this kingdom.
fond of it. The whole world will live in the conviction that        Commerce and industry will be completely in the power of
this is just the thing. There will be a splendid time for the       the central government. Natural resources and railroads and
world. It will be a time of peace, all nations having been          air roads and waterways and other roads, coal and iron and
combined into one great whole. There will be no more rising         grain and vegetables, telegraph and telephone, radio and
of nation against nation. It will be a time of wonderful            television, and all things will be in the power of this central
accomplishments. This central person or government will             government. Schools and universities and churches will be
have all things under its control. 1t`wil.l  control the powers     under its jurisdiction. It will tell you what to believe and
of nature.       It will control science and philosophy. It will    how to worship, lfor  it will want one science and one religion
control religion and worship. It will control commerce and          and one worship. It has power to command you to worship
industry. It will control all that this world possesses in hid-     the beast and its image.    And therefore, once more we come
den talents and powers. And the promise given to man in             to the conclusion, based on the words of this passage and
the beginning, that he would have dominion over all things,         also on other parts of Scripture: the one final manifestation
will be realized. I imagine that in that kingdom or world-          of Antichrist will be that of a great and universal world-
power you will be able to scan the heavens : for. the air shall     power that will include all nations. That universal kingdom
have been conquered. Perhaps we shall even be able to               will have a central government that will have authority over
visit .other planets in the universe, as it is already attempted    all nations and over all things. That central government .will
in this present time. In that kingdom you will be able to           control all things in the world, and will be admired and
fathom the depths of the sea. In that kingdom you will be           worshipped by all the inhabitants of the whole earth.

able to speak with its remotest inhabitant. There shall be             I say : by all. But that is not quite true. ,There  is one

no poor, no miserable `from a worldly point of view; but            class of people that will refuse to put their trust in this great

all the powers of creation, come to full development under          power and to worship the beast. And that class of people is

the direction and under the control of the central head, shall      especially described,as  those whose names have been written

be at our command. In a word, it will be a splendid king-           in the book of life of the Lamb. In short, the people of God

dom, and the realization of all that the world desires will         will still be on earth. There will be elect of the Most High,

there be had. No, not a heavy yoke on groaning subjects is          covenant people, on earth. And they will refuse to worship

that of the Antichrist, but a most beautiful kingdom, with          the beast. And this-  brings us to our third question-: What is

peace and splendor and riches and plenty and harmony and            the spiritual character of this great and splendid world-

great developments. And the whole earth will wonder after           power? The answer to this question is .that it is anti-God

the beast. All the inhabitants will admire that state of things,    and anti-Christ. It is anti-saints and anti- the kingdom of

and they will say, "Who is like unto this great government,         God. That this is so might be surmised from the fact that

and who is able now to~war  with us ?" And in pure gratitude        this world-power received its power from the dragon, the

they will worship him and worship the devil.                        old serpent. He, as we have said before, has but one prin-

 That this must be so follows from the fact that this king-         ciple ; and from that principle he lives. It is the principle

dom is universal in its scope. In the first place, universal        of opposition against God.

because there shall be no nations, that are outside and that                                                                   H.H.

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


                                                                     niving -of Laban.  No longer was he always needed in the

                                                                     field watching the flocks and herds. His elder sons were old

                                                                     enough to take over the greater responsibilities, and it was

                                                                     possible for him to spend more time at home. And it was

                        The Dreamer                                  during these years that Joseph was coming into his maturity.

                                                                     Jacob was able to give to him the attention which the older

               Now Ismel  loved Joseph moye  than all his            children had never received. Jacob spent time with Joseph
           chiidren;, becaztss  he wa,s  the SON  of his old age:    -talking to him, instructing him, and just entertaining him.
           and ke +Naae  kim a coa,t of m.any colou~s.               With Joseph, Jacob shared an intimacy such as he had never
               And. when his brethren saw that their father          known with the other children. Joseph was the son of his
           loved l&z,  whoye  than all his brethren, they hated
                                                                     old age and received a majority of Jacob's love and attention.
           lziw~,  and could not speak peaceably unto him.
               And Joseph dreamed  a dream, and he told it               That this should have happened within the household of
           his brethren: and they hated him  yet the move.           Jacob, should not surprise us. We can not excuse Jacob
                                               GENESIS 37 :3-5       for his comparative neglect of his older children. Surely it

                                                                     was not right for him to discriminate in showing more favor

   After leaving Bethel Jacob returned eventually to Mamre           to one than to the others. Nonetheless, we can understand

where his father, Isaac, yet lived. During that time he had          it. Joseph was the son of his old age. It was very natural
been saddened by the death of his wife, Rachel. It was a             that he should receive the greatest share of his father's love.
grievous loss for him because Rachel had always remained             It is something which happens all the time.

the wife of his greatest love. At Mamre he was saddened                  There were, however, also other reasons for Jacob's

once again by the death of `Isaac. Many years had passed             favored treatment of Joseph.

since Isaac, in anticipation of his own death, had bestowed              One of these was the fact that Joseph was the son of
upon Jacob the covenant blessing. However, as long as Isaac          Rachel. Throughout the years he had always continued to
yet lived, he had remained the head of the covenant; and God         love Rachel `more than Leah. Moreover, when for many
had lengthened his life far beyond their greatest expectation,       years Rachel was barren, he had grieved with her because
because Jacob was not yet ready to assume this great spiritual       of it. He had sympathized with her arid often prayed in
position. Only after many years, during which the Lord led           her behalf. When finally the Lord answered these prayers
Jacob through many hard and difficult ways, was he suffi-            and gave to her a son, that son quite naturally was received
ciently matured in his relationship `to God to receive the           with special attention. Especially after Rachel's death, Jacob
position of full covenant authority., Thus Isaac gave up the         was `minded to see reflected in Joseph the characteristics of
ghost and died when he was 180 years of age ; and he was             the wife of his special love. Joseph in a sense took the place
buried by his sons Esau and Jacob.                                   of his mother as the object of Jacob's greatest love.

  As the narrative of Scripture continues we find Jacob in               But more important than anything else, Joseph was a son

the position of head in the covenant of God ; and the account        after his father's own heart, especially in a spiritual sense.

centers in the preparation of his sons to take their positions       In spite of his many shortcomings, Jacob had always been

as fathers to the chosen people of God.                              a spiritually sensitive person.    Already in his youth, he had

   The youngest of Jacob's children, save one, was Joseph.           distinguished himself from Esau in that he loved the Word
The Scriptures tell us concerning him, "Now Israel loved             of God and the promises. A quiet person by nature, the am-
Joseph more than all of his children, because he `was the son        bitious actions of his life had always been basically motivated
of his old age."    In our day we would put it more bluntly,         by a love for the promises of God. This same spiritual
although with less discernment. Joseph was spoiled. Upon             sensitivity lived also in the heart of Joseph. Thus there
Joseph, Jacob bestowed the majority of his attention. The            developed between father and son a deep bond of spiritual
other children had developed and begun to come to maturity           fellowship. It was possible for them to share together the
during the years when first they were yet in Haran  and later        deepest feelings of their hearts.' They shared together a
when they were moving and settling in Canaan. Those had              mutual love for the truth that God had revealed. In ,the
been busy years when the greatest part of Jacob's attention          quiet hours that they spent together in the home, Joseph
and efforts had been engaged with caring for the matters of          loved to be instructed in the truths that Jacob loved most to
his flocks and herds. He had had little time for his children.       teach. Joseph was a good boy that submitted himself com-
He had merely as soon as possible introduced them to such            pletely to the instructions of his father. Their days in each
work and odd jobs as they were able to perform. As each              other's company abounded in spiritual joy.

one of the children became old enough he was expected to                 We are introduced to the life of Joseph first with regard

help with the work which had to be done. Only after they             to his seventeenth year. We are told that he was out in the

were settled in the land of Canaan did this change. No               field feeding the flocks with  his brothers. We are not told

longer did Jacob have to -be  always on the alert for the con-       the reason why he happened to be in the field at that time.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R - E R                                             131


 It might well be that Jacob decided that the time had come          Joseph's brothers this was offensive. They felt rejected

 when' Joseph should receive some experience and practice in         already by the favoritism that their father showed to their

 the vocation from which he would be expected to make a              younger brother. The very way that Joseph spoke and did

 living. Thus Jacob sent him from their home to be with              things opened this wound anew and made them angry. It

 the brothers in the field. But it might also have been the         came to the point where everything that Joseph did was a

 desire of Joseph. Although he enjoyed the time spent at home       new occasion for sarcastic remarks and jokes. Even Joseph's

 with his father, it seemed to lack some of the seeming free-        religious sincerity was to them nothing more than arrogance

 dom and responsibility of his brothers' lives. Her heard them      and pride. His moral sensitivity which prompted him to

-from time to time telling about the adventures, which they          report the evil deeds of his brothers to their father, they

 met in the field, and, quite naturally for a young fellow, he      interpreted as a matter of pride and indirect boasting where-

 longed to experience the same. Upon Joseph's insistence,           by he exalted himself by belittling them in their father's

 Jacob finally allowed him to go. Whatever the reason, how-         sight. Although Joseph undoubtedly sought to please his

 ever, it did not go well. Joseph was quite a different person      brothers, it was impossible for him to do so. Hatred had

 from his brothers. The brothers had been old enough to             found a place in their hearts, and it refused to think well

 receive the example set forth by Jacob when they were still        of him.       It came to the the point where -they "could not

 in Haran.  They had seen their father in his more aggressive       speak peaceably unto him."

 and possessive day and were not left unaffected by it. More-           Jacob irritated the situation even more by presenting
 over, when they came to Canaan, they were old enough to            Joseph with .an elegant coat.    It .was not "a coat of many
 go out by themselves to circulate among the inhabitants of         colors" but only a coat such as princes wore and those who
 the land. But they were not properly prepared to resist the        lived a more gentle life. It served to. distinguish them from
 temptations of sin which they saw about them on every side.        those who wore the more crude dress of the field. Jacob no
 Soon they were. following many of the evil ways of the             doubt felt that Joseph warranted it, but to the brothers it
 Canaanites. Joseph, however, was influenced more by his            was but another sign of their rejection. and another occasion
 father after he came to years of greater spiritual discernment.    for scorn.
 Then Jacob instructed him particularly in the ways of the
                                                                        The climax `came to this all when Joseph received two
 Lord, all the while keeping -him free from contact with the
                                                                    prophetic dreams from God. In the first dream, received
 inhabitants of the land. Thus there turned out to. be con-
                                                                    perhaps after a day of harvesting in the field, he saw the
 siderable difference between the moral standards of Joseph
                                                                    sheaves of his brothers bowing down to his own. Feeling
 and his brothers. When he came out to live with them in                                                                               . .
                                                                    that the dream was of some special import, but not com-
 the fields, he was shocked to see the way they lived. He
                                                                    prehending that it was a revelation from God, Joseph in
 saw them doing things which he knew to be definitely wrong.
                                                                    the unassuming way of a youth rather naively told it
 He heard them talking about things which they would never
                                                                    all to his brothers.     They were willing to receive it as
 dare mention before their father. Embarrassed by his brothers'
                                                                    nothing more than an expression of the inner pride of his
 carnality, Joseph used the first opportunity which came to
                                                                    heart. In the second dream he saw the sun, moon and eleven
 him to ~tell  it all to Jacob. This was, of course, far from
                                                                    stars bowing down to him. This time they were ail together
 appreciated by his brothers.
                                                                    at home and his father was present as well as his brothers
    Gradually there was developing within the family of Jacob
                                                                    when Joseph related this dream also. Even Jacob became
 a deep-seated resentment and hatred. It began with jealousy
                                                                    somewhat afraid that the dream arose from the dominion
 for the favored treatment which Joseph received from his
                                                                    of pride in the heart of his son.      With sharp words he
 father. Once this hatred had gained access to their hearts,
                                                                    rebuked him. "What is this dream that thou hast dreamed ?
 as hatred always does, it found opportunity to grow at every
                                                                    Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to
 occasion. Even such minor things as character and person-
                                                                    bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?' Although they
ality differences promoted it. The older children of Jacob had
                                                                    scorned these dreams of Jacob .openlp, none was able to
 grown up in the open with the herds and flocks in the field.
                                                                    escape the feeling that they were of special import. The
 Their mannerisms were consequently more rough and hard.
                                                                    brothers, filled with hatred, were moved to envy by it; but
 But Joseph spent much more time with his -father being
                                                                    Jacob, aware of the inward purity of his son, "observed the
 instructed in the quiet of the home. Of a quieter nature, he
                                                                    saying" in his heart.
 was more refined in his ways. To his brothers he seemed to

 be sissified. Again in his early life, Joseph became ac-              The brothers of Joseph, we would believe, were at this

 customed to receive favored treatment of his father.               time regenerated children of God ; but hatred found a place

 Under such.treatment  he may easily have developed a some-         in their hearts and led them far astray in the way of evil.

 what aloof and self-confident approach, to life. This was          We find  here an example of what wickedness, hatred can do.

 actually not so much a matter of pride but merely a natural        Even as love "thinketh no evil" (I Cor. 13 :5>, hatred finds it

 reaction to his particular situation in life such as happens       impossible to think good.

 repeatedly under similar circumstances.       Nonetheless, to                                                               B.W.

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


                                                                          town of Nazareth, in Galilee of the nations, and had an-

                                                                          nounced to her that she would bear a Son, who would be

                                                                          Great, who would sit upon the throne of His. father David

                                                                          forever, and of whose kingdom there would be no end! Did
                  Exposition of Luke 1:46-52                              not the angel greet her with the memorable words: "Hail

                                                                          thou that art highly favored"? Is she not the "much graced
      The passage on which I write this time is best hewn  as
                                                                          one" among women? Is she not the chosen vessel of God
  the "Song of Mary",.1 In form of rhyme the church has sung
                                                                          from whom the Christ shall be born, the virgin who would
  this song of Mary throughout her history. And we do well
                                                                          conceive ? And will this Son not be called Emanuel, God-
  to take a little bit more particular notice of the uniqueness
                                                                         with-us ?
  of this song, as well in its form and content, as who it was
  who was singing this particular song.                                      In the third place, does not Mary sing this song standing,
                                                                         perhaps, on the very threshold of the house of Zacharias and
      The "Song of Mary" is known among scholars and stu-
                                                                         Elizabeth. Hither Mary had hastened after the angel had
  dents of the Bible by its intrqductory  verb in Latin which is
                                                                         announced to her that she should have this Wonder-Child,
  "Magnificat."  And hence it is better known as "The Magnif-
                                                                         and that her kins-woman, Elizabeth, who was called barren,
  icat."    Thus the "Song of Zacharias" is called "The Bene-
                                                                         too had conceived in her old age, and that she was in her
  dictus"  because the Latin term "benedictus" is the first word
                                                                         sixth month! Had not this Elizabeth kept herself in hiding,
  that came from the lips of Zacharias, when he says "Blessed
                                                                         saying :     "Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days
  (Benedictus) be. the God of Israel" (Luke 1:68). And,
                                                                         wherein he looked on me, to take away my reproach among
  again, in Luke 2 :29  we have the beautiful utterance from the
                                                                         men" (Luke 125).  But Mary was told by the angel. The
  mouth of the aged Simeon, which begins : "Now lettest  thy
                                                                         secret of Elizabeth, which is the secret of the Lord, is made
  servant depart in peace, Lord, . . .`, Since the Latin version
                                                                         known to Mary. And she, in faith, goes to see this thing
  of the Scriptures here begins with "Nunc demittis" the song
                                                                         which has come to pass ; she wishes to witness the evidence
  of Simeon is called "The Nunc Demittis" !
                                                                         that "there is nothing impossible with God" ! hnd the evidence
      This Song of Mary literally reads as follows: "My  sou.Z
                                                                         is far above anything that Mary could ask or think. For at
  dotlz Tczagnify  the Lord, and my @&lit  bath rejoiced in God,
                                                                         the very sound of her salutation the babe leaped for joy in
  my Savior.  For he bath  regarded  the low estate of his hand-
                                                                         the womb 01 the aged Elizabeth. The unborn John, who will
  wtaiden;  fog, behold, frowL henceforth all generations shall
                                                                         one day say to Israel concerning Jesus, "Behold, the Lamb of
  call me blessed. For 72e that is mighty ha~th  done to lae  great
                                                                         God," greets Jesus in this very singular and miraculous way.
  things: and holy <s his na&e.        And lzis mercy is on them that
                                                                         The unborn John the Baptist greets the unborn Jesus ! !
  fcay him from  generation to generation. He lmth  shewed
                                                                            In the fourth place', it should be observed Mary sings this
  strmgth  with his arm: he htlz scattered the proud in the
                                                                         Song under the power and operation of the Holy Spirit. Both
  zntagi.nation  of the+- laeaarts.    He hth put dozen  the mighty
                                                                         Mary and Elizabeth sing songs, and both sing of Ma.ry's
  jrom their seats, and exalted them of low deg+ee.  He ,5&z
                                                                         ckild.  They do not sing of Elizabeth's child, except in as far
  filled the hungry with good things; md the rich he bath  sent
                                                                         as he too is interested in this unborn child of Mary ! But
  away empty. He bath FYolpen  his sermnt Israel, in Ternem-
                                                                         both sing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Do we
  b,j*a?lce  of his memy as he spake to our fathers, to Abraham          not read of Elizabeth,     "and Elizabeth was filled with the
  a.nd to his seed forever."
                                                                         Holy Spirit, and she spake out with a loud voice, and said
      There are a few histon2 (not : historical !) facts which           blessed art thou among .women, and blessed is the @it of
  should be kept in mind in attempting to understand and ex-             thy womb . . ." It was because of the "fruit" of Mary's womb
  plain this Song of Mary.                                               that there was such great joy. `For now salvation would
     In the first instance it should be borne in mind that this          come, the promises made to the fathers would be fulfilled.
  Song is uttered by Mary while she is still standing in the                And, lastly, Mary sings this song limited in her vision by
  Old Testament dispensation of the Kingdom of God. She                  the Old Testament revelation. .She is a child of her times,
  is still standing in the days of the Shadows and the Types             first of all. Yet, limited as she is, she is led by the Spirit into
  of better things to come.       Christ was not yet born, he had        the very wzayrow  of the Old Testament Scriptures.
 not yet died and arisen again, fulfilling all righteousness.               Of this latter we should take further notice in this essay.
Christ was not yet seated at the right hand of the Father,               We call your attention to the following elements :
 sitting upon the throne of His-father David forever!                       We would call attention to the fact, first of all, that the

     In the second place we should notice .that Mary sings               Holy Ghost led Mary to the Scriptures, to Moses, the Psalms

 this song in the "fulness  of times." It was time that the              and the Prophets. It is especially to the Psalms that reference

 former things should pass away, and that the new should be              is made throughout in this Song of Mary. We will not

 ushered in. All God's promises should be manifestly shown               quote them all, but we do feel that it is in order to quote

 to be "Yea and Amen in Christ, to the glory of God the                  rather extensively from these 0. T. quotations. Thus in

 Father."    For the angel Gabriel had come to her in the little         verse 48 reference is made to I Sam. 1 :ll : ". . . if thou





                                                                                              -


                                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                133
                         _
             .

  wilt indeed look upon the affliction of thine handmaid,  and          covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee."

  remember me . . ." Thisis  from the song of Hannah. Again             See also Genesis X:18 and 22':17. In the latter passage we

  see Psalm 113 :5, 6, where we read : "who humbleth  himself           read: "That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying

  to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!"           I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as

  And in verse 49 Mary makes reference to Psalm 111:9  : "He the sand which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall

  sent redemption unto his. people : he hath commanded his              possess the gates, of thy enemies."

  covenant forever: ho131 and reverent is his wawu."  And in                Such is the covenantal point of dep&ure  in this entire

 "verse  50 `of the Song of Mary who does not think of the- Song.

  words of Psalm 103 :13 and 17: "Like as a father pitieth                  In the second place, it ought to be observed that Mary

  his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him," and: sings here as the mouth-piece of Israel. She does not sing

  "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting         an eXc&ti?z$v  personal song. She sings as a mother in

  upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto chil-             Israel,. yea, as the mother in Israel. And surely, her `low

  dren's children."           And, again, in verse 51 of the Song of    estate, as mother in Israel, was the low estate of the house

  Mary reference is made to Psalm 89 :lO where we read:                 of Jesse! From the viewpoint of Israel's national existence,
  I` . . . . thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong          the throne of David, Israel is still virtually in bondage, a

  arm."    Does not verse 52 refer clearly to such passages as          vassal people who are under the heel of the Kingdoms of the

  Psalm 147 :6, where we read : "The Lord lifted up the meek :          world, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and now Rome.              Caesar

  he casteth the wicked down to the ground"? And, further,              Augustus reigns.     He will have all the world be taxed.

  do not the words of verse 53 remind us of the utterance of            The house of David is not even in Bethlehem, but in Naza-

  the Psalmist in Psalm 34:10,  where we read: "The young               reth! And Mary's estate is truly lowly as the last represent-

  lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the               ative  of this royal house of David. But God has remembered

LORD shall not want any good thing"? And, finally, do                   her, and `in remembering her He remembers the lowly plight

 not the verses 54 and 55 remind us of Isaiah 4123  and Micah           of His people, by fulfilling in her the sign of the Virgin 1

  7 20 in which latter reference we read : "Thou wilt perform               But, in the third place, this is not strange. Is not the

 the truth to Jacob, and the .mercy to Abraham, which thou              Lord, Jehovah, her God, her Savior, and the Savior of his

 hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old."                     people: And does she not bear this "JESUS, Jehovah-saves"

     Surely, we have here the very marrow of the Old Testa-             under her heart. Had not the power of the Highest come
 ment Scriptures !                                                      upon her to overshadow her. Had John, the unborn child,
     In it we see the great and holy Name of God extolled.              not just announced it to Mary! Is God not he who causes
     Here we see the faithful promises of God to the fathers            the things that are not to be, and does he not fulfill `her hope
 fulfilled, and believed !                                              against hope for the house of David according to his sure
     Therefore, in the second place, we would call attention            promises 7 And has he not all through history cast down
 to the fact that in all these passages there is a &fying  prin-        the mighty from their thrones? Where are Pharaoh and his
 ciple. These utterances are not simply some aphoristic ex-             hosts? Were they not cast into the Red Sea, since God re-
 cerpts, haphazardly thrown together, without any relation-             members mercy to his own people, ~fulfilling  his word of
 ship to each other, not having any relevancy to the actual             promise ? And were not ever the hungry filled with good
 history of the children of God in the Old- Testament                   things. Think of Israel in the desert. Manna rained from
 Dispensation, but they  are a picture, a total view of the             heaven! An:  thus the true Manna will rain from heaven in

 Great Works of God, in a nut-shell. Thus they depict to US             her  "`:
 that God is faithful to his peopIe,  to Jacob whom he hath                And in agreement with this covenantal character of this
 chosen and loved. And, let it not be overlooked, that this is          song we should noLice too that it is a song which has its
 all reviewed from the vantage-point of Mary, as she sees all           chief ~lzoti~r  in God: God must be made great. His Name
 of the history of the people of God, as it culminates in the           must be extolled. His mercy, his power, his condescending
 faithfulness of God in the Promised Son, whom she shall                remembrance, his faithfulness . . . The .more  one thinks
 bring forth.                                                           about it, the more one's "spirit" rejoices in deep and sweet
     I would like to call attention to three aspects of this            meditation. And thus Mary's soul magnifies the Lord, when
 entire song.                                                           all this greatness passes before her reflecting spirit.

     In the first, place, let me point out the covenantal char-            And, finally., this song is one which has meaning for us

 acter  of this Song.                                                   even today. Does Mary not speak of the "From henceforth

     This appears from the very close of it. It is all con-             all the generations shall call me blessed"? We still sing this

 trolled by the .truth of the promise of God to the fathers, to         song. Not all the generations of the world sing this song.

 Abraham and to his children forever. The song really has               Not all call Mary blessed. But in the generations, thousands           .

 its "point of departure" in Genesis 17 17, where we read:              of generations of those who fear God and keep his command-

 "And I will establish my covenant between me and thee                  ments, this song is sung. Here its meaning is ,penetrated,

 and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting        the spirit rejoices upon God, our Savior.       I           G.L.

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


                                                                      freedom to speak and write as they please ? In Israel, which

                  IN HIS FEAR 11                                      was far more a Christian nation than any nation today in
                                                                      that all the Israelites were in <he  covenant sphere, those who

                                                                      took the liberty to speak their blasphemy were by $he  com-

                       Freedom of Speech                              mand of God stoned to death, Leviticus 24 :16. A Chris-
                                                                      tian nation will honor Christ and forbid any antichristian

                                  (4)                                 speech- to be spoken or published.
                                                                         And though it is true that the antichrist cimks  by force

         It is claimed that we have freedom of speech because this    and with  the sword, he also comes by speech. And the pen

  is a Christian nation. Some dare even go so far as to say           is mightier than the sword. The sword can kill but does not

  that it is one of the fruits of the cross, of Christ, one of        build up the antichrist's kingdom. It only rids him of his

  the ,many  things that *we  may enjoy because of His cross.         enemies. But the pen moves men to follow him, support

         Surely that cannot be the case. It would be far better to    him, honor and worship him. In Revelatign  13 where we

  say that in a Christian nation the'ungodly  are not given the       see him pictured both from his political and social-religious

  freedom to speak their evil 6inds  and wicked thoughts. The         aspects we see that .he comes with the sword. So' powerful

  Christian wants none of these evil ideas of the wicked propa-       is he with the sword that men cry of him, "Who is like`

  gated. He hates them and shudders at their utterance. He            unto the beast ? who is able to make war with him ?" And

  is even as the believers at Ephesus who, according to Acts          again as the beast that comes up out of the earth we read

  19 :19,  burned their books of curious arts, even though the        that he causeth "as many as would not worship the image of

  price of them amounted to the Glazing sum for that day              the beast" to be killed. But these same two visions clearly

  of fifty thousand pieces of silver! And remember that last          indicate his use of that which is `lauded by some as freedom

I time we saw that freedom of speech as applied to the written        `of speech. We read "there was given him a mouth speaking

  page, to magazines and books goes under the name of free-           great blasphemies . . . and he opened his mouth in blasphemy

  dom of the press. Does then a Christian nation behave as            against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle,

  these Christians in Ephesus or defend the right of men to           and them that dwell in heaven." Further this second beast

  write these books, to publish their evil and for them to seek       "deceiveth them that dwell on the earth, by the means of

  to persuade'countless  others also to believe the things written    those miracles %hizh he had power to do in the sight of the

  in them ? And can it possibly be a fruit of the cross of Christ     beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth that they

  that the antichrist is able to establish his kingdom  by a          should make an image to the. beast, which had the wound

  freedom that Christ has realized for him ? We said last             by a sword and did live."    Still further that "he had power

  time that `this freedom of speech which is lauded as be-            to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the

  longing to a Christian nation is so readily and forcefully a        beast should both speak and cause. that as many as would not

  tool for the establishment and furtherance'of  the kingdom of       worship the image of the beast should be killed." Note that

  the antichrist. We like to say a few things about that at           he says to those on the earth that they should make such an

  this time and show you that this freedom of speech which            image and that he gives power to this image to speak. Need

  affords us the right and liberty to teach our children and to       we say more ? The antichrist will make use of every op-

  do our missionary work is at the same time pressed into             portunity and every liberty given him to speak in order

  the service of the missionary work of the antichrist. And           to establish his, godless kingdom. And he is busy at it today.

  therefore we should not brand it as such a wonderful thing,         John says that there are already many antichrists in the

  and surely should not brand it as one of the benefits of the'       world. Forerunners these are of that final, dreadful form in.

  cross of Christ. Let us look at, this thing more closely and        which he will come at the end of time. But the freedom of

  not so superficially. Let us not deceive ourselves and call         the press and of speech is pressed into service today by all

  that which comes in God's providence a benefit of the cross         those who are led by the spirit of the antichrist. By speech

  of Christ. Christ `never gave them this freedom of speech           and the printed page he gains converts. `By the pen, by

  but warned against it. In Matthew 18:6  He is quoted as             paper and ink he molds the thoughts of man. And who  will

  saying,    "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones         dkny that both radio and television, which are media of com-

  which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone        munication, already are molding the thoughts of men? People

  were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in             begin to think alike. They begin to live alike. A thought

  the depth of the sea." By His Spirit He moved the Apostle           carried to the corners of our land by a nation-wide hook-up

  John to write in II John 10, "If there come any unto you            by radio and television takes hold in all these places and

  and bririg not this doctrine, receive him not into your house,      men's minds are molded and thought patterns are trans-

s neither bid him God speed ; For he that biddeth him God             planted. You understand that these are not spiritually good

  speed is partaker of his evil deeds." ,Shail  we then give him      thought patterns. In our land of freedom of speech, as is to

 the right and freedom to spread another doctrine? And does           be expected, that speech which the majority of the in-

  Christ then  go to His cross so that these may have the             habitants of our land choose and relish is beamed to every


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                      135


city and hamlet. Religious programs are tolerated.- though           which he seeks to drum these things in our ears and to

we understand that. less and less time is being given for            make us and our children receive these things in the place

them - but in the freedom of speech as practiced here in             of the- rebirth by the Spirit of Christ and the things of

our land the majority gets its wish. And it is the filth and         everlasting spiritual value before God's face.

foolishness of the world that dominates the air waves. The               No, we are not advocating that our government should

day will soon come when only the false church will be given          be petitioned to- withdraw this freedom of speech and of the

the freedom to speak its lie and mold man's thinking for the         press.    Surely we do not mean that the individual citizen

coming and reception of the antichrist. Soon there will be a         has the right to try to stop the mouths of the unbelievers by

freedom of all good speech in the sense that these things will       force. We surely do appreciate the work of God's providence,

not be allowed. One will be required to take the mark of             and of His grace for His Church- not for the world-

the beast on his right hand or forehead also to be given the         that we may worship and teach our children in liberty and

right to speak and write his thoughts and beliefs. By means          peace. And the withdrawal of freedom of speech would harm'

of the spoken and written word the antichrist gathers around         us more than it would harm the spread of antichristianity.

himself a loyal following and keeps in line those that follow        The unbeliever in his lawlessness would still find a way to

him only because of fear of the consequences. And our land,          spread his propaganda. And the true Christian in his walk

too, will soon see that this freedom of speech brings an end         of obedience to God would find it difficult to serve God ac-

to the freedom from fear for those who in the true freedom           cording to the dictates of His Word.

of religion believe in the Christ. These shall want, rather             But we are advocating the abolishment from our minds

than be enjoying freedom from want. For they will not be             the idea that what is lauded so highly in our land as freedom

able. to buy or sell because in the true freedom of speech they      of speech is a Christian benefit and privilege. We would

dare to speak up and tell this beast, this `antichrist that          speak a warning against confusing and mixing of the things

they must obey God rather than man. In that day men will             which men grant unto men simply because they find it to

not be so foolish as to say that freedom of speech is ours           their earthly and material advantage and the things which

because this is a Christian land. And men will not say that          are given us by the Spirit of Christ and because of His

this freedom of speech of- the whole antichristian world is          atoning blood on Calvary. Freedom of speech that is given

the fruit of the cross of Christ. Understand that this will still    by the Spirit of Christ and for the praise and glory of God

be called a Christian land, 0, indeed ! The antichrist will          we deeply.appreciate  as a gift of God's grace. But freedom of

want to have his kingdom known as a Christian nation. That           speech given. by ..mere  man for the advancement of men's

is exactly the way he comes into power and that is exactly           ideas and philosophies, given simply with a view to life here

the thing he has accomplished through this freedom to speak          below and its enjoyment, we fear. For it is the tool of the

his lie and spread through the freedom of the press his              forces of evil to bring in the kingdom of the antichrist. And

propaganda. Paul' tells us that. He writes in II Thessalonians       we would also speak a word of exhortation- in this true

2 ~3-5, "Let no man deceive you by any means : for that day          freedom of speech - that as parents and office-bearers in the

shall not come except there come a falling away first, and           church, but also as covenant people, we do all in our power

that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition ; Who op-          to speak the truth and provide the truth for our children.

poseth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or         Then we use this freedom of speech in His fear.

that is worshipped ; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of                                                                 J.A.H.

God, shewing  himself that he is God." That is why he is

called the antichrist. He is against God and against His
                                                                        Bulletin quote: "When you inquire after public news, in
Christ; ,but he also sets himself up as though he were the
                                                                     that wait upon God. Do it with an eye to Him for this
Christ. He is the false Christ. They are not all Israel that
                                                                     reason: because you are truly concerned for the interest of
are of Israel. Neither is all that Christian that is called
                                                                     His Kingdom in this world ; and lay them near your heart
Christian and that is born in the sphere where Christ has
                                                                     . . . . ask, `what news ?`, not as the Athenians, only to satisfy
His people. The Christian is one who partakes of Christ's
                                                                     a vain curiosity and to pass an idle hour or two, but that
anointing and has the Spirit of Christ dwelling in his heart.
                                                                     you may know how to direct your prayers and praises."
He is a regenerated man. And we do wrong ; we stand on
                                                                     M. Henry.
dangerous ground ; we deceive and lay a snare for our chil-

dren when we call  all that which is civilized, cultured, re-

fined, polite, outwardly decent and has a willingness to let                      Rise, my soul ! adore and wonder !

"the other fellow" speak his piece and air his views as                          Ask, "0 why such love to me?'

Christianity. That is the way the antichrist speaks in order                      Grace hath put me in the number

to get his following, in order to get men away from the                             Of the Savior's family:

Christ, if he can, and substitute earthly things that appeal to                            Hallelujah !

the flesh for the things of the Spirit of Christ. And all our                     Thanks, eternal thanks, to thee.

freedom of speech and of the press gives him the opportunity                                                     - A N O N Y M O U S

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


Il.                                                                    calling unto .the office, -.but it follows thereupon and can
           Contending~  For The Faith                            .I    therefore not be anything else than a public pointing out of
                                                                       the one who is called unto an office, and a solemn introduction

                                                                       and appointment unto that office. Even as a marriage before

            The Church and the Sacraments                              magistrates does not constitute the essence of matrimony and

                                                                       the crowning does not make the king, so also the ordination,

       Vr~ws  D                                                        with or without the laying on of hands, is not the communica-
                   URING THE TI-IIRII  PERIOD (750-1517 A.D:)
                                                                       tion of the office or of the office bearer. It is merely the

                    T H E   S E V E N   S A C R A M E N T S            solemn, public declaration before God and His church that

                                                                       the one called has been legally sent and therefore sent of

                            HOLY ORDERS                                God, that he possesses-the required gifts and as such must

                                                                       be received, acknowledged and honored by the congregation."
                                (continued)                            - end of quote.

       We concluded our preceding article with a quotation from                                  M A R R I A G E
the Dogmatics of Dr. H. Bavinck. We will now conclude
                                                                           The seventh and last sacrament of the Roman Catholic
this quotation.                                                        Church is that of matrimony.       Concerning this sacrament the

       "This custom of the laying on of hands went over from           Romish Church has also expressed itself in the Canons and

the apostles into the Christian Church, which applied it to            Decrees of the Council of Trent as follows, and we quote:

baptism, healing; the receiving again of those who had fallen
                                                                           "The first parent of the human race, under the influence
and of heretics, marriage, penance and ordination. In the
                                                                       of the Divine Spirit, pronounced the bond of matrimony
last instance (penance and ordination- H.V.) , the right
                                                                       perpetual and indissoluble, when he said: T&s  now is b,one
to apply this laying on of hands was ascribed in later times
                                                                       of my bones, a.nd flesh of my flesh. Wherefore a man shall
only to the bishop and it was considered as the granting of            learye  father and motlzev,  and shall cleave to his wife, and they
a special official gift. After all, over against Gnosticism and
                                                                       shall be two in one. flesh."
Montanism the truth of the church was thereby demonstrated,

that the bishops in the churches; which had been founded by                But, that by this bond two only are united and joined

the apostles, were the preservers of the pure tradition. They          together, our Lord taught more plainly, when,. rehearsing

themselves had received this from the apostles and had                 those last-words as having been uttered by God, he said :

delivered them undamaged to their successors. The success~o            Themfoie  now thy a;re not two, but one flesh; and straight-

a,b in&o  decm,rens, demonstrated by II Tim. 2 :2, delivered           way confirmed the firmness of that tie, proclaimed so long

thereunto the guarantee, for the office included the com-              before by Adam, by these words: l4'lza.t  therefore God bath

munication of a special official spirit which preserves the            joined together,. let no man  put asunder.

office bearer regardless how wicked he personally may be.                  But the grace which might perfect that natural love, and
The laying on of hands was surely customary in the old                 confirm that indissoluble union, and sanctify the married,
church at the ordination unto presbyter, deacon and the lower          Christ himself, the institutor and perfecter of the venerable
offices, was always accompanied with prayer and was viewed             sacraments, merited for us by his passion ; as the Apostle
for a long time as a symbolic sign of the communication of             Paul intimates, saying, HmbatLds  love yoztr wives, as Christ
the official gift. But gradually it was regarded as a sacra-           also loved the Chzwclz  a.nd delivered himself  Z$J for 
ment which by an external operation yielded an indelible                                                                        it; adding
                                                                       shortly after, Tltis  ti a great sacra:uutent,  but I speak in Christ
character. At first, the Lutherans rejected it, but later they         and in the Church.
recognized it again and ascribed a great significance to it.

The Reformed people judged unanimously that the laying on                 Whereas therefore matrimony, in the evangelical law,

of hands was not a commandment of Christ and that it was               excels in grace, through Christ, the ancient marriages, with

not absolutely necessary. But while some regarded it as                reason have our holy Fathers, the Councils, and the .tradition

beneficial, respectable and worthy to serve as example, others         of the universal Church, always taught, that it is to be

regarded it as an adiaphoron (not essential, - H.V.), and              numbered amongst the sacraments of the new law; against

advised against its use because of the fear of superstition. It        which, impious men of this age raging, have not only had

does not constitute an essential element of ordination, for            false notions touching this venerable sacrament, but, intro-

no mention is made of it as used by Jesus, or by the apostles,         ducing according to their wont, under the pretext of the

or also by the elders, Acts 14 :23,  20 :2S. Besides, neither can      Gospel, a carnal liberty, they have by word and writing

nor may it be regarded as a mechanical communication of a              asserted, not without great injury to the faithful of Christ,

special official spirit. For it does not bestow but rather pre-        many things alien from the sentiment of. the Catholic Church,

supposes the special gifts which are demanded for the o&e              and from the .usage  approved of since the times of the

by Scripture. Neither is it identical with the election or             Apostles; the holy and universal Synod, wishing to meet the


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 137


. rashness of these men, has thought it proper, lest their             would be guilty of adultery. I repeat: this is surely a most

  pernicious contagion may draw more after it, that the more           interesting statement. To teach, therefore, as we do as

  remarkable heresies and errors of the above-named schis-             Protestant Reformed Churches, in regard to the remarriage

  matics  be. exterminated, by decreeing against the said heretics     of divorced persons is not new. This same doctrine is already

  and their errors the following anathemas." - end of this             set forth in these canons and decrees of the Council of Trent.

  quote from the Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent.           And we must not object that this is set forth by or in the

                                                                       teachings of the `Roman Catholic Church. -The fact is that
      And then follow these anathemas which this Council of            Rome sets this forth in defence  of its maintaining of the
  Trent expressed in- the following canons, or denial of               fundamental truths of Holy Writ.
  errors.

                                                                          Ca%non  VIII. - "If any one saith, that the Church errs,
      Ca.non  I. - "If any one saith, that matrimony is not           in that she declares that, for many causes, a separation may
  truly and properly one of the seven sacraments of the               take place between husband and wife, in regard to bed,
  evangelic law, (a sacrament) instituted by Christ the Lord ;        or in regard of cohabitation, for a determinate or for an in-
  but that it has been invented by men in the Church ; and that       determinate period : let him be anathema."
  it does not confer grace: let him be anathema."
                                                                          Canon IX. - "If any one saith, that clerics constituted in
      &non II. - "If any one saith, that it is lawful for Chris-      sacred orders, or' regulars,    who have solemnly professed
  tians to have several wives at the same time, and that this is      chastity, are able to contract marriage, and that being con-
  not prohibited by any divine law: let him be anathema.,"            tracted it is valid, notwithstanding the ecclesiastical law, or

                                                                      vow; and that the contrary is nothing else than to condemn
     Canon III. - "If any one saith, that those degrees only
                                                                      marriage; and, that all who do not feel that they have the gift
  of consanguinity and affinity which are set down in Leviticus
                                                                      of chastity, even though they have made a vow thereof, may
  can hinder matrimony from being contracted, and dissolve it
                                                                      contract marriage : let him be anathema ; seeing that God
  when contracted ; and that the Church can not dispense in
                                                                      refuses not that gift to those who ask for it rightly, neither
  some of those degrees, or establish that others may hinder
                                                                      does he suffer  us to be tempted above that which we are
  and dissolve it : let him be anathema."
                                                                      able."
     Ca.notz  IV..- "If any one saith, that the Church could not
  establish impediments dissolving marriage ; or, that she has            Canon X. - "If any one saith, that the marriage state is
                                                                      to be placed above the state of virginity, or of celibacy, and
  erred in establishing them: let him be anathema."
                                                                      that it is not better and more blessed to remain in virginity,
     Canon V. - "If any one saith, that on account of heresy,         or in celibacy, than to be united in matrimony: let him be
  or irksome cohabitation, or the affected absence of one of          anathema."
 the parties, the bond of matrimony may be dissolved: let him
                                                                          Canon XI. - "If any one saith, that the prohibition of
 be anathema."
                                                                      the solemnization of marriages at certain times of the year
     Ca.non VI. - "If any one saith, that matrimony con-              is a tyrannical superstition, derived from the superstition
 tracted, but not consummated, is not dissolved by the solemn         of the heathen ; or condemn the benedictions and other cere-
 profession of religion by one of the parties: let him be             monies which the Church makes use of therein : let -him be
 anathema."                                                           anathema."

     Canon VII. - "If any one saith, that the Church has                  Ca.non  XII. - "If any one saith, that matrimonial causes
 erred, in that she hath taught, and doth teach, in accordance        do not belong to ecclesiastical judges : let him be anathema."
 with the evangelical and apostolical doctrine, that the bond         - end of -quote.
 of matrimony can not be dissolved on account of the adultery

 of one of the married parties; and that both, or even the in-           We wish to make but one observation in connection with

 nocent one who gave not occasion to the adultery, can not            this Romish conception of the sacrament of matrimony at

 contract another marriage during the lifetime of the other;          this time. The.Lord  willing, we will have more to say in our

 and, that he is guilty of adultery, who, having put away the         following article. How contradictory is Rome in its setting

 adulteress, shall take another wife, as also she, who, having        forth of these decrees ! On the one hand, Rome declares that

 put away the adulterer, shall take another husband: let him          the bond of matrimony cannot be dissolved on account of

 be anathema."    This seventh canon, we all readily under-           the adultery of one of the married parties. But, in spite of

 stand, is a most interesting statement. Imagine, if you please,      the fact that the state of marriage is a bond which remains in

 what the Church has taught here! It taught that the bond of          effect "until death do us part," Rome did not hesitate to

 matrimony cannot. be dissolved on account of adultery. It            issue a decree which annulled all marriages which involved

 also taught that even the innocent one cannot contract an-           the clergy, in order to set forth its doctrine of celibacy. But,

 other marriage during the lifetime of the other, and that,           more of this later.

 should she take another husband, even though innocent, she                                                                      H.V.


1    3    8                                                T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                                                                                  Article 14, we have the same objection in a way. Only this
                                                                      ' -
          The Voice of Our Fathers                                                objection is directed against the necessity of the means of
                                                                                  grace and their use. The Arminians'argued, first of all, that

                                                                                  if perseverance is certain and is wrought certainly by God's

                                                                                  absolutely sovereign and efficacious grace, so that it is ab-
                      -The.Canons  of Dordrecht
                                                                                  solutely impossible for an elect saint to. fall away and to

                                       PART Two                                   go lost, then the means of grace are not necessary. The elect
                                                                                  will be saved, and they will surely be preserved and persevere

                             E X P O S I T I O N  OF  ` T H E   C A N O N S       unto the end. This is absolutely guaranteed. And therefore

                                                                                  there is no. place for the preaching of the gospel and the
                             FIFTTI HE A D  OF DOCTRINE                           Sacraments in this scheme of things. Even if it be granted

               O                                                                  that this salvation takes place 
                    F                                                                                                 i&idly  through the preaching
                           T H E  PER&EXANCE  O F   T H E   S A I N T S

                                                                                  of the gospel, then after the saint has once come to the knowl-
               Article 14.          And as it hath pleased God, by the preach-    edge of Christ, since he will surely be preserved anyway,
               ing of the gospel, to begin this work of grace in US, SO           there is no more need of the preaching of- the gospel. Whether
               he preserves, continues, and perfects it by the heariilg
                                                                                  that gospel is preached to him or not, he will be preserved
               and reading of his Word, by meditation thereon, atid
               by the exhortations, threatenings, and promises thereof,           to the end.. And the Arminians argued, in the second place,
               as well as by the use of the sacraments.                           that this view takes away all necessity and all incentive for the

                                                                                  saints to be diligent in the use of the means of grace. If it
 ^ The above- translation is substantially correct although it                    be true, so they argued,. that the saints are certainly pre-
is a bit difficult to do justice to the original Latin in a smooth-               served, and if it be true that the saints are assured of their
flowing English translation. For- the sake of correctness we                      preservation, then the saints themselves are free to take the
will give a more literal translation: "Moreover, even as it                       position that the means of grace are unnecessary in their-lives.
bath  pleased God to begin this his own work of grace in us                       They will feel that they do not need the Word and the
through the preaching of the gospel; thus through the hear-                       sacraments.    They will conclude that their perseverance is
ing, reading, meditation, exhortations, threatenings, prom-                       an assured fact whether they attend to the preaching of the
ises of the gospel, and also through the use of the sacraments                    Word or not, whether they use the.sacraments  or not. They
he preserves, continues, and perfects it."                                        will neglect to read and meditate upon the gospel, since they

     At first glance we would perhaps be inclined to say that                     will be preserved without these very well. They will feel no

this article sets forth such a patent fact that it was scarcely                   need of the exhortations, threatenings, and promises of the

necessary for the fathers to mention it. The article deals                        gospel. All necessity of the means of grace, so the Arminians

fundamentally with the means of grace and with`thk fact that                      argued, is. done away, both principally and as a matter of

God does not supply His people with the blessings of salva-                       the practical life of the Christian. This is the doctrinal view

tion except through these means. And this is such a simple                        over against which the fathers take position in the article

and basic truth that any child of God is acquainted with it,                      under discussion.

if not doctrinally, then experientially. Every child of God                          And how do they answer?
knows the necessity of these means, knows that they are                              Let us notice that there is a comparison in, their answer,
indispensable, knows that if he neglects these means of grace                     first of all. They say: "As it hath pleased God to begirt  this
to whose use God has bound Himself in the work of His                             work of gr-ace  in us by the preaching of the gospel, thus (it
grace, his spiritual life can only suffer. And therefore the                      hath pleased God) to preserve, continue, and perfect it
question arises : why do the fathers take pains to mention this                   through the hearing, reading, meditation, exhortations,
truth in this connection 7                                                        threatenings,, and promises of the gospel, and also through

     In the main, the reason for this article is the same as                      the use of the sacraments."     The comparison, therefore, is

that for the two preceding articles. There, as we have `seen,                     between the method by which, God begins this work and the

the Arminian objection that this doctrine of certain,persever-                    method by which God continues this work. And there is a

ante  through sovereign grace makes men careless and profane                      reference here to an earlier teaching of the fathers, concern-

was faced by the fathers and rejected. They maintained that                       ing the beginning of this work of grace, in Article 17 of the

the very opposite was true, namely, that. the certainty of                        Third and Fourth IIeads of Doctrine. We may remind our-

perseverance leads to true piety, not to carelessness. And the                    selves of this by quoting the first part of this article: (`As

fathers maintained, further, that even in the case of one                         the almighty operation of God, whereby he prolongs and

who falls into sin and is restored it is not true whatsoever                      supports this our natural life, does not exclude, but requires

`that the renewed confidence of persevering makes a saint                         the use of means, by which God of his infinite mercy and

careless. A careless saint is a contradiction in terms, an                        goodness hath chosen to exert his influence, so also the

impossibility: Either one is careless, and then he is no saint ;                  beforementioned supernatural operation of God, by which

or he is a saint, and then he is not careless. Now here, in                       we are regenerated, in no wise excludes, or subverts the use

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


of the gospel. which the most wise God has ordained to be           is not a~ Christian and there is not a church that would ever

the seed of regeneration, and food of the soul." And the main       take the position that the means of grace are unnecessary for
thrust of the article is that this manner of operation by           the preservation, .continuance,  and perfecting of the work of

which God begins the .work  of His ,grace  in us is the same        grace in God's children. And there is not a preacher who

manner of operation on God's part in the preservation, con-         as a matter of real-life preaching takes the -position that the

tinuance, and perfecting of the work of grace in us. To the         exhortations, threatenings, and promises of God's Word are

details of this proposition we shall return presently.              unnecessary. Take these out of the Word, and it is safe to

                                                                    say there is no Word left to preach!
    We may take time out at this point to remark that this
article furnishes no ground for the view of mediate regenera-          The trouble is that we are sometimes misled in our think-
tion. It is a rather sad fact that some lose sight almost com-      ing by Arminian arguments of the kind under consideration.
pletely of the fact that this article is directed against the       You wiil even hear these arguments presented sometimes in
Arminians, and turn their commentary on this article into           Reformed circles and in the name of Reformed doctrine. The
a vehement polemic against their Reformed brethren who              accusation will be raised against those who maintain the
hold to the view of immediate regeneration. But there are           Reformed truth of efficacious grace and certain preservation
some who grasp at the first clause of this article in- order        that there is no room left in their view for the conscious
to proke  that it is the position of our Reformed confessions       response and activity of faith, and therefore no room left
that regeneiation  (the beginning of the work of grace in           for admonition and warning.      And then we sometimes begin
us) takes place through the preaching of the gospel. We             to ask ourselves whether this accusation does not after all
will not take the time to enter into a detailed discussion of       have some truth in it. We ask the question: why is it really
this matter, because we did this in connection with Cano?zs         that the preaching of the gospel., the use of the sacraments,
III, IV, 17, to which the reader may refer if he is interested.     and the reading of and meditation upon the gospel with its
Suffice it to say here: 1) That it certainly could not have         exhortations, threatenings, and promises are necessary ?
been the intention of the Canons in this article to say any-        -Mark you well, the question is not: are the meani,  of grace
thing about mediate or immediate regeneration. That was             necessary ? But it is : why, under the view of sovereign grace,
not the. issue at that time, and it surely was not the issue        are the means and their use indispensable ?

in this article. This is an anti-Arminian article. 2) A glance         And to this our  present article gives a beautiful and very

at the context of this article, both in the Fifth Head and in       final answer : "It hath pleased God !" No other answer can
the preceding chapter, will show that it'surely was not the         you really give to this question. No more final answer can
intention of the fathers to say something about regeneration        you give to it. God in performing the work of His grace has
in the narrower sense of the `word, as it takes .place  without     been pleased to use p?%eavts.  Abstractly considered, it might

our bonsciousness  in the depth of our heart; but the whole         have pleased God to save His people without means. But
context is concerned with the w&k of grace as it is wrought         that did not please Him. And therefore God has joined
in us conscioztsly. And there is no argument in Reformed            together the work of His grace in us and His tise of the
circles as to whether that conscious work of salvation is           preaching of the gospel and the sacraments. It pleased  God
wrought mediately `or immediately. That is always wrought           by the foolishness of preaching. to save them that believe.
through the means of grace. For the rest we will not enter          And God has joined together our salvation and our diligence

into the argument at this stage.                                    in the use of the God-ordained means of grace. God also

    But now let us enter somewhat into the details of ;he           maintains and realizes the inseparable connection between the
fathers' teaching in this article.                                  two. The fact that God uses means and the fact that He
                                                                    requires of us to use these means does not vitiate the truth
    Of course, as we have indicated previously, from a prac-        that it is He alone who saves us. But to that we must return
tical point of view this' whole article is really unnecessary.      later. For the present let            emphasize this: Let not man
                                                                                                   us 
Practically speaking, this Arminian l& is as false as it is big.    put asunder what it has pleased God to join together! To
What real Christian is there who ever for a moment honestly         attempt it is folly, and it is vain; and it is sin!
thinks that the means of grace are unnecessary ? No, I do
                                                                                                                             i3.C.H.
not mean that there are no Christiani  who temporarily fall

into the sin of neglecting the means of grace. And I do not

mean that it is unnecessary to admonish God's people to be

diligent in using the means of grace. These are different                          Gracious God, my heart renew,
matters.    They are not matters of understanding, but of                          Make my spirit right and true ;
ethical error. The Christian who neglects the means of grace
                                                                                   Cast me not away from Thee,
knows better. He knows that he does wrong. But for one
                                                                                Let Thy Spirit dwell in me ;
carnal reason or another hei sins in the face of his better
knowledge. And he knows too that he sins. But what 1                               Thy salvation's joy impart,

want to emphasize here is that as a matter of real life there                      Steadfast make my willing heart.

                                                           c

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


                                                                        fact, in view of present developments in the educational

                                                                        world, it may be said that this function of the consistory has

                                                                        becomti-  more mandatory than ever before. Although it is

                                                                        difficult to imagine that a consistory of a Reformed Church

                                                                        could oppose or be indifferent toward the cause of Chris-
                    Questions  of Article 41
                                                                        tian education, we cannot ignore the cold facts of reality.
                            Ch&ian  Schools                             It may be stated, however, that where such is the case there

                                                                        has already been a radical departure from the principles of
        "Are the Christian Schools cared for ?"
                                                                        the Reformed faith. Even though the -name Reformed is
        This is the question with which the delegates of each           retained, it is impossible to be and remain reformed and
 Consistory are confronted every time the Classis  meets. The           oppose the principles of Christian education. For this very
very nature of the question, together with the real tendency            reason no man who is opposed to Christian education can be
 in our present day to dissociate the Christian school from the         considered an eligible candidate for the office of elder or
 church (consistoryj altogether, makes it imperative to re-             deacon in a Reformed Church. Such a man cannot fulfill the
 evaluate and explain the significance of this matter.                  obligations of the office for the consistory is bound by the

        We are not, however, to discuss in this connection the          Word of God and the Church Order to support, promote and

 relation between the church (consistory) and the school.               care for the Christian schools.

 This question belongs properly to Article 21 of the Church
                                                                           This. duty of the consistory is not fulfilled by simply
 Order where the duty of the consistory is defined as "`seeing
                                                                        making some financial provision for the Christian schools
 to it that there a.re good Christian schools in zvhich the
                                                                        through offerings that are received in the church. Neither
 paTrents  hzre  tkek child~~en  instrmted  according to the de-
                                                                        is the question that is asked by the Classis  the same as if
 mands of the covenant." We have treated this matter fully
                                                                        it were asked whether there is a Christian school in the locale
 in The Stanokd Becwev,  Vol. 31, pgs. 380 ff.
                                                                        and whether the parents are urged to use this school for the
        At present we are interested in the significance of the         instruction of their children. These things may in themselves
 question that is put to the delegates of the Classis  under            be significant and even necessary measures by which the Con-
 Article 41. Historically we understand that this matter of             sistory's role in the matter of education is aided, but they do
 caring for the Christian schools had real meaning to the               not touch upon the main thrust of the question asked. In
 consistories.    For a long time after the Reformation, the            seeking that thrust we must not forget the historic circum-
 schools were owned by the government. In countries such                stances in which this question originated. It may even be
 as the Netherlands where the government &as Reformed, the              granted that those circumstances in which the church directly
 management of the schools was left to the consistories. The            controlled and maintained the schools was not ideal and even
 latter functioned as School Boards. They examined the                  in principle wronu
                                                                                           b, yet, the main point evolving from the
 teachers, supervised the instruction, and insisted particularly        question raised in those circumstances is whether the con-
 on purity in doctrine in the schools. When then the question           sistory sees to~it  that the education which the children of the
 was asked "of de Christelijke Scholen  bezorgd worden,"  the           church receive is good, sound and Reformed? Is it Christian
 question had reference to these very things. It meant, "Did            ed.ucation?  Does the consistory support in every possible way
 the consistory attend to these matters ?"                              such programs of education ? Does the consistory impress

        Later, however, the government became neutral ( ?) and          upon its membership the necessity and urgency of such a

 so did the schools. As a result of this, societies were  organ-        program ?

 ized fdr the establishment and maintenance of real Christian
                                                                           That question is certainly the business of the consistory.
 schools. This situation prevails in our day. Our schools  are
                                                                        It has its origin not in the debatable relation between the
 not owned, operated, and directly supervised by the church
                                                                        church and the school but ,rather  in the incontrovertible ques-
 but by parental societies. Our position is that it is the direct
                                                                        tion that is put by the church to the parents in the baptism
 responsibility of the parents to train and to educatk the chil-
                                                                        of their children: Do YOU pm&se,  befwe God and His
 dren . of the covenant.
                                                                        ch.urch,  to see to it that these ch,ildffen, z&en co'me to t/te
     This raises the question whether or not this situation             ysars  of discretion; are instructed and bmicght  up in the
 relieves the consistory of the necessity of answering the              aforesaid doctrine,  or help OY came them to be instructed
 prescribed question ?      Is, perhaps, this question of Article       therein to the utmost  of yoztr  power?'  Monsma and Van
 41 outmoded and would it be better to elide this altogether            Dellen  in the CI&YC!Z  Ogpder  Conzmentwy  make the state-
 from our Church Order ? +-Can  the cons&tory under the                 ment : "Consistories should ascertain for themselves whether
 present set-up still.fulfill  this function and, if so, what is the    the instruction which the children of their church receive is
 intent or meaning of the question ?                                    Christian, or rather Reformed. Consistories must be sure

    In reply to ihis we stress that the consistory is certainly         that the schools which they are supporting are not merely
 duty bound tom  support the cause of Christian education. In           Christian in name or to a certain extent, but that they are


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 141


  maintaining their distinctive character to the very best of             help to a consistory that brings before it a problem of an
  their ability" (pg. 188).                                               ecclesiastical nature. According to one view, the consistory
                                                                          involved must definitely decide the matter and have its deci-
      This is certainly true and for us that means that each
                                                                          sion formally recorded in its minutes before the Classis  will
  consistory must promote and support as much as possible the
                                                                          act upon the request to give judgment and help. Consistories
  cause of Protestant Reformed Education or desist from giv-
                                                                          must not be encouraged simply to drop all their problems into
  ing an affirmative answer to the question that is asked its
                                                                          the lap of the Classis  and expect the Classis  to solve them.
  delegates at the Classis.  We repeat that also in this respect
                                                                          Classes, must not be made "question boxes." The, Classis
  there is room for the president of the Classis  to ask one or
                                                                          takes the position that the consistory is a self-governing
two pointed or direct questions in regard to the matter of
                                                                          body and must, therefore, make its own decisions and only
 Christian education. This would avert the danger of Article
                                                                          then when there is doubt and uncertainty with the decision
  41 becoming a matter of formal routine and in some instances
                                                                          made will the Classis  render assistance and give its judg-
  might even reveal situations that are in need of investigation,
                                                                          ment.
  admonition and correction before irreparable damage is done.

                                                                             Although there is much merit in these arguments, there

              The hdgw~ent  and Help of the Classis                       are two objections to the above position. First of all, in'

                                                                          effect this means that'no consistory will bring a problem to
      The final question that is put to the delegates of the
                                                                          the Classis  under the question of Article 41 except in the
  Classis  is : "Do you need the judgment and help of the classis
                                                                          concrete case of a protest. If the consistory decides the
  for the proper government of your Church ? - of er iets is,
                                                                          matter, there is no further need to go to the Classis  for
  waarin zij het oordeel en de hulp der Classis  tot rechte .in-
                                                                          judgment and help.     Only if one of the members of the
  stelling hunner Kerk behoeven."
                                                                          consistory or, if it is a matter that concerns the congregation,
      `We may note first of all that the term proper govmment             a member of the congregation dissents with the opinion of
  is not an exact translation of rechte  instell,ing.  The CRztrch        the consistory and considers it weighty enough to merit a
  Order Co?~z.~/,c.erzta~~*~  explains the difference in the following    protest will the matter come to Classis  but even then, not
  quotation : "Our term is too limited. For insteZZing  refers            under Article 41 but as an item on the Agendum. In the
  not merely to the government of the Church but also to its              second place, this position makes it impossible forOa  .con-
  organization. It seems to refer to the governmental set-ztp             sistory that really needs help to obtain it. Let me illustrate
  of the churches as well as to the proper functioning of this            this by means of a hypothetic case. There is a consistory
  organization. Consistories or delegates are not expected to             with four elders and four deacons. At the time this congrega-
  raise' all kinds of questions dealing with. interesting and             tion is without a minister and, hence, there are only eight
 perhaps important matters, but they are to limit themselves              votes in the consistory. A certain serious problem arises
  to questions which are at that time actually problems to                concerning which the consistory is equally divided with two
  them. The purpose of classical gatherings is to help each               elders and two deacons' .taking opposite positions.        It is
  other in the proper government of the churches. Classis  is,            impossible for the consistory to arrive at a decision and,
  therefore, interested in specific cases, not abstract possibil-         therefore, it is decided, to seek the judgment and help of the
  ities."                                                                 Classis  in the matter. This is done but the Classis  will not

      Be that as it may, we are at present more concerned with            come to the aid of this consistory because it has not first

  the terms "judgment" and "help" in the above question.                  taken a stand.

 Experience has shown that there is a difference of opinion and              For these reasons we consider this position to be unten-
 interpretation of this question and, it seems to me, these               able but then, D.V., we will say more about this and another
 differences center upon the meaning of the two words men-                view of the matter next time.
 tioned above. There can be no question but that these are                                                                       G.V.d.B.
 proper translations of the words "oordeel" and "hulp." Yet,

 the question has many times arisen as to just what is proper

 for a consistory to bring to the classis for "judgment  and
 help."                                                                              Ye people who worship Jehovah,

                                                                                       His praises with gladness proclaim ;
      It is understood, of course, that such .matters must be
 ecclesiastical in nature (Art. 30, D.K.O.). If a consistory                         His servants,. and all ye that fear Him,

 becomes involved in unsolvable problems due to the fact that                           Sing praise to His glorious Name.

 it has meddled in unecclesiastical matters, the Classis  is not
 going to give judgment and help but rather an admonition.                           0 Church of our God, sing His praises,

 This is proper and concerning this there is no dispute.                               For with you and in you He dwells ;

      There are, however, two definite views as to when and                          0 sing Hallelujahs before- Him,

 under what circumstances the Classis  gives judgment and                              Whose glory all praises excels,

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


                                                                      growth is 3.3 per cent.    At this rate there will be 60.millior-r

                                                                      Mexicans in 20 years compared with 30 million now.

                                                                      :    "Many other countries have similiar growth rates."

                                                                           Mr. Moore's solution to the problem is birth control.
  The Popat.lntiort  Problem                                          Writes he, "The inescapable conclusion is that improvement .

         We have before us two articles appearing in different        of living standards in most underdeveloped areas is impos-

  papers dealing with the population problem. Christian               sible without a slow-down in population growth. Birth rates

 Ecom&cs  presents a brief article written by Hugh &loore             must somehow be brought into balance with death rates."

  appearing in the November 17th issue and entitled: "The                  "If we care to look, we find a spreading desire among

  Population Bomb" in which the writer expresses great alarm          destitute people to limit the number of their offspring. Lack-

  at the fact that the world population is increasing at              ing the knowledge and means of birth control they are un-
                                                             Such

 -enormous rates that he sees it as a threatening bomb with           able to do it. We can give them the necessary knowledge and

  greater disaster potential than the atom bomb.                      material.  This is not interference in' the domestic affairs of

         U.S. News & World Report, December 7th issue, also           other people. We have been giving our know-how on re-

  considers the problem through the eyes of Catholic Bishops          ducing death rates. Nobody calls that interference. Like-

  who disclosed their reactions in a released publication on.         wise, giving know-how on reducing birth rates is not inter-

  November 26, 1959, at the close of their annual meeting in          ference, when desired by the recipient."

  Washington, D..C. Their report obviously does not reflect           It is against this advice that the Roman Catholic Bishops

  the scare others seem to have over the problem of population        in the above mentioned article in U.S. Nezvs  & World Report

  increase. And in no uncertain terms they decry the birth-           set themselves. Speaking for their church, here is what they

  control measures advocated by many today which is con-              say :

  sidered to be the only technique destined to keep the,  popula-          "For the past several years a campaign of propaganda

  tion bomb from exploding.                                           has been gaining momentum to influence international, na-

         It is undisputed fact that the population is increasing      tional and personal opinion in favor of birth-prevention

  with enormous pace. Hugh Moore informs us:                          programs.    The vehicle for this propaganda is the recently

         "Neger  has mankind experienced a population growth          coined terror-technique phrase, `population explosion.' The

  like that of the past 200 years, and especially not like that of    phrase, indeed, alerts all to the attention that must be given

  the last ten years.                                                 to population pressures, but it also provides a smoke screen

         "Two hundred years ago world population numbered             behind which `a moral evil may be foisted on the public and

  about 700 million.                                                  for obscuring the many factors that must be considered in

         "In the following century it increased by 400 million and    this vital question. -

  in the last century - it increased 1500 million. What is                 "More alarming is the present attempt of some represent-

 particularly frightening about these figures is that the rate        atives of Christian bodies who endeavor to elaborate the plan

  of increase has been growing- and is still growing. When            into a theological doctrine which envisages artificial birth

  we break down this figure of 1500 million increase in the           prevention within the married state as the `will of God.'

 past century into growth of the first and second 50 years, we        Strangely, too, simply because of these efforts and with

  find that the increase in the second 50 years was twice as          callous disregard of the thinking of hundreds of millions of

  much as that in the first 50 years. But the worst is still to       Christians and others who reject the position, some interna-

  come. Taking the last century by decades the first half aver-       tional and national figures have made the statement that

  aged an increase of 100 million per decade and the second           artificial birth prevention -within the married state is gradu-

  half over 200 million per- decade. The present decade will          ally becoming acceptable even in the Catholic Church. This

  well exceed a 400 million increase.                                 is simply not true.

         "The United Nations estimates that world population is            "The perennial teaching of the Catholic Church has dis-

  now growing approximately 47 million a year or more than            tinguished artificial- birth prevention, which is a frustration

 the population of France."                                           of the marital act, from other forms of control of birth

         The reason for this rapid increase, according to Moore,      which are morally permissible. Method alone, however, is

 is the "progress in medicine and sanitation" which "pushed           not the only question involved. Equally important is the

 death rates down in Europe and North America. Later, .and            sincere and objective examination of the motives. and inten-

especially after the last war, these medical discoveries and          tions of the couples involved, in view of the nature of the

 sanitary improvements were made available to the people in           marriage contract itself. As long as due recognition is not

 the less `developed contries  of Africa, Asia and Latin Amer-        given to these fundamental questions, there can be no genuine

 ica. It is in these areas where we find the most rapid increase      understanding of the problem 1 . .

 of population today.                                                      "United States Catholics believe that the promotion of

         "For example, Mexico has an annual birth rate of 46          artificial birth prevention is a morally, humanly, psycholog-

 per thousand population and a death rate of 13. Its annual           ically and politically disastrous approach to the population


                                                T H E   S T - A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              143


     problem . . . They will not, however, support any public           one a transgressor of the sixth commandment as the out and

     assistance, either at home or abroad, to promote artificial        out murderer.

birth prevention, abortion, or sterilization, whether through               In the second place, it seems to me that the R. C. Bishops

     direct aid or by means of international organizations.             are right when they point to the fact that where the number

        "The fundamental reason for this position is the well-          of the people is increased, the supply of food must be com-

considered objection to promoting a moral evil-an objec-                mensurate. It seems silly to me to talk about possible food

     tion not founded solely on any typically or exclusively            shortages while our government is striving all the time to

     Catholic doctrine, but on the natural law and on basic ethical     hold down over-production. A certain Mr. Yankus  felt he

considerations . . ."                                                   had to move to Australia because he didn't want to live under

i       The R. C. Bishops believe they have a solution to the           a government which told him he couldn't raise as much
     "population explosion" scare. Among the several arguments          grain as he wanted to. A short while ago I called attention
they present is the one concerning "Food and Agriculture."              to the corruption of feather-bedding in the railroad unions. .
The argument is as follows:                                             But the same principle is employed by the federal government
                                                                        when it pays the farmer for crops he never planted or
        "United States' Catholics do not wish to ignore or
                                                                        harvested. In our country they talk about possible food
minimize the problem of population pressure, but they do
                                                                        shortages while they are burning up the pigs and throwing
deplore the studious omission of adequate, reference to the
                                                                        all the surplus potatoes in a hole in the ground.
role of modern agriculture in food production. `The `popula-
                                                                            And finally, isn't it also true that the Lord God takes care
tion explosion' alarmists do not place in proper focus the
                                                                        of the- surplus population, either by feeding, them all or taking
idea of increasing the acreage or the acreage yield to meet
                                                                        their lives away from them through war, famine and disease,
the food demands of an increasing population. By hysterical
                                                                        or as Revelation has it, through the breaking of the seals,
terrorism and bland misrepresentation of data they dismiss
                                                                        blowing of the trumpets, and the pouring out of the vials ?
these ideas as requiring too much time for the development
                                                                        This is God's way of taking care of the regulation of the
of extensive education and new distribution methods and
                                                                        population. Never has He charged man to take the problem
for the elimination of apathy, greed and superstition.
                                                                        in hand.
        "Such arguments merely beg the question, for the im-

plementation of their own program demands the fulfillment               Ehi@ble  for a Call.
of the same conditions. It seems never to dawn on them
that, in a chronic condition where we have more people than                 The Banner of Nov. 27, 1959, contained the following
                                                                        notice :
food, the logical answer would be not to decrease the number
of people but to increase the food supply, which is almost                  "Classis Minnesota South. with the advice of the synodical
unlimited in potential.                                                 examiners of Classis  Minnesota North, Orange City, and
                                                                        Sioux Center declares Rev. Peter De Boer of Edgerton, Minn.,
        "We make these observations to direct attention to the
                                                                        eligible for call to the Chr. Ref. Churches according to Art. 9
very real problem of population pressures. Such remarks are
                                                                        of the Church Order. Rev. De Boer comes to us from the
not intended to exhaust this complex subject, nor to dis-
                                                                        Protestant Reformed Church (De Wolf group) of Edgerton.
courage demographers, economists, agricultural experts and
                                                                        Rev. De Boer is able to preach in the Holland language." The
political scientists in their endeavors to solve the problem.
                                                                        notice was signed by the Stated Clerk.
        "Rather our intention is to reaffirm the position of the            Article 9'of the Church Order reads : "Preachers without
     Catholic Church that the only true solutions are those that        fixed charge, or others who have left some sect, shall not be
are morally acceptable under the natural law of God. Never              admitted to the ministry of the church until they have been
should we allow the unilateral `guesstimates' of special                declared eligible, after careful examination, by the classis
pleaders to stampede or terrorize the United States into a              with the approval of synod."
national or international policy inimical to human dignity.               We have not the space to quote what Van  Dellen  and
     For, the adoption of the morally objectionable means ad-           Monsma have to say on this article of the Church Order, but
vocated to forestall the so-called `population explosion' may           it is interesting in view of the above case. Assuming that
backfire on the human race."                                            the classis  followed the procedure prescribed by the Com-
        In this debate we are attracted to the argumentation            mentary, it would mean that De Boer came with proper
presented by the R. C. Bishops, and that for several reasons :          credentials, applied for admittance to the church, asked to be

        In the first place, we go along with them in their stand        declared eligible for a call, was examined by the classis  and

     on birth control. However, we believe the argument can             the synodical examiners, and was declared eligible for a call

be made even stronger against proposed birth control. Not               on the grounds that he had met all the requirements and

     only the natural law is violated when these scientific measures    passed the examination. It means also that De Boer has

are employed, but the Moral -Law of God is also transgressed.           repudiated the doctrinal stand he professed to hold in the

Are not they guilty of infanticide who use them? The wilful             Prot. Ref. Churches, confessed that the doctrine of common

     destruction of the seed of generation or conception makes          grace is both Scriptural and Confessional, and- that he has


   1    4    4    '                                   T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R - E K


   been living all these years in the sin of condemning falsely                           thereof." . Without a doubt, the dedicatory speech            at the
   the church in which he now seeks membership.                                           corner stone laying will mention this first "mustar .d seed"
        One wonders how it is possible one moment to appear in                            offering. May our fledgelings be so lodged in the 1,ranches
   court and swear up and down that he is Protestant Reformed,                             of that free that they may be prepared to fly on tk teir own
   and the next, turn right around and profess that he sinned                             with  the correct  world and life view,

  for more .than 25 years by not being  Christian Reformed.                                   Did you know . . . that Hudsonville's church re:novation
   My conclusion is that .Such  an one never hid any deep convic-                         has .been  cospleted,  and that many volunteers ma.de light
   tions- and does not have any now.                                          MS.         work of cleaning up after the workmen ; that, the evening of
                                                                                          Dec. 4 the congregation was invited to a service de :dicating
                                                                                          the riev& organ to the service of God ; that, Mr. Alvin IRitsema,
   11 NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES .jl from Calvin College, was at the console of the ConnL electric
                       "All. the saints salute  thee . . ."                   4.~21 11    organ, and Arnold Dykstra gave a beautiful rentlition  o f
                                                               P H I L .  
                                                                                          "Guide Me, 0 Great Jehovah," and "How Lovely 1\re Thy
                                                                 Dec. 5, 1959             Dwellings" ?
                                                                                              Yozt'll be glnd  
        The congregation of Hull called Rev. G. Vanden  Berg                                                       to know: `that Rev. G. M. Oplhoff has-
  from a duo which included Rev. C. Hanko. Our                                            takeri up one of the many labors laid down- when stnIck with
                                                                    Missionary,
   Rev. G. Lubbers received the call from Edgerton. Randolph                              his illness. He is again leading the Bible discussio. n in the
                                                                                          Eunice Society of First Church. Although his parti;
   called Rev. R. Veldman from a trio which included Revs.                                                                                        al blind-
                                                                                  H.      ness  prohibits any reading, his wife is the old Prl
  Hanko and M. Schipper.  Grand Haven'S  trio consists of                                                                                         ofessor's
   the Revs. G. Lubbers, R. Veldman and B. Woudenberg.                                    eyes, reading the Scripture portion to him until he mc:morizes
                                                                                          it; then the "Dominee",  ponders over the passage, k
        Some "old" news omitted from this page last time : Hullk                                                                                  tis years
  young people sponsored a Reformation Day program, inviting                              of Bible study experience bringing clearly before 1lis mind
  the Doon  young folk to share with them the interesting pro-                            the truths `contained therein.
  gram planned. Bea.con  Lights was the recipient of the offer-                               A decision was taken at Hope's Annual Congn :gational
  ing taken ; nfzd,  from Redland's bulletin : "The consistory                            meeting to take monthly collections to set up a fundI for. the
  wishes to thank the donor of the twenty-five new Psalters.                              printing and mailing of pamphlets which will contain the
These Psalters are greatly appreciated." Redlands  is still                               development of the truth as we confess it, and which 1 will be
  without a janitor, the work being assigned in rotation to the                           mailed to all parts of the country. Further details o$ that
  men of the congregation ; and, Because Rev. R. Veldman was                              project will be made public as it progresses.
  in South Holland on classical appointment, and because Prof.                                Dec. 20 the Rey. J. A. Heys will preach his farewell
  H. C. Hoe!tsema,  due to illness, was unable to preach for                              sermon at Hull, and he `and his family will mdve into the
  them Sunday morning, Nov. 15, ,Southeast  Church held an                                parsonage in South Holland during the following wet:k: Prof.
  unprecedented afternoon service conducted by Rev. C. Hanko.                             H. C. Hoeksema will preach the installation sermon n in the
  By evening Prof. Hoeksema was again able to occupy their                                morning service of the 27th,  and Rev. Heys will preach his
  pulpit.                                                                                 inaugural sermon in the evening service, D.V.
        Doon  lost the Wm. Lems family to Hudsonville recently,                              Seminarian J. Kortering is scheduled to preach for the
  leaving them without a            "doorkeeper in the house of the                       congregation of Hull in the seven services from 1let.  2 7
  Lord," the Lems family having supplied the janitor service                              through Jan. 3, serving the vacant church during tlne b&y
  for the past several years.                                                             holiday season. The Consistory has applied for (Xassical

        The Doon  Ladies' Society invited' the' Men's Society and                                                                                 re
                                                                                          appointments from the Classical Committee to serv  them
  all other non-member ladies and men of the congregation to                              until Classis  meets in March.
  meet with them Nov. 17. The after recess discussion was on                                 Following the directives of Synod, the Mission COI nmittee
  the Self Examination before the Lord's Supper.                                          is scheduling services in South Dakota by `asking dliff erent
        Holland is eagerly awaiting the coming  of Rev. Lanting                           ministers to preach there for- a period of three week :s. Rev.
  to take up his pastoral duties among them. The delay is due                             B. Woudenberg, of Creston,  will be there for three mreeks in
  primarily to the lack of success in acquiring a suitable  parson-                       Dece?!lber,  and Rev. A. Mulder, of Kalamazoo, will 1:ake his
  age for the Lgnting  family.                                                            turn for three weeks in January, D.V. Rev. Lubbers 1plans to
        Did you kmw . . . that, the first public program whose                            occupy the pulpits of the absent ministers.
  proceeds were designated for our own Christian High School                                 The choice proverb for this issue: "Give me           neither
  is now history? The offering amounted to $114.51. When                                  poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient f`or me;
  one thinks of the thousands of dollars needed to realize our                            lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, "Who is the Lord 7
  goal one sees the $114.51 as "a mustard seed, which when a                              or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of Dny God
                                                                                                                                                           .--
  man took and cast it into his garden, and it grew and waxed                             in vain." Prov. 30:9, 10.

  a great tree ; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches                             See you in church . . . . .                          J . M . F .


