       v0Is.ms.E  xx.xVl                         MAY 15, 1960 - GRAND Rams,  MICHIGAN                                 NUMBER 16


                                                                           All this instruction helped to concentrate all his desire

              MI--E  119.1  -I- A T I 0 N                               on the living God.

                                                                                                  *    * * 8

                            LIFE'S DESIRE

                                                                           This is a meditation about desire, longing, yearning for

               Whom have I in lzgaven  b`ut  Thee?. and there ,is God

               none upon earth  that I desire beside Thee:
                                                                           That is Psalm 73. That is the heart of that psalm.
                                                      Psalm 73 :25
                                                                           And what is necessary for knowledge of God ?

      Asaph had made a study of wicked men and their works.                Well, there are three things you must have in order to

  And he found them in great peace and tranquility. There               have knowledge of God.

  were no bonds in their death and their strength was firm.                First, there is revelation. And under that heading there
  There w&e no troubles and no plagues ; they bathed them-              are two heads: nature and the Bible.
  selves in. pride and violence ; their eyes stood out. in fatness :
                                                                           Asaph had both.
  they had so much that they could not enjoy the totality of
  their riches. Their wish fell short of opportunities for more            The Gentiles had j&t the knowledge of nat&e  : the voices
darousal.                                                               o f   G o d .

      And they were very. wicked: their tongue wandered                    Yes, nature is as' a choir of voices that blend and charm
  around the earth and even set itself  against the God of              you when listening. Color, shape, form, fragrance, substance,
  heaven.                                                               number, and-a  great-order confront you in nature, and many
                                                                        are the books written about this concert of God.
      And the3  seemed to get &y with it.                     -`~
                                                                           The whole of it is overwhelming, but it cannot bring you
      How different was his portion!                    .l
                                                                        the loving knowledge of God!
      Waters of a full cup were wrung out for him: he was
                                                                           Second, in order  to know God you must have the Bible.
  plagued all the day long. A,nd he was chastened every
                                                                        And .Asapb  did not only have the Bible, he wrote the Bible !
  morning.
                                                                        The Bible went through his entire being. He is one of the
      Did God know? Was `there knowledge with the Al-                   happy men tiho  were mentioned, in Hebkews  1 :l. They
  m i g h t y   ?            '                                          spoke the Word of God.

      However, he would not speak thus, for he was afraid                  And what shall I say of that Word.? The time would
  that such wou!d  be an,offense  to the people of God !                fail me. From Genesis to Revelation it paints a picture of

      And then he entered the sanctuary of God and God. Jesus Christ and He is the Countenance of God.

  showed him the truth.                                                    You know, God is so very far from us ! How. shall we

      All the freedom, pleasure and abandon of, the wicked were         know Him ? And so, the Lord has given us' His revelation
  so many slippery places uppn which the Lord had set them.             in the Face of Jesus Christ. And when you desire to know
  They were sliding down into everlasting destruction.                  the Triune God, you must look strongly at Jesus whose
                                                                        picture you have in the Bible. Looking strongly at Jesus,
      Asaph shivered: How are they brought into desolation,
                                                                        you receive the "light of the knowledge of the glory of God
  as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors !
                                                                        in the Face of Jesus Christ." II Cor. 4 6.
  As a dream when. one awakest, Thou shalt despise their
   image.                                                                   But that is not enough. Or, rather, you` do xiot receive


                                                     T H E   STA,NDAliD   B E A R E R


          that light of the knowledge of the glory of God, just by                And here you have to excuse me, for I know so little of

          looking and reading in the Bible.                                   heaven.
I: And,, therefore, you must have the Holy Spirit of Jesus However, that little is very charming. There are the
          Christ. There are unhappy mortals who have known the                angels `and powers ; the unspeakable things of which Paul
          voice of God in nature, and in the Bible, and nevertheless          told us; there are the harps of God and their music; there is
          are lost forever !                                                  the voice of angels and their singing ; there tire the souls of
                                                                              men made perfect ; there are no sin, deceit, guilt or sickness ;
              They never saw God in all His eternal wonders of grace          there are no sighing and crying. Oh, but heaven must be
          and mercy. God in all His loveliness, goodness and beauty           a charming abode!
          never charmed their hearts; souls and spirits.
                                                                                  But Asaph says that there is no one in heaven for him
              In order to see God in all His glory you must have the          but God,

          Spirit air Christ in your heart.
                                                                                  That is strong language. It `means that if Asaph has to
              And in the third place, you mu& have `the grade of God,         be in heaven without God, h.e would rather not be there !
          .of Christ, and of that Spirit in your heart.
                                                                                  Listen to him: "Whom have I in heaven but Thee?"
              Oh, that grace of God !
                                                                                 `Oh, all that other beauty in heaven is good and glorious,
              It is the very fountain of all blessed knowledge of God !       but it is only glorious to Asaph, because God is there ! That's
              Grace is beauty, attractiveness, and beauteotis  power. It      the point.
          transforms your heart and makes yozt  lovely and attractive.            Allow me to put it this way: Heaven without God is no
          -Grace pours into you the beauty of the Godhead.                    heaven !
              You know, by grace are ye saved, through faith! So,                 Listen to `a trio of God's chosen saints :
          even faith is out of grace.
                                                                                  Solomon, looking at all the beauty of this earth, says:
              If you have all three : the- Word of -God,  the .Spirit  of     Vanities of vanities, it is all vanity !
          Christ, and the grace of God, you are a happy person.
                                                                                  David, when thinking of the earth : "Dry, without. water !"
             And that is what Asaph had.
                                                                                  Paul : "Loss and dung.!"

                                       * * * *                                   Yes, dear reader, Asaph loved God v&y much. He re-

                                                                              minds me of David when he composed the forty-second

             Then you look around you ,in this earth, and ~you say :          psalm : "As the hart panteth -after the water brooks, so

          there is none upon earth which  I desire beside Thee !              panteth my soul after Thee, 0 God. My soul thirsteth .for

                                                                              God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear
             The earth gives much.
     c                                                                                                                    .-
                                                                              before God ?"
             There are earthly life, love of dear ones, food arid drink

          of gr'eat  deliciousness, money and possessions, riame  and                                     * * * *
          place. and honor among men, beauty and singing and music,

          the look at the Universe above US with the glittering stars
                                                                                  The question arises : how did all this come about? What
          and planets.
                                                                              makes Asaph  so exclusive ?
             And make no mistake : they are good in themselves. They
                                                                                  Here is fhe  answer : we are created after His image, after
          are even necessary in order to exist here on earth. They are
                                                                              His likeness. We are created after Him. And that means
          not sinful in themselves.
                                                                              that the water seeks the fountain. It means that there can be
              But here is the point: there is a hunger in Asaph which         no real joy for such a creature imless  we have Him.
          cannot be filled by the earth and the things of the earth. And
                                                                                  If we have God, and if we know that He thinks on us,
          he means to tell you: "If I must miss my God with all these
                                                                              even though we may be in the midst of the flames of .the
          things, then they do not satisfy me at all !"
                                                                              stake, we are happy.
              Compared to communion with God, these` things are a
                                                                                  But the knowledge of God, which made Adam and Eve
          nothing and vanity. They simply cannot fill a certain need
                                                                              happy, is lost. Irretrievably lost.
          I have.
                                                                                  We sinned. That's all. That's the end of everything. All
              If necessary, we will cast all the things of this earth away
                                                                              that is left is hell for all eternity.
          in order to possess God.
                                                                                  The deepest hell is Godforsakenness.
              Remember the martyrs : they literally did so in order to

          have God.                                                               But thanks be to God, for He has opened another way.

              But how about heaven ?                                              And that other Way is Christ Jesus, our beloved Lord.





t


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                                                                   363



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your heart by His Word, Spirit and grace, you are blest.                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
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the things of the earth not only, but also after sin and cor-                                                  Editor - REV. H~~MAN                                           HOEKSEMA

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Christ's sake, and we mortify the deeds of the body.                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
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                                                                              R
dorst naar God, naar den levenden God: wanneer zal .ik                              ENEWAL: Unless a deiinite  request for discontinuance is re-
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                                                                               Entered as Second Class matter at Grand Rapids, Michigan
   I have never been in heaven, but I know that in heaven

every atom of every inhabitant is directed to the great

white throne on which God is seated. All the issues of
                                                                                                                                    C O N T E N T S
all the creatures in the new heaven and the new earth shall
                                                                      MEDITATION -
everlastingly be turned to Him!                                                       Life's Desire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
   I know that, because there is that urgency in me now.                .'                       Rev. G. Vos

   You know the name of that urgency of that thrust?                  EDITORIALS  -
                                                                                    A-Millenarianism                         ._. ..____  . . .._ ..___  .__. _.. . . . . . . . . ;_ .: . ..364
   It is this: &ma1  life! Read John 17 :3.                                                       Rev. H. Hoeksema


   For a little while Asaph wandered away from God, and ouR D,-,c--

became envious of the foolish. But eternal grace and mercy                            The         Book            of Revelation.. ____ .._. . . . .._.__ _______ ____.... . .._ 366

pitied him. It led him to God's sanctuary.  There he found                                       Rev. H. Hoeksema

wisdom : "But it is good for me to draw near to God !"                .A cLonr,  oF wmsSES _

Amen.                                                         G.V.                    Israel's Children Reunited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._. . . . . __... . . . . ..__ 369

                        0                                                                        Rev. B. Woudenberg


                                                                      FROM HOLY WRIT-

                                                                                      Exposition of I Corinthians 15                                                    (6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

                CALL TO SYNOD OF 1960                                                            Rev. G. Lubbers

                                                                      iN HIS &AR -
   In harmony with the decision of the Synod of 1959, the                             And What About The Children?                                                            (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed Church of                          '                 Rev. J. A. Heys

Grand Rapids, Michigan, hereby notifies the churches that             CONTENDING FOR T= FAITH -

the 1960 Synod of the Protestant Reformed. Churches wills                             The Church and the Sacraments . . . . ..___.......__._...  ..__..____  375

                                                                                                  Rev. H. Veldman
convene on Wednesday, June 1, at 9:00 A. M. in the above

mentioned church, D.V.                                                THE VOICE OF OUR' FATHERS  -
                                                                                      The Canons of Dordrecht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .._........................... :..t..:..377
   The pre-synodical service will be held on Tuesday eve-
                                                                                                 Rev. H. C. Hoeksema                                                                                                            t_
ning,    May 31, at 8 :00 P. M. in above mentioned First
                                .                                     DECENCY AND ORDER -                                                                               * .*
Church. Rev. J. A. Heys, president of last year's Synod,
                                                                                      Inter-Synodical                          Correspondence                              . . . . ..__. .._ __.  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .._... 379
will lead the service.                                                                 Synodical                 Committees                        . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .____.  ..-.. ..379

   Synodical delegates will kindly meet with the consistory                                      Rev. G. Vanden  Rerg

before this service.                                                  ALL AROUND us -

   If any of the delegates need lodging, please contact our                            "The True Church"                                    . . . . . . . .._...... . .__  _.__ . . . . ..___. 381
                                                                                                 Rev. M. Schipper
clerk, Mr. G. H. Stadt, 754 Prince St., S. E., Grand Rapids

7, Michigan.                                                          cONTlURUlTONS -
                                                                                      Report of Eastern Ladies' League . . . . . .._____..._.._...................                                                                              ,...383
                        Consistory of the First Protestant
                                                                                                  Mrs. Bernard Windemuller
                        Reformed Church of Grand Rapids, Mich.
                                                                      NEWS FROM OUR ,CHURCHES  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384
                                      REV. C. HANKO, President                                    Mr. J. M. Faber

                                      G. H. STADT, Clerk                                                                                                                                                                                                    -c

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


                                                                        First of all, then, there is the frequently occurring
             E D I T 0 R I A-L S                                     number seven. This number denotes a fulness, whether you
                                                                     understand it as the sum of three and four, indicating God

                                                                     and the world, or as the sum of six and one, the six days of

                                                                     the week and the rest of the sabbath.
                      A-Millenarianism
                                                                        This number occurs already in the first chapter of Revela-

       The Baptist En-aminer  is running a series of articles on     tion where we read of the seven stars and the seven golden
amillenarianism by pastor E. Garrett of Hamilton, Ohio.              candlesticks. Here the Lord explains the symbolism Himself

Garrett is, evidently, a premillennialist, although he does          i n   120: "The seven stars are the angels of the seven

not subscribe to all the excesses usually connected with that        churches ; and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are

system of thought. In his articles he criticizes the amillen- .      the seven churches."    Do not object that the `number seven
arian conception of the final coming of the Lord; that is,           here has no symbolical significance. Perhaps, you will say
the view that denies that there will be a thousand years of          that only the stars and the candlesticks have a figurative
the reign of Christ on earth before the end of all things.           meaning, but that the number seven must`be taken literally.

       It is not my purpose to criticize in detail what pastor       But this is not true. Surely, the seven churches to which the
Garrett writes. It promises to be quite a lengthy series and         Lord through John addresses the seven letters are really
the author has just begun to write on this subject.                  existing churches. But why should the Lord select only
                                                                     these seven churches? There .were other churches at that
       I only wish to call attention to one item which, to my        time. The `only answer. is that the number seven is a sym-
mind, is rather important. It is that the author accuses the         bolical number indicating the fulness and completeness of the
amillenarians  of refusing to take Scripture at its word and         church in the world and in history.
of introducing a figurative or symbolical meaning.in  the text
of the Bible where it should be interpreted literally.                   Moreover, pastor Garrett knows as well as I do that
                                                                     the number seven as the sum of three and four and as the
Writes he :
                                                                     sum of six plus one constitutes the basis of the entire book
       "The one thing that is apt to make one amillennialist or      ,of Revelation.    There are seven seals, seven trumpets and
premillennialist is whether he takes a literal interpretation or     seven vials. Besides, the ,number  seven, also in this case, is
an unjustified sjx%tztaZ  interpretation of the Word of God.         plainly revealed as four plus three and six plus one. The
When one takes a spiritualizing or allegorizing interpreta-          first four seals become revealed as the four horsemen sitting
tion of .the  Scriptures -without evident ground for doing so        upon white, red, black, and pale horses. Besides, the sixth
-he may come up with anything he so desires. But to                  seal is dissolved into seven trumpets, so that it is very
interpret a passage literally- unless there is cause to do           evident the seals represent the number seven, both as three.
otherwise-is to be bound to the exact meaning of the                 and four and as six plus one. Here, therefore, we have
words used. In the Old Testament as well as in the New               symbolism pure and simple, the symbolism of the number
Testament as well as the context will have a qualifying              seven. The same is true of the seven trumpets. If you will
adjective or statement which will forbid us from taking a            read chapters eight, nine, and sixteen of the book of Revela-
passage literally when it is'to  be spiritualized. Passages that     tion, you will find that also the seven trumpets in which the
are clearly set forth in the New Testament as allegorized            seventh seal is revealed, are distinguished as four and three,
portions are such as Galatians 5 :22-31 and Hebrews 12 :lS-          and that the seventh trumpet is revealed in the seven vials.,
24 ; but to say that the .actual persons and .places  mentioned      And the same may be said of the seven vials, i.e. that they
in the passages are not actual is evident heresy."                   represent the numbers four and three. There- can be no

       Now, in both the articles that have thus far occurred         question therefore, that the entire book of Revelation is full
on the subject, the author, evidently, accuses those that hold       of the symbolism of ,numbers,  particularly of the numbers
the amillenarian  position of such false spiritualizing or           three, four, and seven.

allegorizing. And I will briefly show that he is in error..              Remember that I wish to show that we must interpret

       .To do this, I will limit myself for the time being to the    the number one thousand in Rev. 20 as having symbolical
book of Revelation and, more particularly, to the numbers            significance and that to explain it in the literal sense does
occurring in that part of Holy Writ.                                 violence to the whole book.

       Pastor Garrett must admit that the only place, in the             Again, we read in chapter seven of Revelation of the

whole Bible, that speaks of a thousand years is Revelation           sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. An

20. If, then, I can show that all the numbers in this last           angel, having the seal of the living God, cried to the four

book of the Bible have a symbolical significance, it is not          angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea:
erroneous but sound exegesis to interpret the number one             "Hurt not .the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we
thousand in Rev. 20 in the same way, i.e. as having a                have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And

symbolical. meaning.                                                 I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                   365


 were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the        fear fell.  upon all that saw them." Would he `explain all
 tribes of the children of Israel." And then it continues to          these numbers literally ? I would like to see him attempt it.

 inform us that out of every tribe there were sealed exactly             That the number twelve hundred and sixty days in
 twelve thousand. Now, for the present I am not interested.           chapter eleven refers to the entire new dispensation of
 in the question whether we must understand the name Israel           the Church in the world is evident from chapter 12 :6 : "And
in the literal sense of the word, as referring to the nation of       the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place
 the Jews, or in the spiritual sense, as referring to the             prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand
 Church, though there is sufficient reason in the chapter to          two hundred and three score days." The woman that is
 prefer the latter. But I am writing about the numbers in the         mentioned here is, evidently, the Church. In the chapter she
 book of Revelation. And who can doubt, even though there             is described, first of all, as the Church of the old dispensation.
 is nothing in the immediate context to suggest the symbolical        For we read: "And she being with child cried, travailing in
 interpretation, that it must be understood in the latter sense ?     birth,, and pained to be delivered." vs. 2. And later we read:
 This is clear from the rest of the book especially from              "And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all
 chapter 21 where we read of the new Jerusalem coming down            nations'with a rod of iron and her child was'caught up unto
 from God out of heaven. There, `too, the number twelve               God, and to his throne."     The dragon that is mentioned in
 predominates. We read: "And had a wall great and high,               the chapter is the devil. All through the old dispensation the
 and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and            devil stood before the woman, in order to destroy her even
 names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve             before the man child should be born or to destroy the child
 tribes of the children of Israel : On the east three gates ; on      as soon as he should see the light of day. But the child,
 the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the          that is, Christ, is born and is exalted at the right hand of
 west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve founda-        God. And now, in the new dispensation, the devil persecuted
 tions, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of, the          the woman. To this the twelve hundred and sixty days of
 Lamb. . . . . And the city lieth foursquare, and the length          vs. 6 as well as the "time, and times, an'd a-half a time" (vs.
 thereof is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city         14) has reference.
 with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and
                                                                         But, at any rate, it. is-evident all these numbers cannot
 the breadth and the height thereof are equal. And he.measured
                                                                      be explained in the literal sense, but have symbolical or
 the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, ac-
                                                                      figurative meaning.
 cording to the measure of a man, that is of the angel."
                                                                         There is also the number of the beast, chapter 13 :17, 18 :
     It is self.evident  that the numbers that are mentioned in       "And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the
 this passage cannot possibly be interpreted in the literal sense.    mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
  One hundred and forty and four thousand is a symbolical             Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the
 number. And the same is true of the number one hundred               number of the beast : for it is the number of a man ; and his
 and forty and four thousand in chapter seven.                        number is Six hundred threescore and six." Six is the num-

     The number in that chapter must be -explained as three           ber of the week without the sabbath. Hence, the number of
 times four times twelve times ten times. ten times "ten times        the beast means that antichrist never enters into the rest
 ten. Three is the number of the trinity, four is the number          and never succeeds to realize his kingdom.

 of the world (cf. "the four corners of the earth," "the four             But let this be sufficient.
 winds"), ten is the number of completeness, and thousand
                                                                          I believe that I have proved that the numbers in the book
  refers to a great number. And thus we obtain the result of
                                                                      of Revelation all have a symbolical meaning.
  a large number of saints that stand in covenant<  fellowship
  with God, i.e. the Church of God in the world. At any rate,             Hence, I am not doing violence to Scripture when I also
 it is very evident that also in these passages, not the literal      explain the number one thousand in chapter 20 of the book of
  interpretation, but the symbolical or figurative explanation is     Revelation in the same symbolical sense.

  the only correct one.                                                                                                           H.H.

     And what, please, would pastor Garrett do with the

  numbers that are mentioned in chapter eleven ? There we
  read in vs. 3,: "And I will give power unto my two witnesses,           "A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's
  and they shall prophesy. a thousand two hundred and three           children ; and the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the

  score `days, clothed in sackcloth." And in vs. 9: "And they         righteous."    Proverbs 13 :22.
  of the people and kindred and tongues and nations shall see

  their dead bodies three days and ,an half, and shall not suffer
                                                                          "Behold this only. have I found: that God bath  made
  their dead bodies to be put in graves." And in vs. 11 f "And
  after three. days and an half the Spirit of life from God           man upright; but they have sought out many inventionsIJ'
  -entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great                                                     Ecclesiastes 7:29

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


                                                                           passage is now worked aut in detail, not only in the present
            O U R   DOCTR.lNE                                          /I chapter but also infuture chapters. Already we have studied
                                                                           the rise of Antichrist and his power. We have received an

                                                                           insight into his nature and work. And we have seen how

             THE BOOK .OF REVELATION                                       he would persecute the church that refuses to worship The
                                                                           beast and his image. We have also become acquainted with
                                P A R T   T W O   .                        the attitude of God over against this power of Antichrist, and

                          C                                                seen that in the end He' would redeem and fully deliver His
                               HAPTER THIRTEEN
                                                                           church and destroy the wicked antichristian kingdom. Now
             The Song of Moses a.nd of the Lamb                            then, the destruction of Antichrist is worked out in greater

                                                                           detail in the cliapters following. In chapters 15 and 16 we
                          Revelation 15 : 1-8                              have a vision of the seven vials of the wrath of God as

                                                                           poured out on the earth by the seven angels. These two
             1. `And I saw another sign in heaven, great and
             marvellous, seven angels having the seven l&t `plagues;       chapters belong together, and they are related in such a way
             for in them is filled up the `wrath of God.                   that our present chapter serves as an introduction to chapter
                                                                           16, while in the latter the actual pouring out of the seven
             2. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled witi           vials is pictured.
             &e:  and them that had gotten the victory over the
             beast, and  over his image, and over his mark, and over          Of course, here we are reminded of the general plan of
             the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass,            the book of Revelation. There are seven seals. And when
             having the harps of God.                                      all of these seven seals are opened, the wrath of God and

                                                                           of the Lamb against the kingdom of Antichrist will be fipished.
             3. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of
           God, and the song df the Lamb, saying, Great and                But these seven seals do not maintain their character as seals
             marvellous are thy works, Lord God  Almighty; just and        throughout. The seventh seal reveals itself as seven trumpets,
             true are thy ways, thou King of saints.                       and the seventh trumpet as seven vials. We must remember,

             4. Who shall not fear thee, 0 Lord, and glorify thy           as we have repeatedly stated, that it is not in harmony with
             name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come      the contents to take these seals and trumpets as being
             and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made           strictly successive, nor as being entirely contemporaneous.
             manifest.                                                     Taking them as a whole, they are both successive and con-
             5. And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple           temporaneous: In principle there is nothing new iti the seven
             of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was              vials. Only there is progress again, so that the destruction,
             opened:
                                                                           which was more complete in the seven trumpets than in the
             6. And the seven angels came out of the temple,               seven seals, is now entirely complete in the seven vials, and
             having the seven plagues,' clothed in pure and white          the wrath of God is finished in them. Let 
             linen, and having their breasts girded with golden                                                         us  therefore now,
             girdles.                                                      first of all, discuss the passage of chapter 15, which speaks
                                                                           of the song of Moses and the- Lamb.           3
             7. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven
             &gels  seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who          .The first verse of the chapter announces the general
             liveth for ever and ever.                                    theme of its contents. John tells us : "And I saw another

                                                                           sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having
             8. And the temple was filled, with smoke from the
:            glory of God, and from his power; and no man was              the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of
             able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of      God." John speaks here of another sign in contrast with the
             the seven angels were f&lled.                                 signs he has seen before. The sign of the woman arrayed

                                                                           with the sun and with the moon under her feet, the sign
       You will remember, no doubt, that in connection with                of the beast with the seven heads and ten horns, and the
our interpretation of chapter 11 we called your attention to               other sign, of the two-horned: beast, the sign of the angels
the fact that in that passage things were revealed only in                 flying .in mid-heaven and of the Lamb on Mount Zion, of the
general -outline, while they were to be explained in detail in             Holy One coming to reap, being seated on the white cloud -
future' chapters. If in that light you consider the passage                all these signs John h&s already seen. And now he beholds
-we  are' now called to discuss, you will have no difficulty               another sign.  That sign which he now beholds is great and
finding its counterpart in chapter 11. Chapter I1 spoke of                 marvellous. It is, in other words, awe-inspiri,ng  and wonder-
the two witnesses that were oppressed and persecuted and                   ful. And no wonder: for the sign which he now beholds is
cast out by Antichrist, but caught up to God in heaven. And                of the greatest importance. It cannot be looked upon without
after the witnesses were caught up, we read of the sounding                having the effect of filling our hearts with an overflowing

of the seven trumpets, the voices that sing in heaven, and                 emotion of wonder and joy. John beholds seven angels. And
the opening of the temple-of God that is in heaveri, followed              although, no doubt, the sight .of these seven angels standing
by signs of great judgment upon the earth. ,Evidently  this                side by side is. already astounding - for they are glorious and


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                    367


  beautiful, shining in their appearance, pure and bright --yet       earth His temple, judgments of destruction are sure to follow.

  their purpose and message is still more awful. These are the        Thus it is also here. The temple is His holy place, His

  angels that have the seven last plagues, John tells us. Just        dwelling, in the narrower sense of the word. But now that

  in general he tells us here that they have the .seven -plagues.     temple is still in heaven, is limited, therefore. Surely, He

  Evidently they do not have these seven plagues of themselves.       also dwells in this dispensation in the hearts of His people.

  No, angels are also creatures: and they have no power ex-           But, in the first place, it must not be forgotten that at this

  cept it be given them from above. But the power of these            stage there shall  be no more people of God on the earth, and,

  seven plagues is given them, and they now hold this power.          in the second place, that God shall make of all creation His

  They possess the power of pouring out these plagues and             city and His dwellingplace.      He therefore shall break forth
 evidently destroying the earth. For the destruction implied          from His holy place which is in heaven. He shall break

  in these plagues is complete. The text tells us that in these       forth as the Holy One.        He shall break forth with His
  plagues -is finished the wrath of God. Evidently that does          testimony, His. law, in order to establish His righteousness

 not mean that with these seven plagues the final judgment has        in all the earth. And when He thus issues forth from His

  already come upon all nations before the throne of God. Still       holy place for the purpose of making of all the earth His

  less does it imply that when these seven plagues shall have         temple, when He thus issues forth in the fire of His holiness,

  been finished, the subjects of the kingdom of Antichrist shall      the result cannot but be that all sin and wickedness is bound

  have received all their punishment. No, in that sense the           to meet with destruction and distress. Only He does not

  wrath of God is npt  finished in these plagues. That wrath          issue forth personally. No, the seven angels come out of His

  of God is in?&ite,  as His majesty is infinite. If that infinite    temple, out of the temple of God which is in heaven. They

  majesty is attacked, it is simply the demand of the law that        must reveal themselves as angels of wrath, which spell woe to

  the creature thus attacking that infinite majesty also be           the wicked world. In the second place, John is able to

  subject to infinite wrath and death et'ernal.  And therefore,       describe their appearance. They are seven .in number, which

  the wrath of God in that sense of the word is not fulfilled         symbolizes what  John has already mentioned in the first

  in these seven  plagues. But with a view to time the wrath          verse, namely,. that in their plagues which they have the

  of God is now finished. Even as in the vision of the harvest        wrath of God shall be finished, and, at the same time, that by

  we called your attention to the fact that in it we were given       the work of these angels the kingdom of God shall finally

a vision not of ?he last and final judgment of all before the         be completed. Seven is the symbol of the completion of the

  throne of God, but simply of the end of time, of the finishing      kingdom. And for that reason there were seven seals and

  of the wrath of God with a view to this- sinful and wicked          seven trumpets. Only in the case of the seven seals and also in

  world, thus it is also here. When these angels shall have           the case of the seven trump&s the work ceased with the

  sent the seven plagues which they have, the wrath of God            sixth ; and after the sixth had been fulfilled, the scene was

  shall have been finished in so far that there shall be no power     allowed to change.     The wrath of God, therefore,' had not

  bn earth any more that shall provoke His wrath. The wicked          yet been finished. `But now it is different.. Not six angels

  world shall be no more. Antichrist and his kingdom shall            shall pour out their vials, but all seven. And when all of

  have been completely destroyed. The end of this dispensation        these seven shall have done their work, the kingdom of God

  shall ,have  come. And therefore, with a view to this signif-       shall have come to its completion, and all the power of op-

  icance John might well speak of the greatness %nd marvel-           position shall haire been broken down. They appear bright

 `lousness  of this sign of the seven angels that were about to       and pure and beautiful, arrayed with precious stones, pure

  realize all these things.                                           and bright. A golden girdle, which reminds us of the royal

                                                                      priesthood of the King of kings, is about their breasts. They
     However, John does not merely behold their general
                                                                      are, as it were, over-poured with the glory of the holifiess  of
  presence and appearance on the scene of his vision. He also
                                                                      God, Whose wrath they now represent. With a reflection
  is privileged to describe Some of the details concerning them.
                                                                      of the glory of the Holy One, from Whose presence they
  In the first place, he tells us of their origin, informs us
                                                                      issue forth, they now enter upon -their work. In the third
  whence they come as angels of the wrath of God. For he
                                                                      place, John describes how they receive their vials of wrath
  tells us : "And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of
                                                                      from the creatures, from one of the four. There is a beautiful
  the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: And
                                                                      symbolism in the vials, or bowls, of wrath. Each of them
  the seven angels came out of the temple, having the `seven
                                                                      receives a vial. And that vial is filled with the wrath of
  plagues." Also in chapter 11 we came into contact. with the
                                                                      God, that is, with .His holiness in relation to the world of sin.
  same idea. In connection with the seventh. trumpet we there
                                                                      And as each pours His vial upon the tiicked  world, that
  read : "And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and
                                                                      wrath of God becomes a powerful force of destruction. And
' there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament." And
                                                                      as far as the fact is concerned that in the vision they receive
  then the significant expression was added: "and there were
  lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake,         that vial from one of the four creatures, he tells us iri beautiful'
  and great hail."    And there we explained that the symbol          symbolism that all creation is concerned in the work these
  evidently meant that when God is about to make of all the           angels are to perform. The four living creatures that rep-

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


resent all animate creation in its state of perfection are con-       the final destruction of their enemy ; and they sing the song

cerned in the work of these angels. They are privileged to            of victory.

hand them the vials of the wrath of God.                               But is this' multitude then limited to a small number of
       And thus they stand, these angels, ready  to finish their      the people of God that have lived at the time of Antichrist?
work, just waiting for the command. It is therefore indeed            We do not think so. Truly, they have been in the thickest
a sign, great and marvellous. It is one of the most wonder-           of the battle. It was for them td live at the time of Anti-
ful periods in all the history of the world. It is the eve of         christ in all his power and fulness. The honor and privilege
the realization of all things, the eve of that nioment  when          to live at that time was in store for them. For thus it is in
God shall appear in all the power of His holiness, when               reality. It will be a time of special privilege fbr  the people
His Word shall appear to be the truth also over the wicked            of God to live at the time of Antichrist. It i's much rather 8
world, when .His name shall appear glorious and victorious            cause of longing and yearning, than of fear and trembling,
over all things. It is the eve of that greatest of all events,        for the people. of Gdd to live at that time. Is not a soldier
for which the hearts of all God's people long and yearn]              in the battle honored by bein,m in the thickest of the battle?
for which the souls beneath the altar cry day and night               And shall not the soldier of the kingdom of Christ by faith
without rest. It is the eGe of that event when Christ shall           deem it an honor to be in the thickest of the `fight against
appear as the Lamb that hath be& slain, as the victorious             .the power of Antichrist and to show that he fears nothing
King of kings, as the Mighty One that has power over all              even though he be hated of all men and of all nations ? And
things, as the Anointed One over:  Zion,' His holy place. It          therefore, it is a special honor to be deemed worthy to live at
is the eve of that event which shall `show  the futility of all       that time. God shall have His strongest children, His best
the works of the devil and shall forevermore do away with             forces, in the world at that last period. And therefore, to
the kingdom of darkness. It is the most momentous period              belong to those picked forces of Christ in the world at the
in *the  history of the world, the eve of the realization of all      time of Antichrist shall be the greatest honor conceivable.
God's counsel. And it is on the eve of this greatest of ail           For that same reason I have `no doubt but that there shall
events  that we hear the song of those that stand at the              be a special place in store for them in the new heaven and
crystal sea, singing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. It            the new earth-a, place which they alone can occupy. I
is that event, which they already see, tihich  they do celebrate      have no doubt but that they are the leaders in the chorus
in their song.                                                        that' is here singing at the s&a of glass. Nevertheless, I do

       John says :' "Atid I saw as it w&-e  a sea of glass mingled    `not thillk  that this number is limited to them. For, in the

with fire: and them that had gqtten  the victory over the             first place, as we have said before, in principle the Antichrist

beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the            and his power are in the world from the very beginning..

number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the             Not merely in the end, but also at the time of the apostles

harps of God. And they sing the song df Moses the servant             he was already in the world, denying that Jesus is the Christ.

of God, and the song of the Lamb." We ask: who are these              .Still  more: not merely in the new dispensation, but also in

singers ,at the sea of glass? In the first place, we learn of         the old that same power was already in the world, trying to

them that they are the ones that come off victorious fl'om            realize itself and opposing the kingdom that tias to come. It

the beast and his image and the number of his name. In the            was already in the time of Elijah, in the time of Moses, in the

post  literal sense of the word, therefore, they are those that       time of Abraham, in the time of Nimrod, that he attempted

have lived at the time of the final manifestation of the anti-        to establish his kingdom. It was at the tiine, of Enoch, who

Christian kingdoni. When the Antichrist reigned supreme               testified  of the coming of the Lord against it, and even at

and all the world wondered after the beast, when he estab-            the time of Abel, who clung to the truth and became a martyr,

lished his universal emblem and gave to all men a,sign,  they         And therefore, it may be said indeed that in principle `the

lived on the earth. They were in tribulation. They were the           people of God fight the same battle all through the ages

ones that r'efused  to worship the beast. They were the ones          even though this battle `shall rage most severely in the time

that could neither buy nor sell, that could not live in the           of the full manifestation of the antichristian kingdom. Abel

midst of society, .that  were the outcasts in the streets of          fought that same battle. Enoch fought the battle. Noah

Jerusalem, that is spiritually Sodom and Gomorrah, where              fought the battle. All the witnesses and prophets of the Old

also our Lord was crucified. They, therefore, have fought a           Testament fought that same battle. dll the martyrs of the

fierce battle.. But in their battle they were sustained by the        new dispensation also fought that same battle. Only that one

faith in Jesus and by His testimony, a&d they remained                great battle becomes most severe at the time when Antichrist

faithful. Outqsts in the earth for the name of Jesus, they            shall reveal himself in all his power. And, in the third place,

looked forward to the day of their final victory. Exiles and          subjectively it may also be said that all the saints of the old, '

refugees, without a place to stand, they nevertheless refused          as well as of the new dispensation, hoped and longed for

to worship the beast; and they remained faithful even to the           the coming of that day of which these victorious ones sing.

end. Now they stand by the glass &a, and at the eve of                 It was the hope of Israel. It was the keynote in the proph-
their final victory, already glorified themselves but awaiting         ecies of the old dispensation.                            H.H.


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE.ARER                                                         369


                                                                                      When all too soon the brothers arrived at Joseph's house,
    A   CLOUDOF  W I T N E S S E S   11 they found him anxiously pacing. Little did thev realize the
                                                                                                          -
                                                                             real reason for- his anxiety.     H&  test had `at last arrived at

                                                                             its concluding phase, and the results, he felt, for him would
                    Israel's Children Reunited                               be crucial. Once again the brothers approached, and tremb-

                                                                             ling as never before bowed with their f&es to the ground.
         And Judah said, What  shall we say unto my lo&?  what shall
       we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found             With words as harsh as he had ever spoken, Joseph ques-
       out the iniquity of thy servants . . .                                tioned them through his interpreter. "What deed is this that
         Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, and the         ye have done ? wot ye not that such a man as I can certainly
       lad be not with us; seeing his life b bound up in the lad's life;
         It shall come to puss, when he seeth  that the lad i.s not with     divine ?'
       us, that he will die: and thy servants shall bring down the gray               Cringing before his words, the brothers stood fearfully
       hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave . . .
         Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of        mute while Judah stepped to the fore. With eyes cast to
       the lad a bondman  to my lord; and let the lad go up with his         the ground and in a voice scarcely audible, he spoke. "What
       brethren.
                                                                             shall we say unto my lord ? what shall we speak ? or how
         FOV how shall I go up to my father, and the lud be not loith
       me? lest  peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my           shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of
      father.                                                                thy servants: behold, we are my lord's servants, both we,
         Then Joseph could not refrain himself . . . and he c+d,  . . .
     I am Joseph; doth my father yet live?                                   and he also with whom the cup is found."

                               -Genesis 44:16,  30, 31,  33, 34; 54: 1, 3             The words tore at Joseph's heart. He saw his brothers

    `Ire? solemn men made their way back to the home of                      standing there as he had never seen them in forme? years.
 Joseph in Egypt., There were no bitter wprds, no angry                      Gone was the brazen boldness with which they had formerly
                                                                             reveled in their sins. There were no excuses, no defiant
 accusations, no inner resentments; there were only spirits
 troubled and sad. How could they prove Benjamin innocent                    claims of innocence, but only the humble admittance that
 against such clear circumstantial evidence? Yet, how could                  they had sinned. And  the face of each one of the brothers
 they believe him guilty ? They knew Benjamin far better                     showed that in his heart he agreed. What more could Joseph
 than that. And how could they ever return to their homes                    want ? What else could he desire ? But still could he be sure
 without him ? One question only they did not need to ask.                   that if pressed the brothers would not do the same again?
 Why did this ll-ave  to happen .to them? They knew the                      With the greatest of effort Joseph kept his composure.
                                                                             Working with Judah's suggestion that they would all be his
 answer to that. It was not the mischief of Benjamin. It
 was not a strange quirk of fate. It was the hand of God                     servants, he would give them full opportunity to desert their
 which rested upon them.                                                     youngest brother. "God forbid," he said, "that I should do
                                They had sinned very grievously
 against God, and against His people, and His covenant. For                  so: but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall
 well over twenty years they had tried to forget the fact.                   be my servant ; and. as for you, get you up in peace unto your
                                                                             father."
 They had acted  as if it had never happened and in their own
                                                                                 To Judah fell the duty of answering, and what could he
 minds put it off with excuses.' But now God was bringing it
 out into the open. It no longer worked to excuse their actions              say ? He could think of nothing else than to present the
 or to lay the blame upon others. The judgment of God had                    matter in complete honesty, leaving God to do with it what
 come. Each knew in his own heart that he wag guilty, and                    was right. The result was one of the most passionately
 for that they were being punished.                                          beautiful prayers of Scripture. With his whole heart and
                                                                             soul he spoke, "Oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee,
    More burdened than all of the rest was Judah. Rather
                                                                             speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not thine anger burn
 unintentionally he had come in the preceding.-  weeks to a
                                                                             against thy servant: for thou art even as Pharaoh.
 position of leadership over his brothers. It was under his
 pleading that their father had consented to allow  Benjamin to                  "My lord  asked his servants, saying, `Have ye a father,
 come with them to Egypt. He had offered himself a surety                    or a brother?
 for the safety of the youngest brother, and their father had                    "And we said unto my lord, `We have a father, an old
 acquiesced. Now he felt even more responsible than did the                  man, and a child of his old age, a little one ; and his brother
 rest. He too felt the sting of guilt. For himself he might                  is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father
 have made excuses and possibly in former years had done                     loveth him.'

 so. It was after all due to him that Joseph had been sold as                    `And thou saidst unto thy servants, `Bring him down

a slave instead of slain. But that would work no longer.                     unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him.'

 The fact of their responsibility loomed too close. He should                    "And we said unto my lord, `The Iid cannot leave' his

 have  withstood his brothers to the face, and that he had                   father: for if he should leave his father, his father would

 failed to do. H                                                             die.'
                    E was responsible as were the rest.. And now

 his responsibility appeared even greater. He had pledged                        "And thou saidst unto thy s&vants,  `Except your young-

 himself to keep their  brother in' safety, and the hand of the              est brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no

 Lbrd  was `against them. What was he to do ? ,                              more.'


 370                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   :B'EARE,R


        "And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant          difference which Joseph had experienced at their hands so

 my father, we told him the words of my lord. And our father           many years before. 4) Finally, and perhaps the most'sig-

 said, `Go again, and buy us a little food.'                           nificant of all, was the demonstration of spiritual love revealed

        "And we said, `We cannot go down: if our youngest              in the words "Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant
 brother be with us, then will we go down: for we may not              abide instead of the lad a bondman  to my lord ; and let the
 see the man's face, except our youngest brother. be with us..'        lad go up, with his brethren." It anticipated the saying of
        "And thy servant my father said unto us, `Ye know that         his own Seed yet many years away, "Greater love hath no
my wife bare me two sons: and the one went out from me,                man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."
 and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not            (John 15 :13). Still it did not so much anticipate as follow
 since : and if ye take this also from-me, and mischief befall         from that Seed, who, although He was not to be born for
 him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs. with sorrow to the            many generations, paradoxically pre-dated Judah because He
 grave.'                                                               is eternally in the bosom- of the Father, "the firstborn of
        "Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father,           many brethren."

 and the lad be not with us; seeing that his life is bound up             Joseph could withhold himself no longer before this plea.

 in the lad's life ; it shall come to pass, when the seeth that the    Every word penetrated his heart with a joy so great it hurt;

 lad is not with us, that he will die : and thy servants shall         his eyes were clouded with tears. He had learned from

 bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with              Judah's words all that he had yearned to know concerning

 sorrow to the grave. For thy servant became surety for the            the spiritual condition of his brothers. In fact his testing

 lad unto my father, saying, `If I bring him not unto thee,            of them had brought to, the minds of the brothers a clearer

 then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever.'                   recognition of their guilt and sorrow fo*r their sin than there

        "Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide in-         ever ,would  have been without it. Joseph saw them now. as

 stead of the lad a bondman  to my lord ; and let the lad go           penitent sinners, and that was all he wanted. His heart

 up with his brethren. For how shall I go up to my father,             bursting with the pain of extreme joy, he ordered all of the

 and the lad be not with me ? lest peradventure I see the evil         Egyptians from the room. It was no time for strangers to

 that shall come on my father."                                        be watching. Turning to his brothers, he exclaimed with a

        It was Martin Luther. that exclaimed concerning this           burst of joy, "I am Joseph! doth my father yet live?' Long
 prayer, "Oh, that we could thus step before-God and make              had he been anticipating this moment, to talk to them as a
 known our needs to Him as Judah addressed his brother ! . . .         brother. His first wish was -to hear of his father, not as
 May it be granted to us to plead with God in Jesus' name              an inquiring stranger, but as a brother and a son.

 with the same earnestness when our troubles press heavily                The'brothers  cringed in fear. For days and months they

 upon us, and may we be sure that as Joseph was moved by               had been laboring under the oppressive consciousness of their

 the petition of Judah, so God will be moved even more to              guilt. They had thought over and over again on the greatness

 hear our prayers and help us."                                        of the punishment that they deserved. They had almost

        To. analyze such a plea is, of course, difficult and can be    despaired of the possibility of even obtaining mercy from
 dangerous lest by taking it apart we destroy its feeling and          God. Now suddenly there loomed before them the very man
 beauty. Nonetheless there are certain things which we                 against whom they had sinned. Could they expect mercy
 should note. 1) First there is its sincerity. The prayer was          f r o m   h i m ?

 very evidently the outpouring of a burdened soul. Once                   Troubled by their fear, Joseph exclaimed again, "Come

 Judah had begun to speak, the words flowed on of themselves           near to me, I pray you. I am Joseph your brother, whom

 until the whole burden of his soul was exposed. 2) Secondly,          ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry

 there is the humility of the prayer. Throughout Judah main-           with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send

 tained an attitude of deep respect for the authority of               me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the

 Joseph. There, were no excuses, no protestations of inno-             famine been in the land : and yet there are five years, in the

 cence. The plea began with an admittance of guilt, "God               which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God

 hath found out the iniquity of thy servants"; and at the end          sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth,

 where he spoke of their father's possible death, it was with          and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was

 the recognition that they were the responsible parties, "Thy          not you that sent me hither, but God." Gradually the kind

 servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our           voice of Joseph calmed their troubled fears. Even more there

 father with sorrow to the grave." He had no rights to claim           began to dawn for them an entirely new perspective on their

 but only pleaded on the mercies of the ruler before whom              lives. They had sinned. There was no escaping their guilt in

 he stood. 3) Thirdly, the prayer showed a deep concern for            that. Nonetheless so great is the love of God for His people

 the welfare of their father. The closing words speak for              that He had used it for good. With amazement and thank-
 themselves.     "For how shall I go up to my father, and the          fulness in their hearts they sat and talked with their brother

 lad be not with me ? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall      as with one who in the love of God still counted them as

 come on my father."        How it contrasted with the hard in-        being dear.                                                B.W.
                                                                              a


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                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE.ARER                                                      371


                                                                       ous life as `an apostle of Jesus Christ. Says he : "We are in
             F R O M   H O L Y   W R I T                               jeopardy every hour."     This is somewhat like Remans  8 :36
 I'1                                                              II where Paul writes : "Even as it is writien, For thy sake are
                                                                       we killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for

                 Exposition of I Corinthians 15                        the slaughter." Psalm 44:22.  Evidently Paul, when speaking

                                                                       here in the plural "we," includes also the other apostles and
                                 VI.                                   all who walk godly in this world. II Tim. 3:12. But it is

                                                                       particularly to h&self that he has reference. Was not that
                      (I Corinthians 15 29-34)
                                                                       tihich  was lacking in the sufferings of' Christ filled up in a

                                  b.                                   goodly measure in his life (dol. 1:24),  and that, too, for
                                                                       the church ?
        We shall follow Paul as he continues his polemic (battle)         The record is in the Scriptures concerning this life of
 against .the evil communications that corrupt the good man-           Paul in jeopardy every hour. Paul  writes in II Corinthians
 ners, the pious walk of the godly, which is only possible and         11 :23-33, which we here quote in part : "Are they ministers
 real in the hope of the resurrection.                                 of Christ-? (I speak as a fool) I am more ; in labors more

        A little leaven leaveneth the entire lump. It doth eat like    abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent,

 the cancer. Soon the entire walk of godliness, a walk of              in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times did I receive forty

 sanctification `will be gone. The believers will be lulled to         stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I

 sleep. For evil communications corrupt good,  Christian               stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have
 ethics.                                                               been in the deep. In journeyings often, in perils of waters,

                                                                       in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in
        Paul is acutely aware that a denial of the resurrection
                                                                       perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the
 sounds the death-knell for all Christian heroism. Had Abra-
                                                                       wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren ;
 ham, Isaac and Jacob not in hope sought a better and ati
                                                                       in weariness and painfulness, in watching often, in hunger
 enduring, substance they would surely have returned to the
                                                                       and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness` . . . .I'
 country of their fathers. BUT now they  declare plainly that
                                                                       Dear reader, does not the record here speak for itself. Yes,
 they seek a' better country, that is, an heavenly. God is not
                                                                       Paul lives in jeopardy eve?y  hour. And this begam  as soon
' ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for
                                                                       as he became a minister of Christ. Does he not relate here
 th6m.a city. Heb. 11.
                                                                       the incident also recorded in Acts 9 :23-25 of his being let
        And such is Paul's .striving  too. It is the key to under-     down by the wall in a basket. That was the beginning when
 stand Paul's dangerous mode of life as an ambassador of               "the Jews took counsel to kill him." That moment stands
Christ. If the dead rise not then surely Paul is a fool than           out so very clearly in Paul's mind as the beginning of this
 which there isjnone  greater.     Among all those who are the         life of "jeopardy every hour."
 most pitiable of all men, Paul may then `safely be ranked as
                                                                          And why does Paul relate this ?
 surpassing them all in being an object of pity. Does he not
                                                                          Why does Paul call attention to his hovering on the brink
 labor more abundantly alone than all the rest ~of-  the apostles
                                                                       of death each day? Was it to gain some sympathy from these
 together ? !
                                                                       Corinthians ? Not at all. Is it that Paul was seeking martyr-
        Paul does a little self-analysis here in the text, and         dom ? That cannot be for when danger is near Paul repeatedly
 formulates it into an argument in favor of the hope of the            flees. He thinks of this dangerous living not as an end in
 resurrection:"It  is evidence of the hope of the- resurrection.       itself. It is far from pleasant. It is dying daily !
 He is- an example of all the longsuffering of God to sinners.
                                                                          Think'of what Paul tirites' in I Corinthians 4 :9-13, where
 However, he is also an example for all to emulate. I Tim.,
                                                                       we read : "For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles
  1 :15, 16; Phil. 3 :17. This is' particularly true of his walk
                                                                       last, as it were appointed unto death: For we are made a
 in hope.
                                                                       spectacle (theatre) unto the world, and to angels and to
        Wherefore he writes : `And why stand we in jeopardy            men. We are fools for Christ's sake but ye are wise. in
  every hm~.  I protest by ow `rejoicing which we have ,i.n            Christ . . . even unto this very hour we both hunger, and
  Christ Jesus, I die daily. If after the manner of pj$en I have       thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain
 fought  with beasts at Eplzesus,  wlzat  advantag'eth  it me, if      dwellingplace . . . We are made as the filth of the world,
  the dea.d  rise not? Let u.s eat and drink for tomorrow we dia.      and are the offscouring  of all things unto this day."
 Be not deceived: evil commmnications  corrupt good manners.              Why does he write this.?  He would excite them to a life
 Awake to righteousness axd sin not; for some have not the             of Christian hope. He would stop the mouth of those who
 ktiowledge  of God: I speak this unto your shame."
                      .^                                               say that the "dead rise wholly not."
        We would call attention to the following here.                    Hence, he adds even an oath in this connection. Writes

        In the first place we should take notice of Paul's danger-     he : "I protest by the boasting which I have concerning you,

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


brethren."     Paul could boast of. this, congregation that even       midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents and harm-

if they had "ten thousand instructors in Christ," yet had              less as doves." And warning against false prophets he says :

they not many fathers. Had Paul not begotten them in Christ            "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's

by the Gospel, preaching the gospel where others had not               clothing, BUT INWARDLY THEY ARE RAVENING

preached before him? See I Cor. 4:15,  16, and Romans                  WOLVES." M.att.  7:15. And did not Paul warn the elders

15 :20,-21 (Is. 52 :15).  `He therefore adjured them by God            in Ephesus saying: "For this is known that.after  my depart-

that what he says about his.life  being in jeopardy every hour         ing shall grievous wolves enter. in amorig  yo.u, not sparing

is truth. He dies daily. It is as stated very succinctly by            the flock." Acts 20 :29. (Incidentally that was what I preached

Calvin, "an oath by which he wished to arouse the Corin-               on in Jan., 1944, when I preached a sermon for installation

thians to a more attentive listening to him as to the matter at        of, office-bearers. It was on the last Sunday of my ministry

hand, in effect saying, brethren, I am not some philosopher            in Pella, Iowa.)

prattling in the shade ! As I expose myself ev.ery  day to                From this it is evident that "wild beasts of Ephesus"
death, i.t is necessary that I should think in good earnest of         refers to evil men in their fierce opposition to the Gospel and
this heavenly life."     Truly, by thus swearing Paul reminds          the hope of the-resurrection in Jesus Christ.
these Corinthians that he expects them to keep this faith and
                                                                         But why all this suffering and defense of the Gospel if
hope in constancy.
                                                                       the dead rise not? Could Paul not have lived another life
       To drive this point home he asks them the rhetorical            than this having his "life poured out as a drink-offering"?
question, "If after the manner of men I have fought with the           It were far better then to live the reckless life of Israel of
beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me if the dead rise             old when the Assyrians cam& i&o the land. Rather than
not ?'                                                                 mourn they said : "let's eat ,and drink, for tomorrow we die."

       If the dead rise wholly not, what is the advantage of a         Merrily they go to destruction. They cast all restraint to the
life of suffering and deprivation, of hunger, thirst, peril,           wind.

nakedness and sword. If' there' is no resurrection, then there            That is .the far better alternative too "if the dead rise not.,'
certainly is no reward. Then the point of living is in this            But the dead do rise. Christ arose! He is the first-fruits.
Yvtomertt  and not for a distant and better hope.                      And the full harvest shall surely come in the resurrection

       It must. have been exceptionally trying what Paul `ex-          morn !

perienced when he fought with the beasts at Ephesus. That                 Therefore, all this talk of there being no resurrection is
is why Paul cites this case here. Just what Paul has definitely        very deceptive and dangerous. It corrupts Christian ethics.
in lnind  as an incident he does  qot say. It may very well            For only they who have the hope of seeing God purify
refer to a rather long period, calling for exceptionally much          themselves as he is pure. I John 3 :3. And, these who deny
patience and fortitude.                                                the resurrection, do so because as the Sadducees  they know

       There are two explanations, of this phrase, "fought with        not God nor the power of the God in the resurrection. They
beasts at Ephesus."                                                    have not a saving knowledge of faith ifi God.

                                                                           It is really a shame that Paul must tell thize  Corinthians
       There is first of all the literal interpretation. This holds
                                                                       all this. They cannot blame the teaching of Paul for it. There
that Paul had been thrown. into the ai-ena in Ephesus, .and
                                                                       `is one reasoki  and one only. It is sin in them. They are not
had to fight with the lions or other wild beast, and had
                                                                       spiritually sober. They do not have the loins of their mind
there been doomed to die. However, the Lord then delivered
                                                                       girt up, and hope perfectly $or the revelation of Jesus Christ
him. What is cited against this interpretation is that the
                                                                       in that day.
uproar in Ephesus `bccurred  after Paul wrote this first epistle
to the Corinthians. Besides, it is urged that in the catalogue            Those who are roused f;om their indolence and stupor
of sufferings as given in II Cor. 11 :23ff (see abovk) no              are to distance themselves from such evil speakers.

mention is made by.Paul  of his literally having been in peril             They must remember that it was  preached to them that
of lions, etc.                                                         Christ died for their sins according to the Scriptures and

       The interpretation which holds that the phrase "fought          that He arose again the third day according to the Scriptures.

with the wild beasts" must be understood figuratively of evil              But Paul will presently say: I have kept the faith, I
men, to our mind, is the correct one. The wild beasts then             have run the race, and presently there is laid away for me a
refers to cruel men, who opposed the gospel, and would stop            crown of life ; and not for me only but for all who love his
at nothing to tear Paul in pieces. They made life well-nigh            appearance.
unendurable for Paul. This interpretation is backed by the
                                                                           Thus we have preached  and thus ye have believed.
fact that unbelievers and enemies of the Cross are often

comparedito  beasts. Just to cite a few instances we call at-              Stand, therefore, in that faith looking for the hope of

tention, first  of all, to the warning of Jesus to his disciples       glory.

in Matt. 10:16: "Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the                                                                            G.L.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             373


                                                                     to our eyesight and spend large sums of money to get the
              I N H I-3 F E /$ R                                     best of care  for our failing eyesight. It may be that only
                                                                     after great deliberation and thorough investigation that we

                                                                     invest our money, select ati insurance company, buy an auto-

          And Whckt  About The Children?                             mobile with all the claims .and counterclaims in -regard  to
                                                                     it. But let us be sure that the church roof which we seek
                                   (3)                               is one under which the doctrine taught is indeed the true

                                                                     and perfect doctrine of salvation. Let us be sure of that,
     "Thirdly. Whether you,promise  and intend to see these          for ourselves. Let us be sure of that for our children.
 children, when come  to the years of discretion' (whereof you
                                                                        If then, we are in a church whose  doctrine we know is
 are either parent or witness), instructed and brought up in
                                                                     corrupted by philosophies of men and whose discipline .is
 the aforesaid doctrine, or help or cause them to be instructed
                                                                     therefore wanting on many glaring points, let us ask our-
 therein, to the utmost of your poweir ?"
                                                                     selves how before God we can promise to have. our children
     This question is one which is known to all our readers.         instructed and brought up in that doctrine to the utmost of

     And it must be interpreted in the light of the one which        our power. We simply do not mean it when we say that we
 precedes it. For when this question speaks of the "aforesaid        will. We do not "answer sincerely to these questions."

 doctrine" it means "the doctrine which is contained in the             What is more, having given that promise, we must keep
 Old and New Testaments, and in the articles of the Christian        it. We repeat what we said last time: Let us be honest. If
 faith, and which is taught h&e in this Christian Church,' as        we are seeking a door through which to enter  into a sphere
 the perfect and true doctrine of salvation.                         where we know ahead of time that the doctrine taught there

     Thus those parents. who present their children for bap-         is not the `true and perfect doctrine of salvation, let us

 tism promise before God that they will do all in their power        remember that we will indeed be placed before that serious

 to have their children instructed and brought up in the doc-        situation that we will have to give promise of tliat which

 trine of the Christian Church where they have their children        we do not intend to do. That is not honest before men ; and

 baptized. What is more all those who belong to that particular.     it is not honest before God.

 Christian Church demand of the parents who present their               That it is not honest before men is indeed sin. It may
 children for baptism that they bring up ,and instruct their         be,  that men are not too much concerned about that. If one
 children in that doctrine to the utmost of their power.             is simply interested in numerical growth and rejoices in

     There are two things therefore that we would emphasize          numbers, it may be that one would receive you even knowing

 at the moment. First of all, this promise is made unto .God.        that you do not intend to be honest about this baptismal

 It is not the man who asks the question in God's name that          vow. He may even reason-and correctly so-that time

 counts. It is not the consistory before which one must appear       will heal this also and sooner or later you will lose your

 for a baptismal blank and request: It is to God that the            sensitivity and answer more honestly. bne who willfully

 promise is given: For baptism is an holy ordinance of God.          goes to a field where he knows that he does not belong and

 It is His sign and His seal of incorporation in& His cov-           cuts himself off from the very truth whereby God strengthens

 enant. And "it*  must be used for that end, and_  not out of        his people must not be surprised to find this dulling of the

 custom or superstition." .Let  the parents remember then the        senses to be his lot. ,Scripture  shows that time and again.

 seriousness of the matter when they present their children for      Lot, though he was an elect, believing child of God who

 this sign and seal of God's covenant upon the foreheads of          vexed his righteous soul had to be pulled out of the cities by

 their children. You promise before God and you give promise         the angel of the Lord. Elimelech and Naomi went only to

 unto God that by His grace you will and are at the moment           sojourn in Moab ; but once there they were very reluctant

 of the intent to bring them up and instruct them in this doc-       to go back and got themselves deeper and deeper into

 trine to the utmost of your -power.                                 separation from God and His promises. He had to come with

                                                                     terrible blows before Naomi returns.
     How important it is then that one be convinced that he

 is in the church that has a doctrine which is the true and            -And let no man reason within himself that since his

 perfect doctrine of salvation.     With, these things one cannot    childr'en  are all baptized .and since he can no longer expect

 meddle. Church membership is a matter before God and a              to stand and answer these questions with an infant in his

 matter that calls for the most serious consideration on our         arms that this does not apply to him. The second. thing we

' part. We may be ever so cautious about the selection of other      wish to point out in regard to this baptismal vow is that it

 things. We may be so careful about the food we eat, the             is asked by the whole congregation. One man utters the

 doctor to whom we go with our physici  disabilities and ail-        words with his lips. One man in the office is the spokes-

 ments, the. dentist and oculist. We may search for the              man. Indeed, but he speaks it for the whole congregation.

 specialist in his field to take care of us when things are          And he speaks It in the hearing of the whole church. Let

 not well in our physical frames. `W.e  may attach great value       that man ,who  does not agree with the questions asked then

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


protest against it. Let him join the congregation honestly          `affiliated with such like-minded believers, it is plain that your

and inform `the consistory that he will protest and do& object      calling is to return to us. Be not deceived. Protestant Re-

to that question being asked of the parents because  he does        formed is not extra-confessional. All else is extra-confessional

not believe that the doctrine taught in that church is the          because all else is contra-confessional. The "Three Points"

true and perfect doctrine of salvation. And in connection           are hot only extra-confessional, something added to the con-

with the matter which is the occasion for these thoughts            fessions of the church, but they are positively something that
                                                                                                                          .
under the title "And What About The Children" let us                contradicts the very Word of God and the Confessions.  We

repeat: The three points of "common grace" are not simply           do not need to take the time to prove that. You know that,

a door that bars the way to a city where there can be union         and it is because of that fact that you are disturbed about a

upon the basis of the Word of God and the Three Forms               going back. And disturbed you must be. Those who can be

of Unity. Those three points will be found on every street,         blind leaders of the blind and actually b&eve that there will

in every house and in all the regions of that city. And you         be and can be a union on the basis of the Word of God and

as a citizen in that city. will have to ask and demand of all       the Three Forms of Unity in a church whose preaching is

the parents that they instruct their children and bring them s      constantly colored by the theory of "common grace" .are  in

up in the doctrine of that city. ,If before God's face you can      for a rude awakening. Unless, indeed, they already love that

do that, by all means do it and sin not against your own            lie, and, their defense of the heretical statements condemned

conscience. But if you still love the Protestant Reformed           by our Classis  and Synod and upheld by their Classis  and

truth and are still convinced that it is the true and perfect       Synod is due to that fact. Have these blind leaders ever

doctrine of salvation, do not sin against your conscience and       seen the truth ? In the past they did all in their power to

against God by demanding of parents that they instruct and          lead you away from the .Christian  Reformed Church. Now

bring up their children in a doctrine to which you cannot           they do their utmost to lead you back. When  were they

agree.                                                              blind and when did they see the light? Are they themselves

                                                                    sure they see the light this time?
       Do not be deceived any longer. Wild rumors are still
being spread as to what is demanded of you in order to return           And all the slander and personalities that ;hey dragged
to us. It would be amusing were it not so serious .a matter         into the issue in order to cover up their attempt atid intent
that those who formerly were one with us and leaders in our         to do exactly what today they openly do and advocate, are
churches, who pleaded that the denominational walls would           you sure that all these lies and slander and distortion are
not be made so high, now themselves try to build such a high        true ? Have they been honest with you about the doctrine?
wall around our deno,niination  because they do.  not want you      Are they now honest with you about what you ought to do
to go pack.          i                                              today ? Is it not your calling in His fear to do some renewed
                                                                    investigation, to contact  us, to seek to find the light and the
       If you were deceived by them in the past, confess' it and    truth of all this tragic past?
rejoice with us in the true and perfect doctrine of salvation
,which  God gave both you and us in times past. If you were             If you still love the God-glorifying ProTestant  Reformed
not deceived, by all means, do not confess that you were. If        truth, the true and perfect doctrine unto salv_ation, it should
you actually embraced those heretical statements and believe        not be hard to declare unto us that you have been misled and
                                                                    deceived btit  always loved this truth. You *should not find
that they are part of the true and perfect doctrine of salvation
                                                                    it hard to &form  us that you are sorry that in the way of
and defended them as such a part ofOthat  doctrine, do not
return to us under the guise of having been deceived. You           this deception you supported financially and morally those
                                                                    who are schismatics.  You should find joy in informing us
may still ret&-n to us. The gate is open for that. And we
                                                                    -and we can assure that the joy would be mutual-that
would also rejoice in that. But the gate for such an entrance
                                                                    you hate the heresy of conditional promises which place man
is confession of having embraced the lie and not of being
                                                                    and his work before God and His covenant faithfulness. May
deceived. We cannot escape the conviction, however, that
                                                                    God grant you the courage of your convictions, and may He
there are many of you who have been deceived. To some of
                                                                    heal this breach and unite us again on the basis of the Word
you we even expressed repeatedly that we had only pity for
                                                                    of God and the Three Forms of Unity.
you because of this deception and would rejoice in the day
when your eyes would be opened. Yea, even spme of you                 And what about. the children ?

who sought to "rebuke" us and to show us our "error" `that              Then you can commit them to His care and pray for a
spiritual pity is still there and partially the reason for these    blessing upon the instruction given to them.
three articles on this matter. As we wrote at the beginning,                                                                   J.A.H.
we would be helpful. And in all sincerity we mean that.


       It is in that spirit then that we would remind you that

the only denomination that you can join on the basis of the

Word of God and the Three Forms of Unity is our denomina-               "They that forsake the law praise the wicked ; but such

tion. If it is y&r desire  td find such a church roof and to be     as keep the law contend with them." Proverbs 28:4


                                            T-HE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  375


II                                                                   God's book of creation. but we can never read and under-
          Contending For The Faith 1 1                               stand the book of creation without the Word of God. It is

                                                                     true, .of course, that also God's revelation of Himself in all

                                                                     the works of His hands speaks of the Lord as the God of

           The Church and the Sacraments                             our salvation.    God created this earth as a symbol of the
                                                                     heavenly and the kingdom of Heaven takes place through

           THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                               parables. Everything is symbolic. This applies to the heavens
                                                                     and all the heavenly bodies, the world-of animals and plants,
                 VIEWS ON THE CHURCH                                 of numbers and colours,  the bread we ,eat and the water we

                                                                     drink, of the dying and living of seed, etc. However, we can
                   FORMAL PRINCIPLE                                  never attain unto this knowledge of the Lord-as the God of

                                                                     our salvation merely by looking into this mirror of the
                            (continued)                              earthly creation. We must read this "elegant book," as

                                                                     stated in Art. 2 of our Confession of Faith, in the light of the
      In our preceding article we noted that Protestantism sets
                                                                     Word of God.
forth the principle, that the Holy Scriptures, consisting of
the Old and New Testaments, are in themselves the one and               What is the conception of the Roman Catholic Church
only rule of faith and life. And we quoted from the Formula          concerning the right and power to interpret the Bible? In
of Concord, the Westminster Confession of Faith, and .also           its decree concerning the edition and use of the sacred
Article 7 of our own Confession of Faith. This same                  books, -the Romish Council of Trent expresses itself as
principle is also set forth in Art. 5 of our Confession of Faith,    follows : "Moreover, the same sacred and holy Synod-
which reads : "We receive all these books, and these only,           considering that no small utility may accrue to the Church
as holy and canonical, for the regulation, foundation, and           of God, if it be made known which out of all the Latin edi-
confirmation of our faith ; believing without any doubt, all         tions, now in circulation, of the sacred books, is to- be held
things contained in .them,  not so much because the .Church          as authentic- ordains and declares, that the said old and
receives and approves them as such, but more especially be-          Vulgate edition, which, by the lengthened usage of so many
cause the Holy Ghost witnesseth in our hearts, that they             ages, has been approved of in the Church, be, in public
are from God, whereof they carry the evidence in themselves.         lectures, disputations,    sermons, and expositions, held as
For the very blind are able to perceive that the things foretold     authentic ; and that no one is to dare, or presume to reject
in them are fulfilling." Now it is true that also Art. 2 of this     it under any pretext whatever. Furthermore, in order to
same confession, speaks of the means by which God is made            restrain petulant spirits, it decrees, that no one, relying on
known to us, and this article speaks of two such means. We           his own skill, shall- in matters of faith, and of morals
read in this article: "We know Him by two means: first,              pertaining to the edification of Christian doctrine - wresting
by the creation, preservation and government of the universe ;       the sacred Scripture to his own senses, presume to interpret
which is before our eyes as a most elegant book, wherein all         the said sacred Scripture contrary to that sense which holy
creatures, great and small, are as so many characters leading        mother Church 2 whose it is to judge of the true sense and
us to contemplate the invisible things of God, namely, His           interpretation of the holy Scriptures - hath held and doth
power and divinity, as the apostle Paul saith, Ram.  1 :20. All      hold ; or even contrary to the unanimous consent of the
which things are sufficient to convince men, and leave them          Fathers : even though such interpretations were never (in-
without excuse.     Secondly, he makes himself more clearly          tended) to be at any time published. Contraveners shall be
and fully known to us by His holy and divine Word, that              made known by: their Ordinaries, and be punished with the
is to say, as far as is necessary for us to know in this life,       penalties by law established." The reader will notice that this
to His glory and our salvation." However, this does. not             decree declares that no one may presume to interpret, the
mean that these two means by which we know God are of                sacred Scripture contrary to that sense which the holy mother
equal significance. The reader will notice that, according           Church held and does hold, and also that only the mother
to this article, the Lord makes Himself more clearly and             Church may judge what is the true sense and interpretation
fully known by His Word. And the reason `why the Lord                of the holy Scriptures. And, mind you, this rule even applies
is more clearly and fully known by His Word is because that          when it was never the intention of such a person to make
Word reveals Him unto us as the God of our salvation ; in            public such findings and interpretations of the Word of God.
that Word we learn to know the things. that are necessary            This means that no one may even think anything which  is
unto our salvation. And that these two means are not of              contrary to the interpretations of the Word of God by mother
equal significance is also stated by Calvin when he, in his          Church. And this refers ultimately to the pope.

Institutes of the Christian Religion, I, 6, 1, declares that the        In the Romish Profession of the Tridentine Faith, 1564,

Bible is like unto spectacles through which we must behold           we read in Articles 2 and 3 the following : "I most steadfastly

and understand God's book of creation. We can surely under-          admit and embrace apostolic and ecclesiastic traditions, and

stand and read the Word of God without understanding                 all other observances and constitutions of the same Church.. .

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


 I also admit the holy Scriptures, according to that sense           keys of the kingdom from our Lord Jesus Christ, the

 which our holy mother Church has held and does hold, to             Saviour and Redeemer of mankind, and lives, presides, and

 which it belongs to judge of the true sense and interpretation      judges, to this day and always, in his successors the Bishops

 of the Scriptures; neither will I ever take and interpret them      of the Holy See of Rome, which. was founded by him, and

 otherwise than according to the unanimous consent of the            consecrated by his blood. Whence, whosoever succeeds to

 Fathers."     Notice, please, that again in these articles it is    Peter in this See, does by the institution of Christ himself

 stated that the Church alone has the right to judge of the          obtain -the Primacy of Peter over the whole Church. The

 true sense and interpretation of the Word of God, and that          disposition made by Incarnate Truth therefore remains, and

 the members of the Romish Church will never take and inter-         blessed. Peter, abiding through the strength of the Rock in

 pret those Scriptures otherwise than according to the unan-         the power that he received, has not abandoned the direction

 imous consent of the Fathers. This is folly. Please bear in         of the Church. Wherefore it has at all times been necessary

 mind in this connection the implication of the word "unan-          that every particular Church- that is to say, the faithful

 imous" in this article. Do the Romish people believe the            throughout the world-should agree with the Roman

 unmtiw~ous  opinion of all the Fathers ? We must not forget         Church, on account of the greater authority of the princedom

 that it is the Pope alone who has the right and the ability to      which this has received ; that all being associated in the

 understand and interpret this wzanimoz~  opinion of the             unity of that See whence the rights of communion spread to

 Fathers, and, mind you, of all the Fathers.                         all, might grow together as members of one Head in the

                                                                     compact unity of the body. If, then, any should deny that it

        Finally, Rome has also expressed itself on these matters     is by the institution of Christ the Lord, or by divine right,

 in the Dogmatic Decrees of the Vatican Council Concerning           that blessed Peter should have a perpetual line of successors

 the Catholic Faith and the Church of Christ, adopted in             in the Primacy over the universal Church, or that the Roman

 1870, in chapters 2-4 of the fourth session of this holy            Pontiff is the successor of blessed Peter in this primacy:

 Oecumenical  Council of the Vatican. We wish to quote               let him be anathema."

 these articles. Incidentally, also the following statement ap-

 pears in these dogmatic decrees : "We, therefore, following            Article or Chapter 3, which deals with the power and

 the footsteps of our predecessors, have never ceased, as            nature of th,e primacy of the Roman pontiff, reads as follows :

 becomes our supreme Apostolic office, from teaching and             "Wherefore, resting on plain testimonies of the Sacred Writ-

 defending Catholic truth, and condemning doctrines of error.        ings, and adhering to the plain and express decrees both of

 And now, with the Bishops of the whole world assembled              our predecessors, the Roman Pontiffs, and of the General

 round us, and judging with us, congregated by our authority,        Councils, we renew the definition of the oecumenical Council

 and in the Holy Spirit, in this oecumenical Council, we,            of Florence; in virtue of which all the.faithful of Christ must

 supported by the Word of God written and handed down as             believe that the holy Apostolic See and the Roman Pontiff

 we received it from the Catholic Church, preserved with             possesses the primacy over the whole world, and that the

 sacredness and set forth according to truth, have determined        Roman Pontiff is the successor of blessed Peter, Prince of

 to profess and declare the salutary teaching of Christ from         the Apostles, and is true vicar of Christ, and head of the

 this Chair of Peter, and in sight of all, proscribing and con-      whole Church, and father-and teacher of all Christians ; and

 demning, by the power given to us of God, all errors                that full power was given to him in blessed Peter to rule,

 contrary thereto."    Here the Pope declares that he has the        feed, and govern the universal Church by Jesus Christ our

 power to preserve and set forth' all the teachings of Christ        Lord ; as is also contained in the acts of the General Councils

 and to condemn all errors contrary to these teachings of            and in the sacred Canons." We will conclude this quotation

 Christ. We have already shown in previous articles that             of Chapter 3 on these decrees of the Vatican Council at this

 this is simply not true. We have shown that popes in the,           time. The Lord willing, we will continue this quotation in

 past have defended error. However, let us quote the articles        our following article. Only, we wish to call attention to the

 mentioned above in this paragraph. Art. 2 reads as follows          fact' that this chapter states that the Roman pontiff possesses

 (this is a chapter on the perpetuity of the primacy of blessed.     the primacy over the whole world. Rome does not only

 Peter in the Roman pontiffs) : "That which the Prince of            maintain that the Pope is the sole ruler of the Church in the

 Shepherds and great Shepherd of the sheep, Jesus Christ our         midst of the world, but also that he is the sole temporal

 Lord, established in the person of the blessed Apostle Peter        ruler over the whole world. Politicians may "softpedal" this

to secure the perpetual welfare and lasting good of the              fact in our political campaigns, and this is also being done

 Church, must, by the same institution, necessarily remain un-       in our own country in this year of a presidential election,

 ceasingly in the Church ; which, being founded upon the             but we must never forget that this is surely the teaching of

 Rock, will stand firm to the end of the world. For none can         the Roman Catholic Church. And when candidates deny

 doubt, and it is known -to all ages, that the holy and blessed      this, they are either-ignorant of this truth (and this I do not

 Peter, the Prince and Chief of the Apostles, the pillar of the      believe) or they are deliberately hiding and camouflaging the

 faith `and  foundation of the- Catholic Church, received the        issue.                                                    H.V.


                                              T H E   ` S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                             377


                                                                        Over against this error the fathers re-emphasize the
II        The Voice of Our Fathers                                  Scriptural way of assurance. We need not in this connection
                                                              `II enter into a lengthy exposition of this truth again.. For the
                                                                    Ctinons  have treated this doctrine of assurance at length in

                                                                    the positive section of this Fifth Head, Articles 9-14. Let it
                The Canons of Dordrecht
                                                                    suffice to observe, in the first place, that the fathers remind

                                                                    us that the Holy Scriptures nowhere teach that the assurance
                          PART Two
                                                                    of perseverance is to be gained through a special and extra-

                  EXPOSITION OF THE CANONS                          ordinary revelation. In the second place, the Holy Scriptures

                                                                    deduce this assurance .from  the marks proper to- the sons of
                FIFTH HEAD OF DOCTRINE                              God, the marks of a Christian, those marks, namely, that
            OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS                       are pointed out in the Word of God. This, you will remem-

                                                                    ber from our previous discussions of this subject of assurance,
                 REJECTION OF ERRORS                                does not refer to a sickly search for these marks of grace and

                                                                    to a cold process of logical conclusion that because these and
                     Article 5 (continued)
                                                                    these marks are present, therefore we are children of God.

                                                                    But it refers to the spontaneous assurance of faith, wrought
      We may notice in this connection that our fathers accuse
                                                                    by the Holy Spirit, in the way of godliness and sanctifica-
the Arminians of reintroducing "the doubts of the papist"
                                                                    tion. It is for this reason that the Canons mention here the
into the church. This is a rather strange expression, and
                                                                    most faithful promises of God: This, after all, is the solid
perhaps in o,ur  day it has become rather meaningless. Un-
                                                                    foundation of all assurance, the speech of God Himself, by
doubtedly in that day, which- was not yet so far removed
                                                                    His Spirit, through the Word of the gospel, and, always
from the Reformation, the expression was more significant.
                                                                    in connection with the marks of the sons. of God in the
By this term the fathers do not refer to the Pelagianism or
                                                                    saint, that is, always in connection with the wo,rk of His own
Semi-Pelagianism of the Ron-&h  Church as such. But as the
                                                                    grace in us. Hence, he that has the marks of the sons of
term "papist" or, literally, "adherent to the pontificate" in,
                                                                    God may without doubt lay claim, and will lay claim by faith.
dicates,  they refer to the Romish belief .in the pope (and in
                                                                    to the promise of God, unfailingly faithful, that no one shall
connection with the pope, the entire `priesthood) as being
                                                                    ever pluck him out of Christ's hand.
able to grant the assurance of salvation, and that too, on all

kinds of false grounds. The Romish Church held that the                As usual, the fathers appeal to the Holy Scriptures them-

certainty of salvation could be granted by the church (the          selves in order to prove their position. And a happier choice

pope) on the condition that one fulfilled certain. demands          of Scripture passages they could hardly make.' First of all,

laid down by the pope. ' The pope held the power of the for-        they cite Romans <8 :39 in part, where the, apostle Paul de-

giveness of sins-and  life eternal. If one received from him the    clares : "No creature shall be able to separate us from the.

assurance of salvation, then such a person could rest secure,       love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Concerning

regardless now of the spiritual condition of his heart and his      this passage we may note that it is fitting proof because:

life. This special pledge in the name of. the -pope  was a          1) `It expresses certainty, and that too most emphatically.

sufficient guarantee of salvation. But without. this specific       ivo  creatzcre,  nothingj  shall be able to separate us . . . No

guarantee of the church, namely, the pontificate, the assurance     creature shall be able . . . There is `not even the possibility of

of salvation was impossible. And here lies the point of com-        separation from the love of God. The passage therefore is

parison between the Arminian heresy and the.Romish  error           indeed to the point. It speaks of perseverance in the most

to which the fathers refer here. In order to oppose the             certain terms.    2) The very essence of that certainty is in

Scriptural doctrine of the perseverance of the saints the           the faithful promises of God. For it is the love of God,

Arminians sought refuge in a view that was essentially, the         which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, in Whom all the promises

same as this Romish error. They taught the necessity of a           of God are yea and amen, that is the power from which no

special revelation or pledge of the certainty of one's final        creature can separate us. .3) In the context the text not only

salvation likewise. They also maintained, like the papist, that     expresses objective certainty but also subjective assurance :

without that special revelation one was uncertain of his own        "I am persuaded that . . . no creature shall be able to separate

perseverance and of his final salvation. And just as the papist     us from the love of God." 4) Taken in the broader context

must live in anxiety and doubt as long as he does not               of the entire beautiful chapter, the text is also proof of an

through the priest receive in the name of the pope the as-          assurance that is not derived from any special or extra-

surance of the forgiveness of sins and of his salvation, so         ordinary revelation,. but of an assurance that is reached in

the Arminian must live in anxiety and doubt unless and until        the way of the marks proper to the sons of God, who are not

he receives such a special pledge of his perseverance and           after the flesh, but after the Spirit, and who through the

final salvation. Thus the doubtings of the papist are again         Spirit mortify the deeds of the body: 5) The text is at the

introduced into the church by the Arminian.                         same time proof that this assurance is not the rare exception

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


for the children of God, but is spiritually normal. For the                                                   closer to the Latin "car&  pulz&.a~,"  which is literally "a

apostle includes not merely himself, but., speaking in the                                                    stately couch, or cushion, for the flesh." The Dutch is: a

communion of saints, he declares that no creature shall be                                                    pillow for the flesh. Our English "a cause of indolence" is

able to separate us from the love of God tihich  is in Christ                                                 not n&My  so expressive. This was one of those ear-catching

Jesus our Lord.                                                                                               phrases that the Arminians used to discredit the Reformed

                                                                                                              truth in the popular mind. Over against the-Reformed doc-
     In the second  place, they  cite I John 3 24 : "And he that
                                                                                                              trine of assurance the Arminians exclaimed: "A cushion for
keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him.
                                                                                                              the flesh !" And you can imagine that the inexperienced and
And hereby we know that he' abideth in us, by the Spirit
                                                                                                              unpracticed would  be attracted by such an argument. The
which he bath  given us."                     This passage is chosen especially
                                                                                                              idea was that the truth of the assurance of perseverance and
to prove the fathers' contention that this assurance, according
                                                                                                              salvation would provide a soft and easy place for the flesh
to Scripture, is derived from the marks proper to the chil-
                                                                                                              to recline, unbothered and unconcerned about any need for
dren of God. Those marks proper to the sons of God are in
                                                                                                              morality and godliness. Perhaps after all it would be better,
this text denoted by the keeping of His commandments. He
                                                                                                              even though this is hardly an accepted English figure, .to
that, keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Christ and in
                                                                                                              preserve the figure in our translation, "a cushion for the
God, and God in Christ abideth in the one that keepeth His
                                                                                                              flesh." Our second remark about the translation is rather
commandments through His Spirit. Hence, out of the keep-
                                                                                                              minor. Both the English and the Dutch fail to translate the
ing of His commandments- because that keeping of His
                                                                                                              Latin de ea, "concerning these," in the clause: "but that on
.commandments  is the fruit of the indwelling Spirit of Christ
                                                                                                              the contrary it is praiseworthy to ddubt."  The reference is,
7 and but of the possession of that indwelling Spirit, Who
                                                                                                              of course, to the perseverance and salvation qentioned  in the
makes His presence known by causing us to keep His com-
                                                                                                              first part of the sentence. The idea is not that it is praise-
mandments, we know, that is, we are assured, that we abide
                                                                                                              worthy to doubt in general, but specifically that it is praise-
in Hi& and He in us.
                                                                                                              worthy to doubt concerning our perseverwce  and final salva-
    Let the believer beware, therefore, that he is not led                                                    tion. For the i-e&,  the translation is quite accurate.
astray from the only Scriptural `way  of assurance into the
                                                                                                                  This article also deals with an error that has been care-
path of sickly mysticism, which is also the way of cioubt and
                                                                                                              fully contradicted in the positive part of this chapter, Articles
uncertainty.
                                                                                                              11-13 especially. Besides, the error here rejected is essen-

                                         *      *     + *                                                     tially the same as that rejected in previous chapters. It is the
                                                                                                              old, old objection: this doctrine makes men cai-eless and

                  Article 6.                                                                                  profane. That is the favorite and supposedly death-dealing
                                    Who teach: That the `doct.ri&  of the certainty
                  of perseverance and of salvation from its own character                                     argument of free-willism against every phase of the Reformed
                  and natnrg is a cause of indolence and is injurious  to                                     truth concerning salvation. They raise this argument al-
                  godliness, good morals, prayers and other holy exercises,                                   ready against sovereign predestinatiun  ; .and they- raise it
                  but that on the contrary it is praiseworthy to doubt.                                       against the doctrine of perseverance as well. We need not
                  For these show that they do not know the power of
                  divine grace and the working of the indwelling Holy                                         spend much time on the nature of the. argdment  as such.
                                                                                                              Let us briefly remind ourselves, in the first`place,  that,it is
                  Spirit.   A n d   t h e y   c o n t r a d i c t   thy  A p o s t l e   J o h n ,   w h o

                  teaches the opposite with express words in his fifsst                                       not a Scriptural argument, but a rationalistic objection. When

                  epistle: "Beloved, now are we the children of God, and                                      the Arminian cannot contradict the Reformed faith suc-
                  it' is not yet made manifest what we shall be. We                                           cessfully with Scripture, he comes with this argument from
                  know that, if he shall be manifested, tie  shall be like                                    his own sinful reason. And in the second place, let us `remem-
                  him; for we shall see him even as he is. And every one
                                                                                                              ber that by the same token, according to Scripture, he
            that hath this hope set on him pnrifieth  himself, even
                  a s he is pure," I John 3:2, 3. Furthermore, these are                                      places himself in the horrid class of those who object again&

                  contradicted by the example of the saints, both of the                                      the Word of God itself. For more. than once this `same
                  Old and the New Testament, who though they were as-                                         objection occurs in the mouth of the opponents of the truth
                  sured of their perseverance and salvation, were never-                                      in Holy Writ, and is answered and exposed by the Scrip-
                  theless constant in prayers and other exercises of god-
                                                                                                              tures.
                  liness.
                                                                                                                                     (to be continued)

    The translators of this &-title  were evidently at a loss as                                                                                                         H.C.H.

to how to translate especially one phrase of this article into

idiomatic English. And I must confess that it is rather

difficult to preserve the figure of the original in good English.
                                                                                                                 Thy creatures all look to Thee for their food ;
But those who know our Can.ons  in the Dutch will know that
the  English "a cause of indolence" is a rather staid and                                                        Thy hand opens wide, they gather the good ;
prosaic and colorless rendering of "een oork,ussen  des                                                          Thy face Thou concealest, in anguish they yearn ;

vleesclzes  i'      But surely this Dutch expression comes much                                                  Their breath Thou withholdest, to dust they return.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                       379


                                                                       Churches did not meet regularly. This was. due to the `in-
I/           DECENCY and ORDER 1                                       terference of the Government which, because it feared the
                                                                       influence and power of the church, .refused  to authorize the

                                                                       gatherings of the General Synods. This situation prevented

                                                                       the churches from conferring with one another on various
            Inter-Synodical  Correspondence
                                                                       questions and united action was not always taken on vital

       (Each synod shall be at liberty to solicit and hold cor-        issues. There was a danger that without the periodic meet-

re@ondence  with its neiglzboring  synod o+ synods in. sztcla          ings of the Synod the churches would begin to drift apart

ptiavbner  as they shall judge WLOS%  conducive to general edifica-    and fall into a sort of independentism. To avoid this and to

tion.) - D.K.O. Article 48                                             somewhat meet the need that arose out of this undesirable

                                                                       condition, the particular synods began to send representatives
      The parentheses surrounding the above article indicate           to each other's meetings. This was first done by the Partic-
that it, like the preceding article, applies to particular             ular Synod.of  South Holland which sent two ministers to the
synods and, therefore, the matter with which it deals is of            Particular Synod of North Holland in 1593. The practice
no direct concern to us since we have only a General Synod;            soon became wide-spread. Only in the provinces of Drenthe
      The subject of inter-synodical correspondence has no             and Zeeland  was it lacking and, in the latter case at least,
connection with the work of. our Synod that is carried out             this was because it was forbidden by the civil authorities.
through the appointment of a standing, committee of Cor-               When, however, the Synod of 1618-19 was finally called
respondence with Foreign Churches. The latter is a commit-             because of the Arminian difficulties that plagued the churches,
tee that is mandated by the Synod to seek to establish contact         this Synod also authorized the practice of "com-espoydevzce
with other churches of Reformed persuasion and to carry                between particular synods," and wrote the present article
out fraternal correspondence with them. Such correspond-               into the Church Order.
ence is inded inter-synodical but it is also inter-denomina-
                                                                           Although, as was stated, this practice is of no direct
tional. The article of the Church Order that we are presently
                                                                       concern to us because we have not instituted particular
considering, however, deals with the matter of correspond-
                                                                       synods, the idea of this practice is nevertheless of interest
ence between various particular synods within the same
                                                                       and might conceivably be applied on the level. of our classes.
denomination of churches.
                                                                       There would be no principle objection to the practice of our
      Another difference between these two forms of cor-               two classes sending fraternal delegates to each other's meet-
respondence lies in the manner in which they are to be                 ings. The provision of the' Church Order regarding this
carried out. -The contact .between  a committee of the                 matter as pertaining to particular synods would seemingly
General Synod and the Synods of other churches is to a                 justify such a practice. Against it may be argued that it is
very large extent made and perpetuated through letters and             not necessary since our General Synod meets annually and,
written communications. It is possible, of course, that where          further, whereas considerable distance is involved the ex-
favorable contact has been made, this bond is further                  penses, that this would incur would not be justified. There               +
strengthened through personal representatives of the Synod             undoubtedly is `some truth in these arguments but when
but even then these representatives would not be sent every            consideration is given to some of the things that went on in
year unless a fraternal relationship  was officially established
                                                    I,.                the classis  during and before the schism of `53, it might have
between the two churches.                                              been a very good thing to have had some representatives of

       With respect to the matter of Article 48, .however,  the        the other classis  present at these meetings. Perhaps it would
term "to hold cwrr'eSponde+Zce', is a literal translation of the       not be necessary to have such a delegation at every meeting
Dutch "correspondent& te koztden"  and the idea of this latter         of the Classis  but on occasion it could be a good thing to
expression is not that letters be written from one particular          establish and maintain a closer contact and unity between
synod to another but that these synods would appoint rep-              the two classes of our churches.

resentatives who were charged to attend the meetings of the

neighboring particular synods in person. The article states                              `Synodical  Committees
that "each synod shall be at liberty . . ." meaning that this

matter was not one of compulsion but of free choice. It also               (Each synod shall delegate some to execute everything

adds that "this correspondence shall be tarried out in such            ordained. by the synod both as to zvhat pewtaim  to the gov-
a 1jxanner  ups  they shall judge most condztcive  to geneml           ernvttevtt  and to the respective classes, resorting under it,

edificatiovz"  which indicates that there could be no hard and         and likewise to supervise together or in smaller nuYuzber all

fast compelling manner in which this had to be done but it             examinations of fufiuye ministers. And, moreover, in all

was and, we believe is, generally agreed that the most                 ,otl~er  eventual d,i#icztlties  they shall extend help to the classes

effective way to carry out such work is by personal contact.           ,in  order thaf  prope+ unity, order and soundness of doctri,ne

       The origin of this correspondence must be traced to the         may. be vlzaintained  and established. .Also t?bey &all-  keep
fact that after 1586 the General Synod of the Reformed                 proper record of all their actions to rep&t thereof to synod,

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


 and if it be demanded, gitie  reasons. They shall also not be          of delegates shall be appointed for the various interests. At

 discharged from their serwice  before and ztntil synod itself          least two or thee deputies shall sujervise the peremptoir

 disc'zarges  themy - D.K.O. Article 49                                 (decisive and final) examination of future ministers. All these

                                                                        depzhties  shall keep a good record of all&eir mtivities  in order
        This article, -like the two preceding, also applies to the
                                                                        to report to Synod  artd in order to give reoxons  for their
 Particular Synods although the ruling regarding the appoint-
                                                                        actions, if such be demanded. They shall also nolt be dis-
 ment of synod&l  committees is in practice also applied to
                                                                        charged frovvt  tlieir  service before and !tntil  Sy-nod  itself dis-
 the General Synod. We believe it should be for otherwise
                                                                        charges them."
 there is nothing in the Church Order concerning this matter
                                                                                  The appointment and work of the committees of synod
 as pertaining to the General Synod and there should be
                                                                        is a very important function. Our synod which will convene,
 because of the very general practice of the synod to appoint
                                                                        DIV.,  in Junk 
 special study committees as well as its regular standing com-                                                          will hear and treat reports of twenty different
                                                                        committees this year. Of these six are standing or permanent
 m i t t e e s .
                                                                        committees of synod and the remaining fourteen are commit-
        The proposed revision of the Church Order by the Chris-         tees that were assigned special tasks or special problems
 tian Reformed Church is in this regard an improvement. In
                                                                        f o r   s t u d y .   O f   c o u r s e   t h e r e   i s   a l w a y s   a   d a n g e r   t h a t   S y n o d
 this revision we find just one article pertaining to Particular
                                                                        misuses the provision to appoint committees. That danger
Synods, one article governing the General Synod, and then               is that instead of solving the difficulties that confront her,
 a series of several articles under the heading of "Getiera.1
                                                                        the synod simply prolongs the problem by referring it to com-
 Provisions."       We take it that these general provisions apply
                                                                        mittee.             This. must be avoided and wherever possible the
 to both the Particular and General Synod and see no reason             Synod should reach a decision on all matters presented to it.
 why they should not. ,With  regard to the matter at hand
                                                                        The advantage of this ruling, however, is that it avoids hasty
 then, namely, the appointment of committees, we find in
                                                                        d e c i s i o n s .   B y   r e f e r r i n g   a   w e i g h t y   q u e s t i o n   t o   a  c o m m i t t e e ,
 Article 47 of the proposed revision this ruling:
                                                                        t h e   c h u r c h e s   h a v e   a   y e a r ' s   t i m e   t o   g i v e   t h o u g h t ,   s t u d y   a n d
        "`.Yynod  `may  delegate to committees the: execution of its
                                                                        consideration to it before rushing into an "on the spur of the
 decisions or the preparation of reports for future considera-
                                                                        moment" decision that might have regrettable consequences
 tions.     Synod &all give every  committee a well-defined
                                                                        l    a    t    e    r    .
 mandate, and shall require of these committees regular and                                                                                                                G.V.d.B.
 complete reports of their work. However, synod shall never

 transfer its autho?ity  to them, since they are not ecclesiastical

 assemblies, and all chztrch.  govemmental  a.uthority  resides in                                                        WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
 the church assemblies only."
                                                                                  On Tuesday, May 17, 1960, our dear parents,

        In the churches of the Netherlands a revision of this                                                           MR. and MRS. ISAAC KORHORN

 49th article has also. been enacted. Originally the churches           hope to commemorate their `fifty-i?fth  wedding anniversary. With

 did not feel it necessary that Synodical  Committees be ap-            grateful hearts we thank  our heavenly Father for I-I&  loving kindness

 pointed by the General Synod. Hence, the article (as we                in sparing them these many years for us and for ,each  other. Our
 now have it) applied only to Particular Synods. In 1905 this           prayer is &at  they may continue to experience the Lord's richest
                                                                        blessings.
 was changed and the article was so revised that it applies now                                                                         Mr. and Mrs. Maynard Veenstra
                                                                                                           -I 4
 to both the General and the Particular Synod. This revision,                                                                           Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Korhom"

 however, was never adopted in our country, and conse-                                                                                  Mr. and Mrs. Bert Korhom

 quently, we still have it in the original form. The reader will                                                                        Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Kriiper
                                                                                                                   .                    Mr. and Mrs. H&y Velthouse
 notice that in the revision the phrase c`everytJ~ing  . . . bsoth                                    /                                 Mr. and Mrs. Richard Bloem
 a.s  to what pertaim  to the government a,nd  to the respective                                                                        3 2   g r a n d c h i l d r e n
 classes r&orfing  under it" has been elided. Further, the                                                                              10 great-grandchildren

 original redaction specifies just one committee which is               Grand Rapids, Michigan

 charged to do many and various things in behalf of synod

 while the revision provides for the appointment of separate
                                                                                                                               IN MEMORIAM
 synodical  committees for the different matters or functions
 that demand attention. These changes are improvements for                        The Board of the Free Christian School Society of Edger-ton,
                                                                        Minnesota wishes to express its heartfelt sympathy to one of its
 it makes for a broader distribution of the work and it is
                                                                        fellow Board members, Mr. Hemy  Miersma, ila the recent death
 also a deterrent to the danger of hierarchism which is present         of his father,
 when too much power is placed in the hands of a few;  The                                                              M R .   HARRY   M I E R S M A

 rendering of 1905 then reads :                                                   "And we know that all things work together for good to them

        "iEach  synod shall deputize some to execu.te everything        that love God, to them who are the &led according to His purpose."
                                                                        Romans 8:2S.
 ordained `by Synod and to offer  tlwir amhnce  to the cl+sses                                                              The Board of the Free Christian School Society
 (n eventual diff&Llties,  as WWC~Z  as possible separa.te  groups                                                                        Wm. Buys, President


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               381


                                                                     but all the ordained men in the world cannot shut him out
II          A L L   A R O U N D   U S                                of the true Church.
                                                                         "It is the Church whose existence does not depend on

                                                                     forms, ceremonies, cathedrals, churches, chapels, pulpits,
"The True Ch~wch"                                                    fonts, vestments, organs, endowments, money, kings, govem-

      A few weeks ago we were given a tract which developed          ments, magistrates, or any act of favor whatsoever from the
the theme expressed in the above title. The little tract was         hand of man. It has often lived on and continued when all
written by the Rt. Rev. J. C. Ryle, Bishop of Liverpool.             these things have been taken from it. It has often been driven
The cover page was subscribed with' the following: "A                into the wilderness, or into dens and caves of the -earth, by
searching message for every. heart." We will quote most of           those who ought to have been its friends.. Its existence
the message, and the reader will judge whether this is true          depends on nothing but the presence of Christ and His Spirit,
or not.                                                              and they being ever, with it, the Church cannot die.

      "The one true Church is composed of all believers in the                  THE .HOLY  CATHOLIC CHURCH
Lord Jesus. It is made up of all God's elect-of all con-                 "This is the Church to which the scriptural titles of
verted men and women-of all true Christians. In whom-                present honor and privilege, and the promises of future
soever we can discern the election of God the Father, the            glory, specially belong. This is the body of Christ. This is
sprinkling of the blood of God the Son, the sanctifying work         the Bride, the Lamb's Wife. This is the flock of Christ, the
of God the Spirit, in that person we see a member of Christ's        household of faith and `the family of God, God's building,
true Church.                                                         God's foundation, and the temple of the Holy Spirit. This
      "It is a Church of which all the members have the same         is the Church of the firstborn, whose names are written in
marks.     They are all born again of the- Spirit. They all          heaven. This,is  the royal priesthood, the chosen generation,
`possess `repentance towards God, faith towards our Lord,            the peculiar people, the purchased possession, the habitation
Jesus Christ,' and holiness of life and conversation. They           of God, the light of the world, the salt and the wheat of
all hate sin, and they all love Christ. They worship differently,    the earth. This is the `Holy Catholic Church' of the Apostles'
and after various fashions. Some, worship with a form of.            .Creed,  the `One Catholic and Apostolic Church' of the Nicene
prayer, and some with none. Some worship kneeling, and               Creed. This is that Church to which.the  Lord Jesus promises
some standing. But they all worship with one heart. They             that `the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,' and to
are all led by one Spirit. They all build upon one founda-           which, He says, `I am with you alway  even unto the end of
tion. They all draw their religion from one -single book -           the world.' (Matthew 16 :18 ; 28 20).
that is the Bible. They are all joined to one great center -            "This is the only Church which possesses true unity. Its
that is Jesus Christ. They all, even now, can say with one           members are entirely agreed on all the weightier matters of
heart, `Hallelujah'; and they all. can respond with one heart        religion, for they are all taught by one Spirit. About God
and voice, `Amen and amen.'                                          and Christ, and the Spirit, and sin, and their own hearts,

                                                                     and faith, and repentance, and the necessity of holiness, and
             CHRIST THE ONE< SHEPHERD
                                                                     the value of the Bible, and the importance of prayer, and the
      "It is a Church which is dependent upon no ministers           resurrection, and judgment to come -about all these points
upon earth, however much it values those who preach the              they are of one mind. Take three or four of them, strangers
gospel to its members. The life of its members does not hang         to one. another, from the remotest corners of the earth.
upon church membership, and baptism, and the Lord's sup-             Examine them separately on these points. You will find them
per, -although they highly value these things when they are          all of one judgment.
to be had. But it has only one great Head, one Shepherd,
one chief Bishop-and that is Jesus Christ. He alone, by                          A L L   I T S   M E M B E R S   H O L Y

His Spirit, admits the members of this Church, though min-              "This is the one' Church which possesses true sanctity.

isters may show the door. Till He opens the door, no man             Its members are all holy. They are not merely holy by

on earth can open it-neither bishops, nor presbyters, nor            profession, holy in `name,    and holy in the judgment of

convocations, nor synods. Once let a man repent and believe          charity. They are all holy in act, and deed, and reality, and

the gospel, and that moment he becomes a member of this              life, and truth. They are all more or less conformed to the

Church. Like the penitent thief, he may have no opportunity          image of Jesus Christ. No unholy man belongs to this

of being baptized.    But he has that which is far better than       Church.

any water baptism -the baptism of the spirit. He may not                 "This is the only Church which is truly catholic. It is

be able to receive the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper,          not the church of any one nation or people. Its members

but he eats Christ's body and drinks Christ's blood by faith         are to be found in every part of the world where the gospel

every `day he lives, and no minister on earth can prevent            is received and believed. It is not confined within the limits

him. He may be excommunicated by ordained men, and cut               of any one country, nor pent up within the pale of any

off from the outward ordinances of the professing church,            particular forms or outward government. In it there is no

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


 difference between Jew and Greek, black man and white,             fore the Father's throne, in the day of Christ's appearing.
 Episcopalian and Presbyterian - but faith in Christ is all.        When the Lord's jewels are made up, and the manifestation
 Its members will be gathered from north, and south, and            of the sons of God takes place, Episcopacy, and Presbyterian-
 east, and west, in the last day, and will be of every name         ism,- and Congregationalism, will not be mentioned. One
 and tongue-but all one in Christ Jesus.                            Church only wiil be named, and that is the Church of the
                                                                    e l e c t .
         APOSTOLIC FAITH AND PRACTICE                                    "Reader, this is the true Church to which a man must
        "This is the only Church which is truly apostolic. It is    belong, if he would be saved. Till you belong to this, you
 built on the foundation laid by the apostles, and holds the        are nothing better than a lost soul. You may have the form,
 doctrines which they preached. The two grand objects at            the husk, the skin, and the shell of religion, but you have
 which its members aim are apostolic faith and apostolic            not the substance and the life. What ignorance prevails on
 practice ; and they consider the man who talks of following        this point! Men fancy that if they join this church or that
 the apostles, without possessing these two things, to be no        church, and become communicants, and go thrpugh  certain
 better than sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.                  forms, that all must be right with their souls. It is an utter
        "This is the only Church which is certain to endure unto    delusion. You may be a staunch Episcopalian, or Presbyte-
 the end. Nothing can altogether overthrow and- destroy it.         rian, or Independent, or Baptist, or Wesleyan, or Plymouth
 Its members may be persecuted,, oppressed, imprisoned,             Brother, and yet not belong to the true Church. And if you
 beaten, beheaded, burned, but the true Church is never alto-       do not, it will be better at last if you had never been born."
gether  extinguished. It rises again from its afflictions. It
                                                                         We wish to make only two or three observations. In the
 lives on through fire and water. When crushed in one land,
                                                                    first place, very noticeably the author makes no attempt in
 it springs up in another. The Pharaohs, the Herods,  the           this message to gain members to his or any other particular
 Neros, the bloody Marys,  have labored in vain to put down         manifestation of the church. The tract, therefore, in distinc-
 this Church. They slay their thousands, and then pass away         tion from the general run of tracts, is quite. unique. The
 and go to their own place. The true Church outlives them           author,' it appears, has no particular axe to grind, but is
 all, and sees them buried each in his turn. It is an anvil that    intent on simply setting forth the truth concerning the Holy
 has broken many a hammer in this world, and will. break            Catholic Church.
 many a hammer still. It is a bush which is often burning, and
                                                                          Secondly, very noticeably the author aptly sets forth the
 yet it is not consumed.
                                                                    truth that the church is not the product of man in any sense
        "This is the only Church of which no one member can
                                                                    of the word. The church is entirely a work of God, of His
 perish. Once enrolled in the lists of this Church, sinners
                                                                    conception, of His saving power, of His sovereign grace.
 are safe for eternity. They are never cast away. The election
                                                                    That, too, is most refreshing when you consider how many
of God the. Father, the continual intercession of God the
                                                                    today conceive of the church as a product of man's ingenuity
 Son, the daily. renewing and sanctifying power of God the
                                                                    and power. exclusively, or at best, a work of God with the
 Holy Spirit, surround and fence them in like a'garden  en-
                                                                    cooperation of man.
 closed. Not one bone of Christ's mystical body shall ever
 be broken. Not one lamb of Christ's flock shall ever be                 And thirdly, as far as we are able to judge, we can`agree
 plucked out of His hand.                                           with the entire substance of this tract. There is, however,
                                                                    one point we thought was missing. When we compare the
                      SMALL BUT VITAL                               tract with what our fathers set forth in Articles 27-29 of the

        "This is the Church which does the work of Christ upon      Belgic Confession concerning the "Catholic Christian

 earth. Its members are a little flock, and few in number,          Church," we notice that the fathers believe and express that

 compared with the children of the ,world:  one or two here,        the one catholic, or universal church can be observed and

 and two or three there, a few in this parish, and a few in         distinguished in the world. The church accordingly is not
                                                                                                             .
 that. But these are they who shake the universe, who change        only viewed idealistically but really existing and to be dis-

 the fortunes of kingdoms .by their prayers. These are they         tinguished by certain distinguishing marks that set her off

 who are the active workers for spreading the knowledge of          from the false church. When the fathers say in Article 28:

 pure religion and undefiled. These are the lifeblood of a          "And that this may be the more effectually observed, it is

 country- the shield, the defense, the stay, and the support        the- duty of all believers, according to the word of God, to

 of any nation to which they belong.                                separate themselves from all those who do not belong t.o the

        "This is the Church which shall be truly glorious at the    church, and to join themselves to this congregation; where-

 end. When all earthly glory is passed away, then shall this        soever God hath established it," it is plain that there is a

 Church be presented without spot before God the Father's           visible and local manifestation of the church. Again, "hereby

 throne. Thrones,. principalities and powers upon earth shall       the true church may certainly be known, from which no man

 come to' nothing. Dignities, and offices, and endowments,          has a right to separate himself _ : . These two churches (true

 shall all pass away: But the.  Church of the first-born shall      and false - M.S.) are easily known and distinguished from

, shine as the stars at the 1ast;and  be presented with joy be-     each other," this certainly implies that there is a true church


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 3s3


of Christ in the world which manifests the three distinguish-      attitude. We must teach them early to set that day apart.
ing ear-marks. "The marks, by which the true church is             We must take them early by the hand. to God's house reg-
known, are these-: if the pure doctrine of the gospel is,          ularly and diligently and urge them to take some of, the
preached therein ; if she maintains the pure administration        sermon home with them.
of the sacraments as instituted by Christ; if church discipline        On the Sabbath day, we should teach them their Cate-
is exercised in punishing sin . . ." In short, there is a purer    chism, Sunday School, Bible memory work, and proper

and less pure manifestation. of the church in the world. It        reading of our Church-papers. If we do these things on the
is our conviction, as well as of our Reformed fathers, that        Sabbath and teach our children these things, our lives will
it is our duty to be joined to the purest manifestation of the     be abundantly fruitful. We will have rest along the way, and
church in the world. This, the tract failed to bring out.          our hope will be strengthened. A rest remains, therefore,
                                                          M.S.     for the people of God. Let us celebrate `the  Sabbath until

                                                                   presently we enter into the Eternal Rest.

                                                                      After this inspiring speech, we were favored by a trio
                CONTRIBUTIONS                                      from Southeast Church.

                                                                      `During the singing of Psalter Number 71, a collection

                                                                   was taken for The Standard Beater  and Bea,con  Lights. Mrs.
           Report of Eastern Ladies' League                        N. Kunz from Creston  Church-gave a report of the activities

   On the evening of April 21, 1960, our spring meeting of         of their society.

the Ladies' League of Protestant Reformed Churches was                A short business meeting followed which consisted. of

held at South West Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan.                 reading of the minutes by our secretary, Mrs. J. Kuiper. Roll

   Our meeting was opened by singing Psalter number 365            call revealed all our churches were represented and one

and Dutch Psalm 89 verse 1. In the absence of our Pres-            visitor from Kalamazoo. Mrs. E. Kooienga gave a treasurer's

ident, Mrs. M. Schipper,  our Vice-President, Mrs. C. Hanko        report.

read from Hebrews 4. She then introduced our speaker,                 The trio again sang another number. Mrs. C. Hanko
Prof. H. C. Hoeksema, who also opened the meeting with             thanked all those who took part in the program and the
prayer.                                                            hostesses, the Southwest and Holland Ladies' Societies. We
   Prof. Hoeksema spoke on the theme: "The Sabbath and             sang our theme song, Psalter Number 374. Mrs. D. Jonker
Our Covenant Children."      Our speaker divided his speech        closed our meeting with prayer. Refreshments were served
under three points: I. The Idea of the Sabbath. II. The            in the basement.
Proper Keeping of the Sabbath. III. Our Covenant Children                                   Mrs. Bernard Windemuller, Reporter
and the Sabbath.

   I. Sabbath means rest as read in Hebrews 4.` It means

to cease from our labors. We must not confuse Sabbath rest
with idleness. We must not be idle. Idleness is devil's work                            A FAITHFUL CREATOR

kitchen and it isn't good for children to be idle. .We must           He waters the hills with rain from the skies,
positively refrain from labor on the Sabbath as a means to            And plentiful grass and herbs He supplies,
the' end. We must fill our whole life spiritually with rest.           Supplying the cattle, and blessing man's toil
God is a God of rest. God provided rest in the covenant to            With bread in abundande,  with wine and with oil.
serve Him. He is our God and we are His people and He

blesses us and takes us up in Covenant Life.                           The trees which the Lord has planted are fed,
   II. Our whole life must be a. Keeping~  of the Sabbath. In          And over the earth their branches are spread ;
every sphere of life we must manifest ourselves in the world           They keep in their shelter the birds of the air,
that we are people of the living God. That we live as Chil-            The life of each creature the Lord makes His care.
dren of light from the Principle of Regeneration, also as we

have it in the fourth commandment from the catechism that              The seasons are fixed by wisdom divine,
all the days of our life we ,cease  from evil works. God pro-          The slow changing moon sho.ws  forth God's design ;
vides one day of the week to rest from our labors. Together            The sun in his circuit his Maker obeys,
with God's people to hear His Word and testimony and con-              And running his journey hastes not nor delays.
centrate our thoughts on things above.

   III. Our covenant children have a principle of the                  The Lord makes the night, when, leaving their lair,
Sabbath in their young hearts. If they didn't have, you                The lions creep forth, Gods bounty to share;
couldn't train them. The child must develop that principle             The Lord makes the morning, when beasts steal away
of the Sabbath, trained and guided and under regulation of             And men are beginning the work of the day.                 -:
the parents. This teaching must begin at home. If the
parents find the Sabbath a joy the child will have the same                                                                Psalm i04


                                                  __~.  -~-~--___ ~-                                            ____
384                                               T H E   .STANDARD   B E A R E R

                                            `_
1,                                                                          ri    ten servicemen of h$ flock? Rev. Vos writes that he is still
li: NEWS IFRbA OUR CHURCHES ii                                                    hoping to receive ten answers in any given week.

II                                                                                      The .Young  People's Spring Mass Meeting was held in
       ,         "All the saints salute thee '. _. ." PHIL. 4 :21
                                                                                  Hope Church, April 26, with Prof. H. C. Hoeksema as the
I ..-                                                              :              speaker for the evening. The speaker bemoaned the fact that
                                   ..              M a y   5 ,   1 9 6 0          a new generation had sprun g up which was yet struggling

      Rev. H. H. &riper,  of Loveland; suffered a recurren<e                      with the question of the drama. The Professor, speaking on

of a stomach ailment. and-  its attendant loss of, blood due to                   that' theme, posited the Prot. Ref. viewpoint of the evil' of

hemorrhage. The attack occurred in the church parlors ~during                     impersonating the life and emotions' of another by gmateur

a social  gathering following a lecture by Rev. Heys of South                     or -professional actors. The observation was made that the

Holland. Another attack, two days later in the hospital, left                     evil was most prominent in the worldly movies, but to a great

Rev. -Kuiper  in a critical condition, but ten days and five                      extent has found an outlet in our living rooms via the televi-
transfusions later found him in a much improved condition.                        sion set. The Reverend stated that whenever recreation is
At this writing he is reported to be .still  in the hospital i.n                  sought by our young people it must never be found in the

L o v e l a n d .                                                                 presentation of the drama, whatever the media used, be it the

      The Mr. and Mrs. League met April 22 in the Adams St.                       high school play, T.V. fare, or movies. After recess Dale
School gym, Southeast Church being the host. Prof. H. C.                          Vander Kooy, of Hudsonville, and Bob Decker, of First
Hoeksema, chairman of the League, led in opening devotions                        Church, aired their opinions of the question whether or not
and introduced the speaker, Rev. A. Mulder,  of Kalamazoo.                        the church should appoint young people to certain Kingdom
The topic of Rev. Mulder's speech was, "The Protestant                            work,' such as sponsoring lectures, writing and distributing
Reformed Home."        First Church's Sr. Society furnished the                   pamphlets, etc. Was it a coincidence that the young people
music on the program with a ladies' vocal trio consisting of                      of Oak  Lawn, in their Sunday' evening meeting two days
Mrs. K. Bylsma,  Mrs. C. Kregel and Mrs. C. Jonker. Old                           before the Mass Meeting mentioned above, debated the ques;
acquaintances were renewed while the refreshments were                            tion, "Drama - should wk`use  it"?

being enjoyed; . -,                                                                     The Adams St. School Athletic Ass'n invited our people

      The Eastern Ladies' League met in Southwest Church,                         to a Barbecue and Sandwich Supper Saturday evening,
April 21. Prof. H. C. Hoeksema gave the address which was                         April 23, This type of supper was an innovation in our
entitled, "The Sabbath and Our Covenant Children."                                circles, and should this event be repeated in the Fall many
                                                                                  more diners will take advantage of it because of the good
      "The Signs of Christ's Return as Seen in Our Day"
                                                                                  reports heard from all the "first nighters."
was the.topic  of the lecture given by Rev. C. Hanko, of First
Church, April 28, in Oak Lawn. The next day Rev. Hanko                                  The Ladies' Aid Society of First Church ended the
conducted a funeral service in his own congregation, and                          season's activities with their annual luncheon April 27; The
Saturday he and his wife trekked to Randolph to fill a clas-                      five "birthday groups" of the society turned in the monies
sical appointment on Sunday. In Rev. Hanko's absence Rev.                         raised during the year by each group, and found it totaled
H. Hoeksema condukted  two services, May 1.                                       $383.50. This fund will be divided between various charity
                                                                                  causes. `After re%ss  a film was shown by Rev. Heynen, of
      Radio News: Did you know that the Printing and Mailing
                                                                                  Pine Rest, and the offering taken was donated to that worthy
committee of The Reformed Witness Hour furnishes printed
                                                                                  catise.
sermons to about 400 of their listeners 7 Our Radio Program
is not only broadcasted through these United States, but                                Because of the' shortage of ministers at present many of
from New York to California and from Florida to the State                         our churches must `be supplied by others, changing the time
of Washington the radio sermons are read by persons re-                           of services, or having reading services.          .
                                                                                   .
questing this free service. A postcard with your name and                               Hope's consisfory has decided that the congregation shall

address is all that is required of you to place your name on                      sing the -"amen"  after the first doxology which is, "Praise
the permanent mailing list. Write to : -The  Reformed Witness                     God from Whom all blessings flow."

Hour, P.O. Box S, Grand Rapids 1, Mich.                                                 Hudsonville's  Sunday School has again opened its doors

      The Hope Choral Society presented the beautiful cantata,                    for the summer season beginning May 1st.

"Life Eternal" after the service Sunday evening, May 1. The                             Redlands  has decided to use commercially printed bul-
proceeds were earmarked for our own high school society.                          letins, but this move awaits the return of Rev. H. Veldman

      Lynden's adult Bible class did not meet April 27 because                    who is away on a classical appointment in Hull for three
                                                                                                                              _I
the consistory met in special session to receive the Classis                      weeks.

West Church Visitors.                                                                   Do you agree that - "Man's goings are of the Lord';
      Did you hnow  that Rev. Vos, of Hudsonville, mails the                      how can a man then understand his own way ?" Prov. 20 :24.

weekly bulletin and a specially written open letter to the                              . . . . see youin church.                         J.M.F.





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