                                                                                                                                               -.
                                                                                                      `_                                   ~--. ..-2

                                                    , NOVEASBER  .1,  1960  - GFLAND'RAPIDS,  .MICH&AN  .:                                  kMB3.a 3

                                                                                                            '

                                                                                       The-simple.  __ -_ _ ,. .
                                                                                                                 I
                                                                                              Well, that name has a bad sound. Simple people ? At best

                                                                                  you pity them, you smile a little, you finally ignore them.

                                                                                  They are the -miserable people with a very low I.&. Easy

                                                                                  pickings for the crooks- and swindlers.

                                                                                              But that is not the meaning here.
                   "The `Lord fwxw+uetlz  the siw#le:  T: was brought
                    l&-and  He helped me.  Retwn unto  thy rest, 0                /           God is simple: did you know that?
                    pay soul;  for the L&-d  hat,&  &a$ bounfiifitlly  with
                                                                                              Simplicity is one of God's wonderful virtues.
        .,          tjzee,    For `[hog  ltjst delivered  .-mj soul frbm
                    d?atla,  iwine  eyes  fro114 tews;.@d-  *w%y feet f~~.~il          `I -It .is that. virtue of God whereby. all God's perfections
                   fal1in.g."                               Psalm' 116-6-S             a&? God. It means that God is all His virtues, so that you

' From time immemorial., this' psalm  was sung by the                                  can never separate any of His wonders and praises. They
                                                                                         .                                            .
church of God at the celebration of either the Passover or                        are one.                            .-

the Lord's Holy Supper., When we' read in- the Gospel` that                                   It is nicely put in the Holland. Simplicity is "eenvoudig-
"they had sung an hymn, they went `out unto the Mount of                               heid."                                . . .
Olives" it has reference to this psalm 116 (together with a
                                                 _. .                                         The simple soul and singer of my text is a man who has
few other psalms).                                                                     just .one purpose in life:  And that .purpose  is to praise God !
   When I was a very little boy, and sat wondering at the                                 -You read of that same simplicity in psalm 27 :4. Listen:
celebration of God's Supper, I remember -how our minister                              `one thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after ;
always let `the church sing the irersification  of -this psalm. I                      that I nay. dwell in the- House of the Lord all the days of my'
hear them still: "`k Zal bij den kelk des heils Uw naamver-                            life,. to behold the beauty of the-Lord, and. to. inquire, in His
melden  . . ." .                                                          --           temple."     I think that you have the most-wonderful defini-
    It's so gripping, this psalm. Note the `beginning : "I'love                        tion of man's simplicity in that text:, .-

the Lord !" This inspired saint had been in narrow straits:                              But they sometimes become very destitute. Even because
"The sorrows of death compassed me, and the. pains of hell                             of their simplicity. When you are truly simple you. are
gat hold upon me : I,found  trouble and.sorrow."                                       hated. Most of all by your own flesh. But also by the devil

    But God did not forget-His  saint. He came and-delivered                           and the world.                  L'

his soul !                                                               _ ._.                Listen to him : I was brought low,.  meaning that he con-

    We will hear of that in my text:                                                   sumed away. "Uitgeteerd"  is, the word in Dutch.

    God's -saint was .preserved  when it seemed as -though  he                                It. means. that' he. was spent in an .unequal battle with

would perish forever.                                                                  Satan, the world and especially the flesh.
              h
                                    *. * * *                                            _. And what is the result ?
                                                                                              Death, tears and falling feet. `.
    The simple soul was.  preserved- in the midst of all his
                                                                                       .`.~Thus, instead of tranquil rest, he found himself in sorrow
troubles.
                                                                                       and distress, in the pangs of hell, and in the sorrows of death.
    First, from what was he delivered and preserved ?
                                                                   -,                    ;. .Do not think too lightly of this. Do not say that such an
    From a low estate.                                             . .                 .estate'is.alien  to the Christian. Do not boast of always being *
    Who is singing here ?                                                              in wondrous assurance of.your  estate before God.
                                                              ,


             50                                             T H E   STAND.&RD   B E A R E R
                                                                     _ r.:_


                   For it simply is not true.                                              And Peter might hear and see not many days after; He

                   When a man as Paul spent a night in fear and trembling,          saw Jesus in private, and fell into Hiss-arms. We know not
             so that God had to visit him and encourage him, where                  what was spoken. But in public we have watched both Jesus
             does that leave you ?                                                  and Peter. With a face full of love and lovingkindness, Jesus
                                                                                    says to him, and that three times: Peter, lovest  thou Me?
                   When Paul exclaims in deep. suffering : 0 wretched man
                                                                                         How would- you, how would any one of us, how would
            that I am ! where does that -leave you ?
                                                                                    any consistory treat Peter?
                   The estate of this man is usually `the' result of sin.                  But God says: I forgive you, Peter!        -
                   You .simply  cannot sing and leap with joy in God when                  And the angels-sang.     _
            you break out in sin, in presumptuous sin.
                                                                                          `And so also here : the saint is delivered from death !
                   You cannot-be assured of your salvation when you open                   Does this not sound strange? This man -was delivered
            your heart to the devil and sin. When you listen to the siren           from death. He was already a saint. He had the Holy Ghost
             songs of the world, and when you are tempted and fall for the          of salvation. And here we read that his soul is delivered
            blandishments of sin in your own heart, you do not sing your            from death !
            hallelujahs.
                                                                                           It's really easy.,
                   Then you sing psalm 116.
                                                                                         We are delivered from death, oh yes. But .we time and
                   Shall I tell-  you wh,at you do in such a sorry estate?          again fall back into death. And death is conflict, conflict.with

                   You say to God, your `Rock: "0 Lord, I beseech Thee,             God. Then things become dark before our eyes, -the eyes of
                                                             _ .- :
            deliver my soul !"            .-                                        our soul. And we cry bitterly like Peter did.

                   That's what this saint did.                                           But in the midst of the darkness- of- our heart and soul,
                                                                       1 . . .      the Lord comes with the wondrous light of His mercy and
                   And the result?'
                                                                                    pity, and says : Lovest  thou Me ? And we fall into the arms
                   "Gracious is `the Lord, and righteous ; yea; our God is          of God..
            merciful !"                                                                    Is it not wonderful, is it not a mystery too deep for our
                   Oh, b&God  is beautiful and lovely. He is so lovely that         comprehension that you can daily go to God crying in your
            He will deliver your soul.               __ _ i                    .    death and misery and ask for' forgiveness, and never be

                                                                                    turned away ? Can you .understand  that ?

                                         * * * *
6                                                                                         -He that cometh  unto Me I will in- no wise cast out ! It
                                                                                    stands as `a beautiful monument to God's everlasting mercy.
                   Let us look at that peculiar beauty of the Godhead.
                                                                                     "Mine -eyes from tears."
                   Here you are in deep distress because of your sinning.
                                                                                    Yes, the tears are' dried. Sometimes those tears were
                   What could you- expect?        Nothing .but  death, eternal      never seen by your most intimates. They were the tears of
                                                                                                                         _
            death. I ask you, how often did you. not say to your soul in            the inmost heart.
            your sorry life : If the Lord would deal- with me now accord-                 `But God saw them. Three times we. read in the Bible
     ,,     ing to my deserts;He  would cast me away forever from `His              that the "tears shall be wiped away." Do not think that you
            care and from His love.                                                 have to wait until'you are in heaven until'that happens. That
                   But no : He delivers .us ! That's the constant Gospel for        happens every day.                                     _
            Christians.                                                                   God takes'the  tearsaway like the loving mother-`-her child's

                   That's the Gospel here in this text.                             tears, and God places a.song  on your lips, and you go about

                                                                                    singing : He delivered. mine eyes from tears !
                   "For Thou hast delivered my soul from death !"
                                                                                          "My feet from falling,"
                   Remember Peter, the Apostle. `.
                                                                                          Yes, we often stumble on the-pathway to heaven. This
                   Swearing and-  cursing and ranting : I know neither. the         man did. But we never fall with the fall that is .eternal.
            Man nor His Apostles !
                                                                                          When Jesus was brought before God in the temple;- there
                   And there goes Peter! Out of that hall and into the              was an old man. His name was Simeon. He spoke of a fall
           dark night, weeping bitterly !                                           and. of a rising again. God's people are saved from such a

                   But note the graciousness of' Jesus and of, God. While           fall into the nether regions of hell. But unto many in -Israel

           Peter cursed, Jesus prayed.                                              Jesus was set unto a fall.

                   An angel flew to the Godhead on the great white throne;                -But  that does not happen to God's own.
                                                                                    -
            and said : Jesus is praying for Peter ! And the Godhead said :                Even while you are sinning, you are safe in the, arms of
            I hear Him !                                                            God.


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    Jesus said in the beatitudes: .Blessed.  are the pure in                                             Preservation of the Simple... . ..__.._ ___.  _. ._                                                              4 9
                                                                                                                 Rev. G. Vos
beart  for they shall see God  I

    It means to look -at thk completed work th%t .God has                                       EDITORIALS -
wrought in Jesus.                                                                                        A Dollhouse; Dancing and Fun on Pentecost                                                                        52 I
                                                                                                         A Romish President and Our Ch&.stian  Schools                                                                    5 2
                                                                                  G.V;
                                                                                                                 Rev. H. Hoeksema


                                                                                                OUR  DOCTR~VE-

                       ' I         N                 M&ORIAM                                             Then   B o o k   of  R e v e l a t i o n . .   .   .   .   .%.                                                   5 4

                                                                                                                 Rev. II. Hoeksema
    The Martha Ladies' Aid Society of de Hull Protestant: Reformed

Church wishes io express its sincere sympathy to one of its members,                            A CLOUD OF W~SSES -
I&s.  Peter Hoekstra, in the-death of her sister-in-law,                                                 Moses - . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                                .58

                                                                                                                 Rev. B. Woudenberg --                                                               _
                                MRS. SADIE REXTSMA

    "And we know  that all things  ,work  together for good to them                             FR`oM  H O L Y   W R I T -
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                                                          Mrs. T. Jansma, Secretary             IN- HIS FEWER  -
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                                        i                                                                The Freedom              of "Bigotry"           (4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .                                62

                                                                                                                 Rev. J. A. Heys
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                                                                                                         The Reformed. Church in France                                                 -

                           _      REV. G. VANDEN. B                                                              Rev. H. Hanko
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52                                          T H E   S.TANDARD   B E A R E R
                .~

                                                                     @@y  of the Word empty with a `good' cqnsdence  and lie on

                                                                     S&day  afternoon with the children of the world on the beach

                                                                     in. order to enjoy. God?s  beautiful n+re.. All .this so-called

                                                                     to the glory of God. -j                    I.3

 A Dollhouse, Dancing, and Fun on. Pentecost                             "The commqn. grace  theo,ry  bears  l$t& fruits in `an eyer-
                                                                     more penetrating worldly mindedness:"
      On- this subject wrote W. Heerma in Tlfe  Messenger of             Thus far W. Heerma.
August, 1960, a publication of the Free Christian Reformed
Church of Canada. Mr. Heerma wrote this article under the                                       + * * *

title: "Geen Probleem Zelfs  Meer." (Not Even a Problem                  I rece'iired  .a letter a rew  days ago which was not intended
Anymore.)                                                            for publicaiion  in our Standard Bearer, as far as I could

      The reader must understand that the churches in the            gather, in which the author criticizes me for two- things : -1.
Netherlands celebrate the day of Pentecost on two days,              that I. call fhose  that created a schism .in our churches

Sunday and Monday. Well, according to Heerma, the Re-                `fschismatics"  and 2. that I attribute the downward grade of
formed. (Gereformeerde  j Chm-ch of Eindhoven celebrated             the Christian Reformed Church to the adoption of the tin-
that second day of Pentecost, not by having services in the          biblical theory of "common grace" and the Three Points by

church, as was customary in my day, but by a garden-feast            tl&? Synod of 1924.

(tuinfeest) in which  a drama was enacted, a show of a doll-             It is to. be hoped that he reads ,the .opini?n  of H,eerma  as
house (poppenkast) was one of the numbers  on the program,           expressed in the above quotation.
and the younger generation were dancing to their hearts
content.                                                                 The Reformed Churches in the Netherlands  never of&
                                                                    ciaily  adopted the theory of "common grace" 5s developed by
      On this Mr. Heerma ofEers  his criticism and he attributes     Kuyper  &his  three voJumes  of "De Gemeene Gratie."  Yet,
this to the evil theory of "common grace." Writes he (.I trans-     the unofficial development of that theory has, ,according  to
late) :                                                              Heerma, the effect of leading the people of God right into
      "The background of this current development of things         the world and causing them to be worldly-minded.
with the Reformed people (and, alas, not -only  with them)               How much more, then, mu& this be the effect of the
must, in my opinion, be sought in the doctrine of so-called         ' official adoption of "common grace?' in 1924 by the Christian
COMMON  GRACE. Dr. A. Kuyper was in his days the                    Reformed Church ! They, i.e. the Christian Refoimed  Church,
champion of this unbiblical theory. One can best translate the      considered the theory of "common grace" sp.serious  that they
term `common grace' by `general grace' which must well be           made ,of it an official doctrine and that there wa? no room
distinguished from general atonemeit.  By general atonement         anymore for Reformed ministers in their midst, but cast them
is meant the .doctrine,  that Christ suffered and died for all      o u t ' !
men, that He gave His life,' not only for the sheep, but ju+t
as well for the goats. Arminianism has the floor here (`is             __ God  ca&qt be mocked!                                  H.H.

daar aan het woord').

      "Kuyper and his followers do not teach this. `. His work :

`That grace is particular' shows clearly that he must have          A Romish President qnd Our Christian Schools
nothing of the doctrine of general atonement.
                                                                        That the `Romish Church condemns the separation of
      "However, he distinguishes between particular grace and
                                                                     Church and State is not only well-known but is also clearly
`common grace.' Particular grace concerns only the elect, the
                                                                     expressed in- their official documents. Thus, for instance, in
regenerated, the true believers. But `common grace' concerns
                                                                    the papal "Syllabus Errorum" a ~Syllabus  of Errors, a brief
all men without exception. Without th,at common grace, ac-
                                                                    condemnation of existing doctrinal errors. _ This syllabus
cording to Kuyper, there would npt  even .be a possibility for
                                                                     was issued by Pope Pius IX on Dec. 8, 1564. Of course,
particular grace.
                                                                    the fact,that it is issued by a pope makes a document binding
      "But thanks to common grace there is still very much           upon the entire popiih  church, for when the pope speaks in
good in this world that fell away from God. Also the chil-          his official capacity he speaks infallibly. Whatever he declares
dren of this world can still perform much good, can produce         is as authoritative and infallible as Scripture itself.
many beautiful things. Think, for instance of.-art,  the art of
                                                                         This Syllabus condemns the teaching :
poetry, the art of painting, the art of films,.  the art of
sculpture, etc. All this is to be attributed to. the so-called           "That kings and princes are not only exempt from the
common grace.                                                       .jurisdiction  of the Church, are Superior to the Church in
                                                                     litigated questions of jurisdiction."             -..
      "Thus the covenant children co&to sit `as guests at the

table of common grace. They leave their places in the min-              Hence, according tp the official expression of the pope


                                            T           H             E                      STAND.ARD  `B:EAR:ER                       53
                                                                                 /


which is the same as saying the Church, the State, in mtitters             of the studies, the  taking of degrees, or the choice  and ap-

of civil law, must first. look to the p,ope  for approval  before     proval of the teachers."

such laws can be issued and become authoritative.                              Positively expressed this means that only the Romish

     But there  is a &ill more emphatic expression in the same             Church, that is the pope, shall have control over all the

Syllabus in which literally the doctrine of separation of                  education of the children and the youth in the State.

Church and State is condemned as false. This article  reads.                   The second reason for including the matter of Christian
as follows :                                                               schools in the subject and mater.ial.of  this article is that in

     "The Church ought to be separated from the State, and                 the magazine Christiatiity  $$day  I read an article that was

.the State from the Church."                                               addressed to Senator KenLzdy  in which the author asked

     Understand that this is condemned as an error. And this               several questions of the seliator  as to what he would do if he
implies the teaching that Church. and Statk ought not to                   should become president of the U. S.

be separated. It also implies that, according to Romish doc-                   With most of this article I heartily agree and I hope that

trine ,the State is under the Church and the Church which is               Mr. Kennedy will give a clear-cut reply to the questions that

the pope is the supreme power and authority, not only  in             are asked him.

regard  to ecclesiastical but also in civil matters-                           However, I c&not  agree with all that the author writes

     How Mr. Kennedy, in the light of the above, can run                   under the caption : "Public Versus Parochial Schools." I will
for president of the U.S. I fail to understand for the U.S.                quote the following paragraph:                               :. ;
                                                                                                                                          <'
stands for the principle of the separation of Church and                       "An alien phenomenon in our American- democracy is the
State.                                                                     widespread  withdrawal of Roman CEitholic  children from
     If,' as he already expressed himself, he ,also holds fast to'         the pubiic  schools into Catholic parochial schools. Our public
the principle of the separation of Church and State, he is not             school. system is an expression and guarantee of our demo-
a good Roman Catholic -and he ought to separate himself                    cratic government and a. prime factor in maintaining our
froni  the Romish Church. If, .on the other hand, he still                 cultural unity. The public school has been rightly called the
maintains, according to the official position of the Roman                 `melting pot' in which the immigration of heterogeneous
 Catholic Church, that the State ought not to be separated                 cultures of many countries is fused into a national unity. This
from the Church and the latter is supreme over the former,                 u&y does not mean and has never meant cultural conform-
he .cannot  conscientiously hoId the ofice of president of the             ity. It has meant and has produced cultural freedom. The
u     .         s    .                                                     parochial school of the Catholic Church is oriented to an

     It is either-or:                                                      exactly .opposite  goal, namely the fixation of the mind in

                                                                           every generation in- the mold of its childhood dependence
                           * * *.*
                                                                           upon an authority in the field of religion. This is the field

     But in the subject that is mentioned above this article I             in- which the greater problems of life arise. The technique
also include the Christian schools, and the question that                  of this procedure includes teachei-s  dressed in conspicuously.
naturally arises in the- migd  of our- readers is : why? What              unfamiliar garb, and `a pedagogy - not precisely of `brain-
 does a Roman Catholic for president have to dti with the                  washing' but of brain-conditioning against infection by the
 Christian schools ?                                                       democratic principle of pers&al  responsibility, and freedom."

     My .ariswer  is, first of all, that the Roman Catholics con-              Here  I .wish to make tee  following remarks

demn all instruction of the` children and youth that is not                    1. If the Roman  Catholics withdraw their children from

under supervision of the- Romish Church. They not only                     the public schools, in order to instruct them in their own

condemn the public schools, but also `all free Christian                   parochial schools, this is their own business, even under our

 schools. If they, ever obtained the civil power  of the State,            r.`~no:ratic  form of government, as long as they do not compel

they would not only make the- latter subject to the Church,                all the children to be instructed in their own parochial

but they would also insist that all the children would be                  sc11001s.

 educated only in Roman Catholic schools.'
                                                                               2. We do not believe in parochial schools which are
     For proof I refer olice more to the Syllabus of Errors to        `church schools and secular education  `is' not the task of the
which I already called attention above.                                    Church.
     Syllabus 45 `condemns as an error the following :
                                                                               3. We do believe, however, that secular education is the
     "The entire direction of public schools, in which the youth
                                                                           task. of the parents. It is for that reason that the parents
 of Christian states ari: educated, except (to a certain extent)
                                                                           organize  societies to establish thtir own Christian schools.
 in the case of episcopal seminaries, may and must appertain
                                                                           These schools are based  on the principle that all secular
to the civil power, and belong to it so far that no other author-
                                                                           education should%hr&ghout  be based on the Word of God.
 ity whatsoever shall be recognized as having any right to
 interfere in the di`scipline  of the schools, the arrangement                                  >_~_(                               IT.T-T.


 54                                            T H E   ST:ANDARD  ,BEARE'R


                                                                         &is harlot, beautifully `arrayed, may'-expect. In thit iYilder-

-11 Q ll R D 0 C T R I N'                                                riess, then, John beholds a woman seated on a scarlet colored
                                                        . . -E, 11 beast, with seven heads and ten horns/land  full of names of
                                                                         -blasphemy: To this beast we shall not pay attention just

               THE BOOK .OF REVELATION.                                  bow, -seeing that he is explained in the next-portion of this'

                                                                         chapter. The ivbman  `now draws our attention. She is
                            PART.TtiO                                    i-ichly  and beautifully arrayed with all that is glittering and

                                                                         luxurious in the worid, being decked `tiith precious stones
                         C H A P T E R  SIXTEEN:  "
                                                                         and pearls' and arrayed in purple and scarlet, while holding

                   Babyton  the Bride of Antichrist:                     in her hand a golden cup. She certainly makes the impression

                                                                         of being rich and powerftil,  enveloped in a halo of worldly
                      Revelation 17 :l-6 8                               gldry. The beast carries her, and .is evidently controlled by

   All these interpretations struggle evidently to harmonize             her. And on her forehead she bears a name, MYSTERY,
 the presentation of the \nroman-harlot  with that of the                BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER bF HAR-
 prospeious  city as indicated in the text. But it seems to me           LOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. Such
that none of these interpreta:ions  surceeds  entirely. It cer-          is the picture. And we are told that John was amazed and
 tlinly  will not do simply to explain .that Babylon is the city         wondered  with. great wonder at the sight of her.

 of Rome. For, in the first place, it is not true that the text              If you ask who this woman-is, it may be observed, in the
 in verse 9 warrants that conclusibn.  For, first of all, it may         .first  place, that the woman in Scripture is continually the
 not escape our attentibn  that the text further interprets these        -symbol  of the church of God and of God's covenant people in
 s&en  mountains as being seven kings. And besides, Rome                 the external sense of the word. Surely, essentially ,only  the
 was built, if ai all, not on seven mountains, but simply dn             true spiritual people of God are His bride, are the wife of
 seven hills. But besides, this interpretation evidently leaves          Jehovah, that stand on the basis of faithfulness in covenant
 the symbol& of the woman, by which evidently the church                 relation to their God. But nevertheless, also the church as
 is indicated, giltogether  out of sight.- Babylon is a city; surely;    she appears -in th: present dispensation is compared to a
 but it is also a woman. And the two must in` some way be                woman, a married woman, the wife of Jehovah. In the Old
 harmtinized.  For the same reason it cannot indicate siii7ply           Testament. we find this picture time and again, that Israel
 the counterfeit church, whether it is the papal Rome `or the            as a nation, .the covenant people iti the outward sense, are

 false church in general. For she is not merely the church,              called Jehovah's wife. He has married her, and she stands

 bbt  also the city, and is very definitely pictured. as a city          in relation oft a covenant to Him, pledged to be faithful to

 that is the center of commerce  and industry and science and            her husband. In the Song of Solomon we find throughout

 art, admired by all the, great of the world. Chapter 18 can             that the entire  symbolism of the book is based on this very

 never be explained oh this basis. And therefore, both  iof              idea, that the church is the br.ide  of Christ. And in the hew

 these elements we must continually bear in mind. And                    Testament we meet with  this same relation time and again.

whether we shall  at all gain a conception of Babylon the                The apostle Paul writes to the church in Ephesus : "HUS-

 great will depend tipon our being gble `to harmonize ihe idea           bands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church,

 of thk woman and the id&a of the city.                                  and gave himself :up for it, that he might sanctify it, having

       First of all, then, let  us study  her pretentious appearance     cleansed it by the washing- of water with the word, that he
 as the woman.~  Evidently the text makes a distinction between          might present the ch&ch unto himself .a glorious church, not
her outward appearance and her essential character, a distinc-           having spot or wrinkle, nor any such thing, but that she
 tion which comes dotin  to this, that she appears as a woman,           should be holy and without blemish."

 but that her esSentia1  character, as expressed in her mys-                 And after he has spoken of this relation between &an

 terious naqe,  is that of a city, named  -Babylon. One  of the          and'  wife in the succeeding verses, he concludes,  "This

 seven angels that had the seven vials and poured them out on            `mystery is grea;,  but I speak in regard of Christ and of the

 the earth,, so John tells us, spoke to him and led him into             church." ~Ephesians  5 :25-32. In the nineteenth chapter. of

 a wilderness, in order that he might see and understand the.            this_  same'book of Revelation we find the great multitude

 `mystery of the great harlot 2nd witness her judgment. The              in glory singing at the eve of the marriage supper of the

 wilderness in this case may be taken as the proper abode of             Lamb : "Let us be .glad and rejoice, and give-honour to him: :

 this woman. It must not be connected with the wilderness                for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife  ha@  made

 into which the church fled after the'exaltation `of Cfirist.  The       herself  ready. knd to her was granted that she should be

 wilderness is a picture of desolation caused by sin, and as             arrayed in fine linq, clean- and white: for the fine linen is

 .such the proper abode for all that exalts itself against the           the righteousness of saints.`! Rev. 19 :7, 8. And in the-twenty-

 living God and loves unrighteousness. At the same time, this            first chapter of the .book of .Revelation  the same idea is ,ex-

 wilderness, I take it, is already  prophetic of the judgment            -pressed : "And,  there came untd me `one of the seven angels


                                               T H E   STANQARD  B:EARER                                                                55


 which had the seven vials full of the ,seven  last plagues, ;A&          enter&$&o  $&venant  w?th  thee, &ith the Lord God, and

 talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the                thoG  ,k&amest  mine. Then wished  I thee with water ; yea,-1

 bride, `the Lamb's wife." Rev. 21:9. And very strikingly,                throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed

 also here' the. bride, <the  wife:of  the Lamb,-  is a. city. For the    thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broidered woik,  and

 passage continues : "And he carried,me  away in the spirit to            shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with

 a great and high mountain, and shewed  me the great city,                fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also

 the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.`!                 with ornamen&and .I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a

 Also there the church is. the bride, but at the same time,`a             chain on thy neck. And I p.ut a jewel on thy forehead, and

 city, verses 9 and 10. Or, let me remind you of the picture              earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine

, that was given in chapter 12 of this book. Also there the               head. Thus wast thou decked with gold and  silver; and thy

 churdh  was presented as a woman,.clot&ed  with the sun, and             raiment was  of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work;

 the moon under her feet. Also there the woman was a mother,              thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast

 just as she is here. Only, in that connection she appears as             exceeding beautiful, and thou-  &dst  prosper into a kingdom.

 the mother of -the Great Seed and the mother of beiievers.               And thy -renown  went forth among the heathen for -thy

 And therefore, we first of all reach  the collclusion  that this         beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I

 woman is the church as she appears on earth. It may cause                had put upon t&e,  saith the Lord God. But thou didst trust

 a little astonishment; but also Johri  was astdhished.  It is            in thine own beauty, and playedst. the harlot because of thy

 when tie. bear in mind this fact that we can understand why              renown, and pouredst out thy fomications on eveyy  one that

 John was astonished with such great amazement. He had                    passed by ; his it was. And of thy garments thou didst take,

 seen this woman as-the church before. Her general features               and deckedst thy high places with divers colours,  and.playedst

 were still the same. Only she is now allied with the scarlet             the harlot thereupon : the like thipgs shall not `come, neither

 colored beast that carries her': and that is. the cause -un-             shall it be so. Thou hast also taken thy fair jeweis of my

 doubtedly of Jotis  astonishment and wonder. The woman                   gold and of my silver; which I had given thee,  and madest to

 is the church  in her historical. appearance on earth.                   thyself &ages -of men, and didst commit whoredom with

                                                                          them, And tookest thy broidered garments, and coxeredst
     But to' this we must hasten to add that this harlot is not.a                                                                             -
                                                                          them: and thou hast -set mine oil and mine incense before
 portraiture of the true church, but of the false, the counterfeit
                                                                          them. My meat also which. I gave thee, fine flour, and oil,
 church, which has apostatized .from  her true husband and is
 now committing fornication with the enemy. For in the text               and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before
 she is called .the  great harlot with whom the kings of the              them for a sweet savour: and thus it was saith the Lord
 earth committed fornication; and they that dwell on the earth            God. Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters,
 were made drunken with the wine of her fornication. In the               whom thou hast borne unto  me, and these hast thou sacrificed
 golden cup which she holds in her hand- and which is the                 unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small
 symbol of her deceitful abominations there are .nothing  but             matter, That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them
 the unclean things `of her fornicatiori. In a word, she is a             to cause them to pass through the fire of them? And in all
 harlot. And what is a harlot? In the general sense of the                thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast` not re-
 word, the harlot is. a' woman that- sells that which is her              membered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and
 characteristic honor and glory and lives in dissipation, a               bare, and was; polluted in `thy blood." A -complete  picture
 woman without honor, that lives in most intimate relation                y&u  have in this passage oi the spiritual harlot, the covenant
 and intercourse with men outside of thesacred bond of mar-               people of God in the outward sense, blessed with all the
 riage.    But `in Scripture, and especially. in this c&nection,  a       blessings of the covenant, but employing them in the service
 harlot is something more: it is generally the woman that has             of strange .gods and departing from the ways of Jehovah,
 been married, that has sworn faith and loire  in all things  tb          their rightful husband. The same truth lies at the basis of
 her rightfil  husband once, but has shamefully forsaken him              the prophecy of Hosea,  where the prophet receives the corn-
 in order to whore after other men, that are strangers. She is            mand that he must take unto himself a wife ,of whqredoms
 the .unf@thful,  the deceitful woman,  that breaks the most              and children  of whoredoms, in order to symbolize the harlotry
 sacred pledge. And `spiritually, fornication and harlotry in             of Israel, the covenant people of Jehovah. And therefore, .in
 Scripture indicate the breaking of the covenant, the departure           the spiritual `sense a, harlot is one that has belonged to jeho-
 from the ways of Jehovah and the seryice  of other gods. As              vah in the external sense of the word, was in covenant rela-
 such it appears time and again in the `Old  Testament. Ip                tion w&h Him, .was  blessed by Him, but deceitfully has
 Ezekiel 16%22, we read, of I&ael  as the wife of                         broken her @ledge and noti  sacrifices her honor  unto other
                                                           Jehovah,
                                                                          gods.
 prepared and blessed by Him, but whoring after other gods:

 "Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon'thee, behold,                   in the words oi our text, therefore, we have a picture of

 thy time was the time of love ; and I spread my skirt over               the hai-lot  church, the false church, the counterfeit church.

 thee, and covered thy nakedness : yea, I sware unto thee, and            For even as the devil aims at .establishing  a counterfeit king-



                                                           i -


     dbm,`&  he also :e&&l~sheS`  B`co&teife1t  6hiirch.T  Natural&!      OF THE EARTH.?' In regard to this name, let us observe,

     \ve have told you before that he uses ail the institutions           in- the first place, that the name in Scripture is always ex-

     which God has placed on earth in this dispensatidn  for the          -ijr&sive  of one's real being. And therefore, we learn that the

     maintenance and establishment of his kingdom, that he em-            i-eal  being of this woman is that of a citjr,  and specifically of

     ploys them all for his own purpose and- for the propagation          Babylon. In the second place, note that in this case the name

     tif bib 6wn  .$rinciple:-  `*he &me is t&e of. the chur`ch. `Also    is called "Mystery." A mystery is that which. is concealed,

     the church as an institution in this dispensation, designed to       `i?rhich  is hidden from view, which does not reveal itself on

     be the army of the kingdom- also that church the devil               the surface. So it is here: tiot so much because the woman

     shrewdly employs in his service. And the result is that ,a           bears the name of a city- for that might be very  well ex-

     counterfeit church, the harlot church, is established. The           pected of her, as we shall see -but because the name of that

     true church is the spiritual bride of Christ', ingrafted  intb       city  is .Babylon.    We woul'd  not expect the name of this

     Him by a true faith, and through Him stands in covenant              Babylon, no more than we would expect her to be seated on

     relation with the Lord Jehovah. But that counterfeit church          this scarlet colored beast. She appears as the church. If we

     is the church that still bears the name of church, still appears     were bidden to guess the name of this woman as she appears,

     as the church in the world, still claims or pretends to be the       we would say her name is Church, Christianity, the Cov-

     church, outwardly also looks like the church, has its min-           enant People. Or, if we would guess her name as to her

     isters and sacraments, the preaching-of the Word and teach-          essential and future character, we would say, "This is

     ing, and all kinds of institutions and societies besides, but.       Jerusalem, the Holy City, the bride of Christ." But this is

     employs all the blessings she has outwardly received `in the         not the case. This woman appears as the church ; but she is

     service of Antichrist, and not in the service of Jehovah. Her        .the false church. She bears the appearance of Jerusalem, the

     `ministers preach for &nticl&ist:  The office-bearers work for       Holy City,  the bride of Christ; but in essence she is nothing

     Antichrist. Publicly she displays all the signs of Antichrist,       but Babylon. That is her real nature. As to the significance

     and all her me&bers  she educates to wdrk for the dragon and         of `the name .BS `such, \?e cab be brief. Babylon stands in

     his kingdom. She enjoys the favor and the good will of -the          Scripture for all tlzat  opposes the kingdom of God. It stands

     world, of the great and the mighty and the strong and the            for the'initiation  of the. kingdom of Antichrist in remotest

     ,rich in the world. And they bless .+d deck her with all             past times under the mighty Nimrod. And if God had not

     kinds -of precious jewels and gold. She becomes great and            prevented by the confusion of speech, she would have suc-

     `powerful. And the more she labors in the interest of the            zeeded  then already in establishing the outward kingdom of

     antichristian kingdom, .the  more she, will enjoy the favor of       Antichrist. She is the'capital of the kingdom of oppression

     the dragon : for she is nothing but his harlot, and- allows          for the people of God, that always stood inimical over

     .hersklf  to be the instrument of Antichrist. That  .this is true    against the kingdom of God even in the Old Testament. In

     is plain from the description that is given of her. in the text.     a word, Babylon is a name that suggests a center of the king-

     For she is called the harlot, and is described as one that           dom of the dragon, And therefore, this woman, which is a

     commits fornication with the great of the .ea;th  and:with  all      harlot church and the mother and propagator of all spiritual

     that dwell in the world. That this is true is plain also from        harlotry - this woman- is. essentially the' center of the anti-

     the fact that she is sitting on the scarlet beast with his seven     Christian world power, and shall in the  future reveal herself

     heads and ten horns, evidently itilplying  that she is borne by      as such.

     the power of Antichrist,. and, at the same time, controls that           Strange this may seem  at first sight. Yet, at a second con-
     power with her fas&nating,  fornications.  That this is true,        sideration this is but perfectly natural. The figure of. the
     finally, is also plain from the fact that of her  the terrible       woman changes ultimately into that of a great city which
     sentence is expressed that she is fairly drunken with the            controls the affairs of the world and is a center of all the
     blood of the saints. Surely, this woman is the church as she         movements and science and art and literature and commerce
     appears .on earth; but it is the false church, rapidly develop-      and industry in all the earth. In a word, the figure of this
     ing in ,our own time. It is the church that has abandoned            woman, of this harlot-church, changes into that of the city
     the truth of the Word of God, that laughs about the truth            that shall be the center and the chief power in the antichris-
     of the atonement of Christ and tramples under foot the blood         tian kingdom. .But as I say, this need not surprise  us in the
_    of the new c&enant.  Every pledge with her Lord and cov-             least. The  same is true of the true church. She ultimately
     enant God she has broken. And even those that do remain              `appears as the New Jerusalem, that-comes down out of
     faithful she kills in her hatred.                                    heaven from God. The church that is in this dispensation,

        But this is not all. For this woman, representing the             the woman, the bride of Christ, is at the same time destined

     counterfeit or false church, is also represented to us as a city.    -to be the power in control ultimately of the new heaven and

     We read that this woman bears a name on her forehead,                of the new earth,  destined to reign with Christ-f&ever in the

     ,"MYSTERY,  BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER                            glorious city, the New Jerusalem. `.The real, the mystical

     .OF THE HARLOTS, AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS                             character of the church is that of a city, the glorious city


                                                                                   :

                                                                              -.                 -.
                                                                              '




                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   BE`A.%l$                                                                                              57
                                                                                                                                                 `.

that shall be the center of .the new creation, of the kingdom        ears, namely : "Come out of her, my people, and have no
of Christ in glory. The same now is true. of the false               fellowship with her sins."                          The great amalgamation move-
church. She appears,-as the woman; in reality she is also.;a         ment `that is in.the  air today is not of Christ and not of the
city. This false church, virith  all her harlotry and power;         true church, but is of the dragon and of Antichrist. And to
shail  ultimately reveal herself as the $ozver  in the kingdom       go along with it will mean a loss of the truth, a loss of all
of Antichrist. Essentially she is one with Antichrist. Gradu-        that- is sacred and dear, a loss of the Christ Himself. Stand,
ally she shall reveal her character more clearly. Gradually          therefore, and watch, that ye may have no fellowship with the
her bridal alliance .with  the opponent of Christ shall be,          sins of Babylon.

brought to light.    And when once the beast shall reign
                                                                                                         The Mystery of the Be&t
supreme for a time and actually have succeeded in establish-          ..-

ing his glorious kingdom, it will be that false Christianity,                                            Revelation 17 :7-14

the harlot-church, that shall be the center of its dominion.                                  71 And` the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou
   If you ask how this shall be historically realized, the
                                                                                              marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and
answer in our time. it seems to me, cannot be so very difficult.                              of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven

According to the apostle Paul, before the man of sin can re-                                  heads and ten horns.

veal himself, a great apostasy must take place, apostasy from                                 8. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and
the true church. That is, the false church will openly reveal                                 shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into

herself as sucl~,  will openly separate herself. from all that                                perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder,

calls itself after the true and living Christ, not so much in                                 whose names were not written in the book of life from
                                                                                              the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast
name, but in very fact. The church shall deny the Christ,
                                                                                              that was, and is not, and yet is.
shall trample under foot the blood of Christ, shall invent a
religion, a Christianity, of its own, and thus shall become                                   9. And here is' the mind which bath wisdom. The
                                                                                              seven heads are. seven mountains, on which the woman
a mighty, apostate church, calling itself Christianity, and in
                                                                                             sitteth.
reality being related to the kingdom of Antichrist. That

mighty, apostate church shall naturally embrace all that calls                                10. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and
itself Christendom but is .not.  It shall -embrace and control                                one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he
                                                                                              cometh,  he must continue a short space.
all the so-called Christian world and ultimately be perfectly

identified with the kingdom of Antichrist. It is not at all                                   11. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the

inconceivable, it is indeed in perfect harmony with the                                       eighth, and is of the seven, and goetb into perdition.

picture given in the text, that this apostate Christendom shall                               12.      And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings,

erect a center in some great world-city, a literal city, with all                             which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive

the modern conveniences and products of science and art.                                -     power as kings one hour with the beast.

conceivable. A city it shall be that is a center .in every                                    13.      These have one mind, and shall `give their power

respect, a.city  of, science and philosophy and religion, a city                             and strength unto the beast.

that is the center of the antichristian kingdom, thoroughly                                   14.   T h e s e   shall  m a k e   w a r   with  t h e   L a m b ,   a n d   t h e
imbued with the harlotry of the apostate church. Literally                                    Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords,

the woman shall thus merge into a kingdom, with the city                                      and King of kings: and they that are' with him are

whose name is mystically Babylon in the center.             And                               calIed, and chosen, and faithful.

Christianity shall have become antichristianity to the core.                 Let us, first of all, have a little review. Babylon's picture
    That movement is in the air today. It presses itself for-        we have tried to draw in the preceding. In all the various
ward at every corner and from various angles. The church             attempts and interpretations that have been made to make the
must do away with all creeds and doctrine, so we hear today..        symbol of Babylon intelligible to the minds of God's people
And I .have  no-doubt but she will, nay, even to a large extent      we found the noticeable struggle to harmonize ,and unify
has done so already. And having done away with all doctrine,         in one picture the symbol. of Babylon as a woman and as a
she must labor for her own reconstruction and for the re-            city. And we also discovered that exactly in this respect they
construction of the entire world. She must unite. .Denomina-         failed to a large extent. Yet we concluded that it is essential
tionalism must have an end. All churches of all kinds of             to bring about this harmony. For evidently the text pictures

creeds and doctrines and different shades of belief must be-         Babylon to us under both these aspects. The symbol of the

come literally one. Catholic and Protestant, Jew and Gentile         woman evidently indicates her historic appearance, while that
- all must unite in the one great `purpose,. the. reconstruc-        of the city designates her essential' and mystical character.

tion of the world. This world must become a suitable place           For her name, which is Babylon, the name of a city, is

to live in for all men. The blessings of this world' must            .Mystery.  Her essential character is concealed behind the

become the blessings of all. And therefore the word that is          historical appearance of the woman..

so warningly spoken to the true church I- wilI  sound in your        :. _._)'                                                                                    H . H .


                                                      Ti%k-  sTt..`AI$DiiRD  BEARIiR


                                                                                    .?if'birth  was gone.    There  &as no -assurance that the, child's

                                                                                    -life could be spared, and they named him Aaron, meaning

                                                                                     Ifuncertainty.?  Yet, perhaps through the faithfulness of the

                                                                                    midwives,.  the child was kept alive.        -`.

                                                                                        Spurred on by his lack of success, Pharaoh in his ragings
                             M o s e s
                                                                                    was approaching the point of madness. -Finally he issued the
                   And thme wevtt a mm of the ho%se of &vi,
                and took to wiie a dafdghter: of Levi.                              command that thereafter all of the male children who were
                  And the wohan conceived, and bare a son: and                      born of the Hebrews should be -thrown in the  r&r Nile.
                when s1f.e saw Izim that he was a goodly child,                     This command was not limited to the midwives or harents  ;
                she hid kim  t1Lree m,onths.                                        it went out <nconditionally  through all the land. It was the
                  And when she could not longer hide him, she                       duty of everyone to see that it was enforced. When Jochebed
                took for him  an ark of bulmshes,  aT%d daubed it
    :                                                                               conceived again there wa?  little robm  for joy, only the silent
                z&a'  slime and .with  pitch, and put. the child there-
                in; a.xd  size  laid it in'the  fla.gs  by the rivtir's byink.      prayers that the child in birth might be a girl. -But the will
                                                         E x o d u s   2 : 1 - 3    of God was not so. In due time a son was born. The situa-

                                                                                    tion was very dire, for the agents of Pharaoh were through-
   _ Toil and tears had become the lot of the Israelites in                         out the land. If this son would be found with them alive,
 Egypt. For many years it .had  been different and they had                         the consequences would be severe. But these faithful parents
- reaped the bounties of the land, and under the blessings of                       would not bow in fear before the tyranny of wicked Pharaoh.
 their God had prospered.- But no&  a new Pharaoh had arisen                        They saw, we are told, that their son was a goodly child. Now
 who was determined to break the power of Israel's God.                             it may be, as many say, that this. son was beautiful to look
 First there was the extra toil in brick and -mortar  and menial                    upon. But what .Amram  and Jochebed saw was. much more
 labor of the fields.      g-ore  and rn0c.e. the taskmasters of Egypt              than that.-  It was -what  Stephen pointed. out many years later :
 bore down upon them;  intent on breaking their-strength : .l@                      the child  was pleasing to the Lord. These believing parents
 Jehovah held them up and the nation grew  the more. Next                           recognized that their son was a covenant child of God. They
 there was the command that all of the male children should                         could  not give him over to death. No matter what the con-
 be stifled at birth ; but against it the faith of the midwives                     sequences might be,' their faith demanded of them that they
 prevailed. Finally the command went out to all the land that                       do all in their-power to keep him alive.
 the baby sons of the Hebrews should be cast into the river.
                                                                                        We might be inclined t? ask why God ordained that
 Pharaoh and the God of Israel were engaged in open conibat.
                                                                                    MoseS  shquld  bz born just then. Born a few years earlier,
         "And there went a man of the house of Levi,  and took `to
                                                                                    Moses would have preceded this most cruel and wicked com-
 wife a daughter of Levi."           It is a homely tale. In another
                                                                                    mand of Pharaoh. Moreover it appears that a few years
 setting it might appear peaceful and serene ; but the place
                                                                                    later the l&w  fell into disuse and became a dead law upon
 was.  darkened Egypt and the tim6 that of Pharaoh's im-
                                                                                    the books. `Moses was bdrn during the time when it was
 placable hatred. What did, such a marriage have-to offer ? p
                                                                                    being `painfully enforced. Actually, of course, it is foolish for
 days of ekhausting  labor., and -nig+s  of trembling, and bitter
                                                                                    us to question the wisdom of God. His way is always best
- tears. Still for simble  Amram  and Jochebed there  was hope
                                                                                    and must be receive,d  as such by faith. It makes no' essential
 and promise. It Gas  not that they .thought  the luxuries of
                                                                                    difference whether we can understand it or not. Nonetheless,
 Egypt somehow to cdunteract  the sorrows, as was. true with
                                                                                    in this case  the wisdom of Gbd is evident. Pharaoh -had
 only too many of their nation. It was not that they believed
                                                                                    determined to destroy the church of God, and God would
 that there would. be found some goodness in Pharaoh which
                                                                                    expose his folly. Out of the very period of Pharaoh's m&t
 would cancel out his wickedness. Amram  and Jochebed had
                                                                                    fanatical effort, God would raise the man through whom
 the hohe  and promise of faith. They believed in God and- in
                                                                                    Pharaoh's might would be utterly destroyed. In fact, Phar-
 the  promises which He had given q.nto their father Abraham,
                                                                                    aoh in the m?dst of his most vile efforts would be used to
 to. be a God unto him and unto his seed after him thro<gh
                                                                                    prepare that one thro<gh  whom these efforts would be
 all generations. They waited for the deliverance which was
                                         -                                          brought to nought. God would make it clearly evident that
 sure to come.
                                                                                    none can w&stand  His will; as God He is very great.
    The birth of a.first  child to Amram  and Jochebed was an

 occasion of great joy. Although the oppression of Pharaoh                              For a time it appeared to Amram  and Jochebed as if they

 was already severe, it had not yet reached into the intimate                       would be able to keep their child safely in their own home.

 circle  of the home. In their homes the.  Israelites stiil had                     Careful measures were taken to prevent everyone from even.

 opportunity to find  joy and peace. The child was- a girl and                      knowing that the child had been born. He was Gept  as quietly

 they named her Miriam, "the beloved'.one."  But time  went                         as possible behind closed doors, and the older children were

 .on and the wickedness of Pharaoh began to cut closer and                          unwarned-not  to tell anyone of his presence. For about three

 `closer. -It  became evident that he was intent  on de&-eying                      months these efforts were successful. However, the task was

 the nation and had  designs to, cut off all of the male seed.                      becoming ever more difficult. The child's voice was becoming

 .jochebed  conceived again and bore a' son, but now the joy                        stronger, his growing body more active. It became apparent


  t&the  p&&s that- they-would. not  66. able to -keep ,theachild             river. She wondered'within  herself what -she should do. The
  hidden niubh longer  ,from  those.who.:passed.  b$ in the`sti-eetS;         child was crying and .Miriam  was quick to note that on the
  Something differerit-Lhad  to be done; If it ,was. not, the +hild           face of:@! E&ptian  woman there were not sneers but smiles,
  tyouid  soon.be  diicovered  and   d e s t r o y e d .       --             not a&&- but sympathy.  She heard the words of -Pharaoh's
                                                                              daughter, "This is one of the Hebrews' children," and there
  '    Burdehed by hei- responsibility, faithftif  Jbdhebeh  -went                                                   i.
                                                                              was kindness in- her voice. Miriam caught the implication,
  down tb ih& river bank one  day and g&h&d a- large buridle
                                                                              the child &as to be kept alive. Quick of wit, Miriam ap-
  of bulrushes. These `she Took lioine  2nd she set td . work:
                                                                              proached the woman and said; "Shall I go and call to thee
  With painstaking care she wove the i-eeds  into a closely knit
                                                                              a nurse of the Hebrew women,  that she may nurse the child
  basket: .-Thereupon she coated the inside of the basket with
                                                                              for thee ?"         Suddeniy the possibility ~appearecl  of the child's
  a smooth coat of pitch and slime until she. was sure  that it
                                                                              being  restored to their home, safe from all threat of death.
  would be .&mpletely  waterproof. Into this basket or ark
                                                                                 Pharaoh's daughter, looked at the `young girl standing
  Jochebed placed her son. Her plan was  this. They would
                                                                              eagerly before her and immediately the whole situation be-
  find a desolate stretch of river bank by which people very
                                                                              came clear. The girl was  evidently the  child's sister engaged
  seldomly  passed. Each morning, early before anyone else
                                                                              in a plot to preserve-the babe from death. Did not the girl's
  was astir; they would take the `little ark iyith the child and
                                                                              eagerness manifest a personal interest in the chikl's  care?
  allow it to float on the water within one df the thick clumps
                                                                              Did'not her very features resemble those of the child? The
  of reeds that grew all along the Nile's banks. Being made
                                                                              girl wanted to return h&r brother to their mother. But then
  from bulrushes itself,  the ark would be~tiery  difficult to see.
                                                                              it in%de-  no diff.erence.  The child was  fair to look upon and
  Should the child cry, it would  be much iess likely to be                   she had-determilied  to take it into the palace  for her own.
  heard there Ijy the desolate river  bank thafi at home. close
                                                                              As yet the child was too young. It rieeded a nurse. Who
 to the busy streets. Finally each day Miriam .would  be sent
                                                                              would care better- for him than his natural mother? She
apparently to play.by  the rivery'but  actually -to keep a close
                                                                         told the young girl, "Go," and soon the- girl returned with
  eye on the little basket as .much as possible, Beeping it from
                                                                         her- mother. Pharaoh's daughter mgav$  to Jochebed her in-
  being harmed. Each night the child could be returned again
                                                                              structions, "Take the child away, and riurse  it for me, atid  I
  to the home after dark. Perhaps the location of the basket
                                                                         will give thee thy -wages."
  &as changed from day to day to ward off all suspicion.
                                                                                 There was little cause- for concern that evening in the
       This action of Jochebed's, we .are told in Hebrews 11,            palace of Pharaoh. True, one Hebrew child had been spared
  arose out bf faith: It i~ds not as though the child would now          from death, and that with the approval- of Pharaoh, for he
  & free from-all threats of danger. One could imagine count-            could hardly deny the plea of a favored daughter. But what
  less things that might easily happen. What if the current              did it really matter? That child was  but one among many,
  should datch  the basket and carry it away? or a storni should         and plans were already in the making to have the child edu-
  break and fill the basket until it sink ? or if, p&haps,  the          cated in Pharaoh's own schools. Th6  situation was well
  crocodiles of the river should discover the precious contents ?        under control. What Pharaoh did not realize was that behind
  These dangers were very real, but by Jochebed they were                that one seemingly insignificant exception was the will of
 far to 6e preferred to the dangers represented in the Egyp-             Israel%-God. .Moses,  the child drawn from the ri&-, w&Id
  tians that paSsed  every'day by her door: She felt as David            rise                 to put to nought all- of the boasting of- that evil
  did after he numbered the people, that ,it was  better to fall                      up. 
                                                                         kingdom. The very efforts -bf Pharaoh were hastening his
 into the hands of the Lord. Realizing'that she could protect            own destruction. As the Psalmist .wrote  many years later,
 her child no longer, she placed him in the-care of the Lord.            "Why do the heathen rag&,  a&l the people -imagine a vain
       How long this plan  was successfully followed, we do              thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers
 not know. However, one day as Miriam was sitting `on the                take counsel. together, -against the.  Lord, -and. against his
 river's brink, she looked u@ to see a company of women                  ,anoi&ed  . . -. He that sitteth.  .iti the heavens-shall laugh-; the
 approaching. Her heart skipped with fear, for these wonien              .Lord shall have them in derision" -(Ps. 2:1, 2, 4).
were `evihently  Egyptians. Moreover, from' the royai  dress             .                                                                          B.W.
 of the one it tias ,appirent  that she' was from the court'  of

 Pharaoh, evidently the king's daughter. She was coming `to

 the river to bathe. Quickly Miriam  withdrew herself so as
                                                                                                         I N   M E M O R I A M
 not to draw attention to the place where the ark was  afloat in
 -the reeds. If the child would fall into the harids  of these                  The Ladies' Society of &he  South Holland Prot&tant  Reformed
                                                                         Church wishes herewith to express -its sincere sympathy. to one of its
 ,hated  `Egyptians, surely it would be the end. But alas, the           members, Mrs, Raymond Bruinsma,  in the death of her -father - .
 quick eyes of Pharaoh's daughter were not to be deceived,                                                                                         .'
                                                                                                         M R .   A L B E R T   B E U G E L
 not even by the clever camouflage of the bulrushes. She sent
 one of her  maidens to fetch the basket. and looked within:                    May our ae&enly Father, Who does all things well, give comfdrt
                                                                         .+nd  peace by His Word and Spirit.
       Tretibling-.  with fear Miriam watched, expecting any                   .~.                                Rev.. John A. Heys, .Pr&ident
 moment to see,  her~loung  brother., thrown -heartlessly into the                                               - I&s; Fra&  6. Van Baren,  Secretary'


      66

                                                                                  congregation;  young arid`  old. He does not simply single out

                    F R 0 M H 0 L Y W R I-T                                       the: little. children. in the natural sense.. of the term. The,
                                                                                  &&ple-df  I God are. tihildreh.  of God by .$rtue of being  bo.rn

                                                                                  of God, and that, too, because they are; the objects of the

                                                                                  great love of God. Wherefore the littler children have the
                           Exposition of I John 2:18-21                           forgiveness of sins, and also know. the Father, the triune.

                                                                                  God, in His saving power and love.
                                             a;
                                                                                     It is & importance for the little children to understand

                  .In this section of first John the writer touches upon a        that it is the "last hour." The King James rendering here is

      most basic danger to the church of Christ. He refers to the                 the "last time." We prefer to maintain the term last hour.

      error and manifestation of those who are most rightly called                We trust- onr reason for this will be stated at the proper con-
           "antichrists."    The dgnger  fdr  the readers is not really so        nection.

      much from without the church as from within the church,                        It- will hardly do in determining the meaning of the last
      from those who were "out of us" in number but were not                      hozby to simply ask after the meaning of the term hour in our
           "of us" in the faith: No persecution from without threatens.           daily language, as an hour measured o%f  on our clock and
      Rather there is a lukewarm .spirit of those who deny the                    consisting of.sixty  minutes. Reasoning thus it would be very
           essentials of the very Christian religion; and, if it were pos-        simple to draw the erroneous inference that the last hour
           sible, they would deceive the entire congregation of Christ.           refers to the brief span of time just prior to the  return of
      The enemy is within the gates. And that makes him so much                   Christ upon, the clouds in His Parousia.  That would be all
           the more dangerous in his influence.                                   too simplicistic.

                  That the enemy shall not succeed is due to the fact that            It will be indumbent upon us to make a survey of the
           He that is in the believers is grkater  than all the. `f&ces  of       Scriptures, both in the Old and in-the New Testaments, to
      evil. They are God's little children. They have the unction                 seek to come to some conception from the Word of God in
   -of the Holy One: They all know the truth in Jesus, the                        gerieral  and from this passage in particular, as to the meaning
      fundamental teaching concerning the Son of God having come                  of the term "last hour" !    Our method is, therefore, not to,
           into thk flesh. However, John will remind them concerning              take a -fragment of- a text and then read our idea of the-last
           what they all know. And those who deny this truth are                  hour into it, but rather that of the tried and approved m&hod
      the "deceivers" and the "liars." And as such the teaching                   of interpreting Scripture in the light of Scrip+e.
           of these liars is also readily known and perceived by John's
                                                                                      Let us then, first of all, let a. few passages from the Old
-  r e a d e r s .
                                                                                  Testament Scriptures pass in review.
                  These deceivers. are the\ Gnhstic  teachers of Johti's  day
           who denied that Jesus is the Son of God ; that He is the true              In the prophecy of Isaiah 2 :2 we read the meaningful
           God and eternal life.                                                  words, referring to the Messianic times. in the "latter -days"  :
                                                                                  "And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain
                  We shall have more to say about these teachers in this          of the Lord's house shall be established on the top of the
           short series of articles  which we contempl&e  writing on this         mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all na-
  . section of the first epistle of John. Our purpose is to con;                  tions shall flow unto it. And  `many people shall go and say,
           sider rather carefully what God would teach here in these              come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the
      verses 18-21 of this Second Chapter of first John. Literally                house of the God of Jacob ; and he will teach- us his ways,
           this passage reads as follows: `(Little childrex  it is the last       and we will walk in his paths : for out of Zion shall- go forth
           tivne (hour); and as ye have heard that anti&&  shall come,            the law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem." In
           &fen  now ave there many an&X1trists;  whereby we know                 this passage we may note: (1) That the "mountain of the
      that it is the last time  (hog). They went oztt from  us, bztt              Lord" is typical of the heavenly Jerusalem, the City of the
           they- were not of us;        if they' had been  of us, they would
                                     for                                          grealt  King. .It is the place where God's glory dwells with
             do&r have contincted  z&h  zts; but they went out that they
           no                                                                     his people. (2) That this shall be realized not in the time
           might  ,be made wmnifest  that they zvere  not all of us. But ye       of the prophet, but rather in the "last time," that is, in the
           have  an unction (af%ointing)  from  the Holy         artd  ye know
                                                             One,                 dajrs  when the Son of God shall have come into the world,
      `all tlzings.  I havS  not written zmto. ~0% because ye know xot            born from a woman and made  under the law. It is the dis-
           the truth,, but because yk .know  it, and th,at no lie ii of th`e      pensation of the f&less of times. The last tilwce  is here viewed
           twth."'                                      .                         from the historical standpoint of the prophet Isaiah in the

      :           In the light, of. our inteipretaiioh  of the. verses 12-14,     Old Testament dispensation. It is last from this viewpoint,
     -where  we reflected on the term `"little children," we need not             lying in the distant future from the point of departure of the

           go into any great detail here. Suffice it to say that; with            Seer. It is well to bear this in mind constantly in this survey

      t$. fe,rF cf'little  ,chil+n,"  .J?hn;  has reference to the entire         of Old'Testament  passages.


                                              T,,H E. S T:A.N;D.A  R-D.  B:E  A-R E;.R                                                   $l- `j
                                                                     -             -

     Next, we notice the very striking passage which we find              Israel as he hears this "sound of the King is in the `midst"
 in Genesis 49 :l-, where we-read,: "And--  Jacob called unto his         of her, as the chief Captain and finisher of the church's faith.
 sons, and : said,. Gather yourselves together, that -I--may  tell--      It is in Him that Israel shall do valiantly.
                                                                              :
 you that "which  shall befall you in the latter days. Gather                Then, finally, we must still look at the passage from Deut.
 yourselves together, and hear ye sons of Jacob ; and hearken             4 :30, which is spoken by. Moses to `Israel .in the fortieth
 unto Israel your father."     We would have you notice con-              year of their wanderings in the wilderness. Here Moses                   c
  cerning this passage the following salient points : (1) That 1          holds the law before Israel for the second time. Hence, the
  the aged patriarch here is calling his sons to his death-bed            name of the book of Moses called Deuteronomy (second
  in Egypt, and that he will now not simply utter a departing             law)' And` Israel is told what will befall them if they do not
  wish' but that he will be God's prophet here, foretelling the           keep ail that is written in the book to perform it. Israel is
  things which. shall befall Israel, `the twelve tribes in the            hemmed in by the law.1         And cursed is every one that does
  "latter days." (2) That what is here foretold concerning                not remain in all that is written in the book of the law to
  Israel in part refers to what will ,befall  Israel in the land of       perform it! No nation. has so seen the works of God.. They ..
  Canaan when they return' and each shall dwell in his in-                shall not add to the. word. which the Lord- commanded them,
heritance.     From Jacob's prophetical vantage-point this                neither shall they diminish aught therefrom,.so  that they may
  earthly, typical future does not lie outside of the prophetic           keep the commandments of the Lord their God. And, if they
  perspective. (3) However,       Jacob does look beyond the              do not keep the commandments, then they shall be scattered
  typical, `Old Testament existence of the twelve tribes to the           among the nations, carried into captivity in Assyria and in
  time of the Messiah, the Christ who is to come, as is evident           Babylon. But there is still hope. The Sceptre shall not depart
  from the classic passage in verse S, where Jacob speaks. of             from Judah. The promise of God is not put to naught; the
  Tudah, the first-born son by promise, the preeminent tribe.             Lord does not forsake the people whom He foreknew. And
  Writes Moses, giving Jacob's words, "Judah, thou art he                 therefore Moses says in Deut. 4.~30:  "When thou. art in
  whom thy brethren shall praise . . . the sceptre shall not              tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in
  depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet till            the Litter  &ys; if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shall b9
  Shiloh  come, and unto him shall the gathering (obedience) of           iobedient  unto his voice ;     (for the Lord God is a merciful
  the people be . . ." From this it is abundantly clear that the-         God:) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor
  "latter times" refers to the New Dispensation, the greatness            forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them."
  of Israel, the Israel of God, in Christ.                                Truly this is a beautiful passage, expressive of hop,e and, con-

                                                                          solation and of the Lord's covenant faithfulness. It is the
      We should not forget that these two Scripture passages
                                                                          faithfulness to the people which he had foreknown. And we
  which we have thus far investigated establish the thesis that
                                                                          further notice : (1) That the term "latter times" must refer. (
  the "last times" refer to the time when Christ shall have
                                                                          not simply to Israel's return from Babylon, but rather to the
  come in the flesh. And this, we hope to show, has. a great
                                                                          ,coming  of Christ.'    It was in this coming that the "Lord.
  significance for understanding the term "last hour" here in
                                                                          visited his people in mercy," and herein he proved His great
  I John.
                                                                          love to. us, namely, in the .sending  of His Son, to redeem

      .But let us continue.                                               Israel from. all her iniquity. In him both Jew and Gentile

                                                                          have the great. Advocate with the Father. For he is the
     `, In Numbers 24 :14 we read the prophetic utterance from            propitiation for the. sins of the "whole world," that is, for
  the lips of Balaam concerning Israel, as he sees the people             Jew and Gentile. He will redeem from the curse of the Law,
  according to-their tribes round about the tent of meeting' the          by becoming a curse for us.        (2) Here too the "latter days"
  tabernacle,. Says Balaam: "And now, behold, I go unto my                are viewed  from the vantage-point of the Old Testament
  people: come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this             Seer. Israel is saved in hope of Him Who is to, come.
         shall do to thy people in the latter days:"  And what
  people 
  Balaam says he sees in the "vision of the Almighty,`.' and                  And, pot to weary you, -reader, with too many quotations,
  that, too, "having his eyes open." And what does he- see?               I would just call attention yet to the prophecy of Daniel,
  Listen : "I`see `him but not now : I shall behold him but not           which is full of the .hope  of the Messiah. Does Daniel's
  nigh: there shall come a star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre               prophecy not end with the promise of hope of the "latter
  shall rise out of Israel, `and shall smite the corners of Moab,         days" ? We read in- Daniel .12 :13 : "But go thou thy way till
  and destroy-all the children of Sheth." Here too. we note :             the end be: for- thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the
   (1) That this vision of Balaam is the same `as that seen by-           end of the days."

  Jacob when he is about to die. Balaam sees the Star to come                 Here we see the did Testament perspective of the "latter
  out of Jacob, the sceptre that shall not depart from Judah.'            times," of' "the  latter days" `and it `will shed a great deal of
  He sees the era when- the Christ shall have come and lay all            light on John's usage of the term concerning the "last hour.;'
  his enemies low, when he shall put all things under his feet.
  This will take place in the "latter days." (2).  Balaam sees                                                                    .   G . L .


                                                                        Before -heti  hand  and :mouth-*iI1  commit +he extetial-  c@d of
                                                                        `&ing of the forbidden fruit. `.        .*.:.r    - !fi.
                                                                                                                            ,' . :;I.`,
                                                                       -..~
                                                                       - .i. ~ ~~~`did  .not ~~-~  ale devil;  "%ire  `dici .not "even`  know  of

                                                                        then'&&&  of `&`&&I. How c&&l-she  ? He`is'.a spiritual

                                                                        being  whb&  she could, noi see...  `Hgs'sin  occurred in heaven  .
               T h e   F r e e d o m   o f   " B i g o t r y "          and pf this l?isJory  she k;l<y absolutely nothing., With her
                                                                  .     &u-e +n.d  +-jar  no `sin +l evei  b&n iet before  her Tyes  yei,
                              (    4    )                               and her h&art was created p&-e-she  did not even' know
                          -' ."                                         that sin had entered  thk world anywhere. But.she  did go;
    The woman was the first to. sin .here upon this earth.              t$e `serpent.  She. also  knew of Ac+n's kingship .over  that

    Sin had its beginriing in heaven amdng`the  angels. But             serpent: Indeed she was his help Who was made meet or fit

the angels are neither male nor `female.                                fpr,serving  him. L$ us not !wist  that &to help mate. Phys-

                                                                        ic$, psychically *and spiritually she was made to be an help
    God created male and female among the world of man-
                                                                        who wa$  meet for him and nbt  an help-meet for him.-
kind.' And .He  made .i-hem  male and female in a definite order

and in a very unique way. Of this we lwill have more to say               There are s_everal  matters to whidh we must give close

presently.                                                              attention. First of all is the fact that man was created first.

 ,Now  we wislr to follow that line of thotight  that it was            This did not happen  with any' of the other creatures created
indeed the woman wlio first practiced sin .here  up& this               on the fifth and sixth days. Fish and fowl, animals of every
                                                                        kind were created *iale  and female, both' at the same time.
e a r t h .
                                                                        God did not take a rib out of the male lion to make a lioness.
    We will not enter the argument-as to w&ether ihe woman              Deliberately. and significantly He created man .fir& and all
& or at tha$ timki&  spil'itualljr stronger than the man. This          alone. (Surely -we are not going to follow the way of unbelief
would lead us too far away from our subject. The point  we              that speaks df- evolution. Adam was the first man and Eve
wish to make at this time is that Eve sinned before Adam                was the first woman. No need ,for  a compromise with godless
sinned, and  .we would  call, your atte&idn  `tb the nature .of         evolution by spea_king  of periods of thousands upon thousands
that sin."                                                              of years either. If we are to listen to godless scientists and

    It was, of .course,  sin against the Living God. It was His         believe their Carbon-14 theory,. we have to refuse to listen

commandment that she disobeyed and against Him that she                 to God, Who presents Adam to us as. the first man. The

rebelled. This is an undeniable fact. And few there are                 Carbon-14 theory insists that man was on this earth many

who would even care to dispute that fact. He had forbidden              thousands of years  longer than  the four thousand years of

man to eat of the fruit of. the tree of knowledge of good  and          history recorded in the Old Testamerit Scriptures. We must

of evil. It was not as I&e, .ah-eady in the meshes of the net           then insist on a man upon this earth before Adam.) No, we.

of sin, declared it, that God had forbidden them even to                b&eve that God created man first and that he stood there

touch that fruit. But very definitely He had let man know               upon .this earth alone for a time. And the woman was

that he -must  not eat of that fruit. Td tempt himself dy               created therefore for the man and not the man for the woman.

fondling this fruit wsuld  certainly have been sin. But  the            There, too, it is very plain tha;  the married woman may not

mere'act of touching it was not forbidden.                              determine the- type of government her husband shall have '

    Likewise, would we point out, Eve's first sin was not               over liim,' and woman suffrage is clearly contrary  to the
that of eating of the forbidden fruit. To take that position is         teaching> of the Word of God. For that same reason the
to deny what Paul wrote in I Timothy 2:li-14, "Let the                  unmarried may not vote along with the men to determine
woman learn in silence with all subjection. .But I suffer not           what these men, who are not their husbands, shall have  as
a wpman  to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but             their form of gpvernment.  The woman was created after the
to -be + Isilence.  For Adim  was first formed, then Eve., And          man and for m&z's  Sake, and therefork Shea must leave the
Adam was not deceive& but the woman being deceived was                  whole matter of authority in the State, in_  the Church and in
in the transgression."       Sin always begins in the heart. And        the home to the-man whom- she must serve ,in order to serve
$n is also a matter of the,heart.  It is not always an external         God. Lest we contradict this as so much philosophy of man,
`cleed.  It does not alway?  bring injury or shame to a fellow          turn to I Corinthians 11:7-g, "For  a man indeed ought not
man. All sins are not performed outside of- the heart.  But all         to-cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory
sin is sin in the heart and because of what the-heart declares.         of God :. but the woman is the glory of man. %or  the man
And so it is also that before Eve performed .the physical act           is not of .the woman.; but the woman of the man. Neither was
.of eating, the spiritual act of sin against both God and her           the man created for thewoman  ; but the woman for the-man."

h&bz+d,  Adam, had already been perhetrated.  The cr`afty                      -Atid  let us.-take note  furtlier that all this is spoken- con-

.and devilishly cunning- snare which Satan laid had exactly             cerning Eve  in -regard  to he? `sdcial  `St&ding.  True, Pai;l

.&at  sin in her heart in mind. I Her heart must be conquered           declares in I Corinthians 14 :34, "Let the women keep silence


in the churches i for. it is not permitted them to speak; but         band, she would not .have-  put -herself in the position where

they are commanded to ,be under .obedience,  as also saith the        Satan could h&e tempted her with the fruit of that tree.
                                                                              .
law." But he says, -t&s  exactly because her- social `standini        L Eve. <cry .dtifiriitel$  usurped Adam's position in society

in `the State is such 6y the very ordinance. of God implied &i        &d-n& simpljr `in the Church.. And let it be ssid thKAda&
her creation. after and for the man. All this was  done and           sitined  also in that he let himself be led by the woman. This

said `concerning Eve before the Son of God even began to              is a principle matter and preceded the actual physical eating
gather His Church. She was made to be `an help meet for               of the fruit that w& forbidden. .-And  every. time a woman
Adam in the social sphere, in the 6ome  and in the state as           sets herself. 2bove  man to usurp his position of authority she
well as in the Church. She was made of man as king over               eats of forbidden fruit. Need we repeat now that we were
the earthly creation - and he had just named all the animals          not writing a piece of political propaganda and are simply in-
-as well as of man as the earthly head and representative             terested in that which is in His fear? This stand_ will cost
 of the Church, the elder of God's.  Church in Paradise. The          many thousands of v&es that could serve to try to defeat that
 woman simply does not have the right to rule man and to              position of great danger to the Church, to have. a Roman
 decide who shall-rule man. She must always be-in  subjection         Catholic president. But t'hat makes no difference. Principle
 in order to be pleasing in God's sight. And if slle  asserts         is principle, and we cannot serve God by breaking His laws.

herself above:the  man and tries to-determine his life, socially,            That argument that the end justifies the means is nothing
 politically or ecclesiastically, she'continues in the siti of Eve    less than the lie. He who finds it necessary to resort to dis-
 which she perpetrated before she .ate of the -forbidden fruit.       honest and forbidden means cannot have a good end in mind.
 We want to come back to, that now. For we -wish to show,             Rahab lied concerning the spies. ,$he  is not commended for
 that coine what mayj-  be ruled by a president whose church          that in Holy Writ. She is commended for having hidden
 will deny all other beliefs  their freedom of religion or not,       the s.ppi&  b'u; not.  for havipg . lied conc@ng  their where-
`the  saintly woman will not try to cast .her.vote  to try.to stem    ahouts,  .?Ier%otive  and e&l &as `&o.o&  but she is not. justified
 the tide. She,will  abide in God's will-and rest quietly in the      in telling  a lie to reach'her goal. If our goal in .life, and thk
 confidence that all these things are .in His hands to do what        end .we La&e  in view with our works is fhe glory of God,
 is good for-His Church. To walk.in  His fear; she will refuse        6e.will  not -resort  ,to tneans  which He-  forbids. .If we do, it
 to usurp authority. over the man in the voting ,booth.  or try       is simply because we have a carnal goal in mind, even though
 to exercise authority on his level. `She  will fear God rather       we may deceive ourselves into thinking that' our cause  is a
 thati  a Roman Catholic president. She will fear His `punish-        j&t one and our goal an honorable one. We glorify God
 ment rather than man's persecution.                                  when we `submit to :`His  will. 1 It is utter nonsense to say, . .
                :                                                     `?+ord,  I am going t$ sin in order to glorify Thy name. I am

    It ,will be plain now  that the moment that Eve took it upon      going to go contrary to Thy will in order to do Thy will."

 herself to as&m~e Adam's position and to ans'wer the serpent         Jesus teaches L& that we must pray' for the hallowing of
- over whom Adam had the kingship - she had inwardly de-              God's name, that this is possible only in .the wiy of His
 parted from the right way and usurped authority over the             kingdom coming in our hearts so that WE do His will on
 man. Indeed she might speak to that serpent, but she might           earth as perfectly as the holy angels do it in heavkn.
 not answer as she did. It was a matter of the command which                 .At$  so ii con&+on; &men  ta&,t  & and ridicule us for
 God had given to her husband as the king of all the earthly          our "narrow-minded" views. Let them accuse US  of; bigotry
 creation, including these two special trees. It was a matter         and of being old fashioned.                          But let us be sure we walk in
 of which she had received knowledge only from her husband.           the way of God's commandments., .Let,-us  walk in His fear,
 God did not speak directly to her but to Adam even before            for then we will have nd fear of what r$n.may  do to us.
 she was created. Her husband had taught her the command
                                                                                    .
 of God. Her first action therefore, when another view than                         _. ..:                                                                     J:A.H.

 that which she received from God through her husband was

 presented, should have been to consult him and to refer the                                                          -               -
 serpent to him. But no, she set aside her husband's kingship'

 and even  after the devil through the serpent presented the

 very opposite of what God ,said and inferred that He was a                                                      I    N          M    E    M    O    R    I     A    M

 liar; she refused to call hei, husband to rebuke this slancerer.
                                                                      .      The Martha Ladies' Aid Society of the Hull Protest&  -Reformed
 Her failure to refer the matter to the earthly king  %f God's  _                                                                          _ ^.
                                                                      Church wishes to express its sincere sympathy to one ot its members

 creation placed her in the-position where she was open to the.       and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. John Boer, in the loss of the? son,
 next barb in the devil's attack. And he knew it. Paul-makes                                                    M A R T I N   B O E R
 a strong point of it that she was utterly deceived. For this         -
                                                                             The Lord gave, the Lord hath faken  away;  blessed be the name
 there was no need at all. Had she continued to recognize             o f   t h e   L o r d .   J o b   1:21
 Adam as-her head and referred all the matters of what God                 . - ;         : : _-_:                     . . Rev. Jason .L. Kortering, President
 had given her command to do through the motith  of her hus-          _,__  :. : : ~. : _ ~..            ^ Mrs.
                                                                                                        _...__         %. J a n s m a ,   S e c r e t a r y


                                                                       .
  64                                          T H E   S T A N - D A R - D ;   --REARER


                                                                       peopie in thspower  of the seven-fold Spirit of wisdom (Isa.

                                                                       .1.1;2),  and typified the praises of Him who called us out of.
        Scriptp$s  i;$ view  of this symbolic sarktuary  fixture
                                                                       -darkness  into His marvelous light (I Pet. 2 :9). The lamp-
  is from: within. the heart. of-God's  house outward.`-If God is
                                                                       stand, therefore, is a shadow of the Lord Jesus Christ, a light
  to be known-  at. all,. He must of necessity reveal Himself,. and
                                                                       which is .but  shade compared to Him who is the Light of the
  doing. so begin from-  Himself, moving outward to man. This
                                                                       world, (Jn: 8 :12),  and the light and glory of heaven (Rev,
  is evident from: God's instructive commands to Moses to
                                                                       21':22f  ; 22 :5). God is light (I Jn. 1 :5), but His people are
  build the tabernacle and its furnishings as issued in Ex.'
                                                                       lightbearers  as typified by the branches and lamps. (This
  2.5 :31-40. There we are brought immediately into the holy
                                                                       implies that God's people are more than capable of bearing
  of holies  where was the ark of the covenant. Next mentioned
                                                                       the image .of God, but are actual image-bearers.) Thus not
  is the table of showbread, which was in the holy place, also
                                                                       only Christ, .but His body, the church, is represented by the
  there the golden lampstand, then the coverings, and finally
                                                                       golden lampstand:  The church is empowered with the Holy
  the brazen altar which was outside in the courtyard. This is
                                                                       Spirit, as the olive oil signifies, and reflects the light of the
  -the.  approach of the Book of Exodus, whereas. the Book of
                                                                       testimony of the Gospel through the believers who are the
  Leviticus is just the reverse, beginning outside the tabernacle
                                                                       light of the world. That is, the only light in this dark world
  at the brazen altar (chaps. l-7))  proceeding to the laver  (8))
                                                                       is Christ and His church.- The sphere outside of the true
  then to the mercy-seat (16) in the .holiest  place, -`thus em-
                                                                       church is that of stygian darkness. Darkness in Scripture is
phasizing the proper way of drawing near to God.                  .
                                                                       a symbol of error (I Jn. 1:6 ; 4 :6). Darkness is the opposite
        The Old Testament .word used to denominate the golden          of God and the truth. God is light. Darkness represents
lampstand is wzenorah,  which, since Wiclif, was -improperly           ignorance of and hatred toward God. Darkness is the lie,
  translated "candlestick" until the old American Standard             and enemy of all truth. It is our darkness to love darkness-
  Version of the Bible where it is correctly rendered, lazp~           rather than the light. The light, to the wicked, to the spirit-
  stand.  Candles, a solidlfuel  burning lightholder with self-        ually blind, is as darkness. The light is never visible to them.
  contained wick, came to be used upon altars of worship in            But in this woi-ld  of. darkness, we, believers, see ! To us the
  the period of the dark ages. They strictly belong to that            darkness is invisible light, invisible to the world, but light to
  period. It is more than doubtful that the Old  Testament             us, as the infra-red light which in the midst of the night can
  Jews would use candles of tallow, for to them fat had to be          turn darkness into light `(if one has but the proper eye equip-
  burned on the brazen altar, rtot  in the holy place. Where is        ment to behold this invisible light). But in the darkness, as
  there evidence that Israel used candles at all ? They preferred      such, there is no fellowship. Darkness .affords  no fellowship.
  lamps outfitted with liquid-fuel and separately inserted wicks.      That is why hell is the most lonesome place in all the uni-
  The flammable mixture was not tallow, b,ut pure beaten olive         verse. For hell is the blackness of'darkness for ever.
  oil. Nothing else was used in the worship of God's house.
  This translation is confirmed by I Sam. 3 :3 where it is called                Light, on the contrary, is a symbol of fellowship. Light is
  the lamp of God. It is also called the pure lampstand (Lev.          the sphere, environment and element of fellowship. Darkness
  24 :4).                                                              is death. Hence, light is called the light of life, the light of
                                                                       the living, the light of men and the light of the Gospel. To
        The lampstand was made of one piece of beaten ("turned
                                                                       the true Israelite, the light was that which emanated from the
  work,,' Heb., turned to -bring Pinto  :a round or cylindrical
                                                                       golden- lampstand in the holy place, and the glory which
  form) gold (Ex..25  :31, 36)) its proper dimensions unknown,
                                                                       shone from the shekinah in the holy of holies.  He could never
  but of a talent weight (v. 39))  which is approximately 130
                                                                       go there, except as represented by the high priest, but his
  pounds, making it worth from $30,000 to $50,000, and per-
                                                                       whole life, `waking and sleeping, work and rest, family and
  haps, as some think, as much as $95,000 today. It consisted
                                                                       public life, thoughts and actions, were all dominated by the
  of seven branches, all ornamented with knops (knobs, or
                                                                       consciousness that the Light and Presence of God dwelt in
  perhaps, buds), flowers, and fruit like almonds. Six of
                                                                       the midst of Israel. He too was called out of darkness into
  these branches stemmed from one main stand, three from
                                                                       God's .marvelous  light, but for him this meant to dwell in
  each side of the main shaft in the form of graduated quarter
                                                                       the secret place (temple) of the Most High. For God is
  circles. On the ends of the seven branches, on the same level,
                                                                       revealed. i-n- the Old Testament thus : "Who coverest  Thyself
  were the seven bowls (lamps). The light of these lamps
                                                                       with -light as with a garment" (Ps. 104 :2). But ,in the com-
  burned only during the night as an examination of Ex. 27 :20,
                                                                       pleted revelation of the New Testament we read that "God
  21; 30 :7, 8; Lev. 24 :2-4 and I Sam. .3 :3 will show. In the
                                                                       dwelleth in the light, " and that "God is light." He is not
  morning, the doors of the holy place were opened (I Sam.
                                                                       only clothed with light, not only dwells in light, but He is
  3 :15),  it being the duty of the levites to open .them every
                                                                       l    i     g    h    t    !
  morning (I Chron. 9 :27). In this way day light was per-

  mitted to pervade the holy place.                                              This is shadowed forth by the beautiful symbolism of the

        The seven-fad light symbolized the great excellency of         tabernacle.. There the lampstand was situated. on the left

  God And the covenant fello,wship  which He has with His              hand (So.) side of the holy place (Ex. 40:24),  facing the


                                               TFI E.!9:T@UXD-XRD.  `B:E.ARER                                                          65


  table of showbread,: or the-table of the bread-df `( Gcid's) face,    innate, essential glory. The ideal  character of the church is

  &nd  casting its ligh~qon- it;--& this light the high priest          further brought out- in-ZechaFiah's  scripture by the fact that

  offered incense. (a tfie of the prayers of all saints)  on the        here ;vire-$0  not. have an actual, historical lampstand, as the

  golden altar which `was westward in the holy y place &d               qne of Moses and those of Solomon. It Was seen only iti

  before the veil into the most hdly  place. He would also trim         vision,. and was never placed- objectively in a "worldly

  the lamps, freshen -their &pply  of oil, and renew the bread          sanctuary" (Heb. 9 :l). It represents the. church after the

  on the table.. This signified that all worship and service untci      Lord has "made all things new."

  God is holy, -and  must be done in the light of His presence.             "What  are these two olives trees . . . ? What be these

  As the lamp shone upon the showbread, it revealed Christ as           two olive branches . . . ?,' And the answer: "These are-

  the Bread of Life to those hungry for i-ighteo&ne&  The               the two anointed ones that. stand by the Lord of ihe whole            ~

  light revealed Christ as the Bread from Heaven. .It also              earth"     (Zech. p :ll, 12, 14). In Zechariah's day these

  shone on the golden altar, revealing Christ as Intercessor and        probably were Zerubbabel  the prince and Joshua the high

  Mediator through whom our prayers have access into the                priest. So that the lampstand and the two olive trees (which

  presence of God. It shone upon itself, revealing the beauty           probably stemmed out of the same base with the lampstand)

  of the Lord which He puts upon us, thus causing our light             represent the church &d its officebearers --he  holy con-

  to shine before men that they may see our good works and              gregation with i-uling  elders  and, preaching elders. Through

  glorify our heavenly Father. Thus, in His light we see light,         Spirit-filled officebeai-ers God pours out grace upon His

  and.in His light we walk in the light.                                church and blesses His people. The anointed minister of the

  j    In the Book of Zechariah, chapter four, we come to the           W&-d.  of God withholds nothing -that- is profitable to the
  highest level of Old Testament progressive revelation con-            hearers: he proclaims the whole counsel of God. Fdr he is
  cerning the lampstand and its significance. Here the lamp-            not a purveyor of philosophy, nor a contender for h% own
  stand appears. in vision, but' as a much advanced type over           ideas; He-  is liot  ari driginator  df- "new thought," nor a mere
  that within the tabernacle of Moses. This is to be expected,          "repeat-lever" for the contributions of others. He is a &annel
  inasmuch as the, Book.of  Exodus is at the beginning, and the         df grace  through which  the Spirit of Christ and the Word of
 -Book of- Zechariah is at the end of the Old Testament pro-            God are administered to the comfort and enlightenment of
  gressive revelation. In the t&e after Moses, of Solomon's             His people.

  temple,. the seven-branched lampstand of the original taber-              The lampstand in all Scripture therefore teaches us that

  nacle gave way to ten ~lampstands  of similar form, "five on          Christ's church from now throughout eternity shall never

  the right side, and five on the left." (Solomon also made ten         lack true ministers. Whereas in, the former dispensation

 lavers, and ten tables of showbread, similarly positioned.)            "they were not ,suffered  to continue by reason of death"

 This temple arrangement signified the complete sufficiency             (Heb. 7 :23),  now they `StapLd  by the Lord of the whole

 and superiority of the spiritual food and spiritual illumitia-         earth." In the New Creation the lampstand, eternally shin-

 tion of ,the Gospel dispensation (at this point, qne thousand          ing and golden (the church in glory), is never removed from

 years distant) over that of the old dispensation. There is             its place. `The temple in that New Creatidn  is the whole

 no light greater or brighter than Gospel light, unless it be           city of the New Jerusalem, and that city is the Lord God

 the  light in the New Jerusalem, -which is the Lamb. Also              Almighty and the Lamb in eternal union with the `nations

signified by the' ten lampstands  is the fact that in' the Old          (entirely new nations, 5 :9 ;` .7 :9 j of them which are saved."
 Testament there was but one, national church ; but that the            In that city-wide temple the lamp is the Lamb, the Son of

 New Testament would bring the one church consisfing  of                God incarnate in blessed. fellowship with "the kings  of the

multiplied churches of all nations.                                     earth."' So that, the iamp&nd,of  Moses represented a king-

       But now Zechariah's golden lampstand : it had a reservoir        dom of priests, while the lampstand of Zechariah  and of the
                                                                           i .,
above the center of the lamps, and from it stemmed pipes                Ne%ir Heaven represents .a :&esthood  of kings under the King
 to the several lamps. The reservoir also had two channels              of kings. Forin' heaven we His servants (slaves) shall walk
 reaching on either side to the two olive trees standing, one on        in the immediatk  light- of the Lamb, and in His everlasting
 the  right, and one on the left of the lampstand. In this way          effulgence serve Him,  reigning as kings "for ever and ever."
the two fruit;bearing  branches of the olive `trees extended            And that will be for- all believers in -the kingdom of heaven
 their fruit over these channels, and exuded their oil into them,       salvation full, perfect, sufficient, complete ! Amen. '
                                                                                                       .
 and through them into the reservoir. Then from the reservoir                                                                      R.C.H.

 the oil passed through the individual pipes to the several

 lamps. Thus the reservoir and the lamps were continually

 supplied with oil without the ministrations of priests. Here
                                                                                        0 make Thy face to shine on me,
 represented is the ideal church finally realized in the perfec-
 tion of the New Creation. For in the new covenant church                                 And teach me all Thy laws to. keep ;
 of the New Heaven and New Earth there are no levitical                                 Because Thy statutes are despised,

 priests, and' "the Lamp thereof? eternally irradiates with. its                   I      With  overwhelmitig  grief I iveep.


                                                                                                           r i,

66                                                                            THE..  SWANDARD  .-BEARER

                                                                                                                                                                                                                .-

                                                                                                                       ~.-               cgrifhmedL  by the ummimous.  consent..  of all and each :of the
                                                                                                                       :                  members of .i the whole Synod.                              Moreover, the Synod warns

                                                                                                                                          cahmmistors  themselves; to consider."the  terrible judgment of

                                                                                                                       G o d   w h i c h   a w a i t s   *them,   f o r   b e a r i n g   fa@e  w i t n e s s   a g a i n s t
                                                                         _. .'
                                                                                                                                          the confessions of `so many `Churches,-`for distressing the con-
                                  The Canons of `Dordrecht  - -. -. `. `-.-
                                                    .,                                                                  `. ' sciences of- the  weak; and for laboring to `render suspected
                                                                                               `..*  _
                                                                                                                                   ` t h e `   s o c i e t y   o f   t h e   t r u l y   f a i t h f u l , '

                                                 J?~~\rTlvo  . .: -.                                                                           Finally, this Synod exhorts aB their'brethren  in the gospel
               .                                                                                                        .                 .of Christ; to conduct themselves piously and religiously in
                                    hlOS&ON            `       O         F              Tlk cA%OkS.
                                                                                                                                         haridling this doctrine, both. in the universities and churches;
                    .
                                    F                                                                                               to direct it,. as well iu discourse, as in writing, to the .glory
                                         I F T H   H E A D   O F   D O C T R I N E
                                                                                                                                          of the Divine Name, to holiness of life, and to the consolation
                                                                                                                                                            ..-

          1                     THE. PERSEVERANCE'  OF T~IE  SPINTS                                                                       of afflicted souls; to regulate, by the Scrip~ture,  according to
                         OF 
                                                                                                                                          the analogy-of f&h; not only their sentiments, but also their

                                                                                                                                          language; and, to abstain from all those phrases which exceed
                                             CONCLUSION . ; _-_
                                                                                                                                         the limits. necessary to be observed in ascertaining the genuine

               And this is the perspicuous, simple, and ingenuous- declara-                                                               sense of the holy Scriptures; and may.fumish insolent sophists

          tion of the orthodox doctrine respecting de five articles which                                                                 -with  a. just pretext for violently assailing, or even vilifying,
         have been controverted in de Belgic churches; and the re-                                                                        the doctrine of the Reformed Churches.
                                                                                                                              .                            ., . . (,
       jection  of the errors, with which. they have for some time                                                                            May Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who, seated at the

          been troubled. This doctrine the Synod judges to be drawn                                                                       Father's right hand, g&es gifts `to men, sanctify us in the

         from the  Word of God, and to be agreeabble  to the confessions                                                      - truth;  b r i n g   t o   t h e   t r u t h   t h o s e   w h o   e r r ,   s h u t   t h e   m o u t h s

       of the Reformed churches. Whence it clearly appears, -that                                                                         of the calumniators of sound doctrine, and endue the faithful

          some whom such conduct by no means became, have violated                                                                       .ministers of his Word.with  the spirit of wisdom and discretion,

          all truth, equity, and charity, in wishing to persuade. the                                                                    that all their discourses may tend to the glory of God, and the

         public. `-.                                                                                                                     edification of those who hear them. AMEN.

           - "That the doctrine of the Reformed churches. concerning                                                   .            '        .That this is -our faith and decision we. certify by sub-
         `predestination, and the points annexed to it,, by its own  genius                                                              scribing our names.

          and necessary-tendency, leads off the minds of men from all
                                                                                                                                         Here follow the names, not only of President, Assistant Pres-
         piety and religion; that it is an opiate administered by the
                                                                                                                                         ident, and Secretaties  of the Synod, and of the Professors OF
         flesh and the devil, and the stronghold of Satan, where he
                                                                                                                                         Theology in the Dutch Churches, but of all the Members who
          lies in wait for all; and from which he wounds multitudes,
                                                                                                                                    were deputed to' the Synod, as the Representatives of their
          and mortally strikes through many with the darts both of
                                                                                                                                         respective Churches, that is, of the Delegates. from Great
          despair and security; that it makes God the author of sin,
                                                                                                                                         Britain, the Electoral Palatinate,  Hessia, Switzerland, Wet-
         unjust, tyrannical, hypocritical; that it is nothing -more.  than
                                                                                                                                         teraw - The Republic and. Church of Geneva - The Republic
         interpolated Stoicism, Manicheism, Libertinism, Turcism;  that
                                                                                                                                         and Chur.ch  of Bremen -`The Republic and Church of Emden
         it renders men carnally secure, since they are persuaded by it.
                                                                                                                                         - .The Duchy of Gelderhmd  and of Zutphen - South Holland
         that nothing can hinder the salvation of the elect, .let them
                                                                                                                                         - North Hoiland  `1 Zeelaud  - The `Province of Utrecht --
      l i v e   a s   t h e y   p l e a s e ;   a n d   t h e r e f o r e ,   t h a t   they'  m a y   s a f e l y
                                                                                                                                         Friesland - Transylvania  - The  State of Groningen  and Om-
         perpetrate every, species of the most atrocibus crimes; and
                                                                                                                                         land - Drent - The French Churches.
      that, if the.reprobate  should even `perform truly all the works

         of the saints, their `obedience would not-in&e  least'contribute
                                                                                                                                   This ~`Conclusion"  is, for the purpose of our discussion, 9
         to their salvation; that the same doctrine.teaches;that  God, by
         a mere arbitrary act of his will; without the least respect or                                               quite adequately rendered in the above version, of our

         view to any sin; has predestinated the greatest part of the                                                  " P s a l t e r . "           And therefore, although several improvements

         world to eternal damnation; and, has created them for this                                                   could be made in translation and punctuation, we will not
         very purpose; that in the same manner m which the election                                                   risk either boring or confusin g the reader by trying to point
         is the fountain and the cause of faith and good,works,  reproba-                                             out in such a lengthy document the various points at which
         tion is the cause of unbelief and impiety; that many children
                                                                                                                      improvements could be made. If necessary, we can note
       of the faithful are tom, guiltless, from their `mothers' breasts,
         and tyrannically plunged into hell; so that, neither baptism,                                                such changes as we proceed with our discussion.

         nor the prayers of the Church at their baptism, can at all                                                                Strictly speaking, I suppose, this "Conclusion" does not
         profit by them;"                   and many -other things of the same kind,
                                                                                                                      belong to our Caxons  as a .creed  and as one of our. Three
         which the Reformed Churches not only do not-,acknowledge;
         b u t   e v e n   d e t e s t   w i t h   t h e i r   w h o l e                                              Forms of Unity. It is for this reason too, undoubtedly, that
                                                                              soul.  _        -

                                                                                                                      many Dutch and English versions of the Cartons omit it.
                    Wherefore, this Synod of Dart, in the name of the `Lord,
         conjures as many as piously call upon the name of our Savior                                                 Nevertheless, I think its omission is a mistake, and that for
       Jesus Christ, to judge of the faith of the Reformed Churches,                                                  the follo&ng reasons. ' In the first place, in the mind of the
         not from the calumnies, which, on every side, are heaped                                                     Synod of Dordrecht this "Conclusion" was associated very
         upon it; nor from the `private expressions `of a few among                                                   closely with the Canons  themselves, both as to occasion, ne-
         ancient and modern teachers, often. dishonestly quoted, or
                                                                                                                      cessity, and content.. After the Cano?Ls  were formulated and
      corrupted, and wrested to a meaning. quite foreign to their
        intention; but from the public confessions of the Churches                                                    individually approved, the proposal to add a rejection of
         themselves,, and from the declaration of the orthodox doctrine,                                              some of the most outstanding calumnies against the true dot-





                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             I


 t-fin@ of predkstination-  .was brotight  r.to .the  -. Synod. and ap-    several: times -during .-the course of oui- discussibns;.  -and. we

 prbved  in its 13lsVsession.  The Synod was-furnished'with                need .nqt -go  into detail-on this score again. Let us remember,

  such. a proposed con,clusion,  scent  four icssions  in r'evising        however that fhe  charge so often brought today too that the
                                                                                  . ..'
  and debating it for ieasons  which  we need not consider at              Reformed doctrine of predestination is heavy and involved

present, and finally adopted the, "Conclusion" in its aboye                and so.,coqplex-that  bn1y.a theologian can grasp it is as false

 form at,the 134th session. Then, in the 135th and 136th ses-              as it is fl;equent.  This truth is c&u-, simple, and undisguised,

  sions all five heads *of doctrine, plus the "Conclusion,`" were          so that a child can grasp it. And our Canons are the evidence

  once more read and finally adopted and separately subscribed             of it. The reason for this is also simple. This doctrine, ,as

 to by all the delegations,-foreign and domestic. This "Con-               the "C&clusion"  has it, is drawn from the perspicuous and,

  clusion," therefore, was treated  really as an integral part-  bf        simpl; `Word of God itself. And the fact of the harmony

 the Cations.  In the second place, this "Conclusion" is of                between our Cano%s  and our other Reformed confessions is

  historical value and sheds much light on the occasion and                also a testirriony  td the truth. One of the beatities  .of our

 necessity of the Canonzs,  as well as on their content. The               Reformed doctrine is the fact that all the various aspects  of

  calumnies cited therein help us to understand several of the             the truth constitute together a harmonious system of the
 formulations, both positive and negative, found in the Canons             truth. And through them  all beats the pulse of the heart of

 themselves. In the third placd, this "Conclusion" was un-                 the church, God's eternal predestination.

  doubtedly necessary and valuable"for  Reformed believers of
 that time and fori&ed  a fitting affirmation and exhortation to               1; the second place, our fathers strike .out against. those
 all who were,ipvolved  in the Arminian struggle. But there is             -who  oppose and slander the truth, at the same time enumerat-
  after all nothing- new under the sun. And it is striking  how            ing some of tkeir  most slandefous  attack3  upon the truth.
 up-to-date this affirmation of the truth, exposC  of calumnies,           We may note here, incidentally, thab-it  would be better to
 earning'  to caltimniators,  and exhoi-tation  `to the faithful           punctuate this sentence with a colon after the word "public,"-
 actually is. We majr  see from it not `only how vile 2nd false            and then proceed .to quote the,  slanders which are mentioned
 were the calumnies against the Reformed doctrine in the -days             here. As far as the content of this sectipn  is concerned we
of our fathers, but also observe that the opponents of the                 may remark, first of all, that our fathers were obviously not
 truth of predestination today have learned their'lessons from             given to that false tolerance and sentimental but false charity
- the Remonstr&s. They come dvith  the. same calumnies and                 that is so-pre+alerit  tbday  with respect tb `heresy atid  heretics.
 false conclusibns.  And therefore; all the' more is it neces-             They understood indeed'that the matter of the confession and
 sary, especially in these days of doctrinal ignorance and in-             &a+enance of the truth and that of the promulgation of
difference and of a woefully inadequate acquaintance with the              heresy are spiritual,  ethical matters. To themi  therefore, the
 confessions, that those. who confess the truth and the name               controversy between Reformed and Arminian -was not a m&-e
 of otir  Lo& Jesus Christ be acquainted with their opposition,            acadetiic'  debate: -Nor -could they. assume the stand. that all
 and be admonished.to  know the truth, to esteem  their her-               were entitled  to their opinions. But standing as before the
 itage, and to maintain it piously.                                        face of God they had no other course than to condemn the
                                                                           Arminian  propaganda as a violation of all truth, equity, and
     Hence, rather than abruptly cl&e  this series at the end              charity, .- Serious charges ? .Indeed ; but  those who  love the
 of the Fifth Head of Doctrine, w,e prefer .to associate our-              truth  tiill  admit that they  are every whit true. Arid those
 selves with the fathers of Dordrecht in this "Conclusion,"                whop  read these -Arminian  slanders in the light of our Canons
 and, at the same time, properly conclude also our exposition              will be conipelled' to -admit `cl&  these  calunini&  indeed appear
 o f   t h e   Ca,nons.                                                    contrary to .truth, equity, and charity. And those who love

                                                                           the Reformed faith and who have themselves beeri  witness to
     This "Conclusion" may  be readily divided into several
                                                                           these or similar calumnies in their own experience will
 main sections.
                                                                           readily understand thtit oui-`fathers,  as a matter of conviction,
     In the first place, it contains `a brief atid  positive affirma-      felt as' they  did toward those who insidiously infiltrated the
 tion of the Canons as a declaration of the orthodox doctrine'             Reformed churches, unethically propagated their evil heresy,
 with respect to the Five Articles of the Remonstrants, at                 wilfully fought to deprive the church of its heritage, and
 the same time pointing to the occasion and need of the                    wickedly sought to destroy the churches, even enlisting the
 formulation of the Ca.nons  ai lying in.the  rise of the Arminian         aid of a sympathetic government in order to persecute the
 heresy. We may notice that ,our  fathers characterize the                 faithful. And they will agree that our fathers are not in
 doctrine of our Canons as- "perspicuous," or clear, as                    need  of twentieth century excuses for their sharp language.
 "silgple,"  and as "ingenuous," or uprcght,  catidid,  unclis-            Yes, and they tiill  also &press  the earnest wish that there
 guised. This is an obvious referefice  to the fact that the               might  be more of. such @arm  zeal for the truth and upright
 Arminian teachings were lacking iri Clarity, were involved,               enmity against the eneniies  of God's cause in our own  time.
 an.d were purposely disguised- and devious, while the Ar-
 minians charged the Refornied doctrine exactly with these                                    - ( t o   b e   cpntinued)     _
                                                                                .-.._' ,.
 shortcomings. We -have reminded the reader of this fact                                                                             H . C . H .


                                                                                 sente&e  of the~consistory,  classis  or synod, and until a deci-

                                                                                 s&n-is-rmade  upon such an appeal, we will acquiesce in the

                                                                                 determination and judgment already passed."
                                                                          JJ
                                                                           .3     `The above is in brief the` substance of the vow that is

               Office Bearers' Subscription, _ r. _,                             made before God and His church by the office-bearers when

                                                                                 they affor their signature to the Formula of Subscription. To
                     Articles 53, 54, D.K.O. z :'                                sign this Formula is more than a mere formality. It is a very

                                                                                 serious business and must be done in deepest sincerity with
     "The &in&em  of the Ward of God: an&~ likewisi. the                         the fear of. God. It would be shocking indeed to reveal from
  profi3sois  of theology (which  also .bekooves  the othef$rofe+                the minute books of our various consistories the names of
  sws an-d. scl~ool  teachers) s?z& subscribe to &e Three                        those who have once pledged themselves to this vow and,
  Formulas \f LTnity, na%sly,  the Belgic Confession -of Faith,                  without protest or submission of their. grievances to the con-
  the Heidelberg. CaStechism,    and the Canons of Dordrecht,                    `sistory, classis and synod, have forsaken the church and em-
  l&8-19,  and the ministers of the Word who &use to db so                       braced the very' errors they once promised to reject and
  &all  de facto be s@ended  from  their oflice by the con-                      oppose the truth they promised to defend. However, God is
  sistory or classis  until they slmll have given a full statement,              riot-mocked and to Him an account must be given in which
an.d if they obstinately persist irt refming,  they shall be                     He shall judge a riglzteoms  judgment.
  d@pbsed  ~YOYJ~ tJzeil* office." - Article 53, D.K.O.            ...
                                                                                   "When thozl  vowest  a vow to God, defet-  not to pay it;

              .Decision  Pertaining To This Article                              for He bath no pleasztre'in  fools: pay tht which thou ha&

     "Tie form for su&ription  for ministers, etc., shall b{                     vowed" (Edclesiastes  5 :4)`.

  transcribed in the vxinztte  books of both con&tory and clas:.                     Sometimes the signing of the Formula of Subscription is
  sis. (Adopted by the,Synod  of 1944, Arts. 66, 67.)" .                         done in jest. Those`tialled  upon to sign it are-accosted with

                                                                                 remarks such as, "Be sure you read the fine `print. Do' you
                            JF * * s:                                      `I    know what you're signing ?       Be careful, you sign your life

                                                                                 away. This is going to cost you money." We understand,
     "Like&e the elders and dea`cons shall subscribe to the                      of course, that such jesting is sin. This is no joking matter. -
  aforesaid formulas of unity." - Article 54, D.K.0:
      `.                                                                   -1    The fact'is that this.vow  made unto God in the sincerity of
                                                                                 our `hearts may very well cost us our life. The defense of the'
    "We . . . . do hereby, sincerely and in good conscience p
                                                                                 truth overagainst all errors that militate against it may in-.
  before the Lord, declare by this, our subscription :
                                                                                 deed involve us in a battle that has far reaching consequences
     `a. That we heartily believe and are persuaded that all,                    with respect. to the loss or retention of our earthly position
  the' articles and points of doctrine, contained in the Confes-                 and goods.' Seriously and without any jest it may well be
  sion `andCatechism  of the Protestant Reformed Churches,
                                                            . .                  asked, "DO you know what-yyou  are signing and are you
  do fully agree with the Word of God . . . .                                    conscious of the implications of the vow which you make

     "b. That we promise diligently to teach and faithfully to                   before God ?' This act of signing the declaration of agree-

  defend the aforesaid doctrine . . . .                                          ment involves every office-bearer in the church in a most

     `I c. That we not only reject all errors that militate                      serious responsibility. Never may it be done lightly.

  against this doctrine . . . - but that we are disposed to refute                  Signing' the Formula of Subscription .was not always

  and contradict these, and to exert ourselves in keeping the                    mandatory in Reformed Churches. The need for some definite

  Church free from such errors.                                                  declaration of agreement among the office-bearers was felt by

    "d. That if hereafter any difficulties or different senti-                   certain Classes -when various errors began to show them-
 ments respecting the aforesaid doctrines should arise in our                    selves and especially when the monstrous evils of Arminian-
 minds, we promise that we will neither publicly nor privately                   ism began to appear. -At first it was decided that the min-
  propose, teach, or defend the same, either by preaching or                     isters and professors should sign their names to the Catechism
  writing, until we have first revealed such sentiments to the                   and Confession as a token of agreement with the same. In
- consistory, classis and-synod.                                                 1608, however, Classis  Alkmaar  judged that this was not
                                                                                 adequate and. drew up a declaration of full agreement with
     "e. That if the consistory, classis or synod should deem                    the Catechism and Confession and a promise that the sub-
  it proper to require of us a further explanation of our senti-                 scriber would maintain the doctrines therein contained and
 ments respecting any particular article of the Confession, etc.,                that he openly would reject all doctrines opposed to--
 we do hereby promise to be always willing and ready to                          them. Other Classes and `even Particular Synods soon began
 comply with such requisition . . . .       *      _                             to `follow this same -practice and in 1618-19 the well-known

     "f. That we reserve to `ourselves the right of an appeal`                   Synod,: of--Dart  -wrote.the  Form as~if'bas`  come down to us

 wheneger  we shall believe ourselves aggrieved by the                           almost &uich&ed.  This Synod; as might be expected, re-


 quired agreement also- with-  the Canons, the doctrinal                  as they are given license tom exhort in the churches. As it

 pronouncements composed against the Five Articles. of the                is nowthey.are  requested- to-sign the present form only after.

 Arminians.              3'                                               they have. .be&me  candidates and accepted a -call- in the
                                                                          churches and have passed' their final examination admitting-
     Article 53 of our present Church Order specifies that                them into the ministry: Even this is a bit. irregular. `The
 ministers of the Word of God `and professors of theology are             candidate, who is not yet ordained in ofice, is .required  to
 required to sign this Formula. Parenthetically it adds that              sign a Formula that presupposes throughout that those 
 "it also behooves the other professors and school teachers`to                                                                           who
                                                                          sign it are ofice  bearers. Now this may perhaps be done on
 do so."    Article 54 declares that, "Likewise the elders and            the assumption that the candidate will very shortly be
 deacons shall subscribe to the aforesaid formulas of unity:"`            ordained in office but, if as a student and candidate, he were
 In the Christian Reformed proposed revision of the Church                requested to sign a separate declaration of agreement- with
 Order this is all, combined-,in  one article. It appears as              the Confessions, his signing the existing Formula -of Sub-
 Article 52 and reads as follows :                                        scription could wait until he is installed in office. T,his would

     "In order that -agree~~ent  with the weeds of th.e Church            eliminate the above mentioned irregularity.
 may be signified, the forms of Sztbscrifition  shall be signed              The Reformed Churches of Holland have three different
 by the pa#rties  a.nd on the occasions here stifiufated:  the            forms of subscription. The first of these forms is for Min-
 elders and dea,cons ,at the first meet&g  of the consistory. affer       isters of the Gospel ; the second for Professors of Theology;
 tlzeir  instalhtion;  all delegates to classis  upon the occasion of     the- third for Rectors and Schoolmasters. The Holland
 their first delegation to a given classis;  the ministers UPOI~          churches do. not have a general form for Elders and Deacons,
 *Neeting  witlz  their consistol-ies  for `the j%st time; the jhofes-    although Article 54 `of the present Dutch Church Order re-
 SOIT of theology and all other tea&us  in edztcational  institzt-        quires that these oflice  bearers subscribe to the Three Forms
 tions controlled by'  the Chu~cl~,          assrmi~g  their ofice.
                                       upon                               ofUnity just as our Church Order does. This matter is left
 All who ,refuse to do so shall by that veri  f@ct be suq%nded            to the Classes in Holland. The Classes can use the Forms
 from their of@e."                                       .                adopted for Ministers of the Gospel with some minor adapta-

     We note that this revision speaks of."forms" in the plural           tions, or they may draw up a special form of subscription as

 instead of a singular formula of subscription. This means                has also been done by some Classes in the past.

 that there are' separate forms for ministers, .professors,  elders,       We feel that in our churches there is room for some
 deacons and instructors in educational- institutions to sign.            limited revisions and minor alterations in our established
 They do not all.sign  the same one. In `our churches we do               custom and, yet,' we. must be careful `in introducing any
 not have this plurality of forms but this may' be a very good            changes because there are also grave. dangers in, meddling
 thing. For example, our formula of subscription begins with              with forms of such long standing. We must be mindful of
 the words, "We, the undersigned,. Professors of the Prot-                the Dutch saying, ",Alle  verandering is geene verbetering."
 estant Reformed Churches, ministers- of the Gospel, elders               Translated? "All change `is not improvement." We will
 and deacons . . . ." This, of course, excludes school teachers           demonstrate this, D.V.,`.the next time. _
 and if we desire to maintain the parenthetical `provision of
                                                                                                                             G.V.d.B.
 Article 53 of our Church Order, we should either insert

 "school teachers" in the present form- or adopt a new form.

 for their use. But this is not too serious yet because our

 educational institutions are not churchlcontrolled  and, there-
 fore, the matter of requiring a declaration-of agreement from               - A L L   A R O U N D   US-
 our teachers belongs with the school boards rather than with

 consistories, classes or synod.                                          Comment on James Am&&s

     It should be noted, too, that our present form states, "We              In the October 10 issue of Christiunit~  Today, there ap-
 prqmise  therefore diligently to teach and faithfully to defend          pears an article entitled "Arminius : An Anniversary Report."
 the aforesaid doctrine, without either directly or indirectly            The author of this article is Carl Bangs, an associate profes-
contradictmg  the same, by our public preaching or writing."              sor of Religion and Philosophy at Olivet Nazarene College
 Since elders and deacons are `required to sign this formula,             in Kankakee,  Illinois. He tells his readers that the occasion
 the last part of this quotation would seem to naturally imply            for this article is the fact that October 10, 1960 marks the
 that. they also can, may or do preach., Since this is` not the           four hundredth anniversary of the birth of James Arminius
 case, it would be well to have a separate form, based on the             (1560-1609).
 existing form but with slight alterations, for elders and                   Arminianism is undoubtedly the chief enemy which the
 `deacons alone.                                                          Church of Christ confronts today. This error has determined

     Then, too, it would be well to have a formula of agree-              more than .any  other the lines of the battle for the truth
 ment to be signed by the students of theology at such time               ever since Arminius began to propagate his views in the


      70" "                                                                            THE  S T A N D A R D   BEA-RER
      ---.-

      fietherla&d$.  our- l-&tory  .as lqrotestant  Reformed Chtirches.                                                               ~     `In treating, .the ihhtight  and beliefs of Arminius;  Prof.
     is a h&tory  marked by the battles &&inst Arminianism  in-                                                                 E%mgs:' &st of all' tries to show. that Arminius and. Calvin
     v_arious fortis. and applied to vado@ aspects of tbe$rqth  of
                        ; ,.                                                                                                    6&e `agreed  on "the doctrine of the t&l  inabili@  of man
     God's `Word. No other error has &de  such  &road+  into                                                                    as. sinner. to save himself, with salvation  made possible by
     the confession. of the ,Church .d especially the Church which                                                              grace -alone." - It is no doubt true that Arminius. spoke of
                / fs+T,' *
     stands `lb,  the histoi-ical  tradition of lbhn  Calvin and the                                                            the total'inability  of the natural man -to s;ive himself and to
     .reformation,  of Geneva. Apd  indeed, the Church which i%                                                                 believe without,. grace.                          And it is also true that those
     determined to stand only on' the basis of the truth of Scrip-                                                              churches who today have adopted -the Arminian position also
     ture and the `Confessions will be called to oppose this error                                                              speak of the necessity of divine grace. But this is Again  merely
     time and time again..                                                                                                      evjdence  both in- Arrriinius  and in the Reformed churches  that

                 T6e fact of- the matter is, however, that although Ar-                                                         such theology is always "double-track" and that the ship of
     minianism has severely afflicted the Church woild,  and has                                                                Arminianism sails under a Reformed'flag. Arminianism also
     had its insidious influences even in Reformed Churches, these                                                              rejects man's total inability and, the conseiuent  doctrine of
     churches still claim to fly under the Reformed and Calvinistic                                                             salvation by. grace alone. This is demonstrated especially by
     banner. They miintain  their Arminianism under Ahe  pretense                                                               .what  Prof. Bangs writes concerning Arminius' views of
     df the Reformed faith, and hold to the views of games                                                                      predestination.

     Armin& while kiaiming  to represent Calvin: They fail. to                                                                                    "Calvin +nd his disciples had used the biblical figures of

     see, orif seeing;`fail  to admit, that the Reformed faith has                                                                          e&ion  and predestination to express the. true of sola gratis
     no place in it for  the views of Arminius; and insist that while                                                                                  grace dqne, H.H:) and to combat the Rqman. doctrine of
-                                                                                                                                             (by  
                                                                                                                                              works. Theological literature often gives the impression that
     adopting the views  of this seventeenth century here&, they
                                                                                                                                              A&in&  s&ply   ` d e n i e d   prede&in&on.'   I t   w a s   his'   w e l l -
     are still Reformed.                                                                                                                      grounded fear. that: Beza,  and Gomarus, the supra-lapsarian
                 For these reasons, -.this  article by Prof. Bangs is, of in-                                                                 interpreters. of Calvin, were in danger of divorcing the doctrine
                                                                                                                                              from Christology  and making Christ the mere instrument or
     terest. It presents what is evidenily'the  position oP thcgieater
                                                                                                                                              means of carrying out a prior, abstract decree. Arm&s  sought
     part of. the Church:world.  That is, it. presents.an  attempt to                                                                        to state the dodtrille  in t@  light of Scripture and in integral
     prove that Arkiniatiiisti  and Calvinism are not at all mutually<,                                                                       relation to Christology . . . .                   -;
     e x c l u s i v e .                     _                                                                                                  -"The.  `first decree,' then for Arminius, was that by which
                                                                                                  . .                                         God appointed Es Son Jesus Christ . . T whq might destroy
                 The article points out  first of all that'Arminius  was a                                                       Y_
                                                                                                                                           `I- sin by his own death, might by his obedience obtain the salva-

                          "Dutch thebIogian  whose nqe hq been given to the                                                                   tion` &hi&  had  been lost, and might cor&&&ate  it by his
                                                                                                                                 .
                Protestant   t h e o l o g i c a l   t r a d i t i o n   o f .   A r m i n i a n i s m .   I t   i s   --ap-                  own virtue;'          Chrisf is thus not merely the agent .but the-very

                    prohriate  that attention be given again  to this late voice of the                                                       foundation .of -election. The second decree was to receive into
                    F&formation whose iniluence  has been so great and about                                                                 favor s&ers  who.are  `in Christ' by repentance and faith, and
                   whom so Iit&  study `has been done . . -. .                                                                                the third had tom do with `s,uEicient  and efE@acious'  means of
                          "Born in Sotith Holland of simple people, orphaned at an                                                            grace. ,The final  decree was. the election of particular in-
                    early age, and raised by `pious Reformed guardians,- he was                                                            _ dividuals on the `basis of the &irie  for&nowledge  of their
           :> .     educated at Marburg,  Leiden, Basel,  and Geneva, his teacher                                                             fitb   a    n    d         peiseveiance."
      ,
           .        in Geneva being Theodore Beza,  the celebrated successor of                                                  In-commenting upon this view with which Bangs does
                    Calvin: Fe was a brilliant student and later distinguished                                                  not completely agree, he notes that Arminius I`retained the
                    himself -as  pastor jar  15.  years. of the Reformed churches of
                                                                                                                                position that this makes. m&n responsible for his own bdiev-
                    Amsterdam. He spent the final six years of his life as profes-
                    sor bf theology at Leiden. During his pastoral and profes-                                                  ing," and that "Arminius built his doctrine df election on the

                    sorial years he became engaged in the controversy which gave                                                notion of foreseen faith, and thereby made man's decision the
                    rise to A@nianism."                                                                                         catise or concurring cause of salvation- (man.electing  God)."

                 Solpe  of the general vie& 6r Armi.nis are  Eriefly  dis-                                                      Although Prof. Bangs goes' on to say that Arminius put this
     cussed by the author.. He is described as .one ,who.  "always                                                              idea of conditional election in a position subordinate to "the
     regarded himself  as' a Reformed thinker," who. "opposed the                                                               appointing (or.-electing)  of Jesus Christ."                             I        _
     exclusive claims of' the Roman church by appeal to the sole                                                                           Prof. -Bangs- obviously does not agree with the position
     -authority of the Scriptures,?                                  "professed allegiance--to the                              of Gomarus,  the staunch and able defender of Calvin's view
     Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg C&echism,  the only Re-                                                               df `predestination; nor .does  he subscribe fully to ,Arminius'
     formed symbols with any sort of binding  authorities in the                                                                position of conditibnal  election. Although he does not say
     Low  Countries at that time," who "had a high  reg&-d  for the                                                             exactly what he does believe, it- seems as if he is. closer to
     exegetical work qf Calvin," but  whose "insistenck  upon  the                                                              Arminius than to Gotiarus  and Beza, and seeks only sbme
     sole authority of Scripture prevented (him)  frpm.  ascribing                                                              minor modifications of Arminius' views.

     to Calvin the kind of ultimate authority allowed. him by the                                                                           From the above  position of. Arminius, according to the

     Leiden professor, Francis -Gomarus.  Gomarus  had tried, un-                                                               author, several corollaries follow which -Arminius  also *

     successfully, to make Beza's extreme-prede&naria&reading                                                                   adopted :

     mandatory in- the Dutch churches."                                                                                                           "Free will, for- instance, is bound in the sinner and needs


                  _
                                                                                    T      H       E          STANDAR~D  .-B-EAR-ER                                                                                                      71
                                                                                                    i                                 r -.- 7,;-.>.     -7
                                                                                                                                      ._. 3.: -..      _ .
           liberation; yet it actually concurs -in.-this liberation.. Grace;.                                                  unessentral-  the- view that the Bible. was verbally inspired in
              moreover, is not an irresistible force. There-is the possibility                                                 the original writings."
           `of falling' from -grace,-  although Arminius pointed out that
              properly speaking"it  is impossible for a believer to fall from                                                       Concerning other basic doctrines, "18 percent reject the.

              grace, but that `if may be possible- for a believer to cease                                                     virgin birth of Christ; 17 per cent, the vicarious, substitu-
      .     .bel.ievmg-.  . . . . Finally, Arminius. showed a concern for the                                                  tionary atonement ; and.  11 per cent, Christ's historical, literal
              problems of assurance ,and  holiness., -He, held to a necessary                                                  resurrection (neo-orthodox ministers being less `prone than
              assurance of present salvation on .the basis of ,faith, but to no-
                                                                                                                               liberal ministers to question- the importance of this doctrine) ."
              present assurance of final salvation."

                                                                                                                                    !`Some 89 per cent of the Protestant ministers interviewed
           After making a few brief remarks  concerning the develbp-                                                           think it essential to teach and preach the unique deity of
 ment of Arminianism in various post-Reformation denomina-                                                                     Christ as the Son of God ;' the others do not."
 tions, the author concludes with the remarks :                                                               " -
                                                                                                                                    @her  interesting facts-  ". . . Only 27 per cent consider it
                  "Ahhough much has taken' place in theology in the inter-                                                     `very. important' to work for organic church unity." Con-
              vening centuries, there are many Christians today whose
                                                                                                                               cerning the doctrine of the literal return or "second coming"
              religious thinking has been -molded -by. the Arminian tradition..
 .
              They would-do well to examine the careful work done by the                                                       of Christ, "It was held essential by 32 per cent of the Method-

              founder of that tradition, and they will 8nd there i&m                                                           ists ; Baptists were highest. with 83 per cent and Lutherans
                                                                                                                       sup-
              port `for resisting an easy-going, culture-Protestant+m  which                                                   with 7s. per cent;; ,Episcopalians  voted 48 per cent and
              confuses nian's-  work with God's.  And those who call tbem-                                                     Presbyterians 46 per cent. Only 2.5, per cent of liberal and
              selves Calvinists will discover that it is too' simple to dismiss
                                                                                                                               26 per .cent  of nko-orthodox clergy thought - the doctrine
              Arminius as- a Pelagian who'did  not see clearly the issue of
              sola  gratia. They may find themselves closer to him than they                                                   sig$icant.,'  .
                                                                                                                               .                                                .
              had supposed."
                                  .

           .Prof. Bangs`dorgets  that the Synod of -Dordrecht  (`161%
 1619))  representing the entire .Reformed  -Church world of.                                                                  The  l?efom&  Chz&h  in France                                           .~

 that century, and the flower of the reformation, c6ridemned
                                                                                                                                    Under'the  title "Recalling the Struggle,,, the following
 the views of Arminius and--his disciples as being both thor-
                                                                                                                               article appears in the October 7 issue of The Banner:
 ougly  anti-Scriptural and Pelagian. It is true that the supra-

lapsarianism  of Beza and Gomarus did not prevail on the                                                                                   "The heroic struggle of the early Protestant Church to
Synod of Dordrecht, but the position that was finally adopted                                                                         maintain its existence over against ecclesiastical tyranny was
 in the Canons Iwas  nevertheless soundly Reformed and                                                                               recalled in France last month, when 15,000 Protestants gathered
                                                                                                                                      in southern France to commemorate the 400th anniversary of
 Scriptural and `was signed by all the. delegates of all the                                                                          the founding of the Protestant Church"m  that area. At de

c h u r c h e s   b o t h   of-.he   N e t h e r l a n d s   a n d   o f   f o r e i g n   c o u n t r i e s .                       same tie  the spiritual heirs of these eariy Reformed believers
We may begrateful for the triumph of the Reformed faith on                                                                           honored the memory of a notable leader in the commemoration

the Synod of Dordrkcht.  Would that the Canons were still                                                                           . of- the. death of-Antoine Court, who `labored tirelessly and

the bulwark `of .the Reformed faith that they were on that                                                                           perilously to revive the French Protestant Church in southern
                                                                                                                                     .France  when it was all but.overcome.  by the violence of. perse-
faithful .Synod  ! .                                                         -                           .                           cution.~                                                                                                                    .-

                                  :              _                                                                                  - .- ."The -Reformed Church in France -has won in history the
                       .                                                          ,::                                                `name of the `Martyr Church, because of -the extent of de                                                        .
                                                                                                                                     `persecutions it suffered, and the great price paid in human
 The Aunevican  Clergy and  the- B&ic  Truths                                                                                        hves  f o r   i t s   R e f o r m e d   c o n f e s s i o n .   E x c e p t .   f o r   a   p e r i o d   o f

                                                                                                                                     nommal-religious  freedom following de issuing of the Edict                                                           .-
           Chrktiunity  Toda,y,.  -.published  the results of a survey. of                                                           .of Names in 1598, during which time the Huguenot Church

Protestant clergy to determine their. basic-beliefs. The results                                                                     enjoyed a measure. of liberty in the face of strong Catholic

are broken down into denominations and coyer- several more                                                                           opposition, the Reformed group niaintained  itself only through
                                                                                                                                     heroic struggle and suffering.                                '
issues than we have room to mentionj  but are of some in-
                                                                                                                                         "The  importance of recalling~these two-  centmies  of struggle
terest to us. Christianity Today concludes from the entire
                                                                                                                                     was well -and concisely put by one of the'church  leaders at the
survey that in America there is- a slow moving away from                                                                             September observance, as quoted in .Time, `. . . our ancestors
liberalism to conservatism and that "the essentially conser-                                                                         paid a great price for our faith and freedom. We must never

vative bent of the Protestant. clergy is seldom reflected in                                                                         allow  it to be forgotten.'                     i

theological surveys. of our .time,.  which center their interest                                                                           "Perhaps the fact that Protestants in France are still a small

in the changing tides of liberal and neo-orthodox theologians."-                                                                     minority group, one million out of a population of 43 million,
                                                                                                                                     helps to keep the' memo;  of `the struggle alive. One.  of de
           Concerning the doctrine of Holy Scripture, Chris&&y                                                                       weaknesses of dur,religious  -life would seem to stem from our
Today reports that "while 93 per cent of all ministers inter-                                                                        failure to keep: alive the memory of the price that has been

viewed hold that the Bible is the authoritative rule of life                                                                         paid ffor  the heritage  *at- we possess.. That is one of the, perils

                                                                                                                                     of the religious-freedom that we enjoy."
a n d   f a i t h ,   a n d   c l a s s i f y   t h i s   a s   ` a n   e s s e n t i a l   d o c t r i n e ,   3 3   p e r                                                               _.

cent' (26 per cent being liberal or neo-orthodox) . . dismiss as                                                                                                                                                         H .   HaLko





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                                                                                                                                 ,.. _       F._  . . :
                                                                        TJ$&.yl$&JJ.q~-~RD  BE*RER
                                                                                -;
 72            1.:                   I:. --~ .- . __    . ..----
        _![ I;) ?`i,, ;a;; /,i    ;;,>.`fy  1; . ;h:     ,         .ri . . .           *                                             _, -. -.. `-`. ~_ ._ .-+_ -
                                                                                                                                the Hudsonviile~Church  for their excellent catering ser-
                                                                                                                         of                                                   ..'
                                                                                                                         v i c e s .                        I,...     , . I'. ..ri.v.. c

                                                                                                                    -           ;After the .questions  of Article 41, cf -the Church Order

                                                                                                                         were asked]  and answered satisfadtoril$  by- eac,h!  cons&tory,

                                                                       O t b  15                         196():;:_., and the`mmutes were `adopted, the Rev. R. Veldman closed
                                                                                c o         er
                                                                                                                         the meeting with thanksgiving to -God.
        Rev. G. Vanden  Berg of Oak Lawn, Ill., has declined  the.-'
                                                                                                                                                                     M. SCRIP&R,  Stated  Clerk
 call sent to' him bv our Creston  church. Creston  expects to
 choose another .trio October 31, D.V.                                                                       . .                From Grand Haven's bulletin we learn `of our Mission-

               Report' of' Classis  En.& in .&ion~  Ott: 5, 1960                                                         ary's itinerary which includes three lectures in the West,:
                                    nt Hzdsonville,  &lichigan                                                           "The Infallible`Earmarks  of the Last Hour" at Prairie City,
        Rev. G. Lanting, president of our July Classis,  presided                                                        Iowa, Oct. 11 ; "Calvin And The Reformed Faith,' at Pella,
 over the opening devotions, and after credentials of the                                                                Oct. 18;         "The Raging of Satan" at Killduff, Iowa, Nov. 3.
 delegates were accepted, declared the Classis. properly con-                                                                    Contribztfiion  fro& t& Radio C&w&ttee.  Are you listen-
 stituted.                                                                                                               ing? Regularly? Each-Sunday? You should ! Every Sabbath
        Rev. A. .Mulder,  following the order of rotation, then                                                          Day the Reformed Witness Hour presents a distinctively
 took the chair and ably presided over this session, while-Rev.                                                          Reformed radio program, with distinctively `Reformed preach-
 Lanting'recorded  the minutes.                                                                                          ing of the Word of God and distinctively Reformed singing
       All the churches of Classis East were represented by two                                                          of Zion's songs. Many phases ~of  Biblical Truths and Re-
`delegates each. A very fine spirit prevailed, and the work of-                                                          formed doctrine are treated. For example- during the
.Classis  was carried out in good order. The routine reports                                                             month of November Rev. G. Vanden  Berg, of Oak Lawn,
 of the Stated Clerk and the Classical Committee were re-                                                                Illinois, will speak to you on "The Distinguishing Marks of
 ceived for information.                                                                                                 the ~Church," " Membership In The Church," "The Thanks-
        Two missives were received and treated by Classis.  The                                                          giving Qf A Rich. Fool," and concludes his series with the
 first came from Classis -West in which Classis.  East was r                                                             theme "Marching To Zion."              Be sure to hear these, and all
 requested to continue supplying the congregation at Ran-                                                                the broadcasts of the `Reformed .Witness  Hour. For our
 dolph, Wisconsin with classical appointments, and the min-                                                              readers who live in a locality -where this program is not
 isters of Classis East were asked to supply Classis  West with                                                          aired, printed copies can be procured free- by writing for
 two sermons each for reading purposes. Classis  acted favor-                                                            them at our address : P.O. Box 8, Grand Rapids 1, Mich.
 ably in regard,to  -both of these requests. The second was an                                                             Loveland's bulletin gives a clever definition of the word
 overture of First Church in which it was recommended that                                                               "justified,' - Say it this way, " Justlas-if-I-died  !"
 the Classical'.Committee  determine whether or not the July 1                                                                  When "The Signs Of The Times," discussed recently in
 Classis is to meet hereafter. The grounds offered was the                                                               the after recess program of the Holland's Men's Society, have
 lack of business, which did not warrant the expense and                                                                 been fulfilled, then the "Communion Of Saints" discussed in
 delegates' time in the July session. Classis  did not act-favor-                                                        Hope's Ladies' Aid Society, will no longer be on this earth,
`I ably on this overture because should the overture be heeded,                                                          but will be a communion of redeemed saints in Glory. We
 we would violate the Church Order as stipulated in Art. 41.                                                             wonder if the world's "subduing of the earth," and the recent
        Besides the request to supply Randolph, the churches at                                                          meeting of 99 nations in New York, colored' the above men-
Grand Haven and Creston  also requested classical appoint-                                                               tioned societies' discussions.
 ments. The following schedule was adopted : Ra+zdol$& : Oct.                                                                   All of the area bulletins advertise a Reformation Day
 23 -H. Ha&o,  Oct. 30-A. Mulder, Nov. 6-C. Hanko,                                                                       program as "something new, exciting-and entirely dikerent.,,
 Nov. ZO- R. Veldman, Dec. 4-M. Schipper, Dec. 18-                                                                       Evidently Southeast Church will be the place, and Adams St.
 G. Lanting, Jan. 8-A. Mulder. Creston:  Oct.. 16m-  C.                                                                  ninth grade will be the sponsor of this program to which
 Hanko, Oct. 30 - G. Laming, Nov.,6 - M. Schipper, Nov.                                                                  we are all being alerted.
 13 - G. Vos, Nov. 27-  A. Mulder, Dec. 111 H. Ha&o,                                                                             The Oak Lawn-South Holland joint Choral Society
 Jan. 8 -R. Veldman.                           Grand Haven: Oct. 23 -RR.  Veld-                                          venture-has advanced so that a study committee gave a report

 man, Oct. 30-G. Vos, Nov. 20.-G.  Lanting, Nov. 27 -                                                                    Oct. 19 on the director problem, and also provided a proposed
 H. Hanko, Dec. 4-C. Hanko, Dec. 18 -G. Vos, Jan. 8                                                                      constitution. to be adopted.

 -M;   S c h i p p e r .                                                                                                        In one of Hull's bulletins Rev. Kortering gave this quota-'

      Rev. M. Schipper was re-elected, to serve as Stated                                                                tion  from Toplady:  "Let Diotrephes say, `It is good for me

 Clerk, and the brethren Revs. R. Veldman and G. Lanting                                                                 to have pre-eminence' ; ,let Judas say, `It is good for me to
 were chosen to serve on the Classical Committee, the latter                                                             bear the bag'; let Demas say, `It is good for me to embrace
 being-r-e-elected. Classis decided to meet next time on Janu-                                                           the present 
                                                              _                                                                             worid' ; but do thou 0. my soul, say with' David,
 ary 4 at Southeast `Church.                                                                      .                      `It is. good for me to draw nigh to God,."

        Brother C. Lubbers was appointed to thank the ladies'                                                                    . . . `. see you in church.                                     J.M.F.


