    VOLUME XXXVII                            APRIL 1, 1961 - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN                                   NUMBER 13

                                                                         That was the glad chant of the church at the evening of

                                                                     the day when Jesus arose Triumphator!

                                                                         We think here on Isaiah, the Royal prophet: God's ways

                                                                     are higher than our ways, and His thoughts than our
           THE GLAD TIDINGS OF JESUS                                 thoughts. The resurrection of Jesus is the thing that was

                      RESURRECTION                                   not seen, not heard, and never would have entered the hearts
                                                                     of men.
            "And kc saith unto  them,  Be not afrighted:  Ye
             seek JE.WS  of Nazareth, which was crztcifed: He            I think I am allowed to say that the resurrection from
             I%         He is not here: behold the place wlzeve
               ken;                                                  the dead is the most impossible thing a man could think of.
             fhey  la.id  Him." Mark 16:6                            Death is so absolute, so thoroughly final! The heart stands

   A few days ago I had to spend a few hours in a church             still, the brain is the first to decompose, the rest slowly turns
and chapel that is wholly modern, and everything there               to a fetid effluvia, and after the years of death we gaze on
loudly proclaimed its "freedom." I paged through their               the bleached bones of the erstwhile king of creation.

songbook, walked through the lobbies and corridors, and had              Resurrection from the dead ? Nonsense ! And the world
occasion to see the photographs, the busts, the bulletin             continues on its dolorous journey. Make the best of it while
boards, but everything was a commentary on the theme:                you may. Eat, drink and be merry ( ?) for tomorrow you die !
"We are entirely free !"
                                                                         How wonderfully changed is man when he receives the
   It lacked just one thing, and it is the most precious             faith of Jesus.
thing in heaven and earth, in this world and the world to
                                                                         If there is anything sure in my life it is that Jesus is
come : Jesus Christ ! It was religion without God and with-          risen from the dead, and that I shall rise from the dead. The
out Jesus, and without His blood and resurrection!                   grave, indeed, has lost its victory. I can look on the grave,
   Outstanding was this : they have no place for the blood !         see myself lowered into it, and . . _ smile.
They know not what to do with the Crucified Jesus. You

can feel that the crucifixion is to them a thorn in their sides :                              *    * * *
it should never have happened! Jesus is such a lovely

example to follow.                                                      Come, let us look at a few women of the Holy Scriptures-
   And, of course, since Jesus was killed and buried, they           Carefully counted there are seven: Mary the Magdalene, the
have no resurrection. When they talk about the resurrection          two other Marys, Salome, Susanna, Joanna, Mary the mother
of Jesus, they mean that Jesus still lives in the minds of His       of Mark. A blessed company of the lovers of Jesus.
followers, even as Abraham Lincoln still lives in the hearts,-           Oh, how they loved Him! They wept at the cross, and
minds, and lives of the Americans.       But the bodily Jesus        they are still weeping at the morning of the Sabbath. With.
is dead. There is no mistake about that. To speak of the             broken hearts they had prepared the spices: they will pay
historical, bodily, real resurrection of Jesus is folly!             their last homage to their great Friend.    No, they had made
   In a word: they have lost the Gospel of our Lord Jesus            no plans to return to Galilee. It is very plain that Jesus
Christ.                                                              was their life.

   If Christ is not risen we are of all men most miserable.             And God knew.

                        - *    -* * *                                   I cannot ever forget how God from all eternity decided

   But, thanks be to God: Christ is risen indeed, and was            that the first to see the glorious Son of God in His exaltation

seen of Simon!                                                       is a woman. And that the second appearance is likewise to,


290                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                    ,-

women! And, true to the same style, the first man to see               Yes, the heavenly things are a cause for fear and fright,
Him is the most despised among the true church: Peter, of           and that for two reasons.
all men.                                                               First, because we are earthy.

       Yes, there is a peculiar, beautiful style in all of God's       Second, because we are sinful.
works.
                                                                       And therefore we always read of fright and dread when
   Why the Magdalene first, and then the lowly women?               the heavenly beings appear, or even when heavenly glory is

    It is because they loved Him most. We know this style,          seen, such as on the skin of Moses when he returned from a
for we have preached on it often, because we find it often in       wondrous interview with God on the Mount.

the Bible. A clear example: the woman who was a sinner!                There is only one instance in the Bible (as far as I know)

                                                                    where this habitual fear is absent, and that is when the
       Imagine: a whore, a harlot, a woman of ill repute. Yes,
                                                                    Magdalene saw the heavenly Christ. And I think that I
we have a catalog of names for that sorry breed.
                                                                    know the reason: her overwhelming love for Jesus drove
       But Jesus says of her: Wherefore I say unto thee, her        away fear.
sins, which are many, are forgiven ; for she loved much !
                                                                       But these simple women are affrighted, and the angel
    And then there is David ! The man who loved much, was           bids them to be at ease. There is no reason for them to be
very humble, and whose name testifies of the love of God            afraid of God, or of His messengers. It is all peace and
for him: the beloved of God! Yes, David was a vivid type            tranquility which he brings to them. He is ready to give
of the Son of God of Whom God said: This is My beloved              his version of the wonderful, glad tidings of the ages.
Son, in whom I am well pleased 1
                                                                       Yes, the world has reason to be affrighted at heaven, the
    Weeping, these women went to the garden of Joseph.              heavenly messengers, the story of the resurrected Lord..

   At the rising of the sun.                                           For God, heaven, Christ and all heavenly things condemn

   But they have barely eyes for that wonderful spectacle, a        them.

spectacle which every morning preaches exactly the resur-              And Christ is the God-ordained Judge of the whole
rection from the dead.                                              world.

    They are worried.                                                  But not these women.

   They have planned everything, and are ready to pay their            They are the beloved from all eternity. God saw them
last respects to the body of their beloved Master.                  come to the grave during all the quiet wakes of eternity
   But there is one thing which troubles them: Who shall            before the world was ever made. Always God saw them
roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre  ? for it     coming, bearing the spices, with hearts that were broken

was very great.                                                     because of the love for His Son. Indeed, it was this same

                                                                    God who implanted this love of God in their hearts. "For
    A thing like that would have kept millions of women
                                                                    they are His workmanship, created unto Good Works in
.away  from this blessed garden. And it shows how deep, how
                                                                    Christ !" And here they are, "walking in these good works."
vibrant, how wonderful is their love of Jesus.

                                                                       Lovers of Jesus!
   Yes, the stone is rolled away, and there are no watchmen :

they became as dead men, and they had taken to their heels             You say: a dead Jesus!
to Jerusalem.
                                                                       Yes, but it makes no difference to God. They love Jesus
   And the women saw the open grave !                               nevertheless, alive or dead.

    They hurry on ; they stand before the open door ; they             Will you, please, once more listen to this beautiful herald

<enter,  and see "a young man" !                                    of heaven ?    "Be not affrighted! for I know that ye seek

                                                                    Jesus !" Is that enough proof? "For I know that ye seek
       And what a man! He must have been beautiful to be-
                                                                    Jesus who was crucified !" This last is the key. If you
-hold: he is an inhabitant of the heavens; he is clothed in a
                                                                    are a stranger at Golgotha, the resurrection of Jesus means
long white garment.
                                                                    nothing to you. The worldly church hates the blood-theology.
   The women note the wondrous appearance of this heaven-           It is well. Therefore, the resurrection of Jesus shall damn
ly herald, and, as is to be expected, are very much affrighted.     them in nethermost hell. Even the Japs and the Chinks

    And then they hear his speech. 0, to hear a heavenly            shall condemn them in the awful day of judgment. They
being speak.                                                        were so near to the Blood and yet so far. They had churches
                                                                    and pulpits and ministers : they always read a chapter or so
   What sound, what modulation, what music in every tone!           at the beginning of their worship : and the members rested

    "Be not affrighted !"                                           comfortably in their plushy seats. But Jesus was not there.


                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                                                                                          291


The minister was preaching his motley story to the dead.

They hated the Blood, and God hates them.                                                  T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                        Semi-monthly,  except  monthly  during  June,  July  and  August

                            *    * 4: *                                   Published by the REFORIMED  FREE PIXIL~SHING  ASSOCIATION
 . . These women?                                                       P. 0. Box 881, Madison Square Station, Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

                                                                                                   Editor - REV.
   They returned to the men, and told their story.                                                                                 HERMAN HOEKSEMA
                                                                        Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
   And the men were so happy to hear it ! They thanked the                               Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E.,
                                                                                                                Grand Rapids 7, Mich.
women, and began to sing their hallelujahs: Jesus is risen
                                                                        All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to Mr.
indeed !                                                                                 James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
                                                                                                            Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
   Don't you believe it.
                                                                        Announcements and Obituaries must be mailed to the above
   They believed not: the words of these saintly women                  address and will be published at a fee of $2.00 for each notice.

seemed to the apostles as idle tales ! But the Bible says : they        RENEWAL: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is re-
                                                                        ceived it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscription
departed quickly with fear and great joy. Matt. 28%.                         to continue without the formality of a renewal order.

   But the women believed, and the Lord showed Himself                                              Subscription price: $5.00. per year
                                                                              Second  Ckzss  postage  paid                                        Grand                          Michigan
to them on the way to Jerusalem: first to the Magdalene                                                                                    at                    Rapids, 

and then to the rest of them. Matt. 28:9.

                            * * * *                                                                                  C O N T E N T S

                                                                    M E D I T A T I O N -
   Glad tidings of the resurrection !                                         The Glad Tidings of Jesus' Resurrection . _._ .__._ 289
                                                                                        Rev. G. Vos
    Why ?
. .
   His resurrection is our own resurrection. His rising is          EDITOFULS-
                                                                              Calvin and Common                               Grace . . . . . . . . . . . ..I...................................... 292
the approval of God on the price He paid on the cross. If                               Rev. H. Hoeksema
Christ had not paid fully for all the sins of God's elect, God

would never have raised Jesus. But now He did raise Him,            OUR DOCTNNE-
and that shows that all our sins are gone, that we have a                     The Book of Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294
                                                                                        Rev. I-1. Hoeksema
fight `to eternal life, that we have the adoption unto children,

and that we have peace with God.                                    A CLOUD OF WITNESSES-
    God is silent in His love.                                                Jehovah's Power In Pharaoh ._____.________._.................................  298
                                                                                        Rev. B. Woudenberg
    0. the blessed resurrection of Jesus. Are you filled with

trembling, amazement, fear, and love that throbs within you         FROM HOLY WIUT  -

when you think on this Jesus ?                                                Exposition of I Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  306
                                                           G.V.                         Rev. G. Lubbers


                                                                    INHxFE~R-

                                                                              God's Royal Priesthood (3) ____................................................                                               30.2
                        Announcement                                                    Rev. J. A. Heys,


    Classis  East of the Protestant Reformed Churches will          CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH-
meet, D.V., on Wednesday, April 5, at 9 A. M. in the                          The Church and the Sacraments _..___.:  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
                                                                                        Rev. H. Veldman
Hope Protestant Reformed Church.

    Consistories will please take note of this in the appoint-      THE VOICE OF 0~13 FATHERS  -
                                                                              The Belgic Confession.. . _. _. _. _. _. _. _. . . . . . . ,306
ment of their delegates.
                                                                                        Rev. H. C. Hoeksema
                                 REV. M. SCRIPPER,  Stated Clerk

                                                                    DECENCY AND ORDER-
                                                                              Presentation                F o r Baptism. ._.__ .._ . . .._...........  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  .._... 308

              Office-Bearers' Conference                                                Rev. G. Vanden  Berg


will be held Tuesday, April 4, at 8 o'clock in the Hope             ALL AROUND  Us-
                                                                              The Views Of An Ecumenical Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  316
Protestant Reformed Church. Prof. H. C. Hoeksema will
                                                                              The Church In East Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
be the speaker. Topic: "Should the Form for the Lord's                                  Rev. H. Ha&o

Supper be revised ?"     All present and former office-bearers

are urged to attend.                                                NEWS FROM OUR  cHuRCHES..............................................................31~
                                                                                        Mr. J. M. Faber
                                           John De Vries, Sec'y

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


                                                                     God is undoubtedly ready to pardon whenever the sinner
              E D I T O R I A L S                                    turns. Therefore, he does not will his death, in so far as he
                                                                     wills repentance."

                                                                        And in the context which follows the passage which.
                Calvin and Common Grace                              Kuiper quotes (and I do not understand why he himself

                                                                     does not quote it) Calvin writes:
       I will adduce a few more passages which Dr. Kuiper
                                                                         "The mercy of God, therefore, will ever be ready to
quotes to show that Calvin also taught a well-meant offer of
                                                                     meet the penitent; but all the prophets, and apostles, and
salvation to all that hear the gospel preached unto them.
                                                                     Ezekiel himself, clearly tell us who they are to whom
First, there is a quotation from Calvin's Institutes, Book
                                                                     repentance is given."
III, 24, 15:
                                                                        Let us consider one more quotation made by Kuiper from
       "Experience shows God so wills the repentance of those
                                                                     the Institutes of Calvin:
whom He invites unto Himself, that He does not touch
                                                                        "But why does He mention all men ? God does this in
the hearts of all those who are called. Still it cannot be said
                                                                     order that the consciences of the godly may rest more
on this account that He acts deceitfully, for though the ex-
                                                                     secure . . . and that the ungodly may not pretend that they
ternal Word only renders those, who hear it and do not obey
                                                                     have no asylum to which they may flee, from the bondage
it, inexcusable, it is still regarded as a testimony of God's
                                                                     of sin, while they ungratefully reject the asylum which is
grace by which testimony He reconciles men to Himself.
                                                                     offered them."
Let us therefore bear in mind the doctrine of the prophet that
                                                                        This passage is part of an explanation which Calvin
God has no pleasure in the death of the sinner, in order that
                                                                     offers of the texts in II Tim. 2 :4; and II Be.  3 :9.
the godly may feel confident God is ready to pardon them as
                                                                        Let us remember that when Calvin uses the term "offer"
soon as they repent and that the wicked may feel that their
                                                                     it simply means "to present." If we bear this in mind, there
guilt is doubled, when they do not respond to so great clem-
                                                                     is nothing in the quotation which Kuiper makes of Calvin
ency and willingness on the part of God."
                                                                     to which we cannot subscribe. To be sure, in the preaching
       Thus far the quotation.
                                                                     of the gospel, an asylum is presented to the ungodly as
       Now, in the first place, I cannot see in this passage from
                                                                     well as to the godly, though the wicked reprobate always
Calvin's Institutes any common grace nor any well-meant
                                                                     ungratefully reject it.
offer of grace and salvation to all that hear the preaching of
the gospel. What does Calvin teach here ? He is explaining              Moreover, it is not true that Calvin allows that there is,
here the text in Ezek. 18:23.  And he teaches: a. That the           any contradiction between the immutable decree of election
(external call comes to all that hear. b. That this external         and reprobation and the general preaching of the promise of
calling is not accompanied in all by the internal call to            the gospel and of the presentation of the salvation of God to
repentance and faith :                                               all without distinction.     Al
                          "He does not touch the hearts of all                                          ways he emphatically denies that
those who are called."                                               there are two contradictory wills in God, the will of His
                           c. That this does not mean that God
acts deceitfully, for the preaching of the gospel, even though       decree and the will of His command. It is exactly this which
the wicked do not profit by it, seeing that He does not touch        Calvin tries to make plain in the context of the passages
the hearts of all the hearers, is nevertheless a testimony of        which are quoted by Kuiper.
the grace of God, and this testimony comes also to those that           This is true also of the last quotation of Calvin by Kuiper
do not repent. d. That the godly, through the preaching of           which we are now discussing. In the immediate context of
the gospel, may know that God is ready to pardon as soon as          this passage we read :

they repent. e. That the wicked may feel that their guilt is             "But if it is so (you will say), little faith can be put in

.doubled  when they do not respond to the testimony of the           the Gospel promises, which, in testifying concerning the will

grace of God.                                                        of God, declare that he wills what. is contrary to his inviol-

       In all this I cannot discern any common grace or well-        able decree. Not at all ; for however universal the promises

:meant  offer on the part of God to all men.                         of salvation may be, there is no discrepancy between them

       In the second place, this is also plain from the context.     and the predestination of the reprobate, provided we attend

I will quote only the immediate context :                            to their effect. We know that the promises are effectual

       "How comes it, then, that if God would have all to be         only when we receive them in faith, but, on the contrary,

.saved,  he does not open a door for repentance for the              when faith is made void, the promise is of no effect. If this

-wretched, who would more readily have received grace.               is the nature of the promises, let us now see whether there

Hence we may see that the passage is violently wrested, if           is any inconsistency between the two things-viz. that God,

the will of God, which the prophet mentions, is opposed to           by an eternal decree, fixed the number of those whom he is

`his eternal counsel, by which he separated the elect from the       pleased to embrace in love, and on whom he is pleased to

reprobate. Now, if the genuine meaning of the prophet is             display his wrath, and that he offers salvation indiscrimin-

,enquired  into, it will be found that he only means to give         ately to all. I hold that they are perfectly consistent, for all

-the hope of pardon to them who repent. The sum is, that             that is meant by the promise is, just that his mercy is offered


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               293


to all who desire and implore it, and this none do, save           mind will hold or concede. For when man was placed in a

those whom he has enlightened. Moreover, he enlightens             way of salvation, his having willingly fallen therefrom was

those whom he has predestinated to salvation. Thus the             sufficient ground for his just condemnation. But it could

truth of the promises remains firm and unshaken, so that it        not be otherwise. Adam could not but fall, according to the

cannot be said that there is any disagreement between the          foreknowledge and will of God. What then ? Is Adam on

eternal election of God and the testimony of his grace which       that account free from fault? Certainly not. He fell by his

he offers to believers" . . .                                      own full free will, and by his own willing act." pp. 92, 93.

    Here follows the quotationmade by Kuiper. After this,              I make this quotation only because it teaches that the

in the same paragraph, there still follow the following            fall of man was decreed by the counsel of God. There was

sentences :                                                        no other will or decree of God. And the fall of Adam was

    "Therefore, since by the Gospel the mercy of God is            absolutely necessary for the coming of Christ. To ask what

offered to both, it is faith, in other words, the illumination     would have happened if Adam had not fallen is, to my mind,

of God, which distinguishes between the righteous and the          nothing but pure philosophy, not only because this is con-

wicked ; the former feeling the efficacy of the Gospel, the        trary to the decree of God, but also because this stands in

latter obtaining no benefit from it. Illumination itself has       opposition to actual history.

eternal election for its rule."                                        In reply to Pighius, Calvin further writes:

   Thus Calvin explains the apparent contradiction between             "That the Gospel is, in its nature, able to save all I by

the general preaching of the Gospel and the eternal decree of      no means deny. But-the  great question lies here : Did the

election and reprobation.                                          Lord by his eternal counsel ordain salvation for a21 men?
    But where, in Calvin, is the offer of grace and salvation,     It is quite manifest that all men, without difference or distinc-

well-meant on the part of God ? And that, for all that hear        tion, are outwardly  called or invited to repentance and faith.

the preaching of the Gospel ?                                      It is equally evident that the same Mediator is set forth be-

   The only possible answer to these questions is that             fore all, as He alone can reconcile them to the Father. But

Calvin nowhere teaches anything of the kind.                       it is as fully well known that none of these things can be

   In fact, everywhere he teaches the very opposite. I em-         understood or perceived but by faith, in fulfilment of the

phatically state this in opposition to all the quotations which    apostle's declaration, that `the Gospel is the power of God

Kuiper adduces from Calvin and which, as I have shown,             unto salvation to every one that believeth ;' then what can it

are taken out of their context.                                    be to others but `the savour of death unto death' ? as the

                             1:    + Q 8                           same apostle elsewhere powerfully expresses himself.

  For the rest, I will not further investigate into the rest           "And further, as it is undeniably manifest that out of the
                                                                   multitudes whom God calls by His outward voice in the Gos-
of the quotations which Kuiper makes from Calvin's works.
                                                                   pel very few believe, if I prove that the greater part of these
   I will rather conclude by making some quotations from
                                                                   multitudes remain unbelieving (for God deems none worthy
Calvin of my own and that, too, all from the work which is
                                                                   of His illumination but whom He will), I obtain thereby the
probably not so generally known, namely, from "Calvin's
                                                                   next conclusion, that the mercy of God is offered equally to
Calvinism."
                                                                   those who believe and to those who believe not, so that those
    Most of this work is written against those who deny
                                                                   who are not divinely taught within are only rendered in-
divine predestination and the sovereign grace of God, and
                                                                   excusable, not saved. Some make a distinction here, holding
especially against Pighius, the heretic.
   In answer to the contention of the latter that Adam could       that the Gospel is saving to all as it regards its power to
                                                                   save, but not in its effect of saving, But they by no means.
not have fallen according to the counsel and will of God,
                                                                   untie the knot by this half-way argument. We are still rolled
Calvin writes : "What we maintain is this : that man was so
                                                                   back to the same great question point, whether the same
created, and placed in such a condition, that he could have no
                                                                   power to believe is conferred upon all men! . . . ."
cause whatever of complaint against his Maker. God fore-
saw the Fall of Adam, and most certainly His suffering him            Then Calvin refers to the reason why all do not believe.
to fall was not contrary to, but according to His divine will.     He does so, first, by a reference to Isaiah as quoted by Paul
What room is there for shuffling or quibbling here ? and what      in Rom. 10:16.  Then by a quotation from the book of Acts,
does such quibbling profit or effect? Yet Pighius denies the       and now we quote Calvin again :

truth of this position, beca.ue (he argues) the before con-           "Of this fact Luke places before our eyes a memorable-

ceived counsel of God concerning the salvation of all men still    proof, who, after he had recorded the sermon preached by

stands unaltered. As if no solution of this pretended              Paul (Acts XIII :48),  says, `And as many as were ordained.

difficulty could be found. The truth of the matter is, that        to eternal life believed.' Now, why was not the same doctrine

salvation was not offered to all men on any other ground           of Paul received with the same mind and heart by all who,

than on the condition of their remaining in their original         heard it ? Luke assigns the reason .and defines the number of

innocence. For that the decree of God concerning the salva-        the receivers : `And as many as were ordained to eternal life

tion of all men was decisive and absolute, no one of a sound                          (Continued on page 297)

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


                                                                     God out of heaven. And when this is all finished, the book

                                                                     closes with an epilogue.     All these things belong to the

                                                                     seventh vial. They all carry us to the end. They are all

                                                                     closely connected ; but they simply are detailed pictures of

               THE BOOK  OF REVELATION                               the same scene and the same time.
                                                                        Our vision, then, that is, the vision in the words of the

                           PART TWO                                  present text, carries us to that end, and pictures the battle
                                                                     of Armageddon, as a comparison with previous passages will

                          CHAPTER XIX                                immediately show. Of this battle we receive a brief an-
                                                                     nouncement in chapter fourteen, verses 17 to 20, where we
                       Revelation. 19 ;1 l-21                        were told of the great vintage and the picture was given us of

                                                                     the treading of the winepress of the wrath of God, envelop-
        The Final Victory of the Lamb  Over An&k&
                                                                     ing a vision of a tremendous battle, so that the blood even

       As I have said before, the pictures of the marriage and of    reaches to the very bridles of the horses. Further, we found

the marriage supper symbolize the same thing ; and they both         the preparation of this battle pictured to us in the emptying

signify the final and complete union of the church of all ages       of the sixth vial, when the great river Euphrates was dried

with Christ. It is a picture of eternity, or, if you please, a       up, and the evil spirits proceeded out of the mouth of the

picture of the inauguration of eternity. In connection with          dragon and of the beast and of the false prophet, in order to

that view, we stated that chapter seventeen, verse 1, to chap-       gather the people together for the great battle of God Al-
ter nineteen, verse 10, belong together and constitute one vi-       mighty, and the nations were gathered together for battle on
sion. The words of the angel who is evidently the medium in          the field of Armageddon. And finally, we also received a

revealing these things to John, "These are the true words of         picture of this battle itself in the pouring out of the seventh

,God,"  did not merely refer to the marriage and the marriage        vial, when all is finished and great hail falls upon the terrible
supper, but to the entire vision in these chapters, from chapter     battlefield. It is of this same battle that we receive a more

seventeen on, and constitute the close of the vision. It was a       detailed picture in the passage we are now discussing, espe-
vision that pictured to us the destruction of the false church,      cially with a view to the victory of Christ and the judgment
but also the glory of the true church- a vision that is              of Antichrist and of the false prophet.

based upon and finished with this contrast. And in our text             Also in regard to this portion of Revelation there are
a new chapter really ought to have been begun, for the               interpreters who delight to understand the entire passage in
simple reason that it introduces a new vision, as is plain           the literal sense of the word. They refuse to see any sym-
from the very introduction, "And I saw the heaven opened."           bolism in the whole scene. What we have here, according to

       Let us, therefore, in brief review the entire context. In     them, is the literal description of the coming of Jesus and

,chapter  sixteen we were given a picture of the seventh vial,       the literal picture `of the attempt of the nations under Anti-

which was characterized by the fact that it finished all things.     christ to strike at Him and to subdue Him. He shall come

Naturally, when that last vial is poured out, there is nothing       exactly as pictured, seated on a real, white horse, or at least

left any more ; history is finished. The book of Revelation          the real appearance of one, with a real diadem on His head,

might have been closed there, except for the picture of the          and with garments sprinkled with blood. In a word, He

:new  heavens and earth and the New Jerusalem coming down            shall come exactly as described in the text, according to this

-from God out of heaven. With this seventh vial Babylon is           view. Them  saints too shall follow Him from heaven, as

.destroyed,  the battle of Armageddon is fought, Antichrist is       described, being seated on white horses, riding behind their

consumed, and Gog and Magog are judged. The whole                    great Captain to meet the enemy. But in the same way we

picture of that seventh vial is very plainly the picture of the      must also take the order of the text and understand the

,end.  After that nothing remains any more of history. And           purpose of the nations under Antichrist to be no other than

therefore it is plain that the chronological order cannot be         to fight against and overcome the Lamb and the glory of

.maintained  as the true one. What now is the case? In the           His coming. There are interpreters who take the most ex-

rest of the book we are given separate pictures of the end           treme delight in that concrete picture. The Antichrist also

,of various agencies and powers that are destroyed by the            knows that Jesus is coming. And therefore he hurriedly

seventh vial. First of all, we are given a picture of the            musters his forces in the valley of Armageddon, in order to

-harlot, the false church, and her end in the great city. Then       strike down the living and glorified King as soon as He sets

-in our text we are given a detailed picture of the end of Anti-     His feet on the earth. For the text says that they are gathered

christ and the false prophet and the victory of the Lord over        together for the purpose of making war against the Christ

them. In the next chapter the vision pictures the history of         and His people. However, this is not our view at all. Mark

`Gag and Magog and of the devil. And finally, after the judg-        well, this is not because we think anything is too great and

ment is pictured, we see a picture of the new heavens and            too wonderful for the Lord to accomplish, as some of these

*earth, especially of the New Jerusalem that comes down from         literal interpreters love to accuse us, but simply because, in


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the first place, the text tells you that again you have a sym-      the last battle ; and the heavens are open already, from the

bolical representation of things, and, in the second place, be-     which issues forth the Lamb with His heavenly host follow-

cause there is nothing so wonderful in that literal inter-          ing Him. And the angel standing in the sun calls to the

pretation of what is meant to be symbolism. Let us notice,          birds that fly in mid-heaven to gather themselves together

in the first place, that John once more sees a vision. He           for the supper of God. The entire scene presents itself as

does not directly prophesy, but he plainly informs us that he       a painting appears before our eyes. Now John describes

receives a vision : he "saw heaven opened," he "saw the angel       what he saw in that prophetic vision. And he does so, not

standing in the sun," he "saw the beast, and the kings of the       picturing every object in the order in which it actually ap-

earth, and their armies, gathered together." He saw this all.       pears on the scene, but rather speaking first of all of what

It. is therefore a vision. And the entire form in which the         is most obtrusive and striking. In this scene the great King

vision is presented shows very clearly that it is symbolism.        on the white horse, issuing forth from the open heaven,

If nothing else, the portion that describes the angel standing      draws his attention first of all. Naturally, this is the most

in the sun and the portion that tells us of the supper of God       glorious, the chief element in the entire vision. And there-

prepared for the ravenous birds of the air should be suf-           fore, Him he mentions and describes, first of all. Next he

ficient to emphasize the truth of this conception, that is, the     has his attention fixed. on the wonderful scene of the angel

truth of the conception that here we have symbolism. Surely,        in the sun and his message. And last of all, he notices that

we too believe that here we have a picture of the final return      the armies have been gathered for battle in the field of

of Jesus Christ. But the picture is clothed in the form of          Armageddon. But we must not make the mistake of thinking

symbolism that must be interpreted.                                 that this is in reality the order in which these various powers

   Especially the view that the nations of the earth under          appear on the scene. Then, if that were the case, the fact
Antichrist must be conceived of as being purposely assembled        would be that the powers of the world expected and saw
here for the purpose of fighting against Christ when He             Christ in His coming and hurriedly gathered their hosts to
comes from heaven in His final appearance in glory must be          battle against Him. But, as we have said already, this is
condemned. First of all, let us notice that it is against the       absurd. That cannot be the order. On the contrary, we
Word of God. The Scriptures never leave the impression              must understand that the armies of the nations have gathered
that all the world shall, as it were, expect the coming of          in Armageddon first of all. This is clear from chapter six-
Christ. Nor do they leave the impression that the people of         teen. Let us recall this for a moment. The infernal trinity -
the world shall be bold enough to strike at Him or assemble         the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet-have sent
for battle against the Christ in His second coming. On the          their missionaries into all the world, to the nations of Gog
contrary, we are given to understand that the world does not        and Magog, the nations that live on the four corners of the
believe in the coming of Jesus. They marry and are given            earth, the heathen nations, in order to gain them for their
in marriage and merrily live along from day to day, even in         cause and make of the whole world a kingdom of Antichrist
the midst of the terrible visitations of God on the earth. And      (vs. 13). The result is, however, that under their influence
they never expect that the end will come. So it was, in the         these nations are aroused to battle against Antichrist, upon
days before the flood and in the days of the destruction of         whom they look as being true Christianity. As I have said
the wicked cities of the plain. They are typical of these latter    before, they think that they war against Christendom ; but in
days. In the second place, history of the present day cor-          reality they muster their forces against the powers of anti-
roborates this presentation of Scripture. There is nothing          Christendom. Thus the armies of the whole world are
from which the world as such weans away more and more               gathered for battle. It is merely a tremendous war that has
than the idea of a second advent of the great King. And even        broken out, a war far more universal than we have witnessed
now, in the midst of the visitations of God on the whole            in the recent past. A war it is in which the outwardly
earth, people are blind to the fact and repent not. And. in         Christian world will be pitted against the heathen world.
the third place, it is simply absurd to suppose that even if        The intention of the heathen is to strike at Christendom,
they did expect the coming of Christ towards the very last          at Christ and His people.     And to do this they have been
of time, they would have the courage to gather their armies         aroused by the spirit of Antichrist. Outwardly, then, this
in order to fight against Him that shall come in glory. No,         war shall appear like any other was. They do not expect
the nations of the earth shall be filled with consternation and     Christ from heaven. Nothing of-the kind can even be sup-
fear, so that they shall never conceive of battling with Him        posed here. The people of God on earth have been oppressed-
that cometh  in glory.                                              by Antichrist. And now the heathen imagine that they strike
                                                                    at those same people of Christ. That is their sin. In prin-
   In order to obtain a clear conception of the entire scene
                                                                    ciple they intend to fight against Christ and His people. In
that is here presented, we will do well to picture it before
us in the historic order. We must understand that John does         principle they have always done this. But that Christ per-
not do this. When his eyes open upon the scene, the things          sonally is to appear on this last battle-scene is far from their
are prepared for the final struggle. The armies of the na-          minds. But this is the last battle. What they did not expect

tions already have gathered in the valley of Armageddon for         at all happens.- Christ comes personally with His saints from

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


heaven in order to give battle to Antichrist and to Gog and        deepest corner of iniquity ; and nothing remains hid before

Magog both and to consume them by the breath of His mouth.         the Lamb when He comes for judgment. Upon the wicked

And therefore, if we ask when Christ shall come for the            world He comes. And He evidently comes to reign and to

second time, the answer of our text is that He shall come          judge. And besides, these flaming eyes picture to us the

on the scene of one of the most tremendous battles that has        holy wrath that burns iri His bosom at this moment, now

ever been fought in the history of the world. Not when all         that the measure of iniquity is filled. On His head He wears

is peace and the whole world is gained for the Savior and          many diadems, royal crowns, symbolic of victories won in

for His kingdom, but, on the contrary, when the people of          the past. This is not the first time that He has won the

God have been removed from the scene and all the nations           battle. Spiritually He already has overcome sin, the devil,

of the earth have gathered for the great war, the Son of Man       and his whole dominion. And therefore, many crowns that

shall appear in glory to have the final victory over all His       formerly belonged to the enemy He has already placed on

enemies. For the same reason I have no faith in the realiza-       His own head. The battle of Armageddon is only the grand

tion of a final and lasting peace in the world, no matter how      climax of the holy war this captain has fought throughout

beautiful this may seem from a natural point of view. Al-          the ages. The same idea is indicated by the fact that His

ready the world begins once more to preach its idealism. And       garments are already sprinkled with blood. This does not

although one of the most disastrous wars the world has wit-        refer to His former suffering: for the garb He wears is the

nessed has just come to its close, the humanistic idealists        garment of battle and of victory. But it symbolically indicates

assure us nevertheless that this will be the last war, and that    that the Man from Edom, with sprinkled garments as from

after peace has been officially declared there shall be no war     Bozrah, has judged many an enemy before, all through the

any more.     But is this possible ? Shall there be peace in a     history of the world, while now the final scene has come,

world that refuses to bow before the Almighty God ? Shall          in which He shall tread the winepress of the wrath of God

there be peace in a world at war with the Holy One ? Shall         for the last time. And finally, this is also indicated by the

there be outward peace- without the inward peace of recon-         sharp sword that proceeds out of His mouth. He shall surely

ciliation through the blood of Jesus Christ? No, positively        not deign to fight as the princes and great of the earth fight,

not! It is impossible. Is it -and this is the weightiest of        with their swords and spears in hand. No, as also is in-

all -is it in harmony with the Word of God to expect a             dicated in other parts of the Word of God, He shall simply

final and lasting peace on earth in this dispensation ? Not at     consume the enemy by the Word of His mouth. His Word

all: the Word of God tells us that we must expect war to           is His sword. For it is a word of power. By it the enemies

the end. The final coming of Christ shall be to appear on the      are defeated. By it they are judged. By it their punishment

scene of one of the most terrible and universal battlefields       is executed to the full. And therefore, He is now come as He

<ever  seen in history.                                            was pictured long ago in Psalm 2, for the purpose of ruling

                                                                   the nations with a rod of iron and to tread the winepress of
       For Christ appears on the scene. As the nations, rising
                                                                   God all alone.
in rebellion against the Christ but not at all expecting to

see Him in person, are gathered on the field of Armageddon,           That it is really the Lamb, our Lord Jesus Christ, that

<of a sudden He appears. In glory He is arrayed, followed by       here comes to battle is raised beyond all doubt by the names

:a long train of attendants. He appears' in every detail as a      that`are given Him here. He is called, first of all, the Faith-

victorious warrior and as a righteous judge. For, in the           ful and True. Of course, He is thg  Faithful One as He now

first place, He is seated on a white horse. In a former con-       comes on the clouds of heaven according to His Word. All

nection we have called your attention to the fact that the         the saints have been looking for that coming. The coming of

Ihorse  is preeminently the animal for battle, the war steed,      the Lord was the object of their hope. If He should not

irrepressible in his onslaught, undaunted in courage. The          come, all their hope would be vain. For then their trials

Lord therefore comes for war. He does not come on the colt         and tribulations have been in vain, and their every hope

,of an ass, but on a horse. When He comes again-and He             would come to nought. Of that coming all the prophets had

shall come surely- it shall not be as the Man of Galilee,          prophesied ever since the time of Enoch.  But that coming

proceeding through the country doing good, meek and lowly,         seemingly tarried. Century after century elapses, and gen-

to save the lost sheep ; but it shall be to offer battle to all    eration after generation passes away. Dark and troublesome

that have opposed Him.        On the horse He comes. And we        times ensued. And yet the Lord did not come. His church

.also  have said before that white is the color of victory. The    suffered persecution because they held the testimony and the

white of the horse indicates that He comes not only to fight,      Word of God. They were poor and despised. And the souls

* but to gain the victory.    That is the meaning of the color     under the altar increased from year to year. Yet He did not

white throughout Scripture, as we have said in a former            come. Is He then not the Faithful One ? Most surely He

`connection. He will meet His enemies as the great victor,         is : in His final appearance He shall prove to be what all the

Whose victory is assured. This is also plain, in the second        prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles of the New

place, from His personal appearance. His eyes are like a           Testament have told us that He was. Faithful He is, and

3lame  of fire. With them He penetrates the darkness and the       He shall surely avenge His people quickly. But He also is


                                         T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                  297


True. In distinction from the powers that oppose Him He           promised : "They shall walk with me in white: for they are
is the true Prophet and the true King. Antichrist claimed         worthy." Rev. 3 :4. And more particularly, unto those that
that he was the Christ, the prophet and the king of the           overcame of the church of Thyatira the Lord had given the
whole world. He was the Christ, so they claimed. Many             assurance, "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works

false Christs arose in His absence, according to His Word.        unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations : And
But He is the True One, the fulfillment of all prophecy, the      he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a
Christ. He is to come in glory, according to His own prom-        potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of
ise. Still more, He is to come as the Word of God. Espe-          my Father." Rev. 2 :26, 27. Specifically, therefore, the prom-
cially in this name we do recognize our Lord and Saviour :        ise is given to the saints of Christ that they shall share in
the Word that denotes Him as the eternal Son of God, the ex-      His honor. And that this ruling of the nations with a rod of
press image of the Father, God of God, the manifestation of       iron does not refer to a fancied millennium of a thousand years
God's power and glory. As such He appears. He appears in          in which Christ shall exercise earthly dominion over im-
the glory of His godhead, though also as the man Jesus            perfect nations is plain from the fact that in the text Christ
Christ. For besides this name, the Word of God, He still          is represented as coming to rule the nations with a rod of
has another name which no one knows but Himself. It is            iron now, in the field of Armageddon. In I Corinthians 6 ~2,

a name peculiar to Him alone. It is His Mediator's name,          3 the holy apostle writes to the congregation of Corinth:

the name that exalts Him above every name that is named           "Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world ? Know

in heaven and on earth, among the creatures. in the sea and       ye not that we shall judge angels 7" There is absolutely

on the land. The Mediator's glory is all His own. No one          nothing new in the idea that the saints shall come with
shares it. Not even His brethren can bear that name. And          Jesus to judge the nations gathered for battle against Him.
therefore He also appears here with that name in all the          Exactly how this shall be we know not. But a little of it we

glory of His Mediatorship. As such He is the KING OF              can understand if we bear in mind, as I have stated before,
KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. Many a king and lord                    that the transformation of the living saints and the removal
has appeared on the scene of history in His absence. Kings        of the church from the earth shall take place immediately
and lords have refused to bow before His sovereignty; and         before the coming of Christ and the turmoil of the battle of
they have aimed at nothing short of the possession and con-       Armageddon.

trol of the whole world. And the very incarnation and                 Thus, then, the contending armies in this last battle are
climax of all these worldly lords and kings is there in the       pictured: Antichrist and Gog and Magog, assembled for this
form of Antichrist on the field of Armageddon. But now            final struggle and principally fighting against Christ and His
He appears. And He appears as KING OF KINGS, AND                  people, on the one side ; Christ and His armies, coming from
LORD OF LORDS. And His very appearance and names                  Heaven in glory and unexpectedly appearing on the scene of
indicate that it shall go ill with the lords of the world that    battle, on the other side. The world-power is now face to
have refused to recognize His authority of the Word of God.       face with the reality of all its aspirations, and they shall

                                                                  have a chance to meet in person the King Whom they have
   But He is not alone. We read that the armies that are in
                                                                  always opposed. What shall the outcome be ? The question
heaven follow Him. Who are they? Some have it that they
                                                                  is absurd.                                               H.H.
are angels; and I have no doubt but that also the holy angels

shall appear with Jesus on the scene of His final coming and

victory. But it is not to be maintained that these are the

only ones. Yea, it is not even to be defended that they are                                 EDITORIALS
especially mentioned in this instance. The way they are de-                          (Continued  $-om page  293)

scribed informs us differently. In the first place, like their    believed.' The rest did not believe beca.use  they were not
Captain Who leads them, they also are mounted on white            ordained to eternal life. And who is the giver of this dis-
horses. And therefore, there is a certain similarity between      position of heart but God alone ?'
them and their great King. But especially the fact that they         I could make many more quotations of Calvin from the
are pictured as being clothed in fine linen, white and pure,
                                                                  book "Calvin's Calvinism" for the whole book is simply-full
makes us think that this army is not constituted of the angels    of the same sentiment.
in heaven, but much rather of the saints that are with Christ.
                                                                     Never, no not once, does Calvin teach that the preaching
For this garment of fine linen, white and pure, denotes that
                                                                  of the gospel is grace for all that hear.
they have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, as well
as that they have been faithful to their King and performed          Never, no not once, does Calvin speak of a well-meant
righteous acts. They are garments that have been given            offer, on the part of God, to all that hear the preaching.

them of grace. And this is not applicable to the angels, but         And those that preach this, nevertheless, are certainly

only to the saints of Christ. Nor is there anything new or        not Reformed, but preach heresy. They camouflage the doc-

strange in the idea that Christ shall come accompanied by         trine of predestination, election and reprobation.

His saints. Already to the faithful in Sardis the Lord had                                                                 H.H.

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


                                                                        will send swarms of flies upon thy people, and into thy
11 A CLOUD O`F WITNESSES 11 houses: and the houses of the E,yptians  shaI1 be full of
                                                                        swarms of flies, and also the ground whereon they are. And I

                                                                        will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people

              Jehovah's Power In Pharaoh                                dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there ; to the end thou
                                                                        mayest know that I am Jehovah in the midst of the earth.

           And the Lord said unto Moses . . . staud  before             And I will put a division between my people and thy people:
        Pharaoh, and say unto him  . .                                  to morrow shall this sign be."
           And in vej:y deed for this cause kave I raised thee ,ufi,       The morrow came and just as Moses had said, swarms of
        for to shew  zn thee my power; and that my na?ute  p%ay
                                                                        flies settled down upon the land. They were mean, biting
         be declared throughout all  th.e ea&.
                                                  Exodus 9:13, 16       flies that lighted on a man's body with a piercing sting.
                                                                        There was no escaping them, for they covered the land and
       Each day it was becoming more clearly evident in Egypt           filled the houses. Every surface was covered with flies and
that the God of Moses spoke truth. He is Jehovah, the I                 they corrupted everything : the water, the food, the land.
AM THAT I AM, the covenant God and Defender of His                      Once again Pharaoh found himself surrounded by the misery
chosen people Israel. Each plague testified to that anew.               of another plague. Jannes and Jambres were powerless. There
       But Pharaoh was far from an objective judge of what              was nothing they could do. Gradually there emerged in thry
was happening. The more clearly the truth was revealed                  mind of Pharaoh the conviction that perhaps it would be
before him, the more he was inclined to deny it. He was                 best if he would seek a compromise. He would allow the
caught up in a personal passion for power. His pride would              children of Israel to sacrifice in his own land. It was a
not allow him to acknowledge that there was anyone greater              foolish idea. The sacrifice of animals, such as the Israelites
than himself. Every new demonstration of power only made                practiced, was an abomination to the Egyptians. His people
him more determined to prove that his power exceeded that               would become enraged if they saw the Israelites conducting
of Israel's God. Step by step he was being Gardened  in the             such sacrifices in their land. But it was not this that con-
way of sin. It was the normal reaction of a wicked heart                cerned Pharaoh. He had to prove himself capable of in-
to God's truth.                                                         fluencing the God of Israel, and, if nothing else would do it,

These same demonstrations of Jehovah's power which                      a compromise would suffice.

hardened ,the heart of Pharaoh were felt also by the children              He summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "Go ye, sacri-

of Israel. At first under the threats of Pharaoh, they had              fice to your God in the land."

lost confidence in the promises of Jehovah and had renounced               To this Moses responded by exposing the folly of

the leadership of Moses.        But now under the hand of the           Pharaoh's proposition. "It is not meet so to do; for we shall

Lord in the first three plagues, they saw the folly of this             sacrifice the abomination of the E,oyptians  to the Lord our

sin. They saw clearly what Pharaoh refused to acknowledge,              God : lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians

that Jehovah was much greater than all the kings of the                 before their eyes, and will they not stone us ? We will go

earth. Faith revived and Israel repented from its sin. The              three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Jeho-

seed of Abraham once inore  began to look unto its God and              vah our God, as he shall command us."

to wait for the promised salvation. The same Word which                    The reasoning of Moses was only too evident, and

was hardening the heart of Pharaoh was restoring the                    Pharaoh knew not what to reply. All he could think of was

people of God.                                                          to resort once again to subterfuge, to promise that which he

       God heard Israel's cries of repentance and forgave. With         had no intention of doing. The flies had to be taken away.
the announcement of the next plague to Pharaoh He told                  He said with feigned humility, "I will let you go, that ye may
Moses to say, "I will put a division between my people and              sacrifice to Jehovah your God in the wilderness ; only ye
thy people." Henceforth a new aspect of the name Jehovah                shall not go very far : intreat  for me."

would be made known. Not only is Jehovah a God of all                      Moses was beginning to recognize the duplicity of Phar-

power, able to control all of nature to the consternation and           aoh's heart. Carefully he warned Pharaoh, "Behold, I go out

punishment of the wicked, He is also a God who is faithful              from thee, and I will intreat  Jehovah that the swarms of

to reward the righteous and to show favor to them that love             flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from

.Him.  Throughout the rest of the plagues the favor of God              his people, to morrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully

to His chosen people would be clearly seen.                             any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to Jehovah."

       A second series of three plagues was soon to begin, and             On the morrow the flies were taken away just as Moses
sonce  again God told Moses to rise up early in the morning             had said, but the heart of Pharaoh was hard as always and
.and go to Pharaoh and meet him as he went to engage in                 he would not let the people go.

his daily worship at the Nile's brink. He was to say unto                  Again the Lord sent Moses to Pharaoh to say, "Thus

him, "Thus saith Jehovah, Let my people go, that they may               saith Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that

serve me. Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I            they may serve me. .For  if thou refuse to let them go, and


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 299

wilt hold them still, behold, the hand of Jehovah is upon thy       Pharaoh the general significance of all the plagues. They

cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses,      proved that God is Jehovah as He said. Before the fourth
upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there           plague God said to Pharaoh, "And I will put a division be-
shall be a very grievous murrain. And Jehovah shall sever           tween my people and thy people." The power and judgment
between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and           of Jehovah will show mercy upon His people even at the

there shall nothing die of all that is the children's of Israel.    ver'y  time that it goes forth in consuming wrath upon the

To morrow shall this sign be."                                      wicked. Now before the seventh plague God would say to

                                                                    Pharaoh, "For I will at this time send all my plagues upon
   For a. fifth time the land of Egypt was beset by a plague
from Jehovah. Step by step every different aspect of life           thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people ;
                                                                    that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the
was being touched by the hand of God. Jehovah was prov-
                                                                    earth. For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite
ing with many indisputable proofs that His power extended
                                                                    thee and thy people with pestilence ; and thou shalt be cut off
over all the earth ; nothing can withstand His will. Pharaoh
                                                                    from the earth. And in very deed for this cause have I
felt himself being driven to distraction. He had tried Jannes
and Jambres and they had bolstered his pride for a while.           raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my
Now even they were helpless. He had tried subterfuge, and           name may be declared throughout all the earth."
he had tried compromise. Each time the hand of Jehovah                 In this word of God to Pharaoh we have one of Scrip-
                                                                    ture's clearest statements of the place of the reprobate in
descended to smite him  once again ; each plague seemed
heavier than the one before. What was he to do ? If only            God's creation. They are there for the purpose of God. So
                                                                    was it very explicitly with Pharaoh. He was not a wicked
he could find one thing that could withstand, or limit, or in
the least bit mitigate the power of Jehovah's hand, then he         and rebellious man who just happened to be upon the throne
                                                                    at the time, resisting the grace of God. He was not a king
could maintain his pride. Desperately he sent to Goshen  to
find out whether Israel was actually being spared ; but even        whom God would have liked to. save, but who, because he
                                                                    would not, had to be destroyed. Many would like to say this,
that was so. It seemed that only one possibility remained. If
                                                                    but the very clear teaching of Scripture is other. God knew
he could wait out this plague and maybe another, perhaps
                                                                    long beforehand what Pharaoh would be like. God accord-
the God of Israel would withdraw. So with a hardened heart
                                                                    ing to His own determinate counsel raised Pharaoh up. God
Pharaoh waited until this plague subsided.
                                                                    had for Pharaoh a very definite purpose. That purpose was
   But it was not long before Pharaoh felt the hand of Jeho-        that Pharaoh's heart should be hardened in sin, that Phar-
vah yet again. This time it came unannounced. The Lord              aoh and his people might be justly smitten by Jehovah's
commanded Moses to take of the ashes of the furnace, to             hand and destroyed, and thus that the power of God might be
sprinkle it toward heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. Without          revealed in him. Unto all generations Pharaoh remains the
one word to the king Moses did so, and when the dust                perfect example of the man who hardens his heart against
descended upon Pharaoh's skin it brought forth boils. Quick-        the evident truth of God's Word to his own destruction and
ly it spread throughout the land affecting man and beast.           to the glory of God's name.
As always Pharaoh called for his magicians, hoping that                One marvels at the obduracy of Pharaoh's heart. Before
they would be able to do something once again ; but this            this very explicit revelation of God it was made so very
time they could not come because of the boils that had already      clear what a terrible place he was making for himself in
broken forth on their bodies. Nevertheless, Pharaoh was             history. When all was made so plain, could he keep himself
firm in his resolve. He would wait it out. Perh,aps the God         from falling to his knees in repentance and tears ? But no,
of Israel would tire and withdraw His hand. So with                 Pharaoh only hardened his heart the more. God had ordained
hardened heart he waited until also this, the sixth plague,         it so. No matter how clear it would be, he would resist the
subsided.                                                           Word of God. He would do it unto the end.

   The second series of three plagues was ended. They had                                                                    B.W.

demonstrated more clearly than ever before the great power

which belonged to the God of Israel. It was a power that

included every phase of life. Water and land, animals and
man, all were subject to his will. Pharaoh saw it all but                                Announcement

would not believe. God was preparing him for the end. Yet              The Free Christian School at Edgerton, Minnesota, will
three more plagues, and then the final jtidgment  would come.       be in need of a Principal to teach its four upper grades for

   The third series of plagues, as the first two, was preceded      the next term, 1961-1962.
by a special explanation of the intent of God. Pharaoh would           All interested in this position, please write H. Miersma,
never be able to say that Gocl had not explained to him             Woodstock, Minnesota.
what was taking place. Each time it was explained more                                             H. Miersma
clearly than before. Before the first plague God had said,                                         Secretary of the Board of the
"In this thou shalt know that I am Jehovah.`! That gave to                                         Free Chr. School Society

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


                                                                    mining factor of all things is the truth of the Gospel, and
11  F R O M   H O L Y   W R I T   11 God's purpose in Christ Jesus, our Lord. That determines
                                                                    the meaning of the "law" in relationship both to, believers

                                                                    and to unbelievers, to those without law and those under law.

                  Exposition of I Timothy                              Let us keep this in mind.
                       (I Timothy 1:3-11)                              The following elements in the text call for a little closer
                                                                    study.
                                   C.
                                                                       In the first place, we should notice the meaning of the
       We now come to our concluding essay on this section of       term "gospel."    The term literally means: good tidings. It
this chapter under consideration, to wit, the verses 3-11.          is a tiding from God ; it is news which is known and can

       This eleventh verse reads as follows: "According to the      only be known because it is revealed, uncovered by God

glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed             with whom it was hid. It is the news concerning the mystery

to my trust."     Thus it is rendered in the King James Ver-        of God's will, the secret counsel concerning our redemption.

sion. A more literal, and, I believe, better translation is         It is official communication sent down to us from God's throne

that given in the American Standard Edition of the Revised          on high. It is wholly God's, this gospel. It is His glad-tidings.

Bible which reads, "according to the gospel of the glory of         From the viewpoint of the relationship between the New

the blessed God, which was committed to my trust." It is            Testament and the Old Testament it may be said that the

evident that in the King James version "`glorious gospel" is        Gospel is the glad-tidings concerning the fulfihnent  of the

interpretation and not simply translation.         The German       @o"ise of God. This promise concerning the coming of God

translation of Luther is like the King James version "herr-         in the flesh is the theme of the entire Old Testament Scrip-

liches Evangelium" while the Staten Vertaling in the Holland        tures. That is the ~~~essage  of Moses, the Psalms and all the

language follows the Greek text literally and translates :          prophets. In a sense this promise was glad-tidings. It was

"evangelium der heerlijkheid."                                      good news in promissory form. In Question 19 of the Heidel-

                                                                    berg Catechism we have a very beautiful circumscription of
       So much for the translation.
                                                                    the Gospel from the viewpoint of the giving and of the ful-
       It is quite obvious that Paul here emphasizes that what      filment  of the promise in the Old Testament. This answer
he is teaching, in this refutation of some who teach a different    is : "From the Holy Gospel, which God Himself revealed
,doctrine,  is wholly according to the Gospel of God in Christ;     first in paradise ; afterwards proclaimed by the holy patri-
it is, therefore, the last word in the matter, and all must bow     archs and prophets, and foreshadowed by the sacrifices and
before this instruction of Paul as it will be passed on by          other ceremonies of the law; and finally fulfilled it by His
Timothy.                                                            well-beloved Son."

       The question is : to what does Paul refer? What is it           That is the gospel. It is not a pin-pointed story some-
that is specifically according to the Gospel of the glory of        where in a hidden corner in the Old Testament, but it is
the blessed God ? Does he merely mean to show that what is          the grand theme and message in the entire Old Testament
`"contrary to sound doctrine" must be measured according to         Scriptures. Only those who have a covering upon their
the Gospel ? Or does he have in mind the entirety of what           hearts, a covering of unbelief, fail to see this theme and to
he has been teaching in the verses 3-lo?  If the latter then        hear this glad-tidings upon every page of the Law and the
.Paul means that what he has commanded Timothy to charge            Prophets. Such, when they speak, may confidently affirm
`*`certain not to teach" is according to the Gospel of the glory    their allegations; they are as wrong as they think they are
sof God. And, again, in this case, also the judgment of the         good teachers, and may, therefore, not be condoned in the
lawful use of the law is according to the Gospel of the glory       church of Christ.
rof God, as well as what Paul has alleged concerning the use-          Such is the gospel of which Paul here speaks and which
lessness and the purposelessness of fables and endless geneal-      he sets forth as being the standard of truth and orthodoxy.
*ogies.    Now we believe that the latter is the proper inter-
                                                                       Paul says some wondering things about this Gospel.
pretation. Thus also Van Oosterzee in the Lange St??-ies  and
                                                                       As we intimated above, there is, first of all, the truth that
Huther  in the Meyer Series.
                                                                    the Gospel is the "gospel of the glory of the blessed God."
       All that Paul has thus taught is in accordance with the      This should not be translated as though "of the glory" were
<Gospel,  the glad-tidings of salvation, from the blessed God       equivalent to an adjective "glorious." Paul does not simply
-to a poor and helpless sinner!                                     mean to characterize this gospel as being r`glorious,"  but

       We learn from this verse, in general, that the correct       rather he teaches us the sozLI%e  of the gospel. This is a

starting-point in any matter is to ask : what saith the Gospel !    gospel which is rooted in and which is compatible with the

Any teaching which is contrary to this "gospel" is erroneous.       dEvine  glory. And this divine glory is the radiance and

For when presently God shall judge even the secrets of men          manifestation of all the virtues of God ; it is the manifesta-

it will be "according to my Gospel." Romans 2 :16. The deter-       tion of God's love and mercy, his longsuffering and goodness,


                                           T H E .   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                               301


his faithfulness and justice, his power and might, his endless      mitted it to his care! God has counted him faithful. It is

riches of divine greatness in all his virtues. Only the gospel      looked for in a servant to be found faithful. He will keep this

is compatible with this glory of the blessed God. Yes, that         gospel willingly. He, does not simply desire a stewardship

makes the gospel "glorious." However, Paul's rendering of           but rather a reward of a faithful steward. And, therefore,

the text emphatically sets forth that the gospel is rooted in       he rises to the defense of so great a gospel of glory.

and is the manifestation of this glory of God.                         The phrase here `employed in the Greek by Paul is a

    If the Lord has made all things for himself, and if also        peculiar one as to construction. Paul employs this phrase
the law is for God's sake, then certainly it must be to serve       repeatedly when he would express the reality of this divinely
the glory of God. However, the law cannot be to the greater         given "trust," the gospel.

manifestation of the glory of God! That is only true of the            In Romans 3 :2, where Paul speaks of the advantage of
.gospel.  For the law cannot make a sinner alive and comfort        the Jew, he singles out the chief advantage, namely, that to
him in his poverty. Such God does in the gospel. The gospel         them were entrusted the divine oracles ; the Jews were the
speaks of the "glory of God in the saints" and of the "super-       custodians of the .word  of God. Sad to say, the very word
abounding greatness of his power to usward  who believe"            entrusted to them they often did not understand: they often
which He wrought in Christ, having raised him from the dead,        failed to read the "gospel," the glad-tidings of good things.
and set him (Christ) at his own right hand in the heavens,          But it was a sacred "trust" nonetheless.
,far  above all principality -and power and might and dominion,        Thus also in Gal. 2 :7 Paul informs the readers that Peter,
.and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also     James and John recognized that God had "intrusted" him
in that which is to come!                                           with the gospel of the uncircumcision even as Peter had been
    Such is the glory of God revealed in Christ. And in this        intrusted with the gospel of the circumcision. And this fact of
glory the "gospel"      is rooted and this glory the gospel         God's having "intrusted"  Paul with such's ministry placed
proclaims.                                                          him on equal footing and equal rank with the apostles of

    In close connection with the foregoing observations it          repute, as a bona fide apostle.

should be noticed that this "glory" is the glory of the                Once more Paul tells the readers of Thessalonica that,
"blessed" God. The term Blessed here in the text is not             when he had been in their midst, he had spoken unto them
"eucharistia"  (praise-worthy) but rather "maliaria,"  one who      the gospel not to please men, but God himself, whereas he
is inwardly content and self-sufficient. God is full of blessed-    had been "approved of God to bc intrusted  with the gospel."
ness. Nothing is added to Him. He is the Fountain of all               And, finally, we would call your attention to what we
.good  and is the God of our salvation. He is the "I Am that        read in I Cor. 9 :17 from Paul's pen, where, speaking of his
I Am"; yesterday, today and forever the same, the Lord,             attitude toward his stewardship in the gospel, he says: "For
God Almighty. Salvation as proclaimed in the gospel is from         if I do this of mine own will, I have a reward: but if not
Him and from Him alone. Out of Him, and `through Him,               of mine own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me."
-and unto Him are all things; to Him be the praise and the          And this "trust," this stewardship, is something of which
glory forever, Amen!                                                Paul must give account in that day when God shall judge
    The manifestation of this "blessedness" is God's prerog-        the world in righteousness.
ative.                                                                 It is, therefore, well to take particular notice of this fact
    This is His glory ; He gives it to none other.                  that Paul brings this "having been entrusted with the gospel"

    Now the gospel is compatible with this glory and blessed-       forward as the motive of his speaking to Timothy as he
ness of God. Let "certain" men therefore be silent if they          does concerning some who teach a different doctrine. He
cannot teach this gospel, and the lawful use of the law as a        must keep the "charge" thus given him.

consequence.     If anyone teach another teaching, a different         For only thus will the gospel of the glory of the blessed

gospel, which Paul has not taught, though he be an angel            God come to its own!
from heaven, let his be accursed! Gal. 1%.  And again I say,           Let all who disobey this command be anathema!
if anyone teach a gospel which is not in accordance with the                                                                   G.L.
"`gospel of the glory of the blessed God" let him be anathema !
                                                                                                   * .-
    God will have no strange fire upon his altar.

    If anyone shall add to the words of this gospel, God shall                      Men's League Meeting
plague him according to this gospel of the glory of the
                                                                    will be held, D.V., at South West Church on Thursday eve-
blessed God !
                                                                    ning, April 13, at S:OO P. M. The Rev. H. Hoeksema will
    Of this reality Paul is deeply conscious.                       speak on the topic "Sanctification." Musical numbers will

    For this gospel is not an indifferent thing to Paul.            be rendered. See your bulletin for further announcements.

Rather the gospel is a sacred "trust" for him. God has com-                                                I<. Ezinga, Secretary


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                                                                    But let it now be stated that even our little children can
              IN  H I S   F E A R                                   foretell the future in a very rich and wonderful way.

                                                                        To be sure we and our children do not predict the future

                                                                    in the same way that the prophets of the Old Testament

                  God's Royal Priesthood                            times did. That is, we do not receive the knowledge of that
                                                                    truth which we predict in the same way that they did. They

                                (3)                                 received from God direct revelation in vision and dream.
                                                                    Our source of information is indirect and from the Word of
       Prophesying is not a lost art.                               God. We can prophesy only that which we find upon the

       Indeed, if we mean no more by prophesying than telling       pages of Holy Writ. And the prophet in the Old Testament
the future and predicting what lies before us in the days to        times could predict only that which was revealed to him by
come, we will have to qualify that statement a little.              God. But whereas the saints in the Old Testament times
                                                                    did not realize that there would be a twofold coming of Christ
       Yet we want to insist that even as far as predicting the     into our world, the little child of God today can speak very
future is concerned prophesying is not a lost art.                  sweetly and yet very richly of a coming of Christ in glory
       At the same time we wish to point out that the work of       and in judgment to raise the dead and change our vile
the prophet was a great deal more than foretelling the future.      bodies into bodies like unto His Own glorious body. Our
In the Old Testament times, of necessity the prophet was            little children can predict a Church of God that is gathered
busy with such predictions. Enoch  prophesied of God's              from every nation, tongue and tribe, of a new heavens and
coming judgment. Noah likewise predicted the Flood one              a new earth in which righteousness shall dwell and of various
hundred and twenty years before it became a reality. Saul's         things which will precede all this and be signs of its realiza-
servant said to him, when they failed to find the lost beasts       tion.
of his father, "Behold now, there is in this city a man of God,
and he is an honorable man ; all that he saith cometh  to pass :        All the predicting in the Old Testament times was an
now let us go thither: peradventure he can show us our              important aspect of the work of the prophet of God. Through
way that we should go." I Samuel 9 :6. Long before this in          him God revealed the fulfilment of His counsel.            His
the wilderness God used even such a reprobate prophet as            glorious promise which He gave in Paradise when He Him-
Balaam to prophesy the coming of Christ in very beautiful           self prophesied the appearance of two seeds, of a ceaseless.
language. Isaiah, the first major prophet, predicted the captiv-    struggle between them, of victory for the Seed of the woman,.
ity and the return of Israel decades before it took place. The      is being realized, and through the ages, step by step, He
very city where Jesus would be born was pointed out by              revealed more of that truth to His Church through the
Micah. John the Baptist is called the greatest of the Old           mouths and minds of His prophets. They, of necessity, spoke
Testament prophets by no one less than Jesus Himself. And           of future things.    They pointed out the various steps in the
this John was because his was the unique privilege of point-        realization of that promise especially as they pertained to the
ing out the Christ with the words, Behold the Lamb of God           birth of that Seed of the woman. Now He has come, and
which taketh  away the sins of the world.                           the Scriptures concerning His coming and His work are now
                                                                    fully written. There is no more direct revelation. That last
       But we want to begin right there. John was the greatest      direct prediction of future things is in the Book of Revela-
of all the Old Testament prophets; and yet he that is least in      tion. To it we may not add, and from it we may not take
the kingdom is greater than John as an Old Testament                away. And all the future things, in as far as we need to know
prophet. He is not greater than John now, nor will he               them for our faith and salvation, are revealed. Therefore
obtain a higher degree than John. John shall be very high           the work of the prophet today is rather in explaining and
in that kingdom, and you and I will not attain to that high         showing the meaning of these truths revealed in the com-
position in God's kingdom that by God's grace is reserved           plete Scripture than in predicting more in detail future
for John. But as far as the truth in Christ is concerned we         events.
on this side of the cross, with the full revelation of the way

of salvation, see far more than John did at that time, are              We wish to make another observation at this time. The

greater in knowledge than he was in that day ; and we can           chief work of the prophet is not that of teaching God's people.

sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb, while John could            This too is a tremendously important work. And by the

but sing the song of Moses. We maintain that even our little        prophets in the Old Testament dispensation God did teach

children can prophesy more richly than even John the Bap-           His people His fear. In as far as this phase of the work is.

tist was able to do in his age and day. And we maintain             concerned we may also say that today the prophet is the

also that we as parents and officebearers in the Church are         Minister of the Word of God in his pulpit and in all his

so inclined to underestimate and to fail to appreciate what a       instruction and exhortation. Speaking of Christ as the

wonder work God performs even in our little children. But           Anointed of God the Heidelberg Catechism also states that

we are running ahead and hope to come back to this later.           He is called Christ, "Because He is ordained of God the


                                            T H E   STANDARP'BEARER                                                              303
                               -.

Father and anointed of with the Holy Spirit, to be our              the truth about each other, we certainly do not speak words

chief prophet and Teacher, Who has fully revealed unto us           of praise. Not when we speak the truth. We must say of

the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemp-           each other that we are wretched, damnable sinners, totally

tion . . ." And we surely need not only His revelation to us        depraved, inclined to all evil, filthy and corrupt. . Only the

as the Chief Prophet Who calls and instructs all the other          false prophet can say something nice about man, for he cares

prophets, but we also need this prophecy which He gives us          not whether he speaks the truth or the lie. And the awful-

through men. We need Him as our Teacher, and H-e is the             ness of the false prophet is that he will deceitfully say some-

teacher with Whom no other `teacher can even begin to com-          thing nice about man, while he insists on speaking the lie

pare. This phase of the prophetic office is very necessary.for      about the Holy and Righteous God. He will lift man as

us while we are in this vale of tears and see as in a glass         high as he can in his humanitarian endeavours and will de-

darkly. But the Word of God also teaches us in I John 2 :27,        base God to a foolish, weak and vile beggar, an impotent

"`But  the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth          and vacillating would-be ruler of the universe. You may read

.in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the         of `that in its most violent and devilish form in Revelation

same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth and is      19 :20 in connection with II Thessalonians 2 :4. In the former

no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him."     passage we read of the false prophet who served the beast.

Still more, in Isaiah 11 :9 we read, "They shall not hurt in        That beast is the antichrist, and the false prophet is the

all my holy mountain : for the earth shall be full of the knowl-    false church. And as the mouthpiece for that antichristian

edge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." And once             kingdom the false prophet is the one who in II Thessalonians

again from Hebrews S :lO, 11, "For this is the covenant that        2 :4 speaks the blasphemy to shew unto all men that this

I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith        antichrist "is God."

the Lord ; I will put my laws into their minds, and write              But simply say that He is God, and you praise Him.
-them in their hearts : and I will be to them a God, and they       Speak of His virtues -and vices He has not: all His at-
shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man         tributes are virtues-and you praise Him. The prophet
his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the          serves to point out to us these virtues or perfections of the
Lord : for all shall know me, from the least unto the greatest."    Living God and to teach us to know Him. But the ultimate

   This teaching, as we said, is very essential, but it only        end of' all that work of prophecy is, even as God Himself
serves a higher purpose and is the means rather than the            declares it, to form unto Himself a people that will show
end. One day that phase of the prophetic office shall recede        forth His praises. And in the office of every believer that
while God's purpose in all this instruction will be reached.        is our calling. We are God's royal priesthood, delivered from
Even then, there are those in the office of every believer          the service of Satan. We and our children, yea even the
today who occupy no position of teaching. They may have             little ones, are to speak and sing His praises. Consider the
no children to teach. They may have very little talent to           passages of Holy Writ that speak. of heaven and of the New
teach and be greatly in need of being taught. They may be           Jerusalem. And listen! You hear singing, the singing of
little children, and as regenerated children of God they al-        God's praises. A Hallelujah Chorus swells to the thrice
ready have the office of every believer. In that office they        holy God. Your voice on earth is also raised to His praise ?

serve already in the early days of their childhood though                                                                  J.A.H.
they may not be able to teach at all and reveal to others

the truth of the Word of God and the counsel of God in

regard to our salvation.                                                           Ladies' League Meeting

    NO, the prophetic office as we already pointed out last            The Eastern Ladies' League will hold their Spring meet,

time is that we "may show forth the praises of Him Who              ing April 20, at Southeast Church at S o'clock. Rev. Herman

hath called us out of darkness into His marvellous light."          Hanko will speak on "The Women of the Bible." All ladies

I Peter 2 :9. Then again in Isaiah that well known passage          of the denomination are invited to come and spend an eve-

that speaks of God's purpose in all our salvation, the instruc-     ning of Christian fellowship with us.

tion instrumental in realizing it included, "This people have I                               Ruth H. Bylsma, Vice-Secretary

formed for Myself; they shall show forth My praise," Isaiah

43 21. That is the work and calling of the prophet : he must
                                                                                  0 Lord, for Thy Name's sake
praise God, ever praise God and magnify His name. When
                                                                                    Revive my fainting heart;
he instructs God's people he does that. When he sings the
                                                                                  My soul from trouble take,
songs of Zion and when he confesses God before men?  he
                                                                                    For just and true Thou art.
reveals himself as a prophet of God. In fact to praise God                                                                . "
                                                                                  Remove my enemy,
is to speak the truth concerning Him. Whatever you may
                                                                                    My cruel foe reward ;
say about Him in truth is to His praise.
                                                                                  In mercy rescue me

   How different that is with you and me. When we speak                             Who am Thy servant, Lord.


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                                                                   . Luther did not know and enjoy the joy and peace of

11 Contending For The Faith 11                                    salvation until the blessed gospel message resounded in his
                                                                  heart and soul: "The just shall live by faith." Luther was

                                                                  born in 1483, on St. Martin's eve, Nov. 10. On the morrow

                                                                  his father carried his infant son to the St. Peter's church,.
         The Church and the Sacraments                            where the sacrament of baptism was administered to him, and

                                                                  the child received the name Martin in commemoration of
         THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                              the day. Martin Luther was a child of the Roman Catholic

                                                                  Church, the only church (at least in the West, inasmuch as.
                  V I E W S   O N   T H E   C H U R C H
                                                                  the eastern section of the Church had broken with the western

                   MATERIAL PRINCIPLE                             section of it in the eleventh century) of that day, and his
                                                                  parents were sincere and upright .people.  From earliest years.

                              (continued)                         there was present in Martin Luther an attentive and serious

                                                                  disposition, a desire to serve the Lord. And already in his

   The spark that ignited that great movement in the history      early years he was conscious of his sin and of the holiness.

of the Church of God which is known as the Reformation was        and righteousness of God. Christ did not loom before him as

Luther's nailing of the ninety-five theses to the church door     a gracious Saviour, but as a fearfully stern and righteous,

at Wittenberg. And the incident which led to this act of the      judge. Study came easy to him. The Lord had endowed

German Reformer was the shameless sale of indulgences as          him richly with intellectual gifts, which, incidentally, was

practiced by Tetzel, an eloquent Dominican Friar who ped-         also true of John Calvin. He made full use of the gifts the

dled indulgences in an unusually scandalous and shameless         Lord had given him and advanced rapidly in his studies.

manner near the Saxony border in the neighborhood of Wit-            In his eighteenth year Luther entered the university of
tenberg.  Luther's nailing of the ninety-five theses to the       Erfurth. His father, John Luther, was a poor miner but was.
church .door at Wittenberg was the reformer's way or method       gifted with a more cultivated mind than most men of his.
making known his views to the public about indulgences and        class, and he loved to read and study. He was fully deter-
inviting public debate on them. This was a customary prac-        mined that his son, Martin, should make a name for himself
tice in those times.     And it was also an effective way for     in the midst of the world, become a doctor of law and of
Luther to publish his views. In fact, he published these          philosophy. While at the university of Erfurth Luther found
theses on the eve of All Saints' Day, a holiday of the Church     a Bible. This book fascinated him. He did not know that.
when the relics were solemnly and prominently displayed in        there were so many books in the Bible, inasmuch as the parts.
the Castle Church of the city of Wittenberg. Naturally, many      of the Bible which the Church had selected to be read to the
people read these theses as they came to the church that          people were only a very few. The Bible was a rare book, un-
morning, went home after having read and thought about            known in those days. It was particularly the story of Hannah.
them, and told their neighbors about this action of the in-       and Samuel that fascinated Luther, and also the Scriptural
trepid German Reformer. However, behind the posting of            account of the evil and wickedness of the sons of Eli. What-
these theses lay .a tremendous struggle which had raged in        fascinated young Martin was perhaps the striking similarity
the soul of Martin Luther. And it is this struggle and            between the wickedness of the sons of Eli and the corruption
Luther's victorious emergence from the same which con-            as exercised within the Roman Catholic church of his day.
stitutes the material principle of the Reformation. And we        This book he read again and again while at the university
think of interest to our readers of this rubric that we give,     of Erfurth.
in brief, a r&urn6  of Luther's life which led to what he did        While studying at the university of Erfurth he became
on the eve of All Saints' Day in 1517.                            dangerously ill. Recovering from this sickness, a great

   Martin Luther and the Reformation are inseparably con-         change had occurred in Martin Luther. But as yet there was-

nected. It is the law of God that He effects great things by      nothing decided in his mind. Shortly afterwards another

the smallest means; the things that are base, small, ignoble      circumstance awakened serious thoughts within him. It was.

and despised. It appears that the Lord selected; sovereignly,     the time of the festival of Easter, probably in the year 1503.

His reformers of the Church from the same class whence He         Luther was going to pass a short time with his family, and:

had also taken the apostles. He chose them from the lower         wore a sword according to the custom of his age. He struck

ranks. Everything was thus intended to manifest unto the          his foot against this sword, the blade fell out, and cut one of

world that the work about to be unfolded was not the work         his principal arteries. Finding himself alone, and seeing the

of man but of God. The reformer Zwingli emerged from an           blood flow copiously from the wound without being able to-

Alpine shepherd's hut ; Melanchthon came from an armourer's       check it, he lay down on his back, and put his finger on the

shop; Luther was born in the cottage of a poor miner. God         wound.    But the blood escaped despite his exertions, and

has chosen, not the rich and mighty, but the poor, the ignoble    feeling the approach of death, he cried out, "0 Mary, help !"-

of this world.                                                    At last a surgeon came and bound up the cut. Later, when


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              305


recalling this incident, Luther made the remark: "I should         Nevertheless they treated him harshly and imposed upon him

have died relying upon Mary." In 1505 he was admitted a            the meanest occupations. They wished to humiliate him, and

 doctor of philosophy. The university of Erfurth was then          teach him that his learning did not raise him above his

the most celebrated school in all of Germany. Luther was           brethren. Besides, they also wished to keep him from his

well on his way to becoming a man of distinction and renown        studies, from which the convent could reap no advantage.

in the midst of the world, and his father was envisioning the      The former master of arts and doctor of philosophy had to

realization of his dreams.                                         perform the offices of porter, open and shut the gates, wind

    It was during the summer of 1505 that an incident oc-          up the clock, sweep the church, and to clean out the cells.
-curred which completely changed the entire course of              And when he had finished all his chores he was bidden to
Luther's career. While at liberty during the summer vaca-          go through the tower, and beg from house to house. And he
tions he resolved to go to Mansfeldt to revisit the dear scenes    put up with it all. All these tasks he took cheerfully upon
of his childhood and to embrace his parents. It may be that        himself. Nothing was too much for him. He had become a
he was considering already at this time the possibility of his     monk with all his heart and soul. He was determined to
becoming a priest. And he knew what the violent reaction           become holy and to render himself righteous before God. He
would be of his father inasmuch as the priestly profession was     was determined to make himself worthy of God and to be
not very lucrative in those days. What happened during             able to appear before the Judge of all the. earth with peace
Luther's stay at Mansfeldt we do not know, has not been            in his heart and soul. Later he was relieved of all these
recorded. Luther was returning to Erfurth and was within           duties and permitted the liberty to study once more with all
a short distance of that city when a violent thunderstorm          the desire of his heart and mind.
,overtook  him. Such violent thunderstorms were common in             However, all this availed him nothing. Luther's sin con-
those mountains. The lightning flashed and a bolt fell at his      tinued to plague and torment him. Even his fellow monks
feet. Luther threw himself            his knees. Again the         began to deride him because of his seriousness and dejection.
                                 upon 
thought of a righteous God and of impending judgment terri-        He regarded the slightest fault as a great sin and endeavored
fied him. He thought that his hour had probably come.              to expiate it by the severest mortifications. But all this
Death, judgment and eternity summoned him with all their           only served to emphasize the utter futility of all human
terrors, and he hears a voice that he can no longer resist.        remedies. It was toward the end of the year 1512. Luther
"Encompassed with the anguish and terror of death," as he          was sitting in his cell in the tower of the Black Cloister in
says of himself, he makes a vow, if the Lord delivers him          Wittenberg.    He had come into possession of a Bible, and
from this danger, to abandon the world, and devote himself         had begun to study Paul's epistle to the Romans. Coming
entirely to the- Lord. After rising from the ground, having        to verse 17 he read: "The just shall live by faith." He
still present with him that death which one day must overtake      paused and meditated. Suddenly the light flashed into his
him, he examines himself seriously, and asks himself what          soul. The just shall live by faith.  Then an unspeakable joy
he ought to do. He has tried, it is true, to fulfill all his       flooded his heart. The burden of all his sins rolled away.
duties, but what is the state of his soul ? Can he appear be-      Until now he had been trying to make himself righteous
fore the tribunal of the righteous God with an impure heart?       before God by his own good works. Never did he feel as
He must become holy. He has now as great a thirst for              if he had done enough.    Now God had spoken to him. He
holiness as he had for knowledge. But where can he find it,        was righteous before God without his works, only through
how- can he attain unto it ? The university cannot satisfy his     faith, solely because of the merits of Christ Jesus. The Ref-
desires. To what school of holiness shall he now direct his        ormation had been born and ignited in his soul by the word
steps ? His decision is taken. He will enter a cloister : the      of the Almighty God. Nothing would change that. Later
monastic life will save him. There he will become holy. And        Tetzel .came with his shameless indulgences. He attacked
so he leaves everything behind, and enters an Augustinian          Tetzel with his ninety-five theses. Still later he came into
convent. His friends are amazed and dumbfounded. His               conflict with Rome. As a true son of his church he still
father is furious when Luther later writes him out of his          attempted to purify that church. But it was all to no avail.
cell, having gone thither before discussing the matter with his    Luther was excommunicated. But, he held his ground. Be-
parents. But his ,decision  camlot  be changed.                    cause, materially, the fundamental principle, as within the
                                                                   soul of the German reformer, was this: Justification by faith
   And now he applies himself to become holy and render
                                                                   and completely without works.
himself righteous and just before God. If ever a true and
.obedient  son of the Roman Catholic Church .could  have at-.                                                              H.V.

tained unto righteousness in the way of good works Luther

was that man. When Luther entered this Augustinian con-'

vent he changed his name, and assumed that of Augustine.                      Let the trumpet, far resounding,
The monks received him with joy. They were not slightly                           This our festal day proclaim,
gratified to see one of the most esteemed doctors of the age                  By our fathers' God appointed,
abandon the university for a house belonging to their order.                      When from bondage Israel came.


I    306                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                               thirty-seven articles, serve to emphasize something that is

               The Voice of Qur Fathers                                        easily forgotten, especially when we busy ourselves with an
                                                                          \    objective explanation of the contents of the confession,
                                                                               namely, that in these articles we have the objective contents.

                        The Belgrc Confession                                  of a subjective, personal faitlz..  This is a rather practical im-
                                                                               plication, which, I fear, we are often inclined to overlook,.

                                   A R T I C L E  I                            especially in the consideration of a symbol such as our Belgic

                                                                               Confession. As we have observed, this creed follows the 
                   We all believe with the heart and confess with the                                                                        SO-
                   mouth that there is one only simple and spiritual Being,    called dogmatio order in its treatment of the truth of the

                   which we call God; and that He is eternal, incom-           Word of God; it is objective. For this reason we are all the
                   prehensible, invisible, immutable, infinite, abnigbty,      more inclined to look upon this confession as a mere docu-
                   perfectly wise, just, good, and the overflowing fountain    ment, a piece- of religious literature, setting forth the official
                   of all good.
                                                                               doctrinal position of a certain church or group of churches.

     `We all believe with the heart artd co,nfess  w&4  the                    That document may have a certain authority, and we may
     n~outh.  . . .=                                                           appeal to it as an authoritative statement, -much as we might
                                                                               cite this or that authority in a certain field in our rather
            It is of the utmost importance that we understand the              academic arguments. Thus, if we want to back up our posi-
     meaning and implications of the above expression from the
                                                                               tion in the field of history, we seek out some prominent
     outset. Especially is this necessary because you will find
                                                                               historian to quote in support of our statements. If we want
     that the various articles of this creed are introduced by this            to find support for a political theory, we turn to recognized
     same expression in one form or another: "We believe," or,
                                                                               political theorists. If we want backing for some economic
     "We believe and confess," or "We confess," or, "We be-                    view, we ask what authoritative economists think. In much
     lieve and profess." You will readily recognize that this is an            the same way, if we want to show that our doctrinal views are
     expression borrowed from Holy Scripture. In the form in                   correct, we appeal to theologians or to the church, to the
     which it occurs in this first article it is borrowed undoubtedly          creeds, And while this method may have much merit as far
     from Romans 10:9,  "That if thou shalt confess with thy                   as an objective study and exercise in the science of dogmatics,
     mzoztth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in tlzirte lzeavt  that         is concerned, it overlooks the important fact that the confes-
     God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."
                                                                               sion is and is intended to be much more than a document,
            In these significant words several elements are expressed.         an archive. In fact, we may say that such an outlook is a
     In the first place, we learn that here is a cpnfessiion.  In the          sure path to dead orthodoxy- 
     second place, we learn that this confession is not a mere                                                     an orthodoxy that is dead,
                                                                               devoid of life and of faith. No, the creeds are confessiorzs;
     ecclesiastical "statement of position," nor a coldly objective
                                                                               and they are confessions of faith. And the question therefore
     dogmatic declaration, but emphatically a confession of faith.             is not what someone else believes or believed in the past. It.
     In the third place, we learn too that this faith is personal:
                                                                               is not the coldly impersonal question of what "the church" or
     "IYe believe . . . and confess." Moreover, this faith, personal           "my church" believes, as though that church were someone
     in character, is held in a community of believers : not merely            or something in distinction from its members. That may be
     "I" believe and confess, but I believe and confess together               a convenient device to attempt to avoid the crucial and after
     with others who unitedly have the same faith and make the                 all unavoidable question, "What think ye of the God and the
     same confession, "We all . . ." In the fourth place, there is             Christ of the Scriptures ?"     Or perhaps at times it may
     the element that this faith is savitig  faith,  belief with the           serve as an apron of fig leaves to cover our shame when.
     hea.& - strictly speaking, the only true faith there is. All              men require of us an answer concerning the hope that is sup-
     these elements are important and hold in them several im-                 posed to be in us and we are ashamed of our "unscientific"'
     portant implications. For, first of all, we have here what                view or the "narrow-mindedness"        of our doctrine or the
     may be called both the in&.&e and the e.ycla&ve  principle                "other-worldliness"    of our calling and our walk. "Well,"'
     of the entire creed, and, therefore, of the church which holds
                                                                               we may say, "my church believes this or that," or, "This is.
     this creed. Inclusive these words are: for they receive into              the stand of my church."     And the implication really is: "L
     the community of the church all who have a like faith and                 can't help it. I wish it were otherwise. I'm really a bit
     confession. Exclusive they are: for they exactly bar every                ashamed of it, and consider it rather narrow and unreason-.
     unbeliever, all who do not believe with the heart. Exclusive
                                                                               able tind unnecessarily strict. But that's the way it is ; and
     too they.are in that they bar all those who pretend to believe
                                                                               if I go contrary, I might be disciplined." Thus, for example,
     with the heart but do not confess with the mouth. If you
     personally cannot join in the expressions of these articles of            some "pass the buck" when they are confronted with the
     faith, you have absolutely no business in the church that                 question of membership in an illicit union: "My church
     holds them ; you belong to a different community. And,                    doesn't believe in it," is the excuse. But the language of our

     secondly, in close connection with the preceding, these in-               confession is the language of a personal conviction of the

     troductory words, which recur so frequently throughout the                heart : ?Ve  all believe with the heart !" The question there-


                    , '                   TH.E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                        307


-fore is a strictly personal one : "What do yo'u and I, as mem-    Himself without witness. Moreover, He has also taken care

bers of this Christian church individually, and as a com-          that iiitellectually man has quite enough.light  to receive that

munity of such members collectively and institutionally -          witness and to know that God is and that He is God indeed.

what do we believe and confess ?'                                  But the question is one of the heart! "The fool hath said sin

                                                                   his heart, There is no God." Psalm 14:l.  And natural men
    What then is this believing with the heart?
                                                                   "when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither
    The most fundamental answer to this question is that faith     were thankful ; but became vain in their imaginations, and
is preeminently faith in God, and that too, as the God of our      ,their foolish heart was darkened," so that they "changed the
salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord. The initial article of our     glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like unto
confession brings this out very clearly, as we shall see when      corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and
we consider the contents of this first article proper. Para-       creeping things." Romans 1:21-23.  And make no mistake.
,doxically,  while the wonder is "faith's dearest child," faith    What is true with respect to God's revelation in nature is
is itself in every sense of the word a wonder. It is divine.       still more emphatically true with respect to His revelation
It is faith in God, and for that very reason faith is from         in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Unbelief is not due
beginning to end of God.                                           to the inadequacy of that revelation. Nor is it due to the

    This is true, in the first place, as to the objective prin-    fact that the gospel is contrary to reason. Did not Christ
ciple of faith, namely, sevelation.  This must be emphasized       show himself alive after His passion "by many infallible
now at the risk of entering somewhat into the material of          proofs"? Acts 1 13. And does not Paul say to Agrippa, Acts
Article 2 and succeeding articles that deal with this subject.     26 :8: "Why should it be thought a thing incredible with
%aith is not unreasonable; but it is not founded on human          you, that God should raise the dead ?" And if it were a
reason, nor reached in the way of a process of reasoning.          matter of reason and of mere, natural, human intellect, how
Faith is not illogical; but it is not the product of a             is it to be explained that Christ crucified is to the Jews, who
logical process of thought. The only and solid basis of faith      seek after a sign, a stumblingblock, and to the Greeks, who
is God's own revelation in Jesus Christ. And this is at the        desire wisdom, foolishness, with the singular exception of
same time the rock on which all unbelief suffer%  shipwreck        those who are called, to whom He is Christ, the power of
and is dashed to pieces. Without now entering into detail, we      God and the wisdom of God? I Corinthians 1:18-24.  No,
may say that revelation means that the incomprehensible God,       faith is a kEaart-question.  The world by wisdom knows not
Who alone knows Himself with an infinitely perfect and             God because its wisdom is from below, earthly, carnal,
,eternal  Self-knowledge., imparts the knowledge of Himself        devilish. The faith of the church, that which it believes with
to the creature in such a form that the creature can receive       the heart, opposes the philosophy of man, and the latter op-
it, on a creaturely level and in a creaturely measure, through     poses faith, spiritu~ully..  The antithesis is not that of Faith
His Son Jesus Christ. Even as water cannot climb any higher        and Reason, but that of Faith and Unbelief. And Unbelief
than its own level, so the creature cannot climb any higher        is sin! It is a matter of the heart. The antithesis is not
than the level of the creature. Man of himself cannot know         one of Grace and Nature, but of Grace and Sin. And for that
)God  ; God must make Himself known. Man cannot reach              reason not faith is unreasonable, but unbelief is guilty of an
,out and climb up to God ; God must condescend to him. And         irrationality of the profoundest and most hopeless kind.
so in revelation God in His infinite majesty comes down to                                                                    H.C.H.

us. He gives His Word finite form in and through His Son

in the flesh, Jesus Christ our Lord.                                                            IN MEMORIAM

   But, in the second place, there is a subjective principle in       The Ladies' Society of the South Holland Protestant Reformed

faith. And also this is of God. For the natural man receiveth      Church wishes to express its heartfelt sympathy to our fellow mem-
                                                                   ber, Mrs. A. De Young, in the passing away of her mother-in-law,
not the things of the Spirit of God. They are foolishness
unto him ; neither can he know them, because they are spirit-                                MRS. ANNA DE YOUNG

ually discerned. The mere fact that God objectively reveals           "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of

Himself does not and cannot produce faith. And this is true        heaven."    Matt. 5:3.

whether you refer now to God's revelation in the things that                                         South Holland Ladies' Society

.are made and in history, or whether you refer to His revela-                                        Rev. J. A. Heys, President
tion in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord. For the natural                                           Mrs. F. Van Baren, Secretary

man stands in enmity over against God and over against the

speech of God. He does not want God. He hates God. He                     Let Israel trust in God alone,

always contradicts God. And the difficulty is not at all an               The Lord Whose grace and power are known;

intellectual and rational one. The trouble is not that faith              To Him your full allegiance yield,

in God is so irrational. The problem is not that the living               And He will be your help and shield ;

God is essentially unknowable. No, in this sense of the word                   All those who fear Him God will bless,

God's revelation is quite adequate; and He has never left                      His saints have proved His faithfulness.


3 0 8                                        T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R


                                                                        Church Order is only half of the original article. The article

                                                                        originally in its entirety read as follows :
11    D E C E N C Y   a n d   O R D E R   11
                                                                            "The vv&istev-s  shali  do th& &most  to the end that the

                                                                        father present his child fol; baptism And in chmhes  where
                 Presentation For Baptism                               the child is sponsored by a godfather OY witness (w?~ich

                                                                        usage is optional and cannot easily  be changed) it is vight
      "The  Ministev-s  shall do theiv,  u&most  to the end that the    that such persons be of a pure faith and godly walk."
@her  present his child for Baptimz."
                                            -Article 57, D.K.O.             This throws an entirely different light on the matter. It

                                                                        shows that the term `fa&eY in this article is not intended
      In a divided home where the father and .mother  belong            to stand in contrast to the implied term "ytzotJzer"  so that the
to different churches, the question as to who shall have the            meaning is that the father in distinction from the mother shall
children baptized is a very touchy one. It causes bitter                present the children for baptism but the term "father" is in
arguments, strains relationships, stirs up ill feeling and in           contrast to the term "godfather" or "witness." The meaning
some cases leads to the spiritual ruination of the family. Not          then is that the "father"    (or parents) in distinction from
infrequently such questions are resolved by compromise                  the sponsors in baptism shall present their children for bap-
rather than by principle. Sometimes one of the dissenting               tism. If this is kept in mind it will be evident that the Church
parties will simply give in and join the other's church in              Order cannot be used to support the contention that one
order that an outward show of unity may be presented in                 parent has an automatic right to have the children baptized
baptism. Seldom is a matter of this nature that has been left           as overagainst the other parent. Baptism is a parental  re-
unresolved until the late date when children have to be                 sponsibility that must be met by the parents and cannot be
baptized ever settled on the basis of truth and principle.              laid aside.
Practical considerations press to the foreground and the
utilitarian motive usually prevails. At that late stage it is               In the second place we must point out that this original
no longer a question of what is the right and God-honoring              article of the Church Order was designed to combat a cer-
way but rather what is the most convenient way for me out               tain practice that in those days was prevalent in the Re-
,of the difficulty? Such a solution is only an invitation to still      formed Churches and which had been carried over from the
more serious evils because it is impossible that the blessing           Roman Catholic Church. This practice allowed sponsors to
-of God rests upon us when we walk in the way of our own                take the place of the parents when the children were bap-
convenience rather than pursuing the course of His com-                 tized. In the Romish  Church this was considered mandatory
mandments even though the latter course may involve us in               for it was held that the natural parents were really unfit to
many undesirable difficulties.                                          present their children for baptism inasmuch as children are
                                                                        born in a sinful state by reason of the sinfulness of the
      With this problem as such we are not at present con-              parents. The act of procreation was regarded as a necessary
cerned. That it is a very serious matter follows from the               evil. Rome held to a false antithesis between nature and.
fact that it not only may but often does lead to apostasy and           grace and applying this to the marriage relationship arrived
denying of the faith. Because of this the matter may never              at the erroneous conclusion that the bearing of children is a.
be taken lightly. It is for this reason alone that we mention           naturally evil act.
the problem here. Sometimes a very simple solution to the

difficulty is sought by appealing to the above quoted article               The. Reformed fathers rejected this antithesis and main-

of the Church Order. This article says that "the fa%ezcr  shall         tained the Scripturally correct antithesis of sin and grace-

present his child for baptism." Hence, there is no room for             Although they readily admitted that the children of believers.

argument at least where both parents are members of some                are conceived and born in sin, they repudiated the theory

Reformed church. The matter, so it seems, is settled for                that marriage and procreation are in themselves inherently

them by the church itself which has decreed that the father,            evil. Every relationship in life is contaminated with sin. This.

not the mother, shall present the children for baptism. The             cannot be denied but this actuality does not exclude the fact

mother has no choice in the matter. She is bound by the                 that the believer's marriage relation is sanctified by grace in

Church Order and must, therefore, submit her desires to                 Christ. In spite of this, however, many did not immediately

those of her husband.                                                   see anything objectionable in the practice of having sponsors.

      We must show, however, that this argument is not at all           in baptism and so this was allowed in the Reformed Churches.
legitimate. It is understandable that such a conclusion is              at first.

reached by a superficial reading of this article for it appears             The fifty-seventh article of the Church Order was origi-
on the surface that this is what it teaches. A careful study            nally designed to discourage this practice. We notice that the
of the background and history of this article will reveal, how-         wording of the article does not expressly forbid the use of
ever, that this conclusion is entirely unwarranted.                     sponsors in baptism. It is rather stated parenthetically that

      In the first place, the article we have in our present            "this usage is optional and cavmot easily be changed." Estab-


                                               T H E   S T A N D A R D   ` B E A R E R                                               309

lished customs and practices are difficult to uproot. It re-         baptism. Article 57 gives no support to either view of this

quires considerable time accompanied with continuous and             question.

sound instruction. The members of the church must first be               Likewise the question may be considered here as to
brought to see why certain practices are undesirable. To             whether it is mandatory that the father hold the child when
accomplish this the ministers (teaching elders of the church)        the latter is presented in baptism. This is the generally
are exhorted to do their utmost to bring the fathers (parents)       accepted custom but is there any principle involved in this.
to see that they should have their own children baptized.            On the surface Article 57 may appear to teach that this is
They should not be set aside or given a secondary place              mandatory but in actuality that is not the meaning nor the
in this matter. As the parents themselves would be brought           implication of "presenting the child." This phrase in the
to understand this, the undesirable practice of sponsors in          article means that the father, as the head of the family, shall
baptism would naturally lapse into oblivion.                         ask for baptism for his child at a meeting of the consistory

    Thirdly, it is important to observe that where this prac-        and he shall answer to the questions that are put to him in
tice was still allowed the sponsors chosen had to be persons         baptism with respect to the training and instruction of his
of "pu,ye  faith a.vzd  a godly  walk." They had to be worthy        children. We agree with the Church Order Commentary
sponsors. The churches had to be careful to see to it that           when it states that it is really.immaterial  as to who holds the
,only well-qualified persons were given this role so that when       child at the baptismal font although it is generally agreed
they promised to help the parents to instruct their children         that there is some symbolism in the presentation of the child
in the way of sound doctrine and piety, they would prove to          at the font by the father because he is the God-appointed
be of real assistance.                                               head of the family and first responsible party for its training.

    Finally, as this practice more and more fell into disuse,                                                                   G.V.d.B.

it was no longer felt necessary to retain these provisions in

the Church Order. The Reformed Churches of the Nether-

lands as late as 1905, however, still maintained the clause
concerning sponsors in baptism in their revised redaction of         From: NEWS FROM OUR CHURCHES -

the, Church Order. In 1914 the Christian Reformed Church                A men's quartette from Hudsonville Church is planning

in our own country dropped it and, consequently, it is also          to sponsor a hymnsing  in their church Easter Sunday eve-

omitted from our Church Order. The Church Order Com-                 ning, at 8 :30.

mentary by Momma  and Van Dellen  expresses the opinion                  Oak Lawn's Men's Society was host to the men of South
that "it might have been well to have retained this stricken         Holland, March 6. Rev. Heys of South Holland gave a
provision concerning sponsors." The reason cited for this            speech on "The Healing of the Wound of Babel."
is that in cases where the parents have both died or where

both mother and father are incompetent to assume the bap-               An anonymous quotation (Oak Lawn's bulletin) which

tismal vow it is sometimes still necessary to have sponsors          reads : "For  wolves to devour sheep is no wonder; but for

in baptism. With this opinion we disagree. The cases cited           sheep to devour one another is monstrous and astonishin!<"
are certainly such as may be classified as "en-ceptzion$aP  and      reminds one of the admonition in Gal. 5 :15.

we do not believe that the Church Order can or should be

designed or aim to cover every exception. It is sufficient to

state the rule that is to prevail in every normal circumstance
                                                                                              IN MEMORIAM
(i.e. parents a.v-e  to have their childven  ba,ptized)  and then

where and when the exception arises it can and must be de-              The Martha Ladies' Aid Society of the Hull Protestant Reformed
cided on the basis of its particular merit.                          Church wishes to express its sincere sympathy to our fellow- mem-
                                                                     ber, Mrs. Henry Hoekstra and family, in the loss of her

   In conclusion it may be stated yet that Article 57 of the                                   INFANT SON

Church Order in its present form does not touch upon various
                                                                     who lived only a few hours.
irrelevant matters that are related to the administration of

the sacrament of baptism. In light of the foregoing it should           "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the
be evident that the main element in this article is that it is       name of the Lord." Job 131.
                                                                                                     Rev. Jason L. Kortering, President
the responsibility and place of the parents to present their                                         Mrs. T. Jansma, Secretary
children in baptism. Thus, the question as to whether the

father should have the child baptized immediately, that is,

before the mother is sufficiently recovered to be with him in

the presentation of the child for baptism, is not touched upon                    My heart is fixed, 0 God,

here. This was the common practice in the Reformed                                  A grateful song I raise ;

Churches in the early years but today this custom has                             Awake, 0 harp, in joyful strains,

changed so that both parents are generally present at the                           Awake, my soul, to praise.


~    310                                             T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R

                                                                                 faith. By the "Articles of Religion" he- evidently refers to

      .AL.L   A R O U N D   U S ]                                                the "Anglican Catechism," a brief Catechism adopted by the
                                                                                 ,Anglican  Church in England in 1549 and officially revised in

                                                                                 1662. It is true that this Catechism is very brief. But it was.

                                                                                 intended as a short exposition of the main points of the doc-
     THE  VIEWS  OF  AN ECUMENICAL LEADER                                        trine of the Reformation over against the Roman Catholic
            Recently the name of Bishop James ,A. Pike, a bishop in              Church to be used by young people in confession of faith.
     the Protestant Episcopal Church, has appeared repeatedly                    It is put into question and answer form and contains the
     in the news. He became prominent at the time of the elec-                   main points of the truth which Pike denies, such as the doc-
     tion campaign of last year through his fierce opposition to                 trines of the trinity, the divinity of Christ, the work of atone-
     the election of john F. Kennedy as a worthy president of the                ment, the doctrine of the sacraments. It is undoubtedly be-
     United States. His views were based upon Kennedy's Cath-                    cause it maintains these cardinal doctrines that Pike speaks
     olicism.                                                                    sneeringly of it.

            More recently, he made the headlines once again in con-                 But the Bishop goes on to define and defend his own

     nection with the ecumenical movement. It was in Bishop                      views with respect to these truths. He speaks of the Gospel

     Pike's Grace Cathedral in San Francisco that Dr. Eugene                     as set forth in Scripture appearing in the form of a myth.

     Blake made his startling proposals to merge into one large                  The story of the garden of Eden is a myth, and Pike writes:

     denomination the Protestant Episcopal Church, the United                            I do not lmow  a single member of the Anglican communion
     Presbyterian Church in the United States, the ,Methodist                          -Bishop, presbyter, deacon or layman-who believes this
                                                                                       story literally.
     Church and the United Church of Christ. This "super-
                                                                                    The ascension of Christ into heaven is also a myth:
     denomination to which we have referred before in this
     column, if formed, would number about 20,000,OOO  people or                         We no longer believe in a three-level universe: a flat earth,
                                                                                       Hell below and Heaven above . . . And as for "sitteth  on the
     about one-third of the-protestant population of this country.                     right hand of the Father," I simply remind you that in certain
     It was Bishop Pike who immediately jumped to the sup-                             Oriental areas of the Church the phrase is `bn the left hand
                                                                                       of the Father,`" since in their cultures the latter is the place
     port of Dr. Blake by calling the proposal the most inspiring                      of honor.

     suggestion he had heard from any Protestant source in a                        So is the doctrine of the virgin birth of Christ and even
     long time. He thus put himself and his bishopric on record                  the truth of the trinity only a myth.
     as being in favor of it.       Since then he has worked to put in                   The 4th century church leaders, imbued with a dated Greek
     motion the ecclesiastical machinery which will produce such                      philosophy, tried to organize God's revelation of himself into
                                                                                       categories which thoughtful people of that time could grasp.
     a merger.                                                                         They did a good job. They gathered up God's true revelation
            But now again Bishop Pike appears in the news. Only                        of himself as Creator (we might say "Evolver"), Redeemer
                                                                                       (we might say "Healer"), and Sanctii?er  (we might say "Com-
     this time he is being charged as a heretic, and that by his                     mu&y-Builder") into `hypostases" or "personae" in one "sub-
     colleagues - ministers with him in the Protestant Episcopal                       stance."     But nobodjr  has thought in these terms for a long
                                                                                       time.
     Church. These cler,gymen,  mostly from Georgia, have ac-
                                                                                    It is obvious from all this that Bishop Pike has put him-
     cused the Bishop of "disbelief in the virgin birth of our Lord,
                                                                                 self into the camp of the Modernists. He has no faith left
     the doctrine of the Holy Trinity as stated by the church, and
                                                                                 at all. He does not accept the Bible as the Word of God..
     the necessity of salvation through Jesus Christ alone." Pike
                                                                                 He does not believe in the virgin birth, nor even in the truth
     has turned on his critics with a pastoral letter in which he
                                                                                 of the trinity. He believes nothing. His description of the
     attempts to defend himself. But his defense clearly shows
                                                                                 trinity is repulsive, and a denial of every point of the Chris-
     that the charges made against him are true in every respect.
                                                                                 tian faith. The colleagues of Bishop Pike in Georgia have
            First of all Pike attempts to defend himself by emphasiz-
                                                                                 every right to accuse him of heresy. And yet he claims that,.
     ing that within the Episcopal Church there is enough free-
                                                                                 although his mind has changed on these matters in the last
     dom to maintain his views without being judged a heretic.
                                                                                 ten years, and that he has moved away from the orthodox
     H e   w r i t e s :
                                                                                 position, his views are more true, or at least nearer the truth
                 We, unlike most principal Christian traditions, are not         than the orthodox views.
              bound to a particular set of concepts or form of words . . .
              It is true that we have a rather skimpy set of propositions,          There are several remarks that are in order.
              printed in the back of the Prayer Book, called the Artibles  of       In the first place, it is obvious that heresy always must
              Religion; but they are not a Confession of Faith; they
              represent the allergic reaction of our Church to "papists" on      first of all dispose of the creeds. This is true also of.  the
              the one hand and "puritans" on the other at a singular point       efforts of Pike to supplant the truth with some strange views
              in our history . . . Actually we take seriously the views of
              theologians and synods of all centuries - and precisely because    which are really no beliefs at all. He is deeply conscious of
              we "sit loose" to all of them.                                     the fact that he must get rid of the confessions if he is to be

            It is evident from this that Bishop Pike wants nothing to            successful. Therefore the creeds are certainly the prized pos-

     do with any creed except as these creeds may perhaps be                     sessions of the church to ward off all kinds of false doctrines,

     interesting musetim  pieces to look at occasionally to learn                and ignorance of the creeds is a' first step in the way of

     what others once before may have said concerning their                      apostasy.


                                            T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                 311

    In the second place, departures of the truth necessarily          church membership from the faith, the regime has also begun

lead to Modernism. It may take many years and decades,                to promote socialist marriage vows and burial services as
but the road is straight and sure and from it there is no             well. The result of this is that the church is diminishing

return. When a church denies one of the truths of Scripture,          rapidly in size.

it necessarily starts the long but inevitable way to a denial of          Besides there are many subtle pressures exerted against

all the truths.                                                       those who are members of the church. It is very difficult to

    In the third place, that Pike should be among the leaders         obtain jobs if one has not participated in the Communist

of this ecumenical movement inaugurated by Dr. Blake bodes            ceremonies; those who maintain their faith are usually put

ill for the movement. Not that the churches which Dr. Blake           on the bottom of the list to be placed in adequate housing as

and he suggested should be merged into one are much                   it becomes available ; they are sneered at by the more "for-

stronger than he, But a merger will certainly be the result           ward" looking citizens of the state, Thus only the older

.of adopting a basis which is the lowest common denominator           people usually attend church faithfully on the Lord's Day and

of all participants. If such a merger is tver consummated             the new generation that is coming up is turning its back on

under Pike's influence, it will certainly be nothing else but         the faith of their parents and leaving the church.

the false church. And it is reasonably certain that the church           According to the church leaders of East Germany there
does not have the moral and spiritual strength and courage            are several reasons for this. One reason is said to be that the
to purge itself of him and those who agree with him. What             leaders have not emphasized strongly enough the duty of the
the apostle John writes is uniquely applicable: "Beloved, be-         young people to remain faithful to their calling. They have,
lieve not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of       up to this point, been looking forward to the time when East
God: because many false prophets are gone out into the                and West Germany would be reunited and when the prob-
world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that            lems the church must now face would be solved. But re-
confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God :         unification now seems to be farther away than ever, and the
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come        church will have to face the fact that it must instill into its
in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist,    young people a deep sense of devotion to the church over-
whereof ye have heard that it should come ; and even now              against the Communist Party.
already is in the world." I John 4 :l-3.                                 Another factor is said to be that there is a continual

                                                                      stream of members of the church flowing into West Germany.
THE CHURCH [IN EAST GERMANY
   At the time of the Reformation the stronghold of                   In one week alone in January, 3,085 refugees asked for
Lutheranism  and one of the citadels of the Reformed faith            asylum in West Germany. And although many Germans are
were in what is now known as East Germany, and are there-             staying because they feel a responsibility for their church,
fore under the political control of the Communists. In recent         nevertheless it stands to reason that this steady exodus
times the Lutheran and German churches have united in East            weakens the church. But as the Communists are more suc-
Germany to form The Evangelical Church in Germany,                    cessful in luring the youth away from the church, and as the
which denomination embraces five-sixths of the population.            church is weakened through this exodus, the danger of overt
Since World War II and the take over of Communism, this               persecution grows. Now already the church meets resistance
church has had an intense struggle which has increased with           at every turn and finds recognition virtually impossible in any
the years.                                                            phase of life involving the government. In the words of
   In a recent issue of Chtistianity  Today there is a report of      Christianity Today: "This situation may well be the making
how the Communists are attempting to take over the church             of martyrs."
and the church's functions. For one thing, the Communist                 It is difficult to determine how far the church in East
regime has substituted its own ceremonies to take the place           Germany has drifted from the truth of the Reformation,
of the ceremonies of the church. It has what is called a              especially in its affiliation with the Lutheran Churches. But
"socialist name-calling ceremony" which is meant to take              it is evident that the church there is in deep trouble, that the
the place of baptism. This was introduced in 1955, and since          battle against atheistic Communism is in danger of being lost.
that time the number of those who are not baptized by the             And it seems that at least part of the trouble lies in the fact
church but who participate .instead  in this govermnent               that the church has not trained its covenant youth in the fear
ceremony has steadily grown. In 1955 about 15% of the                 of the Lord, nor inspired its children with a zeal for the cause
children were said to have taken part; in 1956 about 25%;             of Christ.

last year about 65%.                                                     There is no doubt a note of warning here- a warning
   In the place of confirmation or confession of faith and first      which the church in America can very well take to heart.
communion, the Communists have substituted what they call             Already now the dark clouds of trouble loom on the horizon
"youth dedication ceremony." The Communists claim that                of history, and it appears as if the storms which the church is
about SS% of the young people now follow the Communists               undergoing in other parts of the world will soon break forth
and no longer make confession of faith in the church.                 in fury over our own heads. It is well that in these days of

    Because of their success in these attempts to turn the            comparative peace and quietness we prepare ourselves and


312                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   BEARE-R

the youth  of the covenant in God's church-prepare them                                Hope's Consistory's last news letter regarding `the work

intensely and faithfully in the truth ; prepare thern, to fight                     of their Pamphlet Committee reported that they have pub-

the good fight of faith armed with the weapons of spiritual                         lished and mailed out six pamphlets to date. The mailing list

warfare so that when this storm does break our youth will                           has grown to 325 addresses in three states and four foreign

not be led to depart from the ranks of the saints and from                          countries.    The responses are coming in at a satisfactory

the cause of Christ to join with the enemies of Christ's king-                      rate. Letters asking questions or criticizing the contents are
d o m .                                                           H. Hanko          answered by the committee. It's certainly heartening to learn

                                                                                    that our churches, either singly (as in Hope), or in combina-  ,1

                                                                                    tion (as in Doon, Hull and Edgerton) are zealous in the'
I/----iiiiiS FROM OUli CHURCHES 11                                                  work of witnessing for the Truth- Mission work in the

                `All t?ze saints sahte  tlzee . . ." P                              highest sense of the word.
                                                              HIL. 4:21
L.                                                                                     -April 6 is the scheduled date for the Oak Lawn's Men's
                                                        March 20, 1961              Society sponsored lecture by the Rev. H. Hoeksema in Oak
       Yea;r  Book changw  : Hope Church, Clerk: David Meu-                         Lawn Church.

lenberg,  1743 Moelker, S. W., Grand Rapids, Mich.;  Treas.,                           The Priscilla Society of First Church sponsored a "Ben-
John J. Dykstra, 3343 Flamingo, S.W., Grand Rapids, Mich.  ;                        efit Coffee" in the church parlors for the Christian Founda-
Kalamazoo, Sec'y-Treas., William Clason, 1317 Pinehurst,                            tion for Handicapped Children Wednesday morning, March
Kalamazoo, Mich.                                                                    15. The proceeds go towards the purchase and upkeep of
       The last issue of ,`Zl%e  Reformed Witness was written by                    busses used to transport the students to the Children's Re-
Rev. G. Van Baren  of Doon,  Iowa. The subject of the                               treat School.
pamphlet was, "Hold Fast To The Truth." The Society for
Protestant Reformed Action has decided to begin another                                The Sunday School Teachers' Board meeting was held in
project of larger scope. Besides distributing pamphlets, like                       First Church parlors March 12. The Mass meeting was held
that mentioned above, in the community of Hull, Doon  and                           in the same church March 17. The speaker was Rev. H.
Edgerton, they are planning to distribute them in the areas                         Hoeksema who spoke on the Sunday School, its teachers, and
of Tripp, Menno,  and Scotland, South Dakota. Two more                              the attention which must be obtained from the children in
pamphlets are scheduled to come off the press in the im-                            the classes. It truly was an inspirational speech and will, no
mediate future, one by Rev. Woudenberg of Edgerton, and                             doubt, serve the teachers well because of the instruction em-
the other by Rev. Kortering of Hull. This work of their                             bodied in the speech.

Society is of considerable help to our Home Missionary who                             Seminarian D. Engelsma has been given permission to,

is working the South Dakota area mentioned. After the suc-                          speak "a word of edification" in our churches. His assign-
cessful lecture given by Rev. H. Hanko recently the Society                         ments have been reported in many of our church bulletins,

plans to sponsor more lectures of that type and quality.                            and by word of mouth we learn that his messages have  been

       C~LX&S West  met in South Holland, March 15 and 16.                          well received and appreciated. This fact has relieved the
Rev. H. Veldman presided and Rev. G. Vanden  Berg                                   minister shortage in our denomination to a degree. Yozt~tg
recorded the minutes. The rather lengthy meeting was .in                            men - are you remembering the need for ministers in our
part due to the treatment of a protest of a member of one of                        churches ?

the churches which was treated in great detail-another in-                             The Ladies' School Auxiliary of South Holland-Oak Lawn!
dication of the truth that we continue to struggle in the midst                     Churches scheduled a program centering around the theme
of the church that is very imperfect in the world. Various                          "The Covenant." From Oak Lawn's bulletin we gather that
subsidy requests were received and treated, and Classis                             the children of their church aged 6 to 8 were to take part iz
adopted a form to be submitted to the coming Synod  in con-                         that event for they were to meet at Rev. G. Tianden  Berg's
nection with the travelling expenses of our Synodical  dele-                        house to be transported to South Holland for rehearsal of
gates. Classical appointments were .scheduled  as follows : For                     that program to be given March 17.
Pella:   A p r i l   1 6 - J .   A .   Heys;  M a y   1 4 - G .   V a n   Baren;
                                                                                       From the Reformed Witness Hour Program Committee
June 11 - G. Vanden  Berg ; July 9 - B. Woudenberg ; Aug.
                                                                                    we received the following schedule for the last four Sundays.
13-J. Kortering; Sept. 17 -H. H. Kuiper. For Isabel-
                                                                                    in April: Rev. M. Schipper,  pastor of Southwest Church in
Fol-bes: April 9, 16, 23 -G. Van Baren;  April 30, May 7,
                                                                                    Grand Rapids, will fill the "radio pulpit," the first message,.
14 - B. Woudenberg ; May 28, June 4, 11 - J. Kortering ;
                                                                                    April 9, being, "The Binding of Satan," and will be folIowe
June 25, July 2-H. H. Kuiper ; July 16, 23 -J. A. Heys;
                                                                                    with, "The Reign of the First Resurrection Saints," "The
Aug. 20, 2?--- G. Vanden  Berg; Sept. 10, 17-H. Veld-
                                                                                    Loosing of Satan and the Battle of Armageddon," and, "The
man ; Sept. 24, Oct. 1 -R. C. Harbach. The next meeting
                                                                                    Judgment of the Resurrected."
of Classis West will be held in Doon,  Iowa, the third Wed-

nesday in September, D.V.                  Rev. H. Veldman,  reporter.                 . . . . see you in church.                           J.M.F,


                                                                                                  !


