    VOLUMYE  ,x.xXx                             MAY 15, 1963 - GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN-                             NUMBER  16


                                                                         And here is the easy way: "God does not call ministers

              M E D I T A T I O N                                    anymore!"
                                                                         Do I deny that God must call a minister? Of course not.

                                                                     I would say that the man who becomes a minister without

                RETURNEDTOTHELORD                                    the Divine call is the worst kind of wretch imaginable.
                                                                     When these wretches come before the great Judgment Seat
     "For this child I prayed; and the Lord bath  given me           in the day of Judgment they will hear God say to them:
          m.y petition which I asked                                 "The prophets prophesy lies in My Name: I sent them not,
                                         of Him: therefore also I
          have lent him to tht? Lord; as long as he liveth he        neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them:
          shall  be lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the          they prophesy unto you false vision and divination, and a
          Lord there." I Sam. 1~27, 28                               thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart." See Jer.
                                                                     14: 14.

   There is a grievous shortage of ministers in our churches.            And Jesus said: "Many will say to Me in that day,  Lord,
And, as I read in various church papers, this shortage is            Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? `and in Thy
universal.                                                           name have cast out devils? and' in Thy name done many
   I am supposed to write about this, and I will, in the             wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I
form of a meditation.                                                never knew you: depart from Me; ye that work iniquity."

                                                                     Matt. 7:22,  23.
   I said that this shortage is "grievous." And that is cor-

rect. As long as I have lived, and that is sixty-eight years,            Some of these wretches were even called by Jesus, and
it never was this way. There were always plenty ministers            they also prophesied, but nevertheless, they were cast out..

in the churches where I worshipped: in Holland, Germany,             Take, for example Judas, and tremble. Jesus called him,

England, and here in the States. Sometimes it was even               knowing that he was. a reprobate, to be an apostle of the
said that there were too many young men seeking the Holy             Lord, in order to show to the whole world that when a.

Ministry.. Also in our own churches.                                 reprobate comes very close to Jesus and the Gospel, he

   But those days seem to be past.                                   reveals all the filth of his natural heart. Remember the
   There are plenty young men in the Church of Christ.               sign, the devilish sign: Whom I shall kis, He it is: take
                                                                     Him!
   There also are plenty young men with bright and clear
heads.                                                                   No, I certainly would not rule out the Divine. calling;
   God also regenerates many young men, and also gives               to the ministry.

conversion and faith, so that they confess the name of their             But there is much more to the story of a prophet, of a

Savior. But no, they do not give themselves to the Holy              minister of the Word.

Ministry.                                                                God works through means.
   Results?
                                                                        Listen again to Jesus: "The harvest truly is plenteous,.
   Many vacant churches. Reading services, sometimes
                                                                     but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the:
weeks on end.
                                                                     harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest.`!`
   Is it not grievous?         -                                     Mat?.  9:37,  38.

                          0 0 0 n                                        Did not Jesus know that .a true minister of the Word.

   I know, I know, there is a easy way out. I have heard             must be called by God, both internally and externally? Of

it said many times.                                                  course He did. He knows everything.

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


      But Jesus knew that His God and Father works through
-_                                                                    And how long shall Samuel stand in the house of his
the means.                                                         God?
      And the general means is certainly that the whole               Listen again to the Godfearing Hannah, she will tell
church prays the Lord of the harvest that He will send             you: "as long as he live&"
forth laborers into His harvest.
                                                                      Yes, I know, that is a dogma of the church, of the true
      Evidently this has not been done.
                                                                   church. The calling of God is without repentance. Once
      And evidently this has not been done for a long time.        a minister, always a minister.
For the call of God starts very early. And that leads us
                                                                      But this truth of all the ages lived in the heart of this
to our text.
                                                                   mother. It was not Samuel that said it; it was his mother.

                                                                   And it belonged to the-means which God employed.
                              0 0 0 0
                                                                      Can you imagine how Hannah educated little Samuel?

      0, beloved reader, Samuel was a splendid example of          I can, Oh, often, very often she told him in &ildlike

what a prophet, a minister should be.                              language how she had struggled with the Lord to obtain

      And his beginning, as far as the means are. concerned,       this son; and how she had vowed a vow unto the Almighty.
was his Godfearing mother Hannah.                                  Often she would tell him: I promised the Lord God of
      And here is Hannah: `<For  this child I prayed!"             Israel that you would stand in the House of God all the
                                                                   days of our life!
      It has been said that behind every great man stands a
great woman. Looking at Hannah I would almost believe                 Beloved mothers! Hannah prepared her Samuel to live
it. For great she was and is.                                      in Shiloh.      I :
      When young girls marry how many can say with Han-               You can tell. When he heard the call of the Lord time
nah: for this child I prayed? On good authority I have             and again and did not know, he listened obediently to the
heard the filthy contrast: "We will not have any children          advice of Eli,. and when God called again, he said: "Speak;
until we pay for our furniture!" A far cry.                        for Thy servant heareth!"
      But here you see how God works through the means                Now listen, beloved reader: That first  speech to God
He ordained. We are to pray for His blessings.                     Almighty became his whole life's program. How he listened
                                                                   to the speech of God! And Israel was blessed through this
      Well, the Lord gave Hannah her petition: the child
                                                                   Verbi  Dei minister.
was born.

      And publicly confessing her struggle, she named him

Samuel. And that name means: `Asked of God."                          And the mother was blessed.

      But that is not all.                                            If you would approach the extent of her blessedness you

       Listen to Hannah: "`he shall be lent to the Lord," or,      just read her song of praise in I Sam. 2:1-10.
literally: "he whom I have obtained by petition shall be              And this mother of one of the most glorious ministers
returned to the Lord."                                             of all time continues her singing in the Paradise of God.

      That is the great thing about Hannah with respect to                                 0 D 0 0

her petition and the gift of the child.                               And Samuel?

      He shall be returned to the Lord!                               Well, the text. says of him: "And he worshipped the

      What does that mean?                                         Lord there."
      It means that he shall be dedicated to the service of God       To worship is to enumerate all the beauties of the Lord
                                                                   God, to tell of His majesty, to sing of His wonders all the
in the most intimate way possible: he shall stand in the
House of God and serve Him in the Word of God!                     day long. To do so before the face of all Israel, so that they
                                                                   also may learn the praises of the Lord.
       Oh! it is a great thing to pray for children from the
                                                                      To worship is to begin your everlasting work in heaven
Lord.
                                                                   here on earth.
       It is also a great thing if the Lord hears you and fills                            B 0 0 0
your hearts and arms with children.

       It is inexpressibly sweet when you hear your flesh and         Mothers! Daughters of Jerusalem! Are you not jealous
blodd confess the Name of God in His house. When and               of Hannah?
:if they do, there is singing in your hearts.                         Elkanah's, ye men of Israel! Do you look for such brides
       But what is sweeter to the taste than to sit in church      as Hannah?
and hear your son preach the wondrous Gospel of the                   And when you have found her, do you join with her to
Promise?                                                           approach the throne of grace together in order to petition

                                                                   our Father in heaven for a Samuel?

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


   If and when you do, you shall be blessed in such a deed.

   Only eternity shall reveal how many blessed ministers                                  T&E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
                                                                          Semi-monthly, except monthly during June, July and Aug&
were born from the struggles of a mother in Israel.                        Published by the REFOFWED  FREE PUSLISHING  ASSOCIATION
   Always remember: God uses and blesses the means.                                                   Editor - REV. HERMAN HOEXSEMA
   It is sad to say, but there are many mothers and fathers               Communications relative to contents should be addressed to
                                                                          Rev. H. Hoeksema, 1139 Franklin St., S. E., Grand Rapids 7,
who are duly concerned about their offspring, but it is a                 Mich.  Contributions will be limited to 300 words and must be

concern about their carnal advancement.                                                                     neatly written or typewritten.
                                                                          All church news items should be addressed to Mr. J. M. Faber,
   My boy or boys must have a good education, the ,best                                    1123 Cooper, S. E., Grand Rapids 7, Mich.

education.                                                                 Announcements and Obituaries with the $2.00 fee included
                                                                          must be mailed 8 days prior to issue date, to the address below:
   In the meantime, while he is studying and struggling to                 All matters relative to subscriptions should be addressed to

become thoroughly prepared for his life's task, they come                              Mr. James Dykstra, 1326 W. Butler Ave., S. E.
                                                                                                                 Grand Rapids 7, Michigan
to the door and ask for a gift for God. Sure, sure, sure,
                                                                             RENEWAL: Unless a definite request for discontinuance is
here is a ten dollar bill: you can even get twenty dollars!               received it is assumed that the subscriber wishes the subscrip-
                                                                            tion to continue without the formality of a renewal order.
The Chinese and the Africans must have missionaries and                                                Subscription price: $5.00 per year
ministers.    For the Theological School? Oh yes, indeed,                       Second Clus  postage paid ut Grand Rapids, Mich?gan

here is my donation! Give the professors and the students

my best regards! But my son? No, no no! My son is going

to be a bricklayer, a carpenter, an industrialist, a great                                                                C O N T E N T S
business man. You can get my money, but not my son. It
never entered my mind, or: my heart!                               hhXTAi-ION  -
                                                                             Returned to the Lord _.__............................................................
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               361
   Yes, that is right. It never entered my heart. There is                               Rev. G. Vos

the trouble.
                            11 0 0 0                               EDITORIALS -

                                                                             Editorial               Notes            ._... .._ . . . .._..........................................................  364

   Are there any Godfearing young men who read this?                         Rank Arminianism                                in Calvin Seminary.. . . . . _. _. . . . . .364
   Yes, it is late on the calendar, It is very  late. It should                          Rev. H. Hoeksema

have begun with your mom. But how about the Holy Min-
                                                                   SPECIAL  AFWICLE-
istry in your church? Are you not concerned about the fact                   The Atonement of Christ According to Dordrecht. . . ,366
that we are woefully short of ministers?                                                Rev. H. C. Hoeksema

   Would it not be heaven for you to say: "Speak; for Thy
servant heareth"?                                                  OUR  DOCTRINE-
                                                                             The Doctrine of the Church . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
   And heaven, with its joyful angels would say: Amen!
                                                                                        Rev. H. Hoeksema
                                                          G.V.

                                                                   A CLOUD OF WITNESSES-
                                                                             The Great Altar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

                     CALL TO SYNOD                                                      Rev. B. Woudenberg


   According to the decision of the last Synod, the Con-           FROM HOLY WRIT -

&tory of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Grand                       Exposition of I Timothy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
                                                                                        Rev. G. Lubbers
Rapids, Michigan, notifies the churches that the 1963 Synod

of the Protestant Reformed Churches will convene on                INHISFEAR-

Wednesday, June 5, D.V., at 9:00 A. M. in the above men-                     My Father's World (5) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,377

tioned church.                                                                          Rev. J. A. Heys

   The pre-synodical service will be held on Tuesday, eve-
                                                                   CONTENDING FOR THE FMTE-
ning, June 4, at SO0 P. M. at First Church. The Rev. C.                      The Church and the Sacraments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
Hanko, president of the previous Synod, will preach at this                             Rev. H. Veldman

service.

   Synodical delegates are requested to gather with the            DECENCY AND ORDER-
                                                                             The Censure of Office-Bearers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381
Consistory before the service.                                                          Rev. G. Vanden  Berg
   Those in need of lodging are to contact Mr. P. Decker,

108 Mayfield  Ave., N. E., Grand Rapids 3, Michigan.               ALLARouNDus-

                  Consistory of the First Protestant Reformed                The Blueprint of a n Antichristian Kingdom.. . . . ..383

                  Church                                                     Southern                Baptist Controversy                                  Goes           On . . 384
                                                                                        Rev. H. Hanko
                      Rev. C. Hanko, President

                      P. Decker, Secretary
                                                                   r,-

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


                                                                      the transgression but never the transgressor." This implies,
II              E D I T O R I A L S .                                 of -course, that Prof. Stob does not agree with the poet of
                                                                      Ps. 31. In fact, he condemns him. And so does Prof. Dekker.

                                                                         The same truth concerning the hatred of God against

                          Editorial Notes                             persons is expressed in Ps. 115 "The Lord trieth  the

                                                                      righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his
       1.    The news column will not appear in this issue, due to
                                                                      soul hate&" The contrast in this verse between the righ-
the serious and extended illness of our news editor, brother
                                                                      teous and the wicked stands in bold relief.    It means that
John M. Faber. Please continue to send all news tiems to
                                                                      God loves the righteous only and in Him there is no love
his address, so that the regular news column may appear
                                                                      for the wicked whatsoever. Besides, the manifestation of
in the next issue, D.V.
                                                                      this hatred of God against the wicked is expressed in the

      2. The special article on "The Atonement -~of  Christ           verse that immediately follows: "Upon the wicked he shall

according to Dordrecht"  was originally a lecture for the             rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest:

League of Men's Societies. At their request it is published           this shall be the portion of their cup."
here, and through the cooperation of the. League and the                 There is much more in Scripture expressing that the
R.F.P.A. is will appear in pamphlet form in the near future.          Lord hates not only the evil and wickedness, but also the

                                                                      evil-doer and the wicked. Take, for instance, Prov. 3:32-34:

                                                                      "For the froward is abomination to the Lord: But his secret

                                                                      is with the righteous. The curse of the Lord is in the house
        Bank Arminianism in Calvin Seminary                           of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just.

                                                                      Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace to the
      In my last editorial on the above mentioned subject, I
                                                                      lowly."
promised that I would consider the interpretation of Rom.

9:13 as it is presented by Prof. Dekker in agreement with               As to the term hate in the New Testament, it occurs sev-

Prof. Henry Stob, one of the Editors of the Reform&                   eral times, not only in regard to things but also in respect

~Journal.                                                             to persons. We are, of course, especially interested in the

                                                                      text of Rom. 9:13: "As it is written, Jacob have I loved but
      As the reader will, no doubt, remember, the latter wrote
                                                                      Esau have I hated." And this is also the case with the arti-
an article on the subject: "Does God Hate Some Men?" I
promised that I would offer my criticism of that article, but         cle by Prof. Stob with which Prof. Dekker agrees. Writes
                                                                      the former:
I first would like Prof. Stob to give us a clear and Scriptural

definition of the terms `hate" and "hatred." Now, however,              "But what then of Esau? Did God hate him? Not, surely,

seeing that Prof. Dekker offers an explanation of Rom. 9:13           in any sense in which hatred is distinguished from non-

and also refers to Prof. Stab's  article on the above men-
                                           ._..                       election and just judgment. In the passage in Malachi the
tioned subject, I, must needs begin to criticize, not only            primary reference is two nations -Israel and Edom. The

Prof. Dekker's view in regard to Rom. 9:13, but also that             prophet shows how in the course of history the people of

of Prof. Stob, in the hope that the latter will still give me         Israel have prospered under the blessing of God, and how,

his definition of the terms "hatred" and "hate."                      on the other hand, the evil fortunes of Eddm have been in

      Now, let us first of all, consult the lexicons to find out      consonance with its national perverseness and misconduct.

what, according to them, is the meaning of the word                   Back of these historical actualities of national prosperity
"hate."       As I already mentioned, the Hebrew word for             and adversity lies the divine determination to convey his

hate is "sanxee."  This verb, according to the lexicon, means         grace and revelation to the world through the agency of one

"to hate" and it adds that it signifies "to hate persons" or          people only, a people elected, not because it was any better
"men." It refers to Ps. 56: "The foolish shall not stand in           suited to this purpose than any other or more deserving of
thy sight: thou hatest  all workers of iniquity." Remember            this honor, but simply because God freely choose (chose? -
that Prof. Stob and also Prof. Dekker take the position that          H.H.) it to be the initial arena of His self-revelation and

God hates no man: He hates sin but not the sinner. In the             the eventual vehicle of His disclosure to all the world. In
above quoted text, however, the Word of God plainly                   order to grasp this grand divine design and even to see
teaches that God hates wicked persons. The same is true               back of these historical arrangements the involvement of
,of Ps. 31:7: "I have hated them that regard lying vanities."         individuals in the same sort of elective and reprobative
This verse, it is true, does not mention the name of God              structure, it is not necessary to ascribe to God a misan-
but refers to the poet as the subject of hatred. But this             thropic disposition. Which is to say that in order to account
makes no essential difference, for, according to Stob, "The           for reprobation of individuals it is not necessary, or even

sin we must always hate, the sinner never. Remembering                proper, to take recourse. to the concept of hate of persons
this we will be imitators of our heavenly Father who.hates            in God. Cannot the God of love, in His sovereign freedom,

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


however mysterious this sovereignty and freedom may be                4:. .-T.his is also the correct interpretation of Meyer in

to us, elect some to eternal life and not elect others while       his Commentary on the epistle to the Romans. Writes he:

nevertheless remaining the God of love? His procedures                "`This utterance took place in conformity with the ex-
we may not be able to understand, but why pretend to un-           pressly testied  (in Malachi 123, freely cited from the
derstand them by referring to a dispositional hate in God,         LXX.) love of God toward Jacob and abhorrence of Esau.'
the hate of persons which the love commandment of our              Thus, that  utterance agrees with this. But just like Paul, so
Lord proscribed? If we so refer it, are we not then teeter-        the prophet himself intends by Jacob and Esau, not the two
ing on the brink of blasphemy? Are we not then  planting           nations of Israel and Edom, but the persons of the two
at the center of the universe an arbitrary and essentially         brothers; God loved the former and hated the latter (and
destructive negativity towards personal creatures which            therefore has exalted Israel and destroyed Edom). . . .
grossly contradicts the central affirmations of the Gospel?        Hated, moreover, is not to have a merely privative sense

   "As for me, I think that to ascribe hate of persons to          ascribed to it: not to lozje  or to loose  bss . . . which is not
God is to pervert the very thought of God. I believe that          admissible even in Matt. 6:24, Luke 14:26.  16:13,  John 12:25

we are emphatically not permitted by the total witness of          (see against this and similar attempts to weaken its force,

the Scriptures to say that God hates men in any distinct           Lamping); but it elrpresses  the opposite of the positive

and significant meaning of that term. And I contend that           `love,' viz. positive hatred. And as that love toward Jacob
every responsible theology is called to purge itself of that       must be conceived of completely independent of foreseen
idea."                                                             virtues, so also this hatred towards Esau as completely in-

  I quoted Prof. Stob extensively and completely in order          dependent of foreseen sins. . . . Both were founded solely
to do him justice and also to give our readers as clear as         on the free elective determination of God; with whom, in
possible an idea of what the professor teaches and how he          the necessary connection of that plan which He had freely
would exegete Rom. 9:13.                                           adopted for the process of theocratic development, the
                                                                   hatred and rejection of Esau were presupposed through
  As to the latter, namely his exegesis of the text, I have the
                                                                   their opposite, namely, the free love and election of Jacob
Lollowing  remarks:
                                                                   to be the vehicle of the theocracy and its privileges, as the
   1. First of all, it is evident that, instead of explaining      reverse side of this love and choice, which the history of
the text, he begins by contradicting it. For he writes:            Edom brought into actual relief."
"Did God hate him? Not, surely, in any sense in which
hatred is distinguished from non-election and just judg-              5. Moreover, we must not forget the context in which
ment." Whatever this last may mean, it is evident that he          vs. 13 occurs, both the preceding and following context.

contradicts the text: "God loved Jacob, and he hated Esau."           In the immediately preceding verses the apostle has

   2. He does not take into account the sharp contrast in          shown that not even all the children of Abraham were real,
the text between love and hatred. Some exegetes would              elect children of God, but only the children of the promise
like to explain the term `hate" in this as well as other texts     were counted for the seed. This was true of the child of the
as meaning "love less." Cf. Thayer's Lexicon in Zuco. But          promise which was born of Sarah, and this was again true of
this is an arbitrary interpretation, especially in view of the     Rebeccah,  for the revelation of God unto her was that "the
fact that the text points to the sharp contrast between love       elder shall serve the younger." And this meant, according
and hatred. Surely, "love" in the text refers to redemptive        to vs. 11, that "the children being not yet born, neither hav-
love which results in the perfect fellowship between God           ing done any good or evil, that the purpose of God accord-
and His people. And hatred, therefore, refers to the very          ing to election might stand, not of works but of him that
opposite and cannot mean "love less." This sharp contrast          calleth." And it is in this connection that the apostle quotes       7
Prof. Stob as well as Prof. Dekker simply ignores.                 the text from Malachi: "As it is written, Jacob have I
                                                                   loved, but Esau have I hated." This, therefore, shows very
 i 3. Prof. Stob refers to Malachi from which Rom. 9:13
                                                                   pllainly that God did not love Jacob because of any good-
is a quotation. He tries to explain that the text in Malachi,
                                                                   nes or virtue that might be in him, nor did God hate Esau.
and, therefore, also in Romans, does not refer to the per-
                                                                   because of any sins he might have committed, but with an
sons of Jacob and Esau, but to the nations: Israel and Edom.
                                                                   absolutely sovereign love and an equally sovereign hatred.
But there is not even an inkling of truth in this interpreta-
                                                                   It also means that God's love of Jacob as well as His hatred
tion. Just read the text in Malachi 1:2,  3: "I have loved you,
                                                                   of Esau were unchangeable. For eternally He loved Jacob.
saith  the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us?           and eternally He hated Esau. It also implies that Prof..
Was not Esau Jacob's brother: yet I loved Jacob, and I
                                                                   Dekker is utterly mistaken when he maintains that God
hated Esau." It is quite clear that the names Jacob and
                                                                   loves all men. He loves the elect and them only!
Esau do not refer to the nations Israel and Edom, but very
definitely to the two brothers. And this is also the meaning          But also the following context is significant.

of the text in Rom. 9:13.                                             I am referring now especially to verses 14 to 18.


366                                          T H E   JSTANDARD  B E A R E R

    In vs. 14 the apostle asks a question and, at the same            THE ATONEMENT OF CHRIST ACCORDING

time emphatically answers it, The question is: "What shall                                TO DORDRECHT
we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God?" And the
answer is: "God forbid."                                              Introduction
                                                                         The rather obvious reason for a treatment of this sub-
       But it is at once evident that this "God forbid" cannot        ject at this time is that through Professor Harold Dekker's
be the final answer. How then does the apostle further                writings in the Reformed JozhrnuZ  it has become a pertinent
explain this answer? He does this, not by his own reason-             issue. Prof. Dekker holds to the proposition that God loves
ing, but by two quotations from the Word of God. In other             all mere. He maintains, further, that there is only one love
words, instead of he himself trying to defend the righteous-          of God, and that this one love of God is redemptive,
ness of God in loving Jacob and hating Esau, He lets God              though, strange to say, he does not maintain that it is
Himself speak.                                                        redeeming. In this connection, it naturally follows that he

       The first quotation is from Ex. 33:19  where the Lord          must say something about the atoning death of Christ. And
says to Moses, according to the translation here: "I will             his -position on this score is that the atonement of Christ
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have                 is unlimited, universal, for all men. At this point Dekker
compassion on whom I will have compassion." Remember                  makes a four-fold distinction. He teaches that the atone-
that this is God's explanation of the fact that He loved              ment is unlimited in three senses, namely, in respect to its
Jacob. But in this explanation, mark you well, God merely             sufficiency,  in respect to its availability, and in respect to
emphasizes His absolute sovereignty. It is His absolute               the divine desire. In one respect the atonement is limited
sovereign right to love whom He wills. For that reason the            to the elect, namely, as to its sating  efficacy.
apostle explains further in vs. 16: "So-then it is not of him            My second reason for treating this particular subject is
that willeth, nor of him that nmneth, but of God that                 that Prof. Dekker has maintained that his position on the
sheweth mercy."                                                       atonement is the position of the Canons of Dordrecht. He
                                                                      has appealed especially to Canons II, 8, claiming that this
       But this passage merely emphasizes that God is sover-          article proves that Dort dealt only with the question of the
eign in loving Jacob. May the same sovereignty of God be              "efficacious application of saving grace,? and in no other
applied to His hatred of Esau? To prove this the apostle              sense dealt with the question of the design of the atone-
makes another quotation from Scripture, this time from                ment (cf. The Reformed Journal, December 1962, pp. 6 and
Ex. 9:16: "For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for             7). This, of course, is only a very limited aspect of Dek-
this same purpose have I raised thee up; that I might shew            ker's whole position.    But for more than one reason it is
my power in thee, and that my name might be declared                  also a very integral aspect of his stand. It concerns the
throughout all the earth." Now, we know from Scripture                question whether Prof. Dekker's explanation of the atone-
that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart from the very first,           ment is confessionally Reformed, or not. To this specrfic
so that he would not listen to Moses until, finally, he and           question we will devote our attention in the present essay.
all his host were destroyed in the Red Sea. This, then, the              For clarity's sake, I will immediately set forth my own
apostle applies to Esau.      Sovereignly he loved Jacob, and         position in regard to this fundamental issue, a position

sovereignly He hated Esau, just as sovereignly he hardened            which I hope to prove in this essay. My position is that the

Pharaoh's heart and led him to destruction,                           only atonement of which Dort knows and for which it

       And, hence, the apostle concludes in vs. 18: `Therefore        leaves room is an efficacious  one, both as far as its redemp-
                                                                      tive (and redeeming) character is concerned, and as far
hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom
                                                                      as its application and appropriation is concerned. This was
he will he hardeneth."
                                                                      precisely the issue in the conflict with the Arminians which
       And now I ask Prof. Stab and also Prof. Dekker: is it, in      was decided at Dordrecht. The question was: is the atone-
the light of Scripture, td be maintained that God hates no            ment of Christ effectual both objectively (as far as its merit
person, but He loves all men and only hates his sin?                  goes) and subjectively (as far as its application goes), "6r

       If you still do, I maintain that you are militating against    is it ineffectual- in which case it is not atonement or re-
and openly denying the Word of God.                          H.H.     demption at all? The former is the Reformed position; the
                                                                      latter was the Arminian. Dart knew only of a limited and

                                                                      effectual atonement, for the elect alone. If the Arminian

                                                                      position of a real atonement for all men is correct, then
                        Announcement
                                                                      the Arminian must be a thorough-going universalist and
       The Standard Bearer Staff will meet Thursday evening,          must maintain too that all men are actually saved. The
June 5, in First Church in Grand Rapids. Will all the staff           only way out of this dilemma is to deny the objective reality
members please take note? The meeting begins at 8:00                  of atonement in the death of Christ, to empty that death of
`o'clock.                                                             Christ of its real atoning significance. The latter is preciselv

                                            J. A. HEYS, SecretarzJ    what the Arminians did, or tried to .do,  in several ways


                                                 T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A ' R E R                                               367


while they continued to speak of Christ's death and Christ's               men acknowledge God's righteousness and repent, and thus

atonement in the usual terms. And I maintain, and hope to                  be saved.

show, that this is precisely what Prof. Dekker's position                     But we must keep the two main elements of Article 2 of

compels him to do in his four-fold distinction of sufficiency,             the Arminians in mind. This is the view which our Canons

availability, desire, and efficacy. The Canons condemn any                 condemn; and they condemn it on both counts. If Prof.

such atonement in any universal sense; and they allow no                   Dekker's explanation of Canons II is correct, the Arminians
                                                    .-
room for Dekker's theory.                                                  and the Reformed would have been in agreement as far as

    With the above in mind, I propose to treat three ques-                 the atonement was concerned: a death of Christ for all, but
tions :                                                                    efficacious only in the believers, that is, the elect. And
                                                                           notice also the striking similarity between Dekker's and
 1. What do the Canons themselves say of the atonement?
                                                                           the Remonstrants' citing of passages like John 3:16 and i
 2. What light, if any, do the opinions of the various dele-               John 2:2.
     gates to the Synod of Dordrecht (both Dutch and                          Now what do the Canons teach over against this? Space
     foreign) shed on Dart's  understanding of the atone-                  will not permit to quote all the articles of Canons II as we
     ment?                                                                 discuss them; and I ask the reader to look these up as' I

 3. Can Prof. Dekker's three-fold universal atonement                      refer to them. In the Second Head of Doctrine we learn:

     stand in the light of Dort?                                              1) That atonement is a matter of strictest divine justice.

                                                                           (Art. 1) That justice means that God blesses and gives

The Canons  on the Atonement                                               life to the righteous, i.e., to those who are one hundred
    If we want to understand the Canons correctly, we must                 per cent in harmony with the standard of His own right-
view them in the light of what the Arminians taught. The                   eousness, His law, "Thou shalt love me." He curses and
Canons are specifically an answer to the teaching of the                   punishes those who break that law with temporal and eter-
Five Articles of the Remonstrants, adopted at Gouda in                     nal punishment, both in body and soul. Sin, therefore, is
1610, as well as to various writings of the Arminians. The                 guilt. It is debt, liability to punishment.
Arminian doctrine of Christ's death is contained in their                     2) The punishment demanded by God's justice cannot               .
second article, which reads as follows:                                    be escaped, and man cannot be restored to God's favor, un-
                                                                           less satikfaction  is made. Here we have a key word in the
      "That, agreeably thereto, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world,
           died for all men and for every man, so that he has obtained     understanding of atonement: satisfaction. It means to do
      for them all, by his death on the cross, reconciliation and de       enough, to make payment of a certain debt or obligation,
      forgiveness of sins; yet that no one actually enjoys this for-
      giveness of sins except the believer, according to the word of       according to the demand of justice. The Dutch is: vol-
      the Gospel of John 3:16:  `God so loved the world that he gave       doening,  genoegdoening.) The reader should keep this
      his only  begotten Son, that whosoever believeth iu him should
      not perish, but have everlasting life.' And  in the First Epistle    term in mind because it denotes a very exact relationship.
      of John 2:2: `And he is the propitiation for our sins;-and not       If satisfaction of a debt of one thousand dollars is made for
      for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world'."
                                                                           a man, that debt is no more! If satisfaction of the debt of
    Here, therefore, the Arminians teach: 1) That the atone-               sin is made. in any real sense for all men, that debt is no
ment of Christ is for every individual, so that Christ ob-                 more! And remember: if Christ died His atoning death for
tained reconciliation and forgiveness of sins for them all.                all men, then He satisfied for all men!
2) Yet that this atonement is e&z&al only in the believers.                   3) This satisfaction of the justice of God consists in pay-
And the Arminians would even say that it is e$e&ual  on&
                                                                           ment by a free and loving and obedient bearing of the wrath
in the elect, although they did not like to use that term too
                                                                           and curse due to us for sin. Article 4. Concerning this:
much. In Article 3 of the Remonstrance they even say that
                                                                              a) This satisfaction, payment of debt, we are unable to
man does not have saving faith of himself, though they add
                                                                           make in our own persons, and therefore we are unable to
in Article 4 that the grace that bestows saving faith is not
                                                                           deliver ourselves. Article 2.
irresistible. Later on, of course, the Arminians were forced
to develop their position, because they could not explain                     b) God's only begotten Son made this satisfaction for
ultimately why all men were not reconciled and forgiven                    us and in our stead. He was made sin and became a curse.
if Christ actually obtained reconciliation and forgiveness for             This death of the Son of God is the only and most perfect
all. The result was that in various ways -some of which                    sacrifice and satisfaction for sin, ffor it is of infinite value
are described and condemned in Canons II, Rejection of                     and worth. Article 2 and 3.

Errors -they began to deny the real atoning character of                      c) This satisfaction is, therefore, a matter of sub&u-

the death of Christ and to get rid of such elements as                     tion. It is for us, in our behalf, for our benefit, in the sense

satisfaction, substitution, redemption, etc. One of the most               that is in our stead. Here you have a second key idea:

notorious attempts at this was Hugo de Groot's govern-                     substitution. Our Lord Jesus Christ represented men legally,

mental theor.y,  which made of the death of Christ a divine                took their place, before the bar of God's justice. Whether

demonstration of what God could justly do to all men on                    that was all men.or  only the elect is not now the question;

account of their sins, a demonstration designed to make                    .but  He represented men, substituted  for them. He wrs


     368                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R
I
     their Head. This is a very exact relationship. If one man                      b) This main proposition the article distinguishes into

     substitutes and satisfies for the debt of one thousand men,                 two aspects. 1) The article speaks of efectual  redemptibn,

     the debt of those one thousand (not of five thousand others)                as follows :

     is paid and cannot be held against them. If Christ died,                          "that is, it was the will of God, that Christ by the blood of

     substituted and satisfied, for the elect only, then their debt                    the cross . . . . should effectually redeem out of every people,
                                                                                       tribe, nation, and language, all those, and those only, who
     (not the debt of all the others) is paid: it cannot be held                       were from eternity chosen to salvation and given to him by
     against them, If, on the other hand, He died for all, then                        the Father."

     the debt of all is paid: it cannot be held against them, they               This is the objective redemption, purchase, justification of
     are forgiven and saved.                                                     all the elect in the cross. Christ represented all the elect,

                                                                                 those dead, those living, those yet to be born, at the cross.
        _ 4) This vicarious atonement (satisfactory and sub-
                                                                                 From the moment that He died for them all their debt was
     stitutionary) was possible (has infinite value and dignity)
                                                                                 veiy really paid and removed before God. They are from
     because Christ was both real, holy man, but also the only
                                                                                 that moment righteous. God, according to His justice, can
     begotten Son of God. This explains both the possibihty  of
                                                                                 never demand payment for their sins any more; but He
     His perfect sacrifice and His substitution as the One for the
                                                                                 must and does hold them righteous, and account them
     many. Article 4. (Note: to the last clause of Article 3,
                                                                                 worthy of eternal life. 2) The article then speaks of the
     "abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole
                                                                                 @actual  a.pplica,tion  of the merited benefits:
     world," we shall return presently.)
                                                                                       "that he should confer upon them faith, which together with
            5) Article 5 does not even speak of the atonement, but                     all the other saving gifts of the Holy Spirit, he purchased for

     of the preaching of the atonement. But even this preaching                        them by his death; should purge them from all sin, both
                                                                                       original and actual, whether committed before or after believ-
     is not for all men, is not universal. It is indeed prombcuous,                    ing; and having faithfully preserved them even to the.  end,
     i.e., to all nations and to all persons without distinction,                      should at last bring them free from every spot and blemish
                                                                                       to the enjoyment of glory in his own presence forever."
     reprobate as well as elect, Jew and Gentile. But it is limited
                                                                                 This is the subjective side of salvation. It speaks of the
     to all `to whom God out of his good pleasure sends the
                                                                                 work of Christ in us. And it is explained in detail in the
     gospel."
                                                                                 rest of the Canons (III, IV, and V). By this we come into
            6) Article 6 does not even by implication speak of a                 actual, conscious possession of all the blessings of salvation.
     sufliciency  of Christ's death for all. It speaks rather of the             Moreover, this is grounded in the work of Christ for us,
     guilt, bZume,  of unbelief. That men go lost is not to be                   objective redemption, by which Christ `purchased" these
     blamed to Christ's sacrifice being defective, but it is to be               benefits for us. Also this effectual application is for the elect
     blamed to men themselves. We should remember, by the                        alone. In conclusion therefore, Article 8 insists that the
     way, that the Arminians accused the Reformed of teaching                    atonement (objective redemption, substitutionary satisfac-
     that Christ's sacrifice was defective, i.e., it wasn't big                  tion) is effectual and for the elect alone. It actually pur-
     enough to save all men, and that this was proved by some                    chases something for the elect, so that they have the right
     going lost because they were not covered by it. The Re-                     to it. And the application of the benefits of the atonement
     former answered: "No, that men go lost is to be blamed                      is effectual and for the elect alone, so that the latter actually
     cm their own unbelief, not on Christ." But the Arminians,,                  come into possession of all the purchased benefits. The two
     even with their universal atonement, really taught that                     aspects are co-extensive: they both extend to the elect alone.
     Christ's sacrifice was defective: for they taught that the
                                                                                    In the light of all this we ask the question: does Canons
     sacrifice of Christ covered all the sin of all men except the
                                                                                 II allow any room for any other atonement than an effica-
     sin of unbelief and impenitence.
                                                                                 cious atonement for the elect alone? The answer has to be:
            7) Article 7 stresses that those who are.  saved through             NO! As soon as you understand that atonement is satisfuc-
     the death of Christ are indebted for this benefit solely to                 tion and is vicarious, substitutionary  satisfaction, you are
     God's grace, not to an merit of their own. Hence, those                     shut up to the view that the atonement is strictly limited
     who are lost go lost through their own fault; those who                     to the elect, or you must maintain that if Christ died for all
     are saved are not saved through their own merit.                            men, then all men are surely saved. The former is the posi-

            8) And now we come to Article 8, which Prof. Dekker                  tion of Canons II, 8; the latter is the position of Arminian-
     cited in claimed support of his view. Let us analyze this                   ism, except that it denies that atonement is effectual.

     .article  carefully.                                                            We may also ask: does Canons II at all condemn any

                                                                                 other view of the atonement, any view which attempts to
            a) In the first place, the main proposition of Article 8
                                                                                 make atonement general? Yes, they do, in the Rejection of
     :is that the whole of salvation, grounded in the precious
                                                                                 Errors. In Article 1 they expressly condemn the view of an
     death of Christ, is efficacious and for the elect alone:
                                                                                 ineffectual redemption, when they condemn the idea that
              "For this was the sovereign counsel . . . . that the quickening    the merit of Christ's death was general and indefinite, while
              and saving efficacy of the most precious death of his Son
              should extend to all the elect, for bestowing on them alone the    it might never have been applied  to any one at all. In
              gift of justifying fajth, thereby to bring them infallibly to      Article 3 they reject the view that Christ satisfied, but did
              salvation."


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                          369


not merit either salvation or faith for anyone. And .in            alone cover more than a hundred large pages of small print.

Article 6 they condemn a view that sounds like Prof. Dek-          If space permitted, I could make lengthy quotations of

ker's teaching concerning the divine desire in the death of        these opinions. But let it suffice to translate here a few

Christ, namely, that "God, as far as he is concerned, has          choice quotations on pertinent aspects of the question under

been minded of applying to all equally the benefits gained         discussion. For the rest, I will tabulate and summarize these

by the death of Christ." The reader should look up these           opinions.

articles.                                                             1. On the qtbetiion  of a suficiency for all. With the
    But, finally, do not the Canons make a kind of general         exception of the opinion of Martinius, of Bremen, all those
statement concerning Christ's death? Indeed they do, in II,        who speak of sufficiency make it plain that they are ab-
3 they state that Christ's death is "of infinite worth and         stractly considering the worth, value, price of Christ's
value, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole      sacrifice. They use the latter terms. They also carefully
world." But we should note the following in this connection:       specify that they are speaking of the death of Christ con-
1) The Canons carefully use the word `hufficient,"  not            sidered "in itself." And they use such expressions as "would
"satisfying." The Dutch here is "genoegzaam;".  and the            be sufficient" or "would have been sufhcient,"  but do not
Latin, "sufficiens."  2) The Canons nowhere state that Christ      say that it was sufhcient  in the sense that Christ actually
actually died for all, or substituted for all, or satisfied for    died for all men. Besides, several of the opinions which
all, or redeemed all. In fact, this is the very error against      speak of this sufficiency at the same time argue at length
which the Canons militate. 3) In this article and this ex-         that terms like "all" and "world" never mean all men and
pression the Canons are not concerned with the question'for        every individual in Scripture. Here is an example from
whom Christ died, but with the Arminian argument that              the Synod of South Holland:
the Reformed view of limited atonement presupposes that
                                                                        "That God, as He from eternity decided, unto the praise of
the sacrifice of Christ was too poor and of limited value.              the glory of his grace to save not all men, but some definite
From this point of view they as it were answer: "Oh, no;                men, elected out of the human race, thus also at once decided
                                                                        that the satisfaction and merit of the obedience and death
apart from the fact that Christ did not die for all, that death         of Christ, which in itself indeed would be sufficient  to save

of Christ in itself is so worthy and valuable that if God had           all and every man, should be a definite and ordained and
                                                                        proper means through which would be blotted out the sins of
so willed, it would have very well covered the sins of the              those who were given Him of the Father, and whereby power-
whole world. From that point of view it was abundantly                  fully and infallibly those who were elect would be brought
                                                                        unto eternal life as to the end absoutely intended of God."
sufficient." 4) The Canons never say: "for all men and every
man." 5) We gladly concede that t&s  approach of the               They then cite texts such as Isaiah 53:11,  John 10:15,  Mat-
Canons is abstract and philosophically speculative. The            thew I:21,  Romans 8:32,  John 17:6,  19, 24; and John 10:28.
approach of Article 4 is much sounder and is Scriptural,           The Theologians of Hesse say the following:

when it comes to the value and worth of Christ's sacrifice.             `L      the sense of which manner of speaking we consider to
                                                                        bk  `this: that the death and suffering of Christ is of such great
6) This interpretation of Article 3 is supported by the                 worth, power, price, that is abundantly sufficient to expiate
official opinions of the delegations to the Synod, as we                the sins  of all  and every man who has ever lived, lives, and
                                                                        hereafter shall live."
shall see.
                                                                   They then go on to explain that this refers to the "endless
    Our conclusion, therefore, is that the views of Professor
                                                                   worth" of Christ's sacrifice, based on His being not only
Dekker concerning Christ's atonement are confessionally
                                                                   man, but God, "so that all men, if only they belong to
condemned and excluded by our Canons. Under the flag of
                                                                   Christ by a true faith, . . . would be received in the favor
Dordrecht you may not say to all and every man, "Christ
                                                                   and grace of God . . ." Later they state that the wortih  of
died for you."
                                                                   Christ's death is so great "that it is sufficient for all and

                                                                   every man, even if there were more than a thousand worlds,.
The Fathers of Dordrecht and the Atonement                         to reconcile with God and expiate their sins." But they add:
    That the above is indeed the position of our Canons and             "       nevertheless in no sense by the same (death of Christ)
that the propositions of Prof. Dekker are contrary to the               is' salvation,  reconciliation, forgiveness of sins, and eternal life
whole spirit of Dort can be abundantly proved from the                  actually obtained or merited . . . .but Christ by His suffering
                                                                        and death has obtained and merited aU  these benefits for his
writings of the very fathers who composed the Canons.                   sheep alone, or for the elect which the Father gave Him to
Fortunately, these writings are preserved in the Acts of the            save and to make eternally blessed, and these benefits really
                                                                        pertain to them and not the others."
Synod of Dordrecht. The Acts contain not only the official
decisions of the Synod, but also the written opinions of           With this idea all the delegates who speak of sufhciency
each delegation to the Synod, both of the delegations from         agree, with the exception of Martinius of Bremen. He did
foreign countries and of the delegations from the various          not want any abstract sufhciency.  He was at heart Ar-
Dutch provinces. These lengthy reports contain a detailed          minian,  insisted that Christ died for all, and even conspired
treatment of each of the Five Articles of the Arminians.           with the Arminian Poppius.  And he says:

In my Dutch version of the Acts of the Synod of Dordrecht               "`And here it will not be enough to propose a kind of sufficiency
                                                                        of the redemption which could be su@`ent;  but which is en-
the opinions on the subject of the atoning death of Christ              tirely of such a kind that it is sufficient, and which God and

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


        Christ willed that it should be sufficient. For otherwise the            : 3.          On the co-extcvkxzness  of merit and applicat$on.  Al-
        command and the promise of the Gospel would be pulled down              most without exception (Bremen and the British are not-
        (zullen omvergerukt worden)  ."
                                                                                able exceptions) the opinions insist that the merit of Christ's
This same Martinius, by the way, maintained two proposi-                        death and the application of those merits stand in un-
tions in his opinion, that Christ died for all men, dnd that                    breakable connection and are limited to the elect only. The
Christ died for the elect only. And he said:                                    Swiss state, among other things:
        `I
               it in no, sense conflicts with itself to say that Christ died             `illso the application (appropriation) must follow the meriting,
       for' ali, with the purpose of saving them, and has not thus died."                seeing that it is the end of the same because they also are

Martinius and Dekker would be in substantial agreement,                                  both ordained from before the founda6on  of the world for the
                                                                                         same men, and belong inseparably together. Or who would
I fear.                                                                                  (tell us once), willingly and knowingly, pay a ransom for a
                                                                                         captive when he knew for sure that the poor captive would
   2. On the question for whom Christ died. The Theo-                                    not take the benefit? . . . ."
logians of Emden  state flatly:                                                 The Swiss also state:
        "Christ has laid down His life only for the sheep, that is, for                  `<
                                                                                                   the election of those who are saved, the obedience and
        the elect, in no wise for the goats (bokken). John lo:15  . . . .`I              sadr&e  of the Son, and also the saving operation of the Holy

Again :                                                                                  Ghost . . ,; . extend equally far, and concern the same per-
                                                                                         sons.. . . .

        "Christ, according to the intention, counsel, and decree of the         And therefore:
        Father, has died for the elect alone."

                                                                                         "We may indeed not, through a wrong mildness toward the
The Swiss Theologians:                                                                   Apostle, yea, toward Christ Himself ascribe the salvation
        `We deny that Christ thus endured death for the benefit of or                    merited by Christ to anyone who is placed outside the fellow-
        in the place of and in the name of men who would never be                        ship of those whom the Father loved and elected and draws;
                                                                                         outside the Church, which the Son loved, and for whom He
        converted that He should be their sacri&e  . . ."
                                                                                         gave Himself; outside of that body of which Christ is the
Again:                                                                                   Savior and the head; outside of the heirs in whose heart the
                                                                                         Holy Ghost is an earnest, and seals the same .believers."
        "That Christ, according to the determination and counsel of
       the Father died for those whom He never saves is so strange                 With the above the entire spirit of Dort agrees. There
        to the truth as that those would be saved for whom Christ,              were only two who might sustain Dekker. They were Mar-
        according to the counsel of the Father, did not die . . . ."
                                                                                tinius of Bremen and, to an extent, the British Theologians,
The Palatinate Theologians :
                                                                                one of whom, Dr. Thomas Good, later became an avowed
        "Christ both died and is risen and intercedes with the Father           Arminian.
        in heaven for the elect and the believers alone, that is, partly
       in their stead, and partly for their benefit."

The opinion of the Netherlands Professors (Gomarus. Poyl-                       Conclusion: Dekker and Dort
ander, Thysius, and Wallaeus) is interesting because it                            Is then Professor Dekker at all supported by Dordrecht?

treats the very passages of which Prof. Dekker states:                          On the contrary, he is condemned. Ddrt would have placed

        "In none of them (John lO:ll,  15; Acts 20:28;  Matt. 1:21, etc.)       him in the category of the Arminians,  sad to say.
       is the predication regarding those for whom Christ died stated              Remember that Professor Dekker has an atonement that
        exhaustively or exclusively."
                                                                                is universal in sufficiency, in availability, and in the desire
The,  Netherlands Professors state:
                                                                                of God. In these three respects he wants to say that Christ
        "Though it is true that in these passages together the word             died-for all men, and can say, he claims, to every man,
        `alone' is not expressed, nevertheless it is included in those
        things which are set forth in the above quotations, or else all         `Christ died for you." In only one respect will he limit the
        power of reasoning to a conclusion and drawing consequences             atonement, i.e., in its efficacy.
        out of any words is at once taken away. For if Christ is a

        Savior equally of all people, then the Angel (in Matt. 1:21)               But notice that by his own definition Dekker's atone-
        added his people' vainly. If Christ laid down His life equally
        for all, then Christ said in vain, `for my own sheep.' If Christ        ment may be divided into a two-fold classification, namely,
        purchased all and every man with his blood, then it is of no            an ineffectual atonement and an effectual atonement. His
       growT,,that.  Paul adds, which he purchased with his own
                                                                                first three aspects (of universal atonement), as over against

                                                                                the fourth (limited, effectual atonement) would have to be
The Gelderland delegates state flatly,
        I`                                                                      classed as ine#ectizuzZ.  Now what is an ineffectual atone-
                never is Christ said to have died for every man; and
        this  we  cannot countenance, seeing `hat we judge it to be false       ment? It is an atonement that does not really atone, a
        and  to conilict  with the divine righteousness, and to be not          redemptive love that does not redeem, a satisfaction that
        only useless and of no service for the edifying and comforting          does not satisfy, a substitution that does not substiute, a
        of burdened Christians, but also dangerous."
                                                                                divine desire that does not reach its end.
This is followed by an elaborate and careful explanation
that terms like "all" and "`world" do not mean every in-                           And all these are contrary to Dort, contrary to Dart's
dividual in Scripture.         North Holland and Friesland also                 understanding of the Scriptures, and, according to Dort,
pay close attention to these terms, and argue that they refer                   unworthy of a sovereign God.

only to the elect. Besides, several of the opinions connect                        May this doctrine of absolutely.hmited  atonement, and

the death of Christ with the love of God and of Christ and                      of truly effectual atonement, permeate the life and witness

limit that love of God and of Christ to the elect only.                         of the Church in full power!                                     H.C.H.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                              371


                                                                  bornand  gathered into the communion of saints. The body

     O U R   D O C T R I N E - .                                  of Christ must be perfected. It must be completed. The
                                                                  temple of God must be fmished. The whole church, ac-

                                                                  cording to this divine plan, must be gathered out of the

        THE DOCTRINE dF THE CHURCH                                whole human race before the end of time can come, and
                                                                  before the coming, the final coming, of our Lord Jesus
                            CHAPTER I                             Christ can take place.     And this completed church con-

                                                                  sists of the fulness of Israel and the fulness  of the Gentiles,
             THE IDEA OF THE CHURCH
                                                                  gathered into one flock under one Shepherd.

                            (Continued)                               It is evident that the gathering of the church, according

                                                                  to the Catechism an.d according to all Scripture, is solely
   Finally, there is that part of the church that is in God's     the work of God. It is in no sense of the word the work of
counsel, but is not yet born. It too must be realized and         man. And no so-called preacher or evangelist must leave
called out of the world. For this the coming of the Lord          the impression that it is also, in part at least, the work of
must wait. And therefore we read in II Peter 3:9: "The            man. The gathering of the church is a great marvel. It is
Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count       the wonder-work of God. It lies beyond our power and our
slackness; but is longsuffering to usward,  not willing that      comprehension. This, of course, is also true of de work of
any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."       creation. But I would be inclined to say that the work of
That the word "all" in this particular text has no reference      God whereby He gathers His church is a greater marvel
to all men, head for head and soul for soul, is very evident.     than the work of creataion.  In creation God calls the things
For if this were the case, the day of the Lord and the reali-     that are not as if they were. But in the gathering of the
zation of the promise could never come, But the reference is      church He builds His house out of material that is entirely
to the elect. God is longsuffering over them. That is, He         unfit. The human race, out of which the church is gathered,
waits with the final glory until all His people shall have        is guilty, corrupt, damnable. Nevertheless, the church is the
been gathered and called out of the world.                        communion  of the justified and the eternally righteous. The

                                                                  whole human race lies under the wrath of God; but the
                            CHAPTER II
                                                                  church is the object of God's~  grace and favor. The human
         THE GATHERING OF THE CHURCH                              race is defiled and polluted; but the church is holy, ti-

                                                                  defiled, without spot or wrinkle. The human race stands
   As to the gathering of the church, the Heidelberg Cate-
                                                                  in enmity against God; -but the church is a royal priesthood,
chism has the following to say: `That the Son of God, from
                                                                  consecrated to God, and offering up spiritual sacrifices of
the beginning to the end of the world, gathers, defends,
                                                                  praise and glory to the God of her salvation. The human
and preserves to himself by His Spirit and Word, out of
                                                                  race lies in the midst of death; but the church is the living
the whole human race, a church chosen to everlasting life,
                                                                  body of Christ, filled with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
agreeing in true faith; and that I am and forever shall
                                                                  places. Yet, the one is gathered out of the other. It is only
remain, a living member thereof." According to this in-
                                                                  through the wonder of grace that God builds His church.
terpretation by the Heidelberg Catechism, therefore, the
                                                                  The gathering of the church, therefore, is that wonder-work
church is gathered by the Son of God through His Spirit
                                                                  of God whereby He calls light out of darlmess,  righteous-
and Word, and that too, from the beginning to the end of
                                                                  ness out of corruption, heaven out of hell. It is the resur-
the world. Only through that gathering by the Son of God
                                                                  rection of the dead.
the church becomes the assembly of the true believers and

their seed in the world.                                             Thus we can understand how utterly impossible it is

   We believe an holy catholic church, which is the body          that man should have a share in this work of gathering the

of Christ, the communion of saints. Conceived in its en-          church. It is absolutely impossible that man should even

tirety, this church includes all the redeemed, sanctified, and    cooperate with God in building this holy temple. It is

glorified elect, and as such exists at present only in the        ridiculously, but also sinfully, absurd and preposterous to

counsel of God, That counsel of God has the eternal con-          conceive of the church as something that comes into

ception of the church. But this church is gathered in time        existence by the will and through the effort of man. We

from the whole human race. It is gathered from every na-          must just as well present the work of creation as being the

tion, tongue, and tribe, from the beginning of the world to       product of cooperation between God and man, as to give

the end. The holy catholic church is gathered always. In          any credit to man for the work of gathering the church of

every generation the body of Christ is gathered and be-           Christ out of the whole human race. The church is not a

comes manifest on earth. And the end of the world cannot          human society that comes into existence by the free will

come, as we have aheady  said, until the very last of the         and choice of the members, and which you may join or

members of the body of Christ, as God determined and              refuse to join. It is not a school of philosophy, the disciples

foreknew  that body in His divine, eternal plan, has been         and adherents of which follow the teacher. It is not to be

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


compared to a religious movement, such as Mohammedan-             marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called
ism or Confucianism, initiated by some mighty personality         you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel." And al-
or religious fanatic, who died long ago but whose followers       though in Ephesians 5: 14 the verb `%alIed"  is not expressed,
are still inspired by his precepts and example. The church        yet the implication certainly refers to the efficacious, power-
-let it be emphasized once more-is the living body of             ful calling of the Lord when the apostle writes: `Awake
the living Christ, the Son of God in the flesh, Who died and      thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ
rose again, and Who Himself gathers His church and builds         shall give the light." And in the gospel according to John
the house of God. The church is the wonder-work of grace,         5:25,  the Lord said to the Jews that persecuted Him:
which God alone accomplishes through Jesus Christ our             "Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now
Lord, by His Spirit and Word.                                     is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God:

                                                                  and they that hear shall live." Also this evidently refers to
    The church is gathered out of and separated from the          the efficacious calling unto life. And once more, in John
entire human race, as the communion of saints, through the        lo:16 the Lord says to the Jews that He will gather all His
divine calling. Throughout the Holy Scriptures we are             sheep, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles.
taught that the church comes into being through the calling       And when He does this, `they shall hear his voice; and
of God, by His Spirit, and through His Word. Thus the             there shall be one fold and one shepherd." From all this it
prophet declares in Hosea 11: 1: "When Israel was a child,        is evident that Scripture teaches that the church is gathered
then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." in             out of the whole human race through the divine calling.
Isaiah 43:1,5-7, we read: "`But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, 0 Jacob, and he that formed thee, 0 Israel,            Now this divine calling of which the Scriptures speak
Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by         so frequently comes to us through Jesus Christ our Lord.
thy name; thou art mine . . . Fear not: for I am with thee:       Always God speaks through the Son. Also in creation we
I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from         hear the voice of the Son of God. However, in the Word
the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south,     of God as it comes to us through creation and providence
Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters           there is no hope. For, according to Romans 1:18,  ff., we
from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by      read: `<For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
my name." And again: "Thou whom I have taken from                 all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the
the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men         truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known
thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have          of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed  it unto
chosen thee and not cast thee away." Isaiah 41:9.  In Ezekiel     them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of
16:6 the prophet declares: "`And when I passed by thee,           the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things
and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee,       that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that
when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee          they are without excuse.    Because that, when they knew
when thou .wast  in thy blood, Live." This, namely, that the      God, they glorsed  him not as God, neither were thankful;
church is called out by a divine calling, is emphasized           but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish
everywhere in the New Testament. Thus we read in Romans           heart was darkened." From this it is evident that there is
1:6 and 7: `Ahong  whom are ye also the called of Jesus           no saving calling in the revelation of God through the things
Christ: To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to         that are made. Through that Word of God in creation the
be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father,            holy catholic church can never be called out of the world.
and the Lord Jesus Christ." And in the address to the             It is only through the Word of God in Christ that God calls
church of Corinth, I Cor. l:l, 2, the apostle writes: "Paul,      His church. Christ is the Son of God in the flesh, Who re-
called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of       vealed the Father, Who died for our sins, Who was raised
,God,  and Sosthenes our brother, Unto the church of God          for our justification, Who merited for His church all the
which is at                                                       blessings of salvation, Who is exalted at the right hand of
                Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ
Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call     God, Who has received the promise of the Holy Spirit, and
upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and           through Whose Word and Spirit God gathers His church
ours." And in the same chapter, verse 9: "God is faithful,        out of the corrupt human race. The Son of God in the
by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son             flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ, speaks the Word of the divine
Jesus Christ our Lord." In Remans  9:24-26  we read: "Even        calling whereby the church is gathered out of the world.
`us, whom he hath called not of the Jews only, but also of        It is the mighty word of salvation whereby the church is
.the Gentiles. As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my      called out of darkness into light, out of the natural fellow-

people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which          ship of the sinful human race into the communion of saints,
was not beloved. And it shall come to pass that in the            into the fellowship of the body of Christ. The Son of God
place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people;          by His Spirit and Word gathers His own church out of the
there they shall be called the children of the living God."       whole human race.

In the epistle to the Galatians, 1:6,  the apostle writes: "I                                                              H.H.

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


                                                                       according to divine revelation, it was such that through it

                                                                       the believing child of Israel could enter into communion

                                                                       with the living God. In all the earth it was the only place in

                                                                       which the worship of the living God could be perfectly

                                                                       fulfilled. Henceforth for many years the strength of Israel
                            The Great Altar                            as a nation would be determined by its faithfumess  to

                 And the children of Reuben and the children of        Shiloh. Now on a designated day all of Israel came to this
           Ga.d and the half tribe of Manasseh  returned,  and de-     place for the first time to worship and pledge their faithful-
           parted from  the children of Israel out of Shiloh . . .     ness to God in this place.
                 And when they ca.me unto the borders of Jordan,
           that are in the land                                           It was sometime later, when the division of the land
                                of Canaan, the children of R&en
           and the children of Gad and the half tribe of Manas-        had been completed, that Joshua called the warriors to-
           seh built there an altar by Jordan, a great altar to see    gether who had come from the tribes of Reuben, of Gad
 i    t     .                                       Joshua 22:9,10     and of half the tribe of Manasseh. To them he said, `Ye

      Israel had entered its inheritance. The enemy had                have kept all that Moses the servant of the LORD com-
fallen before them wherever they met them in battle. They              manded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I com-
had received the land of Canaan just as it had been prom-              manded you: ye have not left your brethren these many
ised to their father Abraham many centuries before. God                days unto this day, but have ,kept  the charge of the com-
guided the lots that were cast so that each one received               mandment of the LORD your God. And now the LORD
that portion of land God would have him and his children               your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he prom-
possess.          Everything that had been promised them had           ised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your
graciously come to pass. And still there was uneasiness on             tents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses
the part of many people. They hesitated before leaving                 the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side Jor-
their nomadic way of life to which they had become accus-              dan."    For many years these men had labored faithfully
tomed for the work and responsibility which would be theirs            with their brethren and had been away from their own
in caring for set plots of land. This was exemplified in the           families until Canaan was captured. Now they might re-
complaint of the tribe of Ephraim and of the half tribe of             turn to their homes. And still as Joshua spoke he feared
Manasseh which had come over the Jordan. They had been                 for those tribes across the wide banks of the Jordan, so far
given one of the richest portions of land in all of Canaan;            removed from the rest of the nation and from the tabernacle
but still they were not satisfied and wanted more. Their               of God. He felt compelled to add a warning, "But take
complaint was that the hills had not been cleared of trees             diligent heed to the commandment and the law, which
for cultivation and there were still heathen peoples with              Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the
chariots of iron which would have to be fought. This all               LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep
would require too much effort for them. Almost sarcasiic-              his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve
ally Joshua chided them, "If thou be a great people, then              him with all your heart and with all your soul." Thereupon
get thee up to the wood country, and cut down for thyself.             after blessing them and adding a few words of instruction,
. . . The mountain shall be thine; for it is a wood, and thou          Joshua watched as these men who had battled so faith-
shalt cut it down: and the outgoings of it shall be thine:             fully so long left for their homes beyond the river from
for thou shalt drive .out the Canaanites, though they have             the camp at Shiloh.

iron chariots, and though they be strong." Touched in                     It came thereupon as a shock when a few days later the
their pride of their greatness as the sons of Joseph, they             news was brought to Joshua that these men of Reuben, Gad,
went on to do as Joshua said. So Joshua urged the people on            and Manassah before crossing over the Jordan had built a
until each tribe had entered and began to work its inheri-             great altar, an extraordinarily large altar upon the border
tance, until the cities of refuge had been appointed as com-           at the river. To Joshua it appeared to be an act of open
manded of God, and until the Levites had been given their              defiance, for the law of God strictly forbade that sacrihces
cities in each tribe in which to dwell. So Joshua continued            should be offered anywhere except at the tabernacle. Did
to work and fulfill the great task that had been given to              these men who had fought so long and so faithfully for the
him of God.                                                            nation mean to depart by expressing open defiance for the

      During this period one of the most important events in           law of God and the commandments? The very thought

Israel's inheritance of Canaan took place. God appointed               anguished Joshua, but this action could not be passed by

Shiloh as the place in which His tabernacle should be                  and ignored. If altars were to be multiplied in the land, it

pitched. This was important not so much because of the                 would not be long before the true worship of Jehovah at

place, nor even of the time, but because of the importance             Shiloh would be all but lost. Nor was Joshua the only one

of the tabernacle itself. This was the place in Israel's midst         with this thought. Soon representatives were come to Shiloh

in which God figuratively dwelt. Designed and built                    from all over the nation, determined that if the tribes over

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


the Jordan were to begin building strange altars, they              our children cease from fearing the LORD. Therefore we

should go to war against them. They would stamp out this            said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt

sin at its beginning.                                               offering, nor for sacrifice: but that it may be a witness be-

                                                                    tween us, and you, and our generations after us, that we
    Before they actually began to march against their breth-
                                                                    might do the service of the LORD before him with 
ren, however, they sent Phinehas, the son of the high priest,                                                                  OUT
with ten princes of the tribes west of Jordan to talk to the        burnt offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace
                                                                    offerings; that your children may not say to our children in
men of Reuben, Gad and Manassah. Maybe the matter
                                                                    time to come, Ye have no part in the LORD. Therefore
could be settled without the shedding of blood. But Phine-
                                                                    said we, that it shall be when they should so say to us or to
has was not one to mince words. He after all was the one
                                                                    our generations in time to come, that we may say again,
who manye  years before in the matter of Baalpeor had gone
into the tent of Zimri and thrust him through with a javelin        Behold the pattern of the altar of the LORD, which our
together with the Midianitish princess. He was a man                fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for `sacrifices; but
strong in the cause of righteousness. No sooner had they            it is a tyitness  between us and you. God forbid that we
come to the Israelites over the river than he spoke out and         should rebel against the LORD, and turn this day from fol-
said, "Thus saith the whole congregation of the LORD,               lowing the LORD, to build an altar for burnt offerings, for
what trespass is this that ye have committed against the            meat offerings, or for sacrifices, beside the altar of the
God of Israel, to turn away this day from following the             LORD our God that is before the tabernacle."

LORD, in that ye have builded  you an altar, that ye might             Suddenly Phinehas and the ten princes with him came
rebel this day against the LORD? Is the iniquity of Peor            to realize how completely they had misjudged their breth-
too little for us, from which we are not cleansed until this        ren. They had jumped to a hasty conclusion without so
day, although there was a plague in the congregation of             much as asking guidance of Jehovah, and they had been
 the LORD, but that ye must turn away this day from fol-            terribly wrong. Perhaps it had been a matter of indiscre-
lowing the LORD, that tomorrow he will be wroth with                tion on the part of these men to have built their altar with-
the whole congregation of Israel. Notwithstanding, if the           out giving sufficient explanation for those who might see it.
land of your possession be unclean, then pass ye over unto          They had given occasion for offense. But now that they
the land of the possession of the LORD, wherein the                 thought of it again, Phinehas and the princes could see that
LORD's tabernacle dwelleth, and take possession among us:           this altar was not built to be used for sacrifice. Its size and
but rebel not against the LORD, nor rebel against us, in            its location testifled  to the fact that it was meant for a me-
building you an altar beside the altar of the LORD our              morial for all to see. This was the testimony of Reuben,
 God.    Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in        Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh that they considered
the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of       their worship to be the same as that of the tribes west of
Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity."           the river, the side upon which the altar was built. They

    Now it was the turn of the men of Reuben, Gad, and              wished everyone to know that they would maintain their

Manasseh to be astonished. Before them stood Phinehas               right to the service of Jehovah.

the priest filled with righteous indignation and accusing
them of committing a sin like that of the children of Israel           Phinehas and the princes were satisfied. Turning to
in Baalpeor and that of Achan at Ai. But these were things          those who had just explained themselves so completely,
that never crossed their minds. He evidently was sincere            Phinehas said, "This day we perceive that the LORD is
and actually thought that they might be already dissatis-           among us, because ye have not committed this trespass
fied with their new homes so as to be willing to accept             against the LORD: now ye have delivered the children of
his offer and join the other tribes on the western bank of          Israel out of the hand of the LORD.

the river. Quickly they spoke out in their own defense.                "And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad
"The LORD God of gods, the LORD God of gods, he                     called the Altar ED: for it shall be a witness between us
knoweth,  and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if    that the LORD is God."
in transgression against the LORD, that we have built us                                                                  B. W.
an altar to turn from following the LORD, or if to offer

thereon burnt offering or meat offering, or if to offer peace

offerings thereon, let the LORD himself require it; and if

we have not rather done it out of fear of this thing, saying,                     0 happy people, favored land,

In time to come your children might speak unto our chil-                          To whom the Lord with liberal hand

dren, saying, What have ye to do with the LORD God of                                Hath thus His goodness shown;

Israel? Forthe  LORD hath made Jordan a border between                            Yea, surely is that people blest

us and you, ye children of Reuben, and children of Gad;                           By whom Jehovah is confessed

ye have no part in the LORD: so shall your children make                             To be their God alone.


                                              T H E   S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                        375


                                                                 contrasted with the poor in this world, that is, those who

I[  F R O M   H O L Y   W R I T   11 have a lack of the things of this world. Thus James and
                                                                 John speak of such poor in relationship to the rich in their

                                                                 respective letters to the church. See James 2:14-26,  5:1-6;

                                                                 I John 3:16-20.
                 Exposition of I Timothy
                                                                     Nowhere does the Bible say that it is sinful to possess
                      (I Timothy 6: 17-19)                       goods, lands, money in this world. Fact is that every crea-

                                                                 ture of God is good, and that nothing is to be rejected as
    In a way one would think that Paul really was finished
                                                                 being evil, since it is sanctified by the Word of God and
with this epistle when he came to the end of verse 16 of this
chapter. Did he not end with that grand and sublime              prayer. Nevertheless, Scripture does often emphasize that
                                                                 there is a peculiar temptation connected with riches. Does
description of what is to take place in the "manifestation"
of our Lord Jesus Christ? Would it then not become evi-          not Christ point out the deceit of riches in the parable of
                                                                 the sower; riches in this world with its deceitfulness is al-
dent that Christ as the Son of God in the flesh and as He
                                                                 ways joined with the "cares" of this world. The rich are
is the glorified Savior is the only Potentate, the Lord of
                                                                 careful -they are fdl of cares! And does not Jesus, in con-
lords and the King of kings? Will He not be exhibited as
                                                                 nection with the rich young ruler, say that it is hard for a
only having immortality? Will it then not be exhibited that
                                                                 rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven; that it is
in His Divinity He dwells in the light which is unapproach-
                                                                 easier for a camel to pass through  the eye of a needle than
able; that He is hidden within the glory of the Godhead
                                                                 for the rich to enter into the kingdom of heaven?! Matthew
which dwells in Him bodily? Surely this glory per se,
                                                                 19:23,  24, 13:22;  Mark 4:19; Luke 8:14.  The fact that
without being manifested in Christ's human nature, none
                                                                 Scripture says that Abraham, the father of believers, was
can see! Yes, to Him be honor and power forever!
                                                                 rich, does not in the least mitigate the dangers wherewith
    However, Paul is not making this the main subject here.
                                                                 riches is fraught!
He introduces this as a strong incentive for a godly walk;

he would have the believers keep the commandment to flee            Evidently, the Lord Jesus from heaven inspired Paul to
all avarice and love for money, and to pursue righteousness,     pen these words, giving this charge to the rich. It must be
godliness, faith, love, patience and meekness. Really Paul       passed along by Paul to Timothy, and Timothy  must pass
cannot end his letter to Timothy on the subordinately in-        this charge on to the rich in this world. The great danger

troduced thought of the greatness of Christ, even though         for the rich is that they will become `highminded," proud,
he ends it with the word "`Amen." He must complete the           act the part of owners, while they are only stewards in

admonition and the charge, concerning the proper walk of         God's creation as believers. For riches has this effect upon

the children of God in this world, to the end.                   the flesh of God's children that they will become boastful

   Hence, Paul further pursues this subject of the keeping       having this world's goods. Such easily lose the deep sense
of this commandment blamelessly and without spot in these        of their dependency upon God, their maker and Redeemer,
verses under consideration. "Charge  them that are ,rich in      and therewith also the sense of their obligation and calling
t&s world, that they be not highminded, nor trust the un-        of being stewards, who with their goods are-to make these
certainty of riches,  but in the living God, who give& us        the means of expressing love for the brother, and thus
richly  all things to enioy;  that they do good, that they be    exhibiting a living faith! Did not Agur pray fervently:
rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to com-         "Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither
municate; laying up in store for themselves a good founda-       poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:
tion against the time to come, that they may lay hold on         lest I be full and deny thee, and say,  Who is the Lord? or
eternal life." VSS.  17-19.                                      lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of God in vain."
   Paul has a special admonition to those who are "rich          Prov. 30:8,  9. For the term "highminded" is the opposite
in this world." Evidently Paul would emphasize by using          of "lowliminded." In Scripture this term of lowliminded-

the words "this world" the present existence of all things       ness is connected with meekness and longsuffering. It refers

prior to the coming age which will be ushered in by the          to a profound and constant and fundamental attitude which
appearance of Jesus Christ when He shall be revealed in          a Christian has toward God. God alone is "high" in the

the last day. It then further refers to the order of society     estimation of the lowliminded. The term lowlimindedness
as one finds it at any given time; at the time of Paul it        was not known in the vocabulary of the proud, cultured

referred to the social order of slave and master. See vss.       Graeco-Roman world. It was the great-mindedness that
1, 2. Generally speaking, one might conclude that the            counted. To be lowliminded was a groveling in the dust,
rich would be found in the class of men who were the             unworthy of the free citizen. That was good for slaves,
free-men, the masters of the slaves, or to those without         under the feet of a master! The greatest free-born Son, how-
slaves, yet free-men. It is not impossible that even amongst     ever, Christ Himself, says: "Learn from me that I am meek

the free-men there were found also the poor and the in-          and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest for your souls." It
digent. Those who are rich in this world are therefore           is the gospel, the new relationship to Christ, the Lord of

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


lords and the King of kings, which introduces the sublimity       in- a position'to  give, to pass on these gifts of God to be

of being lowliminded. That is the new dimension in the            enjoyed. They have it in their control. They have the pos-

old world, dead in trespasses and sins! Hence, say unto the       sibility of being truly rich. For it is more blessed to give

rich in the church, who are under my spiritual dominion           than to receive.

and Lordship, that they be not highminded, and say in their          The apostle Paul points out the following particulars in

heart: who is the Lord?!        .                                 which those who are richin  this world should richly enjoy

     For such highmindedness is vanity. They who speak            their "riches" together with others, and thus lay hold on
thus, looking into the uncertain future as it is unpredictable    eternal life, or, as another reading has it; `Yruly  life!"
by man and under the providence and the control of God,              In general the rich are to be admonished to "work
place their hope and expectation upon that which must             good." They must be intent upon doing ethical good to-
needs deceive them and put them to shame. Paul calls this         ward their neighbor, loving their neighbor as themselves.
"uncertainty" of riches. Nothing is so uncertain as riches.       This may imply more than merely sharing the good gifts

That is the lesson of history. We have reflected upon this        of God who bestoweth richly. It may refer to all kinds of

in an earlier essay and will not here elaborate. We will here     acts of kindness, such as to pray for their neighbor, forgive
state that all such "`hoping" upon uncertainty of riches is at    their neighbor, and love them fervently with pure hearts.
bottom idolatry! He who places his hope upon God, waits           *They must be good works in which the advantage of the

for Him in season and out of season, understands that God         neighbor is enhanced, even his eternal salvation.

is the One who is the life-giver. He sees reality. Such a            When the rich in this world thus do good, they will be

man lives in certainty of the faithful providence of God.         truly "rich." They will be rich `in good works"; that is, in

The rich too are to do that. The rich often are those who         the sphere of these good works and in their performance

give least liberally. Why is such often true in the church?       they will seek and find their riches. Thus they will use the

It is because he counts the pennies he has left, and fears        riches which are theirs, in the form of material things, and

that unless there be a great deal left he will not have enough    make friends by so doing; or as Jesus says, they "will make

for tomorrow. He does not place his trust in God. He does         them friends from the unrighteous Mammon."  Mrhat the

not walk as seeing the unseen God. Such are not rich in           unjust steward did, being prudent in the worldly generation

God, but are like the rich farmer who built greater barns         and involving evil men in his own fraud, so that presently

and said: Soul, take thine ease; thou hast laid away for          they might receive him in their houses, that the righteous

many days! Luke 12:13-21.                                         does in the righteous use of his gifts, so that he may be

     For God is He who giveth life. The cattle upon a             received into eternal habitations. Luke 16:9.

thousand hills are His, yea, all the beasts of the forests           Such is the true conduct of a man who walks in his

belong to Him, and proclaim the greatness of His glory and        Christian stewardship. He has a delight in giving; that is

name. Ps. 29. Our God is not stingy with His gifts. He            the most pleasant task for him. The terms employed here

provides richly. The term in the Greek for "give%  is a           by Paul in the Greek and translated "to be" (einui)  under-

present active participle, indicating that God is the One         scores that such the rich are to be; it must not be an act

giving and that the fountain keeps on flowing abundantly.         which is once performed, and then one is tired from so

God is good in His giving. The term is as one puts it: "a         doing and weary. Nay, such much be his constant disposi-

lavish emphasis to the generosity of God." That God gives         tion of heart, the real manifestation of his pure heart as a.

thus "richly" the rich, who places his trust in riches, does      steward!

not understand. He really fears that God might shut up               Then he will truly be such that is inclined to share with

the fountains of heaven. That is an insult to God.                others the things which he has, because he desires to share

     Besides, we should not overlook the fact that the            the joy of God with him. Then there is a double harvest:
purpose of God in thus giving richly and lavishly is that         first the joy of receiving from God, then the joy of imparting
we should enjoy these gifts. We should not insult the Lord        to others, and then this same joy duplicated in the hearts
by not enjoying them with sanctified hearts. The rich, who        and lives of a thankful recipient. Truly then one ex-
is highminded, cannot even enjoy what he has. He calls his        periences what Paul writes of in II Cor. 8 and 9, which great
fear of using what God. gives with the term "thrift." He          exposition concerning giving< is concluded with the words: ,
doesn't enjoy them himself, and he doesn't want others to         "Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift." 11~ Cor. 5:X.

enjoy them too, and share in his joy. He has no joy to               Thus the rich shall lay away a tiuly  good treasure

share, and, therefore, has no earthly riches to impart. He        against the time to come; they will in their riches lay hold.

cannot give liberally. He has no joy and blessing in giving.      on the true riches and the life that is really life, eternal,

to those who have need.                                           life, knowing God in their riches through Jesus Christ our

_    In passing let it be said that the poor man who steals       Lord.

is afflicted with the same sin as the rich who will not give;        Then the camel passes through the eye of the needle!

neither one understands the calling. That the admonition             For what is impossible with man is possible with God!

here is to the rich in this world is because they alone are                                                                      G.L.


                                          T H E   S T A N D A R D   B ' E A R E R                                           377


                                                                  ness  of time. And even then He has not come fully yet but

            I N   H I S   F E - A R                               returns in glory and with power at the end of time. All
                                                                  the creatures that are born and how the child sees them

                                                                  in-geography as well as history - are born with a view to

                     My Father's World                            His birth. They serve His coming in the flesh; and they
                                                                  serve His return at the end of time. He is in the very heart
                              (5)                                 of God's counsel and does not come to repair what Adam

                                                                  destroyed. He did not come to pick up the pieces where
    Christ is the firstborn of every creature.
                                                                  Adam dropped them in the ,fall. You could never, no never,
    With that thought we left our discussion last time.
                                                                  explain Colossians 1:X5,  if you take that position. Christ
    It cannot be a chronological distinction here, as we
                                                                  was not .born  before Adam was created in the chronological
pointed out. And we may add that in God there never is any
                                                                  sense. And Adarn was not first in the counsel of God in a
chronological distinction as far as His eternal thoughts and
desires are concerned. With God you can never speak of            logical sense. Christ was.

this or that arising first or last in His mind from a chrono-        This is further implied in. the statement that we were

logical point of view. We think of various objects or ab-         chosen in Him from before the foundation of the world, or
stract entities in a certain succession of thoughts. As we        even the statement that we were chosen in Him. He had

grow we add to our knowledge of fact. We recall facts in a        to be there before we were, did He not, for us to be chosen

definite pattern and order. For we are creatures of time,         in Him? How else will you explain Revelation 13:s  which

and with us there are matters that must be first in time and      speaks of Him as "the Lamb slain from the foundation of

last in time. We cannot die before we are born. We cannot         the world." Can we bring any chronological distinction in
be nourished before we eat. And when we make plans,               there? Was He as far as the time element is concerned

there are always those elements of which we i?rst think           slain from the foundation of the world? Could he as far as

and must first be taken care of before we can proceed to          the time element is concerned be slain before He is born?

other items.                                                      Perhaps you say that He was slain in Abel, in all the saints

      But in the counsel of God all things are first, second,     who were persecuted for His sake. But how could they do

third and so down the line to the last, not iu a chronological    this for His sake, if He is not yet born? unless, indeed, you
order but only in a logical order. God is not limited in          agree with Scripture that in God's counsel He is there as

His thinking so that He has to proceed step by step as we         the firstborn of every creature? And how will you explain
do to realize a plan. There is nothing hid from His mind.         I Peter 1~20, 21? where we read, "Who verily was fore-
"Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of           ordained before the foundation of the world, but was man-
the world." Acts 1518.  And, if you please, we insist here        ifest in these last times unto you, Who by Him believe in
again that "the beginning of the world" does not have a           God, that raised Him up from the dead and gave Him
chronological connotation but a logical one. It is not true       glory; that your faith and hope might be in God." Here
that from the moment the world came into being God                again it is "before the foundation of the world." We have a
knew all His works. He certainly knew them before that            tendency - because that is what our flesh wants to believe
time as well. And even then we run stuck and find we have         - to make this `before the founding of the world." THAT
not the words for it. There was no time before the begin-         is a time element. Before God created the world, He or-
ning. There is no time in God's being, He is the eternal,         dained Christ. Before the creating or founding of the

the infinite One.                                                 world He chose us in Christ. And although this is certainly

   But there is that which is first logically and that which      true for us as creatures of time to say, God says a whole lot

is next because it serves that first mentioned object or real-    more when He speaks of the foundation. God led His sec-

ity. There is that which is the goal and that which serves        ondq  authors to use the noun foundation and not the

that goal. The first may then chronologically be last as far      activity of founding. The meaning is clear: In the logical
as the creatures of time are concerned. We do not see the         order of the elements in creation Christ and His Church is
finished house first. We see the hole dug for the basement.       before the world and its foundation. The world and all

We see forms before we see the foundation that is poured          that which it contains, the foundation on which it is laid,

into those forms and hardens to be able to support the            all this is secondary to Christ and His Church. It all was

house. The completed house which we see last is the object        created that Christ and His Church might attain to de glory

that was first in the mind of the architect. He did not begin     God had decreed for it, and God Himself might in that way

by thinking of individual stones, and hinges and window           receive the glory He had decreed for Himself. The founda-

frames and the like. What was first  in his mind is that          tion of the world is means to the end of Christ and His

completed house. And in time it appears last.                     Church.

   So it is with Christ as the firstborn of all creatures. He        All this cannot be taught in the geography class,
appears on our earth and in the sphere of time in the ful-        we understand full well. But unless it is all in the mind of


37s                                         T    H    E         S..T.ANtiARD  BEAR&R


the teacher, and he has the proper viewpoint of this wide             That principle is behind all Christian instruction in the
creation, he cannot teach it properly. Unless he sees that            geography class. They are ours and not the world's. The
this is his Father's world and belongs to the Church for              world only sins with all these things in that the world never
Christ's sake and is a wonderful means wherewith the                  uses them as stewards of God's goods and seeks consciously
Church is to glorify God, unless he sees that the Church has          and willingly His glory through them.
received it all, that it is the Church's in order that we may            The purpose of Christian instruction in the geography
be God's stewards, he is in no position to teach covenant             class therefore must be to point the child to a better in-
seed this subject in such a way that the child grows in the           heritance wherein he shall be a better steward. Instrutition
fear of the Lord.                                                     in geography cannot end with this earth and the fulngs 8
                                                                      wherewith it is stored. It will have to recognize the tem-
       This also is so fundamental for-a proper exercise of that      porary nature of this present world. It will have to look to
stewardship, The child must be taught to work in this wide            Christ. CF=ristian  instruction will always have to look to
creation with all its resources with a view to that return of         Christ, as we pointed out before. In the geography class,
Christ.     This earth must not be his goal; and this life must       that deals with this earth and all that which it contains, in
not be his aim. He will see men pressing into the service             fact the vast universe in which the earth is the most im-

of the flesh all the resources of the world. He will trace the        portant planet in the universe, that which Christ shall make
progress of man as in his "great adventure" he invents many           of it when He returns belongs to the instruction. And our

labor saving devices and machines. But he will be reminded            calling to use it all with a view to that new heaven and
that he is a steward whose Master comes at the end of                 earth likewise must be stressed. Men speak of water short-
time, when all His servants shall have to give an account             age because of a population explosion. They speak of deple-
of themselves. In the history class he may see himself as a           tion of minerals and of soil. They advertise their gigantic
pilgrim and stranger with citizenship in an heavenly coun-            and stupendous-plans for the future. But let the covenant
try; but in the geography class he must see himself as a              child look to Christ's coming kingdom. And let him be
steward. And of necessity "Man's Great Adventure" must                taught to use this present earth with that which it contains
be shown up exactly for what it is: Man's Evasion of His              to seek that kingdom of God and its righteousness.
Stewardship.                                                             Let the child sing that this is his Father's world; but let

                                                                      him also look for the wbrld  to come which will be his be-
       We so quickly forget the very fundamental principles of        cause God is His Father in Christ. Geography is a tem-
God's Word. We read them and pass over them and press                 porary thing as we know it today. Since the flood we have
forward according to the dictates of our flesh. We read a?d           had a new world. After the &turn  of Christ we will have
then quickly go on to more pleasant things when the Word              an entirely different world again. `What the  child learned
of God declares that God drove man out of paradise, away              about this world from the unbeliever will do him no good
froni  the tree of life and from all the beauty and abuadance         in that new world. Let him now .be trained for the work
of food to be found in the garden. We quickly put man
                                                                      he shall do in that new creation. There shall be a perfect
back in that garden and do our utmost with the earth and              creature in a perfect environment serving God as a perfect
its resources to realize another paradise. Wicked men, sons           Steward. Cause the child to long for that day and you
of a haughty murderer invented the harp and organ that                have taught him in His fear.
man might by them try to escape the curse; discovered the
                                                                                                                             J.A.H.
power of fire  to melt brass and iron and to fashion tools

which would erase to an extent at least the hard labor of
                                                                                                -       -
the curse and make life more pleasant for sinful man;

reached out and took God's animals, domesticated them for

the lust of the flesh and built their tents to avoid the ele-                    Know ye that Jehovah is God,

ments which now troubled man. But let us make no mistake                           Our Sovereign and Maker is He;

about it, man as he is by nature has no right to anything                        His people, forever His own

of this earth. That. all things are ours and we are Christ's.                      The sheep of His pasture are we.

means that they are not the world's because the ungodly are

not Christ's 0, indeed God still gives them means that His                       With thankfulness enter His gates,

counsel may be fulfilled. Satan needs life and talents and re-                     His praise in His temple proclaim;

sources. God gives these to him in order that all the work                       Your voices in thanksgiving raise,

He has decreed for Satan may be done. But there is no love,                        And bless Ye His glorious Name.

grace or mercy of God towards this Son of Perdition in giv-

ing him well nigh six thousand years of sickness-free liberty                    For gracious and good is the Lord,

to go about and walk to and fro on God's earth. It is not that                     His mercy to us never ends;

Satan has a right to these things. It is not that the ungodly                  His faithfulness, true to His word,

have a right, ALL things are ours,  and we are Christ's.                           Through ages unending extends.


                                         T H E   STANDARD   B E A R E R                                                      379


                                                                     But forasmuch as it is not enough to declare the truth,
II                                                                if err&s be not laid bare and repudiated, it hath seemed
          Contending For The Faith                          II gZod to the holy Synod to subjoin these canons, that all-
                                                                  the CBtholic  doctrine being already recognized - may now

                                                                  also understand what are the heresies which they ought to
            The Church and the Sacraments                         guard against and avoid.

            THE TIME OF THE REFORMATION                              In its canons (Rome's "Rejection of errors"), the Council

                                                                  of Trent set forth what it considers to be heresies in regard
      VIEWS ON THE SACRAMENTS (LORD'S SUPPER)                     to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper.

                     THE ROMISH VIEW                                 CANON I. - If any one denieth that, in the sacrament

                                                                  of the most holy Eucharist, are contained truly, really, and
       In our preceding article, we called attention to the       substantially, the body  and blood together with  the soul
Romish view of the sacrament of the Lord's Supper by              and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the
quoting from the canons and decrees of the Council of             whole Christ; but saith that he is only therein as in a sign,
Trent, and we quoted Chapters I through VII of these              or in figure, or virtue: let him be anathema.
decrees. We now continue with these canons and decrees.
                                                                     CANON II. - If any one saith, that, in the sacred and
                                                                  holy sacrament of the Eucharist, the substance of the bread        _
                       CHAPTER VIII.
                                                                  and wine remains conjointly with the body and blood of

            On the Use of thi$  Admirable Sacrament               our Lord Jesus Christ, and deni'eth  that wonderful and

                                                                  singular conversion of the whole substance of the bread
       Now as to the use of this holy sacrament, our Fathers      into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into
have rightly and wisely distinguished three ways of receiv-       the blood- the species only of the bread and wine remain-
ing it. For they have taught that some receive it sacra-          ing - which conversion indeed the Catholic Church most
mentally only, to wit, sinners: others spiritually only, those    aptly calls Transubstanti&ion:  let him be anathema.
to wit who eating in desire that heavenly bread which is
                                                                     CANON III. - If any one denieth, that, in the venerable
set before them, are, by a lively fa.ith which worketh by
                                                                  sacrament of the Eucharist, the whole Christ is not con-
charity, made sensible of the fruit and usefulness thereof:
                                                                  tained under each species, and under every part of each
whereas the third (class) receive it both sacramentally and
                                                                  species, when separated: let him be anathema.
spiritually, and these are they who so prove and prepare

themselves beforehand, as to approach to this divine table           CANON IV. - If any one saith, that, after the consecra-
clothed with the wedding ga.rment.  Now as to the recep-          tion is completed, the body and blood of our Lord Jesus
tion of the sacrament, it was always the custome in the           Christ are not in the admirable sacrament of the Eucharist,
Church of God that laymen should receive the communion            but (are there) only during the use, whilst it is being taken,
from priests; but that priests when celebrating should com-       and not either before or after; and that, in the hosts, or con-
municate themselves; which custome, as coming down from           secrated particles, which are reserved or which remain after
an apostolic tradition, ought with justice and reason to be       communion, the true body of the Lord remaineth not: let
retained. And finally this holy Synod, with true fatherly         him be anathema.
affection, admonishes, exhorts, begs, and beseeches, through
                                                                     CANON V. - If any one saith, either that the principal
the bowels of the mercy of our God, that all and each of
                                                                  fruit of the most holy Eucharist is the  remission of sins, or
those who bear the Christian name would now at length
agree and be of one mind in this sign of unity, in this bond      that other effects do not result therefrom: let him be ana-
                                                                  thema.
of charity, in this symbol of concord; and that, mindful. of

the so great majesty, and the so exceeding love of our Lord          CANON VI. - If any one saith, that, in the holy sacra-
Jesus Christ, who gave his own beloved soul as the price          ment of the Eucharist, Christ, the only-begotten Son of
of our salvation, and gave us his own flesh to eat, they          God, is not to be adored with the worship, even external of
would believe and venerate these sacred mysteries of his          latria; and is, consequently, neither to be venerated with a
body and blood, with such devotion of soul, with such piety       special festive solemnity, nor to be solemnly borne about
and worship, as to be able frequently to receive that super-      in procession, according to the laudable and universal rite
substantial bread, and that it may be to them truly the           and custom of holy Church; or, is not to be proposed pub--
life of the soul and the perpetual health of their mind; that     licly  to the people to be adored, and that the adorers there-
being invigorated by the strength thereof, they may, after        of are idolaters: let him be anathema.
the journeying of this miserable pilgrimage, be able to
                                                                     So, in these decrees and canons the Council of Trent
arrive at their heavenly court&y,  there to eat, without any
                                                                  sets forth the Romish view of this sacrament.
veil, that same bread of angels which they now eat under

the sacred veils.                                                    -We also wish to call attention to the presentation of the

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

            Romish doctrine concerning the sacrament of the Lord's             -It is.' For the Catholic Priesthood is the Priesthood of

            Supper as set forth in the Radio Replies by the Fathers            Christ Himself. communicated to those who are duly or-
            Rumble and Carty.                                                  dained as Catholic priests.     It was Christ who took bread

                                                                               and wine, and said, "This is My Body," and "This is My
                   In Volume HI, page 200, we read: 847. `:I presume that
                                                                               Blood." After which He said to His Apostles, "Do this in
            the Eucharist is of supreme importance in your religion. It
                                                                               commemoration of Me."          Christ thus first effected the
            is. Since the Eucharist is the sacramental presence of Christ
                                                                               change, and gave to others the power to effect the same
            Himself in'the Catholic Church, it cannot but be the very
                                                                               change.
            heart and soul of our religion, As a matter of fact, there is

            no true Christianity without the Eucharist any more than              763. So priests are really the creators of their Creator!
            there is without the Incarnation itself."
                                                                                  They are not. In the first place, to create is to produce
                   However, in connection with this statement by Rumble        something from nothing. Obviously the conversion of the
            and Carty, it is nevertheless true that, although Rome has         substance of bread into the substance of Christ's Body is
            7 sacraments, only 2 of those sacraments are considered ab-        not creation. (In this connection, I would make the follow-
            solutely necessary: baptism and penance. So, although the          ing remark. We believe that to create, according to the
            Eucharist is of supreme importance, it is not as absolutely        Word of God, is -more than merely to produce something
            necessary as the,  sacraments of baptism and penance. And          from nothing. But, should this definition stand, it is cer-
            this is interesting, especially in the light of the fact that      tainly just as creative to change bread and wine into the
            Rome quotes John 6:48-65  in support of its doctrine of            body and blood of our Lord, as it is to make something out
            transubstantiation. This passage from the gospel of John           of nothing. - H.V.)    Secondly, you still speak as if a priest,
            certainly emphasizes that the eating of Christ's flesh and the     in his o5cial capacity, were exercising his own proper and
            drinking of His blood are certainly necessary unto salvation.      merely human powers. That is not so. It is the power and

                   In Volume II several questions are asked of the Romish      priesthood of Christ, communicated to him, which effects
            clergy and answered by them as follows:                            this sacramental change. If Christ could do it at the Last
                                                                               Supper, He is still able to do it by means of such human
                   761. What is the Host? Where, when, and by whom             instruments as He designs to choose. Here the Creator
~           was it originated?                                                 obeys His own power insofar as that power has been com-

                   The word Host comes from the Latin word Hostia,             mitted to, and has been exercised by a priest. (This cer-
            meaning a victim. Now the victim in the sacrifice of Cal-          tainly means, does it not, that the power of the living God
            vary was Jesus Christ, and He is forever the propitiation          is completely dependent upon the priest, inasmuch as that
l           offering Himself to His father for our sins. And because He,       Divine power has been committed to and is exercised by a
            our victim and offering to God, is in the Holy Eucharist, the      priest. - H.V.)

            consecrated wafer is often called simply the Host. The                764. Are the priests mightier or more powerful than
            Host, then, is the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist in which        God?
            Jesus Christ is really and substantially present under the
          appearance of bread.         The Host, or in other words, the           Most decidedly not. Your question is based upon the
            Blessed Sacrament, was originated by Jesus Christ in the           idea of a power independent of God, and in possible con-
            Supper Room at Jerusalem the night before He died, when            flict with God. But the power by which a priest causes the.
            He took bread into His hands and said, "This is My Body."          persence of the Creator in the Eucharist is not a power in-
     I      Matt. XXVI : 26.                                                   dependent of God; nor can it be opposed to God. It is
                                                                               Gods own power vested in the priest, and it is operative
                   (In this connection, we would ask the following ques-       only when the priest fulfills duties appointed by God ac-
            tions. Where, in that entire Scriptural narrative as it oc-        cording to conditions established by God. To help you to
            curred in that upper room, do we ever read that the bread          understand this take the following example: If the King
            and wine were changed into the body and blood of our               had a most trusted ambassador, and commissioned him to
            Lord? Besides, Jesus stood before His disciples in His earth-      make certain arrangements in his name, agreeing to abide
            ly body, as before His death upon the cross. Did, then, the        by those arrangements, and to whatever the ambassador
            bread and wine change into that earthly body, flesh of our         might decide, the ambassador could say truly that he
            Lord as before His death upon.Calvary?  The text says, does        had full power, even over the King. Yet his power would
            it not: "This is my body"?      Understanding this text in the     be derived from the King, and, in fact, be the King's own
            literal sense of the word, it certainly must mean, if it           power exercised through Him. (In the meantime, however,
            means anything, that that bread and wine were Jesus' pres-         that ambassador would surely have tremendous power;
            ent body, flesh and blood. - H.V.)                                 imagine, he could even say, truly, that he had full power,

                                                                               even over the King. - H.V. )
                   762. Is it possible for the Roman Catholic Priesthood to

            change bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ?                                                                      H.V.


                                           T H E   S T A N D A R D   B ' E A R E R                                              381


                                                                    (I) are public in character, i.e., that give public offense;

11  D E C E N C Y   a n d ORDER'.11 (2) that are "gross" sins, i.e., sins of a serious nature; (3)
                                                                    those that bring disgrace upon the church, and (4) those

                                                                    punishable by the Authorities. Although Article 80 of

                                                                    the Church Order does specify a number of these sins, it is
              The Censure of Off ice-Bearers.                       evident from the article itself that this list is not intended

   `When ministers of the Divine Word, elders or deacons,           as a complete list and certainly the conclusion is unwar-

have committed any public, gross sin, which is a disgrace           ranted that any other sin not listed here is then  not sufFi-

to the church, or worthy of punishment by the authorities,          cient  ground for suspension and deposition from office.

the elders and deacons shall immediately by preceding               The consistory and classis  in each case must determine

sentence of the consistory thereof and of the nearest church,       whether the wrong done is of such consequence that puni-

be suspended or expelled from their office,  but the ministers      tive action is required.

shall only be suspended. Whether these shall be entirely               We note that Article 79 makes a rather pronounced dis-
deposed from office, shall be subject to the judgment of the        tinction between the ministers of the Word and the elders
classis,  with the advice of the delegates of the (particular)      and deacons. The latter, upon the conviction of guilt, are
synod mentioned in Article Il." - Article 79, D.K.O.                to be immediately "suspended or expelled" from their office.
   The above article treats the matter of the discipline and        This is deposition.    The ministers of the Word, however,
censure of the office-bearers of the church in distinction          are only to be suspended and whether or not they shall be
from the discipline of the individual members. The pres-            deposed from office shall be determined later by the Classis
ence of a separate article in the Church Order covering this        with the advice of the Synodical  Deputies For Examination.
matter does not mean or imply that office-bearers are not           The question as to why this distinction is made must be
subject to the usual disciplinary procedures which .we              answered in order that any possible misunderstanding con-
have already discussed. Neither does this mean that there           cerning the rank and relation of these  officers may be re-
are two separate standards for discipline by which office-          moved.
bearers and common members of the church are to be                     It must be said then that the reason for this distinction
treated. The provisions of the above article are simply in          does not lie in this that the ministerial office is of higher
addition to the general rules of discipline. This is neces-         legal rank than-that of the elders and deacons in the mind
sitated by the fact that an office bearer in the church holds       of the ecclesiastical courts. Such a concept would intro-
one of the special offices in addition to his standing in the       duce a hierarchical principle that is unknown in Reformed
office of all believers. His discipline as a member of the          church polity. The office of the ministry, the elders and the
church then does not exempt him from discipline as an               deacons is a three-fold reflection of the prophetic, kingly
office-bearer. Neither does his discipline as an office-            and priestly office of Christ. Though they differ in function,
bearer negate his discipline as a member of the church.             they are essentially equal and that equality must not be
The fact of the matter is that where public, gross sin is           distorted.
committed by an office-bearer of the church he must be
                                                                       .In his "Chtirch  Right" the late Rev. Ophoff cites four
treated with proper disciplinary measures as both an office-
                                                                    reasons for th& distinction in this article. They are:
bearer and a common member of the church. The former
                                                                       "a) First, it irivblves'more  for the ministers of the Gospel
is first and if there is no repentance the latter follows.
For th@ reason we have a separate article in the Church             than for the elders and deacons. Deposition of a minister of
Order stipulating the course of action that is to be taken          the Gospel loses for the deposed one his whole life's task,
with respect to the office-bearers in the event such sin is         purpose, and position.- This is not true of the elders and
committed.                                                          deacons. They serve for a time only. And the total of duties
                                                                    belonging to their of&e  is not their life's task.
   The article states that disciplinary action follows when
                                                                       `b) Second, more is involved for the congregation. This
an office-bearer commits any "public, gross sin which is a
                                                                    stands to reason. The minister of the Gospel administers
disgrace to the church or worthy of punishment by the
                                                                    the Word and the sacraments and leads in prayer on the
Authorities." By "`L4uthorities"  here is meant the civil courts
                                                                    meetings for public worship. He gives instruction to the
or the government. Certainly when one has committed an
                                                                    youth and is the leader of the congregation.
act for which he is liable to arrest and punishment by the

civil authorities he has also made himself unworthy to                 `d) The deposition of a minister of the Gospel concerns

continue as an office-bearer of the church. By de same              not only the deposing congregation but all the churches.

token this statement of the article implies that not all sin        Though he is minister of but one church, he nevertheless

or every sin is punishable with suspension and deposition           may at any time be called by any of the other churches in-

from office. The article itself does not catalog which sins         cluded in the federation. He may be invited by the con-

do deserve this coursd  of action but mentions those~  that         sistory of any of the other churches to serve for a Sunday

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


in the Word and Sacraments on the meetings foi public               sist&y should vote separately. If the judgment of both con-

worship. On the other hand,  the service of elders and dea-         sistories concur, if both consistories vote in favor of sus-

cons is limited to their own churches. But not so the serv-         pension, the decision stands and the party concerned is

ices of the ministers of the Gospel. And therefore when it          notified to this effect. Almost needless to say, the brother

is a question of his deposition, all the other churches must        in question should be notified concerning the double con-

be heard.`?                                                         &tory meeting to be held regarding his person, and he

                                                                    should have a full right to speak for himself before both
  We will then discuss the matter of suspension and depo-
                                                                    cqnsistories."
sition of elders and deacons separate from that of the min-

isters of the Word. All are agreed that this matter is of most        It would seem that in the event the consistories could not

serious importance. Even as the Word itself enjoins in I            agree the matter would be referred to the Classis  and, if

Timothy Xi.9 that an accusation against an elder should not         necessary, an early classis  could be called.

be brought except at the mouth of two or three witnesses,              With parts of the above opinion the late Rev. Ophoff
so this should invite extreme caution when we are con-              disagreed as is evident from the following quote in which
fronted with an actual circumstance in which an accusation          he expresses his thoughts on the proper procedure in such
is made.                                                            cases. He wrote: "The right procedure is this. The two

  The Church Order states that "elders and deacons shall            consistories hold a combined consistory meeting. On this

immediately by preceding sentence of the Consistory thereof         meeting the case is discussed and the office-bearer sus-

and of the nearest Church, be suspended or e&pelled  from           pended or deposed by a majority of votes of the combined

their office." This does not, of course, preclude a fair trial      consistories. That is to say, the consistories do not vote

or hearing for the accused. It is assumed that the accused          separately and then compare the issue of the two sep-

has been heard and found to be guilty. The article simply           arate votings, but they vote jointly."

means that without waiting for the judgment of the Classis             Which of these positions is correct we are not prepared
in the matter the consistory, together with that of the             to say but as we remember the former procedure was fol-
neighboring church, must procede  with the prescribed               lowed in the De Wolf case in the First Church in 1953.
action. This was not always the case. In former times the           The consistory of the Fourth Church had been called in and
inherent right of the consistory to do this by itself was rec-      after the matter had been discussed at length with the con-
ognized. The first redaction of our Church Order pre-               sistory of First Church, the Fourth Consistory left the
scribed that consistories could and should suspend and de-          meeting and presented its decision in the matter in writing.
pose office-bearers when necessary. The Wezelian Conven-
                                                                       It seems that this is the more proper and  fair way.
tion in 1586 ruled that ministers and elders guilty of griev-
                                                                    Suppose, for example, that you have a consistory of twelve
ous public sins should be deposed by the consistory with-
                                                                    elders that decides one of its office-bearers must be sus-
out awaiting the advice of the Classis.  The Synod of Em-
                                                                    pended and deposed. It calls in a neighboring consistory
den in 1571 ruled that elders and deacons who had made
                                                                    that has only six elders.      It would not be fair that these
themselves guilty of public sins, bringing disgrace and
                                                                    eighteen elders then vote together. Let the smaller con-
slander upon the church or punishable by the civil author-
                                                                    sistory, in this case, hear the matter and then decide by
ities, should be deposed from office forthwith by the con-
                                                                    itself. If it agrees with the other consistory the matter is
sistory. The Church Order of Dort in 1578 maintained this
                                                                    settled. If not the Classis  must hear the case.
position also. However, the Synod of Middleburg in 1581
                                                                                                                          G.V.dZ.B.
provided that elders and deacons should be deposed only

when their own consistory and the conxistortt  of the nearest
church judged this to be right. This is also the provision of
                                                                         I wait for God, the Lord, and on His word
our church order today. This gives the churches an addi-
                                                                              My hope relies;
tional safeguard against abuse and partiality. In de interest
                                                                         My soul still waits and looks unto the Lord
of fairness and good government the churches have agreed
                                                                              Till light arise;
to limit themselves in the execution of their inherent right.
                                                                         I look for Him to drive away my night,
       When such a case arises the procedure that follows is             Yea, more than watchmen look for morning light..
prescribed in "The Church Order Commentary" as follows:

       "When a consistory finds that one of its number is guilty         Hope in the Lord, ye waitings  saints, and He

of a gross public sin, it should meet immediately to consider                 Will well provide,

the case. If it is judged that suspension or deposition is in            For mercy and redemption full and free

order, it ought to notify the nearest consistory that its judg-               With Him abide;

ment is needed. The two consistories should meet simul-                  From sin and evil, mighty though they Seem,

taneously and together consider the case. Then each con-                 His arm almighty will His saints redeem.


                                              -THE  S T A N D A R D   B E A R E R                                                              383


                                                                                      One  must never confuse error and the person who errs, not
                                                                                  ' &V&n  when there is a question of error or inadequate knowledge
I[  A L L   A R O U N D   U S   11                                                 of truth in the moral or religious field. The person who errs is
                                                                                   always and above all a human being, and he retains in every
                                                                                   case his dignity as a human person. And he must always be

                                                                                   regarded and treated in accordance with that lofty dignity.
THE BLUEPRINT OF AN ANTICHRISTIAN KINGDOM
                                                                             Speaking of the order that should exist between man
   Pope John XXIII has issued another papal encyclical.                  and his fellow man, the pope makes some interesting ob-
These encyclicals are treatises in which the Pope discusses              servationswhich  have more to do with a social gospel than
various types of problems facing his church or the world in              with Scripture. Every man, according to the pope, has the
general. .He has thus far issued eight; the one prior to                 right to life, to a worthy standard of living (which includes
this was entitled Mater et Magistra  (Mother and Teacher j               food, clothing, shelter, rest; medical care and necessary
and dealt with social problems. The latest is called Pacem               social services), to security in sickness, inability to work,
in Tewis  (Peace on Earth) after its opening words iit Latin.            widowhood, old age, unemployment, or "in any other case
It is a long document, numbering some 15,000 words and                   in which he is deprived of the means of subsistence through
dealing, as its title suggests, with creating here upon earth            no fault of his own," He has a right to the benefits of
a lasting kingdom of peace.                                              culture and the advantages of scientific technology. In one
   Taken' together, it is the most clear and remarkable                  of the strongest statements ever made by a Roman Catholic
blueprint for the kingdom of Antichrist that has recently                on the question of religious freedom, the pope claimed also
appeared in print. There is hardly any reference to Scrip-               for all men the right to worship God according to his own
ture; there is little mention of God; there is no mention of             upright conscience.         Each man not only has these rights;
Christ. Peace through the blood of the cross and for the`                but must also respect them in others if mankind is `to
people of God is totally ignored. Its main themes are the                create a well-ordered, beneficial political society."
brotherhood of all men and the equal rights of all to hap-                   Iti discussing the relation between man and the state,
piness here on earth. It is addressed not only to Roman                  the pope condemned all form of totalitarian regimes where
Catholics, but to "all men of good will." If ever one wanted             a form of government is imposed upon the people against
to know a concise and detailed plan of the best way to                   their will. Any form of government, no matter what it is,
achieve the world-wide kingdom of Antichrist, this would                 must be by the will of the subjects. Further, the state has
be the document to read.                                                 the obligations to guard the rights of minorities and give
   It is based on two fundamental concepts:                              equal protection of the law to all men. The state has the
   1) The first is the Roman Catholic idea of natural law.               obligation to aid men in achieving a better life by making
Every man has a God-given innate knowledge of what is                    available to its subjects such services as the people cannot
right and `what is wrong; every man has reason by whibh                  provide for themselves - e.g., education and health protec-
he can apply his knowledge of right and wrong to all the                 tion.
problems of life. To quote the document:                                     Turning next to the relation between one state and an-

         God also created man in his own image and likeness, en-         other, the pope made a strong plea for universal coopera-
     dowed him with intelligence and fr.eedom, and made him lord         tion among the nations.           He condemned the persecutions
     of creation . . . .
         . . . the Creator of the world has imprinted in man's heart     of certain races and admonished wealthy nations to aid
     an order which his conscience reveals to him and enjoins him        poor and underdeveloped nations rather than exploit them.
     to obey . . . .
         By these (natural) laws men are most admirably taught,          He pleaded for the settlement of disputes by negotation
     first of all how they should conduct their mutual dealings          rather than war. With respect to the current and rather
     among themselves, then how the relationships between the
     citizens and the public authorities of each state should be         universal practice of stockpiling arms, the pope wrote:
     regulated, then how states should deal with one another, and
     finally how, on the one hand, individual men and states, and                     Justice, right reason and humanity, therefore, urgently
     on the other hand, the community of all peoples, should act                   demand that the armament race should cease, that the stock-
     towards each other, the establishment of such a world co&                     piles which e.xist  in various countries should be reduced
     munity of peoples being urgently demanded today by the                        equally and simultaneously by hhe  parties concerned, that
     requirements of universal common good.                                        nuclear weapons should be banned.

   2) Secondly the document is based upon the concept of                     Finally, in discussing the relation. between states and
the universal brotherhood of men. Writes the Pope:                       the world community, the pope fervently  expressed his

                                                                         desire for one political world power united religiously on
         First of all, it is necessary to speak of the order which
     should exist between men. Any human society, if it is to be         the principles of natural law. He observes that the extra-
     well-ordered and productive, must lay down as a foundation          ordinary progress that has been made in science and
     this principle, namely, that every human being is a person, that
     is, his nature is endowed with intelligence and free will. By       technology during this century has made one family of the
     virtue of this, he has rights and duties of his own, flowing        world so that the peace and security of one nation' is intima-
     directly and simultaneously from his very nature, which are
     therefore universal, inviolable and inalienable.                    tely bound up in that of another. Therefore the human race
         If we look upon the dignity of the human person in the          must seek in unison the common good of all mankind. For
     light of divinely revealed truth, we `c&mot help but esteem it
     far more highly. For men are redeemed by the blood of Jesus         this the pope looks to the United Nations Organization in
     Christ, they are by grace the children and friends of God and       the hope that one world government will spring from Z
     heirs of eternal glory.


     384                                              THE STANDARD  BEAR.ER                                                      ,.

                                                                                                                                       ..~... . .
                 It is our earnest wish that the United Nations Organization     missed from his post. But the controversy has waged ever
              may become ever more equal to the magnitude and nobility of        since. Some maintain that there is more to the story than
              its tasks, and that the day may come when every human being
             .will  find  therein an effective safeguard for the rights which    has been told. It seems as if his views were more-generally
              derive directly from his dignity as a person.                      taught in the denomination among his colleagues in the
_           All this, if done, will surely Jead  to "peace  on earth." ~         seminary in Kansas City and in seminaries throughout the
        As could be expected, the reaction was universally favor-                South which are connected to the Southern Baptist Church.
     able. U.N. Secretary General U Thant gave respectful                        Not only have more radical views been taught elsewhere,
     homage to the pope for his "great wisdom, vision and                        but professors in Kansas City Seminary have sided openly
     courage."      The United States State Department never or-
                                                                                 with Dr. Elliott. Critics of the action want to know why
     dinarily comments on papal ency&licals,  but now broke its
                                                                                 he alone was dismissed.
     traditional silence with the comment: "No country could be
                                                                                    There were other criticisms of the convention's decision.
     more responsive than the U.S. to its profound appeal to and
                                                                                 Some liberals in the denomination struck back at the con-
     reassertion, of, the dignity of the individual, and man's
                                                                                 vention for going beyond its authority, Others accused the
     right to peace, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Even
                                                                                 convention for smothering academic freedom and condemn-
     the leaders of Communism joined in their praise of the
                                                                                 ing honest research in the field -of textual criticism.
     document as an encyclical of "peaceful coexistence."
            This reaction on the part of Communist regimes is due                   They accuse the denomination of being willing to com-
     in part to the fact that the Vatican has recently been flirting             mit ecclesiastical suicide in order to preserve an infallible
     with the Kremlin by making various overtures of peace in                    Bible. It seems as if this is always the method of attack
     attempts to establish more harmonious relationships. Pope                   by those who wish to smuggle heresy into the Church -
     John is of the opinion that a new era is dawning that re-                   they always strike at other issues. They refuse to face the
     quires bold new policies, and that therefore, we stand on                   real question and lay down a smoke screen over the central
     the threshhold of creating just such a universal kingdom of                 issue by their irrelevant accusations.
     peace as he describes in his latest utterance.                                 But the conservatives feel rather strongly -about the
            He may be right. The time may be very near when the                  whole matter also. One minister expressed his opinion that
     world will be united into one kingdom. And, no doubt, his                   the dismissal of Dr. Elliott was only "the first step in a

     description of such a kingdom is -accurate enough; It is                    movement to slow the trend to liberalism in our denomina:

     accurate however, not because Pope John says so, but be-                    tion." Another says, "We were asleep. This was just like

     cause what he says is a most astonishing blueprint of what                  Pearl Harbor. They almost got us. I understand 90 percent

     Scripture describes as the final world wide kingdom of                      of the students who graduate accept this kind of teaching.

     Antichrist. The only difference is that this kingdom will not               Why, in three or four years they would have multiplied like

     be the kingdom of heaven here on earth. It will be the                      rabbits."
     kingdom of the devil here on earth. In that kingdom the                        The matter is of special significance, not only for South-
     pope and his church will have an important place. But                       ern Baptists, but also for other denominations, because 30
     there will be no room for the Church of Jesus Christ.                       per cent of all seminary students in this country attend the

                                                                                 six Southern Baptist Seminaries.
     SOUTHERN BAPTISTCONTROVERSYGOES  ON
            At last year's convention of this largest of all Protestant             There is even some talk of the possibility, and perhaps,
     denominations in the United States, the question of the in-                 the need, of a split to preserve the orthodoxy of the Church.
     fallible inspiration of Scripture came up for consideration.                But those who are in positions of leadership do not think
     The occasion was a book written by Dr. Ralph H. Elliott                     that a split will come.         According to Christianity Today
     entitled "The Message of Genesis." In this book this profes-                they point to several factors:
     sor in a Southern Baptist Seminary in Kansas City main-                                  (1) Only 10 percent of the Convention, described as militant
                                                                                       conservatives, favor a split now, taking "what few institutions"
     tained that the stories in the ilrst eleven chapters of Genesis                   are still wholly conservative: "The longer we wait, the more
     were not literally true, but were parables with only sym-                         we'll lose." (2) Some 10 per cent are estimated to be liberal
                                                                                       and neo-orthodox, these favoring avoidance of a split as long
     bolic significance. Further, he maintained that Melchizedek                       as possible. Then if it must come, say in six  or eight years,
     was a worshiper of Baa1  in spite of what Hebrews writes of                    - ~"we'll  carry the `key institutions." (3) About 80 per cent say,
                                                                                       "Avoid a fight and keep the peace. Southern Baptists are gen-
     Melchizedek in Hebrews 5-7. At that convention the de+                            erally conservative and moderate. We must keep our institu-
     sion was made:                                                                   tions, rather than leave the convention without them, and very
                                                                                      few of them would now go out."
                 That we express our abiding and unchanging objection to
              the dissemination of theological views in any of-our seminaries       The issue will be threshed out soon at the annual Con-
              which would undermine such faith in the historic accuracy          vention in Kansas City. It appears as if the Southern Bap-
              and doctrinal integrity of the Bible, and that we courteously
              request the trustees and administrative officers of our in-        tist Church will have to do some house cleaning if it in-
              stitutions and other agencies to take such steps as shall be       tends to maintain this fundamental truth of Scripture's
              necessary to remedy at once those situations where such views
              now threaten our historic position.                                authority. But it also appears as if they will not do this.
            The result of this decision was that Dr. Elliott was dis-                                                                        H. Hanko


