All Articles For Kuyper, Abraham

Fight we must, constantly, without rest. Every child of God is a soldier of Jesus Christ, called as were the Levites of old to war the warfare of the Lord. And every office bearer must know that as he takes office he enters into that warfare. It is a warfare for God, against Satan. It is a participation in the war which God himself wages against Satan, and which God’s holy angels wage against Satan’s angel-hosts. The war of the world against the King of glory. The war of the spirit against the flesh. War within us and without. War which emanates from God and is directed...

Reprinted from When Thou Sittest in Thine House, by Abraham Kuyper, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1929. Used by permission of Eerdmans Publishing Co. Lust of Wealth The first Woe unto you! turned itself against the ever ground-gaining pursuit after wealth, goods, and money, against the insatiable lust of adding house to house and joining field to field. Thus not merely against money-wolves; but against the love of money, which increased hand over hand among our people, and finally infected the most godly. Consider well, it is always God’s people against which these bitter Woes! are pronounced....

Reprinted from When Thou Sittest in Thine House, by Abraham Kuyper, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1929. Used by permission of Eerdmans Publishing Co.   Love of Money The well-known “Woe unto you’s!” of the prophet Isaiah are six in number, with the “Woe unto you!” against the service of Mammon, i.e., against the love of money, the mania to have and to save, as starting point of national self-weakening. Of loose capital there was almost none in Isaiah’s days. There was no other great possession thinkable than in fixed goods, i.e., in houses and in lands. This...

Reprinted from When Thou Sittest in Thine House, by Abraham Kuyper, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1929. Used by permission of Eerdmans Publishing Co. Rest in God God’s consolations are not written for the child of fortune. He who sees the little stream of his life flow quietly, calmly along from one year’s end to the other might not for this reason put God’s Word aside; but in that Word he does not find his world, his life, the reflection of the condition of his heart. A single part from the Sermon on the Mount, and from what...

Reprinted from When Thou Sittest In Thine House, by Abraham Kuyper, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1929. Used by permission of Eerdmans Publishing Co. Spring Scripture does not know spring by name, any more than autumn; only once, at the very end, in Jude’s brief epistle (12, autumn trees, Dutch version), it is noted more in passing than described in its dying glory. The country accounted for this. In Palestine the transition from winter to summer, and from summer to winter, took place more quickly, more as it were at once, and the almost six months’ absence...

Reprinted from When Thou Sittest In Thine House, by Abraham Kuyper, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1929. Used by permission of Eerdmans Publishing Co. From of old it was a point of interest that, in Holy Scripture, city-life is first mentioned among the descendants of Cain. With the report that Cain builded a city, we need not think of a city in the sense which this world has now. In our eye it would scarcely have deserved the name of a village. But this much may be inferred from this remarkable report, agreeable to the ancient significance...

Reprinted from When Thou Sittest in Thine House, by Abraham Kuyper, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapid, Michigan. 1929. Used by permission of Eerdmans Publishing Co. Forgetfulness Is it sin to forget? Or, when something escaped us, are we done with it by saying: I forgot it. One would almost grant the latter. For, when you have simply not thought about a matter, when remembrance of it did not come to you, and nothing whatever reminded you of it, how in the world then could you help it, and how can you be held accountable for it? In by far the...

Reprinted from When Thou Sittest In Thine House, by Abraham Kuyper, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1929. Used by permission of Eerdmans Publishing Co. Mutual Quarreling Every gift of God brings its temptation. For it can either be used for God’s glory, or misused in the service of sin. This applies, surely not least, to the wondrous gift oflanguage, that high privilege whereby, among all creatures, man distinguishes himself. For though in our times reports are abroad of a language of animals, and a man of learning has devoted three years of his life to the study of the supposed...

Reprinted from When Thou Sittest In Thine House, by Abraham Kuyper, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1929. Used by permission of Eerdmans Publishing Co. Charity A while ago, a policeman fell into a murderer’s hand, and his body was found floating in a lake. This man left a widow behind. And at once among the “well-intentioned” and “charitable” the sense awakened that they should do something for the widow. So it was done. A brilliant festivity was organized. Admission was rated high. And after reduction of expenses, the proceeds were given to the widow. A fine, delicate...

Reprinted from When Thou Sittest In Thine House, by Abraham Kuyper, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids, Michigan. 1929. Used by permission of Eerdmans Publishing Co. Summer Rightly viewed, the Scripture knows but two seasons of year: summer and winter. You hear this in the divine utterance after the Flood: “Henceforth, while the earth remaineth, cold and heat, summer and winter shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22). So in Psalm 74:17, in silence passing spring and autumn by: “Thou hast made summer and winter.” And in the vision of Zechariah (Zech. 14:8) it is said that “living waters shall go out...