Vol 23 Issue 02

The second point with respect to which the Holy Spirit will convict the world is that of righteousness, Here again we have the same indefinite form of expression that we encounter in the other two members. However it is here especially evident that the relation must be expressed by “concerning”, or “in respect to” for it is evident that the world is not convicted of its own righteousness but that it is compelled to concede to righteousness in some respect, which must now further appear from the course of the Savior’s statement. But what righteousness is this, or whose? We...

Introduction. . . . The Second Annual Conference between the ministers and students of the Protestant Reformed Churches and the Reformed Churches in the U. S., met in Hull, Iowa, from October 1 through October 3. The Conference was well attended; we noticed especially a goodly number of lay members from both denominations. Rut since this represents only a small portion of the total membership we will extend our space in the next few issues to give a rather detailed review of the proceedings. Our people have shown their interest, if not by attendance, through their financial and moral support...

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:2-4 How beautifully and practically James begins his epistle! He is writing to the twelve tribes scattered abroad, the Jewish Christians in the Dispersion, scattered abroad because of persecution. And this church of God is a picture of the persecuted church of God throughout the ages. James is surely true to life, the life of the people of God in the...

As God passes the creatures, one by one, before Job’s eyes, God recites various of their native peculiarities. God begins with the earth’s foundations, then proceeds to speak about the sea, hemmed in by bars and doors. Then God continues with mention of the rain, snow, hoarfrost, sleet and hail. From there God mounts upward to heaven to discuss the constellations, the lightning, etc. Then God has Job inspect the wild goats and the wild asses. Afterward God passes the unicorn before his eyes, the peacock, the hawk, the eagle and the horse. God had only begun this process or...

In the preceding article under the above caption we witnessed the opposition of Frederick II to the world pretentions of the papacy. The papal contestant in this struggle with whom we were last occupied is Gregory IX, who, as was stated, died contending for the states of the church in Italy to which Frederick was laying claim. After a papal vacancy of twenty months, Gregory was succeeded by Coelestin IV, who outlived his election less than three weeks. The next pope, Innocent IV (1243-1254), continued the conflict with great vigor. His first move was to escape by flight from Rome,...

So had the Lord driven the kine by which the Ark was being drawn in the straight way to the way of Bethshemesh. And they of Bethshemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley, when they lifted up their eyes and saw the Ark and they rejoiced to see it. The cart came into the field of Joshua, a Bethshemeshite. Here by a great stone the animals were stopped not by human hands but by the Lord Himself. The Bethshemeshites bestirred themselves. Coming forward, the Levites took down the Ark of the Lord, and the coffer that was with...

No sooner had the Ark arrived in Gath than there occurred there, too, a new revelation of the wrath of God over the unrighteousness of the Philistines. “The hand of the Lord was against the city with a very great destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both great and small, and they had emerods in their secret parts.” So had the plague followed the Ark to Gath and broken out in that city. Still the Philistines persisted in saying that it was a chance that happened to them. This is indicated by the fact that the matter...

The Idea of the Church (continued) However, the Church is not a mechanical, but an organic unity. It is a spiritual organism. The difference between a mechanism and an organism is that, while both are constituted of parts through which the whole functions, the former is assembled from previously prepared parts, the latter grows from a common principle of life. A watch is a mechanism, a tree is an organism. The church is the spiritual body of Christ, it is the olive tree of which He is the root; believers are branches of the vine which is Christ, members of...

A word may still be said about the contents and meaning of the decisions of the “Ecumenical Synod” in re the controversy in the Netherlands. If these decisions are considered in the abstract they are rather harmless, i.e. one might subscribe to them without much trouble of conscience. This is especially true of the first of the two decisions in question. The delegates from the Netherlands presented to the assembly in Grand Rapids the question: “Even if the Synod of the Reformed Churches (of the Netherlands, and in its decisions concerning the recent controversies, H.H.) might not be right would...

Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Heb. 4:14 Seeing then . . . . let us hold fast! Doctrine and exhortation follow each other in regular sequence in this profound and beautiful part of Holy Scripture. And while the exhortatory passages with which the epistle is interspersed occupy the position of inferences from preceding didactical expositions, they, at the same time, frequently are transitions to further instruction in the truth of the Christian profession to come. Thus it is in...