Vol 23 Issue 05

Fourth Session…. The Rev. J. De Jong led us in the opening exercises on Thursday morning. The speaker at this session was the Rev. R. D. Steubbe, pastor of the Reformed Church in the U. S., at Garner, Iowa. Rev. Steubbe had been assigned the subject: “The Distinguishing Marks of the Church’”. Resume of Lecture…. “In developing our subject we take our focal point from the words of the Apostle Paul, “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his, and let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from...

“But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1:6-8 In verse 5 James exhorts the church of God to ask wisdom of the Lord. This wisdom shall be given her for the Lord giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not. In verses 6-8, introduced by the word ‘‘but”, the holy writer sharply calls our attention to the...

We said in our previous article that Christian instruction must be God-centered and covenant-directed, that is, the teaching must be of such quality that it serves to prepare our children to take the place which the Covenant assigns to them. We would call that then the Center of all instruction, the hub where all the spokes make contact, the point around which everything revolves. Let this out and you get a disintegrated curriculum, an unorganized series of subjects in our schools, but have that center and all the subjects are integrated into one grand unity. To keep that center is...

As was seen, king Philip IV of France was the first ruler to defy the pope without either being destroyed or even once humiliated. It shows, as was said, that the peoples of Europe and in particular the people of France were losing much of their dread for the pope’s thunderings. His spiritual weapons no longer availed. The people of France therefore dared to support their king in his warfare with the pope. Nothing more is indicative of this change of attitude than the literary attacks upon the papacy at this time. The Holy Roman Empire was declared antiquated and...

As we have seen, great things had been accomplished through Samuel, his prayers and prohesyings. Eli’s wicked sons had been destroyed, the gods of the heathen put away, the Philistines discomfited, and the people of Israel delivered in the way of repentance and return to the Lord. Having thus overcome, Samuel judged Israel, going from year to year in circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah. Having thus been engaged perhaps for some fifteen years, he on a day was paid a visit by the elders of Israel, who came to him in Ramah. Their request was that he make...

As well might we present the work of creation as being the product of the cooperation between God and man, as to give any credit to man for the marvelous work of gathering the Church of Christ out of the whole human race. The Church is not a human society that comes into existence by the free will and choice of its members, and which you may either join or refuse to join. Nor is it a school of philosophy, the disciples and adherents of which imbibe and follow the teachings of a great thinker. It cannot be compared to...

With reference to what the Synod of Utrecht declared concerning God’s attitude and relation to the wicked and reprobate in this world, we conclude, therefore: That in the main issue, viz., the alleged grace of God to the reprobate in the preaching of the gospel, conceived as a well-meant offer of salvation to all that hear it, the Synod tacitly differed from the first of the three points adopted in 1124, by the Synod of Kalamazoo. In Utrecht they were well aware that this grace of God in the preaching of the gospel is the very heart of the “First...

Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation of Israel: and David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel, our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make...