Vol 29 Issue 14

Under this title the Rev. Adam Persenaire wrote a guest editorial for the Banner of March 20, 1953. It appears that the Reverend is alarmed by what others in his churches are saying and writing relative to the Antithesis and Common Grace.

In our last installment we introduced the first art­icle of our Church Order. At that time we wrote on the subject of Good Order in general and pointed out that the Word of God repeatedly calls us to live order­ly lives. Such a life is one that is in all things in har­mony with the revealed will and word of the God of all order.

In our previous article we called attention to the fact that doctrines have a history because the Scrip­ture is no book of formulated doctrines. We also asked and attempted to answer the question: What is Scripture? It is the historic-organic revelation of the God of our salvation in Christ Jesus. This rev­elation itself is progressive. And it is simply a fact that the Church of God does not see everything at once. The wonderful truths of God’s Word crys­tallize gradually in the believing consciousness of the Church.

By the name “de groote synode” Reformed people of Dutch ancestry are wont to call the National Synod of Dordrecht, 1618-19. And well may we continue to remember it as the “great synod”. For grep.t it was in every respect. In a way we may say that it marks the arrival at majority, the maturing, of the Reformation in the Netherlands. Great was this syn­od, to be sure, as far as its length was concerned. For it gathered in almost uninterrupted sessions from November of the year 1618 until May of 1619. Great it was, too, as far as its...

That Cain! He surely was a heartless, cruel and proud man!

The significant passage in I Corinthians 15:20 reads as follows: “But now Christ is risen out of the death, the first fruits of them that sleep.

So had the Lord destroyed the opposition and de­livered His servant. The danger of his perishing by the sword of his enemies had thus been removed. How­ever, there is yet another aspect of the salvation that was sent him that must not be overlooked. In the words of Ahimaaz, the priest (II Sam. 18:19), the Lord had judged him from the hands of his enemies. This is a side to the gracious working of God in behalf of His servant that must be seen.

WHYTE’S BIBLE CHARACTERS, by Alexander Whyte, 2 volumes. Reprint by Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Price $12.50. We become more and more indebted to the Zondervan Pub­lishing House for publishing worthwhile Christian literature, and especially for reprinting some works of Reformed authors of the not too distant past.

Nor is this the meaning of the motivation in the second commandment. Surely God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children in the third generation. But do not forget that the clause is added, “of those that hate me.” Fact is, of course, that the genera­tions of those that hate God are the reprobate, to whom God does not reveal His saving mercy. In those gen­erations the children commit the same sins as their fa­thers.

Our last Synod decided to send delegates in the cap­acity of visitors to the Reformed Ecumenical Synod that meets this year in Edinburgh, Scotland. The meetings are scheduled for August 4 to 13. At the same time our Synod instructed the delegates also to get in contact with the committees of correspondence with foreign churches in the Netherlands. They have to contact the committees of the Reformed Churches, of the Reformed Churches (Art. 31), and of the Chris­tian Reformed Churches in the Netherlands.