Vol 29 Issue 06

Common Grace In recent numbers of Torch and Trumpet, a rather interesting discussion is carried on between Prof. H.R. Van Til and the Rev. J. Piersma on the one hand, and a certain Mr. S. Wolters, formerly a member of the liberated church in the Netherlands, now member of the Christian Reformed Church in Houston, B.C. From this discussion we quote the following:

It is a wonderful fact, that salvation is immutably certain for the elect strangers scattered in the midst of this world, both in the days of Peter and in ours. We have only reason to rejoice in God, our Savior. In the death and resurrection of Christ He hath be­gotten us unto a lively hope. And, we may be cer­tain, this hope never puts us to shame, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through His Holy Spirit. Nothing will ever separate us from the love of God in Christ.

The Progress of the Revolt In our previous article we left Absalom in Hebron. Here, as we saw, he is at work setting his rebellion in operation. As was also observed, he already has sent out spies to sound public opinion. “And the conspiracy was strong; for the people in­creased continually with Absalom.” Heb.—“And the conspiracy was strong; for the people caused to go, and many (were) with Absalom.”

We were occupied with showing just how the Old Testament saints were served by their animal sacri­fices. To bring the treatment of this matter to con­clusion, let us get before us once more the principles of truth imposed upon and symbolized by this sac­rifice.

What Do We Need? In our last installment we pointed out by way of illustration and in a negative way the necessity of having different textbooks in our Protestant Reformed schools. Granted our own schools and Protestant Re­formed teachers and Protestant Reformed pupils, there is still a very serious lack in the classroom that employs non-Protestant Reformed textbooks.

Continuing our discussion of God’s providence and sin, we concluded our previous article with the observation that the moral rational nature of man is also the basis for the moral rational character of the gospel also as far as the wicked are concerned. The sovereignty of the Lord never annuls the responsi­bility of man. We do not merely confess that a cal­ling goes forth from all the works of God’s hands to all men, but also that the preaching of the gospel con­fronts its hearers with a divine calling and demand. The truth itself does this.

In Question 91 the Heidelberg Catechism discusses the Scriptural truth concerning good works. Briefly it tells us that good works are “only those which pro­ceed from a true faith, are performed according to the law of God, and to his glory; and not such as are founded on our own imaginations, or the institutions of men.” This answer is at the same time a transi­tion and introduction to the discussion of the law of God that follows in the succeeding Lord’s Days.

In the present editorial I wish to furnish a few cogent reasons why all Protestant Reformed people should support the Standard Bearer, should be sub­scribers, and, what is more important, should read it from cover to cover. One reason for writing this editorial is that in re­cent years there have been several cancellations of subscriptions for our paper.