Vol 33 Issue 10

Such is the subject of a sermon which appeared in a little magazine entitled Zion’s Witness which a brother called to my attention. The sermon was preached by Mr. Knill at The Temperance Hall, Andover, England, on the evening of January, 7th, 1874. It was based on the text found in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.” 

In evaluating the position of the Rev. M. MacKay on the question of the proper relation of the church and state, it may be well to firstly point out that there are many things which the author writes in which we wholly concur. His emphasis upon the doctrine of the absolute sovereignty of God and his expressed determination to maintain that truth at all costs is very commendable.

We must keep in mind the subject. This article does not deal with the relation of the Christian to the law. Even then, of course, there is much of truth in what this article states. Certainly, also the Christian, who is already in possession of the grace of salvation, does not obtain grace, and does not even obtain more grace and further grace, by keeping the law.

The Consensus and Dissensus between the Greek and Latin Churches. 

“Fear God, and keep His commandments.”  That is “the conclusion of the whole matter” according to Solomon in the wisdom that God gave so abundantly unto him.  In Ecclesiastes 12:13 where we find these words of Solomon we find this reason added to the observation that the conclusion of the whole matter which he had been studying is that we should fear God and keep His commandments, “for this is the whole duty of man.” 

We now come to our final article on this beautiful and instructive passage from the Word of God.  Before we enter upon a more positive exposition of this passage, we wish to call attention to the fact, that, in our former article, we noticed the fact, that, in our text, we have a quotation from Jeremiah 6:16 where the prophet speaks of the “old paths” in which Israel is to walk, and which they are to seek, and thus they shall find rest for their souls. 

In the second place, the theory raises, in the light of Reformed theology another problem, far more serious than the one whose solution it pretends to offer. The question arises immediately: Does God show grace to the wicked? As Dr. Kuyper emphasizes repeatedly when speaking of the covenant of grace: can God make a covenant with sinners? As you all know, Dr. Kuyper repudiates the idea, to my mind correctly, as if the covenant of grace were established with the sinner.

Election and Reprobation In our last article under the above subject we said that also the Reformed confessions teach that “just as God works out His own counsel of election by enlightening the minds of the elect and by softening their hearts, so God also works out of His own counsel of reprobation by leaving others in their darkness (infra) and hardening whomsoever He will” (Rom. 9:18). 

“And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Rev. 22:1