In Institutes II.3.3, Calvin once again returns to this same subject. Here also it must be pointed out that he does not speak of these gifts as one of his most important doctrines. Just the opposite is true. This chapter deals with the fact that natural man can never produce anything other than what is damnable before God. But after Calvin has developed this very sharply and powerfully, he foresees a potential objection. And he goes into that objection. Some of the heathen have indeed been adorned with excellent gifts. And therefore the opinion is untenable that man’s nature is...

(In discussing the question of authority in the church, Kuyper is still talking about the. different forms of church, government. He has already discussed the Romish form of church government, the Lutheran system of church government, and the Reformed system of church government. He now turns his attention to the Independentistic or Congregational form of church government.) 

* Not Anabaptist, But Reformed was a pamphlet written by Danhof and Hoeksema in 1923 as a “Provisional Response to Rev. Jan Karel Van Baalen Co * Not Anabaptist, But Reformed was a pamphlet written by Danhof and Hoeksema in 1923 as a “Provisional Response to Rev. Jan Karel Van Baalen Concerning the Denial of Common Grace.” Translated here from the Dutch by seminarian Daniel Holstege. Previous article in this series: July 2007, p. 421. The first subject Rev. Van Baalen treats in his pamphlet is the Noahitic covenant. Or rather, the subject of the brother’s treatment is not that...

* Not Anabaptist, but Reformed was a pamphlet written by Danhof and Hoeksema in 1923 as a “Provisional Response to Rev. Jan Karel Van Baalen Concerning the Denial of Common Grace.” Translated here from the Dutch by seminarian Daniel Holstege. Previous article in this series: February 15, 2008, p. 223. As Rev. Van Baalen next proceeds to judge our view in the light of Reformed theology, he says first of all that he will limit himself to Reformed theologians of the last half century. The reason that he gives for this is that we are dealing here “with an immense...

A Word to Our Churches¹  The conflict in our churches is gradually focusing on the subject of grace, and especially on what bears the name “common grace” among us. This has been expected for a long time already. The controversy in our midst has actually focused on this point already for a long time, and we do not hesitate now to add that, in principle, the struggle of the last few years has always concerned this matter. On the one hand, there was a group which more and more emphasized the importance of the doctrine of common grace. They were...

* Not Anabaptist, but Reformed was a pamphlet written by Danhof and Hoeksema in 1923 as a “Provisional Response to Rev. Jan Karel Van Baalen Concerning the Denial of Common Grace.” Translated here from the Dutch by serminarian Daniel Holstege. Previous article in this series: January 1, 2008, p. 155. [Introduction: In the first half of this chapter, Rev. Danhof and Hoeksema point out that Rev. Van Baalen in his pamphlet (The Denial of Common Grace: Reformed or Anabaptistic?) accuses them of not maintaining both the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. They reject the charge and quote...

* Not Anabaptist, But Reformed was a pamphlet written by Danhof and Hoeksema in 1923 as a “Provisional Response to Rev. Jan Karel Van Baalen Concerning the Denial of Common Grace.” Translated here from the Dutch by seminarian Daniel Holstege. Previous article in this series: November 15, 2007, p. 92. We now turn to chapter four of Rev. Jan Karel Van Baalen’s pamphlet.¹ We can pass by the third chapter in silence except for this one observation: Rev. Van Baalen surely could have gathered his facts and material a bit better and could have studied a bit more thoroughly. That...

* Not Anabaptist, But Reformed was a pamphlet written by Danhof and Hoseksema in 1923 as a “Provisional Response to Rev. Jan Karel Van Baalen Concerning the Denial of Common Grace.” Translated here from the Dutch by seminarian Daniel Holstege. Previous article in this series: September 1, 2007, p. 465. The second argument we raised against the idea that the covenant with Noah was a covenant of common grace established with all men without distinction,¹ was that the expression “thee and thy seed” in Scripture is always understood in an organic sense and never pertains to every person among that...

(In the last installment of this translation Kuyper was talking about the exercise of authority in the church. He had mentioned a direct authority, i.e., an authority by which Christ rules directly over His church. He concluded the last paragraph with the statement: “But also with the use of means the King exercises authority through men, and only this mediate authority is relevant here.” Thus, he now turns to a discussion of mediate authority.) 

(In the last installment Kuyper has spoken of the authority which belongs to the office of believers in the church and the authority which belongs to the special offices in the church. He has discussed this question in a very general way and reserved particular discussion of it for future paragraphs. He now turns his attention briefly to the relationship between the authority of the church and the authority of the magistrates.) 21. How This Authority of the Churches Is Related to the Authority Of the Magistrate.