MISSION TIDINGS

GIFTS RECEIVED FOR MISSIONS IN APRIL, 1976

CLASSIS EAST SOURCE AMOUNT

Friend in Highlands, N.J. Gift $ 400.00

Psalter Recordings Gift 100.00

CLASSIS MIDWEST

Friend in Hudsonville Gift 15.00

G.R. Church Collection Collection 1934.03

Friend in Grand Rapids Gift 100.00

Friend in Michigan Gift 125.00

St. Catharines Ch. Col. Collection 2774.24

Kalamazoo Mission Nightwith Bert & Ruth Warmenhoven Collection 213.00

G.R. Church Col. Gift 100.00

CLASSIS WEST

Friend in Doon, Iowa Gift 40.00

Friend in Rock Valley Gift 20.00

Friend in Sheboygan Gift 100.00

TOTAL: $5,921.27

Dear Friends;

In the first place we thank everyone for your kind gifts for a very worthy cause. May the Lord bless you and your gifts, that you may experience what the Bible says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Again the mission day was held in the Netherlands on April 30. Rev. Kieboom and elder Bert Harskamp were priviledged to attend the mission day and as members of the American Mission Board, they had a joint meeting on May 1 with the Holland Mission Board. These joint meetings are very important when we are working together supporting the same mission fields. Rev. Kieboom informed us that these meetings were held in unity and that there was a mutual agreement between the two mission boards. Our thoughts were much in Holland with the mission meetings. It is hard to believe that it was a year ago that Rev. Suyker and myself were priviledged to be able to attend one of these meetings. We would like to inform you that the mission book of Irian Jaya is being printed in the English language and should be available in a few months. We don’t know at this time what it will cost per book. We hope to know more about it for the next Banner, the Lord willing. We would like to inform you, according to the Holland and American Mission Boards, that the mission calendars will all be sent directly to us from the Netherlands. So our friends in America and Canada who want the mission calendars may order later on. They will only be available in the English language by ordering from us.

This is a little early to talk about next years mission calendars but it could save you the confusion of first ordering them from Holland where they will not be available and then still have to order from us. We would appreciate it if your orders could be sent to us by the 1st. of September so we would have some idea how many to print in the English language. We are including a letter of Rev. Kuyt and also a letter of the Mission Aviation Fellowship. May the Lord remember all the mission workers, and especially Rev. and Mrs. Vreugdenhil who lost their little baby. May the Lord strengthen them in their sorrow. We are glad to inform you that sister Coby Van Rossum, who has been very sick, is showing good signs of recovery. May the Lord further strengthen her that she again may perform her labors. May the Lord’s rich blessing rest upon all the labors that are being done to the spreading out of His Kingdom, that it may really be what it says in Psalm 87:5, “And of Zion it shall be said, this and that man was born in her; and the Highest Himself shall establish her.” There will be joy in Heaven over the salvation of one lost sinner and there will also be joy amongst God’s people when they are on their right place, because what is man when left over to Himself.

American General Mission Fund

Netherland Reformed Churches

of America and Canada

John Spaans (Treasurer)

Rt 1, Box 106

Plankinton, S. D. 57368

A LETTER FROM REV. G. KUIJT

Abenaho, April 10, 1976

Mr. John Spaans

Plankinton, S. Dakota

Dear John and loved ones,

It’s getting time to answer your letters, dated Dec. 15 and Jan. 23. How are you doing? Trust you are well. By the goodness of the Lord we are doing fine, also the children who have had hepatitis together with many, many other children. As a matter of fact, the sickness was so serious that they talked about closing the school on the coast and sending the children back home. However, we may say, a miracle took place and in January, all the children went back to school which is running O.K. Of course, they have to work hard because of so many weeks illness, but as far as our children are concerned, they had good grades. But now I am going to follow your letters.

We are staying at Abenaho, our first station. The helicopter has arrived and is stationed in Sentani on the coast. Eventually the helicopter will be moved to Bokondini, a station in the interior. The M.A.F. follows a slow approach while helicopter flying is something new for them. They do this in close cooperation with the Wycliffe Bible Translators who have come over to this land also. They have a lot of experience with helicopter flying. When we were on the coast we talked to Mr. Dennis Stuessi, probably the one you talked to over the telephone. We made plans to go to Nipsan. He wanted to survey the area before the end of this month to see what the strip looks like. Also the area North of Nipsan, which we claim, to see whether there is a stripside or not. However, this plan may be cancelled, because a missionary was chased out and the Nipsan people are still full of hatred and enmity. There is a feeling to wait for at least another year before a try should be made to that very hostile area. Around Langda there are two more strip-sides. It is not impossible that we may decide to go to one of them. In two weeks time well have our meeting at Langda and something may be decided then. Also we understand that a second helicopter is on the way to this land, and in the future a third one. Also M.A.F. got their third aero-commander (two engines), a new Cessna 206 (flown all the way from the States to Irian by an airline transport pilot) and a new Cessna 185. That makes a total of four. No wonder M.A.F. had a special meeting on the coast to ask for the Lord’s blessing on all this. The whole fleet consists of 15 airplanes and one helicopter. As you can see, men and material are put into the last battle for Irian Jaya. Not long anymore and the whole island will have heard the blessed tidings of the Gospel.

In the meantime it’s Wednesday, April 14. On Sunday, April 11, we had our first burial at Abenaho. Saturday night we heard that two children had died and on Sunday morning we were requested to give some boards to make the two little coffins. This had to be done on Sunday, as you know, burials have to be done on the same day in the tropics. First we had our morning service in the church and after that the coffins were made, a place to bury was found, and a little later many of us were on the spot where these two little ones were brought to their final resting place. This was something completely new for the people so we took some precautions, like digging a hole deep enough and covering the grave good enough. Also we had a service and I spoke on 1 Thess. 4:13–18 and also on 1 Cor. 15:51, 52. What a comfort for the church who really belong to the people of God, and those who die in the Lord. Those who die in the Lord will be raised first at the coming of Christ. And those at that time still living will be changed in the twinkling of the eye. I sometimes long for that day. I wish to live at that time so that I might be changed. What a day that will be!

We buried these two little ones together in the same grave. Great was the mourning of the fathers and mothers and all the friends. Until the last moment they had been embraced by the parents. But then the moment had come to separate. What terrible sin Adam has committed, followed by all his descendants. But praises be unto God, Who sent His Son so that terrible sinners can be reconciled with God again by His precious blood. So that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Again this was a call for us all to seek Him, Who is still inviting sinners unto Himself. May God give an impression on the souls of many in the valley.

Yesterday I heard that the strip in Langda is closed, so we cannot have our periodical meeting there. Another date was not mentioned to come together.

By the way, your last money order was received on June 27, ‘75 and we collected the money on August 25, ‘75. We put this total sum on the N.R.C. US$ account and used it for general mission expenditures.

At our last meeting I told our friends to write an article for the Banner. They agreed and maybe you have received their articles already. I hope you can use some of the news I am writing you now.

Rev. G. Kuijt

MISSION AVIATION FELLOWSHIP

January 27, 1976

Mr. John Spaans

American General Mission Fund

Netherland Reformed Churches

American & Canadian

Plankinton, South Dakota 57368

Dear Mr. Spaans,

Please express our most sincere thanks to your churches for the gift of $5,000 toward the Irian Jaya helicopter.

You may have heard that shipment of the helicopter was delayed for several months while awaiting an import permit from the Indonesian government. Just yesterday I received word that the helicopter has finally arrived in Irian Jaya. It will be reassembled there and will soon begin operation.

We have purchased a military surplus helicopter which our men will totally recondition and send to Irian as our second helicopter there. We hope to get it out there by the end of this year, to help provide service to some of the other missions in Irian.

My apologies for the long delay in sending this receipt. For some reason your letter and check were delayed in the mail for two weeks; and I have been out of town the past several days.

We are excited with the new opportunities for witness which the helicopter will open up for your missionaries and for some of the other missions as well, there in Irian.

Gratefully in Christ,

Charles T. Bennett

President, Mission Aviation Fellowship

I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 89:1

NOTES OUT OF THE CATECHISM CLASSES Of Rev. J. Fraanje

Using The Catechism Book SPECIMENS OF DIVINE TRUTHS

by Rev. A. Hellenbroek

Effectual Calling Lesson 30 Part I

Last week we ended our lesson series on the States of the Mediator, and today we shall begin the lesson dealing with the fruits or benefits that flow from them. The first question, accordingly, is: To what end is Christ thus exalted?

Answer: To apply His benefits unto us.

Question: How may the benefits of Christ be distinguished?

Answer: Into two kinds: (1) benefits in this life; (2) benefits after this life.

From whom do these benefits come? Not from the devil. He does not have one benefit, and would not give them if he had. We cannot receive them from angels either. From whom then?

From Christ.

What benefits are they that Hellenbroek is speaking about?

They are the benefits that Christ obtained for the elect through His active and passive obedience.

Hellenbroek divides these into two parts: 1st., benefits in this life. 2nd., benefits after this life.

Principally, the benefits in this life are: calling, justification and sanctification.

Those conferred in the life to come are: Resurrection, final judgment and eternal life.

All these benefits were earned for the church, but was it sufficient that they had been earned? Could God’s people be saved on the basis of these merited or procured benefits? Yes, salvation is theirs upon these grounds, but what must take place?

The merits, which had been acquired for them, must now be applied.

Whose work would it be of the Divine Persons, to apply these benefits? If you were observant when studying your catechism lesson, you would have determined which Person that was in the very first answer.

Christ is also exalted to apply the benefits that He had acquired. Who but He is most qualified to do that work! And by what means does He do it?

Christ applies these benefits through His Word and Spirit.

The Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father and the Son, comes now to testify of Him. It is through this Holy Spirit, that Christ applies the benefits.

What is to be observed in this matter?

That it is a work of a Triune God. The Father is the moving cause of this work from eternity. That is the foundation of it all. The Son is the meritorious cause; He acquired it. The Holy Spirit is the applier; He works it out and makes application.

And who receives all this?

Answer: Only those for whom it had been procured, for those who by nature are unwilling, stubborn, dead sinners but-elect.

How can the elect receive all these benefits; must they appropriate them to themselves? Absolutely not. The first benefit in this time state is: the calling. It is next to election in importance, and succeeds.

Are we able to say that all men are called?

No, alas, there have been millions of people who have died upon earth and thousands still living unto whom the external call of the gospel has never come.

Whole generations of heathen and all sorts of uncivilized people have never had the external proclamation of a Savior made to them. But to the extent that the gospel is preached, the external call is universal.

I have been speaking of an external call. Is there then another kind of call besides an external?

Answer: Yes, the calling is two-fold, an external and an internal calling.

By what means does the external calling come to us?

It takes place exclusively through God’s Word. The internal calling is brought about by Word and Spirit.

Is there a place in God’s Word which states that all those called externally are not necessarily given an internal call?

Answer: Matt. 20:16, “For many be called, but few chosen.” This text speaks of the external call. Would you think both kinds of calling are from God or just the internal?

Both callings come from God, but the internal is the only saving call.

Has there always been an external call? Yes, this was evident in common grace immediately after the fall, but it was not present everywhere in the world as it is now.

Scripture tells us of two generations from Adam to Noah; the descendants of Cain and the descendants of Seth. The descendants of Cain had sunken very deeply in sin and had spread themselves over all the earth. The true children of God and the external call were to be found solely among the children of Seth.

It was different from Noah to beyond the time of Christ, up to Pentecost. There were three principle sets of descendants in the world. The descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth. The descendants of Ham were the black people. Those of Japheth were the heathen, and among them were but few and exceptional instances where the internal call had its effect. The descendants of Shem then were those from whom God chose His peculiar people, the Jews, the family of Abraham. But now, since Pentecost, the Gospel must be preached everywhere in the world and consequently the external call is far more universal than it was under the Old Testament.

Is the external call absolutely ineffective to salvation? and why?

Because, though the external call declares the Gospel, it cannot bring men to a saving knowledge of Christ. Without Him there can be no salvation.

It is my intention on this afternoon to ask you many questions, so you could also ask me how I know and prove from God’s Word that the external call is not sufficient.

Answer: Paul says, “So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” I Cor. 3:7. How must this be understood?

It is very simple. The Lord uses His Apostles or ministers here on earth, calling the people through them to conversion. But Paul says, even if we plant and water, it is to no avail unless God Himself gives the increase. The Lord must work with His Spirit inwardly in those who are called outwardly. Without this it will not be to salvation.

Now perhaps there are among you who are privately thinking, if external callings are not sufficient by themselves and the elect alone are called inwardly, to what avail is it even if I do my ordinary obligations. I might just as well omit them.

So, would these be your thoughts?

Listen to me a moment. Then I shall give you three things to consider.

I have here three boys (just as an example). The first boy says, “O, why should I worry about church attendance, the minister, the catechism, the Bible and the Sunday? If I am not elect I wouldn’t get to heaven if I sat in church all week. And if I am elect, well, then God will search me out and convert me. I’ll go peacefully along my own way!

But the second boy has other thoughts and speaks to the first one:

“No, John, I don’t agree with you in that. I am of believing parents, was baptized and brought up in a Christian home. I go to catechism and attend church regularly. Soon I shall make confession of faith and partake of communion. I am a child of the covenant. If I don’t sin myself out of the covenant, I shall go to heaven when I die. I wouldn’t think of neglecting the means.”

That’s the way Hendrick reasoned with John. A third companion was listening without comment. They turned to him and said, “Well, Pete, what are your thoughts about this?

Pete says, “I don’t agree with either one of you. I also have been born of Christian parents and obey my father and mother in all they ask of me as far as catechism and church attendance goes. I know positively, however, in spite of all this, that I am unconverted and something else must happen before I can go to heaven. I am without God in this world and my sin has never been reconciled.”

Be honest with yourself now. Which of these three boys would men find it best to follow? The first one despises the means and external calls. The second is converted by the external calls; he finds them sufficient. The third doesn’t despise them but finds them insufficient too. Which one would you choose?

Someone answered, “The last.” Is there another who thinks otherwise?

No one. So all of you find the last boy is correct?

Think about it then later when you become older when you do just as John, the first boy, despising and neglecting all the means. You will have passed sentence upon yourself here in this consistory room. Because now, at least, you acknowledge that we may not despise the external call.

Even if you forget what you have said here, the Lord shall not forget.

Are not the external means to be acknowledged and respected? If they are, I shall ask you one more questions: Do you appreciate them too? I don’t think many of you dare to say “yes.”

What a wretched creature man has become through the fall! Even at the very least we have no right to life because our rightful place is in hell. But now we may not only live but are being called externally too. And all this is the result of the fact that Christ shed His blood upon this earth and because all the elect are not yet gathered in. Does the Lord deserve that we should sin against Him continuously? Do you thus requite the Lord? He has done nothing but good and we have done nothing but evil.

I know without a doubt that if you accept this, it will not be easy for you to sin anymore.

1976 YOUTH-DAY CONFERENCE CHILLIWACK, B.C. CANADA

The Lord willing, we are planning our annual Youth Day Conference for July 3, in Chilliwack, B.C. The conference will be held in the Chilliwack Church commencing at 10:00 a.m.

Anyone desiring a home to stay at over the weekend, is invited to write or call Bill Maljaars, who will secure a place for you and give you directions there.

Bill Maljaars

11473 Jesperson Rd.

Chilliwack, B.C. Canada.

Area 604 792-6590

May the Lord’s blessing rest upon our meeting, for in all things we stand in need of Him. May His Word be held forth as our Guide, for in the fear of God lies the beginning of true wisdom.

“Search the Scriptures” Youth Society Chilliwack, B.C.

PENTECOST

“And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”Acts 2:4

Christmas is always called the feast of the Father, God with us; Easter the feast of the Son, God for us; but Pentecost the feast of the Holy Spirit, God within us.

Even during the Old Testament, they already learned about Pentecost, or as it was called then, the feast of weeks. Seven weeks after God had led His people out of Egypt, they were encamped at the Mount Horeb where God gave His people laws which one day would be fulfilled and glorified by Christ.

Pentecost was also the feast of the first fruits of the wheat harvest. And of what does that remind us? What the Lord Jesus Himself testified in John 12:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” The Lord Jesus was that Corn of Wheat, and now on that day, on that notable day of Pentecost, it would become evident what a rich harvest that Seed had yielded.

Because of our wilful and voluntary disobedience and apostasy from God in Paradise, we have lost everything and come short of the glory of God, and if God had not been moved in Himself from eternity, then we would be lost forever. Then we would sink away forever beneath the wrath and anger of God and of the missing of God. But now, because the Son of God was sent, and has finished His mediatorial work, it is possible for God to become again the property of the elect sinner, and the sinner again can commune with God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God as Father, the Son as Mediator and elder Brother, but also the Holy Spirit as Sealer and Guide of His children; a wealth which cannot be expressed in words. How great our poverty is when we never learn anything of this between the cradle and the grave. Now it is still possible!

The Spirit quickens, the Spirit glorifies Christ. At Pentecost the day was fulfilled, the house was filled, and the hearts of the disciples were filled.

The disciples were placed in the light. What a day that was when all the shadows fled away from them, when the full light arose upon that eternal counsel of God, upon the Person and work of the Mediator. Then their mouths were opened and their tongues were loosed. Then they spoke with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. May that also happen to us to the glory of a Triune God. Read Acts 2; Joel 2.

Rev. W.C. Lamain

DUE DATE FOR COPY

From time to time we receive announcements of coming events or special occasions, but they are received too late. Please bear in mind that material and announcements must be received by the 15th of the month prior to the month of publication. (For example - in order to appear in the June issue, it must be received by us by the 15th of May.) All copy should be typed, double spaced, and on one side only of the paper. May we have your cooperation?

The Banner of Truth Publication Committee

WARNINGS

Tremendous judgments from Thy hand
Thy dreadful power display;
Yet mercy spares this guilty land,
And still we live to pray.

Great God! and why are we yet spared?
Ungrateful as we are;
O make Thy awful warnings heard,
While mercy cries, Forbear!

How changed, alas, are truths divine,
For error, guilt and shame!
What impious numbers, bold in sin,
Disgrace the Christian name!

O turn us, turn us, mighty Lord,
By Thy resistless grace;
Then shall our hearts obey Thy Word,
And humbly seek Thy face.

Gadsy Selection

THE ONLY SAFE AND HAPPY POSTURE OF GOD’S LIVING PEOPLE

by J.C.PHILPOT

Our Lord tells us what is the posture, the only safe and happy posture of His people: “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him immediately.” (Luke 12:35, 36). But though this posture can neither be obtained, nor maintained, except by special grace, yet the Lord does bless those means of His own appointment which He has afforded us; and most certain it is that, without the use of these means, the life of God cannot be sustained in health and vigour.

Let us glance at some of them.

1. A spirit of prayer is most certainly one of the most gracious means which the Lord employs in maintaining divine life in the soul. A spirit of prayer is something very different from a custom of prayer, a form of prayer, or even a gift of prayer. These are merely the fleshly imitation of the interceding breath of the Holy Ghost in the heart of the saints of God; and therefore may and do exist without it. But that secret lifting up of the heart unto the Lord, that panting after Him as the hart panteth after the water-brooks, that pouring out of the soul before Him, that sighing and groaning for a word of His grace, a look of His eye, a touch of His hand, a smile of His face, that sweet comunion and heavenly intercourse with Him on the mercy-seat which marks the Spirit’s inward intercession—all this cannot be counterfeited. Such a close, private, inward, experimental work and walk is out of the reach and out of the taste of the most gifted professor. But in this path the Holy Ghost leads the living family of God; and as they walk in it under His teachings and anointings, they feel its sweetness and blessedness.

2. Having the eyes and heart much in the word of truth is another blessed means of maintaining the life of God in the soul. Oh what treasures of mercy and grace are lodged in the Scriptures! What a mine of heavenly instruction, what a store of precious promises, encouraging invitations, glorious truths, holy precepts, tender admonitions, wise counsels, and living directions! What a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path! But oh, how little we know, understand, believe, realize, feel, and enjoy of the Word of Life. For four or five and thirty years have we read, studied, meditated, and sought by faith to enter into the treasures of the truth contained in the inspired Word; but oh, how little do we understand it! how less do we believe and enjoy the heavenly mysteries, the treasures of grace and truth revealed in it! Yet only as our heart is brought, not only unto, but into the Word of life, and only as faith feeds on the heavenly food there lodged by the infinite wisdom and goodness of God, can we be made fruitful in any good word or work. We should seek, by the help and blessing of God, to drink more into the spirit of truth, to enter more deeply and vitally into the mind of Christ, to read the Word more under that same inspiration whereby it was written, to submit our heart more to its instruction, that it may drop like the rain, and distil like the dew into the inmost depths of our soul; and thus, as it were, fertilize the roots of our faith, and hope, and love.

3. Separation from the world and everything worldly—and that not in a monkish, austere, pharasaic spirit, but from the constraining influence of that love to the Lord which draws up the heart and affections unto Him away from earthly things—is a gracious, we might almost say, an indispensable means of maintaining the life of God in the believer’s breast. Nothing more deadens the soul to every gracious and heavenly feeling than drinking into the spirit of the world. As long as that is kept out, mere external contact with the world, as, for instance, in the calls of necessary and lawful business, does not injure. The world without and the world within are like two streams of different magnitude, which run side by side. Keep them apart, and the smaller stream will not overflow its banks; but let the larger stream get an entrance into the smaller; in other words let the world without rush into the world within, who shall tell the width of the flood, or the havoc that it may make of the crops? Some constitutions are so tender that every cold blast is sufficient to produce inflammation; and others so susceptible of disease that they fall sick under the slightest taint of every epidemic disorder. Such sickly constitutions must watch against the east wind, and not expose themselves to the air of the marshy fen. But just such cold-catching, feverish invalids are we all in soul, whatever be the vigour and health of the body. Let us then be afraid of the very breath of the world, let it chill the heart, or inflame the carnal mind. Let us dread exposure to its infectious influences, lest it call forth into active energy our latent disease. And, above all, let us dread, the influence of the worldly professors. The openly profane cannot do us much harm. The foul-mouthed swearer, the staggering drunkard, the loud brawler, are not likely to do us any injury. We can give them what the sailor calls “a wide berth,” as he does to a known rock when he approaches the place as marked on the chart. Nor are we likely to suffer injury from the moral Churchman, or the zealous Arminian, or the political Dissenter. They and we are far enough apart. But the professor of the same truths which we hold dear, who sits perhaps under the same or a similar ministry, whom we cannot reject, and yet cannot receive, who, like Bunyan’s Talkative, is swift to speak on every occasion, and on no occasion at all, that he may have the pleasure of hearing the music of his own tongue, but, who the more we are in his company, the more he robs us of every tender, humble, gracious, and inspiring feeling—he, he is the robber, not indeed the highway-man who knocks us down with his bludgeon, but the pickpocket who steals our purse as he sits in the same carriage by our side.

4. To cleave to the Lord with purpose of heart under all cases and circumstances, under all trials and temptations, under all difficulties and perplexities, amidst a whole storm of objections and suggestions from the carnal mind, the sore thrustings of our pitiless and unwearied adversary, and every obstacle from without or within that may obstruct our path—this, too, is indispensable to the life of faith. “The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” It is not folding the hands and crying “Peace, peace,” that will take us to heaven; no, nor a sound creed, a form of godliness, or a name to live. This is not running the race set before us, or fighting the good fight of faith, or wrestling with principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. Sometimes we are tempted to presume, and sometimes tempted to despair. The only cure for both these diseases of the soul is to cleave to the Person and work, blood, love, and grace of our Lord Jesus, so far as He has been revealed to our soul, and according to the measure of faith which is given unto us. To hang upon Him at every step is the only way to be brought through.

5. The last gracious means which we shall name, is to live, walk, and act in the daily fear of God. This is, indeed, a most blessed fountain of life to depart from the snares of death. Only, then, as this fountain of life springs up in the soul, watering, and thus making the conscience tender, the heart fruitful, the affections heavenly, and the spirit soft and contrite, can the power of grace be maintained in the breast. This heavenly grace of godly fear, the believer’s treasure, the beginning and the end of wisdom, makes and keeps the eye watchful, the ear attentive, the smell quick and sagacious, the tongue savoury, the arm strong, the hand open, and the foot wary; and thus, amidst thousands of snares and temptations, he walks forward to a heavenly kingdom with his eyes right on, and his eyelids straight before him.

TO COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY

For many young people who have passed their examinations, the time has come to make the decision that shall greatly influence their further life: whether to go to work or to college, and to which college or university.

Already during the last years at high school, they have been shown in some detail the possibilities of the future and all other kinds of factors that can have a decisive influence for us, such as, results of examinations, personal interests and aptitudes.

This is not the place to discuss all these matters. We want to mention just one matter, and this is, that our young people shall not, when making the decision, forget one thing, the most important thing in their life, and that is, that we shall ask God, the Creator and Supporter of our life also in this way, whether the way we shall take is the right way, and whether our expectation shall be only of Him, not of our intelligence, our achievements, or our abilities.

Let us say in the first place, that it is a great privilege, when the Lord has given us gifts and talents to be able to study successfully. It is a great privilege, but it also lays great responsibilities upon our shoulders. Just think of the university training of doctors, teachers, technicians, and engineers.

They and many others receive this education for....for what? Is it not, fundamentally, to be able to serve God and our neighbor better? But also scientific research, the examination of what God reveals to us in creation can serve to this end. And it shall serve to this end, if it pleases the Lord to grant us His light upon this work.

We emphasize that it can, for we must declare with sorrow that many of the products of science have not brought men closer to God, but have been ways and means to turn man away from God.

Fallen man has used education more than any other means to live in pride and self-assertion and defiance of God. Or men have in self-will religion modified God’s Word to live their life under either a modernist or a neo-reformed cloak.

More than ever we see in these days that the spirit of revolution and wickedness are inundating our colleges and universities, and that they are contributing to the general worldliness, the increasing immorality, and to the undermining of the authority of the Word of God.

Therefore, it is not strange that some parents, with fear and anxiety, see their children go to college. This is especially true when the young people must leave home, and lose the daily contact with their parents and their environment. Considering the temptations from without and our evil heart within, is it any wonder that some of our young people leave the church in which they were baptized and brought up, and grieve their parents either by completely breaking with the church, or by following all kinds of self-will religions and movements, as the Pentecostals and Jehovah’s Witnesses? These matters are a cause of much grief for parents, consistories and congregations - but we find to our sorrow that these things happen. Hence we must regard the feelings of those who have great objections to higher education under such circumstances. Yet we may not keep our members and baptized members from it.

Is there not especially in these days a great need among our people for doctors and other college -and university-trained men who wish to pursue their vocation under the authority of God’s Word and according to the rule of God’s Law, not only in our land, but also in the mission fields, or in other countries.

Increasingly, there is a need in all areas of life for graduates who wish to pursue their profession in faithfulness of the Word of God, albeit with sin and shortcomings. This means also that we may not keep our young people, if they have the necessary talents, from receiving this education, but that it is our high calling to guide them on their way.

What kind of guidance is needed here? The reader may think: “Admonition and warning.” And, indeed, we need not neglect that. But it is most important that we personally, in the family and in the congregation, carry this matter before the throne of grace, and that it be our constant prayer that our children and baptized members on their way through college or university may be kept from falling away and denying the truth, and that especially in this time when they must face so many things, they will feel more strongly bound to their home church, and not only that, but that their time of education may be a time of grace, especially the time, when by the working of the Spirit, they may learn to know God and also themselves.

The Lord grant that they remain with the truth, and faithfully attend the church services and catechism classes.

Both the parents and the consistory have the duty of notifying the consistory of the church of the college town, if there is any there or near it.

To the prospective students we would say:

- If possible, join yourself to the congregation nearest to your college home.

- Faithfully attend worship services and catechism classes.

- Visit the consistory, and in vacant churches the moderator, or the pastor of another congregation of our denomination.

- Seek contact with other students of our circles. Senior students can be helpful in many cases.

- If there is a professor of our congregation in the school you are attending, seek contact with him, so that by all these contacts you will soon be included in the circles to which you belong.

We would ask ministers and consistories in college cities to pay special attention to the students.

Finally, we would impress upon all students what we find in Daniel 1:8, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank.” Read this book and you shall see that the Lord confirmed this purpose, but also what troubles it occasioned for Daniel and his friends. You, too, will experience that to live a life according to the rule of God’s Word, and the Lord grant you this desire, causes much struggle.

But we also read there how the Lord saved them, even from death, and that in a wonderful manner. May you begin your studies thus. This is our wish for you, and also that the Lord make you a blessing both in the church and in society.

Rhenen

Prof. A. Moens

(Translated from the Saambinder)

GRACE REIGNING IN THE FULL AND COMPLETE PARDON OF SIN

by Abraham Booth (1734–1806)

Pardon of sin is a blessing of superlative worth, being absolutely necessary to present peace and future salvation. Without it, no individual of Adam’s race can be happy. When the conscience of a sinner is wounded with a sense of guilt, and oppressed with fears of divine wrath, it is sought with ardour as the most desirable thing; it is received with joy as the first of all favours. But, great and necessary as the favour is, had it not been for that revelation contained in the Bible, mankind would have lain under a sad uncertainty, whether there was any such thing as “forgiveness with God.” Being conscious of guilt, yet partial in their own favour, they might have pleased themselves with conjectures, that He would not condemn and destroy all His offending creatures; but they could never have arrived at certainty. For, by whatever mediums they might have come to the knowledge of a Deity, as the great Author of nature and Sovereign of the world; by the same means they must have known that perfection is essential to the divine character and, consequently, infinite opposition to moral evil. But whether such as had rebelled against Him might be forgiven consistent with His perfections and purposes, and without impeaching His honour as a righteous Governor, this, unassisted reason could not have determined. But (adored by the condescension and goodness of God!) we are not left to grope in the dark, and to form a thousand wild conjectures about an affair of such vast importance. We have a revelation, a divine revelation, of the richest grace and tenderest mercy; from which we learn with absolute certainty that there is forgiveness with our Maker and Sovereign. This revelation of mercy is of great antiquity, and almost coeval with time itself. It was known to the patriarchs; it was revived and exhibited in a fuller, clearer manner under the Mosaic economy. But, by the incarnation and work of the Son of God, by the commencement of the gospel-dispensation, and the spread of the Redeemer’s interest, it has received the highest confirmation, and shines in all its glory. Jehovah’s pardoning goodness was loudly proclaimed to Moses, and makes a conspicuous figure in that sacred name by which the God of Israel was known to the church in the wilderness. “And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin.” Yes, to the eternal Sovereign belong mercies and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.

This capital blessing of the new covenant is represented in the book of God by many metaphors, and in a rich variety of language; yet all in exact correspondence to the different views which are there given of the dreadful nature and complicated evil of sin. Is the sinner represented as all over defiled and loathsome with the most hateful impurity? His pardon is signified by the perfect cleansing of his person and the covering of all his filth. Is he compared to a wretched insolvent, and his offences to a debt of “ten thousand talents”? His pardon is described by a blotting out of the debt, or by a non-imputation of it. Is he likened to a person who labours under the weight of a heavy burden, which galls his shoulders and sinks his spirits? His forgiveness is designed by a lifting up, and a removal of the pressing incumbrance. Are his transgressions, for their nature, number and effects, represented by clouds; black, lowering, low-hung clouds, which are ready to burst in a storm and deluge the country? His pardon is described by their total abolition, by blotting them out from the face of heaven, so that the least trace of them shall not remain, nor any mortal be able to tell what is become of them. Is sin pronounced rebellion against the Majesty of heaven, and the sinner considered as a convict, just going to be executed? Forgiveness is a reversing the sentence, and a remission of the penalty due to his crimes. Under such a consideration, which is the proper notion of pardon, the laguage of a gracious God is, “Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.” The Lord is pleased to represent the same invaluable blessing by casting our sins behind His back; by casting them into the depths of the sea; by removing them as far from us as the east is from the west; by remembering them no more; and by making scarlet and crimson offences white as wool, yea, whiter than snow.

In this forgiveness, grace reigns and the riches of grace are displayed. It is an absolutely perfect pardon; and to make it so, three things are required. It must be full, free and everlasting. That is, it must extend to all sin; it must be vouchsafed without any conditions to be performed by the sinner; and absolutely irreversible. But these things deserve a more particular consideration.

That forgiveness which is equal to the wants of a sinner, must be full, including all sins, be they ever so numerous; extending to all their aggravations, be they ever so enormous. Every sin being a transgression of the divine law, and every transgression subjecting the offender to a dreadful curse, it is plain that if the guilt attending every sin be not removed, if the penalty due to every sin be not remitted, the curse must fall upon us, and wrath must be our portion. Hence appears the necessity of a full pardon in order to happiness. And as it is essentially necessary, so it is granted. The scriptures declare, abundantly declare, that when our offended Sovereign pardons any of the human race, He forgives all their sins. For, says the King, whose name is the Lord of Hosts, “I will cleanse them from ALL their iniquities whereby they have sinned against Me; and I will pardon ALL their iniquities whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against Me.” Charming declaration! To forgive sin is a divine prerogative. None can dispense the unspeakable favour but God. This He declares He will do; and that He will not only forgive some sins, or a few, but all, all entirely.

Let us hear another ambassador from the court of heaven. The prophet Micah, with an air of thanksgiving and joy, declares, “He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us, He will subdue our iniquities; and Thou wilt cast ALL their sins into the depths of the sea.” He will turn again, not as an incensed adversary to pour out His vengeance, but as a Friend and a Father to manifest His grace. Beholding with pity our miserable condition and helpless circumstances, “He will have compassion upon us”; He will relieve our distress and richly supply our various wants. As sin is the cause of all our misery, and that abominable thing which He detests, He will subdue our stubborn “iniquities”; He will remove their guilt by atoning blood, and destroy their dominion by victorious grace. And, as a further expression of Thy pardoning love, though Thy people have offended to ever so high a degree, “Thou wilt cast” not a few, or the greatest part only, but “ALL their sins into the depths of the sea.” Their sins, as a burden too heavy for them to bear, as an object too hateful for Thee to behold, Thou wilt for ever remove from them, for ever cast out of Thy sight. Here the fulness and the perpetuity of divine forgiveness are expressed with all the force of language. Another infallible writer, and mirror of pardoning mercy, expresses the glorious truth, and celebrates the ineffable blessing, in the language of exultation. To hear his words is delightful; to partake in his joy is transporting: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name, who for giveth ALL thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases.” Such is his language, and such the ground of his exuberant joy; and a solid foundation it is for incessant thanksgiving. For when, and to whomsoever, God pardons sin, He so forgives it, that, as to the eye of His vindictive justice, He sees it no more, there is none to be found; there is none which can be charged upon them. Hence it is, that there is no condemnation to such persons.

BOOK REVIEW

“His Great Goodness” is the title of a book compiled by Mrs. Olive Perks about her father, the Rev. F. Windridge (1867–1961). It is largely autobiographical.

For 45 years, from 1916 to 1961, Mr. Windridge was the beloved pastor of the Providence Strict Baptist Chapel in London.

The book contains his life in which God’s sovereignty, God’s justice, and God’s mercy in Christ Jesus, bestowed upon a sinner, also in calling him to the ministry, shine forth clearly.

Eight sermons are found in the second part of the book, and also “The Harp of Zion”, a collection of poems based on various parts of God’s Holy Word.

It is a book in which we find, simply told, the ways in which God leads His people. Mr. Windridge was a man who knew the depths of Satan, the depths of sin, but also the depths of his own heart. But by the free grace of God he also knew the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

The book we are commending is a very attractive book for our spiritual life. We hope that also our young people will reach for it. There is so much reading matter in magazines that poisons and corrupts young lives, and destroys their souls. God’s infallible Word is above all, but we are happy to see such books published that describe the work of God. With the blessing of the Lord it may lead to holy jealousy. The God Who can grant this life still lives.

Rev. W. C. Lamain

A new book, “HIS GREAT GOODNESS”, being the autobiography of a minister of the Gospel in England, Mr. F. Windridge, (1867-1961). Also included are 8 sermons, 100 poems, and 11 photographs. The price is $8.50. Obtainable from

Mrs. O Perks,

12 Grosvenor Road

Watford, Herts,

England W D I 2 Q.T.

But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen