A PERIODICAL FOR YOUNG AND OLD

THE CONFESSION OF FAITH ARTICLE II

By What Means God is Made Known to

Us. [continued)

In our previous article we have seen that there is a difference between the internal or innate knowledge and the external or acquired knowledge of God. The first is inborn in the hearts of all men by nature, while the latter is derived from the visible creation. Heaven and earth and all that the Lord created are testimonies of God’s presence. Did we ever see that presence of the Lord? This will humble us before Him.

As we wrote before, He Who is the Creator, reveals Himself also in another way in our life -- in preservation and government. All those testimonies of God in nature are confirmed in our heart; we cannot find rest and satisfaction in the world, but only in the Lord. This is expressed in different ways, but thereby it is clear that man needs the communion with God. Think how the heathens do this in bowing before wood and stone.

We have mentioned that the world is a book written by the finger of God. To understand this in the right way we need light from on high. The Creator must recreate us, our mind must be sanctified, our eyes must be opened and our ears unstopped. This wonder is worked by Word and Spirit in the heart of the elect, most of whom, it is always said, are converted in their youth, under the age of thirty years. Solomon says, “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.”

The situation in the world is so gloomy, as the wickedness is so great and the idols are so many. Never forget that the internal knowledge, which we all have, leaves us without excuse, but that for us the responsibility is greater because we have God’s Word. This last is such a great blessing, because the Lord uses that Word. If we have only the internal knowledge of God from nature so that we know that there is a God, but know nothing more, then there is no hope to become converted. The uncivilized, but also the civilized or educated peoples such as the Egyptians and Greeks, did not come to the knowledge of God, as was evident by their most foolish ways of serving their gods or idols.

Thus nature, without the light of God’s Word, leaves us in darkness concerning the world and mankind. Can we prove that this innate knowledge is incomplete? I believe this is not too difficult! We can never comprehend with our mind alone the government of the Lord in the universe. Many events we explain as accidental, but this is not true, because the Lord reigns over all things, both small and great. Another proof that our internal knowledge is only a partial knowledge is that our mind cannot give an answer about life after this life. Many believe that death is the end and others have different explanations, all which are against the Truth. Think only of the various expectations of what shall be hereafter among the heathens. With the light of God’s Word we know the truth about the future -eternal well for the children of God, but eternal woe for the wicked. The wicked are they who stay in the service of Satan and who, whether with or without religion, are not regenerated. We have another proof when we ask: Where is the origin of our misery? We don’t know this from nature, but only from God’s Word! And in like manner is hidden for us how we may be delivered from our misery by the merits of Christ. Do you understand the great benefit that is given to us when we have the Word of God? Under the dew of the Holy Spirit we will see what is necessary for us to be saved.

Here is yet another proof that with the knowledge from nature that there is a God, we still are in darkness. In about 500 B.C. there lived in Greece a well-known poet and philosopher, Simonides, who travelled from one palace to another. One of his hosts asked him, “What is God?” He could not give an answer and asked for a delay of one day. The next day he requested two more days to consider it, then four days, etc. Each time he asked for twice as much time because the more he thought about it, the darker it became.

It is our duty to read the book of nature, even as David did in Psalm 8: “When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; what is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?” When we with our children may sit around the table with the many blessings of food and drink, then we can explain these visible things as God’s care over us, while so many have not enough to eat and to drink. Such conversations with our family can bring us closer to the reality of life, but also cause us to acknowledge the Lord for His care for us in the days in which we live. The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans: “Or despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?” In this way the Lord can use the temporal blessings to cause us to see His hand in them and to work the desire in us to know and serve Him. In giving an eternal blessing the Lord brings the person to the truth or the truth to the person, according to His pleasure. We all have and hear the Word of God, but has this brought us in humility before the Lord? Or are we yet the same as we were born, that is -unregenerated? How terrible is this state!

Often in catechism class we tell the boys and girls to read the Bible daily, also before they go to bed, as this can make us wise for eternity. All of us know that the Bible has been translated from the original languages wherein they were first written. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and only a few verses in Aramaic; the New Testament was written in Greek. The original manuscripts of the books of the Bible have been worn out long ago. But the Lord has taken care that copies were made over and over again, which were all written by hand. The oldest manuscripts known at this moment are the so called CODEX SINAITICUS, now in the British Museum, and the CODEX VATICANUS, which is now in the Vatican. Next time, D.V., we hope to write more about the history of the Bible as we have it today in the Dutch and English languages.

How true it is what we find at the end of this second article of our confession: He makes Himself more clearly and fully known to us by His holy and divine Word, that is to say, as far as is necessary for us to know in this life, to His glory and our salvation. May it become reality in our life that it is applied to us.

Rev. A. M. Den Boer

Norwich, Canada

BIBLE QUIZ

Dear Boys and Girls:

Another year has begun. And so once more we wish all of you a Blessed New Year - a year in which the Lord’s blessings are given you for both body and soul. There are blessings which shall help us for a day, for a week, for a year, or even for many years, but there is a blessing which endureth for ever. Can you tell me what that is?

As we look ahead to another year, perhaps many already have plans of what they will do in 1975. But may we together look at the instruction given us in the book of James - “Ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain; whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that.”

And as we read the newspapers today, we see many signs of trouble -prices, shortages, unemployment, disagreements between countries - where will it all end? But the psalmist said, “To Thee, 0 Lord, I lift my eyes, O Thou enthroned above the skies”. May our eyes also be lifted up unto the Lord, Who is able to help in every need.

The first letters of our answers to this quiz will spell out six words found in the prayer of Jehoshaphat, when trouble was at hand.

The word of the Lord to Jehoshaphat and the children of Israel was, “Be not afraid,...the ______ is not your’s, but God’s.”

In the city of Athens Paul found an altar with the inscription, “To the — _______God”.

A woman who was diseased with an issue of blood for twelve years came behind the Lord Jesus and________ the hem of his garment.

Samson awoke out of his sleep and said, “I will go out as at times before, and shake myself’, not knowing that the Lord was departed from him.

When four men brought a man sick of the palsy to the house where the Lord Jesus was and could not get in, they____________the roof of the house.

The people stoned Stephen as he called upon God, saying “Lord Jesus, _____ _____ my spirit.”

The Philistines took Samson and put out his ______________, and brought him down to Gaza.

Habakkuk prayed to the Lord, saying, “O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the____________”.

In Psalm 25 David said, “Mine eyes are __________toward the Lord.”

On the last day of his life, Samson called unto the Lord and said, “0 Lord God, remember me, I pray Thee, and ___________me, I pray Thee, only this once.”

Jacob said to his sons, “Wherefore do ye look one upon Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt.

Jonah while in the fish prayed, saying, “I cried by___________of mine affliction unto the Lord, and He heard me.”

Elijah said to the messengers of King Ahaziah, “Say to the king,…Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that thou sendest to enquire of Baalzebub the god of ___________.”

In the last chapter of Lamentations, Jeremiah prayed, “Turn Thou________ unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned.”

Ananias was sent to the house of Judas to see Saul of Tarsus, and the Lord said of him, “For, behold, he_______”

Jonah’s message to Nineveh was, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be________ _________.”

In Psalm 20 David said, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the___________of the Lord our God.”

Nebuchadnezzar said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Who hath sent His angel and delivered His servants that________ ______in Him.”

David said to Goliath, “I will smite thee and take thine head from thee,…that all the_________may know that there is a God in Israel.”

In Isaiah 45, the Lord said, “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the__________ of the earth, for I am God and there is none else.”

(Send your answers to Garret Moerdyk at 1104 Roseland Avenue, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49001).

The answers to the December quiz are as follows:

“What Hath God Wrought” Numbers 23:23

Where - Matthew 2:1–2

Highest - Luke 1:32

Angel -Luke 2:10

Troubled -Matthew 2:1–3

Host -Luke 2:13

Augustus -Luke 2:1

Toward -Luke 2:13–14

Horn - Luke 1:67–69

Gabriel - Luke 1:26

Oath - Luke 1:67–73

Depart - Luke 2:27–29

Worshipped - Matthew 2:11

Rising - Luke 2:34

Overcome - John 16:33

Unloose - Mark 1:7

Gabriel -Luke 1:19

Heaven - John 3:27

Thanks - Luke 2:36–38

During the past month answers to our quiz were received from the following:

Frances Vander Meulen

Janice Stapel

John Stapel

Casey Van Wingerden

Tammy Troff

George Van Strien

Ruth Boerkoel

Neal Boerkoel

John Boerkoel

Bobby Boerkoel

John VanderBoon

Marlene Van Veldhuizen

Amy Mieras

Tammy Kaat

Cheryl Kalee

Debbie Kalee

Karel Kalee

Rose Pluim

Jerry Pluim

Gloria Pluim

Kent Schelling

Kathryn Lynn Schelling

Beth Schelling

Linda Schelling

Brenda Kay Schelling

Kaye Vande Berg

Mark Vande Berg

Karl Van Oostenbrugge

Mary Van Oostenbrugge

Joanne Hoogmoed

Joyce Vander Meulen

Sidney Vander Meulen

Harmen Vander Meulen

Marcia Spaans

Gerrit Bezooyen

Casey Overeem

Jenny Overeem

Joanne Overeem

Kathy Overeem

Corrie Overeem

Roy Brink

Gerda Vanden Brink

Stephan Brink

Delia Vanden Brink

Gladys Van Bochove

Carrie Blok

John Blok

Gary Blok

Amy Kaat

Denise Zaremba

Debbie Kamp

Marilyn Kamp

Tom Kamp

Bill Kamp

Neil Boluyt

John Boluyt

Bob Boluyt

Margot Mast

Carol Van Bemden

Debbie Erickson

Deanna Erickson

Roger Erickson

Rita Erickson

Marilyn Van Ravenswaay

Jo Ann Van Ravenswaay

Esther Van Ravenswaay

Norman Van Ravenswaay

Sharla Van Beek

Paul Verhoef

Hank Verhoef

Marnie Giebink

Joanne Giebink

Judy Sweetman

Janet Sweetman

Tunis Sweetman, Jr.

Jenny Lee Sweetman

Daniel J. Sweetman

David Etelman

Ruth Etelman

Alan Greendyk

William Greendyk

David Greendyk

Perry Hoogendoorn (2)

Gene Hoogendoorn (2)

Cindy Hoogendoorn (2)

Leslie Bouma

Jeanette Slingerland

Duane Alan Rus

Lorn Lee Rus

Lori Lynn Rus

Lisa Neels

William Slingerland

Cheryl Groen

Janet Groen

Kevin Verbeke

Rhonda Grisnich

Wendy Grisnich

Cheryl Grisnich

Richard Grisnich

Julie De Bruine

Margaret Den Boer

Laurie Bleeker

Mary Kamp

Linda Kamp

Henry Kamp

Willem Den Boer

Joan Lugthart

Jonathan Van Beek

David Van Beek

Linda Van De Vendel

Sharon Van De Vendel

Daniel Ymker

Mineva Ymker

Leah Van Tilburg

Mary Van Tilburg

Steve Boluyt

Kathy Van Bemden

Mike Van Bemden

David Neels

Mike Neels

Jim Neels

Joe Neels

Arthur Denbok

Ken Van Wingerden

Bill Van Wingerden

John Martin Vander Wiele

Jane Ellen Vander Wiele

Judy Lynn Vander Wiele

Mary Kievit

Audrey Kievit

Doris VandeHoef

Tim Van Stelle

Andy Van Stelle

Joylynn Mast

Jane Mast

Neil Mast

Stanley Aart Vander Waal

Laura Rosendall

Jim Rosendall

Jane Kroesbergen

Cathy Kroesbergen

Ken Kroesbergen

John Kroesbergen

Barbara Jean Southway

Robert Glen Southway

Casey Van Wingerden

John Verhey

Bill Blaak

Susan Blaak

Sue Van Ess

Rich Van Ess

Albert Bouma

Ruth Bouma

Margaret Den Boer

Elizabeth Sisco

June Sisco

Nancy Sisco

Ella Kieboom

Arline Kieboom

Nancy Hoogmoed

Alfred Van Wingerden

Lynn Ellen Kamp

Joanne Slingerland

Nellie Slingerland

Neil Slingerland

Jannie Slingerland

Nancy Kwekel

David Kwekel

Jim Bazen

Linda Bazen

Melanie Van Brugge

Nicholas John Bush

Adrian Bush

Lisa Den Hartigh

Henry deKok

Cornell deKok

Jany deKok

Lisa Markus

Rebecca Jane Markus

Alane Van Ravenswaay

Joel Van Ravenswaay

Minda Van Ravenswaay

Julie Frens

Mary Frens

Sharon Frens

Leonard Frens

Elaine Frens

Thomas Berkenbush

David Klarenbeek

Darwyn Klarenbeek

Arlen Klarenbeek

Rhonda Van Bochove

Chuck Van Den Toorn

Alida Greendyk

Janice Van Voorst

Kathy Greyn

Donna Marie Hubers

Helen Hubers

Marcia Hubers

Harriet Hubers

Rhonda Van Voorst

Robert John Southway

Linda Vande Waerdt

Wayne Vande Waerdt

Betty Van Der Weile

Kathleen den Hoed

Arthur den Hoed

Maryjean den Hoed

Joleen den Hoed

Arie Van Vugt

John Van Vugt

Elwyn Hoogendoorn

Gywen Hoogendoorn

Larae Hoogendoorn

Todd Vande Stouwe

Nancy Vande Stouwe

Diane Oudshoorn

Bill Oudshoorn

Wilma Oudshoorn

Benny Oudshoorn

Marianne Van Hoepen

Edward Van Heek

Lenny Van Heek

Irene Van Heek

Richard DeBat

Julie Van Gemert

Steven Van Gemert

John Rosendall

Richard Rosendall

Teresa Vander Meulen

Paul Greendyk

Donald Den Hartigh

And now the answers to the letters received -

MARGARET DEN BOER - We are all wuite well, Margaret. Yes, the Lord is able to help us also in our daily needs. Do you know where in the Bible the story is of the prophet of the Lord who was able to bring the head of an ax from the bottom of the river?

IRENE VAN HEEK- How important it is to see the Lord’s hand in all that happens, Irene, just as you mentioned. We may begin a year, but do not know what will take place before the end of that year has arrived. In the days of Haggai, the Lord spoke to the people by him, saying, “For I am with you.” What a great blessing that is.

ALFRED VAN WINGERDEN - It was nice to hear from you, Alfred. When do you have your catechism class? Do you study your catechism lessons real well? We hope you do. The more you study, the more you learn. When we may become older, we are never sorry that we studied when we were young.

AMY LOU KAAT - The first snow fall always brings along lots of accidents, Amy. I guess everyone has forgotten how easy it is to slide in the snow when you have to stop. Do you like the snow? Did you help your grandmother bake for the sale?

MARIANNE VAN HOEPEN - You were early enough this time, Marianne. Did you have a lot of people at the Christmas program? I did not know the Dutch song which you sang, but guessed it must be, “While shepherds watched their flocks by night”. Is that correct?

WILMA OUDSHOORN - It was real nice to hear from you again, Wilma. Yes, we would like to make another trip to Lethbridge, but I cannot say when that might be. Then we certainly would want to see your farm. You wrote that you had moved pipes. What pipes did you move?

ARLINE KIEBOOM - Congratulations on your birthday, Arline. When you receive this, it will already be passed by, but we do hope and pray that you may have many more of them. We haven’t made any plans to visit Sheboygan yet, but do think about it occasionally.

CASEY VAN WINGERDEN - I see that there are two letters from you, Casey. Congratulations with the new niece. Moving from one city to another is not always easy, as we do not know what problems the new place will bring us. What kind of work does your father do?

EDWARD VAN HEEK - And your letter is the last one this time, Edward. There were not too many, so I suppose everyone was quite busy. How little thought there is today about the true meaning of Christmas, and this will only truly happen if the Holy Spirit teaches us. We hope and pray that it will be taught to many of us.

To all my young friends, many thanks for the season’s greetings which we received. We would like to send you each a reply, but time just doesn’t permit this. We do appreciate hearing from you and your parents, and hope that all of you may be richly blessed in the year 1975.

With love,

Your friend,

“Uncle Garret”

LITTLE SCOTCH GRANITE

Burt and Johnnie Lee were delighted when their Scotch cousin came to live with them. He was little, but very bright and full of fun. He could tell curious things about his home in Scotland, and his voyage across the ocean. He was as far advanced in his studies as they were, and the first day he went to school they thought him remarkably good. He wasted no time in play when he should have been studying, and he advanced quickly.

At night, before the close of the school, the teacher called the roll, and the boys began to answer, “Ten.” When Willie understood that he was to say ten if he had not whispered during the day, he replied, “I have whispered.”

“More than once?” asked the teacher.

“Yes, sir,” answered Willie.

“As many as ten times?”

“Maybe I have,” faltered Willie.

“Then I shall mark you zero,” said the teacher, sternly; “and that is a great disgrace.”

“Why, I did not see you whisper once,” said Johnnie, that night after school.

“Well, I did,” said Willie, “I saw others doing it, and so I asked to borrow a book; then I lent a slate pencil, and asked for a knife, and did several such things. I supposed it was permitted.”

“Oh, but we all do it,” said Burt, reddening. “There isn’t any sense in the old rule; and nobody could keep it; nobody does.”

“I will, or else I will say I haven’t,” said Willie. “Do you suppose I would tell ten lies in one heap?”

“Oh, we don’t call them lies,” muttered Johnnie. “There wouldn’t be a credit among us at night if we were so strict.”

“What of that if you told the truth?” laughed Willie bravely.

In short time the boys all saw how it was with him. He studied hard, played when it was time to play; but, according to his account, he lost more credits than any of the rest. After some weeks, the boys answered “Nine” and “Eight” oftener than they used to. Yet the schoolroom seemed to have grown quieter. Sometimes, when Willie Grant’s mark was even lower than usual, the teacher would smile peculiarly, but said no more of disgrace. Willie never preached at them or told tales; but somehow it made the boys ashamed of themselves, just seeing that this sturdy blue-eyed boy must tell the truth. It was putting the clean cloth by the half-soiled one, you see; and they felt like cheats and story-tellers. They stalked him all over, and loved him, and they nicknamed him “Scotch Granite,” he was so firm about a promise.

Well, at the end of the term, Willie’s name was very low down on the credit list. When it was read, he had hard work not to cry; for he was very sensitive, and he had tried hard to be perfect. But the very last thing that day was a speech by the teacher, who told of once seeing a man muffled up in a cloak. He was passing him without a look, when he was told the man was General , a great hero.

“The signs of his rank were hidden, but the hero was there just the same,” said the teacher. “And now, boys, you will see what I mean when I give a little gold medal to the most conscientiously perfect in his deportment among you. Who shall have it?”

“Little Scotch Granite!” shouted forty boys at once; for the child whose name was so “low” on the credit list had made truth noble in their eyes. “A poor man is better than a liar.”

“Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me Thy law graciously,” Psalm 119:29. “I hate and abhor lying: but Thy law I love.” Psalm 119:163.

“Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; Keep the doors of my lips,” Psalm 141:3.

Submitted

LOST!

“Hark! a voice sounds in the distance;” “Lost! lost! lost!” Was it the echo of dear father’s own grieving thoughts, as he is plodding anxiously and wearily on through the winter storm, looking for his dear little son? ‘Lost! lost! lost!” Again he listened; and again he heard, “lost, O I’m lost! I’m lost!”

Oh, what a dreadful word is this! But, my dear reader, remember that you, even you with the sparkling eye, the merry heart, the rosy cheek, the cheerful tongue, and the active limbs, are by nature lost. Sin has cost the children of men the loss of the only true happiness which can be found in the whole universe, namely, communion with God. From their birth they wander farther and farther from God, happiness, and heaven, and thousands do-

“With heedless heart and simpering face,

Dance the downward road apace.”

Reader, dear reader, in love to your immortal and never-dying soul, let me urge upon you the truth that the end of all happiness apart from God is-eternal misery. Whilst the words flow from the writer’s pen, his heart goes up to God with an earnest prayer that the solemn truth may be applied with power to the heart of some careless one.

A true story may illustrate what it is to be lost and found, and at the same time enforce the lesson it is desired to impress upon the minds of those young friends who may read these lines.

A lad, whose name was Willie, was sent on an errand to a market town a few miles distant from his native village one winter afternoon. Soon after he started it began to snow very fast; but not discouraged by trifles, Willie plodded on, delivered his message, and was shortly on his way home. He walked fast at first, but the snow fell faster, and as it drifted in the wind, in many places it was soon more than knee-deep. His progress, therefore, was necessarily very slow; still he did his best to hasten on. But ere long, whilst as yet he was far distant from his home, it began to grow dark. Very quickly the night closed in, and meanwhile, being unable to discern the path, Willie had wandered from the path. Willie was lost! He did not as yet know the full extent of his misery, but he could not tell which way to take, and the horrors of the darkness, with the bleak wind and blinding snow, rendered it hopeless for him to find his way.

Just so by nature. We have wandered from the path (“all we have gone astray like lost sheep”) which leads to heaven and home, and the utmost we can do in our own strength is to get farther and farther away; our best attempts to save ourselves from perishing prove unsuccessful.

But Willie’s state grew worse and worse. He was beginning to feel his strength fail, for struggling against the storm made him very weary, when he suddenly got into a deep hollow place where the snow had drifted. There he lay, unable to help himself. The more he struggled the deeper he sank.

In like manner, when we begin to struggle to deliver ourselves from sin, our experience is--

“The more I strive against its power,

I sin and stumble but the more.”

Moreover, he soon found the snow increasing around him--all hope of escape seemed to be taken away. What could he do! Only one thing, and this he did--he cried! And what do you think he said? Oh, can you not fancy that you hear the echo of that halfchoked voice crying from beneath the snow-drift, “LOST! LOST! LOST!”

Not knowing whether it would be of any use, in the hour of extremest danger, as loundly as he can, with failing strength, he proclaims his sad case in the hope that some one will hear his cry. And this is all the poor, wandering, perishing sinner can do, when the Holy Ghost reveals his ruined, lost, hopeless, helpless, hapless state. He can only cry to heaven, “LOST! LOST! LOST! Is it possible that poor, lost Willie can be saved? Let us see what has been going on at Willie’s home all this time.

Finding he did not return, his parents became alarmed, and his father set out in search of him. Many anxious and weary hours were spent in vain, and at length his father began to fear he must give up poor Willie as lost. Hark! a voice sounds in the distance, “Lost! lost! lost!” Was it the echo of his own thought? He looked around, but no one could he see. He listened. He heard the voice again more distinctly,”lost! lost! lost!” Again he heard it. It was Willie’s voice! He soon found out where it came from and after much labour poor Willie was rescued and saved, and so escaped as by a hairsbreadth from death. His deliverance from death depended upon the love of his father in seeking him, and upon his father’s ability to find and to rescue him from the snow-drift, just as lost, perishing sinners are unable to save themselves. Their salvation depends upon the love of the “everlasting Father” in coming to seek and to save them, which is what the Gospel declares Jesus came to do.

The cry of the lost one always reaches His ear, but where Willie’s father might NOT have succeeded in finding, or rescueing him, we know that Jesus has all power, and is able to save “even unto the uttermost” all them who cry unto Him.

(Banner of Truth)

THE BOOK OF CREATION

The book of nature open lies,
With much instruction stored;
But, till the Lord anoints our eyes,
We cannot read a word.

Philosophers have pored in vain,
And guessed from age to age;
For reason’s eye could never attain
To understand a page.

Though to each star they give a name,
Its size and motions teach;
The truths which all the stars proclaim
Their wisdom cannot reach.

With skill to measure earth and sea,
And weigh the subtile air;
They cannot, Lord, discover Thee,
Though present every where.

The knowledge of the saints excels
The wisdom of the schools;
To them His secrets God reveals,
Though men account them fools.

To them the sun and stars on high,
The flowers that paint the field,
And all the artless birds that fly,
Divine instruction yield.

(Matt. 6:26–28)

The creatures on their senses press,
As witnesses to prove
Their Saviour’s power and faithfulness,
His providence and love.

Thus may we study nature’s book,
To make us wise indeed!
And pity those who only look
At what they cannot read.

(Rom. 1:20)

(Rev. J.N., Banner of Truth)

FEAR OF MAN

One of the powerful weapons used by Satan for effecting his purposes is fear. The fear of being considered singular is too much for many a young man and woman. They tremble like an aspen leaf at the thought of being considered out of line with their companions. At first they may find it hard to join heartily with them in desecrating God’s Day, but by and by it becomes easier, and their conscience, becoming less active, is giving less trouble. Then follows neglect of the means of grace, and no one can tell where the long sad road, so thoughtlessly entered into, will end, if God, in mercy, will not intervene. How often has Satan employed fear in leading the young from the path of duty!

The story is told of the young man who went to begin his business career in a large city. He was a dutiful son, and read his Bible every morning at home. On leaving the home of his parents, he promised to continue this good practice. But the first morning in the boarding house his courage failed him in the presence of his fellow-boarders, especially one of them, of whom he was particularly afraid, although he had given him no reason for this. Next morning came and he was weaker, and as day after day passed, he felt his courage waning, though his conscience still kept accusing him. At length he summed up sufficient courage to read his Bible, but he was so ashamed lest anyone should see him that he went away into a quiet corner of the room. While he was there the young man of whom he was specially afraid came up to him, and taking him warmly by the hand, said, “How thankful I am to see you reading your Bible. Do you know that I promised to do this when I left home, but I was so afraid of you that I could not gather courage to do it.” “Well,” said the young man who had been reading his Bible, “that is strange. I promised to do the same when I left home, but I was so afraid of my fellow-boarders and especially of you, that I could not do it.”

It was a cunningly contrived plot of the devil, but fortunately in this case it miscarried. It is well that the young, both at home and away from home, should realize that they have a vigilant enemy, who is seeking their service in the days of their youth, and it is well that they should give ear to the Preacher’s voice — “Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth.”

In the midst of all the conflicting opinions of our day, we need true wisdom and knowledge, and we are told where and how it is to be found, “My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; yea, if thou criest after knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then thou shall understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom; out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous; He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment and preserveth the way of His saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.” (Proverbs 2:1–9) - Young People’s Magazine.

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