TIMOTHY MISSION FUND

During the month of February gifts totalling $41.27 were received for our mission fund, and we again acknowledge these gifts with sincere thanks. This, added to our previous balance of $105.80, gives a total at the end of February of $147.07. An acknowledgment was received from Mr. J. Van Woerden in Rhodesia for the help given them during the year 1974 to the Ebenezer Scripture Mission and the Thembiso Children’s Home. In all these causes and in all these gifts, may the prayer of those involved be with the poet: “Give me the single eye Thy Name to glorify, O Lord, my God Most High, with heart sincere.”

Gifts for the Timothy Mission Fund should be sent in care of Mr. Tom Stryd, P.O. Box 2182, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49003.

FROM BRASILIA

Dear Friends,

Since returning to Brazil in August, I’ve made two visits to the Maxakali Indians. During the first visit, I saw how the tribe had returned to drinking and stealing. During the second visit, it looked like it had stopped. My aim was to encourage and build up the believers. Much of this was done while going over newly translated portions of Scripture individually with lots of folks. It was a blessed privilege. The Lord has done wonderfully among them. It did me so much good. The redeemed may be a third of the tribe. They have done well even under the persecution that has come out of the village nearest our house.

Thank you for the loving gift you sent us.

Yours in Christ’s love,

Fran and Harold Popovich

NEWS FROM IRAN-JAYA

Dear Mission Friends,

February 5, 1975

In the first place we may inform you that we are fortunately all enjoying good health and are becoming quite accustomed to the mission field. The Lord, Who has called us to this task, has thus far made all things well. Also the children like it here, and are doing well in associating with their brown playmates. At times we have to laugh when we hear them use the Jali language, the Indonesian, and the Holland language all mixed together. In any case, they can make themselves understood.

In this respect we ourselves are sometimes jealous. Naturally my wife and I do our best to master the language as quickly as possible. But especially in these first days there are also so many other things to do, so that there is little time left for language study. Fortunately we can make ourselves quite well understood, if not in the Jali language, then in the Indonesian language.

Much of my work is still orientation. Once the work connected with the buildings is completed, then we hope to commence as quickly as possible with our primary work. I myself will have a full daily task with the instruction of the Bible school boys and my wife hopes, in addition to the work in our own family, to give the women lessons so that they also can learn to read and write. Sister Mary has her work in the clinic, but in addition gives lessons every morning to the girls, and in the afternoon to a few boys of the Bible school who have yet to learn to read. Thus you see that each has his own tasks. We hope, in working with each other under the blessing of the Lord’s hand, to be able to promote the progress of His Kingdom in the place where the Lord has called us to labor. Fortunately I can speak every Sunday in the church. Although this is not to be compared to church service as you have them (in respect to the form), nevertheless this simple work gives satisfaction. The contents of the gospel message is naturally exactly the same as in the church services of our congregations proclaimed by our ministers.

Also in this letter we wish to inform you of the event which we might experience with this young congregation on Sunday January 12. On that day 72 adults and 28 children were baptized. Rev. Kuyt and I led this service jointly. For the people and for us it was a very special occasion. From far and wide the people came to be present at this service, also from the neighboring mission post of Pass Valley. The candidates for baptism were not baptized without any preparation; for five weeks they received instruction for baptism, not only the adults which would be baptised, but also the parents whose children were to be baptized. It moved us to hear the testimony which some gave before they stepped down into the water. As an example, one old man said, “once I lived in sin and was very bad, but now that the Word of God is come, I have received a new heart. Therefore I wish to be baptized”. What a respect was evident among these people for this Holy Sacrament. After adult baptism we returned to the church to listen to the preaching of the Word. We then spoke about Acts 8 - the history of Philip and the eunuch. After this the children were baptized.

When we came out of the church - after a service of 5½ hours - all the baptized ones were wished God’s blessing by their families and tribe members. Now they are here actually received into the fellowship of the congregation. The Lord give them also further a place under the shadow of His wings. What these people have great need for is the prayer of the congregations for further deeper experience in the life of faith.

Rev. C.G. Vreugdenhil

GIFTS RECEIVED FOR MISSIONS IN FEBRUARY 1975

CLASSIS EAST SOURCE AMOUNT

Friend in Prospect

Park Gift 10.00

Clifton and Fr. Lakes

Mission Night J.L. Collection 1004.00

Fr. Lakes Sunday

School Col. Collection 2274.05

CLASSIS MIDWEST

St. Catharines Mission

Night J.L. Collection 796.10

Grand Rapids Mission

Night J.L. Collection 337.20

Friend in Grand

Rapids Gift 100.00

Timothy Mission Gift 100.00

Friend in Michigan Gift 125.00

CLASSIS WEST

Rock Valley Mission

Night J.L. Collection 651.45

Waupun Mission Night

J.L. Collection 173.60

Sioux Center Mission

Night J.L. Collection 242.00

Friend in Australia Gift 27.03

CLASSIS FARWEST

In Lethbridge Col. Gift 300.00

Lethbridge Mission

Night A.H. Collection 155.70

In Lethbridge Col. Gift 30.00

Lethbridge Mission

Night J.L. Collection 359.61

TOTAL: $6685.74

Dear Friends,

Herewith we want to thank you all for your generous gifts for the mission work. May the Lord bless you all and your gifts. We are glad to report for the year 1974, total income amounted to $62,497.88. The total expense was $46,224.30 leaving a balance for the year of $16,273.58. We are glad that the income is larger than the expense because it is a blessing if we have a little capital for two reasons; first, that the mission work may be expanded if the Lord opens the way thereto, and secondly, in case the times become more difficult the mission work could still be carried on. We hope this is satisfactory. Every two years we give an itemized statement to the Synod, and I think this also comes in the Banner. May the Lord bless His Word at home and abroad. Hearty thanks for all the boxes sent to Baldwin. There’s much need there for bedding.

American General Mission Fund

Netherland Reformed Congregations of America and Canada

John Spaans, Treasurer

Plankinton Box 106 RRI

South Dakota 57368

ESTABLISHING HIS KINGDOM IN THE IZI-TRIBE

The heading implies much, too much for human beings as we are. Who will feel himself able to gain souls for God from such a thoroughly pagan tribe as Izi? If it were not God Who gave the command, if it were not His Spirit to do the important work in the souls of men, we would not advance anything.

As it is, however, we must praise God continually not only that He has thought us fit to do this work, but also that He has daily fulfilled His promise, “I am with you.”

That is such a great thing to experience that God, in a wonderful way, prepares the hearts of these pagans so that they listen to the Gospel with eagerness. Ever since we moved into this little house near the big River Aryim, in northern Izi, people have been coming to hear the Gospel, and whenever we went out to the villages, there were those who came and listened, sometimes for more than two hours.

Again I say: I cannot explain this willingness of the people. It must be the invisible Spirit of God Who moves in a mysterious way. The willingness to hear is more surprising as we consider how deeply rooted idolatry is in this area.

Had Paul been in this area in this time, his spirit would have been stirred once more seeing that the place is so full of idols. Now we have the same feeling. It’s unbelievable so many juju (idol) temples (grass sheds) we see in our village and round about. The first things one notices as he crosses the River from Igede to this side is a grass roof on poles, under which the image of the River-spirit resides. The image is surrounded with little pots in which the sacrifices are deposited. From time to time the village-elders come together and sacrifice two or more chickens. One is cooked for food for the elders, the other one is hung alive headdown on a tree near the juju’s house. It is a sad view to see the animal struggling unto death. In another place in Izi, I saw a juju-tree near someone’s house with more than twenty chickens hanging down from the tree in a similar way.

These people sacrifice so much to be at peace with their gods! How deep must be the feeling of fear for punishment and uncertainty that they make such sacrifices! How great is their need for a Saviour Who can completely pity their weaknesses since He Himself was once tempted by demons and overcame!

As soon as I first saw the chickens hanging alive on the tree, it came in my mind to compare those sacrifices to our sacrificial Lamb, the Lord Jesus.

Here is a likeness: Both He and those chickens hang alive on a tree. But there the likeness stops!

In my preaching I asked the people, “What can those dying chickens do for you? Can they talk, can they pity you, can they plead for you to the High God?

“All these things Jesus alone can do. He hung on the tree, but not merely struggling to death! No, even in His last hour He thought of His people and prayed for His enemies! He pleaded for those who tore His flesh open and comforted an evil-doer who died with Him and repented.”

How good it is to then describe the greatness and love of our sacrificed Lamb above that of poor pagans! Ah, will you pray that they may learn to know Jesus?

My friends, there are so many more things to be told about this area. But the time of the missionary (to be frank) is always limited since he has to fill usually ten or more posts.

May these few lines of introduction to our work in Izi help you to support us in prayer.

Yours in Him,

Johan and Marijke Commelin

NOTES OUT OF THE CATECHISM CLASSES

of

Rev. J. Fraanje

Using the Catechsim Book

SPECIMENS OF DIVINE TRUTHS

by

Rev. A. Hellenbroek

The States of Christ and the Degrees of His Humiliation.

Lesson 23

His Humble Birth

Our teacher asks us this afternoon: How many states must we distinguish in Christ?

Answer: Two; a state of humiliation and a state of exaltation.

What is meant by a state?

The word “state” is not to be confused with the word “condition”. A person can be in a certain state and at the same time be in various “conditions”.

An educated person would say the word “state” is: A lawful position which one might acquire or a phase of existence.

Is each one of us in a “state”?

Answer: Yes, we are in a state of misery.

Exactly; we all live in a state of misery. But has it always been this way? There was a man who wrote a book on the states in which men have existed. Who knows the name of that man and his book?

Answer: Thomas Boston. The name of his book is: Human Nature and its Fourfold State.

That is a good answer. Thomas Boston was a Scottish preacher. He was born in 1676 and died in 1732. He wrote various sound books.

How does he classify this fourfold state?

Answer: 1st, The State of Innocence; or Primitive Integrity in which man was created.

2nd, The State of Nature; or Entire Depravity (through the fall).

3rd, The State of Grace; or, Begun Recovery (for the elect).

4th, The Eternal State; or, State of Consummate Happiness or Misery (after death).

Are all men involved in this fourfold state in its entirety?

No, not all. God did place all men in the first state; in Adam. Men did not enter this first state by themselves; it was through God.

Man did bring himself into the second state, though; he sinned willfully. All men, without exception are in a state of misery.

But do all men come into the third state, which is the state of grace?

Man will never come into this state by himself. God brings only the elect into this state. The others remain in their state of misery during this life.

After death, when the last conversion has taken place, it will be an eternal state of bliss for the children of God, but an eternal state of misery for the others.

God leads His people into three of the four states. Man brought about his own state of misery.

Which state is it that the unconverted never enter?

In the state of grace, or, begun recovery; consequently, neither do they come to the state of happiness.

We have, actually, diverted somewhat from our subject, because we are not studying the states of man this afternoon but the states of Christ.

We have already answered the first question, namely, that we must distinguish two states in Him: One of humiliation and one of exaltation.

Are we to view His states as being prior to His incarnation or after His incarnation? Think about this.

Answer: After His incarnation.

Right, because He could not experience humility prior to His incarnation. And the state of exaltation had to follow His humiliation.

Were both states positively necessary in the work of redemption?

Answer: Yes, He had to merit salvation in the state of humiliation and He applied it in the state of exaltation.

Now, quickly, who can tell us what the steps of His humiliation were?

Answer: 1st, His humble birth; 2nd, His suffering; 3rd, His death; 4th, His burial; 5th, His descending into hell.

His exaltation follows immediately after His humiliation, so the first step in that state is: His ressurection; 2nd, His ascension into heaven; 3rd, His sitting at the right hand of God and 4th, His coming again to judge the living and the dead. Three of the four steps of His exaltation are already experienced and all of the steps of His humiliation are accomplished.

He ascended into heaven after He rose from the dead. He now sits at the right hand of God. He is praying for His people there until the appointed time comes that He shall come again on the clouds for the last judgment.

Because each step is treated separately in our catechism book we shall cease talking about these steps in a general way and spend the rest of this afternoon’s session discussing the 1st step of His humiliation namely: His humble birth.

We shall inquire into the historical aspect of Jesus’ birth this afternoon. The person who was born was Jesus Christ, the Mediator. We mentioned in previous lessons: He remained what He was, God. But He took upon Himself something he did not previously possess: a real human nature.

Who was His mother?

The virgin Mary; this having been prophesied in Isaiah 7:14, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”

Tell me again; what does that name mean?

Immanuel signifies: God with us.

That was, surely, an appropriate name for the Mediator. He was one with the Divine Essence from all eternity with the Father and the Holy Spirit and, in that manner, came to men upon earth: God with us.

Each one of you are well acquainted with the story which you hear each year at Christmas time.

It was in the time when Caesar Augustus ruled the Roman empire.

At that time it was an amazingly large empire. It comprised not only Italy but also Greece, Asia and the Northern countries which had been conquered by the Roman army.

Palestine, then, was included in the rule of the Romans. Now Caesar desired to know how many subjects he had in his kingdom and so he issued a decree to all the territories over which he ruled, that all the inhabitants be registered.

Gaius Julius Caesar (this was the real name of Caesar Augustus) gave the order that everyone go to the city from which they had originated to be registered.

It was an exceptional leading of providence that this order be given just at this time. The virgin, who was to give birth to the Messiah, lived in Nazareth and it had been prophesied in the Old Testament that The Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. How were these two facts going to be reconciled? Nazareth was a long distance away from Bethlehem.

If you have a map of Palestine at home, just figure out how many miles they are apart.

But, what happened there?

Mary and Joseph, the man to whom she was engaged, were both of the lineage of David and were required to go to Bethlehem to be officially recorded. You are well acquainted with the events following. There was no place for Joseph and Mary to stay, so, they found shelter in a stable.

It was exactly the time that the Messiah was to be born. It was so recorded in Luke 2: “She wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

Now, you need not think that Joseph and Mary went to that stable because they were a dirty and slovenly type of people; people to whom it mattered not where they spend the night.

Absolutely not. God’s Word tells us they were poor people, but they were not dirty people. God’s Word never defends filthiness, but does just the opposite.

It was because of the multitude of people who assembled to be registered in Bethlehem that there was no place for them to spend the night in the inn. There was surely no one in all Bethlehem nor amongst the thousands in Palestine, who knew that the Messiah was being born in the manger. Who learned of it first?

Answer: Zacharias, Elisabeth and John the Baptist.

Zacharias and Elisabeth knew it alright because Mary, who was their cousin, had told them she was expecting. John the Baptist was born only a few months previously, consequently he was only a child; so that answer is not correct. But would Zacharias and Elisabeth have known exactly when and where the Messiah was to be born? I don’t believe so.

Who was the first to know of it after the birth?

Answer: The shepherds in the field of Ephratah.

Correct. The shepherds were the first to be privileged to see Christ after His birth as a human.

It was a step of humiliation which the Son of God had to undergo to be born from a common poor virgin who was a nobody in the world, and, with all that, born in a stable.

Was it humiliation to the Mediator to have a human nature?

No, that was not the cause for His humiliation, because He took His glorified human nature with Him upon ascending into heaven and still, becoming a human was a humiliation to Him. Paul speaks of this so clearly to the Philippians in chapter 2 verse 8, “And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

His humiliation consists in this, that He took upon Him the human nature with all its weaknesses, because He came in the likeness of sinful flesh; not in sin, but for sin, and has condemned sin in the flesh.

His “weaknesses” are meant to be the fact that He had hunger and thirst, He slept and had sorrow just as other men and as mentioned in verse 7, “took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men.”

For Him to be the same in all things, (sin excepted), it was necessary to undergo the first step of humiliation which is His humble birth. This had to be in order to come up to the other steps; His suffering, death and burial. That is easily understood, isn’t it?

EVER FULLER AND EVER EMPTIER

Part II

And now I wrote above this article, “Ever fuller and ever Emptier”.

The number of the elect shall be completed. It shall become one fold and one Shepherd. Everytime one of those people is gathered in, then heaven becomes fuller and in the world and in the church, it becomes ever emptier. The righteous are taken away from the evil to come, Isa. 57:1. Who observes it, and who considers it? Where is it still realized and who takes it to heart? The world lives on unconcerned, and it means nothing to our superficial Christendom. Here and there an individual may become quiet under it and sigh because of it. For those who are truly justified and are so gathered in, it shall be a deliverance which cannot be expressed. In heaven there shall be joy when another is brought in through the gate of heaven having been cleansed and sanctified by the blood of the Lamb, and favored to lay down his crown at the feet of the Lamb.

And what shall it be to that soul who initially has obtained his desire.

“The meek shall see it and rejoice,
Ye saints, no more be sad.”

They are brought home to remain home forever. They never need to sin anymore, and they shall live forever in fellowship with a Triune God, with the spirits of just men made perfect, and in communion with the holy throne spirits to praise, love and glorify God forever. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death; neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be anymore pain; for the former things are passed away.” Rev. 21:4.

What a great blessing it is when the Lord removes His people, and when the Lord is then so good for us that we receive some communication of it in our heart. The Lord is not obliged to give us anything, but it is so great when communion of saints may be exercised. Yea, that through and with Christ the glorified Head in heaven, there may be communication with the triumphant church in heaven. Then we may sense, even though a bodily separation takes place here upon earth, the spiritual union remains; yea more, that the bond becomes stronger than it ever was here upon earth. Yea, that with the ancient poet a longing is felt:

“Yea, athirst for Thee I cry,
God of life, O when shall I
Come again to stand before Thee,
In Thy temple and adore Thee.”

O what a blessing it is when, with submission to the will of God, we have more desire for death than for life:

“And Thou wilt guide my feet,
By Thy own counsel sweet,
Till I for glory meet,
In glory stand.”

In Gen. 25:8 we read of Abraham, the father of the faithful, “He died in a good old age, an old man and full of years.” We also read it of Gideon in Judges 8:32 that he died in a good old age; also of David, the man after God’s heart, in I Chron. 29:28, “And he died in a good old age, and full of days.” It is also written of Job, the ancient sufferer, “So Job died being old and full of days.”

Then we read in the margin, old and tired of the labor of life, and longing for the future rest. Happy are those people who are tired of everything here upon earth; tired of sin and of themselves. In heaven they shall never become tired of God, but they shall be satisfied when they awake with His likeness, Ps. 17:15. That is not understood by the world and not comprehended by the superficial nominal Christian. Ah no, how shall a natural person, who has never learned to know himself by the light of the Spirit, ever comprehend it? Natural man, estranged from God, is wrapped up in himself and is satisfied and content with himself, but God’s poor people hate their life in this world, John 12:25. At times they loathe themselves. In Ezekiel 16, it is a covenant promise of the God of the covenant to the true members of the covenant. They are wasters, corrupters, squanderers of God’s blessings who can never live to the glory of God. Besides that, they must fight against that triple-headed enemy: world, devil and their own flesh, and the last is the most dangerous. We shall not enlarge upon it. God’s people here are so often wearied because of murderers, Jer. 4:31. They are not ignorant of Satan’s devices. The world never becomes tired of persecuting and oppressing God’s people. But in heaven there shall be no such enemies, and flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Shouldn’t those people then desire to depart and be with Christ? Phil. 1:23. Paul wrote “which is far better”. Alas, there are so many other times, times that our soul so cleaves to the dust, and that they live so far below their station.

After Asaph had been led into the sanctuary, then he was as a beast before God, Ps. 73:22. But when the Lord takes His people up into glory, then they are delivered from all those deformities.

Heaven becomes ever fuller with those whose names are written in heaven. God is delighted with those people, and they are delighted with God. O what bliss: No wonder that Elisha gazed after Elijah when he was taken up into heaven and cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof,” II Kings 2:12.

But it becomes emptier in the world because God’s people take so much with them. They are the corks upon which the world floats. They are all intercessors for Sodom and Gomorrah. They sigh in public and in secret for the nation, but also especially for the church. They pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They pray for the coming of God’s kingdom. They are the spiritual burden bearers. They sigh for their family, yea even for the coming generation. In losing such people, we lose more than we can imagine. Ah, most of the time they esteem themselves of little, very little, value. And in their own estimation, they are only unprofitable servants, but in reality, they are not. With all their condemnation and loathing of themselves, they experience more faith than they themselves know and realize. They pray much more than they realize. O, actually, they speak to no one more than to the Lord. They go to Him with everything. Peter declared, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life,” John 6. They constantly send a distress signal to heaven as Peter did upon the water, and that woman in the street in Matt. 15.

When the Lord removes such people from the earth, then the church becomes so poor and empty. If it may be as in Psalm 45:16, “In stead of thy fathers shall be thy sons,” then the exchange may be viewed as a blessing.

But when that is not observed, then the removal of those people may fill us with fear. The Lord shall gather and build His church till the end of the world, but there are times that we must complain with the church in Psalm 74:9, “We see not our signs; there is no more any prophet, neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.”

Considering the future and that which Christ Himself, as the Word of truth, has prophesied, there is not much expectation. Christ Himself has said, “When the Son of man comes again, shall He still find faith upon earth?” Christ shall never be without subjects, but how few shall be the exercises of faith. And that concerns also the officers in God’s church. The empty places may be filled again. But in order to replace those that have been removed, we must seek people that stand firm for the doctrine which is according to godliness; people who seek the honor of God above everything, and with Paul in I Cor. 2:2 will not know anything but Jesus Christ and Him crucified; people who build upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone: people who do not plaster with untempered mortar, nor sew pillows under the arm holes; who do not send men into the flower gardens, but who hold fast to the pure and sound doctrine and they who mount guard at the church of God; who do not remove the old landmarks and witness courageously against the spirit of the times as a man that reproveth in the gate; men who do not admit and allow everything in order to obtain the favor of man and who do not permit God’s laws to be trampled upon. O how great the decline is: how much talk there is of assurance when the work of the Spirit is scarcely begun. These matters should strike terror into our heart. An assumed faith and a Jesus Whom they have taken although no room was made for Him in their heart by the operation of the Holy Spirit. They walk toward heaven without ever having been in hell. They sing without ever having wept; they are happy without ever having been grieved. They are assured, without ever having been concerned. They apprehend Christ without ever having been apprehended by Him. Really all these matters should cause fear and grave concern. They possess the matter without ever having lost it; they are saved without ever perishing. They are happy without ever having been unhappy; rich without ever having been poor. O, what a very sad condition. They pronounce themselves and others blessed upon grounds which by and by, when the storms of eternity begin to rear, shall sink away forever.

It is becoming very empty in the church. The pillars are falling away, and the building is becoming ever weaker, but who is grieved?

We should cry to God day and night that He shall not forsake us entirely. There is no lack of religion, but where is the fear of God to be found? There is a shortage of unconverted people; of people who walk the earth with a wanting and unsaved soul, of people who must be helped by God. Nowadays, the people, in general, are very busy with the Lord’s Supper, but there is little heard about learning to know Christ and to be hid and found in Him. O, that the Lord would arise once more with favorable thoughts towards His church here upon earth. That like formerly on the day of Pentecost at Jerusalem, many may be born in Zion, and pricked in their heart by the irresistible power of the Holy Spirit. May souls be wounded, so that the balm of Gilead and the Physician there may become necessary and glorified. May the law become known as a school-master to bring them to Christ of which so little is heard at present because so little is practiced and experienced what the apostle Paul wrote in Gal. 2:19 and 20, “For I through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

We may not begrudge God’s children, who have been taken home, the bliss of which they have now become partakers. It was the time determined by God from eternity. Here they have served God’s counsel. The Lord has said, “It is enough. You have suffered and striven enough, and now you may be with me forever.”

Jacob said too, “It is enough, Joseph lives.” Life’s mystery was solved for him. What a happy death; what a blessed death, and what an attractive death. Yea, actually, it is no death.

Those people have died already during their life, and their life is hid with Christ in God. For that people, death has been swallowed up in victory by Christ. Christ has slain death, and now it is no more payment for sin by a dying to it, and a passage into eternal life. And then to pass away while sleeping. Then the devil can no longer vex him. It is a great loss to the relatives. What an empty place God’s people leave behind in the home, in the church, in the surroundings and in the world. On the other hand, it is an unspeakable comfort thus to gaze after our beloved. They have more or less testified of the hope which was in them. They have seen their tears, beheld their strife, but also heard at times what the Lord was and remained for them. By virtue of His eternal and immutable covenant which had its foundation in eternity, they experienced that they did not call upon a strange God. There were times that they walked over the earth with a closed mouth, bound and fettered, so that they were shut up and could not go forth. There was a burden lying upon that family. But the right hand of the Lord changes. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Ps.30.

At times the Lord has opened their mouth and loosed their tongue so that they could proclaim the praises of the Lord. At times they have seen their relatives in mourning, but also that the joy of the Lord was their strength. The family and friends have noted at times, even though it was with fear and trembling, that the father, that the mother or child, was looking forward to the deliverance of sin, to that heavenly country, to that city which hath foundations whose Builder and Maker is God, to that city where no inhabitant shall say, “I am sick” for the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. Should we then desire them back? That is impossible, even though at times flesh cried after flesh. It is a blessing when at the loss and departure of our relatives, we may be silent before God. May the Lord fill the vacant place in our heart and life with Himself as that God, Whose years have no end. It is a great blessing when the death of God’s children may be sanctified to the heart unto an eternal profit. May we learn to die before we must die. May the Lord use this to convince us of our state of misery, outside of God and of Christ. May we become truly miserable in ourselves. May we begin to experience what the eternal separation from God and from His people really means. May there yet be born a crying out of the depth, and that it may bear fruit of faith and repentance. It shall not be the first time that the Lord wanted to use such ways unto true conversion. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace. I, myself, have heard that one of God’s children was dying while being in heavy strife and great darkness, but that with Divine power, it was impressed upon the heart of a son, “And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear:” I Peter 4:18. The Lord is sovereign in the choice of means He uses. He gives no account of His deeds.

It is a blessing if, during our life, we may be a blessing for others, but also when in His sovereignty, the Lord may also use our death to the glorification of His Name, and to the salvation of lost sinners, as also to the encouragement and stimulation and enlivening of His favorites.

It is all by grace for His Name’s sake.

And now finally. The loss of such who were so clear and evident in the work of God (that is also grace only) may be heavy and may fill the heart with sadness, but for us who remain, it is as it was expressed at the burial of one of God’s servants:

“Do not complain

But ask for others again.”

Rev. W.C. Lamain

THE LAMB FOR SINNERS SLAIN

That doleful night before his death, The Lamb, for sinners slain,

Did almost with his latest breath This solemn feast ordain.

To keep thy feast, Lord, are we met, And to remember thee; Help each poor trembler to repeat, “For me he died, for me.”

Thy sufferings, Lord, each sacred sign To our remembrance brings;

We eat the bread and drink the wine, But think on nobler things.

O tune our tongues, and set in frame Each heart that pants to thee,

To sing, “Hosanna to the Lamb, The Lamb that died for me!”

-Hart’s Hymns

CHANGING SEASONS

Though Cloudy skies and northern blasts
Retard the gentle spring a while,
The sun will conqueror prove at last,
And nature wear a vernal smile.

The promise, which from age to age,
Has brought the changing seasons round,
Again shall calm the winter’s rage,
Perfume the air, and paint the ground.

The virtue of that first command,
I know still does and will prevail,
That while the earth itself shall stand,
The spring and summer shall not fail.

Such changes are for us decreed;
Believers have their winters too;
But spring shall certainly succeed,
And all their former life renew.

-Newton

BIBLE TRUTH BOOKS

Dear Friends:

Again we are privileged to be able to put out a new booklist containing several new titles. Some of them are listed below. May the Lord richly bless the continued interest in reading these books, which we witness week after week. Please address all correspondence to: BIBLE TRUTH BOOKS P.O. Box 2373 Kalamazoo, Michigan 49003

The Life, Walk and Triumph of Faith

by William Romaine Our

Retail - $6.50

Price - 4.35

This well known book has become a classic concerning the spiritual experience of faith. A short biography of the author is included who was a leading minister of the Evangelical Revival with George Whitefield. In the words of the author, “The design of this little Treatise, is to display the glory and all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to encourage weak believers to glorify Him more, by depending and living more upon His all-sufficiency.” 413 pages (hard cover)

Sermons on Ephesians

by John Calvin Our

Retail - $9.95

Price - 7.25

Calvin’s Ephesians Sermons were preached on Sundays at Geneva in 1558 and 1559, when he was 49 years of age. This series of 48 sermons span the entire book of Ephesians. 705 pages (hard cover)

BOEKENNIEUWS

De heer P. Stuut uit Rijssen zond mij het door hem uitgegeven boek van de onder ons zo bekende Ds. Bernardus Smytegelt, “Des Christens Heil en Sieraad”.

Jaren geleden toen ik nog maar een jongen was, werd in de meeste van onze Zeeuwse gemeenten de catechismus van Vader Symtegelt gelezen. Een heel enkele maal bracht een ouderling Justus Vermeer, Beukelman, Hendricus De Frein, of Van der Kemp eens mede, waardevolle verklaringen van de onder ons zovele jaren ingeburgerde Heidelbergse Catechismus. Wij kunnen niet anders zeggen als dat de Heere die leraars en voorgangers bedeeld heeft met veel licht en met veel genade. Toch werd Smytegelt de meeste tijd gelezen met veel stichting, ook omdat het eenvoudige volk het zo gemakkelijk volgen kon. Ik kan me nog wel herinneren dat we soms op een Zondag driemaal luisterde naar de predikatien van Smytegelt: vooral ‘savonds “Het Gekrookte Riet” of “Des Christens Heil en Sieraad”. Menigmaal mocht het ten zegen zijn.

De volgende dag nadat ik het uitgegeven boek ontvangen had ben ik begonnen de voorrede te lezen, een voorrede van ongeveer 40 bladzijden, geschreven door de opvolger van Ds. Smytegelt, Ds. A. W. De Beveren, eene verklaring en opwekking over Hebreen 13:7. Toen ik maar een paar bladzijden gelezen had, kwam de gedachte bij mij op, dat moest nu iedere student in de Theologie, alle leraren, mijzelve niet het minste daarbij ingesloten, lezen, niet maar eens en vluchtig, maar herhaaldelijk, en om dan over het geschrevene te mediteren, en er mede tot onszelve in te keren, evenals de 45 preken die in dit waardevolle boek gevonden worden.

Inderdaad, wij leven in een tijd dat er zo weinig verborgen leven gevonden wordt. Wanneer we die predikatien lezen, dan is het zeer noodzakelijk, niet alleen voor leden, maar niet minder voor degenen die in Gods kerk dienen, te vragen: Heere, wat mag ik daar nu van kennen voor mijn eigen ziel? Wij liggen zo oppen veor het gevaar om onszelven te vergeten. Ook voor ons, al mogen wij in Gods kerk een ambt bekleden is het onderzoek, het persoonlijk onderzoek, ook zo nodig. Met alle achting voor wat in onze dagen in dezelfde geest (let daarop) geschreven en uitgegeven wordt, moeten wij toch bekennen dat het licht des Geestes waarmede onze vaders waren bedeeld, zo gemist wordt.

Ach, Vader Smytegelt was een mens van gelijke bewegingen als wij, en niet volmaakt, maar toch van preek tot preek moeten wij bekennen dat de Heere die leraar met veel genade, licht, en leven bedeeld en versierd had.

Zoals eenmaal Aquila en Priscilla aan Apollos den weg des Heeren bescheidenlijker mochten uitleggen, zo was het ook met Smytegelt, en met de van hem in het licht gegeven werken.

Bij het lezen van de voorrede dacht ik nog aan de nu reeds lang ontslapen, maar onder ons nog voortlevende Ds. J. Fraanje, die weleens zei, “Daar is meer brood dan honger, en meer water dan dorst.” Vanzelf dat is allereerst van toepassing op die gezegende Heere Jezus Christus Die betuigt heeft: “Ik ben het Brood dat uit de hemel is nedergedaald.” En in Johannes 4:10: “Indien gij de gave Gods kendet, en wie Hij is Die tot U zegt: ‘Geef Mij te drinken’, zo zoudt gij van Hem hebben begeerd, en Hij zou U levend water gegeven hebben”.

Toch mogen wij dat in zekeren zin ook zeggen van vele geschriften onzer vaderen die zij ons nagelaten hebben. Zij hebben door de genade Gods de waarheid zoals ze in Christus Jezus is verklaard en toegepast op het leven van het ware volk van God. Maar zij hebben ook de ware van de valse genade onderscheiden, en de schijn van het zijn. Die geschriften worden nooit oud, maar blijven nieuw voor het door Gods Geest vernieuwde hart.

Wat een kostelijke en dierbare lessen en onderwijzingen liggen er in deze 45 predikatien over Filip. 4:7 en Col. 1:22. De eerste vijf predikatien handelen over de vrede Gods, en de andere over de heiligmaking, zonder welke niemand God zien zal.

Voor mij is het niet noodzakelijk om al de predikatien deze keer na te lezen om een aanbevelend woord te schrijven, en de lezing ervan hartelijk, ja, zeer hartelijk aan te bevelen. Voor vele jaren reeds zijn al de werken van deze godvruchtige schrijver in ons bezit.

De prijs van dit fraai uitgegeven boek is 45 gulden. Het is die prijs dubbel waard. De uitvoering is alleszins behoorlijk, en de letter is zeer duidelijk.

En verder nog een enkel woord over de inhoud. Er is geen ruimte voor de Arminiaan, en geen opening voor de Antinomiaan. Het is een schriftuurlijke, bevindelijke, en practicale prediking van Jezus Christus en Die gekruist, als die enige Naam Die onder de hemel tot zaligheid is gegeven. De ere Gods staat in al de predikatien op de voorgrond, en daarom zijn ze zo beminnelijk; maar ook de zaligheid van Gods uitverkorenen, ook daarom zijn ze zo prijzenswaardig.

Jong en oud, klein en groot, gij kunt uw ziel er gerust aan toevertrouwen voor de eeuwigheid. Van harte hoop ik dat er niet een van dit uitgegeven werk onverkocht zal blijven, en bovenal dat het voor velen ten eeuwigen zegen zal zijn. Als dat mag gebeuren dan zal God Drieenig al de eer er van ontvangen.

Ds. Lamain

Verkrijgbaar bij P. Stuut

Sparrenlaan 17

Rijssen

Nederland

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