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            Rev: H. Hoeksema                           P U B L I S H E D   BY  T H E   R E F O R M E D   F R E E                                                                    Communications  relative to con-
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I                                              1                                                                                                                               1                                                      I

     Vol. I, No.  .l                                                               OCTOBER, 1924  I                                                                                            Subscription Price $1.50
 _---   -.._.-_  - - - - -                                             .._... _-.-...---. -                               -                              -                                -                       -              -
                                                                                                           God He lives from everlasting to everlastiiig the perfect
                   M E D I T A T I O N   I  '                                                                life of Infinite goodness in  ,and thru Himself. Never
                                                                                                     I there arises from the unfathomable depths of His perfect
                        JEHOVAH'S  ,CkDNESS                                                                  Essence the slightest thought that is not good,  ieriect,
                                                                                                             true. Never the faintest thrill of imperfection there is in
                                     The Lord is good to  all......but  all
                                  the wicked will He destroy.                                                the Will of Jehovah. Never the most imperceptible  dis-
                                                                         Ps.  14:  ga,  sob.                 cord there is in His divine feeling. Never there is the
      .Emphatically,  according to the Hebrew original, the                                                  tiniest ripple of evil on the stream of life flowing,  frc&
 poet,-who is the inspired author of this psalm, puts it :                                                   His divine  heart.
 "Good is  Jehoval?`.                                                                                              No shadow of darkness-ever bedims  &he light of life,
       The Lord is goodness essentially.                                                                     perfect and infinite, of the Divine Family. Father, Son
       Apart from any relation `to His creatures, conceived all                                              and Holy Ghost, each eternally subsisfing in the unchange-
 by Himself, in Himself, for Himself, as the absolutely                                                      able  Essehce of limitless goodness, thinking in the Perfect
 Self-existent,  Self~su%cient,  Independent One, the Lord                                                   Mind, willing with the Perfect Will are living in absolute
 is good. His essence is goodness, His eternally adorable                                                    Self-sufficiency an uninterrupted divine  -life of purest
 Divine Being is only good. Could we enter into the                                                          goodness, dwelling in a Light that. is never in any wise
 amazing profundity and explore the fathomless depths of                                                     b e d i m m e d .
 His infinite Being, the deepest depths of the  incompre-                                                          Yea, good is Jehovah!                                                                                         .
 hensible divine essence would reveal nothing but  good-                                                           Everlastingly, solely, unchangeably good !                                                                              . .
 ness.
       He is the Light and there is no darkness in Him,, He                                                        Because the Lord is good, the absolute good in Himself
 is Truth,. Righteousness, Holiness, Purity, Love, Grace,                                                    He is also good to all His creatures.  _
 Mercy and Eternal' Life, and there is no Lie, Unrighteous-                                                        Good is Jehovah to  alI!
 ness, Defilement, Corruption and Death-in Him.                                                                    He is the Overflowing Fount of all good.                                                             .'
       He is  Summum Bonum, the Highest Good, not in a                                                             All the good His creatures ever receive is  splely from
mere superlative sense, not in a sense that would compare                                                    Him  a+ is only good because He is good, assumes an  t
 Him with other goods or goodnesses, that might perhaps attitude of goodness to; them. He is full of richest
 be conceived as existing next to Him though in a far                                                        benevolence which He lavishes in *profuse abundance
 inferior degree;  put in the sense that He is the Sole Good,                                                upon all the wide creation. His goodness  profuses the
 that there is no good apart from Him or without `Him.                                                       silvery Iustre thruout the starry  heavens  and- arranges
 He is the ultimate and absolute criterion  of all good. He                                                  their marvellous harmony night upon night. His good-.
 is not good in the sense that He answers to a  certain                                                      ness decks the sun with that glorious attire of wondrous  ~
 standard of goodness that-tight be applied to  Him,- but                                                    gold, day after day. His  goo&edsadorns  the lily of the
 Himself is the only Sfandard of all that is called good.                                                    field  +ith purest  beauty such as Solomon never possessed
       H<~ is gqod because.- He is God.                                                                      and clothes  thg royal cedars of Lebanon with  sti-ength
       Very perfection in all His adorable virtues. .  :,. . .                                            ' and majesty. His goodness causes the royal eagle to
       Good is  Jkhovah!                                                                                     renew its strength as it sweeps the firmament  with                                                                                       1
                                                                                                             powerful  win-g;  and fills `the mouth of the young raven
       The Lord is good!                                                                              crying to Him for- food. His goodness remembers  the.  -
       And because the very Being of His adorable Godhead `roaring lion and the chirp&g sparrow on the housetop.
 is goodness.. the Divine  -Nat&e, in all  the  glorious                                                     His goodness clothes  ttie  mkadows in  .velvety  green and
attributes thereof  is pui-est  .perfection-  and  :imticti~ate                                              covers the fields  with golden grain.  `I His  <goodness,   made                                                                     *
 goodness- Neither is there any reason `of  ,w"&t in  .God                                                   man a  fittle   lotier than `the  angel$  adds  keenness  to his
why He sh&ld~ need an  dbject  unto which  td.  reveal   +d ,, mind  atid  "stren&tK  to his' arm  ,&d fills his  heart  pith
                                                                                                                                                                                                             F-5  *
u p o n   wh@  t o   ta~is~~:l%s  goodness.
                                                           ` F o r   as'  t h e   <Triune   .gla&~ss,   .'  .-::s,  1'.  :I.:`.  `:::I.  :,..  :-  ,,.,  -`..  :,,~~:;:,:  ;,.  ".  %.:I'   "  ,:`-i  ;;  ,~
                                       ,.      ..".                                       ,.
                        b. . .  '  ",,  `.  ..  ."-,-,"          ",                I,  ,,  a'  ,,  ::.  .*                                                . . . ~  .."I  /.                          ,.  .*.,,         :*-.:          .._
                                                                                    ;           ".I ,:I i_. ;:>,. . . . . . . . . . . ,. I . ..~&..~ `: .`:`--  .,  ,-,  ._`.  ;  ,...
                                                                                                                                                              ,. .."                             -.,,-.:      ,l"      .i.


        Surely, all the works of His hand speak of His good-       spread again `over-the whole creation. Remembering His
 ness.  I                                                          groaning creature with bowels of mercy and compassion,
   Good is Jehovah, to all!  *        *                            the Lord stretches the rainbow of an everlasting covenant
                                .#                                 over all. His tender mercies are over all His works.
        Nor is this the last word that is to be said about the            The creature is made subject to vanity. It is subject
 goodness of Jehovah.                                              to the yoke of bondage. It is travailing in pain  ,together
        It may be the last in the estimation of a Natural Reli-, until now. . . . . .
 gion, that knows of no sin and speaks of no grace.                       But in hope!
        It might be the last word had Paradise not been lost.             The whole creation shall be liberated from the bondage
 There in the midst of that Edenic virgin beauty of crea-          of corruption and be made to partake of the glorious
 tion, in that original state of unmarred perfection, where        liberty of the children of God!
 sin had not dropped her stain and misery had not left                    Bowels of  mercy1
 her scar and the groan of the sufferer was not heard,  -                 The Lord is good to all! !  `His tender mercy is over
 there God's goodness displayed itself simply as goodness,         all His works !                     ,
 overflowing riches of benevolence, poured. upon every                                                                     ,
 creature according to the measure of its capacity.                       Good  is  Jehovah.                                         `..
        The. single light-beam of God's goodness had not re-              But. all the wicked will He destroy.
 solved itself into the many-colored rays of His grace,                   Seemingly there is irreconcilable conflict here. `The'
 tender mercy and loving kindness in contrast  .with His           Lord is good and yet He destroys. Many a sinful mind
 holy wrath and faultless justice.                                 will not have it so. Many would dream of a goodness
   But sin entered. And in the wake of sin came death.             without righteousness, of a grace without justice, of a
 And with death  follow@d  suffering in all its awful forms,       benevolence without holy wrath And yet, upon closer
 agony of soul and body, pain, sorrow, grief, fear. And            investigation this apparent conflict disappears,, dissolves
 the curse of God was pronounced upon the creature and             itself into most sublime harmony. He will destroy all
 subjected it to  vani$y  ; the chilling breath of a good God,     the wicked because He is good. The destruction of the
x maintaining Himself in his goodness over against a sin-          wicked, God's wrath upon them is but another aspect
 ful. world, caused the whole creation to groan and travail        of His perfect goodness.
 together  in pain. And even thus the creature made                       The wicked are the vessels of wrath, fitted unto
 subject to vanity and man in his guilt bending under              destruction. They are those that love iniquity and hate
 the cruel scourgeof suffering and death are testimonies           righteousness. God is not in  all their thoughts. They
 that the Lord is good and that there is no evil in Him.           say  4ithin  their hearts, they express it in their words,
        But more must be said.                                     they reveal it in their  ways;  - that there is no God.
        Suffering creation, sin and guilt and misery and death     Thev.  are God's enemies and children of their father the
 and all the thick darkness from hell only became the              Devil. They dwell in darkness and love it. They crucify
 occasion for God to manifest His goodness more abun-              Christ and persecute His people. They make the measure
 dantly. Darkness was employed by Him as a prism' thru             of their iniquity full.
 which to resolve the  ,pure white beam of His goodness                   So are all the wicked.
 into wonderful rays of manifold perfection. First of all                 But the Lord is good. And because He is good and
 there is, on occasion of sin and suffering, the beautiful         there is no evil in Him, because He is a light and there
 -and rich manifestation of God's  w.onderful  mercy and           is no darkness in Him, therefore, His soul  .ioves  the
 lovingk.indness.       His tender mercies are over all His        righteous and loatheth  ,the wicked, His face beams with
 works. Radiating from the cross of God's beloved Son              tender mercy upon those that love Him, but burns with
 this tender mercy beams its warm glory first of all upon,         fierce wrath `upon them that love iniquity; He preserves
 His chosen people whom He loved with love everlasting,            the righteous but destroys all the wicked.
 with a love that is always first. . Upon them He lavishes                The Lord is good. Therefore there are in Himbowels
 His tender mercy in the blood pouring from the heart              of mercy and consuming. fires of holy wrath!
 af His only begotten, and in these streams of mercy He                   Hallelujah !
 cleanses them from guilt; heals them  from""  sin, redeems                                                               H. H.
 them from the power of death, comforts them forever
 for their misery and makes them heirs of a glory un-
 speakable, of a life incomparably richer, fuller, deeper                        Since thy Father's arm sustains thee,
than ever First Paradise knew. They taste His  loving-                                      Peaceful be ;
 kindness. and tender mercy, speak -of it and, sing of it,                       When a  chast&ng  hand restrains thee,
 showing forth the praises of Him that called them from                                   I t   i s   H e .
 darkness into His marvellous light. But even as the                             Know His love in full completeness
 awful darkness of sin and misery spread from the first                          Fills the measure of thy weakness  ;
 Adam till it enshrouded an entire groaning creation in                          If He wound thy spirit sore,
 its horrors, so the glad light of redemption radiates from          .           Trust Him more.
                                                                                                 /                              3
the `Second Adam, falls first upon the elect, thence to
   _               /                                          i


         Die Zichzelven hun bekendmaakte, in  Zijnen  wil, dat zij          sprekelijk,  volmaakt,  goddelijk  goed. Hij  is  goed in
         Hem zouden  verheerlijken,   danken   z i j  niet.  Zij  doen      relatie  tot  bet schepsel en  heilig in zijnen  wil. Hij
         hunne ziel geweld  aan,  en hebben den dood lief.                  is beminnenswaardig, dienenswaardig, prijzenswaardig.
           De zondaar  hdudt de waarheid, de zuivere vobrstelling           Daarom, omdat God in Zichzelven  goed is' in zijnen wil
         van God, de Godskennis in hare religieuze-zedelijke                voor het schepsel heilig en  goed, en uit vrije genade in
         strekking, in ongerechtigheid te onder. Onder het  spel            Christus hem  goed is  ; daarom  zegt  de verloste : "Heere,
         van de verleiding des duivels heeft hij geoordeeld, dat de         ik zal U hartelijk liefhebben en op het hoogst  verheer-
         geopenbaarde  wil van God voor zijn leven, de zedelijke            lijken, eeuwiglijk en  altoos"!
         wet, niet  goed  is te achten. Hij houdt satans voorstelling         Smaakt en ziet, dat de Heere  goed is!
         voor waarachtig. En naar die voorstelling staat God                  Hem te  ken,nen is het eeuwige leven.
         aangeklaagd. God zou in de openbaring van zijnen  wil                                                                     H. D.
         voor het leven des menschen niet  goed  zijn, in zijne  be-
         doeling  met den mensch verkeerd zijn. Het gebod des                          THE  A.NTITHESIS  IN  FARAIXSE
         Heeren zou niet heilig, en rechtvaardig, en  goed  zijn te                                    but  of the tree of the knowledge
         achten. Dat was satans voorstelling van God. En dat is,                                     of good and evil, thou  shaI)t   no& eat
         door het geloof  aan het woord des duivels, de  Gods-                                       of it. Gen.  2:16.
         beschou$ng  van den zondaar.  Gelijk Israel, zegt hij :              Light and darkness, good and evil, holiness and cor-
         "De weg des Heeren is niet  recht" ! En daartegenover nu           ruption, righteousness and iniquity' life and death,  -
         houdt God `staande, dat Hij  recht is in al zijn weg en            these are, according to the Word of God, not to be con-
         werk, maar dat de wegen des zondaars onrechtzijn. De               ceived and explained in a dualistic sense .and manner.
         door  satan geinspireerde Godsbeschouwing van den  zon-              Dualism, in whatever form it may appear, deals with
         daar  druischt dus in tegen de voorstelling, welke God             the problem of God's relation to the world and of the
         van Zichzelven gaf in de openbaring van zijnen wil voor            origin of evil. And the foundation of  all dualistic systems
         het leven des menschen, de wet, die volmaakte liefde               of theology is the doctrine of two primal causes in con-
         eischt. Een  kwestie  van Godsbeschouwing, een strijd van          tinual conflict  w$th each other. Thus among the Persians
         twee willen  !                                                     a dualistic system was either originated or modified from
                                                                            older . forms by Zoroaster. According to him there are
           In dien strijd nu zal Gods  mad  bestaan; Hij zal al zijn        two principles, Ormuzd and Ahriman. The former is
         welbehagen  doen. De einden der eeuwen  zullen  Hem                pure and infinite Light, Perfection, Wisdom' and the
      rechtvaardigen. De eeuwigheid zal openbaren, dat  satan               Creator of every good thing. The latter is the principle
         en de zondaar in  hunne Godsbeschouwing leugenachtig               and originator of darkness and evil. The history of the
         zijn, maar dat God waarachtig is. Het zal blijken,  dat            world is chiefly the record of the antagonism between
         God alleen  goed  is, en in zijnen wil voor den  men&,  in         these two primal principles of good and evil. This dualistic
        zijne wet, heilig. In de historische realiseering van zijn          conception and mode  of. thinking sometimes insinuated
         eeuwig voornemen zal God Zich laten  gelden  als de sterke         itself to a certain extent into the thinking of the primitive
         God. Naar zijnen  wil zal Hij  doen met het heir der               Church, as for instance in the  Docetic phase of Gnos-
         hemels en met de  inwbners der aarde, zoodat niemand               ticism and in  Maniheism,  though the latter utterly dis-
         zijne hand afslaan, of tot Hem zeggen kan: Wat doet claimed being denominated Christian. And one cannot
         Gij  ? Hij  zal  alles dienstbaar  stellen   aan zijnen wil.       escape the impression that even today many conceive of
         Daarin zal openbaar  worden,  dat God  alle  dingen  wrocht        the antithesis between God and the Devil, good and evil
,\       om zijns naams wil, en dat God, de Almachtige, naar de             light and darkness in this dualistic way.
         onveranderlijkheid van zijnen wil, zijn  raad weet te  ver-
         vullen.  Doch de verwerkelijking van Gods eeuwig  wel-               This, however, is a mistake. Scripture teaches no
         behagen zal ons tevens God  doen  kennen  in den rijkdom           dualism, but an antithesis. There are no two primal
         zijner deugden van heerlijkheid en heiligheid. Zij zal             causes' and eternal principles, constantly warring with
         Hem openbaren  gelijk Hij in betrekking tot het schepsel           each other, but  G$d  is One. He alone is eternal and the
         waarlijk is. En  &nneer  die Zelfopenbaring Gods, in               Primal Cause and there is no other eternal principle or
         tegenstelling met de voorstelling, welke  satan van God            primal cause next to him. Neither is He both good and
         gaf en die de zondaar tot de zijne maakte, in Christus,            evil, nor are the principles of good and evil to be traced
         door den Heiligen Geest, tot in het  voile bewustzijn van          to His Being, for He is a Light and there is no darkness
         den mensch voltooid zal zijn; dan zal de Godsbeschouwing           in Him.    But this good and glorious God according to
         van het schepsel overeenstemmen met de voorstelling, die           His eternal and sovereign good pleasure wills to reveal
         God gaf van Zichzelven.                                            His praises, His eternally adorable virtue antithetically,
           En  clan  zal het kind van God zeggen' dat God  goed is.         that is, in opposition to darkness. Darkness, evil, sin are
         Dat is dan zijne Godsbeschouwing, welke hij staande                not primal principles, eternally co-ordinate with Light,
         houdt tegenover satans voorstelling en tegenover hetgeen           Goodness, Righteousness, but the former are subservient
         hij vroeger  als zondaar van God  dacht.  Hi j herroept            to the latter, darkness must serve to bring out the glory
         zijne vroegere Godsbeschouwing. Hij is bekeerd. Mu                 of the light, the Devil serves to enhance the unsearchable
         zegt  hij : God is  goed. Hij  alleen  is  goed. Hij is  onuit-    riches of God's Being and virtues and works.


      In the light of this idea of an antithesis we can under-    basis as far as man is concerned for the covenant-life
   stand the placing of "the tree of the knowledge of goad        between God and man. He is a being so created that he
   and evil" in paradise. By means of it, God carries the         may know God as he is known, love  Gocl as he is loved,
   antithesis into the life and before the consciousness of       live the life of God in--a creaturely way and according to
   Man, made after His image.                                     the capacity of the creature, walk with God and talk with
     Adam was God's covenant-friend. He stood in                  God, dwell with Him under one roof, commune with Hint
   covenant-relation to his God. This covenant-relation is        as a friend with his friend. And not only was Adam
   not to be conceived as a sort of contract or alliance be-      created a being adapted to this communion of friendship,
   tween God and Adam, mechanically established. We do            but he was actually placed in that communion in paradise.
   not read of a compact between them according to which          Standing in his original, unmarred knowledge, righteous-
   each agreed to live and not in relation to'the other. On       ness and holiness he lived as God's covenant-friend.
   the contrary, the covenant-relation is rooted in man's
  very creation, and is established the moment Adam stands           Only, it should never be forgotten, that man was also
   as image-bearer of God in the garden of Eden.                  servant. He was not God but creature. God remained
                                                                  his Sovereign even though He was also his friend. And
     For a true understanding of the covenant-relation  w.e       man remained God's servant even though he might walk
   must have our attention focused upon God Himself. He           with God and talk with Him and call Him his friend.
   is a covenant-God, apart from any relation to His crea-        Hence, man's calling was to serve God in that relation
   ture, in and by Himself, as the Triune God and lives from      of covenant-friendship,  w$th all his heart and mind and
   eternity to eternity the perfect Covenant-Life. He is          soul and strength. As God's prophet he was to know
   Triune. Essentially God is One. There are no three             Him and speak for Him in loving adoration, declaring
   Gods. There are no three divine Essences, Natures,             His praises. As God's priest he was to love Him and
  .Wills, Minds, Hearts, Lives. On the contrary, the Divine, consecrate himself and all things to Him. As God's king,
   Essence and Nature, with all the glorious attributes           he was to bow in love before God's sovereignty and reign
   thereof, is absolutely a unity. But subsisting in this one     with Him and for Him and under Him over the works
   Divine Being, Nature, Mind, Will, Heart, and living this       of His hands. Man was God's friend-servant.
   One Divine Life, there are three Persons, Father, Son
   and Holy Ghost. They are Personally distinct and yet             In all this, however, there was no antithesis. Unless
   essentially one. In essence and nature they are absolutely     another element  w$xe introduced into Adam's life, his
   equal. And this equality of the three Persons of the Holy      calling was purely positive. His entire nature was adapted
   Trinity is not to be conceived as if each possessed a part     to this positive covenant-life of friendly service. All his
  of the Divine Nature, but thus that all Three are subsist-      thoughts and desires and aspirations were directed solely
  ing in one and the same Being and Nature. They are of           toward God. He loved God but without another element
  one mind, of one will, of, one heart, of one life in the        this love of God would not reveal itself as hatred of all
  most absolute sense  ,of the word. There is the most            that is anti-God. He willed God's will, but as it was he
  absolute equality of essence and nature by personal  dis-       would not be called to reject that which was in opposition
 *., tinction. And thus there exists  the. most perfect union     to this Will. He walked in the light but this light would
  and the most intimate communion between Father, Son             not present itself to his consciousness in its antithetical
  and Holy Ghost. The three Persons of the Holy Trinity           relation to darkness, unless another element was carried
  live the perfect life of Divine Friendship from eternity        into his life. The One Master He served, but not with
  to eternity in absolute communion. God is a covenant            rejection of the other.
  God and lives the perfect covenant-life.
                                                                    Yet, it was God's will over man that he should choose
     A reflection of this covenant-life of God there is in        Him, His friendship, His service in distinction from, in
  the relation God establishes between Himself and the            contrast with, with rejection of all that was opposed to
  creature made after His own image. In His own image             Him. God Himself is a light and there is no darkness in
  and after His own likeness God made man. He does not            Him. Man, His image-bearer, His covenant-friend must
  make man God, he does not make him share in the divine          also reveal that he loves the light and hates the darkness.
  essence. This is the error of Pantheism. But He does            He must be of God's party. And for this purpose the
  create for him a nature, essentially different from His         antithesis is placed before him in the tree of the knowl-
  own, but nevertheless endowed with a likeness of His            edge of good and evil. There is antithesis in the very
  own nature. He makes him to look like Himself. The              name of the tree. For the name "tree of knowledge of
+ creaturely nature of man he endows with such attributes         good and evil" does not designate as the devil interpreted
  and clothes with such glory that he reflected God's nature      it, that by eating of it he  w/ould attain to a divine knowl-
  in his own and that on the basis of this he was adapted         edge of good and evil. Neither does it signify that by
  to live in most intimate communion with his God. Even           eating thereof man would acquire an experimental knowl-
  as the Essential One-ness in God is the Divine Basis for        edge of good and evil. But in the way of obedience, `by
  the covenant-life between the three Persons of the Holy         refusing to eat of the tree, for God his friend's sake, man
  Trinity, so the likeness of God in man constitutes the          would know the good in opposition to evil, light in


 opposition to darkness, life in opposition to  -death;  God             als. de redakteur van Onze Toekomst, den zondigen moed
 in opposition to the devil. Hence, God's prohibitive will               heeft, om ons te brandmerken ah verwoesters der kerk
 is connected with that particular tree, thus  qeating an                en ondermijners der waarheid  ? En wat te  denken van
 antithesis in Adam's life. This antithesis is- presently                den invloed, die zou kunnen  worden uitgeoefend door den
 made more distinct when the Devil enters into the-conflict.             correspondent, die schuilt achter den naam van Marnix  en
 He is the Prince of darkness and carrieshis darkness to                 die, naar men ons heeft verzekerd, de.zelfde  is als professor
 the tree. He is Satan, the Adversary of God and presents                Van Andel  ?  Hij  tracht het  nota bene voor  te stellen,
 his opposition to God to man's mind in connection with                  &of  wij zoo langzamerhand vreesachtig terug zouden
 the tree.  I-Ie is the Devil, the Liar, the Slanderer of  God* trekken en onze overtuiging nu onder  stoelen en  banken
 and offers his slanderous presentation of God in his inter-             zouden wenschen te steken  ha de syriode, om te  voor-
 pretation of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.                    komen, dat we buiten ons kerkverband zouden raken !
                                                                         Zeker, van leiders, die om bijkomstige redenen hun eigen
   The antithesis was introduced in man's life. His call-                overtuiging  trachten te  verbergen,,  is zeker niet veel heil
 ing as God's covenant-friend now was not only to serve                  te verwachten!  Doch  Marnix heeft het mis in zijn  voor-
 the one Master, but also to reject- the other, to love the              stelling der  dingen;  reden  waarom ook  tij een  beschrij-
 light and hate darkness, to choose the Good and reject                  ving wenschen te geven van de  dingen,  die er onder ons
 Evil.                                                                   plaats  badden  en hebben of nog plaats  -zullen  hebben.
   And by so doing he would show himself to be of God's                  Doch  afgedacht nog van dit  alles is het ook  niet te  ver-
 party, God's friend, indeed. And in that relation he would              wachten,  dat er in onze kerkelijke pers een volledige
 be blessed by his Sovereign-friend and live.                            beschouwing bewaard zal blijven van de geschiedenis van
                                                      H. H.              den jongsten kerkelijken strijd onder ons. Deels om dat
                                                                         de kerkelijke bladen  daarvoor niet de plaats bieden, deels
                                                                         omdat hetgeen wordt geboden sterk subjectief is en  een-
          DE JONGSTE  KERKRLWKE   STRIJD!                                zijdig, is het niet te verwachten dat in persverslagen  v%n  "
   ldeiding.                  ".                                         classicale vergaderingen of andere officieele stukken een
   We hebben ons voorgenomen, om in de eerste nummers                    itriver beeld geteekend wordt van de  dingen,  die  onde?
 van ons  blad telkens eenige paginas te wijden,  aan eene               ons gebeuren. Een zeer sterk bewijs hiervan is  we1 het
 beschrijving van de geschiedenis, die we in de laatste                  verslag, dat  v&jr de synode in onze pers verscheen van
 maanden hebben doorleefd in verband  met den strijd over                zekere vergadering  van  Classis Grand Rapids Oost, en
- De Gemeene Gratie.                                                     dat zelfs in vervolgnurnmers een pl&ts moest vinden! Wij
   Om verschillende redenen  tech kan het  met ondienstig                meenen met dit alles, om wille van de zaak zelf geen  ge-
 worden  geacht, dat we de gebeurtenissen, die plaats  heb-              noegen te mogen nemen. Ons volk dient te  weten  hoe de
 ben  gegrepen  in onze kerken, in  verband  met de behande-             dingen   zich hebben ontwikkeld en hoe de zaken zijn  be-
ling  deer bovengenoemde kwestie,  gaan schetsen en een                  handeld. Het is dus zeker gewenscht, dat ook wij een
 poging  wagen,  om  ze in het  rechte licht te plaatsen,  voor-         beschrijving geven van de geschiedenis van den jongsten
 zoover als dit  thans  reeds mogelijk is en door de  feiten-            kerkelijken strijd onder ons.
 wordt  g-e+rborgd.
                                                                            Doch dit is  niet -al.
   Allereerst  hebben we er  belang bij,  dat ons volk op de                Het is in de tweede plaats ook gewenscht, dat we de
hoogte wordt gesteld met den rechten toedracht der zaak                  geschiedenis der laatste maanden  gaan  beschrijven, om
 uit een historisch en kerkrechterlijk oogpunt. Verkeerde                redenen, die betrekking hebben op kwesties van  Gerefor-
 voorstellingen hierover  dragen  er licht toe bij, om  ver-             meerd Kerkrecht. De jongste gebeurtenissen  tech  ston-
 stand en hart te sluiten voor hetgeen we in de toekomst                 den op allerlei wijze in  verband  met kerkrechterlijke
 meenen te  moeten  ontw%kelen en ons volk aanbieden.                    kwesties. Voornamelijk de zoo dikwijls  besproken  vraag
 Er  ,wordt  zeer veel geschreven en nog meer gesproken,                 aangaande de  macht  en het  recht van onze meerdere of
 vooral in Michigan, niet  alleen  over de kwestie der  Ge-              breedere  vergaderingen ten opzichte van den kerkeraad,
 meene Gratie zelf, maar ook over de  toestanden en de* kwam ook in de  onttikkeling  der jongste geschiedenis
 geschiedenis in  verband  met onze  personen  zoowel  als in            telkens  fin het geding. Er is niets, dat meer de waarde
 verband met onze  beschouwing.  Wat ons  soms ter  oore, van een zuiver Gereformeerd-kerkrechterlijk  proces  doet,
 komt uit verhalen, die de rondte  doen over ons en de                   waardeeren, dan de praktijk  zelf. Ook wij hebben uit de
 toestanden in onze gemeenten,  zoti ons niet zelden  doen               praktijk in onze kerken in dit opzicht  geleerd:  Zeker, de
 glimlachen, ware de zaak niet zoo ernstig en stond er niet              waarheid  gaat bovenal.  Maar. het staat ook boven  allen
 zoo. veel mee op `het  spel. ..En niet alleen,  dat verkeerde           redelijken twijfel verheven, dat de besluiten,  `-die eene
 voorstellingen  worden   vers$Yeid  door middel van allerlei            kerk neemt in betrekking tot de  waai-heid,  tot op zekere
 onnaspeurli j ke mondeli j ke overleveringen zonder grand               hoogte bepaald  worden  door de wijze waarop uit  kerk-
 in de  +rkelijkheid,  maar veel van hetgeen er ons volk                 rechterlijk oogpunt eene zaak voor  e&n- breedere  verga-
' wordt voorgesteld in de Pers  draagt er toe bij om ons                 dering gedragen wbrdt. I-et is onze overtuiging, dat  in-
 volk met een zeker vooroordeel tegen onze beschouwing                   dien men in onze kerken, den zuiveren  kerkrechterlijken
1 te vervullen.  Wat indruk  tech moet het niet achterlaten              weg had bewandeld, indien de handelingen der laatste

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