FOREWORD Study

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THERE is no need for me to say anything about the qualifications of Mr. Young. That the work is written in a scholarly and able manner must be apparent to any one who looks into it.

Any individual or any group of individuals studying the Bible with the help of Mr. Young's work will naturally become convinced of the absolute truth of the Word of God. Underlying and permeating the book is the Re­formed conception of Apologetics, which holds that we can without fear even in our day hold to an absolute God, an absolute Christ, and an absolute Bible. There is no com­promise or crouching fear. With full acquaintance with the work of negative criticism and modern philosophy, Mr. Young holds that unless we may take the Bible as true, human life is meaningless. Surely young people of Christian homes need the help of such a study.

With a true conception of Apologetics goes a true con­ception of history, especially of sacred history. The truth of the creation story is maintained in opposition to the dogma of evolution. The fall of man not merely as "psy­chologically true," but as an historical event, is shown to be at the root of all the sin in this world. The far-reach­ing significance of the doctrine of total depravity as well as its Scriptural foundation is made clear.

I wish I could give something like an adequate expres­sion to the conception of sacred history that the book of Mr. Young leaves with us. It is, in short, the Reformed conception. Out of the race of sinful men the sovereign God forms for Himself a people. He speaks to them as to no other nation; the revelation to Israel is unique.

The similarity of form of this revelation to other "reve­lations" does not detract from its uniqueness. Nowhere but in Scripture does an absolute God speak. Nowhere but in Scripture is redemption by pure grace alone. No­where but in Scripture is there a program of the de­struction of all sin in evil. Nowhere but in Scripture is there the picture of absolute victory at last.

Thus sacred history becomes terrible and beautiful. It grips one in the inmost depths of his existence. There is no epic so sweeping, no drama so dramatic as the story of sacred history when told after the Reformed conception of it as has been done by Mr. Young.

Naturally Mr. Young does not tell the whole story. His book covers Genesis only. But the story of sacred history has its beginnings in Genesis. To tell the story of Genesis well is to help us on the right track. In American history the revolutionary period is of basic importance. In sacred history the period of Genesis is of basic importance.

The principle of God's sovereign grace is the constitu­tional principle of the people of God. Mr. Young has brought this out in admirable fashion. He helps us to read our Bibles aright. We see one people of God, with one constitution, governed by one King, namely Jesus Christ.

There is careful attention to detail but never at the expense of insight into plan of the whole story. The divi­sion of the book into convenient lessons, with suggestions for further study in the Bible and the Catechism, with references to the best literature on each topic under dis­cussion, make the book eminently useful for class-work as well as for private study.

If Sunday school teachers and other teachers of the Bible would master the method of Bible study and the principle of sacred history as these appear in the short book of Mr. Young, I am persuaded that they would be better fitted to study and teach the Bible than they would be if they should read hundreds of pages of the ordinary material now available to them.

Cornelius Van Til, Ph.D.

Professor of Apologetics.

Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, July, 1934.