Esteemed Editor:

Since, quotations seem to be in vogue and since the following quote is so applicable to our present church struggle and the “shenanigans” (which, without consulting my Roget’s, is the most charitable word I can think of at the moment), allow me to quote a portion of something written many years ago and which may be found in the back of our Psalters in the “Conclusion” at the end of our Canons:

“Wherefore, this Synod of Dordt, in the name of the Lord, conjures as many as piously call upon the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, to judge of the faith of the Reformed Churches, not from the calumnies, which, on every side, are heaped upon it; nor from the private expressions of a few among ancient and modern teachers, often dishonestly quoted, or corrupted, and wrested to a meaning quite foreign to their intention; but from the public confessions of the Churches themselves, and from the declaration of the orthodox doctrine, confirmed by the unanimous consent of all and each of the members of the whole Synod. Moreover, the Synod warns calumniators themselves, to consider the terrible judgment of God which awaits them, for bearing false witness against the confessions of so many Churches, for distressing the consciences of the weak; and for laboring to render suspected the society of the truly faithful.”

And, that, in my humble opinion is as up to date as you could want it. And it grieves us when we read the indisputable testimony that exactly those things have been done. And, those who are guilty of such things must not think it strange that they are not welcome at my home either officially or otherwise.

Fraternally, George TenElshof