Vol 19 Issue 16

To die is gain. Phil. 1:21b Funeral services for our deceased brother, the Rev. Wm. Verhil, were held in Grand Rapids in the Fuller Ave. Church, on April 7th. From the West, where also services had been held on April 5, there were present two delegates from the consistory of the Protestant Reformed Church of Edgerton, Minn., and the four pastors of our churches in Sioux and Lyon Counties, the Revs. A. Cammenga, J. Blankespoor, M. Gritter, and P. Vis, who also served as pallbearers. April 7, was the day for the meeting of Classis East of our churches, and...

Esteemed Editor of the Standard Bearer: May I have a small space in the Standard Bearer? Rev. Hanko has in a private conversation express to me the wish that I write again on the strike problem. And I told him the title of my next assigned article does not lend itself to that subject but that J would try to write a little contribution. First, then, I want to state that it is a pleasure to discuss with Rev. Hanko. His tone makes it easy to keep the issue to the fore and to come close together, and should also...

When you read this subject you may be inclined to ask whether time element is different in the Fourth Gospel from that in the first three gospels? And when you ask this you undoubtedly ask with the correct view in mind, that the four Gospel narratives are together the one Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe and can maintain that there is inner harmony between these four gospels. If the four secondary authors give us the revelation of Jesus Christ through that there can be no contradictions, no real difference between them. Therefore we must explain the reason...

Federal solidarity and personal responsibility are Scriptural conceptions. The first term refers to the oneness of the human race. The word “federal” signifies a league or contract, derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, particularly between states or nations. Theologically this word refers to the covenant idea as pertaining to the human race with Adam as its head. “Solidarity” refers to a solidarity of interests, a communion of interests. Hence, “federal solidarity” is the conception which refers to that which all mankind has in common because of the covenant relation in which Adam stood to the entire human race....

As has already been pointed out, Canaan, not including the area occupied by the two and a half tribes east of the Jordan, was a small strip of land, approximately 160 miles in length and whose greatest width measured but 40 miles. It extended to the wilderness of Zin on the south, was bordered by the Mediterranean Sea on the West, reached up into the region of the Anti-Lebanon on the north, while its eastern border rested on the north-eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, skirted this sea and so on down the Jordan (Nu. 34). However, according to...

Selected from among the 48 Levitical cities were the 6 cities of refuge, 3 on each side of the Jordan, and placed under the jurisdiction of the Levites, to serve as places of retreat and security for such as might shed blood unwittingly, without foresight or design. East of the Jordon they were Bezer in Reuben, Ramoth-Gilead in Gath, and Golan in Manasseh. On the West of the Jordan they were Hebron in Judah, Shechem in Mt. Ephraim, and Kadesh in Judah. The purpose of the appointment of the Cities of Refuge was to prevent the shedding of innocent blood,...

Before turning to our subject, we must first take notice of the order of instructions which God gave to Moses for the establishing of the Israelitish commonwealth in Canaan. Numbers 33:52-56 contains the directions for the purifying of the holy land from all heathen defilement. The inhabitants of the land are to be driven out, all their pictures and molten images destroyed, and their high places plucked down. Next in order are the instructions for the division of the land among the people of Jehovah. It shall be done in a just and equitable manner. (33:54). The lawgiver now passes...

Chapter 1: Salvation for Believers Only (continued) Radically opposed to all these universalistic and semi-universalistic theories of salvation stands the answer of the Catechism: “No; only those who are ingrafted into him, and receive all his benefits by a true faith.” This answer is worthy of our closest consideration especially for two reasons. First of all, by the expression “ingrafted into him” it presents faith, not as an act on the part of man, but as a gift of God, a means whereby God saves the sinner through Christ. And secondly, by the same expression, as well as by the...

The above is the title of a book by the undersigned that should have left the press and be ready for distribution by the time the present issue of The Standard Bearer reaches our readers. It is a first volume of a proposed exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism, and covers the first part of that well-known part of our Forms of Unity, the part that treats of sin and misery. The book will contain about two hundred and twenty five pages, is printed on good paper, and has a neat cloth binding. The volume is published by the Eerdmans Publishing...

And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be know this day that thou art God in Israel. I Kings 18:36-38 Let it be known! O, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, let it be known! We beseech Thee O, Jehovah! let it be known that Thou art God, and that we are Thy servants, and that we have said and done all these things in Thy name, and according to Thy word! Always, throughout...