Vol 21 Issue 09

There are some people concerning whom you just cannot become angry. No matter how they may oppose you, there is something about them that makes you want to like them. Perhaps this is due to the logical way they present their opposition; then too, their personal character or sincerity often tempts one to handle them, as they say, “with gloves on”. Some opponents there are who are so offensive in their approach that you immediately decide to vanquish them and put them in their proper place. While, on the other hand, there are others, who perhaps are just as vicious...

Editor of The Standard Bearer Dear Mr. Editor, My attention was called to an article which appeared in the December 1, 1944, issue of the Standard Bearer, written by Mr. H. A. Van Putten. That article reflects so unfairly upon the C.L.A., and even upon the so-called neutral unions, that it is not right to leave it unchallenged. I would therefore like to have a little space to reply to it. The brother first of all condemns collective bargaining. But, it is quite clear that he has a faulty conception of it. First of all it must be understood that...

The movement known as the “Reformation” is characteristically spiritual. It denotes that work of God whereby His people, His Church, was liberated out of the shackles of Roman Catholicism. To be sure, the Reformation also had far-reaching political results. Yet, to many it was merely political. This is due to the fact that the Roman Catholic Church, besides being a spiritual power, was also clothed with political might. Nevertheless, the Reformation, in its origin and according to its fundamental significance, is decidedly spiritual. We associate especially two names with the Reformation: Martin Luther and John Calvin. In this essay we...

Our ‘’modern age” must also have “modern” technique and methods in the field of education. Largely under the influence of the philosophy of John Dewey, new theories have been conceived, stated, and incorporated into the public school systems in a varying degree. The results are called by various names: Progressive Education, New Education, Social Education, Social Experimentalism, etc. The purpose of this “modern” education is expressed in the names by which it is known. The development of a socially efficient individual is the primary end sought by the new educators. Social education should prepare the pupil for living with his...

It is not easy to set forth Samson in a right light ethically. Certainly he was a true believer. The Scriptures make this unmistakably clear. But was he, as a believer, a man with strong spiritual impulses and with a flowering faith or must he be classified with carnal believers? Was he, with all his sensuality, a man passionately devoted to the cause of Israel’s God? How the liberal interpreters judge about the man is clear from the following excerpt from the pen of one of their number. “Nobody could be less like the ordinary idea of an Old Testament...

A catacomb is an underground cavern or cave. The word is used to denote the ancient underground cemeteries or resting places for the dead in the neighborhood of Rome and of several other chief cities of the Graeco-Roman world. The early view was that catacombs were originally sand or gravel pits and stone quarries from which the heathen derived their building materials and then used the resulting cavities as burial places for deceased slaves and prisoners. This view has been abandoned on the ground that many of the catacombs were no sand pits and stone quarries. It has been well...

To avoid repetition, we must clearly distinguish just what subject the Heidelberg Catechism is discussing in the thirteenth Lord’s Day. We must not, in this connection, speak of the mystery of the incarnation as such, the doctrine that the Son of God assumed our flesh and blood from the virgin Mary. For this is treated in the following Lord’s Day. Nor is it the purpose of this part of the Catechism to discuss the mystery of the sonship of the second Person in the Holy Trinity, for this was treated in the eighth and ninth Lord’s Day of our Instructor....

We wholeheartedly endorse the following paragraph from the pen of Prof. Henry Schultze, clipped from The Banner of Jan. 5, 1945: “There is no aspect of the Christian school program that needs to be watched more closely. The Christian Reformed constituency have founded, maintained, and developed these schools for the purpose of training their children in their own faith. The most important item in such a program will be the teachers. There is a group of people cooperating with us in the Christian school movement who do not see eye to eye with us on some important aspects of doctrine....

Before I proceed with the discussion of the “merger,” let me state here that through the kindness of one of the brethren of the “Reformed Church in the United States/’ a brother that took an important part in opposing the merger, I received a good deal of literature that gave me new information about the history the brethren, especially of the “Synod of the Northwest,” made and the struggle they went through. I discovered, too, that several classes expressed their disapproval of the Plan of Union, and of the merger (among which classis Eureka), while others gave their consent on...

How many are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me? Ps. 119:84 How long, O Lord? This question appears to be the basic note of this particular section of Psalm one hundred nineteen. Strong expressions of grief and sorrow, of anguish of soul and body, but also of hope and yearning for the salvation of the Lord, characterize the entire passage. The Psalmist’s soul fainteth for the salvation of Jehovah, his eyes fail for the Word of God as he anxiously asks the question: when wilt thou comfort me? He is become...