Vol 23 Issue 03

Report of Classis East—Convened Oct. 9, 1946 at Grand Rapids, Michigan This meeting of Classis was held at Fuller Ave., on October 9, 1946. Rev. H. Veldman., who presided at the last meeting of Classis, led in the opening exercises. Psalter No. 239 was sung after which Rev. H. Veldman read a portion of Ephesians 4 and led in prayer. After the credentials were read and received, showing that all the churches were represented by their delegates, Classis was declared constituted. According to rotation Rev. R. Veldman is called upon to preside. He asks the delegates present for the first...

Classis West convened on the morning of September 25, 1946, at nine o’clock in the Protestant Reformed Church of Oskaloosa, Iowa. After the meeting was opened with the usual devotional exercises conducted by the Rev. L. Vermeer, the credentials were presented, showing all the delegates from the various consistories present. Thereupon the Rev. P. Vis took over the presidency for the day. He first of all extended a word of welcome to all the delegates, and particularly to the Rev. A. Petter who was attending our Classis for the first time as delegate from Orange City, and also to the...

(Convinced by the Judgment of the World-ruler) The question should be faced: How is the conviction carried to the conscience of men that the unbelieving world shall be judged and sentenced? In answering this we must of course remember that if the sentence of the world-ruler is to serve as ground for the conviction in men’s hearts that the world faces sentence, then that sentence over the ruler must be an evident, a tangible fact. And this leads us to look for that historical fact. It is most safe to turn to the life of Christ for the appearance of...

Second Session…. The second session of the Conference, on Wednesday morning, was opened by the Rev. W. Grossmann, pastor of the Reformed Church at Hosmer, South Dakota. He introduced the first speaker of the day, the Rev. H. Veldman. In further development of the general theme, “The Church”, Rev. Veldman spoke on: “The Tension of the Church”; which subject had been assigned to him by the Conference Committee. Resume…. “The doctrine of the Church is a fascinating subject. We believe her to be a unified whole yet instead of being characterized by unity we see dissension throughout the history of...

“Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:3, 4 Verse 3 gives us a two-fold reason for the thought which had been expressed m the second verse. James had exhorted the church of God to count it all joy when they fell into divers temptations. Of course, the people of God do not consider these temptations all joy because of the temptations themselves. It is for this reason that we do not seek temptations. To the contrary we fall into...

The Covenant. We believe that our gracious God, in His sovereign good pleasure has entered into covenant with His people and has established with them that everlasting covenant of grace which God one time promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God will be their God and they shall be unto Him a people. There you have the two sides to that glorious covenant. He will be God unto them. That is, all that which belongs unto Him as God, which characterizes Him for what He has revealed Himself to be, all His God-ness will become the experience of His people. His...

In the previous article of this rubric we witnessed the conclusion of the struggle for world dominion between the papacy and the Hohenstaufen family. We saw that the claims of the papacy survived also the blows struck again and again by this house; and my closing remark was that the struggle ended with the Holy Roman Empire prostrate in the dust before the papacy. The term “Holy Roman Empire” is one in the need of some explanation. Empire is a term used to signify the dominions governed by a person bearing the title of emperor. The first succession of great...

So had the Lord driven the kine by which the Ark was being drawn in the way to the way of Bethshemesh. But when the Bethshemeshites saw the Ark, they rejoiced to see it. But, as we stated, they had reason to hide themselves in the dens and the rocks of their mountains; for the Lord was again amongst them—the Lord, who is a consuming fire—and they had not put away the strange gods from among them and prepared their hearts to serve the Lord. In a word, the nation had not repented. The people of Israel at this time,...

According to the flesh, both Ishmael and Isaac, both Esau and Jacob were children of Abraham. Yet, only the children of the promise are counted as the seed: “In Isaac shall thy seed be called”; and again: “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.” Not the will of man, neither the worthiness of man, but God’s sovereign predestination makes the distinction between children of the promise and children of the flesh, even in the historical line of the covenant. The question might arise, and frequently does arise, in the heart of man, whether, in making this distinction between...

The confessional basis adopted by the First Ecumenical Synod is rather comprehensive. No less than nine confessions are mentioned. Although this is not very clear from the conclusions that were adopted with respect to this matter, we suppose that the meaning is, not that all the churches which, in the future, are to send delegates to similar synods must subscribe to all these confessions, but that those churches are to be invited that subscribe to and stand on the basis of one or more of these reformed symbols. Thus, I presume, we must also understand the statement that “all delegates...