Vol 23 Issue 07

Now token Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men, etc. Matt. 2:1-12 Glorious Lord of all! The babe of Bethlehem, Jesus the Christ! And that He is the universal Lord, the firstborn of every creature, by Whom and unto Whom all things were created, that in all things He must have the preeminence,—that must be revealed even at ‘His very coming into the world. This is the meaning of the visit of the wise men. For make no mistake. Do not change this revelation into a very interesting,...

* Paper read before the Conference of Ministers of the Reformed Church in the U. S., and of the Protestant Reformed Churches, October 1946. Besides this spiritual tension in the life of the individual Christen he is also constantly under pressure because he, while in this life, is of the earth earthy. On the one hand, the child of God is a heavenly citizen. He has been born again from above. He has become a stranger here below, also, mind you, a stranger upon the earth. Also the earth as such has become strange to him. Really, he does not...

Final Session. . . . Last time we presented a resume of the lecture of the Rev. L. Doezema. He had been chosen as the final speaker and developed his topic: “The Reformation of the Church”, as follows: The Need for Reformation—the condition of continual deformation and defection in the form of the Church constantly requires reformation. The Principles of Reformation—1. It is a return by the true Church to the Word of God. The false Church cannot be the object of Reformation. 2. It is God’s work—alone and completely. The Pattern of Reformation—1. It is begun by God in...

“Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of this grass he shall pass away. For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat,” but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.” James 1:9-11 Another thought which is clearly implied in verse 9 is the treatment of the poor and lowly brother by the rich. This appears already from...

Who asks this question? Your pastor never asks you the above question in singular form. He may not ask whether he may help train your child in the fear of the Lord. It is his God-given calling to do so, and he may not even give you the opportunity to answer this question. He may not leave the impression with you that you as a covenant parent have the right at all to refuse to allow him to help you train your child in the fear of the Lord. He must rather admonish you and remind you that it is...

A brother, resident in Sioux Center, Iowa, writes as follows: (he writes in the Holland language. The undersigned takes the liberty to translate the writing): 1)  Art. 36 (of the Church Order of Dordrecht), The Classis has the same jurisdiction over the Consistory as the Particular Synod has over the Classis and the General Synod over the Particular”. What is the character of this jurisdiction? The brother asks. 2)  Art. 68, “The Ministers shall on Sunday, ordinarily in the afternoon, explain briefly the sum of Christian doctrine comprehended in the Heidelberg Catechism.” The brother underscores “ordinarily in the afternoon” and...

The execution of the command that a king be set over the people had to be preceded by a solemn protest, “Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit protest solemnly against them (Hebrew, “Thou shaft certainly witness against them,”) and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them,—the manner of the king, that is, his customary way of acting, normal behavior, what he will do as king in the throne. This is what he will do. He will take their sons for himself, for his chariots and horsemen, to cultivate his fields, and manufacture his implements...

4. Assurance Of Membership (cont.) For proper self-examination leads to repentance. Its fruit is never morbid doubt or unbelief, but a walk in sanctification and the assurance that we are, indeed, members of the Church, living members of the body of Christ. And the assurance of present membership is, at the same time, the certainty of abiding, eternal membership. The latter is inherent in the former. The two cannot be separated. Even as calling and election are inseparable, so the assurance of the one is never without the assurance of the other. By walking in the way in which the...

The third purpose of the remnants and the natural light left to man after the fall is, according to the declarations of the Synod of Utrecht, that possibilities given in the original creation may still be developed. This particular item in the declarations concerning “common grace” is peculiar to the decisions of Utrecht only; it is not found in the Three Points of Kalamazoo 1924. No, grounds are offered, either from Scripture or from the Confessions, on which this doctrinal declaration is supposed to rest. Nor is the declaration itself (theologically conceived. It is rather philosophical. It certainly does not...