Vol 27 Issue 11

The undersigned was asked to write up a report of the results of the election of committee members who are to assist the three ministers and their families who recently came to us from the Reformed Episcopal Church and who are now attending our Seminary. Some time ago printed ballots were sent out to each one who contributed to their support. The ballots presented a nomination of eight. From these four were to be chosen to serve as a permanent committee. The following constitute the new committee: Sidney De Young, James Kok, Gerrit Pipe, and Donald Ondersma. At a recent...

Madison, South Dakota January 29, 1951 The Standard Bearer The Rev. H. Hoeksema, Editor Dear Brother: May I kindly request a bit of space in a few issues of the Standard Bearer to express myself around and about the Declaration of Principles? I would like to consider the Declaration both from a formal and material point of view and will attempt to show that we should not adopt it or, positively, that we as Churches should abide by our own tradition of officially standing upon the basis of the Scripture and the Three Forms of Unity alone. This does not...

Esteemed Editor: It is not with pleasure that I again feel constrained to lift up my pen. I sincerely regret that it is necessary and the more so because it concerns your own material. And, strangely enough, I hope that I am entirely wrong and that you are entirely justified in that which I must comment upon. And now to the subject. I refer specifically to your latest editorial entitled “Another Reason”, wherein you publish a letter from a Mr. A. van Dischoven together with your comments and a public note of advice to Chatham’s consistory. I believe that there...

We do well to remind ourselves once again of our purpose in this discussion. We are busy with the practical implications of our church membership, or with the activity of our membership. And it stands to reason, that when we discuss this matter we must needs call attention to various errors and weaknesses which creep into our lives as church members. It is thus that we find ourselves discussing the deviation which we have called oncerism. And it is necessary that we receive these remarks in the proper attitude first of all. That means that we do not read them...

In this installment we wish to make a few concluding remarks on the meaning of the verses 24 and 25 of this chapter. First of all, let us bear in mind, that the precepts given in these verses are not at all the precepts of the law, which a man must do to live by the same. The admonitions and the exhortations given here in these verses, as well as in all the exhortations of the gospel, are those that come to us by virtue of the accomplished work in Christ and because they are a part of the ministry...

In his latest article Rev. Petter accepts my challenge that he disprove my argument to the effect that the “origination” of the “Declaration was perfectly orderly in the point of view of the requirements of the Church Order and therefore ethical, absolutely so. But the trouble is that in meeting this challenge Rev. Petter is not fair. First, he completely ignores my argument. He takes absolutely no notice of it. Second, he conveniently glides over the point at issue. Third, all he does in a positive way is to repeat his own reasonings. First, Rev. Petter completely ignores my positive...

  Thirdly, speaking of “deceitful dealings,” I refer to my suspension the evening of January 12, 1951, and the consistory’s reasoning last summer when they refused to enforce their binding decision of last June 5. I was denied the pulpit January 12 of this year. The ground of the suspension was that I refused to submit to the basis as willed by the consistory. At this meeting of the consistory elder Van Huizen said that I had offended the congregation of late in my preaching. When I asked him whether I had offended anyone personally he answered in the negative, but...

The Brethren of the Common Life, by Dr. Albert Hyma. Published by the Wm. B. Eerdmans Publ. Co., Grand Rapids, Mich. Price $3.50. This is a very interesting and worthwhile book, written by a scholar, yet accessible to every reader who is interested in church history. It describes a phase and period of church history of which we heard even in the Christian School in the old country. “The Brethren of the Common Life”, living in the latter part of the fourteenth and the first part of the fifteenth century belong to the forerunners of the Reformation. In a very...

It is, evidently, not clear to brother Flikkema what is meant by III, A, of the Declaration of Principles: “We repudiate the teaching that the promise is conditional and for all that are baptized.” He asks the question whether this also implies our participation in these promises, i.e., the application of all the benefits of salvation. His question is, evidently, whether the unconditional promise also includes all the blessings of salvation in the subjective sense of the word. Now, I have written rather extensively on this question in recent numbers of the Standard Bearer, before brother Flikkema wrote his contribution....

  That the promise of the gospel is not “a gracious offer of salvation on the part of God to all men, nor a conditional offer to all that are born in the historical dispensation of the covenant, that is, to all that are baptized, but an oath of God that He will infallibly lead all the elect unto salvation and eternal glory through faith,” is by no means contradicted, but rather confirmed by what is stated in Canons II. A, 5. There we read: “Moreover, the promise of the gospel is, that whosoever believeth in Christ crucified, shall not perish,...