Vol 27 Issue 15

An Awakening? Such, we certainly hope, is the meaning of the recent appearance of two new periodicals in the American Church world. They are “The Reformed Journal” and “Torch and Trumpet”. Both of these are edited and controlled by Christian Reformed leaders and we imagine directed mainly toward the constituency of the Christian Reformed Church in America. Although from a Protestant Reformed point of view it is already evident, in the few issues of both magazines we have read thus far, that they will stand on a Christian Reformed (that is a “common grace”) basis, yet we welcome them if...

IN SESSION, APRIL 4, 1951, AT HUDSONVILLE, MICH. June 3, M. Schipper June 10, H. Kuiper June 17, G. Vanden Berg June 24, E. Knott July 1, H. De Wolf July 8, A. Petter July 15, J. A. Heys This meeting of Classis was held at Hudsonville. Rev. E. Knott calls the meeting to order. He reads a portion of Scripture and leads in prayer. After the credentials are received and accepted, Rev. B. Kok is called upon to preside. The minutes of the January and February meetings are read and accepted. Classis decides to take up the matter of...

The question implied in our title, which we began to discuss in the last issue, namely, “To what church must I belong?” is an important one. It is important and pressing, as we noted last time, first of all, because of the vast multiplication of church denominations which has come into existence since the time of the Reformation especially. In the face of this situation the believer, who confesses one holy, catholic church, must make a decision and maintain a decision as to where he must have his church membership, where his “papers” should be. Doctrinally, too, the question involved,...

It is the intention of the writer of these lines to write a short series of expository articles on the passage written by Paul in Romans 6:1-14. Since this passage is quite lengthy, and since we all have our Bibles near at hand, I shall not write it out in full. I shall merely write the beginning of it and also the concluding words of it. It here follows: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. We who died unto sin, how shall we any longer live therein? ….Even so also...

Much has been written pro and con about the proposed Declaration of Principles. The more I read the more I am convinced that our Prot. Ref. Churches need this or a similar Declaration of Principles. And in the light of our present situation I am convinced that we should have had it when we were organized as Protestant Reformed Churches. It is my conviction that the proposed Declaration of Principles declares only our distinctive Reformed view with respect to the preaching of the gospel and the promise in the covenant, and that there is no well-meant offer of salvation or...

Let us turn to the 6th chapter of Matthew’s gospel, the 5th and the 6th verses and read here the word of God as follows: “When thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily, I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall...

In the Concordia issue of March 15, 1951, the undersigned addressed the following question to the Rev. Petter, and I quote; “Is baptism the sign and seal of a conditional promise, of a promise which will presently be held before them with its accompanying command and threat? or, is baptism the sign and seal of the promise which is theirs because of divine election, particular atonement, and the Spirit of regeneration? I can restate my questions as follows: Do we baptize our children because the promise will be presented conditionally to them, so that the sacrament of baptism merely looks forward to...

Expository Thoughts On the Gospels, by bishop J. C. Ryle. Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Published as a reprint by the Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Mich. Price per Volume $4.95. The Zondervan Publishing House certainly did all students of the Bible, whether ministers or laymen, a service by offering a reprint of the above mentioned work. It is more than a commentary. (The work is deeply spiritual and devotional. It is written in a very lucid style, so that everybody can easily read it. While the work is based on the exposition of the text, it offers, at the same...

In The Reformed Journal, Vol. I, No. 2, I found a very interesting article by the Rev. James Daane, in which he reflects on the problem of so-called “common grace”. Interesting this article is, first of all, because it is rather refreshing to find a Christian Reformed minister that has the courage and intelligence to broach the problem of common grace once again. The Synod of 1924, after having established the well-known Three Points, admonished the leaders of the Christian Reformed Churches as follows: “In connection with the overtures that urge that synod express itself about the doctrine of common...

“I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplication.” Psalm 116:1 No, we do not know who wrote this psalm, but it matters not. If it mattered, the Lord would have told us. Therefore I will not guess who the author may be. We have the psalm. I love the Lord! That is the theme of the whole psalm. He will give us the reason for his love; he will tell us what he is going to do with that love, so that he ends in heaven itself where he will dwell in the courts of...