Vol 29 Issue 18

I can compare some ranting Arminian preachers, who represent salvation as a matter of chance, and press men to help forward their own conversion, upon pain of damnation, to none so well, as to auctioneers; who, with the hammer in their hand, are always bawl­ing out, “Now is your time; now is your time: agoing, agoing, agoing.” Such a method is equally inconsis­tent with the analogy of faith, and subversive of the majesty of the gospel. Shall I order a dead soul to awake, and raise itself to life?

In the May issue of the Reformed Journal Dr. James Daane writes an article entitled: “Reflections on Common Grace.” We enjoyed reading this article not because we agreed with its contents, but because we believe he seriously attempts to bring into dis­cussion the doctrine of common grace which has been virtually smothered in the Christian Reformed Church­es for more than 25 years, while at the same time he diligently attempts to defend this doctrine.

Thomas Nichols said, “We believe that the gospel ministry is the noblest and most exalted office to which man can aspire. But not everyone is qualified to preach.” This is another way of saying that one is un­able to put himself into the office of the ministry of the Word. There is only one entrance into that position and that is thru the lawful calling of which both the third and fourth articles of our church order speak.

Continuing with the views of the Church as en­tertained by apostolic fathers, we now call attention to another of these apostolic fathers, Polycarp. It is not at all improbable that he was the “angel” of the church in Smyrna to whom the Lord Jesus Christ had written in His letter to the church at Smyrna (see Rev. 2:10: “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”). He is said to have been a disciple of the apostle, John.

Turning now to the subject of our own Three Forms of Unity, and in particular to the subject of the Canons, we discover that from every point of view the Canons occupy a very peculiar position among our Re­formed confessions. A comparison of the Three Forms as to their historical position, their form, and their content will at once reveal this.

Rest. What a sweet sounding word when you are weary and worn! O, to be left alone, to be free from any disturbance, to relax and be with your thoughts! How disturbing when you have prepared yourself for a night’s sleep to be called to answer the insistent and merciless clamor of the telephone bell! O, to be left alone, to have no troubles, no cares and anxieties! Peace.

Chapter 1: God is Holy Meekness and humility is the only proper attitude that dare to be assumed toward the holy one, who as the sole good seeks His own glory. And while the wicked, that love darkness rather than light, must needs say to the prophet of Jehovah, “Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the holy one of Israel to cease from before us,” God’s children, the work of His own hands, shall sanctify Jehovah’s name and sanctify the holy one of Jacob and fear the God of Israel.

Esteemed Members of the Curatorium, Candidates, and Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ: I have taken my lecture along; so maybe I will read parts of it. I do this, not because I like to read, but because, in the first place, I don’t want to speak too long; and in the second place, I don’t want to say anything in this evening hour that is probably not true.

The evening of June the ninth was for me, as well as for all that have a heart for our Theological School and still love our specific Protestant Reformed truth, a joyous occasion. On that evening, five students graduated from our seminary after previously having been examined and declared candidates for the ministry of the Word in our churches. In a way, I felt that this occasion was like an oasis in the wilderness.

My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.” Psalm 22:1, 2