Vol 39 Issue 02

REPORT ON JAMAICA As most of our readers know, the last Synod of our Churches decided to send to Jamaica two men from our Churches to investigate that field. There was a history of correspondence between men in Jamaica and our Mission Committee which led up to this decision of Synod. Perhaps most of our people also know by this time that the Mission Committee decided to send two laymen to Jamaica to do this investigative work. The laymen asked to go were Mr. H. Zwak from our Hudsonville congregation and Mr. H. Meulenberg from our First Church. Both men...

Report of Classis East held October 3, 1962, at Hudsonville Church. Rev. M. Schipper who presided over the special classical meeting in August led in opening devotions. After the credentials were accepted and the Classis declared properly constituted, the Rev. G. Vos presided, while the Rev. Schipper recorded the minutes. The brethren: Prof. H.C. Hoeksema, Rev. G.C. Lubbers, Rev. J.A. Heys and Rev. G. Vanden Berg were visitors at this meeting and were given advisory vote. The last two, with Elder L. Lanting of South Holland, were a committee from Classis West seeking aid from our classis with respect to their...

Report of Classis West—Classis met in Edgerton, Minn., Sept. 19, 1962. Rev. J.A. Heys presided, and Rev. R.C. Harbach recorded the minutes. The Church Visitors reported a spirit of peace and harmony in our churches. The only other business before this meeting was the difficult task of assigning Classical appointments. Because of the many vacant churches and the realization that the ministers must not be absent from their own pulpits too much, Classis decided to ask Classis East for help in supplying these vacant churches. The next meeting of Classis will, D.V., be in Doon, Iowa, the third Wednesday in...

Doon’s congregation has extended a call to Rev. H. Veldman, of Redlands. Rev. H. Hanko declined the call which came to him from Kalamazoo. Rev. G. Vanden Berg declined the call which he had received from the church in Loveland, Colo. The “Mission Emphasis Night,” sponsored by theBeacon Lights, and which was widely heralded in our bulletins, was a singular success. Truly, the bulletins did not avouch too much when they stated, “this will be an evening which you cannot afford to miss.” Rev. Lubbers gave a resume of his work in Houston, Texas, and in Tripp, S. Dak. In...

Holy Matrimony The last time we wrote that marriage, in the land of our forefathers, took place in three stages. First there was the engagement in which the parties to the marriage solemnly pledge themselves to each other. Then there was the actual solemnization of the marriage by the civil authorities. This was followed by the confirmation of marriage by the church. In our present article we are concerned with this final stage. Confirmed by the Church Previously we have expressed why the church has a vital interest in the marriages of her members and, therefore, also the reason that...

1. Establish assistance funds for our own Protestant Reformed married as well as single students. 2. Help secure where needed part time work for students. 3. Prepare a seminary descriptive brochure and send copies to our churches to be distributed and displayed in our church tract racks. 4. Advertise the seminary in The Standard Bearerand Beacon Lights. 5. By our brochures and magazines, send out a call for students from all Protestant denominations. Emphasize that we preach the infallible Word of God, and the great Reformation theology; that we separate from the modernist, liberalist-ecumenical movement; that we preach and contend for the...

Balance on hand Sept. 1, 1961—$2,965.81 Receipts Subscriptions—$3,448.44 Membership—$130.00 Gifts—$2.939.91 Advertisements—$193.00 Bound Volumes—$272.65 —$6,984.00 Total—$9,949.81 Disbursements Wobbema Printing—$7,600.63 Miscellaneous—$85.00 G.R. Office Supply (10,000 envelopes)—$85.00 Holland Bookbinding—$205.65 James Dykstra (gift)—$300.00 —$8,323.01 Balance on hand Sept. 10, 1962—$1,626.80 Gifts Hudsonville—$640.00 First—$740.76 Creston—$46.03 Hope—$116.62 Southeast—$94.22 Southwest—$141.11 Holland—$56.30 Grand Haven—$11.15 Doon—$84.32 Hull—$97.15 South Holland—$197.15 Oak Lawn—$47.53 Hope (Redlands)—$52.21 Kalamazoo—$35.90 Randolph—$26.70 Edgerton—$27.51 Individuals—$51.00 Western Ladies’ League—$34.25 Eastern Ladies’ League—$52.50 First Men’s Society—$50.00 First Ladies’ Aid—$25.00 Mission Committee—$312.00 —H. Velthouse, Treasurer

(Given at the annual membership meeting, September 20, 1962) Members and Friends of the Reformed Free Publishing Association, Dear Brethren: The Board of the RFPA takes this opportunity to inform you of its activities of the past year. The activities of the Board are mainly channeled through the three standing committees: the Information and Education, Finance, and Book Committees. The Information and Education Committee’s interest has been in the printing and distributing of two pamphlets which have appeared as articles in The Standard Bearer during the past year. Six thousand copies of each pamphlet have been printed. The first one, entitled “The...

* Address given at the annual meeting of the RFPA, published by request. Mr. Chairman, Beloved brethren of the Reformed Free Publishing Association: I am very happy for the opportunity to be here and to speak to you tonight in behalf of the RFPA andThe Standard Bearer. I count this a privilege. The RFPA is undoubtedly the oldest organization in our churches, and has played a very important part in the history of our churches from the very beginning. And our Standard Bearer has borne witness to the truth for many years already. I am glad to speak, therefore, in its behalf...

What is the language and meaning of our Confessions when they speak of the marks of the true church, and that these marks distinguish the true church from the false church? What do the Confessions mean when they say that the true church can easily be distinguished from the false church? Does this mean that our Protestant Reformed Churches are the only true church and that all other churches in this country are wholly false? Then it would surely be easy to distinguish these two churches. This was also the stand that was taken by the Liberated. The undersigned recalls...