Vol 40 Issue 03

REPORT OF CLASSIS EAST held at Hudsonville, Mich. Oct. 2, 1963  Rev. G. Lanting, president of the July Classis, led in opening devotions, and declared the Classis properly constituted after the credentials of the various delegates had been accepted.  Rev. M. Schipper, following the order of rotation, presided over this meeting, while Rev. Lanting served as clerk. 

Rev. B. Woudenberg, of Edgerton, has declined the call from Lynden.  Rev. J. Kortering, of Hull, declined the call from Redlands.  Redlands’ new trio consists of the Revs. J. Heys, G. Lanting, and G. Vanden Berg. 

ORANGE CITY OVERTURE  The October issue of the Torch and Trumpet contains a few remarks about Synod’s treatment of the overture from Classis. Orange City that appeared at the Christian Reformed Synod of 1963. This was the overture that objected to Prof. Harold Dekker’s views of God’s love for all men. 

“Churches whose usages differ from ours merely in nonessentials shall not be rejected.”  —Article 85, D.K.O. 

We believe that the Father, by the Word, that is, by his Son, hath created of nothing, the heaven, the earth, and all creatures, as it seemed good unto him, giving unto every creature its being, shape, form, and several offices to serve its Creator. That he doth also still. uphold and govern them by his eternal providence, and infinite power, for the service of mankind, to the end that man may serve his God.

The Zwinglian view of the Lord’s Supper is known as the symbolical view. Concerning this view of the Lord’s Sipper, Rev. Hoeksema writes in his Dogmatics as follows: “The traditional and generally accepted representation of the Zwinglian view is that this reformer did not really see a sacrament at all in the Eucharist. According to him the Lord’s Supper was a mere feast of commemoration. In the Lord’s Supper there was really no operation of God in Christ, but rather an act on the part of the church.

The question has often been raised, How did our churches come into contact with this field of mission endeavor in Jamaica? Therefore I shall try to acquaint you briefly with the first contacts that were made and the further developments that followed. 

We should not lose sight of the fact that Peter is here addressing the believing church, who are pilgrims and strangers in the earth; they are those who have ordained the like precious faith with Peter in the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Such Peter is addressing! He stirs up their pure minds by bringing to remembrance that which was spoken by the holy Prophets, and by the reiteration of the commandments of the Apostles of our Lord and Savior. 

“And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites.  And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour . . . .  And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent, thee?” 

The office of deacon also was soon instituted in the church, at the occasion of a complaint in regard to the care of the widows of the church. About this we read in Acts 6: “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.