Vol 47 Issue 03

Incoming news from the churches has been dwindling a little lately; so let’s try some from the schools. You probably know that Hope Protestant Reformed School, of Grand Rapids, looks considerably different than it did a year ago at this time. A building program has resulted in another classroom, a gym, kitchen, and a very attractive office area. In fact, the whole new addition is extremely attractive. Mr.

But besides, also the latter is not a valid conclusion. It is very much a question whether this child was so young that he had not already manifested in his life that good which was found in him before the Lord. We get the opposite impression when we read that all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him. We would much rather say, therefore, that this child had already reached the age at which he plainly revealed that by his piety he distinguished himself from the house of Jeroboam.

THE SEEMING CONTRADICTIONS REFUTED CONCERNING THE TERM “WORLD” Always in the history of the church in the world there have been those who pervert the Scriptures to their own destruction. Every heretic likes to quote his selected Scripture passages without any regard to the total message of the Scriptures.

“…Therefore was the name of it called Galeed; And Mizpah: for he said, The LORD watch between me and thee, when we are absent one from another.”  Genesis 31:48, 49

Before calling attention to the development of the doctrine of the atonement in the second period of the church (this period is not characterized by too much development of this doctrine), it might be well to summarize what we covered until now. First, we have a clear presentation of this in the History of the Christian Church by Philip Schaff, Vol. II, 583 ff.; and we quote:

When last did you see a saint?  The question is not, Did you ever see a saint?  You certainly did see a saint or two, yea, undoubtedly, a host of them in your life time. There are, you know, seven thousand of them that have not bowed the knee to the antichrist. And, if you are one of them yourself, you will not have difficulty recognizing them now and then. 

Recently a couple of issues of Trowel and Sword came into my hands. This paper, edited by Prof. Klaas Runia, is of the Reformed Churches in Australia. In an issue which I did not see, Prof. K. Runia discussed the question of the “historicity” of the early chapters of Genesis. In this article the author apparently denied that these chapters recorded actual historical events. At least, if he did not deny that they contained history, he cast many doubts upon this position.

The Reformation’s early and urgent concern for the Christian education of the children was due in part of the threats that endangered this education. One threat was the existing schools. During the Middle Ages, the Church established and controlled the schools. The teachers were priests and monks. As a result, the increasing corruption of the Church infected the schools. The teaching and life in the schools made attendance by children of the newly reformed Church impossible. Luther flatly denounced sending children to these schools:

Our thoughts travel back through the pages of history; back to the sixteenth century as we hum the familiar words, Faith of our fathers, living still. . . . 

Of practical interest to our Michigan readers, but of general interest to us all because of our concern for covenantal education, is Proposal C, which will be voted on in the November election in Michigan. This is a proposed amendment to the Michigan Constitution which will make parochiaid impossible. The legislature in Michigan finally passed a proposal to provide $22 million in state aid to private schools in the current fiscal year. This provision has also been upheld by the Michigan Supreme Court.