Vol 60 Issue 02

The long Classis of Edgerton, Minnesota, having convened on Wednesday morning, September 7, finally adjourned, about 9:00 P.M., on Saturday evening, September 10. Much of the work of the Classis was done in closed session. 

PRACTICAL TRUTHS FROM THE PASTORAL EPISTLES, by Eugene Stock; Kregel Publications, 1983; 342 pp., $12.95. (Reviewed by Prof. H. Hanko) This is not a recent book; Eugene Stock lived from 1836-1928 in England where this book was first published. 

When we consider what elements belong to the order of worship in our worship services, and the place in the order of worship which each element ought to occupy, it is important that our decision on these matters be made on a sound basis and not in a willy-nilly fashion. To make proper decisions requires that we understand the true idea of worship. 

Dear Brethren,  It is at the close of this another year of printing The Standard Bearer that we the board come to you to report on our activities of the past year. We must first express our thankfulness to our Covenant Father who has kept us through this past year and given us a year wherein we might once more witness of His glory by means of the printed page. We must never be ashamed of proclaiming, through the printed page, the glorious truth which has so graciously been given to us as Protestant Reformed Churches. 

The final phase in the revelation of our adoption as God’s children takes place in the judgment day. The adoption of sons which God has predestinated in His eternal counsel and prepared in Christ, and which we possess through the Spirit of adoption is perfected when at last we leave our earthly house of this tabernacle and receive from God a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (II Cor. 5:1).

In the past dancing was primarily an activity in which the world engaged. It was an activity upon which the church frowned and against which officebearers and parents warned their young people. Those who did dance had not the courage to do it openly, but for the most part did it “on the sneek.” 

Article 2 of the Nicene Creed reads as follows: “And (I believe) in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father; by Whom all things were made.” We have already discussed much of this second article. We have discussed the confession of the church that there is one Lord Jesus Christ by Whom all things were made.

The second chapter of the Book of Esther is very revealing, if one does not approach it with a mind biased by the general notions concerning the principal characters in the book but lets the facts speak for themselves. It reveals nothing but deeds of unbelief both on the part of the Gentiles mentioned, of whom it can be expected, but also of the Jews, who knew the law and the prophets. And while this chapter already is revealing, what follows in the remaining chapters also underscores what we wrote before, namely, that not one of the persons mentioned by...

“We all believe with the heart, and confess with the mouth, that . . . God . . . is . . . immutable . . .” (Belgic Confession), as it is written, “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6). 

Signs of the Times Some months ago I read several magazines which quoted an article on earthquakes and their frequency. If the report is correct, and I have no reason to doubt it, this makes for some interesting proof that the end of the age approaches rapidly. In Outlook, May 1983, this report is presented: Among the “signs” which our Lord mentioned as signalling His approaching return were “earthquakes, in diverse places.”