Vol 68 Issue 20

The Reformed Free Publishing Association has just published a timely book on Scripture’s teaching concerning the godly woman. The title is Far Above Rubies: Today’s Virtuous Woman. It is a collection of sermons and articles by ministers in the Protestant Reformed Churches, with the exception of several articles by Abraham Kuyper. Rev. Dale H. Kuiper reviews the book elsewhere in this issue. I recommend the book to the readers of the Standard Bearer. It can be ordered from the Reformed Free Publishing Association, P.O. Box 2006, Grand Rapids, MI 49501. The price is $9.95, plus $1.75 for shipping and handling....

Mr. Wigger is a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of Hudsonville, Michigan. Congregational Activities As you might expect, the congregation of the Immanuel PRC of Lacombe, AB, Canada was very busy during the month of June getting their parsonage ready for its latest occupants, Rev. and Mrs. M. Dick. Much of the parsonage received new carpeting as well as a fresh coat of paint. And the entire inside was given a good cleaning. Our readers might also be interested to know that Rev. T. Miersma, pastor of the First PRC of Edmonton, AB, Canada, officiated at the ordination service...

Far Above Rubies: Today’s Virtuous Woman, edited by Herman Hanko; Reformed Free Publishing Association, 1992; 187 pp., $9.95, paper. [Reviewed by Rev. Dale H. Kuiper.] The1atest offering of the R.F.P.A. is a compilation of eleven sermons, speeches, pamphlets, and magazine articles by five ministers and three professors from the Protestant Reformed Churches. Editor Hanko has also included four articles of charming simplicity by Abraham Kuyper from his popular book, When Thou Sittest in Thine House. As the subtitle of the book indicates, the subject of all this writing is the woman – more particularly- today’s virtuous woman. ” Several words...

Rev. Heys is a minister emeritus in the Protestant Reformed Churches. “It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy.” That we read in Romans 9:16in connection with the truth presented in the preceding verses. In this New Testament chapter the awesome truth presented in the Old Testament, and in regard to the love of God “which is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” is held before us. Here by the apostle Paul. He presents the truth which we considered last time in this department of the Day of Shadows. Paul presents the...

Rev. Woudenberg is pastor of the Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed Church of Kalamazoo, Michigan. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand. I Corinthians 15:1 I remember well the Synod of 1950. Three friends and I had set out for a tour of the western states; and our first stop was Hull, Iowa where the synod of the Protestant Reformed Churches was meeting. Much of the closeness and intimacy which had always characterized our small denomination still appeared to be there; but it was strained. Deep divisions...

Mr. Lanting, a member of South Holland Protestant Reformed Church, is a practicing attorney. Public Funds and Private Education Ever since the Bush Administration unveiled its “America 2000” program in the spring of 1991, the national debate over “school choice” has been escalating rapidly. In fact, many are predicting that school choice will soon eclipse abortion as the most controversial political, social, and church/state issue of this decade. Engendered by growing frustration with the nation’s notoriously inept public school monopoly,-school choice was originally conceived to foster healthy competition between public schools by eliminating residency requirements and permitting parents to choose...

Rev. Cammenga is pastor of the Protestant Reformed Church of Loveland, Colorado. The proceedings of all assemblies shall begin by calling upon the name of God and be closed with thanksgiving.  Church Order, Article 32 An Article of Long Standing Article 32 calls for prayer at the beginning and conclusion of all ecclesiastical assemblies. This kind of article has had a place in Reformed church orders as far back as that adopted by the Synod of Emden in 1571: When they have thus gathered, the minister of that place, or if there is none, the one who presided in the...

Mr. Hanko is a teacher at Hope Protestant Reformed School in Grand Rapids, Michigan. So here it’s report card time again. This is a hard time for teachers (ignoring for the moment that it’s also, often, a hard time for parents and students.) It’s not just that there’s a lot of work connected with averaging all those numbers so that I can put all those letters on the cards. What makes it hard is all the concern that goes along with those little letters. Every teacher wants to make those letters as fair and honest a reflection as possible of...

Prof. Hanko is professor of Church History and New Testament in the Protestant Reformed Seminary. (Note: In the last article, we began to discuss Zwingli’s work as a reformer. We continur that discussion now.) Zwingli the Reformer The Reformation spread through Switzerland in a way different from the spread of the Reformation in any other land. Upon a petition from a reformer or a group of reformers, the ruling Council of a Swiss city would order a disputation to which the public was invited. Reformers and Roman Catholic theologians would carry on the disputation by debating a specific matter of...

Continuing Dialog on Mysticism Concerning Prof. Hanko’s review of my book, Mysticism: An Evangelical Option?, in the December 1, 1991 Standard Bearer, I do want to thank you for your analysis and your good comments. You appear to have caught the gist of much of what I am trying to communicate, and I appreciate your endorsement of those ideas. You correctly observe that I do not define faith “carefully,” in this study; in fact, I do not define it at all in the book. Having read your comments, I do wish I had, but, just as I did not specify...