The main purpose of this article is to demonstrate that Herman Hoeksema believed that the baptismal vows are directly related to our calling to educate our children in the truth of scripture and the Reformed faith. Not simply educate but cause them to be instructed in the Christian school. And not simply a calling but a fulfillment of one’s vows made before God at baptism. For Hoeksema the third question and answer of the baptism form can mean nothing less than a demand to send our children to the Christian school. And if we stand in the line of the Reformed faith with Hoeksema, we must have this view too.

In the lecture from which I quote below, Hoeksema outlines the main content of the baptism form in general and then proceeds to focus his attention on the second and third questions. Exhorting the parents, the form asks,

Secondly. Whether you acknowledge the doctrine which is contained in the Old and New Testament, and in the articles of the Christian faith, and which is taught here in this Christian church to be the true and perfect doctrine of salvation?

Thirdly. Whether you promise and intend to see these children, when come to the years of discretion…instructed and brought up in the aforesaid doctrine, or help or cause them to be instructed therein, to the utmost of your power? (Confessions and Church Order, 260)

Regarding the historical context, this speech was probably given sometime in early 1954. The lecture was originally given for the men’s society of South Holland Protestant Reformed Church and then given a second time in Doon, perhaps at the request of the minister, Homer C. Hoeksema. At the time, there was no Protestant Reformed school for children in the Protestant Reformed churches in Iowa.

With insight and skill, Hoeksema explains the relationship between the second and third questions of the baptism form. I urge everyone to listen to the entire lecture to be enriched on the baptism form as a whole.¹

For the purposes of this article, we will hear the last fifteen minutes or so of the lecture. Hear now from the late Rev. Herman Hoeksema.²

Hoeksema quotes the form,

Whether you promise and intend to see these children, when come to the years of discretion…instructed and brought up in the aforesaid doctrine, or help or cause them to be instructed therein, to the utmost of your power?

He continues,

You say that before God. That’s the pledge, promise before the face of God.

Let me briefly, very briefly, explain the elements of that question. First of all we must instruct. What is that? What is it to instruct?

Instructing, according to the Bible, beloved, is to impart knowledge…from generation to generation.

In the second place, the question is, to whom must you impart that knowledge?

First of all, to the child of the covenant, the child that is sanctified in Christ…You impart knowledge. That does not mean that you…impart knowledge only to the elect. When you impart knowledge to the seed of the covenant, you impart the same knowledge to all. When you as parents impart knowledge to your children, you give the same treatment to all your children. You don’t ask whether Pete is elect and Klaas is not elect. Oh no, you give the same treatment to all your children—the same instruction, the same admonition, the same punishment, the same chastisement, the same guidance. You give them to all, and you leave the fruit to God. That’s all. It’s not yours to make children of God. Don’t forget that. You cannot bring children to heaven. You cannot convert a child. You cannot make spiritual children of your children. God does that. But you instruct them. You instruct them all alike…leave the fruit to God.

In the second place, about that child it says, “When it comes to years of discretion.” When is that?

About that I would like to say just a few words, beloved. You know, the people of the world are wiser, frequently, than the people of God, also with regard to instruction. When a child comes into the world—you must never forget that from the very first moment when that child is born—when it lies in the cradle, the whole world floods into the soul of that child from without. Through his eyes, through his ears, through his touch, through his taste, through his smell, the whole world floods into the soul of that child…And the world knows that so well, beloved, that it takes care of the child from its very infancy. Pedagogues, real pedagogues, will tell you that you must educate a child from the moment it comes into the world. Oh, yes. It must have a nice cradle with nice colors, soft colors, soft forms; it must not hear harsh sounds; it must hear nice music or nice songs; you must not speak loudly; you must speak nicely to that child because the soul of that child is flooded with all that you do.

That’s modernism.

How about us?…

This I know, that all its surroundings have influence on the soul of that child.

Years of discretion?

When that child is a little older, beloved, when that child is about a half a year old, you have it sit at the table, and you try to have it say after you, “Amen,” don’t you? That’s instructing the child. When the child is still a little older, you have that child repeat and say, “Lord, bless this food. Amen.” That’s instruction—don’t forget it. All these things influence the soul of the regenerated child from its very infancy. Don’t let us be foolish, but let’s learn from the world that that is actually the case. And so it is throughout our whole life, beloved.

What must the child learn?

The child must be instructed in the aforesaid doctrine! In the aforesaid doctrine. That is, the three forms of unity, the Protestant Reformed truth³—in that the child must be instructed. According to its capacity, of course. But it must be instructed in the Protestant Reformed truth from its earliest moments and according as it grows up and according as it has capacity to receive—receptivity to receive the instruction. It must be instructed in the aforesaid doctrine! That’s the idea of this second question.

Who? Who must instruct them?

The parents, beloved, the parents. Oh, yes. You say as a parent in answer to this question, “I promise to bring up my child in the aforesaid doctrine. I do that. I do that.”

That’s also scripture. That was said in Deuteronomy 6, which my son read a moment ago…“And these words, which I command thee this day,”—that Israelitish parent—“which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand.”

Oh, how important, according to scripture, is this doctrine, the aforesaid doctrine in which a child must be instructed, don’t you see? That’s the heart, the basis of the church, beloved. The instruction, as far as we are concerned, as far as our calling is concerned, we must instruct our children.

And, of course, the parent cannot teach the children entirely. It also must teach through the church. Yes, also through the church. The child goes to catechism, goes to church. According to its capacity it hears the sermon. According to its capacity it’s taught in the catechism according to the aforesaid doctrine, beloved, until he comes to ripe years and makes confession of the faith of the Protestant Reformed truth.

Still more. The child also goes to school! Don’t forget that. Goes to school.

What school?

Public school? Oh no, of course not.

Christian school? Yes. What Christian school? What Christian school?

To the utmost of your power—to the utmost of your power—you instruct them in the Protestant Reformed truth. That means also, beloved, that to the utmost of your power you try to work for Protestant Reformed schools. Means exactly that. Means that. Oh, it would be so easy. Edgerton has one. I’m glad of it. Nice example. Follow it. Follow it. We have one in Grand Rapids. Hope has one. Redlands has one.

And the time must come, beloved, that we all unite to see the necessity of establishing Protestant Reformed schools. Don’t you see that? I cannot understand how Protestant Reformed people and certainly not Protestant Reformed ministers can be lax in organizing their own schools…Why should we have our children instructed in the doctrine of common grace, which we denied in 1924?

Don’t you see that this third question of baptism demands exactly that? You shall instruct your children in the aforesaid doctrine, that is, the Protestant Reformed doctrine, “or cause them to be instructed therein to the utmost of your power.” Please say yes before the face of God. And go home and say, “Lord, I said yes, and now I’m going to do it. I cannot lie before thy face.”

The relation is plain, isn’t it?…the relation between the second and third question. The relation is such that a generation grows up…and is faced with the same questions. “Whether you believe the doctrine contained in the Old and New Testament, and in the articles of the Christian faith, and which is taught here in this Christian church?” Unless that generation that follows you is instructed in the aforesaid doctrine, it cannot answer these questions. Don’t you see? That’s why it is so extremely important, beloved—not for a Roman Catholic church, not for a modern church that doesn’t care about the truth, but for a Protestant Reformed church that insists on the truth and should insist on the truth—that’s why it is so extremely important that one generation after another is instructed in the aforesaid doctrine thoroughly, completely, as thoroughly as possible, to the utmost of your power. Then, then, and then only, I expect a strong church. Otherwise I don’t. And God forbid that we should ever grow lax in regard to these principles.

May God impress it on your mind and heart so that you can never get away from it anymore! That is the life of the church!

I thank you.