Covenanter Witness Vol. 41 - Reformed Presbyterian Historical ...

MISSIONARY NUMBER 

LESSON HELPS FOR THE WEEK OF JULY 25, 1948 

THE COVENANTER 

3oq yews of Witnessing ton. CHRIST'S Sovereio/h Rights in the, church and the, dfiTiotil 

VOLUME XLI WEDNESDAY, JULY 7, 1948 NUMBER 1 

Whatsoe'er He bids you, do it, 

Though you may 

Leave the Miracle to Him 

not understand. 

Yield to Him complete obedience : 

Then you'll see His mighty hand. 

Fill the water pots with water, 

Fill them to the very brim; 

He will honor all your trusting 

Leave the miracle to Him. 

Bind your Isaac to the altar, 

Bind him there with many a cord ; 

0 my brother, do not falter ; 

Can't you fully trust your Lord? 

He it is who watches o'er you, 

Though your path may oft be dim ; 

He will bring 

new life to Isaac 


Note that scene on plains of Dura, 

See the Hebrew martyr band 

Firmly standing for Jehovah, 

in His hidden hand. 

Trusting 

He is mighty to deliver 

Fiery 

From the power of death so grim; 

furnace cannot harm them 


Bring to Christ your loaves and fishes, 

Though they be both few and small, 

He will use the weakest vessels 

Give to Him your little all. 

Do you ask how many thousands 

Can be fed with food so slim? 

Listen to the Master's Blessing 


0 ye Christians, learn the lesson! 

Are you struggling all the way? 

Cease your trying, 

Then you'll trimph dayevery 

change to trusting, 

Whatsoe'er He bids you, do it! 

Fill the water pots to brim ; 

But remember, 'tis His battle 

Leave the miracle to Him- 

Christian worker, looking forward 

To the ripened harvest field, 

Does the task seem great before you? 

Think how rich will be the yield. 

Bravely enter with your Master, 

Though the prospect may seem dim. 

Preach the Word with holy fervor 

Leave the miracle to Him.

THE COVENANTER WITNESS July 7, 1948 

QUnvptel 0/ Ui& fcdUfixuU WonJd 

By Frank Allen, D. D. 

The Cardiff Giant Hoax 

The Cardiff Giant, a great hoax 79 years ago, has now 

found a resting place in a museum at Cooperstown, N. Y. 

This stone Goliath, weighing 2,990 pounds, was unearthed 

on a farm near Cardiff in central N. Y. in 1869 and was 

said to be a petrified human body. It is said that hundreds 

of sermons were preached by ministers who looked upon 

the discovery as a proof of the Bible verse, "There were 

giants in those days." 

In reality, the statue was the work 

of a Chicago sculptor, financed by George Hull, who buri 

ed it on his brother-in-law's farm and arranged for it 

to be dug up later to confound Biblical literalists. 

The secretary 

A Good Word For Chiang 

of the Board of Foreign Missions of the 

Presbyterian Church, U. S. A., speaking to a group of 

Presbyterian ministers in Syracuse, said recently that 

Chiang Kai-shek is the ablest and strongest man in China 

or government. He fur 

and more popular than his party 

ther stated that the present policy of the Christian church 

in China is to attach itself to no party, but to insist that 

the Christian message is above and beyond the political 

scene. 

Baptists Appoint 33 Missionaries 

The Foreign Missions Board of the Southern Baptist 

Convention has appointed 333 young missionaries 9 men 

and 24 women for lifetime service overseas. Twelve of 

these are assigned to China, nine to Latin America and the 

others to Japan, the Near East and Africa. The executive 

secretary, Mr. Rankin, says that it is the hope of the 

board to send out 1,250 missionaries. He estimates that 

this would cost their church four million annually. 

New Princton Proffessor 

The French ambassador to the Vatican, Jacques Mari- 

tain, a noted Roman Catholic writer, has been appointed 

as a professor of philosophy at Princeton University. He 

has resigned his position at the Vatican to accept the posi 

tion at Princeton. What would the Princeton fathers 

have said? Are there no qualified Protestant teachers of 

philosophy? 

Prayer Without Christ 

The editor of The Banner rejoices in the fact that Presi 

dent Truman requested the nation to pause for a minute 

on Memorial Day in order to pray for world-peace. But, 

he adds: "We were sadly disappointed with the prayer 

for peace by the Chief of the Chaplains. No note of peni 

tence was struck and the prayer was concluded with the 

words 'In thy name", referring to God, but not in the 

name of Christ, 

the Ruler of the nations whose Name 

every tongue will confess and before whom every knee 

will bow. Was the blessed name of Christ omitted to 

avoid offending Jews and other non-Christians? .... No 

Christless prayer will have any power in the counsels of 

heaven. Such a prayer will not prolong the days of peace. 

Thank God that Christians in this land are praying for 

peace in the name of Him who alone is the Prince of 

Peace; 

who sits on the throne of heaven and rules all 

nations for the good of His Church and the ultimate vic 

tory 

of the Kingdom. O that kings and judges of the 

earth might listen to the warning addressed specially to 

them: 'Kiss the Son least he be angry and ye perish in 

the way, For his wrath will soon be kindled' 

"(Ps. 2:12). 

May Chaplains Remain 

Speaking of the constitutionality of Army and Navy 

chaplains Mr. Tuinen, in The Banner, says: Some fear 

that the interpretation of the Constitution expressed in 

the decision of the Supreme Court must logically lead to 

the outlawing of government-paid chaplains as well as 

teachers. Others have already advocated that the Churches 

themselves must undertake the responsibility for pro 

viding a spiritual minsitry in our armed forces. He then 

quotes the view of the chaplains as expressed by R. J. 

White, Catholic president of the Chaplains Association of 

the Army and Navy, "The chaplains will combat any at 

tempts by atheists or communistic fellow-travellers who 

seek to exile God and deprive the fighting men of Ameri 

religion." 

ca of the strength and consolation of Divine 

The Best Contributors 

The Alliance Weekly refers to a daily 

paper which 

makes the statement that families with incomes under 

$500.00 contribute as large a proportion of their incomes 

to the church as do those with incomes between $5,000 

and $10,000 a year. It further affirms that the smaller 

income group 

contribute more than twice the proportion 

given by those with incomes over $10,000. There are ex 

ceptions, yet it seems true that those who have compara 

tively little of this world's wealth illustrate the truth 

that "God hath chosen the poor of his world, rich in 

faith," 

to manifest truly unselfish giving. 

Civil War Among the Jews 

According to reports there is civil war among the Jews 

in Palestine. The Jewish army is trying to prevent the 

underground Jewish terrorists from breaking the truce 

by bringing in more Jews and amunition on ships. Let 

us hope not only that the truce may be kept and become 

permanent, but that some on both sides of the fighting 

forces see that true and lasting peace centers in and 

around Christ, the Prince of Peace. 

Cost of Cigarettes 

It has been pointed out that two packs of cigarettes a 

day, the average for an addict, amounts to $100.00 a year. 

A smoker from the age of twenty to sixty would, at this 

rate, burn up the value of $4,000, the price of a home in 

normal times. 

Teaching Children Crime 

The Free Methodist shows the utter stupidity of the 

vast majority of American parents in crime and 

teaching 

making the effort to show* that crime does not pay. The 

children get the technique and glamor of crime and miss 

the high lesson the program is said to include. 

T'TTTT' nrwrWKt AMTTTT? WTT'MTrQQ Published each Wednesday by the Reformed Presbyterian 

1HE OOVL1NAN IH,K WlljNLfcb . Church of North America, through its editorial office. 

Rev. D. Raymond Taggart. D. D., Editor and Manager, 1209 Boswell Avenue. Topeka. Kansas. 

S2.00 per year; foreign S2.50 per year: single copies 5c. Special rates to congregations. 

Entered as second class matter at Post Office in Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3. 1879 

Authorized August 11, 1933. 

Miss Mary L. Dunlop, 142 University St., Belfast, N. Ireland, Agent for the British Isles.

July 7, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 

Gunsi&nt &u&ntl Prof. John Coleman. PhD., D. D. 

Governors Thomas E. Dewey and Earl Warren will lead 

the Republican cohorts in November, with the odds very 

strongly in favor of their success. Both have been popu 

lar and effective administrators; both are internationalists; 

both are more progrcs.-ive than the platform on which 

they are running; both i-re highly trained in politics and 

will in one way or another hold the party factions to 

gether. Curiously enough it seems to be a general obser 

vation that men respect and admire Dewey but do not 

love him; Warren draws folks to himself more effectively. 

Dewey is 46 years old and Warren 57. 

***** 

Politicians chuckled and idealists were troubled when 

Senator Edward Martin of Pennslyvania suddenly gave 

up his role as his state's favorite son and made the nom 

ination speech for Dewey. Martin is looked upon as a 

front for Joseph Grundy, with whom politics has for 

many years been a business of getting things for special 

privileged groups. Verily Grundy cashed in at once, for 

Representative Hugh Scott, a wealthy Philadelphian, was 

immediately designated by Dewey as the new chairman 

of the National Republican Committee. Scott is, however, 

much more progressive than Grundy. The United States 

News suggests that Senator Martin will probably be made 

Secretary of National Defense, a most important position 

and one calling for the best brains of the nation. Does 

Martin have them? But Dewey may give jobs to all sorts 

and still be the policy-determining 

head of the nation. 

After the Republican convention, the Elks come to Phil 

adelphia, and then the Democrats. Now if only the Ameri 

can Legion would follow the City of Brotherly Love 

would have seen well, not everything, but much. Up 

in New York the Youth for Christ Movement is said to 

have had 40,000 at a meeting in the Yankee Stadium, but 

both the subway cars and the newspapers are reported 

to have refused ads and given it little or no space. There 

was an ancient city over which the Lord wept and said: 

"How often would I have gathered children thy . . and 

ye would not." 

John L. Lewis has won. The operators will give his 

miners a dollar a day increase, bringing their basic wage 

rate to $1.75y2 an hour. In addition the operators are to 

pay 20(- instead of 10


Divine Equipment for Christian Workers 

By A. I. ROBB, D. D. 

(Continued from last Missionary Number) 

II. A Superhuman Work. 

"Ye shall witness unto Me." 

In the Gospel by Matthew, the command is 

"teach." 

In Mark it is "preach." 

The message 

through John is "feed," 

and through Luke comes 

this greatest and most comprehensive term of all, 

"witness." 

What does the Spirit mean by "wit 

ness"? What is there in witnessing that so far 

transcends human power and resource that no 

man alone may accomplish it? Nay, that Christ 

Himself expressly forbade those closest to Himself 

until a divine 

and best instructed to undertake, 

person had bestowed upon them a power heavenly 

and divine? The term lies in the field of jurispru 

dence. In law a witness is a person who is able, 

from his knowledge or experience, to make state 

ments relevant to matters of fact in dispute in a 

court of justice. But there is nothing superhuman 

in that. 

here translated 

The Greek term "martur," 

"witnecs," 

means one who p-ives testimony at the 

expense of his life. But that is not sunorhuman 

either. Mc-n are not uncommon who will die for 

a cause. It must be more than thR Neither of 

thece definitions is sufficient for the term as 

Jesus used it. It is one of manv terms used in the 

Npw Testament which acquired a new and larger 

meaning from its new and sacred use. just as 

today in all the tongues of the world the transla 

tion of the Bible expands and enlarsres many of 

their terms into higher and nobler meanings. 

What, then, did Christ mean when he said, "Ye 

shall be witness unto me"? We must look for its 

meaning in the person of Christ. Legally, sin is 

any 

want of conformity unto or transgression of 

the law of God; but to the Christian, we were 

told a yea1' 

ago. it is hurtinsr a person. Legally. 

witnessing has alreadv ben defined. In the p-ospel 

it is the exhibition of a person. To be a witness 

unto Jesus is to exhibit Him to the world. To 

make the world see Him. To set Him forth as 

Pa ul exhibited Him to the Galatians. This is more 

than to preach. It is more than to feed the flock. 

It incudes them all, and is more. It is not alone 

rjoinHnp- 

men to the truth. It is not riving mpP- 

th Bible. It is not, tellin^ men how to be saved. 

It is more than all these. The Saviour of men asks 

that we do more than tell men. lost and honeless, 

t>iat He can save. We must show Him to them. 

^Te must brino: Him who is the brightness "f Tê 

Father's o-lory and the express imae*e of His 

person within rans"e of the vision of men in such 

a wav that thev m"st 'ay with Job of old. "I have 

heard of Thee with the hearing of the ear. but 

now mine eve seeth Thee," 

and thev will abhor 

themselves in His holy presence and repent in 

dust and ashes. 

There are three aspects of the exhibition of 

Christ to one who does not know Him : 

Description 

We describe the abent. Historic personages 

are known by description. Perhaps each one of 

us feels a more or less intimate acquaintance with 

Abraham Lincoln, yet few, if any, of us have 

ever seen him. The Bible is a description of Jesus 

Christ. It is this above all else. The story of the 

world from the creation, the history of that 

wonderful people of God, and the records of the 

New Testament are given only because they are 

necessary to a right understanding of the one 

Person who stands at once in the center and 

circumference of all history, the great object of 

human hope. Christ used this method and said to 

use it. Go preach, go teach, testify, and other 

terms mean that the world is to know of Christ 

through the instruction of those who themselves 

know Him. While it has limitations in our 

capacity for understanding, if nowhere else, it is 

of very great importance. The great Christian 

work that is being done in the world, the litera 

ture of Christian truth, the preaching and teach 

ing now clone in every land, are an indispensable 

part of the work of the witness. There must be 

knowledge that there may be life. Men who do 

not know cannot believe. When you have instruct 

ed men in the truth, you have put them where the 

Holy Spirit may reach them in saving power. 

Imitation 

You read the history of our colonial days and 

learn something of the conditions and customs of 

those stirring times. But a historic pageant, an 

imitation if you please, passes down the streets 

of your city and leaves in your mind and that of 

every beholder an image that will not fade, clearer 

and more vivid than any word picture ever 

painted. 

With some exceptions, the heathen hearer is not 

greatly arrested by what he hears. In many of 

the non-Christian lands, people are accustomed 

to hearing instruction that to ignorant ears 

sounds not so different from that given by the 

messenger of the gospel, and concludes it is about 

the same. But the hearer learns by observing con 

tact with Christian men that they not only teach 

men to be upright and honest and pure in their 

lives, but that they actually are so living today. A 

hospital opens, and he learns that men are actually 

doing today things as far beyond his ken as the 

healing work of Jesus. To the non-Christian, Jesus 

is far away, and His teachings are in the remote 

past. But the conduct of his neighbor is a matter 

of first importance for today, and it is a greater 

part of our work to imitate the Saviour, following 

in His steps, than it is to tell about Him- It is the 

Christlike life that makes men understand the 

teachings of Christ. Christ is the great and per 

fect example, and we are to exhibit Him by imitat 

ing His example, from His humility in washing 

His disciples' 

feet, to the surrender of His life in 

obedience to His Father's will. We are to speak 

as He snoke. To labor as He labored. To have the 

same mind in us which was also in Christ Jesus. 

To enter into His experiences even to the power 

of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His 

sufferings. It is the Christ-likeness of the messen 

ger, far more than the message which he carries, 

that arrests men and leads to the foot of the Cross 

upon which Christ was lifted up to win men. To


live like Christ is greater than to talk about 

Christ. To let men see is more than to make them 

hear. 

Reproduction 

And this is a thing peculiar to the witness for 

Christ. Ordinary witnessing is limited to descrip 

tion and imitation. It is at once the mystery and 

glory of our calling as witnesses for Christ, that 

we may and must actually reproduce Him to the 

world. 

It was my privilege to have intimate acquain 

tance with Dr. Maude George during her service 

of less than three years in China. I well remember 

that about a year after her coming to that land 

she returned from a visit to friends in Shanghai 

possessed by a new vision. She said, "I have 

thought of this before, but now I have it for my 

you.' 

own. It is 'Christ in whole business as 

My 

a Christian is to let Christ live in me and express 

Himself in my life. Not striving to be like Christ, 

but striving to allow Christ to live Himself in 

me is to be the aim of my life." 

How well the life of the Saviour found reproduc 

tion there, let those testify who see today in that 

Mission the stamp of her life in the noble Chris 

tian character and consecrated service of those 

who knew her. Here, fathers and brethern in 

Christ, is the holy of holies of our high and holy 

calling as witnesses for Christ. Some one has 

said that the Christian is the world's Bible. Let me 

go further and say, with all reverence, and in a 

sense you will not misunderstand, the Christian 

is the world's Christ. It is in us they see their 

vision of Him, and only as He lives in us and re 

produces Himself in us, can they see Him. 

I read recently of a young Japanese student 

who came to this country and when approached 

by a Christian worker, said he was in quest of 

the secret of the "beautiful life." 

He had always 

felt that somewhere there must be the beautiful 

life, and at last he had seen one or two Christians 

who lived it, so he knew it was a reality. But it 

was not in Christanity he thought, for nearly all 

the Christians he knew did not live it. He did not 

care to be a Christian, but he would like to learn 

the secret of the life beautiful. There is only one 

beautiful life. It is the life of Jesus. Not all men 

admire it, and some hate it, because of their own 

depravity; but all recognize it, without instruc 

tion, wherever they see it. And in permitting the 

Christ to live His beautiful life in us is our 

highest service as witnesses. 

Let us not be ignorant of the nature of our 

heavenly 

calling. In the presence of the work 

Christ laid upon His followers as witnesses, the 

greatest and most stupendous plans and works of 

men fade into nothingness. We are witnesses for 

the blessed and only potentate ; channels for the 

world's salvation; instruments for the building 

of the Kingdom of God, into which the glory and 

power of the nations shall come. Called in accom 

plishing this work, to declare, to imitate, to re 

produce in our lives in the flesh, the life of Christ, 

the hope of glory. 

(To be continued) 

"Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive reward of 

the inheritance for ye serve the Lord Christ." 

Col. 3:24 

Editorial Notes 

By WALTER McCARROLL 

Sur Hung Wang. We are inclined to limit our 

about foreign missions to the work done 

thinking 

by 

our fellow workers in foreign lands. Here is a 

story however of foreign mission work being done 

right at home. At our request the Rev. A. J. 

McFarland has written the story of the conversion 

of Sur Hung Wang. The church will rejoice to 

know of this remarkable conversion and the Lord's 

remembrancers will be glad to add his name to 

their prayer list. Nor is this the only case of 

such conversion. The Rev. S. E. Greer has an 

equally remarkable story to tell of the conversion 

of a talented and cultured young Chinese woman 

which we hope to have ready for the next mission 

ary number. There have been no doubt many other 

instances of such conversions in the past. It 

would be a real service to the church if those who 

know of them would write them up for publica 

tion. 

Idlib, Syria. In the May Covenanter Mr. Lytle 

writes as follows : "Our family of some thirty 

have scattered for a holiday. On Wednesday Mrs. 

Lytle and I celebrated our Silver Wedding. Miss 

Gardner, Miss Bell and Tom Semple with three 

young Americans from Latakia were with us 

and gave us a very happy day with all their wit 

and fun, with Miss Gardner and our buyer play 

a major part. We were entertained to a 

ing 

sumptuous lunch which bore no evidence of ra 

tioning." 

"Having mentioned our buyer I may tell you 

that he is the man whom we have mentioned in 

former letters as being a great drunkard and as 

sold his two little daughters to a Moslem. 

having 

Well he still has his turns when the devil gets 

the better of him. He had a very bad one some 

time ago and I had to go and bring him out of 

the drink shop and put him under lock and key 

till he settled down. He reached the stage where 

I began to feel we would have to give him up and 

I knew that if that happened he would be gone 

for ever. The deep pain and sorrow I felt at the 

thought of having to part with him gave me a 

new light on the sufferings of Christ over fallen 

man. I also got a new insight into the meaning of 

His tears over Jerusalem. However I am glad 

to say that our friend is now clothed and in his 

right mind again and gives evidence of being 

thoroughly repentant and sorry for what happen 

ed. He now comes to morning prayers of his own 

accord and seems to be putting up a noble fight 

against this drink fiend. It is a puzzle to many 

why I keep such a one around me and their ques 

tions at times about this matter have opened doors 

to tell them of the Saviour who found me, then 

urges me to go in search of other poor souls to 

Him." 

bring them to 

"Our buyer's eldest daughter whom he sold 

is now with us in our home. She has become more 

or less an adopted daughter and is growing 

up into a fine Christian girl. She is doing well in 

school and is a great help to Mrs. Lytle in our 

home. It is very interesting to watch her grow up 

and develop. We hope she may yet be a useful

6 THE COVENANTER WITNESS July 7, 1948 

worker for Christ in this land." 

Our Indian Mission. In response to a request 

Mr. and Mrs. D. C. Ward sent a copy of a history 

of the Cache Creek Mission written by Dr. Kate 

McBurney some fifty years ago. They add, "It 

will be interesting to the whole church for this 

value." 

reason as well as for its historical This 

one for the Church 

text was appended as a fitting 

and the Mission to keep in mind: "Thou shalt 

remember all the way which the Lord thy God 

led thee" 

Deu. 8:2). The Wards add enough to 

the sketch to bring it up to date. 

Our Indian Mission 

By the late Dr. Kate McBurney 

(Writing about 1900) 

and 

Mr. and Mrs. D. C. Ward 

THE INDIAN bears a peculiar relation to the 

people of the United States, since, without the 

direct intention of the parties toward that end, 

he has become the nation's ward. Such a relation 

ship carries with it great responsibility, especial 

ly when brought about, as this was, by conquest. 

So we look with interest at what has been done 

toward the solution of the Indian problem in the 

United States. 

In pre-revolutionary times, while the Indians 

were yet free and but little contaminated by the 

vices of popular civilization, they were found easy 

subjects for missionary effort, and several flour 

ishing missions were established among them. 

The first Protestant Mission among the Indians 

of North America was established by Thomas 

Mayhew and John Eliott, at Martha's Vineyard, 

in 1643. A wonderful work is reported from this 

mission. Aside from other individual efforts, 

work was begun by the Church of England in 

1700, and by the Moravians in 1735. 

All work practically ceased with the opening 

of the Revolutionary War. Since that time, until 

recent years, little has been done aside from the 

educational work carried on by the government. 

This has proved entirely inadaquate as a means 

of lifting the neglected tribes to a high plane of 

civilization. One by one, the churches have realiz 

ed the need of Mission Work to carry the Gospel 

Light into those heathen homes, 

and have re 

sponded. And so the various branches of the 

Christian Church are working side by side in the 

effort to give to the nation's wards the blessing 

that has been withheld from their fathers and 

their fathers' 

fathers. 

As to the origin of our own Mission near Fort 

Sill, no better idea can be given than to refer to 

the report of the Committee on Missions at the 

Synod of 1888, which, in part, reads thus: 

"After consideration of the question referred 

to your committee and of the facts laid before us, 

we are of the opinion that the present conditions 

do not yet justify us to attempt a work among 

the Indians on any extended scale; but inasmuch 

as the command of the Master is, "Go into all 

the world and preach the gospel to every crea 

ture," 

also judging that this field has a strong 

claim on us, and inasmuch as there is an earnest 

desire in some parts of the church, notably on 

the part of the Ladies' 

Missionary Society of 

Pittsburgh Presbytery, to establish a mission 

among the Indians, we therefore recommend 

that Synod, recognizing the earnestness and 

liberality of the L. M. S. of Pittsburgh Presby 

tery, take steps at this meeting to secure the ap 

pointment of a missionary and a teacher to enter 

as speedily as possible on evangelistic work 

among some of the tribes in the Indian Territory, 

and that they be required to report as to the ad 

visability of school." 

establishing an industrial 

We find that the work was begun at the sug 

gestion of the L. M. S. of Pittsburgh Presbytery, 

which has since contributed liberally to its sup 

port. In February 1889, we find the following 

account in the editorials of the R. P. & C. "The 

work among the Indians by our church is now 

fairly begun. The Lord has opened the way to us, 

so that we can thankfully say this much. The ac 

count of the obtaining of a, missionary will prove 

of interest to the church and is itself a stimulus. 

The Central Board of Missions, charged with this 

business, has from the first been seeking earnest 

ly for one who combined in himself the qualifica 

tions of a pastor and some of the artisan. Choice 

was made of one after another, four in all, but 

without securing acceptance. Then came the con 

siderations as to governmental relations; so the 

work was delayed painfully delayed in the face 

of a waiting church. A special committee appoint 

ed at the November meeting reported in Decem 

ber that however it had been in the past, the way 

into any one of several fields seemed clear. What 

of the missionary? Exploration had been made; 

the work waited. What of the man? All were 

solemnly impressed with that fact that their 

efforts had miscarried, and prayer was made 

owning this and asking for light. 

"The corresponding secretary had suggested 

that without further conference, we vote by ballot 

until a result be reached, voting for one we wish, 

irrespective of present place. Thus the choice was 

made.... On the 14th of January, the pastoral 

relation between Rev. W. W. Carithers and the 

Wilkinsburg congregation was dissolved by Pres 

bytery, and this brother with his family have 

started for the Indian Territory." 

We cannot speak here of hardships endured 

by Mr. Carithers and family while seeking a loca 

tion and erecting a building. With the assistance 

of Mr. J. R. Lee of Wahoo, Neb., the present lacation 

near Cache Creek was chosen and the work 

begun. 

We can only give a brief account of the work 

that has been done. Mr. Carithers and family ar 

rived on the field in February of 1889. Work 

was immediately begun on the Main Building 

which was completed in 1890. During the next 

three years, the Milk House, Missionaries Home, 

and the Chapel were built. In 1895 the Laundry, 

making 9 buildings in all. 

In the fall of 1889, Misses Alice Carithers and 

Kate McBurney were sent as teachers. Miss 

Carithers had charge of the Girls Department 

until 1898, when she was made Field Matron, 

and Miss Fannie Thomas succeeded her in the 

Girls Department. Miss McBurney had charge of 

en- 

the Boys Department until 1897, when she


tered the Women's Medical College of Philadel 

phia, and Miss Mary Staley took up the work, 

followed in 1899 by Miss Mary Moore who still 

holds the position. In 1891 it became necessary 

for some one to take charge of the kitchen, din 

ing-room, and bakery. Miss Jennie Wisely be 

came Matron of this Department and was follow 

ed the next year by Miss Joanna Speer, who fill 

ed the position until 1899. Miss Mary Wilson is 

now in charge of that Department. From 1890 

to 1893 the farm was in charge of Mr. and Mrs. 

Wilson; from 1896 to 1899, of Mr. and Mrs. G. 

C. Robb. Since 1900, Mr. and Dr. Humphreys 

have been in charge. In the periods intervening, 

this work has been added to the many cares of 

Mr. Carithers. Mrs. Humphreys, being a Medical 

Doctor, is now the Mission Physician. From 1896 

to 1899, Miss Margaret Walkinshaw had charge 

of the Laundry. Mr. and Mrs. Logan took the 

work last year. 

The school was formally opened in 1891, with 

an attendance of 25 scholars. It is a "Boarding 

School". The attendance during the consecutive 

years up to 1900, has been as follows : 27, 30, 31, 

43, 46, 51, 55, 61, and 65. The first Communion 

was held in 1895, when 19 persons were admitted 

to church membership, 18 of whom were Indians. 

In the following year, 8 members were received, 

6 of whom were Indians. There were 40 com 

municants and an audience of 170. The next year, 

(1897), 12 were admitted, 10 of whom were 

Indians. There were 41 communicants, and an 

audience of 300. 

ADDENDA BY MR. and MRS. WARD 

Since the beginning of work at the Indian 

Mission two distinct lines of procedure have been 

followed. During the first thirty years the need 

for elementary schooling was great. The Indians, 

young and old, knew very little of the English 

language. They did not know the languages of 

any tribes other than their own, however they 

were able to converse freely and proficiently with 

all tribes by means of the sign language in which 

all the men were highly ski-led. 

As soon as the Indians were satisfied that we 

were friendly they began willingly to bring their 

children and leave them to be educated. These 

children were a very important link with the 

parents at that time and a solid foundation on 

which to build for the future. The children were 

taught the different branches of grade schooling 

and in our educational system were woven great 

quantities of Bible training. The Indians have a 

great native ability to commit and we are aston 

ished even to this day with the amazing discovery 

of the large amount of this material they still 

retain. There was a gradual shifting of the per 

sonnel in the school as time passed and the elder 

boys and girls went out to find Homes of their 

own. The younger children filled the empty places 

and the school was always filled to overflowing. 

The work gradually expanded and a larger 

and larger parish was under the care of the Mis 

sion. Many of the families settled permanently 

near the Mission and as the year 1901 drew near, 

the government brought pressure on the Indians 

to select a quarter section or 160 acres of land 

for each individual. The school was operating at 

full capacity with 60 or 65 pupils in a boarding 

type plan. Now began a new phase of the Indian 

work here. The school still continued for some 

years but it became increasingly evident that a 

new and much more difficult stage of the work 

was at hand. The new State of Oklahoma estabished 

rural and consolidated schools. Busses 

carried the scholars long distances to and from 

school and it seemed to your missionaries that 

the time had come when, while not entirely de 

sirable, the White and Indian races were bound to 

be thrown into close contact and the time to 

begin this adjustment was in childhood. And so 

the school was closed and the work at the Indian 

Mission was patterned along the lines of regular 

congregational work, with necessary adjustments 

to suit peculiar needs. 

Today 

a mixed audience of Whites and Indians 

worships in the Mission Chapel. Almost without 

exception the Indians of 60 years old and younger 

talk English fluently. Many Sabbaths there is 

not a person in the audience who does not under 

stand perfectly. When there are a few older 

Indians present there is an interpreted portion 

for them. 

We are counting greatly on your earnest pray 

ers for the work here and the love and interest 

you have always shown for the mission work of 

the Covenanter Church. 

Meetings Bring Revival 

By Thomas Edgar 

Those of us laboring here in the American 

Academy 

at Larnaca have just finished a much 

needed rest during eastern Easter. This week 

and a half has given us an opportunity not only 

for a few day's rest from school work, but has 

been a period during which we have been able to 

pause for a short time and take stock of the work 

which we are doing. It has been a period of re 

flection and prayful thought and we now feel 

that, during the remaining six-weeks period, there 

will be renewed vigor in the work, even though 

it is especially warm durng this period of the 

school year. 

One week each year is set aside for Gospel meet 

ings which are this year scheduled to begin each 

night of the week until the 23rd. It is during 

this period of meetings that we need the prayers 

of the home church, prayers for an outpouring 

of the Holy Spirit. Even though this short re 

port of some of our work will reach our readers 

quite some time after the meetings have closed, 

yet your prayers will help many 

who have ac 

cepted Christ to remain steadfast in their new 

found faith. And some who may be hesitating 

to take this necessary step, may through your 

prayers, be led to do so. Several Sabbath eve 

nings ago, during an espeially inspiring evening 

service, more than half a dozen young men and 

boys who are attending the school as boarders, 

raised their hands, signifying that they were 

quite anxious for the prayers of those present, 

that they distinctly 

felt a need for a revival in 

for the Easter 

their own lives. Prior to leaving 

vacation, Mr. Copeland presented Jesus Christ 

very forcefully to the entire student body on three

different Wednesday mornings at our Chapel ex 

ercises. It is at these Wednesday morning ser 

vices that the members of the staff have an op 

portunity of addressing the students on helpful 

subjects. Mr. Copland emphasized the fact that 

if our students expected to profit from that vaca 

tion period, there must be a need for a revival 

in each heart present, more zeal for Christ on the 

part of those who have already accepted Jesus, 

and conversion for those who have refused to 

accept Him as their Savior. The need for a re 

vival has likewise been presented to our Sabbath 

School students during the past few Sabbaths 

through our study of the period of Jewish recon 

struction led by Zechariah, Nehemiah, Ezra, and 

others. Thus, we are conscious of the fact that 

the time of harvest is truly near; there is a defi 

nite feeling that we shall experience a revival 

among those with whom it is our privilege to 

work, a revival greater than any other which we 

have had for many years. 

As Sabbath School Superintendent during the 

past two years, I have felt that there is a definite 

need for the prayers of all at home in America 

for our Sabbath School work here in Larnaca. 

Through three classes especially, one conducted 

jointly by Mr. Weir and Mr. Copeland for young 

people, one by Mr. Trombettas in Greek for young 

boys, and the third by the writer of this article, 

we have opened the way for Bible instruction 

for all students of the Academy and town who 

are interested and feel the need. The first class 

mentioned has recently had an attendance rang 

ing between fifteen and eighteen ; the second 

eight to ten, and the third an average of sixteen 

members, boys of Junior High and High School 

age. The members of these classes, as well as 

other members of children's and adult classes, at 

tend quite regularly and our prayer and hope is 

that because of our work in this department, 

many will be influenced to accept Christ during 

the revival meetings this year. There is one 

young man, a Moslem, for whom I request special 

prayer, for he is a young man who never misses 

taking his place in Church for the Sabbath School 

service and has definitely shown interest in Jesus 

Christ and has, I believe, secretly given his heart 

to the Lord. Pray that he may do so openly, a 

step which will not be easy and may bring a cer 

tain amount of danger. 

Other members of my Sabbath School class 

have at different times expressed their feelings 

concerning the lack of Bible instructions in their 

own Greek Orthodox Church. Last summer one 

member of the class, while home during summer 

vacation, attempted to start a Sabbath School 

class for children in his own village and met 

with a great deal of ridicule. Young people who 

have come to us for Bible instruction, and are 

conscious of a need for spreading the Gospel, 

need your prayers. 

Our Sabbath School last year had a surplus in 

the treasury and decided to use twenty pounds 

about eighty dollars in the Lord's work. Ten 

pounds was given to a fund in our own Church 

here, five pounds was sent to be used by our for 

mer Greek pastor, Rev. Argos Zodiadides in his 

work in Greece, and the remaining five pounds 

was sent to help Protestant Mission work in 


Jibuti, French Somaliland. This year, we again 

have a surplus and hope to be guided in using 

the small amount of money which we have for the 

most good in the Lord's work. 

P. S. Since writing the above account, our week 

of revival meetings has begun. Sabbath evening, 

after the service, more than seven young men 

and boys who were deeply moved, 

stayed for a 

period of prayer and confession of sin. The re 

sponse was good on Monday, and last night, Tues 

day some of those already mentioned and a few 

others, when invited to accept Christ publicy, 

stood and acknowledged Jesus as their own per 

sonal Saviour. We are truly thankful for the 

wonderful evidence of the Holy Spirit in these 

meetings thus far. Pray for us. 

Annual Report from Latakia 

By C. T. HUTCHESON 

It is with thankfulness of heart that I attempt 

to write this report, as we have been able to go 

through with our formal school work much better 

than we had ever anticipated, during the year, 

when strikes and all their political troubles were 

looming high on the horizon. After one lives in 

such an atmosphere, he finds it truly amazing 

to see how man proposes so many things and God 

disposes. 

Let me first say how thankful we are that we 

have had favorable answers to prayers, a good 

sized American group, as the basis of our High 

School faculty. As you know Miss Allen came in 

the fall of 1945. Then we were asking for two 

more, but we did not get any until the end of 

October 1947 when Rev. T. H. Semple of our 

Irish church came. Then a month later, Mr. Ken 

neth Sanderson. Let me say that we have a High 

school faculty second to none in the American 

schools of Syria and Lebanon. They all seem to 

be consecrated workers, so we are expecting 

great things of them. They are all teaching full 

time, except Miss McClurkin who is taking two 

classes a day, and studying Arabic the rest of 

the time. 

We had a graduating class of six students last 

June. For the occaion, we brought a professor 

from the American University of Beirut as a 

speaker, and had the program in the school yard, 

with a large crowd attending. One of the gradu 

ates has gone on to college in Aleppo. One left 

for Armenian Russia. One is teaching and 

studying in a French School in Beirut. One is 

going 

on to the government school system here, 

to get a government certificate equal to Freshman 

class. One is doing a fine job of teaching in our 

school; and the sixth, had a small job in a hotel 

up until this last month, when he secured a good 

job with an oil company here. Thus we can see 

that they are all making good use of their talents 

and education. 

We started school with many doubts. One was 

Shall we run our town school, exactly on the 

government program, or the program of an 

American High School, as most American Second 

ary schools do in these countries. Finally we decid 

ed to have the first seven classes, the former way


and the last four classes in the latter way. Com 

petition for students was stronger, as two new 

secondary schools were in the running, thus 

making four. One of these was the Catholic school 

that had not been allowed to function properly 

for two years. The other was a newly built 

Secondary school, built by the Greek Orthodox 

Christians of the town. They worked hard to get 

students, and take as many of ours as possible. 

By far the greater sect that support our schools 

are of this group. Finally after enrolling was 

over, we found that we had over 500 students 

of this community. 

Things went smoothly until the United Nations 

voted to partition Palestine. That was a bombshell 

in this part of the world. There was no school to 

speak of for a week after that in all Syria and 

Lebanon; or I think in all the Arabic speaking 

world. Many parades and demonstrations were 

held, and some damage done to American prop 

erty throughout Syria and Lebanon, but not one 

window pane was broken here. After that week 

we were able to have school as usual, but with 

an uncertain feeling, and a feeling that some, if 

not many of the Moslems of the town, who did not 

know us personally, were against us, and hoping 

to do us some damage. We foreigners made our 

selves as scarce as possible outside our school 

buildings. 

The state Inspector choose that opportunity 

to come and visit our schools, even all the village 

schools, a thing never done before in the history 

of the mission here of almost a century. He made 

some unfavorable comments in his report, but on 

the whole I think he was not against us. A report 

was soon circulated, trough press and by word of 

mouth, that the American school of Latakia was 

closed, because of not conforming to regulations. 

This report was entirely unfounded. We are still 

functioning to the full, (April 5, 1948). 

Mrs Hutcheson is still acting Superintendent of 

the Girls School, but we expect Miss McClurkin 

to taken that over, partly next year, and com 

pletely the fillowing year. 

Women's Work 

We had two Bible women at the beginning of 

the year. One was laid to rest in May of the last 

year, after a long life of useful service. She had 

worked many years for our last mission in Mer- 

sine. 

The second one, is still carrying on, and has 

ready audiences to hear the Gospel as she goes 

through the crowds. We are not able to help 

her much, with all the school work we have, but 

Mrs. Hutcheson does spend an hour with her 

every other Wednesday, talking over the work, 

to encourage her, and give suggestions. We are 

hoping and expecting that Miss McElroy will be 

back by the end of the summer to take this over, 

and give it a good push. 

Village Work 

We have been operating four or five village 

schools during the year, 

and have three other 

places where we have evangelists stationed with 

their families. Schools are still attended, but tui 

tion fees are small and in many places impossible 

of collection. The poverty of some of our country 

districts is deplorable. Their chief cash crop is 

tobacco, and it has dropped to less than one half 

wartime price, so they have practically no income. 

It is something like the southern states of the 

U.S.A. when the boll-weevil destroyed the cotton 

crop. We often think that the U- S- Congress 

should vote some money for the Syrian recovery 

plan, or at least for this district. I suppose 

Europe needs it worse, but I doubt if it needs it 

any worse than many places in this state. 

Let me thank the Board for all their pains and 

trouble in directing our work. I am sure many 

times they think it is a thankless job, and I expect 

it is. So is mission work many times, when we 

feel we are doing the very best for all concerned. 

Let us pray much for the work. We are still able 

to find more openings than we can fill. God is 

still showing us more things to be done than we 

can find time or strength for; thus we need not 

pray for openings but that we might use each 

opening we enter each day properly. 

Larnaca, Cyprus 

By The Rev. Clark Copeland 

In our mid-week prayer meeting we have had 

these meetings as a special item of prayer for a 

month or more, and very special requests have 

been made of the Lord. Two Christian and Mis 

sionary Alliance Missionaries now in Cyprus from 

Palestine and one Independent Presbyterian Mis 

sionary from Palestine have taken part in the 

services- In Nicosia 13 girls came forward to 

accept Jesus Christ, and two others later talked 

to Miss Reade of their desire to accept the Lord- 

Here in Larnaca 52 have responded and we have 

had the opportunity to deal personally with them 

presenting the claims of Christ and his way of 

salvation. The Larnaca group includes Moslems, 

Greek Orthodox, Armenian Gregorian, Protes 

tant. 

The group is meeting at noon just after lunch 

for Bible reading and prayer, and it has been a 

real joy to see the growth even in these few days, 

and to see the joy which these new babes in Christ 

are having. It is a real source of blessing to me to 

hear their simple, direct prayers for the Lord's 

blessing and guidance. Our last meeting was to 

have been last night, but all day I kept feeling 

that we could not stop there, that we should meet 

again tonight for praise and thanksgiving- And 

as we left tonight, one of the boys said, "This has 

been the best meeting of 

all" 

We sang: then I asked for people to read or 

recite Bible verses that had been helpful to them 

during the week. For half an hour one after 

another read passages and in some cases told the 

special blessing he had received from it. Then 

for people to tell what 

we had an opportunity 

had to thank the Lord for. At the end three 

they 

new boys wanted to wait in the prayer room and 

find the Lord. After we read some verses explain 

ing what it means to accept the Lord and be born 

again, we got down on our knees and two of them 

prayed the prayer of the publican out of their 

own hearts, "Lord, here I kneel before you, a 

sinner. Come into my life and take my sin 

away. 

We claim the promise of Christ in Philippians


1:6: "He which hath begun a good work in you 

Christ." 

will perform it until the day of Jesus We 

beg the prayers of the whole church that these 

may experience the complete work of grace in 

their lives, that they will advance from strength to 

strength until all shall apear in Zion's courts be 

fore God. Remember them especially when they 

go to their homes and no longer have the fellow 

ship of the group to support them, that they may 

feed upon Christ and be kept by the power of God, 

for the devil will use every means to get them 

back, in many cases working through their own 

parents. 

Isn't there one young man who would like to 

help these boys along by joining 

our staff next 

year? Get in touch with me and Dr. Wilson. 

We shall be thinking of and praying for the 

meeting of Synod next week at Geneva. 

Sur Hung Wang: A Trophy of God's Grace 

By The Rev. A. J. McFarland 

About three years ago, just fol 

lowing the war, the Chinese gov 

ernment sent 125 of their leading 

|engineers and scientists to Ameri 

ca to study 

our principles of rail- 

Iroading. China had had a railroad 

| system patterned after England, 

with short cars and small engines. 

j 

|3he wanted to transform to a sys 

tem such as ours, hence the visit 

|:>f these men to our country. 

Nine of these men were appoint 

was an active leader in evacuat 

ing his countrymen before the invading Japanese 

during the war, and was an extremely interesting 

man with whom to visit. 

The members of the Topeka congregation felt 

these men should not leave Topeka without some 

one having talked with them about their accept 

ance of Jesus Christ as their personal Saviour. 

Mr. Richard McAllister, 

an elder in the congre 

gation and the night attendant at the Y.M.C.A. 

where the men roomed, made the acquaintance 

of the men and found them very approachable, 

especially Mr. Wang. Thus the congregation be 

gan to make these men a matter of definite pray 

er, and one evening the Rev. P. D. McCracken 

and I went to call upon them in behalf of the 

Christian faith. 

Different ones of the men began attending 

church, but the one who came consistently was 

Mr. Wang. He not only attended church but he 

became a diligent student of the Bible, and a real 

missionary to the other men. For a time some 

one or two of these men attended with him, but 

eventually Mr. Wang became the only attendant. 

In fact it seemed that Mr. Wang's having taken 

an interest in Christianity caused a barrier be 

tween the men. They began to ridicule him, es 

pecially his roommate. Mr. Wang continued to 

manifest a fine Christian spirit, however, and 

kept urging the men to learn about Christ and 

the Christian faith. 

It is only fair to state here that Mr. Wang had 

considered becoming a Christian about ten years 

before, but the preacher read in the Bible the 

story of the raising of a man from the dead, and 

Mr- Wang said he didn't have faith enough at 

that time to believe in a religion that talked about 

raising dead people, so turned away from Chris 

tianity. 

But when in Topeka he had no more doubts. 

He wanted to become a Christian himself, and 

also wanted all the others with him to become 

Christians. To help these others to learn more 

about the Christian faith, he arranged a time 

when we might meet the men altogether and talk 

to them about Christ. 

Discussing 

with these men the fundamentals 

ed to make an intensive study of 

,he Santa Fe system, so for the 

nost of a year they were stationed 

it Topeka Kansas. The leader of 

|;his group was Sur of the Christian faith was a most interesting 

Hung Wang, 

a miuuie ageu man of splendid talents and ability. 

He spoke five languages fluently, was the father 

of three children, ex 

perience. We tried to show why Christianity is 

the only true religion. Mr. Wang was excellent 

help, and he gave a splendid testimony as to the 

difference between Christianity and the other 

religions, and what the acceptance of Christ as 

His Saviour had done for him. 

Our conversation revealed that Confucianism 

is a religion which gives you a pat on the back 

if you are young and healthy and getting along 

fine, but if you have failed, or have fallen into 

some gross evil, it has no help for you; while 

Christianity, recognizes sin as it is, black and 

ugly, and its consequences of age, infirmity, and 

losses of all kinds, yet the door of hope, Jesus 

Christ, is always ready and waiting and will re 

ceive you no matter where you are nor what the 

conditions. Among other scripture passages, 

Psalms 40 was quoted with its great promises. 

It was at this point that Mr. Wang's testimony 

was most effective when he said to his brethren, 

"Christianity has brought to me a peace of mind 

and heart which I could never find any place else. 

I never knew before what it meant to experience 

forgiveness for my sins, and to feel that forgive 

ness immediately. But when I became a Chris 

tian my 

sins were all taken and I am a free man 

in Christ Jesus." 

Mr. Wang's face was radiant 

as he spoke, and the men knew he meant every 

word he said. This was always Mr. Wang's chief 

message every where he spoke, and he was invit 

ed to speak a number of times, and was always 

glad to testify for Christ. 

His conversion seemed so complete and his 

enthusiasm so genuine that it seemed only natural 

to talk to him about joining the church. He was 

immediately receptive and was anxious to know 

what he should do to make full preparation. Mr. 

McCracken gave him a thorough study in the 

matter and he united with the Topeka congrega 

tion and is on their roll today. The congregation 

presented him a fine Bible, and every Sabbath 

morning and evening Mr. Wang could be seen 

coming to church, proudly carrying his Bible

July 7, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 11 

under his arm. I suggested to him once the read 

ing of one of our church standard books but he 

said, "I do not want to read any other book until 

I have finished reading the Bible." 

He was then 

reading Chronicles on every opportunity, some 

times far into the night- This brought more 

ridicule from his brethern but he read on just the 

same. 

After nearly a year in Topeka, Mr. Wang was 

moved to Pennsylvania to study the principles 

of the Westinghouse Air-brake. He attended our 

churches in and near Pittsburgh, whenever he 

could. He is now back in China and his address 

is Mr. Sur Hung Wang, 202 Kias Chow Road, 

Shanghai, China. 

I want to close by giving three pictures of Mr. 

Wang after he had united with the church : 

First, at Denison Kansas, on Thanksgiving 

Day, Mr. Wang gave his testimony at the union 

service, and later ate dinner at the Rev. T. M. 

Hutcheson's. There he said, "I am afraid I said 

the wrong thing at the service today, for I noticed 

several of the people crying as I spoke, and 

joy." 

Thanksgiving is supposed to be a day of I 

explained to him that those were tears of joy, 

and they were most happy for his testimony for 

Christ. In this connection it is interesting to 

know that Mr. Wang received one of his most 

as' 

Mr. Mc 

comforting moments on Sabbath Day 

Cracken was reading his scripture lesson from 

John II. When he came to the verse "Jesus 

Mr. Wang said, "It filled my heart with great 

wept" 

peace and joy to think that Christ was such a 

sympathetic Saviour." 

The second picture concerns his roommate. Be 

fore leaving Topeka his roommate was taken with 

appendicitis and confined to the hospital for some 

weeks following his operation. I went to see him 

two or three times. In talking about Mr. Wang 

he broke down and in tears said, "I was very 

mean to Mr. Wang and ridiculed him for his ac 

ceptance of Christianity, but he has proved my 

real friend coming to see me almost every day 

It was a real pleasure to have made his acquaint 

ance, and we rejoice that God gave us the privi 

lege in Topeka of knowing such a fine Christian 

character. 

America Honors Two Negroes 

Two great leaders of the Negro race in America 

have been honored by our government in Wash 

ington in 1947. 

January 5, the birthday of Dr. George Wash 

ington Carver, has been named as a day of annual 

honor to his memory and his service to human 

welfare. In January of 1947 and 1948 postage 

stamps bearing his picture were issued by the 

Post Office. Any American ought to know some 

thing about the discoveries of Dr. Carver and of 

the impetus he gave to the effort to find new uses 

for the products of Southern soil. In addition, he 

deserves special recognition for his Christian 

spirit in turning away from magnificent oppor 

tunities to win personal advancement, for his 

devotion to the problems of his people and his 

constant habit of giving God the glory for all his 

success. 

Thousands of Americans this year become 

possessors of silver half-dollars which bear on the 

front the face of Booker T. Washington, and on 

the back, the picture of the cabin where he was 

born ; underneath are the words "from log cabin 

to the Hall of Fame." 

The half-dollars can be 

spent, and bear many of the marks of the ordinary 

fifty-cent piece. They were minted by the U. S. 

government at Philadelphia, Denver and San 

Francisco, and are sold at $1 or $1.50 each. The 

extra cost above their legal tender value, goes into 

a Booker T. Washington Memorial Monument at 

Rocky Mount, Va. There the funds will be used 

to erect and maintain a school of industrial arts 

for negroes, with extension institutes in many 

other places to teach Negro workmen and work 

women how to excel in their jobs. Campaigns 

since I have been ill." 

He was very glad to have 

me offer prayer, and showed a very yeilding 

spirit. He did not remain in Topeka long after 

he recovered, however, so there was no opportun 

ity to follow up this change of spirit, but surely 

Mr. Wang's daily visits shows the fine spirit 

which he always exhibited. 

The third picture is when Mr. Wang went to 

hear the lecture we were giving on the Christian 

amendment. He was immediately enthusiastic, 

and expressed a great desire to return to China 

and try to do everything possible to get his coun 

try and his government on a Christian basis. 

That too was the character of the man. 

Mr. Wang has a brother who is one of the lead 

ers in the Bank of China, and Mr. Wang is a man 

of influence in his nation. We sincerely believe 

that he is a trophy of God's were put on in large cities to sell the coins, 

grace, and we feel 

the church should know of him and hold him up 

before God in prayer. He is glad to correspond 

with his old friends, and has written since his 

return to China. We are sure he would be glad 

to make new friends, and if you desire to write 

him and tell him of your interest in him and his 

Christian testimony it will be greatly appreciated. 

and 

hundreds of thousands were bought in a short 

time. 

Anyone forms a higher estimate of the rights 

of race which, in spite of many handicaps and 

hindrances, can produce people of such distinction 

as Dr. George Carver and Dr. Booker T. Washing 

ton. Any Christian leader will do well to learn 

and be ready to tell the stories of these and other 

distinguished Negro leaders of our country. The 

best biography of Dr. Carver is that by Rickman 

Holt. The book by B. G. Brawley, "The Negro 

Genius," 

has condensed information about a great 

number of notable Americans. The public is not 

greatly affected to be told that the I. Q. of the 

average Negro of the North is higher than the 

I. Q. of the average white person of the South, 

because Northern educational opportunity is 

better. But individual instances of fine achieve 

ment or character in minority races deserve spe 

cial recognition; and lovers of social justic will 

build better race relations if they do what they 

can to bring special honor to those who deserve it. 

Committee on Social Justice (per P. C.) 

To Speak Wisely May Not Always Be Easy; 

But Not To Speak 111 Requires Only Silence.


Lesson Helps for the Week of July 25 

G. Y. P. U. Topic 

For July 25, 1948 

PERSONAL EVANGELISM 

A lesson from Philip Acts 8:26-4u 

By the Rev. Paul D. White 

Psalms: 

Psalm 18:1 No. 38 

Psalm 18:23-25 No. 35 

Psalm 25: 7-12 No. U2 

Please review the comments on last 

week's topic and show how Philip 

possessed the characteristics of a true 

evangelist. 

Read the first part of Acts 8 about. 

the preaching- 

of Philip. 

Notice that Philip had been preach 

ing to the Samaritans, 

perhaps to 

some of the very ones to whom Jesus 

preached in last week's study. The 

unnamed Samaritan woman whom 

Jesus met at Jacob's well near Sychar 

may have been a personal worker in 

Philip's meetings. Philip baptized 

many men and women. 

Philip's work among the Samari 

tans was interrupted. The Holy 

Spirit sent him "toward the 

out into a desert to win one soul to 

Christ. He was a eunuch, a man of 

Ethiopa, hut his name is not revealed 

to us. See v. 27. The man had been 

to Jerusalem. He had bought a por 

tion of the Old Testament. He didn't 

understand what he was reading. 

Philip was so fully 

surrendered to 

God, and was living in such close com 

munion with God that the Holy Spirit 

told him to go to this Ethiopian and 

Philip "ran thither to him'' 

south" 

Immedi 

ately they directed their attention to 

the Scripture verses the eunuch didn't 

understand. See if you can find the 

words of Acts 8:32 in Isaiah 53. Also, 

reai Acts 8:35. What happened after 

this Do you think the man was 

ready to be baptized ? Would he have 

had a chance to be baptized when he 

returned to the service of Queen 

Pacific Coast 

C. Y. P U. Conference 

Time: July 28 Aug. 2. 

Place: Camp Waskowitz. 

Located 3 miles east of North 

Bend, Washington, 

Highway 10. 

on U. S. 

Make your plans now to at 

tend this conference in the 

Cascade Mountains in Scenic 

Washington. 

Candace of Ethiopia? What do you 

suppose this man did after he got 

home ? Do you suppose those in the 

Queen's palace found out that he was 

a Christian ? The Samaritan woman 

told all of the people in her village 

that she had found Christ; and I im 

agine that the Ethiopian eunueh be 

came an evangelist. When Christ be 

comes real to us we should and will 

tell others about Him. 

Pray 

for the Covenanter Crusade. 

Pray that you may be crusaders for 

Christ. 

Junior Topic 

For July 25, 1948 

By Mrs. R. H. McKelvy 

JESUS IS WAITING! 

Worship: Ps. 122:1, Pray Ps. 19: 

14. Prayer. Repeat, then sing Ps. 

40:1-14. The Memory Verse is Rev. 

3:20. 

Preparation: On each of two sheets 

of cardboard, draw a large heart 

and in it a door. Do this either before 

or during 

cutting- 

the meeting. However, the 

around of these doors should 

be done beforehand. Cut around 

three sides of this door carefully with 

a razor blade so the cut will not be 

noticeable until you are ready to fold 

the door open during 

the meeting. 

Behind this cut cardboard, have a 

paper on which to write the things 

which Jesus brings into our hearts. 

Materials needed are the two card 

boards with the paper behind one, a 

heavy pencil for drawing, and a 

black veil to hang as crape on the 

closed door. 

Lesson: Our verse today is a mes 

sage from the Saviour Himself. 

Listen to Jesus' 

voice as He says, 

"Behold, I stand at the door and 

knock...." 

Repeat it softly while I 

draw two hearts. (Quickly draw the 

two hearts and their doors.) 

"Jesus comes to the hearts of 

people, knocking, and asking them to 

let Him in. And so often they begin 

to make excuses: "After a while, 

Lord; we are too busy to let You in 

now." 

Or, "We are having 

a beer 

party here, and You would spoil it 

all, Jesus." 

Or, "My heart is already 

so full of my own things money, 

swearing, lying, 

evil thoughts. There 

just isn't room for You, Jesus." 

And 

sometimes, they are too lazy to even 

answer the Saviour and at last He 

turns away sorrowfully 

door remains closed. 

and the 

This first heart is that of a man 

who will not let Jesus come in. His 

heart is "dead in trespasses and 

sins." 

Let us hang 

this crape on the 

closed heart: it is dead. (Tack the 

crape on the door. Above the heart, 

write '"DEAD" 

I once stood at the bedside of a 

dying 

woman who had often refused 

to give her heart to Jesus. Now, at 

the last, I asked her again if she 

wanted to turn to her Saviour. This 

time she said yes. How quickly I 

asked her to let Jesus come into hei 

heart, but she turned away with the 

cry, "0, I can't! I can't! It's too 

late!" 

, Boys and girls, Jesus is knocking 

at your hearts now. "Behold, now is 

the accepted time; behold, now is the 

day of 

salvation." 

The story is told of a man who 

said he did not believe in God. One 

day, this man became very 

sick. His 

wife sent for a Christian friend to 

speak to him, but the wicked man 

only cursed him and then calling for 

a board and chalk, wrote the dread 

ful words, "GOD IS NOWWHERE"- 

He placed this at the foot of his bed. 

While the man was sick, his little 

daughter was taken to a Christian 

home where she was taught to read 

and to love Jesus. At last, the father 

began to improve and one day his 

dear little daughter was allowed to 

come home. He asked her what she 

had been doing 

all the time he was 

so sick. "I've been learning to 

read," 

she answered proudly. "Can you read 

those 

words?" 

asked the father, 

pointing to the foot of his bed. Slow 

ly, she spelled them out, "GOD IS 

". She paused; then she exclaimed, 

"Oh, father, I know!" 

and quickly 

she read, "GOD IS NOW HERE." 

-=*Her words opened the hard heart 

of the father. He realized that Jesus 

had indeed been there all the time, 

knocking 

at his heart. From that 

day, he loved and served his Saviour. 

The heart of a man who turns to 

Jesus is no longer dead, but Jesus 

gives it Life Eternal. (Open the 

door in the second heart. Write above 

this heart, "LIVING"). Let us name 

some of the joys which Jesus brings 

into this heart. (Write these inside 

the open door as they are named. 

Some are: Cleansing, I John 1:7; 

Peace, John 14:27; Love, John 15:9; 

Happiness, Ps. 144:15; Life, John 3: 

16). Sing Ps. 128:1, 3, No. 358. 

Jesus is standing at the door of 

your heart now. Hear Him knocking! 

Hear Him calling, "Ho, everyone


that thirsteth, 

me, 

come." 

all ye that labor." 

children to come unto 

"Come unto 

"Suffer little 

me." 

Will you 

answer His eall today? "Behold, I 

stand at the door and knock." 

41s say it softly. 

Let 

Bow your heads and tell Jesus that 

you want Him in your hearts and 

lives. (After a few moments of silent 

prayer, the leader prays, then leads 

in the Prayer-Psalm.) 

Sabbath School Lesson 

For July 25, 1948 

By The Rev. J. K. Robb, D.D. 

JONATHAN, LOYAL FRIEND. 

I Samuel 18-20; 23:16-18; 

II Samuel 1:1-27; 21:7. 

This lesson presents to us a mark 

ed similarity in some respects to a 

situation seen in the preceding les 

son, that of a fine and noble charac 

ter being overshadowed by another 

no less worthy of our admiration, 

but who, in the providence of God, 

became more conspicuous in the an 

nals of God's chosen people. In the 

preceding lesson both leading char 

acters were women; in this lesson 

both were men. The women were 

both middle class; the men were of 

the nobility, one being 

heir to a 

throne, the other taken from the com 

mon people and elevated to a throne. 

It is impossible to review the life and 

times of Jonathan and not bring into 

frequent view the name and doings 

of David. In order to get an intel 

ligent grasp 

of the circumstances de 

scribed in our study of Jonathan it 

will be necessary to do a good deal 

of reading of context material, as is 

indicated by the heading of this les 

son. The history of this man comes 

under three general headings. He 

was a son of royalty, a valiant sol 

dier, a loyal friend. 

1. A Son of Royalty. 

Jonathan was the son of king Saul, 

the first of Israel's kings, and who 

was made king to please a dissatis 

fied people who wished to be more 

like the surrounding nations in their 

form of government. It was of Saul 

that Hosea spoke when he wrote to a 

decadent Israel, "I gave thee a king 

in mine anger, and took him away in 

My 

wrath." 

(Hosea 13:11.) But de 

spite the fact that God was displeas 

ed at the rejection of Himself by the 

people's demand for a king, the reign 

of Saul promised well. He was a 

modest young man, prepossessing in 

appearance, and possessed of other 

favorable qualities. But his forty 

years' 

reign as a whole, was a failure 

in most respects. It was marked by 

wars with neighboring nations, and 

by 

wilful disobedience to God's ex 

press commands, and by jealousy and 

hatred toward his own kindred, to say 

nothing of others who became victims 

of his evil passions. 

It was of this man that Jonathan 

was the son, and it was that relation 

ship 

which made him a member of 

royalty, and heir-apparent to the 

throne of Israel. The first mention 

made of him is in Chap. 13:2, where 

he is spoken of as a young man and 

an officer in the army of Israel. This 

was before his father had become the 

victim of the evil passions and de 

praved state of mind that ruined his 

later years. Jonathan's fine character 

may thus be in some measure ac 

counted for by the fact that during 

his childhood years his father was the 

kind of man described in Chap. 9:2. 

But it was after the slaying of Goliath 

by David that Jonathan's fine quali 

ties began to show themselves. The 

first meeting of these two young men 

was when David appeared before king 

Saul, just after the killing of the 

giant, 

and it appears to have been a 

case of love at first sight. (Chap. 

18:1-3.) Jonathan did not as yet rec 

ognize in David the man who was to 

supplant him as king of Israel, but 

simply as a young and valorous sol 

dier who possessed a most attractive 

and engaging 

personality. So our 

first view of Jonathan reveals him as 

a son of the royal house discovering 

himself irresistably attracted to a 

young lad just in from caring for his 

father's sheep. And so began a 

friendship 

and a shepherd boy 

between a crown prince 

that has been 

celebrated in both song and story 

from that day. 

II. A Valiant Soldier. 

This quality in Jonathan is not the 

most important or the most striking 

of his traits, but it is worthy 

of note 

inasmuch as it was David's victory 

over the giant that first attracted 

Jonathan's attention to him, for 

Jonathan himself was a man of valor, 

and could appreciate that quality in 

others. Chap. 14 contains the account 

of a most daring deed performed by 

Jonathan and his armor-bearer. The 

most noteworthy feature of the vic 

tory achieved was that he was not 

counting 

on superior numbers or war 

material in preparing to attack the 

stronghold of his foes, but that his 

confidence lay in the fact that the 

Lord was on his side. (Chap. 14:6.) 

So a little later, when the giant was 

confronting the army 

temptuously defying 

of Israel, con 

even the great 

est of their warriors to single-hand 

ed conflict, and when David accepted 

the challenge, it was his declaration 

that "the Lord will deliver me out of 

the hand of this Philistine" 

that real 

ly 

attracted the favorable notice of 

the young prince. For here was an 

other man who went to war against 

the Lord's enemies in the name of the 

Lord, 

was fighting 

and in the confidence that he 

a lesson these young 

rrmy 

the Lord's battle. What 

soldiers in the 

of the Lord could teach the 

world today! For at the present time 

the nations of the world are accepting 

the very mistaken principle that the 

i ace is to the swift, and the battle to 

the strong, 

whereas Jonathan waged 

righteous war on the principle that 

"there is no restraint to the Lord to 

save by many or by few." 

Armies 

and armaments will have their day 

because the leaders in world affairs 

have yet to learn that "The Most 

High ruleth in the kingdom of 

men." 

"The weapons of our warfare are not 

carnal, but 

mighty." 

III. A Loyal and Faithful Friend. 

As is indicated in the lesson topic, 

this is really the heart of the whole 

story of Jonathan. It is as a friend 

that he is remembered. And it is 

truly 

remarkable that such a friend 

ship as that between David and 

Jonathan should ever have develop 

ed; especially so after it became 

known to Jonathan that David was to 

supplant him as heir-appparent to the 

throne. There appears to be no def 

inite information as to when the fact 

became known to Jonathan, but the 

marvel is, that, 

whenever Jonathan 

learned of it, that knowledge made no 

difference to him in his relations with 

David. How very 

natural it would 

have been for Jonathan to regard 

David as a foe rather than a friend! 

He might have ceased to befriend 

David, in which case David would 

certainly have been killed by Saul, 

and the throne made secure to Jon 

athan. Whether there was any strug 

gle in Jonathan's soul before he could 

be content to take a lower place is not 

recorded, but his unfeigned love for 

David, as shown by his precious gifts 

and his efforts, 

at the peril of his 

own life, to protect the life of David, 

make it easy for us to think of him 

as counting his loss of the throne as 

nothing. 

Such a measure of love and devo 

tion between two men is not the least 

remarkable feature of it. One writer 

in speaking 

of this phase of it has 

said, "For a man to fall in love with 

a beautiful woman is as easy as roll 

off a log. But for a man to love 

ing 

a man in unsullied and unselfish 

friendship until their souls are knit


together, interlocked and interlaced 

in their interests, then you have a 

form of human relationship which is 

but rarely 

seen." 

It remained for 

David himself to pay the crowning 

tribute to the love of Jonathan for 

him, in what is known as "The Song 

of the Bow," 

and is found in II Sam 

uel; 1:19-27, 

and is David's lament 

over the death of his friend. This is 

indeed a masterpiece of sorrowful ex 

pression in the most beautiful words 

imaginable. And as we think of Da 

vid's accomplishments in other lines, 

we wonder whether it was the sword 

or harp 

or pen of which he was the 

most complete master. He pays trib 

ute to the valor of the dead king, but 

it is only when he speaks directly of 

Jonathan that his heart vents itself. 

"I am distressed for thee my brother 

Jonathan very 

pleasant hast thou 

been unto me; thy love to me was 

wonderful, passing the love of wo 

men." 

"Thy love to me was 

wonderful" 

has often been used as a text on 

which to build up a sermon on the 

love of Christ. And if it was true of 

Jonathan's love for David, how much 

more truly does it express the love 

of our Lord Jesus for sinful men. The 

love of Jonathan found a worthy ob 

ject in David, for David was a love- 

able man. But how much more won 

derful is that love of Christ, which 

passeth knowledge. This lesson 

should not be studied and taught 

without making clear that the meas 

ure of all human love has its limits. 

"Peradventure for a good man some 

would even dare to die.." 

But God 

commendeth His love toward us in 

that while we were yet sinners, Christ 

died for 

Scripture : 

us." 

Prayer Meeting Topic 

For July 28, 1948 

THE MINISTRY OF 

RECONCILIATION 

II Cor. 5:17-21 

Comments : 

By the Rev. Harold F. Thompson 

Psalms: 

Psalm 16:1, 2, 9, 10, No. 29 

Psalm 23:1-5, No. 54 

Psalm 63:1-4, No. 168 

Psalm 36:5, 6, 8, 9, No. 97 

Psalm 65:1-3, No. 171 

References : 

Dan. 9:24, Eph. 2:16, Col. 1:20, 

Heb. 2:17, Matt. 5:24, Matt 18:15, 

Rom. 5-10, Rom. 11:15, Lev. 16:20 

The story of Adam and Eve's sin 

in the Garden of Eden is the sadest 

and most tragic story of all litera 

ture. Not because, had we been giv 

en the same opportunity we could 

have done any better, but because in 

that sin not only Adam and Eve fell, 

but all mankind with them. And be 

cause in that fall we were alienated 

from God. Just as there was no way 

for our first parents to gain admit 

tance into the garden again, so there 

was no way on our part for us to 

find favor in God's sight again. 

And in that condition man had only 

death to look forward to. But thanks 

be to God we do not need, and 

should not remain in that condition, 

for God through his Son has pro 

vided "The Ministry 

ation." 

of Reconcilia- 

The 17th verse reads: "Therefore 

if any man be in Christ, he is a new 

creature: old things are passed 

away; behold, all things are become 

new." 

As though you would shine a 

bright light into a very dark room, 

and change it entirely from dark 

ness to light; so this verse changes 

the outlook of life on the earth from 

that of darkness and death to that of 

light and life. "If any 

Christ" 

man be in 

Paul says "there is a new 

creation; he is another man and lives 

in another world." 

What a change, 

what a difference in our outlook. And 

yet it is the same God, who created 

us in a perfect condition, gave us 

the choice, saw us sin, 

and brought 

punishment upon us. It is this same 

God who has reconciled us to Him 

self by Jesus Christ, 

the ministry 

and gave to us 

of reconciliation." 

The first thing for us to consider 

is the meaning of the Christian doc 

trine of reconciliation. It would be 

well to have an understanding of 

what the word reconciliation means. 

Reconciliation is needed only after 

there has been a separation, a di 

vision and one person or group of 

persons has been alienated from the 

others. So to reconcile means to 

bring together again in a satisfactory 

ag-reement. As we can well see from 

our own times, this problem of a 

satisfactory 

agreement is one that is 

not easily reached. The attainment ot 

reconciliation depends to a great ex 

tent on how bad the division is, or 

what type of division or estrange 

ment there has been beforehand. In 

reconciling a dispute it is necessary 

to find out if only one of the persons 

or sides is hostile or if both of them 

have a feeling of hostility, the one 

against the other. Is it one sided or 

is it two sided? In our case where 

in our natural estate we are alienated 

from God, because of sin; is there 

something to be put away in man 

only, or something to be put away in 

God as well, before reconciliation is 

effected 

Some would have us believe that 

this separation is merely one sided. 

Man is alienated from God by sin, 

fear, and unbelief, and God reconciles 

him to Himself when He prevails 

with man to lay aside these evil 

dispositions, and trust Him as his 

Father and his friend. "All things 

are of God, who reconciled us to 

Himself through 

Christ" 

would 

mean in this case, "All things are of 

God, who has won our friendship 

through His Son." 

It is true that 

this does describe a part of the effect 

of the Gospel on the lives of people, 

and it is also true that this is one 

of the blessed results of living in 

Christ, that fear and distrust of 

God are taken away, and we learn 

to trust and love him. But it is not 

the entire truth and it is not what 

the New Testament means by recon 

ciliation. 

Paul is teling us in these verses 

that the reconciliation which God is 

offering to us is two sided. There is 

something in God as well as man 

that has to be dealt with, before 

there can be peace between God and 

man. In reality, this something on 

God's part is so incomparably more 

serious that in comparison with it 

the something on man's side simply 

passes out of view. It is God's abil 

ity, God's earnest dealing 

with the 

obstacle on His own side which pre 

vails on man to believe and trust in 

Him, 

which brings about the peace 

which is being 

God's earnest dealing 

sought after. It is 

with the ob 

stacle on His own side which con 

stitutes the reconciliation. So recon 

ciliation in the New Testament sense 

is not something which we accom 

plish when we lay aside our enmity 

to God; it is which God 

something 

accomplished when in the death of 

Christ He put away everything that 

on His side meant estrangement, so 

that He might came and preach 

peace. This makes the meaning of 

God's love and mercy even deeper 

than it was before. But it also en 

ables us to understand that it is not 

just the Love and Mercy 

of God 

which frees us from our sin. It was 

wrought through Jesus Christ, and is 

brought about in our lives only as 

we become a part of Christ. 

Perhaps some would ask the 

question; What is it that makes a 

Gospel necessary? What is it that 

the wisdom and -love of God under 

take to deal with, and do deal with in 

that marvelous way 

which constitutes


the Gospel? Is it man's distrust in 

God, is it the way that we have 

alienated ourselves from Him ? Not if 

we take the teaching of Paul. The 

serious thing which makes the 

Gospel necessary, and the putting 

away of which constitutes the gospel 

is God's condemnation of the world 

and its sin; it is God's wrath, "re 

vealed from heaven against all un- 

godlines and unrighteousness of 

men." 

And that wrath has been re 

vealed to us in the downfall of 

great and strong 

nations in the 

world. It has been revealed 

to us by the way 

in us. And the putting away 

God works 

of this 

wrath is Reconciliation. The preach 

ing 

preaching 

of this reconciliation is the 

of the Gospel. And the 

preaching of the gospel is the preach 

ing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 

Christ. 

Coming on down to the 19th 

verse. "To wit, that God was in 

Christ reconciling the world unto 

himself, not imputing their tres 

passes unto them; and hath com 

mitted unto us the word of recon 

ciliation." 

This does not mean that 

God was trying to convert men, or 

trying to prevail with them to lay 

aside their enmity, but that He was 

disposing of everything that on His 

part made peace impossible. When 

Christ's work was done, the reconcili 

ation of the world was accomplished. 

When men were recalled to receive 

it, they 

were called to a relation to 

God not in which they would no 

more be against Him though that 

is included but in which they would 

no more have Him against them. 

There would be no condemnation 

thenceforth to those who were in 

Jesus Christ. 

In the 20th verse you will notice 

two expressions, "we are ambassa 

dors" 

and "we beseech 

you." 

Paul 

was Christ's ambassador, and he was 

beseeching every one cerning Christ. 

The ambassador, as a rule, stands 

upon his dignity; he maintains the 

greatness of the person whom he 

represents. But Paul in his lowly pas 

sionate entreaty is not false to his 

Master; he is preaching the gospel 

in the Spirit of the Gospel; he shows 

that he has really learned of Christ; 

the very conception of the ambassa 

dor descending to entreaty is as 

Calvin says, an incomparable com 

mendation of the Grace of Christ. 

One can imagine how Saul the Phar 

isee would have spoken on God's be 

half; with what rigour, what aus 

incompromis- 

what unbending 

terity, 

ing 

assurance. But old things have 

passed away; behold, they have be 

come new. This single verse il 

lumines, as by a lightening flash, 

the new world into which the Gospel 

has translated Paul, the new man it 

has made of him. The fire that 

burned in Christ's heart has caught 

hold in his. 

Then we notice the words in the 

21st verse. "Him that knew no 

sin." 

The Greek negative here implies that 

this is regarded as the verdict of 

some one else than the writer. It 

was Christ's own verdict upon Him 

self. He whose words search our 

very hearts, and bring to light un 

suspected seeds of badness, never 

Himself betrays the faintest con 

sciousness of guilt. He challenges 

His enemies directly: "Which of you 

convinceth Me of 

sin?" 

It is the ver 

dict of all sincere human souls, as 

uttered by the soldier who watched 

His cross Truly this was a right 

eous 

man." 

the great enemy 

It is the verdict even of 

who assailed him 

again and again, and found nothing 

in Him, 

and whose agents recognized 

Him as the Holy 

one of God. Above 

all, it is the verdict of God. He was 

the beloved Son, in whom the father 

Was well pleased. For thee for 

thirty years, in daily contact with 

the world and its sins, Christ lived 

and yet knew no sin. 

"For he hath made him to be sin 

for us, 

who knew no sin: that we 

might be made the righteousness of 

God in Him." 

istry 

That is Christ's min 

of reconciliation to us each one. 

And if we are in Christ we have ac 

cepted that reconciliation. 

For discussion: 

ing 

1. What theories in modern think 

would make our separation from 

God one sided ? 

2. In our case is reconciliation 

needed because of our distrust of 

God, or because of God's wrath? 

3. How does Paul's life demon 

strate the words, "Old things are 

passed away, behold all things are 

become 

new?" 

How should our own 

lives demonstrate these words? 

4. Why was Christ the only one 

who could bring 

ciliation ? 

about this recon 

***Dr. Owen F. Thompson's new 

address is 510 West 1st St., Loveland, 

Colo. 

***Miss Mary Fowler, Cedarville, 

Ohio, fell and fractured her hip 

several weeks ago. She is a patient in 

the Miami Valley Hospital, Dayton, 

Ohio. Her Christian spirit has been 

an inspiration to those who come in 

contact with her. She appreciates the 

messages that have been received 

from friends. 

***I wish to exppress my appre 

ciation to the many friends who re 

membered me while in the hospital 

a short time ago. Thank you for 

your prayers, and for your cards and 

letters. I also want to thank Synod 

for the generous gift of 

five dollars to help 

seventy- 

with the ex 

penses. The Lord has blessed and 

given an immediate recovery. 

Eleanor Faris, Geneva College. 

***The Allegheny Evening Wor 

ship for June 27 was conducted by 

the Geneva College Gospel Team 

who spoke in the interest of the 

Covenanter Crusade. They 

left with 

us a message and a challenge that 

we trust will inspire us to greater 

effort in the work of the Kingdom. 

***We are happy to announce that 

Miss Dorothy Raum and Mr. Donald 

Fox of the Allegheny congregation 

were united in marriage with a 

double-ring ceremony in the Mt. 

Zion Lutheran Church, Wednesday 

evening, June 23, at 7:30 o'clock. 

Dr. John B. Kniseley, the bride's 

pastor, read the vows, assisted by 

the groom's pastor, Rev. K. S. Edgar. 

***Rev. Ray Wilcox of Greeley, 

preached for the Clarinda 

Colorado, 

Congregation the last two Sabbaths 

of June. We enjoyed having fiim 

with us at our regular monthly fel 

lowship 

supper June 24. 

***So Sorry! In the Editor's re 

port of the meeting 

of Synod it was 

stated that Mrs. Agnes E. Steel, 

Treasurer of the Woman's Associa 

tion had resigned. It should have 

read Joseph M. Steele, Treasurer of 

the Foreign Mission Board. My 

apologies to all concerned. Editor. 

MEETING OF TTHE FOREIGN 

MISSION BOARD 

The Foreign Mission Board met 

in New York City at the 23rd Street 

Y.M.C.A. on Tuesday, May 18, at 

10:15 A.M. Two of our members, Dr. 

S. E. Greer and Dr. F. M. Wilson 

were unable to be present, due to 

sickness. We were glad to have Miss 

Blanche McCrea present for part of 

the meeting. She told us of the needs 

of the school in Nicosia. At the 

present time they 

building and they .have 

are in a rented 

no guarantee 

of how long they will be able to stay 

in this building, 

as the owner wants 

to remodel the building for an apart 

ment house. Due to this condition 

the board is recommending to Synod 

that special emphasis this year be 

placed on raising 

funds for the 

building to be built in Nicosia.


A memorial to Rev. Richard Adams 

was read by Walter McClurkin. Mr. 

Adams was a missionary in China 

from 1917-1942. 

The Board was advised of the 

intention of Mr. Steele to submit his 

resignation to Synod. Dr. Slater was 

appointed to write a letter of regret 

and appreciation to Mr. Steele, re 

gret that he had to lay down the 

position in which he has rendered 

faithful service to the Board for so 

many years. 

The Finance Committee submitted 

a lengthy report which was an evi 

dence that they had placed a great 

deal of thoughtful study 

on the 

problems of the Board. After discus 

sion and some change the report was 

adopted and is as follows: 

1. That we establish basic salaries 

for our missionaries. 

2. That the base salary for a mar 

ried life term missionary be $1500.00 

with an increase of 5% at the end of 

5 years; 

an additional 5% of base at 

end of 10 years and a final increase 

of 10% of the base after 15 years. 

3. That the base salary of life-term 

single missionaries be $950 with an 

increase of 5% at the end of 5 years, 

an additional 5% of base at end of 

10 years and a final increase of 10% 

of the base after 15 years. 

4. That the base salary 

of a short- 

term single missionary be $700.00. 

5. That we continue the outfitting 

allowance of $650.00 for a married 

life-term missionary, $350.00 for a 

single life-term missionary and 

$150.00 for short term. 

6. That the children's allowance be 

$50.00 for first year or part year 

from October 1 up to 10 years of 

age; $100.00 to 14 years of age; 

$150.00 to 18 years; unless in school 

doing satisfactory 

work. Then it 

shall continue until 21 years. 

7. That supplements for the 

present be 80% of base pay in China 

and Syria and 60% in Cyprus. 

8. These Supplements shall change 

according to the fluctuations of the 

times. 

9. That we assume Clark Cope- 

land's salary and expenses of 

language study 

on the condition that 

he devote full time to pastoral evan 

gelistic work. 

10. That we ask Synod's approval 

of a special appeal for two new cars 

for China and one new car for 

Cyprus and Syria each and that the 

appeals be headed by Jesse Mitchel 

for China; Blanche McCrea, Cyprus; 

Herbert Hays, Syria. 

11. That Dr. and Mrs. Kempf be 

paid expenses for pictures to be 

used in promotion work. 

12. That Mr. Weir be informed 

that we would not be averse to his 

sending his new appeal for building 

fund to Alumni of the school for 

gifts and loans without interest, but 

that his new appeal for Larnaca 

should not be made to the Covenant 

ers in America at this time. 

13. That we transfer the request 

of South China Presbytery for funds 

for a building in Canton to the 

Board of Church Erection. 

14. That a schedule of estimated 

income and outgo for next year be 

considered by the Board at its next 

regular meeting. 

15. That we ask $25,000.00 from 

Synod's budget through the Co 

ordinating Committee and that Rev. 

R. D. Edgar represent us before the 

Co-ordinating Committee with Dr. 

F. M. Wilson as alternate. 

The meeting was adjourned, the 

next meeting to be on the call of 

the Corresponding Secretary. 

MINUTE ON THE DEATH OF 

RICHARD CAMERON ADAMS 

Inasmuch as it has pleased God; on 

March 23, 1948, to promote to higher 

service our fellow-worker in the 

Gospel, Richard Cameron Adams, 

this Board would place on record 

heartfelt gratitude for the term 

which he, with his beloved wife, 

served in our field in China, in the 

years 1917-1924. 

We are grateful for all the evi 

dences of his consecration and de 

votion to the Lord during those 

years and since; for his fine spirit 

of cooperation with our other mis 

sionaries and with the Chinese breth 

ren; for his earnest efforts to reach 

the unsaved with the Gospel, even 

while he was studying the Chinese 

language; for his preaching and for 

his teaching in the Training School 

to prepare young men for the min 

istry; and for the many baptisms 

resulting from the personal and prac 

tical evangelism of himself and his 

Chinese brethren. 

We thank God for over-ruling the 

seemingly adverse providence which 

caused him and his family to leave 

China, and prevented their return; 

and for granting unto His servant a 

fruitful ministry in our Indian Mis 

sion in Oklahoma, and then in the 

B e u 1 a h, Nebraska congregation, 

whence he was suddenly called to re 

ceive the reward of his Lord. 

It is our prayer that the memories 

of Richard Adams and of his mis 

sionary work may be blessed to all 

his former fellow-lalborers and to us, 

and become a goodly heritage to the 

bereaved widow and her family. 

BELLE CENTER, OHIO 

The funeral of the late Mrs. Mar 

garet Hemphill of Beaver Falls, Pa., 

was held at the Belle Center church 

on March SO and interment in the 

Fairview cemetery at Belle Center. 

Mrs. Hemphill grew up and spent 

many yeais in and around Belle Cen 

ter. All of her six fine children 

were able to be at the funeral. 

On April 1 a little daughter was 

born to Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur Keys. 

Rev. and Mrs. W. J. Sanderson of 

Utica, Ohio, 

and daughter Marjorie 

of Dayton, Ohio, attended com 

munion services with us on Sabbath, 

April 11. 

Rev. Raymond Hemphill of Sandy 

Hook, Ky., assisted Rev. McFarland 

with communion services. His mes 

sages were very fine and inspiring 

and were greatly appreciated. 

Mrs. George Henning 

Lyons, Michigan, 

of South 

spent a few days 

with her daughter and son-in-law, 

Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur Keys. 

Mr. Robert Funk of Springfield, 

Ohio, worshiped with us on April 11. 

Mrs. Arthur Ace of Detroit, Mich., 

visited with her family, the J. C. 

Rutherford family. 

A congregational meeting was held 

at the church on Thursday evening, 

April 22. New officers were elected 

as follows: Mr. Frank Harsh, chair 

man; Mr. Ralph Reed, clerk; anfl Mr. 

Wilbur Keys, treasurer of the con 

gregation. 

Mr. and Mrs. James Reed of Day 

ton, Ohio, 

April 25. 

worshiped with us on 

Miss Blanche McCrae of the Cyprus 

Mission spoke to the 

a meeting held at the 

congregation at 

parsonage on 

April 28. Her very interesting and 

informative talk was enjoyed by all. 

A social was held afterward and de 

licious refreshments were served. 

Six persons attended the Presby 

tery and Presbyterial at Hetherton, 

Mich.: Rev. and Mrs. Luther Mc 

Farland, Elder and Mrs. James Keys, 

Ted Harsh, and Mrs. Frank Harsh. 

The meetings were very inspira 

tional and the delegates brought 

back good reports to the congre 

gation. 

Mr. E. N. Harsh of Orlando, 

Florida, visited in Sidney, Ohio.with 

his brother, Frank Harsh and fam 

ily and with other relatives and 

friends in and around Belle Center 

and Bellefontaine on his way to at 

tend Synod at Beaver Falls, Pa.

LESSON HELPS FOR THE WEEK OF AUGUST 1, 1948 


3qq years Of Witnessing- 

fog. CrlRIST'5 50VEREl&Pt RlOHTa 'N tme. church and the. w.Ttoft! 


SUFFICIENT 

The other evening I was riding home after a heavy day's 

work ; I felt wearied and sore depressed when swiftly, and 

suddenly as a lightning flash, that text came to me, "My 

grace is sufficient for thee." 

I reached home and looked 

it up in the original, and at last it came to me in this way, 

"My 

grace is sufficient for thee," 

think it is, Lord," 

and I said, "I should 

and burst out laughing. I never fully 

understood what the holy laughter of Abraham was until 

then. It seemed to make unbelief so absurd. It was as 

though some little fish, being very thirsty, 

was troubled 

about drinking the river dry, and Father Thames said, 

thee." 

"Drink away, little fish. My stream is sufficient for 

Or, it seemed as though a little mouse in the granaries of 

Egypt, after the seven years of plenty, feared it might die 

of famine, and Joseph said, "Cheer up, little mouse. My 

granaries are sufficient for thee." 

Again, I imagined a 

man away up yonder, in a lofty mountain, saying to him 

self, "I breathe so many cubic feet of air every year, I fear 

I shall exhaust the oxygen in the 

earth might say, "Breathe away, 0 man, and fill thy lungs 

ever. My atmosphere is sufficient for thee." 

be great believers! Little faith will bring 

atmosphere 

but the 

Oh, brethern, 

your souls to 

heaven, but great faith will bring heaven to your souls. 

Quoted from Christian Digest


QUm>pA&l ajj the (leU


GuWiesd &ve4iti Prof. John Coleman, PhD., D. D. 

This page is not dedicated to controversy but to record 

ing. However, the July issue of the New Century Leader, 

a David C. Cook publication, is widely used by Cove 

nanter teachers and has an editorial that cries for an 

answer. It defends the present Russian attitude by say 

ing: "Let us try putting ourselves in her 

place." 

Then 

the Editor "supposes" 

that our nation had been invaded 

and cities and industries destroyed from the Atlantic to 

the Mississippi and fifteen million of our people killed 

and asks how we would feel if Russia had atomic bombs 

and radioactive vapor bombs that would slay 

all the 

people in a wide area. Would we not then want to con 

trol all the lands about us? Suppose Russia had the 

largest navy in the world, her industries intact, 

and was 

supported in the U. N. by the majority of the other 

nations? Well, let us do some more "supposing": 

1. Suppose Russia had spent two or three billion dol 

lars on atomic developments and had used it only on 

our common enemies. Suppose Russia had freely of 

fered the fruits of all this atomic investigation to us and 

all the world, provided we would agree to let the U. N. 

inspect the atomic plants so that no nation would take 

advantage of the situation and secretly work up her own 

supply of destructive weapons; and suppose that we, 

alone among 

the nations, refused to accept this very 

proper suggestion and were feverishly carrying on our 

own studies. Suppose Russia had offered also to destroy 

all her own supplies of bombs on the same condition 

that we would accept the U. N. supervision, and we had 

spurned the offer. 

2. Suppose that there were many 

countries around us 

and that Russia had agreed to let us supervise their 

restoration after the defeat of our common enemy on 

the condition that we would let the people freely decide 

for themselves what kind of government and economy 

they wanted, 

and we had by arms and assassination 

suppressed all the parties but the one that we could con 

trol by push-button from Washington; 

and that we kept 

all these lands behind an iron curtain so that their people 

could escape only by stealth and if any man seemed to 

be a friend of Russia we had him put into a labor camp. 

Also that we confiscated all the properties owned by 

Russian companies. 

3. Suppose that Russia had sent us during the war 

eleven billion of dollars' 

(not rubles) worth of Lend- 

Lease at a cost of many ships and men and that then 

we had persistently refused to return or repay in any 

measure that which we had received, even on terms of 

a very few cents on the dollar and long-time credit. Sup 

pose that when under pressure we had returned a dozen 

of the hundreds of ships given over, 

we had returned 

them at some South American port (as Russia has re 

cently offered to return that dozen at Chinese ports). 

4. Suppose that Russia had put much of her navy in 

storage and cut down her army and paid off the veterans 

while we maintained universal military service and had 

great veteran armies ready to move. 

5. Suppose that Russia had dismantled its armament 

plants or sold them at a low cost for civilian use and 

destroyed thousands of planes which could not be used 

for any but military purposes. 

6. Supose that we refused to let women who had 

been married to Russian men or the nationals of other 

Allied countries go to their husbands lest they should 

give out some military information. 

7. Suppose that we still retained hundreds of prison 

ers of war, and sent millions of our own citizens who 

would not accept without question every decree of the 

government into labor armies working in some wild part 

of the country. 

8. Suppose that we treated every country that was not 

under our thumb as a probable enemy, and kept in it 

hordes of underground saboteurs and spies who at our 

direction would cause labor unions to strike and disrupt 

all industry and threaten the very life of the nation un 

less it came to our bidding and way of life. 

9. Suppose that we declared in our constitution that 

it was our purpose to take over the world. 

10. Suppose that we asked every 

visitor from Russia 

when their great prosperity would come to an end in 

hard times, and hoped for that day. 

11. Suppose that we denounced as "imperialism" 

proposal of Russia to send aid to nations that had suf 

the 

fered even more than ourselves in the U.S., so that they 

could get on their feet again and feed themselves. Sup 

pose we terrorized some nations that were in dire need 

so that they reluctantly refused a share in some sixteen 

billions of dollars (not rubles) that Russia was going to 

give or loan on very easy terms. 

12. Suppose that Russia considered it necessary to 

give hundreds of millions of dollars to enable small 

nations on the American border to maintain their in 

dependence from our conquest. 

13. Suppose that Russia had led in a world relief pro 

gram and had given over 90% of the money actually 

paid into it, 

and that we had partaken of a part of the 

relief but represented to our people that it came from 

Washington and was of the bounty of the President. 

14. Suppose that the Russians and other nations 

wanted to be friends with our people, but we Americans 

were prevented by our government from knowing any 

thing about Russia or other nations; that Americans 

could travel very freely in Russia but we would not at 

any time let the reverse be true. 

15. Suppose that the American people would really be 

on friendly terms with the Russians, but the American 

government would not permit them, 

or permit Russian 

papers to come freely into our country for fear the 

people would learn the truth. 

16. Suppose that the Russian people loved the Bible 

so that they wished all nations to possess it, 

and the 

Russians tried to send Bibles into America but only 

after ten years was the "Russian Bible Society" per 

mitted to send in 25,000 copies and 100,000 parts of the 

Scripture for nearly 200,000,000 people. 

The above items are all based on the events of the 

months since the war. At the war's end the American 

people, delighted with the courage and endurance of the 

Russian people, supposed that we were entering on a 

period of mutual friendship and help. Our troops 

long 

might have gone farther east in Europe, taken Czecho 

slovakia from the Germans, but held back out of 

courtesy to the Russians. Every courtesy 

was looked 

upon as a weakness and taken advantage of. Therefore 

the present crisis.


Synod Reports 

RECOMMENDATIONS OF SYNOD OF 1948 

Committee on Stewardship 

That the Committee on Stewardship 

make a canvass of the best 

available books on stewardship, and send reviews to the Covenanter 

Witness. 

That Synod recommend to pastors that they preach at least one 

sermon during the year that will set forth the Biblical teachings 

concerning the relationship between a Christian and his pocketbook. 

Temperance Committee 

That a renewed emphasis be given our witness concerning the 

harmful effects of tobacco. 

Foreign Mission Board 

That for Cypprus, appeal is now made for: 

(A) Two young men with an evangelistic zeal, the first qualified 

in school administration, for life service in the Larnaca academy; 

the second should be qualified to teach matehmatics and/or English. 

(B) For the Girl's Academy at Nicosia appeal is made for two 

teachers, one qualified to teach and supervise in the elementary 

grades to go out this fall; the other for a short term beginning one 

year from this fall replacing Miss Rose Munnell whose term expires 

one year hence. 

For China, the Synod renews its appeal for a doctor, qualified in 

surgery, to begin languag-e study as soon as possible in preparation 

for succeeding Dr. Ida M. Scott. 

That the Board be authorized to renew appeals for the China Re 

lief and Rehabilitation Fund as needs may require, and also for the 

Orphan's Fund which was launched this past year by Miss Stewart. 

That the New Building Fund solicitations for the academies at 

Larnaca and Nicosia be continued under the plan approved by Synod 

two years ago. Since the Girl's Academy at Nicosia has been con 

ducted in rented property from which they are liable to be evicted 

we recommend that special emphasis be placed on the raising of 

funds for the Nicosia Building. 

That the Board be authorized to make an appeal for four automo 

biles to be used on our fields, one for Syria, one for Cyprus, and two 

for China. 

That for Syria, Synod renew its appeal of last year for one or 

dained minister to begin language study in preparation for life 

service. 

Home Mission Secretary 

That renewed emphasis be laid upon soul-winning as the primary 

end of Church membership and Church activity, and that special 

effort be made to enlist all our people until every member is an 

active evangelist. 

Home Mission Board 

That owing to the continued increase in cost of living, 

a minimum 

salary of $2,100 and parsonage (or its equivalent) be established. 

That self-supporting congregations paying less than this minimum 

salary take steps to supplement the present salary to this minimum. 

In case they are unable to do so, that they make request to their 

Presbytery for a supplement. 

Witness Committee 

That pastors and congregations be urged to make the Christian 

Amendment movement a subject of earnest prayer throughout the 

year and that they do all within their power to make its plans and 

purposes known in their respective communities. 

Committee to Coordinate the Actions of Synod 

Adopted on Limited Pastorates 

It is the judgment of Synod that it would be advisable for a pastor 

to intimate to his congregation at the end of, every five year period 

his willingness to offer his resignation to the Presbytery unless the 

congregation, by secret ballot, should vote that the existing re 

lationship 

remain unbroken. 

When the above intimation is given, 

the vote of the people on the 

Lesson 

Helps 

C. Y. P. U. Topic 

For August 1, 1948 

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH PRAYER 

Psalms : 

Matt. 6:6; Acts 10:9-16 

A Christian Endeavor Topic 

Isabelle Chambers, Portland, Oregon 

Psalm 40:1-4, No. 109 

Psalm 34:1-6, No. 83 

Psalm 65:1-4, No. 171 

Psalm 69:25-30, No. 185 

Psalm 143:4-7, No. 386 

References : 

Acts 10:30-33; Psalm 10:4, 17; I Chr. 23:30; 

Neh. 11:17; Luke 1:10-14; I Kings 8:10; 

Phil. 4:6; Psalm 65:2; John 14:13, 14; Rom. 

8:26; I John 5:14; James 5:16; 1:5-7; Mark 

11:24; Matt. 7:7-8; I Tim. 2:1-3; Luke 18: 

1; 21:36. 

Comments: 

1. What is prayer? 

"Prayer is the offering of the emotions 

and desires of the soul to God, in the name 

and through the mediation of our Lord and 

Saviour, Jesus Christ. It is the communion 

of the heart with God through the aid of the 

Holy Spirit, and is to the Christian the very 

life of the 

soul." 

Communion with God 

through the aid of the Holy 

intimate spiritual relationship 

Spirit implies an 

of thoughts 

and purposes. We must listen for God's voice 

speaking to us in reply to our prayer to Him. 

Too often this part of prayer is neglected. 

"How rare to find a soul still enough to 

hear God 

counsellor, Fenelon. 

speak," 

said the French spiritual 

2. How should we pray? 

Prayer should be offered with submission 

to God's will, fervently, perseveringly, with 

humble confession and hearty thanksgiving, 

with supplications for all living men, 

as well 

as for our friends and those nearest and 

dearest to us. We must pray in faith. "But 

let him ask in faith, nothing 

wavering: for 

he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, 

driven with the wind and tossed. For let not 

that man think that he shall receive anything 

of the Lord" 

(James 1:6-7). We must pray 

believing that our prayers are heard and 

answered. "Therefore I say unto you, 

What 

things soever ye desire when ye pray, be 

lieve that ye receive them, and ye shall have 

them" 

(Mark 11:24). False and formal re 

ligion makes a merit of prayers, as though 

"much 

speaking"' 

with "vain 

could make up for lack of sincerity and 

heartlessness. Hypocrites pray to receive 

reproved by 

praise of men. These sins are 

Christ in Matthew 6:5-15, where He gives His 

disciples the form of the Lord's prayer as a 

beautiful model. 

3. Why should we pray? 

God requires all men to pray. "0 thou that 

hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesn 

come" 

(Psalm 65:2). In all ages God has de 

lighted in the prayers of His 

saints. From


the promulgation of the law, the Hebrews 

worshiped daily in the tabernacle or the 

temple. Morning and evening 

sacrifices were 

offered every day accompanied with prayers 

by 

the priests and Levites. Pious men were 

accustomd to pray thrice in the day, 

at cer 

tain hours. "Evening and morning, and at 

noon, will I Pray, and cry aloud; 

hear my 

voice" 

and he shall 

(Psalm 55:17). Christians 

everywhere need this constant communion 

with God through Christ to enable them to 

resist temptation, to know the will of God, to 

become more perfect in His sight and to be 

able to accomplish those things which He re 

quires of His children. It is often said that 

prayer cannot alter the unchangeable pur 

poses of God; 

providence embraces every 

but the great scheme of His 

prayer that shall 

be offered as well as the answer it shall re 

ceive. God grants many blessings in answer 

to prayer which otherwise He would with 

hold; "He will be very gracious unto thee at 

the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, 

he will answer thee." 

"This poor man cried, 

and the Lord heard him, and delivered him 

(Psalm 34:6). Paul 

out of all his troubles" 

directs that believers should pray in all 

places and at all times. Our Saviour has 

directed us to pray without ceasing; "And he 

spoke a parable unto them to this end, that 

men ought always to pray, 

(Luke 18:1). 

and not to faint" 

"Watch he therefore, and pray always, 

that ye may be accounted worthy to escape 

all these things that shall come to pass, and 

to stand before the Son of 

21:36). 

Questions for Discussion : 

man" 

(Luke 

1. What things might hinder our hearing 

God's voice speaking to us through prayer? 

2. Name instances in the Bible where God 

speaks through prayer to His children. 

3. Cite instances in your own life, 

or those 

iri the life of others, where God has answered 

prayer. 

4. Name ways that might bring our nation 

into closer relationship with God. 

Junior Topic 


OUR MISSION IN CYPRUS 

By Miss Blanche McCrea 

Suggested Psalms: 

Psalm 29:1-3, 6, No. 70 

Psalm 34:1-4, No. 87 

Psalm 24: 1-6, No. 57 

Psalm 55:1, 4, 5, No. 151 

Psalm 72:9-12, No. 193 a 

These are psalms the boys and girls in 

Cyprus like to sing. 

Suggested Scripture Passage: 

John 15:1-14 

The Juniors of the Covenanter Church of 

America are a mighty force. You may think 

that sounds a little strange since you no 

doubt feel you can do so little and look for 

ward to the time when you are grown up 

question of the continuance of the pastoral relationship 

shall be 

taken on a Sabbath morning immediately after the public worship. 

Announcement for taking the vote on this question shall be made 

on the two preceding Sabbaths. 

Immediately 

after the benediction the Clerk of Session shall take 

charge of the meeting and without any discussion conduct the secret 

ballot on the following question on a previously prepared ballot. 

Do you favor the continuance of the pastoral relationship ? 

Yes No 

The law of the church on proxy votes shall be followed. 

It is recommended that this plan shall start within two years from 

the present date for all pastors who have held their pastorates foi 

five years or more and for others when they reach 

five year period starting June 1st, 1950. 

the end of a 

That moving expenses up to $250 of a minister who has completed 

a term and has not been requested to remain for another five year 

period, be paid by the Home Mission Board. This does not apply to 

ministers who may be moving 

to a church of another denomination. 

Publication Board 

That Boards and Committees having- programs that call for the 

cooperation of the church at large, make an efficient use of the 

Covenanter Witness. 

That all contributors to the paper remember the advantages of 

brevity in presenting their material. 

That members of the church who feel that some message is worthy 

of a wide hearing, request its substance for publication. 

That the work of the Publication Board be remembered in the 

public and private prayers of the church. 

Signs of the Times 

1948 

In one Bible concordance, "signs" 

were referred to over eighty 

times. In Psalm 74:9 we read, "We see not our signs: there is no 

more any prophet; neither is there any among us that knoweth how 

long." 

Isn't that our feeling 

today? What lies ahead? What is to be the 

effect upon the world because of what has happened this past year? 

Russia has startled the world by vetoing some twenty-three times 

efforts of other nations toward cooperation and peace; while at the 

same time she continues to overrun one country after another, mak 

ing of those nations satellite powers, to do what she dictates. Al 

ready, within three years after the end of the war, we hear strong 

talk by our national leaders of a third world war. Conscription of 

our youth and universal military training seem only a step away. 

The Supreme Court decision, that to teach the Bible in our public 

schools is contrary to the Constitution of the United States, has 

astounded many in our fair land. 

Union is in the air. Our national leaders talk of world government. 

The United Nations, constituting fifty-seven nations; with a Security 

Council constituted of representatives of eleven of those nations, is 

seeking to work out plans for security and peace. UNESCO, the 

united nations educational, scientific and cultural organization, is 

trying to do the same thing through those various channels. But 

little or no place is given to God or to Christ, the Prince of Peace, in 

these national councils. 

In the church we hear advocated the super-church.. There is talk 

of "A World Council of 

Churches" 

"All Churches under One Head" 

of Christ in America," 

and "The American Council of Churches" 

the goal of which seems to be 

"The Federal Council of Churches 

"The National Association of Evangelicals," 

are the unifying organiza 

tions of the churches at the present time. Other organizations which 

are exerting considerable influence upon our religious thinking at the 

present time are "Youth for Christ," 

"Christ for America," 

"The 

Christian Amendment Movement," 

of the various denominations. 

TWO CLASSES IN CHURCHES 

and the crusades and movements 

In our churches today we find great extremes. Two of these are


described in a recent issue of U.E.A. under the title "Latter Day 

[Bandwagon" 

Religions". They are called "Religion a la as described 

Limousine" 

by Dr. Clarence Sidenspinner, and "Religion a la as de 

editor of U.E.A. 

scribed by Dr. De Forest Murch, 

Dr. Sidenspinner thus describes the tabernacle service of some of 

the more emotional groups: 

"The salient features are sex appeal, soothing syrup, money and 

noise. Parades, baton twirlers, concession stands, 

boogie woogie, converted night club crooners, guest stars, 

gospel songs a la 

all have 

combined to reduce the level of American culture to an all time low." 

Dr. Murch, while not condoning 

all the actions of this branch of 

conservatism, described well the modernistic churches when he says: 

"In the department of religious education, the latest pagan philos 

ophies are taught to a handful of children. They learn much about 

the birds and the bees and a little about a nice man called Jesus. 

The corporal's guard of young people talk sex and politics under a 

sponsor, 

who dropped a cigarette butt at the door. Much time is 

spent in announcements about the next Youth Canteen Dance. The 

sermon may be a book review, or if religious in character it includes 

slurring 

remarks about 'slaughterhouse 

religion' 

and 'mouldy theol 

ogy". Occasionally there is emphasis on 'Evangelism' 

with pros 

pects being told of the clubby atmosphere, the beautiful service, and 

the chance to meet the best people. If they have liberal views about 

religion and morality 

so much the better. It would be a shame to 

spoil the fellowship by getting any of those folks, who continually 

harp 

on 'what the Bible 

version, heaven and hell, 

says' 

or get hot and bothered about con 

and other 'old fashioned twaddle.' " 

RITUALISM IN CHURCHES 

That many churches have lost their contact with God is evidenced 

by the fact that they do not like to face sin and its consequences. 

Thus they are substituting ritualism for spirituality. More and more 

is being 

made of Easter and pre-Easter services. Lent is now ob 

served by many Protestant churches. Palm-Sunday, Ash-Wednesday, 

Maundy-Thursday, Good-Friday are all a part of the pre-Easter 

week. The lighted cross occupies a conspicuous place in many Prot 

estant churches. Pulpits are being placed at the side of the church 

and an improvised altar, with its Bible, candles, communion elements, 

and cross is being given the preferable place at the center. Em 

phasis is being placed upon two, three or four robed choirs and their 

anthems, and the preacher is becoming more and more just a mastei 

of ceremonies. The people, all the while, are being moved farther 

and farther away from the service. They remain seated through the 

prayers, in fact through almost the entire service. They have come 

to watch a performance.and that is about as far as it reaches. 

The editor of a weekly newspaper wanted to tell his community 

about the Easter Cantata that was to foe presented that week ,and 

how they needed $500.00 to pay the expenses. He made an appeal for 

support in these words: 

"It is our claim that the two dozen or so kindhearted individuals 

who underwrote the project should not have to pay the fiddler for 

the enjoyment of the entire community. This means that Spencer 

Hall should be filled to capacity on Palm Sunday night, and when 

the plate is passed, there should be plenty 

of that noiseless kind of 

money dropped into the plate. So, when you arise for the Hallelujah 

chorus, the Messiah's seventh inning stretch, 

on the old coin 

purse." 

CHURCH AND STATE 

get the zipper undone 

But while there may be a dearth of serious thinking in the matter 

of religious worship, there has been some very serious thinking in 

the matter of the relationship between church and state, and the 

state's relationship to Christ. 

Concern over this matter started several years ago when our Presi 

dent "appointed a man to be his personal ambassador to the Pope. 

This concern increased as the Roman Catholic Church began to de 

mand that public school busses be required to carry parochial school 

scholars to and from school. 

Thus there arose among Protestants strong organizations to com- 

and can do things. Having visited a number 

of the societies, I know whereof I speak, and 

having seen your zeal in providing some 

special gifts for use in our Mission stations, 

I am persuaded that you are a potential force 

in our church. 

Now you want to know something of 

Cyprus and of our work there. The Island 

has a population of about 450,000 people 

made up mostly of Greeks, Turks and Ar 

menians. It has a semi-tropical climate, and 

fresh fruits and vegetables may be had from 

the gardens any time of the year. There are 

beautiful mountains where people of mod 

erate means can go to avoid the long and 

monotonous summer heat of the plains. 

On the east coast of Cyprus is the port of 

Famagusta, the only place where ships can 

dock. Six miles to the east are the ruins of 

ancient Salamis. Along the coast to the 

south lie Larnaca, then Limassol where small 

boats take passengers out to the steamships. 

Farther west lies the ancient village of 

Paphos with the modern town of Ktima a 

mile inward. On the north coast is the pretty 

little town of Kyrenia having the beautiful 

Kyrenia hills as its background. Inland 

towns include the capital, Nicosia, and while 

this is the only so-called town, there are large 

villages such as, Morphou, Lefka, Pedoulas 

and Lefkara. There are a few small rivers, so 

they ate called, but they are usually dry all 

summer. In the mountains one may find a 

number of streams rushing down the moun 

tain side all summer. These make lovely 

picnic spots. 

In Nicosia our church has a school for 

girls where about 300 are enrolled. This 

school has a Kindergarten and Elementary 

school for boys and girls between the ages 

of five and twelve. Above that only girls are 

accepted. Regular school subjects are taught 

but the Bible is included every day among 

these lessons. Of course we do not accomplish 

as much as we would like to, but there are 

some results and it is up to all of you Juniors 

and every one in our church to pray that the 

Lord will bless the seed sown so that Satan 

will be kept from sowing weeds. We do thank 

God that reports from our recent annual week 

of evangelistic meetings show that a number 

of boys and a few girls had come out on the 

Lord's side. Now we must pray that they will 

"grow in grace and in the knowledge of our 

Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ"- 

Our church has a school for boys in 

Larnaca. There is not such a large Elementary 

school there, but the other departments are 

larger and they have a few girls in their 

school of over 400 pupils. In both Larnaca and 

Nicosia there are organized 

congregations of 

our church, and the boarding students, that 

is the ones who live in the school all during 

the school year, go to Sabbath School and 

church every Sabbath. 

Most of our students come from the towns 

and villages of Cyprus, but we do have quite 

a number from outside the Island too. Dur-

ing 

July 14, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS W^ 

the recess and noon periods of our school 

day you can see girls walking up and down 

the school grounds in two's or three's or 

larger groups chatting or doing last minute 

study before their next recitation. They may 

be suddenly interrupted by the entrance of a 

football with which the younger children are 

playing, or by the little ones bumping into 

them as they 

chase one another around. Of 

course a larger play ground would provide 

proper facilities for all age groups. 

Cyprus is a very interesting place to work 

and I hope many of you Juniors are planning 

on entering the Mission work of the church 

so that the future of the work abroad for our 

Lord will be assured. 

Some things to do: 

1. Locate Cyprus on a map 

of its larger towns. 

and name four 

2. In which ones does our church have mis 

sion work? 

3. Name the missionaries there and pray 

for each one. 

4. On a piece of paper write down as many 

ways as you can in which you can help the 

mission work in Cyprus. 

5. Start (if you do not already have one) 

scrapbooks of the different mission stations, 

putting in just anything you want to about 

them. 



BARUCH, THE SCRIBE 

Jer. 32: 6-15; 36-37; 43:5, 6 

The lesson just preceding took us back to 

the early days of the kingdom of Israel. To 

day's lesson brings us down some 450 years 

to the time when Israel as a kingdom was 

nearing its end. It will be seen in our study of 

this lesson that the book bearing Jeremiah's 

name is not arranged in strictly chronological 

order. It is not regarded as a historical book, 

though it has some history in it, our lesson 

narrative. The events described in it 

being 

took place at Jerusalem for the most part, 

though Anathoth, near to Jerusalem, is men 

tioned. 

Jeremiah has been termed "the Weeping 

Prophet," since most of his writings, and 

especially his 

"Lamentations," 

are deeply 

tinged with sorrow and suffering. Baruch 

the scribe comes into the picture somewhat 

incidentally, though the part he takes is in 

no sense unimportant. As is true of the other 

characters that we have for our study during 

this quarter, it is also true of Baruch that 

he cannot foe studied alone. Other characters, 

some of them more conspicuous than he, must 

be recognized and given a place in order that 

we may rightly understand and judge this 

man whose case we have for our considera 

tion. Two main thoughts merit our attention. 

I. HE RECORDS A BUSINESS TRANS 

ACTION. Chap. 32:6-15. 

These verses record an event that occurred 

near the end of the kingdom of Judah as an 

independent nation, and when her doom was 

bat this influence, such as '"The Joint Conference Committee of the 

Baptists," 

York" 

"The Protestant Council of the City of New and 

"Protestants and other Americans United for Separation of Church 

and State." 

Along with agitation over the Roman Catholic issue, came reason 

for agitation from another source. Mrs. Vashti McCollum, an avowed 

atheist of Champaign, Illinois, demanded that Released Time Bible 

teaching be discontinued in our public schools. The case was decided 

against her in the state of Illinois, but the Supreme Court of the 

United States by 

23 

an 8 to 1 vote ruled that such released time re 

ligious instruction was illegal. This decision effected over 2,000,000 

youth in our country who were receiving religious instruction under 

this program. 

JESUS CHRIST GOVERNOR OF NATIONS 

By this decision the whole problem of the relation between a na 

tion and her Saviour-King has become wide open. The only solution 

is to put our nation on an undeniable Christian foundation by the 

adoption of the Christian Amendment now pending in Congress. 

Some people are not looking beyond the situation just as it is, and 

are trying to see how this Supreme Court decision can work out for 

the good of Christian people. The committee of "The National Ass'n. 

of Evangelicals," 

appointed to prepare a restatement of the Christian 

Philosophy of Religion, commenting on this Supreme Court decision, 

said: 

"If religious instruction on a voluntary basis violates the rights 

of the atheist who is free to absent himself from such instruction, 

none can deny that the teachings of naturalism and materialism with 

their atheistic implications, given in classes which Christians are re 

quired to attend, 

violate religious freedom and constitute govern 

mental interference with matters of faith. A nationwide protest 

against anti-Christian teaching in grade schools, high schools, state 

colleges and state universities. . . . will make a Christian impact up 

on school and society 

memorable in the history of our democracy. 

Public schools belong to Christians as well as to atheists. . . .This de 

cision of the Supreme Court against religious instruction may well 

become a sounding board for Christian protest against atheistic in 

struction." 

(U.E.A. April 1, '48) 

Another proposed plan has come from some of our religious lead 

ers who joined forces with the atheists and freethinkers to urge de 

feat of the "released time" 

program. These now fear the oncoming 

tides of secularism and so are proposing an amendment to the Con 

stitution providing "religious instruction in the schools without 

church 

sponsorship." 

But how dangerous that would be if religious 

instruction were placed in the hands of atheistical teachers! 

The only solution to this whole problem is to place our nation, our 

government, our schools all under Jesus Christ the great Moral Gov 

church leaders in dif 

ernor. This is the conclusion being reached by 

ferent quarters. 

Dr. Luther A. Weigle wrote in the November issue of "Social Ac 

tion", the Congregational Church Monthly magazine: 

"The religious freedom of the citizen includes his right to hold the 

state itself responsible to the moral law and to God. Religious free 

dom is not freedom FROM the responsibilities and duties of citizen 

ship; it is freedom FOR these duties 

"The separation of church and state is a sound principle, but one 

that is much misunderstood It does not mean that the state 

acknowledges no God, 

or that the state is exempt from the moral 

law wherewith God sets the bounds of justice for nations as well as 

for individuals. 

"The separation of church and state is not in itself enough The 

phrase 'separation of church and 

state' 

is merely 

negative. It too 

easily lends itself to the idea that state and church are without com 

mon interests, and to the doctrine that the state should be purely 

secular, without God, above or below the moral law, and should, in 

short, belong to the devil." 

JESUS CHRIST THE JUDGE OF NATIONS 

To further help in seeing clearly 

example of a nation prostrated because it refused to be governed by 

where we are going, we have the


God. Out of the debris, of what was once proud Germany, we do hear 

voices of Christian leadership calling to us, "Except ye repent, ye 

shall all likewise 

perish." 

Dr. Helmut Thielicke, professor of theology 

sity, and a leader of the Confessing Church during 

at Tubingen Univer 

the war years 

wrote in "The Lutheran", the periodical of the United Lutheran 

Church for January this year, 

in which he says: 

an article on "It Happened to us First" 

"If the communication of men with God is broken off, the founda 

tion on which it stands, and which alone enables it to live, is taken 

away from him. At the Diet of Worms a man like Martin Luther 

could say, "HERE I STAND. I CAN DO NO OTHER, SO HELP ME 

GOD" 

for the very reason that he felt responsible to God and pos 

sessed a stable and solid foundation but.... he who has lost con 

tact with the living God is apt to succumb to dictatorship 

easily. . . . 

"I am going to repeat this sentence of decisive importance: He who 

has given up communication with God is apt to fall an easy prey to 

unscrupulous dictators. Would that the Anglo-Saxon nations will foe 

sensitive to the warnings of the German Church. They 

are standing 

in the sheltering protection of a windbreak of well established sacred 

traditions which seem to prevent an open outbreak of a latent secu 

larism, or rather stave it off for the time being. . . .but they 

must 

not think that these traditions will not foe in the same manner sub 

jected to the internal process of being hallowed out. 

"If England and America abandon their ultimate religious founda 

tion and become more and more subjected to the disease of secular 

ism then the end of democracy will be liable to come quickly. The 

critical point is that the ultimate basis of social life and especially 

of democratic life is either a religious nature or does not exist at all. 

Would that the world would give credit to the Church in Germany as 

having 

special experience in these things." 

A book just off the press this year entitled "THE KINGSHIP OF 

CHRIST" 

by Dr. W. A. Visser 't Hooft, 

a man who has been for ten 

years secretary of the World Council of Churches, shows that the 

Confessing Church of Germany found under persecution the great 

need of having Christ, the Great Moral Governor, at the head of the 

nation. 

The main thesis of the book seems to be that the teaching of the 

Kingship of Christ is a neglected truth, and that the church must 

preach this great doctrine if the world is to be saved from destruc 

tion. Dr. 't Hooft says of the book that it is "An Interpretation of 

Recent European Theology". He quotes Dr. Karl Barth, and some 

humanism is to be detected in the book, but on the one great thesis 

that the preaching of the Kingship of Jesus Christ is a long neg 

lected truth, it is a most challenging book. The book gives many 

quotations from statements made by the Confessing Church of Ger 

many of which here are a few: 

The General Synod of the Netherlands Reformed Church said in a 

pastoral letter: 

they 

"The authorities are subjects of the King of kings, by 

whose grace 

rule and to whom authorities and subjects alike owe obedience". 

The Confessing Synod of the Old Prussian Union in Dahlem said 

in 1935: 

"Bound to God's word the church is obligated to witness before 

state and nation to the unique sovereignty of Jesus Christ, who alone 

has the power to bind and loose 

consciences." 

The Confessing- Synod of Schleswig-Holstein declared in 1943: 

"The church cannot recognize the existence of realms which are a 

law unto themselves and are not subject to the Lordship 

of Christ 

.... The Church must deny its confession, if it seeks refuge away 

from public life and maintains silence concerning 

the claims of the 

Lord Jesus Christ in judgment and grace over the issues of political 

and national life such as war, law, economics, 

etc." 

In the Far East, the Chinese Civil War goes steadily on, 

with in 

flation rising alarminggly by the hour. We wonder how soon some 

thing will break in that severely judged nation. In Japan the ques 

tion still remains as to the conversion of Emperor Hirohito to Chris 

tianity. One recent encouraging feature is the fact that the Emperor 

certain, as the army of Nebuchadnezzar was 

already 

at the walls of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 

the prophet was a prisoner because of his 

repeated and courageous declarations through 

the years that the Chaldeans would take 

Jerusalem, and that king Zedeldah would be 

made a captive. It was while the prophet was 

in prison that it was revealed to him that a 

relative would soon come to him, telling him 

that he should purchase a field in Anathoth 

because, according to Jewish law, it was his 

right to do so. Shortly after he had this word 

from the Lord, a relative, Hanameel by 

name, came and spoke the very words that 

Jeremiah had heard before, so that he knew 

the word was from the Lord. In fulfilment of 

this command, Jeremiah 'bought the field. It 

is at this point in the narrative that mention 

is made of Baruch, the son of Neriah, who 

was employed by Jeremiah as his secretary, 

and who attended' 

to the details in connection 

with the closing of the land deal. 

It may 

seem strange that Jeremiah should 

have made a purchase of real estate in a 

country which, as he had foretold, was just on 

the verge of falling into the hands of an 

enemy 

country. That this was an exhibition 

of faith cannot be doubted. Verse 15 is God's 

promise that Israel shall be restored to their 

own land, and later verses in the chapter con 

tain additional assurances of like character. 

Speaking 

of Jeremiah's faith in God's assur 

ances one writer has said: "In the midst of all 

the darkness of this dark time, here was a 

man walking in the light. Here we have a 

picture of the obedience of faith, of how faith 

accounts for the fact that its action is reason 

able, cautious, legal, accurate. Faith is never 

fanatical. Jeremiah did not buy the field as 

the result of his calculations of circum 

stances. His reason for buying it was that he 

believed God, and the certainty that whatever 

God said must be right. Faith is taking God 

into account and obeying Him without re 

serve." 

Jeremiah was another of those Old 

Testament heroes who "by faith" 

divine commandment, nothing doubting. 

obeyed the 

II. HE WRITES AND READS ALOUD THEl 

PROPHET'S MESSAGE. Chap. 36. 

This part of the lesson takes us back al 

most twenty years to the reign of a former 

king, Jehoiachim by name, king 

of Judah, an 

account of whose reign is recorded in 2 Kings 

23-24. Jeremiah appears to have spent a good 

deal of time in prison because of his faithful 

ness and fearlessness in denouncing the sins 

of the nation, and proclaiming future punish 

ment as the penalty to be suffered as a result. 

While in prison the word of the Lord came 

to him, commanding him to write 

what was 

to be revealed to him. Then it was that he 

first called Baruch into his service as his 

scribe, or secretary. His duty was to write 

what the prophet dictated. Just how many of 

Jeremiah's previous prophecies were included 

in this roll is not stated. It would 

seem but 

reasonable to suppose that the substance, if 

not the entire contents of the first twenty


did not go to the annual Shinto Festival of the Imperial Ancestors' 

Spirits, and the only reason given for his absence was, 

didn't bother to go". 

"He just 

JESUS CHRIST AND THE MORALS OF A NATION 

We have said nothing in this report so far about the more com 

mon reasons for fasting and prayer, such as the ravag-es of a 

$9,000,000,000.00 liquor traffic, which isn't yet satisfied with what 

it has, but is this year trying to break a 67 year old prohibition law 

in the state of Kansas as she does her ruthless work of ruining lives 

with booze. We have not mentioned the diabolical work of the to 

bacco companies, and the gambling syndicates, 

nor the great sin of 

our nation in making easy divorce laws which have resulted in one 

third as many divorces as marriages. 

But it seems that these great evils, as wretched as they are, have 

been overshadowed this year by the action of the Supreme Court in 

barring Bible teaching from our public schools; thus we have cen 

tered this report on our nation's attitude toward Jesus Christ. This 

is doubly important since the Christian Amendmnet Bill is still pend 

ing in the Congressional Committee. We believe that the one solu 

tion for all the ills of our nation, and of the people ol this nation, is 

to give Jesus Christ His rightful place at the head. 

With this as our goal, with Christ as our hope, Synod appoints 

Thursday of the Week of Prayer as a day of humiliation and prayer, 

and Thursday, November 25th, in the United States, and the usual 

day in Canada to foe observed as a day of Thanksgiving to God for 

His great mercies and His manifold blessings. 

be sent. 

SIGNED: 

A. J. McFarland H. E. McKelvy 

Harold F. Thompson A. W. Smith 

Members of Committee. 

Report of the Nominating Committee 

1. Moderator's Alternate to preach Sermon at next Synod. 

J. B. Tweed. 

2. Committee on Resolutions of Thanks for this Synod. 

Luther McFarland, F. L. Stewart, M. F. Murphy. 

3. Committee on Arrangements for next meeting of Synod. 

Paul D. McCracken, C. T.Carson, S. Bruce Willson. 

4. Those to whom and by 

To A. I. Robb by E. A. Crooks 

To P. J. McDonald by J. K. Robb 

whom letters of remembrance are to 

To G. R. McBurney by W. O. Ferguson 

To A. J. McFarland by T. M. Slater 

To Walter McCarroll by F. M. Wilson 

5. Elders to write congregations not having an elder present: 

Oakdale Frank Beard Montclair David McFarland 

Selma David Bennett 

Lake Reno Guy Black 

Sharon J. B. Cannon 

Winnipeg J. A. Carson 

Beulah W. J. Crockett 

Cache Creek S. D. Crockett 

Denison W. G. Dodds 

Eskridge D. Finley Faris 

Kansas City E. N. Harsh 

Sterling George D. Hill 

Superior Raymond Joseph 

Barnet John C. Fullerton 

Cambridge Fred Huefoner 

Barnesville Russell Lathom 

Cornwallis T. G. McClintock 

New York.. Geo. W. McFarland 

Cincinnati J. H. McGee 

New Concord Ralph McKeown 

White Cottage . Zenas McMurtry 

Utica Ralph Mathews 

Fresno T. M. Pattison 

Portland .... Samuel J. Robinson 

Seattle Millard Russell 

1st Philadelphia. . 

.R. E. 

3rd Philadelphia. . .F. W. 

Smith 

Sproul 

Connellsville W. R. White 

Mercer R. M. Young 

Lisbon James Beatty 

Lochiel W. W. Copeland 

Toronto Henry Dunlop 

6. Vacancies on Boards and Committees: 

Board of PublicationLester Kilpatrick, S. Bruce Willson, J. 

G. Vos. 

Witness Committee Samuel E.. Boyle, J. S. Tibby, Howard 

George, D. Howard Elliott, Robert MoConaughy. 

chapters of the Book of Jeremiah, 

was in 

cluded in the roll. The prophet then com 

manded Baruch to take the roll he had written 

and read it publicly, so that people from a 

distance might have opportunity to hear it. 

Jeremiah evidently cherished the hope that 

the nation would, even at the eleventh hour, 

repent, and thus escape the penalty 

sins (see v. 7). 

of its 

The roll was read three times in all, twice 

by Baruch and once, the third time, by Jehudi. 

The first reading was for the public, and 

among the listeners was a man named 

Micaiah, 

not the prophet, who, after hearing 

what the roll contained, 

went to where the 

princes were assembled, and told them of 

what Baruch had read. They at once sent for 

Baruch, and had him read the roll to them, 

which he did. On hearing the roll the princes 

became greatly disturbed, and demanded to 

know how he had received the word that he 

had just read to them. His reply was that he 

had read just what Jeremiah had instructed 

him to write. The princes then decided that 

the king ought to hear what the roll con 

tained. At the same time they were evidently 

somewhat apprehensive as to how it would be 

received by him, and thoug-ht that both 

Jeremiah and Baruch might be made to suf 

fer as a consequence of their being 

so close 

ly identified with the roll and its contents. 

The roll was then placed in the hands of 

Jehudi to be read in the king's hearing. The 

king apparently did not listen to more than 

a small portion of what the roll contained, 

but became angry 

at what he had heard, and 

displayed his anger by seizing the roll and 

cutting it in pieces, and throwing the frag 

ments in the fire. 

"So the penknife made war on the 

pen," 

and the malice of a despot sought to efface 

the life work of a prophet. The whole episode 

may 

be taken as a symbol of the time. Not 

more than generation had passed since 

another book was brought to another king, 

and in the same city. The searchings of heart 

that it caused, the reverence with which it 

was received and handled, the effcts it pro 

duced, may all be learned by reading 2 

Kings chapter 22. The king and the men 

about him were shaken by that earlier word. 

But nothing shook the wicked and ill- 

tempered king, his officials and ecclesiastics, 

all except three, who witnessed the later 

destruction of another, and a later and 

greater book of God's Word. 

And yet the callousness of Jehoiachim is 

being- repeated in intent in our own time. 

Men called ministers of the Word, speaking 

from their pulpits, and teachers before their 

classes, hold up to scorn and ridicule the 

most sacred things of the Christian faith, 

and jeer at His miracles. The foes of the 

Word have been and are, 

most malignant 

and persistent in their efforts to destroy it. 

It has been bound and chained and burned 

in a vain effort to blot it out. Such crude


Theological Seminary F. M. Wilson, Robert McMillan, S. Bruce 

Willson, Robert McConaughy. 

Temperance Committee J. O. Edgar, Paul Wright, Mrs. G. I. 

Wilcox. 

Board of Foreign' 

Missions F. M. Wilson, W. C. McClurkin, 

Robert Edgar, J. Paul Wilson, G. M. Robb, S. T. Stewart. 

Evangelistic Committee J. E. McElroy, J. L. Wright. 

Home Mission Board Robert Clarke, R. A. Blair, J. G. McEl 

hinney, Robert McMillan, J. M. Allen, J. S. Tibby, Chester Fox to 

succeed Robert McConaughy, M. F. Murphy to succeed J. R. Lathom. 

Board of Christian Education E. R. Carson, Bruce Stewart. 

Board of Church Erection D. R. Taggart, R. W. Speer. 

Synod Member of Board of Corporators of Geneva CollegeJ. 

S. Tibby. 

Stewart 

Assistant on Traveling Fund Committee for 1949 Bruce 

Board of Control M. W. Dougherty, Merritt McElhinney. 

Jewish Mission Board Joseph M. Steele, Mrs. S. E. Greer. 

Synod's Board of Trustees R. M. Young, John M. Anderson, 

Charles H. Haslett. 

Committee on Stewardship David Carson. 

7. Special Committees which we appointed: 

Special Committee to act on Correspondence Paul Coleman, F. 

F. Reade, W. R. White. 

Prayer Meeting Topics Committee Walter McCarroll, Gordon 

Betts, R. E. Smith. 

Psalter Revision C. E. Caskey, G. M. Robb, David Carson. 

Treasurer of Board of Foreign Missions J. S. Tibby. 

Committee on Limited Pastorates M. S. McMillan, J. C. 

Mathews, Samuel Crockett, J. A. Carson, W. J. McBurney, E. G. 

Russell. 

Committee to consider equalization of Ministers and Elders at 

the meetings of Synod J. G. McElhinney, J. Ren Patterson, Fenton 

Farley, Carl Murphy. 

Special Committee to study Close Communion E. L. McKnight, 

F. E. Allen, C. E. Caskey. 

Committee on Social Justice Term Expires 

John Coleman, Claude Brown 1949 

Paul White, J. Dale Russell 1950 

R. M. Carson, W. McCarroll 1951 

Committee A. W. Smith, E. R. Hemphill, T. R. Hutcheson, 

Ralph Mathews, W. W. Copeland. 

Prayer Meeting Topic 


THE KIND OF KING THE PEOPLE 

Psalms: 

WANTED, GIVEN THEM 

I Samuel 9:1-27; 10:1, 17-27 

Psalm 145: 1-3, No. 389 

Psalm 72:1-6, No. 190 

Psalm 85:1-4, No. 229 

Psalm 110:1-6, No. 305 

Comments : 

By the Rev. Paul E. Faris 

The passages of Scripture are long 

and should be read before you read 

these comments. That should be our 

practice in all Bible study. Give God's 

Word first place. 

The children of Israel had made 

their request to Samuel that they 

might have a king like the nations 

about them. In our chapters we see 

how God gave them a king 

after the 

desires of their hearts. While we are 

not under a king, 

our nation does get 

methods have been abandoned in our day, but 

the work of attempted destruction still goes 

on. The greatest effort of the present is to 

discredit the Bible, and thus to undermine the 

believer's faith, a more insidious, and there 

fore a more dangerous foe than all that have 

preceded it. But the roll destroyed by Je- 

hoiachim was replaced by another and greater 

one. The parchment was destroyed, but not 

the truth inscribed on it. "Heaven and earth 

shall pass away, but My Word shall not pass 

away." 

The latest word concerning Baruch is 

found in Chap. 43:6, which "tells of his being 

on his way to Egypt, a prisoner. Another 

reference is in Chap. 45, but in point of 

time goes back to the reign of Jehoiachim, 

when Baruch wrote the roll for Jeremiah. 

And it is not without regret that we find in 

those final words something of reproof 

spoken by the prophet himself, 

at the Lord's 

command. Verse 3 would seem to imply that 

the scribe had been making complaint be 

cause of his unhappy lot. In verse 5 is an 

implied charge that he had thought himself 

worthy 

of a higher place than he had been 

given. "Seekest thou great things for thy 

self? Seek them 

following 

the kind of a president it desires; 

schools seek the teachers which they 

like, and our churches get the kind 

of a preacher they want or attempt 

to make him that way after they 

secure him. There are untold ways 

in which you may apply this lesson. 

The first part of our Scripture 

passage pictures the future king be 

fore any man knows anything about 

his future work. God points out the 

man in a short preview; there are 

qualities shown here that are what 

the people had wanted. The sad thing 

is that some of these same qualities 

will show up later in life. We know 

that today, 

and when we seek a per 

son to fill a place of responsibility 

we feel that it is best to know 

something 

work. 

of his former life and 

These are some of the things we 

find in Saul's life: He is from a fam 

ily 

of means. His father was "a 

not." 

One writer gives the 

estimate of Baruch: "He stands 

before us as a man of fine character and rare 

spiritual gifts, the promise of which was 

marred by an admixture of baser elements. 

He never became the man he might have been 

because he was too eagerly bent on being 

men." 

seen of This is one man's judgment. 

The reader may take or leave it. "Judge not 

that ye be not judged." 

"Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, 

be sober, and hope to the end for the grace 

that is to be brought unto you at the revela 

tion of Jesus Christ." 

mighty man of 

power" 

I. Peter 1:13. 

a marginal 

reading 

for power. The people no doubt 

gives the word "substance" 

wanted a king with substance; al 

though as they looked at the other 

kings, they probably failed to see 

that those kings got their substance 

by demanding it from the people; 

they would find later that their 

kings got their wealth in the same 

way. He also had a stately and com 

manding personality. They wanted a 

king of whom they could be proud 

as he led the people. Saul was tall 

and carried himself well. If good 

looks counted, he had it. He was dili 

gent in his work; this is shown in his 

search for his father's asses. Follow 

him over that country 

on foot, and 

you will understand. He did not give 

up easily. Another quality that must 

have been noticed in the other kings 

is in Saul too. He knew nothing 

about the Lord's servant; from this


we take it that he was a man of the 

world and nothing more. It was 

through his servant that they went 

to Samuel. 

The last part of the ninth chapter 

tells us of the meeting of the old 

leader of Israel and the new leader. 

The Lord told Samuel that this was 

the man of whom He had told him. 

Samuel tells Saul that the asses have 

been found; he treats him royally 

though Saul is to take his place. He 

takes him to the sacrifice and later 

provides a feast in his honor. They 

talk of things about which we are 

not told that night, and early the 

next morning 

Samuel starts him on 

the road home. Before they separate 

Samuel anoints Saul as king. The 

verses which are left out of this 

study tell of certain events which 

Samuel predicts will happen on Saul's 

journey home; this is done to show 

the new king that it is from the 

Lord and not of man. 

The last portion of Scripture tells 

of the election or the means by 

which the people found who the king 

was. He was pointed out by the lot 

which was the method used by God's 

people when they were in doubt about 

the Lord's will. It turned out that 

Saul was the man, and he was hiding 

in the stuff. He knew that he was 

to be the one, and he hid. But by lot 

they found his hiding 

place. Then 

went up that now well-known shout, 

"God save the king." 

The closing verses show us Sam 

uel reminding the people "the man 

ner of the kingdom" 

before he sends 

them home. Saul was accompanied 

by "a band of men whose hearts God 

had touched." 

Another (group de 

spised him, but Saul "held his 

peace." 

God's providence is shown in a real 

way in these chapters; He knew the 

one who was the man for the job. 

Yet as you read the story He did not 

force the servant to make Saul go 

to Samuel; He did not make the 

maidens be at that place outside the 

city. If you were to ask them, they 

would have said it was their own 

idea. In the same way God is still on 

the throne in heaven, and guides men 

to the leaders they want; He gives 

people what they want to 

degree today. 

a large 

It seems that we should look into 

our own hearts and see what kind of 

desires we have as a people. Are we 

through with the Samuels ? Do we 

want men like Saul instead? This is 

important, because in our many 

fields of endeavor the kind of leaders 

we have will be the kind of people 

we have desired. "Choose you this 

day 

whom ye will 

Assignments 

serve." 

1. What were the qualities in 

Saul's life which made him the kind 

of a king the people wanted? How 

do our national leaders compare in 

relation to these same qualities 

2. Relate how Saul was made 

known to Samuel and the people. 

Does God guide a democratic nation 

to the leader they need ? 

3. When Saul was told he was to 

be king, did he realize his responsi 

bilities to God ? Did the anointing 

and election change his life toward 

God? 

4. What were the reactions of the 

various groups to the new king? 

Were they 

people today. 

Prayer for 

right? Compare with the 

Suggestions For Pfrayer 

(spoken and unspoken) 

The application of these chapters 

to our hearts; that the lesson which 

God has for every person at prayer 

meeting may be made plain. For those 

who do not feel the value in social 

prayer, that they may be awakened 

to their needs. The awakening 

of the 

ministers and the members of our 

churches that there may be growth 

in spirituality, that we may re 

member that we are witnesses for 

Christ. 

The Young People's conferences to 

be held this month. 

W. M. S. Department 

Mrs. E. Greeta Coleman, Dept. Editor 

SYNODICAL PRAYER HOUR 

Monday 

1:00 P. M. 

Comments for the August Topic 

By Mrs. Wilson McMahan 

THE CHRISTIANS WALK: 

IN HUMILITY 

Micah 6:1-8 

As we go about our daily Chris 

tian Walk in this life, we must carry 

with us a spirit of humility. 

We are humble in God's sight, first 

because we are His creatures. In 

Gen. 1:27 we read "God created 

man in his own image, in the image 

of God created he him: male and 

female created he them." 

Eph. 2:10 

plainly states, "For we are his work 

manship, created in Christ Jesus un 

to good works, which God hath be 

fore ordained that we should walk in 

them. If it were not for the fact 

that a loving Heavenly Father cre 

ated us, we would not be alive, or in 

His beautiful world. We are de 

pendent on Him for all our material, 

as well as spiritual blessings. We 

have seen the results of such dis 

asters as tornadoes, floods and 

droughts, and have experienced grief 

over the loss of loved ones. We, in our 

human frailty have asked, "Why?" 

We turn to God's inspired word and 

immediately know that we are de 

pendent on Him for everything we 

possess, and for the very breath we 

draw. In view of all this, need we not 

be humble? 

Second, 

we should be humble be 

cause of our sins. Romans 3:23 re 

minds us that, "All have- sinned and 

God." 

come short of the glory of We 

cannot measure the breadth and 

length, 

depth nor height of God's 

great love for us, in the giving of 

whom we have salvation by His 

death on the cross. Is it not a won 

derful privilege to humbly bow be 

fore our Redeemer, and seek for 

giveness, 

and to know that "The 

blood of Christ cleanseth from all 

sin?" 

We do indeed need to realize our 

humility and say, Thou God seest 

me. We, of our own selves, 

can do 

nothing to earn our salvation, or the 

forgiveness of sin. "For by grace are 

ye saved through faith; and that not 

of yourselves: it is the gift of God" 

(Eph. 2:8). Again we read ".... 

where sin abounded, 

more 

grace did much 

abound" 

(Romans 5:20). 

We ofttimes, perhaps without 

realizing it, may 

feel a bit superior 

to a person of another color, 

creed, 

race or 

or to someone who lives across 

the tracks. We are recipients of 

God's free grace, and should re 

member that, but for the 

there go I. 

grace of 

God, 

May we, 

as a society, and as in 

dividuals, ever be on the alert, look 

ing for ways to better serve our 

Lord and Master. May we humbly 

submit our lives to Him, and al 

ways seek to glorify Him by our 

Pacific Coast 

C. Y. P. U. Conference 

Time: July 28 Aug. 2. 




Highway 10. 

on U. S. 




Washington.


Christian Walk. Let us sing with 

the Psalmist, 

"Show me thy ways, 0 Lord, 

Thy paths, 0 teach thou me; 

And do thou lead me in thy truth, 

Therein my teacher be." 

LEAGUE OF 

COVENANTER 

INTERCESSORS 

"And all things whatsoever ye 

shall ask in prayer, believing, ye 

shall receive." 

Matt. 21:22 

Pray : 

1. That the prayer spirit, evident 

every day at the recent meeting of 

Synod, may be maintained and pro 

moted. 

2. That the spirit of high devotion 

and sphitual refreshing may be re 

membered and cherished rather than 

the spirit of heated discussion. 

3. That the calls for workers in 

our mission fields, in Kentucky, 

Philadelphia, Syria, Cyprus, and 

China, may be answered by conse 

crated young men and women. 

4. That the enlarged mission pro 

gram, which increases the annual 

Church budget from $78,000 to 

186,000, will call forth increased de 

votion of our God-given substance 

to His Kingdom enterprises. 

5. That the Lord will bless the 

plans for our C.Y.P.U. conferences 

this sumer. They 

will foe held near 

Seattle, Wash., Topeka, Kans., Syra 

cuse, Ind., Erie Penna,. and White 

Lake N. Y. 

6. That blessings, material and 

spiritual, will follow the 12,000 mile 

tour of the Geneva College Male 

Quartette through the congregations 

and conferences of the church in the 

interests of Geneva College and the 

Covenanter Crusade. 

7. That although the Chirstian 

Amendment was not given a hearing 

at the present session of Congress, 

we will not give over to a spirit of 

defeat but rather feel it to be a 

challenge to greater personal activ 

ity in exalting Christ over our 

nation. 

8. That the Lord will bless plans 

already under way to introduce the 

Christian Amendment into the next 

Congress. 

9. That the Holy Spirit will give us 

such a passion for souls that we shall 

say with Paul, "Woe is me if I do 

not 

evangelize." 

By 

Evangelistic Plans Already Before 

the Church 

the Rev. Remo I. Robb 

At the recent meeting of Synod the 

remark was made repeatedly that al 

though the Covenanter Crusade is 

widely talked about no plans have 

been proposed to carry it forward. It 

seemed to the writer that there have 

been many 

plans for evangelistic 

progress set before the Church over 

many 

years and that the Crusade is 

not intended to provide a new set of 

plans but rather it is a call to act on 

plans already 

already 

well known. 

made through methods 

During these summer months pas 

tors and people will be thinking in 

terms of how to plan their programs 

for the winter. The purpose of this 

article is to call attention to plans 

already offered to the Church, 

through excerpts from reports adopted 

by Synod in the past five years, and 

a few items from the booklet "The 

Covenanter Crusade," 

which was sent 

to the pastors last year in quantities 

sufficient for each member of session. 

In 1944 an Over All Plan of En 

deavor was adopted by 

Synod. Later it 

was published and sent out to all 

the ministers and elders of the 

Church. "Five 

things" 

were men 

tioned as essential to a successful 

plan of endeavor. Such a plan must 

be "spiritual, resourceful, construc 

tive, systematic, and based on faith. 

The Plan began, as does the Cru 

sade, with a spiritual emphasis. It 

stated: "It must be spiritual. It 

should begin with mining out the 

spiritual resources of the Church. 

It will mean re-building the spiri 

tual life of ourselves and of our 

people. Certainly 

ally 

our first need. 

this is fundament 

"We offer the following sug 

gestions: 

"1. Each minister plan to take off 

the second Monday of September to 

be alone with God and the Bible, for 

heart searching and prayer, honestly 

confessing and repenting of every 

known or discovered sin which may 

foe clogging the channels of power. 

Psalm 139:23, 24; Matthew 6:6. Let 

this be observed as a day of fasting 

and prayer. All spirit of bitterness 

and hurtful criticism of our brethren 

must be rooted out before we can 

expect any folessing from the Lord. 

Only 

a Church united in the spirit of 

love can prosper. 

"2. Call our sessions together for 

an afternoon or evening 

on the first 

Monday of October, for a similar 

purpose, and outline to them our 

plans for a revived Church. 

"3. Arrange for one or more re 

treats for pastors and elders and 

such other laymen as may be in 

terested. An extra day 

spent in con 

nection with meetings of presby 

teries would be an appropriate time." 

Many 

other suggestions were of 

fered in this plan for utilization of 

our resources for systematizing our 

work of prayer, calling, instruction 

and preaching. A careful review of 

pages 64-47, Minutes of Synod, 1944, 

will provide any 

minister or work- 

minded member with at least as 

many suggestions as he can faith 

fully can-y out. 

The Covenanter Crusade booklet, 

published in 1947, from pages 10 to 

16, contains items regarding person 

al and congregational activity. It 

suggests Bible Memory Courses so 

that workers may be better ac 

quainted with their Great Subject. 

It suggests also the steps necessary 

to any successful congregational ef 

fort, 

as follows: 

"a. Prayer. 

b. Frequent preaching on the 

subject and duty 

ning. 

c. A prospect list. 

of soul win 

d. The type of program best suited 

to each particular locality. 

e. A class or circle on plans and 

methods. 

f. A clinic of progress and results. 

g. A proper follow-up program to 

bring members into the Church." 

The Crusade booklet outlines also 

suggested Programs, from which a 

local group may 

determine the type 

best suited to its needs.. There will 

be found outlines for Evangelistic 

Meetings, Visitation Evangelism, 

Personal Work, and Tract Evangel 

ism. As a guide in Evangelistic 

Meetings let me suggest the little 

tract "Covenanter 

pages 8-14, available at 54 

Evangelism," 

each from 

my address; for Visitation Evangel 

ism, "Home Visitation Evangelism 

for Laymen," 

at 154 from the Amer 

ican Baptist Home Mission Society, 

212 Fifth Avenue, New York, 10, 

N. Y.; for Personal Work, "Fishers 

of 

men" 

at 604 from Zondervan Pub 

lishing Co., Grand Rapids, Mich.; 

and for Tract Evangelism, the 

American Tract Society, New York, 

N. Y., or Good News Publishers, 

Chicago, 111. Helps in preparing for


Covenanter Church membership are 

"Bible Truths for Young Christians" 

J. G. Vos, 15c from Service Print 

Shop, and "Handbook for Young 

Christians" 

D. H. Elliott, 10c, and 

"Young People's Handbook" 

W. J. 

McKnight, 5c, both from J. S. Tibby. 

A new and improved edition of the 

Covenanter Crusade booklet is now 

in the hands of the printer and will 

soon be available to all workers who 

desire copies. 

Still it is objected that these . plans 

are indefinite, and not worked out 

in sufficient detail. I feel that they 

are as definite and as detailed as 

any committee is able to make for 

the entire Church. The details that 

would work in a city might not work 

so well in rural localities, those 

that work well in the East might 

not be so easily 

applicable in the 

Midwest nor far West. And, it must 

be remembered, too, 

no committee 

nor secretary has authority to com 

pel any 

at any 

plan, 

one to work against his will 

plan. The will to work the 

whether definite or not so def 

inite, whether detailed or general, 

must come from local leaders. Pres 

byteries can help by adopting region 

al plans, and several presbyteries 

have done so, but their success too 

depends upon their implementation 

and activation by local leaders. 

In the Minutes of Synod for 1943, 

page 45, is the report of one min 

ister who decided to do something 

about working Synod's plans. He 

led his congregation to undertake to 

visit 75 families on one Sabbath 

afternoon. He states: "I drafted 

twenty-six 

workers and placed them 

in thirteen teams.. With one or two 

exceptions, all responded graciously. 

Then I filled out a card for every 

family 

with the names of the mem 

bers of the families so far as known 

to us. This made an average of about 

six cards for each team. 

"I then prepared a literature pack 

to be left in each home. This con 

tained five kinds which had been 

sent as samples. I first sent letters 

to every visitor setting the task be 

fore them, 

istry of Personal Work', 'The Lay 

man's Duty', 'Personal Prayer List'. 

and enclosed 'The Min 

The packet for each visiting team 

contained the cards with names and 

addresses to be visited, 

and literature 

for each family: "The Ministry of 

Prayer', 'What Christ Means to Me', 

'What the Church Means to Me', and 

a wall card'Christ in the Home'. 

"I preached on Sabbath morning 

from Job 22:21, 'Acquaintance with 

God'. I stressed acquainting others 

with Him. After church the visitors the Spirit through whose working 

had lunch at the church. Then I ex- alone "the Lord addeth daily to the 

plained the plan and gave them the Church such as should be 

material. After prayer we started 

out. The cards are now coming back, 

and most of the reports are good. ST"".^ R NOTP S 

We have good information to make 

use of if we but follow it up as we 

-"- 

' * 

saved." 

should. I think the visitors got a lot ***The annual Report of the 

out of it 

themselves." 

American Bible Society for 1947 

That is the way one man began, shows the Reformed Presbyterian 

and from one Sabbath afternoon of 

Church leads the denominations with 

evangelistic visitation by his con- contributions of $41.91 per member; 

gregation, "good information" 

was 

obtained "to make use of". The tract 

material he used was from the Board gar> 

th" Christian Reformed was second 

with gifts of $27.07. Rev. Robert Ed- 

pastor of New York congrega- 

of Missions, 156 Fifth Ave., New tion, is our representative. 

York, N. Y. It should be stated of ***Miss Irene Piper has been apthis 

as of all tract material that it pointed correspondent for the Oak- 

should be examined carefully before daie congregation. 

being 

ordered in quantities. ***^ visit to the Rehoboth Church 

From these excerpts it does not after an interval of two years found 

appear that the committee on Evan- it still further improved with electric 

gelism has failed to provide plans or lights. The inspiring view which 

methods for the Church to follow. those familiar with the place well 

Surely if every minister, out of the remember is somewhat marred by 

that can be seen in 

pastorate as well as within it, will coal stripping 

adopt for himself the proposal which three directons, but a new state law 

Synod adopted four years ago, 

and requires such workings to be leveled 

begin his fall and winter program and perhaps in a few years vegeta- 

with a day of prayer and fasting 

on tion or trees will hide the raw earth. 

the second Monday of September; The Jennie White farm right next 

and if every session would meet for to the church is coveted by the strip- 

an entire afternoon for prayer and pers and they have offered a high 

discussion of their local problems, price for it, but not for a while will 

with possible remedies for them, the good land of the fathers be 

early in October; and if our Pres- made a wilderness. J.C. 

byteries would take extra time for 

*** 

Mr. Will White of Rehoboth is 

planning presbyterial evangelistic engaged in an interesting undertak- 

action, we would open the door for ing. .After 

several decades of teach- 

The Witness Committee has a new supply of the follow 

ing tracts and they 

will make a wise distribution of them. 

will be sent free of cost to anyone who 

1. The Aim of the Distinctive Principles of the Covenanter Church 

2. "Christ's" 

or Separation from Christless Governments 

3. Is Christ in the Psalms? 

4. The Psalms the Heart of the Bible 

5. Instrumental Music in the Worship of God 

6. The Voice of the Ages Against Instrumental Music in Worship 

7. The Covenant of the Covenanters (Blue Cover) 

8. The Influence of Government on Religion 

9. Ten Reasons Why I Would Not Join a Secret Society 

10. Playing Indian The Essential Unreality of Secret Societies 

11. The Church vs. the Lodge 

12. Jesus Christ opposed to Organized Secrecy 

13. Free Masonry as a Religion 

These tracts may be secured from the Chairman of the 

Committee, 

J. Boyd Tweed, 

1805 Fourth Street, 

Riverview 

Beaver Falls, Pa.


ing in rural schools (he has just 

retired) he has concluded that the 

reading of eight or ten verses of the 

Bible often gets little attention, and 

has put out a sheet of 72 well- 

chosen verses that best present the 

heart of the Gospel. He has had his 

own pupils commit these and found 

that they took to it. (A bag 

of new 

pennies from the bank helped a 

little.) Neighboring schools took up 

the practice, and Mr. White has had 

orders from as far west as Colorado. 

He accompanies each leaflet with a 

second, containing an autobiograph 

ical confession of his Christian faith. 

His address is Mr. Will White, R. D. 

2, Kittanning, Pa. J.C. 

***Miss Mary E. Fowler, 87, resid 

ing five miles east of Xenia on the 

Columbus pike, died in Miami Valley 

hospital, Dayton, Monday at 10:40 

p. m. 

CHURCH NEWS 

MERCER, PENNA. 

Dr. W. J. McKnight of New York 

was our pastor at Communion sea 

son, conducting all services, due to 

the illness of our own pastor, Dr. W. 

T. K. Thompson. 

Rev. John Coleman, Rev. Park of 

Beaver Falls; Rev. Blair of Rose 

Point; Rev. C. E. Caskey of Fresno, 

California, have been very kind to 

conduct our Sabbath worship until 

Dr. Thompson's return to good 

health. 

The annual Congregational meet 

ing was held Saturday afternoon, 

May 1, after church services. 

The yearly reports were given and 

all accepted with thanks. All the of 

ficers were retained for next year 

in the Sabbath School. 

For the congregation the officers 

are as follows: Congregational Chair 

man, Miss Ruth Rodgers; Secretary, 

Miss Bertha McKnight; Treasurer, 

Mrs. Alfred Taylor; Corresponding 

Secretary, Mrs. Calvin McKnight. 

Margaret and Emma Jane, daugh 

ters of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Rodgers, 

have been quite ill but at this time 

are better. 

We were glad to have with us at 

the Communion season, Miss Anna 

McKnight of Eastbrcok, Miss Ruth 

Rodgers of Greenville, Dr. and Mrs. 

Alfred Taylor and son Allan, Miss 

Eleanor Taylor, and Dr. Melville 

Allen of Cleveland. 

At the close of Sabbath morning 

worship May 29, Rev. C. E. Caskey 

read to the congregation the resig 

nation of Dr. W. T. K. Thompson. 

The resignation was accepted with 

deep 

regret. The best wishes of the 

congreation are extended "to Dr. and 

Mrs. Thompson in their retiring 

years. May they enjoy health and 

happiness together, and may God 

bless them. 

Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Taylor, James 

McKnight, Ralph McKnight, Bertha 

McKnight, Mr. and Mrs. Clyde 

Rhodes, Grace and Raymond Rhodes 

attended Sabbath morning worship 

and afternoon prayer meeting at 

Geneva College, Beaver Falls, Sab 

bath, June 6. 

Clyde Rhodes is home and improv 

ing 

line-Rossman Hospital, Grove City. 

after a tonsil operation at Bash- 

Miss Eleanor Taylor, daughter of 

Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Taylor of Grove 

City, completed the secretarial 

course at Dyke and Spencerian Busi 

ness College, Cleveland, Ohio. 

Mrs. Jane Melissa McKee Winder, 

widow of R. S. Winder, Mercer, an 

invalid for eighteen years, died at 

her home Sabbath, June 20. 

A special meeting of the Mercer 

Congregation was held in the church 

Tuesday evening, June 22, for the 

purpose of making arrangements 

for Sabbath worship for the next 

three months. 

Rev. Melville Martin of Rose Point 

Congregation has been appointed our 

stated supply by Pittsburgh Pres 

bytery. 

The honor of "Pastor Emeritus" 

was conferred upon Dr. W. T. K. 

Thompson by the Mercer Congrega 

tion. 

BEULAH, NEBRASKA 

Bible School closed June 11 with a 

picnic for the children. We had 19 

enrolled and 15 with a perfect at 

tendance. 

Mr. and Mrs. Daniel McFarland 

celebrated their 50th wedding anni 

versary on Wednesday, Juaie 1


Miss Isabel Chambers was one of 

the teachers in the city of Vanport 

which was entirely destroyed by the 

flood. She is to teach in Portland 

next year. She received the degree 

of A.B., from Oregon University at 

Salem at the spring commencement. 

Stanley Chambers received the 

degree of Master of Arts from Ore 

gon State College at Corvallis at the 

spring commencement. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Chambers 

and children Lynn and Margaret live 

on a farm east of Vancouver, Wash. 

He is employed at a bakery in Port 

land. 

Elder and Mrs. John Chambers 

live at Lyle, Wash. They have re 

cently returned from an extended 

trip east visiting 

and Nebraska. 

relatives in Iowa 

Captain Robert Frazer, his wife 

and son Charles live in Portland. He 

is credit manager for Jantzen Knit 

ting Co. of Portland and is also a 

member of the National Guard. 

Mr. and Mrs. John Fonas and chil 

dren have recently 

moved from 

Cannon Beach to Portland where 

they have purchased and remodeled 

a home. It is fine that they 

near. 

are so 

Mr. Thomas Chambers and Mr. 

William Frazer are the new elders 

elect. The congregation is waiting 

for an appropriate time for their 

ordination. 

The great Memorial Day flood 

which completely destroyed the city 

of Vanport affected the congregation 

in that the Frazer family could not 

get to church for two Sabbaths. The 

Thomas Chambers family could not 

get home for two weeks but had to 

live with friends in Portland. The 

school where Miss Isabel Chambers 

taught was entirely destroyed along 

with the homes of all the children. 

Mrs. Gault worked at the school 

near the church during parts of two 

days following the flood helping to 

distribute food and clothing to the 

flood refugees. 

Miss Elizabeth Knight, the treas 

urer of the congregation, has been 

instrumental in getting a newly 

painted sign for the front of the 

church, a higher sloping top for the 

pulpit and invitation cards to be dis 

tributed. 

BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA 

Our congregation was represented 

at Synod and at the Geneva Cen 

tennial by our pastor, Rev. Bruce 

Willson, the elder delegate Thomas 

G. McClintock, and by Miss Ruth H. 

Smith and Mrs. Anna Peoples and 

daughter Eloise Peoples. 

Mr. and Mrs. Harold Faris of Kan 

sas City recently 

spent a week end 

with Mr. and Mrs. Elfra Hunter. 

Mrs. Faris, the former Margaret 

Hunter, 

ington while she (attended Indiana 

University. 

spent four years in Bloom 

Several members of this congre 

gation are recent graduates: Edwin 

Kennedy from Indiana University; 

Kathryn Baird and Mary Evelyn 

Moore from Nurses Training in 

Terre Haute, Indiana; Carol Jo 

Baird, Donald Kennedy, Mary and 

Martha McClintock, and 

Luette from High School. 

Lois Ann 

Mrs. Flora McKnight passed away 

on June 23 after a long illness. Mem 

bers of this congregation Who sur 

vive are one sister Mrs. Mamie 

Smith, 

one son Paul McKnight, and 

one granddaughter Ruth McKnight. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wilford Morris, Mrs. 

Mamie Smith and Mrs. Alpha Moore 

are confined to their homes because 

of illness. 

Miss Blanche McCrea, Missionary 

to Cyprus, 

spoke to the congregation 

on Synod Sabbath, June 6, both to 

the Primary Sabbath School and at 

the morning worship service. On 

June 8 the 

congregation held a pic 

nic in her honor at Cascades Park. 

GOME, ONE AND ALL 

WHERE? White Lake Gamp, 

White Lake, New York 

WHEN? August 7-21, 1948 

WHY?Christian Fellowship. Meet old 

friends and find new ones. 

THEMEAll for Jesus Stop 

- 

' * . * * T 

and Think. 

It is always a pleasure to have Miss 

McCrea with us. 

Elder and Mrs. T. G. McClintock 

have as their guests their daughter 

Mrs. Wilma Harmon and their 

grandchildren Rebecca and Tommy, 

of Brilliant, Ohio. 

Mrs. Anna Gregory is spending a 

short vacation with her son Preston 

and Mrs. Gregory at Madison, Wis 

consin. Preston is attending the Uni 

versity of Wisconsin where he has 

recently been awarded a fellowship. 

Mrs. Arthur Moore has returned 

to her home after undergoing a suc 

cessful operation in Indianapolis. We 

are thankful for her rapid recovery. 

Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Shaw of 

Superior, Nebraska, have returned 

home after a short vacation with 

their son, Mr. and Mrs. Dale Shaw. 

Dale is a Senior in Indiana Uni 

versity. 

Miss Margaret Latimer is spend 

ing the summer at home, her first 

for several years. Margaret is School 

Nurse in the Hammond High School, 

Hammond, Indiana. Her brother Hu 

bert Latimer of Philadelphia, Pa., 

spent two days in Bloomington fol 

lowing a business trip 

in the mid 

west representing the Sun Oil 

Company. 

Our pastor and family have had 

as their guest Mrs. Willson's mother 

Mrs. Alma Owens of Morning Sun, 

Iowa. Mrs. Willson and the children 

visited in Iowa while Rev. Willson 

attended Synod. 

SPARTA, ILLINOIS 

On the evening of February 2, 

Miss Marjorie Wilson and Mr. Wil 

liam H. Elwyn were united in mar 

riage at the Sparta parsonage. Rev. 

John McMilian, 

pastor of the bride, 

performed the ceremony. Mr. and 

Mrs. Elwyn are making their home 

in Sparta. 

Sparta congregation lost a very 

faithful member in the passing of 

Miss Elizabeth Mcllroy 

on March 

20. Miss Mcllroy had been in failing 

health for several months prior to 

her death, but her loyalty to her 

church and to her Lord never dimin 

ished. 

The sacrament of baptism was ad 

ministered to Bruce and Lou Ann 

Kelly, 

children of Mr. and Mrs. 

Duane Kelly, on Saturday, April 17, 

at the time of our Spring com 

munion. 

Mr. and Mrs. T. H. Wilson have 

sold their farm and will be moving 

soon to their new home in Sparta, 

two blocks from the church. We are 

looking forward to having 

close. 

them so


OLATHE, KANSAS 

On the morning of May 31, Rev. 

and Mrs. Hays and family left 

Olathe, Mrs. Hays and the children 

going to Cleveland to visit her par 

ents and friends. Rev. Hays and Mr. 

and Mrs. Harvey McGee left to at 

tend Svnod. 

On Sabbath. June 13, a very in 

teresting report was given on Synod 

in connection with the morning 

service. '^f! 

Mrs. Milton McBurney of Denver 

visited her brother's family, Rev. H. 

A. Hays, 

over the weekend. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Miller of the Aged 

People's Home is spending a part of 

the summer with friends in Olathe. 

She received a hearty welcome. 

Mrs. R. C. Redpath and her daugh 

ter Mrs. Maggie Rodgers are spend 

ing this June in Beaver Falls with 

Mrs. Dodds Balph. 

Mrs. Ida Moore has been enter 

taining her daughter, Mrs. Marjorie 

Milligan, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Mil 

ligan and Betty, Mrs. Budd, Mr. and 

Mrs. W. J. Aikin and family, Mr. 

and Mrs. Wm. Termer and daughter. 

The Olathe congregation entertained 

with 7 P. M. dinner and get-together 

meeting 

in connection with prayer 

meeting, for the above guests. 

Mrs. Anna Wilson has returned 

from a visit in Pennsylvania with 

her daughters, Mrs. Hester Atwell, 

and Mrs. Irene Drake. 

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 

The Chicago congregation ob 

served its Spring Communion on 

May 9, with Dr. Paul Coleman of 

Kansas City, Kansas, assisting. We 

greatly appreciate the fine messages 

given by Dr. Coleman. We were glad 

to welcome into membership at that 

time: Mrs. Lorene Collier, Lorraine 

Henry, Catherine Smith and Irene 

Schraut, by profession of faith; Mr. 

and Mrs. Allan Cummings, by certif 

icate from New York; 

and Dr. Paul 

Edgar, by reinstatement. Those 

baptized at Communion were Ann 

Maureen Baird, Lorraine Henry, 

Carolyn Dawn Schraut, and Cathe 

rine Smith. We were happy to see 

a few of our members at Communion 

who are not often able to be out to 

the services. Among them were 

Miss Stott, Mrs .Bruggemann, Mrs. 

Williamson, and Charles Moore. 

We were saddened by the sudden 

and unexpected death of Dr. Mc- 

Gaw. Our sympathy goes to Mrs. Mc- 

Gaw in this great loss. A quintette 

sang 

at his funeral. 

Mr. W. L. Gibson was called home 

on May 22 after six years of linger 

ing illness. He was always so cheerful 

and resigned, and was ready when 

the end came. His funeral which was 

held in the church was attended by 

a large gathering. The girls of the 

choir sang 

at his funeral. Our sym 

pathy to Mrs. Gibson and the two 

sons. 

Mr. and Mrs. Schraut were recent 

ly blessed with the arrival of another 

baby daughter, Carolyn Dawn. 

We were all shocked to hear of the 

serious accident of the Dr. Paul Ed 

gar family, near Jefferson City, Mo. 

We are grateful that God spared all 

their lives and that they 

are all 

quite recovered. It was caused by a 

truck suddenly crossing the road in 

front of them as they 

curve. 

rounded a 

The Annual Congregational bus 

iness meeting was held on Tuesday, 

April 13. Officers elected for the 

year were: Chairman of Congrega 

tion, William Russell; Secretary, 

Jeanne Brelsford; Treasurer, Doug 

las Fraser; Superintendent of Bible 

School, Mrs. Hyman Levy; Assistant 

Superintendent of Bible School, Ruby 

Sinclair; Secretary-Treasurer of Bible 

School, Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Jack 

son; and Witness Correspondent, 

Jeanne Brelsford. Ruby Sinclair was 

elected to succeed herself as a trustee 

for another three years. Mrs. J. D. 

Edgar was released from her duties 

of S. S. Superintendent after eight 

and one-half years of efficient serv 

ice. Mr. and Mrs. Russell Huck were 

sponsors. 

We are happy to welcome Geral- 

dine Kust as our new city mission 

ary. She began her work among us 

early in May after completing a 

post graduate course at the Moody 

Bible Institute. 

Orlena Lynn received her Master's 

Degree from the New York City 

Bible Institute recently, and she will 

be ready to sail for China soon. 

The pastor assisted his son, Rev. 

Robert Edgar, at the New York 

Communion on April 18. He also 

baptized his grandson, John Paul 

Edgar. Dr. and Mrs. Edgar, accom 

panied by Mrs. Cummings who went 

to New York with them, attended 

the Founders' 

Day 

program at the 

Geneva College Centennial celebra 

tion, before returning to Chicago. 

Miss Blanche McCrea, head of the 

girls' 

school in Nicosia, Cyprus, 

spoke of the work there while she 

was in Chicago on Thursday, April 

22. 

Dr. Edgar attended the meeting 

of Synod with our elder Dr. J. D. 

Russell as delegate. He also attended 

the Geneva college commencmnt ex 

ercises where Dr. Russell gave the 

graduation address and was honored 

with the degree of Doctor of Laws. 

In our pastor's absence on June 6, 

Mr. Kenyon A. Palmer, assistant 

editor of the Gideon Magazine, spoke 

on the great work being done by 

the Gideons in distributing the word 

of God. 

Sidney Willis, 

on vacation from 

Geneva College, is now in Chicago 

for part of the summer. Ben Willis, 

his brother, has secured a position 

in Chicago, 

ing his family soon. 

and looks forward to see 

Allison Edgar plans to spend most 

of the summer at the Charles Peter- 

man home in Glenwood, Minnesota. 

Several of the choir members re 

cently sang Psalms for Mrs. Mc- 

Kaig, who is near 92 years of age 

and blind. She is living in the home 

graciously provided for her by Mr. 

and Mrs. Roderick Fraser. 

The March, April and May dinner 

socials of the Older Young Peoples' 

Bible Class were held in the homes 

of Miss Ruby Sinclair, Miss Alice 

Thayer, and Mr. and Mrs. Roy Col 

lier, respectively. 

COLDENHAM 

The Coldenham W. M. S. con 

sidered it a special privilege to be 

the hostess society for the Silver 

Anniversary meeting of the New 

York Women's Presbyterial May 18 

and 19. We are grateful to the 

friends in the community 

and ii. the 

Newburgh congregation for their 

assistance in entertaining the over 

night guests. 

Our pastor and the 

alternate- 

delegate, James A. Beatty, attended 

the annual meeting of Synod in 

Beaver Falls. Reports were given at 

the morning service on Sabbath, 

June 13. 

We do not regularly have a Sab 

bath evening worship service, but on 

the evening of June 13 we had the 

opportunity to hear Dr. Paul Mc 

Cracken, and an service was 

evening 

arranged by our pastor. Friends 

from Newburgh, White Lake, and 

Montclair joined us in this service. 

Mrs. T. A. Merritt is still confined 

to her home and suffering consider 

able pain. Our prayers are that she 

may soon be restored to good health. 

Miss Elizabeth Beattie of the 

New Alexandria congregation visited 

with us on Sabbath, May 23.



300 YEARS Cf WiTNE55|N& fOR. CHRIST'5 50VERfl&fl RIGHTS THE. CHURCH iNa TOE. MAT 10 ft! _ 


POWER IN A SONG 

"And when they had sung an hymn 

They went out into the mount of 

Olives." 

"And when they had sung a hymn I some 

times think 

Of that fine fellowship recorded by 

Saint Matthew and Saint Mark, twelve com 

mon men 

Who bound an evening's supper with a song. 

The seaman Peter soon to face 

A trial till cockcrow he would add 

A deep rich bass, the low ring of the sea; 

John the Beloved one of three 

Chosen to watch, yet who would sleep 

While Jesus' 

sweat ran drops of blood 

I like to think 

His pleading tenor cut the air above the rest. 

Jesus himself would give the key 

In His true voice, ear sensitive, 

And thus they sang 

And so went out into the mount of Olives: 

Each to his trial, his testing hour, 

Each to his failure: 

Was the song the thread 

To draw each back to Him? 

an hymn 

Sometimes I wonder, had Judas stayed 

To sing with them, 

Gould he have gone out to betray the Lord? 

% H* 5fc 

By permission, from Down Sillion, by Mary Ruth George


QlUnpA&i oJf Ute (leliCfiauA Wosdd 

Frank E. Allen, D. D. 

Navy Bans Secret Societies 

The Christian Cynosure, quoting the New York Daily 

News says: "The Navy today ordered an end to the 

'Green Bowl,' 

historic secret society at the Naval Acad 

emy at Annapolis, but denied that the 40-year-old or 

self-help 

clique designed to get its members choice jobs. 

ganization had ever been a 'vicious' 

officers' 

It also ordered the superintendent at Annapolis to 

prevent other secret societies from developing. 

Charges that the Green Bowl was a 'vicious 

clique' 

officers' 

were made by Capt. John G. Crommelin, former 

commander of the aircraft carrier Saipan, before a 

House committee last July 1. 

Even though the Navy would not admit the validity of 

the charges made by Capt. Crommelin we have reason 

to believe that they were true. The fact that the Super 

intendent at Annapolis was ordered to prevent other 

secret societies from developing is one indication that 

the naval authorities really believe the charges. When 

in an Army camp during World War I a very capable, 

diligent and trustworthy private told, us that men who 

were Masons had a much better opportunity of being 

advanced. The Masons were holding a meeting among 

the officers in the camp 

surprise that the Army 

at that time. We expressed 

would permit an outside organi 

zation to hold a meeting which would include only part 

of the officers. We were told in reply that they were 

all Masons. 

Lutherans Refuse World Council 

The Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Lutheran 

Free Church have declined to affiliate with the World 

Council of Churches. A Lutheran minister said concern 

ing this: "Any 

approach to true unity must rest on a 

sound confessional basis. We want to cooperate, but not 

to compromise our faith." 

Union Of Presbyterians Postponed 

The Presbyterian Church in the U. S. (Southern), 

which has been seriously divided over the issue of unit 

ing with the Northern Presbyterians, voted unanimously 

in their General Assembly to postpone a vote on the 

proposal for five years. 

The Anti-Japanese Mania 

According to an editorial in the Des Moines Register, 

There is no longer an organized anti-Japanese, anti- 

Nisei movement in the United States. The mass evacua 

tion of persons of Japanese descent from the Pacific 

coast in 1942 is a shameful page in our history, without 

precedent and we hope without sequel. The reason for 

it heeded even by many 

persons of good will was fear 

of sabotage and espionage. In contrast, there was no mass 

evacuation from Hawaii, 

Japanese descent make up 

where the 168,000 persons of 

one-third of the population 

and where there was much more opportunity for sabo 

tage and spying. 

THE COVENANTER WITNESS : 

The difference is explainable chiefly by the fact that 

Hawaii has no history of organized racism. On the Pa 

cific coast, on the other agitation hand, against those of 

Japanese extraction had two roots one in racism, ap 

pealing both to domestic and racial snobbery and to fear 

of Japan; and the other in economics and politics. 

Two main reasons are given for the collapse of the 

'yellow 

peril' 

movement. The first is the loyal wartime 

record of Japanese Americans. Not one of the 110,000 

persons of Japanese ancestry 

evacuated from the Pacific 

coast in 1942 has been charged with espionage. The 

group heroism of the 442nd Combat Team and the in 

dividual deeds of the Nisei like Ben Kuroki and Frank 

Hachiya have won world renown. The second major rea 

son is the surrender of Japan, marking the end of the 

threat of Japanese empire. 

Bills were introduced in the last session of congress 

to remove race restrictions from the naturalization law. 

The editor states that this should be one of the earliest 

acts of the next congress, particularly to make amends 

to Americans of Japanese ancestery and partly to show 

our appreciation, but mainly to erase a long-standing 

blot on the democratic tradition. 

Christians should remember the lessons that come 

from this and other anti-non-white-racial movements 

and not be carried away 

with them. Jesus used the so- 

called Good Samaritan to teach us lessons of neighborli- 

ness, kindness, helpfulness, in other words the Christian 

attitude toward men of an unpopular, disliked race. 

Socialized Medicine In Britain 

On July 5, socialized medicine began to function in 

Britain. Every Englishman can get the services of a 

doctor free of charge. Men can still choose their own 

doctors but the fees will be paid by the government. 

Doctors will be free to join the government services, on 

a salary plus fees per patient, or stay out. But in the 

new doctors must join the service for at least 

future, 

three years before they 

are free to choose. Doctors will 

not be permitted to move about the country freely as 

they choose. They 

will have to get permission from a 

central committee which will decide which communities 

need doctors. Is this coming nearer Jesus' example and 

ideal of healing bodily 

ailments? Here is a problem for 

Christians to study. We in America are facing a similar 

issue. Will the government pay for or subsidize the ed 

ucation of medical students? This is not all as simple as 

it may sound. Many 

serious problems will arise. The 

main one from the standpoint of the people will likely 

be that they will have difficulty in getting 

satisfactory service from many doctors. 

Beauty Contestants Under Ban 

prompt and 

The Roman Catholic Bishop, J. J. Swint, of the Wheel 

ing, W. Va., diocese, who announced that he would ex 

communicate any Catholic girl who takes part in a beauty 

(Please turn to page 36) 

Published each Wednesday by the Reformed Presbyterian 

Church of North America, through its editorial office. 

Rev. D. Raymond Taggart. D. D., Editor and Manager. 1209 Boswell Avenue. Topeka. Kansas. 

$2.00 per year; foreign $2.50 per year; single copies 5c. Special rates to congregations. 

Entered as second class matter at Post Office in Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3. 1S79 


Miss Mary L. Dunlop. 142 University St., Belfast, N. Ireland, Agent for the British Isles.


GuWient ve*U& Prof. John Coleman, PhD., D. D. 

There will be plenty to eat next winter. The Depart 

ment of Agriculture estimates the wheat crop of the na 

tion at 1,241,451,000 bushels and the corn crop at the un 

paralleled total of 3,328,862,000 bushels. The American 

people have given generously to needy 

bountiful soul shall be made fat" 

people will have the funds to buy 

nations and "the 

Futhermore, our own 

the Census Bureau 

reports 61,296,000 men and women employed, 1,241,000 

more than last yet;r. These figures do not include the 

armed forces. During 

sneered at by many 

the war Mr. Henry Wallace was 

editors be:ause of his prediction 

that we would need 60,000,000 jobs for full employment 

after the army and navy were demoblized. Now we 

have more than that and they are taken. 

The New York Tribune quotes the Revue du Droit In 

ternational of Geneva, Switzerland, 

on war losses. The 

total is computed at 78 million with the following break 

down: 

32 million men killed on battle-fields 

26 million men, 

women and children 

murdered in concentration camps, etc. 

20 million killed by air bombing. 

To this may be added the number who have since died 

or are now dying 

of the results of starvation, wounds, 

tuberculosis and other diseases. It does not give us a 

picture of the millions still homeless and wandering 

mental and moral wrecks. 

The Swiss authority 

includes in the concentration 

camp deaths 750,000 anti-Stalinists, Circassians, Cossacks, 

White Russian, etc. handed over to Russia early in 1947 

and almost immediately slain (so it says) by the Rus 

sians. 

The New York Times reports that there is a movement 

among Chinese university students to refuse United 

States relief or even to purchase American-rationed flour. 

They object to the American policy of rebuilding Japan 

so that the island nation can eventually 

return to self- 

support, for they feel that Japan will return to ber old 

ways of conquest as soon as she is strong enough; and 

they can scarcely criticise American policy while eating 

American bread. France has the same feeling in regard 

to our rebuilding of Germany. But the American peo 

ple cannot feed Japan and Germany forever, the Chinese 

and the French notwithstanding. 

An immense initiative petition is going to bring Cali- 

fornians a chance this fall to vote on an amendment to 

the state constitution that would provide greater regula 

tion of liquor sales to minors and women, increase super 

vision of liquor distributors, and reduce the number of 

licenses from one to 1,000 population to one to 2,500. 

The San Francisco Social Hygiene Association has re 

ported that "social disease" 

has in the last four years in 

creased 125% in the 15 to 19-year-old age group. Since 

vice and liquor go together California could wisely blot 

out the traffic entirely. 

Colleges in New York State will be legally restrained 

after September 15 from excluding students on a basis of 

race, color or nationality. Church colleges may accept 

students exclusively of their own faith, but others are 

barred from religious discrimination. The State Com 

missioner of Education and the Board of Regents may 

enforce the law by getting court injunctions. This law 

is a twin to the Fair Employment Practices Act of New 

York, 

tated by 

and it is probable that both of them will be imi 

Politically 

other states. 

* * * 

V 

as well as in its atmosphere New York is 

one of the cleaner cities of the United States. In two 

terms Mayor La Guardia put the city on a much sounder 

financial foundation than before, improved its political 

structure, and suppressed immoral shows and gambling. 

He even checked church bingo. His successor, Mayor 

Wm. O'Dwyer, is now making war on Tammany and, 

says the United Press, has called on the voters to leave 

Tammany "in the gutter where it belongs." 

He says also: 

"I'll have nothing to do with the scavengers who plan 

to get rich on the money 

of widows and 

orphans." 

is referring to an appointment that Tammany wanted 

him to make in the surrogate court that handles estates 

of the deceased. Anyone who thinks the world is getting 

worse ought to review Lincoln Steffens' 

Cities," 

He 

"Shame of 

written a little over 40 years ago and giving a 

vivid and authoritative picture of the civic corruption 

of his day, and then consider the present situation. The 

improvement is amazing. Of course we still have far 

to go to find any 

"New Jerusalem." 

In North Dakota on June 29, approximately 170,000 

voters decided by 10,000 majority 

that teachers in re 

ligious garbs would not be permitted in the public 

schools. It seems that 74 nuns in predominately Catholic 

communities had been teaching in 

nuns' 

customary dress. 

Their bishop says that there is a shortage of teachers in 

these communities and that the nuns will still teach but 

will obey the law and appear in "secular" 

garb. 

In New Mexico, in seven counties, 

135 nuns and broth 

ers have been teaching in the dress of their orders, and 

the case is now in the courts. The Champaign, Illinois, 

case will undoubtedly hold a large place in the argu 

ments presented. 

* * * 

The Life Insurance Institute reports that 196 billions 

of life insurance are now in force and that group life 

insurance contracts are now running about three times 

the pre-war volume. But the money received back by 

the policy holders will provide no more than half the 

security they expected, because of the decline in the pur 

chasing 

- 

* 

power of the dollar. The fluctuating value of 

the dollar is a great enemy of the long-term saver. There 

is much to be said for the so-called commodity dollar, 

suggested by Irving Fisher and others, that is tied to the 

purchasing power of the dollar. That would protect the 

debtor when prices get very low and the creditor when 

prices skyrocket. The creditor is taking his licking now. 

At this writing the Democratic convention is in rather 

mournful session. One commentator who claims to be a 

Democrat, and who possibly is except at election times, 

says with some truth: "With the Democrats nobody seems 

to want to run for the presidency but Mr. Truman and 

nobody seems to want him to run. 

The writer has been asked why he criticized Mr. Wal 

with the added breezy comment that "there is 

lace, 

more Christianity 

in Mr. Wallace's little finger than 

(Please turn to page 36)


Deep Sea Fishing 

It was a swell morning on the shores of Galilee, 

swell in two senses ; there was an invigorating 

swell on the 

breeze going but there was a heavy 

sea. This we infer from the fact that Peter said : 

night." 

"We have toiled all They had toiled all 

night but had taken nothing for they had stayed 

close to shore, for a recent experience had taught 

them that the Sea of Galilee was treacherous in a 

stormy time, and they had had the fright of their 

lives. Ever since, they had been a little cautious. 

Only a miracle had saved them. 

How do we know that they stayed close to 

shore? Well, they were washing their nets which 

had probably dragged on the bottom of the sea; 

and Jesus suggested that they "launch out into 

the deep", and then it was that Peter objected 

and said : "We have toiled all night, even close to 

the shore, but we have taken nothing". And that 

was hardly surprising since even fish didn't care 

to come too close to the shallow beach with waves 

beating as they were. 

Jesus called. "Launch out into the deep." 

Jesus 

has always called for adventurous living. "Leave 

me" 

your nets and follow ; "Take up the 

"Whosoever loveth father, mother, brother, or 

cross" 

; 

sister more than me is not worthy of me". 

Launch out into the deep regardless of the storms 

if you will be fishers of men. 

The Covichords have just been in our city. We 

have listened to their challenge, the challenge 

they will be giving to the young people of the 

church. It is a callenge for deep-sea fishing, a 

challenge that will demand all your courage, and 

it will have a suggestion in it that what the 

church has lacked has been this courage to do 

and dare. 

As the writer waited for his train on last Mon 

day morning he met a harvest-hand whose regu 

lar occupation was lead-mining, but who had been 

a soldier of the recent war. He was a little impa 

tient, waiting for a bus to bring his pal so that 

they might get started for a northern harvest 

field ; but whether impatient or otherwise, every 

sentence that he uttered seemed to be marred 

with profanity. Something within me said, "Why 

mention it to him ; he is just that kind of a fellow, 

and nothing you can say will change him", all of 

which was probably true : but the question was 

not what effect will a kindly rebuke have on him 

but what effect will the neglect to speak to him. 

have on me. So I launched into the deep. He took 

my remark kindly, said that swearing was an evil 

habit, that he had nicked it up in the army and 

the mines, and that he knew he was profane, and 

apparently others had told him so. Now. I am 

not gloryinothat 

I causrht a laree fish. Rather, 

I feel a little ashamed that he eluded mv clutch 

and perhaps is swimmi-ncr in the same 

seas that he did before. But the point is this, the 

fish are not coming to us begging to be caught. 

We must go out where they are, we must be will 

ing to toil, we must let down the net, we must 

listen for the Master's voice. Yea, we must be in 

struments in the Master's hand, for catching fish. 

Like the disciples of old are not we often say 

ing, "There are yet four months and then cometh 

harvest" 

We are waiting for that "reviving 

so easily 

time". The time is not yet, but when that reviv 

ing time comes, the people will crowd into the 

churches and all we have to do is just accept 

them and live happily 

with them ever after. 

"Fishers for men", "harvesters in the Lord's 

harvest fields", "laborers in His vineyard", call 

ourselves what we will, it takes careful listening 

for the going in the tops of the mulberry trees 

or you will never hear a sound. The crops are 

not gathering themselves into the garner. Fish 

are not jumping into the nets that are folded in 

the boat. Let down your nets, the harvest is 

plenteous, the sea is full of fish, the vineyard is 

full of grapes waiting to be pressed. Jesus is 

lookng for the laborers who are willing to go into 

His harvest, into His vineyards, on the promise 

that "whatsoever is right, I will pay 

(Continued from page 35) 

CURRENT EVENTS 

you." 

preachers." 

there is in the whole body of some 

Mr. Wal 

lace wants us to put up 25 billion of a 50-billion fund 

to rebuild the world, including Russia. (Who will put 

up the other 25 billion? No answer.) Mr. Wallace wants 

us to sit down at a table with the Russians. We have, 

at Paris, at London, and at the U. N. The Russians use 

every meeting as an opportunity 

to denounce us as 

warmongers and to demand that we abolish the freedom 

of press and speech so that no one may criticize Russia 

or answer the Russian criticisms of ourselves. 

GLIMPSES OF THE RELIGIOUS WORLD 


contest, has the approval, in this declaration, of many 

Protestants. He called modern beauty pageants "totally 

pagan" 

and "absolutely immoral." 

He futher stated, 

"If nakedness were 

"the whole thing 

eliminated" 

would fall to 

from beauty contests, 

pieces." 

There were 

some who obeyed and some who defied the Bishop's 

warning. So Catholic priests and bishops also have their 

disloyal members. 

The Presbyterian Folds Up 

The Presbyterian, which has been published for 117 

years, is being merged with the offical Presbyterian 

journal, Presbyterian Life. The editors in their "final 

word" 

relative to giving up the publication of The Pres 

byterian say, among other things: "We believe the Pres 

byterian Church is growing top-heavy 

and that some of 

those dedicated to the Gospel have allowed position, 

honor, privilege or power (if not wealth) to lead them 

away from the Man who was born in another man's 

stable, buried in another man's tomb, and had not where 

to lay His head. A D. D. can be a terrible thing! And so 

can an ecclesiastical post of honor and responsibility 

when its robes give off the swish of pride. The constant 

prayer of the mighty should be to be delivered from all 

forms of pride, even the pride of great humility. Revision 

and renovation is surely needed both in the spiritual 

life and in the structure, organization, and functioning 

of the Church." 

Under the editorship of Dr. S. G. Craig, The Presby 

terian stood as a bulwark against the liberal trend of the 

age: under succeeding editors it has been less conserva 

tive and now it seems to be forced to yield to the pres 

sure of the higher powers of the church, to fold up and 

depart into the limbo of many other religious papers. 

John D. Rockfeller forced others out and created a mon 

opoly in the industrial field, and there seem to be many 

such successors in the religious field.


Lesson Helps 

C. Y. P. U. TOPIC 

FOR AUGUST 8, 1948 

II. GOD SPEAKS THROUGH PEOPLE 

Christian Endeavor Topic 

By Margaret Jameson, Seattle, Washington 

Scripture Text : 

Exodus 35:1; Acts 17:22-30 

Psalms: 

Psalm 145:1-3, No.389 

Psalm 45:1-3, No. 123 

Psalm 118:13, 14, 15, No. 315 

Psalm 90:6, 7, 8, No. 246 

Psalm 72:9-12, No. 193 

Who is able to judge the extent to which 

God speaks through people ? The Bible is full 

of examples of how God has used individuals 

to reveal His word. The prophets in Bible 

Times spoke directly the words which God 

told them to speak. Nearly every Bible story 

reveals God speaking through His people, 

whether it is a silent witness or audible 

speech. In records of the past, we find ade 

quate illustrations of God speaking through 

people. 

We should be more concerned however, 

with the ways in which God speaks through 

people today. We as Christians want to be 

sure that we are being 

witnesses for Jesus 

Christ, and that we are living in such a way 

that God will use us to speak to others. It 

is easy to look to the past and see how God 

spoke through believers. Why 

cannot we see 

how God is speaking through men and wo 

men today? God needs Christians that He 

can use to hear His message to a wicked 

world. Many people are being 

used of God, 

only we do not always realize the ways and 

times when God is speaking through them. 

God's voice is often heard through a minister, 

or a parent, or a teacher, or a close friend. 

God speaking through people includes a great 

part of Christianity the evangelistic work 

of believers. 

There are three questions which we should 

consider in attempting to see how God speaks 

through people, and how we might be used 

of God to bring His word to others. 

1. What are some of the ways in which 

God speaks through people? 

2. When are people prepared to be used of 

God? When are the words from God and 

when are they only from man? 

3. What are some of the reasons why God 

speaks through people ? In answering these 

questions, let us see what the Bible says, 

and then let us apply these verses to our 

lives, and the circumstances which surround 

present-day living. (Suggestion: As the 

references are read, have the person reading 

comment on how the verse applies in the 

present, or to their life.) 

1. Ways in which God speaks through 

people. 

Eph. 4:11; Matt. 10:19; Mark 13:11; John 

3:33-34; Prov. 6:13. 

Heb. 11:4 (Witness continues even after 

Synod Reports 

REPORT OF SYNOD'S TEMPERANCE COMMITTEE 

1948 

The past year is one which has been marked by increased temper 

ance activity throughout the nation. More and more, thinking people 

are becoming aroused to the evils of the liquor traffic. Statistics keep 

piling up an increasing indictment against alcohol as a beverage, so 

that even the most prejudiced are being forced to admit that the 

repeal of Prohibition has increased rather than decreased the pro 

blems attending the consumption of liquor. 

It is significant that a more positive note for total abstinenec is 

being sounded in the churches of the nation. Many denominations, 

large and small, in the past year have inaugurated movements for 

total abstinence, and are calling upon church members to take a more 

active stand against the evil. Many ministers, who in the past have 

tried to maintain a neutral stand lest they offend drinking members 

in their church, are now taking a more positive stand for temperance. 

It is also noteworthy that the Roman Catholic church, while disavow 

ing support of Prohibition measures, is concentrating its inlfuence 

upon a new total abstinence movement. 

Although the press has accepted liquor advertising in excess of 

S100.000.000 in the past year, there has been a marked tendency to 

give people the truth about alcohol. Many editors and columnists have 

written concerning the evils and called for controlling 

measures. In 

many cases of fires or traffic accidents, publicity has been given the 

fact that alcohol was a contributing factor. In writing of this matter, 

Fred D. Squires, of the W. C. T. U. Research Bureau, states, "So 

common have these (news stories) become that liquor trade spokesmen 

complain that the effect of their advertising has been jeopardized in 

many cases where it happened to be placed next to columns containing 

stories of such holocausts as the Atlanta, Chicago, and Dubuque hotel 

fires, where liquor's part was too clearly described for "trade 

The Business World is likewise becoming- aroused by the damages 

comfort." 

caused by intemperance. Liquor is the cause of much absenteeism in 

factories and many employees are being dismissed because of addic 

tion to alcohol. So acute is the problem that in March 1948, "The First 

Industrial Conference on Alcoholism" 

was held in Chicago, and has 

been described as an epoch making event. More than three hundred 

delegates from thirty-eight states were enough concerned to attend 

the meeting. Concerning this meeting, "The Foundation Says", organ 

of the American Business Men's Reserch Foundation, reports, "Viewed 

from almost any angle, the conference was 

good." 

On every hand there are intensified campaigns to promote highway 

safety. The American Automobile 

.Association at its last annual meet 

ing vigorously condemned the practice of selling liquor at gasoline 

stations. Automobile Insurance companies are becoming increasingly 

concerned over the fact that so larsre a percentage of traffic accidents 

are caused by those who have been drinking. Many 

had accidents as a result of drinking 

of those who have 

are having a difficult time to 

find an insurance company that will accept them as risks. 

While there are many 

indications of an increased interest in the 

problem, many are keeping their eyes closed to the real solution 

Prohibition. The Liquor Interests are continually confusing the issue 

with moderation movements and 

efforts to reclaim those who have 

fallen. While it is commendable to seek to rescue those who have 

fallen, it is obviously 

more commendable to bring about conditions 

which will cut off supplies of alcohol and thus eliminate the 

virus which causes people to become alcoholics. 

The liquor industry, in the past few months, 

has shown its greed, 

selfishness and heartlessness, by its unwillingness to curtail produc 

tion of alcoholic beverages to save grain for the world's starving. 

It has only been by the compulsion of law that the brewers and 

distillers have cut production to the smallest degree. Typical of the 

industries' attitude is the statement of a Missouri brewer, who, when 

asked, "If the 

need' 

was real in Europe, if people were starving, 

would you not cut production to some 

barrel, not by a (profanity) barrel." 

extent?" 

replied, "Not by a


In January our church was represented at the meeting of the 

National Temperance and Prohibition Council, in Washington D. C, 

by Kermit Edgar. This organization has served to co-ordinate the 

efforts of the various temperance organizations. It has ably carried 

forward the campaign to secure enactment of the Capper Bill (S 265) 

which would prohibit liquor advertizing, and is behind a $33,000,000 

suit against the Columbia Broadcasting Company in an effort to 

secure access to radio time for temperance speakers. 

Through the generosity of a friend, your committee was enabled 

to send to every pastor in the church a booklet "Christ, The 

Apostles, and Wine", by Ernest Gordon. This booklet clearly sets 

forth teaching of the Bible concerning alcoholic beverages and 

should enable one to answer the arguments of those who would use 

the Bible in an effort to endorse the use of fermented drinks. A 

pamphlet on tobacco, entitled, "Is Your Health Going Up In Smoke?" 

was also sent out. We believe that pastors mig-ht do well to give this 

pamphlet a wide circulation among their young people. 

Recently a questionnaire was sent out to try to ascertain something 

of the temperance activity 

throughout the church. Replies were re 

ceived from more than half those to whom they were sent. These re 

plies indicate that as a church we have a strong interest in the cause 

of temperance. In most of our congregations, temperance education is 

carried on by 

up-to-date methods of instruction. Our people are 

active in the support of movements which would prohibit or control 

alcoholic beverages in their respective communities, and are faithful 

in sending letters and petitions to congressmen protesting the evil. 

It is commendable that practically every pastor who replied in 

dicated that he preaches on some aspect of the problem at least 

once a year, and that many pastors have had special speakers to pre 

sent the matter to their people. 

One of the most gratifying notes in these replies was, that not a 

single pastor felt that liquor was a great temptation to his young 

people. Without exception, pastors stated that their young people 

were taking their stand aganist the social trends in respect to alcoholic 

beverages. Several pastors noted that there is an "increasing so 

cial 

pressure" 

to drink and that we must be on guard and continue to 

educate our youngpeople 

so they may be able to stand. We feel that 

this favorable report is an indication that the temperance education 

which has faithfully been carried on in our churches, is bearing its 

fruit. It comes to us as an encouragement to keep up the good work. 

The reports concerning the use of tobacco are not so encouraging. 

More than half the replies indicate that tobacco is a problem with 

many members both old and young. This is especially true in the 

group 

which served in the armed forces. In a few instances pastors 

reported success in getting young men to give up the habit. It 

would appear that in our narcotic education, there has not been 

enough emphasis upon the harmful effects of tobacco. A greater effort 

should also be put forth to rescue those who have become addicts. We 

must ever try to impress upon our people the fact that tobbaco is a 

deadly 

narcotic and not just an innocent vice. 

Your committee expresses its thanks to seven congregations which 

sent contributions for the work during the past year. Some of these 

offerings were quite generous and have provided ample funds for the 

work of the committee. 

Our financial report is as follows: 

Receipts 

Balance, April 1, 1947 136.91 

Offerings 170.18 

Expenditures 

307.09 

Dues to Nat'l Temp. & Prohibition Council 10.00 

Dues to Am. Business Men's Research Fndtn 10.00 

Booklets 35.00 

Grinnell Exhibit 

Stationery 

Postage 

23.60 

6.05 

8.05 

307.09 

death). 

Examples: Balaam, Num. 22:35; Jeremiah, 

Jer. 26:2, 8. 

There seem to be two distinct ways in 

which God speaks through people. The first 

is an audible testimony, 

the speaking 

and the second is 

of God through silent means. 

The minister, the missionary, the teacher, or 

the man of God, in giving his testimony of 

Jesus Christ, is speaking God's words. The 

writer also is used to speak for God. Stories, 

articles, and books all can be used of God. 

They are the vessels that are bearing the 

words of the Lord. The person that speaks of 

salvation to a friend, is also bearing the 

message. 

God speaks through people in silent ways 

as well. An example may 

serve to bear God's 

message far more than the spoken word. A 

quiet deed contains God's message as much 

as a sermon. By living- God's word, we bear 

a message; a witness to other people. 

God spoke to Peter through Andrew, to the 

jailer through Paul and Silas, to the savages 

of Africa through David Livingstone. More 

often than not a young 

person is influenced 

by the strong example of one of more years, 

providing advice and silent testimony when 

these are needed. Sherwood Eddy's voice 

among the students of the world, John R. 

Mott's unwavering call to young men, Mar 

garet Slattery and Ruth Isabel Seabury ap 

pealing to young women are current illustra 

tions. 

(2) When are people prepared to be used 

of God ? When are the words from God and 

when are they only from man? 

Acts 4:20; John 8:38 

The Holy Spirit prepares man: II Cor. 4: 

13; Num. 11:25; I Samuel 10:10; I Samuel 

19:20; Ecc. 3:7 (time and place). 

Beware of false speaking: John 8:44; 

Psalms 36:3; Eph. 4:31; 

I Peter 2:1. 

It is reasonable to believe that God will 

not use a man or woman who is not fit or 

ready to bear His word. How can a man who 

does not know God speak of His promises 

and wonderful grace? How can a person 

speak a great message when he does not 

know that message? Some of the verses sug 

gested for references point out that man can 

only speak of what he has seen or heard. It 

is the Christian that is chosen to speak for 

God. The man whose soul is prepared and is 

full of the Holy Spirit is the man that the 

Lord speaks through. Until a person is full to 

overflowing 

with the Spirit himself, he can 

not give to others. Until the individual has 

had communion with God through Jesus 

Christ, he cannot know of the words of God 

in such a way that God can speak through 

him. When we are prepared to live as we 

speak, then we become effective and useful 

vessels for the Lord. 

(3) What are some of the reasons why 

God speaks through people ? 

To give help and guidance: II Kings 3:11; 

I Kings 22:77; I Samuel 9:8.


To bring Christ's message to an unsaved 

world: Paul's example, Acts 17:22-30. 

Often the best means of grasping what 

may be God's will in any given circumstance 

is to have that expression come through 

some trusted individual. The guidance and 

help 

which comes from some Christian 

friend can start a person on the road to sal 

vation. Helping a person through the diffi 

culties of life by bearing God's words is an 

other reason why God speaks through people. 

Trials and temptations may be lessened, 

when the guiding hand of a Christian is giv 

en. The greatest reason however, it would 

seem, is to bring Christ's message to an un 

saved world. The message is salvation 

through Jesus Christ, and growing out of 

that, to aid people in finding God's will for 

life. This is the greatest work of all. Let us 

pray that we all might be used as servants 

of God. Let the Lord speak through each 

and every one of us. 

Questions : 

1. What are some other ways that God 

speaks through people ? 

2. How can we know when it is God that is 

speaking ? 

3. How can we prepare ourselves so that 

God can better use us ? 

4. Give some personal examples of times 

when you believe God was using 

speak to others. 

JUNIOR TOPIC 


Topic for August 8, 1948 

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT 

Gal. 5:22, 23 

you to 

This is an object lesson that never fails to 

interest. Buy 

from your druggist. Using 

a small bottle of phenolthalein 

a large sheet of 

white paper and a small brush, draw the 

fruits, lettering 

in their names. This will be 

invisible when dry. During the meeting, draw 

a tree. Then spray with a strong solution of 

washing soda. Use a small hand spray or "fly 

spray." 

This brings out the fruits in bright 

red. One of your boys will be delighted to do 

this spraying. Let him practice at home until 

he can bring out fruits one by 

order. 

one and in 

The topic suggested should be given out a 

week beforehand. 

Worship Period 

Ps. 112:1. Sing Ps. 92:12-14. Prayer. Mem 

ory verses are Galations 5:22, 23. 

Memory Drill: 

Mrs. Sanderson, of Belle Center, suggests 

a Flash Card Drill. Pirnt off a verse or the 

reference in large type on cards. Hold these 

up and let the Juniors give the whole verse. 

Let the winner hold the cards up next time. 

Introductory Thoughts: 

Last week, we spoke about dead hearts and 

living- hearts. The difference was the presence 

of Jesus. He is the Life. 

Tonight we shall talk about trees. What is 

the difference between a post and a tree. I 

Miscellaneous 7.g7 

100.57 100.57 

Balance 206.52 

The terms of Mrs. G. I. Wilcox and J. O. Edgar have expired and 

their successors should be chosen. 

We submit the following recommendation: 

1. That a renewed emphasis be given our witness concerning the 

harmful effects of tobacco. 

J. O. Edgar Kermit Edgar 

Mrs. G. I. Wilcox Robert McMillan 

John Coleman Ralph Wilson 

REPORT OF THE WITNESS COMMITTEE 

It is with gratitude to God for blessings received that we make 

our annual report. While there have been discouragements, there 

have also been many encouragements which have strengthened our 

hearts. 

Our efforts through the year have been devoted to the distribution 

of tracts and the Christian Amendment Movement. 

WITNESS LITERATURE 

We have republished and now have a plentiful supply of what the 

Committee regards as our best tracts on our Distinctive Principles. 

In addition to the list which we have been advertising throught the 

columns of the Covenanter Witness, two other tracts have recently 

come from the press "A Misunderstood Church" 

by Dr. David G. 

Wylie, 

and "Who Are the Covenanters?" 

Is there any 

distribution of tracts ? The American Tract Society 

value in the 

seems to think 

so. The response of our ministers and congregations to our appeal 

for the distribution of tracts has been disappointing. There seems to 

be a general indifference to this method of influencing public 

opinion. Judged by the requests which have come for literature on 

secret societies other denominations seem to be more awake to this 

menace. We wish to express our appreciation of the generous con 

tributions which Dr. James Withrow have made year after year to 

year to our tract fund. Our present supply is due entirely to their 

generosity. 

THE CHRISTIAN AMENDMENT MOVEMENT 

Pursuant to the approval of the Synod of 1947 (Min. of Synod, 

p. 108, Recommendation 5) the Christian Amendment Movement 

was organized in Pittsburgh, January 26, 1948. The following offi 

cers of the Executive Committee were elected: Chairman, T. C. 

McKnight, Vice Chairman, O. H. Milligan, Secretary, W. W. Mc- 

Kinney, Treasurer, J. S. Tibby. Since the details of the relationship 

between the Witness Committee and the Christian Amendment Move 

ment have not been worked out, the activities of the Movement are 

included in this report. 

LECTURERS 

Four lecturers were employed for whole or part time during the 

year. S. E. Boyle served until within a few weeks of his departure 

for China. G. M. Robb resigned September 1, 

1947 to accept the call 

of the Syracuse congregation. The Syracuse congregation generously 

offered to release Mr. Robb and pay his salary 

for as much time as 

might be required to prepare for and conduct the hearings on the 

Christian Amendment. Mr. Robb made two trips to Washington and 

spent a good deal of time at home making the necessary arrange 

ments. R. J. G. McKnight was asked to cooperate with Mr. Robb in 

working out the details. We appreciate the service which Mr. Robb 

has rendered and hope that we may be able to avail ourselves of it 

in the future. 

J. C. Mathews entered upon his duties in the office at Topeka, 

October first. With the exception of two trips to Washington, D. C. 

and one to the N. A. E. Convention in Chicago, he has spent his time 

in the office as Executive Secretary, editing 

"The Christian Patriot" 

and preparing and out sending 

literature. With the co-operation of the 

Home Mission Secretary, he organized a League of Covenanter Inter-


am going to draw a picture and then ask you 

whether it represents a man "dead in Sin" 

a living Christian. (Draw the tree.) Yes, this 

represents a living, growing Christian. 

Hew can we tell when a tree is growing? 

(When they speak of its leaves, draw the 

leaves on your tree by dipping a small sponge 

in green ink and then pressing it lightly to 

the paper. Do not cover the invisible fruit.) 

etc. show that a Christ 

Prayer, Bible-reading, 

ian is living and growing spiritually. How 

many Juniors have been "Loyal" 

for a month? 

What else shows a tree's growth? Yes, 

fruit. (Spray the first fruit.) 

LOVE is the great fruit of the Spirit. The 

Fruit of the Spirit is love; which includes joy, 

peace, etc. A living Christian is a loving one. 

Read I Cor. 13 responsively. Then read verses 

4 to 8 substituting the prounoun "I" 

word "Charity." 

this standard. 

or 

for the 

How do we measure up to 

JOY. Let the children quote verses con 

taining the word "joy" 

means "happy" 

or "blessed" 

which 

Look up Beatitudes in the 

Psalms, e. g. Ps. 1:1; 32:1, etc. 

PEACE. Topics to give out: Why is war 

un-Christian ? What are some results of war ? 

LONGSUFFERING. The verse, "Love bear- 

eth all 

things," 

covereth all things." 

may be translated, "Love 

It does not mean bearing 

the faults of others in the home with a 

martyred air. It means trying to smooth them 

over. This fruit is a happy, loving patience. 

Ask a girl to write a little story on "When 

It Paid Grace to be Patient." 

Can the child 

ren tell of times when they were patient? 

GENTLENESS. A boy is kind to otherT; 

that boy is a gentleman. A girl is sweet and 

thoughtful to her mother: that girl is a little 

lady. It was said of a Knight of old, "His 

strength was as the strength of ten because 

his heart was pure." 

Can you name other 

marks of gentleness? Topics to give out: 

Name some marks of a lady. Why I am glad 

to be a gentleman. 

GOODNESS. Sing 

does it describe a good man? 

the first Psalm. How 

FAITH. Turn to Heb. 11. Name the men 

and women on the Honor Roll of Faith. Choose 

one and tell the story of when he was faith 

ful. 

MEEKNESS. G. Campbell Morgan says 

Meekness is not spelled with a "W." 

A meek 

man is not a weak man. It is as when a 

strong 

colt is broken to harness. He is still 

strong but now he uses his strength to serve 

his master. A meek man is strong for his 

Lord. Who was the meekest man? Num. 12:3. 

TEMPERANCE. Ask a junior to bring re 

ferences on this subject to give out at the 

meeting. Topics: How does alcohol hurt the 

user ? How does it hurt others ? 

These fruits of the Spirit are the marks of 

a living Christian. "By their fruits ye shall 

know them." 

Repeat Gal. 5:22, 23. 

Close with Ps. 72*8, 12, No. 193a. 

cessors for the purpose of enlisting the prayer interests of the Church 

in the Covenanter Crusade and the Christian Amendment Movement. 

Signed lists of intercessors were received from twenty-six congrega 

tions. 

Mr. McFarland's work the past year has consisted mainly in in 

terviewing church and state leaders and placing orders for literature. 

He has been in thirty-eight states and has traveled from coast to 

coast. His receipts exceeded his expenses by $108.74. He inter 

viewed between four and five hundred prominent men and received 

orders for 40,000 pieces of literature. His travels took him to most 

of the headquarters of the large denominations; 

also to the Religious 

News Service, the Fderal Council of Churches, the Lord's Day Al 

liance, and the LeTourr.eau Evangelistic Center. In most instances he 

received a sympathetic hearing. Over 700 letters with literature were 

sent to state governors, moderators or presidents of assemblies, and 

presidents of seminaries and Bible colleges. Dr. Peter Marshall's 

sermon and the tract "Christ Before Congress" 

50,000 men. 

was sent to about 

From the office in Topeka publicity has gone out to the following 

groups: (1.) Church executives, heads of Christian colleges and 

seminaries and Christian publications. (2.) State and local W.C.T.U. 

presidents in so far as it has been possible to get their addresses. 

This effort has been disappointing on account of the opposition of 

the National President. (3.) All members of the state and federal 

judiciary. (4.) Over thirty 

prominent citizens and leaders in Amer 

ica, asking for the privilege of carrying the name of each on our 

letter heads as an "endorser" 

of the Christian Amendment. Among 

those who permitted their names to be used was Peter Marshall. 

(5.) A form of resolution for adoption by church synods, assem 

blies and conferencs. 

We wish to express our appreciation of the pastors and cngrega- 

tions who helped to send out our literature and in some instances 

provided the postage. We wish to pay our tribute to the Gospel 

Teams of the congregations and the Geneva College Christian Serv 

ice Union for the splendid service which they have rendered through 

the year. It speaks well for the future of the Church and the cause 

when our young people are so deeply interested. 

"THE CHRISTIAN PATRIOT" 

There has been a decline in subscriptions to "The Christian Pat 

riot", due to the fact that our lecturers have not been in the field 

constantly soliciting 

now numbers about 4,000. Many 

new subscribers. The paid subscription list 

of these are gift subscriptions. 

Frequent letters of appreciation of '"The Christian Patriot" are 

received. One subscriber wrote: '"This is just the type of publication 

I have been looking for for some 

Christian Patriot" 

the Christian Amendment, 

time." 

We believe that "The 

is an effective means of spreading publicity for 

and should receive the loyal support of 

every member of the Covenanter Church. Here we have an effective 

medium through which we may witness for the Kingship of Christ. 

PRESENT PROBLEMS 

Among the problems still to be solved are the following: 

1. The future relation of the Witness Committee to the Christian 

Amendment Movement. 

2. The confusion of thought throughout the country with respect 

to the proper relationship beween Church and State. 

3. The question as to whether the present wording of the Chris 

tian Amendment is the best that can be secured. 

4. The question as to whether an amendment to the Preamble to 

the Constitution is possible, or whether a Christian Amendment, if 

adopted, 

proved. 

would have to be added to the amendments already ap 

The recent decision of the Supreme Court in the McCollum Case 

has raised the question of the relationship between the Church and 

the State in a form which has not faced the country 

heretofore. It 

has also emphasized the need for the Chiistianizing of our national 

life and character. The present wave of secularism which is sweep 

ing the country is leading thoughtful men and women to a realiza 

tion of the seriousness of the situation; it is leading them to tremble

July 21, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 41 

SABBATH SCHOOL LESSON 


EBED-MELECH, THE ETHIOPIAN 

Jeremiah 38:7-13; 39:15-18 

The events described in this lesson are 

quite closely 

connected with those of last 

week's lesson, with the time drawing more 

closely to the fall of Jerusalem, the destruc 

tion of the Temple, and the end of the Jewish 

people as a nation. Jeremiah had continued 

to proclaim in a most fearless manner that 

the nation was doomed to destruction unless 

there was a complete and immediate turning 

back to God. While a prisoner, it would seem 

that the prophet was being- granted a measure 

of freedom at times, and yet was under 

suspicion by a hostile element among the 

king's immediate followers. In fact he was 

actually charged by them with secretly aid 

ing the Chaldeans, and on the strength of 

that charge was given over into the hands 

of his accusers who threw him back into 

prison. King Zedekiah continued to show 

those strange and contradictory traits that 

served to make, him a weak and wicked ruler, 

and yet not without kindly and generous im 

pulses. Chap. 37:16-21 gives an account of 

his secretly conferring with Jeremiah, and 

making inquiry as to what word, if any, the 

prophet had received from the Lord. These 

verses should be read with care, together 

with Chap. 38:14-28, since they tell of the 

final meeting of the king- and the prophet. 

This lesson however, has to do with a but 

little known man, 

and yet one whose kindly 

deeds have served to perpetuate his memory, 

and to give him a place in the history of 

God's people that will endure as long 

as the 

Word itself. There are three particulars con 

cerning this man that merit our consideration: 

his identity, his kinlly deed, and his reward. 

I. WHO HE WAS 

Chapter 38:7 tells practically 

all that there 

is to be known concerning Ebed-melech so 

far as his personality is concerned. He was 

an Ethiopian by birth, 

of the same people as 

another spoken of in the Acts. Both men 

were in the service of royalty, but one held 

a high and responsible office, while the other 

was a servant of a low order, simply a 

servant in the king's household. As to pre 

vious conduct and character nothing what 

ever is said. That he was regarded as trust 

worthy and faithful seems to be implied, 

since he was able to command the favorable 

attention of the king under very unusual 

circumstances. 

One unique feature of our Bible which sets 

it apart from all other books is that the 

worthy deeds of obscure and humble people 

are often recorded, while those of other, and 

more conspicuous people are not even men 

tioned. Another striking example of what we 

find in the case of Ebed-melech is that of the 

little Jewish maid, practically a slave, in the 

house of Naaman the Syrian lord, who 

pitied him because he was a leper, and whose 

fervent wish led to his being healed. The 

for the future of their country when they remember that God is 

just. The Christian Amendment Movement aims at nothing less than 

a national declaration to the effect that Christianity is to be pre 

ferred to all other religions. This is a challenge to modem skep 

ticism. 

THE FUTURE 

What the future holds in store we do not know. The present situ 

ation seems to indicate that the Christian Amendment Bill will not 

have a hearing in the present session of Congress. This does not 

mean that we are defeated, 

nor does it mean that we are dismayed. 

Rather we are amazed at the progress which has been made. 

We are amazed at the great number of people who are 

sympathetic toward the Amendment when it has been set before 

them. When we started the Movement we were aware of the long and 

difficult road we would have to travel. What we have attained is 

but the first phase of a difficult task. We have no intention of giv 

ing up the struggle. We are on the side of truth and we have the 

promise that truth will ultimately win. We are encouraged by the 

Apostle when he said: "For we can do nothing against the truth, but 

for the truth." 

2 Cor. 13:8. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ is 

King of kings and Lord of lords, and we have the promise that the 

kingdoms of this world shall become the Kingdom of our Lord and 

of His Christ. 

In closing our report we wish to make special mention of the ex 

pert service which Miss Mildred Boyd is rendering in the office in 

Topeka. Mr. Mathews says: "In efficiency and commercial value it 

is considerably in excess of the remuneration given. It deserves 

special recognition also because of her personal devotion to and 

prayerful interest in the exaltation of our Lord Jesus as the King 

of kings." 

The term for which A. J. McFarland was appointed has expired 

and his successor should be chosen. The terms for which J. S. Tibby, 

S. E. Boyle and D. Howard Elliott were appointed have expired and 

their successors should be chosen. John W. Anderson and Robert 

McMillan resigned from the Committee and their successors should 

be chosen. 

We offer the following recommendations: 

1. That pastors and congregations be urged to make the Christian 

Amendment Movement a subject of fervent prayer through the year 

and that they do all in their power to make its plans and purposes 

known in their respective communities. 

2. That the Executive Secretary and other workers be instructed 

to make plans for the introduction of the Christian Amendment Bill 

at the next session of Congress and that the effort to create public 

sentiment in support of it be continued. 

3. That the Executive Secretary and field secretaries he instructed 

to contact as many 

religious leaders, assemblies and conventions as 

possible with the message of the Christian Amendment. 

4. That our lecturers and office force be highly 

the service they have rendered during the past year. 

commended for 

5. That a committee, consisting of John Coleman, Paul Coleman, 

David Carson, M. K. Carson, F. E. Allen, S. Bruce Willson, and F. 

D. Frazer, be appointed to consider the subject of the relationship 

between the Church and the State in view of the recent McCollum 

decision of the United States Supreme Court and report to the next 

meeting of Synod. 

6. That the Witness Committee work out a plan for co-operation 

with the Christian Amendment Movement and report the same to 

the 1949 meeting of Synod. 

7. That in the meantime Synod approve of the Witness Com 

mittee's plan to underwrite the financial needs of the Christian 

Amendment Movement during the coming year. 

8. We recommend that A. J. McFarland be re-appointed for a 

term of three years. 

9.. The terms for which J. S. Tibby, S. E. Boyle, and D. Howard 

Elliott were appointed have expired and their successors should be 

chosen. 

10. That G. M. Robb, A. .1. McFarland, and J. C. Mathews be 

heard by Synod in connection with the adoption of this Report.


11. That the Witness Committee be authorized to draw up 

a letter 

to be signed by the Moderator and Clerk of Synod and sent by the 

Committee to all Protestant church bodies of the United States, re 

questing their official endorsement of the Christian Amendment 

and their cooperation in its support. 

J. Boyd Tweed Remo I. Robb 

J. Burt Willson J. Paul Wilson 

J. S. Tibby Melville W. Martin 

T. C, McKnight David M. Carson 

J. G. McElhinney D. Howard Elliott 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE 

TO STUDY THE QUESTION OF MARRIAGE 

WITH A DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER 

The paper your Comittee was appointed to consider, requests a 

deliverance of Synod on the position of the Church concerning mar 

riage with a deceased wife's sister. 

To begin with, we are not concerned with anything except what 

the Bible has to say on the subject. It is not altogether clear, how 

ever, 

as to how certain statements in the premises are to be under 

stood. The Pulpit Commentary, for example, 's quite outspoken and 

positive in the view that Leviticus 18:18 has "no bearing at all on 

sister." 

the question of marriage with a deceased wife's That pas 

sage is as follows: 

"Neither shalt thou take a wife to her sister, to vex 

her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in 

her life time." 

The commentator's contention is "that the words translated 'a wife 

sister' 

to her may be translated, in accordance with the marginal 

another' 

reading, 'one wife to ". The objections to this view, he says 

unconvincing." 

are "arbitrary and 

Yet, if we may still presume to 

disagree, there are at least two considerations that insist on being 

mentioned. For one thing, if the phraseology simply means adding 

one wife to another, and is thus employed merely for the purpose of 

prohibiting polygamy, it introduces a subject which is out of keeping 

with the context; for the chapter as a whole is manifestly dealing 

with the specific sin of incest. Then, for another thing, the words 

"father", "mother", "son", "daughter", "brother", and "sister" 

less this verse is an exception), are all self-evidently used in their 

plain literal sense. These two facts would seem to make the Pulpit 

Commentary's conclusion exceedingly precarious. 

On the other hand, by taking the word "sister" 

(un 

literally in its 

common acceptation, we are face to face with the question before us. 

And this, in the judgement of your Committee, is by far the safer 

angle of approach in the present setting. Keil states the case un 

equivocally. He says, concerning Leviticus 18:18: "It was forbidden 

to take a wife to her sister in her lifetime, that is to say, to 

marry two sisters at the same time i. e., to pack both together 

into one marriage bond.... and disturb the sisterly relation, 

as the marriage with two sisters that was forced upon Jacob had 

evidently 

done. No punishment is fixed for the marriage with two 

sisters; and, of course, after the death of the first wife a man was 

at liberty to sister." 

marry her 

It may help to clarify the matter if we place side by side with 

the present question, the Levirate marriage as that provision is 

recorded in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. 

"If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, 

and have no 

child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a 

stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and 

take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an hus 

band's brother unto her. 

"And it shall be, .beareth 

that the first born which she shall 

succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, 

name be not put out of Israel. 

that his 

"And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let 

his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, 

My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother 

a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my hus- 

eircumstances in that instance were widely 

different from those attending Ebed-melech's 

case, but the spirit was the same. How re 

markable it is that one in his station should 

commiseration for a fel 

ever have felt any 

low man who happened to be suffering hard 

ship 

at the hands of the powers that be! It 

would seem that he had everything against 

him so far as cherishing anything of a kind 

ly feeling toward anyone. Commenting on 

his case, one has written: "He was plunged 

into such a sea of godlessness, 

and saw such 

glaring examples of utter carelessness on 

the part of God's professed servants, that 

we are surprised that he was not driven 

away from a religion which had so little hold 

on its 

adherents." 

That one of a lowly race, 

and surrounded by 

conditions under which 

human kindness was an unknown quantity, 

should be moved with pity for an unfortu 

nate fellowman, 

and show faith in the God 

whose own professed followers had virtual 

ly denied Him, is not only beyond our powers 

to understand, but also demonstrates that the 

Spirit of God can do, and . is doing what 

human wisdom and knowledge can neither 

understand nor even conceive of. "By the 

grace of God I am what I 

II. WHAT HE DID 

am." 

The opening verses of Chap. 39 make quite 

clear that Zedekiah was given every en 

couragement to deal harshly 

with Jeremiah, 

since the religious leaders of the city were 

so utterly 

opposed to him because of his 

persistent and fearless denunciations of the 

nation's sins, 

and his courageous predictions 

of the punishment that was to be visited up 

on the city. At their request Jeremiah was 

thrown into prison, not only 

kept under 

guard, but cast into an almost indescribably 

filthy dungeon. When the word of this came 

to the ears of Ebed-melech he did a courag 

eous thing that might be least expected from 

one in his humble station. He went direct to 

the king 

and made a plea for Jeremiah. Al 

most as remarkable was the fact that the 

king listened to his plea. It was nothing short 

of amazing on Ebed-melech's part, and it was 

an exhibition of the more humane side of the 

king's weak nature on the other. Strange as 

it may seem, Ebed-melech was 

granted per 

mission to rescue Jeremiah from the dungeon, 

which he did in a way that revealed another 

un-looked-for side of his character. Almost 

anyone acting in his place would have been 

content to let down a rope for the prophet 

to adjust around himself, and thus be hauled 

up and out of the dungeon. The humble 

rescuer was more thoughtful, for he pro 

vided the means for sparing the prophet the 

physical pain and injury that a bare rope 

would have inflicted. And so it was that 

Jeremiah was rescued and again given the 

liberty 

of the king's court. 

This account of what Ebed-melech, a 

humble and unknown man did for the prophet, 

is worthy of our careful study 

and serious 

reflection. For in the light of what is said of


him a little later, it was not merely a sense 

of pity that one might have for any un 

fortunate, but was because he had come to 

believe that Jeremiah was a servant of God, 

and that it was his fidelity to God that had 

brought this suffering upon him. He be 

lieved that the prophet was speaking the 

truth, and that the people of Jerusalem ought 

to have done what he commanded. The re 

ligious leaders of the city, who should have 

been sensitive to the will of God, proved to 

be the foes of His servant, while this foreign 

er, an Ethiopian, a servant, proved to be his 

friend, and believed in him. It was the re 

ligious leaders in our Lord's day who de 

nounced Him and put Him to death; 

it was 

the Galilean fishermen of the north, un 

learned in rabbinical lore, who followed Him. 

Ebed-melech took his life in his hand in 

making his plea for Jeremiah, not merely 

because a fellow-man was being harshly 

dealt with, but because he was suffering for 

the cause of truth and righteousness. He 

took to himself the risk of becoming a martyr 

to the same great cause. He thus becomes 

one of that great host of whom the world is 

not worthy, unknown to men, but well known 

to God, 

who counted not their lives dear 

when the cause of truth and right summoned 

them to act. 

III. HIS REWARD 

The concluding verses of Chap. 39 relate 

in brief what befell him as a consequence of 

his fidelity to his Lord. '"I will surely de 

liver thee because thou hast put thy trust 

in Me." 

God sees and recognizes true faith 

wherever He sees it, and in whatever form 

it may take, and responds to it. It would be 

of interest to know more of this man, where 

he went, and what his later life was. That 

the prophet was instrumental in showing 

him the light we would like to believe. But 

however the truth reached him, his mind 

and heart were prepared to receive it. Like 

Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened, this 

man heard, and believed. And his faith did 

not fail of its reward. When the doomed city 

finally fell into the hands of the Chaldeans 

this man was spared. What his later life 

was we have no means of knowing. But the 

reward of faith was granted him, the gift 

of eternal life. 

The contrast between the king and his 

servant is a striking one. It is seen in so 

many different lights that we cannot but 

wonder how two men could have lived in the 

same general atmosphere, and yet be so 

fundamentally different. But we may see 

much of the same thing right around us to 

day. Speaking from a purely human stand 

point it was the king who was rich in assets, 

and the servant in liabilities. But from God's 

standpoint the servant was rich and the king 

impoverished. "Rich in faith!" 

that is the 

true riches, for it is the faith that makes 

us rich toward God. 

band's brother. 

"Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: 

and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her; 

"Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence 

of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit 

in his face, and shall answer and say, So shalt it be done unto 

that man that will not built up his brother's house. 

"And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that' 

hath his shoe loosed." 

According to that enactment it was lawful, and therefore not im 

proper or immoral, for a brother to marry a deceased brother's wid 

ow; for it is safe to say that the Bible never resorts to the prin 

ciple of doing evil that good may come. Thus, then, without im 

propriety, the same woman might become the wife of two brothers. 

Obviously this would be an even closer relationship than where the 

same man would marry two different women, as would be the case 

if the word "sister" 

is to be taken literally (as your Committee is 

convinced it should be), the verse already cited is explicit so ex 

plicit, indeed, as to preclude any substantial ground for prohibiting 

the marriage in question. 

Your Committee therefore is of the opinion that the prohibition 

in the case in question is unwarranted, and that the Synod accord 

ingly should take steps to remove the barrier, in our regular ec 

clesiastical way. 

Respectfully submitted, 

W. J. McKnight 

G. M. Robb 

C. D. Murphy 

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF CHRISTIAN EDUCATION 

June 1948 

The members of this Board are so widely scattered it is impractical 

to hold meetings during the year. Last year at the meeting of Synod 

at Grinnell there was so much extra activity we had very little 

time to meet and make plans. Thus our accomplishments .during 

the year, as a Board, were meager. We did send out a few leader 

ship training textbooks which were used very profitably. We still 

have some filmstrips on the getting and reading of our Bible, and 

some on the Holy Land which we would be glad to loan, but there 

have been few calls for them. Our set of slides on the Shorter 

Catechism has been revised and is ready for use. 

Most of our report is from the pastors themselves and the congre 

gations. A questionnaire sent out asking for reports and suggestions 

to our Board received a good response. Forty congregations sent 

in reports, and seven of them were letter size, being too much to 

report on a single post card. 

These showed that twenty-one of our congregations conducted or 

had part in Vacation Bible Schools, 

in week day 

ten of them have some work 

religious instruction in connection with the public 

schools and four had some kind of leadership training 

schools or 

classes. At least three have teachers' 

meetings from time to time to 

plan their Sabbath School work. Two report communicants' 

classes 

Nearly all report Sabbath Schools, 

a few of which are growing. The 

Junior Sabbath School in Glenwood has increased from seven to 

thirty in the last four years. Eastvale has had a record attendance 

of late because of a contest. Sterling reports that over fifty per cent 

of its Sabbath School Scholars come from ontside the homes of the 

congregation. There should be great opportunity there for member 

ship later on. 

Many other activities were reported in the nature of Christian 

education. Several congregations have active Junior Missionary 

Societies which meet during the week or on Sabbath afternoons and 

carry 

on the standards of that movement. Three congregations re 

ported Mothers' 

Clubs. Claud Brown of Selma reports a Boys' 

Club 

which gets a hold on boys outside the church and helps to bring 

them into the church. One pastor has three men's clubs each con 

nected with a church, two in outlying communities, which are capi 

talizing on the manpower of the congregation a needy field. 

Two congregations report Bible classes in private homes on Sab-


bath afternoons, a very good work. Two congregations report work 

in Child Evangelism. Cambridge Congregation is using visual aids 

in its Sabbath School and sharing them with the Kentucky Mission. 

The pastor in Walton used filmstrips on the Ten Commandments 

for a ten weeks course in week day 

religious instruction in two 

outlying communities with marked success. At least two "Blue Ban 

ner" 

classes are reported and one adult class has been going through 

the Larger Catechism. In Greeley, Rev. Ray Wilcox trained twenty 

young people in a special course on the Christian Amendment Move 

ment and then used them in presenting the subject in other churches. 

We understand other congregations have been carrying 

projects. 

on similar 

Theses are some of the varied ways in which Christian education 

is being conducted in our church. 

In our questionnaire we also asked for suggestions for our Board 

and also for the main problems confronting our pastors in their 

Christian education programs. Among suggestions we had the 

following: 

1. A column in the Covenanter Witness from time to time on the 

subject. 

2. The publishing 

where to get them. 

of lists of Covenanter materials available and 

3. The possibility of publishing distinctively Covenanter materials. 

4. Enlarging the loan library 

5. See about securing 

for visual aids. 

sets of slides on Geneva College and on 

our mission work, something like the slides on Grinnell. 

6. Ways of improving our Bible Schools. 

7. Suggesting an educational program for our summer camps. 

8. Putting on a drive for better trained teachers in our work of 

Christian education. 

Among the problems presented were the following: 

1. The lack of trained teachers with time to teach. This was men 

tioned by several pastors. 

2. Finding suitable helps for Sabbath School and Vacation Bible 

Schools.. 

3. Need of teachers who will attend regularly. 

4. Meeting problems of released time in public schools. 

5. The problem of concentrating the efforts of a scattered city 

congregation. 

Your Board does not feel capable of carrying out all these sugges 

tions in a single year, but we will try to carry out some of them. 

We certainly cannot help much with meeting 

all these problems 

which arise, but perhaps we can pass on some suggestions as to how 

they are being met in other places. They will furnish us a guide for 

future planning. 

One problem that is of special interest to at least ten of our con 

gregations is this matter of week day religious instruction in connec 

tion with the public school since the Supreme Court ruling. In 

Sterling, Kansas they are meeting in a separate building outside 

school hours. In Bloomington, Indiana two propositions have been 

proposed: 

1. To provide bus transportation for pupils to the nearest church 

building, i.e. if they can be released from school time by Indiana 

State law (They were waiting for a ruling on that). 

2. For the churches to buy a building near the high school for use 

for religious instruction either on released time or immediately fol 

lowing 

school hours. 

Your Board recognized the fact that the Supreme Court ruling on 

religious education connected with the public school has been a 

severe blow to this great movement. We believe, however, that 

where there is a will there is a way. We advise pastors to try to 

find that way and not give up the struggle. There is a tendency to 

become discouraged and quit. We believe a way must be found to 

get some moral and religious teaching into our public schools, else 

they 

will disintegrate from within and we will be forced to with 

draw our children into private schools as many Catholics and some 

Protestants are already doing. 

We thank God and take courage at the large amount of work that 

has been and is being done through our church in this great field 

Comments : 

PRAYER MEETING TOPIC 


CHRIST'S MESSAGE TO THE 

LUKEWARM, SELF-SATISFIED 

CHURCH 

Revelation 3:14-22 

By the Rev. Robert W. McMillan 


Psalm 34:1-6, No. 83 

Psalm 91:1-4, No. 247 

Psalm 31:1-4, No. 75 

Psalm 57:1-4, No. 155 

The historical school of interpretation de 

clares that Laodicea represents our age. It 

does; but it also has a teaching for all ages 

of the Church, as has each of the seven 

letters. The city of Laodicea was near Colossae, 

about seventy miles east of Ephesus. It 

was a wealthy city of theaters, palaces, and 

temples. There was a Christian church in the 

city to no small degree. Proudly it said of 

itself: "I am rich and increased with goods, 

and have need of 

nothing.'' 

With what con 

sternation and dismay they must have read 

the judgment of the Faithful and True Wit 

ness: "....thou are wretched, and miserable, 

and poor, and blind, and 

naked!" 

Furthermore, Christ said of this proud 

church, "Thou art neither cold nor hot: I 

would thou wert cold or hot. So then because 

thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, 

mouth." 

I will spue thee out of my A speak 

er once lowered his voice to ask his audience 

this question: "Do you know that there is 

a type of church that makes God vomit? 

There is," 

he said, and then cited the luke 

warm Laodiceans whom Christ would spue 

out of his mouth. 

Lukewarm means neither hot nor cold. 

Cold, in the sense used here, is one untouched 

by the powers of grace, but who when 

touched might become a zealous and earnest 

Christian. Lukewarm is 

expressive of that 

man who is familiar with the terminology 

and doctrine of Christianity, but only for 

personal advantage. He is satisfied with an 

external morality, but lacks the inner peace, 

hope and selflessness of the saint. Hot is the 

condition of one who is in the state of 

fervency, 

or a divine fire. 

whose love for God is a divine heat 

The church in Laodicea was the poor little 

rich church. Proud! Rich! She thought she 

was in need of nothing, but Christ saw that 

in spiritual things she was wretched, miser 

able, poor, blind, naked! 

And all the time the trouble lay 

a/t the 

door of the church a door that had opened 

so readily to those arrayed in fine apparel, 

to those who stood high in men's estimation, 

to those wise in the ways of the world, but 

closed to Jesus Christ who, for no one knows 

how long, had stood outside the door knock 

ing, patiently, persistently, affectionately 

knocking. A recent Christian magazine tells 

how a child looking long and earnestly at the


familiar painting, "The Light of the World," 

turned to his father and asked, "Daddy, did 

He ever get in?" 

Jesus Christ stands outside 

the door of many churches today, and the 

members are so blind that they don't seem to 

realize that they are keeping 

Him out. Jesus 

Christ is either everything, or He is nothing. 

He is either the way, the truth, and the life, 

or simply an imposter. He either deserves 

first place on every occasion, or He deserves 

no place. Yet, how often have we attended 

services supposed to be Christian, which be 

gan and ended with prayer, at which re 

ligious music was sung, but when it came to 

giving Christ a place, He was scarcely men 

tioned, if at all. Afterwards, the crowds left 

saying, "Wasn't that wonderful, 

marvelous," 

etc., when all the time Jesus Christ, God's 

Son, the One who calls Himself "the begin 

God," 

ning of the creation of was left stand 

ing outside the door. 

How accurate is L. E. Maxwell's picture of 

Laodiceanism, 

past and present. "But Lao 

dicea, without one false doctrine in her, 

knows not that she is 'wretched, and miser 

naked.' 

Lao 

able, and poor, and blind, and 

dicea is not Modernism; she is sleepy Ortho 

doxy. Laodicean lukewarmness loves to be 

left peaceful, quiet, 

undisturbed. Laodiceans 

can tolerate deadness, inertia, complacency, 

and a thousand forms of spiritual stupor, 

with no concern, no care, no alarm. But let 

some voice begin to rouse us from our sleep, 

then behold our excuse-making. If some 

servant of God demands our repentance, then 

we plead that repentance is for the Jews. If 

he demands confession of sin, that is Oxford 

Group-ism. If he calls for crucifixion with 

Christ, then that savors of the morbidity of 

the monastery. If he insists on self-emptying 

and the filling with the Spirit, then that is 

Penecostalism. If he demands holiness of life, 

that is, fanaticism. If he lifts up his voice, 

not like a trumpet, but in ever so mild an 

admonition, to show God's people their trans 

gression, then he is unloving, unkind, cruel, 

critical. We have an alibi at every turn. So 

well fortified, how can God get ait us? We 

are walled in, and walled off, and walled up 

to heaven against any and every attack of 

the Holy Ghost." 

Feb., 1948, pp. 42,43) 

To the church in Laodicea, 

("The Prairie Overcomer," 

wretched and 

miserable, and about to be spued out, Jesus 

Christ made one of the most beautiful prom 

ises cf all Scripture: "Behold, I stand at the 

door and knock: if any man hear my voice, 

and open the door, I will come in to him, and 

will sup with him, 

and he with Me. To him 

that overcometh will I grant to sit with me 

" 

in my throne . . . . 

"0 Lord with shame and sorrow We open 

now the door; 

Dear Savior, enter, enter, and leave us 

nevermore!" 

FOR DISCUSSION: 

1. Why does ous Saviour actually prefer 

coldness toward the things of God to luke- 

of Christian education. Let us pray for one another that our faith 

fail not. 

The terms of R. W. Caskey and Mrs. J. G. McElhinney expire at 

this Synod and their successors should be chosen. 

We would make the following recommendations: 

1. That congregations make use of our visual aid library of 2 x 2 

slides and 35mm. filmstrip. 

2. That Sabbath Schools ask for and make use of the leadership 

training textbooks available from our Board. 

3. That pastors take advantage of our offer to pay $1.00 per class 

in week day religious instruction up to 25 classes and $2.00 per day 

for Vacation Bible schools up to fifteen days where they are not 

compensated otherwise. 

Frank H. Lathom Walter C. McClurkin 

Paul Coleman R. W. Caskey 

D. Ray Wilcox May M. McElhinney 

The Report of the Co-ordinating Committee 

Synod's Coordinating Committee met in Geneva College, Beaver 

Falls, Pennsylvania, May 1, 1948. 

The Committee was called to order and after singing from Psalm 

122, A. W. Smith the convener, led in prayer. Dr. R. Esmond Smith 

elected chairman, M. W. Dougherty elected Secretary. 

The roll was made up and is as follows: 

Foreign Missions R. D. Edgar 

Home Missions John Allen 

Southern Mission John Allen 

Indiana Mission John Allen 

Kentucky Mission John Allen 

Home Mission Secretary Remo I. Robb 

Jewish Mission J. S. Tibby 

Witness Committee J. B. Willson 

Woman's Association Mrs. Agnes Steele 

Theological Seminary S. Bruce Willson 

Students Aid S. Bruce Willson 

Ministerial Relief M. W. Dougherty 

Widows and Orphans M. W. Dougherty 

Geneva College R. A. Blair 

Covenanter Witness D. Raymond Taggart 

Christian Education F. H. Lathem 

REPRESENTATIVES OF PRESBYTERIES 

Illinois Harold Thompson 

Iowa M. W. Dougherty 

Raymond P. Joseph 

Kansas J. G. Vos 

New York R. D. Edgar 

Millard Russell 

Ohio W. O. Ferguson 

Pacific Coast Samuel Edgar 

Pittsburgh Kermit Edgar 

Dr. R. Esmond Smith 

Philadelphia A. W. Smith 

E. M. Steel 

St. Lawrence G. M. Robb 

Colorado Paul White 

S. D. Crockett 

FINANCIAL 

The financial requirements of the various boards were presented 

and after due consideration the committee reached the following 

conclusions as to the amounts to be submitted to the church: 

Foreign Missions $ 24,000.00 

Home Missions 6,000.00 

*Southern Missions 

Indiana Mission 

600.00 

Kentucky Mission 6,000.00 

Home Mission Secretary 

3,300.00 

*Jewish Mission 

Witness Committee 12,000.00


Women's Association 1,500.00 

Theological Seminary 

3,500.00 

Students Aid 2,000.00 

Ministerial Relief 4,000.00 

* Widows and Orphans 

Geneva College 15,500.00 

Covenanter Witness 6,800.00 

Christian Education 300.00 

"Literary and Misc. Fund 400.00 

N. A. E 100.00 

Total $86,000.00 

% These departments have not been granted amounts from the 

General Budget since sufficient funds are on hand and special con 

tributions from the Women's Synodical have been coming in to car 

ry on the work. 

* * 

Following out the suggestion of last year's Synod. 

(Signed) 

R. Esmond Smith, Chairman 

M. W. Dougherty, Secretary 

The Committee adjourned, R. A. Blair leading in prayer. 

STAR NOTES... 

***On the first Sabbath of July 

while conducting the regular preach 

ing service in the Greeley Congre 

gation, recently made vacant by the 

resignation of Dr. Owen F. Thomp 

son, I was requested by Colorado 

Fresbytery to declare the pulpit va 

cant. The Rev. H. B. McMillan, a 

member of Presbytery offered the 

closing prayer. Rev. Ray Wilcox 

also was a listener that day, having 

just returned from Synod and sup 

plying several pulpits on the way 

home. 

This congregation is one of the 

attractive openings in the denomi 

nation. A united people, a beautiful 

city and a commodious manse. May 

the Head of the Church soon send 

them the leader and servant to fill 

this vacancy. 

Sam Edgar 

***Rev. and Mrs. J. C. Mathews, 

Paul and Miss Boyd were in Hopkin 

ton the 3rd and 4th of July and 

Rev. Mathews preached for us m the 

morning and Miss Boyd talked to 

the C.Y.P.U. in the evening. Both 

messages were relative to the work 

of the Christian Amendment Move 

ment. We were glad to visit with 

them and hear their messages. 

***Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Stevenson 

were visiting in Hopkinton recently 

at the home of Mrs. Stevenson, and 

have gone to visit relatives at Clar 

inda and Blanchard. Mr. and Mrs. 

H. McGlade accompanied them to 

visit their daughter and son-in-law, 

Mr. and Mrs. John Finlay. 

***Miss Roberta Rambo of Belle 

Center, Ohio, spent the last two 

warmness? 

2. How prevalent is Laodiceanism today? 

3. Now that we have considered each of the 

seven churches, which do you admire the 

most, 

which the least? Which best describes 

your own church? 

FOR PRAYER 

1. Pray that the Supreme Court decision in 

the McCollum Case may arouse Christians 

everywhere from their lukewarmness toward 

giving Christ His place in government. 

2. Pray for repentence, confession, cruci 

fixion with Christ, selfemptying, and holiness 

of life. 

weeks of June with her cousin Miss 

Helen Mitchell at Topeka, Kansas. 

***A correction. The item re Amer 

ican Bible Society contributions of 

$41.91 by Reformed Presbyterian 

Church for 1947 was not "per mem 

ber" 

but what 74 Covenanter congre 

gations gave amounting to $3,102.00. 

J. S. Tibby 

***Mrs. E. M. Elsey, 22200 West 

McNichols, Detroit 19, Mich., has 

been appointed Flannelgraph Libra 

rian to succeed Mrs. G. M. Robb who 

resigned. All requests for Flannel 

graph sets should be sent to Mrs. 

Elsey after August 1, 1948. 

CHURCH NEWS 

OAKDALE, ILLINOIS 

Miss Eleanor Thompson is taking 

graduate work this summer at the 

University 

of Illinois. 

Our congregation enjoyed a visit 

from Miss Blanche McCrea. She gave 

an interesting report of her work in 

Cyprus at the evening service, June 

13. While in Oakdale she was the 

guest of Miss Irene Piper. 

Miss Maxine Auld, a student at 

Geneva College, Beaver Falls, Pa., 

and Miss Annie Laurie Henderson, 

a student at Bowling Green, Ohio, 

have returned to their respective 

homes. 

July 4th the Rev. John McMillan, 

pastor of Old Bethel congregation, 

declared our pulpit vacant. 

We were surprised at the close of 

the morning service, May 30, when 

our pastor announced his resignation 

and his plan to accept the call to 

Southfield, Michigan. We regret to 

lose him as our pastor, but pray 

3. Pray that the fire of the Holy Spirit may 

fall upon us, that we will be neither cold nor 

lukewarm, but hot for the things of God. 

4. Pray that we may welcome election year 

as an opportunity to give our testimony with 

out shame or embarrassment. 

God's richest blessing upon him and 

Mrs. Thompson as they take up their 

work in their new field of labor. A 

farewell reception was held for them 

at the church the evening of June 14, 

at which Charles Auld, Chairman of 

the congregation, 

presided. Repre 

sentatives of the different organiza 

tions expressed their appreciation of 

the work of Mr. and Mrs. Thompson 

during 

They 

their four years of service. 

were presented a number of 

gifts, to which they 

responded in 

their own gracious way. .Refresh 

ments were served by the social 

committee. The Thompsons departed 

June 17 for a visit with their re 

spective parents at Greeley, Colo 

rado. 

S. R. Davis of Beaver Falls, Pa., 

returning from a visit at Tarkio, 

Mo., accompanied by his grandson 

and granddaughter, Wilfred and 

Joyce George, of Tarkio, stopped for 

a visit with the members of the 

Piper families. 

Miss Belle Carson, one of our 

school teachers, is retiring 

from the 

profession after some thirty-five 

twenty- 

years of teaching, of which 

five were spent in the schools of 

Berwyn, 111., 

a suburb of Chicago. 

She plans to make her home in Oak 

dale. Before leaving Berwyn she was 

entertained by the P.T.A. at a tea 

honoring her retirement, 

she received a bouquet of 

at which 

twenty- 

five silver dollars from the hands 

of the president of the association. 

She also received a number of other 

gifts. 

Mr. and Mrs. J. Ren Piper have 

enjoyed visits from the following 

members of their families: Dwight 

F. Piper and his family of 

Ambridge, 

Pa.; C. A. Stevenson and


family of Centralia, 111.; and A. E. 

Woodrome and family of Mt. Vernon. 

At the morning service, June 13, 

County Superintendent of schools, 

Kenneth Frieman and Mrs Frieman, 

presented their children, Mary Alice 

and Jerry David, for baptism. 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Rolphing of 

Mt. Vernon, 111., visited recently 

with her brother, Lyle Torrens and 

his family, and worshiped with us. 

Raymond Carson and his family 

of Red Bud County, Superintendent 

Kenneth Frieman and his family of 

Nashville and Miss Olive Boyle of 

Marissa attended the farewell re 

ception for the Rev. and Mrs. Harold 

Thompson. 

Mr. and Mrs. Frank Harrison and 

their daughter Shirley Ruth of 

Malta, Ohio, were recent visitors in 

the W. G. Thompson home. Mrs. 

Harrison is the former Miss Ella 

Carson. They 

Carson relatives. 

also called on their 

In one of the season's prettiest 

church weddings, June 16, Miss Mar 

garet Auld, only daughter of Mr. 

and Mrs. Ward J. Auld, became the 

bride of Lloyd E. Patton, younger 

son of Mr. and Mrs. David Patton, 

in the Oakdale R. P. Church. The 

Rev. Harold Thompson, their pastor, 

read the double ring service before 

the altar lighted with tall (tapers 

and banked with huckleberry foliage, 

and baskets of gladiola and hy 

drangea. Mrs. W. K. Auld served as 

pianist and prior to the ceremony 

accompanied Lester Guthrie, who 

sang "Always" 

and "I Love you 

Truly". The bride was given in mar 

riage by her father. 

The bride's attendants were Miss 

Patsy Hillyard, of Coulterville, maid 

of honor, and Miss Louise Torrens 

of Sparta. Laurence Patton served 

as his brother's best man and Paul 

Auld was groomsman. The ushers 

were William and Charles Auld, 

brothers of the bride. Following the 

ceremony a wedding dinner was 

served to the immediate families at 

the home of the bride's parents. The 

groom is a veteran of World War II, 

having seen action in the Pacific. 

Mr. and Mrs. Patton have been en 

gaged in the teaching profession. 

Dr. and Mrs. Kenneth Luney have 

located ait Lake Ozark, Mo., where 

they have engaged in private busi 

ness. They have been able to worship 

with us a number of times while vis 

iting his mother, Mrs. Nancy Luney. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wilmer Piper and 

family, members of our congregation 

who have been located at Streator, 

111., have recently moved to Topeka, 

Kansas, 

ing 

School. 

where Wilmer has a teach 

position in the Washburn High 

DR. THOMPSON RESIGNS 

GREELEY PASTORATE 

Dr. Owen F. Thompson has re 

signed as pastor of the Reformed 

Presbyterian church because of ill 

health. He has served the Greeley 

congregation for the past 11 years, 

coming here from Blanchard, la., 

where he was pastor 13 years. 

Dr. and Mrs. Thompson will make 

their home in Loveland for the 

present. 

The Thompsons have two chil 

dren, Harold and Dorothy. The son 

is a graduate of Pittsburgh semi 

nary in Pennsylvania, which is also 

his father's alma mater. Since his 

graduation four years ago he has 

been pastor of the Reformed Pres 

byterian church at Old Bethel, 111., 

which was his father's first pastor 

ate after being ordained. Dr. 

Thompson served the Old Bethel 

church for seven years after his 

graduation, holding only three pas 

torates in his 31 years in the min 

istry. 

The Rev. Harold Thompson and 

his wife are moving to Southfield, 

where he will begin his du 

Mich., 

ties with his new church August 1. 

ig 

Miss Dorothy Thompson is a grad 

uate of Denver General hospital and 

is a registered nurse in the offices of 

Drs. N. A. Madler and Donn J. 

Barber. 

Reformed Presbyterian congrega 

tion held a farewell reception for Dr. 

and Mrs. Thompson at the church 

Friday evening. Russell Alexander 

was master of ceremonies. 

After prayer by Rev. Thompson, 

Mrs. Edwin R. Keys spoke for the 

women of the congregation and pre 

sented a corsage of red roses to 

Mrs. Thompson. Others speaking in 

appreciation of the retiring pastor 

and his wife were: Herbert Gil 

christ for the deacons, A. A. Carson 

for the elders, and Philip Kennedy 

for the young people. Mr. Kennedy 

presented Dr. and Mrs. Thompson 

and Miss Thompson each a gift from 

the young people. 

Place Order Now 

Climax of the evening came when 

Gilford Alexander, representing the 

congregation as a whole, gave Mrs. 

Thompson a handsome purse and 

Dr. Thompson a billfold. Both were 

bulging with currency to the amount 

of $545. 

The church has no plans for re 

placement of Dr. Thompson. Visiting 

pastors will fill the pulpit until a 

new minister is called. 

MINUTES OF SYNOD, 1948 

50 cents per copy 

J. S. Tibby, 209 9th St., Pittsburg, Pa. 

Greeley Paper 

B- H 

' KANSAS C. Y. P. U. CONFERENCE 

- 

The Motto: "Crusaders For Christ 

The Date: August 20 to 26 

The Place: Forest Park, Topeka, Kansas 

Plan your vacation to include 

The Forest Park Conference 

Attend 

CAMP CALEDON 

for recreation and spiritual uplift 

Beautifully located on a bluff overlooking 

Camping 

LAKE ERIE 

Dates: Aug. 14-21 

For reservations, write 

Tom Wilson 

Geneva College, Beaver Falls, Pa. 

a 

-> 

-^


BACK OF "THE NAVIGATORS" 

by the 

Rev. Remo I. Robb 

Among the Bible memory courses 

suggested by the Evangelistic Com 

mittee in the booklet "The Cove 

nanter Crusade" 

(pages 9, 10) is 

"The Topical Memory System" 

by 

the Navigators. This course of over 

a hundred selected verses is put up 

in an attractive, convenient, and ap 

pealing form, which should prove 

invaluable to any person or group of 

persons who send for it. 

Not long ago a friend wrote of 

having heard how this memory 

course developed, and here is the 

story: 

"During the war I heard a young 

chap talk one night over the air. He 

was in the navy, had been converted, 

had memorized the verse that con 

victed him, and gone right after his 

buddy with the same verse, and got 

him. 'That gave him an idea and he 

began to hunt out verses that he 

thought would be suitable for put 

ting 

at the unsaved. He memorized 

the verse, chapter and book, so that 

he was sure he was master of it. He 

kept going after his mates and soon 

there was quite a bunch of them, all 

following the same pattern. As soon 

as one was converted he had to be 

gin committing and as soon as he 

had a verse or two that he could use 

he had to get after someone else. 

He discovered that committing 

verses and using them to witness for 

Christ in personal work not only won 

men but had a most remarkable ef 

fect in helping 

to stabilize the new 

converts, including himself, in an 

upright Christian life and behaviour. 

They named themselves "The Navi 

gators" 

and became a loosely formed 

organization. 

"I heard him again last Sabbath. 

He is out of the navy and giving all 

his time to trying to look after new 

converts anywhere he finds, them and 

getting 

them to use his method. He 

says, perhaps with truth, that 

present evangelism as practiced 

drops the convert just at the begin 

ning of his new life when of all 

times he needs help to get estab 

lished in a Christian way of life. He 

is sailing for China in a few days. 

He says with truth that the Chinese 

are great committers. There are 

now twelve thousand 

members of a 

Youth Movement over there mainly 

in several of the great cities. He is 

going to try to get this method 

across to them. Committing 

be hard for them, 

will not 

and he thinks it 

will give the work in China a great 

boost if he can get these twelve 

thousand young people to learn to 

use the Bible directly on their friends 

and mates. He said he was recently 

in an American city where twenty- 

six churches had united in an evan 

gelistic campaign and had over seven 

hundred who answered the altar call. 

He came there three months later 

and got them to hold a general 

meeting, especially inviting all the 

ones who had come forward, to be 

present. The audience was not large 

when they met, and he asked for all 

those who had gone to the altar in 

the revival to raise their hands. 

Not a single one was there. There 

had been no care for them and they 

had all failed to get started in the 

Christian life. 

"I have the deep conviction that 

the man is hitting 

Young 

a vital spot. 

people who profess their 

faith need to have help in getting 

established in Christian living. The 

most effective way to establish them 

is to have them seek for the salva 

tion of others. The most effective 

weapon is the Bible, and any one 

can begin to use that with one verse. 

This chap had acquired three hun 

dred verses when he spoke during 

the war. I do not know how much 

farther he has gone. It occurs to me 

that if that idea could get hold of 

our young people, the problem of a 

goal for the Church would have an 

excellent chance of success. The 

last year I was in China, I one day 

asked my class of ten young .men 

what had led them to definite de 

cision for Christ. EVERY ONE said 

it was the personal appeal of a 

friend who was a Christian. They all 

agreed that they had learned most 

of their knowledge of the gospel by 

hearing, preaching and reading, but 

it was a personal appeal by a friend 

that led to decisive 

action." 

There you have the beginning and 

development of "The Topical Mem 

ory System". Born in the mind of a 

reborn child of God, it offers a 

steady building up of tested New 

Testament passages centered around 

evangelistic themes. Advance in the 

course comes after each group of 

texts is ACQUIRED, 

which means 

that the portions are to be recited 

At one sitting 

Correctly 

Quoted 

Unassisted 

Including 

References 

Eliminating 

Doubt 

The cost of the "Topical Memory 

System" 

is $2. An introductory 

booklet with sample selections and 

full explanation, called "B-Rations" 

may be secured at 54 

per copy. Get 

a supply of these for your Sabbath 

School or Missionary and Young 

People's Society. The address is "The 

Navigators", P. 0. Box 70, Los 

Angeles, 53, Calif. 

LEAGUE OF 

COVENANTER 

INTERCESSORS 

David Brainerd, missionary to the 

American Indians, did his greatest 

work by prayer. He was in the depths 

of those forests alone, unable to 

speak the language of the Indians, 

but he spent whole days literally 

in prayer. What was he praying 

for? He knew that he could not 

reach these savages; he did not 

understand their language. If he 

wanted to speak at all, he must find 

somebody who could vaguely inter 

pret his thought; therefore he knew 

that anything he should do must be 

absolutely dependent upon the power 

of God. So he spent whole days in 

praying, simply that the power of 

the Holy Ghost might come upon 

him so unmistakably that these 

people should not be able to stand 

before him. What was his answer? 

Once he preached through a drunken 

interpreter, 

that he could hardly 

a man so intoxicated 

stand up. That 

was the best he could do. Yet scores 

were converted through that sermon. 

We can account for it only that it 

was the tremendous power of God 

behind him. The hidden life, the life 

whose days are spent in communion 

with God in trying to reach the 

source of power, is the life that 

moves the world. 

The Covenanter Church has com 

mitted herself to projects which 

CANNOT BE ATTAINED on the 

level of human effort. Therefore 

Synod has authorized the continu 

ance of the League of Covenanter 

Intercessors and all members of the 

Covenanter Church are invited to 

unite through this League or ac 

cording to one's own leading by the 

Lord in claiming the promise of 

Matthew 21:22. 

The first congregation to report 

the number of names on the new 

Intercessor's Roll is OAKDALE, re 

porting 52 names. When will the 

name of your congregation appear 

here? "Let us unite in 

prayer."



300 YEARS OF W'Tncssing- For. CHRIST'5 SOVEREIO-fl RIGHTS in TrtE. CHURCH *ND The. OJQT'OJJ- 

VOLUME XLI WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 1948 Number 4 

Prayer for a Christian Statesman 

Text of the invocation by Dr. Walter A- Maier, 

of the Luthern Concordia Theological Seminary, 

St Louis, at the Republican Convention. 

June, 1948, Philadelphia. 

Almighty and All Merciful God, the Father of 

our Lord Jesus Christ : Within a few moments the 

epochal balloting begins ; therefore, first of all, 

we start this session by praising Thee for this 

privilege of free government. One-fourth of the 

earth's habitable surface is controlled by atheistic 

tryanny, which has torn the free ballot from the 

masses and regimented them for ruin; yet by 

Thine undeserved mercy, Thou dost still permit 

our people to choose their own leader, the man of 

destiny for the testing time ahead, and for this, 

we thank Thee, Father- 

Help us show our gratitude today by choosing 

a man ; a real man ; an American man ; a states 

man, not a politician ; a leader of character and 

honor, who will not publicly promise peace, but 

privately plan war; an executive of truth and 

righteousness, who will not familiarly consort 

with atheistic enemies of Christ and our country, 

nor compromise the constitutionally founded sep 

aration of Church and State. 

Above all. Father of Truth and Light, as we are 

met here in Philadelphia, where at the first Con 

tinental Congress, George Washington fell on his 

knees to beseech Thy help ; 

as in this Convention 

Hall the features of Abraham Lincoln look down 

to remind us of his personal and protracted plead 

ing with Thee, let us nominate as candidate for 

the highest office in the land a man of prayer, a 

man of faith, a man of Christ who came to serve, 

not to be served. 

Send us home impressed with the fact that the 

choice of the next President is only the beginning 

of our responsibilities. May the Holy Spirit in 

delibly impress on our souls that above all else the 

United States needs Thee, our God, the Founder 

of our country, the Author of our liberties, the 

Guardian of our blessings. Give us all a deep 

sense of genuine repentance for our many individ 

ual and national sins. 

Forgive them all by the merits and mercy of 

Thy Son, our Saviour. In an age of atomic de 

struction and increasing godlessness, this may be 

one of the last free and representative political 

conventions unless the delegates here and today 

conscientiously do their duty to Thee and their 

country. 

Help them now safeguard the tomorrow of our 

beloved country. We ask it in that name which is 

above all other names, the name through which 

our prayers are heard, Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our 

Saviour- Amen.


QUmUd 


A Printer For Missionaries 

Printers often decline to print Bible stories for mis 

sionaries in unusual characters. This presents a serious 

problem for many missionaries who wish to have printing 

done in a language which their people understand. The 

Sunday School Times tells of a Mr. Allan Farson who 

has a printing press near Mexico City and who does 

work for the American Bible Society. They have found 

that his typesetting is unusually free from errors and 

the binding well done. Mr. Farson realizes the scarcity 

of printers for uncommon languages, so he has dedicated 

his life and printing experience to typesetting and pub 

lishing Bible translations that are being prepared for 

the second thousand languages of the world still await 

ing God's Word. Missionaries who have printing prob 

lems are invited to correspond with Mr. Farson, even if 

it may be concerning- 

or tracts or reading charts. 

the publication of small orders 

Food Shortage in Pakistan 

The missionaries of the United Presbyterian Church 

from Pakistan state that food supplies are available but 

not in abundance. Prices are high and food is often dif 

ficult to procure. They anticipate a much greater short 

age with the coming winter. 

Dr. S. P. MacLennan Rebuked 

The minister who performed the wedding ceremony 

of Henry J. (Bob) Topping and Lana Turner was or 

dered to be rebuked by the Presbytery of Los Angeles of 

the Presbyterian Church. Dr. MacLennan was the former 

pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Hollywood, 

Calif. The rebuke reads as follows: "Whereas you, 

Stewart P. MacLennan, are guilty by your own confes 

sion of having failed to observe the law of the Church 

in the remarriage of divorced persons, and by this act 

which you have committed have brought reproaches up 

on your Christian profession and provoked the enemies 

of your Master to scoff at His holy religion, 

fore in the name of and by the authority 

we there 

of the Lord 

Jesus Christ express our condemnation of your act and 

do rebuke you therefor." 

Few Churdhes Growing 

Recently a survey which covered 100 churches showed 

that 14 were growing, 56 merely holding their own, and 

30 losing members. 

Ban Comic Books 

The mayor of Indianapolis ordered five so-called 

"comic" 

books to be withdrawn from the stands in that 

city. The Church Federation said that the good people 

of the city would stand solidly back of the mayor and 

would probably 

those ordered eliminated. 

add other publications to the list of 

Churches in Berlin 

Ninety-six of the Evangelical churches of Berlin, since 


the first of June, have been kept open for daily prayer. 

Of that city's war-damaged Evangelical churches, 17 

have been repaired and are open for services. 

Knights of Columbus 

A law allowing churches to gamble if they wish to do 

so has been demanded by the Knights of Columbus. 

No Drinking Parties 

From New Delhi, India, as published by The National 

Voice, parties given by Indian diplomats abroad will not 

be drunken affairs. Because of the government's general 

policy of prohibition, the Ministry 

of the Commonwealth 

and External affairs has banned the serving of alcoholic 

drinks at diplomatic parties. 

Cigarettes to Japanese 

Japanese workers in various lines of work are to get 

American cigarettes if they are especially diligent. This 

announcement was made by the Allied headquarters. 

Cigarettes cost $4 a pack in the black market, but 26,- 

000,000 packages are to be given out to those equaling 

or surpassing work quotas in the next year. 

A storm of protest should be raised against this prac 

tice which will encourage the Japanese people to enslave 

themselves to the cigarette habit. They have been slaves 

of a despotic government. Now are they to be slaves to 

the despotism of the cigarette? 

N. D.'s New School Law 

North Dakota's new anti-garb school law, evidently 

aimed mainly against Catholic nuns teaching in the 

public schools, states: "No teacher in any 

public school 

in the state shall wear in said school, or while engaged 

in the performance of his or her duties as such teacher, 

any dress or garb indicating the fact that such teacher 

is a member of, or adherent of any religious order, sect 

or denomination." 

Another section of the law provides 

that a violation shall result in the suspension of the 

teacher's certificate for a year, 

shall bring 

and a second offense 

a permanent revocation of the certificate. 

Gandhi Being Deified 

Statues of Mahatma Gandhi are being 

placed in the 

temples of India alongside of other images of their gods. 

We believe that Gandhi, if living, would object to this, 

but Gandhi, while accepting some of the principles of the 

Christian religion, refused to accept Christ as Saviour 

and Lord, and seemed to die as he lived, a follower of his 

native religion. 

Bishop Pickett, Methodist, of said Delhi, India, recently 

that probably not less than 1,250,000 Indians lost their 

lives last summer in Moslem-Hindu riots. In Delhi alone 

it is estimated 30000 died. He also stated that the Chris 

tians of India undertook a splendid relief 

refugee camps after the Moslem attack, 

the prestige of the Christian community 

been greatly enhanced. 

program in 

and as a result, 

in India has 


Church of North America, through its editorial office. 

Rev. D. Raymond Taggart. D. D., Editor and Manager, 1209 Boswell Avenue, Topeka, Kansas. 

$2.00 per year; foreign $2.50 per year: single copies 5c. Special rates to congregations. 

Entered as second class matter at Post Office in Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879 




GiiAA&rit Qoestti, Prof. John Coleman. PhD., D. I>. 

The political race is on. The Republican and Demo 

cratic teams have been chosen and Philadelphia is soon 

to be host to the Progressives (as they will no doubt 

officially name themselves) for the nomination of Wal 

lace and Taylor. The Democrats of the deep South have 

already chosen to campaign on the race issue and the 

nominees are less impoitant than the division in the 

party: they are Gov. J. Strom Thurmond of South Caro 

lina for President and Gov. Fielding L. Wright of Mis 

sissippi for Vice-Piesident. There is said to be a vege 

tarian party also, and with the increase in the price of 

meat there may be quite a few vegetarians this fall, but 

few will wish to make the situation permanent. 

* * * 

rt A 

The Southern ticket is at least going to preserve its 

dignity. Gerald H. K. Smith, the well known rabble- 

rouser, volunteered his services to the new party and 

was told that he was not wanted. 

President Truman received the nomination rather by 

default, but curiously enough the issue of civil rights 

versus state rights woke up the languid Democrats and 

thenceforth, in a fighting mood, they hailed Mr. Truman 

as a great leader and made political war paint. The 

President appeared before the convention after his nomi 

nation and promised a special session of Congress to 

fulfil the pledges found in both the Republican and the 

Democratic platforms. If the Republicans carry out 

even the pledges in their own platform, the President 

will be disarmed for the campaign. The signs indicate 

that many of the majority leaders will endeavor to avoid 

such lawmaking, but Dewey is reported to have his 

managers in Washington ready to battle for the reform 

legislation. 

The stock market is tumbling and on the one day of 

July 19, values of stocks and bonds dropped by at least 

two billion dollars. The news from Berlin is the cause. 

There are two and a half million Germans in the 

American, British and French zones of the old German 

capital, and the Western powers, blocked in the trans 

portation of supplies by canal, by railroad and by high 

way are using planes across 100 miles of Russian terri 

tory. The Russians are threatening to use the air lanes 

maneuvers" 

far "air 

and may soon block all air traffic. 

The Americans are talking 

of accompanying their cargo 

planes with fighters. The Western powers might appeal 

to the U. N. Security Council, but the Russian use of the 

veto would make that useless. To withdraw from Berlin 

would leave the anti-Communist Germans to a fierce 

Russian "purge" 

and lose us prestige all over the world. 

Russia hopes for such a solution: it would be a victory 

for her. 

The Foreign Policy 

* > * j- 

* 

Bulletin presents a clear statement 

of the legal situation in Berlin, but it is too long to quote 

in full. On June 5, 

1945 the American, British, Soviet 

and French governments announced jointly: "The area 

of 'Greater Berlin' 

the four 

powers." 

will be occupied by forces of each of 

The American representatives held a 

conference with Marshall Zhukov on June 29, 1945 and 

it was then understood that the western powers would 

have free and 

unrestricted use of a corridor across the 

hundred-mile-wide Soviet zone. On August 2, at Pots 

dam the division of Berlin among the four powers was 

confirmed. Nothing was said of the corridcr, for the 

Americans knew that their presence in Berlin would 

require that, 

and besides Marshal Zhukov had agreed to 

it. Russia now exploits the omission, 

while the Ameri 

cans consider it a mere technical quibble with no force 

since the Western powers, to occupy Berlin, must have 

free access to it. 

Why the Western powers were to be in Berlin was 

not stated in the Potsdam Agreement. The Russians 

assert that it was only so that the four powers could col 

laborate in ruling all Germany; since the Western powers 

have organized Western Germany for themselves, there 

is no longer a reason for them to be in Berlin. 

Why are the Western powers not working with the 

Russians? Because they have found in Germany as in 

Austria and in Korea, that it is impossible to work with 

the Russians, only under them. As in the U. N. the 

Russians exercise the veto with great freedom. Stalin 

has often stated that the small powers which have no 

military strength should be given no rights, and obviously 

the larger powers have only the rights that they can 

command by force or threat of force. Frankly, this is 

why Britian has established conscription and American 

is rearming. The Russians are encouraged by the opposi 

tion to rearmament: they see large pacifist groups, read 

the speeches of the isolationists, and assume that the 

Americans are so divided that they will bear all manner 

of pushing around. They never have. 

The left-wing unionists in New York City are picket 

ing Gimbel's great store in an effort to terrorize the ex 

ecutives of the store and prevent them from testifying 

before the sub-committee of the Committee on Educa 

tion and Labor of the national House of Representatives 

as to the presence of Communists in the leadership of the 

store's unions. The pickets, three or four abreast, carry 

banners, proclaming "There's No Market for Union Bust 

ers in New York." 

testify as to whether they 

Nine union leaders have refused to 

are Communists and will be 

referred to Congress, when it meets, for contempt charges. 

Mob violence to check testimony is not good American 

ism. As to the Communists, they have shown and are 

showing that they know how to use strikes for political 

purposes. America should have none of that. 

The new 

states' 

rights party leader, Gov. Thurmond 

of South Carolina, is not so radical as one might suppose. 

He opposes the Federal anti-lynching law, but denounced 

the Earle lynching as "mob murder which South Caro 

lina will not tolerate", directed his chief police officer 

to the scene, and ordered him not to report back until 

the case was cracked. The culprits were brought to trial: 

they were acquitted by the jury, but that was not the gov 

ernor's fault. Thurmond is also against the poll tax but 

favors its abolition by state, 

not national action. 

The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority has ap 

plied to the War Department for permission to construct 

the longest suspension bridge in the world, linking Brook 

lyn and Staten Island. The central span will be 4,620 feet 

long; the bridge will cost at least $75,000,000 and be ten 

years in building. The great ships travelling to and 

from Europe will need to pass under it.


Synod Reports 

REPORT OF BOARD OF HOME MISSIONS 

The Board of Home Missions respectfully reports: 

The officers this year were: President, R. C. Fullerton; Vice- 

President, J. M. Allen; Recording Secretary, J. B. Willson; Cor 

responding Secretary, R. W. McMillan; and Treasurer, J. S. Tibby. 

Toronto congregation was disorganized last July, and the property 

was sold. A committee sent to investigate found little hope for a 

new start. Other congregations hold on. Rehoboth in Pittsburgh Pres 

bytery has kept going for a number of years with half-time preach 

ing for about three-quarters of the year, omitting the winter months. 

Now there is talk of a stated supply for the summer. Cornwallis 

continues under the leadership of Robert Park, who can go to them 

only in the summer months. Probably no elder has come to Synod 

for from thirty to thirty-five years. Last summer was Dr. Park's 

eighteenth summer there. This year we received a bequest amount 

ing to about six hundred dollars. We have another lesson in the 

wisdom of holding on to small congregations, and not giving up in 

despair when numbers become few. 

We must organize new congregations to take the place of those 

which are being disorganized, 

and we must plan to save to the 

Church members who must move, or think they must move, away 

from established congregations. The Board feels that a definite work 

must be started somewhere in the Southwest. Phoenix, Arizona, has 

a number of Covenanters and others friendly to the Church. Not all 

of these are willing at once to give whole-hearted support to the 

founding of a congregation. Some are eager for a place of worship 

and pastor, that their families may be able to cleave to their own 

Church. J. K. Gault was sent to survey the field. He worked from 

October 1 until April 14, holding 

services in the Wolfe home. Re 

sults were encouraging, but a place of worship and a home for the 

minister are needed before much progress can be made. The Board 

hesitates to make such a large investment without more certain 

prospects. Another place has been suggested, Hot Springs, New 

Mexico, a smaller community, with lower cost of living 

and with 

cooler summers. Mr. Gault went to Portland, Oregon at the end of 

April to be there for at least six months. Word was sent to the 

Phoenix friends that it is our hope that the work there will not be 

permanently discontinued. 

The proposed plan of co-operation with the Church of Scotland in 

Piince Edward Island, which was approved by our Synod last year, 

was not ratified by the other Church, and so never became effective. 

The Iowa Presbytery appointed Rev. J. H. Bishop of that church, 

Stated Supply at Winnipeg, beginning October 1. He plans to return 

to his old charge next October 1. According to the original plan, he 

ministers in everything but the Sacraments. 

During the year Lake Reno congregation made application for 

aid. and was granted $100.00. This spring 

thirteen congregations 

made application, and the summer work at Cornwallis was remem 

bered. Lisbon and Utica are not in the list. Rehoboth is added. No 

applications came from Lake Reno and White Lake. The Board 

urges the sending in of applications on time. 

In acting on the applications the Board went on the basis of a 

salary three hundred dollars higher than last year, or $2,100, and 

house (or its equivalent), and, in general, divided this increase equal 

ly 

between the Board's supplement and the congregation. In ac 

cordance with this action, the Board also increased the salaries of 

our missionaries at the three Home Mission stations under our 

charge to $2,100 and house. 

This year has been prosperous for us financially. Our balance 

April 1, 1947 was $9,271.49; our receipts $8,710.88; our expenses 

$10,194.59; and our balance April 1, 1948, $7,787.78. We ask Synod 

through the Co-ordinating Committee $6,000,000. 

SOUTHERN MISSION 

Faithful work has gone on steadily 

at Selma. Nine members were 

received during the year. The Home Mission Secretary 

visited the 

Lesssn Helps 



GOD SPEAKS THROUGH LITERATURE 

Ps. 23:1-6; Luke 15:11-32 

(Copyrighted by International Society of 

Christian Endeavor, Columbus, Ohio. Used by 

permission.) 

By the Rev. C. E. Caskey, Fresno, Calif. 

Psalms : 

Psalm 106:1-4, No. 288 

Psalm 23:1-3, No. 53 

Psalm 40:1-4, No. 119 

Psalm 119:1-4, No. 332 

Let us take up this topic under two heads: 

Our Attitude Toward Literature; and Some 

Helpful Christian Literature. 

I. OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD LITERATURE 

We should thank God for the attitude to 

ward literature that is born in us, and that 

has been cultivated as we have grown up in 

truly Christian homes. In the first place we 

make a clear distinction between the "inspira 

tion" 

of the Bible, and the "inspiration" 

the writers of other books. The writers of the 

Bible were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and 

when they spoke for God it was as if God 

Himself had spoken. Other writers do not 

have this special kind of inspiration and so 

when we say, "God speaks through literature" 

we do not mean what we do when we say, 

"God speaks through the Bible." 

Making this clear distinction between the 

inspiration of the Scriptures and the so-called 

inspiration of poets and authors guards us 

against three dangers: the danger from writ 

ings claiming 

equal inspiration with the Bible, 

as the Book of Mormon, the Koran, and the 

like; the danger from books supposedly based 

on the Bible but yet commonly given a place 

equal to, if not above the Scriptures in the 

lives of those who follow them, as the writ 

ings of Mrs. Eddy, Mrs. White, and Judge 

Rutherford; and the more insidious danger 

from writings which make no claims, but 

which some receive as though what is in 

them is really God speaking. 

In the second place our attitude that the 

Bible is the only inspired and infallible rule 

as to what to believe and how to live is a 

good thing in that it not only 

of 

makes us test 

everything by the Bible, but in that it makes 

us recognize that every human writing con 

tains errors or at best comes short of perfec 

tion and of truth. So we expect mistakes in 

human writings, no matter how fine they 

may be as literature. I read three interesting 

and well written books recently. Each had as 

its hero a minister of the gospel. Not one of 

the three authors gave any indication that he 

understood salvation by grace; in fact the 

books seemed to indicate that the authors 

were either unsaved, or else avoided letting 

it be known if they were. Therefore the "re 

ligion" 

in the three books was definitely not 

evangelical Christianity, and anyone thinking 

that God was speaking through that litera-


ture would be sadly misled. Let us thank 

God that we read books, no matter how well 

written they are, with the knowledge that 

they 

will contain mistakes and will come short 

of perfection. This keeps us from swallowing 

everything as if God were speaking to us 

through literature. 

Let us take up next: 

II. SOME HELPFUL CHRISTIAN LITER 

ATURE 

1. Biography. God has spoken to many 

through the lives of great missionaries. Bi 

ographies, diaries, and autobiographies of 

such people can be a help 

and an inspiration 

to others. Many testify that the writings of 

and about David Brainerd, David Living 

stone, Mary Slessor, C. T. Studd, Borden of 

Yale, 

and other missionaries have been used 

of God to speak to them so that they fol 

lowed the example of these heroes, 

or lived 

better lives at home. We might mention 

Gypsy Smith, D. L. Moody, R. A. Torrey, and 

Charles G. Finney as another group whose 

lives have touched others through biography 

as well as through their direct influence. 

Such books as "Twice Born Men" 

giving the 

conversions and experiences of converts are 

also helpful and a means of strengthening 

our faith. 

2. Allegory. Ranking 

second with the Bible 

would be Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. It has 

taught the way 

of salvation and has helped 

many a true pilgrim on the way 

Celestial City. 

to the 

3. Religious and devotional books. These 

are written with the avowed purpose of help 

ing us hear the voice of God, and there are 

many that are helpful. A classic among 

these is "The Imitation of Christ" 

by Thomas 

A. Kempis. Some of these aid us in our pri 

vate devotions, and others are a help in fam 

ily worship. For clear analysis and practical 

I like the books of the Norwegian 

teaching 

Theologian, O. Hallesby. All of his books are 

good, but the volume "Prayer" 

is exceptional, 

and "Religious or Christian" 

is one you ought 

to read. "Why I am a Christian" 

recommended by many. 

is also 

4. Narrative. Johnathan Goforth's "By My 

Spirit" 

is a recent book that has affected 

many lives by its challenge as to what the 

Holy Spirit can do in this age. 

5. Fiction. Suitable Christian novels are 

hard to find. Too many authors either do not 

know the way of salvation, or are afraid to 

show it in their writings. Others bring in er 

ror, ranging from making the so-called 

"Social Gospel" 

exclude the real gospel, to 

extreme dispensationalism. The hooks of 

Grace Livingstone Hill are good, and no doubt 

you have found others. Harriet Beecher 

Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin'' 

should not be 

forgotten when we think of books that have 

influenced people. 

All these books should be sifted carefully, 

remembering 

that men make mistakes, and 

that no man presents all the truth, or any of 

the truth in all of its fullness. 

Topics for Discussion: 

Mission this spring. A record-breaking attendance in the Kinder 

garten made necessary the employment of another helper. The 

Board has offered to pay haK the cost of a car for Mr. Brown, up 

to $750. 

Mr. Brown started a boy's club this spring, taking in about fifty 

boys, 

most of whom came from homes outside the circle of the 

church. The Catholics have changed our former cottage from an old 

men's home to a center for boy's work. Mr. Brown's club meets three 

times a week, Monday evening for teaching by him and Tuedsay and 

Thursday afternoons for games. 

A large bequest came to the Mission treasury from Mrs. Eva 

Huston, amounting to nearly seven and a half thousand dollars, and 

a smaller one amounting to nearly eighty dollars from Miss Anderson. 

Perhaps Mrs. Huston's bequest to the Indian Mission should go in to 

our endowment funds. The balance on April 1, 1947 was $5,699.13; 

receipts $11,626.88; expenses $2,956.25; and balance April 1, 1946 

S14.369.76. 

INDIAN MISSION 

The membership has been pruned this year. Last year it was 74. 

Eleven have been added, and eighteen removed. Tjie mem 

bership is now 67. 

On Thanksgiving Day the Women's Missionary Society had the 

annual Thank-offering meeting in the morning service. Dinner in the 

church followed for all who were present. The afternoon was spent 

in social fellowship, listening 

to Psalm recordings from Grinnell and 

in making records of Psalms sung in both Comanche and English. 

Relationships with other missionaries and with the Indian school 

continue pleasant. Mr. Ward had charge of the evening service at 

the school on Sabbath, December 21. Two hundred were present, in 

cluding many of the faculity. Not nearly so many small children were 

at the school this year. 

A car was bought for the mission this year and is used, along 

with Mr. Ward's car, to bring 

Indians are getting 

people to the services. Some of the 

used cars for themselves, and our cars can now 

go for others who live farther away. The car cost $550.00. 

Clay Williams, who was on the Mission farm for many years, and 

has been a faithful helper in the work, has been quite ill in the hos 

pital, but is now able to be home again. 

Mrs. Huston's bequest amounted to $4,017.56. Our balance on 

April 1, 1947 was $3,037.44. Our receipts were $6,247.00; 

penses $2,482.30; and our balance April 1, 1948 $6,802.14. 

KENTUCKY MISSION 

our ex 

Miss Geneva Patterson leaves us this month to be married soon. 

She will be greatly missed. One of the others writes; "Miss Patterson 

continues to take cheerfully the heaviest load, the longest walks, 

the most difficult driving, the hardest tasks around the home". 

The winter was the most severe in years, 

with more snow than 

people have seen since childhood. Bad weather and roads kept even 

the jeeps from some country schools, but the teachers were able to 

finish all the twenty-six lessons in the life of Christ in most of the 

schools. The lessons were made a little more difficult than last year, 

and required some written work, but the children liked them better. 

The country 

schools closed in February and March, and will not 

open until August 16, another step toward the more usual September 

opening. Three Vacation Bible Schools were held this spring, at 

Cliffside, 

with 30 enrolled; at Fannin, about three miles out over 

very bad roads, with 34 enrolled; and at Mauk, in a remote district, 

one of the most spiritually needy fields in the county. The 'Save the 

Children Federation has 

these schools. 

again made a grant for the expenses of 

Sabbath Schools at Wyett and Concord have met regularly. Con 

cord may be given up, to release time for a school at Cliffside. 

Mothers there asked for a Sabbath School, and on the first day's trial 

45 persons, old and young, were present. They 

elected officers and 

two or three offered to teach in case the missionaries could not be 

there. 

Early in February 

our workers were asked to give a musical demon 

stration to a High School class studying the psychology of sound.


The students asked for more, and our workers consented to a period 

a week for music. Other classes asked for.it, and they consented to 

a second period. Then they were asked to train a chorus for .the 

Baccalaureate service on May 2, using Psalms. The chorus sang 

Psalms 148, 23, and 90 in a way that might have even won a place 

in a Covenanter Psalm Festival. It was declared to be the best sing 

ing ever heard in Sandy Hook. The Principal now says that there 

must be singing in all grades next year, and suggests community 

singing in the summer. The Methodist minister asked the chorus to 

sing Psalms at some of his revival services. Miss Huston says, "We 

are not equal to all this. Is there not some real musician who will 

come and help 

us?" 

Four young people who have attended Wells Creek or Concord 

went to our Grinnell Conference. One of them, Nadine Hunter, nas 

attended Geneva College this year, 

and mnited with our College Hill 

congregation. Testimonies continue to come to the effect of our 

work. A boy looked on elsewhere as a "bad" 

boy is a regular visitor 

at the library, and is different with our teachers. He tells his moth 

er, "Them women is the sweetest things." 

A boy of about sixteen, a 

member of the noon time High School Bible class, led a prayermeet 

ing in the Methodist church, and began by saying 

that he didn't know 

very much about the subject, but what he did know, he got from the 

Bible teachers. The County Superintendent spoke of the way in 

which responsibility for spiritual education was thrown on the 

schools, and said, "Miss Huston and her co-workers are trying to fill 

this gap, and I want you to know that their work has my heartiest 

approval." 

In the Fannin district, after a county sheriff had been 

killed, a woman said, "I just praise the Lord for the Bible teachers. 

We sure do need them. If we had had them fifty years ago, we 

wouldn't be having 

all these killings 

now." 

The library is being used more and more. A new channel for loan 

ing books to parents has been opened by the P. T. A. and a good 

number of Christian books are being read. 

A second jeep, a practically new car, was secured from a friend 

of the Mission for $1,000.00. It is used at Saiyly Hook to replace the 

oid Ford known as "Susie," 

and is called "Willy the Second". Dur 

ing the year some improvements were made, on the Wrigley property, 

with the help of elder A. D. Robb of Topeka. 

When Cincinnati congregation was unable to provide provisional 

elders for a session, the Board suggested to Ohio Presbytery that 

they authorize Mr. Hemphill to use any elders or ministers who may 

be visiting the Mission to form a provisional session to receive 

members. 

Synod referred to this Board a request from the Women's Synod 

ical Missionary Society 

that Miss Huston be given a year's leave of 

absence in order to write more missionary books. The Board thought 

it unwise to set a precedent by giving her a year's leave of absence 

with salary, but offered to release her for this special task, if she 

wished it. It was suggested to the Women's Synodical that, since 

they pay her salary, they should themselves present their proposal 

to her and arrange for its being carried out. No action has been 

taken. 

No permanent worker has been secured as yet to fill Miss Patter 

son's place. For the summer, Miss Martha McFarland of New Alex 

andria congregation has been appointed for three months, Miss Jane 

Harsh of Belle Center for July and Miss Eleanor Faris of Denison 

for August. The salary of full-time workers has been raised to $125 

per month, with free house, and the salary 

of summer helpers to 

$90 per month, with free rent and travel expense. 

The balance April 1. 1947 was $5,458.27; receipts were $5,631.20; 

expense $7,750.08; and the balance April, 1948 was $3,339.30. 

We ask for the Southern Mission $100; for 

$1,000; 

the Indian Mission 

and for the Kentucky Mission $6,000. 

J. M. Allen was appointed to represent the Board before the Co 

ordinating Committee. 

We Recommend: 

I. That the Board be authorized to send to Mr. W. J. Anderson for 

the work of his hospital in Selma the sum of $1,500 from the South- 

1. My atitude toward literature. 

2. Some books that have helped me in the 

Christian life. (Several speakers should take 

this topic. 

3. Some books I would recommend as valu 

able to young people. (A teacher, pastor, 

librarian, 

or someone who knows books might 

be assigned this topic. 

4. What can our society do to promote the 

use of better reading materials ? 

JUNIOR TOPIC 



A LIQUOR STORE 

Worship Period: Ps. 122:1, Sing Ps. 24:2, 

No. 59. Read Proverbs 23:29-35 The memory 

verse is Prov. 23:32. 

On cardboard or poster paper draw two 

doors facing one another. Above, write the 

sign, "A LIQUOR STORE". Under that write, 

"Dealers In". Across the doors write, 

BEER, PORTER, 

WHISKEY 

BOURBON, WINE 

Place the first two letters of "PORTER" 

on the space between the doors. Cut the doors 

so they 

will fold back. If printed as above, 

when the doors are folded back, the word 

"PO IS ON" 

appears on the space between 

the doors. Below the doors, print the memory 

verse. 

Introductory Thoughts: In the Worship 

Verse, where did you Juniors say 

you were 

glad to go ? I am thinking of a far different 

place; a place where no one should be glad 

to go. Here is a picture of it. (Uncover the 

picture.) It is called a Beer Parlor or a 

Tavern. In Canada, we call it a Liquor, Store. 

This Liquor Store is a den. Have you been 

to a zoo ? Only 

a foolish child would want to 

step into the den where a fierce lion crouches. 

There is a lion who lurks in this liquor den. 

He is described in Ps. 10:2, 10, No. 18. (Read 

this together, showing how it describes the 

saloon keeper.) 

On the outside this den looks quite respec 

table. The men who run it say they are 

"Dealers in beer, porter, 

etc." 

They give 

examples of these things in the form of 

candy and ice cream to boys and girls. Why 

do they especially want to get children into 

their den. Soon the young folks begin to 

think a little drink won't hurt them. They 

think it will be "smart to drink," 

so they 

open the doors and go in. (Fold back the 

doors.) But when they have taken the stuff, 

they find that they have been drinking 

"POISON". (Point to the letters on the out 

side.) 

Liquor Stores are "Dealers in Poison" 

Dr. Kellog says, "Alcohol is a poison which 

has destroyed more lives than probably all 

other poison put together. It belongs to a 

family 

of poisons." 

Juniors, is it "smart" 

to drink poison? Is 

it "smart" 

to commit suicide? Is it "smart" 

to disobey God who has told us to take care


of our bodies? Here is the sword drill of a 

truly 

smart Christian Junior: 

"My body is a temple. (I Cor. 6:19) 

To God it does belong; (Col. 2:17) 

He bids me keep it for His use (I Cor. 6:20) 

He wants it pure and strong. (I Tim. 5:22; 

Eph. 6:10) 

Poisons that harm the body 

I must not use at all. (Acts 16:28) 

Tobacco is one hurtful thing, 

Another alcohol. (Prov. 23:31, 32) 

Into my mouth they shall not go, 

When tempted, I will answer, 'No'. 

(Prov. 1:10) 

And every day I'll watch and pray, 

(Mark 14:28) 

'Lord, keep me pure and strong 

(Psa. 141:3) 

Forward America Supplement 

alway.' " 

Temperance is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, 

but intemperance is the fruit of Satan him 

self. Alcohol is a poison which does a far 

than kill the body: it also 

more terrible thing 

kills the soul. These "dealers in 

poison" 

are 

not only dealers in the health and wealth of 

their victims but also in the character, the 

reputation, and the souls of those who drink. 

No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of 

God (I Cor. 6:10). And no Christian will 

touch that which destroys his brother's soul 

(Rom. 14:21). 

Here is the A B C of the matter: 

A Icohol is a poison that drags men to 

Hell. 

B eer starts the habit of taking this 

poison. 

C hristians must not touch this poison in 

any form. 

My father used to say, "If you follow this 

advice, you will never be a drunkard. Here it 

is. Listen: Never take the first drop." 

Juniors, 

that is my last word to you. Keep away from 

the Liquor Den. Never take the first drop of 

this awful poison, for '"at the last it biteth 

like a serpent, and stingeth like an 



ANDREW, THE MAN WHO 

BROUGHT OTHERS 

adder." 

John 1:37-42; Mark 1:16-18; John 12:20-22 

Andrew is the first New Testament charac 

ter named in the list of individuals chosen 

for our study during this third quarter. If we 

were to try naming the twelve apostles with 

out first looking up the list, most of us would 

be mildly surprised to discover how much 

more familiar some names are than others. 

And in all probability the first names that 

would occur to us would be Peter, James, and 

John. The other nine names might not be so 

familiar to us, unless it be that of Judas, who 

is remembered for just one thing. Andrew is 

one of the less known members of the group. 

He was one of the many 

good and useful 

people in the world who are not estimated at 

their true worth simply because they are not 

so well known as others. They might be just 

ern Mission Treasury. 

2. That the Superintendent of each field be asked to speak before 

Synod for ten minutes; Mr. Brown for Selma; Mr. Ward for Cache 

Creek, and Mr. Hemphill for Kentucky, and that the President, R. C. 

Fullerton, speak for the Board. 

3. That successors to Robert Clarke, R. A. Blair, J. G. McElhinney, 

R. W. McMillan, and elders J. M. Allen and J. S. Tibby, whose term 

now expires, be chosen by Synod; 

and that elders be chosen to fill 

the places of R. K. McConaughy, of the class of 1949, and of J. R. 

Lathom, of the class of 1950, since they cannot attend the meetings. 

(The Board suggests the name of M. F. Murphy for one vacancy.) 

4. That owing to the continued increase in cost of living, a min 

imum salary of $2,100 and parsonage (or its equivalent) be estab 

lished. 

5. That self-supporting congregations paying less than this min 

imum salary take steps to supplement the present salary to this 

minimum. In case they are unable to do so, that they make request 

to their Presbytery for a supplement. 

6. That the following 

supplements to congregations be approved: 

IOWA PRESBYTERY 

Eskridge $1,000 for stated supply 

to pay 51,200. 

KANSAS PRESBYTERY 

or pastor. Congregation asked 

Eskridge $1,000 for stated supply or pastor. Congreggation asked 

to pay S900. 

NEW YORK PRESBYTERY 

Cornwallis $150 for summer supply. 

OHIO PRESBYTERY 

Cincinnati $1,100 for stated supply or pastor. 

Hetherton $1,050. Congregation asked to pay $1,050. 

PACIFIC COAST PRESBYTERY 

Fresno $450. Congregation asked to pay $1,650. 

Portland $1,950. For stated supply 

to pay $750 (on experimental basis for five months). 

PITTSBURGH PRESBYTERY 

or pastor. Congregation asked 

Bear Run-Mahoning $850. For stated supply or pastor. Congrega 

tion askud to pay $1,250. 

Connellsville $900. For stated supply or pastor. 

Eastvale $600. Congregation asked to pay $1,400. 

Rehoboth Enough to give minimum salary, if stated supply is 

secured. 

Union $1,050. For stated supply or pastor. 

' 

$1,100. Congregation asked to pay $1,600. 

Youngstow 

ST. L4WRENCE PRESBYTERY 

Lochiel$1,200. Congregation asked to pay $600. 

That $1,000 additional be granted the Board for Emergency ad 

justments 


J. B. Willson, Recording Secretary 

REPORT OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S SECRETARY 

Dear Fathers and Brethren: 

for 

1948 

People's Secretary respectfully reports: 

Your Young 

It was my privilege to become Young People's Secretary 

at the 

moment when work was at a minimum. The tremendous responsi 

bilities connected with the National Conventicle were over and the 

young people of the Church were living under the inspiration of 

their gathering. All post-convention items were cared for by the 

former secretary, the Rev. S. Bruce Willson, to whom the present 

secretary is therefore greatly indebted. 

At the dedication service on the closing Sabbath of the Grinnell 

gathering twenty nine young people volunteered for full time Chris 

tian service. Of these, eleven volunteered for the ministry, nine for 

the mission field, and the remainder for such service as the Lord may 

call them. One of these has now completed a year in the seminary,


one or more will enter seminary training this fall, one is under ap 

pointment of the Foreign Mission Board and another is under 

limited appointment of the Home Mission Board. Fourteen of these 

volunteers are or have been students of Geneva College. That these 

consecrated young people may 

not be neglected and their services 

remain unused, I have written them occasional letters through the 

winter. 

The first duty laid upon me by the C.Y.P.U. was that of finding a 

site for their next meeting in 1950. With the Rev. John 0. Edgar, 

I visited a beautiful camp at Medicine Lake, twelve miles outside 

Minneapolis, Minn. The location seemed nearly ideal and the facil 

ities were adequate for our needs, but the manager stated that the 

camp is booked full from May to September by 

organizations that 

meet every year. The only hope he gave us was that some group 

might cancel a week of their time. We felt therefore that we might 

well drop that camp from our list of possible meeting places. 

I received an invitation from Grinnell College in 1950 from July 

20 to 30, and pending final settlement the invitation was tentatively 

accepted. Feeling however that there was some sentiment for a dif 

ferent location, I inserted an advertisement in UEA, the magazine 

of the NAE. Some answers have come in, but nothing final has 

been decided. 

The Young People's Topics for 1948 were prepared by a commit 

tee of Rev. Paul Faris, Rev. Robert Crawford, and Miss Marjorie 

Hill. Mr. Crawford is r-> be chairman of the committee for the 1949 

topics and his assistants are and . 

The material for the Witness columns has been written by young 

people of the different presbyteries. Assignments are arleady made 

until the end of August. 

Five C.Y.P.U. camps are planned for this summer. The Pacific 

Coast meets July 29 to August 4 at Camp Waskowitz near Seattle, 

Washington. Next is White Lake, N. Y., with its junior camp from 

July 26 to August 5, and the regular encampment continuing from 

August 7 to 21. Pittsburgh meets at Camp Caledon on Lake Erie, 

August 14-21; Ohio-Illinois at Oakwood Park, Syracuse, Indiana, 

August 16-22; and Kansas Presbytery at Forest Park, Topeka, Kan 

sas, August 20-26. A special feature for an evening program, avail 

able to all of these camps, is the Geneva College Male Quartette, 

which is planning to tour the church this summer in the interests 

of the College and the Covenanter Crusade. The progam which they 

plan to present is an honor to the college, to the church, to them 

selves and to their Lord. Plans for all the camps are well under 

way, and the gatherings promise to continue the spirit and blessing 

so manifest at the national conventicle a year ago. 

In working with the young people of the Covenanter Church, I 

give thanks for these who fulfill the Lord's promise to His people: 

"Our sons shall be as plants grown up in their youth; our daughters 

as corner stones polished after the similitude of a 

I recommend: 

palace." 

1. That Synod commend the twenty-nine young men and women 

who volunteered for full time Christian service at the Grinnell con 

venticle and encourage them in their further preparation and en 

trance into their respective fields. 

2. That Synod commend the National C.Y.P.U. for its extensive 

plan of work and its special emphasis on evangelism; and that the 

Secretary keep before them their goal, that, submissive always to 

the Holy Will of God "each C.Y.P.U. member will honestly strive 

to bring at least one young 

person a year to Christ". 

3. That $150 be appropriated for the expenses of the office this 

year. 

RECEIPTS 

EXPENSES OF THE C.Y.P.U. SECRETARY 

From Home Mission Secretary Account 

Cash 

Stamps -59 

22.92 

$23.51 

From societies for postage . .55 $24.06 

as deserving 

worthy 

of our praise, and just as 

examples for us to follow as are 

others who are more widely known, and 

whose praises are sung by the masses. An 

drew appears to have belonged to this class. 

John identifies him by calling him "Simon 

Like some other men since 

Peter's brother" 

his time, Andrew's identity is revealed by 

being 

called the brother of a well known man. 

John is not mistaken in his estimate implied, 

of Simon Peter. Peter merits the high place 

accorded him. But Jesus, in calling Andrew as 

well as Peter to the apostleship, recognized 

his worth as well as that of Peter. 

I. WHAT IS RELATED OF HIM 

Concerning Andrew the gospels reveal but 

little. We do not know which was the elder of 

the two brothers. They were fishermen by 

trade. The first we learn of Andrew was as a 

disciple of John the Baptist. He was one of 

the two who heard the Baptist say as he 

pointed to Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of God," 

which led him and John to identify them 

selves with Jesus, and the first thing he did 

after becoming a disciple of the Master was 

to hunt up his brother Simon Peter and bring 

him to the Master. In that instance at least, 

Andrew appears to have taken the lead. After 

that we hear of him on but four occasions. 

When Jesus began choosing 

His disciples He 

chose first Peter and Andrew and James and 

John. Then at the feeding 

of the five thou 

sand it was Andrew who came to Jesus say 

ing, "There is a lad here which hath five 

barley loaves, and two small fishes; but what 

are these among so many?" 

Andrew in company with Philip 

Still later it was 

who brought 

the seeking Greeks to the Master. And last 

of all, when our Lord, on the eve of His be 

trayal made His solemn predictions concern 

ing the calamities that were about to befall 

the Jewish people, Andrew shared with those 

seemingly favored disciples, Peter, James, 

and John, the sad privilege of listening to 

the terrible prophecies. 

So with these few items of information 

our knowledge of the man ends, so that it is 

no wonder that this Andrew should be dis 

tinguished from others of the same name by 

being 

spoken of as "Simon Peter's brother." 

That was the simplest way of identifying 

him, much easier than by trying to connect 

him up with any notable deed of his own, 

and that would have attracted public atten 

tion to him. So much then for his record. 

II. WHAT THE RELATED FACTS REVEAL 

We cannot simply dismiss this man's case 

by saying that because so little is said of 

him that his life and service must have been 

of little value, for that little reveals some of 

the elements of real greatness in him. 

For one thing, he was a faithful man .He 

was not conspicuous, but he was devoted. We 

have no record of any 

great achievement on 

his part, but neither do we know of any 

great failure of his. He did not preach any 

Pentecostal sermons, but neither did he ever 

deny 

his Lord. And faithfulness is a great


thing in the eyes of our Lord. Judged by his 

fidelity, Andrew was one of the great ones in 

the kingdom of heaven. 

And Andrew was practical as well as faith 

ful. He had no sooner found Jesus for him 

self than he went after his brother Simon and 

brought him to the Master. He made a fine 

start in his Christian career. He became the 

Lord's messenger to his own kindred, a thing 

that is not always easy to be. To present the 

gospel to the heathen is one thing. To 

proclaim it to one's own flesh and 

blood is quite another thing. But that 

is just what Andrew did. He has 

been rightly termed "the first home 

missionary". Of Andrew it is said, 

"He brought him (Peter) to Jesus." 

It is that simple statement which 

tells what most concerns us in our 

study 

of this lesson. In its broader 

sense it applies to the case of the 

Greeks who came saying, "Sirs, we 

would see 

Jesus." 

Andrew made 

himself the medium by which those 

Greek proselytes were brought into 

the presence of Jesus. What may 

have led Philip to hesitate seemingly 

about what to do about them, we 

are not told. But he spoke to Andrew 

about it, and it would appear that 

it was Andrew's counsel that led to 

the strangers being brought into the 

presence of the Master. 

Then at the feeding of the five 

thousand this same practical side of 

Andrew's make-up asserted itself. 

True, he could not hut ask, "But 

what are these among so 

many?" 

is significant however, that he 

thought it worth while mentioning 

at all those five loaves and two 

small fishes. Andrew had made 

some progress in learning the lesson 

which most of us are rather slow 

about grasping, that seemingly in 

adequate, entirely insufficient ma 

terial, if placed unreservedly, UNRE 

SERVEDLY in the hands of the 

Master, may be made to accomplish 

great things. 

So, after all, Andrew is not so ut 

terly dependent on his brother Simon 

Peter. He is able to stand on his own 

feet. The Master's choice of him 

was just as good as in the case of 

Simon. But what this lesson is meant 

to emphasize is that Andrew, Si 

mon's brother was just as truly an 

apostle, just as truly 

It 

a Christian 

worker, just as useful in his own 

sphere of service, as was Simon 

Peter himself. Simon was in some 

respects greater. That is readily 

granted. But we should not allow his 

splendor to blind us to the fact of 

Andrew's faithful and useful life. 

But it is of Andrew, the man who 

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No balance 

brought others, that we should think 

most in our study of this lesson. 

To the man out of whom Jesus drove 

an evil spirit He commanded, "Go 

home to thy friends and tell them 

what great things the Lord hath done 

thee." 

for Naturally, our own kin 

dred, just because of that intimacy, 

have a unique claim on us. Timothy 

owed his religious education and 

training to his grandmother and 

mother. Certainly our own flesh and 

blood have as great need and as 

strong claims on us as any others can 

possibly have. One of our Chinese 

converts, a young man whose pro 

gress in the faith was quite out of 

the usual, had an older brother, who 

came and asked to be baptized and 

so confess Christ. When asked when 

and in what way he had been led to 

believe he replied that his "sai-lo" 

(little brother) had taught him. Not 

the least touching thing 

about the 

episode was the older brother's state 

ment that he was first impressed by 

the conduct of the younger when 

subjected to persecution because of 

his faith. Instead of calling down 

curses of the gods upon his perse 

cutors, the victim prayed for them, 

the older brother being one of them. 

And the burden of the prayer was 

that they might be forgiven because 

they did not know any better. 

But the duty of bringing others is 

broader than the ties of kinship. It 

has a direct bearing 

on all of our 

mission work, home and foreign. We 

cannot offer to others what we our 

selves have not received. We cannot 

commend to others what we our 

selves know nothing about. Hence 

the importance of being able to lead 

others. The blind man's testimony 

was the most convincing he could 

possibly have offered. "Whereas I 

was blind, now I 

see." 

It is when we 

too can say with Andrew that we 

have found the Christ that we can 

do the part of Andrew. 

The following tribute is a well de 

served one. "I would hold this man 

Andrew, who attained not unto the 

first three, as an example of a man 

who thought more of service than 

of reputation; more of the work to 

$24.06 

be done than of the place given to 

the worker. It never distressed him 

that men talked more about Peter 

and James and John than they did 

about him. Andrew is the type and 

father of all those who labor quietly 

in humble places, 

missionaries in the 

darkened quarters of the earth, pas 

tors in remote country parishes, 

humble Christians who are strangers 

to office, doing the will of God from 

the heart." 



SEVENTH COMMANDMENT 

Exodus 20:14; Deut. 5:18 

Questions 70-72 

Comments: 

By the Rev. M. K. Carson 

Psalms: 

Psalm 24:3-6, No. 57 

Psalm 15:1-3, No. 28 

Psalm 26:1-4, No. 64 

Psalm 139:10-13, No. 381 

Psalm 119: Part 2, No. 319. 

References : 

Genesis 39:7-10; Mark 6:16-22; 

Eph. 4:29; 5:3; Rev. 21:8; Rom. 

13:9; Phil 4:8; 

The moral laxity 

makes the study 

ment a very timely 

Matt. 5:8, 27-30. 

of our times 

of this command 

topic. While all 

sins of impurity are forbidden, this 

commandment is directed in a special 

way 

toward the guarding of the 

marriage relation. The divine means 

for the 

propagation of the race is 

through the family. The home is a 

divine institution. Gen. 1:27. It is 

sacred. This commandment guards 

the sacred and devine institution. 

While it is to be regretted that a 

Christian minister performed the 

Turner-Topping wedding and gave 

the of blessing God upon those who 

had been each thrice divorced, yet 

it is gratifying 

that there were so 

many who protested and that Dr. 

MacLennan himself confessed that 

he had made "an unwitting 

and added, "Since ignorance of the 

mistake" 

church law is no excuse, naturally 

I will be my own accuser before 

my brothers." 

Of course he should 

have known that whether it was 

contrary to the law of the church


ornot, 

it was contrary to the Word 

of God. 

The alarming increase in divorce 

is endangering our homes. Is it too 

much to say that as is the home, so 

is the Church and the Nation? Cer 

tainly the home has a very vital re 

lation to both these institutions. 

The breakdown of the home is one 

of the danger signals in our national 

life. It is very important that the 

home be safeguarded against the 

sin which is forbidden in this com 

mandment. Much progress would be 

made toward this ideal if the liquor 

traffic were destroyed because it is 

reported that 50-70 per cent of the 

broken homes are caused by liquor 

drinking. What is the influence of 

the 

"movies" 

on the Christian 

home? What is the relation of this 

commandment to much of our 

modern day living? Certainly all 

questionable and sinful amusements, 

inferior literature, a certain class of 

magazines and immodest dress would 

be forbidden by this commandment. 

Abnormal conditions during the war 

with so many women workers in in 

dustry, night shifts, crowded con 

ditions, housing shortages etc., 

created many temptations. Not all 

the casualties at such a time are on 

the battle front. 

This Seventh Commandment, like 

all the commandments, is most far- 

reaching and searching. It requireth 

the preservation of our own and our 

neighbor's chastity, in heart, speech, 

and behaviour. It forbiddeth all un 

chaste thoughts, words and actions. 

The answers to these questions in 

the Larger Catechism are much 

fuller. This commandment requireth 

"chastity in body, mind, affections, 

words, and behaviour, and the 

preservation of it in ourselves and 

others; watchfulness over the eyes 

and all the senses, temperance, 

keeping of chaste company, modesty 

" 

in dress 

"The sins forbidden in the Seventh 

Commandment, besides the negletet 

of the duties required, are, adultery, 

fornication.... unjust divorce, or de 

sertion, idleness, gluttony, drunken 

ness, unchaste company, lascivious 

stage plays, 

and all other provoca 

tions to, or acts of uncleanness, 

either in ourselves or others." 

wonder if we could gather together 

another "Assembly 

day, 

of Divines" 

to 

such as gathered at Westmin 

ster that would be prepared or will 

ing to draw up such statements of 

truth as are found in the Larger 

and Shorter Catechism. 

God's Word has much to say about 

I 

this sin. Clean living 

is set forth in 

the Book of Proverbs as a mark of 

wisdom. "My son, attend unto wis 

dom.... For the lips of a strange 

woman drop as an honeycomb and 

her mouth is smoother than 

oil" 

(Proverbs 5:3-20). 

"Can a man take fire in his bosom, 

and his clothes not be burned ? . . . . 

So he that goeth into his neighbor's 

wife; 

whosoever toucheth her shall 

not be innocent" 

(Proverbs 6:27-29). 

"Say unto wisdom, Thou are my 

sister; and call understanding thy 

kinswoman; that they may keep thee 

from the strange woman, from the 

stranger which flattereth with her 

words" 

(Proverbs 7). 

Interpreting these passages in the 

light of the example and teaching 

of Jesus Christ, it is certain that he 

that hreaketh this commandment "de- 

stroyeth his own 

soul" 

(Proverbs 

6:32). Fisher defines chastity to ibe 

an abhorrence of all uncleanness, 

whether in the body, 

or in the mind 

and affections (Heb. 12:14). 

We are to let no corrupt commun 

ication proceed out of our mouths 

....Eph. 4:29. This is possible only 

as our hearts are pure. Matt. 5:8. 

Chastity in heart is required. We 

are to keep our hearts with all 

diligence. As a man thinketh in his 

heart so is he (Prov. 23:7). "From 

within, out of the heart of men, pro 

ceed evil thoughts, adulteries, forni 

cations, murders. . . .lasciviousness, an 

evil eye.... All 

from within, 

(Mark 7:21-23). 

these things come 

and defile the 

man" 

The Bible is full of warning, and 

how necessary this warning is! 

"Perhaps, indeed, there is no one 

vice which, in its extreme, more de 

bases and pollutes the mind, more 

brutalizes the whole man, leads him 

to more shameless, detestable and 

atrocious acts, and which oftener 

gives him a diseased body, as well 

as a degraded soul, than the very 

vice which we now contemplate" 

Green. 

ity 

1. Pray for a great revival of pur 

and holiness in our national life. 

2. Pray for the destruction of 

those influences which tend to de 

stroy our Christian homes. 

3. Pray for our missionaries in 

China, Syria and Cyprus. 

13- 

CHURCH NEWS 

WALTON 

Synod took a slice out of the 

month this year. The pastor and his 

wife went early 

and attended the 

exercises at the college, celebrating 

the 100th anniversary of that in 

stitution. Millard Russell Sr. was 

our elder to Synod this year. He 

took his wife along, 

and also Mrs. 

Marion Spear. They went by way of 

White Lake and took Mr. Caskey 

and Mr. Millan with them. 

Our Sabbath School observed 

Children's Day on the second Sab 

bath of June. Mrs. Thomas Hender 

son and Mrs. Howard Gilchrist were 

in charge. 

On the second Saturday 

of June a 

bee was held for the purpose of put 

ting 

a first coat of paint on the 

church. The men did most of the 

painting the first day 

and the wo 

men served dinner and held a mis 

sionary meeting afterwards. It was 

discovered that our church building 

is bigger than most of our members 

realize. Since then two other Satur 

days have been set aside for painting 

and even the women have helped. 

The first coat is now almost com 

plete. The young people held a bee 

one evening and hoed out the potato 

patch back of the church which the 

Men's Club planted in May. The 

crop looks good now. 

A premiere showing of the new 

movie, "My Name is Han" was 

shown in our church on June 15. 

Those who saw the picture were 

highly pleased. 

The session held its regular quar 

terly meeting at the home of Paul 

Loker. After the business meeting 

Mrs. Loker served delicious straw 

berry 


shortcake. The deacons met in 

the church on the evening 

of the 

22nd for their regular meeting and 

brought the business of the church 

up to date. 

We have had lots of vsitors in our 

church during the month. Twice we 

have had people from the Mundale 

U. P. Church in to worship 



with us 

when they had no service in their 

church. The Marsters brothers, Rus 

sell and Wade, worshiped with us 


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one Sabbath on their way to Nova 

Scotia from Montclair. Wm. Dill 

from Orlando congregation, presi 

dent of White Lake Camp this year, 

was here one weekend and he and 

Gladys Robb worshiped with us and 

the next day worked on the camp 

program. 

Miss Ruth Henderson has finished 

her work at Western Reerve Univer 

sity 

and received the degree of 

master of science in social adminis 

tration. She is now in Walton visit 

ing her mother. 

Elizabeth Price was home recently 

for the Sabbath from her work in 

Sidney. 

Mr. and Mrs. Arch Thomson were 

home recently for a short visit. Mrs. 

A. M. Thomson Sr. went back to 

Boston with them for a visit and to 

help 

home. 

them get settled in their new 

Blanche Gilchrist has finished an 

other year of teaching and is tak 

ing summer work in Albany Teach 

ers College. 

Mr. and Mrs. E. R. Carson visited 

in Syracuse during the month. 

Mrs. Cora Henderson is visiting in 

White Lake. Her son Bruce is also 

with her. 

Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Loker and 

daughter Jane visited with relatives 

in Walton and attended church one 

Sabbath while on their vacation. 

Mrs. Rowley and children have 

returned to Walton vicinity after 

some weeks spent in Harpersville. 

Thomas and John have gotten work 

on farms. Goldia is at the manse. 

Mrs. Rowley expects to help with 

the Presbyterian Camp in White 

Lake beginning July 6. 

Carol Macnaughton graduated from 

the eighth grade this year and 

Marion graduated from high school. 

Both stood high in their classes. 

The Young Women's Missionary 

Society held its monthly meeting at 

the newly decorated country home of 

Mrs. Monroe Sutliff. 

WINNIPEG 

Our communion was held on Sab 

bath, May 16. All the services were 

conducted by our former pastor, Dr. 

P. E. Allen. Mrs. Allen accompanied 

him; it was a real pleasure to have 

these good friends back again even 

for a short visit. 

Every member in the city was 

present at the communion. Three 

new names were added to the roll. 

Mrs. Alexander from the Presby 

terian church, Mr. J. Anderson from 

the Free Church of Scotland, and 

Mr. F. C. Boyd from the R. P. church 

in Ireland. All felt that we had a 

time of rfereshing from the presence 

of the Lord. 

Our annual congregational meeting 

was held on Tuesday, May 22. There 

was a good turn out of the members. 

After reports were read and speeches 

delivered a new committee was 

elected to serve for 1948 and 1949. 

The names of the new committee 

are Mrs. McKelvey, Mrs. Murray, 

Mrs. Henry, Messrs. J. Anderson, 

T. Dickey and Neil Mawhinney. The 

meeting was brought to a close by 

singing the 133 Psalm and prayer 

and the benediction by Rev. J. H. 

Bishop. Refreshments were served 

by the ladies and a social time spent. 

The July meeting of the L. M. S. 

was held in the home of Mrs. Alex 

ander on Friday, July 2. 

TOPEKA, KANSAS 

Six Covenanter young people 

were members of the 1948 graduat 

ing class in local schools: Patricia 

Johnson, Velva Wilkey, and Paul 

Mathews completed their junior 

high school work; Paul Robb, Dean 

Wilkey, and Howard McMahan were 

graduated from the senior high 

school. The latter was valedictorian 

of his class at Rossville. 

The Rev. Paul D. McCracken and 

family attended the Geneva com 

mencement and the meeting of 

Synod and spent a short time with 

relatives in the East. The congrega 

tion rejoices in the honor which 

came to Mr. McCracken at Geneva's 

Centennial commencement when the 

honorary degree of Doctor of Divin 

ity 

was conferred upon him. 

During Dr. McCracken's absence 

Sabbath morning prayer services 

were led by 

Miss Emma McFarland 

and Mrs. Walter Johnston. The Rev. 

D. Ray Wilcox was guest -minister 

on June 13. 

Mr. Fred Huebner was appointed 

by the session as delegate to Synod. 

He was accompanied by Mrs. Hueb 

ner. Dr. J. C. Mathews and Dr. D. 

R. Taggart also attended Synod. 

Mrs. Taggart spent the week in 

New Jersey with her daughter, Mrs. 

Samuel Clark. Dr. Taggart joined 

her there after Synod for a few days 

of vacation. 

Miss Evelyn Wilson recently went 

to Princeton, Indiana, to spend some 

time with her family. She is missed 

in the various activities of the To 

peka church. 

The congregation is happy to again 

have Mr. and Mrs. Roy Adams and 

Mel in the Sabbath services. Mr. 

Adams is attending the summer ses 

sion of Kansas University to com 

plete work for his doctor's degree. 

The congregation also welcomes 

into its fellowship Mr. and Mrs. Wil 

mer Piper and three children who 

have moved to Topeka from Streator, 

Illionois. Mr. Piper is employed to 

teach next year in the Washburn 

Rural High Shook 

Tlie 1948 Recreation Night pro 

gram was begun in June. It will be 

held every Tuesday night during the 

summer months. 

A congregational picnic was held 

in Forest Park on July 5. Approxi 

mately seventy-five Were present 

for the bounteous supper and the 

social time that followed. 

Under the leadership 

of Dr. Mc 

Cracken the congregation made a 

public protest against the desecra 

tion of the Lord's Day by the Santa 

Fe Rodeo which was held in Topeka 

on Sabbath, July 

4. This protest was 

made through a statement which 

was published on July 2 in the two 

local daily papers. A number of 

favorable comments were received 

following the publication of this 

statement. Only 

cism came to the pastor. 

one adverse criti 

Instead of the regular mid-week 

prayer service on July 14, 

the hour 

was given over to the Covichords 

from Geneva College. The congrega 

tion was particularly 

glad to wel 

come these boys since two of them, 

Donald and Paul McCracken, live in 

Topeka. It was an evening full of 

entertainment and spiritual bless 

ings. A social hour followed the 

program. 

SECOND PHILADELPHIA 

The May meeting 

ian Society 

of the Cameron- 

was held at the church 

and Miss Elizabeth Dill was the hos 

tess of the evening. We were glad to 

have with us on this occasion, Mr. 

Norman McCune, who gave us a 

talk on the Young People's work in 

Ireland. Other visitors present were 

Mrs. George Graham and Miss 

Emilie Baxter. 

Mr. Norman McCune preached 

for Second Church, Sabbath, May 23. 

We were delighted to have him in 

our midst and Mr. McCune seemed 

equally happy to meet so many who 

had formerly come from Ireland. 

His messages were splendid and 

were well received. 

Rev. and Mrs. Frank L. Stewart 

and Elder and Mrs. James A. Carson 

attended the meeting of Synod at 

Beaver Falls and brought back in 

teresting 

and informative reports. 

The Stewarts visited in the home of


Dr. and Mrs. Charles M. Lee of 

Beaver Falls and were glad to be 

present for the Geneva Commence 

ment. 

The June meeting of the Women's 

Misionary Society 

was held at the 

church. Mrs. Thomas J. Dodds con 

ducted the devotional period on the 

subject of Temperance and read an 

interesting leaflet entitled "An En 

emy Hath Done This". 

Mrs. Jas. A. Carson who attended 

the meeting of the New York Wo 

men's Presbyterial gave encouraging 

"echoes" 

Presbyterial. 

of the work done by that 

"Echoes" 

of Synod 

were given by Mrs. F. L. Stewart 

in which she especially reviewed the 

conference on "The Christian Min- 

istry". 

Our President Mrs. Thomas Nim- 

ick was the hostess for the evening. 

The Sabbath School picnic was 

held in Fairmount Park, Saturday, 

June 19. The night before the picnic 

it rained and rained and kept on 

raining until about ten o'clock Satur 

day morning. We had prayed that 

the Lord would give us a fair day 

for the picnic and He answered our 

prayer in a remarkable way. The 

sun came out, it cleared up beauti 

fully 

and we all had a delightful 

time. God is also the God of the 

'-eather! We were happy to have 

Miss Annie Forsyth and a group of 

children from the Jewish Mission 

with us on the picnic. 

LOS ANGELES 

Friday evening, June 4, found our 

congregation again sitting down to 

a delicious dinner. Mrs. Oliver 

Walker was in charge of the dinner 

committee and proved to be a very 

successful hostess. Later, the young 

people put on a program which 

turned out to be a very hilarious 

affair and afforded much laughter 

and fun for the audience. 

Our yearly Sabbath School picnic 

was held on Saturday, June 19, in 

Verdugo Playground. A bounteous 

lunch was served at noon and the 

afternoon spent in games, races and 

so forth. About eighty-five weie 

present. 

The first Daily Vacation Bible 

School in our new location com 

menced Monday, June 21 and lasted 

eight days. The average attendance 

was twenty-one. Summer vacations 

and an epidemic of measles and 

chicken-pcx cut down the attend 

ance considerably. However, it was 

very encouraging as all were chil 

dren from the neighborhood of the 

church except three from Covenanter 

families. Miss Beverley Hinton was 

the director, Mrs. E. S. Smith, Mrs. 

C. Dean Hinton and Mrs. J. T. Kerr 

were the regular teachers, 

while a 

number of others, Including Rev. 

Patterson, 

gave chalk talks and ob 

ject lessons. Quite a few ladies kind 

ly contributed cookies and other 

dainties for the daily mid-morning 

snack. 

Mr. George Forsythe, 

cessfully 

Jr. has suc 

undergone surgery and we 

are happy that he is again able to 

be in his accustomed place in the 

church service. Mrs. Matilda Robin 

son was forced to enter the hospital 

for another operation but has re 

covered and is able to be out again. 

Mr. Gray Caskey is confined to his 

home on account of illness and we 

pray for his speedy recovery. Miss 

Mayme Caskey who has been ill for 

many years, is not as well as usual 

and we solicit your prayers for these 

sick folks. 

Miss Helen Lyons of Topeka was 

a recent guest in the home of Mrs. 

David Heinitz and Miss Sue McClel 

land. Mrs. Lyons and Miss Mary 

were also visitors in Los Angeles 

and San Bernardino. Miss Virginia 

Gilchrist of Denver has found em 

ployment in Los Angeles and is 

making her home here. She has been 

worshipping 

with us and we are 

glad to welcome her in our midst. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ross Barnett of Bur 

lington, Iowa, arrived June 4 and 

were guests in the home of Mr. and 

Mrs. J. T. Kerr. Mr. Barnett was a 

delegate to the Kiwanis convention 

here and Mrs. Barnett is a niece of 

Mrs. J. R. McNeil and Mr. George 

Chambers. 

Sabbath evening, June 27, Rev. J. 

R. Patterson preached his farewell 

sermon to this congregation. His 

text was Hebrews 2:3, "How shall 

we escape if we neglect so great 

salvation?" 

It was a splendid ser 

mon and we will long remember it. 

A goodly number of the Santa Ana 

folks worshiped with us and Rev. 

McConachie had a part in the serv 

ice. After the service, friends and 

members lingered, reluctant to leave, 

and bid our former pastor and his 

family farewell, wishing 

them God 

speed and great success in their 

new field of work. We shall miss 

them greatly and are praying that 

God will bless them and also send 

us another undershepherd. The Pat 

terson family left Monday, June 28, 

by auto, traveling leisurely toward 

their future home, visiting friends 

and relatives en route. 

Gordon Marshall represented the 

Primary Department of iihe Sab 

bath School, and in a few appropri 

ate words, presented David, Paul 

and Sheryl Patterson with envelopes 

containing "folding 

money" 

with in 

structions to spend it on their trip. 

Joily 4th, Licentiate Norman Mc 

Cune from Ireland, a recent grad 

uate of our Seminary, preached for 

us and also declared the pulpit va 

cant. On July 11, Rev. Bergen Bird- 

sail, a representative of the Cali 

fornia Temperance Federation, 

preached for us, and brought a stir 

ring 

report of the work of this 

grand organization. A special of 

fering was taken and the sum of 

$51.00 was raised. 

Mr. and Mrs. R. R. Hinton have 

been vacationing in Oakand, Cali 

fornia, 

and Miss Jean Copeland of 

Fresno is the guest of her sister, 

Loren, in Los Angeles. 

NEW CASTLE, PENNA. 

The Vacation Bible School of the 

New Castle congregation was held 

June 14-25. Classes for Beginners, 

Primary, Juniors and Intermediates 

were held. Competent teachers were 

in charge of each group. The mor 

ning devotional period was conducted 

by Mrs. R. L. Cover. She presented 

evangelistic topics by 

use of a flan 

nelgraph which held the children's 

attention. The enrollment was not 

quite up to former years, but the in 

struction was of a high order, the at 

tention was good and certificates 

were issued to 35 pupils for faithful 

attendance. Miss Anna Dodds pre 

sented a series of lessons to the en 

tire group 

on alcohol and its effects 

on people who indulge in it. The 

need for instruction of this kind is 

apparent to all who are familiar with 

conditions in the homes of many of 

the children. An ice cream treat for 

the school was provided by the two 

women's classes of our Sabbath 

School on the closing day which was 

much enjoyed by all. 

Miss Geraldine Hare and Mr. Har 

old R. Hutchinson of North East, Pa., 

were united in marriage by the Rev. 

E. A. Crooks, on the evening 

of 

June 25. A double ring ceremony 

was used. The contracting parties 

were accompanied by Miss Helen 

Booher, maid of honor, and the 

groom's brother was his attendant. 

The church was attractively dec 

orated for the occasion. The friends 

of the bride and groom filled the 

church. A reception was held follow 

ing 

the ceremony. A surprise shower 

was given in the church parlors and 

the bride and groom were the recip-


ients of many lovely gifts. Delicious 

refreshments were served. Mr. and 

Mrs. Hutchinson are taking up their 

residence in Erie, Pa., where he is 

employed as a jeweler. They carry 

with them the wishes of their numer- 

our friends for a happy life. 

The Women's Missionary Society 

held their monthly meeting on 

Thursday, July 1, 

at the home of the 

Misses Martha anl Anna Dodds. In 

addition to hvaking a quilt, the la 

dies also have on hand at present 

the project of providing warm pa 

jamas for the children of our South 

China orphanage. 

New Castle celebrated her sesqui- 

centennial the week of July 4. The 

program consisted of a historical 

pageant each evening from the 5th 

through the 10th; fire works and 

parades. Many old time pictures, 

articles of clothing, quilts, etc., 

were displayed in the store windows. 

The city was gaily decorated for the 

event. 

LETTER FROM IRISH SYNOD 

The following letter conveying the 

official greetings of the Reformed 

Presbyterian Synod of Ireland came 

too late for the meeting of our own 

Synod at Geneva and so is given to 

the Church through the Witness. 

Clare, 

Tandragee, 

Co. Armagh, 

N. Ireland. 

16th June 1948. 

The Rev. John Coleman, D. D., 

Moderator of the Reformed Presby 

terian Synod of North America, 

2915 College Avenue, 

Beaver Falls, Pa. 

U.S.A. 

Dear Brother: 

Many thanks for your letter of 

18th May conveying the official 

greetings of the Reformed Presby 

terian Synod of North America to 

the R. P. Synod of Ireland. As Mod 

erator of the Irish Synod I heartily 

reciprocate the friendly salutation. 

It has been with regret that we 

have learned, from The Covenanter 

Witness, that some of your ministers 

have died during the year. The late 

Rev. A. M. Thompson was for several 

years a member of the Irish Synod. 

Reformed Presbyterians in Ireland 

are pleased that Geneva College has 

reached her hundredth anniversary 

and has bright prospects for the 

years that lie ahead. 

Your brethren on this side are 

glad that the Christian Amendment 

to the Constitution of the United 

States has been introduced in both 

bodies of your National Congress. 

We rejoice with you that at the 

meeting of your Synod last year, 

some of your young 

people volun 

teered for the Mission Field, and 

others changed their life plans to 

prepare for the Ministry. 

We in Ireland have an added in 

terest in you Mission in Cypus since 

the Rev. T. H. Semple of our Synod 

is now teaching in connection with 

it. 

The Foreign Mission Board of the 

Irish and Scottish Synods continues 

to receive encouraging letters from 

the Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Lytle, and 

also from Miss Gardner and Miss 

Bell. Our Colonial Mission Commit 

tee has very satisfactory reports 

with regard to the work in Australia. 

So also has the Irish Evangelisation 

Committee with regard to the work 

carried on by our Colporteurs. 

Our "Covenanter Young People's 

Union", organized by the late Rev. 

Professor J. M Coleman, D.D., cele 

brated its Silver Jubilee a few weeks 

ago. 

We are glad that Mr. W. N. Mc 

Cune has had the privilege of study 

ing in your Theological Seminary, 

and also of visiting some of the 

American congregations. 

May your Meeting 

of Synod in 

1948 be a refreshing time for all in 

attendance! "We in the name of 

God the Lord do wish you to be 

blessed". 

Yours in Covenant bonds, 

William H. Pollock. 

THANKS FROM BURWELL 

INFIRMARY, SELMA, ALA. 

Reform Presbyterian Church 

Dear Friends: 

We deeply 

appreciate your spirit 

toward us. We are taking this op 

portunity to thank you for the many 

nice things that you have done for 

us. 

We want you to know that your 

help has helped us to make many 

poor sick patients happy, comfort 

able and well. 

We wish that all of you could come 

and visit us. Some have visited our 

hospital and we enjoyed them very 

much. We extend to all of you an 

invitation to visit at any time. In 

our Children's ward, which is named 

after the Reformed Presbyterian 

Church, we have several children 

on hand at this writing. One of the 

"little" 

fellows is a member of our 

Church; Eddie, who has been ill, and 

with us for two years. He is a 

darling, very grateful, full of smiles 

and always happy. He is loved by 

all. He will also be baptized soon. 

During the late Reverend John 

Johnston's time we looked to him as 

"Paw" 

to the hospital. At the present 

time we look to Reverend Claude 

C. Brown, as "Daddy" 

to the hos 

pital. We get in some awful "tight" 

places, and the good Lord sends him 

around to see his children's needs. 

We rejoice in thanking the Lord, 

Reverend Brown, and you for such 

a generous and kind gift of ($1500.) 

fifteen-hundred dollars which was 

used to pay a large portion of our 

debts. 

Hoping 

and happiness, I am 

you have much success 

Very truly yours, 

Burwell Infirmary 

W. J. Anderson, Supt. 

Minnie B. Anderson, R.N. 

MARY E. FOWLER DIES 

IN DAYTON HOSPITAL 

Miss Mary E. Fowler, 87, residing 

five miles east of Xenia on the 

Columbus pike, died in Miami Val 

ley hospital, Dayton, Ohio, July 5. 

She had been a patient at the hos 

pital since May 25 after suffering a 

fractured hip, caused by a fall. 

Born in Greene county, Ohio, July 

11, 1860, she was the daughter of R. 

J. and Martha Silvey Fowler, was 

educated in Greene county public 

schools and received special Bible 

training at Winona Lake, Ind. 

For 31 years she served as a mis 

sion worker of the Reformed Presby 

terian church in Selma, Ala., retir 

ing 

at the age of 70. She was a 

member of the Reformed Presby 

terian church at Belle Center. 

Survivors include three sisters, 

Misses Laura, Anna and Helen 

Fowler, and a brother, Clarence, all 

at home. 

Services were conducted at the 

Nagley Funeral Home, Xenia, Ohio, 

Friday, July 2, by Rev. Luther Mc 

Farland of Belle Center, O., assisted 

by Rev. Wm. Waide of Cedarville. 

Rev. J. G. Reed, with whom Miss 

Fowler was associated at the South 

ern Mission for nine years, 

prayer at the grave. 

made the 

Instead of the usual floral offer 

ings the friends of Miss Fowler con 

tributed toward a fund, to be sent 

as a "memorial" 

to her, to some part 

of the work at the Southern Mission. 

If anyone in the Church wishes to 

contribute further to this memorial 

fund, the money can be sent to the 

Fowler sisters, R.R. 5, Xenia, Ohio, 

and acknowledgment will be made 

and the money will be turned over 

to the mission.


MRS. MARGARET HEMPHILL 

A heart attack swiftly 

ended the 

life of Mrs. Margaret Hemphill on 

March 27, 1948 at her home in 

Beaver Falls, 

Pennsylvania. Mar 

garet Isabella Qua was born near 

Rushsylvania, Ohio, July 13, 1885, 

only child of John Z. and Mary Ellen 

Mitchell Qua. She was married in 

1910 to Willis Ray Hemphill who 

died in 1919. The home was estab 

lished near Northwood. In 1926 the 

family moved to Belle Center, where 

Mrs. Hemphill was librarian until 

1941 when she came to Beaver Kails, 

She was assistant librarian at the 

Carnegie Library here for six years, 

until her health failed. 

Six children remain: Ernest Ray 

mond, missionary pastor at Wrigley, 

Kentucky; John Wendell, Robert 

Maurice, Willard Edgar, William 

Kenneth and Marguerite, wife of 

W. R. Dean all of Beaver Falls; and 

ten grandchildren. All are in the 

Covenanter Church. 

Mrs. Hemphill was a member of 

the Northwood church until her death. 

She was active in church affairs 

and in every good work. The fine 

sons and daughter whom she trained 

give evidence of her stalwart Chris 

tian faith. As her day, 

her God-given strength. 

so also was 

Services were held in Beaver Falls, 

conducted by her pastor, and in the 

Belle Center church by Rev. J. G. 

Reed and Rev. Luther MlcFarland. 

Burial was in the Belle Center Fair- 

view cemetery. J. B. Willson 

MRS. S. R. DAVIS 

Mrs. Jennie Piper Davis, wife of 

elder Samuel R. Davis and a mem 

ber of Geneva congregation, passed 

away at her home March 23, 1948. 

She was born in Oakdale, Illinois, in 

a family whose forbears had come 

from South Carolina. The first 

Covenanter communion in Southern 

Illinois was held at her Grandfather 

Little's home. Her father went into 

the Union Army in the Civil War at 

eighteen year of age. After her 

marriage her home was in Prince 

ton, Indiana, until about twenty 

years ago, when the family moved 

to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. 

Mrs. Davis was a loyal member of 

the Church. She did not take an ac 

tive part in public affairs, but was 

a faithful attendant at all church 

services, including the midweek 

prayermeeting, 

and was a member 

of the Women's Missionary Society 

and of the W.C.T.U. She was called 

on to wait through months of illness 

for her change to come, but at last 

she was released from life's burdens 

to enter into the rest that remains 

for the people of God. 

Funeral services were held March 

24, conducted by the pastor and Dr. 

J. B. Tweed. On March 26 services 

were held in Princeton, Indiana, con 

ducted by Rev. Harold F. Thompson 

of Oakdale, 

Thompson, 

grandson of Rev. D. G. 

who had baptized Mrs. 

Davis. A number of her relatives 

and other friends came from Oakdale 

to Princeton for this service. Burial 

was in the Warnock cemetery. Her 

husband is left; two children, Mil 

dred, wife of R. Wilfred George, 

and Fay, wife of F. H. Farley, and 

also three broth 

five grandchildren; 

ers and one sister. 

Mrs. Fred Sproul 

J. B. Willson 


of Central -Pittsburgh Congregation 

wishes to pay loving 

tribute to the 

memory of Mrs. Fred Spoul, who was 

called from our midst April 3, 1948. 

She was a faithful and valued mem 

ber of our Society. We miss her here, 

but we praise God that faith can 

pierce beyond the gloom of death, and 

see her safe home with her Lord. 

We wish to express our heartfelt 

sympathy 

to her husband and loved 

ones. May they be comforted by the 

God of all comfort, 

us in all our tribulation. 

who comforteth 

Mrs. T. H. Acheson 

Mrs. Knox M. Young 

MRS. CROZIER WHITE 

Death came unexpectedly to Mrs. 

Margaret Wlhite, wife of Crozier 

White, Dayton, Penna., on Wednes 

day night, July 7, 1948. She became 

ill on her way home from Kittanning 

and was rushed to the office of a 

physician where she died. Death was 

attributed to a heart ailment. 

Mrs. White was a non-resident 

member of the Orlando congrega 

tion. Her funeral was held in the 

Rehoboth church on Saturday after 

noon, July 10, in charge of the Rev. 

Walter Kennedy, pastor of the Goheenville 

Presbyterian church, a life 

long 

friend of the family. He was 

assisted by 

the Rev. Remo I. Robb 

and by the Rev. Mr. Strine, another 

neighborhood minister, who sang 

Psalm 3 and a portion of Psalm 25. 

A large gathering 

of friends and 

neighbors, together with beautiful 

floral tributes, testified to the es 

teem in which Mrs. White was held. 

Burial was in the Rehoboth cemetery. 

The sympathy 

of the Church is 

extended to Mr. White, the three 

sons, three daughters, the brothers 

and sisters, and the grandchildren. 

"Blessed are the dead which die in 

the Lord." 

Mrs. A. A. Alexander 

The Ladies Bible Class of the 

Greeley 

congregation wish to ex 

press their keen loss in the passing 

of Mrs. A. A. Alexander, one of our 

most faithful and beloved members. 

The Master came and called for her 

the morning of April 12, 1948, and 

she was ready to answer the call. 

He giveth his beloved rest. 

ESTATE OF MARGARET McCUNE 

Cash distribution was decreed by 

the Orphans Court of Allegheny Co. 

Pa., 

of the Estate of Miss Margaret 

McCune, deceased, former member of 

Wilkinsburg congregation, as fol 

lows: 

Aged People's Home $2,573.05 

China Missions $2,573.05 

Jewish Mission $2,573.05 

Theological Seminary $2,573.04 

Southern Mission $2,573.04 

Indian Mission $2jj573.05 

Wilkinsburg Congregation $2,573.- 

05, all Current Account. A total of 

$18,011,333. J.S.T. 

WEDDING BELLS 

The marriage of Sarah Emma 

Michael, daughter of Paul Michael, 

to William John Coleman George, 

son of Mr. and Mrs. R. Howard 

George, took place in the Central 

Pittsburgh Reformed Presbyterian 

Church Tuesday, July 6, 1948. 

About two hundred guests at 

tended the wedding in the church 

auditorium and the reception in the 

church parlors immediately follow 

ing. 

The double ring ceremony was per 

formed by Rev. D. H. Elliott, former 

pastor of the bride, assisted by Rev. 

K. S. Edgar, pastor of the groom. 

The bride was given away by her 

father. 

Pacific Coast 

G. Y. P. U. Conference 

Time: July 28Aug. 2. 




Highway 10. 

on U. S. 




Washington.


In addition to the bride and groom 

the procession consisted of a matron 

of honor, two bridesmaids, one of 

whom was Mrs. Nellie Rousche, a 

sister of the bride and Miss Rachel 

George, 

sister of the groom. Little 

Lois Edgar was flower girl and 

Richard George, brother of the 

groom was best man. Mrs. Jean 

Stivers, another sister of the groom, 

lighted the candles. Three ushers 

prepared the way. 

This happy 

couple will make their 

home in Bellevue, a near-by section 

of Greater Pittsburgh. 

BOWES JAMESON 

Roberta Grace Bowes and Thomas 

L. Jameson were united in mar 

riage at a beautiful candlelight serv 

ice at the Southfield church on Fri 

day evening, June 25, 1948. Their 

former pastor, Dr. J. C. Mathews of 

Topeka, Kansas, assisted by the Rev. 

Robert Henning of Hetherton, Mich 

igan, performed the double ring 

ceremony in the presence of about 

one hundred and twenty-five guests. 

The bride was attended by her 

sister Jessie, and Shirley Jameson. 

Susan Clark was her flower girl. 

Elman Jameson served as best man; 

James Henning, Bill Hoffman and 

Richard Bowes as ushers. Mrs. J. 

C. Mathews rendered appropriate 

music and the Lohengrin wedding 

march. Stuart McDonald, accom 

panied by his wife, Lois sang 

"Beloved, It Is Morn," 

You Alone," 

Prayer." 

and '"For 

and "The Lord's 

The bridal party received the 

guests at the rear of the church, and 

refreshments were served by Mrs. 

Clara Elsey, Mrs. George Henning 

and Ann McDonald. 

The young couple left for an ex 

tended western auto trip with a gay 

send-off by itheir many friends. 

They 

will be at home at 550 E. Web 

ster, Ferndale, Michigan, 

middle of Auggust. 

TANNEHILL KEYS 

after the 

Candelabra and arrangements of 

spring flowers against a background 

of mock orange foliage formed the 

setting in the Clifton United Pres 

byterian church, Clifton, Ohio, on 

Wednesday evening, June 2, for the 

marriage of Helen Grace Tannehill 

and Howard Keys. 

The double ring ceremony was 

performed by the Rev. John W. 

Bickett, D. D. 

The bride is the daughter of Mr. 

and Mrs. Otis Tannehill of Clifton 

and Mr. Keys is the son of Mr. and 

Mrs. James Keys of Belle Center. 

Martha Tannehill, sister of the 

bride, 

was maid of honor and Wil 

bur Keys, brother of the groom was 

best man. 

Mr. Keys is engaged in farming 

and they are residing on the farm 

near Belle Center. 

McCRORY COPELAND 

Miss Kathryn McCrory, the daugh 

ter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles McCrory 

and Mr. Lloyd Copeland, son of Mr. 

and Mrs. Bernard Copeland of Idana, 

Kansas, were united in marriage at 

the bride's home on May 11. The 

ceremony was performed by Rev. T. 

M. Hutcheson, pastor of the bride. 

Mrs. Warren Porter, sister of the 

bride and Mr. Howard Mann of 

Idana were the attendants. Mrs. 

Truman Hug, sister of the bride, and 

Miss Elizabeth Robb provided the 

wedding music. After a wedding 

trip to Colorado and Wyoming they 

are at home on a farm near Idana. 

Q- 

BLACKWOODWING 

The marriage of Miss Lois Black 

wood, daughter of Mr. Henry Black 

wood, and Mr. Merlin Wing, son of 

Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Wing, took 

place the evening of May 27 at the 

Reformed Presbyterian Parsonage. 

Rev. T. M. Hutcheson, the pastor of 

the couple, officiated. They were at 

tended by Miss Fern Blackwood, the 

bride's sister, and Mr. Gordon Wing, 

the groom's brother. A wedding re 

ception was held following the cere 

mony at the home of Mr. and Mrs. 

Clarence Wing. The young couple 

are at home on a farm west of 

Denison. 

BLACKWOODYOBODA 

The marriage of Miss Fern Black 

wood, daughter of Mr. Henry Black 

wood, to Mr. Jerry Yoboda, took 

place on June 13 in the Methodist 

Church in Kansas City. After a wed 

ding trip they 

sas City 

are at home in Kan 

where both are employed. 

KANSAS C. Y. P. U. CONFERENCE 


The Date : August 20 to 26 

The Place: Forest Park, Topeka, Kansas 



Attend 

CAMP CALEDON 



LAKE ERIE 

Camping Dates : Aug. 14-21 


Tom Wilson 



WHERE?White Lake Gamp, 



WHY?Christian Fellowship. Meet old 


THEME All for Jesus Stop and Think. 

'1 > 

< 

1 

1 

-


. W. M S. 

Department 

Mrs. E. Greeta Coleman, Dept Editor 


Monday 

1:00 P. M. 

REPORT OF THE LITERATURE 

AND MISSION STUDY 

SUPERINTENDENT 

1947-1948 

The Superintendent of Literature 

and Mission Study respectfully sub 

mits the following report: 

Reports have been received from 

all nine Presbyterials and one sepa 

rate society totaling eighty-one so 

cieties. In a comparison of the cur 

rent report with previous yearly 

reports which your superintendent 

has on file, there is noted a general 

increase in interest and endeavor. We 

commend you highly 

on your efforts 

and urge you to strive for even 

greater results this year. 

All the societies report using the 

uniform program. Most of the so 

cieties use some form of Mission 

Study 

and fifty-seven societies par 

ticipate in a reading contest or pro 

ject. Seventy-five societies receive 

the Covenanter Witness through the 

congregational plan. 

Tracts or religious literature were 

distributed by thirty-nine societies. 

On this one item only, 

a decline is 

noted. In 1940 sixty-eight percent of 

the societies reporting engaged in 

giving out tracts; in 1947 seventyfive 

percent reported activity in this 

field; while the present year finds 

only fifty-six percent so reporting. 

Are we neglecting the circulation of 

good Christian literature to those 

outside the church who are so in 

need of learning of the Way? New 

Concord, through the efforts of one 

member, distributed 1,000 tracts. 

Cambridge as a society reports giv 

ing 

out 23,000 tracts. Various meth 

ods were used and for the help of 

others a few of the channels through 

which distribution was made are 

street cars, trains, buses, letters and 

packages, hospitals, Junior societies, 

Vacation Bible schools, shut-ins, de 

livery men, 

mission school children 

and their parents. Some were also 

enclosed in magazines and clothing 

which were given away. 

Several other interesting items 

were gleaned from the reports and 

are as follows: New York Presby 

terial has a reading 

very evidently 

societies 

contest which 

reaps results. Ten 

participated in the contest 

with 174 readers reading 

a total of 

1,681 books. High honors went to 

the Walton Women's Missionary 

Society who read 17.3 books per 

capita. Cambridge with 16.2 per 

capita and Walton Young Ladies 

with 15.7 per capita were close run- 

ners-up. 

Pittsburgh Presbyterial reports 

selling 1140.00 worth of books at 

their Presbyterial book table. Several 

societies distributed the booklet 

"The Bible Indispensable in Edu 

cation" 

to teachers and educators. 

Your superintendent is always 

glad to learn of these worthwhile 

projects and activities that are not 

called for explicitly on the report 

blank. Feel free to use the back of 

the report slip to note these items of 

interest as they 

that ohers may profit. 

will be passed on 

A list of books for the coming 

year has already appeared in the 

April 14 issue of The Covenanter 

Witness. We hope it has been saved 

for ready 

reference as no other list 

will be printed until the next pro 

gram books are issued in the spring 

of 1949. 

The power of the printed word is 

great. It can influence for evil as 

well as for good. "Good reading 

should be made available to every 

one. We pray that each individual 

will be blessed during the coming 

year as they read and learn them 

selves and as they try to further 

the reading of Christian Literature 

by others, especially our young 

people and children. 

May I close by quoting from the 

report of the Ohio Presbyterial 

Superintendent who so aptly wrote: 

"Therefore my beloved sisters, be ye 

steadfast, unmovable, always abound 

ing in the work of the Lord, foras 

much as ye know your labor is not in 

vain in the Lord." 

I Cor. 15:58. 

Respctfully submitted, 

Mrs. T. M. Hutcheson, 

Superintendent of Literature 

and Mission Study 

YOUNG WOMEN'S 

MISSIONARY SOCIETIES 

The superintendent of Young Wo 

men's Missionary 

Societies reports 

eighteen societies in the Synodical. 

Complete Presbyterial reports were 

received from two presbyterials only 

Kansas and Pittsburgh, showing a 

total active membership of 146. 

The superintendent, (Mrs. C. E.) 

Frances Caskey, makes the following 

suggestions: 

1. Remember, "Prayer ' 

Things" 

Changes 

Great things are wrought 

through prayer. Societies should en 

courage the formation of prayer 

groups or a special time of prayer in 

homes of members. 

2. Societies should work to make 

every 

member a tither. 

3. The young men can be made 

honorary members. They can help 

financially and with their prayers. 

4. Let each member do a little 

missionary work and win a soul to 

Jesus Christ and to the church, and 

so help 

our goal of five thousand 

new church members. 

A RECORD OF PROGRESS 

"The year is closed, the record made, 

The last deed done, the last word 

said; 

The memory alone remains 

Of all its joys, its griefs, its gains, 

And now with purpose full and clear 

We turn to meet another 

year.'' 

Our yearly 

three societies. Among 

cities are Kansas City Young Wo 

reports tell of ninety- 

the new so- 

men and College Hill Highlanders. 

An active membership of 1,411 

shows an increase of fifty-nine over 

the previous year. In the associate 

and honor categories there is an in 

crease of thirty-seven. 

The average attendance, an added 

feature in the report blanks this 

year, was 827. This is but slightly 

over one half of our membership in 

regular attendance at our meetings. 

The average percentage for all in 

the Standard of Efficiency was 

seventy-eight percent. Philadelphia 

Presbyterial ranked highest with 

ninety-five percent. Iowa and Ohio 

tied for second place with eighty- 

nine percent. Second Philadelphia 

Society 

reported a one hundred per 

cent rating by the Standard. 

Along the financial line note these 

items: 

Thank Offering$10,307 

(almost a $1,000 gain) 

Self Denial Offering$1,941 

Total Receipts$27,700 

Missionaries' 

(about $2,400 gain) 

Salaries -$10,517 

Total Disbursements$25,348 , 

Value of Boxes$9,289 

(almost a $3,000 gain) 

Mrs. M. W. Dougherty, 

Corresponding Secretary 

THANKS 

We wish to thank the Denison 

congregation for their many expres 

sions of kindness during the illness 

of Mrs. Hutcheson, and for the 

$300.00 "get-well" 

bonus which the 

congregation presented to us*. 

T. M. and Marjorie Hutcheson,

THEC 


^00 YEARS OF WiTNES5IN& fog. CHRIST'5 50VER.EI&/H RIGHTS IN TrtE. CHURCH WD the. 

rMflTlQfJ^ 

VOLUME XLI WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4, 1948 Number 5 

By Robert Lee 

If thou doest not well, sin coucheth at the door, 

and unto thee is its desire, but thou shouldst rule 

over it (Gen. 4:7, R.V., margin). 

The first occurrence in the Bible of that awful 

worcT'sin" 

is in Genesis 4:7. Remembering the 

settled axiom in Bible study that the first occur 

rence of any word or truth is always most sig 

nificant, coloring and determining all subsequent 

reference and interpretations, let us note the deep 

and urgent teaching surrounding this first ap 

pearance of that dreadful word. 

Authorities tell us that the word in the original, 

rendered "lieth" 

in the Authorized Version and 

"coucheth" 

in the Revised Version, is employed 

only to describe the crouching of an animal, fre 

quently of a wild animal. So God likened sin to 

an awful beast. He warned Cain that his wrong 

doing had created that horrible thing sin, which 

was crouching beside him, like a wild animal, 

ready to tear him to pieces. 

The wrongdoing which had created that awful 

thing was Cain's impiety in daring to approach 

God without the shedding of blood. It is humiliat 

ing and saddening to note that the first recorded 

family quarrel and murder were on account of 

religion. Both Cain and Abel were religious men. 

But while the latter worshiped God in His own 

appointed way, the former, sinner though he was, 

attempted to worship God in a way of his own 

inventing. How good of the Lord to draw near 

Sin is Vicious 

to Cain to expostulate with and warn that trans 

gressor! Surely, instead of getting angry he 

ought to have become anxious ! "Unto thee is its 

desire." 

We meet with a similar expression in 

Genesis 3:16, "And thy desire shall be to thy 

husband." 

This was a holy desire for love and 

companionship. But sin, like a hungry monster, 

desired Cain, not for his good, but for his eternal 

ruin, and was, observe, not lying but crouching, 

just ready to spring and slay. 

"But thou shouldst rule over it." 

Blessed word! 

What encouragement was this ! And this is a 

word for thee, 0 reader! Thy wrongdoing has 

created that awful thing, sin, which seeks thy 

ruin. But "thou shouldst rule over it" 

is the 

Lord's message. How can this be ? 

On the roof of Keble College, Oxford, there is 

a dragon with its mouth wide open. Standing 

over the dragon is an angel about to thrust a 

sword in the shape of a cross down its throat. 

The thought conveyed to the onlooker's mind is 

that the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is the 

secret of victory over that awful thing, sin, wheth 

er considered as a burden pressing heavily upon 

the conscience or as a power working within, en 

slaving. The death of our Lord Jesus Christ, 

when accepted, delivers from all the powers of 

evil within and without. This is absolutely true. 

To the truth and power of this fact thousand can 

and do bear glad and joyous testimony. "Sin shall 

you" 

if you will cling to 

not have dominion over 

the Cross! Revelation

66 THE COVENANTER WITNESS August 4, 1948 

QlcmpAeA o/ the RelifiOiU liJoxld 


Reformed Church and Federal Council 

The Reformed Church of America, 

after four hours 

of debate, decided to remain in the Federal Council of 

Churches "with the avowed purpose of getting the 

Council to take positions doctrinally more consonant 

with a Biblical Christianity"- The Synod declared: "We 

reserve the privilege of voicing our disapproval of any 

thing that in our humble judgment, contradicts or con 

travenes or tends to compromise the fundamental tenets 

of the historic faith." 

The Synod accepted a plan of union with the United 

Presbyterian Church for study by the local churches and 

groups. 

Religious Conditions in Poland 

A review of the church situation in Poland shows the 

drastic effects the war has had on the religious com 

plexion of the country. The Christian Century says that: 

Because of nazi terrorism, the territorial shifts due to 

Russian annexations and the westward extension of 

Poland's boundaries, all the churches show membership 

losses and in some districts the proportional relationship 

of Catholics to Protestants has been exactly reversed. 

Before the war there were 22,900,000 Roman Catholics 

in Poland. Now there are about 19.500,000. Then there 

were 4,000,000 Orthodox church members. Now there are 

only 400,000. Membership in the Protestant churches has 

fallen from 750,000 to 250,000. In prewar Poland, Prot 

estants, Orthodox and practicing Jews formed 36 per 

cent of the population. Now they are only 4 per cent. 

But Roman Catholics, who were 04 per cent before the 

war, now form 96 per cent of the total. In the parts of 

Prussia which have been taken over by Poland, the old 

proportion of four Protestants to one Catholic, which 

held until 1945, has been changed to one Protestant to 

four Catholics. All churches now have equal standing in 

the eyes of the law. There are both Protestant and Catho 

lic chaplains in the army. The state supports certain 

educational enterprises of the churches, such as the 

Protestant theological faculty of the University 

saw, 

of War 

and has made grants for the rebuilding of wrecked 

churches. But the churches, both Catholic and Protestant, 

must support their own clergy. 

Church Members in Iowa 

The Iowa Poll conducted a survey to find the percent 

age of the people who are members of some church. 

Five out of ten indicated that they attend church prac 

tically every Sabbath. There was only one in ten that ad 

mitted that they almost never attend church. 

Sacrifices in India 

The state legislative assembly of Mysore, India, passed 

a law prohibiting animal sacrifices in Hindu temples and 

before the temple cars when they 

are drawn in proces 

sion. They may be imprisoned or fined for breaking the 

law. The same assembly passed a law forbidding the 

slaughter of cows anywhere in the state. The reason 

given was to preserve and increase the supply of dairy 

and draft animals, but it is thought that Hindu senti 

ment against killing cows played a part in the passage 

of this law. 

Toward Prohibition in Pakistan 

The prohibition movement is making progress in 

Pakistan. The Prime Minister of the Northwest Frontier 

Province announced in the legislative assembly that total 

prohibition will be introduced throughout the province 

by October 1. 

Protecting the Sabbath 

The Pittsburgh Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church 

has petitioned the district attorney to prevent automobile 

races and air shows which have been scheduled for Sab 

laws" 

bath during the summer. The so-called "blue would 

prevent these if enforced. The statutes forbid "any world 

ly 

Day." 

employment or business whatsoever on the Lord's 

Amendments permit baseball, football, polo and 

movies on Sabbath. 

Giving 

of Adventists 

The Seventh Day Adventists have a membership of 

208,030, but with this comparatively small membership 

they have a budget for missions and education this year 

of $14,500,000. Tithing is a fundamental doctrine of their 

church. 

The Presbyterian Life 

The first issues of the new paper published by the 

Presbyterian church called, Prsbyterian Life, are now be 

sent out. In a recent issue there is an artile by Frank 

ing 

Laubach in which he outlines his methods in the effort 

to teach the illiterate millions to read. He says we must 

provide wholesftme books by the millions. These books 

must be cheap for most new literates are poor. More 

Christian writers must be found who can produce an en 

tirely new kind of literature written with the use of easy 

words and short sentences. "We can win this battle for 

men's minds only at great cost of money 

and effort. A 

billion people are newly awake and on the march, enough 

to overwhelm -the world or save it." 

German Assembly Postponed 

The most important post-war meeting of German Prot 

estants was postponed last month because of money 

trouble in Berlin. 

Court Upholds Witnesses 

The Supreme Court of the U. S. reversed a decision 

of the lower courts relative to free speech and in this 

case it involved the use of a loud speaker in a park at 

Lockport, N. Y. A member of Jehovah's 

Witnesses had 

gotten permission from the police at Lockport, N. Y., to 

use a sound amplifier in sounding forth his propaganda 

in a park there. There was a protest and then the police 

refused another permit, but the representative of 


Tin? nr\lTT?T*x A Kinr-CD TK7TTXT-[?CC . Published each Wednesday by the Reformed Presbyterian 

IHHi LU V Hi IN A IN IrLK. WliiNlL&G. church of North America, through its editorial office. 

R"-. D. Raymond Taggart. D. D., Editor and Manager, 1209 Boswell Avenue, Topeka, Kansas. 

52.00 per year; foreign S2.50 per year; single copies ac. Special rates to congregations. 


Authorized August 11, 19"3. 

Miss Mary L. Dunlop. 142 University St.. Belfast, N. Ireland, Agent for the British Isles. 

- --a - a**4.*** fc.-A * ^ * a a * 4^^^_4fc âa^fc4,A4,Aa*A*-----. --------- ----*A

August 4, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 67 

GuAAesd fsoeMti 

They're off: Dewey, Republican; Truman, Democrat; 

Thurmond, "Dixiecrat"; Wallace, Progressive; Thomas, 

Socialist; and Watscn, Prohibitionist. They probably 

will end in about that order, 

although Wallace may out 

run Thurmond. Even the Republican Congress just as 

even increase 

sembled can hardly defeat Dewey and may 

his lead. It has been the weak spot in the Republican 

setup. Truman, with his right gone with Thurmond and 

his left with Wallace, would carry very few states if the 

election were to be held the Tuesday after the first Mon 

day in August; what will occur in November remains to 

he seen. 

Mr. Wallace in his Saturday 

night speech at Shibe 

Park, Philadelphia, iterated and reiterated one com 

parison: Thomas Jefferson had started the Democratic 

party, 

Abraham Lincoln had started the Republican 

party, now he is starting 

the Progressve party. The 

vice-presidential candidate assured one and all that Mr. 

Wallace alone can bring 

a peaceful settlement with Rus 

sia. Stalin does not trust Mr. Truman, he does not trust 

Mr. Dewey's advisers, but he does trust Mr. Wallace and 

apparently would, at Mr. Wallace's suggestion, settle 

back comfortably into his Russian orbit and let the rest 

of Europe and the world alone. To the writer this seems 

a childlike analysis of Russian Communism and a bland 

disregard of recent history. 

The Progressive platform calls for an end to the Tru 

man and Marshall Plans, and the 

other UNRRA under the U. N. with plenty 

Russia and her satellites; 

substitution of an 

of aid for 

withdrawal from Berlin and 

the bringing of the Russians into Western Germany and 

the Ruhr; the immediate adoption of "world federal law 

enacted by 

a world legislature with limited but adequate 

powers to safeguard the common defense and the gen 

eral welfare of mankind"; nationalization of big banks, 

railroads, merchant marine, gas and electric utilities, and 

the aircraft, synthetic rubber and synthetic gasoline in 

dustries; repeal of the Taft-Hartley Act and enactment 

of a 1.00 an hour minimum wage; 

ing; 

restoration of ration 

enactment of the civil rights program with anti 

discrimination and anti-segregation laws; 

Social Security 

expansion of 

with $100 a month pensions at 60; price 

supports for crops at 90% of parity on an up-to-date 

standard; a farm program assuring $3000 a year income 

for farm families; a Federal bonus; four mil 

lion low-rent houses at once and millions more to come. 

veterans' 

This is far from all but enough to give its general out 

look. Two Vermonters wanted to add to the program the 

declaration: "It is not our intention to give blanket en 

dorsement to the foreign policy of any 

shouted down as "red-baiting" 

nation." 

This was 

The Progressives seem to be somewhere be 

tween Norman Thomas and his Socialists and the Com 

munists. Curiously enough, the convention had no word 

for the Socialists or the Socialist governments of Britain 

and Western Europe; the one country 

minds of the delegates was Russia. 

***** 

that was in the 

Prices have skyrocketed to the highest in the nation's 

history. On June 15 they 

39 average and prices have gone up 

President and Congress 

little. Fortunately 

had reached 171.5% of the 1935- 

since June. The 

will wrangle about them but do 

the wheat and corn crops are im 

Prof. John Coleman. PhD.. P. D. 

mense and that will in time mean more meat as well as 

plenty of bread, and prices may come down. So much for 

food. But steel has gone up and that means that all steel 

products will rise also. Clothing alone seems to have 

taken a downward trend. Clothing stores are putting on 

sales to get rid of their old stock. The advertisements 

seem like the prewar end-of-the-season invitations. 

***** 

The Pennsylvania Department of Justice has at the re 

quest of the State Superintendent of Education some 

what clarified the Champaign, Illinois, case decision of 

the national Supreme Court as it applies to Pennsylvania* 

It has declared that the reading of the Scriptures as re 

quired by the law of Pennsylvania is legal so long as 

they are read without comment. History courses involv 

ing the development of religion or church history as long 

as "taught objectively and not for the purpose of propa 

gating or examining into the merits of particular re 

ligious doctrines or beliefs" 

are legal. Religious education 

in school buildings is illegal and the closing of school for 

any period to let the children go to religious classes is 

illegal, but children, individual children, may on the writ 

ten request of the parents be excused to spend a period 

of religious education in some non-public building. 

***** 

It has been urged that everything is useful if only we 

can discover its proper service. In Cleveland the Dow 

Chemical Company has each day several thousand 

pounds of phenol waste (carbolic acid) that cannot be 

poured into the river, for even in much smaller qpantities 

it pollutes the stream. Now the company has found a 

small bug that feeds on the stuff and thrives. Of course 

some day a use may be found for the waste, and then 

there will be the bugs to dispose of. 

v * * * * 

The next item in the same daily was of the destruc 

tion of most of the 400,000,000 cocoa trees on the Gold 

Coast in West Africa by a virus that is transported 

from tree to tree by 

a mealy-bug. Either the virus or 

the bug must be blotted out or the greatest source of a 

favorite beverage will be at an end. 

From the rich Red River Valley of Canada four hun 

dred Mennonites are leaving for an undeveloped 100,000- 

acre tract in Paraguay. They will not be the first to mi 

reptile- 

grate to that land, for in the Chaco, a terrible 

infested section of the country, some of their brethren 

have already found homes. The Mennonites are a humble, 

hard-working, God-fearing folk who have turned many a 

barren desert into a fruitful land. They are pacifists and 

go to South America with the understanding that their 

sons are not to be called to military service. 

* * * * * 

For many years steel was priced on a basis called 

Pittsburgh-plus. Wherever sold the price was the price 

at Pittsburgh plus transportation. The steel might be 

manufactured in Gary and sold there, but the price 

would be Pittsburgh-plus. In 1924 the Federal Trade 

Commission issued a "cease and desist" 

order and thig 

plan was given up for a hundred or so basing points; 

still the price was not one at the mill plus transporta 

tion, but at some one of these hundred arbitrary points. 

Last spring this system also was forbidden, this time by 





Jeonie D. Gardner. We are glad to welcome the 

contribution from the pen of Miss Gardner. She 

is a teacher in our Girls' 

School in Nicosia. She 

comes from our Covenanter Church in North Ire 

land, and is a sister of Henrietta Gardner who is 

teaching' 

in the British school in Idlib. Miss Gard 

ner's picture appeared in the May missionary 

number, and something of the work her sister is 

doing was published in the June missionary num 

ber. With Mr. Semple in Latakia and Miss Gard 

ner in Nicosia, the three Churches have interests 

in common. "Blest be the tie that binds." 

Board Meeting June 29. The first meeting of 

the Board following Synod each year is marked 

by the election of officers for the following year. 

The election was by ballot and the following mem 

bers were elected : President R. W. Caskey ; 

Vice President W. C. McClurkin; Recording 

Secretary G. M. Robb ; Corresponding Secretary 

J. Paul Wilson; Transportation Agent R. D. 

Edgar; Purchasing Agent Robert J. Crawford, 

Jr. ; Editor Missionary number of the Covenanter 

Witness Walter McCarroll. This marks a 

for the last two 

change that has been pending 

years. At the meeting of Synod in Beaver Falls, 

Mr. Steele resigned as treasurer of the Board, 

and Synod's treasurer was elected to succeed him. 

Dr. Wilson, Corresponding Secretary, intimated 

his inability to carry the burden longer and the 

Rev. -J. Paul WiJson was elected to that office. 

Paul was Assistant Corresponding Secretary for 

the last several years, and wrote the Board's re 

port for the last three years. It was natural and 

logical therefore that he should now assume the 

full burden of that office. 

This is a noteworthy change. This marks as 

it were the end of an era. For a third of a cen 

tury the names of Findley M. Wilson and Joseph 

M. Steele hove been household names throughout 

the length and breadth of the Church. Both have 

rendered notable service, freely given through a 

very difficult period marked by two world wars 

and the great Depression. They have been loved, 

honored, and trusted by 

scores of missionaries 

who have come and gone through the years. They 

have been pillars of strength in the foreign mis 

sionary work of our Church. As you retire from 

these important offices the Church salutes you. 

"And in old a.?e when others fade they fruit still 

forth shall bring." 

Idlib. The Foreign Mission Board's report to 

the Scotch and Irish Synods contain the following: 

"In Idlib, in addition to the regular preaching 

of the Word twice on Sabbath and also on the 

Thursday evening, there are a variety of activi 

ties in operation as direct means of Evangelism 

prayer meeting?, meetings for women and also 

for girls who have left school, while a most in 

teresting and hopeful piece of work is the Friday 

night meeting for young men. By these and other 

ways the Gospel is being presented continually 

to a great number of people, and not without 

success. 

"The school in Idlib, under its capble head, 

Miss Gardner, with a band of devoted teachers, 

has been doing good work as evidenced by the 

steady and definite increase in the moral and 

spiritual tone of the school. 

"Through the sympathetic ministrations of 

Miss Bell and her assistant to those needing nurs 

ing 

and other medical treatment the people are 

given to see and feel something of the loving 

touch of the Saviour. 

"We close this report in no spirit of pessimism. 

We are not blind to the forces of evil confronting 

us, but we have absolute faith in the power of our 

Saviour to overcome all these. In the strength 

of that faith we go forward to meet the future 

prepared for the worst that it may bring and joy 

ous in the assurance that Christ's victory is as 

sured." 

(From Mr. Lytle's Report). 

Cyprus. That report by Mr. Copeland in the 

last missionary 

number must have stirred the 

Lord's intercessors to earnest prayer. In a series 

of special meetings he reports that 15 in Nicosia 

and 52 in Larnaca yielded hearts and lives to 

Christ as Saviour and Lord. That is impressive 

evidence that first things are put first, and that 

Christ and His atoning death are placed squarely 

at the heart of all life and work. Let us pray for 

these young people that they may be Spirit-filled 

witnesses for Christ in their home communities. 

Yes, schools may be instruments of evangelism. 

Latakia. We call attention also to the news item 

reported by Miss Allen that eighteen young peo 

ple united with the Church on confession of their 

faith. We rejoice with pastor, teachers, and par 

ents in this evidence that the Holy Spirit is ac 

companying the faithful witnessing to Christ as 

the only Saviour. 

Current Events 


the U. S. Supreme Court. The industry is now selling 

at a price F.O.B. at the point of actual production. This 

may 

cause some industries that use large quantities of 

steel, such as auto parts manufacturers, 

to move closer 

to Pittsburgh or Youngstown or Gary. One is said al 

ready to have made such a move. This will help com 

munities like Beaver Falls. 

The public does not arouse itself about alcoholism as 

it does about infantile paralysis. Yet we have twice as 

many deaths from alcohol as we have from polio. We 

do not know how to avoid infantile paralysis, but alco 

holism can be avoided. What kind of sense does, this 

make ? 

Glimpses of the Religious World 


Jehovah's Witnesses used it without a police permit. The 

Witness was arrested, fined and sentenced to jail. The 

N. Y. courts upheld such action by the police, but the 

Supreme Court reversed the state decision by 

a 5-4 vote, 

Justices Frankfurter, Reed, Burton and Jackson dis 

senting. 

The DeShazers Get Diplomas 

The Tokyo bomber, Jacob DeShazer and his wife each 

received their diplomas from the Seattle-Pacific College, 

which is a Free Methodist institution. They 

plan to go 

to Japan as missionaries as soon as possible after sum 

of his conversion in a Japanese 

mer school. The story 

prison and his determination to go as a missionary to his 

persecutors has already won thousands of Japanese to 

Christ.


Divine Equipment For Christian Workers 

By A. I. Robb, D. D. 

Ill A WORLD-WIDE FIELD 

"Both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in 

Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the 

earth." 

The plan is simplicity itself. Beginning in the 

spot where they then were, the work was to be 

carried on first in the city, then extended to the 

immediate province, then to its neighbor, and in 

ever widening circles to the ends of the earth. 

lntensiveness in method and extensiveness of 

plan are both here. "All Judea" 

suggests the com 

pleteness of the work for that and all other lands ; 

while the one superlative of the verse is given in 

showing its far-reaching extent. "The uttermost 

earth." 

part of the No limitation of frigid zone 

or tropic clime, no hindrance of mountain range 

or stormy sea, no barrier of ignorance, of savag 

ery, or sin, or difficult tongue, can claim to be 

outside that word "uttermost." 

It means that 

wherever the foot of man has trod, wherever 

there dwells one who was made to be in the image 

of God, whatever his race or condition, there must 

the messenger of Jesus go, to show him, in word, 

in example, in life, the lineaments of Him who 

was lifted up to draw all men unto Himself. 

Listen to the voice of the Old Testament, and 

you will hear the notes of a world song in every 

utterance of the inspired bards. In a nation that 

thought only of itself, its prophets wrote of the 

whole wide world. 

Jesus came with a world vision, and a world 

purpose. And the simplicity of His statement 

here is only equaled by the majesty of His tre 

mendous plan. Through all the centuries, the 

simple orders of Christ to His Church have held 

up before her eyes a world vision and a world 

purpose, and here and there it has been given to 

some of His followers to see something of what 

Christ meant, and the grace of obedience to the 

heavenly vision. 

But the characteristic of our own time is that 

God has created for us world-wide conditions 

which make possible the early literal fulfilment 

of His command. The machinery of modern civil 

ization is leading men in many walks in life to 

see world visions, think world thoughts, and ex 

ecute world plans. When a tobacco company, in 

nine months, covers the whole of China with ad- 

vertisments, and puts its cigarettes into every 

village in a population equal to one-fourth the 

globe, as recently occurred, it is time for the mes 

sengers of the Cross to take stock of their own 

possibilities. 

When master minds, representing Christianity 

in every land, come together in great convention, 

and with one voice tell the future Christian 

workers there assembled that God has opened 

wide the doors of the non-Christian world and 

open," 

"nailed them then it is time to announce 

a new era in the progress of the Kingdom. 

The old prayer that God would open the doors 

of the heathen world has been answered, not on 

any human scale. Men would have said, open 

them wide enough to absorb the present avail 

able resources of the Christian world. God has 

thrown them wide open, and the voice of oppor 

tunity comes up from every land as the noise of 

many waters sounding out the challenge to G^d's 

people. "Come up, come up to the help of the 

mighty," 

Lord against the and look to Me, whose 

hand is not shortened, for abundant resources to 

complete the task. 

Let us look with sober vision upon the open 

door of the heathen world. It has opened to us as 

to no former generation. The past five j ears 

have opened the door so wide, in all parts of the 

world, that fifty years of present effort will not 

fill it. For the first time in the history of the 

world we can almost say (to-morrow we can say 

it) that the whole of the Christian world is face 

to face with the whole of the non-Christian world, 

in immediate and intimate contact. For the first 

time, a comprehensive and decisive conquest of 

the world is possible because an all inclusive con 

flict is now possible. Its possibility and the na 

ture of Christianity make it inevitable. We may 

not choose to act or not to act. We shall either 

carry the gospel into the darkness of the earth 

and fight our battle there, or the gospel must 

struggle for its life at home against insidious 

philosophies under Christian name imported from 

heathen lands. Universal contact in the inter 

course of business, diplomacy, travel and mission 

ary effort is all but here. Universal moral strug 

gle must follow. Responsibility, possibility, im 

measurable, soul-stirring and world-wide, pro 

claim not only a new era, but we believe the last, 

in God's great work of setting up His everlasting 

Kingdom in the world. 

In conclusion : 

I. Let us remember the exalted dignity of the 

Christian's calling 

as a witness. 

Some fourteen years ago a young missionary 

had a personal interview with the late Dr. T. P. 

Stevenson in his home. With no visible result of 

years' 

five labor in a foreign land, it was not a 

particularly glowing account the missionary 

could give of his work, but in his winning way the 

Doctor led him to speak freely. After a little he 

interrupted, his fine face aglow, as he said, "Isn't 

it fine to be allowed to do your work where it 

will count in the awakening of a great 

That has never been forgotten. And yet, as we 

look into the face of Jesus Christ and consider 

His infinitely wonderful plan for the world's re 

demption, and the exceeding glory of the King 

dom He is building, and remember that the work 

is one in all lands, what matters the task He gives 

nation':'" 

us to do, or the place He wants us to do it, provid 

ed it be His will? Must we not say with irameosvr- 

ably greater truth, "Is it not a privilege im 

measurably 

precious that we, men of like passions 

with all others, may be associated with Jesus 

Christ, workers together with God in His highest 

and holiest work, witnesses for a divine Saviour, 

ambassadors for a heavenly King? Herein is 

glory excelling. 

II. Let us have a clear perspective of the work 

assigned us. When we remember that the King 

dom grows only as men are bora into Christ, and 

that His command is explicit to carry the gospel


to every creature, we must conclude that showing 

the Saviour lifted up 

on the cross to all nations 

and to every 

it is accomplished. It is first in the mind of 

Christ; it was first in the effort of the early 

Church; and it must be first in the purpose of 

every church that would command the resources 

of God for her work. A recent wrter has said, 

"The first object of the Church is to push to the 

regions beyond, to extend the regin of the Re 

deemer where He is not yet known. This must be 

the first charge on her interest, her resources, 

her members The first condition of health 

in a church, as in an individual, is that it should 

not be thinking of itself. While she is engaged 

in her own work, work which promotes her own 

man stands first in our work until 

increase and prosperity, she has not yet caught 

the spirit of her Lord. She must lose herself to 

find herself. 

"It is God's thought that she should lose her 

self in a world enterprise, and find herself in 

giving of her best her sons and daughters, her 

thought and prayers, her money and her advocacy 

to bring in the nations yet unborn. First in vision 

is the world ; 'Go into the whole world and preach 

creature;' 

the gospel to every then the country 

to which you. belong; then your own neighbor 

hood ; that is the necessary order of the spiritual 

world; that constitutes the content, the appeal of 

the gospel which has to be preached. 

"When that gospel is grasped, when the set of 

the mind is fixed toward the whole world, then we 

Synod Reports 

REPORT OF THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS 

1947-1948 

As w.e bring to the Synod our report for this year, we are pro 

foundly conscious of the fact that "our times are in His hands". 

"God that made the world and all things therein" 

"hath put in 

His own power the times and the 

seasons" 

and He alone directs the 

the course of history. For this we can be eternally grateful as we 

look out upon the troublous scene in and near our fields in Syria 

and in China. Yet even in the face of such distress there rests upon 

us the continuing command, "Go ye, and make 

disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father 

obligation of Jesus' 

and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe 

all things whatsoever I have commanded you." 

It is with a keen realization of these facts that we bring to you 

our report this year. 

THE FIELDS 

Syria 

The political and national aspirations of the Jewish people, as 

expressed in the creation of the Jewish state of Israel on the 15th 

of May has turned the spot light of attention to Palestine and the 

Arab States surrounding Palestine, of which Syria is one. Our own 

special interest is therefore anxiously turned to our mission in Syria 

as we view our program there in the light of possible repercussions 

from the Jewish-Arab strife. At the time of the decision of the 

U. N. to partition Palestine last fall, there were strong demonstra 

tions by the Arab speaking peoples against the Americans, the 

French and the Russians. Through the kind providence of God none 

of our missionaries was molested, and none of the mission property 

was damaged. Our schools in Latakia were only forced to close for 

a little over a week while American schools in Aleppo, Beirut and 

Sidon incurred more or less property damage. At the time Mr. 

Hutcheson wrote his report on April 5, 

the Jewish state had not 

been declared. With the United States giving immediate recogni- 

can set out, beginning at Jerusalem, 

Paul, into ever widening 

beyond." 

and go, like 

circles of the regions 

III. Let us remember the exceeding necessity 

of the divine enduement. 

"Without me ye can do 

nothing." 

I am sure I 

utter the feeling of many a heart, and I speak in 

full appreciation of what is being accomplished, 

and not in any spirit of condemnation, but with 

a consciousness of sharing to the full in our lack, 

when I say we are in great need. That the Church 

is too largely like a great engine, magnificent 

machinery with untold possibilities of service, 

but falling far short because many of us are put 

ting our shoulders to the wheels, using our own 

strength instead of sitting at the feet of Jesus 

that we may learn how to open the infinite re 

sources of heavenly power. Everything must act 

according to its own law. And the law of the 

Kingdom of God is not human ernegy plus divine 

blessing, but divine power plus a human channel. 

Let us then look away from our own inability 

and pitiful resources, and fairly face the tremend 

ous reach of Christ's plan, and the awe-inspiring 

vision of our mighty task, with simple faith in. 

the power of the King 

and His infinite resources 

promised and available in the Holy Spirit. Shall 

we not in this opening hour of Synod, wait at the 

feet of Him who hath given us a great work, for 

all we need of power to do it as He wants it done? 

power" 

"Ye shall receive is the explicit promise 

of Jesus, and He is faithful. 

Mission Letters 

LATAKIA NEWS 

By Marjorie E. Allen 

Spring has again arrived in Syria. I think 

it is about the nicest season for things are 

still green from the winter rains, it is not too 

hot and we all revel in being able to have 

the doors open and not being in a semi-frozen 

state all the time. (It really isn't that bad, 

but one can get pretty cold in winter in our 

non-heated houses even though the tempera 

ture seldom drops below forty degrees faren- 

heit.) The flowers are again profuse with all 

sorts and varieties being available. The sweet 

peas are especially beautiful this year. 

Our work goes on as usual, scarcely giving 

us a chance to catch our breath between jobs, 

We've had a number of holidays of late due 

to the two Easters (the Catholic and the 

Greek Orthodox), several strikes and other 

things which are a welcome change from the 

regular school routine. They seem to go so 

quickly that when you stop afterward to think 

over what you accomplished during a holiday, 

you begin to doubt if you even had one. Dur 

ing the Greek Orthodox Easter Mr. Hutche- 

son's invited the other four missionaries here 

to go with them to their Slenfe home where 

we enjoyed a most pleasant weekend. 

On Sabbath we walked to the near-by vil 

lage Bab Jenny to attend the church service 

conducted by one of our evangelists. We left 

Slenfe about nine, and reached the village 

about 10:15 after crossing some of the rough-


est ground, up and down mountains, that 

you've ever seen. The scenery 

was beautiful. 

We stopped several times along the way and 

sang Psalms, one of the most appropriate of 

course being Psalm nineteen. There were more 

than thirty at the church service, all men and 

Aloweets, except the pastor and his family 

Daoud Bessna. The men came in and sat on 

the floor leaving their shoes behind them on 

the doorstep as they entered. They were very 

attentive listeners, and the Hutchesons said 

the sermon was a very 

good one on Christ's 

resurrection and its meaning for us. After 

the service they 

served us Arabic coffee and 

we walked back to Slenfe, arriving there 

about 1:15, and you may be sure we all had 

a hearty 

appetite for dinner. 

Things here, so far, have been relatively 

quiet. We've been surprised that there hasn't 

been more feeling displayed over the Palestine 

situation. So far not many 

refugees have ar 

rived here, although they tell us that there 

are a lot at Sidon, where the Presbyterian 

church has mission schools and a church. 

There were demonstrations here last week, in 

which our students were required to take part, 

and our schools were closed for a few days. 

The pastor is making his pre-communion 

visits in each home of the congregation pre 

paratory to holding communion the last Sab 

bath in May. I think he expects to have six 

or more join the church this time. (18 joined 

and 6 were baptized. Ed.) The Intermediate 

meetings have been well attended this year, 

the highest attendance being 67, but the 

average has been considerably over fifty. It 

is good to have Eunice and Kenneth and Mr. 

Semple from Ireland, to help 

ings, especially 

hearing 

with these meet 

in the singing. We've been 

some of the Grinnell Psalm records 

which are an inspiration to the children. The 

S. S. attendance has been averaging between 

175-195 most of the winter too. The past Sab 

bath there were 212 at S. S. 

I feel ever so much more at home among 

the people here this year, 

and have enjoyed 

my work more than ever, if that is possible. 

In fact I like it so much that I've decided to 

stay another year and teach. I would like to 

thank the Hopkinton Congregation for their 

generous money gift that I received recently, 

to help in reoutfitting me for extended stay. 

It arrived at a most opportune time. One 

reason I've enjoyed this year much more is 

due to the arrival of the new missionaries. 

Since Kenneth Sanderson came we've started 

a boarding department for Eunice, Kenneth, 

Tom Semple and myself on the third floor 

of the Girls' 

School where Eunice and I live. 

We have a native girl who helps with the 

housework. She knows no English, 

and I in 

my broken Arabic give her directions for set 

ting the table like, "Put the water on the 

rug" 

instead of in the glasses and wonder 

why she looks at me so oddly; but in spite 

of the language difficulties we all seem to be 

prospering, and I fear even growing fatter. It 

is grand to have other foreign young people 

tion to the state of Israel, the possibility of serious reactions upon 

our work in Syria was increased. Yet Mr. Hutcheson had written 

in his report, "The Palestine question still looms large in the Near 

East, and unless it is settled somewhat satisfactorily to the Arabs, 

it is likely to have very bad repercussions in Christian mission 

work." 

The report of the school work for the year is very encouraging. 

Though the French School, run by Roman Catholics, 

was reopened 

this year and a newly built Greek Orthodox school was opened, 

making, along with the Government school and our own, four 

secondary schools in the town, the final en'rullment of our schools 

was a few over 500. Mr. Hutcheson says, "How thankful we are 

that we have had favorable answers to prayers, in the fact of hav 

ing faculty 

as the basis of our High School 

There were three new missionary teachers added during 

a good sized .American 

faculty." 

the year. The first was the Rev. T. H. Semple of our Irish church, 

and the others were Miss Eunice McClurkin and Mr. Kenneth San 

derson from America. With these reenforcing Mr. and Mrs. Hutcheson 

and Miss Allen, "we have a High School faculty 

the American schools of Syria and Lebanon," 

second to none in 

says Mr. Huicheson. 

He continues, "We had a graduation class of six students last June. 

One of the graduates has gone to college in Aleppo, 

one left for 

Armenian Russia, one is teaching and studying in a French school 

in Beirut, and one is going 

get a government certificate. Another is doing 

on in the government school here to 

a fine job of teach 

ing in our school, and the sixth recently secured a good job with 

an oil company here. Thus we can see that they are all making 

good use of their talents and their education." 

During last summer extensive renovation of school property was 

accomplished, making available more commodious quarters for mis 

sionaries in space which had not been used for this purpose before. 

This coming summer laboratory equipment is to be added and fur 

ther repair work completed in an attempt to get the building into 

a good state of repair. 

Mrs. Henley Apellian, 

continues her work as a Bible Woman and 

"has ready audiences to hear the Gospel We are not able to 

help her 

much," 

says Mr. Hutcheson, "but Mrs. Hutcheson does 

spend an hour with her every other Wednesday talking over the 

work to encourage her and give her suggestions. We are hoping 

and expecting that Miss McElroy will be back by the end of the 

summer to take this over and give it a good push." 

Of the village work, Mr. Hutcheson says, "We have been operat 

ing four or five schools during the year, and have three other places 

where we have evangelists stationed with their families. Schools 

are well attended but tuition fees are small and in many places 

impossible of collection. The poverty of some of our country dis 

tricts is deplorable." 

We are glad to report that in response to the appeal made last 

summer at Grinnell, there were three young people who ottered 

themselvs for service in Syria. Only two of the three have been 

able to get to the field. Miss Eunice McClurkin was appointed by 

the Board to life service in Syria and since her arrival in Latakia 

on November 21, 1947, she has been leaching two classes a day, 

in the school and devoting the remainder of bpr time to language 

study. Mr. Kenneth Sanderson sailed for Syria the 14th of January. 

Miss Marion Adams, who was al=o appointed for a short term in 

Syria, was unable to get a release from her contract with the Super 

ior, Nebraska school board, so she has not gone to the field. She 

is soon to be engaged in other Christian work and is not to go to 

Syria. Miss Marjorie Allen has very kindly 

consented to remain 

on the field for an additional year thus extending her term to 

four years. Mr. and Mrs. Hays are to return with their family to 

Syria this fall. Mr. Hutcheson says, "Let us pray 

much for the 

work. We are still able to find more openings than we can fill. God 

is still showing 

us more things to do than we can find lime or 

strength for; thus we need not pray for openings, 

might be used by the Spirit to use properly 

each day." 

but that we 

each opening we enter 

We close our consideration of the Syrian field by citing the


request that comes from Mr. Hays for a Mission automobile. The 

need for a suitable car for carrying on their work is becoming im 

perative if it is to be done with efficiency 

extend farther afield. 

Cyprus 

and if their work is to 

As we turn to our mission in Cyprus we wish to bring first to 

the attention of Synod that which we consider to be the most dif 

ficult problem facing the mission. This is the problem of procuring 

adequate suitable personnel effectively to carry on the work of the 

mission. There has been felt for some years now the need for an 

ordained minister missionary to organize and carry on a continuing 

program of evangelistic effort. This one should become qualified 

to preach and work effectively in the Greek language, and he would 

have a supervisory responsibility in working both with Greek and 

Armenian pastors and evangelists. In seeking 

a solution of this 

problem the mission and the Board have now decided to release the 

Rev. Clark Copeland from his most effective work in the Academy 

at Larnaca to devotg himself to this work to which we feel the 

Lord is calling him. But, in order to do this without crippling the 

Academy at the same time, it becomes imperative that we procure 

almost immediately a school administrator and teacher who has 

an evangelistic zeal and who is ready to devote his life to the work 

of the American Academy for Boys in Larnaca. Hand in hand 

with this need there is the continuing 

need for a Greek pastor 

and an Armenian pastor who will both shepherd a flock and work 

with Mr. Copeland in the evangelistic work. Of course, the sup 

plying of this latter need does not fall within the province of the 

Synod except for the privilege and responsibility that is ours to 

"pray the Lord of the Harvest that He send forth the laborers" 

His choosing to fill this need. Under the above arrangement, of 

course, Mr. Copeland would then go on salary from the Board and 

the school administrator would be paid by the Academy as Mr. 

Copeland is now paid. 

From the statistical report of the mission which was forwarded 

to Mr. Tibby we find that there is an estimated average attendance 

at the Armenian congregations at Larnaca and Nicosia of 65 and 80 

respectively 

and of the Greek congregation at Nicosia and the mis 

sion station at Limassol of 20 and 25 respectively. The usual evan 

gelistic services at Nicosia and Larnaca have been held this spring 

with the assistance of three American Missionaries who had to flee 

from Palestine due to the turmoil which occurred in connection with 

the partition of Palestine. Two of these are Christian and Missionary 

Alliance men, the Rev. Alvin Martin, and the Rev. Fried. The 

other one is the Rev. L. L. Donaldson of the Bible Presbyterian 

mission in south Palestine who went out under the Independent 

Presbyterian Board. Rev. Donaldson preaches every 

of 

other Sabbath 

to our Limassol group, thus enabling them to have services each Sab 

bath, our own missionaries preaching the alternate Sabbaths. 

Through arrangements with his Board, Mr. Donaldson is now 

to remain with our mission, teaching in the Larnaca Academy and 

preaching where and when he may be needed. He will continue 

to be paid by the Independent Presbyterian Board under which 

he serves, and our mission provides him with a furnished home. 

The Academy at Larnaca had an enrollment of 385 this past year 

of which 125 were Boarding students. This is a little lower than 

last year but this is due to the more stringent requirements that 

have been initiated this year and to an increase of 20 per cent in 

tuition and boarding fees. The following interesting paragraph is 

taken from a recent article of Mr. Weir's in the Covenanter Wit 

ness. "Four students arrived recently from Abyssinia, three being 

sent by the Abyssinian government, one by the Duke of Harrar. 

His ward is a cousin of the king. The lad is sixteen years old, 

knows a little English. He roomed in our house for about three 

weeks, and we came to like him very much. To think that the 

Academy would be chosen for scholarship students by leaders in 

education in a country 

which is now all out for Christian education 

is indeed encouraging; and at the same time it is a challenge; the 

Academy 

must be yet much more a positive Christian force an 

evangelizing agency. .Another shcolarship 

student is a Greek from 

for company, and especially 

such fine Chris 

tian and consecrated ones as these are. We 

are looking forward to the return of the 

Hays family and Miss McElroy this year. 

We thank you for the splendid interest the 

home church is showing 

in our work here. 

The response to Mr. Hutcheson's recent ap 

peal for items for the school has been most 

gratifying. We shall endeavor to be worthy 

of the faith you have placed in us in sending 

us here, and also we'll be praying for the 

coming meeting 

of Synod at Beaver Falls. 

NICOSIA NEWS ITEMS 

By 

Jeanie D. Gardner 

Dear Friends in America: 

This month it is my turn to tell you some 

is' 

about the work in Nicosia. It a great 

thing 

joy to me to be in the Academy and I am 

thoroughly enjoying my work here and life 

in Cyprus. 

On Sabbath, 2nd May, we observed the 

Sacrament of the Lord's Supper with the 

Greek congregation and fourteen communed 

including two members from Limassol, one 

the young man who joined the church last 

year. Preparatory services were conducted by 

Mr. Weir and Mr. Copeland. We had fine 

services throughout the Communion season 

and we felt that we were blessed with the 

presence of God. 

On Tuesday evening, the 27th April, a good 

ly company gathered in the hall of the Ar 

menian Church to do honor to Mr. Vagatzi, 

one of the oldest members of the Armenian 

congregation, on the occasion of his 85th 

birthday. Many friends from Larnaca joined 

the Nicosia congregation and some local 

friends in this social gathering. Speeches of 

congratulation and good wishes were made 

and letters and telegrams from friends at a 

distance who could not be present were read. 

Some young people from the Nicosia and 

Larnaca congregations contributed a musical 

program and refreshments were served. In a 

humorous speech Mr. Vagatzi thanked his 

friends for their good wishes and testified to 

the guidance and overruling of God in his life. 

we had 

During the week 9th to 16th May, 

special evangelistic services in the Mission 

Church. The speakers at these meetings were 

Mr. Weir, Mr. Copeland, Mr. Sagharian, Mr. 

Sams, Mr. Martin and Mr. Donaldson. The 

last three are our missionary friends from 

Palestine. All these preached the Gospel fully 

and clearly, and the Word of God, like a 

sharp two-edged sword has been piercing some 

hearts with convicting and power. 

converting 

At the close of each meeting an opportunity 

was given to any who wished to remain be 

hind to learn more of the Way of Life and 

several, including some girls from the 

Academy 

accepted the invitation. We know 

that you have been praying for these meet 

ings and we have seen your prayers being 

answered. We ask you to continue to pray 

for these young people as they try to live the 

Christian life. Since the meetings the girls


have been meeting each day for prayer and 

Bible study. They have much to learn about 

the Christian way of life, but we rejoice that 

so many are seeking further knowledge and 

that so many seem to be sincere in their 

seeking, and we are praying that they may 

all come to full assurance of salvation. 

At present Mrs. Hoyman, the Near East 

representative of the Woman's Christian 

Temperance Union, is staying with us. She 

has been in Cyprus for the past few weeks 

and has been speaking and showing slides on 

temperance in various schools, colleges and 

clubs in the island. We rejoice with her in the 

number of openings she has had to present 

facts about this vital subject to the youth of 

Cyprus. 

On Saturday, the 22nd May, the girls gave 

their annual drill display to a large gathering 

of parents, friends, former students and 

representatives of the government depart 

ments. In some of the classrooms the dress 

making, embroidery 

and some of the school 

work done during the year was exhibited. 

The girls had practised hard for weeks before 

for this display and we were glad that it 

passed off successfully and that those present 

enjoyed it so much. 

We all thank you for your prayerful in 

terest in the work here, and ask your con 

tinued prayers. May God bless you in all you 

are doing for the extension of His Kingdom. 

Comments : 

Lesssn Helps 



By the Rev. R. McConachie 

GOD SPEAKS THROUGH HIS WORD 

References : 

Neh. 8:1-18 

Zeph. 1:1; Heb. 1:1-2; Mk. 2:2; Rev. 1:9; 

Jn. 15:3, 17:17; Jas. 1:18; II Pet. 1:19; 

1:23; Ps. 12:6; Gen. 15:4; Ps. 33:6; Ps. 107: 

20; Dan. 9:2; Is. 1:10; Joel 1:1. 

Psalms: 

Psalm 119, No. 319 

Psalm 19, No. 42 

Psalm 119, No. 325 


Psalm 119, No. 333 

The most sincere desire of the pagan is 

that his object of worship might communicate 

itself, or himself, to the worshiper. But "all 

the gods are idols dumb which blinded na 

tions fear." 

They cannot speak, nor can they 

send a message to their followers. "The 

mighty God, the Lord hath 

spoken." 

He has 

sent word to His followers. He spake and still 

speaks through His Word. He has revealed to 

man through His word "what man is to be 

lieve concerning God and what duty God re 

quireth of man". 

It is interesting to note in the Word how 

often the words are used, "The Word of the 

Lord" or "God spake". All Christians through 

the centuries have believed that God did speak 

Tanganyka. He is being sent by the Greek 

community." 

The Synod will be interested to know that the Larnaca Building 

fund has now reached about $37,000. It is not planned to begin 

any building until the price of building 

materials comes down. 

The Nicosia Academy had 280 students this past year which is 

an all time high. They are now functioning at their absolute maxium 

capacity and had to turn a number of students away. Miss Reade 

is serving as the head of the school in the absence of Miss McCrea 

who arrived home on furlough on July 28, 1947. Miss Munnell is 

due to return to America one year from now, and the Nicosia Acad 

emy will then be in need of another teacher. 

We wish to quote at this point an appeal from Mr. Copeland. He 

says, "We feel the need of more American teachers. First of all 

from the missionary point of view. If we are to be a mission school 

we must have teachers with the missionary zeal; and secondly, from 

the educational point of view, we must have qualified teachers. Local 

schools are bringing more English masters from England and are 

thus improving their language departments. We must do the same 

or in even competition we shall have difficulties. We would, there 

fore, appreciate your appealing to the church for the right kind of 

young men. Teachers qualified in Mathematics or English are 

desirable." 

And now a final appeal from Mr. Copeland. He says, 

"We have been feeling the need of a car for some time on account 

of the widely scattered work. It is almost imperative that an 

evangelist have one if he is to do his work at all satisfactorily. A 

Gospel car would greatly facilitate the sowing 

CHINA 

of the 

seed." 

As we now turn our attention to our missions in South China 

our hearts leap for joy 

opened unto 

us," 

at the "great door and effectual that is 

even though "there are many adversaries." 

this case however there are two doors which seem to be opening 

before us. These are first in our orphanage work and secondly in 

the two new fields opened in the past two years in Canton and 

Hok Shaan. Let us look at each of these briefly. 

The orphanage work opened up to our mission as a result of 

the war. As the Japanese withdrew from China and our Christian 

workers reoccupied the fields while Jesse C. Mitchel was the only 

missionary among them, hundreds of destitute war orphans were 

left, without food or shelter or parental care. These were gathered 

in and as provision was made through national and international 

relief agencies they were fed, 

In 

clothed and given medical care. 

Some 170 or more were helped in this way and already the "First- 

fruits" 

of this number are being brought to a profession of faith in 

Christ. Miss Dean writes, " 

The climax of the year was in Decem 

ber when thirty-six were received into the church, twenty of them 

being children of the Orphanage, 

quite 

confident" 

continues Miss Dean, " 

fourteen years old or over. I fee] 

that each one has received 

Jesus in his heart as his personal Saviour. Truly God has been most 

gracious in salvaging the souls as well as the bodies of these 'First- 

frutis' 

In another letter Miss Dean writes, "About 45 of our young 

sters belong to the Junior Christian Endeavor and they 

enthusiasm in their leading of the meetings and in taking 

is great training for them." 

show great 

part it 

The response of the church in rising to the call of Miss Stewart 

to sponsor these orphans by a special gift of $100.00 each year has 

indeed been encouraging. Prayer Partners were enlisted during 

the year on behalf of these childrn too. The possibility of blessing 

for the future of China which rests in our hands in the precious 

souls and minds of these children is impossible to compute. 

Much of the time of Miss Dean, Miss Stewart, Mr. and Mrs. Kempf 

and of Dr. Scott and Miss Barr was occupied in caring for and in 

structing these children and in administering relief for town folk 

during the year. Miss Adams continues her unceasing labors, mostly 

in the homes of the station towns of Wan Fau, Do Sing, Ko Leung 

and Mai Hui. She writes, "In going to and fro the eyes of the Lord 

have been upon me and His presence very near.... Pray that the 

Holy Spirit will convict hearts and there will be the boldness to 

confess the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray that Christ may live in me 

more fully."


Miss Stewart and Dr. Kempf supervised the construction of an 

addition to the Hospital at Tak Hing. Dr. Scott and a Chinese doc 

tor and nurse ministered to 3,989 patients. We are all glad that Dr. 

Scott has recovered from the insect bite that incapacitated her for 

three months of the year. 

We turn now to the other door opening before us. This is the 

new work which was started by our mission by 

Presbytery in 1946, in Canton under the leadership 

Soong, 

action of the China 

of Pastor Peter 

and village work in the Hok Shaan district to the south east 

of Canton by Miss Soong. With regard to the work in Canton, Mr. 

Boyle reports as follows: "As I work with Pastor Soong and his as 

sistant, Mr. Lui, I am getting more enthusiastic about the opportunity 

here. These lads have done well. The nucleus of the group here are 

about a dozen members of the Covenanter Church who reside in 

Canton. One is a very faithful elder who united with our church 

in Do Sing while he was a refugee there and was later ordained. 

We have another group of students from our upcountry congrega 

tions in the city. Added to these are adherents from other churches 

who faithfully attend, as well as converts. During the New Year 

season (January 31, to February 5) special evangelistic meetings 

managed by the Young People's Society of the Canton Congrega 

tion were blessed of God to the garnering in of 25 new converts, 

on public decision in these open air meetings. I have seen at least 

ten of these coming back regularly to our routine meetings. 

"Last night we used the amplifying set for the first time in the 

Thursday night street meeting at the chapel. It was a great success. 

The church was packed and hundreds stood for an hour and a 

half in the boulevard in front of the chapel. Over 300 must have 

stayed through the meeting. The sermon was by Rev. Peter Soong 

and how he did rebuke sin and point out the way of salvation 

through the crucified and risen Son of God. I estimate that a thou 

sand people could have heard last night's message ... In 

view of 

the future stratergy of Covenanter Missions in Asia I fully believe 

Canton now is the most important spot to plant a permanent work. 

Risks there are many . . In 

of a work of God in the little congregation. 

spite of this, I see the evidence here 

"In relationship to our other stations, Canton is the key to unified 

work and vision. It is impossible today for us to maintain fiancially 

our upcountry work without someone coming to Canton to do bank 

ing and to manage relief supplies, etc. The trips down to Canton are 

ever inconvenient and costly for the one making them, and with 

out some assistance in the city, missionaries cannot manage things 

even when they do 

come." 

Mr. Boyle continues, "Another development has sprung from Miss 

Soong's sense of urgent responsibility for her home villages in Hok 

Shaan region. She had already served an institution for orphans 

in that region, but her dream was to do direct evangelistic work. 

Over a year ago she was sent to her home and out of her efforts 

a group has been organized in Nga lu Market, with 54 members. I 

administered communion there a few weeks ago and baptized 14 

new Christians. I like to call Miss Soong the "Praying Hyde" 

our mission. Her voice is heard in prayer before dawn in the morn 

ing and late at night she is souls." 

pleading for 

"Hok Shaan is quite accessible from Canton, and with Canton 

we now have a chain of stations which can become, by faith and 

prayerful advance, the backbone of a future Reformed Presbyter 

China." 

ian fellowship and witness in 

This fall a party comprised of Dr. and Mrs. Jesse Mitchel, Rev. 

and Mrs. Robert Henning and their year old son, Miss Orlena Lynn 

and Miss Alice Edgar are scheduled to depart for China. 

MANCHURIA 

With regard to the situation in Manchuria, there has been no ap 

preciable change since last year. The Communists are still in con 

trol, 

and reports have been received to the effect that Christians 

are enduring untold persecutions there. Some have died by cruci 

fixion and others were buried alive. These were not of our church 

group, but it indicates the nature of the Satanic fury which is ready 

to strike out against them at any time. Mrs. Jeanette Li is now doing 

work in a mission hospital in Changchun where she has opportunity 

of 

and make himself known to men. He spoke 

and gave to men an infallible rule of faith 

and manners. 

It might be interesting to consider the tests 

that have been applied whereby men were as 

sured that this was the Word of God. There 

have been many false prophets who proposed 

to sound forth the Word of the Lord. A study 

along this line will show that the Word has 

proved itself as the only infallible guide for 

life. It is God's Word and not the word of 

man. 

God has spoken and there is no question 

in our minds about that. Our lesson has to 

do with the hearing rather than with the 

speaking. For it is plainly implied that when 

God speaks, men must listen and give heed. 

What are some of the things that we hear 

then when God speaks ? 

Through His Word we are informed as to 

the origin, conduct and destiny 

of man. Our 

topic is in the present tense; therefore we 

look to what the Word says to us now. 

God speaks through His word in guidance. 

Christians, in hours of doubt read and are 

informed as to how to proceed in their dilem 

ma. Martin Luther was pounding out pennances 

on his knees when God spoke to him, 

"The just shall live by faith" 

Augustine was proceeding along a pathway 

of sin when God arrested him with the ad 

monition, 

"Reckon yourself dead unto 

"Make no provision for the flesh." 

sin." 

He spoke to Wm. Carey and said, "Go ye 

into all the world (especially to India) and 

preach the Gospel," 

missions was re-opened. 

and a world crusade of 

He speaks today through His Word, to 

young people who are pondering 

they 

as to how 

shall live their lives and for what pur 

pose, and He says clearly, "Son give me thine 

heart." 

"Thou art mine, I have redeemed 

thee," 

and young folks are having their 

present and eternal welfare decided because 

they clearly hear the Word. 

God spoke in the time of Nehemiah and 

there was a revival. There has never been a 

revival or a reformation that did not come 

about but by the influence and power of the 

Word that God hath spoken. He speaks 

through His Word and condemns and rebukes 

evils that exist in the world. 

He speaks through His Word to nations as 

well as to individuals. He speaks through the 

Word to the troubled and sorrowful and talks 

of peace. He speaks to the erring ones, re 

buking 

them for sin and pleading with them 

to accept healing 

and cleansing. He speaks 

on all the problems of life and has the last 

word on every one of them. 

It is ours to listen and to give heed. The 

Word is plain, 

clear and authoratative. It is 

ever helpful and instructive. Listen and hear 

what God the Lord will say. Listen and be 

warned. Listen and hear what He offers, even 

Redemption. Listen and live. 

Suggestions for the Leader 

Read the text over a few times, the more


the better. Listen to what it has to say and 

ask questions where there is doubt. The Word 

will stand your questioning. Ask questions 

relative to the topic. Prayerfully read and re 

member that the Word is a mine of riches. 

Untold treasures will reward the explorer. 

Note some gem that you never saw there 

before. 

Read reverently and with a listening ear 

and the Word will speak wonderful things 

to you. 

Criticize the comments and prepare a list 

of questions for the group. 

Have various members tell of how God 

spoke to them. 

Keep 

present tense. 

the lesson as much as possible in the 

God speaks through His Word and what do 

YOU hear Him say? 

JUNIOR TOPIC 

FOR AUGUUST 22, 1948 


A JUNIOR CAMP 

Many of the young people are away at their 

not have a Junior Camp 

Conferences. Why 

Conference ? Before the meeting, arrange a 

"camp fire" 

in the center of the Junior room. 

Using an extension cord, place a large electric 

bulb on a plate. Turn a wire waste basket 

over it to keep the paper from burning. Then 

build your "fire" 

with crepe paper, yellow 

first and highest for "flames", orange next, 

and a bit of blue around the bottom. Place 

the sticks and branches to look realistic. Be 

sure the room is not too dark when the fire 

alone is lighted. The children sit on chairs or 

pillows in a circle around the camp fire. 

Announce the meeting with posters or invi 

tations. At the time of the meeting, bring the 

children into the room and, gathering around 

the lighted camp fire, repeat the Worship 

Verse, Ps. 122:1. After they are seated, the 

leader sings softly Ps. 62:4, No. 166. Then 

she asks them to sing it with her. In this way, 

our new Worship Verse is introduced. Sen 

tence prayers follow and then a song service. 

Let the children choose Psalms, or the leader 

may call for Psalms by name, starting them 

as soon as she names them thus, "Let us 

then, singing, 

sing the Guiding Psalm," 

"Show me thy ways, 0 Lord," 

etc. The Prayer 

Psalm is 143, No. 386; the Guiding Psalm, 25, 

No. 61; the Psalm of Love, 103, No. 273; the 

Psalm of Salvation, 40, No. 109; the Sabbath 

Psalm, 118, No. 315; the Shepherd Psalm, 23; 

and our Worship Psalm, 62, No. 166. Choose 

Psalms all know and sing only a verse or two. 

A review of memory verses comes next. A 

prize may be offered to the one who re 

members most. Suggest beforehand that the 

children review these which have accompanied 

the Junior Lessons: Ps. 29:2; 119:11; Prov. 

23:22; Lk. 10:42; 18:16; Mt. 2:19, 20; I Sam. 

16:7; Eph. 1:3; 5:18; I Jn. 3:23'; 5:14, 15; 1: 

7; Mk. 16:15; Rom. 1:16; I Cor. 11:36; 10:31; 

Rv. 2:10; 3:20; Jn. 14:15; 3:16; Gal. 5:22, 23, 

and the "Ladder Verses". 

to witness for Christ. The fund which was proposed at the last 

meeting of Synod to provide a vacation for her and Mr. Kang has 

been subscribed in the amount of $652.00 to date. Our prayers 

should support the faithful brethern in Christ Jesus located in Man 

churia in this hour of need. 

THE BOARD 

As for the activities of the Board, there have been five regular 

meetings and one special meeting during the year. We record with 

a real sense of loss the death of our snior member, Dr. Finley M. 

Foster on January 10, 1948. Truly 

he is missed from the counsels of our Board, 

regularly up until the end of his life here on earth. 

Recommendations: 

a venerable saint has fallen and 

which he attended 

1. That for Cyprus, appeal is now made for: 

(a) Two young men with an evangelistic zeal, the first qualified 

in school administration, for life service in the Larnaca Academy; 

the second shook! be qualified to teach mathematics and/or English. 

(Salary of both to be paid by the Academy). 

(o) For the Girl's Academy at Nicosia appeal is made for two 

teachers, 

one qualified to teach and supervise in the elementary 

grades to go out this fall; the other for a short term beginning one 

year from this fall replacing Miss Rose Munnell whose term expires 

one year hence. (Both to be paid by the Academy). 

2. For China, the Synod renews its appeal for a doctor, qualified 

in surgery, to begin language study as soon as possible in preparation 

[or succeeding Dr. Ida M. Scott. 

3. That the Board be authorized to renew appeals for the China 

Relief and Rehabilitation Fund as needs may require, and also for 

Hie Orphan's Fund which was launched this past year by Miss 

Stewart. 

4. That the New Building Fund solicitations for the Academies 

anr' 

at Larnaca Nicosia be continued under the plan approved by 

Synod two years ago. Since the Girl's Academy at Nicosia has been 

conducted in rented property from which they are liable to be evicted 

we recommend that special emphasis be placed on the raising of 

funds for the Nicosia building. 

5. That the Board be authorized to make a special appeal for 

lour automobiles to be used on our fields, one for Syria, 

Cyprus and two for China. 

one for 

6. That the Board be authorized to publish the new salary and 

supplement schedules of our missionaries in the Appendix of the 

Minutes of Synod. 

7. That Synod's Commission in Syria be reappointed, with Khalil 

Awad as Moderator, with H. A. Hays, elder and C. T. Hutcheson 

as members, ann with the usual provision for additional elders, if 

needed. 

8. That the Cvprus Commission be reappointed, 

Clark Copeand as Moderator, and the customary 

ditional elders, if needed. 

with the Rev. E. 

provision for ad 

9. The terms for which F. M. Wilson, W. C. McClurkin, R. D. 

Edgar, J. P. Wilson, 

G. M. Robb and Alexander Geddes were elected 

have expired and their successors should be chosen. Since Alexan 

der Geddes has moved out of the bounds of the Board we recom 

mend that the name of Samuel T. Stewart of the New York congre 

gation be substituted for that of Mr. Geddes. 

10. That Jesse C. Mitchel and Miss McCrea be heard for ten 

minutes on behalf of China and Nicosia respectively, that H. A. Hays 

De heard for five minutes on behalf of Syria and that G. M. Robb be 

heard on behalf of the Board. In addition we would like to ask 

Robert Henning to speak briefly 

as he is under appointment to go 

out to China this fall, and may C. E. Caskey and F. E. Allen be 

granted five minutes to speak concerning very recent developments 

that have come to their attention from Cyprus and Syria. 

11. That for Syria, Synod renews its appeal of last year for one 

ordained minister to begin language study in preparation for life 

service. 

Respectfully submitted, for 

The Board of Foreign Missions 

by J. Paul Wilson


THE STEWARDSHIP COMMITTEE WOULD 

RESPECTFULLY REPORT 

The committee apologizes for the fact that it has done nothing 

during the year toward its task of educating the Covenanter Church 

in the duty of stewardship. 

The need for that education continues, perhaps increases. The 

committee recognizes that despite the great generosity of 

Covenan- 

ters,the scriptural principle of the tithe is not being completely ob 

served. We are therefore suggesting for this year a definite program 

of instruction and exhortation to the end that tithing be more fully 

practiced. We believe the recommendations of the committee last 

year furnished a good channel for this program and have made 

them the basis for our recommendations. 

A balance of $20.68 remains in the treasurery of the Committee 

on Stewardship from last year. Nothing was drawn from the liter 

ary fund. 

The term of David M. Carson has expired, 

should be chosen by this Synod. 

WE RECOMMEND: 

and his successor 

1. That the Committee on Stewardhip be requested to work in 

close cooperation with the boards of the church in presenting the 

needs of the board to the church; that six display pages be prepared 

for the Covenanter Witness setting forth the needs in the various 

departments that are represented in Synod's Budget. 

2. That the chairman of the Committee on Stewardship be ex 

offico a member of the Coordinating Committee. 

3. That the Committee on Stewardship 

best available books on stewardship, 

enanter Witness. 

make a canvass of the 

and send reviews to the Cov 

4. That the Committee on Stewardship be authorized to send 

letters to pastors and financial boards of congregations, dealing with 

such phases of stewardship as should be discused during the year. 

5. That an illustrated poster be prepared and sent to the con 

gregations, calling 

attention to the needs of the Synodical Budget 

and in addition bulletins for use in the congregations be sent every 

three months to all congregations desiring them. 

6. That Synod recommend to pastors that they preach at least 

one sermon during the year that will set forth the. Biblical teachings 

concerning the relationship between a Christian and his pocketbook. 

7. That Synod's Treasurer be instructed to pay the expenses 

incurred by the Committee on Stewardship, which shall not exceed 

$300.00 and shall be taken from the Literary Fund. 


David M. Carson 


Harold F. Thompson 



J. S. Tibby, 209 9th St., Pittsburgh, Pa. 



DORCAS, A WOMAN OF 

GOOD WORKS 

Acts 9:36-42. Matt. 25:31-46. 

Most of this ninth chapter of the 

Acts is taken up with the account of 

Paul's conversion. Peter however, 

comes again to the front in the 

closing verses, the last reference to 

him made being in chapter 8. This 

ninth chapter locates him at Lydda as 

he was making 

a tour of Judea and 

Samaria. Not far distant from Lydda 

was the seaport city 

of Joppa, now 

Introductory Thoughts for the leader's 

camp talk. In this box I have a little friend 

who tells me about things which I could not 

otherwise know. He tells me about things 

that are wrong so I can change them. He tells 

me about dangers so I can avoid them. And 

he tells me just where I should go. He is in 

deed a friend. And here he is, little Mr. Flash 

light. I certainly wouldn't want to go very 

far in the dark without him. I might stumble 

over a stone or fall into the creek. 

I have another friend in this box that is of 

even greater help to me. It tells ,me of things 

concerning God and myself thjlt 'I could never 

find out any other way. It shows me what is 

wrong in my life, where thai dangers lie, and 

in what direction I shoura go. The world 

would be a dark place without it. It is the 

Bible. It is my guide and friend day and 

night. 

As long 

as I left little Mr. Flashlight in 

the box, he couldn't help me. So, too, I must 

take my 

Bible and use it before it can show 

me things and guide me. 

How we do need the flashlight when we 

take an evening hike! It shows us beautiful 

things that we would otherwise have missed, 

the meandering flight of a Luna moth, a love 

ly fern-fringed pool. (As you talk, turn your 

flashlight on such a picture cut from a mag 

azine.) The Bible shows us the beautiful 

things of God, His love for us, His care of 

us, and how He sent Jesus, the One Alto 

gether Lovely, 

that we might have salvation. 

Also, 

(Turn the flashlight on another appropriate 

our flashlight points out dangers. 

picture.) The Bible, too, 

points out the great 

stumbling-stone of selfishness, the deep pit of 

forgetting God, the traps of lying, swearing, 

smoking, stealing, and the serpent of strong 

drink. 

When we come to a fork in the road, we use 

the flashlight to determine which way to go. 

The Bible is a light to direct us in the right 

path. 

known as Jaffa, the city from which 

Jonah sailed when attempting to 

escape from the mission on which 

God had commanded him to carry 

out. It was here also that Peter had 

his vision showing him the equality 

of Jew and Gentile as the subjects of 

divine grace. But the lesson has to do 

chiefly with a citizen of Joppa, a 

Christian woman named Dorcas. The 

description given of her, her char 

itable gifts, her death and restora 

tion to life, are all told in the verses 

selected for our lesson. 

I. HER "GOOD WORKS" 

Truly, the Bible is "a lamp unto our feet 

path." 

and a light unto our Let us use God's 

Word that it may show us the things of God, 

that it may warn us of dangers, and that it 

may direct us in the right way. (Learn the 

memory verse together. It is Ps. 119:105.) 

Close with the Bible Psalm, 119, No. 332. 

We would call them works of 

benevolence or charity . They 

con 

sisted chiefly, since the passage 

makes no mention of other kinds of 

gifts, of clothing and perhaps other 

kinds of needlework. That she was 

busying herself with her charities 

would seem to be implied by the ex 

pression "full of good works". As to 

her relationships we know nothing 

with certainty. No family connec 

tions are mentioned or even implied. 

What does appear quite 

probable is 

that she was one of those "honorable 

women" 

to be found not only in


Berea, as described by Luke, but 

who had been found in other church 

es, 

and who are to be found in our 

own time, lending themselves to dif 

ferent lines of charitable activities. 

One writer in commenting on Dor 

cas stated that she was not a nun, 

which is a quite timely remark. It is 

not necessary to renounce the joys 

and privileges and duties of family 

life in order to devote oneself to 

the practical duties of Christian 

service as it relates to the poor who 

are with us always. The name of 

Dorcas has become associated with 

charitable organizations in our own 

times, a fitting memorial to a gra 

cious and kindly Christian woman. 

II. THE RECIPIENTS OF 

HER GIFTS 

The passage speaks only of 

widows as having been given help by 

Dorcas. This is not the first time 

that Luke speaks of widows as being 

objects of charity in the early 

church. Chapter 6 contains this ac 

count. In that instance however, the 

recipients were members of the 

Christian community. In the case of 

Dorcas, the account is silent on that 

score. It would seem quite probable, 

all things considered, that many, 

perhaps most of them, were believ 

ers, but quite improbable that they 

all were. The Bible nowhere says 

that charity is to be limited to a 

select class. The claim of objects of 

charity is based not on some rela 

tionship but on need. It is the duty of 

the Church to attend to the needs of 

the destitute wherever found. That 

the Church has special duty toward 

her own poor is also made clear, 

since there is the direct command to 

"do good to all men, especially to 

those who are of the household of 

faith" 

So this account of Dorcas 

and her gifts to the needy may right 

fully be taken as an example of 

Christian charity in its widest sense. 

Certainly no other interpretation 

can be placed on the passage con 

tained in Matt. 25:31-46. 

III. HER DEATH AND 

RESTORATION TO LIFE 

The simple statement is that 

Dorcas "was sick and died". Then 

follows the additional statement that 

the disciples at Joppa sent word at 

once to Peter at Lydda, urging him 

to come to Joppa at onee. Why did 

they send for Peter, urging him to 

not delay ? It was doubtless known 

Peter, just shortly before, had been 

instrumental in healing a palsied 

man who had been regarded as in 

curable, which led them to hope that 

he might also by the same power 

restore the dead to life. And the 

length of time after the death oc 

curred may have been the reason for 

urging haste. Whether the Christians 

knew that the apostles had no power 

in themselves to work miracles is 

uncertain. But the apostles made no 

claim to have power to work miracles 

at will. Peter and John healed the 

lame man in the name of Jesus 

Christ of Nazareth. When Peter 

healed Aeneas he declared "Jesus 

Christ maketh thee whole". So it was 

in that same Name, and by appeal 

to that same Power, that Peter 

prayed. His action after his prayer 

shows that the Lord gave him an 

answer, 

an answer on which Peter's 

act rested. He did not say in so 

many words, "In the name of Jesus, 

arise," 

but his words meant that 

and nothing else. 

IV. FULL OF GOOD WORK 

The expression, "full of good 

works" 

affords scope for comment 

on just what is meant by "good 

works," 

mentioned is substance in 

other parts of the Bible. As Jesus 

sat in the house of Simon the leper, 

a woman came in with a box of ala 

baster ointment which she poured on 

her Lord's feet. She was bitterly 

criticised by some present for her 

extravagance. They in turn were 

rebuked by Jesus, who said, "Why 

trouble ye the woman, for she hath 

wrought a good work upon Me?" 

Paul also makes use of a quite sim 

ilar expression in commenting on 

the duties of the Church toward 

widows who are of a certain class, 

one of the qualifications being "well 

reported of for good works". Three 

attributes have been suggested by a 

writer as characterizing 

what are 

termed "good works". (1) Good in a 

moral sense. (2) Meet the given 

situation. (3) Prompted by worthy 

motive. The following may 

assist an 

interpretation of these three points: 

"A good work is not something that 

we are, but something we do. It is 

not something offered to God, as 

prayer or praise, but to men. It is 

not generally a spiritual thing, hut 

a material thing, as food, clothes, 

etc. It is not something we are paid 

to do, but something that we do 

gratuitously. It must always spring 

or from a love 

from faith in Christ, 

born of that 

relationship." 

The place that good works have in 

the Christian economy is a matter 

that has been discussed from earliest 

times. Salvation by works has always 

been a popular idea. Salvation by 

faith alone, on the contrary, is di 

rectly against the natural inclina 

tions of men. The writer just re 

cently read a sermon by Dr. George 

T. Purves, in his day one of the 

eminent preachers in the Presby 

terian church. His text was "Work 

out your own salvation with fear 

and trembling. For it is God which 

worketh in you both to will and to do 

of His good 

pleasure" 

(Phil. 2: 12, 

13). Dr. Purves says: "I think we 

are sometimes misled in our inter 

pretation of this familiar text by at 

taching 

an incorrect notion to its 

two opening words, "work out". They 

appear to throw back upon our own 

feeble shoulders the burden of our 

own redemption; and while they add 

the encouragement of God's cooper 

ation with us, they yet seem to leave 

out of sight the complete salvation 

of the soul in Jesus Christ. But the 

difficulty 

arises from a misunder 

standing of the words "work out". 

An illustration will help. Let us sup 

pose a slave has been offered his 

liberty 

on condition that he ac 

complish a certain amount of work. 

He is to "work 

out" 

his freedom. His 

master may perhaps encourage him; 

may even render some assistance. 

But the slave's freedom will he the 

reward of his own exertions. He pays 

for it by his own toil. He will work 

it out in the sense of securing free 

dom as the wages of years of labor. 

He has literally worked out his free 

dom. By his own efforts he has 

achieved liberty. 

But let us now suppose the case 

of a slave emancipated by his master 

and given full liberty at once'; and 

then directed, both for the sake of 

gratitude to his liberator and for the 

sake of his own self-development, to 

prove himself worthy of freedom. He 

too is now working out his liberty; 

but not in the sense of procuring it, 

but in the sense of bringing out that 

which is in it, of using it well, of 

applying it so as to enjoy his new 

privileges. He is to prove himself 

really free by exercising self-control 

by making his own the blessings and 

prerogatives of freedom. Legally 

free he is to work out a free man's 

life, that he may manifest to others, 

and himself enjoy both the rights 

and the duties which pertain to his 

new condition. This latter case will 

illustrate, I think, the sense in which 

we are to work out our own salva 

tion. We may have it at once in 

Christ Jesus. He secured our emanci 

pation from sin. We are free from 

condemnation. We have passed from 

death unto life. We are no more the 

slaves of Satan, but we are the ac 

cepted children of God. We are


reconciled to God by the death of His 

Son, and our first need is to realize 

in all its wonderful meaning the 

liberty 

free. Having this possession, 

wherewith Christ has made us 

we are 

to work it out practically. Having it 

in germ, 

we are to work out in lives 

all its tendencies and 


Comments : 


THE SEPARATED LIFE 

II Cor. 6:14-18; 7:1 


Psalms : 

Psalms 51:5-7, No. 144 

Psalms 119:1-5, No. 327 

Psalms' 

119:1-5, No. 335 

Psalms 2:1, 2, 5, 6, No. 4 

References : 

Eph. 5:7; I John 1:1; I Cor. 10:21; 

Isa. 52:11; John 15:19; Acts 2:40; 

Eph. 5:11; II Thess. 3:6. 

Never has there been so much 

talk about cooperation, about union, 

about getting together as we hear 

today. That is true not only in 

church groups, but in national and 

international 'affairs. There are 

some churches which have brought 

this problem before their high 

courts, some have been united with 

others, some have not. It is sad in 

deed that in too many cases it has 

not brought about the harmony and 

agreement that was intended by 

such action. We have many drives 

going on that aim at brniging about 

peace in our own country, as the 

government working with labor and 

capital to bring 

consequences." 

about peace. Other 

people are spending all of their time 

trying to bring about an agreement 

between the nations of the world, 

so there can be peace. But peculiar 

as it may seem our theme, "The 

Sparated Life" 

is the only sure way 

of bringing about the agreement 

and peace that the world of today 

is seeking. Of course this kind of 

separation does not rule out cooper 

ation, or union, or getting together; 

it simply puts these things on a 

sound basis. 

We have many different ways of 

classifying people in the world to 

day, into races, nationalities, rich 

or poor, educated or ignorant. Each 

of these classifications has a pur 

pose from man's standpoint, but 

from God's standpoint there are 

only 

two classifications: the believer 

and the unbeliever. The essential 

spiritual difference between men in 

God's sight is whether a person is 

truly 

converted to Christ, or not. The 

line of demarkation is broad and 

conspicuous. As Paul says, the dif 

ference is the difference between 

righteousness and unrighteousness, 

between light and darkness, between 

Christ and Satan. "What concord 

hath Christ with Belial? What part 

hath he that believeth with an in 

fidel?" 

These lines are pretty con 

spicuous, and yet many people, even 

Christians, do not like to draw those 

lines distinctly. 

First, notice the moral demand 

put upon us. "Be not unequally 

yoked with unbelievers." 

There is a 

wholesome moral order in the world 

and it is not to be confused by the 

association of its difftrent kinds. 

The application of this text to the 

marriage of Christians to non- 

Christians is legitimate. We have 

seen the results many times of such 

things. However that is too narrow 

an application. The text prohibits 

every kind of union in which the 

separate character and interest of 

the Christian lose any thing of their 

distinctivness and integgrity. In Isa. 

52:17: "Come out from among them, 

and be separate, saith the Lord and 

touch not any thing 

unclean." 

These 

words were originally addressed to 

the priests who, on the redemption 

of Israel from Babylon, were to car 

ry the sacred temple vessels hack to 

Jerusalem. But though they are Old 

Testament words, they are quoted 

by 

a New Testament writer. The 

unclean thing which no Christian is 

to touch is not to be in a precise 

Levitical sense; it covers all that it 

suggests to any simple Christian 

mind now. We are to have no com 

promising with any thing in the 

world which is alien to God. That 

does not mean that we cannot be 

pleasing, kindly and considerate but 

as long as the world is what it is, 

the Christian life can only maintain 

itself in its attitude of protest. 

But the moral demand of the pas 

sage is put in a more positive form 

in the last verse: "Let us cleanse 

flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness 

in the fear of God." 

That is the 

ideal of the Christian life. There is 

something 

to be overcome and put 

away; something to be wrought out 

and completed; there is a spiritual 

element or atmosphere the fear of 

God in which alone these tasks 

can be accomplished. 

As time rolls back year after 

year, as the various experiences of 

life come to us with their lessons 

and their discipline from God, as we 

see the lives of others, here sinking 

ever deeper and deeper into the cor 

ruptions of the world, there rising 

daily nearer to the perfect holiness 

which is their goal, does not this 

demand assert its power over us? Is 

it not a great thing, a worthy thing, 

that we should set ourselves to purge 

away from our whole nature, out 

ward and inward, whatever cannot 

abide the holy eye of God; and that 

we should regard Christian holiness 

not as. a subject for casual thoughts 

once a week, but as the task to be 

taken up anew, with unwearying 

diligence, every day we live? Let 

us be in earnest with this, for surely 

God is in earnest. 

Second let us notice that there are 

two ethical or spiritual interests in 

connection with this demand not to 

be unequally yoked with unbelievers, 

interests fundamentally inconsistant 

with each other. When we choose one, 

the other has to be rejected. But it 

implies more that at bottom there 

are only two kinds of people in the 

world those who identify them 

selves with one interest or the other. 

Good and evil are the only spiritual 

forces in the world, and they are 

mutually 

exclusive. But when you 

start translating that idea over in 

to personalities, 

over into persons in 

the world, answering to these two 

forces, many would rather say there 

is only one kind of a person in whom 

these forces are with infinite vari 

eties and modifications combined. 

This of course seems more tolerant, 

more humane, 

more capable of ex 

plaining the amazing mixtures and 

inconsistencies that we see in human 

lives. But it is not true. When we 

study each individual, despite his 

seeming neutrality, you find in the 

last resort he chooses one side or the 

other. The crisis will prove finally 

that he was not good and bad, -but 

good or bad. 

The third thing 

to notice is the 

series of divine promises which are 

to inspire and sustain obedience. 

The separations which an earnest 

Christian life requires are not with 

out their compensations; to leave the 

world is to be welcomed by God. 

Probably the thing 

that made Paul 

state his idea in the forceful words 

was the association with the heathen 

in their worship, or at least in their 

sacrificial feasts. At all events it is 

the inconsistency 

of this with the 

worship of the true God that forms 

the claims of his idea. What agree 

ment hath a temple of God with 

idols? And it is to this again that 

the encouraging 

tached. "We," 

promises are at 

says the apostle, "are 

the temple of the living God." This 

carries with it all that he has


claimed: for a temple means a house 

in which God dwells, and God can 

only dwell in a holy 

place. Pagans 

and Jews alike recognize the sanctity 

of their temples; nothing was 

guarded more jealously; nothing, if 

violated, was more promptly and 

terribly 

day 

avenged. Paul had seen the 

when he gave his vote to shed 

the blood of a man who had spoken 

disrespectfully of the Temple at 

Jerusalem, and the day was coming 

when he himself was to run the risk 

of his life on the mere suspicion that 

he had taken a pagan into the Holy 

place. He expects Christians to be 

as much in earnest as Jews to keep 

the sanctity of God's house inviolate; 

and now, he says, that house are 

we: it is ourselves we have to keep 

unspotted from the world. 

Separate yourselves, for you are 

God's temple; separate yourselves, 

and you will be sons and daughters 

of the Lord almighty, and He will be 

your Father. The friendship of the 

world, as James reminds us, is 

enmity with God; it is the consoling 

side of the same truth that separa 

tion from the world means friend 

ship 

with God. It does not mean 

solitude but a more blessed society; 

not renunciation of love, but ad 

mission to the only 

love which satis 

fies the soul, because that for which 

the soul was made. With all His 

Fatherly kindness to enrieh and 

protect us shall we not obey the 

exhortation to come out and be 

separate, to cleanse ourselves from 

all that defiles, to perfect holiness 

in his fear? 

For discussion: 

1. Why will separation from the 

world bring about the greatest peace 

to men and nations ? 

2. When Compromise is so neces 

sary in some fields, why is it ab 

solutely impossible in the field of 

religion ? 

3. What are some of the rewards 

of a separated life ? 

Suggestions for Prayer: 

Prayer for the missionaries going 

to the fields in China, Syria, and 

Cyprus. 

Prayer for the schools which will 

be opening soon. 

STAR NOTES... 

***Dr. M. M. Pearce, President of 

Geneva College, 

announced that the 

Board of Trustees has appointed 

Rear Admiral Raymond W. Holsing- 

er, C.S.N, (ret.) 

as associate profes 

sor in the department of engineer 

ing. Admiral Holsinger will join the 

faculty 

at the start of the fall 

semester. "This is another forward 

step resulting from our Centennial 

Fund Campaign" 

said Dr. Pearce, 

"and I am pleased that we have been 

able to secure a gentleman of such 

outstanding 

ability." 

Admiral Hol 

singer is a graduate of the U. S. 

Naval Academy, with postgraduate 

work at the University of Chicago 

and Naval schools. He has served in 

various Naval capacities since 1919, 

ending World War II as command 

ing officer of a 40,000 ton battleship. 

He also served in the Bureau of Ord 

nance as Chief of Ammunition and 

Director of Production. 

***Miss Marjorie E. Allen arrived 

at her home, Hopkinton, Iowa, on 

Saturday, July 17, and on the next 

day, Sabbath, spoke in the home 

church of the mission work in Syria. 

Her engagement to Mr. Kenneth 

Sanderson was announced at Latakia 

on June 22. She expects to return to 

Syria in the fall. At the request of 

the Board of Foreign Missions she 

will speak at several Young People's 

Conventions during 

the summer. The 

first convention at which she will 

speak is Camp Waskowitz near 

Seattle, Wash. During that time she 

can be addressed, Care of Mr. S. M. 

Dodds, 6204 12th Ave., N. E., Seat 

tle, Wash. 

***Rev. Sam Edgar, D.D. preached 

one of his stirring sermons on Sab 

bath, June 27, in the U. P. Church, 

York, N. Y., during a three day stop 

over with friends on his return trip 

from Synod to Santa Ana, Calif. 

***Wanted: Do you have a copy of 

"Looking 

Land" 

Back From the Sunset 

by N. R. Johnston which I 

might buy? Write to Mrs. Viola K. 

KANSAS C. Y. P. U. CONFERENCE 



The Place : Forest Park, Topeka, Kansas 



Ryan, 1348 Pritchard Street, Pitts 

burg, Pa. 

***Mr. and Mrs. Morten Bell of 

Seattle, Wash., spent a recent week 

end in College Springs, Iowa, and 

visited with Mr. and Mrs. James 

Stevenson and other friends in 

Blanchard and Clarinda, Iowa. This 

was their first visit in forty years. 

They went from here to Washing 

ton, Iowa, to visit his brother Russell 

Bell. 

***Plans are being 

unveiling 

made for the 

of a monument at the site 

of the Old Geneva College at North- 

wood, Ohio, by the Historical Society 

on August 26, 1948. There will be a 

program, apart of which will be 

music by the Geneva College Quar 

tette and a speaker from the College. 

A more detailed notice will follow 

later as plans are completed. 

***Ministers: See that the above 

is announced from your pulpits; per 

haps there are some who would like 

to attend this Memorial ceremony. 

CHURCH NEWS 

FAREWELL FOR REV. AND MRS. 

J. R. PATTERSON AND FAMILY 

On Wednesday, June 23, 8 P. M., 

a goodly number of our congregation 

of the Santa Ana congregation and 

of the friends of Rev. and Mrs. J. R. 

Patterson and children gathered at 

the church to bid them farewell af 

ter eleven years of busy, unselfish 

service here in Los Angeles. 

Mr. J. Donald Birdsall was Master 

of Ceremonies. Mrs. Willetta Ross 

led in the singing of a Psalm, then 

Dr. David Calderwood offered the 

invocation, Miss Sue McClelland pre 

sented a lovely orchid corsage to 

Mrs. Patterson in behalf of the con 

gregation, and Mrs. Patterson re 

plied in well chosen words. 

Dr. Walter McCarroll represented 

the Southern California Branch of 

the National Reform Association. 

Mr. R. R. Hinton spoke for the 

Deacons and Miss Margaret Mc 

Cartney for the W. M. S. and Miss 

Alice Robb for the Covenanter 

Daughters. Miss Beverley Hinton 

represented the Sabbath School and 

Mr. Donald Walker the C. Y. P. U. 

Miss Kathryn Marshall spoke for 

Primary Department of the S. S. 

Rev. Robert McConachie represented 

the Santa Ana congregation and 

Rev. P. J. McDonald, as the first 

pastor of the Los Angeles church, 

spoke also. Dr. R. E. Smith spoke 

for the elders. Mr. Harper Lowe pre-


sented Rev. J. R. Patterson with an 

envelope containing the expressions 

of the love and esteem with which 

the Los Angeles folks held him and 

his family. Mr. Patterson replied 

with overflowing heart. Mr. Howard 

Boyd was busily 

engaged taking 

pictures throughout the evening. 

This part of the evening 

was closed 

with Rev. McConachie pronouncing 

the benediction. 

The congregational social com 

mittee took charge of serving re 

freshments to the 150 guests. Mrs. 

McConachie and Mrs. Kerr poured 

tea and coffee. 

Our prayers do follow Rev. and 

Mrs. Patterson, David, Paul and 

Sheryl as they start a new pastorate 

in Central Pittsburgh. Our loss is 

their gain. 

CLARINDA, IOWA 

Rev. Waldo Mitchel of Blanchard 

has been preaching for us part of 

the time, preaching 

nine-thirty 

at Clarinda at 

and then back to Blan 

chard for his regular service. 

Miss Luella McCalla is spending 

her summer vacation in England, 

Ireland and Scotland. 

Miss Mildred Stewart from Ari 

zona spent several weeks with her 

grandmother, Mrs. Myrtle Tippin. 

The Missionary Society held an all 

day meeting at the church July 7 

with a covered dish dinner at noon. 

The time was spent in sewing and 

the regular meeting. The Society en 

tertained the Juniors in the after 

noon. Games and refreshments were 

enjoyed. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ed Stevenson are 

here from California visiting their 

daughter, Mrs. Donald Whitehill and 

family, and their son Cameron Stev 

enson. 

Miss Dorothy Lee is spending her 

vacation with her parents, Mr. and 

Mrs. Ren Lee. Miss Lee is Dean of 

Women at Gettysburg College at 

Gettysburg, Pa. 

Mrs. Claude Blair and Mrs. Donald 

Whitehill have been chosen sponsors 

of the Young People's Society. 

Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Stevenson 

of Pittsfield Village, Michigan, spent 

their vacation with his parents, Mr. 

and Mrs. James Stevenson, and sister 

Mrs. Kenneth McCalla and family. 

Mrs. Norman Robinson and two 

children of Wilkesbarre, Pa., are 

spending July 

and August with her 

parents, Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Steven 

son. Rev. Robinson visited his fam 

ily at the Stevenson home a few days 

in July. 

James Dunn, small son of Mr. and 

Mrs. Miller Dunn, had the misfor 

tune to get his hand caught in the 

hay 

pulley. It has been painful but 

we hope it will soon be healed. 

Larry Falk, 

small son of Mr. and 

Mrs. Rudy Falk got caught in the 

elevator but his grandfather man 

aged to shut off the elevator in 

time to save him from serious injury. 

DR. ROBERT CLARKE ROUNDS 

OUT 38 YEARS OF ASSOCIATION 

WITH GENEVA COLLEGE 

Dr. Robert Clarke, assistant to 

the President of Geneva college, has 

completed thirty-eight years in the 

service of the college the longest 

period of anyone connected with the 

college in the hundred years of its 

existence. 

In addition to having 

set such a 

record of service, Dr. Clarke, in pre 

senting his thirty-eighth annual 

report at the recent meeting of the 

college trustees, also reported having 

raised and turned into the institu 

tion's treasury 

over one million dol 

lars $1,040,245.35 to be exact. 

"There were many dark days and 

black nights, 

and even a time when 

many thought the college was done 

for," 

"But," 

Dr. Clarke reminisced today. 

he chuckled, "we came 

through stronger than 

ever," 

and his 

eyes lit up as he pointed with pride 

to the college of today and compared 

it with conditions as they were 38 

years ago. 

When Dr. Clarke came to Geneva 

thirty-eight years ago there were 

three buildings on the campus and 

an old frame gymnasium building 

which was displaced by the present 

Johnston gymnasium; at the present 

time there are fourteen buildings on 

the campus, owned and operated by 

the college, not including Reeves 

stadium and the central heating plant. 

Thirty-eight years ago the college 

campus consisted of the original ten- 

acre grant; since then, Reeves field 

has been added, and on the north 

side the McCartney 

and Boyle pro 

perties have been purchased, thus 

making the campus at least three 

times its original size. All this 

property has been graded and im 

proved, with a carefully planned 

system of walks and drive-ways so 

that Geneva campus is now recog 

nized as one of the beauty spots of 

Beaver county. 

Thirty-eight years ago the stu 

dents attending Geneva college num 

bered 338 in all departments; about 

half of this number were in the pre 

paratory department Last year, in all 

departments there were 1803. 

Before the war when the com 

petition for students among the col 

leges was more keen than it is now, 

Dr. Clarke spent most of his sum 

mers interviewing students and build 

ing up the attendance; he was also 

a member of the teaching staff and 

for several years was coach of the 

inter-collegiate debating teams. One 

of his most treasured possessions is 

a gold watch fob medallion presented 

to him in recognition of his debators 

scoring 18 victories out of IS de 

bates during a three-year period. 

Dr. and Mrs. Clarke chaperoned 

the Girls Glee Club for six years 

and on one of their Eastern trips, 

through the good offices of Congress 

man Dr. J. H. Swick, the club sang 

for Mrs. Hoover in the White House. 

Dr. Clarke came to Geneva from 

Chicago, where, for eight years he 

was pastor of the First Reformed 

Presbyterian church, 

which he ran 

on institutional lines. It was through 

his efforts that the Cook County 

Inter-Church basketball League was 

organized. In the third year his 

team won the league trophy. News 

Tribune, Beaver Falls, Pa., July 8, '48 

QUINTER, KANSAS 

Mr. and Mrs. Waldo McBurney 

and family moved here in the spring. 

Mr. McBurney is the manager of 

the Co-operative Association. 

Miss Ruth McElroy of Washing 

ton, D. C, Mr. and Mrs. Albert 

Malsbury of Superior, Neb., and Mr. 

and Mrs. Kenneth Hurd of Kearney, 

Neb., visited in the Bert McElroy 

home recently. 

Mrs. Grady Stegall, Topeka, Kans., 

visited her parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. 

J. McElroy, and her sister, Miss 

Elizabeth McElroy. 

Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Mann are 

spending the summer with their son 

Leonard Mann and family and daugh 

ter Mrs. Robert Gill and family near 

Durango, Colorado. 

Mr. Don McWilliams received his 

Bachelor of Science Degree in Agri 

culture from the Kansas State Agri 

cultural College this spring. We are 

glad to have them and their son 

home this summer. Mrs. McWilliams 

is the former Onita Chestnut. 

The Covichords spent an evening 

with us. We enjoyed their fellowship 

very much. 

We have remodeled our church 

basement. New shingles are being 

put on the roof. We hope to have 

our church in first class condition 

soon. 

Mrs. Lee Rice is a patient in the 

Hertzler Clinic, Halstead, Kansas.



3oq YEftRS of Witnessing- 

fog. CHRIST'5 Sovereign rights in the CHURCH" 

and the. cit\Ttot)iM 


According to statistics accepted in Protestant 

circles, only about thirty per cent of Protestant 

church members manifest enough enthusiam for 

their churches and the Kindom of Christ to attend 

public worship services with any regularity, 

whereas eighty-five per cent of Catholic members 

are reported to be regular attendants. Our Prot 

estant chaplains of the late war would probably 

certify that the comparison is not overdrawn. 

Even though the aggregate membership of Prot 

estant churches is about double the Catholic mem 

bership in the nation, on the basis of these attend 

ance statistics, more people in America attend 

Catholic than Protestant worship. Granting that 

the services in the two branches of the church 

make the same permanent impact upon those at 

tending, we face the conclusion that the dominant 

religious influence in America is not Protestant 

but Catholic. 

It is a disturbing conclusion for those who 

cherish our Protestant heritage of freedom of 

conscience and life, but we might as well face it. 

And. what is more disturbing, the scales are pro 

gressively tipping in favor of Catholicism. If we 

sit still, the term "Protestant America" 

will soon 

be obsolete. To be brutally frank, if we sit still, 

we deserve no better fate than to be under the 

dominance of a church whose tradition, polity, 

practice and total genius are foreign to our free 

way of worship and life. 

What is the remedy? Leaving 

out all thought 

of the responsibility of Protestant leaders (who 

are awakening to the situation) let us put the 

, 

issue squarely upon the conscience of the seventy 

Protestant church members out of every hundred 

who, by their indifference in the matter of attend 

ance upon public worship and to the total pro 

gram of their churches, are nullifying the testi 

mony of Protestantism, damaging the spiritual 

Where Are the Seventy? 

' 

quality of their own lives and greatly discourag 

ing their fellow Christians in the effort to make a 

wholesome impact upon public life. 

Two thoughts must have been in the mind of 

Christ when He asked, "Where are the 

nine?" 

There was the thought that the benefit received 

demanded an appropriate sense and expression 

of gratitude. All ten of them had been healed of 

a hopeless and disqualifying disease and restored 

to the normal relationships of life. It was to be 

expected that all would return to express their 

thanks to the Healer. By refusing to do so, they 

denied themselves the full joy of their proper re 

lationship to Him. 

But, secondly, and what is more directly to the 

point of our present thought, they withheld a 

testimony that ought to have been borne. The 

nine should have been in the presence of Christ, 

swelling the number of those who followed Him 

in witness to their faith in His Messiahship, and 

proclaming Him as the hope of Israel. 

By their habitual absence from the place where 

Christ most intimately meets with His redeemed 

people, by withholding their testimony of His 

power to redeem, the seventy absentee Protes 

tants out of every hundred are denying Christ 

the appropriate expression of their gratitude for 

His redeeming mercies, robbing their own lives of 

the joy of loyalty to Him, and nullifying their 

own Christian testimony and weakening the cor 

porate witness of the Church to the Lordship and 

Saviourhood of Christ. The impression which the 

world must receive is that the Church is inconse 

quential and that the Gospel is not essential to 

private and public well-being. Meanwhile, a 

church under which the human personality and 

democratic institutions have never flourished is 

capitalizing on their indifference. 

Associate Reformed Presbyterian


QlunpA&i oj tUe (leli^laad WotJA 


Keeping 

Rev. Peter G. DeJong 

the Sabbath 

writes in The Banner on the 

subject of what to do on Sabbath. It is one of the most 

important subjects the church faces in our day. He says: 

Perhaps one of the rawest wounds in the life of the 

churches is the loss of regard for the Lord's day which 

we have suffered during the past few decades. 

There was a time, when our people generally held the 

Sunday in high esteem. It was a day of spiritual festiv 

ity. Two or three times on that day large numbers 

thronged the house of worship. No one would think of 

staying home merely to relax or read. Housework was 

kept at a bare minimum by most of the mothers, while 

the fathers almost without exception took some time out 

to teach their children the catechism or to study the 

Sunday School lesson. The visiting of family 

or friends 

was rarely practiced, particularly if these lived at a little 

distance. Some even went so far as to draw the shades 

and refused to prepare a dinner for the family. 

Prevalent Practices 

Today there seems to be precious little rest for our 

people even en the day of rest. 

They 

claim it's hard for them to get to church on 

time. Yet the fault undoubtedly lies first of all with 

themselves. 

Many sleep altogether too late to be able to prepare 

themselves and their children calmly for church services. 

Too many want a physical feast in the form of excep 

tionally delicious dinner rather than a spiritual feast in 

the Lord's house, even though this compels mother to 

stay at home to satisfy the stomachs of her family. The 

afternoon, if not taken up with sleep, is spent in taking 

a ride to visit family or friends. People argue fast and 

furiously that a jaunt through the country or to some 

lake is very restful, but will seldom admit that this very 

practice tempts them often to absent themselves from 

the evening worship. The radio is no longer just used on 

Sunday; it is plainly 

abused. Secular programs of all 

sorts, including political addresses, concerts, and ball 

games, disturb the holy rest in numberless homes. It's 

no wonder that many confess that Sunday is the most 

hectic day 

of the week. 

Using the Sabbath Aright 

No doubt, making mention of all these matters will 

lay the writer open to the charge of being a legalist. 

That matters nothing. But what does matter is whether 

our people, all of us, are willing to be bound by the plain 

Biblical teaching on the nature, purpose, 

and proper use 

of the day which the Lord has made and sanctified. 

God has given us this day in order that we by its 

proper use may be spiritually refreshed and strength 

ened for His service. That would seem to require the ex 


clusion of many daily 

concernments which now seem to 

consume our time and absorb our interest. 

But has this anything to do with the church at wor 

ship? We would answer: Much, in every way. How can 

we and our children glorify God and receive a blessing 

in His house, if there is no time for proper preparation? 

Hustle and bustle, as it forces itself upon so many of us 

on the Lord's day, is not conducive to spiritual com 

munion with the Lord. 

By rigidly disciplining 

ourselves first of all and then 

our families to the exclusion of many practices now 

commonly 

accepted we shall be able to grow in grace 

much more than seems to be the case at present. 

Baptists Consider Union 

' 

The Baptists of the Northern and Southern Conven 

tions are considering plans for a Baptist Alliance of 

North America. 

Is Beer a Food? 

The Christian Herald gives us the following informa 

tion concerning the false advertising 

of beer. 

of the food value 

Back in February, a beer ad in the Menominee (Mich.) 

Herald Leader quoted a Dr. T. H. Lundin, "Harvard 

Laboratory Analyst" 

(he hasn't been at Harvard since 

1926, when he was there for just one year as a Teaching 

Fellow from Sweden!), as saying that a 12-ounce bottle 

or glass of beer is equal in food value to 3.7 ounces of 

beef, or 8.8 ounces of codfish, or 1.88 ounces of bread, or 

4.7 ounces of baked potato, 

date of March 3, 1948, Dr. Haven Emerson, M. D., of the 

School of Medicine of Columbia University, made that 

or 6.4 ounces of eggs. Under 

look pretty silly. Said Dr. Emerson: 

"The facts are that there is soluable maltose in beer 

that has a certain small caloric value, but lacking, entire 

ly vitamin content.... The essential dishonesty 

of the 

quotation is the assumption that all caloric equivalents 

of foods and beer are of equal value to satisfy hunger or 

the nutritional needs of the body. Beer calories are a 

very expensive low-grade fuel for the body, and are not 

to be compared in dietary value with the five foods 

listed." 

Alcohol, even in small quantities, is a poison. The body 

refuses to absorb it, as it does foods; it is discharged- 

from the system at the rate of 10% per hour. Any ad 

representing alcohol as a food is an ad that lies. 

Injurious Books Destroyed 

Children may bring about reforms at times more 

quickly than adults. The following is an example as re 

corded by the Christian Advocate: 

The Roman Catholic Church has been famous through 

the centuries for its book-burning proclivities. When a 

book has not suited the authorities they have often 

kindled a bonfire and had a public burning. Occasionally 


Published each Wednesdav by the Reformed Presbyterian 

Church of North America, throug-h its editorial office. 


$2.00 per year; foreign S2.50 per year; single copies 5c. Special rates to congregations. 



Miss Mary L. Dunlop. 142 University St., Belfast, N. Ireland, Agent for the British Isles.


GuAA&nt Qoenti Prof. John Coleman, PhD., D. D. 

It is with no pleasure that one writes of the situation 

in Washington. The President has called a special ses 

sion of Congress and Congress says he is playing politics. 

He certainly is, but perhaps it is good politics. The Con 

gress adjourned in a hurry with many things remaining 

to be done, and both parties made new pledges in their 

conventions. If to be redeemed eventually, why not now? 

Congress is obviously stalling and intends to adjourn 

very soon. Mr. Truman's only hope in November is just 

such action or lack of action. He cannot make much 

headway by attacking Messrs. Dewey and Warren. They 

have fine progressive records as governors. Dewey has 

secured a Fair Employment Practices Act, advanced the 

causes of education, housing, public power, while Warren 

has also pushed health insurance. Both are in favor of 

our present foreign policy and advocate reciprocity. But 

the Republicans in Congress have either taken the op 

posite side on these issues or been less than lukewarm. 

With one wing of his party gone to Thurmond and the 

other to Wallace, Truman is grabbing at his last chance, 

a possibility that the voters will dislike the Congress 

more than they like Dewey and Warren. 

Inflation is really crowding 

all other issues into the 

background. It is no longer a threat, it is a reality, and 

may be the leading issue in the campaign. Both sides are 

responsible. Both sids have supported the 90% -of -parity 

support of farm prices, and it is to run by a recent act 

of Congress, for at least a year and a half. Both have 

supported the ERP, which, however takes less than com 

monly supposed of the total national production (about 

2% or 3%), and even with it we are exporting less this 

year than last. Both have supported tax reduction plans 

that have left the people more money to buy our limited 

supply of goods. It is true that their plans differed, but 

not in effect on inflation. Mr. Eccles, head of the Federal 

Reserve Board, wanted to raise the reserve of banks and 

thus hold down bank loans, and Mr Truman supplanted 

him with a man who opposed such a measure. Mr. Tru 

man asks for power to put a check on the present vast 

installment buying wave, and Congress says that he has 

this power. Mr. Truman wants his former power to put 

ceilings on prices and Congress will have none of rt. 

Mighty little will be done about inflation and some day 

we shall have a crash. Whom will that please? The 

Kremlin. 

Harold E. Stassen in not going to be the next president 

of the United States, but he is already president of the 

University of Pennsylvania. He has been chosen because 

of his well-known capacity for administration, 

haps also for the good publicity 

and per 

and for his probable 

ability to raise endownment funds. He is not a great 

scholar, in the strict academic sense, but he is a great 

student of national and world affairs and his choice is 

gnerally hailed as a wise one both for the university and 

education in general. 

* * % * * 

New Jersey has put a 3 cent -tax on each pack of cig 

arettes, and now the mailorder houses are flooding the 

state with offers to sell cartons for as much as 41 cents 

below the price at the local stores. New Jersey can do 

nothing about it. 

Spain has put into circulation a coin with the likeness 

of Generalissimo Francisco Franco. It is the one peseta 

(worth about 10 cents) and inscribed, "Francisco Franco, 

Caudillo of Spain by the Grace of God, 1947." 

By the 

grace of God? Hosea 13:11: "I gave thee a king in mine 

anger." 

we expect the rest of the verse to be ful 

May 

filled: "And took him away in my wrath"? 

***** 

The Chrystler Company is trying to inform the public 

as to its financial situation. In 1947, the ads say the 

company took in $1,368,000,000. Where did it go? $893,- 

000,000 went for materials and supplies, $259,000,000 

for wages, $133,000,000 for taxes, $16',0OO,OOO for deprecia 

tion, $42,000,000 back into the business and $25,000,000 

to its 60,000 stockholders. The physical properties of 

the company are carried on the books at $105,000,000, 

but were the company to have to start again from the 

ground up and buy the ground it would need at present 

prices $750,000,000. 

***** 

Former Geneva students and especially those who re 

sided in McKee Hall will be glad to learn that the P. 

and L. E. through passenger trains between Pittsburgh 

and Cleveland will shortly be hauled by Diesels with 

less noise and no smoke. Perhaps some day the local 

trains will also change their motive power and College . 

Hill will be a more pleasant place. 

***** 

The Foundation, published by 

the American Business 

Men's Research Foundation, sums up present events in 

the state liquor campaigns about as follows: 

1. In Kansas outside distillers and brewers are making 

great efforts to carry 

the state into the wet column. 

2. In California a modest local option bill is to be up 

this fall in a referendum, and the wets call it unconsti 

tutional and un-American. 

3. In Kentucky, the effectiveness of the long-stand 

ing county local option law has been imperiled by a 

piece of last-minute legislative trickery. 

4. In Mississippi the state is trying to get rid of a 10% 

bootleg tax that is being 

used to evade the state-wide 

prohibition that the state possesses by law, but the dis 

tillers and brewers are working hard. The same issue 

of Foundation describes "Skid Row" 

in Chicago, where 

one can find about 65,000 men and women in the last 

stages of the degeneration that liquor begets. The liquor 

business is still a greater issue than any 

our big political parties are harping about. 

j; V * * * 

of those which 

"revelations" 

The papers today are full of the of a 

Miss Elizabeth Bentley, self-confessed Communist spy. 

We are now told that the F. B. I. spent hundreds of 

thousands of dollars tracking down her stories and had 

a special grand jury looking into them and got nowhere. 

But the un-American Committee is rehearsing 

over again as if they 

them all 

were a new discovery. There is 

not much question that the Russians have spies in America 

and in the government, even as they had in Canada, but 

when they are found it will not be by 

Probably 

this committee 

also we have spies in Russia and know a good 

deal of what is going on behind the "iron curtain".


Glimpses oi the Religious World 


however, the Catholics burn a book which, because it 

serves absolutely no good purpose in the world, might 

as well be burned. 

An instance of this kind took place the other day in 

Chicago. A little girl in one of the parochial schools de 

cided that the modern comic books are of no special 

value to humanity, so, with the co-operation of one of 

her schoolmates, she went from room to room spreading 

the idea. 

It took. Many 

of the students agreed with her. Some 

of the teachers became concerned. Her pastor became in 

terested. The parents joined the crusade, and even 

some of the men who had sold the books came in. Soon 

they 

gathered together some 3,000 of these comic books 

and consigned them to the flames. 

This was one conflagration which did not impoverish 

the world, and it may really have improved the literary 

atmosphere. On with such bonfires! 

Earliest M. S. of Isaiah 

Mr. Ernest Gordon reports that: 

The earliest known manuscript of Isaiah in its en 

tirety has been discovered in the Syrian Orthodox Mon 

astery 

of St. Mark in Jerusalem. Its script resembles 

closely that of the Nash papyrus, which indicates its 

date as from about the first century B. C. The director 

of the American School of Oriental Research at Jerusa 

lem has it now in charge for examination and study. 

Synod Reports 

REPORT OF THE HOME MISSION SECRETARY 

Dear Fathers and Brethern: 

for 1948 

The New York Times reports what appears to be a 

second find of the same sort. Engedi is a fastness on the 

west side of the Dead Sea where David took refuge from 

Saul and showed him great magnanimity. In a cave, such 

as he might have lived in, have been found ten leather 

scrolls of the Scripture in ancient Hebrew containing 

also the entire book of Daniel, and other parts of the 

Old Testament, all dating from the time of Christ. They 

are on leather, and sealed with pitch, 

which has pre 

served them well. Two such very old copies of Isaiah 

ought to throw some light on the question of authorship 

which is true also of the Daniel manuscript. 

University 

for Abyssinia 

According to The Sunday School Times: 

Abyssinia is to have a national university, and the task 

of organizing it has been assigned by Emperor Haile Se 

lassie to C. J. Fowler, formerly instructor at Wheaton 

111. This is an interesting expansion of Wheaton, and, in 

a way, gives justification to Wheaton's present campaign 

for new buildings. 

Of the Men's Bible School at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 

Mr. C. M. G. Blair writes: "Some of our finest students 

past and present are former criminals from the jail. Dr. 

Gurney 

Your Home Mission Secretary begins his report this year on a 

note of gratitude; 

gratitude to God who has given him mercies in 

the home and by the way, from sea to sea, by day and by night; 

gratitude to the many Covenanter homes which have opened their 

doors and extended him hospitality and help; 

kindly 

and gratitude to the 

neighbors in the Beaver Falls congregations who most gra 

ciously ministered to the sick in his home while he was absent. 

The kindnesses of God's people have greatly lightened many heavy 

burdens. May God bless these kind friends everywhere. 

A minister has said that the progress of the Covenanter Church 

lies along two lines, first in holding what we have, and second in 

reaching out to new attainments. The work of your Home Mission 

Secretary this past year may be reviewed along those two lines. 

At the close of last Synod my scedule took me into the far west, 

first to Phoenix, Arizona, and then to the congregations of the Pacific 

Coast. -In these ten months I have visited twenty-five congregations 

in six of the eight American presbyteries. The ministry has consist 

ed in supply preaching, assisting in communion services, evangel 

istic services, addresses on a variety of subjects related to the Church, 

and some presbyterial visitations. In a few places a coldness was 

evident which promises little, in others petty jangling interferes 

with progressive endeavor, but in most localities there was manifest 

a potential power for spiritual endeavor, which under wise leader 

ship will bring new life and a new outlook to the Covenanter Church. 

Much time was given to the Covenanters out-of-bounds. A bi 

monthly 

news sheet has been sent out to over seven hundred ad 

dresses from Shanghai, China, to Paris, France. In addition I held 

meetings with these widley scattered people in Phoenix; Arizona; 

Boise, Idaho; between trains at Pocatello, Idaho; 

did a fine work there a few years ago and led 

many of the prisoners to Christ. Students are still visit 

ing the same prison every Sunday, taking food and Chris 

tian books, and preaching the Gospel to the prisoners. 

Several have been converted, including a Moslem who 

wants to come to the Bible school on his 

release." 

on two occasions 

in Washington, D. C; at St. Louis, Mo.; and at Manhattan, Kansas. 

While word by no means comes from all of them, yet from every 

direction has come appreciation of the notice taken by the Church 

Lesson Helps 


AUGUST 29, 1948 

WHAT CHURCH CAMPS MEAN TO ME 

Acts 1:13,14; 2:41-431, 46, 47 

Scripture References: 

(Echo Meeting) 

I Cor. 16:18; Colossians 4:5, 6; Colossians 

1:18; Luke 10:2 

Psalms: 

Psalm 5:1, 5, No. 8 

Psalm 121:1-4, No. 349 

Psalm 145:1-3, No. 389 

Psalm 103:14, 15, No. 271a 

Psalm 15:1, 2, No. 28 

Psalm 25:1-3, 6, No. 61 

Comments : 

The summer will be over and school is about 

to take up 

again. If you have gone to a 

Young People's Camp this summer it has 

meant something to you. It is not always at 

the camp when we realize all that it meant. 

An echo meeting often reminds us of things 

we found but have let go without an action 

after we came home. 

There will have been thousands of church 

camps in session this summer across the na 

tion. I hope to be able to attend the Pacific 

Coast Presbytery Conference meeting near 

Seattle in th latter part of July. Further, I 

hope to have something that will last for 

sometime to come. Other Presbyteries will 

hold similiar camps under like 

conditions. A 

great opportunity to combine a regular va-


cation with Christian fellowship and educa 

tion! 

Did you attend a conference this past sum 

mer? What did you take with you from the 

meeting ? Great fellowship ? Fine tan ? A 

sense of relaxation? If you did, well and 

all of these 

good. If, however, you took away 

and the yeast of the meeting, a reawakening 

of the power of Christ in your own life, then 

truly the session meant something to you. 

Perhaps you were unable to attend a camp 

or conference. Have the people who did at 

tend impressed you as having received some 

thing from their attendance ? In some ways, 

this would be the true test of a successful 

summer conference. Was the flame bright 

ened in someone's life that you know? Do 

you get the idea from talking with someone 

who attended a camp that it was well to have 

attended ? 

The Camp at Pentecost brought continu 

ing blessings for all who attended (Acts 2: 

41). Have our meetings done anything like 

that for us ? "And day by day continuing 

stedfastly 

with one accord in the temple...." 

WE MAY LOSE 

Billboards along our highways proclaim 

"If you don't use it, 

you will lose it." 

It is 

true in our physical life if we fail to use a 

muscle, we would soon lose the use of it. How 

sad that would be. How much more sad to 

lose an opportunity presented at our camps 

to partake and use the gift of Jesus Christ. 

If we don't use His life in ours we may lose 

our own. 

MEETING HELPS 

Make this meeting refreshing for those 

who attended and a challnge to those who 

did not have the opportunity. 

(1) Read the lesson topic as part of the 

meeting. Digest the import of the passage 

and have someone indicate how the passage 

concerns the topic. 

(2) Have a season of prayer for continu 

ance of the results achieved at the summer 

conferences. 

(3) Obtain, if possible, reports from con 

ferences other than the one which your Pres 

bytery enjoyed. 

(4) Have someone give their opinions as 

to relative merits of yearly Ptresbytery 

Camps and the less frequent national 

C. Y. P. U. meetings. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why have summer conferences at all? 

2. Do you feel enough people are permitted 

to partake of conferences to justify 

the ef 

fort and time required to make one a suc 

cess ? 

3. What was it that stayed with you and 

left the greatest impression on you ? 

4. Was Jesus preeminent at your con 

ference 

5. Was there anything of note at the con 

ference you attended that your president 

can pass on to the Young People's Secretary 

for use at our next National? 

through its representative. Several hundred dollars were sent in 

for the budget, China relief, and other projects. Many of the out- 

of-bound members are students and school teachers who are at 

home during the summer months. It may be a question with some 

whether they should be classed as out-of-bounds, yet it is good to 

have their names and addresses on record. It is most disappointing 

to arrange for a meeting in some city without a Covenanter church, 

and then after it is all over learn of members in the city who were 

not invited because their pastors had not sent in their lists of mem 

bers away from home. Yet this has happened repeatedly during 

the year. With our grave shortage of available ministers, it does not 

seem wise, except under exceptional circumstances, to try to organize 

new stations. For the most part the families live in widely scattered 

parts of large cities. There is not at present any sense of unity 

among them, and to form congregations now would be to leave 

small struggling pastorless flocks working against severe obstacles 

merely to hold together. The better plan seems to be that of occas 

ional visits to these centers with worship services and the sacraments 

where such are possible. By this ministry the loyalty 

and interest 

of our membership may be maintained for the present, and a nucleus 

may be formed for future congregational possibilities. 

A year ago I was pleased to ask Synod to adopt a plan of coopera 

tion with the Church of Scotland on Prince Edward Island. The 

operation of the plan waited for its adoption by both churches. But 

although the plan was adopted by this Synol, the Church of Scotland 

on Prince Edward Island voted not to adopt it. Therefore, the plan 

is not in operation, and no futher steps to put it into operation are 

intended. 

I have been asked on various occasions to investigate the possi 

bility of the Covenanter Church going on the air with a radio program 

Hour," 

similar in nature to the "Word of God Hour", the "Lutheran 

etc., Initial surveys indicate that the cost of such a program on any 

satisfactory 

scale would be almost as much as our present total 

church budget. While, therefore, the idea is admirable, the prohibi 

tive cost puts it entirely beyond our financial possibilities at this time. 

Much attention has been given through the year to the Evangel 

istic Committee and the Covenanter Crusade. The call for a deep 

spiritual revival throughout the Church is sounding now as not for 

many years, 

and yet it has been sounded every one of the score of 

years in which I have been a member of this court. Why I wonder, 

must the Church plead for activity in proclaiming the Gospel to the 

lost? As long ago as 1904 Dr. A. H. Strong said "The church that 

ceases to be evangelistic will soon cease to be evangelical, and the 

church that ceases to evangelical will soon cease to 

exist." 

Twenty-five years ago, J. E. Conant wrote, 

series of evangelistic meetings, but it is that opening 

"A revival is not a 

of the -whole 

being to God, which permits the renewed inflow of His reviving life 

ours." 

into 

The goal of members which was set last year must not be thought 

of as an end which if achieved numerically 

means that we are a 

growing church, and if not achieved means that we have failed. 

It must be rather the constant challenge of the unconverted world. 

the possibility that lies before us under the Holy Spirit, the least 

prospect of fruitfulness one soul for Christ and the Church per 

member in five years time and a call to every member evangelism. 

The Covenanter Church dos not want a revival spurt but an evangel 

istic spirit. Therein lies the remedy for those ills charged against 

our so-called negative attitude. Therein lies the remedy for bicker 

ing and jangling, for petty 

smallnesses that intrude again and again 

into the peace of our congregations. Probably nothing more clearlv 

trouble- 

indicates low spiritual vitality than such church trouble, but 

making and soul-saving 

cannot exist in the same church. 

Yet the evangelistic spirit does not come through the formulation 

of a program. No committee in Topeka or Beaver Falls can franv 

the program that will work in seventy five communities. Ever;- 

congregation must in the final analysis determine the program thr. 

will best meet its own needs. Synod has adopted programs of evan 

gelism over many years. The difficulty does not lie in the program;


but in not working at them. Let the Church in a new consecration 

to the Sovereign Lord proclaim His saving grace, not only to the 

far ends of the earth but also to the ends of the earth that are 

right around us. God's truth which saves is sorely needed, let us 

satisfy the demand. 

Behind such a purpose lies prayer. Prayer is the Christian's vital 

prayerless- 

breath. Back of decline, weakness and indifference lies 

ness. Let it be admitted in all shame that we do not pray as we 

ought. Yet we have proof that God hears and answers prayer. Dur 

ing the Grinnell conventicle when a cross-section of the church 

was together, when daily and almost hourly prayer was being of 

fered, the Christian Amendment was introduced into Congress against 

what seemed to be insurmountable obstacles. That such power 

might be maintained and promoted, the League of Covenanter Inter 

cessors was inaugurated at the suggestion of Dr. J. C. Mathews and 

with the approval of the Evangelistic Committee. This was an 

effort to enlist all those over the Church who would agree to pray 

on the basis of Matthew 21:22 for the Covenanter Crusade in 

daily 

the churches, the Christian Amendment in the nation, and all other 

parts of our program as the Lord laid it on their hearts. The response 

was far from complete but was greatly gratifying. This should be 

approved by Synod and signers should be found in every congrega 

tion. The prayer life of the Church will be stimulated by prayer 

groups, not large ones, but very earnest, by fully 

attended prayer 

meetings, by definite prayer lists and prayer objectives. 

I am gravely aware of failures and mistakes in the conduct of this 

office. Never have I prayed so earnestly: 

"Now for Thine own Name's sake, 

O Lord, I thee entreat 

To pardon mine iniquity 

For it is very great." 

Suggestions are always gratefully received, even though it may 

not always be possible to follow them. The Church is the Lord's, 

its progress is in His hands. It must be fashioned by His Spirit. 

Pray then unitedly, unceasingly, that the will of God may be clearly 

manifest and that your secretary may walk ever within it. 

"Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all 

that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 

unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all 

ages, 

world without end. 

I recommend: 

1. That any member whose post-office address is different from 

that of his own congregation, and who is unable to attend services 

within a two month period be considered an out-of-bounds member, 

whose name and address should be sent to the Home Mission Sec 

retary. 

2. That Synod approve the effort to maintain and promote the 

prayer power within the Church through the League of Covenanter 

Intercessors, using the following pledge: 

"I solemly agree with humble confession of sin to 

claim daily the promise of our Lord Jesus in Mat 

thew 21:22 for the guidance and blessing of God in 

the promotion of the Christian Amendment, in our 

united effort toward 5,000 new members within the 

next five years, and for other departments of the 

Church's work as the Lord may lead." 

3. That renewed emphasis be laid upon soul-winning 

primary end of Church membership and Church activity, 

as the 

and that 

special effort be made to enlist all our people until every member 

is an active evangelist. 

4. That we cease not to emphasize the call and the need for labor 

ers in God's service, and that we call again for at least twenty five 

new ministers. 

FIN4ANCI4AL REPORT OF THE HOME MISSION SECRETARY 

May 15, 1947 to March 31, 1948 

On hand, May 15, 1947 $ 323.61 

RECEIPTS: 

From J. S. Tibby for expense $271.69 

JUNIOR TOPIC 



WHY DO I ALWAYS SING THE PSALMS 

WHEN I WORSHIP GOD? 

To the teacher: This is a question which 

confronts your Juniors, especially the older 

ones. If they meet it nowhere else, they will 

find it in their school chapel exercises. Ask 

them to study the lesson beforehand, dis 

cussing the answers with their parents. Have 

the whole question well in your own mind. 

Write the Witness Committee, 1805 Fourth 

Street, Riverview, BeaverFalls, Penna., for 

literature to study. Be well prepared for an 

interesting discussion on this important 

subject. 

Worship Period opens with Ps. 62:4, sung 

reverently. Psalms to be sung: God speaks 

through His Psalms, Ps. 91:10-12, No. 250. 

God's greatness requires the best in worship, 

Ps. 95:1, 2. The Memory -Verse is Ps. 105: 

2. (Prose). 

Lesson: 1. What is a Psalm? 

A Psalm is a song to be used when we 

worship God. 

2. What is a hymn? 

In Bible times, 

a hymn referred to one of 

the Bible Psalms. Today a hymn is a song 

written by man to be used in the worship of 

God. 

3. What, then, is the difference between a 

Bible Psalm and a hymn today? 

The Bible Psalms were given to us by God 

and the hymns are made by men. 

4. Were not the hymns written by good 

men? 

Some hymns were written by Roman 

Catholic priests and some even by men who 

did not believe in Jesus, the Son of God. Even 

those written by good men are not as good 

as the Psalms written by God. 

5. Did not the man David write the 

Psalms? 

David did write many of them but God 

told him just what to write, II. Sam. 23:1, 2; 

Acts 1:16. So the Psalms are really from 

God, for David just put down what God told 

him. 

6. Why did God give us the Psalms? 

God wrote the Psalms that people might 

sing them in His worship (I Chron. 16:9). 

7. Did the Jews sing God's Psalms in the 

temple? II Chron. 29:30. 

The devout Jews never sang anything ex 

cept the Psalms in the temple worship. 

8. Did Jesus sing God's Psalms? 

Yes, 

at the close of the first Lord's Supper, 

Jesus and His disciples sang a hymn or, as 

we would say today, a Bible Psalm. 

9. Did Jesus ever sing a worship song that 

men had made? 

As far as we know, Jesus never sang a < 

worship song or hymn written by men. 

10. Did Paul and the other Bible Chris 

tians sing the Bible Psalms. 

Yes, the worship songs which the Bible 

Christians sang are all called by names


which mean the Bible Psalms. (See Col. 3: 

16). Tell the children that in Bible times, 

these names all meant the Bible Psalms. The 

teacher should know that in the Septuagint, 

titles of the Psalms are "psalmoi, humnoi, 

odai 

pneumatkai." 

Paul used three titles in 

Col. 3:16. (All refer to the Psalms.) 

11. Why did Jesus and the Bible Christians 

sing the Psalms? 

They wanted to worship with the best. 

12. Why are the Psalms the best worship 

songs ? 

The Psalms are best because God is their 

Author. 

13. Do we also want to use the best in wor 

ship to God? 

We do always want to worship God with 

the best and so we sing the Psalms. 

11. Should we ever sing men's hymns in 

stead of God's Psalms in His Worship? 

No, it is not right to sing men's hymns in 

worship to God. 

15. Give four reasons why it it not right 

to sing hymns in worship to God. 

(1) Some hymns were written by unbe 

lievers. We could not worship God with them. 

(2) God gave us Psalms, not man-made 

hymns to be used in His worship. 

(3) Jesus and His disciples did not sing 

men's hymns. 

(4) We must worship God with the best. 

Men's hymns are not the best. 

16. Why, then, do some people sing men's 

hymns in God's worship? 

Some people think the Psalms do not speak 

of Jesus, so they sins other songs about 

Him. 

17. Do the Psalms tell us about Jesus? 

Oh, yes, there is much in the Psalms about 

Him (See Ps. 23:1 and John 10:11; Ps. 41:9 

and John 13:18; Ps. 22:1 and Mt. 27:46; and 

Acts 13:33). 

18. Give five reasons why we intend to 

always use the Psalms in the worship 

of God. 

(1) God wrote the Psalms. 

(2) God wrote them to be used in His 

worship. 

(3) Jesus and His disciples sang the 

Psalms only. 

(4) We must worship God with the best 

and His Psalms are the best. 

(5) In the Psalms, God has told us about 

Jesus. 

Close the meeting with the Hundredth 

Psalm. 



ANANIAS, DISCIPLE AT ANTIOCH 

Acts 9:10-20 

Sabbath School lessons about Paul have 

often been studied, and there is so much to 

be learned about him as a man, as an apostle, 

and as Christianity's greatest missionary, 

that a study of his life and work never grows 

stale. He has been an example and in inspir 

ation to Christian workers ever since his 

time. But our lesson for today has to do with 

From congregations 720.60 

Contributions from individuals 43.00 

Traveling Funds 60.65 

Transfer of Accounts 7.03 1102.97 

Total $1426.58 

EXPENDITURES: 

Travel 

Fares $391.94 

Taxi 5.90 

Bus, trolley 15.35 

Berths 117.55 

Hotel rooms 33.09 

Meals 174.43 

Baggage 3.40 

Clergy certs 6.00 

Miscellaneous 08 $760.44 

Office 

To Postage $95.39 

Paper 30.59 

Office Supplies 24.50 

Camera equipment 92.97 

Telegrams 9.83 

Phone 2.60 

. Bank and money order costs. . 1.95 

Psalm records 7.50 

Books 2.60 

Secretarial work 16.81 

Miscellaneous 4.94 289.68 

To J. S. Tibby 

Cash $170.00 

C. Y. P. U. Account 22.92 

Evangelist Comm 39.55 232.14 

Suplement for June 1947 41.67 $1324.26 

Balance March 31, 

1948 $102.32 

COMITTEE ON SOCI4AX, JUSTICE 

R. I. Robb 

In at least three important decisions during the past year, the 

Supreme Court of the U. S. has based its verdict upon one sentence 

of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution: 

"No state shall make or enforce any law which shall 

abridge the privilege or immunities of citizens of the United 

States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, 

liberty, or property without due process of law, nor deny 

to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection 

of the laws." 

This Amendment, adopted to give protection to the Negroes 

at the close of the Civil War, was hailed in the North as a great 

victory for social justice and as an evidence of repentance for the 

sin of legal slavery. 

Americans are now being tested as to the depth and extent 

of their loyalty to the ideal of that sentence. The decision of the 

Supreme Court against the exclusion of Negroes from voting at 

primaries, tests the loyalty of the states of the South, 

and one state 

at least is responding honorably and encouraging Negro voting at 

primaries. The more recent decision of the Supreme Court that re 

strictive clauses in real estate contracts, barring sale to Negroes, are 

not enforceable by law, affects communities both in the North 

anc1 

in the South. It will call for temperate and considerate attitudes 

everywhere from both whites and Negroes. 

The decision of the Supreme Court against the use of publi- 

school buildings for the teaching of religion, was based in part on 

this same Fourteenth Amendment in conjunction with the First 

For the Fourteenth Amendment was framed to give the federal 

government power to protect citizens from unjust practices by 

state against their rights as American citizens. As yet the ruling c 

re- 

the Supreme Court has not directly forbidden released-time 

an_- 

"


ligious instruction outside public school buildings, though some of 

the judges would so interpret it. Much of the fault of the decision 

must be laid to an over-emphasis given to the First Amendment; 

still more to the absence of proper Christian acknowledgement from 

the Constitution itself. But that is not all. The tyrannies of the 

Roman Catholic hierarchy in other countries, together with its 

aggressions and announced program in America, have aroused a 

public movement in this country against the prospect of paying for 

parochial schools out of public funds; and have led all Baptist Con 

ventions to demand the most strict interpretation of the guarantee 

against "establishment of 

religion." 

It makes them strange partner 

of agnostics and atheists, as in the recent McCollum-State of 

Illinois case; and it probably gives some explanation of the verdict 

of the Supreme Court in agreement with their briefs submitted in 

the case. Excited Christian leaders are saying they 

ism to Catholicism." 

"prefer secular 

The situation is dangerous but it presents an 

opportunity to prove the need for a Christian Amendment. 

In the anti-slavery struggle which culminated in the Fourteenth 

Amendment, the Covenanter Church had a prominent part for more 

than sixty years, both in the agitation and also in the sacrifices of 

peace and war which brought victory. It is the belief of the com 

mittee that the whole body of the church should become, 

practicable, constantly active in the field of social justice; 

as far as 

and that 

the best service of the committee would be in supplying guidance 

and methods for Covenanters everywhere. 

Within the last year, Russian communism with its character 

istic methods of revolution by organized minorities and terroristic 

violence has seized control of Chechoslovakia, attempted seizure of 

France, is threatening in Finland and continuing civil war in China. 

It is fundamentally different from the voluntary and temporary 

common" 

"holding all things among the early Christians of Jerusa 

lem. It usually forbids the circulation of the Bible and the work of 

Christian evangelism. Its promises are not pledges to be kept but 

means for futher conquest. It grows by wide-spread misery and the 

disorganization of industry. It opens no occupied country to display 

the blessings of its rule. Its improper use of the veto power in the 

United Nations makes the progress of recovery needlessly slow and 

difficult. 

We reccomend: 

1. That we recognize the decision of the Supreme Court against 

religious teaching in the public schools, as a serious injustice to the 

children of America and an affront to Jesus Christ; and seek by 

every Christian means to have it reversed and to have the welfare 

of America's children protected by the adoption of the Christian 

Amendment. 

2. That, taking the wise and courageous aid of Jesus to oppress 

ed people as a perfect example for His people, we urge our members 

to discover and use personal opportunities for similar service; and 

to support those projects of help to peoples in war-torn countries 

which will best meet their need, and help 

check communism. 

3. That we urge the regular use of the educational method of 

building attitudes of social justice. 

4. Since many social problems, domestic and international, of 

extreme importance are openly known today, that we again remind 

our people of the strategic powers of prayer and personal influence 

to help devolop right solutions. 

5. That the reorganization of our committee in term member 

ships be initiated with finding successors for E. R. Carson and 

Paul Coleman. 

Paul Coleman E. R. Carson 

Claude C. Brown F. D. Frazer 





a man whose name is never mentioned except 

in connection with that of the great apostle. 

The writer cannot recall a single time when 

Ananias was made the leading character in 

a Sabbath School lesson. The name is a 

familiar one to Bible readers, but that is due 

to the fact of another man being called by 

the same name, and who suffered a tragic 

death for lying to God. Still another man 

bearing the name of Ananias, was a high 

priest before whom Paul was brought for 

trial. See Chap. 22:1, 2. Ananias the disciple, 

whose brief record is found in the verses 

mentioned above, while bearing the same 

name as the other two, has left a record 

worthy of Christians of every age. 

I. HIS CHARACTER. "A Certain disciple.'- 

Nothing 

whatever is said about him pre 

vious to the time referred to in the lesson. 

That he was a Jew is quite evident, though 

it is not so stated. What his life had been up 

to near the time referred to in the passage we 

have no means of knowing. But he was a be 

liever, though how his conversion was 

brought about is not even mentioned. He is 

simply 

called "a disciple,'' 

and it was upon 

this fact that some of the later events hinged. 

He was a devout man, Paul witnessing to 

that fact, who speaks of him as a "devout 

man according to the law, having a good re 

port of all the Jews which dwelt there" 

(at 

Damascus). Speaking 

of Ananias Dr. Charles 

Spurgeon has said: "I wish that all avowed 

disciples of Jesus were devout men. I would 

suppose that Ananias was a devout man even 

before he received Christ. But when he be 

came enlightened another element en 

tered into his devotions, so that he wor 

shiped God in the name of Jesus. Nowadays " 

we greatly need more devout men, 

men of 

prayer, men who dwell with God in secret; 

devoted men, men of devotion; for the 

strength of the spirit of men lies in fellow 

God." 

ship with the Spirit of 

A devout man will be discovered. He does 

not need to make a display of his religion as 

the Pharisees did. His devoutness will reveal 

itself, oftentimes unconsciously on his part. 

If he prays you will see that he is familiar 

with that sacred exercise, "as one talketh 

with his friend." 

If he is called on to endure 

trial his patience proves that he submits to 

the will of God. Even in the discharge of 

daily duties he exhibits a spirit which many 

may not understand, but which they 

see and 

feel. Paul said that Ananias "had good re 

port" 

of all the Jews in Damascus. They 

were hostile to Christ and Christianity, but 

they could not help respecting that devout 

man. The world has always had respect for 

men such as he. It may not always be ex 

pressed in an outward way, but it has been 

felt. Devoutness must have been one of the 

outstanding traits of the apostles. They 

must have lived as the followers of Christ 

ought to live, and that being true, there was 

an influence 

a power being exerted by them, 

going out from them, often unconsciously on 

their part no doubt, that men found it hard


to resist. It is said of them that 

"Men took knowledge of them that 

Jesus." 

they had been with 

We must, however, deserve the 

good will and esteem of our fellow 

men if we want to have it. But we 

will not gain their goodwill by faith 

lessness toward our Lord and Saviour. 

It is by faithfulness to God that we 

win His approval. It is by setting a 

worthy example of fidelity to our 

Master that we may enjoy the re 

spect of our fellowmen. They will 

take knowledge of us today just as 

they did in the days of the apostles. 

II. THE LORD'S MESSENGER TO 

SAUL 

The account of Paul's conversion 

on the highway 

near Damascus is 

familiar to most of us. After seeing 

the vision of his Lord he was led into 

Damascus, to the house of a man 

named Judas, where he remained 

three days in a sightless condition, 

and neither eating nor drinking. It 

is just here that Ananias comes into 

the picture. Whether he was a native 

of Damascus we do not know. Nor 

is either the time or place of his 

conversion known. All we know of 

him up to this time is that he was a 

Christian, 

and that he was living at 

Damascus. To him came the Lord's 

command to go to a certain house 

and make inquiry for one named 

"Saul of Tarsus". The name was not 

strange to him. Verses 13 and 14 

make very clear that he was well in 

formed about the man to whom he 

had been told to go. It is of interest 

that we find here for the only time 

in the Book of Acts the word "saint" 

applied to believers. It is here used 

in reference to all believers. But dur 

ing the centuries it has been given 

to the apostles and to eminent Chris 

tians to distinguish them from be 

lievers in general, a usage for which 

there is no scriptural warrant. The 

true meaning of the word is "separ 

ated," "dedicated," "consecrated." 

Every true Christian is a saint 

The command from the Lord to 

Ananias ends with the statement 

"For, behold he 

prayeth." 

It is sug 

gestive that the Lord added that 

statement in connection with the 

command. It would give some ground 

for the idea held by 

some expositors 

that the Lord was anticipating the 

very thing that Ananias spoke of in 

verses 13 and 14, and that he had 

been so absorbed with the command 

itself that he had not grasped the 

significance of the added statement. 

Had he done so, the wonder and 

seeming doubt implied in his reply 

to the Lord's command would not 

have been expressed. "For, behold he 

prayeth" 

seems to carry 

the idea of 

assurance. The very fact that Saul 

was praying ought to give confidence 

that the messenger would be re 

ceived as God's messenger. It was 

unmistakable proof that he was an 

other kind of man from what Ana 

nias had known him to be. But had 

Saul never prayed before that? Cer 

tainly yes, but his prayers were 

those of a Pharisee. That he had 

prayed for the success of his mission 

to Damascus we cannot doubt, for he 

thought that it was a mission for the 

glory 

of God. But this prayer of the 

stricken Saul, 

was the first one he 

had ever offered with the conviction 

that he was a sinner in the sight of 

God; that he needed a sacrifice for 

his sin; that he needed a Mediator to 

intercede for him before God. So that 

Ananias found the former arch foe of 

the Lord Jesus and all his follow 

ers, prostrate in prayer, and at once 

approached him, 

and in all confi 

dence and kindness saluted him as 

"Brother Saul". 

The change in Ananias in his at 

titude toward Saul was in a sense 

quite as real as that of Saul himself 

in his transformation from being 

the foe of Jesus to that of a servant. 

His conception of Saul is best ex 

pressed in his own words: "I have 

heard by many of this man, how 

much evil he hath done to the saints 

at Jerusalem; and here he hath 

authority from the chief priests to 

bind all that call on Thy 

name.'' 

And 

for him to be told that this perse 

cutor had become a praying man 

must have been an almost unbeliev 

able thing. But for him to be told 

further that the persecutor was "a 

chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My 

Name before the Gentiles, and kings, 

and the children of Israel for I will 

show him how great things he must 

suffer for My Name's 

sake,'' 

must 

have even more difficult of compre 

hension than the former one that the 

prsecutor had bcome a praying man. 

Then that simple statement that 

"Ananias went his 

way" 

and entered 

the house where Saul was, implies 

implicit obedience to the Divine 

command. Luke is not dealing with 

details in relating the story 

conversion, but is touching 

of Saul's 

on the 

main facts only. So there is nothing 

said about how much time Ananias 

spent in grasping the full import of 

what he had been commanded to do. 

But it is not difficult to believe that 

the devoutness which characterized 

Ananias before Saul's conversion, 

now showed itself in complete, and 

so it seems to us, instant obedience 

to that command. And how admirably 

he performed the errand on which he 

was sent! How tactfully it was done! 

Apparently no preliminary remarks 

were indulged in, but in a very di 

rect, but kindly way, he followed out 

the Lord's command. What could 

have been more reassuring and heart 

warming than his salutation, "Broth 

er Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that 

appeared unto thee in the way as 

thou earnest, hath sent 

me." 

Did 

Saul, (also called Paul), have this in 

mind when as a prisoner in Rome he, 

in his own hired house, "received all 

that came in unto him?" 

Many years 

after Damascus, the apostle spoke in 

very kindly terms of Ananias. 


FOR SEPTEMBER 1, 1948 

SAUL MARVELOUSLY HELPED 

Sripture: 

TILL HE WAS STRONG 

I Sam. 11:1-15 

Psalms: 

Psalm 135:1-5, No. 371 

Psalm 35:7, 8, No. 93 

Psalm 16:1, 5-8 No. 29 

Psalm 37:29-33, No. 101 

Psalm 21:1-4, No. 46 

Comments: 


In our last study in Samuel we saw 

"The Kind of King the People Want 

ed Given Them." 

Yet the closing 

verse of that scripture lesson told us 

that there were certain people, "child 

ren of Belial", who "despised him, 

and brought him no presents. But he 

held his 

peace." 

The new king did 

not have all the people behind him, 

and from all evidence he did not per 

form any actions as a king because 

of this. In our lesson we find that he 

had been in the field following the 

herd. A Jewish historian says that 

a month passed between these two 

chapters 

Our study is the development of 

that weak king into a strong king. 

The topic states that he was marvel- 

ously helped. It was the God of Israel 

who gave him this marvelous help; 

remember that it was not so long be 

fore this that Saul did not know the 

servant of the Lord, and seemingly 

did not know much about the Master 

of the servant. Keep in mind that it 

was the kindly 

providence of the Al 

mighty God although the help was 

manifested through events and people. 

The first of this help 

the Ammonites, 

Ammonite came up, 

against 

Jabesh-gilead" 

came from 

when "Nahash the 

and encamped 

The Am 

monites had caused trouble to the


children of Israel previously; it 

might help you to look them up in a 

Bible Dictionary or better still with 

the help of your Bible concordance 

look up the references in your Bible. 

In this invasion they showed no 

more kindness than they possessed 

by nature. On the other hand the peo 

ple of Jabesh had no right to surrend 

er so easily to these heathen people; 

they were under covenant relations to 

the God of Israel. Forgetting this,, 

they "said unto Nahash, Make a cov 

enant with us, and we will serve thee." 

Nahash gave them his terms; he must 

thrust out all their right eyes, and he 

would consider it as a. reproach on all 

Israel. The men of Jabesh perhaps 

were concerned more about their eyes, 

but they could not allow such a re 

proach on Israel without informing 

all the people. They ask for seven 

days in which time they would find 

out what the nation as a whole 

thought of it. Messengers were sent 

with the tidings of these covenat 

terms to the people, and in at least 

one community the people lifted up 

their voices and wept. This may not 

seem an event that could be consider 

ed marvelous help 

which would make 

Saul strong; however it is a condition 

like this that makes a man of action 

and courage acceptable. Think over 

Israel's history and several such oc 

casions as this will come to your mind. 

As Saul came out of the field and 

found this situation, we are told that 

"the Spirit of God came upon Saul." 

The Spirit gave him courage and wis 

dom for a task. The task was a big 

one; he must take a weeping people, 

move them to defend themselves, take 

all volunteers, organize them for the 

battle and plan the attack. To read 

the verses it sounds as if all went 

smoothly, but put yourself in Saul's 

place. Would you have thought of 

sending 

out the call as he did? His 

method brought out 330,000 men. 

Could you have organized them in so 

short a time? He did and won a de 

cisive victory over a people that had 

been ready for battle. 

The people also helped him. After 

the battle they were ready to make 

things easier for him. If he were 

their king, any opposition should be 

blotted out, they thought. So they 

suggested that the men who opposed 

him be put to death. The people who 

won the battle wanted to lay down 

terms for lasting peace. Saul felt 

they were going too far, and he said, 

"There shall not a man be put to 

death this day; for today 

the Lord 

hath wrought salvation in Israel." 

Futher help 

came through the old 

man who had been thrust aside in 

order that Israel might have a king. 

Samuel saw how this invasion had 

been in Saul's favor; how the Spirit 

of the Lord had moved Saul in the 

right paths; now the people are be 

hind the king; also Saul had acknow 

ledged the Lord's help. With all this 

which would assist Saul and make him 

strong, Samuel felt that it was time 

to "renew the kingdom." 

He called 

the people to Gilgal, and there Saul 

was made king before the Lord. Gil 

gal, was the first encampment of the 

Israelites west of the Jordan. At the 

time when Samuel anointed Saul in 

secret, he had told him that this event 

was to take place in Gilgal. It was a 

rededication service for all the people 

as well as for the new king. Samuel 

used the circumstances to make it 

mean all that he could to all con 

cerned. 

help 

This is only 

one illustration of the 

given to a person for the task to 

which he was called. One might take 

Peter or Paul or any Bible character 

and review how they were helped. It 

should make us consider how we have 

been helped in our lives. This lesson 

should impress us more because Saul 

was at the top now, and we should re 

mind ourselves that the future of the 

new king is not so bright. As one 

writer says. It was the happiest time 

in Saul's life." 

ASSIGNMENTS: 

1. Have one person review the scrip 

ture record of the ways in which Saul 

was helped until he was strong. 

2. Have one or two take other char 

acters of the Bible of their own choos 

ing and show how they were helped 

in the same way. 

3. Have several take characters in 

modern times or better still give their 

own testimony on how they have been 

helped in their lives as Saul was in 

his life. 

Suggestions for prayer: 

That each of us may see how we 

have been helped and give thanks to 

God. 

That those who are weak may be 

given grace to use their opportuni 

ties to become strong for the Lord 

(and this includes us as well as 

others). 

Remember the cause of Christian 

education as the schools open for 

another term. Pray for our college. 

STAR NOTES 

***Miss Rose Huston is on vacation 

at Montreat, N .C, after spending a 

few days in Washington, D. C, with 

relatives on the way. 

***Miss Martha McFarland of New 

Alexandria has been working at Wrig 

ley and at Sandy Hook since Synod 

and will continue through August. 

***Miss Jane Harsh of Belle Cen 

ter congregation has been helping 

through the month of July. And Miss 

Eleanor Faris of Denison is expected 

to be at Sandy Hook through 

August. 

***The Allegheny congregation 

held a Daily Vacation Bible School 

for two week beginning on June 21 

and closing July 2. There were 40 

names on the roll, and the average 

attendance was 29. 

***Miss Dorothy Raum and Mr. 

Donald Fox (the Assistant Precentor 

of Allegheny congregation) were 

united in marriage with a double- 

ring ceremony in the Mt. Zion Luth 

eran Church, Wednesday evening, 

at 7:30 o'clock. Dr. John B. 

June 23, 

Kniseley, the bride's pastor, 

read the 

vows, assisted by the pastor of the 

groom, the Rev. Kermit S. Edgar. A 

wedding reception was held at the 

home of the groom's parents, Mr. and 

Mrs. Chester R. Fox. 

***Several of our Allegheny mem 

bers are vacationing in various parts 

of our country. Miss Hannah Carson, 

whom we claim during the school 

year, has returned to her home in 

Cambridge, Mass., for the summer. 

***In a lovely double-ring cere 

mony in Central-Pitsburgh Church 

OHIO-ILLINOIS C. Y. P. U. CONFERENCE 

1948 

The time: August 16-22, 1948 

The place: Oakwood Park Conference Grounds 

Syracuse, Indiana 

(On Lake Wawasee) 

Make your plans early to attend this 

conference at one of the beauty-spots 

of Northern Indiana.


Tuesday evening, July 6, Miss Sara 

Michael became the bride of Mr. W. 

J. C. (Jack) George, son of Mr. and 

Mrs. R. H. George. The vows were 

read by Dr. D. H. Elliott, assisted 

by the groom's pastor, Rev. Kermit 

S. Edgar. Following the ceremony, 

the guests were invited to a wedding- 

reception in the church parlors. Jack 

is the efficient Superintendent of 

our Allegheny Sabbath School. 

***On Friday evening, July 2, the 

Allegheny C. Y. P. U. enjoyed a 

Hay-ride at the home of Edward and 

John Mitchell, 

with the members 

and friends of the Central-Pittsburgh 

C. Y. P. U. as their guests. 

***A picnic supper, preceeded by 

an afternoon of swimming, was held 

at North Park on Saturday, July 24, 

by the Allegheny Young People. We 

were glad to have as our guests, the 

Rev. and Mrs. J. R. Paterson and 

family, who arrived in Pittsburgh on 

July 16. 

***The Evening Worship Service 

of the Allegheny Congregation was 

conducted by the 

"Covichords" 

Geneva College on Sabbath evening, 

June 27. Their messages concerning 

the Covenanter Crusade were indeed 

an inspiration. 

***The Perrysville Avenue W. C. 

T. U. held a Porch Party Meeting at 

the home of Mrs. Kermit Edgar on 

Tuesday afternoon, July 27, with 

23 members present. The guest 

speaker was Mrs. A. F. Leonhard, 

the Pennsylvania , State Vice-Presi 

dent of the W.C.T.U. 

***Mrs. E. M. Elsey, 22200 West 

McNichols, Detroit 19, Mich., has 

been appointed Flannelgraph Librar 

ian to succeed Mrs. G. M. Robb 

who resigned. All requests for Flan 

nelgraph sets should be sent to Mrs. 

Elsey after August 1, 1948. 

***On May 26, 1948, at an evening 

wedding in the home of Mr. and Mrs. 

Raymond Crabtree of Quinter, Kan- 

La Verne R. Nuss of Dorrance, Kan 

sas, took the marriage vows. The 

double ring ceremony was performed 

by the bride's pastor, Rev. Paul E. 

Faris, before a bank of garden 

flowers and was witnessed by the 

relatives of the couple. After a wed 

ding trip they 

of 

are at home on a 

farm near Dorrance, Kansas. The 

bride is a member of our Quinter 

congregation. 

CHURCH NEWS 

SMITHWALKER 

A huge wedding ring 

covered with 

asparagus fern and white daisies and 

flanked by baskets of white stock 

and candelabra formed a background 

for the 8:30 p.m. ceremony 

on June 

25 in which Dorothy Marie Smith ex 

changed nuptial vows with Donald 

Floyd Walker. 

Rev. J. Ren Patterson read the 

service which took place at the Re 

formed Presbyterian Church on Flet 

cher Drive. 

An aunt of the bride, Mrs. Earl 

Moore of Glendale, was matron of 

honor and bridesmaids included Mrs. 

Josephine Vaccariello of Alhambra, 

Mrs. Lucy Goodman of San Gabriel, 

Mrs. Eleanor Howard of Long Beach 

and Mrs. Juanita Bradford of Los 

Angeles. Flower girl was Mary Jo 

Vaccariello, while Howie Huizing 

served as ring bearer. 

Attending 

as best man was Clar 

ence Walker of Van Nuys, while 

Robert Morse of Los Angeles, John 

Keys of Alhambra, Lewis Keys of 

Highland Park and Frank Walker of 

Van Nuys ushered. "Because," 

ways" 

and "I Love You Truly" 

"Al 

were 

sung by S. A. Tamboni with Kenneth 

L. Carruthers at the organ. 

The service was followed with a 

reception for 200 guests in the church 

parlor. Mrs. Margaret Wilson was 

hostess. 

The newlyweds honeymooned at 

Yosemite National park and now are 

making their home in Eagle Rock. 

A filing clerk with the Union Bank 

and Trust company, young Mrs. 

Walker graduated from Franklin 

high school and attended Frank Wig 

gins commercial art school. The 

bridegroom, also a Franklin high 

graduate and a former student at 

the Frank Wiggins art school, cur 

rently is an illustrator for the Petro 

leum Educational Institute. 

DAILY VACATION BIBLE 

SCHOOLS IN KENTUCKY 

One of the hardest jobs in any 

minister's yearly program is the 

conducting of his Daily Vacation 

Bible School. Yet there are few 

things he does which bring more real 

and satisfaction. What is true in 

joy 

the home church is true also on the 

Mission Field. 

We here in Kentucky have had the 

privileg-e and the joy of conducting 

seven Vacation Bible Schools this 

year with a total enrollment of 274 

boys and girls. Three of these were 

conducted in Elliott County under 

the direction of the Misses Huston, 

McCracken, and Patterson. Four 

schools were held in Morgan County 

by the Hemphills. 

The first school was held at Blair's 

Mills in Morgan County beginning 

March 22. It was only 

after much 

pleading on the part of the children 

that we consented to have this 

school, because of bad roads. We 

used the jeep 

and trailer to trans 

port some of the children and were 

stuck several times. The closing day 

as we started from home we learned 

that the flood the night before had 

washed out three bridges on the 

route. So 21 miles around finally 

got us 7 miles in to where the chil 

dren were anxiously waiting 

rival. 

our ar 

In the meantime a school was 

started at Cliffside in Elliott County 

which is a large two room school on 

the highway. Here there was an en 

rollment of 36. Such good interest 

was shown and continued that a 

Sabbath School was soon started by 

our Sandy Hook workers and has 

continued there ever since with an 

attendance of from 30 to 50. 

ty 

The next school in Morgan Coun 

was at a new place where the at 

tendance was small but the interest 

and cooperation was fine. No one in 

the community seemed ever to have 

heard of a D.V.B.S. before, but some 

of the parents said that if we would 

only have another one next year 

they 

would guarantee a larger at 

tendance. At the closing program 

there were three men and several 

women who stopped their work to 

come and show their interest. The 

local reporter was there and gave us 

a write up in the county paper. 

At the same time Miss Patterson 

was driving the other jeep daily 

over some of the worst roads in El 

liott County 

to the Fannin School 

where there were 31 enrolled. Their 

next school was at Mauk at the 

northern edge of Elliott County. The 

roads were too bad and the distance 

too far to drive daily so two of the 

women stayed each week in the com 

munity 

at the home of one of the 

school teachers. It was the first time 

that anything 

of this nature had 

ever been held in the community, 

which is not known for its high 

morals or its interest in Christian 

things. There were 46 enrolled and 

they had a good averag-e attendance. 

The ladies were well pleased with the 

fine interest and work of the boys and 

girls. Often times we can work more 

personally with the children in the 

Bible School than in the weekly 

Bible classes, 

The largest school this year was 

at Ditney in Morgan County which 

is about two miles beyond our Blaze


Church and at a place where there 

are no religious meetings. Each trip 

we transported between 30 and 40 

children in the jeep and trailer as 

we passed through two school dis 

tricts on the way to Ditney. The rule 

was that any one within a mile and 

a half of the school had to walk. 

There was an enrollment of 68 and 

an average attendance of 50, but 

only 33 chairs in the building. So 

that planks, boards and our attic 

shelves were used for seats and 

desks. One day Mrs. Hemphill had 

39 little ones in one class and re 

ports that she had no spare time. All 

of our materials had to be taken 

home each night from this building. 

The last school was held after 

Synod here in Wrigley, where we 

used both the church and parsonage 

for classes and had an enrollment of 

52. We were very 

glad to have the 

assistance of Miss Martha McFar 

land of New Alexandria at this time. 

In every school we strive to pre 

sent the Way of Salvation as effec 

tively as we can. We have never had 

a school without some of the children 

asking that it continue another two 

weeks or longer. 

We wish to express our great ap 

preciation to the National Juniors, 

Women's Missionary Societies, C. Y. 

P. U. Societies and individuals for 

gifts that have helped so much in 

the expense of these schools. May 

the Lord bless each of you who have 

had a part in the Daily Vacation 

Bible Schools in Kentuckky. 

E. R. Hemphill 

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON 

July 27, 1948 

Sabbath July 25, 1948 will long be 

remembered as a high day in the life 

of the Seattle congregation. Dr. and 

Mrs. T. M. Slater had arrived by 

plane from New Jersey on Thursday 

night. The morning service was 

turned over to Dr. and Mrs. Slater. 

They had not been in Seattle since 

Dr. Slater resigned the pastorate 

twenty-seven years ago. Both gave 

interesting addresses interspersed 

with many 

pleasant recollections of 

a pastorate which lasted seventeen 

years. 

The evening service was in charge 

of the officers of the Pacific Coast 

C.Y.P.U., Mr. S. M. Dodds, Young 

People's Secretary and Mr. Donald 

Crozier, 

President. All of the of 

ficers present took part in the serv 

ice. Some of the visitors were asked 

to speak. Mr. Norman McCune of 

the Irish Church gave a very inter 

esting address on the work of the 

Scottish and Irish Churches with 

special reference to the work of the 

young 

people's societies. 

Among the visitors were Mr. and 

Mrs. Betts of Santa Ana, Mr. and 

Mrs. Marshall and son and Miss 

Dorothy Dodds of Los Angeles. Miss 

Doddj arrived by plane on Saturday 

evening. At present Miss Roberta 

Dodds and Miss Dorothy Dodds are 

enjoying a tour to Victoria and Van 

couver, B. C. They expect to return 

by plane on Wednesday in time for 

the opening of the Conference 

Wednesday night. 

This evening Mr. Joseph Fleming 

is sporsoring a dinner party for 

about sixty guests to be held some 

where in the neighborhood of Ta- 

coma. On Saturday and Sabbath we 

had a splendid view of Mount 

Rainier. It looked like a huge pink 

inverted ice cream cone. I do not 

have words to describe the beauty 

of the scene. 

The conference will begin to 

morrow night with a banquet fol 

lowed by a social hour. A goodly 

number of delegates are on their 

way and expect to arrive at camp 

some time tomorrow. Among them, 

Dr. and Mrs. Elliott, Mrs. William 

Coleman, Rev. David Carson and 

the Covichords. The conference is to 

be held at Camp Waskowitz, 

ly 

a love 

spot in the Cascades a few miles 

east of North Bend. The Seattle 

Covenanters have labored in season 

and out of sason to make the con 

ference a success. 

Most of the way from Rapid City 

our route lay through mountain 

scenery which neither pen nor brush 

can adequately portray. We traveled 

on mountain roads with hairpin 

curves and no guard rails to keep a 

car from plunging over the preci 

pice to the valley two or three thou 

sand feet below. Our visit to Rush- 

more Mountain with its sculptures of 

Washington, Jefferson, Theodore 

Roosevelt and Lincoln, would have 

justified the trip 

of 3175 miles if 

there had been nothing else of in 

terest to see. It was difficult to pull 

one's self away from this magnifi 

cent work of art. 

We are looking forward to a con 

ference which will inspire us to 

nobler service in the weeks and 

months to come. 

Yours sincerely, 

J. Boyd Tweed 

P. S. Mr. Lyle Joseph, Dr. and Mrs. 

F. E. Allen and daughter Marjorie 

expect to arrive at Camp Waskowitz 

sometime Thursday. Miss Marjorie 

Allen hopes to visit most of the 

young people's camps before her re 

turn to Syria in September. 

DENISON 

The Winchester Gospel Team 

were here June 13 while Rev. Hutch 

eson assisted Communion at the Re 

hoboth congregation in Pennsylvania. 

Eleanor Faris had an operation 

June 5 at Shady Side hospital in 

Pittsburgh, Pa. 

The Denison congregation con 

gratulates Miss Frances Linton on 

the occasion of her marriage to Mr. 

Roy McDonald an account of which 

has already appeared in this paper. 

We still claim Frances as a Denison- 

ite even though an Easterner has 

claimed her in marriage. 

Spring graduates of the Denison 

congregation were Ruth Porter and 

Elizabeth Robb from the eighth 

grade and Lois Blackwood from high 

school. 

Summer school students are Mary 

Robson at Washburn University in 

Topeka, Willard Knowles and Edwin 

Braum at Kansas State in Manhat 

tan, and Annetta Knowles taking 

extension classes from Kansas Uni 

versity in Holton. 

Mrs. Paul McCrory is the new 

superintendent of the Juniors, re 

placing 

Mrs. Hutcheson who re 

signed because of illness. 

Mr. George Robb celebrated his 

90th birthday in February 

with both 

his children and their families, his 

brother and other relatives gathering 

to honor him. He is in regular at 

tendance at church services. 

We extend our congratulations to 

Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Caskey who 

celebrated their 48th wedding anni 

versary in March. All their children 

were home with the exception of one 

daughter who is in Panama. 

The Winchester W.M.S. enter 

tained the Denison W.M.S. in April. 

Three carloads from Denison en 

joyed the hospitality 

of our friends 

in the home of Mrs. Calvin Curry. 

Mr. and Mrs. Harlan Phillips an 

nounce the birth of George William 

on June 17. 

Recent visitors from other Cove 

nanter congregations include Miss 

Lila Smith of Olathe in the homes of 

Mr. John Wright and Mrs. Sadie 

Greenlee; Miss Alice Robb of Los 

Angeles in the homes of Ray 

Knowles and J. K. Robb; Mr. and 

Mrs. John Greenlee of Hebron and 

Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred Greenlee and 

Martin of Santa Ana with Mr. 

Greenlee's mother; Mr. and Mrs. 

Irvin McCrory and family 

of Glen-


wood with Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mc 

Crory; Joe Caskey of Fresno and 

Katherine Hill of College Hill in the 

home of Joe's grandparents, Mr. and 

Mrs. McCleod Braum; Dr. and Mrs. 

Paul Wright and family of Kansas 

City with Mr. John Wright; and Mr. 

and Mrs. Haig Mouradian and Rev. 

and Mrs. Boyd White of Kansas City 

with Rev. and Mrs. Hutcheson and 

Mrs. Minnie Wilkey. 

Mary Frances Braum and Tommy 

Hutcheson have recently undergone 

tonsilectomies. 

Miss Mary Alice Braum is enjoy 

ing 

Eastern part of the United States. 

an educational tour through the 

Family Night will be held at the 

church on July 20. It will be the an 

nual ice cream supper of the congre 

gation. One feature of the program 

will be the showing 

"Beyond Our Own". 

of the film 

The congregation has recently 

purchased a new parsonage. It is an 

eight room, modern house formerly 

belonging to the Sterrett family. 

Delber Robb, son of Mr. and Mrs. 

Jay Robb, received his discharge 

from the Navy in May. His two years 

of service were spent for the most 

part on the hospital staff at Long 

Beach, Calif. 

The James-Robb wedding was 

unique, being the first wedding to 

take place in the church sanctuary 

in its over 75 years of history. 

The Denison Daily Vacation Bible 

School held their closing exercises 

at the High School on May 28. There 

were 75 children from the community 

who attended the school with an 

average attendance of 69. Fifty- 

seven pupils received perfect at 

tendance pins. Miss Kathleen Mc 

Crory taught in the Beginners De 

partment and Rev. Hutcheson was 

superintendent and taught in the 

Intermediate Department. 

Rev. Hutcheson taught an Old 

Testament Bible History 

class in the 

Denison High School each Wednes 

day morning throughout the past 

school year. Out of a high school 

enrollment of 48 pupils, 29 pupils 

Attend 

enrolled in the class, 

and 25 com 

pleted the course. Henry H. Halley's 

"Pocket Bible Handbook" 

was used 

as a supplementary text to the 

Scriptures. 

GENEVA CHURCH NEWS 

The 52nd annual congregational 

dinner was held May 12 at 6:30 p.m. 

Robert Hemphill, chairman of the 

congregation, presided and Sam 

Lathom served as secretary. Both 

Mr. Hemphill and Mr. Lathom were 

re-elected as trustees for two year 

terms. Mrs. Robert Hemphill was 

renamed correspondent and Miss 

Adella Lawscn was again chosen 

precentor of the congregation. Mrs. 

Davida Fallon, social chairmian, 

headed the committee in charge of 

the successful dinner which pre 

ceded the meting. 

GAMP GALEDON 


We are happy to have Mr. S. R. 

Davis back with us after a visit with 

his daughter, Mrs. Mildred George 

of Tarkio, Mo. His grandson, Wilford 

George Jr., and granddaughter, 

Joyce George accompanied him home 

and are spending the summer months 

here. Wilford is working at the B. 

& W. Tube mill and Joyce is em 

ployed at one of the local stores 

Our daily Vacation Bible school 

opened Tuesday, June 30. Closing 

exercises were held Tuesday evening 

and the picnic Wednesday at Ing- 

Rich Park, Beaver Falls. The total 

number attending was 102 with the 

highest attendance 84 and the 

average 74. Teachers were Mrs. 

Willson and Mrs. Hudak with Shir 

ley Lathom assisting for the Pre 

school; Mary Lou Patterson, Grade 

1; Erla Jean Willson and Peggy 

Meyers, Grade 2; Yvonne Lathom, 

Grade 3; Teddy Downie first week, 

and Mrs. Young second week, Grades 

4 and 5; Mrs. Boggs, Grade 6 and up. 

Dr. Willson directed the school. 

Mrs. C. M. Patterson gave an illus 

trated talk each morning at opening 

exercises. Speakers at closing exer 

cises were: Mrs. G. S. Coleman, Mrs. 

Downie, John Kochalk, and local 


LAKE ERIE 

Camping Dates: Aug. 14-21 


Tom Wilson 


 

-^ 

ministers McMillan, Robb, Black 

wood, Green and Atwell. 

The Geneva Hill vacation Bible 

School opened Tuesday, July 6, and 

continued through Thursday, July 

15 with a picnic Thursday evening. 

The highest attendance was 26 with 

the average 22. Teachers were Erla 

Jean Willson, Pre-school; Mary Lou 

Patterson, Grades 1 and 2; Isabelle 

Murphy, Grades 3 and 4; and Dr. 

Willson, Grade 5 and up. Mrs. C. M. 

Patterson gave an illustrated talk 

several mornings at closing exercises 

and Mrs. George Coleman spoke one 

morning. 

Our annual Sabbath School Picnic 

was held Tuesday, July 13 at Edge- 

wood Park. Approximately 110 were 

in attendance to make the afternoon 

and evening a huge success. A de 

licious dinner was served at 6:30 

with Mrs. Davida Fallon as chair 

man. Races for the children and a 

mushball game climaxed the evening 

of fun. 

On May 25, John Leslie McNaugh- 

ton was born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomas 

McNaughton. 

On June 4, William Edgar Hemp 

hill was born to Mr. and Mrs. Willard 

Hemphill. 

On June 27, Mary Margaret Bonzo 

was born to Mr. and Mrs. Ray Bonzo. 

Mrs. Bonzo is the former Gladys 

Fallon. 

On July 6, Jeffrey Allan Metheney 

was born to Mr. and Mrs. David 

Metheny. 

On July 13, James Scott Wylie 

was born to Mr. and Mrs. Tom Wylie. 

On July 17, Leonard Alan Dixson 

was born to Mr. and Mrs. James 

Dixson. 

Joyce George recently underwent 

an appendectomy and Beverly Brown, 

Rachael Fallon and Mrs. Beth La 

thom underwent tonsillectomies. 

Mrs. Alice Dodds is improving 

slowly and is now able to be up a 

few hours each day. 

Freddie Lathom has recently re 

covered from Chicken-pox. 

Mr. and Mrs. Sam Edgar have pur 

chased a trailer and are vacationing 

in it weekends at Sandy Lake, near 

Mercer. 

Dr. and Mrs. Robert Park and sons 

are spending the summer in Nova 

Scotia. We are sorry that both John 

ny and Eric had the measles during 

their vacation. 

Isabelle Murphy 

and Alice Dodds 

spent a weekend recently with Jane 

Dodds Hood at Carlisle, Pa. 

Isabelle Murphy, Katherine Cole 

man and several girl friends motored 

to New York City, spending their


two weeks vacation at points of in 

terest in and near there. 

Eva Hayes is spending 

tion in Boston. 

her vaca 

Dick Metheny is attending insur 

ance school this summer at Purdue 

University. 

Betty Patterson is working in the 

book store at Geneva this summer. 

Patty Moore expects to take up 

Nursse Training at the local Beaver 

Valley General Hospital this fall. 

Mr. and Mrs. Arnett of New York 

visited Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Fallon 

and Mr. Fallon accompanied them 

to N. E. Kansas to visit other rela 

tives. 

Mr. and Mrs. C. L. Fallon spent a 

weekend recently 

with Mrs. Fallon's 

brother, Wycliff Dodds, in McKees- 

port. 

Teddy Downie has left for New 

York where she will assist with the 

vacation Bible school there and from 

there to Junior White Lake camp 

where she will be a counselor. 

Mrs. John Dodds and Johnny are 

visiting with her family in New York 

while John is doing research work in 

Washington, D. C. 

The congregation expressed their 

sympathy to Merrill Robb in the 

death of his father, Rev. W. G. Robb. 

Mrs. Robb has been spending the 

summer months in the Merrill Robb 

home in Baden and we welcome her 

to our services. 

Stewart McCready has taken over 

his new position as Business Man 

ager of Geneva College. We of the 

Geneva Congregation know he is 

quite capable and this step is 

Geneva's gain. We are also proud of 

Mrs. Jean Hemphill who at this last 

meeting of Synod was elected to the 

Board of Trustees of Geneva College. 

THANK YOU, LOS ANGELES 

It was not easy to say good-bye 

to a friendly people after enjoying 

the happy experiences and sharing 

the sorrows that crossed our paths 

during the eleven years and two 

months we were privileged to min 

ister to the Los Angeles congrega 

tion. But in the providence of God 

such times come in the life of every 

pastor and so it was that the Los 

Angeles congregation and friends, 

many from Santa Ana, gathered in 

the Church on June 23 to bid us 

farewell and to wish us God's bless 

ing in our going to a new field. It 

is impossible to find words that will 

do justice to your kindness and 

generosity. 

The exceedingly 

en by 

kind words spok 

representatives of the various 

organizations, the beautiful orchid 

presented to Mrs. Patterson, the very 

generous purse given to Rev. Patter 

son and the gifts of money from the 

Sabbath School to the children were 

appreciated beyond words. 

No pastor and family 

ever en 

joyed a more pleasant relationship 

than was ours with you. While we 

will miss your happy fellowship, 

our thoughts, interest and prayers in 

behalf of the. Los Angeles congrega 

tion will continue through the com 

ing years. Affectionately 

Rev. and Mrs. J. R. Patterson 

Mrs. lone McKinney 

and family. 

Mrs. Emma lone McKinney, wife 

of S. E. McKinney died Thursday, 

at her home on Dade 

Juy 1, 1948, 

Street. She and her husband had re 

sided in Orlando for the past thir 

teen years and she took an active 

interest in the work of the church 

although her membership was re 

tained in the Soutfield congregation. 

Her body 

was forwarded to Bir 

mingham, Michigan, for the funeral 

service and interment. Surviving are 

her husband, Samuel Edward Mc 

Kinney, a daughter, Mrs. Florence 

Fort of Royal Oak, Michigan, and 

three sons: E. P. of Miami and L. C. 

of Tarpon Springs, Florida, and 

George 0. McKinney of Detroit, 

Michigan. 

up 

Mrs. McKinney's heart was bound 

with the interests of God's house 

and it was a great trial to her that 

she was compelled to miss so many 

services, not having 

been able to 

walk since last December. We re 

joice that God had better things in 

store for her. 

For we reckon that the suffer 

ings of this present time are not 

worthy to be compared to the 

glory that shall be revealed in 

us. Signed: Alvin Smith 

IN MEMORIAM 


and the Phoebes of the Bloomington, 

Indiana congregation wish to pay 

tribute to Mrs. H. Ellsworth Moore 

who was called home July 3>, 1948. 

She was an active member of both 

organizations, having served capably 

in different offices and on various 

committees. Also she was teacher of 

a young people's class in our Sabbath 

School, 

and our congregational sec 

retary. In the community her work 

as investigator for Public Welfare 

brought her into contact with many 

families that felt their problems had 

fallen into good hands for she served 

her Lord as she went about her 

daily duties (Ecclesiastes 9:10). 

Many enjoyed her friendliness. A 

gracious hostess, she liked to ibe 

hospitable. The consideration she 

showed others and her thoughtful- 

ness of them have often been men- 

tiond. Her keen awareness of life 

attracted both children and youth. 

The willingness with which she ac 

cepted responsibility developed her 

efficiency. 

Alpha will be greatly missed by 

her own family, her church, and the 

community at large. "David, after 

he had served his own generation by 

the will of God, fell on sleep." 

We extend our sincere sympathy 

to her mother, Mrs. Mary Mc- 

Caughan, left so lonely, to her hus 

band, family, 

4:9). 

and relatives (Hebrews 

Mrs. John Kennedy 

Mrs. Arthur Moore 

Mrs. Paul Kennedy 

Ruth H. Smith 

McMillan Stewart 

The marriage of Miss Shirley 

Stewart, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 

T. Gordon Stewart, to Mr. Willard 

G. McMillan, Pittsburgh, 

son of Dr. 

and Mrs. Matthew S. McMillan, New 

Concord, Ohio, was solemnized in 

the First Presbyterian Church with 

the Rev. M. S. McMillan officiating, 

assisted by the Rev. C. A. Berryhill, 

pastor of the First Presbyterian 

Church, Niagara Falls, N. Y. 

The bride was given in marriage 

by her father. Miss Mary Raney, 

New Galilee, Pa., was the maid of 

honor, 

with Miss Rebecca Stewart 

and Miss Margaret Graham, Har 

mony, Pa., bridesmaids, and Joy 

Horak as flower girl. 

Mr. Roy Blackwood, New Concord, 

O., was the best man and Messrs. 

Kenneth Smith, Orlando, Fla., and 

Carl Beeler, Fullerton, Pa., were 

ushers. 

The wedding reception was held 

at the Niagara Falls Country Club 

at 4:30 o'clock. The Geneva college 

quartet, Messrs. Norman Carson, 

Kenneth Smith, Donald McCracken 

and Paul McCracken, presented a 

musical program during the re 

ception. There were more than 40 

guests attending. 

Mr. McMillan and his bride will 

reside in Pittsburgh where he is a 

student in the Reformed Presby- 

trian Church Theological Seminary. 

Shirley 

and William are both grad 

uates of Geneva College, class of '47. 

Shirley 

attended graduate school of 

Columbia University . 

last winter.


IRISH R. P. CHURCH 

ANNUAL MEETING OF SYNOD 

The Synod of the R. P. Church of 

Ireland met in Grosvenor Road R. P. 

Church, Belfast, on Monday, 21st 

June 1948, and after a sermon by 

the Moderator, Rev. W. H. Pollock, 

B. A., on the text Luke XII :32: 

"Fear not, little flock, for it is your 

Father's good pleasure to give you 

the kingdom", was by him consti 

tuted in prayer. 

In his valedictory address the 

Moderator referred to the fact that 

there had been no deaths in the min 

isterial ranks in our Church during 

the year, and that there had been 

six in the ranks in the American 

Church: one of those who had passed 

to his reward was the Rev. A. M. 

Thompson who had labored for a 

number of years in connection with 

the Irish Church, ministering in 

Ballylaggan and Stranorlar congre 

gations and also giving some years 

of service in the Colonial Mission 

field in Geelong, Australia. 

Rev. J. Renwick Wright, B. A., 

minister of Ballymoney congrega 

tion, was appointed Moderator for 

the ensuing year. He will be remem 

bered by many who met him during 

the year or so which he spent in 

Canada and the U.S.A. during his 

Seminary days. In his address to the 

Synod he set before us the task of 

the Church for this year to do all 

to the glory of God, doing it, first, 

by lengthening the cords, going over 

to the offensive, concentrating on 

evangelism, both in our congrega 

tions and among the great unevan- 

gelised masses without the church, 

and second, by strengthening the 

stakes, training up the babes in 

Christ, doing this by pure doctrine, 

by consistent living and by encourag 

ing in them the consistent use of the 

means of grace. One word sums up 

this program REVIVAL. Let us 

pray for such a heavenly visitation. 

A few items culled from the re 

port of the Committee on Statistics 

are that in the Irish Church there 

are now 29 active ministers, 40 con 

gregations and six preacjiing sta 

tions, 1796 families, 3391 communi 

cants, while the sum of 3363:11:11 

was contributed for the various 

Synodica-l schemes, approximately 

$14,000 at the present rate of ex 

change. 

Three students completed their 

course of studies for the year in 

connection with the Theological Hall, 

one being a first year student and 

the others being second year. Mr. 

W. N. McCune, who would normal 

ly have been a third year student, 

was attending lectures in the Sem 

inary in Pittsburgh. We are looking 

forward to seeing him back home 

in Ireland sometime this summer. 

The Board of Administrators of 

the Aged and Infirm Ministers' 

Fund 

would like to be able to give more 

than the 150 per annum which 

they gave last year to each of the 

five beneficiaries on the Fund, and 

so they lay the matter of an increase 

before the Church, as it is the 

Church that must provide the money. 

The Congregational Aid Fund 

Committee, whose duties more or 

less roughly correspond to those of 

the Home Mission Board of the 

American Church, reported an all 

round increase in givings to the work 

of the Committee during 

the year. 

Yet it was felt that the minimum 

salary which it was able to give to 

the ministers of the Church was still 

far too low when compared with the 

salaries of those in other occupa 

tions with similar university quali 

fications. The minimum last year 

was approximately 275, about $1100. 

The late Miss May L. Dunlop, 

known to many American readers as 

the agent for the Covenanter Wit 

ness in the British Isles and also as 

correspondent, in her will left 2000 

to the Congregational Aid Fund, 

one twentieth to be used every year 

over a period of twenty years. The 

annual incom from another 1000 is 

to be used for the divinity student 

who "proves himself best fitted to 

defend, either in oral debate, or in 

controversial writing, the distin 

guishing principles of the Reformed 

Presbyterian Church". 

A special period of prayer was 

held on Tuesday evening, those en 

gaging in prayer being asked to pray 

specially for peace in the interna 

tional sphere, purity in the national 

sphere and power in the sphere of 

the Church. 

The Committee on Public Morals 

has been active during the year, 

witnessing against the evils of Sab 

bath desecration, drinking, betting, 

gambling, etc. Various articles 

against some of the prevalent evils 

have been prepared and published. 

A special resolution on Sabbath Ob 

servance, prepared by the Commit 

tee, was adopted by Synod and is to 

receive as wide publicity as possible. 

Dr. A. W. Neill, Moderator of the 

General Assembly of the Presby 

terian Church in Ireland, was present 

on Tuesday evening 

and conveyed 

the greetings of his Church. He was 

baptised in the Covenanter Church 

and still had ties that bound him to 

it in certain respects, but his father 

left the Covenanter Church when 

Dr. Neill was but a boy, as he found 

himself unable to accept some of its 

principles. He gave us an inspiring 

and challenging address. 

Following him, the deputation 

from the sister R. P. Church in 

Scotland was received Rev. C. 

Presho, M.A., the Moderator, and 

the Rev. Hugh J. Blair, B.A. These 

brethren conveyed the greetings of 

the mother Church to her elder 

daughter. Mr. Presho went on to 

address us on the theme of "New 

Testament Boldness" 

while Mr. Blair 

challenged us with his address on 

"The Challenge of Scotland" the 

challenge of the unfinished task in 

the individual life, in the Church 

life and in the life of the nation. It 

is the same challenge as that which 

came to our forefathers and demands 

the same qualities of life and spirit 

in us as it did in them sacrifice, 

service and steadfast faith. 

Last year, during the summer, 

open air services were held at Por 

trush, 

Northern Ireland. For the first time 

one of the seaside resorts in 

loud speaker equipment was used 

and we believe that much good has 

come from the effort. The services, 

as in other years, were organized 

and arranged by the Forward Move 

ment Committee, and represent but 

one of the many-sided activities in 

which that Committee is engaged. 

The work of the Witness-bearing 

Committee has been carried on along 

the usual lines but on a somewhat 

larger scale than in recent years. 

Special reference in this connection 

was made to A. W. Baker's little 

booklet "Free-masonry, one of the 

Anti-christ's," 

the subject. 

During 

a very fine booklet on 

the past year a special 

committee has been investigating the 

question of revising the Terms of 

Communion, 

and suggested two sets 

of Terms for consideration by the 

Synod. After considerable discussion 

of a helpful nature, the whole mat 

ter was remitted to the Committee 

for a further year, 

tion that they 

with the instruc 

also prepare a brief 

summary of the Church. 

Testimony 

of the 

In connection with the Psalmody 

Committee's report a special commit 

tee has been appointed to consider the 

suitability for use in our Church of the 

Revised Version of the Psalter as 

used by the Irish Presbyterian 

Church. At present we cannot ob 

tain a Psalter suitable for worship


in our Church, 

and the cost of pub 

lishing one for ourselves is prohibi 

tive. 

The report of the Committee on the 

Instruction of the Young 

shows that 

the interests of the youth in our 

Church are not being neglected. Of 

the 402 candidates who sat for the 

annual S. S. examination conducted 

by the committee, 360 obtained prizes 

and of these 36 obtained full marks. 

For those of older years the C. Y. P. 

U. meets a need, and the report oi 

the Union shows that the young peo 

ple are active and interested in the 

work, though they have their discour 

agements. The President of the C. Y. 

P. U. was unable to be in attendance 

at Synod on account of illness, but 

the Vice President, Dr. John McKel 

vey, was present and addressed the 

Synod. 

The reports of the various "Mis 

sion" 

Committees show that the 

Church's eyes are often on the Far 

Horizons, as well as dwelling upon 

the matters nearer home. Church ex- 

the needs of the Sabbath School. Both 

in the Colonial Mission in Australia 

and the Foreign Mission in Syria. 

Permission has been given to the Mc- 

Kinnon congregation in Melbourne, 

Australia, to build a Manse, and also 

to enlarge the present Church build 

ing 

as it is not large enough to meet 

the neers of the Sabbath School. Both 

Rev. W. R. McEwen and Rev. A. 

Barkley, have been bearing fruitful 

witness to the truth as it is in Jesus, 

doing so as opportunity offers, within 

and without the Church. The Church 

of Rome boldly asserts her authority 

in Australia but our Church embraces 

many opportunities for bearing wit 

ness to Protestantism there. The Gee 

long congregation is faced with the 

necessity of a considerable expendi 

ture in the way of repairs to the 

manse and church property. 

It has been a specially strenuous 

year for our missionaries in Syria. 

The enemy 

of souls has been active 

through various channels in seeking 

to hinder the work of the Kingdom 

but notwithstanding 

the work has gone steadily 

such opposition 

and en 

couragingly on. The general situation 

is somewhat tense at present on ac 

count of the unsettled condition in 

Palestine. During the year the work 

extended by organizing a boarding 

department in connection with the 

school and by opening 

a clinic where 

medical services which are much ap 

preciated are rendered. For the first 

year in their history 

the various 

Women's Missionary Associations of 

the Irish Church subscribed over 1000 

to the work of the Foreign Mission, 

the total income from all sources in 

Ireland being 3337, 

than two years ago. The General Sec 

some 524 more 

retary drew attention to the need of 

additional staff in Syria, and partic 

ularly for the need of another ordain 

ed missionary. 

Mrs. Henry C. Lyons, 

who was 

present at your Synodical meetings 

and Conferences at Grinnell last year, 

addressed the Synod as the represent 

ative of the Women's Missionary 

Union she holds the office of Treas- 

urer-and told us something 

visit in the U. :S. A. 

of her 

Our Colporteurs working under the 

guidance of the Committee on Irish 

Evangelisation have been rendering 

faithful service during the year work 

ing, as they do, mainly among our 

Roman Catholic fellow countrymen. 

That their efforts have not been 

altogether in vain is borne out by the 

fact that they are 'being denounced 

more than ever by the Roman Catho 

lic hierarchy. There are three of them, 

and one of them, Mr. Thomas Beck, 

addressed the Synod and gave us a 

fresh insight into the work that he 

and those he has gathered around 

him are carrying on in Dublin, the 

capital of Eire. 

The report of the Committee on 

Migration and Emigration showed 

that during the year five of our peo 

ple have gone to England, four to 

South Africa, two to Canada and one 

to the United States, while yet an 

other remained in Northern Ireland 

but outside the bounds of the Church. 

During the interval between the 

afternoon and evening sessions on 

the Wednesday a reception was held 

by the Belfast Congregation for the 

members of the Synod and of the 

Women's Missionary Union who held 

their meeting that day. Everyone 

seemed to enjoy their tea and the 

hall was packed to capacity. Of spe 

cial interest to quite a few present 

was the fact that some of the re 

cords of the Psalm-singing at Grin 

nell were played, thanks to Mrs. H. 

C. Lyons who had brought them home 

with her. 

And so another Synod has come to 

its close and those who were present 

have returned home, refreshed and 

reinvigorated, and encouraged as they 

face up to the challenge of the world, 

and as they themselves would chal 

lenge the world, doing 

vice to the glory 

of God. 

JAMESROBB 

all their ser 

The marriage of Miss Marjorie 

James to Mr. Stewart Robb, 

son of 

Mr. and Mrs. Jay Robb, was solem 

nized on the evening of June 1 in 

the Reformed Presbyterian Church 

in Denison. Rev. T. M. Hutcheson 

officiated at the double ring cere 

mony. Miss Elizabeth Robb, Frank 

James and Eddie Oran Pooler pro 

vided the music. Miss Doris Robb 

lighted the candles. The attendants 

were Miss Juanita Moffet and Mr. 

John Robb. Mr. Delber Robb, Mr. 

Willard Knowles and Mr. David 

James ushered. After a wedding trip 

to the Ozarks Mr. and Mrs. Robb 

are at home on a farm between 

Denison and Mayetta. 

KANSAS G. Y. P. U. CONFERENCE 

The Motto : "Crusaders For Christ 


The Place : Forest Park, Topeka, Kansas 




WHERE? White Lake Gamp, 



WHY? Christian Fellowship. Meet old 


THEME All for Jesus Stop and Think.

LESSON HELPS FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 4, 1948 

,500years of Witnessing for, christ'5 Sovereign rights in the, church" 

qnd the.


QUmpA&i ajj Uve (leL


GuAAesd Ca&nti Prof. John Coleman, PhD., D. D. 

Congress is gone again. It has loaned $65,000,000 to 

the U. N. for the capitol buildings on Manhattan Island; 

it has restored the wartime limitation on the mounting 

instalment buying (you must now pay one-third down 

on the new refrigerator) ; it has slightly increased the 

percentage of reserves that a bank must hold of its time 

and demand deposits (half what President Truman ask 

ed and not enough to make any difference) ; it has pas 

sed a conservative housing bill; and it has adjourned. 

There was a gesture toward anti-poll tax legislation, but 

no real effort was made to use the methods that would 

force a vote; and there was great excitement over the 

Communists. The FBI and a grand jury in New York 

City had been over the ground covered by the House and 

Senate committees, but the country did not know that 

and great has been the furor. It is interesting to read 

editorals in papers like the New York Herald Tribune 

(Republican) that ridicule the whole thing 

But it is 

grand campaign stuff. Don't you wish the campaign were 

over and our statesmen could get down to business in 

stead of considering every minute how whatever they 

say or do will affect the vote in November? 

> *- * S 

One good thing Congressman Mundt (one of the more 

active members of the anti-red committee) has done is 

to bring up the case of a Russian school-teacher who is 

apparently being held in the Russian consulate in New 

York City until they can spirit her out of the country- 

She apparently is not so "red" 

as she once was and may, 

it is feared, talk too freely. A diplomatic residence has 

such rights once a person is on the embassy grounds, 

but not a consulate. It seems as if s writ of habeas cor 

pus might send the New York police into the consulate. 

Of course Russia would raise an awful row, but she does 

that now. 

When peace was made with the Balkan states it was 

agreed that the navigation of the Danube, the great artery 

of trade in that part of the world, would be left to later 

consideration. It is being considered now at Belgrade. 

The U. S., 

Britan and France were to be represented, 

and are, but Vishinsky has told their spokesmen that 

since they are not located in the Danube valley they 

might as well go home. Vinshinsky ignores the fact, that 

neither Russia nor the Ukraine is there either, and he is 

bossing the convention like, well, like John L. Lewis run 

ning a gathering of the United Mine Workers. Really 

the Western Powers are speaking for non-Communist 

Austria, 

and Russia proposes to ignore that country 

until she can control it Austria has 700 barges that are 

idle because the prewar freedom of traffic on the Danube 

has not been restored. It is said that the U. S. would 

use the Danube for supplies to Austria were it permitted. 

Jr ^ J* * 1*- 

YOU CANNOT DO BUSINESS WITH RUSSIA. 

Chancellor Leopold Figl of Austria has protested to the 

Soviet occupation authorities against the removal of 

"vital" 

railway material from the storehouses and yards 

at Woerth in the Russian zone. The Russians say that 

under the Potsdam 

agreement they can take German 

property, and since the Germans took everything in 

Austria, it now belongs to the Soviets. This is the excuse 

they use to take the possessions of American corpora 

tions in the same area. The Potsdam agreement was 

drawn up without endless guarding of details, as between 

friendly folks, 

and like a shyster lawyer the Russians 

are taking advantage of every loophole. This is the ex 

cuse for shutting the corridor to Berlin. We were to 

have a part of Berlin, but the corridor already agreed 

to was not redefined in the Potsdam papers. 

YOU MUST DO BUSINESS WITH RUSSIA. Get a 

map of the world and follow around the Russian border 

and consider how the Soviet leaders are pushing into 

every country on the whole long line. The world is 

Russia's goal, and we are in the world and might as well 

meet the issue now as later 

President Truman says that the U. S. has since the 

war appropriated eighteen billions of dollars to aid the 

rest of the world. Some of it has gone to practically 

every nation under the whole heaven, even to the ones 

that call us "money-grabbing imperialists" 

Let's forget foreign issues for the rest of the page. The 

Journal of Applied Physics tells us that there has been 

developed a new method of killing germs in natural 

foods by playing a stream of high-energy electrons on 

them. The method does not destroy valuable vitamines 

as does heat. Raw milk flowing through glass tubes has 

the number -of germs reduced almost to zero. Orange, 

and grapefruit juices are sterilized without boil- 

tomato, 

may work a revolution in the whole field of food market 

ing. This Massachusetts Institute of Technology discovery 

ing that will make it cheaper and better and subject to 

a greater range in transportation. To most of us the 

whole field of electronics is a mystery, 

but we do not 

mind taking the results. The Creator has yet untold 

treasures waiting for men. When humanity turns to 

serve Him, doubtless He will throw the doors still wider. 

The Grand Lodge Bulletin, quoted by the Christian 

Cynosure, 

gives figures on the recent growth of Masonry 

In 1942 there were 15,329 lodges with a membership of 

2,4533,175, 

a decrease of 5,759 over the previous year. 

The tide turned the next year with an increase of 24,176. 

The next year the increase was 83,401, in 1945 an in 

crease of 161, 533, in 1946 an increase of 181,593, 

and in 

1947 an increase of 198,197. The membership at the end 

of 1947 was 3,102,075. Evidently the war has brought 

about the growth. The writer once heard Bishop McCabe 

boast that in the Civil War Masons on both sides set free 

fellow Masons who had been taken prisoner. Loyalty to 

Masonry was greater than loyalty to country, 

good Bishop was very proud of the fact. 

and the 

The Germans in the last war blocked the Corinth Ca 

nal, and the clearing of it has been the first major pro 

ject of the American rehabilitation program in Greece. 

They have? taken out of it 1800 tons of bridge steel, 130 

freight cars, six locomotives and 600,000 cubic meters of 

earth and rock. They also are rebuilding the bridges so 

that traffic by rail and highway can be renewed between 

southern and nothern Greece. The canal saves 200 miles 

of somewhat dangerous navigation around the southern 

tip of Greece. All over Europe such rebuilding is need 

ed before the lands can get back to normalcy.


Synod Reports 

REPORT OF COVENANTER MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF 

DIRECTORS OF THE NATIONAL REFORM ASSOCIATION OF 

THE SYNOD OF THE REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 

The principles and aims of the National Reform Association 

are so well known to Reformed Presbyterians that no statement of 

them is needed in this report. The limit placed upon the report 

will not permit any detailed account of the work accomplished this 

past year. Suffice it to say that with God's blessing we have had a 

good year. Our work in volume and character has been up to that 

of past years. We will confine this report largely to brief statements 

on the main items in our program for the coming year. 

I. The Liquor Traffic: 

THE COMING YEAR 

a. We will carry on as heretofore our program against Liquor 

Advertisment. The enormous amount spent by the liquor industry 

in advertising its products for the purpose of increasing the sale 

snd consumption of alcoholic beverages calls for an aggressive cam 

paign against it. The president of our Association as chairman of 

the Committee Against Liquor Advertising 

will continue this year 

the investigation of the amount spent in the advertising alcholic 

liquor. For the year 1946 those engaged in their manufactune spent 

at least $125,000,000. We have now practically all the available data 

for 1947, which we will compile within a few weeks, 

publish and 

send out all over the United States to the religious press and leaders 

of some 25 National organizations. 

We have just completed our investigation to obtain the revenue 

by Life, Time, and Fortune, all published by Time, Inc. from Liquor 

Advertisement, and find the net revenue of the three for 1947, to 

have been about $12,500,000 and Life alone $9,500,000. The results 

of our investigation we will publish in leaflet form for wide dis 

tribution and also give out in a release to the press. In addition, by 

authorization of the Temperance Council, we will urge a protest 

campaign against these Magazines, particularly, Life, to be focused 

on.Henry R. Luce, founder and Editor in Chief of the three, who is 

the son of a Presbyteiian Minister and Missionary in China. 

b. We will continue the publication of the Liquor leaflets which 

we have published in past years and which have created a wide in 

terest and proved most effective. Within recent months we have pub 

lished and have- distributed largely from house to house 100,000 of 

these attractive leaflets. We now have the data for publishing 1947 

leaflets, and expect soon to publish another 100,000 copies, and hope 

to publish other 100,000, within the next year. 

c. The later part of this month, Rev. Sam Morris, outstanding 

temporance leader and speaker of our country, will give a series of 

six messages under the auspecies of our association in North Central 

Ohio. Five of these are county-wide mass meetings. 

d. The president of our Association in response to an invitation 

from the Kansas Presbytery 

of the Reformed Presbyterian church 

will spend a month in Kansas this fall assisting the Dry Forces in 

the campaign preceding the November election, 

when the electors 

of that state will vote on whether Kansas is to retain or repeal Con 

stitutional prohibition. 

e. In response to our appeal four Geneva College students form 

ed a team to go out in Beaver County to speak on the liquor issue. 

They have already filled some dates and expect to fill many more 

engagements this coming year. 

II. The Christian Sabbath 

There is great need for aggressive efforts in this field but a 

lamentable lack of interest and not many calls for help. However, 

within the past year we have had calls for our books on the Sabbath. 

We supplied a Presbyterian Presbytery 

Studies on The Day," 

with 125 copies of "Six 

to be used as the textbook in the study of 

the Sabbath in a summer conference. Our work on behalf of the 

Sabbath was so appreciated by this Presbytery that they sent our 

Lesson Helps 



FACING ALCOHOL FRANKLY 

(Used by Permission of Christian Endeavor) 

Scripture : 

Prov. 20:1; Gal. 5:16-25 

Psalms : 

Psalm 143:1-3, No. 385 

Psalm 24:3-6, No. 57 

Psalm 119:1-4, No. 319 

Psalm 37:29-33, No. 101 

Scripture references : 

Hab. 2:15; Isa. 28:7; Rom. 14:21; Prov. 

31:4; Prov. 23:19-21; Prov. 23:,29-32; Eph. 

5:18; Isa. 24:9; Lev. 10:8,9; I Cor. 6:10 

Comments : 

By the Rev. J. O. Edgar 

One of our nation's gigantic problems is 

the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Last 

year $9,600,000,000 was spent for liquor di 

rectly. Probably 

the indirect costs were 

several times the above figure. The national 

liquor bill has been increasing 

at about one 

billion dollars a year for the last three years 

so it is a problem that should be frankly 

faced. 

The liquor interests are strong and have 

deceived a great proportion of the people in 

our land. Moreover a lot of people are afraid 

to do anything to curtail or prohibit liquor. 

The Capper Bill was before Congress for 

more than a year. But in spite of overwhelm 

ing evidence against liquor advertising, the 

bill was "killed" 

in committee. 

Even some churches are afraid to face the 

issue and incur the anger of the booze barons. 

Many 

a minister gets weak knees when a 

liquor fight is going on in his town because 

he is afraid he might be in disfavor with 

some of the "best" 

people in town. 

The time has come that the right thinking, 

Christian people must rise up against this 

evil before it brings about the downfall of 

the nation. Liquor has played a prominent 

part in the decay of many 

nations. Marshal 

Petain of France, after the fall of his nation, 

attributed one of the causes of its failure to 

the high consumption of wine by 

people. 

the French 

Although the liquor traffic is strong and 

well organized, it can be defeated. Even the 

trade magazines of the industry are sounding 

warnings that unless the evils are checked 

there will be a return to prohibition. The 

rum seller doesn't run easily, but he will 

run faster if someone is after him. The 

Apostle James writes (Jas. 4:7), "Resist the 

you." 

devil and he will flee from 

Every Christian young person should seek 

to know the facts about alcohol. He should 

know the truth about alcohol and health; and 

about alcohol and economics. Study should be 

made of the many scripture passages that 

are against the use of strong drink, and one 

should be able to answer the arguments that


are constantly being put forth by the "wets"- 

This is an evil with which no one should 

trifle. It is estimated that one out of every 

twenty 

who begin to drink become alcoholics 

(drunkards). No one starts out with the 

thought of becoming 

an habitual drinker. He 

drinks to be sociable. But the so called 

moderate, 

drinking 

social drinker soon finds that he is 

more and more until he finds him 

self harnessed to the habit. There can be no 

middle ground in the matter of drinking. 

Total abstinence is the only safe rule. 

Young people looking forward to estab 

lishing homes should give particular thought 

to the part alcohol plays in destroying homes. 

Probably more unhappiness and misery in 

the homes of our nation can be attributed to 

liquor than to any 

other cause. It is no 

coincidence that our national divorce rate be 

gan to soar as soon as the prohibition law 

was repealed. 

No one should be afraid or ashamed to 

take his stand against liquor. If one studies 

the problem and gets the facts he will be able 

to give the answers. 

Topics For Discussion 

1. Discuss the brewers attempt to invade 

the home with beer advertising. (Union Sig 

nal, June 12, 1948.) 

2. Discuss the organization known as 

"Alcoholic Anonymous. What is an obvious 

weakness in its program ? 

3. Discuss the costs of liquor to our nation, 

both direct and indirect. 

4. How does liquor influence the happiness 

of the home ? 

5. Why should women not drink? (Union 

Signal, May 29, 1948.) 

fi. Discuss the fallacy of moderate drinking. 

JUNIOR TOPIC 


"HERE AM I" 


Worship Period: Sing Ps. 62:4. Pray Ps. 

19:14. Repeat the memory verse, Mt. 28:20 

(last part). Sing Ps. 91:1-5, No. 248. 

This lesson is to help the Junior depend on 

and work for Jesus throughout this school 

year. 

When the first day 

of school was over, 

you came running home and your call was, 

"Mother" 

you?" 

Oh, Mother! Where are 

There were so many things to tell her. And as 

soon as you had called, the answer came, 

"Here I 

am." 

And there was your own dear 

mother ready to listen to you. Juniors, that 

is just like you and your Heavenly Father. 

When you have something to tell Him, He is 

right there saying, "Here I am, waiting to 

hear you, wanting to help 

you." 

And He is always there. Some evening, 

your call to mother might not be answered 

and you would look all through the house 

and not find her. How lonesome you would 

be as you sat out on the step 

and waited for 

her! But you never have to wait for your 

Heavenly Father. He is not away off in some 

association a contribution of $300.00 We will carry forward our 

effort in this field this coming year as opportunity affords. 

III. The World Order and International Peace 

We emphazize the importance of effort in this field as we have 

done in former reports. Our churches and other Christian agencies 

must take the lead in a program of education in proclaming and 

applying the basic principles of Christianity to the international 

situation, if we are not to have another and far more terrible world 

war. The agencies that have been leading in our international pro 

gram are confessing their inability to meet the situation and calling 

upon religious leaders to take the lead in a program for peace. 

We have given large space in the Christian Stateman to the dis 

cussion of this issue and expect to do so in the future and in other 

ways to help build a public sentiment for the peace of the world 

based upon the principles of the Prince of Peace. 

IV. The Bible and Religion in the Public Schools. 

This work we were pursuing with notable success until the re 

cent decision of the U. S. Supreme Court in the Champaign, Illinois, 

school case. Our Mr. Hertzler had been giving his full time to setting 

up Bible Study courses in the public schools and would have in 

creased by thousands the number of 42,000 students already receiv 

ing this instruction in the schools as a result of his efforts, had it 

not been for this decision. For the present he has ceased this work 

and is devoting his time to work along other lines of our association. 

Not since the Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court before 

the Civil War, has this court handed down any decision which has 

caused such wide spread dissatisfaction, if not resentment, as its 

decision in this school case. Taken in connection with basic state 

ments made by the court in support of its decision, it is a most dis- 

asterous decision, 

which if carried out to its logical conclusion will 

not only exclude Bible teaching in our public schools but religion 

in any form and make them as atheistic as if there were no God. 

If the statements the Court made that our American doctrine of the 

separation of Church and State means the separation of religion 

from the state were carried out to their logical conclusion we would 

have a completely secular, Godless, 

atheistic state. But we hasten 

to add this will not be done. The American people will never per 

mit it. The Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court did not settle 

the question of slavery. Instead it helped to bring on the Civil War. 

The decision of the supreme court in this school case will not settle 

the question of the Bible in religion in our schools, nor the issue 

over the place religion should have in our national and governmental 

life. The Supreme Court of the United States is not infallible nor 

are its decisions irreversible. It has made mistakes before. It has 

reversed its decisions on other issues and we predict that in time 

it will reverse itself on this issue. Its action in this case will result 

has already resulted in wide discussion and a re-study of this whole 

subject of the relation of church and state and of the relation of 

religion to the state. It brings to the front the great issue of 

whether we are to have a secular or the Christian Government in 

this country, 

and gives our association and all those interested in 

Christian government an unparalleled opportunity to propogate, 

and apply 

the Christian principles of civil government to this and 

other moral issues before the nation. This, 

take advantage of. 

our association will 

While our program for the Bible and religion in the schools 

will have to be modified as a result of this decision, 

expand and intensify 

them. 

tion 

we propose to 

our efforts on this issue rather than decrease 

V. Southern California Branch of the National Reform Associa 

This branch has been quite active the past year and will continue 

its activities this coming year, especially on behalf of a bill to be in 

troduced into the legislature for Bible reading in the public school and 

for including in the proposed revision of the State constitution a 

provision for such reading. Representatives of this branch are dele 

gates to this Synod and we request they be heard on behalf of this 

Branch's work.


VI. The Christian Amendment. 

We have been giving and will continue to give support to this 

movement in the columns of the Christian Statesman and will also 

be represented at the hearing .Amendment 

on the Christian Bill be 

fore the judiciary committee of the House of Representatives. All 

our work on behalf of Christian Government is laying a foundation 

and building a public sentiment for such an Amendment. 

VII. Finances 

The past year has been a fairly 

good one for support of our 

work as the financial report we herewith submit will show. We 

appreciate the increasing support of the members of the Reformed 

Presbyterian Church. Mr. Tibby's report shows that their contribu 

tions to this work for the past year amounted to $3,631.00, 

crease of $286.00 over that of' 

the previous year. 

RECOMMENDATIONS 

an in 

I. That Synod approve the work of the Association and com 

mends the association to the support of the membership 

formed Presbyterian Church. 

of the Re 

II. That Synod urges the support of the members of the Re 

formed Presbyterian Church of the nation-wide protest to Life, 

Time and Fortune magazines for affording the liquor industry the 

extrordinary facilities of these magazines in promoting the sale and 

use of alcholic beverages, by their advertisements. 

III. That Synod again approves the raising of a special Bible 

in the School fund as a memorial to Drs. Martin, Fleming and Dun 

can and requests liberal contributions from members of the church 

for this fund. 

IV. That the first Sabbath of November be designated for 

taking the annual offering for National Reform, that $10,000 be the 

amount requested from our people for the support of this cause; 

that in view of the great need of promoting this cause of Christian 

government in these days our people be urged to contribute this 

amount and that pastors be requested to present the work that is 

being done by the association to their people with a view to secur 

ing from them the largest possible support for this cause. 

V. That the names and addresses of contributors be sent either 

to the Association headquarters, 209 Ninth St. Pgh, Pa. or to J. S. 

Tibby at the same address, that the Christian Statesman may be sent 

free to contributors. \f ' 

\ 

VI. That Synod requests that our people make constant prayer 

on behalf of this work, and that strength and wisdom may be given 

to those on whom rests the responsibility of carrying it forward. 

R. H. Martin 

Respectfully submitted 

J. G. McElhinney 

K. M. Young 

C. T. Carson 

James S. Tibby 

H. L. Smith 

Delber H. Elliott 

Financial Statement of 

The National Reform Association 

Report for fiscal year beginning Nov. 1, 1946 and ending Oc 

tober 31, 1947. 

Bank Balance in Mellon National Bank and Trust Co., 

November 1, 1946 $3,953.19 

RECEIPTS: 

General $9,861.62 

Literature 1,029.49 10,891.11 

DISBURSMENTS: 

Salaries, Expenses $8,774.36 

Rent 328.50 

$14,844.30 

Printing 

3,518.30 

Sundries 1,185.22 13,806.38 

Balance in Mellon National Bank and Trust Co., 

October 31, 1947 $1,037.92 

desert nor across an ocean that you must 

search for Him. He is near you all the time. 

For, lo, He is with you always. 

Whenever God's children need Him and 

call to Him, He is there to help. Even when 

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were 

thrown into the fiery furnace, God did not 

leave them. There walked with them One like 

unto the Son of God. 

How safe that makes us feel! I knew a 

little girl who was always lonesome when 

she went up to bed in the dark until she 

found out that she was not alone; Jesus was 

with her. After that, she felt safe and happy 

to know that He was always there. 

The disciples in the storm-tossed boat 

thought the sleeping Master had forgotten 

them and all would be lost. They need not 

have feared, for Jesus was with them and 

they 

were safe. Not one of God's children 

need worry for lo, Jesus is with you always, 

to keep you safe. 

I remember one Sabbath evening in Pitts 

burgh. It had been my custom to walk home 

with Frieda after church, for she lived on a 

dark street where there were many rough 

people. But this evening, Mr. and Mrs. Gil 

more said they would take her home. They 

took her to within a block and they watched 

until she would turn in at her door. As she 

went on alone, a big, white dog came trotting 

beside her. Suddenly, the dog stopped and 

began barking furiously. Mr. Gilmore ran 

forward just in time to see a man disappear 

down the alley toward the river. Then Mr. 

Gilmore took Frieda all the way home. Do 

you see how God was caring 

for the little 

girl? First, He had Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore go 

home with her, and when they did not go all 

the way, He sent the friendly dog to protect 

her. None of us ever saw the dog before or 

afterward. God had sent it along that street 

just that time. 

Let us read Isa. 58:9; Acts 18:9, 10; Isa. 41: 

10; 12:2. Sing the lovely 121st Psalm. 

But Jesus is not only near to help us. He is 

also ready to let us help Him. When you call 

Mother and her answer comes, then you are 

ready to say, "Are you there, Mother? I'm 

home from school now. Is there anything you 

want me to do tonight?" 

You Juniors are 

just starting the school year. Jesus will be 

walking with you every step of the way. 

When He says to you, "Here am I, my 

are you ready to respond quickly, cheerfully, 

gladly, "And here I am, Lord Jesus. What 

wilt Thou have me to do?" 

When Moses 

child," 

answered God's call, there was a life-long 

work waiting for him. Are you willing to 

work for Jesus every day this year? He has 

done so much for us, 

we should be glad to do 

what we can for Him. Let us read Ex. 3:4 

and Isa. 6:8. Sing two verses of Psalm 18:1, 

No. 41. 

Then, too, we should be ready to say, 

"Here am I" 

to other people who need our 

help. God says it to us and we say it to God. 

Are we ready to say it to others? Do you


remember how the little boy Samuel wanted 

to help ? Three times he jumped out of bed 

and ran when he thought Eli called him. 

Read I Sam. 3:4-10. We Juniors should be 

just as eager to help others. Are you 

thoughtful of your teacher ? Do you watch 

for ways to be kind on the playground ? Do 

you remember to pray for your schoolmates? 

When you are at home, at church, in school, 

at a party wherever you are always be 

on the look-out to help 

am-I Junior" 

others. Be a "Here- 

when anyone needs you. 

Close with sentence prayer and the 23rd 

Psalm. 



AQUILA AND PRISCILLA 

Acts 18:1-3, 18-26; Romans 16:3-5; I Cor. 

16:19; 2 Tim. 4:19 

The lesson just preceding this one had to 

do with the conversion of Saul of Tarus, later 

known as Paul, 

and the part that Ananias 

performed in connection with that miracu 

lous event. The chapters that follow contain 

the record of the spread of the gospel to the 

Gentile world, 

the first of a number of notable 

events recorded being Peter's vision, reveal 

ing 

to him that there is neither Jew nor 

Greek, but that all are one in Christ Jesus. A 

second memorable step was taken when the 

church at Antioch sent out Paul and Barna 

bas as the first Christian missionaries to 

foreign lands. Luke relates in considerable 

detail the experiences of these two men 

while on the trip and after their return to 

Antioch, one of the principal events being 

the Council at Jerusalem, which settled def 

initely the question that had up to that point 

troubled the infant church, namely the 

standing of Gentile converts. 

The second missionary journey, Paul tak 

ing with him as associate Silas, owing to the 

dissension that had risen between Paul and 

Barnabas about Mark, was begun shortly 

after the Council had adjourned. It was on 

this second tour that Paul made his great ad 

dress to the scholars and philosophers at 

Athens. He was listened to with interest and 

a degree of curiosity until he touched on the 

doctrine of the resurrection, 

when his hear 

ers interrupted with ridicule and mocking. 

It is sad to think of Paul's seeming failure at 

Athens. True, some believed, but the sad fact 

remains that there is no epistle of Paul to 

the Athenians, 

while two letters of his to 

each of the two churches in Thessalonica and 

Corinth have been preserved. The proud and 

scholarly Athens would have none of a risen 

Christ, while the other two cities, with all 

their wickedness, became sites of early and 

flourishing churches. Almost any map of that 

part of Europe will show the location of those 

two cities in which Paul labored so success 

fully after his vain effort at Athens. It was 

at Corinth that he first met up 

with the two 

characters named in the lesson topic, Aquila 

and Priscilla. 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE OATH 

To the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church June, 1948: 

The Oath Committee has held three meetings since the last meet 

ing 

length. 

of Synod at which the task committed to us was discussed at 

While the purpose for which the Committee was appointed has 

not been fully achieved notable progress has been made toward its 

achievement sufficient progress to give promise of its full achieve 

ment if we continue our efforts with wisdom and patience. 

The purpose was to secure an official and authoritative interpre 

tation from the government of the constitutional oath with reference 

to whether it requires the oath-taker to give an allegiance to the 

state which is above, or subordinate to, his allegiance to God. This 

purpose can be achieved only by putting the issue to test in specific 

cases cases involving naturalization, holding of public office, teach 

ers in states where the constitutional oath is required of those teach 

ing in our public schools, of officers in the armed forces, etc. 

With a view to giving our committee a basis on which to proceed 

in these cases Synod, on our recommendation, adopted the "Explana 

tory Declaration" 

containing a declaration of supreme allegiance to 

the Lord Jesus Christ, and authorizing the members of the church 

to take the constitutional oath if the official whose duty it is to 

administer it, administers it in the light of this Declaration. 

Proceeding along these various lines we have put this matter to 

the test in many cases and almost without exception where the com 

mittee's directions were followed, the administration officials of the 

government have administered the constitutional oath with the Ex 

planatory Declaration. Thus we have built up a long list of prece 

dents probably as many as an hundred for the administration of 

the oath with the oath-taker maintaining a Supreme allegiance to 

Jesus Christ. But in these cases we were unable to get this issue be 

fore the courts, because the officials who administered the oath be 

longed to the Executive Department of the government, 

and when 

they administered it with the Explanatory Declaration, there was no 

ground on which we could appeal to the courts. 

However, in a recent naturalization case the applicant's right to 

be naturalized was challenged by the immigration officials and the 

case went into court and a ruling on this issue was obtained. It was 

whose hus 

the case of Mrs. H. W. Patterson of Mediapolis, Iowa, 

band was formerly a missionary of our Church in Cyprus. She was 

a Britisher and a member of the Morning Sun congregation of the 

Reformed Presbyterian Church. 

In her application Mrs. Patterson stated that she would not take 

the required oath of allegiance without the Explanatory Declaration; 

that is, only on the basis of her maintaining a supreme allegiance to 

Jesus Christ. The immigration authorities objected to her natural 

ization on the ground of her religious views, that she was not attach 

ed to the principles of the constitution, and would not take the oath 

apart from the Explanatory Declaration. 

Dr. and Mrs. Patterson requested the counsel and help of our Com 

mittee which we gave, placing in their hands documents, which their 

attorney used in presenting her case before the court and which the 

court used in giving its opinion in the case. 

This whole matter of her religious convictions including 

the fact 

that she was a member of a church which "did not permit its mem 

bers to vote in elections because to do so would be supporting the 

Constitution of the U. S. when it contains no acknowledgement in 

Christ." 

its present form of the Supremacy of Jesus 

Notwithstanding 

this, the court overruled the objections of the naturalization authori 

ties, gave her a clean bill of health, and granted her naturalization. 

This was a notable victory for the great cause for which we have 

stood throughout the years. It should be given wide publicity 

throughout our own church and outside it as well; especially so, 

because of the fine opinion of the court giving the reasons for the 

decision. 

Thus we have gotten this issue into the Courts and ruled upon 

by a Court. But, it will be said, this ruling was only in a District 

Court of a State, not in the Supreme Court of the United States. 

True, but the real significance of the ruling of this District Court of


Iowa was that it was based upon a ruling of the Supreme Court of 

the United States in a case involving precisely the same principle. 

In the Providence of God two cases have been brought before the 

U. S. Supreme Court involving this same principle. The first was 

the Macintosh case in 1932; the second, the Girouard case in 1946. 

Both were naturalization cases. In the former, Macintosh, a Canadi 

an and a Presbyterian, stated that he was ready to give to the United 

States all the allegiance he ever gave or could give to any state, but 

that he would not put his allegiance to the State above his allegiance 

to God. On this ground the Court refused by a 5 to 4 vote, to natural 

ize him. There are important points in this case which the limits 

of this report will not permit us to bring out, but the decision of the 

Court sums up to this; that the oath of allegiance to the State, wheth 

er it be taken by a citizen or by an alien in becoming a citizen, re 

quires of the one taking the oath a promise of absolute, unqualified 

obedience to the State, taking for granted that this will be in ac 

cordance with the will of God. In other words, to give an allegiance 

to the State above allegiance to God. This decision awoke wide 

spread opposition for it ran counter to the fundamental principle of 

religious liberty upon which this Republic was founded. Fortunately 

it has not had serious consequences and happily it has been reversed 

by the same Court in the Girouard case, involving the same principle 

in 1946. Girouard was a Canadian who applied for citizenship in the 

United States. He was asked whether he was "willing to take up 

arms in defense of this Country" 

He replied, "No (Non-combr.tant) 

Seventh Day Adventist." 

He stated it was purely a religious matter 

with him, he had no political or personal reasons other than that. 

In other words it was only 

on the ground of his belief that it was 

contrary to the will of God for him to take up 

arms and that he 

would not promise an allegiance to the State that was not subordi 

nate to his allegiance to God, that he so answered. On this basis 

the court naturalized him. He took the oath of allegiance maintain 

ing his supreme allegiance to God. 

Thus in this matter of the interpretation of the oath of allegiance 

as enacted by Congress, 

with reference to whether the allegiance 

given the state is above or subordinate to, the oath-taker's allegiance 

to God, the Supreme Court has reversed itself. In the opinion of 

the court in the Girouard Case, it is specificially and repeatedly 

stated that it set aside the ruling of the court in the Macintosh case. 

The minority opinion in the Macintosh case given by Chief Justice 

Hughes is quoted from and incorporated into the majority opinion 

in the Girouard Case, 

law". 

and declared now to be "the correct rule of 

This also is a far-reaching decision. It is a declaration by the 

highest legal authority in this nation, that we as a nation and govern 

ment recognize that there is a higher authority than the state, and 

that citizens and applicants for citizenship in giving their allegiance 

to the state are required to give an alligeance that is not above, but 

subordinate to, their allegiance to God. 

For this decision every Christian and religious citizen should be 

grateful. We Reformed Presbyterians should be profoundly grate 

ful for it is a recognition by our government of a principle for which 

we have stood throughout our history. It should be given the widest 

possible publicity not only within our church but outside it as well. 

We repeat what we have already said that in the naturalization 

case of Mrs. Patterson of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the 

District Court of Iowa, this court based its decision upon the U. S. 

Supreme Court's decision in the Girouard Case. In fact, Judge Mc- 

Coid's opinion in this case is made up largely of quotations from the 

opinion of the Supreme Court in the Girouard Case. 

While we do not claim that the task committed to our committee 

has been completely achieved, we do say that notable progress has 

been made and that the progress made should encourage us to con 

tinue our efforts. It should be noted here that neither our committee 

nor our church had anything to do in bringing this issue before the 

Supreme Court in the two cases referred to above. A Presbyterian 

was responsible for one, a Seventh Day Adventist for the other. This 

suggests to us that in carrying forward our work in the future we 

need not be confined to test cases involving Reformed Presbyterians, 

I. Who They Were 

Luke does not have much to say about 

them simply as individuals. He states that 

Aquila was a Jew, 

and it is a fair inference 

to conclude that his wife Priscilla was of the 

same race. They had but recently come to 

Corinth from Rome, having been expelled 

along with other Jews by Claudius, the Ro 

man emperor. Their names are found in six 

different places in The Acts and Paul's 

epistles, and always together. The fact that 

Priscilla's name is mentioned first in three 

of these references has led some writers to 

suggest, perhaps with a degree of caution, 

that she was the stronger and more energetic. 

Since Luke does not speak of these folks as 

Christians, it has been argued by certain 

commentators that they 

tians when they 

were not yet Chris 

and Paul first met. How and 

where they did met is not mentioned. The fact 

that they 

were fellow-tradesmen suggests a 

possible way for them to have become ac 

quainted. The silence of the Scriptures ren 

ders it impossible to determine with certain 

ty whether or not they were Christians be 

fore coming to Corinth. But one thing is 

very certain if they were not Christians 

when Paul first met up with them, they must 

very soon afterwards have 

followers of Christ. 

become devoted 

There is something very suggestive in that 

simple statement "He found a certain Jew 

named Aquila," 

where, and under what cir 

cumstances we are not told. The meeting may 

have taken place in the Jewish synagogue, or 

it may have been in a workshop. In any case, 

it was a place of God's appointment. The man 

with the gospel message and the man who 

was ready to receive such a message, met 

just as God meant that they should. Just as 

the Ethiopian eunuch was seeking to know 

the truth, and fell in with the very man who 

could explain everything clearly to his inquir 

ing mind, 

so this man and wife, fleeing from 

a heathen emperor, and this other man just 

arriving from a experience disappointing in 

met together in a place where God 

Athens, 

had planned that they 

should. Some call it 

"chance". We call it one of God's works of 

Providence, 

who "preserves and governs all 

His creatures and all their 

II. As Christian Workers 

Paul made a stay 

Corinth, during 

actions." 

of a year and a half in 

which time he wrought to 

gether with his newly found friends at their 

trade, but also taught them gospel truth and 

trained them for Christian service. Both their 

intelligence and aptitude became very evi 

dent. Leaving Corinth Paul came to Ephesus, 

Aquila and Priscilla with him, and 

taking 

leaving them in charge of the work at 

Ephesus, Paul himself returning to Jerusalem. 

Here the record leaves Paul for a while and 

introduces a man named Appollos. He is de 

scribed by Luke as a Jew, 

andria, 

a native of Alex 

educated in the renowned schools of 

that city, and had in some way learned and 

accepted the gospel through some true, but


defective agency, "knowing only the baptism 

of John." 

But he was possessed of a fervent 

and zealous spirit, and despite his lack of 

knowledge along some lines, preached in the 

synagogue with such fervor and courage that 

he attracted the interest of Aquila and Pris 

cilla, 

who saw great possibilities in him as a 

preacher. They appear to have discerned three 

things in him: (1) that he was a true disciple 

of Christ; (2) that he had great power as a 

preacher; (3) that he needed further in 

struction in the gospel. How thoroughly and 

truthfully they taught him is made very evi 

dent in the closing verses of chapter eighteen. 

His faithful and efficient service is made 

mention of by Paul in his familiar words, "I 

have planted; Apollos 

watered." 

Here we have another example of how 

"God works in a mysterious way. The Ro 

man emperor had driven all the Jews out of 

Rome. Aquila and Priscilla made their way to 

Corinth, where they met up 

with Paul. He 

took them with him to Ephesus, where he 

left them in charge of the work he had 

started. Then along came Apollos, whom 

neither Paul nor his helpers had ever seen. 

Apparently they 

were brought together in the 

synagogue by a common faith in God. They 

imparted, and he received what was lacking 

to make him an able minister of Jesus Christ. 

Truly, "It is not in man that walketh to di 

rect his 

steps." 

Priscilla and Aquila must 

have been great-souled people. Some folks 

might have become jealous of this brilliant 

and seemingly self-appointed preacher. These 

two were glad and thankful to have had any 

part in training this gifted man for the serv 

ice of their Master. And Apollos, with his 

education and power as a preacher, might 

have felt that he was lowering himself by 

becoming the pupil of these humble trades 

people. It is to be hoped that no injustice is 

done Aquila when we venture the remark 

that Priscilla must have had a leading part in 

this affair. How very gentle and kindly and 

tactful she must have been in presuming to 

instruct an educated man and a preacher. 

Most preachers may not relish that kind of 

instruction. But between them, Priscilla and 

Aquila had much to do in the training of one 

of the greatest preachers of the early church. 

III. Salutations and Greetings 

Romans 16:3-5. It was from Rome that 

Aquila and Priscilla had fled some years be 

fore. When, and for what reason they re 

turned is not known. But wherever they had 

been during the years, they were zealous in 

the gospel cause, even to the point of en 

dangering their lives. Their home in Rome 

was evidently a meeting place for the Roman 

Christians. 

I. Cor. 16-19. It was at Corinth that Paul 

met up with Priscilla and Aquila. Now, in 

writing to the Corinthian church, Paul tells 

the Christians there that their former Chris 

tian friends want to be remembered to them 

and not just themselves, 

that is in their house" 

but "the church 

as well. So making 

but may seek to have this issue put to the test by others than mem 

bers of our own Church. 

In pursuing its work our Committee was greatly aided by the 

counsel and help of Attorney Richard Hale. His death was a great 

loss to us. We feel keenly the need of legal counsel as we proceed 

further toward the achievement of our purpose. We have therefore 

conferred with another eminent attorney who, on Mr. Hale's request, 

gave us help 

in a naturalization case and he has practically con 

sented to serve as our legal counselor. 

The expenses of our committee for the past year are as follows: 

$50.00 for half payment of the attorney's fees in Mrs. Patterson's 

case, $15.00 for traveling expenses and incidentals of committee mem 

bers, and $17.00 for stenographic work mimeographing copies of 

Judge McCoid's opinion in the Patterson case, supplies and postage; 

total, $82.00. These expenses were met from the Cooper estate. 

We recommend: 

1. That the committee continue its efforts along the lines indicated 

above seeking test cases not only within the Reformed Presbyterian 

Church but outside it as well. 

2. That the committee be requested to prepare and publish litera 

ture in such form as they deem best, setting forth more fully than 

the limits of this report permits the facts, the issues involved, the 

decisions and opinions of the judges in the Macintosh, Girouard, 

and Patterson cases in such fashion as will be understood and ap 

preciated by the common man; and that this literature be made 

available to the membership of the Reformed Presbyterian Church 

and also that it be given wide publicity, as for example, by sending 

copies to the religious press. 

Respectfully submitted: 

R. H. Martin J. C. Mathews 

D. H. Elliott R. W. Caskey 

S. Bruce Willson Charles Marston Lee 

C. T. Carson George S. Coleman 

REPORT ON SECRET SOCIETIES 

May 1948 

Your committee on Secret Societies would report as follows: 

Since last July we requested that one topic for the C. Y. P. U. 

be on this subject. This request was granted and the topic, "What 

Can Secret Order Offer That I Cannot Find in Christ and Fellowship 

with Believers?" 

was studied by all our young people's societies on 

April 11, of this year. 

Plans were made for two articles to appear in the Covenanter 

Witness on this subject, but these have not yet made their appearance. 

We also sent out a questionnaire to all the active pastors in our 

church in an effort to discover how this problem is effecting our 

congregations and members. Forty-seven pastors responded to 

this questionnaire, which is a very good response. Some even wrote 

letters telling us of their main problems along this line From tins 

questionnaire we discovered that twenty-two pastors thought it 

was no serious problem in their congregations. Twenty-five pastors 

however, 

said it was a live problem with them, and with a few it 

is quite serious. Twelve of our pastors have preached on the subject 

recently, the others have not preached on this topic alone but have 

touched on it in other sermons and have discussed it in different 

groups such as young people's meetings, young adult classes and in 

Sabbath School. In other words, nearly all our pastors are loyal 

to this principle of our church and are doing something about it. 

We found that this principle of our church is keeping 

a good 

many people from joining with us. Some of our members have mar 

ried members of secret orders who refuse to give up their member 

ship in secret orders for different reasons. Some because of the in 

surance these orders carry for them. Some of our own members aie 

weak in the faith on this principle. Some have joined without much 

knowledge of this subject, 

and thus create a problem later on. 

We found that secrecy takes many forms over this country. In 

some parts of the country the Masons are the only order of size and 

'nfluence. A good many of our rural congregations run into the


Grange which is an offshoot of Free-masonry and is a real temp 

tation to some of our younger members. A few members have been 

lost because of this organization which appears to do some good in 

many communities. A few of our congregations are effected by 

college fraternities and sororities. These create problems among 

the young people So we see that both young and old are influenced 

and often tempted to join these secret orders. They also effect both 

males' 

and females. 

One or two pastors suggest that we needed more and new litera 

ture on this subject. The committee recommends that more tracts 

be written on this subject dealing with present day problems. We 

would call this suggestion to the attention of the Witness Committee. 

Your committee believes that our church should strengthen her 

self to keep up the good fight against this evil which has weakened 

so many other churches. May we follow the example of our Lord in 

doing all things openly and not resort to secrecy. 


Frank H. Lathom, 

Paul D. White 

Chairman Frank Stewart 

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON EVANGELISM 

Your Committee would respectfully report: 

The committee started its work in Topeka, Kansas, 

on October 

1 and 2, 1947. Since it was inexperienced for the work assigned 

and since some of its members could not attend, the committee 

elected as acting members during the year, R. I. Robb, Paul Coleman, 

P. D. McCracken and elders Robert More of Kansas City and Richard 

McAllister of Topeka 

During those two days your committee studied God's Word in 

relation to the problem before it and prayed for guidance in the 

task. A program was planned. The committee chose "The Covenan 

ter Crusade" 

as the name for the evangelistic movement through 

out the Church. The following slogan was adopted: "God's Glory 

Our Chief End." 

Our Home Mission Secretary was asked to present our program 

to as many presbytery meetings as he could attend. 

The Covenanter Witness graciously gave us space to present our 

program through its November 19, 1947 issue. 

As no funds had been given for our work, steps were taken to 

secure funds that we might carry on in an active way as a committee. 

A booklet on the Crusade was published; the supply of 500 copies 

was soon exhausted. Posters were prepared for use in our churches 

and sent out. Letters were sent to the leaders requesting that they 

give the matter careful study and present it to their people. Letters 

were sent out to men not in the pastorate to ascertain how many of 

them would be available for evangelistic preaching. 

Later, reports of progress were requested from congregations; 

only about half of the congregations responded. 

On May 5, 1948, another meeting 

of the committee was held 

at Idana, Kansas; plans were made for the Wednesday evening con 

ference here at Synod on the Covenanter Crusade; the program 

consisted of two addresses: the Rev. R. I. Robb spoke on the subject, 

"Encouraging Developements in the Covenanter Crusade," 

and the 

Rev J. D. Edgar on "Special Problems of Evangelism in Winning 

People to the Covenanter Faith." 

Some plans have been made for the future: we plan to publish 

another edition of the booklet on the Crusade with changes which 

have been suggested by the church in their criticisms and suggestions. 

Although this has been a year of preliminaries, we as a com 

mittee are grateful to the Lord for His mercies to us. We acknow 

ledge our sins and feel that as a church we need cleansing as indivi 

duals and as a group that we may have the power of the Holy Spirit 

in the work. We thank the church for her prayers and ask her to 

continue her supplications for us. May God use our Church as part 

of His body that souls may be won to Him through us, and may 

His glory ever be our chief aim in life. 

We offer the following recommendations: 

their home a "church", a meeting place for 

Christians, would seem to have been some 

thing of a habit with them. What a trans 

formation it would make if all homes of 

professing Christians were to be "churches" 

like that of Aquila and Priscilla! 

2 Timothy 4:19. This is Paul's last letter, 

and here, as in his other epistles, he con 

cludes by sending greetings to close friends. 

Among 

them he mentions the names of Aquila 

and Priscilla, (perfect strangers to him until 

he was probably fifty years of age, if not 

more) who, because of their loyalty to Christ, 

and their great service in aiding the apostle 

himself as well as suffering with him, are 

especially rememberd by him in his final 

hours. A Roman emperor once exclaimed, 

"See how these Christians love one another." 


CONVERSION OF THE ETHIOPIAN 

Comments : 

TREASURER 

Acts 8:26-40 



Psalm 34:1-4, No. 86 

Psalm 143:4-6, No. 386 

Psalm 27:1, 4, 5, 8, No. 65 

Psalm 66:12-14, No. 174 

In the sixth chapter of Acts we learn how 

waiting on tables and caring for the needy 

widows was taking too much of the time 

needed by the apostles for prayer and the 

ministry of the Word. As a result, seven 

men were chosen to oversee that part of the 

work men full of the Holy Ghost and wis 

dom. The first two deacons to be chosen were 

Stephen and Philip. The other five are not 

mentioned elsewhere in scripture, but Stephen 

and Philip are, and each played an important 

part in the infancy of the Christian Church. 

Following the martyrdom of Stephen a 

torrent of furious persecution of the Chris 

tians broke loose in Jerusalem, 

which had 

the effect of scattering the believers all 

through Judea and Samaria. As an example 

of how God makes the wrath of man to 

praise Him, the persecution served to hasten 

and spread the growth of the infant Church, 

because "they that were scattered abroad 

went everywhere preaching the Word." 

One of these displaced persons was Philip, 

Stephen's fellow deacon. He went to the 

last place that the average Jew would want 

to go to Samaria and, surprisingly, had 

great success preaching Christ to the 

Samaritans. 

But God called Philip from this ministry, 

where the people "with one 

accord" 

were giv 

ing heed, to go and minister to one man. 

"And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip 

saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto 

the way that goeth down from Jerusalem 

desert." 

unto Gaza, which is Many would re 

bel at a call like that! Leave the city and go 

into the desert! God called Jonah to go to


Nineveh and he wouldn't go; but Philip 

obeyed the angel. "He arose and went." 

As we reconstruct this scene we see that 

the first thing that we have is: A MAN OF 

GOD Philip, traveling along a dusty desert 

highway. 

Next, 

another of the greatest forces of the 

universe enters in: THE WORD OF GOD. 

Traveling 

the same road in his chariot was 

a man of high position in the court of the 

queen of Ethiopia. As he rode he read aloud 

to himself from the prophecy of Isaiah. It 

is possible that the uproar which he had 

found in Jerusalem, and the garbled tales 

which he had heard about the Nazarene who 

had been crucified, led him to that passage. 

The third great factor to enter upon the 

scene is: THE SPIRIT OF GOD. "Then the 

Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thy 

self to this 

chariot." 

Now, let us notice what happens in a situ 

ation which includes these three factors: A 

MAN OF GOD, THE WORD OF GOD, AND 

THE SPIRIT OF GOD. (When you get that 

combination, things are bound to 

happen!) At his invitation Philip 

mounted upon the chariot. The pas 

sage which perplexed the gentleman 

was Isaiah 53: 7, 

a sheep to the 

8 "He was led as 

slaughter" 

... "I 

pray 

thee," 

asked the Ethiopian, "of whom 

speaketh the prophet this? Of him 

self, 

or of some other man?" 

That 

was all the invitation Philip needed 

to open his mouth and begin at the 

same scripture and preach unto him 

Jesus. Notice: this was a layman's 

testimony! It was John Wesley who 

arose and cried, "Give me one hun 

dred preachers who fear nothing but 

sin, and desire nothing but God, and 

I care not a straw whether they be 

clergymen or laymen; such alone will 

shake the gates of hell!" 

If Philip had chosen the text him 

self he couldn't have chosen a better 

one. As he had preachd Christ to the 

despised Samaritans, 

now he preach 

es Him to the Ethiopian. As he spoke 

the Spirit of God convicted his heart. 

THE WORD OF GOD, THE MAN 

OF GOD, AND THE SPIRIT OF 

GOD WON THE DAY! The Ethi 

opian desired baptism. Philip con 

sented upon this basis: "If thou be- 

lievest with all thine heart, thou 

mayest." 

There was water there, and 

Philip baptized the Ethiopian Eu 

nuch. The Spirit caught away Philip, 

and the convert went on his way 

rejoicing. 

Reader, 

wouldn't you give any 

thing to be a witness like Philip 

and be instrumental in pointing 

some seeking soul to Christ? Philip 

obeyed the voice of the Spirit tell 

ing him to be a witness, and it meant 

1. That the work of evangelism be actively supported by the 

church and especially by her ministers. 

2. That the Committee be granted funds not to exceed $350 for 

its work. 

3. That $50 be granted to the college boys who are making the 

tour this summer. 

4. That our Home Mission Secretary be an acting 

this committee. 

member of 

5 That successors to the following members whose terms ex 

pire at this meeting of Synod be elected: E. L. McKnight and J. L. 

Wright. Respectfully submitted 

Paul E. Faris J. L. Wright 

Waldo Mitchel R. J. Huey 

Paul Coleman E. L. McKnight 

Paul D. McCracken T. M Hutcheson 

joy for Philip, joy for the Ethiopian, 

and joy in heaven! Wouldn't you 

give anything to be a witness like 

that ? I wonder if you mean it. The 

Lord Jesus said to His disciples, 

"Ye shall be witnesses unto 





me!" 

What kind of a witness did He 

mean ? If we were to go to a court 

room and take a seat in the gallery 

we would be witnesses in one sense 

of the word. But up near the judge's 

bench and the jury box is a seat 

called the witness chair. It is re 

served for those who will bear testi 

mony. Those who sit in that seat are 

not merely witnesses of the trial. 

They 

are witnesses at the trial. 

Chiist said, '"Ye shall be witnesses 

unto 

me!" 

You are not to be spec 

tators, sitting 

my witnesses. 

on the side-line, but 

Why do we shrink from it so? 

Why do we pile our alibis up to 

heaven trying to escape the respon 

sibility of being Christ's witnesses ? 

We defend ourselves for not wit 

nessing 

with the old saw, "Actions 

speak louder than 

words. 

That 

kind of silence isn't golden; it's just 

plain yellow. Let's be frank about it. 

The Witness Committee has a new supply of the follow 

ing tracts and they will be sent free of cost to anyone who 

will make a wise distribution of them. 

1. The Aim of the Distinctive Principles of the Covenanter Church 

2. "Christ's" 

or Separation from Christless Governments 

3. Is Christ in the Psalms? 

4. The Psalms the Heart of the Bible 

5. Instrumental Music in the Worship of God 

6. The Voice of the Ages Against Instrumental Music in Worship 

7. The Covenant of the Covenanters (Blue Cover) 

8. The Influence of Government on Religion 

9. Ten Reasons Why I Would Not Join a Secret Society 

10. Playing Indian The Essential Unreality of Secret Societies 

11. The Church vs. the Lodge 

12. Jesus Christ opposed to Organized Secrecy 

13. Free Masonry as a Religion 

These tracts may be secured from the Chairman of the 

Committee, 

J. Boyd Tweed, 

1805 Fourth Street, 

Riverview 

Beaver Falls, Pa.

108 THE COVENANTER WITNESS August 18, 1948. 

Paul said, "I am not ashamed of 

the gospel of Christ...." 

So, he had 

an unembarrassed freedom of speech 

in testifying before kings and coun 

trymen. If we do not have a spoken 

testimony for Christ, it is probably 

because we are ashamed of the gos 

pel. If we shrink from being a wit 

ness, it is because it requires the 

sacrifice of the self-life, and because 

it lays us wide open as targets for 

the "reproach of Christ." 


1. When is 'silence 

golden,' 

when it is just plain yellow ? 

and 

2. What technique did Philip use 

to bring the Ethiopian to a decision ? 

3. What all may we learn about 

Jesus from Isaiah 53:7, 8? 

4. Tell about some testimony for 

Christ that has meant a great deal 

in your own life, 

one else. 

FOR PRAYER: 

or the life of some 

1. Pray for the schools that are 

opening, and for the Christian stu 

dents, that they may witness for 

Christ even at the risk of their own 

popularity. 

2. Pray for some more deacons like 

Stephen and Philip! 

3. Pray that we who know and be 

lieve the gospel may be led to those 

that are inquiring 

know the truth. 

and anxious to 

4. Pray that the Covenanter 

Church may bear her testimony and 

bear it well in the light of the com 

ing election. 

LEAGUE OF 

COVENANTER 

INTERCESSORS 


iliall ask in prayer, believing^ ye 

shall 

receive." 

Matt. 21:22 

The enrollment sheets for the 

League of Covenanter Intercessors 

were sent out on June 21. Up to 

August 5 the following congrega 

tions had reported: Oakdale, Morn 

ing Sun, Southfield, Eastvale, Con- 

nellsville, Almonte, Denison, To 

peka, 

will your 

Mercer and Rose Point. When 

congregation be added to 

this list? Has your pastor presented 

the League of Covenanter Interces 

sors in your congregation? If so, 

did you enroll? If he did not, will 

you ask him to do so ? 

"Let us Unite in Prayer." 

Pray 

for a spirit of hope and ac 

tion through out entire Church. 

Pray for a doctor and his wife 

for China, a minister and his wife 

for the Near East, a man young for 

Larnaca, a young lady for Nicosia, 

and a young lady for Latakia. Pray 

for a young lady for Sandy Hook, 

Kentucky, where teaching schedules 

already are being set up for winter 

Bible classes. 

Pray for students to enter our 

seminary, for those who already 

plan to enter this fall, and for those 

who may heed the call at the sum 

mer conferences. 

Pray for a spirit of generosity in 

the Church, the enlarged budget, 

which is needed for foreign missions; 

is already $5000 behind what it was 

last year at this time. If each mem 

ber of the entire Church would add 

$1.00 to his budget contribution for 

each of the next three months, the 

loss would be made up and the ad 

ditional requirements raised. 

Pray 

for the Christian Amend 

ment radio scripts prepared by Dr. 

J. C. Mathews, 

and that their mes 

sages may be given a wide hearing. 

Pray for the plans for re-introduc 

tion of the Christian Amendment, 

that suitable Christian statesmen 

will be found who will give it full 

support. 

Pray for the Covenanter Crusade, 

for every one who is a part of it, 

everyone who has a part in it, and 

everyone who ought to take part in 

it that means you. 

***Imoderated a call for the Oak 

dale congregation on August 11, 

which resulted in the unanimous 

election of Rev. D. Ray Wilcox. 

John McMillan 

***The fall communion of the 

Geneva Congregation will be ob 

served on the first Sabbath of Oc 

tober. Rev. J. Ren Patterson, pastor 

now of Central-Pitsburgh congrega 

tion, 

will be the assistant. 

***The Official Board and the 

Executive Committee of the Wo 

men's Synodical Society by corre 

spondence have unanimously ap 

proved the changing 

of our next 

Synodical meeting to the time and 

place that the C. Y. P. U. and Synod 

meet in joint session in 1950, thus 

rescinding the action at Grinnell 

last summer that we meet in two 

years. 

Let us plan now for the meeting 

of the Synodical in 1950. 

Mrs. E. N. Harsh, President. 

CHURCH NEWS 

SELMA ALABAMA 

We held our Spring Communion 

March 15 at which time we were 

especially favored with the presence 

of Rev. Remo I. Robb. On the eve 

ning 

of his arrival the Mothers Club 

prepared a delicious dinner, after 

which Rev. Robb presented som very 

interesting 

motion pictures of scenes 

which he picked up on some of his 

trips, especially in California. Thurs 

day and Friday night we received 

powerful messages which prepared 

the entire congregation for the Sum 

mit of the Mount, Sabbath. Quite a 

few were present. Twelve new mem 

bers were received by 

confession of 

faith and two infants were received 

for the sacrament of baptism. 

The Knox Kindergarten closing 

exercises were held May 21. We had 

a very successful school, the at 

tendance being one hundred percent. 

The vacation Bible School was 

opened June 14 with a total atten 

dance of 108. We were fortunate to 

have five teachers for the group. We 

used the Scripture Press material. 

The Devotional period consisted of 

Psalm, Bible Stories and Suedegraph 

demonstrations. The ten day session 

was closed June 5, at which time 

Mrs. Evans awarded cash prizes for 

attendance, memory 

and art work. 

The entire school was served pop- 

cicles. 

Our pastor attended Synod at 

which time Rev. D. F. White brought 

us a helpful message. Rev. and Mrs. 

Boyd A. White were our guests this 

spring; they were enroute for Senate. 

During the spring, Rev. Brown or 

ganized a boys club known as "West 

End Lions". They have about the 

best ball team 

in' 

this section. They 

meet each Monday night in the 

Recreation Hall. 

Those of us who knew Miss Mary 

E. Fowler were saddened to hear of 

her passing. We will always cherish 

the memory of her good work here 

in the Mission. 

We had a short memorial service 

for her Sabbath morning August 1. 

When the worn out spirit wants re 

pose and sighs her God to seek, how 

sweet to hail the hours that close 

the labors of the week. 

Mrs. Florence Bright, the wife of 

Mr. Frank Bright who had been a 

patient at Burwell Infirmary for 

six months, was called home July 

17. She was a faithful, loyal member 

serving 

as Sabbath School teacher


and secretary of L. M. S. for a 

number of years. She will be missed 

for her true devotion to Christian 

work. Rev. Brown was in charge of 

the service. She was laid to rest in 

the Lincoln Cemetery across Valley 

Creek. 

Mrs. Valeria P. Moore Skinner, the 

wife of Mr. Scott Skinner, Sr., also 

was called home, July 23. She was 

a Methodist, a very fine Christian 

woman, having served as book 

keeper, for the public school system 

for a number of years. She was also 

laid to rest in the Lincoln Cemetery. 

The L. M. S. sponsored a Health 

motion picture production showing 

the danger of tuberculosis. This show 

was held in the basement of the 

church Monday night, July 26. It 

was very beneficial and quite a few 

attended. 

Mrs. Parks of Belle Center and 

Mrs. S. Carmichael of New York 

were our guests on August 1. 

The L. M. Society 

met at the home 

of Mrs. C. S. Scott August 3. After 

the business meeting Mrs. Scott 

served the group with watermelon. 

The Mothers Club and Sabbath 

School will hold their annual picnic 

August 11, about six miles over the 

Alabama River. 

Out of town members who visited 

the church during 

the summer were 

as follows: Mrs. Bernice Boyd and 

Mrs. Annette Smith of New York, 

of Chicago and Mr. 

Mr. Y. C. Irby 

Louis Lawson of Detroit, Mrs. Min 

nie Green of Pensacola, Fla. 

WALTON, N. Y. 

July has been a real summer 

month in Walton with plenty of 

rain and warmth. The gardens are 

looking fine, including the Lord's 

Acre plot of potatoes back of the 

church. 

The work of painting the church 

slowed to a stop with the haying 

season. The first coat is finished 

except for a part of the tower. 

Our first outdoor union service 

was held in lower Basset park the 

first Sabbath of the month and was 

in charge of our church. The eve 

ning was ideal and the attendance 

was good. This has been true of all 

the meetings thus far. 


met at the church the first Thurs 

day 

of the month and finished sev 

eral pads for White Lake Camp. 

The young women had their meeting 

the same evening at the manse with 

a good attendance. 

July is a month of birthdays in 

our congregation. Miss Elizabeth 

Arbuckle gave a birthday party on 

the 10th in honor of Miss Janie Hen 

derson and Ellen Lathom. Blanche, 

Howard, and Johnny Gilchrist all 

had birthdays during the month. So 

did our pastor. D. M. Alexander 

celebrated his 78th birthday on the 

29th. A new name was added to the 

list with the announcement of the 

safe arrival of Catherine Elizabeth 

Stewart, born to Mr. and Mrs. 

Charles N. Stewart Jr. on the 11th. 

Mrs. Stewart was the former Anna 

Mae Gilchrist. 

The Walton Vacation Bible School 

has completed another successful 

season. It ran for two weeks with 

an average attendance of 200. Most 

of our children of Bible School age 

were enrolled. E. R. Carson served 

on the Executive Committee and 

helped bring in the children. Miss 

Ruth Henderson was in charge of a 

class of boys. She was assisted by 

Ellen Lathom the first week and 

Rev. Robert Crawford Jr. the 

second week. Mr. Ira Price helped 

transport children to and from the 

school each morning. The Congre 

gational Church where the school 

was held was too small for the clos 

ing exercises, so they were held in 

th U. P. Church. The V.B.S. has be 

come a fine institution in our com 

munity. 

The losing side in the last Sabbath 

School contest paid off in the form 

of a party held in the church parlor 

the evening of July 

16. Letha Con 

way, our superintendent, helped in 

the arrangements. Mrs. Lathom 

was in charge of the program which 

began with songs and music. Howard 

Gilchrist was in charge of the games. 

Dr. Walter Eells showed several 

movies, 

much to the delight of all. 

Refreshments were served. 

Our pastor exchanged pulpits with 

Rev. Robert Crawford of Montclair 

for the last two Sabbaths of the 

month. The plan worked out nicely 

for all concerned. Mr. Crawford 

took an active part in community 

life while in Walton by helping with 

the Vacation Bible School and also 

taking 

part in one of the outdoor 

union services. Wife and daughter in 

each case also went along and en 

joyed a little vacation. 

The White Lake Junior camp 

opened en July 26. Three little girls 

from the Oxbow are in attendance, 

Donna Henderson, Laura Boye, and 

Jean Telford. Johnny Russell, whose 

folks are now moving 

to Walton 

from Bovina, is our only boy repre 

sentative. Ellen Lathom and Gladys 

Robb are acting as counselors. 

Gladys has finished her work in 

Binghamton and expects to enter 

Geneva College in September. 

Miss Elizabeth Elrwin has been 

very ill. She is now at the home of 

Mrs. Constable who is caring foi 

her. Mrs. Goldia Rowley has entered 

the Cooperstown hospital for an 

operation. 

The young people held a wiener 

roast and business meeting 

at the 

Elwood home the last Friday eve 

ning 

Ralph Haynes and daughter Pat 

of the month. Mr. and Mrs. 

were there on vacation. A good time 

was had by all. 

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL 

AT SYRACUSE 

Syracuse congregation held a three 

weeks Daily Vacation Bible School 

from June 28 to July 16 with a 

total enrollment of 63 who attended 

three days or more. We had 17 vis 

itors. Average attendance was 47, 

with 14 having perfect attendance, 

and 31 on the honor roll of those 

who completed all the memory work. 

Scripture Press material was used 

in each class. The question of ac 

cepting Christ was stressed in the 

flannelgraph stories which were 

presented each morning in the wor 

ship period by Mrs. Murphy, as well 

as in the class periods. Memory 

work had a large place in the cur 

riculum. The missionary offering, 

amounting to $30.00 was divided 

equally between our Syrian Mission, 

and the Rescue Mission in Syracuse. 

A large number assisted in pre- 

advertising material, and in giving 

money toward the school. The great 

est credit goes, of course, to the 

teachers who gave so willingly of 

their time and talents that the work 

might be carried on. Rev. G. M. 

Robb, assisted by Mrs. Glenn B. 

Mowry during handwork periods, 

taught the Intermediates; and Mrs. 

Robb did splendid work with the 

Beginners' 

group. We felt especially 

indebted to Mrs. C. J. Fisher and 

daughter Evelyn, from the South 

Presbyterian Church, for coming 

and teaching the Primary 

and Pre 

paring flannelgraph pictures and 

School classes. Mrs. Charles Murphy 

was superintendent of the school, 

and teacher of the Junior Class. 

Mrs. Arthur Russell was in charge 

of music; and also assisted with 

the Pre-School group, as did also 

Mrs. Philip Wicks and Miss Patty 

Dougall. Mrs. M. B. Yerdon from a 

neighboring church also assisted for 

several days. 

At our closing 

program the Fri-


day evening of July 16 the children 

recited memory work and told 

stories, and sang psalms and cho 

ruses that they had" 

learned. Out 

standing features were the singing 

of several Psalms by a robed choir 

under Mrs. Russell's direction; and 

the acting out of three parables by 

the Intermediates who used puppets 

which they had made during the 

handwork period. At the close of the 

program Mr. C. E. Wright was 

called upon for a few remarks; and 

when his talk was concluded, he pre 

sented to Mr. and Mrs. Murphy a 

silver tea set on behalf of the 

Syracuse congregation as a token 

of esteem and appreciation of their 

work in the congregation; and par 

ticularly in appreciation of Mrs. 

Murphy's two decades of teaching 

and leadership in the Vacation Bible 

Schools. 

On Saturday, following 

close of 

school, a picnic, which was well at 

tended by the children and mothers, 

was held at one of our city parks. 

FRESNO, CALIFORNIA 

The Young Women's Missionary 

Society entertained the Women's 

Missionary Society 

at the home of 

Mrs. Jimmy Moore recently. This 

supper was given at the close of a 

reading contest between the two 

Societies, in which the members of 

the Women's Missionary Society 

read the greater number of mission 

ary books. 

The visit of the Covichords did us 

all good, both young and old. We 

were thankful to have the young 

men over the weekend, and to have 

them all to ourselvs. It is too bad 

that each congregation of the 

church could not have had both the 

entertainment and the Sabbath serv 

ice. Others from Geneva College 

who were present were Kay Hill, 

Marshall Smith, and Joe Caskey. 

Former students included Dr. R. E. 

Smith and Mrs. Smith, Mrs. Charles 

A. Thayer, Mrs. C, E. Caskey, Mrs. 

Annette Fischer, and Robert Self. 

Some of these got a great thrill in 

hearing, and standing to sing the 

Alma Mater song something they 

had not done for many years. 

Those stopping 

their way to Camp Wascowitz in 

over with us on 

cluded Dr. R. E. Smith, Mrs. Smith 

and Marshall, Mr. and Mrs. Ray 

Heizing and children, and Kenneth 

Marshall. Those attending from 

Fresno were Don Gouge, Carroll 

Caskey. Marlene Henderson, Kay 

Hill, Don Chestnut, Helen Hollenbeck, 

Mrs. Grant Hollenbeck, and 

Mrs. Matthew Chestnut. We are 

thankful that they made the thou 

sand mile drive each way with very 

little trouble, and in safety. 

Mr. H. M. Copeland had the mis 

fortune to have a scaffold slip and 

break when he was working. He fell 

only to the next scaffold below, 

but with sufficient force to break 

some bones in his foot. 

Quite a number of friends from 

Fresno attended the funeral of John 

G. Dodds in Sanger, California, and 

the pastor assisted in the service. 

Afterwards Elder J. I. McCarter 

and Francis Buck went to Santa 

Ana with Mrs. Dodds and her father, 

Mr. Towner. Burial was in Santa 

Ana. Although his active work was 

in the Sanger Presbyterian Church, 

Mr. Dodds kept his interest in the 

work of the Fresno Congregation 

and of the Covenanter Church as a 

whole. 

John G. Dodds, formerly 

an elder 

in the Fresno, California congrega 

tion, died in the Reedly, California, 

Hospital July 26 after a second ab 

dominal operation. Mr. and Mrs. 

Dodds were very active in the build 

ing up of our Fresno Sabbath 

School and church. He is survived 

by his widow, Mrs. Nora Towner 

Dodds, and by three brothers, Ad 

dison of Santa Ana, Edwin of Van 

Nuys, and James of La Junta, Col 

orado. Services were held in Sanger, 

California, and later in Santa Ana 

by Dr. G. N. Greer and Dr. S. Edgar. 

GENEVA COLLEGE 

"Geneva College is a big busi 

ness!" 

So said W. Stewart McCready, re 

cently-appointed business manager 

of the College, as he spoke to the 

weekly luncheon of the Beaver Falls 

Board of Trade. Mr. McCready, out 

lining 

the job of the college business 

officer, reminded board members 

that large educational institutions 

are also run like large business in 

stitutions. He told the luncheon 

audience, 

one of the largest in sev 

eral weeks, that Geneva is not just 

another small college. "Geneva has 

crediting and has produced many 

crediting and has producted many 

people of 

note." 

Mr. McCready cited 

instances of several Geneva grad 

uates who are of world importance. 

"Last year, the College produced 

nearly one and one-quarter million 

dollars which was spent locally," 

he 

stated. He listed the many duties of 

his position which include mainten 

ance and repairs of the campus, 

evaluated at $1,780,000; supervision 

of the dining room, book store 

(which profits several thousand 

dollars annually), athletic depart 

ment and personnel, accounting in 

cluding the budget and inventory, 

over-seeing prompt payment of all 

bills, and to handle the remainder of 

the Centennial campaign. 

Mr. McCready then outlined his 

program for Geneva's business af 

fairs: (1) to eliminate wasting of 

time, efforts, materials and money; 

(2) to deal locally if at all possible, 

remembering that quality and serv 

ice must be first considered; and 

these goals: (1) to attract a good 

faculty; (2) to attract good stu 

dents; (3) to obtain favorable pubblicity 

for Geneva College and 

Beaver Falls; (4) to make every 

body valley people, the community, 

alumni and church proud of their 

college. 

"Whatever will benefit Geneva 

College will benfit Beaver Falls and 

whatever will benefit Beaver Falls 

will benefit Geneva," 

Mr. McCready 

concluded. Robert Amalia was chair 

man for the program and introduced 

Mr. McCready. Mayor Charles Med 

ley was a guest at the speaker's 

table. An informal question period 

followed the address. 

Dr. Herbert E. Longenecker, dean 

of the graduate school and dean of 

rsearch in the natural sciences at 

the University of Pittsburgh, de 

livered the main address at Geneva 

College at commencement exercises 

held for the largest August class in 

the school's history. Seventy-six 

seniors will receive bachelor's de 

grees. The graduation will bring to 

173 the number of students receiv 

ing their diplomas during the past 

year, thus establishing a new high 

for the century-old institution. 

In addition to the main address, 

remarks were made by Dr. M. M. 

Pearce and Dr. J. C. Twinem, di 

rector of the summer session. Rev. L. 

A. Lightfritz, pastor of the Lillyville 

Church of God and a member of the 

College faculty, offered the invoca 

tion and benediction. Miss Laura J. 

Rice, instructor in music for the 

summer session, directed the musical 

program which featured a vocal 

quartet and an instrumental en 

semble, both composed of Geneva 

students. 

Robert J. Hamilton of New Brigh 

ton has been appointed instructor 

in mathematics at Geneva College, 

Dr. Allen C. Morrill, dean of faculty, 

announced today. Mr. Hamilton will 

succeed Wilbur P. Dershimer who


resigned to accept a coaching 

position in Midland. Mr. Hamilton 

received the bachelor of science de 

gree from Geneva in 1943. The 

following year he served as a 

physics lab instructor at Geneva 

with the Aviation Student Training 

Program. He served two years 

with the 850th Engineering Aviation 

Battalion. Following his discharge, 

Mr. Hamilton attended the Univer 

sity of Pittsburgh, where he re- 

rcceived his bachelor of science in 

metallurgical engineering degree in 

June. He has also served as a re 

search assistant in the chemical 

engineering department at Carnegie 

Tech and was a surveyor with the 

Clyde Ohnsman Company 

Falls. He is a member of the Amer 

ican Society for Metals. 

of Beaver 

GREELEY'S FRIENDSHIP 

Without meaning to repeat what 

has already been said by others, nor 

to indulge in too lavish expressions 

of appreciation, we find it necessary 

to say on our own account that 

their loving friendship and the 

gracious way of expressing it are 

beyond compare. We will not give 

you the figures for they have al 

ready been given and, indeed, they 

are not the most important thing by 

any means. But we must say in unison 

and in truth that we do appreciate 

the kindness and love of the Greeley 

people not only now in this exper 

ience through which we are going but 

at all times. So, not being able to tell 

it individually to each one from the 

babies to the oldest member we are 

expressing 

our love and appreci 

ation here and depend on the Lord 

to repay you properly. How glad 

we are that God keeps the books and 

what we may fail to get down, God 

will not miss in His records. 

Mr. and Mrs. O. F. T. 

McALLISTERFERRY 

On Saturday, July 24, at 10 A. M., 

the Montclair Reformed Presbyterian 

Church was the scene of a simple but 

beautiful ceremony when Mrs. Ethel 

Harding McAllister and Mr. Orrin 

Robinson Ferry were united in mar 

riage by the bride's pastor, Rev. 

Robert J. Crawford, Jr. The bride 

was attended by her sister, Mrs. 

Adolf Voss, as matron of honor. Mr. 

P- J. McMillan served as best man 

for Mr. Ferry. 

Following the ceremony a bounti 

ful wedding breakfast was served at 

the home of the bride's father, Mr. 

A. J. Harding. When the bridal couple 

had changed to travel clothes, the 

VETERANS OF WORLD WAR II 

Have you returned your questionnaire to your pastor or con 

gregational representative? He hopes to close the books Sept. 1st. 

If your questionnaire is not returned, the memorial volume directed 

by Synod, will include only your name and such other meager in 

formation as we have. 

PLEASE RETURN PROMPTLY! 

If you've lost your blank, you may have a duplicate, but 

WRITE FOR IT TODAY! 

Lester E. Kilpatrick 

510 N. Broadway 

Sterling, Kansas 

assembled guests gave them a rous 

ing send-off on their honeymoon 

trip to New England. 

Mr. Ferry is a teacher in the 

Montclair High School and Mrs. Fer 

ry is the Office Secretary for the 

Temperance League of New Jersey. 

They 

will make their home in the 

neighboring town of Verona, New 

Jersey. Their many friends join in 

wishing for them every happiness. 

ADAMSMcMILLAN 

The home of Mr. and Mrs. E . 

Graham of Stafford, Kansas, 

E. 

was the 

scene of a lovely wedding Friday 

evening, July 23, 

at eight o'clock 

when Miss Marion Adams, daughter 

of Mrs. R. C. Adams of Stafford, 

Kansas, and the late Rev. R. C. 

Adams, became the bride of the 

Rev. John McMillan of Sparta, Il 

linois, .S. 

son of Dr. and Mrs. M 

Mc 

Millan of New Concord, Ohio. The 

double ring ceremony was performed 

by Dr. M. S. McMillan. 

Mr. Boyd Wallace of Stafford 

played several piano numbers and ac 

companied Mr. Elmer Graham as he 

sang "At Dawning" 

Miss Mary 

and "Because". 

Edgar and Miss Carol 

Edgar lighted the candles. 

Mr. Roy Adams of Beaver Falls, 

Pa., gave his sister in marriage. 

Mise Ruth Adams, sister of the 

bride, was maid of honor. Mr. 

Charles Sterrett of Koppel, Pa., 

served as best man. 

At the reception following, Mrs. E. 

E. Graham, sister of the bride, served 

the beautiful wedding cake and Mrs. 

Roy Adams poured punch. They were 

assisted in the serving by Mr. Bruce 

Adams and Mr. Howard Edgar. 

Miss Alice Edgar had charge of 

the guest book and Miss Jean Edgar 

took care of the gifts. 

Mrs. McMillan has been teaching 

home economics in Superior, Nebr. 

Rev. John McMillan is pastor of 

the Old Bethel and Sparta congrega 

tions of the Reformed Presbyterian 

Church. 

After a short wedding trip they 

will be at home in Sparta, Illinois. 

GENEVA 

MEMORIAL DEDICATION 

The Logan County 

Historical So 

ciety has erected a monument, on the 

site of Geneva College, at Northwood, 

a memorial to that College, founded 

by Rev. J. B. Johnson in 1848 and 

moved to Beaver Falls, Pa., in 1879. 

A local committee headed by J. Roy 

Templeton, has prepared a program 

for dedication of this memorial, to be 

held at this place August 26, 1948, 

2:00 P. M. This program will feature 

an address by Dr. Chas. T. Carson, 

and music by the "Covichord Male 

Quartette" 

both representing Geneva 

College, Beaver Falls, Pa., short talks 

by Hon. Senator D. A. Liggitt of Ohio, 

also Alumni of Geneva College, and 

prominent individuals of the com 

munity. 

Letters from any 

of Geneva, 

former students 

or otherwise interested 

persons will be welcomed and these 

will be read as a part of the program. 

An appropriate souvenir has been 

made, consisting 

of two large stars, 

taken from the walls of the original 

building, 

the lock and key taken from 

the front door of this building, also 

the Deed of this property given by 

Synod to the local church, in 1880, 

all artistically mounted on a beauti 

ful black walnut plaque, the same to 

be presented to Geneva College, by 

Rev. J. G. Reed, class of 1891. Sou 

venir programs will be mailed to any 

person requesting same, by commit 

tee. All letters should be addressed 

to J. Roy Templeton, 

Ohio R. D. 

Belle Center, 

The public is invited to attend this 

service, and a welcome will be given 

any interested person either in at 

tendance or by letter. 

SIGNIFICANT CIVIC SAYINGS 

"The social gospel without the re 

deeming 

Christ is the bunk. But with the Di 

grace of the Lord Jesus 

vine Saviour and Lord at the center 

and an 

heart, 

experience of Grace in the 

you can swing a circumference 

that will cover every 

every 

ache and solve 

problem both individually and 

R- L- (Bob) Shuler 

nationally





Monday 

SEPTEMBER TOPIC 

1:00 P. M. 

WALK WORTHY OF THE LORD: 

IN FRUITFULNESS 

(Stewardship) 

By Mrs. John D. McCrory 

There are a lot of walking Chris 

tians. To a few their spiritual ex 

perience is so intense that they do 

mount up 

with wings as eagles. 

There are more who run as they go 

about the Lord's business. . But 

the 

most of us walk in our Christian life 

an unspectacular, though unfaint- 

ing, walk. 

We are not persuaded to fly. We 

are not urged to run. But the Bible 

instructs us more than once how we 

are to walk. As Paul puts it in I 

Thessalonians 4:1, " 

beseech you 

.... exhort you .... how ye ought to 

walk and to please God, 

abound more and 

more." 

so ye would 

This study is about abounding. The 

topic states it as Fruitfulness, or 

Stewardship. If we walk worthy of 

the Lord we will abound. 

The dictionary defines worthy as: 

Having adequate merit; meriting; 

fit; as, worthy of promotion. Read 

Colossians 1:10 with this depth of 

meaning. That ye might walk hav 

ing adequate merit of, fit for not 

mere promotion but, THE LORD. 

Walk fit for the Lord so ye would 

abound more and more. 

The familiar, if forgotten, Cate 

chism question 97 asks: "What is re 

quired to the worthy receiving of 

the Lord's Supper?" 

piercing 

and the solemn, 

answer follows: "It is re 

quired of them that would worthily 

partake of the Lord's Supper, that 

they examine themselves, of their 

knowledge to discern the Lord's body 

of their faith to feed upon him, of 

their repentence, love, and new 

obedience; lest coming unworthily, 

they 

themselves." 

eat and drink judgment to 

Walk fit for the Lord. It can't be 

done in the three days before com 

munion, but all the year round; 

walking, walking worthy of the Lord. 

The Bible, and particularly those 

letters of Paul's to scattered con 

gregations, 

emphasize the need for 

new knowledge of and closer adher 

ence to God's will. As we make these 

studies and learn these lessons from 

the Word of God, in our homes and 

in our churches, 

we will know the 

Lord better and better and abound 

more and more. Our resulting fruit- 

fulness and the manner in which we 

store these treasures in Heaven will 

testify to the world of our fitness 

to be called the Lord's. 

Though we but walk, we shall 

abound. 

Ohio Women's Presbyterial met at 

Hetherton, Mich., R. P. Church Tues 

day evening, May 11, 1948, with 

Mrs. G. L. Henning of Southfield 

presiding. Five congregations of the 

Presbytery 

were represented. Our 

meetings were interesting and helpful 

to spiritual growth, especially the 

address of Dr. Jesse Mitchel who was 

attending Presbytery. 

We were cordially 

received in the 

homes of our Hetherton friends and 

we thoroughly 

enjoyed their hos 

pitality. They had arranged to have 

our friend Mrs. Edward Briley pre 

pare and serve two bountiful meals 

for delegates which brought us to 

gether for further fellowship. 

The officers for the coming year 

for Ohio Presbyterial are: 

President Mrs. James Keys, Bell 

Center 

Vice President Mrs. W. 0. Fergu 

son, Cincinnati 

China : 

Workers already there. 

Our Chinese orphans 

Corresponding Secretary Mrs. M. 

S. McMillan, New Concord 

Recording Secretary Mrs. J. A. 

Bowes, Southfield 

Treasurer Mrs. Luther McFarland, 

Belle Center 

Young Women and Juniors Mrs. 

E. M. Elsey, Southfield 

Superintendent Foreign and Home 

Missions Mrs. Samuel Morrison, 

New Concord 

Literature and Mission Study Mrs. 

Hugh Harrington, Hetherton 

Temperance Mrs. W. J. Sanderson, 

Utica 

Thankoffering Miss Cecil Smith 

Standard of Efficiency Mrs. G. L. 

Henning, Southfield 

This report is by order of the re 

tiring President. 

Edna Elsey, Secretary Protem. 

HEDGESMcCRORY 

On Tuesday evening, May 11, 

Miss Peggy 

To be remembered in your 

INTERCESSORY PRAYER 

Hedges of Denison was 

married to Mr. Leland McCrory, son 

of Mr. and Mrs. Henry McCrory. 

The ceremony was performed by the 

bride's pastor at the Methodist par 

sonage in Holton, Kansas. They 

were attended by Miss Betty Decker 

and by the brother of the groom, 

Mr. Wendell McCrory. After a wed 

ding trip Mr. and Mrs. McCrory are 

at home on a farm near Denison. 

(Clip and use. Printed by order of Synod.) 

Workers going out this fall 

Dr. and Mrs. J. C. Mitchel 

Rev. and Mrs. Robert Henning, 

and George 

Miss Alice Edgar 

Miss Orlena Lynn 

Cache Creek: 

The Wards 

Philadelphia : 

Jewish Mission; 

Miss Forsythe, Securing of new 

workers 

Foreign Missions 

Home Missions 

Cyprus : 

American and native workers 

Schools 

Evangelistic work 

Syria : 

Workers there 

School 

Village mission work 

Hays family going 

out this fall 

Kentucky : 

The Hemphills, 

Misses Huston and McCracken 

Selma : 

The Browns 

Secretary : 

R. I. Robb 

Young People's Work The Covenanter Witness 

Presbyterial conventions this The National Reform Associa 

year. tion 

Witness Commiteee and the Geneva College 

Christian Amendment Move- Theological Seminary 

ment



~oo years of Witnessing- 

for. CHRIST'5 sovereign rights in the church and the, witiom 


Adequate Provision for Spiritual Things 

By Rev. Henry Edward Russel, D. D., 

Montgomery Ala. 

Our supply of material things will probably 

never satisfy the desire of our hearts and minds, 

conceivable criterion we are forced to 

but by any 

acknowledge that we are fed well, clothed well, 

sheltered well, transported all right and, in gen 

eral, we live far above the "average" 

of human 

kind. This is a blessing from God, and thanks 

giving is due on each rememberance that the lines 

are fallen unto us in pleasant places. 

Let us remember also that unto whomsoever 

much is given of him shall much be required. 

Unless we use what we have well, what we have 

will not use us well. What has us is more impor 

tant than what we have. The manner in which 

we use what we have depends on the spirit that 

is within us. There is one Lord of the spirits of 

men, and He has said a man's life consists not in 

the abundance of things which he possesses. He 

also said the whole world is not worth your soul. 

Spiritual health and wealth are far more im 

portant than we make manifest by our actions. 

Material health and wealth ultimately have value 

only as they 

rest upon and abide in spiritual 

strength and well-being. Proper 

understandingcan 

turn unrighteous mammon into heavenly 

riches. 

The Church provides for spiritual things. The 

Church is composed of believers in Jesus Christ 

so professed. It is the Church which is the custo 

dian and propagator of God's holy Word, which 

is the only infallible rule of faith and practice. 

This Church has never won a victory because it 

was rich or suffered a defeat because it was poor. 

It is not a mendicant with outstretched hand. It 

is the Body 

of the Lord Jesus Christ on earth 

to preach, teach and heal in His name, to loosen 

the bonds of those bound and it alone can provide 

for these "spirisual things." 

The "tithe and 

offerings" 

are given in Scripture 

as a method of using material resources to provide 

adequately for things of the spirit. We expect to 

pay for material things for our families and our 

selves. However, many who would never expect 

someone else to pay for their household's food, 

water, lights, clothes, education, etc., are content 

to let others provide the facilities of the church, 

represented in all her manifold services of the 

spirit, for their families. Let no one draw the con 

clusion that those who do give are injured there 

are blessed. No one is to 

by. Far from it, they 

give grudgingly 

or of necessity, for God loves a 

cheerful giver, and this cheerfulness is a part of 

the blessing. 

Nor are we to assume that responsibility to 

provide for spiritual things is discharged by gifts 

of money. We must give our hearts to our Lord 

and perform with love such service as He may 

direct. Blessed are those who are awake in this 

day of opportunity. Reprinted from the Chris 

tian Observer in the Associated Reformed Pres 

byterian.


QhmpA&i oJf the (leliXftouA Wosdd 


Parol Board of Korean Missionaries 

The Protestant Voice informs us that the appointment 

of a parole board of Christian missionaries has been re 

quested at Seoul by American military 

government of 

ficials. The board would be responsible for the good con 

duct of Koreans sentenced by the American provost mar 

shal's courts but recommended for parol. 

When set up, the parol board will be affiliated with the 

newly-organized Consultative Social Welfare Committee 

appointed by the interdenominational missionary body 

of Seoul. 

Protest Persecution in Italy 

Formal protest against persecution of Protestant mi 

norities in Italy was lodged with the Italian Embassy at 

Washington by an American Protestant group headed by 

the Rev. Frank B. Gigliotti, an offical of Citizens United 

for Religious Emancipation. 

Citing 

a recent attack on a Pentecostal open air meet 

ing near Rome, the protest declared that "we have reach 

ed the end of our patience.'' 

Religious Teaching in Ontario 

Religious teaching in Ontario public schools was ap 

proved by the Ontario Educational Association, 88-year- 

old organization, at its convention in Ontario. 

The educators asked the provincial government to pro 

vide short religious instruction courses for teachers in 

training 

and ministers who take classes in schools. 

German Preachers Imprisoned 

Russian authorities in Germany have established NKVD 

(secret police) operatives within the Evangelical Church, 

and six clergymen have been sent to concentration camps 

within the last six months. This charge was made at 

Berlin by a Church leader, 

withheld. 

who asked that his name be 

Both Russians and German Communists have been 

ordered by Moscow to follow a "no trouble with the 

churches" 

policy. 

However, Soviet commanders in outlying areas cause 

trouble for the Church over property rights, religious 

organizations, hospitals and orphan asylums. Sometimes 

these commanders interfere with church attendance by 

ordering populations out for forced labor on Sundays. 

Religious activities in the public schools are either 

completely lacking or negligible. On the contrary, evi 

dence 

points' 

to a strong tendency toward materialism 

and Communism. 

To counteract this influence, the Evangelical Church 

has organized religious instruction outside public schools, 

but the effectiveness of this program has been nullified 

by the Communists, who simply deny the Church rooms 

in which such instruction could be given. 

Presbyterians Send 61 New Missionaries 

Sixty-one new missionaries of the largest groups in 

recent years were commissioned at New York by the 

Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church 

in the U. S. A. 

Twenty-one states were represented in the group which 

comprised clergymen, doctors, educators, anthropologists, 

electrical engineers and specialists in radio programming. 

The missionaries will be sent to South America, the 

Near, Far and Middle East, and Africa. 

Missionary Observes Changes in China 

Dr. Tooker, in the Protestant Voice says, the casual 

observer, looking at China's many problems, can easily 

become discouraged. But the missionary, or other long 

time observer, takes courage as he views the progress 

made in every avenue of China's life in the last half- 

century. 

Such a long-range view was made recently by Dr. 

Frederick J. Tooker of the Presbyterian Human Mission, 

who went to China forty-seven years ago. He says: 

"My 

mind goes back to the changes which I have seen 

since landing in China in 1901. China then was a sub 

ject state ruled by the Manchus; now it is an independent 

country 

with a native government and a constitution 

modeled largely on that of the United States. 

"Then foot-binding was in vogue; now it is gone almost 

beyond memory. 

"Then opium was openly smoked; now it is forbidden 

by law, and socially taboo. 

"Then foreigners lived under treaties of extraterritori 

ality; now Chinese law is operative for everyone. 

"Then there was open talk of dividing China among 

the Western nations; now after a war of foreign invasion, 

in which China resisted the enemy along 

front for eight long years without seeking 

a 1,500 mile 

or accepting 

terms of peace, she thus immobilized 2,000,000 enemy 

soldiers while China's allies prepared for war and fought 

the enemy from island to island in the Pacific. 

"Then China was ruled by an absolute and tyrannical 

Empress Dowager; now China has an enlightened Chris 

tian leader, who, with his gifted wife, give themselves 

to the study of the word of God on arising in the morn 

ing and turn to it when in perplexity during the day, 

who advocate forgiveness without revenge to a former 

ruthless enemy; who have carried forward reforms in 

China for twenty opposition and 

years, notwithstanding 

armed rebellion of a subversive group of foreign indoctri 

nation. 

"Then I knew what it was to be called 'Foreign Devil,' 

now more young men and women are clamoring to come 

to America for study of Western ways than could be 

granted visas. 

"WHAT HAS WROUGHHT THIS CHANGE? The 

power of God, primarily by the teaching 

of the Chris 

tian missionary, in answer to the prayers of God's people 

everywhere. 

(Continued on page 115) 

TTTTT PnVTn'NrANTTr'R WIT'WTT'QC: 


1HH, OUVtMNAlNl-TLrl WllJNILbb. church of North America, through its editorial office. 


$2.00 per year; foreign S2.50 per year; single copies oc. Special rates to congregations. 





GuViestt &i$e#Ub Prof. John Coleman, PhD., D. D. 

Behold an ancient event with a modern parallel. In 

II Samuel XIV, 

we read that Absalom wanted an inter 

view with Joab. Twice he sent for Joab and twice the 

old general ignored the request. Finally 

Absalom order 

ed his servants to set fire to Joab's barley field. "Then 

Joab arose and came to Absalom." 

Fcr some months 

Russia has wanted another conference on the Potsdam 

level and the Western Powers have ignored the request. 

This has moved the Soviets to close rail, truck, and water 

entrance of supplies into Berlin from the West. Now 

there are negotations in Moscow looking toward a great 

conference. 

President Truman has said he is ready to have a con 

ference if the others come to Washington, but will not 

cross the water. That is fair enough, for Roosevelt went 

and Truman went to Pots 

to Casablanca, Teheran, Yalta, 

dam. To go to Moscow would make it appear that we are 

suppliants and the Russians have never been merciful to 

suppliants. 

What is there on which we can compromise? Only the 

rights of other peoples: turn over a million Berliners 

who are non-Communists to the Russian tryanny, give 

Trieste to Yugoslavia, leave Austria to Russian conquest, 

withdraw the aid of the Marshall Plan, change our Bill of 

and Molotov 

Rights in the Constitution and, as Vishinsky 

have repeatedly demanded, deny the freedom of the press 

and of speech to critics of Moscow. We might cancel the 

eleven billions of Lend-Lease that Russia holds and re 

fuses to discuss. On what else can we compromise? 

Name one item. 

There are 200 American citizens in Russia about whom 

the State Department has asked information and per 

mission for them to return to the United States if they 

so desire. The Russians have not even answered the 

notes. But the Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov calls it 

"kidnapping" 

when the FBI refuses to turn over a teach 

er, Makhail Ivanovich Samarin, who does not want to go 

back to Russia, to the Russian authorities for deportation. 

If protected, he apparently is quite willing to testify con 

cerning Russian spies in this country- Also a Mrs. Oksa- 

no Stepanova Kosenkina apparently was kidnapped by 

the Russians in New York and forced into the Russian 

consulate. Correcting 

apparently 

the statement in last week's page 

even a consulate has certain rights of in 

violability under international law. But she jumped 

from a third story window 

jumped" 

she says: "I The 

police forced their way into the courtyard and took her 

to the hospital. She does not want to go back to Russia. 

Molotov wants her. She would probably be tried for 

treason. Would you give her up? 

The U. S. Maritime Commission has offered to give 

$25,000,000 toward the cost of a $65,000,000 huge passen 

ger liner which might in time of war be used for troops. 

it would be capable of carrying 12,000 troops for 10,000 

miles without stopping. The U. S. government, by direct 

ownership and by subsidies and sales with strings attach 

ed, probably now controls wholly or in part more ship 

ping than any two private firms in the world. 

Canada on August 16 lifted her wartime embargo on 

cattle and this will mean 100,000 head sent to us by the 

end of the year; but do not expect this to affect greatly 

the price, for the Department of Agriculture estimates 

the 1948 consumption at 32,000,000 head. We must be 

great meat-eaters, for that means one for every 41-2 per 

sons. If we would take the tariff off cattle the Canadians 

would be encouraged to raise more for export. Why 

should there be any tariffs between the United States 

and Canada? 

On August 12, says The New York Times, 

one Ameri 

can dollar would bring 11,000,000 Chinese dollars. Print 

ing presses are having a hard time keeping up. The ordi 

nary budget for the last half of this year totals 323 

trillions. 

A new method of manufacturing 

cement and lime is 

revolutionizing the industry. Tests on a new plant show 

that it is turning out five tons of lime for every ton of 

coal compared to a former ratio of only three tons per 

ton of coal. It is said that the invention may prevent the 

increase in the cost of lime and cement that has come in 

other commodities. 

A friendly airmail from a Geneva alumna whose hus 

band is teaching in Assiut College in Egypt brings the 

information that the American Mission (United Presby 

terian) and the Universities of Beirut and Cairo (Ameri 

can) have sent letters to President Truman, the State De 

partment and the presidential candidates protesting the 

American support of the partitioning 

of Palestine as a 

violation of the Atlantic Charter, since the majority in 

Palestine is Arab. Also it is said that the status of the 

United States in the Near East is suffering. Some at 

least of our Covenanter missionaries in Syra hold the 

same view. 

My 

Jewish friends look on Palestine as God's own 

gift to their fathers and a home from which they were 

driven by 

war and massacre. To them it is the Arabs 

who are interlopers. They 

creased in numbers and prosperity 

add that the natives have in 

since the return of 

the Jews, and were it not for leaders who have never 

done anything for the common Arab peasant but who 

have now stirred them up, would be quite content to 

have still more Jews come in. 

GLIMPSES 


"Then missionaries were tolerated; now invited by 

Government, welcomed by the people generally. 

"Then the foreign missionary in street chapel proclaim 

ed the Gospel; now the trained Chinese pastor, Christian 

books and magazines broadcast the message. 

"Then the missionary 

was promoter and administrator 

and executive; now the Church of Christ in China, meet 

ing in presbyteries, 

synods and general assembly, ap 

points the missionary his particular duties with all other 

church workers." 

Religious Teaching in Kentucky 

Public school pupils can be excused for religious in 

struction outside the school without violating the United 

States Supreme Court's ruling on the subject. 

This opinion was expressed here by W. Owen Keller, 

assistant attorney 

The assistant attorney 

general of Kentucky. 

general said that "as long as 

religious education is not taught on the school grounds or 

in the schoolroom, there can be no 

objection."


Popular Religious Fallacies 

By The Rev. J. G. VOS, Th. M. 

V. Non--Miraculous Christianity 

NOTE : This is the fifth of a series of articles on 

common contemporary viewpoints which are con 

trary to orthodox Christianity. 

Modern Embarrassment About Miracles 

The attitude of a great deal of modern religion 

toward miracles is an attitude of embarrassment 

if not of doubt or actual denial. It is said that 

when the Bible was written miracles were regard 

ed as a help to people's faith, but today they must 

be regarded as a hindrance rather than a help to 

faith. The dominant spirit of modern religion 

regards the miracles of the Bible as an embarrass 

ment rather than a glory, as a liability rather than 

an asset, as something to be carefully explained 

rather than as something to be profoundly thank 

ful for. This type of modern religion eliminates 

the supernatural from Christanity and yields a 

product which exists wholly within the frame 

work of natural laws. Miracles, predictive pro 

phecy and real revelation are eliminated or ex 

plained away from the Bible; the direct, super 

natural working of the Holy Spirit is eliminated 

from Christian experience. Thus the supernatural 

Christianity of the Bible is completely transform 

ed into a religion which is natural from beginning 

to end. 

The Miracles of The Bible 

have 

orthodox Bible scholars. For the 

Various definitions of the term "miracle" 

been given by 

purposes of the present article we shall define a 

miracle as an event which has no cause except the 

will of God. In this article we shall regard 

"miracle" 

and "supernatural 

event" 

as equivalent 

terms. A miracle, then, is an event produced by 

the direct working of God, in distinction from 

His ordinary providential working, which makes 

use of the laws of nature. Jesus' 

walking on the 

water and raising Lazarus from the dead were 

miracles ; His crossing the Sea of Galilee in a 

boat was a natural event depending on God's 

ordinary providential working. 

It is of the essence of a miracle that it is not 

a product of the operation of natural laws. A 

common tendency today is to try to explain away 

the supernatural cha. acter of miracles by saying 

that they were wroug. t in accordance with higher 

natural laws than those known to human science. 

This amounts to an attempt to take the miraculous 

out of the miracles. For a miracle is precisely 

something wrought by the direct, immediate ac 

tion of God. If it happened according to law, then 

it was not a miracle ; if it was a miracle, then it 

did not occur as an instance of the operation of 

law. Some people say that they do not believe God 

would establish natural laws and then turn around 

and break His own laws by performing miracles. 

This overlooks two important matters: (1) God 

did not establish natural laws to bind and limit 

His own activities, but for th*. functioning 

of His 

creation; God Himself is sovereign, that is, He is 

subject to no law outside of ^nlimself. (2) God 

established the order and systefh of natural law 

precisely 

in order that there might be a back 

ground of nature, uniform and unvarying 

in its 

operation, against which God's direct, miraculous 

working could appear in strong contrast, as an 

exception to the uniform phenomena of nature. 

Thus the existence of the God-ordained, uniform 

system of natural law is no argument against 

God's direct, miraculous working in contrast to 

natural law. 

The Bible is pre-eminently a book of miracles, 

but the miracles are not uniformly distributed 

through the Bible. With a few exceptions they 

are clustered in three great cycles. Each of these 

cycles occurred at a time of crisis in the history 

of redemption. The first great cycle of miracles 

occurred in the time of Moses, at the time of the 

deliverance of the people of Israel from Egypt, 

their wandering in the wilderness and their en 

trance to the land of Canaan. The second cycle 

occurred in the days of Elijah and Elisha, when 

the false religion of Baal-worship threatened to 

supplant the worship of Jehovah, the true God. 

The third great cycle of miracles occurred in the 

time of Christ and the Apostles, when the work 

of redemption was being completed and the Gos 

pel launched upon the world. Besides these three 

cycles, there occurred a minor cycle in the time of 

Daniel, in Babylon, 

when the covenant people 

were in exile, Jerusalem had been destroyed, and 

the false system of polytheism seemed to have 

triumphed over the true religion of Jehovah. In 

each case, God wrought a series of miracles to 

vindicate His truth and deliver His people in a 

time of great crisis and desperate need. 

The miracles of the Bible are not incidental, but 

essence of Biblical religion. For Bibli 

of the very 

cal religion is supernatural through and through. 

The very Bible itself, as a book, is a supernatural 

product, specially inspired by the direct work of 

the Holy Spirit in the men who wrote its compon 

ent parts. Take away the supernatural from the 

Bible and what is left will indeed be very easy to 

believe, but it will not be worth believing. What 

is an automobile without an engine, a watch with 

out a mainspring? We may readily agree that it 

would be easier to believe the Bible if there were 

nothing supernatural in it. But such a Bible 

would not be the Book that God has given us, and 

the religion that might be derived from it would 

not be Christianity. 

Supernatural Christian Experience 

The religious experience of a Christian is as 

truly supernatural as the miracles that are re 

corded in the Bible. What the Shorter Catechism 

calls "Effectual Calling" 

is a supernatural work 

of God the Holy Spirit. The "new birth" 

about 

which Jesus talked with Nicodemus is not a nrod- 

uct of the working of natural laws. The science 

of psychology can never explain it, for it results 

from the immediate, direct action of God in the 

human soul. Hence the person who is "born 

is called "a new 

creature" 

or "a new 

(2 Cor. 5:17). The same supernatural character 

belongs to real Christian experience all along the 

line. Repentance unto life, saving faith in Jesus 

Christ, justification, adoption, sanctification, and 

finally glorification not one 'of these results 

from the operation of natural laws ; not one of 

them can really be explained by psychology: 

again 

every one of them is wrought by the supernatural 

action of God Himself. Even those elements of


Christian experience in which the Christian him 

self is active, such as repentance, faith, good 

works, depend upon and result from a prior 

supernatural act of God (Phil. 2:12, 13). 

The person who is really a Christian has a 

religious experience which takes place apart from 

the framework of natural law, and which cannot 

be explained by reference to natural law. This 

supernatural character is of the very essence of 

truly Christian experience, 

and differentiates it 

from all other human religious experience. With 

out the supernatural there is no distinctively 

Christian experience, no truly Christian life. Any 

attempt to eliminate, minimize or explain away 

the supernatural from the Bible or from Christ 

ian experience is spiritual sabotage and theologi 

cal treason. Yet this is exactly what is done by 

the dominant trend of popular religion today- 

The Modern Revolt 

Modern religion is largely 

a revolt against the 

supernatural. This trend did not begin yesterday ; 

it has its roots farther back in the past. In 1793 

the German philosopher Immanuel Kant publish 

ed a book entitled "Religion Within the Bounds 

of Pure Reason". Kant's philosophy was utterly 

destructive of the Christianity of the Bible. 

Through the philosophers and scientists who have 

followed Kant, it has had a tremendous influence 

upon the modern world. Immanuel Kant and his 

successors were the builders of the modern anti- 

Christian world-view. The preacher or religious 

author of our own day who tries to apologize for 

and explain away the supernatural in the Bible 

and in Christian experience, is reflecting this 

modern scientific view of the world which has 

come down to us from Kant and his successors. 

Many Bible-believing Christians fail to realize 

how prevalent this naturalistic, anti-miraculous 

view of the world and of religion has become today.Dr. 

Harry Emerson Fosdick can state con 

fidently that Fundamentalism has been defeated, 

and remains only in the backwaters of religious 

life. Another very popular present-day religi 

ous writer has made the statement that all re 

ligions are basically the same. This means, of 

course, that the supernatural features of Chris 

tianity must be regarded as non-essential even if 

their truth is not actually denied. This idea that 

all religions are at bottom the same of course 

implies that Christianity is not the only true re 

ligion ; it cannot be unique ; it may be better than 

the rest, but it is only one among others. Thus the 

denial of the supernatural inevitably reduces 

Christianity, 

so far as its essential nature is con 

cerned, to the general level of the religions of man 

kind. 

In one of the major Protestant denominations 

of our country, more than twenty years ago, a 

paper was circulated and signed by more than 

twelve hundred ministers of the denomination. 

In this paper they listed five doctrines of super 

natural Christianity, namely (1) The inerrancy of 

the Bible; (2) The virgin birth of Jesus Christ; 

(3) The substitutionary atonement of Christ; 

(4) The bodily resurrection of Christ; (5) The 

supernatural miracles wrought by Jesus Christ. 

The paper declares that the first of these doctrines 

(the inerrancy of the Bible) is a harmful teach 

ing, and that the other four are only theories, not 

essential to Christian fellowship, and not even 

essential as doctrines to be believed by those or 

dained to the Gospel ministry. The position taken 

in this paper (called "The Auburn Affirmation") 

has since become the dominant position in that 

denomination. Many signers of the paper have 

been honored with the prominent, key positions 

not one of them has ever been 

in the Church; 

disciplined for his action in signing the document. 

The trend of a number of other prominent de 

nominations in our country has been along the 

same general line. 

Modern religion believes in a natural God, a 

natural Bible, a natural religious history of man 

and a natural religious 

kind (including Israel), 

experience common to all humanity. It regards 

Christianity as differing from other religious 

systems not in essence but only in degree or in 

non-essential features. This modern type of re 

ligion is prevalent and popular, but it it not 

Christianity. 

We should realize, too, that in our day unbelief 

has become extremely diplomatic and subtle. The 

crude, blatant denials and scoffing of Robert 

Ingersoll and Tom Paine are scarcely to be heard 

anymore today. Modern religion's unbelief in the 

supernatural is just as real and thorough as theirs 

was, but it is much more refined and gentle in its 

mode of expression. Blatant, downright denial of 

the supernatural is seldom heard today outside 

of atheist circles. Modern ecclesiastical diplomacy 

has found a better way, which it can use with 

greater effectiveness. Instead of denying miracles 

and the supernatural outright, the tendency is 

to affirm belief in them and then turn around 

and explain them as merely natural ; that is, as 

depending on natural law, but law which human 

science has not yet been able to penetrate and 

"miracles" 

comprehend. Thus 

become mere 

"supernatural" 

"wonders", and the 

becomes 

- - 

- 

merely the "not yet scientifically 

Many Christian people who have not made any 

special study of the history of modern theology 

explaine 

seeming- 

are led astray by the smoothness and 

reverence of the handling of miracles and the 

supernatural by the modern unbelieving preacher, 

only to be disillusioned in the end by finding that 

the road has led them far away from the faith of 

their fathers and the Gospel of their youth. The 

naturalistic world-view is all around us today. 

no means universal, yet it is domin 

Although by 

ant in most of the larger denominations. In some 

of these denominations the struggle against it has 

practically ceased ; in others it is still being carri 

ed on. Many religious broadcasts on the major 

networks are pervaded by modern naturalism and 

its products. It permeates many popular religious 

and secular journals and magazines. Almost al 

ways it is appealingly presented and skilfully cam 

ouflaged so that its real Bible-denying character is 

not at all obvious. For these reasons modern 

"non-miraculous Christianity" 

is something to 

be taken seriously b:, 

tian. 

every Bible-believing Chris 

This present day counterfeit of the Christian 

religion can be successfully combatted, for there 

of the Scriptures. 

is real power in the Christianity 

To combat modern "non-miraculous Christianity" 

effectively, however, two things are absolutely


necessary. In the first place, its real meaning and 

character must be correctly discerned ; that is, 

we must realize that "non-miraculous Christian 

ity" 

is not simply a variant form of the Christian 

religion, but a hostile, competing anti-Christian 

system, not a branch of the Gospel but an enemy 

Synod Reports 

REPORT OF SEMINARY BOARD 

The Board of Superintendents of the Theological Seminary res 

pectfully reports: 

The Board has held two regular meetings during the year. The 

first was on September 17, 1947 at the Allegheny Church preceding 

the opening lecture, with five Board members and the entire Faculty 

present. No formal actions were taken, but three items were sug 

gested for consideration: (1) that more publicity be given the Semi 

nary in the Covenanter Witness; (2) that provision be made for 

replying to requests from outsiders for catalogs or lists of the Semi 

nary's courses of study, and (3) that the special library 

be used. 

of the Gospel. In the second place, there must be 

no compromise with this system of unbelief. The 

Truth of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, 

can overcome all errors, but only by refusing to 

compromise with them. God's Truth is sure to 

win over error in the end. 

gift of $1,000 

The annual meeting was held at the Seminary May 4, 1948, with 

eight Board members and three Faculty members present. D. H. 

Elliott of the Faculty was absent at a N. E. A. convention as a dele 

gate appointed by our Synod. The present officers were re-elected, 

R. C. Fullerton, President; T C. McKnight, Vice-President; and R. 

K. McConaughy, Secretary. 

The 1947-48 Seminary Term opened September 17, with a lec 

ture by John Coleman at the Allegheny Church on the subject, "I 

Do Solemnly Swear." 

no serious illness among the students. 

The year's work proceeded regularly with 

Enrolled this year were Seniors: Bruce Stewart, who finished 

his work in December; Charles Sterrett, who is expected to graduate 

in December, 1948; and Norman McCune of our Church in Ireland, 

who took his first two 

years' 

training 

in the Theological Hall in 

Ireland; First Year: Theodore Harsh, of Belle Center, Ohio, who 

took his college training at Geneva and Cedarville; Willard McMillan, 

who took his college course at Muskingum 

of New Concord, Ohio, 

and Geneva; Joseph Hill, of First Beaver Falls, 

a graduate of Geneva 

College; and Latham Fitch, a graduate of Geneva and a member of 

the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church. In February of this 

year Philip Coon, a Geneva graduate, transferred to the Seminary 

from work as a graduate assistant in chemistry at the University of 

Maine. He has recently come into the Covenanter Church, having 

joined the College Hill congregation. Mr. Sterrett, Mr. McMillan, Mr. 

rfill, Mr. Fitch, and Mr. Coon are war veterans. Mr. Joseph, 

of the 

colored Baptist church, attended as an auditor. The varing times of 

entry by the students has created some problems in teaching that 

have resulted in a certain amount of repetition and slowing down 

in courses. 

At the annual meeting R. J. G. McKnight conducted an oral 

examination on the Jewish Tabernacle Furniture and its Significance 

and The Jewish Feasts and their Meaning. All the students received 

passing grades in their various courses, 

and preached on assigned 

texts. The Board advanced the first-year students to the second 

year, granted a diploma to Mr. McCune and authorized the faculty 

to give Mr. Sterrett a diploma upon satisfactory completion of his 

course in December, 1948. At the Wilkinsburg 

church in the eve- 

nnig Mr. Fullerton addressed the students on behalf of the Board and 

Dr. McKnight presented a diploma to Mr. McCune and one to Mr. 

Stewart in absentia. 

The current account at the first of the year had a balance of 

$6,825.12 and closed the year with $4,883.27 after transfer of $4,000 

to Funds Functioning as Endowment. The Seminary Building Fund 

opened the year with $2,466.97 and closed with a balance of $2,011.03. 

G. Y. P. U. Topic 

For September 12, 1948 

I. PRIORITIES IN THIS SCHOOL YEAR: 

Scripture Text: 

Psalms: 

A Christian Endeavor Topic 

By Meredith McElhinney, 

Morning Sun, Iowa 

2 Tim. 2:15; 22:15-22. 

Matt. 

Psalm 55:12, 12, 

Psalm 51:1, 2, 3, 4, 

Psalm 46:1, 2, 9, 10, ), 

Psalm 25:1, 2, 3, 

No. 153 

No. 134 

No. 127 


Proverbs 1:5; 9:9; 16:21, 23; Romans 15:4; 

Psalm 71:17; Isa. 54:13; Jer. 31:34; John 

6:45; Gal. 1:12; Eph. 4:21; Matthew 7:29; 1 

John 2:27. 

Comments: 

Education, 

often the determining factor be 

tween a successful man and an unsuccessful 

one, is the basis for the complex and highly 

mechanized society in which we of today live. 

Our present system of learning has grown out 

of a long 

struggle by various men who rec 

ognized the need to give everyone a chance 

for education. At this early beginning stage, 

laws were set up controlling the 

jurisdiction and 

schools 

supremancy. These laws 

certified that a unified movement by a group 

of citizens who felt that a certain phase in 

their school system was detrimental to the 

child's well-being could have it righted. How 

ever, this was in theory. Too often, we find 

that the parents of the children do not take 

the time to evaluate the things his child is 

being 

taught and so it is a lonely battle for 

the child to fight. Before he decides whether 

school or church is to have priority he must 

consider the following things: 

1. Will he put his school in first place and 

think of his God and his church only in sec 

ond place? 

2. Will he stand by 

the principles of his 

church and its doctrine in face of opposition 

from the school system and ridicule from his 

classmates? 

3. Will he accept or reject theories, assump 

tions, and often times one man's guess on a 

certain subject as the textbook and instruc 

tor begin to teach in a manner in opposition 

to that which he has learned from the Bible? 

A wise man will remember the 

his Father and follow after them. 

teachings of 

To be efficient is to accomplish the most 

in this life. We are all familiar with the fact 

that we must organize our time. By so doing, 

it is possible for us to live in a well-ordered 

mental state. How much time we are going 

to devote to others, to our studies, 

and the 

extra-curricular activities of the school is an


important decision. Too often because of in 

efficiency of plans we find that when church 

matters are presented many of us say, "I'm 

sorry but I can't make it. Other 

plans." 

Which should have the pre-eminence the 

church or the school? 

When questioned by others concerning the 

beliefs and policies of your church what is 

your attitude? Do you evade the questions 

because you have not time to explain to some 

one our stand against School Dances? Stop 

and think! What does have priority in your 

life? Is it the school that you attend? 

The church takes but one day in seven, the 

school five. But do you forget your church 

when you enter the classroom? No, not if 

you are a real Christian striving to live a life 

that will please your Heavenly Father. You 

do not accept facts or beliefs that are contrary 

to your church doctrine. Some instructors 

will cast dispersions and mock Christ, the 

Bible, in fact all phases of a Christian and 

his life. But if we are trusting and believe 

steadfastly in God's plan, we will be strength 

ened by verses such as II Corinthians 12:10 

where we are told to take pleasure in re 

proaches and opposition. 

During the last War we heard a great deal 

about priorities. Those with a priority did 

not have to put up 

with shortages. Now we 

are making our own priority. It is up to 

each individual to consult with himself and 

decide whether we will live only for the min 

ute or think about the consequences. Will we 

give the church or school priority in deciding 

our activities? Surely we will not find it 

a hard decision to make. 

Questions for Discussion: 

1. In certain courses your text book and 

professor may differ from the truths you have 

been taught. What should be done under such 

circumstances? 

2. Can one compromise in a matter of 

principle? Explain and give reasons for your 

answer. 

3. In what ways can loyalty to your school 

and loyalty to your church and Christ come 

in conflict? 

4. What should a Christian consider to be 

the real end or purpose in obtaining 

cation? 

an edu 

5. Tell what is meant when the Bible says: 

"The Beginning 

of Wisdom?" 

Junior Topic 



"PROPHECIES, 

THE 'CONTINUED STORIES' 

OF THE BIBLE" 

Worship Period: Ps. 62:4. Prayer. Ps. 139:- 

1-3, No. 380. Memory verse is Acts 15: 18. 

Sword Drill; II Pet. 1:21; Act 15:18; Isa. 

40:28; 48:3; 42:9; Ps. 145:3; Rom. 11:33, 34; 

Ps. 139:6. 

Some of the most remarkable stories in the 

Bible are those in which God tells us what is 

going to happen and then leaves the story 

"to be 

continued." 

Later, it is finished ex- 

In the Library Fund there was a balance of $1,266.61 and a closing 

balance of $1,149.26. This includes a special fund of $1,000 In the 

Students' 

Aid Account there was an opening balance of $2,148.56, and 

a closing balance of $2,876.87. The Board appointed a committee to 

overhaul the heating system and to install gas heating. 

Aid of $200 each was granted to the full-year students of our 

own Church. Mr. Harsh was granted an additional $75 as he was not 

receiving the G. I. assistance most of the others were getting. A 

minimum of $200 was authorized for next year with Dr. McKnight 

appointed to study and approve additional aid as conditions warrant. 

The Board authorized S. Bruce Willson to check with Dean 

Smith of Indiana University as to the possibility of obtaining an 

Indiana charter for our Seminary and appointed John Coleman and 

C. B. Metheny to investigate the possibility of Geneva College grant 

ing theological degrees to graduates of our Seminary. The Secretary 

of State in Indiana thought that as far as Indiana is concerned, an 

organization chartered in Indiana could operate in a different state. 

But he questioned whether Pennsylvania would permit the institu 

tion to operate within its territory if it did not meet Pennsylvania 

charter requirements. There is some question as to whether Geneve's 

charter authorizes the college to grant such degrees. John Coleman 

and C. B. Metheny were continued a committee to investigate futhcr. 

Mr. and Mrs. R. K. McConaughy finished their two-year term 

as caretakers this May. The Committee on care of the building will 

select their successors. 

The Seminary Board and Faculty took special note of the death 

of Mrs. R J. G. McKnight. For thirty-two years the Seminary was a 

central interest in her life. The Board by motion extended deep 

sympathy to Dr. McKnight with appreciation of the loss shared by 

the Seminary Faculty and Board and by the Covenanter Church. 

S. Bruce Willson was appointed to represent the Board before 

the Co-ordinating Committee and was instructed to request $4,500 

for the Students' 

Aid Fund. Dr. John Coleman was appointed to 

represent the Seminary 

We reccommend: 

on the floor of Synod. 

1. That John Coleman be heard in behalf of the Seminary. 

2 That successors to the following Board members whose term 

expires at this meeting of Synod be elected: F. M. Wilson, S. B. Will- 

son, J. C. Mathews and elder Robert K. McConaughy. 

Secretary. 

Robert McConaughy 

THE FIFTY -FIRST ANNUAL REPORT OF THE WOMAN'S 

ASSOCIATION 

Madam President and Members of the Woman's Association of 

the Reformed Presbyterian Church: 

Once again we have come to the close of a year and as the 

Board of Managers of the Reformed Presbyterian Home for the 

Aged we have met to report to the Woman's Association the work 

done during that period, April 1, 1947 to March 31, 1948. 

The Managers have held twelve regular and two special meetings. 

There are thirty 

members on the roll and we had an average 

attendance of twenty-three members having a perfect attendance. 

We are sorry to have lost two of our number by death Mrs. 

T. H. Martin and Mrs. R. J. G. McKnight. 

Mrs. Maitin passed away after a lingering illness of many 

months on June 4, 1947. 

She had served faithfully through more than forty years as 

as 1st Vice-President and as chairman of the Press Com 

Secretary, 

mittee. In this capacity she kept the news of the Home very much 

before the Church through the columns of the church paper. 

Mrs. R. J. G. McKnight was a member of the Board of Directors. 

She served faithfully always expressing a keen interest in the Home 

and its members. 

Mrs. McKnight had been confined to her home all through the 

fall and winter months. She was gradually feeling able to enter 

into some of the Activities she loved so dearly.


She attended the Home Board Meeting part of the day on March 

10 happy to meet so many friends again. 

That evening about the dinner hour in her home her Lord call 

ed her to enter the Mansion He had prepared for her. 

Mrs. Thomas H. Clark, who was elected a manager for three 

years at the Association Meeting, accepted the position. 

Committees have done their respective work and reported at 

the monthly meetings, which are held on the second Wednesday of 

each month. 

The Treasurer, Mrs. Agnes E. Steele, 

ing every month. 

reports our financial stand 

Wills, insurance policies and gifts cf that nature should be made 

in the name of the Reformed Presbyterian Woman's Association. 

The Home display at the Covnanter Conventicle, held at Grin 

nell, Iowa, was under the supervision of the Publicity Committee. 

It consisted of pictures of interest in and around the Home, 

Gregg parlor, Dining room, Hospital room and some individual 

rooms also four minature rooms with furniture. 

1897 

Post cards of the Home and booklet, "The Covenanter Home 

1947" 

written by Mrs. J. S. Tibby and Mrs. R. H. George, were 

on sale at the display table. 

The Publicity Committee was authorized to solicit funds for 

transforming The Mcintosh Parlor, a Memorial room to Mr. and Mrs. 

Laughlan Mcintosh by their daughter, Mrs. D. C. Martin, into a 

library and recreation room in memory of the late Dr's. W. J. and 

J. M. Coleman. 

This piece of work has been accomplished. 

Mrs. Helen Webber joined our number for a few months and 

withdrew from the Home at her own request. 

Persons, desiring information concerning 

Home, should address: 

Mrs. Knox M. Young, 

617 Means Avenue, 

Pittsburgh 2, Pa. 

admission into the 

There was one death in the membership that of Mr. Lamont 

H. Turner. 

He passed away Jan. 29, 1948, 

years having lived here in the companionship 

Dec. 1943. 

at the age of almost eighty-two 

of his wife since 

His body was laid to rest in the Home plot, Uniondale Cemetery. 

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 

Our Home family now numbers twenty-seven. 

More materials have been available during recent months than 

for some time previous and our Purchasing Committee has replenish 

ed goods and utensils that had been much in demand. 

The Repair Committee and the Grounds Committee pride them 

selves in the appearance of the building and the lawn. 

The house was erected many 

years ago and has withstood the 

storms of winters and hot sun of many summers, so necessary repairs 

are continually being made. 

spring. 

The lawn is not easy to keep it requires special care each 

By the vigilance of these committee women the Home presents 

an attractive picture on the hillside to the passers-by. 

The Sabbath Services are most helpful and we are indebted to 

the ministers, who so graciously bring messages of comfort and cheer 

to our family. 

The annual Reception and Donation Day keeps us in close con 

tact with many friends who visit us and remember us with their 

generous gifts. 

Donations of food, linens and other materials come to us, not 

only on this Special day but all through the year. 

The Donation Secretary requests that all packages, boxes and 

barrels be sent directly to the Reformed Presbyterian Home for the 

Aged, 2344 Perrysville Avenue, Pittsburgh 14, Pa. 

Parties and entertainments, special dinners, the Holiday Season 

and birthdays, which are never passed by un-noticed, bring bright 

spots into the lives of the people who live in the Home. 

actly as He said. Only God could write such 

wonderful stories, 

will happen years ahead. 

The "Continued Story" 

for He alone knows what 

of Cyprus 

It is the year 712 B. C. An old man sits in 

the gates of Jeruslem, telling the passers-by 

about a general named Cyrus who will allow 

the temple to be built. Men stop, listen a 

moment; then with a sneer, they pass on. 

They know there is no such general and as 

for the temple, it stands in its beauty; it needs 

no building. 

Time passes. The old man Isaiah dies and 

his words are almost forgotten. Then, the 

king of Babylon brings his army against Jer 

usalem. He takes it. He burns the city and 

temple with fire. And then, on the long, 

weary march back to Babylon, the captive 

Jews remember Isaiah's prophecy. No longer 

does it seem foolish to them. They remember 

that their beloved temple will be built again 

and they take hope. But still there is no gen 

eral named Cyrus. 

Almost two hundred years after Isaiah's 

words, Cyrus is born among the eastern 

mountains. He becomes a great general and 

determines to lead his army against Babylon, 

the most powerful city in the world. Fourteen 

miles square, it is defended by 

an immense 

wall with many towers and gates, all guarded 

watchmen. How can the soldiers of Cyrus 

by 

take it? Two hundred years before, Isaiah 

had told that very thing. Read what he said, 

Isa. 44:28; 45:1-4, and then listen to what 

happened. 

Bel- 

It is night in the city of Babylon. King 

shazzar sits at a great drunken feast. Sud 

denly, 

the hand of God appears on the wall, 

writing his doom. At that very 

moment the 

men of Cyrus are outside the gates, digging a 

new channel for the river which flows 

through the city. In a short time, they enter 

beneath the walls through the old river bed, 

"the two leaved 

gates" 

that shall not be shut. 

The watchmen still guard the towers, but the 

enemy is within the city! A description of 

the army that pours into the streets of Baby 

lon is given in Isa. 13:4, 5, 

and the story of 

the one-sided battle is told in the next three 

verses. The Babylonians, their faces inflamed 

are put to rout and Cyrus 

by strong drink, 

with his uncle Darius becomes ruler of the 

city. 

And now the story is almost finished. Only 

the command to rebuild the temple remains 

to be given. And this was done by Cyrus 

soon after he took the throne. (II Chron. 

36:23). 

So ends the remarkable story 

of Cyrus, a 

man named by God almost two hundred years 

before he was born. 

The "continued 

The Story of Babylon 

story" 

of Babylon has been 

going on for over twenty-six hundred years! 

That long ago, Isaiah gave his great prophecy 

concerning it! Isa. 13:19-22. Babylon, the 

greatest city in the world, began to fall when 

Cyrus conquered it and as time went on, one


thing after another in the prophecy was ful 

filled. The people moved to another place. A 

king made the old, tumble-down city his 

hunting ground and wild beasts, serpents, 

owls lived there. 

Today, 

even the houses have disappeared 

beneath the ground. The shepherds shun the 

swampy, filthy place where great Babylon 

once stood. The Arabians have a superstition 

that evil spirits haunt it and they will not stay 

there after sundown. So is being completed 

the story of Babylon. 

The Story of Tyre 

One of the richest cities in the time of 

Ezekiel was Tyre. Her ships brought trea 

sures of gold, ivory, ebony across the blue 

waters of the Mediterranean. Along the dusty 

highways of the world rode merchants, bring 

ing jewels, embroideries, and beautiful horses 

to her Fairs. Ezek. 27:12-25. 

But Ezekiel knew that although Tyre was 

very rich, yet she was wicked and would be 

destroyed. He told the name of the conqueror 

and the manner of battle. Ezek. 26:7-11. 

Years later, this is exactly what happened. 

This did not complete the prophecy, however 

(Ezek. 26:12-14), for after Nebuchadnezzar 

took it, Tyre still lived on for two hundred 

years. Then another general, Alexander the 

Great, destroyed the whole city. His soldiers 

dragged the great stones of the houses into 

the sea. Even the dust of the streets was 

scraped off into the water. How surprised 

Alexander was when later the Jews showed 

him the book of Isaiah and he realized that 

he had done just what God had fortold hun 

dreds of years before. 

It is said that today the marble pillars of 

Tyre can still be seen lying 

at the bottom of 

the sea, a forgotten city beneath the waves. 

And the fishermen spread their nets to dry 

in the sun on the rocks where the great and 

wicked city used to be. 

Close the meeting with Ps. 145: 1-3, No. 389, 

and the Lord's prayer. 



BARNABAS. 

Acts 4:36, 37; 9:26, 27; 11:22-26; 

13:1-3 

The following quotation offers a fitting in 

troduction to this man; "No character in the 

New Testament church is more attractive 

than Barnabas. Other leaders are more 

prominent and better known to Christians, 

but among the leaders of the early church, 

none did more than he to make Christianity 

a credible and winsome faith." 

It would be 

out of the question to review in detail all 

that is said about this man, and so we must 

confine ourselves to certain out-standing facts 

concerning him. His name was Joses, the 

name Barnabas having been given him by the 

apostles, indicating their measure of the man. 

He was a native of Cyprus, and a Levite, a 

fact about which something might be said. 

He was one of the early Christians in Jerusa- 

Notices of these and other events of interest are sent to the 

Covenanter Witness by the Press Committee. 

The proceeds from the Patterson farm which was sold one year 

ago, amounting to $9,0000.00 from the immediate sale, $2,500.00 

from the sale of timber and $500.00 from the right-of-way sold to 

the Socony Oil Co., amounting to $12,000.00 were put in a special 

fund to be known as the Patterson Memorial Fund, to be used in 

the welfare of the Home, when the time is auspicious, in some way 

that will commemorate Mr. Patterson's generosity. 

The amount named was invested in Government bonds. 

The resignation of Dr. J. Allen Martin, who had served for 

some years on our Staff of Physician:;, was accepted at the May 

meeting. A full-time nurse has been employed since the first of 

June. 

The place of matron is filled yearly by appointment. 

For more than half the years our Home has been operated, Mrs. 

Anna E. McKittrick received this appointment and served in this 

capacity, adhering strictly to the principles of the Home as express 

ed in the policy of the Church for which it stands. 

The Woman's Association is greatly appreciative of the faithful 

service she rendered for such a long period of time. 

When she was not being continued after the last annual meet 

ing, Mrs. McKittrick graciously 

until other arrangements could be made. 

carried on the work for six weeks 

Mrs. S. R. Moffitt, our Assistant-Matron, "at the time on an 

indefinite leave of absence", was called into service until such a 

time as we are ready to elect a matron. 

She assumed the management of the Home June 1, 1947. 

We are again indebted and expres appreciation to our Advi 

sory Board, to our Staff ot Physicians, 

who give of their time and 

profession, that they may minister to our sick folk, to our Attorney 

Mr. F. E. Milligan, who is most genercus with his legal counsel 

and to Mrs. S. R. Moffitt, our Assistant-Matron, who efficiently 

carried on the work of the Matron. 

The following 

ship roll: 

names have been added to the Life Member 

Mrs. J. C. Mathews 

By Mrs. Jane Miller 

Mrs. Theodore See 

By Mr. Theodore See 

Mrs. H. B. White 

By her daughter Alda 

Marilyn Jean Stiver 

By Dr. and Mrs. John Coleman 

Mrs. Alexander Cannon 

By her son, 

John Paul Edgar 

Mr. James Cannon 

By Dr. Susan W. Wiggins 

Dr. M. S. McMillan 

By Dr. Susan W. Wiggins 

The following names have been added to the In Memoriam Roll: 

Mrs. Alice Lawson Fenwick 

By Mrs. Paul Coleman 

Mrs. Mary E. Latimer 

By Esther Latimer 

Mrs. Sarah McCarroll 

By Southfield Women's Missionary Society 

Mrs. Dollie M. Robinson 

By Miss Martha G. Robinson 

For the blessings of the past we are grateful to the Heavenly 

Father and for the future we seek His guidance and direction. 

We respectfully submit this, the fjfty-first annual report of 

the Board of Managers to the Reformed Presbyterian Woman's 

Association for the yeai ending March 31, 1948. 

Bertha H. McKnight, 

Rec. Sec'y.


lem when the new faith was in its 

infancy. The frequent reference 

made to him in the Acts and in Paul's 

epistles makes it necessary to con 

fine ourselves to sketching some of 

his leading traits of character. 

I. HE WAS A LIBERAL MAN. See 

Acts 4:36, 37. 

The preceding verses describe the 

situation. Voluntary contributions 

were being made to a common fund 

to provide for the needs of the Chris 

tian community which "had all things 

common." 

Among the contributors 

was Barnabas, who sold a piece of 

land and put the proceeds of the sale 

into the hands of the apostles. One 

writer describes Barnabas as the 

man with an open hand, 

an open 

mind, and an open heart. We see 

him here as the man with an open 

hand. His was a generous gift as 

well as a willing 

one. The actual 

amount is not stated, but the impres 

sion one gets is that it was not small. 

And it was the entire proceeds of the 

sale. The Lord measures generosity 

not by the amount given but by how 

much is left. The widow's mites 

were greater than the gold pieces of 

the rich because they were all she 

had. Years ago a young girl in the 

Topeka congregation gave all the 

money she had been saving to buy 

herself a winter coat, after hearing 

Dr. Blair present the cause of Near 

East relief. We may think it easy for 

a man who has much to give much. 

But is it really 

increase, 

them." 

so? "If riches 

set not your heart upon 

We think that a rich man 

with his abundance need not think 

about getting more. But is that real 

ly the way of it? It often appears 

that the more we have the more we 

want. The open-handedness of Bar 

nabas we would do well to copy. 

II. HE WAS A FAIR-MINDED AND 

TRUSTED MAN. See Acts. 9:26, 27; 

11:19-26; 15:22-26. 

The reference in the first of these 

passages is to Paul who, coming 

down from Damascus to Jerusalem 

for the first time as a Christian, was 

given a very cool reception by the 

disciples who very naturally looked 

on him with suspicion. They feared 

him, and did not believe that he had 

been converted. Barnabas alone be 

lieved Paul's amazing story. If we 

knew nothing more of Barnabas than 

what he did in this one instance, we 

should still owe him a great debt. He 

was fair-minded enough to give Paul 

a chance to prove his claim instead 

of casting his past life in his face. 

In all of his deeds as recorded, Bar 

nabas never did, a finer thing, a 

more Christ-like deed, than when he 

took Paul to his heart when all 

Jerusalem was against him. 

Acts 11:19-26 presents a different 

phase of this man's make-up. Some 

years after the episode spoken of in 

the previous paragraph, refugees from 

Rome who had been scattered wide 

ly 

came to Antioch in Syria and 

preached the gospel. "And the hand 

of the Lord was with them," 

so that 

great numbers believed. The word 

of this came to the church in Jerusa 

lem which at once sent Barnabas to 

Antioch to ascertain what the situa 

tion was. Why Barnabus? Simply 

because he was thought to be the 

man for the place. As events trans 

pired it was demonstrated that the 

judgment of the Christians in Jer 

usalem was sound. His going to find 

Paul and have his assistance in deal 

ing 

with the situation. A sensible 

and trustworthy man he showed him 

self to be. 

Acts 15:22-26. presents still anoth 

er instance of this man's wisdom and 

levelheadedness. The Council of Jer 

usalem had been called to settle once 

for all the standing 

of Gentile con 

verts. This question concerned the 

church at Antioch especially, since 

its membership was largely Gentile. 

The question having been definitely 

decided in the Council, the church 

at Antioch must be at once informed 

of what had been done by the Coun 

cil, and letters were written to inform 

them. The men by whom the letters 

were carried, several in number, in 

cluded Barnabas and Paul, the duty 

of these men being not only to de 

liver the letters, but to explain, and 

reassure the members of the Antioch 

church. And so a very delicate and 

important mission was fulfilled. 

Barnabas calls to mind one of our 

most reverend and honored church 

fathers, the late Dr. C. D. Trumbull. 

He is said to have been appointed 

more frequently than other member 

of the court during his time, to head 

committees to which had been given 

the task of dealing with delicate and 

perplexing questions where a mis 

take in judgment and fairness might 

have resulted disastrously. This man 

whose memorj we revere might well 

have been termed the Barnabas of 

his time. Would that more of us were 

endowed with that gift of "good 

sense" 

which is just as needful in 

church affairs as in other matters. 

III. HE WAS A FOREIGN MIS 

SIONARY. Acts 13:1-4. 

The account here given of choosing 

Barnabas and Paul to this work is 

familiar to most of us. It is signifi 

cant that this action was taken by 

the church at Antioch, not by a 

church composed of Christian Jews, 

but by a church made up of both 

Gentiles and Jews, and located far 

outside of Palestine. It should also 

be noted that Barnabas was named 

first, that being the order given by 

the Holy Spirit. The perfect confi 

dence shown by the church in Jer 

usalem years before in sending Bar 

nabas to Antioch was thus confirm 

ed by the Holy Spirit. When the two 

started it was Barnabas and Saul; 

when they returned it was Paul and 

Barnabas, 

a suggestive reversal that 

will afford some things to discuss. 

That Barnabas must have been ready 

to yield the leadership to a younger 

man speaks well for his devotion to 

the cause which they represented as " 

well as his indifference as to personal 

ambition. Much is suggested here 

that cannot be touched upon, but it 

should never be forgotten that this 

work was inaugurated at the com 

mand of the Holy Spirit. It should 

also be noted that the two men chos 

en were high class, able men. The 

church did not send out men who had 

been useless at home. The foreign 

field always needs, and in this case 

actually obtained, the ablest workers. 

IV. HE WAS A MAN OF LIKE PAS 

SIONS WITH OTHER MEN. 

He was a striking example of how 

the best and noblest of men make 

mistakes. The Bible /records both 

the faults and virtues of its charac 

ters with strictest impartiality. Two 

epsiodes are recorded which show 

that even this man who was good, 

and full of the Holy Ghost and of 

faith, had his weak moments. Chap 

ter 15, the closing verses, mentions 

one of these unfortunate happenings. 

Paul and Barnabas quarreled, and 

both were to blame, though to what 

extent is not for us to judge. Suffi 

cient to say that they parted company 

in bitterness toward each other. 

Paul erred in thinking 

that others 

should be as hot-hearted as himself 

in prosecuting the work in hand. 

Barnabas was at fault in being guilty 

of what is commonly known as "ne 

potism," 

favoring 

a relative just be 

cause he is one. We are glad how 

ever, to learn that all the persons 

and earnest laborers in the great 

cause so dear to them, and that 

brotherly love took the place of 

enmity. 

The other lapse in the life of Bar 

nabas is not mentioned directly in 

The Acts, but Paul speaks very plain 

ly 

about it in his epistle to the Gal 

atians 2:11-14. But there it would 

seem that Peter was chiefly in the 

fault, by withdrawing from the fel-


lowship of the Gentile Christians, 

and making companions of Jewish 

Christians to the exclusion of the 

Gentile brethern. Paul's expression 

"even Barnabas" 

is very suggestive, 

indicating both surprise and disap 

pointment that such a man should 

be caught in the current of reaction. 

But it is just that sort of thing that 

threatens men of the genial type. In 

ungarded moments their sympathies 

may betray 

Barnabas, 

are the living 

them into wrong action. 

and others of his kind 

exponents of the gos 

pel set forth for us all in Hebrews 

6: 18, that "we might have a strong 

consolation, who have fled for refuge 

to lay hold of the hope set before 



us." 

THE EIGHTH COMMANDMENT 

By the Rev. M. K. Carson 

Questions 73-75: 

Exodus 20:15, Deut. 5:19. 

Psalms: 

Psalm 112:1-4, No. 307 

Psalm 49:4-8, No. 132 

Psalm 37:14-17, No. 100 

References : 

Prov. 27:23; Gal. 6:10; Phil. 2:4; 

I Peter 4:15. 

This Eighth Commandment is 

God's prohibition of the sin of theft. 

While the death penalty was not re 

quired as punishment for the break 

ing of this commandment, (Exodus 

22:1-15) yet it is one of the ten and 

it is binding (Matt. 19:18; Romans 

13:9). 

This commandment is a recog 

nition of the right of personal prop 

erty for how could there be theft if 

there is no private property? These 

property rights are of lesser im 

portance than life for the "life is 

more than meat", but even these 

property 

rights must be respected 

and recognizisd. Atheistic commun^ 

ism denies man's right to property, 

but the Scriptures clearly recognize 

this right. Property may be lawfully 

acquired by a gift (love) or by labor 

(wages) or in both these ways. 

Others acquire property in some for 

bidden way. "Let him that stole steal 

no more; but rather let him labor, 

working with his hands the thing 

which is good, that he may have to 

give to him that 

needeth" 

(Eph. 4: 

28). Two right ways and a wrong way 

are mentioned in this text stealing, 

laboring and giving. 

What is required in the Eighth 

Commandment? "It requireth the 

lawful procuring and furthering the 

wealth and outward estate of our 

selves and 

others." 

We are to pro 

vide things honest in the sight of all 

men" 

(Rom. 12:17). Property must 

be acquired honestly 

and honorably. 

God's blessing can scarcely rest upon 

those who are "greedy of 

seeking "dishonest 

19; Ezekiel 22:13, 27). 

gain," 

or 

gain" 

(Prov. 1: 

Industry, frugality and economy 

are duties incumbent upon all. "If 

any would not work, neither should 

he 

eat" 

(II Thess. 3:10). We are 

commanded to be "diligent in busi 

ness, 

"not slothful in business" 

and 

that "whatsoever our hand findeth 

to do, to do it with our 

might" 

(Prov. 22.29; Ecclesiastes 9:10; Ro 

mans 12:11). 

Some men err in the opposite di 

rection and are mastered by a world 

ly spirit, so we are to "take heed 

and to beware of 

covetousness" 

(Luke 12:15). "He that loveth silver 

shall not be satisfied with silver; 

nor he that loveth abundance with 

increase" 

this imply 

(Ecclesiastes 5:10). Does 

that a desire for wealth 

increases with the increase of 

wealth ? Some seem to become in 

toxicated with a love of money. The 

man who makes haste to be rich has 

an evil eye(Prov. 28:22). 

Great wealth does not necessarily 

result in great happiness. Often it is 

the very 

opposite (Matt. 19:22). The 

rich young ruler went away sorrow 

ful for he had great possessions. But 

if wealth is acquired honestly with 

the right spirit and with the right 

purpose, it is the means of blessing. 

God blessed Abraham that he might 

be a blessing. Financially, God 

blesses many of our consecrated 

people who become a great blessing 

through the sharing of their wealth. 

Missionaries and ministers are sup 

ported, Bibles are supplied; Colleges 

are endowed; Churches are main 

tained and Christian activity is 

advanced through the generous con 

tributions of those who have conse 

crated themselves and their wealth 

to the Lord. 

"What is forbidden in the Eighth 

Commandment ? The Eighth Com 

mandment forbiddeth whatsoever doth 

or may unjustly hinder our own, or 

our neighbor's wealth or outward 

estate." 

The principle in this command 

ment is very broad. It means more 

than simply breaking into another's 

house and taking- his goods. It in 

cludes unjust wages for services 

rendered, unfaithful service given, 

dishonest profits, 

tryingto 

escape 

paying honest bills, taxes, carfares, 

and, in short, taking advantage of 

anyone for the sake of personal gain. 

All unfair practices, fraud, deceit, 

pushing hard bargains in times of 

distress, purposely hiding things 

which should be made known, false 

and misleading advertisements all 

such things are forbidden. "It is 

naught, saith the buyer; but when 

he is gone his way, then he boast- 

eth" 

(Prov. 20:14). This kind of 

boasting is not consistent with the 

spirit of this commandment. "A 

false balance is an abomination to 

the Lord." 

Prov. 11:1; Lev. 19:35- 

36. Amos 8:4-6; Deut. 24:14-15. 

Do men steal from themselves ? If 

they do, why do they do it? How do 

they do it? Fisher says, "We may 

be said to steal from ourselves by 

idleness, 

when we live without a 

lawful calling, or neglect it, if we 

have any by niggardliness, when a 

person defrauds himself of the due 

use and comfort of that estate which 

God hath given to him by prodigal 

ity, when persons are lavish and 

profuse, in spending above their in 

come." 

Do men attempt to rob God of 

His time or His share of our in 

come ? What is the result of such an 

attempt? Malachi 3:8-12. 

What is the relation of this com 

mandment to strikers ? Would there 

be strikes if this commandment were 

obeyed? Love is the fulfilling 

of the 

law. Romans 13:10. A great amount 

of wealth is lost by 

both the em 

ployer and the employee in every 

continued strike. As a result there 

is much suffering 

and bitterness and 

wastefulness. If every employee took 

a keen interest in his task and did an 

honest day's work and if every em 

ployer paid a fair wage and took an 

interest in the safety and welfare of 

his employees, there would be no 

strikes. Those who keep hack by 

fraud the hire of the laborers are 

condemned (James 5:4). On the 

other hand how many of us may be 

dominated by 

ling" 

(John 10:12-13). 

the spirit of an "hire 

Another form of dishonesty is 

gambling. Gambling- is sinful because 

it is an attempt to gain something 

without giving an adequate value in 

exchange. This sin is 

becoming- 

more and more prevalent and is leav 

ing 

a trail of disaster and heart 

break across our country. Gambling 

is a sin in itself and it leads to all 

kinds of theft and sin. Many crazed 

with the possibility of winning a 

large sum of money 

will rob their 

employed, borrow money from 

friends, or mortgage their home and 

property to secure sufficient money 

to pay for their gambling debts or to


take "one more 

chance" 

to recover 

what has been lost. So the vicious 

circle continues. How closely re 

lated all these commandments are! 

One breaks this Eighth Command 

ment for instance, by gambling and 

as a result there are suicides, mur 

ders, thefts, broken homes in short 

the breaking of every commandment. 

"For whosoever shall keep the whole 

law, and yet offend in one point, he 

is guilty of 

all." 

James 2:10. 

Prayer Suggestions 

1. That the Lord may give us 

power to prove ourselves trust 

worthy 

and dependable in all our 

relationships, especially in all our 

financial obligatbions. 

2. Pray for our Seminary 

and our 

College: Faculty and students and 

all our young people who are begin 

ning another year in school. 

3. Pray for our missionaries who 

are returning to China this fall and 

all our representatives there, and 

also those in Syria and Cyprus. 

4. Pray that all our congregations 

may be blessed in our local work. 

May the power of the Holy Spirit 

be manifested in our lives. 

STAR NOTES... 

***This number of The Covenant 

er Witness and some following will 

be late in reaching you. We are in 

the throes of installing 

a different 

press. We crave you patience and 

your prayers now and later. Editor. 

***Dr. and Mrs. J. C. Mitchel, Rev. 

and Mrs. Robert Henning, Miss Or 

lena Lynn and Miss Alice Edgar and 

Miss Rose Huston will be sailing 

September 18 from San Francisco to 

our China Mission Field. Friends 

and loved ones who want to write to 

them should address them in care of 

the American President Lines, S. S. 

General Meigs, San Francisco, Calif. 

Robert D. Edgar 

Transportation Director 

***The late Mrs. Margaret Hemp 

hill was a member of the Geneva 

Congregation, bringing her certificate 

from the Northwood congregation 

soon after coming to Beaver Falls. 

***Drs. C. T. Carson and G. S. 

Coleman are preaching for the Ge 

neva congregation on two of the 

four Sabbaths of the pastor's vaca 

tion. 

***The Dr. J. B. Willson family 

are spending their August vacation 

at Ridgeview Park between Derry, 

the post office address, and Blairsville, 

Pa. They are in the New Alex 

andria parish, 

under the kindly pas 

toral oversight of their friends the 

Fullertons. 

***We wish to record our thanks 

to the Geneva congregation for the 

generous increase in salary 

voted at 

the annual business meeting, for per 

sonal gifts, 

and for many acts of 

kindness through the year. 

The Willsons 

***Mr. and Mrs. Hugh F. McCrum 

and Mr. and Mrs. Ben Linton and 

Ruth of Santa Ana who attended the 

Conference at Camp Waskowitz, 

were graciously 

entertained for a 

few days immediately following the 

Conference by Mr. and Mrs. A. B. 

Lintecum of Longview, Washington. 

Together they enjoyed a drive to 

Mount Rainier; a boat trip to Astoria, 

Oregon; and a visit to the great lum 

ber mills of Longview. 

*** About seventy friends, many of 

them our Conference guests, met on 

Monday evening, August 2 at the 

beach in Lincoln Park, Seattle, for a 

bountiful basket dinner. At this 

gathering, Mr. J. G. Betts, who re 

fuses to accept any remuneration for 

his services as camp manager, was 

presented with a Parker "51" 

set in 

appreciation of his excellent services. 

The evening 

was closed with the 

singing of Psalms and with prayer by 

Dr. J. B. Tweed. It was another time 

of happy fellowship with friends. 

***A very successful Daily Vaca 

tion Bible School was held in Seat 

tle during the last two weeks of June. 

Our teachers did faithful work. One 

hundred and sixty 

were present for 

the closing program on Friday, June 

27. 

*** While on their wedding trip in 

July, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Jameson 

visited their aunt and cousins, Mrs. 

M. R. Jameson, Margaret and Bernice 

of Seattle. In August, Miss Shirley 

Jameson visited in the Jameson home 

in Seattle. Our friends from South- 

field are always welcome in our 

services. 

***Among those whom the Seattle 

congregation has been privileged to 

welcome into its services this sum 

mer are Mrs. Ruth Carson, Mr. and 

Mrs. Walter Ikenberry and Mrs. K. 

K. Edwards of Denver; Miss Viola 

McFarland of Sterling; Mr. and Mrs. 

Sam Dickey of New York City; Mr. 

and Mrs. Donald Birdsall and Ingrid, 

Miss Dorothy Dodds and Mr. and 

Mrs. Sam Marshall and Gordon of 

Los Angeles; Mr. and Mrs. J. G. 

Betts, Mrs. W. G. Martin, Mrs. S. J. 

Blair and Jean of Santa Ana; Miss 

Pauline Blair of Glenwood; Mr. and 

Mrs. Thomas Jameson and Miss Shir 

ley Jameson of Southfield; Dr. and 

Mrs. J. Boyd Tweed, Robert and 

John, Beaver Falls; Dr. and Mrs. T. 

M. Slater, Montclair; Mr. Norman 

McCune, Belfast; Mr. and Mrs. Del 

ber McKee and Rev. David M. Car 

son. These, together with the many 

friends who were at Camp Waskowitz 

but who could not remain over anoth 

er Sabbath with us have helped to 

make this a specially delightful sum 

mer for this congregation. 

***On Tuesday, July 27, Mr. Jos 

eph Fleming 

entertained at a deli 

cious chicken dinner eighty geusts, 

many of them our friends from a dis 

tance who were gathering in Seattle 

for our Conference. Our gratitude 

was expressed, both individually and 

collectively, to Mr. Fleming for his 

gracius hospitality. 

***Mrs. J. C. Tweed, one of Seat 

tle's faithful members even though 

she has lived out of the bounds of the 

congregation, is with us this summer. 

We hope she may be able to remain 

permanently 

help 

mean much to us. 

as her presence and 

***For five weeks, while Miss 

Viola McFarland was in the Univers 

ity of Washington, the Seattle con 

gregation enjoyed her fellowship and 

help 

at all the Sabbath services and 

the prayer meetings. Such interest 

is greatly appreciated. 

***Mr. and Mrs. S. M. Dodds and 

Roberta and J. M. Dodds are enjoy 

a fine visit with Dr. and Mrs. J. 

ing 

Boyd Tweed, Robert and John. The 

Tweed family added much to the 

value of our Conference. 

***Since our 1949 Conference is to 

be held in the bounds of the Fresno 

congregation, the Lord willing, the 

new officers of our Pacific Coast 

C. Y. P. U. are the following: 

Presbyterial Secretary 

Caskey. 

Rev. C. E. 

President Mr. Carroll Caskey, 

Fresno 

Vice-President Mr. Donald Chest 

nut, Fresno 

Secretary Miss Margaret Jame 

son, Seattle 

Ass't Secretary Miiss Matilda 

Buck, Fresno 

Treasurer Mr. Donald M. Gouge, 

Fresno 

***The pastor of the Seattle con 

gregation is enjoying 

a vacation this 

summer while Mr. Norman McCune, 

Dr. T. M. Slater, Dr. J. B. Tweed and 

Rev. David M. Carson are the guest 

ministers. The fellowship of these 

messengers and their messages have 

been greatly enjoyed. 

***The friends in Seattle were 

shocked to hear of the sudden death 

of Mr. Wallace Crouch of Denver on 

August 12. Mr. and Mrs. R. W. 

Mitchell left by 

plane the next morn-


ing to be with their daughter, Mrs. 

Wallace Crouch and her little son, 

William Robert. To these sorrowing 

friends we extend our heart-felt 

sympathy. 

**'*On Tuesday, Augjust 17, the 

Seattle congregation enjoyed a "pic 

ture-party". Mr. J. B. Lamont, Miss 

Roberta Dodds, Rev. David M. Car 

son, Mrs. Gladys Smith, Mr. Donald 

M. Crozier, Dr. J. B. Tweed and Mr. 

Wilmer Hill entertained the audience 

with "slides" 

and "movies" 

of Mt. 

Rushmore in the Black Hills, Yellow 

stone, Glacier, Banff, Victora, Arizona 

Canyons, Seattle, Grinnell and Camp 

Waskowitz. 

We are grateful to these friends 

for sharing these beautiful pictures 

with us. They were especially inter 

esting because most of the pictures 

were taken by our friends in their re 

cent travels. 

The pictures of Grinnell and Camp 

Waskowitz remind us of the happy 

and inspiring days we had with our 

friends. Our honored guests were Dr. 

and Mrs. J. B. Tweed, Robert and 

John and Dr. and Mrs. T. M. Slater. 

***J. P. and Eleanor Robb Milano- 

vich welcomed a third daughter, 

Cynthia Robb, Born July 24, 1948 at 

Corry, Pa". 

***Another daughter Judith Marie 

was born to Evelyn Beardslee and R. 

E. Robb, Jr., at Detroit, August 4, 

1948. 

***Miss Rose Huston writes: 

You may not have heard that I 

have been reappointed to South 

China, and hope to get ready to sail 

with the Mitchel party on September 

18, though it will be a mad rush for 

me. 

I have wanted to write you about 

Mrs. Jeanette Li. Dr. Li tells me 

that she left Changchun some time 

ago because it was surrounded by 

Communists. The only way 

out was 

to fly or to walk, and she walked the 

whole distance to Mukden, taking 

eleven days for the trip. After some 

time there, she and Dr. Li's wife and 

two children were able to fly from 

Mukden to Peking, and from there 

they made their way to Shanghai, 

and a recent letter from South China 

says they were due in Hongkong 

about the time they wrote. They will 

be a valuable addition to the work 

ing force there. 

My going leaves the work here in 

Kentucky very short handed, and we 

are praying the Lord to send forth 

m|ore laborers; .tjie 

great, 

opportunity is 

and the work very satisfying 

and no one knows how long 

be open for Bible teaching. 

it may 

***Instead of the gift of floral 

pieces to the memory 

Reverend R. C. Adams, many 

of the late 

of the 

friends turned in money to be used 

as a memorial for work in China. At 

the last reports we have, the amount 

had reached $141.50. 

**"!The Winchester congregation 

have given a good-will gift to the 

Reverend Jesse Mitchel and wife for 

their comfort in China, namely 

$1405.00. This is to be used for a car, 

or refrigerator, or whatever they 

think best to use it for. What a letter 

of commendation that is from one's 

home congregation! 

***Mr. and Mrs. McDonald wish 

to record their profound thanks to 

God, 

author of all good for His gift 

of a host of Christian friends who 

have shown us every kindness and 

tender solicitation along with innum 

erable tokens of regard during our 

days and weeks of affliction and slow 

recovery. 

P. J. M. 

***The Clarinda congregation was 

saddened by the death of Mrs. Will 

Moore on August 18. Funeral serv 

ices were held at the church on Fri 

day afternoon, August 20, conducted 

by Rev. Waldo Mitchel of Blan 

chard. She is survived by her hus 

band and three children, 

Mrs. Earl 

Whitney of Braddyville, Iowa, Ray 

mond Moore of Bedford, Iowa, and 

Catherine Moore at home. She leaves 

four grandchildren, twin grand 

daughters Marie and Margaret 

Moore and twin grandsons Richard 

and Robert Moore. She was a faith 

ful member and will be greatly 

missed in the work of the church. 

***Illinois Presbytery 

stands ad 

journed to meet at Oakdale, Illinois, 

October 26, 1948, at 8 P.M. 

S. Bruce Willson, Clerk 

CHURCH NEWS 

MORNING SUN, IOWA 

Rev. and Mrs. Herbert Hays stop 

ped in Morning Sun on their way 

home from Synod and visited rela 

tives. 

On June 10, the Iowa Women's 

Presbyterial met in the Hopkinton 

Church. Rev. Hays was the speaker 

for the occasion. Those attending 

from Morning Sun were Mrs. J. K. 

Dunn, Mrs. Cora Kimble, Mrs. James 

Honeyman, Mrs. Esther Mclhinney, 

Rev. and Mrs. Patterson. 

Mr. and Mrs. Donald Todd and in 

fant daughter, visited recently in the 

parental Todd home. Miss Dorothy, 

sister to Donald, accompanied them 

home for a visit of two weeks. 

Mr. and Mrs. Howard McElhinney 

and infant daughter are living on a 

farm near Grand View. Howard 

taught school the past year in Ar- 

gyle, la. 

Mrs. Irene Samson visited for a 

month in the home of her daughter 

Mrs. Faith Smith, in Washington, D. 

C, and helped care for an infant 

granddaughter. 

Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Gieselman 

and children of Burlington visited 

recently 

in the home of Mrs. Giesel- 

man's parents and worshiped with 

us on Sabbath. 

Mr. and Mrs. Walter Hutcheson are 

visiting their son Rev. Richard Hut 

cheson in Almonte, Canada. Mr. 

Maurice Hutcheson and family are 

visiting Mrs. Hutcheson's parents in 

Glenwood, Minn. 

The Ralph Wilson family are visit 

ing his brother Raymond and other 

friends in the East. 

Rev. Lester Kilpatrick preached 

for us on Sabbath May 30. We were 

glad to welcome him to our church. 

The Junior Sabbath School enjoy 

ed an afternoon social at the church 

May 14. Mrs. Martha Wilson is the 

Junior Superintendent. She was as 

sisted by the teachers in the Sabbath 

School. Light refreshments were 

served. 

The Junior Band held an afternoon 

party on Friday, June25, 

at the Par- 

sonagfe. Th)3 dhildren made scrap 

books for the Southern Mission, play 

ed games and were served refresh 

ments by the leaders Mrs. James 

Honeyman and Mrs. Patterson. 

Mrs. Emma Scofield is slowly re 

covering 

from an attack of pnenu- 

monia. She was a patient in a Mus 

catine hospital. 

The 75th anniversary of the Morn 

ing Sun Congregation on July 9 was 

an event long to be remembered. 

Speakers for the occasion were sons 

of the congregation: Dr. D. H. Elliott 

and Rev. Bruce Willson. Mrs. Lois 

Honeyman prepared the history of 

the congregational life for the seven 

ty-five years. The children under the 

direction of Mrs. Ralph Wilson told 

of Church Symbolism and gave a 

missionary 

play. A pageant was 

given under the direction of Mrs. 

Margaret Todd, setting forth the im 

portant events in the congregational 

life for the past seventy-five years. 

There were many former members 

and friends of the Congregation pre 

sent. The pastor's children and 

grandchildren were all together for 

the first time and filled the parson 

age to overflowing. It was a happy 

occasion. 

The Covichords were with us 

Saturday and Sabbath, August 7-8.


They gave their secular entertain 

ment in the Morning Sun Church 

Saturday evening. A union meeting 

was held in the Sharon Church Sab 

bath morning in which they gave 

their Covenanter Crusade message. 

Sabbath evening the Morning Sun 

Church was filled with an apprecia 

tive audience to which the pastor 

announced the doctrines of the Chris 

tian Religon contained in the Psalms, 

and the Quartette sang Psalms which 

contain these doctrines. Every one 

enjoyed the fellowship and the sing 

ing of the young men very much. 

The next important event to which 

the congregation looks forward is our 

Communion season, September 5. 

Rev. Kermit S. Edgar, pastor of the 

Allegheny Congregation, will be the 

assistant. 

SEMINARY OPENING 

The next session of the Reformed 

Presbyterian Theological Seminary 

will open on Wednesday Evening, 

September 15. The introductory lec 

ture will be delivered by the Rever 

Professor of 

end Robert Park, D. D., 

Church History in the Seminary. 

This lecture will be heard in the 

Allegheny Reformed Presbyterian 

Church, Perrysville Ave., Northside, 

Pittsburgh, Pa. The public is cordial 

ly invited. 

The Seminary Building is being 

renovated during the summer. A new 

sweeper and a new rawn mower 

have been purchased. 

Mr. Willard McMillan and his bride 

are resident in the Seminary for the 

cont'-ibut- 

summer months. They are 

ing greatly to the care of the build 

ing and grounds. 

By a ruling of the Board married 

students cannot be accomodated in 

the building while Seminary 

is in 

session. Married students should ar 

range for rooms or apartments in the 

neighborhood early. Housing is at a 

premium in Pittsburgh as elsewhere. 

Mr. Thomas Donnelly of Belfast, 

N. Ireland, will arrive in America 

early in September and will be a 

member of the senior class. Several 

of the young men of our church have 

signified their intention to enter the 

junior class. 

Mr. Charles S. Sterrett will finish 

his seminary 

course in December. 

Mr. Norman McCune, 

uated in May 

who grad 

will sail for his home 

in Ireland on the Queen Elizabeth on 

August 21. Mr. McCune has made 

many 

friends throughout the church 

and all who know him will wish him 

well in his ministry in the Covenan 

ter Church in Ireland. He is richly 

endowed for a fruitful ministry. 

R. J. G. McKnigth 

STAFFORD, KANSAS 

Leona Androse and Clarence R. 

Chestnut were united in marriage 

July 6 at the first Christian Church 

at Great Bend, Kansas. Clarence is 

the son of Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Chest 

nut of the Stafford congregation. 

The young couple are making their 

home at Great Bend where Clarence 

is following the carpenter trade. 

Mr. and Mrs. Carl Lucas of Battle 

Creek, Michigan, 

visited his sister, 

Mrs. J. T. Chestnut and family a few 

days. 

Stafford has received inspirational 

sermons recently from Licentiate 

Norman McCune, the Rev. Herbert 

Hays, Licentiate Charles Sterrett, 

and the Rev. D. Ray Wilcox. 

HEBRON, KANSAS 

Lee Copeland, Delber Copeland 

and Harold Milligan enjoyed a trip 

and through the 

to Blanchard, Iowa, 

Ozarks. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ray Milligan and 

boys drove to Blanchard in June, 

taking Mrs. Mary Findlay with 

them. Mrs. Findlay had been spend 

ing a month in her daughter's home. 

The Wilbur Copeland family from 

Lincoln, Nebraska, 

and Mr. and Mrs. 

Raymond Bennett of Sterling were 

visiting home folks in June. 

Mrs. B. W. McMahan and Mrs. 

Effie Copeland and Bobby accom 

panied Joe Copeland to Iowa. Joe 

drove on to Southern Illinois to get 

his wife and son Wayne who had 

been visiting her parents. Mrs. Mc 

Mahan and Mrs. Copeland visited 

friends and relatives in Iowa and 

Missouri. Later Delber Copeland and 

his sister Mrs. James Hatfield drove 

to Iowa to get their mother and 

grandmother. 

The W. M. S. sponsored a Daily 

Vacation Bible School in June. Our 

average attendance was 22. Many of 

the pupils were from busy farm 

homes, while others were from Clay 

Center. Those making the trip from 

town had over 22 miles a day to 

travel. A short program on a Sab 

bath evening proved what a success 

it had been. 

Mr. and Mrs. B. C. Copeland were 

hosts for a housewarming for their 

son, Lloyd and bride), the former 

Kathryn McCrory. Many relatives 

and close friends came to welcome 

them and wish them well in their 

newly established home. 

Several of our young ladies gave 

a bridal shower for Mrs. Lloyd Cope 

land. She received many lovely gifts. 

The C. Y. P. U. enjoyed a roller 

skating party at the new rink in 

Clay Center. 

We welcome Delber Copeland 

home from the Navy after many 

months service. 

Mr. Ray Milligan was chosen by 

the session as their delegate to 

Synod. We are glad that Rev. Vos 

was able to make the long journey 

to Synod too. We enjoyed hearing 

their reports. 

Melvin and George Vos have been 

spending 

part of their summer va 

cation with their grandparents, Mr. 

and Mrs. George Milligan of Olathe. 

Rev. andMrs. Vos, Raymond and 

Catherine spent several days in the 

Milligan home also. 

Dalene and Ned McMahan attended 

4-H Camp at Rock Springs near 

Junction City. 

Several of our number have been 

enjoying vacations at various points 

of interest. 

The newly elected deacons, Joe 

Copeland, Howard Mann and Wilson 

McMahan, were installed June 1. 

After the service, Rev. and Mrs. Vos 

held a reception in the church base- 

and a social hour was enjoyed. 

WHEN OUT OF BOUNDS 

For two years we were out of 

bounds of the Covenanter _ Church. 

They were, nevertheless, years of 

religious profit. We worshiped reg-u- 

larly 

with good people and thought 

well of the program that denomina 

tion had undertaken. We appreciate 

the church home we found there and 

the people who made us welcome. 

However, in my last month in that 

place, I had two experiences which 

stirred me deeply and enlarged my 

faith in the teachings of our own 

church. 

The first experience concerned a 

young woman who became a close 

friend, 

who made all the gestures 

necessary to keep our friendship 

warm and alive. I owe her much. 

Without her I could have been lone 

ly. She was a Christian Scientist, 

her mother a Reader, a matter we 

never discussed although I frequent 

ly told her about my own church and 

occasionally 

asked a question about 

her belief's. She was a strangely 

troubled girl, over-sensitive, 

over- 

critical, often hysterical, always re 

counting 

new oversights or injuries 

received from the community. Aside 

from this she was talented and bril 

liant, and had the capacity for main 

taining friendship. Those who talked 

to me about her regularly com 

mented, "I just cannot understand 

", to which I would re 

ply, "Neither do I but she's a good 

fiiend."


Then came that Sabbath morning 

in our last month when I dialed the 

radio and heard a sudden, clear 

pronouncement: "Man is 

good." 

Through the next minutes I heard 

"God is 

good" 

and the dear familiar 

Bible quotations which tell us of 

Gcd's goodness. Then the argument 

followed that man is made in the 

image of God and therefore man is 

good, 

with all the God-like attrib 

utes previously stated. 

My 

mind and emotions were so 

stirred I could barely continue to pre 

pare breakfast. 

On Wednesday 

of that week I ac 

cepted the invitation of the minis 

ter's wife to attend Bible Study 

group in her home and there I had 

the second experience. I found my 

self in a group 

of thirty-five women 

who were studying great prayers of 

the Bible. Comments and attitudes 

indicated many 

of them had never 

noticed the prayers or the interces 

sors before. I was trying 

to center 

my thoughts on the women's present 

interest and efforts and not feel 

critical of their shocking (to me) 

ignorance of the Bible. I was helped 

in this by the brisk voice of the min 

ister's wife who rescued the lagging 

fascinating- 

discussion and gave a 

account of the circumstances sur 

rounding Elijah's prayer on Mount 

Carrael (I Kings 18:37). As I 

watched her animated, sparkling 

face my own responding with at 

tentive interest words suddenly 

came out of her mouth which set my 

cheeks flaming 

shame. " 

with indignation and 

that's how the gory 

idea of blood got into our own re 

ligion. From the worshipers of Baal 

who slashed themselves." 

For an instant I thought I could 

not sit there silent. I looked quickly 

around the entire circle. Not a face 

registered shock. I concluded the 

significance of her remark had not 

penetrated them and it was not my 

place to see that it did. 

From then on I accepted these 

two experiences as God's working in 

my own life and I praise Him for 

them. 

Praise be I was taught I am a 

sinner. Only on that basis, NEVER 

on the basis of goodness, 

can I find 

redemption and peace. No wonder 

my poor friend was so tortured. 

From my knowledge of her, alone, I 

wish I could wipe out that pernicious 

teaching. Never again will I tempor 

ize, "If it suits them, let them use 

it." 

It didn't suit her. It is ruining 

her life. 

Praise be I was taught that the 

blood shed washes away sin, that 

it was so planned from the begin 

ning of time, and that Christ ful 

filled time and prophecy to become 

my Saviour. 

These religious enlightenings stir 

red my life while we were out of the 

bounds of the Covenanter Churqh. 

We are grateful for the Church pro 

gram to minister to out-of-bounds 

members, and so I set down these 

paragraphs in the hope they will aid 

and comfort others. 

Mary McConaughy McCrory 

TOTH-DICKEY 

Wedding Bells in New York 

rang for Florence Troth who was 

married to Samuel Dickey on July 10, 

1948 before many of their friends 

and relatives. The bride was attend 

ed by her sister Margaret Whitehead 

as matron of honor and two of her 

friends as bridesmaids. 

The musical program before the 

wedding included piano selections 

played by 

songs by Emma Murphy. 

Elizabeth Hamann and 

The reception was held in the Lec 

ture Room of the church and was en 

joyed by all who attended. 

After their wedding trip which in 

cluded a visit to the Grand Canyon 

and the West Coast they will make 

their home here in New York. 

BURNSJOHNSTON 

On June 26 at 3:30, Miss June 

Irene Johnston, daughter of Mrs. 

Lillian Johnston of Hamilton, and 

Mr. Samuel Thomas Burns, son of 

Mr. and Mrs. S. J. Burns of Carle- 

ton Place, were united in marriage. 

The wedding took place in Zion 

United Church, Hamilton, Rev. R. 

Arthur Steed performed the cere 

mony. His wife sang "The Lord's 

Prayer" 

ity". 

and "I'll Love you to Etern 

The bride was given away by her 

uncle, Mr. Will Stokoe. Her matron 

of honor was Mrs. Thelma Stokoe, 

her two bridesmaids Miss Betty 

Melrose and Joan Stokoe. 

The groomsman was Jerry Collie 

and the two ushers were Al and 

George Iralfar. After the ceremony 

the wedding party went to the Rys- 

croft Inn for the reception, where 

fifty 

guests were served dinner. 

Later the young couple left for Buf 

falo for a short trip. 

The groom's family, Miss Geral- 

dine Coates and Miss Evelyn Rose, 

came up from Carleton Place for the 

wedding. 

About a month later the young 

couple visited the groom's parents 

who held a reception for them. They 

received many lovely gifts iboflh 

from friends in Hamilton and around 

Carleton Place. 

The young couple will reside in 

Hamilton. 

Mrs. R. J. G. McKnight 

The Board of Managers of the Re 

formed Presbyterian Woman's Assoc 

iation wishes to express its deep 

sense of loss in the passing of Mrs. 

R. J. G. McKnight. We feel that we 

indeed entertained angels unawares 

when she was with us in our Board 

meeting for several hours of that 

last day of her life on earth. 

Her father and mother were true 

prophets when they named her 

"Grace", for graciousness was one of 

her outstanding charms. It made no 

difference whether she was dealing 

with notables or with the lowly ones 

of earth; to all she showed the same 

graciousness. 

Another of her gifts was an ever- 

ready sense of humor. When clashes 

of opinion made the atmosphere of 

our Board meeting electric with ten 

sion, Mrs. McKnight would interject 

some quick-witted remark that re 

duced us all to laughter and broke 

the strain. Her enthusiasm was con 

tagious. That last day, how happy 

she was to be out among people, to 

be again able to do for others! 

We wish to express our sympathy 

to her family. Truly "Her children 

arise up and call her blessed; her 

husband also, and he praiseth her 

And let her own works praise her in 

the 

gates." 

Committee. 

Mrs. James S. Tibby 

Mrs. R. Howard George 

Simon 

the Cyrenian Speaks 

He never spoke a word to me, 

And yet He called my name; 

He never gave a sign to me, 

And yet I knew and came. 

At first I said, "I will not bear 

His cross upon my back; 

He only seeks to place it there 

Because my 

skin is black." 

But He was dying for a dream, 

And He was very weak, 

And in His eyes there shone a gleam 

Men journey far to seek. 

It was Himself my pity brought; 

I did for Christ alone 

What all of Rome could not have 

wrought 

With bruise of lash or stone. 

Countee Cullen in "The 

Master of Men."


SEATTLE AND BACK AGAIN 

It was a great experience to visit 

Camp Waskowitz and fellowship 

with the brethren on the Pacific 

Coast. I shall not undertake to re- 

poit on the fine attendance, spirit 

and activities of the Young People's 

Conference there. Others will attend 

to that. But our party, consisting of 

Mrs. Elliott, Mrs. Greeta Coleman 

Mrs. Elizabeth Baird of Morning 

Sun, Iowa, and myself, 

can never 

forget the wonderful days spent in 

those lovely surroundings in the 

state of Washington. Rev. David 

Carson of Beaver Falls accompanied 

us from Bowman, North Dakota, 

helping with the driving and acting 

as guide over territory he had trav 

eled before.Of course he was only go 

ing back home. 

The hospitality of the Seattle 

people will long be remembered. Dr. 

and Mrs. Carson spared no pains in 

making us welcome and comfortable. 

The work of Mr. Betts, camp man 

ager, always present wherever he 

was needed, of Don Crozier, presby 

terial young people's secretary, of 

those who served in the kitchen and 

dining- room and the work of many 

others was unselfish and efficient. 

Oh yes, the Covichords were there 

also full time, adding to their sym 

phony 

of the occasion. 

And Joseph Fleming 

well those 

who attended Grinnell know what we 

mean. The writer has special reason 

for gratitude to him for acting the 

part of the good Samaritan in time 

of need. We thank everyone who was 

so gracious and kind to foreigners 

like us. 

Incidentally the 7600 mile journey 

there and back again leaves with us 

unforgettable memories. One of the 

high lights of the trip was the 

diamond jubilee celebration of the 

Morning Sun congregation of July 9. 

It was a grand occasion. 

Among the side trips by the way 

were visits to the Bad Lands of 

South Dakota, Glacier Park in Mon 

tana, the Rocky Mountains of Can 

ada 

including- Banff and Lake 

Louise, Rainier Park in Washington, 

Yellowstone Park in Wyoming and 

the dizzy drive over the Big Horn 

mountains which was the most diffi 

cult of all. 

Above all we wish to record our 

gratitude to the Heavenly Father 

for journeying- mercies and for the 

many 

kind providences which at 

tended us along the way. Repeatedly 

our own plans, which would have 

been abortive, gave way to better 

ones into which we were guided. In 

two instances when something about 

the car needed prompt attention we 

found ourselves within easy reach 

of someone ready to fix it. This is no 

trivial circumstance in a land of vast 

distances where we sometimes drove 

as far as 65 miles without sighting 

even a filling station. 

In our family worship, frequently 

conducted in the car, we sang many 

of the Psalms, often coming back 

to 

"The Lord shall keep thy soul; he 

shall 

Preserve thee from all ill. 

Henceforth thy going 

God keep forever 

out and in 

will." 

Delber H. Elliott 

PACIFIC COAST CONFERENCE 

CAMP WASKOWITZ 

The first C. Y. P. U. and W. M. S. 

Conference of the Pacific Coast 

Presbytery to meet in the bounds 

of the Seattle congregation was held 

on July 28 to August 2. Considerably 

more than two hundred were in at 

tendance at one or more sessions. 

More than one hundred were full 

time registrations. The Seattle con 

gregation is greatly indebted to our 

brethren for this fine response, 

especially to the congregations in 

California which are more than one 

thousand miles from Seattle. 

It was also a great privilege to 

have with us Dr. and Mrs. T. M. 

Slater. Their presence and messages 

added much. Dr. Slater was pastor 

here for more than seventeen years. 

Drs. D. H. Elliott, J. Boyd Tweed 

and J. C. Mitchel were our principal 

speakers. Their work was well done 

and well received. The "Covichords" 

who were at the camp the full time, 

added much by their fellowship, 

messages and singing. The Confer 

ence is grateful to Geneva College 

for making this visit of the "Covi 

chords" 

possible. 

Just a few weeks after Miss Mar 

jorie Allen left her work in Syria, 

she was speaking to our group out 

here in the Pacific North West. She 

has a real gift in presenting her ap 

peal and was at her best when she 

gave her message to us. A special 

missionary offering 

of $127.70 was 

equally divided between Dr. J. C. 

Mitchel and Miss Allen for the work 

in our missionary fields. 

Words fail to express our grati 

tude to the Lord who provided this 

camp for us, who brought our speak 

ers and friends to us safely and in 

the power of the Spirit and who 

honored us by bringing together so 

many 

of our fellow-workers. This 

was a time of rich blessing to the 

Seattle congregation. Seldom,, if ever, 

has this congregation had the priv 

ilege of having twelve Covenanter 

ministers in our midst at the same 

time. Besides the ones who have been 

mentioned there were Dr. F. E. Al 

len, Dr. J. D. Edgar, Rev. Robert 

McConachie, Rev. J. K. Gault, Rev. 

F. D. Frazer, Mr. Norman McCune 

and Rev. David M. Carson. 

The presidents, Mrs. M. K. Car 

son and Donald M. Crozier, along 

with all our officers and our camp 

manager, Mr. J. G. Betts, were able 

leaders. The whole Conference from 

the very first service on Wednesday 

evening to the closing consecration 

service on Sabbath evening led by 

Dr. J. D. Edgar at our camp-fire 

down by the river moved along from 

height to height and will long re 

main as a precious memory to us. 

David Carson said, "One of the 

sights of the camp was the long 

shoulder of Mt. Si with its hay-stack 

hand pointing upward. Our memory 

of that view will be a constant chal 

lenge to obey the spirit of the camp 

and press upward to closer friend 

ship 

with God and more devoted 

service for Him." 

May this be true of 

all of us. M. K. Carson 

COLDENHAM CONGREGATION 

The June meeting of the W. M. S. 

was at the Manse with Mrs. W. C. 

McClurkin as hostess. Mrs. A. M. 

Weddtell led the devotionals. The 

various superintendents reported on 

the meeting of the Presbyterial. A 

social hour was enjoyed with a boun 

teous repast served by the hostess. 

Four members of the W. M. S. 

were hospitalized recently. Mrs. T. 

A. Merritt, Mrs. Carl Lundell and 

Mrs. Ann Badendyke all underwent 

major operations. Mrs. George 

Thompson was confined to the hos 

pital with complications from an at 

tack of intestinal flu. We rejoice 

that the Great Physician is restor 

ing these women to good health. 

Jaunita Lundell, Charlotte, Evelyn 

and Eleanor Gordon, and Walter 

Sivertsen of our Junior C. Y. P. U. 

attended the White Lake Junior Con 

ference. 

The Misses Bess and Grace Mae 

Arnott have returned from a month's 

vacation at Ocean Grove, N. J., and 

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Robinson have 

returned from a vacation in Maine. 

We are happy to welcome friends 

from the Newburgh congregation to 

our worship services. Mr. and Mrs. 

Robert J. Crawford of the Third Phil 

adelphia congregation also worshiped 

with us recently.




poo veftfts cn Witnessing foi CHRIST'5 Sovereign rights in the church pud we. *T'flMi 

VOLUME XLI WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1948 

"*" 

Bringing 

Christ to the Greeks of America 

By the Rev. Spiros Zodhiates 

Our prayer has finally been answered and the Gospel is now pro 

claimed over the air and through the secular press. 

Every Saturday afternoon at 4:05 a message goes out over WEVD, 

a 5000 watt foreign language radio station. If you have any Greek friends, 

kindly ask them to tune to 1330 KC. Besides the Saturday broadcast, we 

have now been able to purchase time over WWRL. We are indeed thankful 

to the Lord for these doors of opportunity. The result of these messages 

is evident as more and more people come to our Tuesday evening Greek 

Evanglistic services at the First Baptist Church, 79th St. and Broadway. 

The ATLANTIS is one of the two daily Greek newspapers in America 

with the largest circulation reaching thousands of Greek homes in the 

United States and throughout the world. Through this newspaper, we have 

an exceptional opportunity to make Christ known to the Greeks. Every 

Sunday, we have two to three columns with a Gospel message in this paper 

which, for thousands of Greek families, is about the only Greek literature 

they have. These messages appear in full without being changed by the 

newsppaper editors. We are thus allowed to present a clear Gospel mes 

sage with an invitation to come to Christ. 

A Greek man in Seattle, Washington, wrote to me after having read 

the first article in the newspaper on "The Bible". Among 

other things 

that I said in this article was if anyone wishes to know who he is, what he 

is here for, and where he is going, he has to read the Bible. This man 

apparently was uncertain about the purpose of life and immediately wrote 

for a Bible. He said he had many religious books, but had never seen a 

Bible. Friends, just think of it! A Greek living in America for so many 

years and yet has never seen a Greek Bible. Whose fault is it! Whose 

negligence? There are many thousands like him. This opening to publish 

a gospel message in the Greek newspaper is a miracle of God. Let us not 

quench the Spirit. We are the only Greek mission that carries such a 

nation-wide Evangelistic program among the Greeks of the United States. 

To engage in this program costs us at least $500 every mpnth. Besides 

this expense, we have to meet an approximate budget of $1500 for the 

support of missionaries in Greece ; the publication of Greek literature and 

the relief of our suffering brethren. This is a faith work. The Greeks 

are perishing without Christ and without hope. Help us rescue them by 

remembering us in your prayers and in your giving 

as unto the Lord. 

"Lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, for on earth moth and rust 

will corrupt them" 

(Matt. 6:19, 20) 

Number 9

130 THE COVENANTER WITNESS September 1, 1948 

QlUnftAeA oj tUe RelifiatU WonJd 


Results of Scientific Materialism 

The leading article in The Reader's Digest for Septem 

ber is condensed from a book by Charles A. Lindbergh, 

entitled, "Of Flight and Life." 

The editor shows the re 

markable war record of Lindbergh. He flew 50 combat 

missions for the Marines and for the Army 

even though 

President Roosevelt had declined to use him for the air 

lines. He taught fighter squadrons to increase the range 

of P-38's by more than 500 miles which was a vital asset 

in- 

the striking power of the Air Force. 

The article, however, is not about what Lindbergh did, 

it is a warning against trusting to scientific materialism 

and forgetting God. He tells of an altitude flight at Wil 

low Run in which he lost consciousness for a time, be 

cause of the extreme altitude, and nearly lost his life. 

He says: "The altitude flight at Willow Run taught me 

that in worshiping science man gains power but loses the 

life." 

quality of Near tne close of the article he continues: 

"I grew up a disciple of science. I know its fascination. 

I have felt the godlike power man derives from his 

machines the strength of a thousand horses at one's 

fingertips.... To me in youth, science was more import 

ant than either man or God But I have lived to ex 

perience the early results of scientific materialism." 

Mr. Lindbergh futher states: "I now realize that, 

while God cannot be seen as tangibly as I had demanded 

as a child, His presence can be in every sight and 

act and incident. , 

I now understand that spiritual truth 

is more essential to a nation than the mortar in its 

cities' 

walls. When the actions of a people are unguided by this 

truth, it is only a matter of time before their walls collaspe, 

as they did at Berlin, Munich, Nuremberg." 

He adds: "Time is short. Looking at the destruction 

already wrought. .at .. the tremendous power of our 

latest weapons.... there is no materialistic solution, no 

political formula, which can save us. Man has never 

been able to find his salvation in the exact terms of poli 

tics, economics and logic.... Our salvation, 

and our only 

salvation, lies in controlling the arm of Western science 

by the mind of Western philosophy guided by the eternal 

truths of God Without this control, without this bal 

ance, our military victories can bring no lasting peace, 

our laws no lasting justice, our science no lasting 

progress." 

What of Amsterdam 

As we write, the World Council of Churches is begin 

ning to hold its meetings in Amsterdam. Is it the dawn 

of the fulfillment of our Covenant "That, believing the 

Church to be one. .. .trusting that. .. .the people of 

God become one Catholic church over all the earth, we 

will pray and labor for the visible oneness of the Church 

of God in our own land and throughout the world?" 

Note, that the Covenant adds, "on the basis of truth and 

order." 

Scriptural 

An organization many of whose leaders are liberals, 

modernfists, humanists and ritualists cannot, without a 

deepseated revival, unite "on the basis of truth and 

Scriptural 

order." 

According to the reports of press and 

radio they have invited the Roman Catholics and so-call 

ed "Orthodox", the later only a modified Catholicism, to 

join with them. This organization is like the feet of 

Nebuchadnezzar's image, part- of iron and part of miry 

clay and therefore cannot have permanent strength. An 

outward amalgamation of truth and error does not make 

for spiritural strength or permanent union. 

Train up a Child 

A few days ago the press reported that a phychiatrist 

was trying to find out why three little boys planned to 

hang and torture one of their playmates every third Sun 

day. They had strung up a 7-year-old friend and then 

burned his naked body with matches. The boys chatted 

freely 

with the police about their plans. The probation 

officer, Frank E. Kelley, said "comic book ideas,, promp 

ted the boys' 

action. They were all from good families. 

ideas" 

officer, Frank E. Kelley, said "comic book prompt 

ed the boys' 

action. They were all from good families. 

Mr. Kelley launched a campaign to halt sales of comic 

books dealing with "lewdness, crime and torture." 

Another boy, Donald Frohner, 18-year-old slayer was 

executed for killing a salesman. He is said to have re 

pented a few hours before his death. He is quoted as 

saying: "Guys like me go wrong because of the way 

we're brought up. I was guided in life by movies and 

other such things. I always figured the easiest way out 

was to try and outsmart the other guy. If I had been 

brought up by the right kind of parents and gone to 

church and known God, I would not have gone 

- 

wrong." 

Another boy, Tommy Harrington 11, was being tried for 

the holdup slaying of a woman grocer. The boy said the 

gun discharged accidentally when he attempted to hold up 

Mrs. Ebling to get funds for*summer camp. This should 

be a lesson to parents and teachers to prevent boys from 

pointing toy guns at people and pretending to shoot. 

Some day, if and when, they get hold of a real revolver 

they may injure or kill some one. Such cases should 

also warn parents of their responsibility to train up 

their children in the fear of God and in the ways of 

righteousness and guard what they see in movies, comics 

and other reading, companions and influences. 

Youth for Christ 

The Free Methodist tells of the Youth for Christ In 

ternational which met recently at Winona Lake, Ind., and 

of some things they did. They 

adopted a budget of $872,- 

000, prepared to send forty gospel teams to forty-Six 

foreign countries, and'completed final details for a World 

Congress in Switzerland'from August 10-20.' The fourth 

annual budget is more than four times the budget two 

years ago. There were delegates from 260 cities in 36 

(Continued on page 131) 

THE COVRNANTlflP WTTNPW Published each Wednesday by the Reformed Presbyterian 

mrj ^^V4CjJ.NAl>li.Ili4, WlliNlL&O. Church of North America, through its editorial office. 

Rev. D. Raymond Taggart, D. D., Editor and Manager, 1209 Boswell Avenue, Topeka, Kansas. 

$2.00 per year; foreign S2.50 per year; single copies 5c. Special rates to congregations. 



Miss Mary L. Dunlop, 142 University St., Belfast, N. Ireland, Agent for the British Isles. 

rf>î*ii it * *i *i*iadb^^î^fcaMH 

1 

n

September 1, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 131 

Gutoetd Zuetdl Prof. John Coleman, PhD., D. D. 

This is written from the Cape Breton Highlands Na 

tional Park. The island's population in the rural areas 

is largely Highland Scotch and Acadian French. One 

village is so markedly Highland Scotch that formerly 

the church services were conducted in Gaelic. The moun 

tains around us are rugged, and the famous Cabot Trail, 

where it has not been rebuilt, is often a very steep and 

practically oneway highway; which, however, thousands 

of motorists follow because of the striking scenery. 

Some of the great Cape Breton forest fires were in this 

area, and never have I seen such desolation. The very 

soil seems to have been devoured, doubtless because it 

was in part made up 

of pine needles and other organic 

matter. The granite rocks have been whitened. In some 

sections of our great cities we have debauched and for 

gotten men and women who are as tragic, perhaps more 

tragic: the mountains of Cape Breton will after some 

decades be reforested, but lost folks! 

***** 

The platform of the Communist Party, given varbatim 

in the August 7 issue of the New York Times, is most in 

teresting. It reads like a rehash of the speeches of Wal 

lace and Taylor. It has been said that the tentative plat 

form was written before the Progressive Convention, but 

the question of priority is less significant than the close 

parallels. Also, "the Communist Party is not nominating 

a Presidential ticket in the 1948 elections. . . . We Com 

munists join with millions of other Americans to support 

peace." 

the Progressive ticket to help win the From his 

speeches it is evident that Mr. Wallace would win the 

peace by moves that would turn over all Europe to 

Russia. 

If he is familiar with the recent history of Chechoslo 

vakia, Hungary, etc., one is inclined to be cynical when 

he reads: "We are Marxist, not adventurers nor conspira 

tors. We condemn and reject the policy and practice of 

terror and assassination and repudiate the advocates of 

force and violence." 

Marx advocated violence, 

and his 

followers have used it whenever It promised their organ 

ized minorities a chance of success. Never have they wod 

power by free election with other parties in the field and 

open campaigning and a secret ballot, -never. 

* 

> 

* 

The Communist platform boasts that the Communists 

backed F. D. R. in 1944. No mention is made of 1940, 

when Russia and Germany were collaborating and the 

Communists^were vi61ently pacifist, anti-Ally, and there 

fore anti-Roosevelt. But in 1944 Hitler had invaded 

Russia and the Communists were pro-war, pro-Ally and 

pro-Roosevelt. It cannot be too strongly emphasized that 

the American Communist Party is not merely Communist 

but Russian Communist, first, last, and all the time. 

This is the source of much of the bitterness against it 

and the basis of the proposed legislation against it. The 

latter may be unwise and ineffective, as Mr. Dewey main 

tains, but it has a valid foundation. 

.j* 

* * * * * 

When your car begins to steer crazily and you get out, 

, inspect the tires, find one almost flat because of a nail 

in it, you wish that the state in which you are traveling 

would follow the example of the eight states that are 

using electromagnetic sweepers to remove tire-damaging 

average of 8.2 

metal objects from the highways. .An 

pounds of metal per mile is gathered, three-fourths of it 

dangerous to tires. The cost is about $2.? a mile; In 

^ 

Colorado, says the Denver Post, about 10 cents a year for 

each motorist would pay for it. Cheap insurance! 

* =! * * * 

Rural reconstruction is one of the several projects to 

be set up in China with Marshall Plan aid, and $60,000,- 

000 for the first year has been earmarked for this purpose 

Three Chinese and two Americans will supervise the 

spending for agricultural production, marketing, irriga 

tion, home industries, nutrition, sanitation, and farm edu 

cation. Twice this amount is to go for military aid. 

* * * * * 

Fourteen paint manufacturing firms with annual sales 

of $500,000,000 are to be tried in the Federal District 

Court at Pittsburgh this coming November for fixing 

prices in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Law. 

Almost every month we have another big anti-trust suit. 

Perhaps we should repeal the law because there are so 

many bootleg violations? We did that with the prohibi 

tion laws, and trusts are much more respectable than 

liquor dives. 



states and 5 provinces of Canada who worked and prayed 

together for a youth revival movement. They set a goal 

of 10,000 candidates for foreign mission service within 

the coming year. They are making an intensive campaign 

to reach prospective draftees through, Youth; for Christ 

rallies in army camps. They are stressing high school 

Bible clubs as a stop gap against juvenile delinquency 

and aids in Youth for Christ. 

Work of the Missionary Alliance 

The Christian and Missionary 

Alliance, reported at 

Winona Lake that 2,500 missionaries are at -work under 

its auspices in 21 areas of the world. Receipts for foreign 

missions during the past year amounted to. $1,550,032. 

Protest Against Profanity 

Profanity is heard on every hand. It would be well if 

Christians were better prepared and more courageous to 

protest against it. The Christian Cynosure, quoting Dr. 

Walter Maier, says: 

"The commandment, 'Thou shalt not take the name of* 

the Lord thy God in 

vain,' 

needs more repetition today 

than perhaps ever before in our country. Christians must 

be ready to protest against profanity wherever they 

hear it. During a class in engineering the teacher began 

to misuse the Saviour's name. He stopped suddenly, how 

ever, and asked in a sophisticated way, 'Is there anyone 

here who objects to 

profanity?' 

The only protest was the 

emphatic answer of a young Christian soldier, 

plied clearly, "I do;' 

who re 

Some of his classmates snickered, 

and, doubtless encouraged by this laughter, the officer 

continued: 'All great engineers have cursed. Can you 

name a single one who did 

not?' 

That was clearly an un 

fair question, for no soldier studies the lives of engineers 

from the point of view of their language. Yet our Lord 

did not desert this champion of His cause. After a mo 

ment's prayerful thought, 

mind, 

and he responded, 'Solomon!' 

a name flashed across his 

This answer was as 

unexpected as true, and the instructor knew no reply. 

God grant us similar courageous defense of His ordi 

nances whenever they are attacked, and a like determin 

ation to rebuke every insult hurled against Him who died 

for 

us."

132 THE COVENANTER WITNESS September U jsjffi 



South China. The following excerpts from priv 

ate letters, written by Mr. Boyle, will be of inter 

est to our readers : "Though the work of. our 

South China Church feels the general slump .... 

I do not consider the situation discouraging. 

There is a younger generation of leaders in all the 

churches who take much greater initative than 

formerly appeared among Chinese preachers. 

This sometimes plays havoc with our denomina 

tional ambitions, but I rejoice to see some spunk 

even if it does go, against my personal wishes in 

place' 

details. I have been trying to 'keep my as 

a foreigner and use prayer and quiet friendliness 

to win these young leaders . . .These young 

men 

have a lot to learn, but they love the Lord and they 

believe their Bibles and they go after souls and 

win them. I find it easy to love them and pray 

with them." 

"I have hopes of forming 

ture Translation Society now, 

a Reformed Litera 

with four or five 

Christian university people who know some Eng 

lish to help. We have a desire to put literature 

of a more exact theological content in the hands 

of the Chinese preachers. There is a strong liber 

al concentration here in Canton at Lingnam Uni 

versity and the Union Theological College. The 

pipe-smoking, culturally keen set of British and 

American teachers out there have a corner on the 

scholarship. All devout evangelicals about here 

seem anti-intellectual. Emotion is sufficient, they 

feel, and the imminent return of Christ makes all 

alow work needless. In this complex picture I 

feel the Covenanter Church has a real opportun 

ity. We have the solid faith in Scripture that 

links us with the Orthodox, but we have a coven 

anted social vision which fills in a real need in 

this communistic threatened Republic of China." 

"We had a Tak Hing District Council meeting 

June 29-80. Then 12 of us journeyed by river 

boat to Lo Ting. On July 2 we began a Bible Con 

ference. In this conference some personal clashes 

came to the surface and also a doctrinal disagreer 

ment. By Sabbath the Holy Spirit won the vic 

tory. Open confesion with tears cleared the air 

and we made better progress from then on. On 

Wednesday July 7 we opened Presbytery. We 

had some difficult problems but God led us 

through smoothly. We closed Thursday, July 

8. The crucial issue of closed communion was 

raised this year by the Chinese. They differ 

among themselves about the extent of control. 

It worked out to a very beneficial adjustment and 

we are taking up fundamental study of the under 

lying doctrinal system of the American Synod. 

The Holy Spirit speaking through the Scriptures 

must build the new church's doctrinal confession. 

I have been entrusted with the task of translation 

of our N. A. church standards into Chinese. We 

hear that Jeanette Li is coming south. If so she 

will be of tremendous help. Our Presbytery end 

progress." 

ed with real harmony and considerable 

"We are cheered by news of the new and old 

missionaries who will sail in September. May 

God keep them 

safe." 

Board's Report. This in an excellent summary 

of work done in our fields abroad, during the past 

year, and of undertakings planned for the yew 

ahead. Two things should be emphasized, one for 

our encouragement and the other to deepen our 

sense of responsibility. By way of encouragement 

we note the remarkable response of young people 

in all our fields to the challange of the Word of 

Life. Fifteen young people in Nicosia, fifty-two 

in Larnaca accepting Christ as their personal 

Saviour in a series of meetings, eighteen young 

people uniting with the Church at the last com 

munion season in Latakia, and thirty-six in South 

of them from the orphanage-. This 

China, twenty 

is enough to thrill the hearts of the workers n - 

the field and stimulate their prayer-supporters 

at home. Then the introduction of amplifiers 

into the work in South China marks a significant 

advance. Where formerly a comparatively few 

could be reached with the spoken message at any 

one time, now hundreds and on occasion thousands 

can be reached. This has aleady been done. For 

a small investment big returns may be expected. 

Under the leading of Divine Providence ana the 

promptings of the Spirit the Presbytery of South 

China opened work in'Canton and Hok Shaan. 

This, we believe, 

marked a significant advance 

and indicates that our Chinese brethern are de 

veloping leaders of faith and of vision. 

To deepen our sense of responsibility we note 

that the large increase in the number of workers 

and the increase in the basic salaries of all will 

call for a greatly enlarged budget. We do not 

have the financial statement for 1947-1948 so we 

turn to that of 1946-47. The total receipts for 

that year amounted to approximately $31,000; and 

the expenditures to nearly $37,000. The Board 

had accumulated a reserve fund out, of which the 

deficit was met. This reserve fund must have 

been greatly depleted this last year. On a guess 

we estimate that the expenditures for the current 

year will not fall much short of $50,000. That is 

an increase of nearly 40% over the 1946-47 bud 

get. Congregations therefore will have to raise 

their sights. An increase of at least 25% from 

each congregation over the giving of past years 

is indicated. This means that some group in 

each congregation will need to keep this in mind 

and impress it upon the pastor and financial 

board. 

Elizabeth' 

Chang. By permission we publish/ 

the story of the conversion of this talented young 

Chinese woman, written in a private letter by Dr. 

S. E. Greer last January. This, like the story of 

Sur Hung Wang, reveals an overruling Provi 

dence that brings the unconscious seeker to the 

feet of the prepared teacher. Another trophy of 

divine grace. Foreign mission workers do not 

all go across the oceans to preach and live Christ. 

Cyprus Students in Geneva. On request, Janet 

M. Downie has written the account of students 

graduates of the American Academy in Larnaca* 

that have come to study in Geneva College. We 

felt that the church should know of the record 

these young men are making in College, and some 

thing of the kind of work being done in the Acad 

emy in Larnaca. These young men are not onty 

outstanding in scholarship but also in spiritual 

leadership. They should be on the prayer list, of 

the Lord's intercessors.

September j, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS ias 

Outgoing Missionaries. The missionaries, old 

and new, scheduled to sail for China from San 

Francisco September 18 are: Dr. and Mrs. Jesse 

Mitchel, the Rev. and Mrs. Robert A. Henning 

and son, Miss orlena Lynn, Miss Alice Edgar, and 

Miss Rose Huston. Robert Henning is fr"bm the 

Southfield congregation and is the third minister 

given to the church by that congregation. Orlena 

Lynn is from the Chicago congregation and has 

been a resident student in the Biblical Seminary 

in New York City for the past two years studying 

Cantonese under special teachers and taking 

courses in the Seminary. So in a measure she 

will be ready for work on her arrival on the field. 

Alice Edgar is from Sterling congregation, is a 

graduate nurse, has had several years experience 

in nursing, and will be able to render service 

from the beginning even while learning the lan 

guage. Rose Huston is a veteran missionary of 

wide experience. She went to South China in 

1910 and was there for thirteen years. Then 

four years at home on account of unsettled con 

ditions in China, two years in Syria, 

one year in 

Cyprus, and then off for Manchuria where she 

served until the second World War made living 

and working 

conditions there impossible. She 

was one of the pioneer workers in Kentucky, and 

now she goes back to her first field in South 

China. At the urgent request of Dr. Scott, Miss 

Huston was led to offer her services for Bible 

teaching in the Orphanage and visitation work 

in the hospital at Tak Hing. She was appointed 

by the Board at its meeting June 29, subject to 

passing a satisfactory physical examination. This 

she has done and will be with the party provided 

Elizabeth Ging Djon Chang 

By S. E. Greer, D. D. 

We had the great joy of having Dean Minnick 

of the University of Pennsylvania bring to our 

stead of staying two years as she had planned. 

She was being financed by a lafge cotton industry 

over there of which her brother is the head. But 

being in the communist territory, the mills have 

been looted, supply of raw cotton stolen, etc., 

and since the inflation has risen up to over 146,- 

000 to $i U. S. she has been called back home. 

She was one of the nicest, neatest, most refined 

persons we have had in our house for a long 

time. She speaks and writes splendid English 

and dresses well. She was not a Christian, had 

no particular religion other than a veneration for 

hep ancestors. 

We invited her to Church and Sabbath School. 

She was quite interested, more and more so as 

the weeks went by. We -furnished her with such 

reading as we felt would be most helpful. The 

final outcome was that one evening after a heart 

to heart talk with Mrs. Greer and myself, she ac 

cepted our Lord Jesus Christ as her own personal 

Saviour. We all kneeled and after I had prayed, 

all necessary papers can be secured and arrange 

ments made. Dr. and Mrs. Kempf expect to sail 

for the homeland about the 8th of October, so 

Dr. and Mrs. Mitchel will return just in time to 

take up, the burden laid down by the Kempfs. 

This band of missionaries should be on the mind 

and heart of the church. May the pillar of cloud 

go before them and overshadow them. 

The missionaries scheduled to sail for Syria on 

the Marine Carp September 24 are : the Rev. and 

Mrs. Herbert A. Hays and children, Miss Eliza 

beth McElroy, and Miss Marjorie E. Allen. This 

will bring strong reinforcement for the work in 

Syria. Miss McElroy was reappointed to. Syria 

subject to a satisfactory report from her doctor 

as to her physical fitness to return. Such certifi 

cation has now been received. The emphasis on 

the work among 

women and in the villages can 

now be resumed. Romance on the mission field is 

not dâd. Felicitations to Kenneth Sanderson 

and Marjorie Allen on their projected marriage. 

Marjorie has been a real inspiration to the young 

people of the church in her few short weeks at 

home. May Goodness and Mercy, God's guardian 

angels, keep them all life's days. These all go out 

in a troubled and uncertain time but they go in 

the confidence that they are being divinely led 

and so will be under divine protection. The writer 

of the letter to the Hebrews, writing to people 

who lived in difficult times, said, "And advance 

so." 

we will, if God permits us to do 

. 

(Weymouth) 

This is the determination of the Covenanter 

Church in fields abroad in these difficult times. 

We commend them to God and to the Word of His 

grace. 

she prayed for the first time in her life to "God, 

the living God" 

through Christ the Saviour. 

We had given her a good new Bible with splen 

did helps and other literature. A week later she 

house a high class young Chinese lady, of a 

wealthy family, graduate of Sun Yat Sen Uni 

versity, and ask if we could give her a room. She 

was to take post graduate work to fit, her for 

teaching in a Teachers' 

College in Shanghai. She 

was with us from September to the day after 

Christmas when she had to return to China, in 

came before our Session and after a long exami 

nation such as a babe in Christ in the Bible and 

the things of the Spirit could grasp, she made a 

profession of her faith in God and Christ as His 

Son and her Saviour, and was received into the 

membership of our Church. The Sabbath before 

Christmas I baptized her as Elizabeth Ging Djon 

Chang 33 years old, of China. 

Nantung and Shanghai, 

She goes back to her own with the de 

termination to tell of the Saviour she found here. 

We got in touch with the China Inland Mis 

sion Headquarters here, and also with the Luther 

an Foreign Mission Board, and found there was 

quite a company of missionaries sailing on the 

same boat, the S. S. General Gordon of the Presi 

dent Line, and all going to Shanghai, January 5, 

1948, from San Francisco, and they were all to 

meet on the boat. 

The Lutheran Board had two very capable Chi 

nese missionaries, Mr. and Mrs. T. C. Woo, in 

this country for seven years, going on the same 

boat and Elizabeth was to meet them in San Fran 

cisco. When she boarded her Pullman at North 

Philadelphia she discovered that Mr. and Mrs. 

bound for 

Woo were on the same train with her, 

Shanghai. This whole experience is the doing of 

the Lord and marvelous in our eyes.


Country 

Communions in China 

By Rev. Sam Boyle 

In Acts 15 :36 we read that Paul suggested to 

Barnabas, "Let lis go again and visit our brethern 

in every city where we have preached the word of 

the Lord, and see how they do." 

The writer was active on the Tak Hing field of 

our South China Mission in the years between 

1935 and 1939, so a recent assignment to adminis 

ter the sacraments in Wan Fau and Ma Hui Con 

gregations gave him an opportunity to go again 

and visit the brethern in these two places. A nar 

rative of this trip may be of interest to readers of 

The Covenanter Witness. "Let us go again and 

visit our brethern. . . .and see how they do." 

Up The West River 

We are now in that season of the year which I 

call the "drip grind", for all activity for everyone 

is a tedious grind in which we drip perspiration 

and blossom out in prickly heat. 

Boats for West River ports sail about noon. 

Scott leaves for school every day at eight, Mrs. 

Boyle goes to language school at 8:30, and I had 

to get myself off for the boat about eleven. After 

this rush I was disgusted to find when on board 

that cargo loading delayed us until three o'clock. 

I sat there reading "The Witness of Matthew 

and Mark to Christ", by Ned B. Stonehouse. My 

theological study was often disturbed by small 

boys and men selling fruit, cigarettes, fans, 

Chinese books and newspapers, filthy pictures, 

stories, and noodles. I bought a fan. (We acquire 

the fan habit here and soon find that it is as ha 

bitual an appendage as a toothbrush or specta 

cles.) By mid-afternoon the dock-parasjtes had 

been shooed off and we were away. Immediately 

medicine men and mistrels who travel with the 

boats opened their barrage of sales-talks and beg 

ging, so noise was assured for the duration of the 

voyage. 

The only other foreigner aboard was a Roman 

Catholic priest whose home in the States is North 

Dakota. He was a refugee from North China 

where communist armies have cleaned out the 

field of both Protestant and Roman Catholic mis- 

sionari*3*. lie told me over a cup of Nescafe, which 

J mixed for him. that Red Army units are not too 

ba.d when they first come in, but thev warn mis 

sionaries to get out or accept the consequences. 

Priests who have tried to stay on have been killed, 

imprisoned, or have disappeared.. Missionary 

vn-k has been impossible under communist rule. 

Thh Driest was going to Kwangsi to join his mis- 

.s;"n there. 

Arrival /t Tak Hing 

The West River was in flood, so we made slow 

time. After 31 hours of travel we stopped at Tak 

>Tin~. and I had to go ashore in a heavy downpour 

of Tain. I had forgotten umbrella, rubbers and 

f'ash-light. The coolie I hired found me a bor 

rowed rrqhrella but we had to start out in the 

rlaik. Goirr; along a dark street where somebody 

h-id 'aid planks aerors the pavement, the coolie 

stumbled and fell with my luggage in the water. 

He gave vent to vigorous remarks about the an 

cestors of the person who had left boards across 

the street at night. When we reached our Chapel 

I called Mr. Cheung, the preacher, to the door. 

He gave me a flashlight to use on our way down 

to the Mission. There, between clean white sheets 

and on a foreign mattress and springs, I made 

quick recovery from the boat trip. 

As I had brought nearly $175,000,000 along for 

the Mission and missionaries, the next morning 

had to be spent in taking accounts and turning 

over Chinese currency. After lunch I started 

down the West River by 

small row-boat with an 

old woman who had been employed as nurse in 

the Orphanage, but was fired for lack of effi 

ciency and cooperation. Our boat ride cost an 

even million dollars. In about an hour and a half 

we were at the bus junction, a town called Luk To, 

where we had to wait for a bus to take us in to 

Wan Fau. 

Modern (?) Transportation 

Motor roads have been destroyed all through 

this part of China, and post-war inflation keeps 

most counties from reconstructing their high 

ways. Wan Fau is one exception. The official 

sold the UNRRA goods allotted to his area and 

used the money to repair the highway and buy 

equipment . 

for it. There are now four trucks or 

cars in use on this short spur line from the West 

River south to Wan Fau, about 15 miles. 

We arrived at 2 p.m. at the bus depot and were 

told that a bus would be back out by five. At 7 :30 

a truck arrived. Then an argument broke out be 

tween the bus driver and the customers over the 

time of departure. The driver insisted that we 

had to wait until the next morning. Business men 

with merchandise demanded a night trip. Final 

ly I was approached by 

tribution to the "drink tea 

a business man for a con 

money" 

they 

were col 

lecting for the driver. We were soon on our way. 

This was a fairly new Chevrolet truck with head 

lamps which actually worked. We passengers 

were seated on saw-horse benches on both sides 

of the truck bed, while between us were great 

stacks of cigarettes, mushrooms, thermos bottles 

and other merchandise. 

The heavy rains had made the narrow road into 

quagmire, so I almost wished we had waited until 

morningwhen 

I saw how near to deep ditches 

and sunken rice paddies our rear wheels seemed 

to come. When I mentioned this later to Mr. Kom, 

our Wan Fau preacher, his comment was, "You 

ought to be grateful that vou came at night when 

you could not see how flimsy those bridges are 

which you 

crossed." 

By ten-thirty 

at night I was 

"nioaded at the door of our Wan Fau chapel and 

Mr. Kom stowed me away in the familiar upstairs 

ansrtment where I lived so often ten years ago. 

(The roof still leaks in the same place!) 

Wan Fau Congregation 

Wan Fau is nossibly the most beautiful place 

in cur South China field. It is a place of rich 

marble and stone deposits, and many picturesque 

caves can be seen in the surrounding mountains.


When I was there ten years ago the town was 

crowded with refugees from nearer the Coast, so 

the whole place was alive with people and indus 

try. Now it seemed half empty. Our Church is 

only a narrow Chinese shop, with a second story 

for living quarters. Mr. Kom and his wife and 

little sons live there. 

The Japanese army came to Wan Fau for only 

ten days and did comparatively little damage in 

the city. In the villages around Wan Fau, how 

ever, they did much damage to life and property. 

I heard this story from Wong Cheung-In a 

former student in our Tak High Bible School. He 

said his father a Christian barber of independ 

ent means was caught by Japanese soldiers and 

forced to carry ammunition. He was unable to 

stand the physical strain and apparently lost 

hope, for he killed himself by jumping in a pond 

and drowning. This shock brought his mother 

sickness which finally caused her death. Then 

his brother, a business man in Lin Taan, was kill 

ed in an air-raid, and left small children for him 

to care for. Finally this man's own child died. 

The succession of disasters completly ate up the 

family land and he is now forced to seek a pre 

carious existence as a coolie or day laborer. I 

well remember Wong Cheung-In as a mischievous 

boy in school, so the tragic change in his face 

after the past ten years was an evidence of his 

trials. 

Wan Fau Congregation has never been strong, 

yet a nucleus of loyal Christian people can always 

be counted on. It is a poor church. Not many 

wise, noble or rich are called there. Mr. Kom has 

had some fruit among educated workers in the 

Government Offices and schools, but the acces 

sions are usually from the villages where Miss 

Adams keeps up her faithful visitation. We bap 

tized five adults on Sabbath and Mr. Kom's two 

boys. 

One member who has been a good bit of a prob 

lem by reason of certain frailties was greatly dis 

turbed about his wife. She had gone to Canton 

to get work more than two months before and 

and not a single letter had come back. As I talked 

to the husband one day about his wife, in she 

came ! She had tired of the big city and was glad 

to be home. She had a big boil on her neck which 

she said was God rebuking her. The two began 

to argue with each other at once. 

Our preaching before communion was mostly 

evangelistic, even when the Christians were pres 

ent for a preparatory sermon. Crowds of curios 

ity seekers always stand at the rear of the hall 

watching. Every night we had a Gospel meeting. 

One night we had several men attend from the 

Board of Education and local schools. The chil 

dren fill the hall and take most of the seats so that 

adults have trouble finding a place to sit. Mr. 

Kom has the children well trained in singing the 

psalms, though I would say that they excel in vol 

ume rather than harmony. 

The sacramental feast was quiet and reverent. 

There were many standing at the door looking 

on as we went through the simple demonstration 

of our Saviour's dying love. I think I have never 

had a more attentive, thoughtful audience than 

at Wan Fau when I spoke on "Christ our Sympa 

thetic Great High Priest" 

24 persons communed. 

Evangelist Kom's Home 

(Heb. 4:14-16). About 

I was a house guest of Mr. and Mrs. Kom while 

at Wan Fau, and they were most delightful hosts. 

They have two boys, both under years of 

threet 

age The older, A-Chong, is as mischievous a 

little fellow as one could find. One day when his 

father was preaching A-Chong slipped out of his 

mother's reach, skipped up on the platform and 

picked up the hand-bell underneath the pulpit 

desk. Before Mr. Kom could squelch him the lad 

had rung the bell a couple of good licks. Perhaps 

he thought father had talked long enough. 

A-Chong loved to call me to eat rice. He did 

not always wait for his mother to send him so I 

answered several false alarms. One morning he 

came to my room with the cat's bowl of rice and 

said," 

Ft ka shik faan, Paau Muk Sz." 

("Now you 

can eat rice, Pastor Boyle"). On another day A- 

Chong came running to tell me about the snakes 

out in the street, and sure enough there were 

some men butchering snakes most of them poi 

sonous for the restaurant is next door to our 

church. It was my first sight of the real thing. 

A long rod with a hook on one end was used to 

hold the reptile's head. While one man grabbed 

the 

_ 

tail and stretched the snake out straight 

against the wall, a second man took a heavy chop 

per and severed the snake's head with one blow. 

After that the snake was skinned and dressed and 

the meat put in a basin of water. That night the 

restaurant had a new red sign pasted up : "Today 

three kinds of dragon cooked with tiger-meat and 

pheonix-meat, great feast". The "dragon" 

refers 

to the snakes, the "tiger*' 

is a cat, and "pheonix" 

means chicken. This combination dish of snake, 

cat and chicken is a rare delicacy in the South. 

Chinese believe that snake and particularly the 

bile of a snake, have great health-giving powers. 

Little A-Chong terrified his parents by starting 

to stick his fingers in the wire cage where the 

snakes were held captive. 

for the 

American "Covenanters should pray 

children of our Chinese ministers. Even though 

they live in Christian homes they are constantly 

exposed to heathen dishonesty and impurity about 

them. I overheard A-Chong in a tantrum using 

a vile bit of profanity. And why 

so, when through the common wall between our 

chapel and the restaurant we could hear that 

expression all the time? The hope of the 

filthy 

would he not do 

world lies in the children of Christian homes, so 

the children of the "manse" 

in South China need 

our prayers. 

Monday morning Mr. Kom and A-Chong saw 

me off on the same truck which had brought me 

to Wan Fau. I had a quick ride out to the river, 

except for a delay of a few minutes when another 

truck ahead of us was bogged down in a mud-hole. 

Our driver impressed me with his skill and sen 

sible caution. Out at Luk To I had a few minutes 

in a tea-shop before my boat came, eating steamed 

buns and drinking hot tea and then fanning my 

self like mad while the sweat dripped. I was back 

in Tak Hing in time for supper. 

The next installment will tell of the trip to Ma 


Hui.


Larnaca Academy 

By Janet M. Downie 

If the three young men from Larnaca Academy 

in Cyprus who are attending Geneva are an ex- 

anapleof the Christian behaviour, scholarship of 

its students, and willingness to work, the Aca 

demy h^s every reason to be proud. 

In 1946 Nikitas Chrysostomou of Kalavassos, 

Cyprus, came to Geneva. He attended grade 

school in his home town. When it came time to 

attend junior and senior high school, he decided 

to go to the Academy, because a second or third 

cousin of his, the best miler on the island, was an 

Academy man, and Nidk was interested in Eng 

lish and sports. His plan was a commercial 

course, but he decided to take a university prep 

course. He finished his work at the Academy, 

then joined the Covenanter Church and taught 

mathematics and English in the Academy. 

He decided to go on with his education and ap 

plied to the University of North Carolina, be 

cause he had a brother who lived near it, and was 

accepted. However, after he talked the matter 

over with Mr. Clark Copeland, one of his pro 

fessors, he came to his own church college where 

Dick and Margaret Weir, whom he knew, were 

students. 

Nick is a senior and is majoring in English, 

history and Bible and intends to return to Cyprus 

to teach in the Academy. 

He is very 

glad that he decided on Geneva and 

says he likes the friendliness, Christian influence 

and hospitality displayed. 

In 1947 arrived two more young Academy men, 

Mikis Sparsis and Homer Potonides. 

Mikis Sparsis comes from the town of Tersep- 

hanou, Cyprus, where his father farms and 

teaches school. An older brother had graduated 

from the Academy. In 1944-45 he served as an 

interpreter with the British forces in Rhodes. 

Students in Geneva College 

Mikis, an economics'major, is an excellent stu 

dent. His first term at Geneva he received one 

B grade and A's in all other subjects ; the second 

term, he made A in all subjects. As a final touch, 

at the Centennial Commencement, June 1948, he 

was awarded the Freshman Essay prize. 

The third Cypriote is Homer Potonides of 

Li-" 

massol. He too went to the community school. 

The community 

Excerpts From Home Letters 

By Mary Adams 

May 3. I received a lot of tracts from Chicago 

and St. Louis printed in Chinese on a very good 

paper with real Bible truth. The tracts printed 

in China are not on very good paper. A young 

man was in last week who said he had never 

heard the Gospel. He bought a Chinese Psalm 

book. He would have liked to have had a Bible 

but they cost more. He was back again yester 

day for the service and said his people believed. 

His father and mother are ready to learn more. 

I would like to visit in their home but it is quite 

a distance from here towards the mountains and 

where there have been robbers. A woman from 

another villaqre s?id she believed. Her relative 

frttn a nearby village is a Christian and urged 

h*>r to accept Christ. Then there was a woman 

from the opposite part of the field with her mar 

ried daughter who said she wanted to believe. 

Thev both desire to learn. There is need to reach 

The' 

as I read in Evangelical Chris 

the hom^s; 

tian: "Christian homes are the hope of the 

future." 

schools which these young, men 

atterided are pay schools, overseen by town boards. 

Homer then went to a gymnasium, or prep x 

school, one year, after which he attended the 

Academy for five years.. He too taught English 

and grammar at his Alma Mater. 

An excellent student, he was at the head of his 

class in Cyprus, and after coming to Geneva he 

received an A plus in one subject and A's in all 

others. He was a prize winner at the 1948 Ge 

neva commencement, being awarded the engineer 

ing prize of a set of instruments, given each year 

by Joseph M. Steele of Philadelphia. 

In one respect Homer has outstripped his fel 

low-islanders by being married this past June 20, 

to Miss Antigone Koconas of ,L. Jamaica, I. 

Miss Koconas was born in the U. S. but went 

to Cyprus and attended the Academy for a year, 

then returned to the United States. 

All three of these young men are excellent lin 

guists, speaking French and English as well as 

their own Greek. It is to their credit that they 

are most willing to work and do so, and that they 

are planning to return to Cyprus as teachers in 

Larnaca Academy. They 

are most faithful in 

Sabbath school and church attendance. 

Two more young men are expected at Geneva, 

one this fall. He is John Tjiaperas, who sailed 

from Piraeus, Athens port, on July 12. Euripi 

des Christodoulides is the other young man who 

will probably be here in the fall. 

May 6. I visited a woman one night this week 

who is anxious to have her daughter come into the 

church. The daughter was left a widow and be 

then her 

came a vegetarian (eating no meat) ; 

mother persuaded her that such a life would not 

merit the home in Heaven so she "gave up that 

custom. Later she married a farmer who has 

taught school along with his older brother. This 

woman has two nice boys, the oldest seven or 

eight years old and a little boy two or three years 

old. The older boy can say the short prayers and 

commandments along with his mother; The fath 

er has helped them to learn these. He is ready to 

believe too and wants more to read. We left a 

Gospel of John and New Testament when we call 

ed this week at their home. The mother took me 

to their home and hopes so much that they will 

be baptized this Spring in May or June. This 

mother's second husband died during the Chinese 

first month. Her husband said he believed hut he 

had not been baptized. The nephews and some rel- 

ativies are persecuting this Christian woman to 

get her land. She has three acres or more and she 

asked me what she should do. I told her to prey


for them to be changed in heart and be patient. 

^bmce her husband died her nephews are oppress 

ing and robbing her. Just a few days after she had 

not received her husband's share of rice and pork, 

she was working in the field. As she walked 

along the stream there was a big fish and she 

caught it. It was a larger portion of meat than 

the pork she would have received. The people 

marveled and said, "God made up to her and more 

of." 

than what the nephews robbed her They 

said, "God does bless those who put their trust 

in Him." 

I told her she is a witness for Jesus 

Christ where she is and I would like to see her 

stay on there and that God would lead and show 

her the way and keep and preserve her in time 

of need. 

May 23. A young Christian mother with her 

son registered for baptism two years ago. There 

are three sons. The father is a mason and is busy 

building houses and bridges, most of the time, 

and the oldest boy works with the father. The 

father's mother died early in the year and was a 

real Christian. Sometimes she and the daughterin-law 

did not agree but the daughter-in-law said 

At Language School 

By Eunice McClurkin 

Shemlan, Lebanon 

Monday morning, July 12, 1948 

From tomorrow until August 20 there will be 

language school here at the British Syrian Mis 

sion, and I came down from Latakia last Thurs 

day to attend it. The Hutchesons thought it well 

for me to travel before the truce in Palestine end 

ed that night. Minnie Bell of the Irish Mission at 

Idlib arrived Saturday. The Enrights and De- 

Smidts of British Syrian have been here studying 

through the winter, and Joyce Napper of the 

same mission came from their mountain station 

at Ain Zahalter for the summer school. The En- 

rights came to work here from a pastorate in 

their native New Zealand ; they have a son, Kel 

vin, aged 10, and daughter, Judith,6. The De- 

Smidts are from South Africa, and have an eleven- 

day old son. Mother and baby came from the hos 

pital in Tripoli the day I arrived, and I had the 

pleasure of riding up from Beyrouth with them. 

Joyce is from Australia, and just came to the field 

in March. I wonder whether I have a chance to 

come out of these six weeks without some sort of 

composite British and colonial accent in my na 

tive tongue. I trust I'll have more facility in use 

of the Arabic tongue as well. These are delight 

ful, jolly people. If we do come from scattered 

parts of the English-speaking world, we have in 

common citizenship in the Kingdom of our Lord, 

and interest in the extension of that Kingdom. 

This village is on the western slope of the Leba 

non range, some two thousand feet above sea level, 

and about a half-hour's ride from Beyrouth. It's 

a fine aerial view we have of the city and the 

shoreline southward from Beyrouth. I haven't 

seen much of the western horizon since I came, 

as. the sea and sky seem to merge. The climate 

has been very pleasant, warm enough to go with 

out wrapsî and cool enough to sleep under blank 

ets. I'm comfortably 

established in a one-room 

the other day, "I have had a joy in my heart since 

I believed, that I did not have before." 

busy on the farm and in the home, 

She is 

as the father 

is away much of the time. He does not have time 

to learn Scripture and it is not easy for her but 

she tries. The oldest boy who reads can learn the 

verses and prayers but he 

Ten Commandments, 

is away with his father a good deal. 

A woman who is a widow and has been a 

Christian for years is so far away that she can 

not come to church. Her daughter lives not very 

far from her and is good to her and the daughter's 

husband's people are also good to her. This widow 

has no rice land but some land where she plants 

vegetables. She finds it very hard to get enough 

to eat. She said, "Though I do not always have 

enough to eat, I do not worry for I know God will 

me." 

provide for She remembers the Psalms she 

learned when she lived here in the city just a few 

doors from the chapel. Though she does not know 

all the characters she sings away and recalls most 

of the characters, and they rejoice and sustain 

her heart. 

cottage, about 15 feet square, at the edge of the 

garden below the main house. The house below 

cuts off my view, the better not to distract me 

from studying! 

My morning and afternoon Arabic classes in 

Latakia continued through June 30. When we 

learned what exam schedule the folks here were 

following, my lessons in the reader and in the. unvoweled 

Bible-story book were discontinued to 

allow me to concentrate on reading and grammer 

in Ad-Darij (the colloquial), and the reading of 

the first two chapters of John's Gospel. I also 

memorized a dozen or more proverbs in colloquial 

Arabic, such as : "Ahla kadir besahtak mudd rijlaik" 

"On the extent of your carpet, stretch out 

your legs" 

(the live-within-your-income idea). 

Our schools closed on scheule the last full week 

in June, and it was a full week. Final exams end 

ed on Tuesday. That afternoon the Hutchesons 

had their customary close-of-school reception for 

the teachers of the Boys' 

and Girls' 

Schools in 

School compound. This 

their garden in the Boys' 

was the occasion also of something not customary : 

the announcement of the engagement of Marjorie 

Allen to Kenneth Sanderson. These fine, conse 

crated young people, who came to Syria as shortterm 

teachers, have offered themselves for fulltime 

service here. Marjorie has been out for three 

years, so she sajled June 28 (her birthday) on 

the MARINE CARP to spend the summer at 

home. She and Ken will be married when she 

returnes in the fall, and they'll teach full pro 

gram during the next schoolyear before under 

taking language study. Ken is supervising an 

afternoon playground at the Boys' 

School this 

month. He and Tom Semple hope to spend some 

time on Cyprus and some at Idlib during the sum 

mer. The Hutchesons have rented their house at 

Shemlan. I sent them information today about a 

couple of places I'd seen Saturday which they 

might rent here. 

Our Spring observance of the Lord's Supper


was on May 30 in Latakia. On the Sabbath pre 

vious, six infants were presented by their parents 

for baptism. ' 

During the following week 18 young 

people joined the church. About 180 communed.. 

It's Tuesday evening, and school began this 

morning. Our teachers arrived yesterday ; Miss 

Sahune, a veteran teacher of foreigners ; and Miss 

Rose Jarrab ( ?) , new to the job. Both are teach 

ers at the British Syrian Training College. Rose 

is. a kindergarten teacher there, and she will be 

good at helping Kelvin and Judith make a start 

in Arabic. She's good at helping me with reading, 

too ! Miss Sahune will teach us grammar and com 

position. Mrs. Enright and Mrs. DeSmidt, busy 

with housekeeping and the new baby, aren't tak 

ing lessons right now; and neither is Mr. De 

Smidt, who is on the prayers and giving, our appreciation. In order 

to give you more share in the work, here are 

some petitions that you may unite with us in 

bringing before the Throne of Grace : 

That the Hutchesons may be guided in their 

plans for the coming schpolyear; that able and 

consecrated teachers may be found to complete 

the staff; that there may be no hindrance to the 

continuance of Bible instruction. 

That the students while on vacation, many of 

them away from Christian influence, may be kept 

from temptation, 

Building Committee for 

British Syrian Mission, and has to spend time 

supervising repairs at Tyre, Baalbek, Beyrouth, 

and elsewhere. That left Mr. Enright, Joyce Nap- 

and may remember the Word of 

per, Minnie Bell and me for lessons this morning, 

and each teacher spent an hour with every one of 

us in turn. We're not all at the same place in our 

studies, but hope to have some class-work as a 

change from the individual tutoring we've had 

thus far. 

To you who are supporting this work by your 

A Summer Letter from Syria 

By Chester T. Hutcheson 

Dear Fellow Covenanters: 

July 11, 1948 

School has been over for two weeks now, and I 

have been busy finishing up things that need fin 

ishing touches put to them after school closes. 

Now I shall try to tell you some of the recent news 

here. 

We were able to finish the school year on the 

very day we had planned. However, political dis 

turbances during the year caused us to lose about 

fifteen days of school. These are not all over yet, 

but we trust they will be before another school 

year begins. On the whole, we can look back and 

say that we had a satisfactory year. We have 

been taking some pictures with the movie camera 

the Foreign Mission Board has sent us, and we 

hope to have some of them for you ere long, so 

so you can visualize our work here. 

Our family has decided not to go to our usual 

summering place, but to stay in Latakia most of 

of the things 

the summer and take care of many 

that we slight during the school year. We may 

get away to the Lebanon moiihtains for a few 

weeks. Miss McClurkin has gone there to Shem 

lan, above Beirut, for six weeks of study in an 

Arabic summer language school! She is doing 

nicely in her language study. 

We have not received much of a report of Syn 

od yet, so we await with interest news of actions 

they may have taken that would affect our work 

here. We hear it was a good Synod, and we hope 

the Lord saw fit to bless it and will bless any 

plans that have to do with executing its decisions. 

May the Church pray fervently at this time that 

our nation may show itself truly wise and Chris 

life which they have been taught. 

That the Hays family and Miss Elizabeth Mc 

Elroy and Marjorie Allen be helped in their prep 

arations to return to the field this fall, and be 

brought here in safety. 

That the way be opened up to increase our wit 

ness through village evangelism and Bible 

Woman's Work. 

That the pastor, Rev. Khaleel Awad, be blessed 

in his ministry ; and that the members of the con 

gregation be quickened with renewed enthusiasm 

for serving the Lord in speech and action. 

That my mind may be alert, ear keen, tongue 

adaptable, and memory retentive in the study of 

this strange but fascinating Arabic language. 

tian at a time when it has such a great world in 

fluence. 

We are anxiously awating the arrival of the 

Hays family and Miss McElroy this summer, as 

we feel they will add much to out strength here. 

May they be granted a safe journey. The village 

work and women's work, both of which they have 

special interests in, has been much slighted dur 

ing their absence. 

We were able to have our spring communion 

the last Sabbath of May, according to plan. There 

was a very good-attendance, and the Spirit of the 

Lord seemed to be manifest. We were proud to 

have 18 of our church young people profess their 

faith in Christ, and their intention of joining our 

church communion. Six babies were baptized the 

Sabbath preceding communion. 

On the weekend of June 11, Mrs. Hutcheson 

and a group of teachers held a four-day camp in 

our Slenfe house, and in that of a neighbor there. 

About 30 girls attended, and all report a profit 

able and enjoyable experience. 

At what is called the Protestant Conference 

Center in the Lebanon, there are Protestant con 

ferences going on all summer, a thing many of 

you may not realize. Some are by Arabic speak 

ing groups, some by the Armenian speaking 

groups, and some by mixed groups, where English 

is the common language. We would ask for your 

prayers for these, and for our delegates that hope 

to go. Conferences carry on from July 6 to Sep 

tember 27. It is sort of a "Winona Lake" 

of the 

Middle East. Syria and Lebanon are looking for 

ward to a visit from the Rev. E. Stanley Jones 

and Miss Helen Keller in the fall. Both will be 

trying to help this part of the world in their re 

spective special endeavors.


Lesson Helps 



WHEN IS ONE EDUCATED? 

Deut. 6:4-9; Prov. 3:1-6; 

I Cor. 1:26; I Cor. 2:5 

Used by permission of Christian 

Endeavor. 

By Mary Ann Armstrong 

Morning Sun, Iowa 

Psalms: 

Psalm 19:5-7, No. 43 

Psalm 25:7-9, No. 62 

Psalm 67:1-4, No. 175 

Psalm 112:1-4, No. 307 

References 

Col. 1:9; I Cor. 14:1; Heb. 6:1; 

II Peter 1:5; Prov. 1:7; Isa. 11:2; 

Dan. 12:4; Rom. 10:2; Eph. 3:19; 

II Peter 3:18 

The valedictorian of our high 

school graduating class opened her 

address -with these words, "We are 

educated. FifEy^-years ago our grand 

mothers stepped outside the eighth 

grade door for the last time and an 

nounced that they were educated. One 

hundred years ago our great-grand 

mothers could cook an excellent meal 

and could keep the cabin spotless 

and they were educated. But when is 

one educated?" 

Many 

people confuse school- 

i 

with 

education. But grade school, high 

school and college are not education. 

They are merely training schools to 

teach us to educate ourselves. Too 

.many people attain their highest de 

gree of thinking when they are 

seniors in high school. They 

use the 

excuse that they haven't enough 

money for college or that they have 

to stay home and work. But college 

isn't essential for higher learning. In 

fact, 

some of the most learned men 

have never seen a college or uni 

versity. But they hav seen the spark 

of idealism and are on the quest for 

more and more knowledge. There is 

no good excuse. Not really. When 

have there been more opportunities? 

llow many homes are complete with 

out the radio and the daily news 

paper? How ,are many without ac 

cess to a public . library filled with 

culture? When were there more 

Bibles and religious books available? 

Books are the only medium that 

most of us have to communicate with 

the really great minds. No person is 

really educated until he is familiar 

with the Best Seller of all ages, 

the Bible. There is every advantage 

for attaining this goal. Bibles are 

plentiful. They are easy to obtain at 

any price level. And at least once a 

week there are inspirational explan 

ations . and interpretations of this 

book at a convenient hour. There are 

hosts of people -with the same pur 

pose and varying ideas with all the 

makings of an intelligent discus 

sion. Is there any other book that 

offers so much? 

No person is educated until he can 

entertain himself. Our world of to 

day places too much emphasis on 

commercial amuteements. One be 

comes bored if there is leisure hours 

to spend alone. Do you have to be 

surrounded with people every mo 

ment to be satisfied? Do you antici 

pate being home "just with the fam 

ily"? Or do the movies take care of 

all your spare time? 

When is one educated? One is edu 

cated when the purpose of education 

has been achieved, that is, training 

for this life at its supreme best and 

for the life hereafter. 

1. How may 

Suggested Questions 

we use our leisure 

time to further our education? 

2. What opportunities do we have 

to become more familiar with the 

Bible? 

3. What incentive do we have to 

become more educated? 

JUNIOR TOPIC 


'THE PARABLE OF A REAPER" 

By Mrs. R. H. MeKevy 

Illustration for this object lesson: 

Pack a shallow pan full of hard, bare 

soil. Fill another pan with stones. 

Plant a dump 

of weeds in a third 

pan. Fill the last with good earth 

and lay a sheaf of grain on it. Keep 

the pans hidden until the proper 

places in the story. Then set them 

in a row -before the children. 

Worship Period: Ps. 62:4. Prayer 

by the leader. Memory verse is James 

1:22. Sing Ps. 126:4. 

Story : A reaper went forth to reap. 

Arid he looked that there might be 

grain where seed had fallen by the 

wayside but the highway was hard 

and bare. '"In the field," 

"I shall gather my 

came to the field. 

thought he, 

So he 

sheaves." 

At first, he found only stones and 

no grain. Then over the hill, he saw 

something 

green and he hurried for 

ward. But it was a tangle of weeds 

and thorns. 

And now, he had covered all but a 

very little of the field. Yet it was in 

the last small corner that he found 

the grain. The yield there was good. 

Some stalks carried a hundred plump 

grains, some had sixty, some thirty. 

All were well-filled. 

When he had harvested it, he 

started back rejoicing, 

" 

bringing his 

sheaves with him. And as he made 

his way though the briers and oyer 

the stones, he considered why the 

field had not been full of grain. He 

had sown the best seed and h real 

ized that the fault must have been 

with the ground where the seed fell. 

(Let the children guess what was 

wrong with the ground, then turn to 

the Bible to see who guessed correctly. 

Mt. 13:3-8.) 

Now, Jesus told us what this story 

means. The verses of the Bible are the 

seed. Everyone who teaches the Word 

of God is sowing it in the heart of his - 

hearer. The kinds of ground describe 

the different kinds of hearts of those 

who hear God's Word. 

There are the hard, bare hearts of 

those who hear beautiful verses like 

John 3:16 and never think of God's 

love for them nor of the dear 

Saviour who gave Himself that they 

might be saved. Soon Satan snatches 

the verse out of their hearts and i^ 

is forgotten. 

Sometimes a Junior learns a verse 

like Eph. 5:18 and when he is temp 

ted to taste liquor, at first says no. 

But then, when others make fun of 

him, he is not brave enough to stand 

for the right. So his stony heart gives 

in to the wrong and the verse of God 

withers away. 

I'm afraid too many of us have 

hearts like the third ground. A 

verse like Ps. 122:1 is learned and 

for awhile we are glad to go up to 

the house of God. Then, some Sab 

bath we feel tired or company is 

coming or we are going on a visit 

and the verse of God is choked out 

of our hearts as we turn our backs 

on His Church and stay away. 

How splendid it would be if all 

our hearts were like the good 

and when we heard the Word of God 

we remembered it and did what it 

said no matter what came! How 

soil" 

happy the reaper would have been if 

he had found the field covered with. 

shining yellow grain! Our Christian . 

parents and our Junior teachers and 

Jesus, Himself, have no greater joy . 

than to see us walking in the truth 

as the Word grows and bears fruit. 

in our lives. What kind of a harvest . 

will these sowers find in your heart, 

little Junior ? 

Two stories of how the seed fell 

into good soil: 

One night, two hundred robbers 

entered a Chinese city, shooting 

down little children who were in the 

streets and finally robbing the 

temple next door to the missionary's


home. The missionary 

could not have 

his regular meeting for the people 

were afraid to come. So he opened 

the doors and invited the robbers in! 

Then he read to them the story of 

the Lord's death. 

Each night for a week he read 

that same story and each night the 

room was filled with listening rob 

bers. At the end of the week he 

asked if any would live, for Jesus as 

their Saviour. Thirteen former mur 

derers and robbers came forward and 

with tears streaming down their 

cheeks, said they wanted Jesus. 

Before they left, the missionary 

promised to start a Bible class the 

next day. At four-thirty he was 

awakened by these men who had 

come to study the Bible. From then 

on their whole lives were changed 

and they became true Christian 

soldiers. Condensed from Our Her 

itage. 

A little girl named Mari had 

learned to pray 

at our Latakia mis 

sion. When she went home her fa 

ther forbade her praying and when 

he found that she had not stopped, 

he had her whipped and told her 

she would have nothing to eat that 

day. Growing hungry, little Mari 

knelt down and asked God to send 

her something to eat. Later, she 

had to go out to the road and there 

she found a piece of bread. When 

she returned to the house she told 

her friends that she had asked God 

for food and He had given it to her. 

Reformed Presbyterian and Cove 

nanter, 1871 

Verses: The seed, Ps. 119:140, 151. 

The good ground, Deut 6:6; Ps. 119: 

55, 97; Heb. 2:1; Rev. 1:3. The har 

vest, Ps. 126:6. 

Psalms : 

Psalm 1:1, 2, No. 2 

Psalm 34:6-9, No. 87 

Close with Ps. 126:4 again. 



THE TOWN CLERK AT EPHESUS 

Acts 19:23-41 

Since the lessons for September 

are all character studies found in 

The Acts, it will be greatly to our 

advantage to read carefully passages 

that lead from one lesson to the 

next one. Barnabas was the topic of 

our last lesson. Today we have an 

unnamed man, a Roman official, for 

our study. The events recorded in 

this lesson transpired during Paul's 

third missionary journey, which was 

his last one. The sphere of the 

Christian church was enlarging, and 

Paul's plans were growing wider. 

He had conceived the idea of going 

to the capital of the Roman empire, 

which plan was realized later, but in 

a way he had not foreseen. On his 

third journey he returned to Ephesus, 

where he had left Aquila and Priscil 

la, and where they had met up with 

Apollos. Here Paul labored for two 

full years, during 

which time his 

labors were greatly blessed, and 

which served to bring 

about condi 

tions leading up to the riot so graph 

ically described in this lesson. In 

order that we may rightly under 

stand the part played by the town 

clerk in this highly dramatic scene, 

it is needful to get clearly in mind 

some of the details. 

I. THE RIOT ITSELF 

First, its cause. In the city of 

Ephesus was one of the Seven Won 

ders of the ancient world, the Temple 

of Diana, 

which held a high place 

consecrated to Diana, one of the 

twelve greater deities of the Greeks. 

Space forbids any detailed descrip 

tion of this deity and the temple 

reared in her honor. Ephesus was 

famous for making and selling 

shrines and images of the great 

Diana. Their manufacture consti 

tuted one of the chief industries of 

the city, 

as verse 25 intimates. The 

success of Paul's labors may be 

readily inferred from the fact that 

the silversmiths found their business 

falling off, and that many former 

worshipers of Diana had turned to 

the worship of the true God. In 

order to put a stop to this loss in 

business, 

a man named Demetrius, 

apparently one of the leading men 

of the craft, called a meeting of the 

tradesmen, and made a skillful pres 

entation of the situation, 

well fitted 

to gain the end in mind. Their bus 

iness was no longer prosperous. 

Their sales were falling off. Unless 

something radical was done they 

were going to lose out entirely. 

Paul had been preaching here as at 

Athens, that no true God could ever 

be made by men's hands. He did not 

openly denounce the worship of 

Diana; he simply reasoned that a 

true Deity could not be made out of 

silver or gold. His teachings had at 

once raised the question about the 

reality of those Greek gods whose 

images were being made and sold in 

such great numbers there in Ephe 

sus. Those silversmiths were about 

to lose their business unless Paul's 

preaching 

was suppressed. 

Second, its violence. The silver 

smiths' 

council soon infected the en 

tire city, and a great mob gathered, 

yelling and shouting, but not know 

ing just why, "Great is Diana of the 

Ephesians". In all probability many 

of the rioters did not know of the 

silversmiths' 

action in the case. In 

most 

public*' 

demonstrations such as 

this one there are always many who 

do not know just what the riot is 

for. The violence of the uproar, to 

gether with the danger with which 

Paul and his friends were confronted, 

is depicted most vividly in the pas 

sage (verse 32). For two hours the 

tumult raged, 

and for no apparent 

reason. Then it was that one of the 

city's high officials appeared on the 

scene. 

II. THE QUELLING OF THE RIOT 

It is remarkable that just at this 

when utter lawlessness 

juncture, 

prevailed and utmost confusion was 

at its height, a single man should 

step in and silence the noisy tur 

moil of the last two hours in a very 

short time. His name is not men 

tioned; he is simply known as the 

town clerk, one of the highest of 

ficials of the city. So Luke's picture 

of the clerk, or secretary, is that of 

a man of influence, keenly 

alive to 

his responsibilities, and quite in 

accord with what might have been 

expected of him. His address to the 

multitude contains four principal 

points. The first was merely an as 

surance that there was no reason 

for getting 

so excited about what 

Paul or anybody else had said about 

Diana, since everybody living in 

Ephesus and worshiping Diana knows 

that she came down from Jupiter, 

and that nobody could deny it. (Did 

he believe this himself, or was he 

merely stating what was generally 

believed?) So, that being true, he 

said in effect, "Why 

noise?" 

make all this 

A second point emphasized 

by him was that Paul and his com 

pany were not robbers of churches, 

nor had they blasphemed Diana. 

They had stolen nothing from the 

great temple, nor had they en 

gaged in heated argument denounc 

ing Diana; Paul had simply said 

that no true god could be made with 

hands, but at the same time had net 

named Diana. He knew that if he 

could succeed in convincing people 

of the truth concerning the -Christ, 

they 

would at once see the vanity 

of worshiping Diana or any other of 

the Greek gods. A third point in his 

address was that if they had any 

thing of which to accuse Paul and 

his companions, there were courts 

where such cases could be tried and 

a legal decision rendered. But he 

pronounced the present assembly

September 1, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 141 

utterly unlawful, and that there was 

an orderly and dignified way for 

dealing 

with such cases as required 

legal action. His fourth point was 

practically a warning that those 

Ephesian rioters had thrown them 

selves open to being 

disorderly 

charged with 

conduct. He declared that 

if their *riotous actions were brought 

to the attention of Rome, they would 

probably be required to answer for 

their lawlessness. He then dis 

missed a very much sobered and 

subdued assembly. 

We' 

have here a glimpse of the 

regular method in which the law 

was administered in the Roman em 

pire. Chapter 18 contains the account 

of how the Roman governor on an 

other occasion dealt with Paul's ac 

cusers. Verses 14 and 15 contain his 

pronouncement in answer to charges 

made against Paul. The town clerk's 

admonition was very much along the 

same line. In, both instances religious 

freedom was granted, and also the 

right to civil court action was de-. 

eland- in cases of a legal character. 

That the gospel is indeed the pow 

er of God has rarely been more 

vividly exhibited than in this scene 

in Ephesus. It was the coming of 

Christ to that city that raised the 

cry, "Great is Diana of the Ephe 

sians". It is the Lord Jesus making 

His way into any community when 

mobs or any 

other form of opposi 

tion try to offset all efforts to pro 

mote the cause of truth and right 

eousness. The gospel is in a very 

real sense a disturber of the peace. 

"These that have turned the world 

upside down have come hither 

also," 

is always the cry when evil is con 

fronted by truth and right. Opposi 

tion is not always as open as in 

Ephesus. It sometimes takes the 

form of pretended friendliness. Years 

ago an Inter-national S. S. conven 

tion was held in Tokio, 

at which 

every form possible in the way of 

entertainment was shown delegates 

from other countries: And at the 

same time, over in Korea Christians 

were being herded together in their 

chapels, the buildings set afire, and 

the fugitives shot as they ran. Gamp- 

this- 

bell Morgan in commenting on 

Ephesus episode says, "The Salva 

tion Army was not in half as much 

danger when a mob pelted its mis 

sionaries with stones, as when her 

-, General is smiled upon by a king. 

Let us be very| careful that we do not 

waste our energy, and miss the 

meaning of our high calling, toy any 

rejoicing in the patronage of the 

world. The Church persecuted has 

always been the Church pure, and 

therefore powerful. The Church 

patronized has always been the 

Church in peril, and often the Church 

paralyzed. We need not fear Demet 

rius and his like. It is the emissaries 

of the Evil one appearing as angels 

of light that we must 

shun." 

We need not become discouraged 

and alarmed over adverse Supreme 

Court decisions, 

and the ever-present 

opposition to the movement to grant 

the King 

of all His royal claims. 

Opposition is an unfailing indication 

that there is something worth op 

posing. The forces of unrighteous 

ness are only echoing the riotous 

tumultN 

outcry of that at Ephesus, 

"Great is Diana". It is when that 

outcry is the loudest that the gospel 

is revealing its power, the power of 

God. 


Comments : 

FOR SEPTEMBER 22 

TRUE REPENTANCE 

11 Cor. 8:1-12 

By the Rev. Robert McConachie 

References : 

II Cor. 7:10; Heb. 6:1, 9, 14; Ezek. 

14:6, 18, 30; Matt. 3:8; Lk. 3:8; 

Acts 20:21; Rom. 2:4; Mk. 6:12; 

Acts 26:20 

Psalms : 

Psalm 51, No. 144 

Psalm 119, No. 342 

Psalm 119, No. 326 


The topic suggests that there may 

be a form of repentance that is not 

true. The text proves the reality and 

power of true repentance. The Chris 

tians of Thessalonica, 

Philippi and 

Berea proved to the satisfaction of 

their teacher that their repentance 

was true. They did so by turning 

whole-heartedly to Christ. Their con 

secration to a new philosophy 

of life 

was complete. They gave not only of 

their material possessions but they 

gave their own hearts. We can find 

no better proof of true repentance. 

Undoubtedly 

Paul had other converts 

who did not measure up as well. 

There were those like Demas whose 

repentance was not real and that 

withered in the day of trial. 

BY THE GRACE OF GOD 

All the good things here recounted 

about the Macedonian churches, 

flowed from the grace of God, "be 

stowed on the Churches". 

We do well to place the same 

emphasis * on grace as did Paul. In 

our day1 of organization and ecclesi 

astical machinery, we are likely to 

forget that the harvest of spiritual 

things comes by way 

of our Lord. "By; grace are ye 

Man has his part to play 

of the grace 

saved." 

and it is 

no mean part, but apart from the 

grace of God, his work is in vain. 

The streams of Salvation or Redemp-- 

tion flow from God. They come by 

way of grace. The root and branch - 

of our Salvation is never found in 

man. God's grace brings it down to 

man from God. Look at the whole 

history of the Church and its attain 

ments and you can say as Paul said 

in this first verse, "Now brothers, I 

have to tell you about the grace God ,. 

has given to the Churches of Mace 

donia." 

Moffatt. God reached down. 

God quickened. God purged. God 

did a work of. cleansing. God made 

the heart generous. God poured out 

his grace and this is the result be 

fore you. 

Ask any fair minded Christian 

about their conversion and they will 

confess that when they were other 

wise minded, God's grace stepped in 

and caused them to be mindful of 

Heavenly things. 

These Macedonians had been all 

that pagans can be and how they 

were clean and joyful and generous 

and sympathetic. The grace be 

stowed on them had wrought a great 

change. It was not in vain but 

wrought a change that gave Paul a 

good talking advantage 

Corinthians. 

before the 

REPENTANCE 

Repentance in the New Testament 

literally means a changing 

of one's 

mind. It implies changing one's mind 

in such a way, 

or to such an extent 

about a philosophy of life, that one 

shall completely follow the Christ 

way instead of the old bent of .life;. 

Thus we see that Paul ties up re 

pentance and holy living in such a 

manner as would please even a 

Luther. "j-v 

I believe Paul felt very much like 

most of us who cannot understand ', 

repentance as a mere abstract idea. 

We must see repentance in action to 

, understand its reality. No word of . 

mouth repentance will serve to clinch 

the argument. There must needs be 

the evidence of grace before folks' 

are convinced. Repentance means a 

change of mind or a new idea, but it i 

is more, for it is the out-working of 

that new idea as well. Many of 

Paul's converts had lived other lives 

(Cor. 6:9-11), but they 

pented. The saving 

had ws 

grace of repen 

tance had changed them completely. 

There is that old definitien of re 

pentance, given by a child who said


loose ends coordinated. 

On the Sabbath day Dr. Tweed 

led us to the mountain top and the 

very doors of Heaven stood ajar and 

we glimpsed the glory and radiance 

of Christ our Saviour, King of all 

the Ûniverse. In the afternoon ses 

sion the Mitchels and Marjorie^. 

Allen with the love of God shining 

through- their personalities and en 

thusiast, 

gave us a glimpse of the 

mission field and its needs. In the 

evening as we lingered on the moun 

tain top. Dr. Elliott took us to the 

uttermost peak and made the chal 

lenge of the Covenanter Crusade a 

practical possibility, not only 

a pos 

sibility put a great necessity, if our 

church is to continue on the face of 

. 

this earth. We resolved to each pray 

for a great revival of faith and 

courage in our own hearts and to 

- 

. south 

exert great effort in prayer . and en 

deavor to win souls, first for Christ, 

then for- the Covenanter Church. 

As we came down this morning 

from the conference, with the Mc- 

Crumbs and Lintons from the Santa 

Anna congregation following, we 

came thrugh Mount Rainer Na 

tional Park. We stopped from look 

out to lookout together to life our 

eyes to the beauty and majesty of 

Mount Rainer, highest point in 

Washington. We came on down 

slowly and thoughtfully, often look 

ing back for one last picture of the 

shimmering crown, to our valley on 

the western side of the beautiful 

Cascade range to sea level once 

again, filled and refreshed in the 

faith. 

Our prayer is that each one that 

went his way east, west, north and 

made such a spiritual leveling 

off from the mountain top of spir 

itual experience rather than a tobog 

gan slide down into life as usual. 

We -_ went into the Covenanter 

Churji from choice in our college 

years .under the influence of Dr. 

CharleT. "Carson. We felt its strict 

adherence to God's Word went all 

the way in providing a religion to 

live by. We feel the same today. 

From a distance we see more clearly 

the forest rather than the trees. 

Out-of-Bounders, it is harder to be 

a Covenanter away from home than 

when bolstered and fortified by one's 

own. We fail miserably in living 

as a true member of the church. We 

do try to keep the faith. 

Each time Allen takes an old bat 

tered, broken down piece of antique 

furniture and by much concentra 

tion, often research, and always long 

and tedious hours of labor, restores 

it to a thing of beauty and often real 

value, we feel anew the power of 

God to restore our battered souls 

into vessels of gold for His service. 

Oh that our influence might restore 

the souls of the owners of these 

pieces as well! 

Young People, as we associated 

with so many of you, we saw the 

beauty of your devoted lives, the 

culture and refinement of your per 

sonalities, the cleanness and wholeheartedness 

of your recreation, and 

the power for Christ's Kingdom and 

hope for this chaotic world stand 

out in you in sharp and startling 

contrast to the average worldly 

youth of today. Yours is a fearful 

and wonderful responsibility. . 

Cnrt-of-iBoundersj, ours too is a 

fearful and wonderful responsibility. 

We are not in the Covenanter Church 

but we are of it. We must do our 

part from afar. '"As for Saul, he 

made havock of the church, entering 

into every bouse, and haling men 

and women, committed them to 

prison. Therefore they that were 

scattered abroad -went everywhere 

preaching the 

word" 

(Acts 8:3, 4). 

We have ibeen scattered abroad for 

various reasons. Pray that God 

through us will restore souls. May 

He take out "self" 

and fill oar lives 

with service for His Kingdom where- 

ever we may be. See you in Fresno 

in '49! 

Mrs. A. B. Lintecum 

SANTA ANA 

June 18 the congregation assem 

bled for a Fathers Day dinner at 

6:30. This was planned by the Young 

who after dinner washed the 

People, 

dishes, and then gave a very enter 

taining program. This group pur 

chased some Bibles for the pews. 

This was one of their projects. 

A Church Guest Book has been 

placed in the lobby. 

The closing exercises of the Daily 

Vacation Bible School were held 

June 30 at 7:30. The enrollment was 

81 children plus a band of faithful 

workers. 

July 16, after a pot luck dinner, 

Mr. Crockett and Dr. Edgar gave us 

very, interesting reports of Synod. 

It was a treat to hear the Geneva 

Covichords. They brought us fine 

messages and we were happy, to meet 

these young men. 

The registration from Santa Ana 

for full time at Camp Waskowitz 

was 22. On Sabbath A. M. August 

15, Mr. Betts presiding, interesting 

reports were given. Among things 

mentioned were the hospitality of 

the Seattle congregation, the beauti 

ful camp site, the ideal weather, the 

help received from the Bible study, 

lectures, messages, and fellowship 

with Christian friends. 

August 22 Dr. Edgar was our min- 

inster. At this service he baptized 

his granddaughter, Penelope, Ann, 

the third child of Faris and Betty 

Edgar. 

While on vacation the pastor and 

family attended the Y. P. Conference, 

also spent ten days in Sequoia Na 

tional Forest. During their absence 

Dr. Walter McCarroll and Dr. S. Ed 

gar were our ministers. 

Mrs. Scott McClelland is confined 

in the hospital with a broken leg, a 

straight break across the middle. of 

the femur. 

COVICHORDS RETURN 

Geneva College expresses its grati 

tude to God for His loving care of 

the Covichords on a tour of the 

church and young 

people's confer 

ences. They traveled over 12,000 

miles, reaching all of the conferences 

and 33 separate congregations. In 

the Pittsburgh area they appeared in 

addition to seven of the congrega 

tions, making a total of 40 in all. In 

some cases several congregations 

went together to hear the boys. They 

were able to keep every appointment 

and "there was not a sore throat or 

a scratch on a fender" 

as was re 

ported at the last performance. The 

prayers of the Church were heard. 

The tour of the Covichords filled a 

long 

felt desire on the part of the 

college to contact the church in a 

personal way and it is indeed grate 

ful to the church for its fine1 coopera 

tion and splendid financial assistance. 

The appreciation of the college is 

further extended to the ministers, 

leaders of the conferences, and the 

many homes where the boys were so 

royally entertained. 

The experiment was "a bow at a 

venture" 

but those who were respon 

sible for the tour planned cautiously 

but confidently. 

As a fitting climax the Covichords 

were invited to participate in the 

dedication of a marker erected at Old 

Northwood, 

near Belle Center, Ohio, 

the Logan County 

on August 26th by 

branch of the Ohio Historical Society. 

The local committee under the leader 

ship of Roy Templeton, arranged the 

program. Thus the celebrations of the 

Centennial Year at ^Geneva College 

closed with this most appropriate 

gesture on the part of the commun 

ity 

which gave the college its birth. 

C. T. Carson

September 1. 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 143 

neapolis and the Weir Ewing family 

of Thief River Falls spent the first 

week of July here with their mother, 

Mrs. Jean Ewing, and other relatives. 

The Misses Pauline Blair, Alison 

Edgar, Marjorie iBowen and Shirley 

Kalina joined the choir. We will 

miss Alison and Pauline when they 

.return home but hope Marjorie and 

Shirley will continue to help us. 

Mrs. Wildman who spent some 

time in the local hospital earlier was 

operated on the middle of July. We 

are glad to say that while she is still 

weak, she is getting along fine. 

A very successful Bible School 

was carried on this summer under 

the leadership of Mrs. Edgar, Willa 

Hogan and Mrs. Charles Peterman 

with an enrollment of 35. A program 

consisting of Bible verses memorized, 

psalms learned, etc., was given at 

the close. 

Threshing started the first part of 

August. Some very good crops are 

reported and the prospects for corn 

look especially good. We are all very 

thankful for these bountiful bless 

ings. 

GREELEY, COLORADO 

Rev. Paul White came from Den 

ver August 9 to moderate a call for 

the Greeley congregation. After a 

spiritual and practical sermon the 

election resulted in the unanimous 

choice of Rev. S. Bruce Willson. Mr. 

Willson has accepted the call and the 

" 

congregation is looking forward 

happily to the arrival of Mr. Willson 

and family the first of October. 

Greeley had a most enjoyable 

Communion conducted by Dr. Paul 

McCracken. 

Dr. and Mrs. 0. F. Thompson 

came from Loveland to be present 

for the sacrament. 

The following ministers have filled 

our pulpit during the summer: Drs. 

S. Edgar and Paul McCracken, Rev. 

A. J. McFarland, S. Bruce Willson, 

D. Ray Wilcox and Harold Thompson. 

August 8 Dr. and Mrs. F. E. Allen 

and Marjorie were in Greeley, Dr. 

Allen explained the Psalm and Mar 

jorie gave a review of her work in 

the mission field. 

Mr. and Mrs. D. Ray Wilcox and 

family left Greeley August 26 to 

take up the work at Oakdale, 111. It 

was a great privilege to have 

Wilcoxes with us for a year. 

the 

Mr. Russell Alexander, who has 

been attending the University of 

Colorado in Boulder for the past 

three years has accepted a position 

in the Texas Christian University at 

Ft Worth. They are going to be 

missed as they have worshiped with 

the Greeley congregation while in 

Colorado. 

Janet Carson, Helen Keys and 

Gwendolyn Elliott are entering Gen 

eva this fall. Marion Gilchrist will 

return as a sophomore. 

SPECIAL NOTICE 

Mr. Joseph M. Steele, for 34 years 

Treasurer of the Foreign Mission 

Board of the Church, presented his 

resignation at the 1948 Synod. His 

resignation was accepted with sincere 

regret. The writer was appointed his 

successor, under the supervision of the 

Foreign Mission Board, for two years. 

We spent a delightful visit at his 

office in Philadelphia, Pa. He is a 

fine Christian gentleman, interested 

in all Christian work. If you never 

met him you missed something 

"Who can come after the King?" 

The Foreign Mission Board of the 

Reformed Presbyterian Church will 

need at least $24,000.00 this year to 

carry 

on its work. If you are inter 

ested in its work our, address is still 

209 9th St., Pittsburgh, Pa. 

James S. Tibby, Treas. 

ABRAHAM MONSOUR 

Abraham Monsour was born in 

Syria on July 6, 1885 and departed 

this life in Pittsburgh July 25, 1948. 

He came to America about forty-five 

years ago and established his home 

in Pittsburgh where he 'became a 

member of the Central Pittsburgh 

congregation. His widow, Mrs. Mary 

Monsour, two sons and a daughter, 

Waheeb, Samuel and Louise, survive 

him. There is one grandchild. He was 

a sincere Christian, loved the cause 

of charity and was a good husband 

and father. The funeral service was 

held July 28 with Rev. J. Ren Pat 

terson officiating. 

LAWRENCE WEIGLE 

Lawrence Weigle was born in 

Germany July 5, 1886 and was called 

home after an illness of some four 

years, on July 31, 1948. He was a 

member of the Central Pittsburgh 

congregation. His first wife died in 

Germany in 1936 while visiting there. 

In 1937 he was married to Mary 

Deuber in Germany. He is survived 

by his wife and one sister. The fu 

h 


neral was held on August 3 with 

Rev, J. Ren Patterson officiating. 

"Precious in the sight of the Lord 

is the death of His 

saints." 

OUT-OF-BOUNDERS GO 

TO CONFERENCE 

We left Sterling over four years 

ago with a one-way ticket to Long- 

view, Washington. We often said on 

the way that we felt like Abraham 

of old going out not knowing whither 

he went. We went after much prayer, 

not knowing one person in Longview. 

After much prayer we are still here. 

Many have said, "Just keep on pray 

ing and you will soon be back in the 

fold." 

We do not believe our prob 

lem to be as simple and easy as that. 

"God works in mysterious ways His 

wonders to 

perform." 

Many things 

have happened in these brief years. 

God has opened new viewpoints, 

means, methods, contacts, blessings, 

abilities and challenges that have 

astounded us and we have learned 

to say with new meaning, "In all thy 

ways acknowledge Him and He will 

direct thy paths". Going to the Pa 

cific Coast this year seemed impos 

sible. However, through the persis 

tence of the Carsons (both the 

Seattle and Beaver Falls "species") 

we arrived safely at Camp Wasko 

witz on time in our antique Chevy. 

(A little neighbor lad said, after 

looking at the speedometer, "Does 

that old wreck have a million miles 

on it? It sounds as if it had.") 


We went to conference with great 

expectations. We were not let down'. 

The size of the attendance, the or 

ganization, the smoothness of pro 

cedure, the depth of spirituality, 

the fine fellowship, the harmony of 

groups, ages and committees was 

beautiful to behold. 

Session followed session and as we 

drank in new vision, new goals and 

new challenges we climbed upward 

with the delightful and untiring 

Covichords binding all together with 

song and praise and filling in the 

missing links (Dr. Tweed made us 

very conscious of missing links) 

with fun and entertainment. The 

Seattle Carsons, seven strong, with 

characteristic Carson graciousness 

and apparently inexhaustible energy 

and thoughtfulness, kept all the 

limiltllllltllllMIIIIIIIHIIIHItllMIIIIMHItlHIIIIIIIIIIIHIiniMH.lffl 



O.. iiMiiiiiiiiiiiiinmiiiii IIIIIIIIIHIIIIItlHIIHIflMIIHIIIIIIIIIMHItllMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHI a


that repentance was being so sorry 

that you did not do it 

for something 

again. We are all inclined to tie up 

repentance with holy living. 

MACEDONIAN REPENTANCE 

AN EXAMPLE 

The salesman can always do better 

if he has some good samples to 

show. Paul had his ensamples as he 

introduced the Christian life. Here 

were converts whose repentance had 

been so real that their consecration 

to Christ was full and commendable. 

No wonder he boasted of them. They 

are all the more commendable when 

one notices their problems of trouble 

and poverty. Their problems did not 

deter them from their consecration. 

They were poor but they gave. They 

were troubled but they were joyful. 

They were willing and added to their 

willingness performance. They were 

held up 

as an example to the Corin 

thians. The abandoment of a soul to 

the Spirit of God results in a wide 

stream of Christian character. Re 

pentance bears a rich harvest of 

fruits. 

Questions for study 

See catechism question No. 87. 

See the background of these 

Churches mentioned. 

What is the relationship between 

giving of one's self and giving of 

one's means? 

STAR NOTES... 

"??Mr. and Mrs. John F. Curry of 

Bloomington, Indiana, who are en- 

route to Kodiak, Alaska, worshiped 

with the Seattle congregation on 

Sabbath, August 29. Both Mr. and 

Mrs. Curry plan to teach school at 

the Kodiak Naval Base this winter. 

***Mr. and Mrs. Delber McKee, 

who have been visiting with her par 

ents, Dr. and Mrs. M. K. Carson of 

Seattle, have returned to their work 

in Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa. 

Delber continued his g-raduate work 

in the University of Washington dur 

ing the summer. 

***Mrs. Hutcheson and her daugh 

ter Miss Iris Hutcheson of Denver 

are visiting in the home of their 

daughter and sister, Mrs. R. W. 

Mitchell and family. Accompanying 

them to Seattle were Mrs. Wallace 

Crouch and little son, Robert William. 

***Miss Marjorie E. Allen is ex 

pecting to sail for Syria September 

24 on the Marine Carp from N. Y. 

***I moderated a call for the 

Clarinda, Iowa, 

congregation on the 

evening of August 31, which resulted 

in the unanimous choice of the Rev. 

T. Richard Hutcheson to be the 

pastor. Remo I. Robb 

***Mrs. Alice Johnston was called 

to her reward on August 29. She 

had been with her daughter, Mrs. 

Helen Grimes, at West Union, but 

was taken to the hospital a few days 

before her death. She was 89 years 

of age. The funeral service and in 

terment were at Hopkinton, la., 

where she was a life-long member 

of the Covenanter Church. Her ser 

ious illness had been of long dura 

tion. She leaves five sons and one 

daughter, 

all of whom are married 

and most of them have families of 

their own. She was a quiet kindly 

woman who was often found at the 

bedside of the sick or sorrowing. 

***Rev. and Mrs. R. W. Caskey 

have been visiting at the home of 

Mrs. Caskey's parents, Rev. and Mrs. 

F. E. Allen. 

***The Seattle W.M.S. held its 

September meeting in the spacious 

home of Mr. and Mrs. Archie Moore. 

An extra number of guests were 

present, among them Dr. and Mrs. 

T. M. Slater of Montclair, Mrs. F. C. 

Hinman and Miss Iris Hutcheson of 

Denver. After a very helpful devo 

tional service led by Mrs. Carson and 

a well conducted business meeting 

Erected by the president, the society 

held a birthday handkerchief shower 

in honor of Mrs. Slater. After the 

"Happy Birthday," 

the viewing of 

the jyifts and Mrs. Slater's gracious 

response, delicious refreshments wore 

served. It was a time of pleasant 

fellowship and the hospitality 

of our 

nost und hostess was greatly appre 

ciated. Mrs. Gladys Smith, president, 

Mi>. M. R. Jameson, secr?tavy. and 

Mrs. Lillie Dawson, treasure!, are 

t!n- 

:/aHon. 

efficient oft.'cers of this organ- 

CHURCH NEWS 


Rev. Willson and family recently 

traveled to Morning Sun, Iowa, 

where they visited relatives and our 

pastor gave an address at the Mor 

ning Sun anniversary, and also to 

Greeley, Colorado, for a two-weeks 

vacation. Rev. Ray Wilcox is preach 

ing for us in our pastor's absence. 

The Phoebes Missionary Society 

has been working hard this summer. 

On July 20 they held a "cleaning 

bee" 

in our church kitchen and din 

ing room. At their August meeting 

they raised money for the treasury 

by 

sale. 

a food sale and "white elephant" 

Like so many other congregations 

all over our Church, the Bloomington 

Covenanters were greatly stimulated 

by the visit of the Covichords. We 

held a congregational dinner, fol 

lowed by the inspirational program 

and an hour of entertainment. 

Our youngest elder, Ray M. 

Wanysler, 

who is a Major in the 

National Guard, has spent several 

weeks on duty in Georgia and in 

Camp Atterbury, Indiana. 

Six-year old Kentland McElhinney, 

son of Mr. and Mrs. Wishart McEl 

hinney, has had the misfortune of 

fracturing his limb, which has caused 

severe suffering. 

Rev. and Mrs. R. S. McElhinney 

spent a short vacation at the home of 

Mr. and Mrs. Bryan Gentry of Can 

ton, Illinois. 

Miss Oneita Faris recently spent 

one week in Dayton, Ohio, as the 

guest of Mr. and Mrs. Al Jolley and 

Mr. and Mrs. Virgil Baty. The latter 

brought Iher home and worshiped 

with us on Sabbath. 

LAKE RENO NEWS 

Rev. and Mrs. Edgar and Louise 

left the last of May to attend Synod 

and also to visit in New York. We 

were all glad to welcome Mrs. Briars 

back into our midst again as she re 

turned with them. 

Mr. and Mrs. Irvin McCrory and 

family 

spent a week in Kansas vis 

iting relatives during the first part 

of June. 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Welch spent 

a short time visiting her mother, 

Mrs. Marie Peacock and family be 

fore going to Arizona where they 

will make their new home. 

Mrs. Lizzie Hogan and Willa en 

joyed a trip to Canada during June. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Dugan and 

family of Indiana spent a couple of 

weeks at the Robert Blair home. Mr. 

and Mrs. Dugan went on to Roches 

ter where the former received med 

ical aid. They all returned home the 

first part of July except Thomas 

Jr. who remained for some time at 

the home of his uncle and aunt, Mr. 

and Mrs. Blair. 

Miss Alison Edgar of Chicago ar 

rived the latter part of June to stay 

the rest of the summer at the 

Charles Peterman home. 

A Fourth of July picnic was held 

at the Tyler home in Glenwood. In 

the evening everyone was invited to 

the Ronald Pigman home for fire 

works. 

The Ernest Ewing family of Min-


LESSON HELPS FOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER :l, 19-18 


^00 YEARS Of WITNESSING- 

fog. CHRIST'5 5CWER.EIO/S RIGHTS IN THE CHURCH 4ND the. fllftTlOftl t 

VOLUME XLI WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1918 Number 10 

The REV. J. C. MITCHEL 

Missionary 

to China and Moderator of 

1948 Synod


QhmpA&i, ol tUe (leliCfiaul Wanld 


Of Modernists 

Dr. Walter Maier says, "There are the unbelieving, 

unfaithful churches, in many communities with the bestlocated, 

the most attractive buildings, often the highestpaid 

preachers, but always marked by the most pro 

nounced failure in bringing 

men the blood-bought pledge 

of salvation. Modernists have so multiplied in our gener 

ation that they have been able to coax entire sectors of 

their denominations away from the Son of God. They 

have usurped control of mission boards, colleges and 

especially theological schools. They have torn down 

American leligious life and reduced their creed to a 

series of moral generalities, 

which have no word for the 

sin that sends souls to hell, no thought for the Savioui 

who died to grant us heaven. With all your hearts pray 

for a twentieth-century reformation to bring these 

Modernists on their knees in recognition of their Re 

deemer as the only Hope men have for this life and the 

next!" 

Dr. T. M. Slater Fights the Lodges 

The August issue of the Christian Cynosure is largely 

taken up with an article by Dr. T. M. Slater who, in re 

cent months has been waging 

a vigorous campaign 

against the lodges. His campaign has been conducted 

mainly by mail. He gives the testimony of many pastors, 

evangelists and laymen who have either been awakened 

or helped by the tracts which he has sent. You may 

receive a free copy of the Cynosure by merely sending 

for it. The address is, Christian Cynosure, 850 West 

Madison St., Chicago, 111. 

The Persecuting Atheist 

What we have said before needs repeating, that 

Atheists are as bitter persecutors as ecclesiastical bigots. 

This fact was clearly demonstrated by the Nazis and is 

now being re-emphasized by the actions of the Communis 

tic regime of Russia. Communism has become a religion 

or mania with the authorities of Russia and it is evident 

on every hand, even being demonstrated in the United 

States, that, not only are Christians being persecuted, 

but her citizens are virtual slaves. 

Such facts should awaken the citizens and leaders in 

the United States to see that this country is not pro 

gressing or moving in a safe course when it limits the 

Christian religion or rules it out of her schools, for the 

Christian religion has been the origin and safeguard of 

liberty in this land from the first until now. 

It should also lead our people to see that Christ, the 

head of the Christian religion, should be acknowledged 

as Lord of all and the Prince of Peace. 

Communism in China 

A missionary spokesman in Shanghai has reported that 

"Chinese Communist advances in Manchuria and North 

China have wiped out or hindered the work of at least 

11 major Protestant denominations." 

Warning 

Against Mixed Marriages 

The Methodist Church of Great Britian, 

at its annual 

conference in Bristol, wai ned its members against marry 

Roman Catholics. One of the reasons given for this 

ing 

warning 

was that Rome requires her members to raise 

children within the Catholic faith. The Catholic Church 

has constantly and dogmatically 

warned her members 

against marrying Protestants unless the latter first be 

come Catholics. Vigorous warnings on the Protestant 

side are long overdue. 

A Kingdom-centered Church 

The following facts which come to us through The 

Christian Century are well worth the earnest perusal of 

any and every congregation. 

"The First Presbyterian Church of Schenectady, of 

which Herbert S. Mekeel is pastor, has made a unique 

recoid in enlisting candidates for the ministry 

and mis 

sion field. During the past 10 years, 12 young men pro 

fessionally trained as engineers have abandoned their 

chosen fields to enter church vocations. Four of these 

young men are already on the mission field, a fifth is as 

sistant pastor of the home church, two have just finished 

seminary and four are students at Princeton Theological 

Seminary. This is only part of a larger program which 

has sent two nurses to the mission field and another into 

training for overseas service. In addition 24 students are 

in colleges, seminaries or interneships who are prepar 

ing for the service of the church. The secret of the 

achievement lies in the evangelistic zeal of the pastor, 

the historic interest of this church in missions, 

and a 

student committee composed of engineers who counsel 

with the young people and provide financial assistance 

if needed. The committee has spent over 810,000 on its 

work in 10 years. The church has assumed full financial 

support of most of the young people it has sent out." 

Laymen Need to be Aroused 

Dr. Hendrik Kraemer, Dutch layman, has an earnest 

conviction that laymen should take a more active place 

in the work of the church. His activity during the war 

brought him to jail, but he was the more determined to 

waken other laymen to their responsibility 

churches. 

of the Dutch 

"They were miserable bodies, those Dutch churches 

oh. so 

he said. "B-jt the people's only hope 

miserable!" 

lay in them. The nazis forbade meetings of more than 

20 persons, and that gave the laymen their chance. Lit 

tle groups of lay people sprang up 

everywhere. Now the 

church is no longer in such disrepute in Holland, because 

the church took its stand. It seid: 'You may fight for us 

or against us, but you may no longer be indifferent to 

us.' 

It still takes that position. And because my deepest 

purpose is the evangelization of the modern world, I am 

Co?itiin


Gutoettt Zventb 

This is written fiom Baddeck, Cape Breton Island. 

The island is really a group of islands, for the moun 

tainous highlands which cover much of it aie divided by 

arms at the ocean 

d' 

(Bras Or these waters are 

long 

called in Breton French) and one is always on or near 

salt water. The land was once much more elevated and, 

like the Hudson Fiver valley, has sunk, with the ocean 

flowing into or through the valleys. The people farm 

(potatoes, hay. cats, dairy cattle), lumber (most of the 

island is covered with woods), fish and minister to tour 

ists. The last are increasing, and U. S. cars are every 

where. Only the distance and the poor roads of northern 

Maine hinder a greater increase. Many of the young 

people of the Island migrate to the States.. Of one fam 

ily 

of six, three are in South Chicago and each year re 

turn to see their aged mother. This seems to be typical. 

In Baddeck are three churches, the United Church of 

Canada, the Knox (continuing) Presbyterian, and the 

Anglican. At Iona, a few miles away, is a Roman Cath 

olic Church which is referred to by the people as French, 

but the names viewed in the graveyard a: e such as Mc 

Neils, MacDonalds, etc.. many of them bom in Scotland. 

The radio programs do not advertise hard liquor, beer, 

and in the Maritime Provinces rarely tobacco, 

a welcome 

change from the U. S. programs. One sees no beer signs 

on the highways and no liquor-selling 

roadhouses. Liquor 

can be secured at provincial liquor stores, but these are 

very inconspicuous in this section. 

Canada's Cooperative Commonwealth Federation has 

just held its tenth (in Hi years) national convention in 

Winnipeg 

and adopted a program that is in step with 

that of the British Labor Party or slightly 

more radical. 

Like that party, the C. C. F. is socialist and not com 

munist. To some people there is no difference, but there 

is to the Russians; they rage at the Socialists as bitterly 

ss at the "rapacious capitalist Major James 

Caldwell is continued as the CCF's official leader. 

The Declaration of Independence of Israel has been 

published. There is said to have been hot debate over 

reference to God, but the 

"pro" 

side finally won and the 

English translation begins the last paragraph: "With 

trust in Almighty God, we set our hand to this Declar 

ation 

" 

Maclean's Magazine (Canadian) gives an interesting 

and objective account of the recent GOP convention and 

analyzes presidents and presidential candidates as of 

three types. (1.) The administrative type, who is not 

primarily an advocate of any particular 

"cause" 

but car 

ries on the usual functions of government effectively. 

(2.) The father type, who in times of distress, meets 

issues with remedies and cares for the national family. 

He is usually either loved or hated. F. D. R. with his fire 

side talks was of this type. (3.) The hero-social-revolt 

type has its obvious 

however, 

istrator. Mr. Dewey 

representative in Mr. Wallace, who, 

while in office showed capacity as an admin 

type. Mr. Truman is hard to place. 

is primarily of the administrator 

* >. 

~ * 

A cooperative health insurance program has been set 

up during 

the past 16 months in New York City, with the 

Prof. John Coleman, PhD.. D. 

bulk of the participants city 

employees. Those earning 

up to S5,000 a year pay 2'', with the city contributing 

an equal amount, and the total covers the employee and 

his family. There aie (toll physicians in 25 groups. Each 

group contains at least one specialist in each of twelve 

fields, in addition to general practitioners, and the pa 

tient may indicate his choice among the doctor^ of his 

assigned group. Annually he receives a free medical 

examination to check on "silent 

otherwise be neglected until ton late. ."iS.TOO 

ailments" 

that might 

persons are 

now covered (subscribers and their families) and the 

total is expected soon to double that figure. The ex 

periment will be closely 

watched as a practical test of 

semi-public health insurance in this country. (This is a 

summary 

of an article in the New York Times.) 

New interest is being taken in the joint development 

by Canada and the L'nited States of the Passamaqnoddy 

generation of electric power from the gigantic tides of 

the Bay of Fundy. There is no doubt as to its feasibility: 

the project was diopped primarily for political reasons. 

Now. with Mr. Dewey prospective president, there is 

less danger of another T. V. A., since he favors the St. 

Lawrence power plans with the government producing 

the power and selling it to private companies for retail 

distribution. Sen. Brewster (Rep.) of Maine now favors 

the Passamaquoddy so it is probable that the Maine Pow 

er Company wants it. All over our land and Canada there 

is shortage of powc, and with the recently discovered 

new methods of power transmission both the Passama 

quoddy and the St. Lawrence should be tapped post-haste. 


Continued froni page 146 

devoting my life to awakening and training laymen. It's 

their woild. They spend all their time in it. They alone 

know it. They have to learn how to convert medicine, 

indrstiy, law, journalism, agriculture and every other 

area of life to Christ. They have to develop a new evan 

gelism which relates work to the church so that every 

member is a full-time Christian." 

Japan "is 

Christian Uxrersity Asked for Japan 

al Christian University 

ripe" 

for the establishment of an internation 

tian ideals and democratic 

Saito, 

fare Ministry 

dedicated to "the highest Chris 

principles," 

according to Soichi 

chief director of the repatriation board in the Wel 

general secretary 

of the Japanese government, and national 

of the YMCA. 

Speaking before 75 church leaders and educators of the 

Federal Council ot Churches and the Forei-.n Missions 

Conference at New York, Saito said his country was "no 

longer Empire-minded." 

"It has denounced the army and navy and the leaders 

responsible for the 

longei called a 

rather of the Japanese 

war," 

he said. "It's constitution is n > 

constitution of the Japanese Empire, but 

nation." 

Saito. one of the first Japanese to visit t'e United 

States since the war, 

said the establishment of a Chris 

tian University in Japan was supported by 

government officials. 

leaders and 

He cautioned, however, that the institution should be 

"international and 

delay 

Christian." 

Even if there must be a 

to train Christian scholars before establishing the 

university, "it will be worth 

it." 

he said.


Chain Reaction 

The immeasurable power of atomic energy 

is due to chain reaction. An atom is split and 

each of the halves split another atom and these 

halves react in the same way and multiply their 

energy so rapidly that if the available material 

were at hand, the world itself might be dissolved 

with fervent heat. 

The Christian Church of apostolic days had 

such power that even the idol makers felt that 

the world might soon come to an end ; at least 

their world, and the political rulers trembled on 

their thrones. That power bears a certain ana 

logy to the chain reaction of the atomic fissure, 

and perhaps the weakness of the Church at the 

present time is due to its failure to react, and any 

action that we start soon comes to an end. 

In another column we are carrying the 

words, though not the display type, of an adver 

tisement that was put in the daily papers of To 

peka and Hutchinson as a protest against the 

open Sunday Fairs. Had every Christian reacted, 

our state might have been saying, "These men 

that have turned the world upside down are come 

also." 

hither Their action did cause a fissure ; that 

is, there was favorable reaction and unfavorable 

reaction. For instance, the Hutchinson paper, be 

fore the advertisement appeared, printed the fol 

lowing editorial : 

Church and State 

The Kansas Presbytery of the Reformed Presbyter 

ian Church of North America has purchased a half-page 

advertisement in the Topeka papers to state m the oold- 

est, blackest type available: 

By authority of the Inspired Word of God, 

We Publicly Protest All Secular and Commercial 

Desecration of God's Day, and Especially Against 

the Kansas Free Fair (Topeka) 

State Fair (Hutchinson) Being 

Christian Sabbath. 

and the Kansas 

Open on the 

The members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church 

are known informally 

as the "Covenanters" 

and are not 

to be confused with those popularly designated as either 

the "Presbyterians" 

or the "United Presbyterians." 

Their 

sincerity is not to be questioned. Neither is their right to 

hold the views they do, nor their right to do their ut 

most to make their views prevail. 

At the same time, however, the right of others to 

hold other points of view is equally valid. Consequently, 

since the program of the state's Fairs long has been es 

tablished, and since the public by its patronage and a 

score of other Protestant denominations by their silence, 

have approved this program, there is no reason the Fairs' 

managements should permit the particularized views of 

a small minority to prevail. 

Fair programs on the Sabbath do not obtrude on 

those who believe the doors to the grounds should be 

barred that day, 

and there is no occasion for those who 

disapprove to be even in the neighborhood of the Fair 

grounds. To attempt to use the pressure of publicity to 

make a highly specialized denominational tenet prevail, 

is to miss the point of the complete separation of church 

and state on which this nation is based. 

This editorial seems to have stirred further 

reaction in that the United Presbyterian Synod 

(or Presbytery, as it may have been), meeting in 

Arkansas City the following week, passed a reso 

lution heartily endorsing the advertisement and 

asked their delegate to the Kansas Council of Re 

ligious Education, to promote similar action in 

the committee of that organization which was 

meeting the following week. Dr. Kelsey, President 

Emeritus of Sterling College, came to Topeka and 

presented the matter to the committee, and a res 

olution was proposed (half-heartedly) that it 

should be endorsed although similar action in 

previous years had had no effect and another time 

would not hurt. Before the resolution had quite 

passed in this defeatist mood, Dr. Kelsey rose to 

say that there needed to be discussion, and the re 

sult was that the committee not only passed the 

resolution heartily but voted to have the churches 

which they all represented, take similar action, 

and thus the chain reaction takes its natural 

course. This is as it should be in the Christian 

Church, but how seldom a matter like this takes 

fire! Partly through indifference, partly through 

jealousy of one self-inter- 

another, partly through 

estedness in our own projects we fail to support 

the action of our fellow-Christians. 

Kansas Presbytery of our church will be 

greatly encouraged to know that the $400.00 that 

they are spending in these advertising protests, 

has not been spent in vain. May it stir us all to 

support one another in every good work, whether 

it be the cause of temperance, Sabbath observance, 

the Christian Amendment Movement, the work of 

missions ; let us provoke one another unto good 

works. If every good deed received its proper 

measure of applause, how thrilling life might be 

come ! Moral support is morale support. Let us 

get a little atomic energy into our Christian living. 

Recently 

an executive of a large commercial organ 

ization feted the managers of this organization's numer 

ous branches and alcoholic beverages were served quite 

freely, not because this executive exactly favored such 

practices, but out of a sense of necessity because of the 

"requirements" 

"social drinking" 

of polite society and the 

prevalence of 

Among those who did not touch liquor 

was a fine looking and capable manager who comes from 

a good Christian home and himself a consistent confess 

ing Christian. The day following the banquet, he was 

called into the executive's office and he wondered why. 

He soon found out. This executive had observed that 

this particular manager had not touched liquor at the 

table. Did he want to discharge him for thus openly hav 

ing offended his host by refusing to partake of the good 

(?) things to drink placed before him? No; he wanted 

to commend him for it and wanted him to take over a 

job as public relations official to promote sobriety among 

the company's employees. The Spotlight


A Sovereign God 

By T. C. McKnight, D. D. 

This is the first of a series of five devotional 

addresses given before the Synod of 1948. Others 

will follow. 

"Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, 

and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar 

treasure unto me above fli.7 people: for all the 

earth is mine: and ye sliall be mito me a kingdom 

nation." 

of pidests, and an holy 

with His people. 

2. The grounds on which the promise may be 

believed and trusted. 

3. The conditions attached to the promises. 

God's promises to Israel spoken of here are 

three-fold : 

1. Ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above 

all people. 

2. A Kingdom of Priests. 

3. And an holy nation. 

The world despises God's servants. It sets 

little store by them. It regards them as 

poor, weak creatures. 

1. But God sets a great value upon each indi 

vidual servant of His, and regards him as 

precious in His sight. 

2. Ye shall be unto me a Kingdom of Priests. 

This is a forerunner of that New Testament 

promise which says: "Blessed and holy is 

he that hath part in the first resurrection: 

on such the second death hath no power, but 

they shall be priests of God and of Christ, 

and shall reign with Him." 

3. And an Holy Nation. They are to be a holy 

nation because of and as the fruit of their 

redemption by His sovereign love. 

Several truths concerning God are revealed in 

this historic scene, but the one chosen for our con 

sideration is "The Sovereign God". 

The Scripture abounds in the revelation of the 

omnipotence, the righteousness and personal ur 

gency of God Himself. Not only here in these 

verses of our text but all through the Scripture 

"everything good for His people is assured by His 

power and purpose ; everything starts from His 

initiative." 

"God, at sundry times and in divers 

manners spake in times past unto the fathers by 

the prophets". 

To illustrate this, note these words of God Him 

self, which He declared by 

one of the greatest of 

His prophets: "I am the Lord thy God, the Holy 

One of Israel, thy Saviour; I gave Egypt for thy 

ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee". "Fear not 

for I am with thee : I will bring thy seed from the 

East, and gather thee from the West: I will say 

to the North, give up; and to the South, keep not 

back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters 

from the ends of the earth; even everyone that 

is called by my name; for I have created him for 

These are (represented to be) the words of 

God. God is the Speaker, in an age long gone by. 

He was speaking to His own people, the children 

of Israel. This people had been delivered from 

their Egyptian bondage and had come unto Sinai. 

Here they pitched their tents and Moses went my glory, I have formed him; yea I have made 

him". "I, even I, am the Lord; and beside me 

there is no 

up 

into the Mount unto God, and the Lord called unto 

him out of the mountain, saying: "Thus shalt 

thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the chil 

dren of Israel, ye have seen what I did unto the 

Egyptains, and how I bare you on eagle's wings 

myself." 

and brought you unto Then follows the 

words of our text, in which God speaks of three 

things especially worthy of consideration. 

1. The nature of the promises of His covenant 

Saviour." 

"I have declared, and have 

saved, and I have shewed, when there was no 

strange God among you; therefore ye are my 

witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God". "Yea, 

before the day was I am He; and there is none 

that can deliver out of my hand ; I will work and 

who will let it". "I am the Lord, and there is 

none else, there is no God beside me". (Isa. 45:5). 

"I form the light, rnd create darkness: I make 

peace and create evil : I, the Lord, do all these 

things". (Isa. 15:7). "I have made the earth, and 

created man upon it: I, even my hands, have 

stretched cut the heavens, and all their host have 

I commanded". (Isa. 45:12). "I am the Lord and 

there is none 

else" 

(Isa. 45:18). "I, the Lord, 

speak righteousness, I declare things that are 

right" 

(Isa. -15:19). 

All these passages and hundreds like them 

show, at a glance, what a part the first personal 

pronoun plays in the divine revelation. Beneath 

every religious truth is the unity of God. Behind 

every great movement is the personal initiative 

and urgency of God. Thus it is evident that rev 

elation, in its essence, is not so much the publica 

tion of truths about God as it is the personal pre 

sence and communication of God Himself to men. 

Here and commonly in Scripture, God urges His 

own self consciousness upon His people. "I did 

this that you have seen, unto the Egyptians." 

"I 

bare you on eagle's wings". "I brought you unto 

myself". The sovereign God of Moses, the God of 

the prophets, cannot be described by the "it" 

of 

skeptics and philosophers whose idea of God is 

that of "a tendency not ourselves that makes for 

righteousness". Matthew Arnold. 

When Moses and the prophets speak of God 

they always assume that He is a person and they 

call Him as they would one of themselves, by the 

personal pronoun. By the mouth of the prophets 

this OnQ whom thev alwavs refer to as "He", de 

clares Himself as "I". "I". "I", "no mere ten 

dency, but the ever living One the One great I 

am". And thi-s ever-living One is revealed as to 

lie the infinite Loving One with a living heart 

and urgent will, personal character and force of 

initiative. The heart of the Eternal is most won 

derfully kind. "I am 

He" 

Now it is strangly significant that the deity 

whom Moses and the prophets declare to he the 

one Sovereign God, was the deity of possibly the 

smallest and most insignificant people. Yet how 

freouently we hear Him speaking of Himself in 

such words as these: "I am Jehovan ; I, Jehovah,


am God; I, Jehovah, am He". And this mind you, 

comes cut of a world that contained Egypt, Baby 

lon with their large empires, Lydia with all her 

wealth, and the Medes with all their force. He 

was not the God of any of these, but of their poor 

bondsmen, who claimed the divine sovereignty for 

Himself. He claims Himself to be the omnipotent 

One. Moreover, He proves the claim, over Egypt, 

Mt. Carmel, Babylon. 

Sovereign in Forgiving Love 

But God who reveals Himself through Moses 

and the prophets to be the One omnipotent, righte 

ous and personal being, is also revealed to be a 

Sovereign in forgiving love. "The intellectual 

truth of a religion would go for little, had the 

religion nothing to say to man's moral sense". 

Lit ile, indeed, could be man's interest in the omni 

potence of God if He did not concern Himself 

with man's sin, if there were no redemption for 

his guilt. Even a Sovereign and omnipotent God 

can do nothing for sinful man until man's sins are 

put away. Here we approach the greatest of all 

mysteries. For the sins of His people, not their 

bondage in Egypt or their captivity in Babylon, 

are the Sovereign God's chief concern. 

The Scriptures reveal God to be sovereign in 

love. "Greater love hath no man than this, that 

a man lay down his life for his friends". The 

prophets and Apostles of the Bible do not hesitate 

to picture God's sovereign love for man as costing 

the sacrifice of His Son upon the Cross. It is one 

of the prophets who declares, saying : "They shall 

look upon him whom they have pierced". So God 

sets their sins where men must see the blackness 

of their guilt, in the face of His love. Thus, He 

who is omnipotent in power is also infinite and 

sovereign in love, "mighty to save to the utter 

most". 

How impossible to speak adequately of "the 

Sovereign God" 

! A great painter went out to 

paint the sunset. He prepared his brushes and 

canvass. But the sight was so gorgeous that he 

waited to examine it better. All about the skies 

and hills were rich shadows, resplendent colors, 

purple flames, golden lustres. The painter stood 

in silence and awe before the marvelous blending 

of colors that the Divine Artist had stretched out 

before his wondering soul. So he waited and 

waited, completely absorbed by the beauty of the 

heavens. Finally his friend and helper whom he 

had taken with him, said impatiently, "Are you 

not going to begin?" 

"By and by", 

said the artist. 

But he kept on waiting as if "paralyzed by the 

splendor, until the sun was set and dark shadows 

fell upon the mountains". Then he shut up his 

paint box and went home. If a man faint thus in 

the presence of God's lower works, how impos 

sible to speak adequately of Him whom no man 

hath seen nor can see? 

Yet it is well sometimes to recall the grandeur 

of God. But let us shun familiarities and senti- 

mentalisms, and live in wonder and reverence. 

Lesson Helps for the Week of September 26 


FOR SEPTEMBER 26 

FINDING A REAL PURPOSE 

IN LIFE 

(Used by permission of Christian 

Endeavor) 

Comments: 

By Ray Joseph. Hopkinton 

Scripture text: 

Matt. 22: 34-40; Phil. 3:13, 14 

Scripture references: 

John 17:24; Rev. 4:11; Romans 11: 

36; I Cor. 10:31; Ps. 73:24; Matt 

11:28-2!); Col. 3:17; Col. 3:23; 

I Pet. 4:11; Ps. 115:1; Heb. 13:21; 

II Pet. 33: IS; Joshua 1:8 

Psalms: 

Psalm 73:9-11, No. 197 

Psalm 40:1-4. No. 109 

Psalm 36:5-9, No. 97 

Psalm 25:1-4, No. 60 

COMMENTS 

Before reaching the place where, 

in our convictions, we have settled 

upon a purpose in life, 

we first con 

front the perplexing problem of our 

existence in creation. Popular ques 

tions today among young 

"Why 

am I here?" 

people are: 

"For what pur 

pose is this complicated world I live 

in?" 

The Bible-believing Christian 

has the answer: "The Lord has made 

the eaith and heavens for His honor 

and glory and I am here to glorify 

His 

name." 

This is a fact, despite the 

opinions of those who disagree.. And 

in order to glorify His name, we 

must know His will. This becomes 

the primary consideration in finding 

a purpose a real purpose that will 

stand up in the unstable conditions 

of our time. 

Henry Drummond in his "The Ideal 

Life" 

(pp. 229-238) states the case 

clearly: "One man will tell you that 

the end of life is to be true; another 

will tell you that it is to deny self; 

another will say it is to keep the Ten 

Commandments; 

a fourth will point 

you to the Beatitudes. One will tell 

you it is to do good, another that it 

is to get good, another that it is to 

he good. But the end of life is none 

of these things. It is more than all 

and it includes them all. The end of 

life is not to deny self, nor to be 

true, nor to keep the Ten Command 

ments (it is) simply to do God's 

will. It is not to get good, nor be 

good, nor even to do good (it is) 

just what God wills, whether that be 

working or waiting, or winning or 

losing, or suffering or . . 

recovering, 

or living or dying. .It is not to be 

happy or to be successful or famous, 

or to do the best we can and get on 

honestly in the world. It is something 

far higher than this, to do God's 

will .... Are we working out our 

common everyday life on the great 

lines of God's 

will?" 

Mr. Drummond goes on to say that 

the emphasis should be on the doing. 

We pray that God's will be done, not 

borne, endured, or put up with. 

George Muller was asked the se 

cret of his service. He replied: 

"There was a day when I died 

died to George Muller; his opinions, 

preferences, tastes, and will; died to 

the world, its approval or censure; 

died to the approval or blame even 

of my brethren or friends; 

and since 

then I have studied only to show 

myself approved unto God." 

The story has been told of John 

Wanamaker who, as a boy, earnestly 

asked the Lord for guidance in se 

lecting his life work. After much 

prayer he set down on a sheet of 

brown wrapping paper all the profes 

sions that interested him. One by one 

he crossed off journalist, architect, 

minister, and doctor until only 

"merchant" 

remained. With this de 

cision made he set new precedents 

in the world of the department store. 

Wanamaker and Muller are ex 

amples of men who followed God's 

will. Only when such an attitude as 

theirs prevails will we find the real 

purpose for our lives.


SUGGESTION'S FOR DISCUSSION 

1. What is success? 

2. Should the Christian refuse to 

consider wealth in his life plan ? 

3. Can every Christian know the 

will of God for his life? 

4. Name examples of men who 

have not found a real purpose in 

life. 

JUNIOR TOPIC 


A WARNING AGAINST 

SECRET SOCIETIES 


Some of my Juniors told me they 

had joined the children's division of 

a Secret Lodge. Do your Juniors 

meet this temptation and have you 

warned them against it ? Study any 

literature on the subject which your 

pastor has. 

Preparation: Get a large sheet of 

paper for yourself and smaller ones 

for the children. On each, draw a 

stop-light thus: Draw two parallel 

lines down the center. These are the 

post of the light. On top 

post, 

of this 

draw a hexagon with an oval 

on right and on left for the lights. 

Draw a line between these ovals from 

top to bottom corner of the hexagon. 

"Go!" 

Beside the left light, print in 

large letters and below that "to 

Church" 

"STOP!" 

a Secret Society" 

Beside the right light, print 

and below, "before you join 

At the bottom of 

the paper write out the Memory 

verse. It is Mt. 5:16. 

When the lesson begins, 

paste on 

oval cut from green paper on the 

"GO" 

light. Paste a red oval on the 

"Stop" 

light. Older Juniors may help 

the younger ones do this. Then talk 

of what a secret society or lodge is. 

Your Juniors may know something 

about them. Doubtless they have seen 

parades, etc. 

Now, to the left of the light post, 

write a reason why we "Go to 

Church" 

On the right side write the 

corresponding reason why we "Stop 

before we join a secret Society" 

Dis 

cuss these and look up verses. Then 

write a second reason, 

the children keep 

etc. Be sure 

with you in their 

writing. Promise your large poster 

as a prize for the neatest work. Have 

each child place his name in lower 

right-hand corner of his finished 

poster. The best posters may be 

placed on the Church Bulletin Board. 

If time is short, 

portant reasons. 

choose the most im 

.Materials needed in lesson: Pre 

pared posters, pencils, 

red and green 

ovals, paste. 

Reasons: (Print words that are in 

heavy 

John 18:20. Jesus gave His Gospel 

type on posters.) I, a Open 

openly for all. His followers must 

help spread it to all nations (Jn. 8: 

12; Mt. 5:14-16). I, bSeeretÎohn 3:19. Secret Societies do not follow 

Jesus' 

example. Behind guarded doors 

they carry on their heathen practices. 

II, aFor allMt. 28:19. The 

Church opens its door to all. II b 

For few. Secret Societies keep out 

cripples, women, poor men, old men, 

and idiots. These might need their 

help. 

Ill, a 

Freely helps allLk. 10: 

30-37. As far as possible, the Church 

gives to all who are in need. Ill b 

Helps few who pay. The Lodge takes 

in only those who are able to pay 

dues. When these dues are unpaid no 

help is given. This is not charity, for 

charity is free help for all. 

IV, aFreeRev. 22:17. God's 

gifts are free. IV, b Sold. The 

"gifts" 

of the Lodge are all sold. The 

great amount of time and money 

spent on lodges is worse than wasted. 

Lodge dues rob church and missions. 

Y. a Swear not Jas. 5:12. This 

is God's command. How does the 

lodge obey it ? V, b Bloody oaths. 

The lodgeman disobeys God. He 

swears to hide an unknown thing. 

Such a blind promise is always 

wrong. Herod did this (Mk. 6:21-28). 

Many 

of these lodge oaths threaten 

death to anyone who tells the secret. 

Seciet societies have been known to 

murder members who did tell. It is 

like the bloody 

in Acts 23:12, 13, 

oath of those men 

VI, a Honors Bible. The Church 

loves and obeys God's Word. VI, b 

Dishonors Bible Rev. 22:19.. The 

Bible is used in secret societies mere 

ly as a piece of furniture. It is sel 

dom read and then Christ's name is 

left out so Jewish and Mohammedan 

members will not be angry. 

VII, a Loves Jesus Rom. 8:38. 

39. The Church loves and honors God 

through Jesus. VII, b Hates Jesus. 

Seciet Societies hate Jesus. All ex 

cept one, blot His name out of 

their readings. Turn to I Pet. 2:5 and 

II Thess. 3:6, 12. Read these without 

Jesus name. That is the way they 

are read in the Lodge! We are told 

to pray in His name, Eph. 5:20. 

Lodges do not do this. The one lodge 

which says it is Christian is the 

Knights Templar. It is most un 

christian. Many 

of its members are 

wicked and its customs heathen. All 

lodges dishonor Jesus and so they 

dishonor God the Father, Jn. 5:23. 

Can a Christian join where his Lord 

is dishonored? 

VIII, a Jesus saves Acts 4:12. 

We are saved only through Jesus. 

VIII, b Lodge saves (?) This is the 

awful lie which the lodge teaches. 

Rejecting Jesus, it yet says that 

members who pay 

their dues and 

obey its commands, go to "the Grand 

Lodge 

above'' 

when they die. This is 

not what Jesus says. John 14:6. 

Psalms to be sung are 1; 2; 34:6-11, 

No. 87. Close with the memory verse 

and prayers that the Juniors may be 

kept from these secret works of the 

devil. 



EUNICE, LOIS, AND TIMOTHY, 

A RELIGIOUS FAMILY 

Acts 16:1-5; 2 Timothy 1:3-6; 

3:14, 15, together with numerous 

other passages. 

It was when Paul was a prisoner 

at Rome, and conscious that the end 

was near, that he wrote this second 

letter to Timothy, his young friend 

and disciple, who was then, as is 

supposed, stationed at Ephesus.. It is 

entirely personal in character, beg 

ging Timothy to come to him in his 

imprisonment, and urging him to 

continue stedfast in the faith, and 

giving him instructions as to his 

ministry. Long centui les have passed 

since this letter was composed. Con 

ditions of life have changed. New 

phases of truth have been discovered. 

Teaching has become a science. Mod 

ern methods have been adopted to 

meet the demands of a new day. And 

yet, in Paul's words of wisdom to 

Timothy we can trace the outlines 

of ways and means which are always 

essential to Christian growth and 

nurture. 

In the comments on the verses as 

signed for this lesson, the writer is 

taking the liberty of re-arranging 

them somewhat, in order to place 

them in a more correct chronological 

order. 

1. TIMOTHY THE CHILD. 2 Tim 

othy 1:33-6. 

These veises lemind us that re 

ligious education was begun among 

the Jews in early childhood. Tim 

othy's grandmother and his mother 

were true Israelites, and it was from 

them that he inherited the true 

faith. What faith in its New Testa 

ment sense means, Paul did not know 

until he had reached maturity, at 

the time of his conversion. Timothy 

when just a child had learned faith 

in the true Old Testament way, just 

as other men of faith had done. So


that his Old Testament faith be 

came New Testament faith when the 

gospel arrived at Lystra. 

The fact that Paul refers by name 

to Lois, the grandmother, and Eunice, 

the mother of Timothy, suggests that 

he knew both women well. In Acts 

16:1 only the mother is referred to 

along with Timothy, at which time 

both mother and son were already 

Christians. Who had been the means 

of converting them is not told, but 

the presumption is that they were 

Paul on his first 

led to believe by 

missionary journey. It is also pre 

sumed that Timothy's Greek father 

was dead, 

and that Timothy's grand 

mother was living with her daughter. 

These two believing Israelites reared 

young Timothy in the true faith of 

Israel, and Paul and Barnabas car 

ried on advance instruction until all 

three embraced the Christian faith. 

This part of the lesson presents 

a very 

beautiful picture, and one 

that has doubtless been reproduced 

in substance many a time since then. 

The writer recalls hearing a small 

boy repeating a portion of psalm and 

a catechism question in prayermeet 

ing, and with a very decided Irish 

brogue. The incident occasioned a 

little smiling on the part of the 

hearers, 

but there was no question 

about who the little lad's teacher 

had been, since he had a very Irish 

grandmother. So it was with a very 

real faith in their own hearts that 

these two lonely 

selves to bring up 

women set them 

this little father 

less boy in the nurture and ad 

monition of the Lord. How well they 

succeeded is made very plain. It was 

the unfeigned faith of the grand 

mother and mother that awakened 

in the son the same sincere faith. 

Parents cannot successfully feign 

faith before their children. Even 

while they are yet small they will 

learn whether it is real or only pre 

tended. Parents may 

succeed for a 

time in feigning- faith before friends 

and neighbors, 

own children. They 

but not before their 

must walk with 

an unfeigned faith, and with a per 

fect heart at home, if they have 

such eyes fixed on them as were set 

on both Grandmother Lois and 

Mother Eunice in that home at Lys 

tra. The father appears to have had 

no 

part in the son's training. Per 

haps he was dead; perhaps an un 

believer. But however that may be, 

the two women were the boy's in- 

structoi s. Is it not generally true 

that to the mothers falls the duty 

in great measure of teaching the 

children to fear God and keep His 

commandments? Not that they are 

any more responsible than are the 

fathers, but by the very nature of 

things the greater influence in shap 

ing 

the lives of children is that ex 

ercised by 

our mothers. 

II. TIMOTHY PAUL'S CO-WORK 

ER. Acts 16:1-3. 

We here learn that Timothy's 

mother was married to a Gentile, a 

Greek. That is all that is said about 

him in addition to his being Tim 

othy's father. That one brief state 

ment, "But he was a Greek" 

would 

rather favor the idea that he was 

not a believer. In any 

no part in the training of 

Timothy. 

case he had 

young- 

Paul evidently saw in this young 

man the promise of an earnest and 

efficient laborer, 

since he had Tim 

othy accompany him on this second 

missionary 

tour which he and Silas 

were then making. Luke states that 

Timothy 

submitted to the rite of cir 

cumcision, not because it was es 

sential, nor to any 

degree important 

so far as Timothy himself was con 

cerned, but because of the common 

knowledge among 

the Jews that his 

father was a Greek. It was in no 

sense a case of forcing circumcision 

on Timothy, as if it were necessary 

to salvation; it was simply 

a ques 

tion of what was deemed important 

under the circumstances in which 

both Paul and himself were to seek 

to gain a hearing for the gospel on 

the lines of Paul's purpose to further 

the gospel's cause. 

Space forbids trying to follow 

these two men during the years fol 

lowing this union. A concordance 

would do much for the student in 

keeping track of Timothy during the 

course of the years to practically 

the end of Paul's earthly career and 

the years following, of which we 

have no record. Just to sum up this 

part of our lesson we may say that 

Timothy possessed four great as 

sets as a Christian worker: he had 

been reared in a religious home; he 

was well versed in the Scriptures; he 

was well thought of by 

tians; 

other Chris 

and he was most fortunate in 

beine, chosen by 

Paul rs his compan 

ion in Christian service. We are not 

to think of him as having been Paul's 

successor. He did not inherit Paul's 

mantle. No one can take the place of 

a uniquely '..Teat man. Whatever 

Paul had in mind for Timothy, it 

would seem that he never became one 

of the great early church leaders. 

That he was a faithful and con 

scientious worker, and a true and de 

voted friend, carrying 

out to the best 

of his ability whatever task was as 

signed him, cannot be doubted. But 

so far as can be learned of him, his 

abilities were somewhat limited. He 

was just as many sincere and de 

voted ministers and other Christian 

workers of our own time, who are 

content to serve their Lord in what 

ever field, 

and in whatever fashion 

He may require of them. 

Paul's closing words to Timothy 

before bidding him a final farewell 

make very clear that after all, the 

great burden on his heart was the 

dissemination of gospel truth. To the 

Corinthian Christians he had written 

years before, "I am determined not 

to know anything among you, save 

Jesus Christ, and him 

crucified." 

That had been his great purpose dur 

ing the years of his ministry, and 

then at the end of his life he still 

urges that same purpose as the dom 

inating force in the life of young 

Timothy. Just before his farewell 

words he stresses the supreme duty 

of studying and preaching the Word. 

The closing verses of chapter three 

and the first two verses of chapter 

four are his final words along that 

line. It is all very well, 

and to his 

advantage, for a minister to know 

something of literature, science, art, 

law, economics, but he must continue 

in the things of the Word, for the 

Word of God is the sword of the 

Spirit, the only weapon that ever 

has been, or that ever can be, used 

effectively and victoriously in the 

war with the powers of evil. 



OUR MISSIONARIES AND WORK 

Psalms: 

IN SOUTH CHINA 

Isaiah 49:1-13 

Psalm 67:1-3, No. 177 

Psalm 22: 12-14, No. 53 

Psalm 96:1-3, 9, 10, No. 259 

Psalm 143:4, 7, No. 396 

Comments: 

By the Rev. J. Paul Wilson 

Our mission work in South China 

began in 1897 at Tak Hing, after 

our missionaries, the Rev. A. I. Robb 

and the Rev. I. T. E. McBurney had 

completed two years of language 

study in preparation for their work. 

The Do Sing station was occupied in 

1909 and the field at Lo Ting was 

taken over from the Christian and 

Missionary Alliance in 1914. From 

the first, the work in these fields has 

been primarily evangelistic; 

but 

medical work began in Tak Hing in 

1901 with the arrival of Dr. Maude 

George. A school for Girls was


opened in 1905, a training school for 

native workers in 1906 and a Boys 

School in 1907. In Lo Ting 

a hos 

pital and medical work have been a 

regular part of our activity from the 

beginning 

and a prosperous Girls 

School had a regular place in our 

program in the early years. 

During the intervening years there 

have been a number of changes both 

in the workers and in the work, and 

there have been interruptions in the 

work from time to time. The Boxer 

Uprising in 1900 drove our workers 

home. There was some disturbance 

of the work in 1911 at the time of 

the overthrow of the Manchu Dy 

nasty and the establishment of the 

Chinese Republic. Only slight incon 

veniences disturbed the work during 

the first World War but the inter 

ruptions of the recent War with 

Japan and the World War II are 

fresh in our memories. 

ing 

During- the years from the found 

of our mission in China the 

evangelistic work has continued, as 

has the medical work. But the edu 

cational work was discontinued some 

years ago when the Chinese govern 

ment was taking 

over more and 

more of the educational work and 

placing regulations on all such ac 

tivity. Our mission was led to feel 

that its effort along this line was 

no longer needed. 

However, the more recent develop 

ments are of greater interest to us 

now, and should form the basis for 

our prayers both in this meeting and 

in our daily petitions on behalf of 

the Mission work of the Church. 

In the providence of God, we were 

led into the Orphanage work at the 

conclusion of this recent war. The 

many children without living parents 

and others who had been forsaken 

by 

poor and transient parents con 

stituted one of the major problems 

of China during the last years of the 

War. This proved to be a major call 

to service on the part of the Chris 

tian Church in the reconstruction 

period now going on in China. Oui 

mission has gathered in orphans at 

Tak Hing and at Lo Ting 

and there 

are about 170 who are growing up in 

Christian surroundings in the Or 

phanages that have been started in 

buildings which previously had been 

used as school buildings when we 

were engaged in educational work. 

These children, from the ages of 

being- 

14 and 15 down to 5 and 6, are 

cared for and trained in Christian 

knowledgge and in useful trades. 

Annual gifts of S100 support these 

individual orphans. 

In addition to this new work, the 

need for carrying on business trans 

actions in Canton, as well as the 

migration of some of our former 

members in the original fields to 

Canton during and since the war, has 

led the South China Presbytery to 

open two new fields of labor, one in 

Canton and the other in Hok Shaan 

a few miles southeast of Canton. 

The opening of these two new fields 

has been a stimulus to the Mission 

and is a stimulus to the home church 

as well. Great is the responsibility 

of the Church to pray for the orphans 

and those who are caring for them 

in our Orphanages in China, and for 

the work in the older fields and in 

the newer fields at Canton and Hok 

Shaan. 

We should have before us in this 

meeting 

all of our China mission 

aries. At Lo Ting aie Miss Jean Barr 

and Miss Jennie M. Dean, working 

with a Chinese doctor and Chinese 

nurses in the hospital and orphanage 

work. 

At Tak Hing 

are Dr. Ida M. Scott 

and Miss Ella Margaret Stewart also 

working with a Chinese doctor and 

Chinese nurses. Miss Adams works 

out from Lo Ting in village visitation 

work. Hers is a lonely and difficult 

labor. We should not fail to remem 

ber her with special petitions for 

grace to sustain her in her labor of 

love. 

Dr. and Mrs. Julius A. Kempf are 

presumably en route to the home 

land at the time of the preparation 

of these comments. 

We should be greatly encouraged 

by the departure to China, about 

the middle of September, of a large 

party of workers. This party is led 

by the veteran missionary Dr. Jesse 

C. Mitchel and his wife. The party 

includes the Rev. and Mrs. Robert 

A. Henning and their baby boy, Miss 

Orlena Lynn and Miss Alice Edgar. 

Miss Rose Huston, 

working 

who has been 

in the Kentucky mission 

until recently, has been reappointed 

to work in our South China field, and 

may be accompanying this party. 

Miss Huston is a veteran missionary 

too. She has previously served in 

our foreign fields in Syria and in 

China, and when the work was 

opened in Manchuria she was en 

gaged in work there until the Jap 

anese activities in that land required 

her to flee at the outbreak of war 

with the United States in 1941. The 

new missionaries mentioned above, 

namely, Rev. and Mrs. Henning, Miss 

Lynn and Miss Edgar will be in 

language school until they gain abil 

ity to speak sufficiently to carry on 

their work. 

Rev. and Mrs. Samuel E. Boyle and 

family 

are located in Canton and Mr. 

Boyle is occupied in evangelistic 

work with Rev. Peter Soong. Mr. 

Boyle also is charged with responsi 

bilities in pastoral and evangelistic 

work in the other fields. These work 

ers and their work should also be 

remembered in our prayers. 

The Synod, in adopting the report 

of the Foreign Mission Board for 

this year, issued a call for a physi 

cian, qualified in surgery, for life 

service in China. This should form 

the burden of prayer to the Lord of 

the harvest until he sees fit to send 

forth the one of His choosing into 

the harvest in this work. 

Suggestions for Prayer 

1. That Dr. and Mrs. Kempf may 

have a safe passage to the home 

land, and that the party enroute to 

China may be kept safe in the hand 

of the Lord who neither slumbers 

nor sleeps. 

2. For the orphans whom the Lord 

has placed in our hand to raise for 

Him, and for those who care for and 

train them. 

3. For the labor of love that has 

continued for many 

years in the old 

established fields and for the new 

work opened in Canton and Hok 

Shaan. 

4. Pray for a doctor to answer the 

call that has been repeated for the 

third year by 

the Synod. 

KANSAS PRESBYTERY PROTEST 

SABBATH DESECRATION 

The following half page newspaper 

advertisement was run in the Topeka 

and Hutchinson papers paid for by 

the Covenanters of Kansas. 

"Remember the Sabbath Day to 

Keep It Holy" Exodus 20:8 

We are gieatly concerned today 

about Human Rights and Freedom, 

but Human Rights and Freedom are 

never long secure when the Rights 

Of God are forgotten! 

The Sabbath (the Lord's Day) Be 

longs to the Lord, Who ordained it 

for man's spiritual rest, worship and 

service. 

We are losing the blessings of the 

Lord's Day by 

our careless observance 

and willful desecration of this holy 

day. 

By authority of the inspired Word 

of God, we publicly protest against all 

secular and commercial desecration 

of God's Day, and especially against 

the Kansas Free Fair (Topeka) and 

the Kansas State Fair (Hutchinson) 

(Continued on page 157)


Lesson Helps for the Week of October 3 


FOR OCTOBER 3, 1948 

GALATIANS: TWO RELIGIONS 

CONTRASTED 

Gal. 1:1-12; 3:10-14; 4:21-26 

Psalms: 

By the Rev. J. G. Vos 

Clay Center, Kansas 

Psalm 32:1-6, No. 78 

Psalm 51:5-7, No. 144 

Psalm 89:13-17, No. 240 

Paul's letter to the Galatians is 

gospel. Paul had preached the true 

Gospel of salvation by Jesus Christ 

crucified, 33:1. Later, in Paul's ab- 

sense, false religious teachers had 

troubled the Galatians, seeking to 

win them over to a different kind of 

religion, to "pervert the gospel of 

Christ", 1:7. These false teaiahers, 

called "Judaizers,'' 

regarded Chris 

tianity as merely a new sect of the 

Jewish religion. They accepted Jesus 

as the Messiah, but at the same 

time they held that we are not saved 

solely by What Jesus Christ has 

done for us; we must add our own 

good works as part of the ground of 

our salvation. According to their 

idea, we are saved by faith plus 

works; partly by Christ, and partly 

by our own obedience to God's laws. 

There is a popular modern idea 

that Paul wrote this epistle to stress 

the importance of 

"spiritual" 

ligion rather than "ceremonial" 

re 

re 

ligion. This view holds that the 

message of the book is that faith, 

love, etc., 

are more important than 

compliance with ceremonial rites and 

rules. Such is not the real message 

of this epistle. It was written to 

show that our own works constitute 

no part whatever of the ground of 

our salvation. We are saved, simply 

and wholly, by the grace of God 

through Jesus Christ. Any genuine 

good works that we may do come 

afterwards as the fruit and evidence 

of our salvation; they do not form 

any 

part of the ground or cause of 

our salvation; they do not add any 

thing 

Christ". 

to "the finished work of 

Paul tells us that he did not aim 

at pleasing people; his aim was to 

please God as "the servant of 

Christ," 

1:10. He adds that his Gos 

pel was not a popular, man-pleas 

ing message; it did not fit in with 

human ideas; it did not have a hu 

man origin; he did not learn it from 

other men, but received it "by the 

revelation of Jesus Christ," 

1:11,12. 

As this is the only true Gospel, all 

others are counterfeits, and whoever 

preaches a counterfeit gospel, even 

if it is an angel from heaven, is to 

be "accursed," 

1:8,9. 

The false gospel that Paul argues 

against is called "Legalism," 

vation by 

or sal 

our own works. Some 

people believe in being 

saved en 

tirely by their own works; many 

more, like the Judaizers, teach that 

we are saved partly by Jesus Christ 

and partly by our own good works. 

It amounts to the same thing; if 

we are saved partly by our own 

works, then Christ does not com 

pletely save us, and in the end our 

salvation depends not on what 

Christ has done but on what we do 

ourselves. In that case, Christ's sal 

vation is like a bridge that reaches 

only part way across a chasm; we 

still have to jump across the remain 

ing gap by 

our own strength. 

Such leligious legalism is extreme 

ly common and popular today. It 

lurks in practically every issue of 

the "Reader's Digest"; it is appeal- 

ingly suggested in the "movies"; it 

is woven into many a radio script; 

it appears in the columns of the daily 

newspaper. "Be good and you will 

go to heaven" 

is its slogan. Essen 

tially, it amounts to each person 

saving himself by living a good life. 

It is extremely popular because it 

flatters a person's natural powers 

and makes him feel that after all 

he is not a lost, guilty, helpless sin 

ner under the wrath and curse of 

God; it makes him feel that he is 

not so bad after all, that he really 

can do something to help save him 

self from sin. 

This legalistic brand of religion 

always avoids or by-passes the sub 

stitutionary atonement of Jesus 

Christ as the only hope of salvation 

for sinners. It may talk much about 

"the 

cross" 

but it always explains 

away "the offense of the 

cross" 

(Gal. 5:11), that is, the doctrine that 

Christ suffered on the cross as our 

Substitute and that He paid the full 

legal penalty for our sins so that we 

could be forgiven and saved. Here 

are some of the names by which this 

legalistic counterfeit gospel is be 

ing disguised and offered to people 

at the present day: "Making Christ 

Master in the life" 

(Christianity re 

garded as a matter of our serving 

Christ rather than a matter of re 

ceiving Him as our Redeemer); 

"Following the Master's Example"; 

"Imitating Christ's Ideals"; "Prac 

ticing Christ's Principles" 

(all of 

these place the emphasis on some 

thing that we are to do, 

not on some 

thing that Christ has done for us); 

"The Jesus Way of Life"; "The 

Christian Way 

of Life" 

(Christianity 

regarded as a matter of copying a 

certain type or pattern of living) ; 

"The Golden Rule Religion" 

(Chris 

tianity regarded as a matter of do 

ing good to other people); "Salva 

tion by Character" 

(Christianity re 

garded as a matter of our saving 

ourselves by our own good charac 

ter); "Character Building" 

(Chris 

tianity regarded as a matter of re 

ligious and moral self-culture, apart 

from the new birth and the work of 

the Holy Spirit in the heart). All 

these modern forms of legalism are 

essentially the same as what Paul 

wrote against in the epistle to the 

Galatians. They 

all amount to an at 

tempt to save ourselves by being 

good and doing good. They all really 

imply that Christ died in vain (Gal. 

2:21; and they make the cross of 

Christ of none effect, Gal. 5:4, I Cor. 

1:17; that is, they all imply 

that we 

are not saved by Christ's death on 

the cross. 

Over against this legalistic type 

of religion, Paul presents the true 

Gospel of the grace of God through 

Christ. Christ has redeemed us from 

the curse of the law by His death on 

the cross, 3:13. Nobody can ever be 

justified by obedience to the law, 

but only by faith in Jesus Christ, 

2:16. We have no ground of glory 

nothingto 

be proud of or boast 

ing, 

about, except the cross of Jesus 

Christ, 6:14. Our salvation is no 

credit to ourselves, for we did not 

achieve or accomplish it; we only re 

ceived it as a free gift from God, 

1:3, 4; 3:26. 

Topics for Discussion 

1. Do most people think that "Be 

good and you'll go to heaven" 

gospel ? 

is the 

2. Why is Legalism a popular 

type of religion ? 

3. What does Legalism imply con 

cerning Christ's atonement? 

4. How can we avoid falling into a 

legalistic type of religion ? 

"I am only one, but I am one 

I cannot do everything, but I can 

do something. 

What I can do, I ought to do, 

What I ought to do, 

By the Grace of God, I WILL DO."


JUNOR TOPIC 


By Mary Elisabeth Coleman 

THE HUNDRETH PSALM 

During the month of October we 

will study five psalms, one each 

Sabbath, and learn to sing parts of 

each without having to look at Psalm 

books. Some of you may be learning 

to sing alto. If so, ask some grown 

up in your congregation to meet 

with the Junior group during the 

month of October and help 

you learn 

to sing the parts. Some time in each 

meeting should be spent in memoriz 

ing words and tune. It is particularly 

important that we understand the 

words and always think about their 

meaning as we sing. 

The psalm for today's study is an 

international psalm, because it calls 

every 

person in the world to wor 

ship God. "All people that on earth 

do dwell" 

means all Chinese, all Jap 

anese, all Italians, all French, all 

Mexicans you can name more. The 

Hundredth Psalm should be the song 

of the United Nations and God has 

promised that some day it will be. 

Read His promises in Isaiah 11:9 

and Habakkuk 2:14. 

Read the first verse of the 100th 

psalm in the Psalm book under tune 

number 264. Let someone in the 

group tell in his own words what the 

first two lines mean. Do the rest of 

the group agree? WTiat does "His 

praise forth tell" 

mean in the third 

line? How would we say it? Read 

the veise together slowly, then see 

how much of it you can sing from 

memory. 

Read the second verse. Tell each 

line in your own words. What hap 

pens to sheep if no one takes care 

of them ? Read and sing the second 

verse as you did the first. 

The third verse tells us and all 

the peoples of the earth to do some 

thing and the fourth verse gives a 

reason. God never tells us to do 

something without a reason, though 

we cannot always understand the 

reason. 

What are God's courts ? Did you 

enter into God's courts today? How 

did you proclaim thanks ? When you 

are really grateful to someone who 

has done a great deal for you, do 

you let someone else say "thank 

you" 

or do you do it yourself? 

We saw in the first verse that this 

song is for all people. The last 

verse shows it is for all times. What 

words tell this? Read the third verse 

together. Hum the tune and see if 

you can remember the words. Study 

the fourth verse the same way. 

Now copy 

the psalm in your note 

books. See how much you can write 

without looking in the Psalter. Those 

who finish first may look up these 

verses about praising God: Psalm 

7:17, Ps. 34:1, Ps. 45:17, Ps. 67, Ps. 

109:30, Ps. 111:10, Ps. 117, Ps. 149: 

1, Jer. 33:9, Rev. 19:5, 6. Others may 

draw illustrations of the psalm. 

Someone try to say "thank 

you" 

in a tired, weary voice. Someone else 

say it in a tiny 

voice. Several people 

show how to make the words sound 

as if you mean them. When we sing 

we want to sound as if we mean 

what the words say. Now sing the 

psalm all the way through, showing 

by words and voices that we are 

praising God. 

Other psalms of praise to be sung 

in this way are: 

Psalm 67, No. 177 

Psalm 98:4-7, No. 261 or No. 262 

Psalm 138:3, 4, No. 377 

Psalm 148, No. 400 



LESSON I. A LIBRARY OF 

RELIGIOUS LITERATURE 

Ps. 119:97-105; John 20:30, 31; 

II Tim. 3:16,17 

Golden Text: 

"The word of our God shall 

stand for 

Comments: 

ever." 

Isaiah 40:8. 

By the Rev. C. E. Caskey 

The Editor has just written that 

Dr. McFailand, due to circumstances 

beyond his control, has had to give 

up, with regret, the writing of the 

comments on the Sabbath School Les 

sons. We all regret that Dr. McFar 

land has taken this step, and we 

thank God that it is not because of 

his health but for other reasons that 

he has done it. Someone was telling 

me he was "thinking of writing to 

Dr. McFarland to tell him how much 

he appreciated his 

how many 

ing" 

work." 

I wonder 

more have been "think 

of this. A postal card even 

would add wonderful value to a good 

thought. The Editor asked if I would 

take up the work, "for Dr. McFar 

land, for him, for the church, and for 

the Master." 

Putting it in that light, 

the answer is "Yes" 

A glance at the titles of the In 

ternational Uniform Lessons for the 

last Quarter of 1948 reveals the 

liberal tendencies of the times. We 

are to have more lessons in which it 

would seem that the emphasis is ex 

pected to be placed on the subjects 

rather than on the printed Bible 

verses. And the suggested verses 

still follow the method which our 

Chaii man of Evangelism aptly termed 

the "hop, skip, and 

gyp" 

method, 

with a verse here, a verse there, and 

the rest as far away as possible. 

However we should continue to stick 

close to the Word of God in our class 

discussions. Let us talk of literature, 

biography, law, history, poetry, 

prophecy, parables, letters, etc., as 

suggested, but let us put the empha 

sis on the Bible verses. It is much 

better to overlook the subject that 

was suggested because of our in 

terest in the Scripture, than to 

forget the Scripture in our in 

terest in the subject. The subjects 

are general and comfortably im 

personal, while the Bible verses get 

right down where we live. 

Moore's Pocket Commentary, 

"Points for Emphasis," 

suggests that 

the first pasage in today's lesson is 

from the Longest Psalm, the second 

from the Latest Gospel, and the third 

from the Last Leter of Paul. It sug 

gests the outline: Law for Living, 

Psalm 119; Grace in the Gospel, John 

20; and Edification in the Epistles, 

II Tim. 33. 

The Bible may rightly be called a 

"Library" 

for several reasons. A 

library is made up of more books 

than one, and the Bible, although it 

is one book because of its wonderful 

unityr, is really 

sixty-six books. It 

was not written at one time, but over 

a period of about 1600 years. It was 

not written by one man, but by more 

than thirty different authors. It was 

not written at one place, but in dif 

ferent localities. A library treats dif 

ferent subjects, and in the same way 

the Bible has books of law, history, 

prophecy, poetry, biography, and let 

ters. So it may properly be thought 

of as a library, and as a library of 

religious literature. 

The first verse of the lesson sug 

gests the right attitude toward this 

library: "O how love I thy law." 

We 

have some books no doubt that we do 

not care for, 

and maybe we have a 

few that we may rightly say we 

love. There is a difference in our 

treatment of them. Some we could 

leave behind us and never miss if we 

moved, while others we would carry 

in our hands rather than part with 

them. They 

are the ones we love. 

Some we scarcely ever open, but not 

the ones we love. Some we handle 

carelessly, but not the ones we love. 

What is our treatment of, and our 

attitude toward the Bible ? Do they 

show that we really love it ? 

I. LEARNING FROM THE LI 

BRARY OF RELIGIOUS LITER 

ATURE. Psalm 119:97-105. 

If you have ever had close contact

15(1 THE COVENANTER WITNESS September 8, 1948 

with people who have not had much, 

if any, college education, 

or perhaps 

not even a High School education, 

but they know the Lord and they 

love the Bible and really 

meditate on 

it and study it, you have noticed that 

they would readily 

pass for persons 

who had had much more education 

than they have had. 

"I have more understanding than 

all my teachers: for thy testimonies 

are my 

meditation." 

If it were not 

for the last half of that verse it 

would be a bad thing to say, for the 

minute we think we know more than 

our teachers we close the door to 

learning from those teachers as far 

as we are concerned. But if it is be 

cause we know and believe the Bible 

that we know more than our teachers 

that is not so bad. So many teachers 

are so full of the Evolutionary 

philosophy of development from the 

lower to the higher forms of life, 

culture, etc., that they teach that 

everything must fit that philosophy. 

Simple forms evolve into complex 

ones, according to their philosophy, 

so from the very kindergarten today 

we find an attempt to fit everything 

into an Evolutionary mold. No won 

der the movement for Christian Day 

Schools is spreading. Christian stu 

dent, do not be afraid to question 

the knowledge of your teachers, in 

your own mind at least, and cour 

teously but firmly hold to the re 

vealed truth of God's word. 

II. FAITH AND LIFE THROUGH 

THE LIBRARY OF RELIGIOUS 

LITERATURE. John 20:30, 31. 

"These are written that ye might 

believe." 

From our love of the Bible, 

and from our meditation on it we 

learn to believe. The Gospels were 

written, and especially the Gospel of 

John, that we might believe that 

Jesus is the Christ. Have you 

watched young people follow faith 

fully the habit of daily Bible read 

ing? If you have, their progress in 

faith has doubtless been very evi 

dent. Faithful reading 

makes for 

growth in faith and in all the Chris 

tian graces. 

" 

. . . . and that believing ye might 

name." 

have life through his Read 

ing our Library 

of Religious Liter 

ature, the Bible, and especially the 

Gospels, leads to faith in Jesus 

Christ, and He gives us life. So our 

library is unique in that it is life 

giving. The life it gives is spiritual, 

and it lasts for eternity. 

III. PROPER BEHAVIOUR 

THROUGH THE LIBRARY OF RE 

LIGIOUS LITERATURE. II Tim 

othy 3:16. 17. 

Just before a wedding, and es 

pecially a church wedding, there is 

much study of Emily Post and other 

authoi-ities, so that everything goes 

off according to custom and in a be 

coming manner. Bride, groom, at 

tendants, ushers, parents, the min 

ister, and even the guests, want to 

know just what their part is so they 

can do it smoothly. Daily Christian 

living is more important, and our 

library has not left out the books 

that tell us about it. The Epistles 

are books that were written to be 

lievers, and they deal with the daily 

problems of believers. So they are 

useful in telling 

us what to believe, 

what is wrong that needs correction, 

and how to correct it, and what we 

ought to know so that we can play 

our part smoothly and perfectly in 

living the Christian life. 



LESSONS FROM GOD'S PAST 

DEALINGS WITH THE NATIONS 

Scripture: 

I Sam. 12:1-25 

Psalms: 

Psalm 97:1, S-10, No. 260 

Psalm 76:1-3, 5, No. 202 

Psalm 78:1-6. No. 205 

Psalm 66:8, 12-14, No. 174 

Comments: 


In the previous chapter Samuel 

had gathered the people together at 

Gilgal; Saul was recognized as the 

new king. Samuel was making the 

most of the events that had hap 

pened, and in this chapter he is seek 

ing that they might learn the lessons 

from the past which God would have 

them see. Samuel is speaking to the 

people. He is interested in the fu 

ture of the nation. He is hoping to 

give them every incentive to do the 

will of the Lord. 

That they 

might know that he is 

not doing it for any selfish reason, 

he asks that they examine his past 

life (vs. 1-3). He has lived among 

them all his life; his life is an open 

book; they have read it; he asks 

them for any fault that they have 

found. They reply in vs. 4 that they 

can not find anything wrong in his 

life; he has been honest in all his 

dealings with them. With such a life 

back of him he can proceed to show 

that certain things have happened 

that should guide them in the future. 

What be has to say will not be taken 

as selfish or as political as it would 

be in election years in the United 

States (and often rightly so). But 

the election was past in Israel; Sam 

uel had not stood in the way. That 

was another point in his favor. 

With a leader before them in whom 

they confide, they 

now turn their 

eyes to the past. Samuel points them 

to times when God advanced leaders 

for them. Moses and Aaron are men 

tioned. They 

were brought forward 

by the Lord in answer to the cries 

of the children of Israel while they 

were in bondage. At later times when 

they 

again forgot the Lord and were 

in captivity or suffering from the 

nations about them, God was waiting 

for their cries, for them to repent 

and turn to Him. Each time He heard 

and delivered them by bringing for 

ward a leader. Each time after they 

had been delivered, the events faded 

into the past, and they strayed away 

again to the false shepherds of their 

neighbors. It had been a continued 

story; the chapters had been the 

same story repeated with a different 

generation, and different people took 

the leading parts. 

Samuel was hoping that those 

people would see the point and 

understand and then act accordingly. 

That same continued story is being 

published still. The lessons are as 

applicable in our time. One is, when 

ever the people forsook God they had 

been brought into trouble; another 

whenever they repented and cried to 

God He delivered them out of their 

trouble. Yet man never applies it to 

his own day 

and generation. For in 

stance, Nahash, the Ammonite, had 

been troubling- them on their borders; 

instead of looking to God, the people 

of that day had wished for a king 

like Nahash. God had shown forbear 

ance. He had allowed them their 

desires. The new king saved them 

from Nahash. Samuel desires to show 

them how weak they 

are with their 

king. It is harvest time; they need 

dry weather. Samuel looks to the 

Lord, and He sends rain and a storm. 

There stand the people; they look to 

their king, head and shoulders above 

them. He is helpless and can do 

nothing to stop 

one little drop of 

rain from falling. He can do nothing 

to stop the storm. Also all about him 

are the strong men of the nation; 

they still have their weapons from 

the battle, but they too stand help 

less. It dawns on them how futile it 

is to rely on themselves or on their 

new king. They 

see their need. They 

ask that Samuel intercede for them. 

Samuel replies that in spite of their 

wickedness of the past, God will for 

give them, if they will "turn not 

aside from following the Lord, but 

serve the Lord with all your 

heart." 

Later we hear those words: "More-


over as for me, God forbid that I 

should sin against the Lord in ceas 

ing to pray for you; but I will teach 

you the good and the right 

way." 

Samuel could not exercise active 

leadership, but he would not forget 

them in his prayers. lie would con 

tinue to teach them the Lord's way 

for the nation. 

Our nation needs leaders with 

blameless characters, but it also 

needs people who will not sin in for 

getting 

to pray. It needs people who 

will teach the good and the right 

way. Our Covenanter church has a 

message from God to the nation; it 

is a part of His Word; 

the future of 

the nation depends much on whether 

that message is faithfully given. 

Much depends on those who will be 

intercessors in prayer. Surely in the 

past of our nation's life the child of 

God can see the hand of God; do 

Christian people have a past at 

which others may look and know that 

they are not speaking selfishly or 

for political reasons? Covenanters, 

here is a challenge for us. Get right 

with God; raise up 

a generation of 

Samuels; pray for our nation; and 

later generations will thank God for 

you. 

ASSIGNMENTS: 

1. From your own observation 

what are some of the factors in our 

day that prevent our having leaders 

with faultless character like Sam 

uel's? 

2. Why 

are the lessons from the 

past so hard to learn ? 

3. What can our own church do 

that will bring our nation the bless 

ings she so much needs ? 

4. What is your individual re 

sponsibility in the matter? 

Suggestions for prayer (spoken or 

silent): 

Pray that God will make us (you 

and me) a generation of Samuels in 

character; that people of our land 

may be awakened to the needs of 

our day; for our out-of-bound mem 

bers that they may be Samuels 

where they live; 

of temperance in our land. 

and for the cause 

KANSAS PRESBYTERY PROTEST 

being 


open on the Christian Sabbath. 

"If thou turn away thy foot from 

the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure 

on My Holy Day; and call the Sab 

bath a delight, the holy of the Lord, 

honorable; and shalt honor Him, not 

doing thine own ways, nor finding 

thine own pleasure, nor speaking 

thine own words: then shalt thou de 

light thyself in the Lord. Isaiah 

58:13-14. 

STAR NOTES... 

**- Communion will be held the 

first Sabbath of October in the Or 

lando, Florida, Reformed Presby 

terian Church, Rev. Remo I. Robb 

assistant. All Covenanters in Florida 

and the South are cordially invited 

to attend. 

***Miss Marjorie E. Allen is ex 

pecting to sail for Syria September 

24 on the Marine Carp from N. Y. 

***I moderated in a call for a pas 

tor at the Almonte Reformed Pres 

byterian Congregation on Wednesday 

evening, August 25, which resulted in 

a unanimous call to Rev. T. Richard 

Hutcheson to become their pastor. 

Every vote for him on the first 

ballot. R. H. Martin 

***On August 18 Miss Kathryn 

Perry, daughter of Charles and Eliza 

beth Lee Perry, and Mr. Joseph Steel 

of Greensburg, Pennsylvania, were 

united in marriage. The wedding took 

place in the Presbyterian Church in 

Red Oak, Iowa. The bride was given 

away by her father. Her matron of 

honor was the groom's sister, Miss 

Jane Steel. James Perry, brother of 

the bride, was the best man. The 

groom's mother, 

Mrs. Joseph Steel 

and son John of the New Alexandria 

Congregation, attended the wedding. 

The young 

couple left to spend a few 

weeks in Minnesota and Greensburg. 

They 

will make their home in Law 

rence, Kansas, where Joe is finishing 

his G. I. schooling. Kathryn and Joe 

were both Geneva College students. 

* *Kansas Presbytery adjourned to 

meet in the Topeka R. P. Church, 

October 5, 194S, 

Kilpatrick is Moderator. 

7:30 p. m. Lester E. 

Waldo Mitchel, Clerk 

***The Rev. J. ('. Mitchel writes: 

Due to the strike of longshore men 

on the Pacific Coast very lew ships 

are able to sail. We can get no as 

surance as to when a settlement will 

be made which will release the ships. 

It seems the only course left to us is 

to patiently 

wait until it is over 

and we can go on our way. Until 

then our address will be Home of 

Peace, 4700 Daisy St., Oakland 2, 

California. All the party have re 

ceived numerous letters from friends 

and loved ones which greatly cheer 

our hearts. 

***Mrs. A. I. Robb passed away 

on Monday evening, 

September 13. 

The funeral services were to be held 

on the 15th. 

***The Rev. Herbert Havs moder 

ated a call for the Olathe congrega 

tion which resulted in the unanimous 

choice of Rev. Frank Stewart. He 

also moderated a call for the Win 

chester congregation, where the Rev. 

R. Wylie Caskey was chosen. 

"'"'On August 28 I moderated in a 

meeting at Barnet, Vermont, when 

.i call was made for a pastor. The 

choice was for the Rev. Philip Mar 

tin, who received a unanimous vote 

mi the first ballot. Mr. Martin, who 

has been supplying the pulpit at Bar- 

net for the past two months has 

signified his intention to accept the 

call. I also had the privilege of bap 

tizing Jonathan Bruce, the youngest 

of the Martin children. 

F. F. Reade 

CHURCH NEWS 

ANNUAL RECEPTION AND 

DONATION DAY 

On Tuesday, October 5, 1948, the 

annual Reception and Donation Day 

will be held at the Aged People's 

Home, 2344 Perrysville Ave., Pitts 

burgh, 14, Pa. Friends of the Home 

are cordially invited to visit the 

members on that day. Gifts of food 

and household supplies will be grate 

fully 

accepted also. These can be 

mailel to the above address in care 

of the matron, Mrs. S. R. Moffitt. 

Cash gifts may be mailed to the 

Treasurer, Mrs. Agnes E. Steele, 

7606 Pace Street, Pittsburg 8, Pa. 

Mrs. J. L. Mitchell 

Chairman, Press Committee 

WHITE LAKE CAMP 1948 

The twenty-fifth annual White 

Lake Encampment was held August 

7-21, under the leadership 

of the 

piesident William Dill. The average 

attendance at this camp 

imately 100. 

Preceding 

was approx 

the encampment Rev. 

Robert Edgar was in charge of the 

Junior Camp. An average attendance 

of 52 was maintained for the ten 

days. The counselors who helped with 

the program were Rev. Robert Ed 

gar, Rev. and Mrs. Bruce Stewart, 

Rev. Paul Wilson, Teddy Downie, 

Rachel George, Gladys Robb, Ellen 

Lathom and Nellie Smith. 

Orlando icceived the cup for their 

Standard of Efficiency of 87'; . 

One of the most 

outstanding- 

events of the camp this year was the 

voluntary prayer group in charge of 

Rev. F. L. Stewart. There was an un 

usually large number of young peo 

ple present at this daily meeting. 

We were privileged to have the


Covichords on the program. Their 

secular program was very entertain 

ing. We found the religious program 

most inspirational. All those present 

noticed the consecrated way in which 

their message was presented. 

Marjorie Allen, a former White 

Laker, 

spoke to us on missionary 

night. It was at White Lake that she 

made her final decision. Her story of 

her own complete consecration was 

inspiring to us all. We were greatly 

interested in her account of the work 

in Syria. 

Rev. Alvin Smith was in charge of 

the consecration service. A large 

number responded and consecrated 

their lives to Christ. Following the 

service we adjourned to the camp- 

fire. At the campfire many gave 

personal testimonies of what Christ 

meant in their life. We entreat your 

prayers that those who consecrated 

themselves will maintain their high 

ideals. 

The officers for the next encamp 

ment are: President, Don Crawford; 

Vice-president, Ellen Lathom; Secre 

tary, Phyllis McFarland; Treasurer, 

Janet Crockett; Assistant Treasurer, 

Robert Crawford; Music Director, 

Rev. Alvin Smith; Sports, Boys 

Dan Bosch, Girls Alice Smith; 

Camp Mother, Mrs. White; Camp 

Father, Mr. McKay; Director, Tom 

Dodds; Junior Superintendent, Mrs. 

Bruce Stewart; Ass't. Jr. Supt., Mrs. 

McBurney. 

We wish to express our hearty 

thanks to all those who helped make 

this encampment a success. We covet 

your prayers as the new officers 

plan the next encampment. 

The reunion will be held in Or 

lando, Florida, December 31, 1948 

January 2, 1949. 

The dates of the 1949 encampment 

are August 6-20 inclusive. 

Gladys Robb, Secretary 

HETHERTON, MICHIGAN 

Visitors at Hetherton during the 

summer have included: Dr. J. C. 

Mathews, his wife and son Paul, and 

Mildred Boyd of Topeka, Kansas; 

Mrs. John Gray of Plymouth, Michi 

gan; Mis. Robert Studer and baby 

daug'hter and Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur 

Keys and children all of Belle Cen 

ter, Ohio; Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Rum- 

bold and Nancy, Elman Roby, Mr. 

and Mrs. Elman Jameson, Mrs. Jesse 

Harrington, Mrs. John McFarland, 

Clarence Harrington, Glenn McFar 

land, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Westmore 

and children, Mr. and Mrs. Robert 

Westmore and Mrs. Walter West- 

more, all of Detroit; Miss Louise Bo- 

hey 

of Cecil, Pa.; and Mr. and Mrs. 

George Henning of South Lyon, 

Mich. Hetherton's pleasant summer 

weather is an attraction. 

July 

Our Sabbath School picnic was held 

4th at Bear Lake. Eating, swim 

ming and visiting were the order of 

the day. 

Mrs. Ray Hagadorn was recently 

received into the membership of our 

church on profession of faith. The 

following 

children received the sacra 

ment of baptism from our pastor, 

Rev. Robert Henning: Mary Joseal, 

daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wilbur 

Keys. David Samuel, son of Mr. and 

Mrs. Edward Hagadorn and Sonja 

Fern, Lee Nora and Jerry Ray, chil 

dren of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Hagadorn. 

On June 17 our pastor bad the 

honor of uniting Mr. Kenneth Abbott 

of Lansing and Miss Dorothy Sking- 

ley in the bonds of matrimony. Mr. 

Abbott is the son of Mr. and Mrs. 

Buford Abbott, 

members of our con 

gregation. Several of our people were 

privileg-ed to attend the wedding in 

Gaylord. 

Our young people sponsored Friday 

day night parties during most of the 

summer for the young folks of the 

community. They 

were well attended 

and seemed to be appreciated. Mr. 

and Mrs. Henning kindly opened 

their home for all of them. Toward 

the end of the sumer, the C.Y.P.U. 

purchased a volley ball and net which 

was used to help with the entertain 

ment. Another project of the Young 

People's Society was a church bul 

letin board which they recently in 

stalled on the church lawn. 

The Ladies Missionary Society has 

held afternoon meetings during the 

summer months at the homes of Mrs. 

Ed Hagadorn, Misses Anna and 

Frances McKelvy and Mrs. Wm. 

Leino. 

Mr. Hugh Harrington spent six 

weeks doing graduate work at the 

Mount Pleasant branch of the Uni 

versity 

of Michigan. He expects to 

resume his teaching duties at the 

Johannesburg Rural Agricultural 

School when the term opens. 

Phoebe Summerland has been home 

for part of the summer. She too 

studied for six weeks at Marquette 

in the Upper Peninsula. She expects 

to return soon to her work of teach 

ing at Saline, Michigan. 

Mr. Elton Roby came from Detroit 

in the spring to make his home with 

his son and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Ed 

ward Roby. 

Milton Harrington, son of Mi. and 

Mrs. Hugh Harrington, has been 

home from Geneva College for the 

summer, but expects to return to 

school in September. 

Dr. J. K. Robb preached for us and 

declared our pulpit vacant on August 

22. He also preached for us the fol 

lowing Sabbath. 

Milton, Don, Gordon and Evelyn 

Harrington and Leah Campbell at 

tended the Ohio-Illinois Young Peo 

ple's Conference at Oakwood Park, 

Syracuse, Illinois. They were away a 

week and brought back a very inter 

esting 

report. Our Sabbath School 

very generously contributed $50.00 to 

help pay their expenses. 

Leonard Harrington has gone to 

Detroit to work. He expects to be 

home occasionally on week ends. 

We have had a fine summer and 

are enjoying a bountiful harvest, 

both from the garden and field crops. 

We feel that Hetherton's climate is 

hard to beat and that anyone looking 

for a change of location to a farming 

community should look us up. Sum 

mer-time vacationists are always 

welcome too. 


Tuesday, August 24, was a day 

not to be soon forgotten by the 

Chicago congregation, for on that 

evening- 

a gathering was held in 

honor of Orlena Lynn, soon to leave 

the United States for missionary 

work in China, and Marjorie Allen, 

soon to return to Syria for her forth 

coming marriage to Kenneth Sander 

son. Miss Ruby Sinclair entertained 

at this social which was held at the 

Sinclair home in the cool back yard. 

After a few members of the choir 

had sung some of the new Psalm 

tunes, 

Dr. Edgar presented Orlena 

with a trans-ocesnic radio as the 

congregation's farewell gift. Orlena 

is the Chicago Covenanters' 

first 

foreign missionary in the church's 

fifty-one years history. Marjorie 

was then given a kitchen shower 

which included a matched, 

hand- 

painted set of metal utensils, pyrex 

glassware, 

a set of flint kitchen 

knives, etc. After refreshments had 

been served and the travelers' 

Psalm 

was sung, Marjorie and Orlena, ac 

companied to the train by 

Mr. and 

the pas 

Mrs. Lynn, Orlena's sister, 

tor, and several others, left togethei 

for the Forest Park, Topeka, Kan 

sas Conference. From there they 

parted to begin their separate 

journeys, one to the Far West and 

one to the Far East. Orlena gave the 

congregation a farewell address the 

preceding Sabbath evening. 

Dr. and Mrs. Edgar, accompanied 

by Ruby Sinclair part of the way,


spent some of their vacation at 

Glacier National Park and Rainier 

Park. They 

were also privileged to 

attend the Pacific Coast C.Y.P.U. 

Conference. We are happy to have 

them back. 

While the pastor was away on 

July 18, five young people, Mr. Rus 

sell Huck, Margaret Kerr, Sidney 

Jeanne Brelsford, and Wil 

Willis, 

liam Russell, 

put on a flannelgraph 

program of the Christian Amend 

ment Movement. On July 25, the 

morning 

service was in charge of the 

elders. William Russell conducted the 

praise services which were held those 

Sabbath evenings. On August 1 and 

8, Mr. Bill Jack gave both the mor 

ning and evening 

messages. We were 

pleased to welcome Mr. Jack and his 

family once more. 

Among the Chicago Covenanters 

attending the Ohio-Illinois C.Y.P.U. 

Conference at Oakwood Park, Syra 

cuse, Indiana, were Catherine Smith, 

Alice Thayer, Dora and Roy Brels 

ford. Orlena Lynn, Mrs. Lynn, and 

Dr. Edgar. All report that it was a 

fine, 

spiritual meeting. 

Those who attended the prayer 

meeting hour on June 23, 

were priv 

ileged to hear Mr. Norman McCune of 

the Irish Covenanter Church. Mr. Mc 

Cune, 

who graduated from our Sem 

inary this spring, was passing 

through Chicago on his way to visit 

his aunt in Seattle. In August he 

started home to Ireland to take a 

pastorate. 

Mr. Marshall Smith of Los An 

geles, a Geneva pre-ministerial stu 

dent, worshiped with us on July 11. 

Thomas and Bonnie Halliday came 

in from Colorado for a while at the 

end of August. 

Three of our young 

people gradu 

ated at the end of the spring term: 

Jeanne Brelsford from Wilson Junior 

College on June 14; Alice Thayer 

from high school, and Roy Brelsford 

from grammar school on June 24. 

Our annual picnic was held in 

Ryan's Woods on June 26. Though 

it threatened to rain several times, 

and did sprinkle a 1 ittle as we 

started to eat, there was a very good 

attendance, and everyone who at 

tended had a pleasant afternoon. 

After eight weeks of work as our 

city missionary, Miss Geraldine Kust 

left us. She plans to continue her 

studies to become a missionary-nurse. 

We enjoyed having her among us. 

We recently received a snap-shot 

of the Chinese orphan adopted by 

the Chicago Covenanters. The name 

of our little Chinese "sister" 

is Pang 

Mei Oon, and she is about ten years 

old. 

PORTLAND, OREGON 

Those attending Camp Waskowitz 

last summer from Portland were Mr. 

and Mrs. Frazer, Maud and William, 

Mr. and Mrs. Gault, Miss Isabelle 

Chambers and Stanley Chambers. 

Mr. and Mrs. Gault returned from 

Camp Waskowitz via Ellensburg, 

Wash., where they visited a relative, 

and Yakima Point at the base of Mt. 

Rainier where they spent the night. 

Mr. and Mrs. Frazer and son Wil 

liam, and Miss Isabelle Chambers 

returned from Camp Waskowitz via 

Paradise Camp 

Mt. Rainier. 

at the south base of 

Mr. Stanley Chambers recently 

left for Ketchican, Alaska, where he 

will be employed by the Government 

to make scientific investigation of 

certain diseases of marine life. 

Tom and Jim Gault arrived by 

thumb on August 27 from Beaver 

Falls, Pa., to be with their parents. 

Their thumbs served them well on 

the trip, getting them a 400 mile 

lift in the central states and farther 

west a 700 mile lift. Certain un 

pleasant experiences were more than 

made up by the inspiration of Yel 

lowstone National Park where they 

saw Old Faithful Geyser and many 

other natural wonders. 

A Sabbath school picnic for the 

younger boys and girls was recently 

held at the Frazer farm. 

Mrs. Hinmon of Denver, Colo., has 

been present at church for a number 

of Sabbaths. Her daughter Lois and 

sister Mrs. Hutcheson have also been 

present once. Mr. and Mrs. Hinmon 

expect to purchase a business in the 

near future. It will be a great pleas 

ure to have this fine family 

Portland church. 

in the 

Mr. and Mrs. John Chambers are 

building a new house not far from 

their former home at Lyle, Wash. 

Recent visitors at the Portland 

church have been Mrs. Pool of Seat 

tle, Wash., who is a daughter of the 

late Elder Pinkerton of Portland; 

and also Mrs. Myrth Wright Hover 

of Vancouver, Wash. Mrs. Hover, 

when a girl, belonged to the Sterling, 

Kansas, congregation and made her 

home for several years with the 

Gault family in that place. 

Portland greatly enjoyed the visit 

of the Geneva Covichords on the eve 

ning of July 

27. After their service 

and program they were taken to the 

home of Rev. Mr. Frazer where they 

spent the night, and from there they 

continued on their way to Seattle. 

Mr. and Mrs. Gault and Tom and 

Jim recently spent two days on the 

beautiful Oregon coast at Cannon 

Beach. The boys spent most of their 

time fishing in the ocean but their 

experience was chiefly 

one that got 

away" 

with "the 

Dr. and Mrs. T. M. Slater of Mont 

clair, N. J., visited in the home of 

Rev. Mr. Frazer recently. Dr. Slater 

is an uncle of Mrs. Frazer. Dr. and 

Mrs. Slater remained over Sabbath 

wnen he had a part in the service. 

The prayer meetings alternate be 

tween the city and the country; the 

"city" 

being 

the homes of Mr. and 

Mrs. Gault and Miss Elizabeth 

Knight; the 

"country" 

being the 

homes of Rev. Mr. Frazer and Elder 

Thomas Chambers. 

WALTON COVENANTERS 

The outdoor union services in the 

park were concluded the second Sab 

bath evening of the month. The 

weather was good for each meeting 

and the attendance grew. The last 

service saw the best attendance of 

all. 

Mrs. Clarence Rowley 

underwent a 

major operation in the Cooperstown 

hospital early in the month and made 

a rapid recovery. She is back in Wal 

ton with her family. 

White Lake Camp 

always plays an 

important place in our church pro 

gram in Walton in August. We have 

about twenty 

people from Walton 

who spent more than one day at 

camp, some being there for full 

time. Others were presnt only for a 

short time as visitors. All brought 

back good reports. 

Mr. and Mrs. Philip Robb of Ali- 

quippa, Pa. visited Phil's mother 

here in Walton for a week. They 

spent one day at camp. They also 

took with them Mrs. A. M. Thomson 

for her first visit to the camp. Gladys 

Robb was one of the full time cam 

pers and is now spending a few days 

with her mother and friends before 

taking 

off for Geneva College. She 

will be campus nurse at Geneva this 

year as well as being a student there. 

The Covichords gave their pro 

gram in our church Sabbath mor 

ning, August 15. Several \r?sitors 

from other local churches were in to 

hear them. All spoke highly of their 

message. They drove up from White 

Lake for the service and returned to 

camp 

sing 

after dinner for the psalm 

and the consecration service. 

After camp Mr. and Mrs. Elsey 

Harsh, Laura Donahue, and William 

Dill, all of Orlando, Fla., came to 

Walton for a few days visit. Several 

other campers drove up for the clos 

ing day of the Delaware County Fair 

and a visit to Walton.



held an all day meeting at the church 

the first Thursday of the month. The 

Y.W.M.S. planned a picnic supper at 

the Sutliff home, but rain interferred 

and the meeting was held in the 

church dining room. 

Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Lathom and 

sons, Jack and Fred, from Beaver 

Falls, Pa., spent a week visiting rel 

atives in the manse. They attended 

prayer meeting and Sabbath day 

services. They 

were given a very 

warm reception with the mercury 

hovering around the ninety degree 

mark for several days. 

Miss Ruth Henderson, 

who spent 

most of the summer with her mother 

here in Walton, has now gone to 

Pittsburgh to take up her new work. 

She will be connected with the Y.W. 

C.A. work in Pitt University. 

Miss Blanche Gilchrist has con 

cluded another summer's work in Al 

bany Teacher's College. She is home 

now and ready to take up teaching 

the second grade in the Miller 

Avenue School here in Walton. 

A few of the men have started 

putting the second coat of paint on 

the church. With good weather and a 

little more help the job should be 

completed soon. 

OLD BETHEL, ILL. 

Old Bethel had many guests 

throughout the summer, among 

whom were: Mr. and Mrs. Solon Wil 

son and daughter of Pennsylvania; 

Rev. and .Mrs. M. 

S. McMillan, our 

pastor's father and mother of New- 

Concord, Ohio; Mr. and Mrs. Zenas 

McMurtry 

and Curtis Royer of Mor 

ning Sun, Iowa; Mrs. Irene White 

and daughter of Winchester, Kansas; 

Mrs. Emma Rutherford of Beavei 

Falls, Pa.; Rev. A. J. McFarland 

and Miss Orlena Lynn of Chicago 

congregation. 

Miss Orlena Lynn spent some time 

visiting i elatives in our vicinity and 

spoke to our Junior society on Sab 

bath night. We feel a special interest 

in Orlena and were happy to provide 

her with some necessary equipment 

to be used in her work in China. Her 

parents were former members of Old 

Bethel and Orlena was born into 

this congregation. 

Rev. and Mrs. J. Boyd Tweed and 

Robert and John and Mrs. Emma 

Rutherford visited relatives here in 

July 

ily journeyed on to Seattle, Wash. 

Mrs. Rutherford remained with her 

and September. The Tweed fam 

sister, Mrs. Mary Finley, and other 

relatives. 

A kitchen shower was held at the 

home of Mr. and Mrs. Waldo 

Mathews in Marissa one afternoon 

in honor of Miss Geneva Patterson 

who was soon to become the bride 

of Melville Rutherford of Belle Cen 

ter, Ohio. Many nice and handy gifts 

were received and most remarkable, 

no duplicates. 

A reception was held at the home 

of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Patterson 

the latter part of August in honor 

of our pastor and his bride, the for 

mer Miss Marion Adams. It was a 

happy occasion. A short program had 

been arranged. Ralph Mathews wel 

comed the bride into our midst. It 

was a nice night but a heavy shower 

developed; a little girl came in with 

a big umbrella, a little boy pulling a 

wagon with side boards which came 

to a standstill in front of the bride 

and groom, who wondered later how 

a small wagon could hold up under 

such a heavy load. 

Miss Geneva Patterson and Mr. 

James Melville Rutherford were mar- 

i ied at the home of the bride Friday 

evening, September 3. The congre 

gation, neighbors and friends were 

invited to a reception at 8 P. M.. The 

bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 

Edwin Patterson. Geneva has been 

doing mission work in schools at 

Sandy Hook, Kentucky, and had also 

been a teacher in our public schools. 

Mr. Rutherford is a member of the 

Belle Center congregation. 

Misses Ruth and Mildred Finley 

and Miss Eleanor Wilson have re 

turned to their teaching duties in 

Wood River and East Alton schools. 

James Fulton is also teaching, but 

able to remain at home. 

Miss Willa Patterson has returned 

from a visit in her brother's home in 

Beaver Falls, Pa. She is showing 

some improvement after a severe 

attack of arthritis. 

Old Bethel is missing the presence 

of Mrs. W. G. Robb. After our long 

years of association, it is hard to 

part with those we love. Mrs. Robb 

held a sale of household goods in 

June and has ben spending the sum 

mer visiting her children in the East. 

SANTA ANA, CALIF. 

September 5 the Rev. Robert Hen- 

ning's and Miss Orlena Linn were 

present for our evening service. They 

brought us inspiring messages. The 

expression of their joy in going to the 

Foreign Field makes us very happy 

to have such devoted young people 

carry the message of God's love to 

China. We feel our responsibility for 

their support and for our continued 

prayer for God's blessing 

work. 

on their 

August 11 a wedding in Des 

Moines, la., united Ralph Tippin and 

Miss Louise Davolt. Following a 

honeymoon in Yellowstone National 

Park they 

returned to San Francisco 

where Mr. Tippin is attending Dental 

College. They 

came to Santa Ana 

September 4 to the home of his par 

ents, Mr. and Mrs. S. R. Tippin. On 

Labor Day 

the congregation was in 

vited to the home of Mr. and Mrs. 

Ben Linton where brunch was served 

to about sixty guests. Tables were 

placed on the lawn in the shade of 

the walnut trees. During a short pro 

gram they received some veiy good 

advice and well wishes and a sub 

stantial gift in money. About noon 

they started on their return. They 

will be at home to their friends at 

910 Fell St., San Francisco, Calif. 

McCRORY MANN 

In an impressive ceremony at 3 

P. M. on September 1, Miss Clara 

Mann, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 

Robert Mann of Hebron Congrega 

tion, Idana, Kansas, became the 

bride of Mr. Melvin McCrory. son of 

Mr. and Mrs. C. H. McCrory of Den 

ison. The Rev. J. G. Vos, pastor of 

the bride, read the double ring cere- 

mony.assisted by the groom's pastor, 

the Rev. T. M. Hutcheson. The cere 

mony took place in the Mann home 

at Idana, and was witnessed by the 

immediate relatives and close friends 

of the bride and groom. After a 

short wedding trip Mr. and Mrs. Mc 

Crory will be at home on their farm 

near Denison. 

MISS MARTHA J. TEAZ 

On Wednesday evening, August 18, 

1948, Miss Martha J. Teaz passed 

away at the age of 91. She had suf 

fered patiently much pain and weak 

ness, while bedfast for two years. 

Dr. D. H. Elliott conducted her fu 

neral services at the Home on Friday, 

August 20. 

Born in Philadelphia, Pa., 

on Jan 

uary 7, 1857. she came to the Home 

from Bellefontaine, Ohio, in April, 

1920. She spent 28 years in the 

Home, consequently was one of the 

oldest members in respect to length 

of residence there. Her wonderful 

spirit of Christian resignation will 

long be remembered by any 

contact with her. 

who had 

"Out of the will of God there is no 

such thing as success; in the will of 

God there cannot be any 

failure."

THEC 

LESSON HELPS LOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 10, 19 is 

LESSON HELPS FOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 17, DOS 

300YEARS of Witnessing ton ctimsTb 5ovekfj&/n Rights in thl church -wd wa rwriofj _ 

YOLl'ME 4XLI WEDNESDAY, 

SEPTEMBER 15, 1948 Number 11 

He Missed the Booiiiir 

The Xcir Yoiki'i tells about. ;i shortstop who migrated smith of tin- Ir 

and joined the .Mexican 

League. 

You'll he amazed at why he didn I like il 

there. The Mexican fans had the habit whittling 

And he missed the booing! "You sorta get used to a 

instead uf honing. 

!>oo," 

he L quoted as 

saying, ''and it nist doesn't seem right not to hear linos when vou mils- 

a play Booing is a part of 

baseball." 

To be cheered and applauded all the time causes a man to become ego 

tistical and smug. A little booing m baseball, or in business, puts a man on 

his metal It makes a man humble. It reminds him that he has not ar 

rived and that there is still room for improvement. 

Two of the men who have stimulated me the mo.^t have been my great 

est critics. They have disagreed with me, fought with me over many is 

sues, pointed out my errors, and in many 

up 

ways made life misareble for nm 

And yet when I look back through the years and take inventory, 1 think I 

owe more to these men than lo those nice fellows who were always ea.^y on 

me. These critics forced me to do my best. By resisting 

develop 

me tlm\ made me 

mv strength. The\ put me on the spot and stimulated me to de 

liver the goods They 

made nie work hard and long to prove to ihein thai 

1 wasn't a (omplete washout. Thev made me grow. I'm pietu 

that they were actually trying to help 

Being 

me all the time. 

m-- 

too soft and ea.sv on young men doe., not build niaiipnu-i It 

lulls them to sleep. It ' mises tlmni to boccnie satisfied with medio, n>\ Mm 

who are made the right stuff are awakened and challenged lo 1 lew 

boos now and then. It aids their development. 

The other day a sports annoumer said: "There s only 

a boo and that is the bat 

1" 

w 

one answer to 

Boos make a player step up to the plate w it h ,1 

determination to knock one over the frno- lor a home run. And that '.',-. 

in the game of business too' 

Selected.

B THE COVENANTER WITNESS September 15, 1.1 |,s 

QlimyfLlî ajj tlte (lekcfixuU WoaM 

Frank E. Ali kk, D D. 

Russia Admitting Bibles 

A seciet.wy d the American Bible Socielx, Dr. G. D. 

Dihvoith, reports that the Russians have permitted 25,- 

000 copies ol the Scriptures from the United States to 

enter the S.o let Union. He told the Methodist Conference 

that 200,000 p.utions nl the Bible were sent to the Soviets 

following 

a request from the Russian Orthodox Church. 

This seems to be the lirst time in a decade that the Rus 

sians have permitted scnptuics Ironi ether countries to 

entei the Soviet Union. II the Word ot God has fiee 

entrance to Russia it will do moie than armies or argu 

ment'- le ti anslnrm that ureal land. 

Brethren in Korea 

While nding on the tram in Korea. Dr C D Fulton 

ul Ihe Southern Presbyterian Church, 

,-ittmg across the aisle who was tiymg 

with him. They 

noticed ,i Korean 

to communicate 

could md speak each other's language 

i">"i soon found a ii-jv "I communication. The Km'-i 

ittered the woicC'Jesu and Di Fulton 

word and they lecognized that I hey 

R-prjiei! the 

were both Christians. 

The Kme.in then pulled from Ins luggage a book which 

Dr Fulton recognized as a Bible, and pointed In a pass 

age Although unable to ie.i.1 Kmi-.m, Dr Fulton was 

able to find by 

iomp..uson ol location, the same passage 

in his own Bible It was Ps. 1.3-1. "Hew eoi.ri and pleas 

ant it is ha brethren to dwell together in unity " 

This 

was but the first step in a conveisalinn long which these 

Christian brethren carried on thrnuah the pages el God's 

Word. There is no "brolhei hood" 

like the Christian 

brotherhood, and there is no racial barrier which divides 

Christian brethren. 

Drunken D h i \ i n c, 

In Greeley, Colo., just after the fourth child was strick 

en down by a drunken driver, an advertisement appeared 

in a local dailv as tollom "Get the children otf the 

street the 'Man el 

Distinction' 

is driving" 

Church Bells in Germany Restored 

The Watchman-E.vannner savs An agreement lor in 

terzonal restoiation of church belle stored in various 

cities after having been confiscated by the Nazi regime 

has been appnued bv the four occupation powers in Ger 

many American, British, French and Rmsian. An in 

terzonal committee in Hanover will arrange tor the return 

of 1,200 bells to the Russian zone, while 54 in the Russian 

.ueawill sent zones 

be lo the Western 

No Foreign Control of Rom \nian Churches 

The so-called 

"Orthodox" 

dce-amnai inns in Romania 

cannot now lie conti oiled bv methei 

churches abroad A 

decree m this effect was issued bv the Communist - 

dommaled trovemment ae I published m the official 

nazette in Buck,, -.rest All R-mian-Cal !."ln, Protestant, 

Moslem, and de-wish gioups m the count: y am affected bv 

the decree All communications >> ith mulht'i crunches 

:c-s 

must be made 'hiough M e Muesli ,,t Cults or of 

"I' 

THE COVENANTER WITNES. 

Foreign Affairs. All aid from overseas will be subject 

to strict control by the state Protestant minority seci- 

include Lutherans, Reformed, Baptists, Sovon ti'-day 

Adventists, 

A study 

Christian Scientists, and Unitarians, 

Little for Religion and Charity 

of income tax returns show how little Ameri 

can people give to religious and charitable pui-pn.se- 

During one year, 

of their net income, 

7,000,000 deducted less than 2 per cent 

and in another year, 25 per cent nl 

the people claimed no deduction for gilts In anothci 

mar, 

of those who earned more than $5,000 pei ycai 20 

per cent made no deduction for charitable gills, and nl 

those with less than $5,000 incomes, 43 per cent made n.> 

deductions The a\erage gilt tor charitable 

puipusc-s fir- 

ducted in the period from 1922 to 11137 was 1 83 pci ecu' 

We may he thankful that the members of the Covemintei 

church are far more liberal than 'lie aveiagc m then 

gitts lor religious and charitable purposes, it it wcic >mi 

so the church at home and abroad would ham to -let 

down most of her work. 

Revive The Prayer Mietincs 

The editoi ol the M'ntcli mrni-E.rrimnior ( Baptist i ex 

horts the churches to continue the prayer meetings -p ,s 

anything but encoui, ging to the .spiritually 

the churches to see fewei and lower 

minded in 

mteres'od n the- 

midweek service, usually called the prayei mcchr," 

The faithful hang on, but even their faithfulness rim- 

not seem to stem the drift in indifference toward this 

.seivice When 

a church begins lo lose 

sponsibility for the ministry 

departing, 

its m-ioc ol 

ic- 

of intercession, its gCiy is 

and with that goes joyous accomplishment 

associated with the presence of the Holy Spirit in powei 

People begin to speak of such a church as being 

Its services become coldly formal, icily 

as to heart-warming 

cm reel, clouded 

truth Ichabod just as well 

'(lead' 

written over their doors The only way such a church 

can be saved is for those who behove in intercession t 

consequences that signify His 

Church Dedicated by Chiang 

approva 

dedicakd 

On August first President Chiang Kai-shek 

Sunthe 

renovated presidential residence in the scenic 

Yat-Sen mausoleum area as a place for Christum wnislu;> 

He did this in fulfillment ol a \ ow lo God at the time U-' 

Japanese armies forced him to flee Nanking 

long 

the Song 

morning 

In- 

dunrui nine 

yearn of war. Tins buildmt! is called. "Chinch l 

immediate group 

of Triumph", and is to be used each. Sabbath 

for worship, primanly loi the president's own 

and also tor government employees n 

-el?, led group of 200 Christum, government 

tended the dedieatoiv service A i n cnl poll ol 

a-wnrk

September 15, 19-IX THE COVENANTER WITNESS 

Cunsi&nt Sritentk Prof. Johin Culem.-^v PhD,. 1j. [j 

Russian relations unfortunately still dominate the 

headlines. (1) The Russians are determined to force 

the Western Powers out of Berlin. Even air transpor 

tation is threatened: barrage balloons are loosed into 

the air lanes, anti-aircraft guns send up 

shells in the 

neighborhood of the Allied cargo planes, and it is an 

nounced that the Soviet air fleet plans to hold exten 

sive maneuvers in the very area of the air-lanes. Russian 

police invade the Western zones of Berlin and make ar 

rests even of Allied policemen. Any American who 

sti ays into the Russian sector is arrested and often held 

for days. The city hall, supposed to be held jointly, 

was at one time taken over by force. American officers 

are taunted as cowards with the apparent aim of pio- 

voking retaliatory violence Every 

method short of 

war and not tar short has been used to get us out of 

the city That is one reason why we nue1 

stay Were 

we to withdraw now, the anti-Communist Germans 

would feel that they had been betrayed and all the 

countries of Western Euiopc would consider that un 

der sufficient pressure we would give them up also 

(2) The Italian peace treaty required that the fate of 

the Italian colonies be settled by September 15, 1948 

Since no conferences seem to get anywhcie, the Western 

Powers hove done nothing; but Russia has suddenly re 

alized that she has a card to play and demanded that 

instantly 

a conference be held The Western Powers 

have agreed, but Marshall is not ready 

m go to Paris 

and has deputized Ambassndm Douglas to go from Lon 

don and represent the United States The Russians 

have raised a row about this, but it is the right of the 

United States to determine her own representative. 

Who will get the Italian 

colonies' 

Ethiopia wants tiie 

parts of them that are on hei own border, and has some 

reparations coming to hei from Italy, B'alcm promised 

the North American tribesmen that they 

would not be 

turned back to Italy; the United States is said to favor 

leaving them under Italy as a trustee ol the U.N. Why 

not let the people govern themselves'' 

They 

might not 

do a very good job, but neither does Louisiana or some 

other areas that one could name 

The United States would like the North African areas 

to be held in some way that would permit her to use 

the great airports that she has built there for flights to 

the Near and Far East since we cannot l!y 

kans. 

France is having its tenth mimsliy 

over the Bal 

since liberation, 

perhaps by the time this reaches the reader, the eleventh 

In France the president is elected lor a long term but 

really has little power. He is a little like the king in 

Britain, a symbol and a unifier but not the ic-al gov 

ernor. The cabinet undei the prime mmislei is the 

real executive, but is in power only 

so iung as it com 

mands a majority of the Parlimenl Weie France a two- 

party country like Britain, 

that would not prevent stable 

government; but in France there are thirteen parties hav 

ing 

representation in the Parlimenl and not one of them 

has a majority, therefore the cabinet is necessarily 

alition, 

isfied and 

a co 

and whenever any one ol the groups is dissat 

withdraws its support, a new cabinet crisis 

ki:s 

arises. Partisan spirit is very strong and party prestige 

and greed seem often to overshadow the vital needs of 

the nation. Of course we also have much ol the same 

littleness, but with us when a party is in power, it is in 

power for two years at least m Congress and (or four 

years at least in the executive 

On August 15, Hindu, India and Mohammedan Pakis 

tan ended the first ye.n of their independence. Stable 

governments 'nave been set up and the niter-religious 

wars within each stale ha\e laregly ended. Ol the 562 

native states, the i tiling princes of 500 have accepted 

annuities and retired and then lei ritones have been Itiscd 

with the greater areas ol India ann Pakistan. Hydera 

bad, whose Nizam is reputed to lie woith $3,000,000,000. 

is 90 'V Hindu in population but the ah-iesaid rule: is 

Mohammedan and proposes to hold his own lo the bitter 

end The patience of the Humus has given way 

and In 

dian troop.- have nivaned Hyderabad and hope lo take it 

over quickly Will Mohammedan Pakistan Like up tne 

Nizam's cause and all Jnrha be made a battle held? On 

the other hand. Kashmu is largely Mohammedan and the 

ruler is Hindu. Already the I' 

N has a commission there 

trying to set u re an end ol nullum and a plebiscite lo 

determine the wishes el the people A gieal war with 

all its devastation and wholesale murdei will help the 

aggressive Communist minoiilv to take all the land. 

both India and Pakistan, into the Soviet orbit 

The Roman Cathoht Chinch is doing 

in forbidding 

a public sei vice 

its members to lake part in the various 

beauty contests that occur cveiv summer Their criti 

cism is having some eltect. and m the hope of blunting 

the objections college and university 

being 

scholarships are 

made a prominent element in the prizes. Miss 

America received a S>5,000 university scholarship be 

sides an auto, etc. It might just be that she is qualified 

to use the scholarship An end ol the contests, how 

ever, is greatly 

to be desired. 

No group of voters is being com led this ve-ar so assidu 

ously as the Negroes They 

in key states and are learning 

are seveial million stroim 

to use their power. On 

the Negro issue alone a new party, the Dixiecrats. ha.- 

been created, 

which claims that it will receive 45 votes 

m the electoial college These will be votes that Tru 

man would otheiwise have had. In Georgia, Herman 

Talmadge has won the Democratic primary 

lun-off and 

will take the slate back to Talmadge barbansm 1: 

mav well be that the Negio would hate won his right: 

more speedily 

and with less friction il he had not become 

a political football. His advance in the last two dec 

ades has been veiy marked 

Premier Coslello ul Ene has been touring 

the United 

States and Canada and ol course i- telling ol the achieve 

ments of his own countrv, and adding 

for the turning 

Roman Catholicism is the 

lo that a demand 

over to Eire of Northern Ireland Sine 

established cligion m Eire, 

Protestant Ulster obiee's Alto, Ulstei is moie piospei- 

l t'leust I id a to fin (/< 1B7 i

llil THE COVENANTER WITNESS September lo. Id Is 

That Bejeweled Toad 

'Sweet are the uses of adversity, 

Whit h, like the toad, though ugly 

and veno- 

mous, 

Wears yet a precious jewel in his head." 

tion and understanding of the Word of God, and 

especially of the Psalms. These Psalms were 

born in adversity, (many of them), and yet while 

so many of them start in the minor key, almost 

Some toad! seme jewels! without exception they end with 

thanksgiving' 

Some adversity! and some compensations! and like the writer of "I am the Captain of my 

Have you ever suffered bankruptcy, when you soul", these writers, too, are bloody, but they 

stared into the faces of a howling mob of thous- are bowed. Listen: 

ands of creditors, each of them demanding their "For thou, 0 Lord, hast tested us 

moral right to more than your total assets, and As men try silver 

not a friend or a banker offering a dime? And .,, 

ore." 

4. , , , 

J waited 

if thev did vou would be onlv transferring the 

long upon the Lord, 

debt f'rem Peter to Paul? Perhaps you came to Yea' Patiently drew near. 

the table but there was no appetite, and you lay "Lord, from the depths to Thee I cried, 

down weary but your sleep if and when was My voice. Lord, do thou hear." 

troubled and spasmodic. If vou have had such 

an experience, real cr a nigh'mare, then, Broth- 

"In 

m>'' 

distress I called on God 

. 

er, shake; you and I understand one another, And He 8'ave ear to 

Nm I am nut personally bankrupt, financially;

September 15, 19-18 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 

could say again and again, "0 that I had wings 

like a dove for then would I fly away and be at 

rest." 

Ordinarily, duties are at least half-way 

pleasant. There is a satisfaction in accomplish 

ing things or in progress being made, but when 

progress ceases and efforts seem vain, and even 

God seems to have ceased to work with vou, one 

can get a far-off glimpse at least of the way from 

Gethsemane to Golgotha. When God seems to 

be handing 

you tools as you work there is a sense 

of His presense, but when Satan seems to be 

standing in every pathway and one hears the 

taunts of foes about him, "Where is thy God now 

gone?" 

he better understands the dilemma of 

Paul, 

who had a desire to depart but did not want 

to face an unfinished task in the day of Judg 

ment. 

Another jewel discovered, though it was not 

entirely new, was the comforting philosophy of 

Calvinism. "He hath foreordained whatsoever 

comes to 

pass." 

"All things work together for 

good to them that love God." 

Our obligations 

were not being fulfilled to our clientele or to you 

our subscribers, but that was unavoidable. Every 

effort had been made so that it must be working 

not only for the good of the one most concerned, 

but for the good of every other one concerned ; 

even to the least concerned among 

our suhst rib- 

The Kingship of Christ 

"Tin Kinijship of 

Christ" II' 

.1. l'mser 

t'Hooft. Harpei & Bras., N. )'.. 19 IS. 158 pp.. 

$1.75. 

A REVIEW 

out to perform is from the point of view of a 

"churchman who has his own specific stand 

point." 

His standpoint is, in general, plainly 

Barthian, 

or that of neo-orthodoxy. It is essen 

tial to keep this fact in mind, for without it, a 

cursory reading may easily give the impression 

that this is an orthodox product. Many words 

and phrases are used which must be understood 

in the light of Earth's plain rejection of the Scrip 

tures as an objective revelation from God. For 

instance, the author credits it to Barth that "The 

Bible became again the Word that had not arisen 

in the hearts of man, the Word which is not to 

be handled according to our arbitrary presuppo 

sitions, but which speaks with ultimate author 

ity." 

One must remember that Barth's idea of 

ers. If we were being taught patience, they wem 

being taught patience, too, and forgiveness, we 

trust. And it was comforting to know that if the 

work should fail and we did come to an ultimate 

impasse, that that, too, was in God's will and 

therefore, though it be to our personal shame, it 

must be for the glory of God. Yes, we confess to 

times of distrust,, to times when we reproached 

the One who is directing all things. Equally when 

we had had difficulties before, solutions came. 

But when the motor that was not su ITLicii! ly 

powerful to run the press seemed to become less 

and less willing, and a substitute having stil'iiiently 

few revolutions per minute to suit the press 

could not be found. Topeka said, "It i - not in 

me," 

and Kansas City said, "It i- not in 

we wondered why God had not hidden thai motor 

someplace for our use when we needed it. Then 

suddenly it appeared, and a beautiful instrument 

it is; and hard, steady work dee not raise its 

temperature apparently a single degree 

Cod" 

Now, again we say "Thanks be unto who 

always brings triumph if we are m the wa\ of 

His will. The-'e i. no temptation helalls n.- but 

such as man is able to bear and lie ha- the road of 

escape to the very end ol the road. So. Ship 

wrecked brothei. take heart1 

"To him that 

overcometh I will give- 

' 

"the ultimate authoi it.v 

it is purely subjecth e. 

of the Scriptures. 'mt 

Frequent mention is made of the resurrection 

and ascension of Christ; the incarnation is ap 

Review by the Rev. Lester E. Kilpatrick 

Such a title as this is almost certain to take the 

eye of a Covenanter. The author of this volume 

is a man of world renoun a general secretary of 

the World Council of Churches, with headquart 

ers in Geneva, Switzerland. It is presented as 

"an interpretation of recent European theology," 

with all references, mostly from European theo 

logical works of the past two decades, as source 

material. Most of the material of the book was 

given as the Stone Lectures in Princeton Semi 

nary in 1947. 

He frankly admits (p. parently asumed as fact. But the historical con 

tent of these traditional elements of the gospel 

testimony is missing. 

The author takes up the idea of the kingship 

of Christ in five chapters, first in Protestant 

theology, secondly, as proclaimed during 

9) that the task he set 

the 

years of struggle, and in chapters three to five, 

successively in the Bible, in the Church and in 

the world. 

I. In Protestant THELo


eignty of God which clearly 

dominates all Cal 

vin's writings. 

He next takes up the modernist theology of the 

19th Century as expounded by Renan, Harnack, 

Schleiermacher and others, and shows how it 

has now been completely discredited. Interest 

ingly, he assumes, without argument that ortho 

doxy had been discredited by modernism, and 

that now, since no intelligent person holds such a 

position, it may be ignored. As for modernism, 

he finds its chief weakness to be its emphasis on 

the prophetic office of Christ, to the exclusion of 

His kingly office. 

He closes this chapter with the "crying need 

of the chaotic postwar (World War I) world for 

a clear word of 

the Church being trag 

ically impotent. "The most impressive and wide 

voice," 

he said, in answer to that 

ly influential 

cry, 

guidance," 

"was that of Karl Earth." 

He finds in Earth 

the needed voice to fill the World's need today. 

II. As Proclaimed During the Years 

of Struggle 

After citing the development of Earths theo 

logy during these years along the line of the king 

ship of Christ, which Visser t'Hooft believes ov 

ercame Barthianism's earlier weaknesses, he 

turns successively to various countries of Europe 

for evidence of this emphasis. He finds it in the 

work of the Swedish theologian Aulen in his work 

on the atonement. "The victorious Christ fights 

against and triumphs over the evil powers of the 

world and thus God reconciles the world unto 

Himself." 

This statement does, as Visser t'Hooft 

content" 

of the a- 

and be killed" 

says, show the "wider cosmic 

tonement, implied in the idea of the kingship of 

Christ. However, it should be noted, in passing, 

that, if this brief quotation adequately charac 

terizes Aulen's work, he has missed completely 

the true nature of the atonement. It is not pri 

marily the victory 

of Christ over the evil powers 

of the world. It is full payment of the penalty of 

sin in the sight of a holy God, which Jesus Christ 

accomplished in His death. 

Next the confessing church of Germany, in 

the Barmen declaration of 1934, is shown to have 

gained some grasp of the idea of the kingship 

of Christ : "Jesus Christ, as He is proclaimed 

in Holy Scriptures, is the one word of God, to 

which we have to listen, and which we have to 

(p. 45). 

trust and to obey in life and death" 

Other declarations are cited in the years that fol 

low, 

and then this from the midst of the war, 

194.": "The Church cannot recognize the exis 

tence of realms which are a law to themselves, 

and are net subject to the Lordship of Christ. . 

The Church would deny its confession, if it seeks 

from public life and maintains si 

refuge away 

lence concerning the claim of the Lord Jesus 

Christ in judgment and grace over the issues of 

political and national life such as war, law, eco 

(p. 50). 

Similar statements are to be found coming 

from Norway and Holland after Hitler had 

gained control of these countries, statements 

which show how the conviction was present that 

the civil sphere is not exempt from the rule of 

Christ. These traditionally Lutheran countrit 

along with Holland, a reformed country, all S;i 

the necessity of acknowledging Christ as king 

the civil sphere. 

III. In The Bible 

The attitude of the present day liberal towa 

the Bible is evident here. His docilty befc 

higher criticism would be amusing, were it not 

pathetic. "A specialist in higher 

criticism," 

1 

author tells us, "remarked recently that criti 

research, which in its early stages had remot 

Christ from the center of the Gospel, is 111 

bringing us back to the simple truth ' that 

whole New Testament message is a Gospel 0 

cerning Christ. In this way, he added, the Wi 

of God has achieved a victory over the critic 

(p. 65). A fourteen year old child cannot rC 

the New Testament without coming to thisci. 

elusion, but Visser t'Hooft must wait to sec 

the critics say. Even while admitting the tit 

failure of higher criticism in a generation pa. 

he does abject obeisance before the 

high' 

criticism of the present day. 

The substance of this chapter is a review 

the use -of the word "Lord" 

as a title for Christ 

the Bible, in an attempt to prove that the lo"' 

ship of Christ is the central message. It is 

from demonstrated by mere piling up of such 1 '. 

erences, however, that the central message of 

primitive church was the lordship of Chr 

When Jesus gained acknowledgement from 

disciples, "From that time forth began Jesus Jf. 

shew, .how that he must go unto Jerusalem "!l 

(Mt. 16:21). And Paul 

determined not to know anything among ,\ 

save Jesus Christ, and him 

said,:' 

(I ( l! 

2:2). Yet the author reaches this conclusi 

"What then is the rock bottom of the faith of 

primitive Church? It is expressed in two wor 

Jesus Kurios, 'Jesus is Lord'" 

(p. 67). 

IV. In The Church 

In this chapter the author makes it plain t . 

the reign of Christ is a present reality, rat !1 

than a mere future hope. Yet he reduces M 

a mere subjective reign. "The King rei ft[ 

from the Cross and through the Word" 

(p. If 

But the Word says, "Which (God) 

-* wrought 

Christ when he raised him from the dead, s't- 

set him at his own right hand in the heave* 

places, far above all principalities and power, 

name tha1 , 

might, and even' 

dominion, and 

named, not only in this world, but also in b\c 

come" 

which is to (Eph. 1:20, 21). 

The author, being an advocate of union air,; 

Protestant churches, takes the occasion to bel: 'ir 

the confessions of the Church. He says that t \ 

are "signposts which the church puts up toi-V;, 

cate the way along which it is led by its Lord ... 

world. it pursues its pilgramage in the 

3' 

posts serious warnings as to what is the 

and what is the false road. But only signpo* 

not to be confused with the place to which 

point." 

While there is a 

legitimate wart 

which needs to be sounded against making 

goes 

statement 

creeds out as infallible, this 

beyond that warning. It appears to deny 

"' 

- 

'*

September 15, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS >>- 

1_67 

it is possible to state absolute any 

truth. Indeed, between Church and State is explicitly reit 

appears to go to the extreme of reducing truth jected, it is in substance readmitted, albeit 

itself to a relative status. The whole discussion, with only spiritual sanctions The 'Torch 

as one might expect from a secretary of the WCC, is virtually made the mediator between the 

is used as a plug for church union. State and Christ The higher ground, in 

The final chapter, on the kingship of Christ which the state, as such, acknowledges the 

mentioned (p. 

in the world is, of course, where the crux of this King, Jesus Christ, is only 

matter is reached. For Protestant theology has 125) It is apparently assumed that any 

always admitted a place to the kingship of Christ. entity making such acknowledgement is 

The Bible certainly portrays Jesus Christ as King automatically merged with the Church, and 

and Lord, and this claim is all but universally becomes part and parcel of it. 

granted to hold, at least in principle, over the :;. Christocentric. This characteristic of the 

Church. But how far His claims are applicable world system proposed in this volume may 

over the world, has not been a matter of exten- 

sive attention by 

seem unimportant, and mostly 

a matter of 

Christian people. terminology. However, it is a natural out- 

The author finds both the world and the g-owth of the Barthian view of the Sr-rip- 

Church under the rule of Christ, the difference tures, and admits of a "spiritualizing" 

of 

being that the "Church knows the King, while the reiurection, ascension and other sup- 

not" 

the world does (p. 124). But in seeking to ernatural elements of our faith, admits of 

express the manner in which the kingship of 

Ohrist is exercised over the world, he finds no tionary 

reconciling "Christian faith" 

with evolu- 

theories of man's beginning--, and 

present doctrine adequate. The Roman Catholic demands the welfare of man as the chief 

doctrine of natural law, the Lutheran doctrine of puroose in the world, rather than the glory 

two realms, and the Calvinistic doctrine of com- 

0f God. 

mon grace, he says, are all called in question. Ap- 

To interpret all things Chnstocentrically, as 

parently the idea of a religious acknowledgement Visser t'Hco+'t seeks to do. is also directly con- 

on the part of the State directly, does not appear 

to him as a practical solution; yet it would cer- 

trary to the Scriptures. One pas-age that mav 

|)e cited i -. I Cor. 15:2-1. 2is "Then cometh the 

tainly not infringe on the doctrine of common L.nci when we shall have fl< liver-'d up the kingdom 

grace. to God, even the Father; when we shall have put 

He seems to expect the State to get its light on down all rule and all authority and power 

moral and spiritual questions through the Church. And when all things shall be subject unto him 

While he rejects "ecclesi the dictation to that put all thing"- under him, that God mav be 

the State by the Church he yet assumes that the a|i jn 

an." 

Church is to be mediator, the messenger, between \0 cLubt som > of the declarations of the eon- 

Christ and the State. He makes the Church to fessing chur-h of Europe under threat of life. 

be essentially as was explicitly stated by Nor- were genuine and scriptural, both sub.ie-tively 

wegian churchmen during the war 

con- "the anfj objectively, in spirit and truth. But liberal 

(p. 56). While he sees the thinking is not equipped to give an adequate in- 

science of the State" 

dangers of ecclesiology, and seeks to avoid them, terprotation of them. 

it does not appear that he has succeeded. 

Appraisal 

This is a book from a land distressingly 

astated, caught under the sweeping crash of 

forces both physical and moral, against which 


dev- (Continued from page 163) 

0us than Eire and objects te paying the bill? lur Hie whole 

is]and, Eire does permit Piolestant churches m carry 

110 human deliverer is any longer even hoped for, on unhinderedthere are Covenanter churches there. 

a continent crying OUt for a Ruler who is able to but ..The Churchman's 

Magazine" 

save. It is an eloquent confession of need for ,-ep0i-ts that m Dublin a new publication. 

m its September issue 

-Fiai" 

"has 

willing submission on the part of nations as such, pos- 

started a fighting tuncl m take away the lights now 

to the rule of Christ. Not only is our own nation 

ripe for the message of the kingship 

seSsed by non-Catholic lehgions. much as been done m 

of Christ, Spain, where France promised religious hbeilv. The 

as we have found, the world has been prepared 

t-act is R0me

lbs THK COVENANTER WITNESS September 15. pi|.y 


C. Y. P U. TOPIC 

FOR OCTOBER If), PUS 

EPISTLE OF PAUL TO 

Psalms: 

EPHESIANS 

ISy the Rev. M. K. Carson 

Psalm 122:1-4, No. 350 

Psalm 84:1, 5, 6, No. 227 

Psalm 27:4-eh No. (J 5 

Psalm ll(i:l, 4, 5, (J, No. 312 

Read and re-read this Epistle 

prayerfully and carefully. It is in 

spired by the Holy Spirit and we 

need the Holy Spirit to enlighten us. 

Ephesians has been called the 

Epistle ol the Grace of God. This 

word, "grace", 

which is found at 

least twelve times in the Epistle is a 

precious word, closely connected 

with meicy, love and peace, as in the 

benediction. It is through (hubs 

grace only, that we can have peace. 

"Grace is all the free and loving 

favor of (Ind in its spiritual ef 

ficacy." 

Chapters 1-3, form the doctrinal 

part the riches of the believe! in 

Christ, and the last three chapters 

present the moral and practical as 

pect of the Christian life. This part 

sets befoi e us the walk that is 

worthy 

of our calling. 4:1. 

Boundless expressions dcsciibe our 

riches in Christ: "riches of His 

grace," 

"the exceeding- 

riches of His 

grace," 

"filled with all the fulness 

of God, and the unseai enable 

i iches of 

Christ." 

Find other expres 

sions which suggest the fullness, 

wealth and plentitude of the Chris 

tian. What arc the key 

Epistle? 

verse? of the 

There is a difference between Ihc 

expi c-ssions, 

"according- to' 

and "out 

A maii of wealth contributes to 

pome worthy 

ausr. He gives "out 

of" 

his wealth, even though he gives 

only a few pennies, but not 

"accoiding 

to" 

his wealth. If he gave "ac 

to"cording- 

his wealth, he would 

have contiibuted many thousands of 

dollars (do, | uives "according 

to" 

the 

riches ol His glory. .", :l(i. Not.- some 

of these "according 

to' 

expressions: 

1:5, 7, !>, 11, 111; ",:7, 11, lb With 

-uch an abundance provided foi us, 

why 

then, do we live such "povei ty- 

lives spiritually? 

Ephesians is a piison letter, 3:1; 

-i:l; (i : 2U, probably written during 

the Roman imprisonment Does Paul 

wi ite like one confined to a piison 

or like one who is dwelling with 

Cluist in the "heavenlies" 

? The fre 

quent occurrence of compounds with 

the Greek preposition for 

"with" 

(sun) expresses a very intimate arid 

close fellowship 

with Christ. These 

expressions, "quickened together with 

Christ," 

us sit 

with the 

"raised up together," 

together," 

"made 

"fellow-citizens 

saints," 

"builded together 

for an habitation of God through 

the 

ship 

Spirit," "fellow-heirs," 

of the 

"fellow 

mystery," 

reveal his 

union with Christ. Paul was in 

prison, but no prison can confine the 

spirit of the man who is living in 

the heavenlies with Christ. Is it any 

wonder that many feel that Paul 

was at his "best and greatest in this 

Epistle?" 

The theme of the epistle has been 

stated as "Christ and the Church" 

or "Christ completed m His Church" 

The Head finds completeness in the 

Body. 1:23; 5:32. The origin of the 

Church is in God. As Dr. Morgan 

says, "The Church is not an experi 

ment in human histoiy." 

The Church 

cannot be destroyed. Matthew 16:18. 

Here we have set foi th "the glory 

and of dignity the Universal Church 

as the Temple, the Body, the Bride 

of hei Ascended Lord. The motto of 

the whole Epistle might be, 'There 

is one Body and one Spirit,' 

Body 

the 

is the Univeisal Church of 

God, the Spirit is the Spirit of 

Christ." 

Fairar. Am I a part of the 

Body of Christ the CHURCH? 

Study the two prayers of this 

Epistle. It is Paul's prayer that the 

saints may fully 

realize their mar 

velous privileges and prospects in 

Christ and the greatness of His 

power m us who believe. 1 :15-23. 

In the second pi aver, 3:14-21, we 

have these petitions, "That Christ 

may dwell in your hearts by faith," 

"That He would grant you to be 

st rcng-thened ; that ye may be able 

to compiehend (Four dimen 

sions of the divine salvation) "That 

\e may lie able to know the love of 

Christ," 

"That ye may be filled with 

all the fulness of God." 

Can any one 

compute the wealth of the Chris 

tian? Do we always reveal this 

wealth in oui walk? 

The walk should be in keeping 

with the profession and with the 

marvelous inheritance which we have 

in Chiist. It should be the kind of a 

walk which reveals our "riches" 

Jt-su- '"hi ist The rich often reveal 

their wealth bv then life their 

in 

homes, their food their clothe*, then 

travel, etc. The poor reveal thei- 

povei ty in the same way. With al 

this wealth about which Paul ha 

been speaking, 

what should lie th. 

nature of the Christian's walk? Ai 

we walking as those who posses 

"the exceeding 

riches of His 

grate',1 

If only we did, what glorious live 

we would be living! Beliefs deter 

mine actions. If we truly believe th 

doctrinal part of this Epistle whu 

will be the nature of our walk? 

1. It will be a walk of unity pi 

1-1G). There is one body, and on. 

Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith 

one baptism and one God and Faint 

of all. If we are growing up int 

Him in all things, 

which is th 

Head, even Christ, there will t . 

unity. 

2. It is a walk of holiness (-Idi, 

2'.l). The Christian's walk should b 

different from the walk of th 

worldly, 

from "other Gentiles" 

Wha 

a fine walk it would be if e coul 

measure up to this ideal of holiiies 

in our daily living! What things in 

forbidden in this walk of holiness 

What things are required? 

3. It is a walk of love (-4:30-5:2 

This kind of a walk in love mean 

the putting away of those thine 

which grieve the Holy Spirit of Goi 

Bitterness, 

wrath and evil speakin 

are to be put away. We arc to 1 

lorgiving, tender-hearted and kini 

Walk in love, as Christ also hut 

loved us. Who can reach 

ideal? 

such a 

1. This is a walk in the light [' 

3-14). Christ is the Light of if 

world and light is the 

_ 

symbol of tr 

Kingdom of Christ. For those \vr 

are in the light there can be no fe 

lowship 

darkness. .. .It is 

with the unfruitful works < 

a 

shame run 

speak of those things which an- dm t 

of them in secret ... .John''< I'-1-- 

"We reject. .. .all forms 

of seen 

oath-bound societies and ordcis 

( 'ovenant. 

5. It is a walk in 

21). Walking circumspectly, 

ing 

wisdom {o:\- 

redeen , 

the time, understanding the wi " 

of the Lord and being 

the Spirit are the 

filled wil v 

wise men. : 

(".. This is a walk in 

happiness t 

21-6:!)). If husband and wife. 

ents and children, sons and daw: - 

teis, mastem and 

Lord, then it will be a 

and peace and 

servant.- are 

Tia 

m"' 

walk of lo'-; 

helpfulness "*} 

'

September 15, lfJ IS THK COVENANTER WITNESS 1(1!) 

quickly these problems of divorce, 

juvenile delinquency and strikes 

would be solved if a truly Christian 

relationship prevailed. 

7. It is a walk of strength (6:9). 

Be strong in the Lord." 

We are to 

put on the armour of God as those 

who are alive in Christ. This is our 

protection and our strength. 

Prayer: Pray that we may truly 

appreciate and appropriate our 

wealth in Jesus Christ, 

and that we 

may walk worthily of our calling in 

Christ. 

Questions: 

1. Why should this book be called 

the "Epistle of the grace of God"? 

to" 

2. Trace the phrase "according 

through the Epistle. 

3. What are the two main divi 

sions and the relation between 

them ? 

4. What does the Epistle teach 

concerningthe 

Church ? What fig 

ures are used as illustrations of the 

church ? 

5. What is the significance of the 

"alls" 

in 1:22-23? 

G. What do we learn about the 

Person of Christ? The Holy Spirit? 

7. What truths and 

piess you most? 

JUNIOR TOPIC 

passages im- 

FOR OCTOBER 10, IHtS 

PSALM 122 


This past Sabbath the minister in 

the church I attended said to his 

congregation, "You are singing well 

today. Sometimes you do not sing as 

well as you can, but today I think 

you 

are." 

It is well to have people 

approve of our singing. We all enjoy 

it when the music is good. But more 

important than people's approval is 

God's approval. Last week we learned 

the psalm that tells us to sing "with 

cheerful 

voice" 

We learned how 

important it is to think of the mean 

ing 

Another help to singing 

of the words while we sing. 

with a 

cheerful voice is knowing how to use 

the instrument God gave us to praise 

Him. Your whole body helps you 

sing. You must learn to hold it cor 

rectly just as a violinist learns to 

hold his violin and bow correctly. 

The same violin can sound screechy 

or beautiful, depending 

upon how it 

is played. The way you sit or stand 

makes a difference m your voice. It 

is best to stand when you sing, with 

your weight on both feet. If you have 

trouble standing 

straight it may 

help you if you imagine that you 

have a baloon on your head pulling 

you up. A 

straight back gives youi 

lungs a chance to fill with the air 

you need for a good tone. Whether 

you sing with full voice or softly, 

you must have good posture. 

Now. standing tall, sing the One 

Hundredth Psalm from memory, 

calling all peoples to worship God 

In short prayers, ask God's blessing 

on the work of our missionaries in 

this land and in other lands. 

The 122nd psalm, which we are 

studying today, has an interestinghistory. 

It was one of the psalms 

sung by the Israelites as they 

walked to Jerusalem each year to 

celebrate the feast of the Passover. 

Read the first verse aloud together. 

It tells you where they 

planned to 

go. Read the rest of the psalm. Did 

these people love Jerusalem? What 

in the psalm shows your answer is 

correct ? 

If your family has taken a trip of 

two or three 

weeks' 

length, you can 

imagine the excitement of getting 

ready for the trip to Jerusalem. 

Mothers had to get ready clean 

clothes, bedding 

and food for the 

journey. Fathers got the animals or 

b i i (Is for the sacrifices. Children ot 

thirteen or fourteen years who had 

been to Jerusalem showed off their 

knowledge to the twelve-year-olds 

who wei e going for the first time. 

As the family went on its way up 

the dusty 

roads to Jerusalem, more 

and more families joined, and more 

and more voices rose in the psalms 

they sang 

as they walked. (If you 

are drawing illustrations for the 

psalms we study, you can find sever 

al pictures here to think about.) 

they 

When the Jews went to Jerusalem, 

met with other Jews from all 

over the land of Israel, just as we 

meet with other Covenanters at our 

national conventions. That is one of 

the great pleasures of the confer 

ence. Or as we sing this psalm we 

can think of going to the New Jer 

usalem (that's another name for 

heaven) 

when our feet shall stand 

within the gates and we shall be 

with all the children of God. 

It is interesting to know that this 

psalm was sung 

at the Coronation 

of the present King and Queen of 

England in 1937. 

You will want to memorize at 

least the first two verses of the 

122nd psalm, and more if you can. 

Study the verses the way you did 

hist week, reading them out loud, 

humming the tune and remembering 

the words, then singing from mem 

ory. Copying- the words in your note 

book may help you remember, too. 

Other psalms to sing aie psalms 

107, No. 293, vs. 1, 1-li and psalm 

134 No. 37U. 



LESSON II. BIOGRAPHY IN 

THE BIBLE 

Genesis 11:27 to 25:11 

Printed veises, Genesis 11:31; 

12:5; 17:1-3 


Golden Text: 

"In all thy ways acknowledge him, 

and he shall direct thy 

Proverbs 3:0 

paths 

There will be two tendencies in 

teaching today's lesson: the one to 

discuss the subject, Biography in the 

Bible, 

and neglect the Bible verses 

which are suggested; and the other 

to spend all the time on the verses, 

which are confined to the biography 

of Abraham. Let us try to find a 

way that will take up Biography in 

the Bible, yet that will make use of 

the verses too. 

Here are some suggested outlines 

for the printed verses, taken from 

Moore's "Points foi Emphasis" 

The Call from God. Genesis 1 1 ; j 1 ; 

12:5. II. The Covenant with God. 

Genesis 17:1-3. Or, I. The Purpose of 

God. If The Promise of God. In a 

little more detail: "Heed God's Call 

and Keep 

God's Covenant." 

I. 

The 

CALL to Listen. "God had said unto 

Abram." 

thee 

The CALL to Leave, "Get 

out." 

The CALL to be Led, "Un 

to a land that 1 will shew thee." 

The 

CALL to be Gieat, "I will make of 

thee a great nation. .and make 

thy 

name great." 

. . 

The CALL to do Good, 

"Thou shalt be a blessing and m 

thee shall all families of the earth 

be 

blessed." 

The COVENANT of 

Goodness. "Walk before me and be 

thou 

perfect." 

The COVENANT of 

Fidelity, "Keep my covenant there 

thee." 

fore, thou, and thy seed after 

The COVENANT For Ever, "An 

everlasting- 

lasting 

covenant .... foi an ever 

possessi 

Since the subject is Biogiaphy in 

the Bible, the point.-, made m con 

nection with the study 

of the verses 

telling of the life of Abraham should 

be traced in the lives of other Bible 

heroes. Then the application of these 

points may be made in our own 

lives, to make the lesson practical. 

We should also remember that while 

oidinaiy biogiaphies are usually 

wiitten to magnify the lives of the 

men and women they tell about, 

biography 

in the Bible glorifies God, 

and it is all incidental to the coming 

into the world of the great cential

170 THE COVENANTER WITNESS September lo, lJ)-J,s 

charactei of all, the Lord Jesus 

( 'hi ist. Abrani was called to be the 

father of the nation which would 

pioduce the Messiah. David was 

called to be the king 

of this nation 

in order that, from the human side, 

Jesus Christ might be a King. The 

prophets were called to keep the 

nation in line, and to tell of the 

coming 

Christ. All Bible biography 

centers in Jesus Christ. 

It would be hard to improve on 

the outlines suggested above, so why 

try? We might consider however, 

under the pasage in Genesis 11:31 to 

12:5 how human relationships com 

plicate God's call. There is the com 

plication of those to whom we are 

responsible, as Abram was first re 

sponsible to Terah, the patriarch. 

Terah went part way, but stopped 

short. A divine call is both a call 

out, and a call into. Terah responded 

to the call out of Ur, but came short 

of the call into Canaan. Then there 

is the complication of those for 

whom we are responsible. Abram be 

came the patriarch when Terah died, 

and those in the family were re 

sponsible to him, 

and he was re 

sponsible for them. Sarai seems not 

to have given him any trouble, but 

that is not true of all the Bible 

wives There was Lot's wife, who 

looked back; Job's wife, who added 

to his temptation; Moses' 

wife; and 

David's wife, Michal. Abram did not 

let his responsibility for Lot hinder 

him from following God's call all the 

way. He took Lot with him, and 

kept him with him as long as it was 

possible. 

We might look at some other 

Bible characters whose calls were 

complicated by 

human relationships. 

Daniel was called out of his native 

land, 

and then was called out from 

among the captives themselves. Hedid 

not let human relationships hin 

der his call into full service of God 

whether in the matter of eating and 

di inking, or of worshiping God. 

Jeremiah was called to speak when 

all his people were against him. Xe- 

hemiah was called to lead his people 

back from a compai atively comfor 

table captivity 

to the hardships of 

rehabilitation. These men were faith 

ful to God's calls, and weie admir 

able in their courtesy 

and considera 

tion for those who complicated their 

calls. Even our Lord Himself could 

have had His ministiy complicated 

by His mother if He had allowed it. 

Your call and mine is a call out 

out of sin, 

complacency, 

out of lethargy, out of 

out of worldliness It 

is a call into mm holy living, into 

soi vice. Let us go the whole way, and 

let us not be hindered by any who 

might stop us. Let us take with us 

those for whom we are responsible. 

And let us imitate the courtesy and 

considei ation that the Bible heroes 

had for others. 

The other printed verses, Genesis 

17:1-3, are a good example of the 

truth of the Golden Text. Abram 

did acknowledge God in all his ways, 

and God has brought to pass every 

part of the covenant. This is also the 

expei ience of all the other heroes of 

the Bible. Moses and David found it 

so, Solomon says it, 

and the prophets 

and apostles proved it over and over 

again. Let us acknowledge God, 

lather than boast of self on the one 

hand, or feel utterly helpless because 

of our weakness on the other, and 

watch Him work things out accord 

ing- 

to His wise and holy purpose. 



CONVERSION OF SAUL 

Comments: 

OF TARSUS 

Acts 9:1-18 



Psalm 20:1-4, No. 44 

Psalm 119:1, 2, 4, No. 330 

Psalm 35-7-10, No. 93 

Psalm 25:13-17, No. 03 

"Tell me about your 

How would you react to such a l e- 

quest? Would you be irritated, or 

delighted ? Perhaps, like Saul of 

Tarsus, you know the day and the 

hour, and rejoice in that certainty. 

Or. not knowing- the exact time, you 

conversion." 

may be satisfied that the miracle 

has taken place. Again, you may 

have neither the knowledge of the 

time, nor the assurance, and yet be 

spiritually alive, just as a new-born 

babe is physically alive without be 

ing subjectively aware of the fact. 

Or, like the vast majority of man 

kind, you are, as you read these 

woids, "dead in trespasses and 

The most singular conversion re- 

coided in Scripture is that of Saul of 

Tarsus. We study it, not as a sample 

for measuring our own experience, 

hat as evidence that conversion, 

however manifested, is such a pro 

found change in our nature that the 

sins." 

only way in which we may describe 

it is to say that we have been born 

again. 

1. Saul's Early Life 

About the time that our Saviour 

was born in Bethlehem, 

anothei child 

was born in far-off Tarsus in Silicia, 

and destined to be His meat apostle 

Since the child's family was ,,f th- 

tiibe of Benjamin it was fittinc that 

he should be -liven the name | 

Israel'.-, fiist king who was also of 

that tribe Saul. Saul was always 

loyal to his hometown of Tarsus 

which was "no mean 

city" 

It was a 

cosmopolitan city. Politically, it was 

ruled by Rome; culturally, it was in 

fluenced by the Greeks; and it was 

also the home of a colony of Jews. 

Saul's father held the unusual dis 

tinction of being both a Pharisee and 

a Roman citizen. This meant, for the 

son, an inheritance of life-long ad 

vantage. It meant that Saul would be 

well-trained m the Old Testament 

and Jewish customs, and it meant, 

too, that in later life he could make 

the assertion which (pioved both 

passport and life-saver: "But I am 

Reman born." 

Saul, the young- 

man, possessed an 

unusual array of endowments, but 

the trouble was that he was using- 

them all against God. The reason 

comes as something of a shock. 

Ignorance. "I did it ignorantly in un 

belief," 

he later said. He was the 

dangerous combination of intellectual 

brilliance, and spiritual ignoiance. 

2. Saul Persecuting the Christians 

Saul, the Pharisee, was ceiy re 

ligious, but it was a religion of legal 

ism, of cold, formal, dead woiks. en- 

gag'ed not in spiritual warfare, but 

in the actual tortuiing 

and murder 

ing of the despised '"hristians. 

There is no evidence that Saul's 

conscience condemned him for peise 

cuting 

the Christians. Instead, we 

have his own statement, made long 

after, that he had no 

misgivings as 

to the lectitude of the course he vie 

pursuing: "I did it ignorantly 

belief." 

in un 

"I verily thought with my 

self that I ought to do main thine- 

contraiy to the name of Jesus of 

eth." 

Nazai The conscience of an un- 

reijcnerate man is not a reliable 

guide: Many feel that "if you do the 

best that you know how everything 

will be all right." 

But the "l-st ye 

know how" 

may be exactly opposite 

to the will of God! "But the natural 

man leceiveth not the things 

Spirit of God: for they 

ness unto him; 

them, because they 

discerned." 

3. Saul's Conversion 

nt the 

are foolish 

neither can he know 

are spiritually 

We may best appreciate the extent 

of Saul's hatred when we 

his activity immediately 

his conversion He had 

couplet 

pi ecedinc 

none tn the 

â'Jl 

high priest (a Sadducee, whom

September 15, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS TH 

despised almost as much as he lor his expeiienic. Jesus appeared tied use'' 

despised a Chiistian) and had asked unto him. In his testimony 

permission to continue his mad 

per- i csurrection of Christ, Paul mentions salvation. 

to the 3. Define conversion, i cgeaeration, 

secution of the Christians at Damas- this appeal ance as of equal signifi- 1 Tell ol some otnei conveisions 

cus. 1G0 miles distant. Permission cance with the appearance of Jesus in Scripture. How do they differ? 

was granted and Saul set out, to Peter, to the twelve, to the five llow aie they 

all alike'' 

"bieathing, threatening and slaugh- hundred brethien, to James. "And 5. What is the attitude of your 

ter." 

Midday 

is siesta time for most of one born out of due time." 

travelers, for the sun at its zenith is "Tell me about your 

last of all he was seen of me also, as congregation towaid the conversion 

's unbeai ably hot, but midday found I)o vou welcome such a request? One m unity? 

mad Saul on the road. The account 

is given in The Acts three times: ".. 

ot the heathen in far-off 

lands'' To- 

conversion." 

ward the unsaved of your own corn 

(JHV Billy BraVi happy Cornish miner, F0R PRAYER 

ca\}v^ on tne e\v parson. . 

"Converted, , , , ", , , . 

Ask God to bless our ve?- 

returning 

am,, 

. 

' 

' 

.a light from heaven. ..a voice.... 

Saul. Saul, why persecuted thou me'? 

It is hard for thee to kick against 

the goad. And I said, Who ait thou, 

,,, ..y,,, thank God, j 

and those on the Held, 

answered the paon, In a moment, "ur^ " 

B,lly, Piled with delight that knew ^-,th L*'' 6n' 

0 bounds, thiew his arms around 

Lord?. ..I am Jesus whom thou thc, 

vicai, llfte and to humble Himself even unto FOR OCTOBER 17. lHls 

Psalm 51 :5 li No. 145 

'he cruel and lonely death of tht PSALM 4 

Psalm .S0:17-1'J No. 21U cross to win redemption for sinful B> Mar> Elisabeth Coleman 

Scripture Passages: 

Acts 16:11-1.,; 10-24; 25-34; 35-3'J, 

m,-n- The attitude of mind led to the Last week we learned that one im- 

fulfillment of the plan and the re- 

portant part m singing the psalms is 

40. Read each selection from Acts 1(3 sultant crowing oi exaltation. tu hold conectly the musical ir.stru- 

and discover what people Paul had The same mind in us leads to meats, our bodies. Another important 

met in Philippi and the circum- 

abounding love, worthy life, and a pait is to sing 

the words clearly. A 

stances of each meeting. How many shai e in Christ's victoiy. What round o sounds much nicer than one 

of these were probably 

members of changes would take place in the that is mixed with a and e. See the 

the congregation when Paul wrote world if people had the mind of difference in tone when you hold 

the letter called "Philippians?" 

Christ? Would any changes take your lips slightly open and flat as 

Then lead the following selections place in our Church? What changes you sing the word, "hold", and when 

from Philippians: Phil. 1:1-6, 12-14, would take place in your life and you are less lazy and round your 

21-27, 2:1-11 12-16. 3:13-16, 20; 4: mine? Should we become discouraged lips. Sing 

"holding" 

and see how 

1-9. As you read these passages try about the outcome of the present age your mouth changes with the second 

to imagine this congregation as the long struggle of the Kingdom of syllable. No one likes to see you 

letter is read. Try to pick out mes- God against the evil powers of the makte faces, and you do not need to 

sages from Paul that would have woild? Why is it so necessary to re- for good singing, but you must have 

special meaning for such people as joice in the Lord, no matter what limber mouths to sing 

sounds so that 

Lydia, the prison-keeper, and others circumstances we are forced to go the tone is good and your words arc 

mentioned in Acts. I realize that the through? How can we show fore- understandable. 

above program of reading is enough bearance in our relationship with our Review psalms 100 and 122. Did 

to take up the whole meeting. people? Is anxiety and wory a sin? you think about the words? Did you 

Let each member choose a verse of How can prayer help us overcome stand tall? Did you sing 

Philippians which has a special anxiety? What are some of the clearly? Did you sing- 

the woids 

psalm 100 as 

meaning for you. things we ought to think about to praise to God? Did your voice agree 

COMMENTS AND QUESTIONS develop the ability to think and live with the words when you sang "I 

In "Living Messages of the Books like Christ? Some of the most won- joyed"?

172 THE COVENANTER WITNESS September LI, i 

Sometimes the joy 

in our hearts is 

a quiet joy. The chief part of psalm 

4 is like that. The first two verses 

are not happy 

singer is thinking 

ones because the 

about the way 

wicked men have treated him. Why is 

he happier in the third verse? What 

does he tell about the Lord's good 

ness in the seventh verse? Martin 

Luthei and other gieat Christians 

loved the last verses of this psalm 

antl used them often. 

The eighth verse sounds much like 

a well-known prayei of children. 

"Now I lay 

me down to 

sleep" 

think the last verse of the fourth 

psalm, 

either in the Psalter or in the 

Bible, is a better evening piayer. 

It is the last song of the day 

I 

at the 

campfire at many young people's 

conferences and at least one Cove 

nanter congregation sings it softly 

after the benediction at the end of 

the evening service. 

There aie so many 

verses of this 

psalm that it is hard to choose which 

ones to learn. Talk it over in your 

group 

and decide which ones you will 

study. Probably 

you all will want to 

learn the last verse. Study the verse 

as you have before. There are good 

illustrations for your notebooks in 

verses 4, 7, 

and 8. 

How will you sing 

this psalm 

wdth "joyous shout"? Think about 

the meaning of each verse and then 

decide whether you will sing it with 

full voice or softly. 

Some Bible verses with the 

thoughts of this psalm are: Numbers 

6:24-26; Ps. 37:3; Leviticus 25:18; 

II Samuel 22:7; Ps. 38:15; Ps. 121: 

6-8; 

Ps. 3:5. 

The members of your church are 

interested in your work in Junior 

Society. They 

would like to hear you 

sing the psalms we are learning this 

month. They 

can be helped by what 

you have learned about how to sing. 

Start thinking in your group about 

putting- 

on a short program for part 

of a church or prayer meeting serv 

ice. When your plans am fairly well 

decided on, select a committee to 

talk to your pastor about it. He may 

have some furthei suggestions. 

S \BB.\TH SCHOOL LESSON 

FOR OCTOBER 17. 1948 

Lesson III. LAW IN THE BIBLE 

Deut. 5-6; 

Leviticus 10:1-18; 

Matthew 22:31-40 

Piinted text, Deut. 6:20-25; Lev. 

10:0-14, 17. 18. 

Golden Text: 

"Thou 

shalt love the IjOrd thy 

God with all thy heart, and with all 

thv soul, and with all thy mind. 

This is the first and great com 

mandment. And the second is like 

unto it, Thou shalt love thy neigh 

bor as 

Matthew 22:37-39. 

Most of you will read all the scrip 

ture that is suggested to go with 

this lesson, 

and not just the printed 

verses. Read Deuteronomy 5 to find 

out (1) What Moses said; (2) What 

God had said in the mountain, 

out of 

the fire; (3) What the people had 

-aid when they heard what God said. 

14) What God said when He heard 

what the people said; 

and (5) What 

Moses said in conclusion. Read the 

first part of Chaptei 6, noticing how 

many veises aie familiar to you, and 

how many are relatively unfamiliar. 

Then we take up the printed veises, 

Deuteronomy 6:20-25. 

I. TEACHING THE LAW TO OUR 

CHILDREN 

Have you a little living question 

mark in your home? "And when thy 

son asketh thee... 

" 

Children learn 

by asking questions, so let us not be 

come impatient with them when they 

do, and when they keep on asking, 

for by repetition things are fixed in 

the mind. But let us be careful how 

we answer, and from these verses we 

get from the Law of God the right 

way to answer. First, the Greatness 

of God is emphasized as shown in 

bringing 

Israel out of bondage. We 

too should begin in our answers now 

with our low condition under sin and 

how God brought us out of its bond 

age by 

our Redeemer. God should be 

magnified. Next the Goodness of God 

is mentioned. He had compassion on 

the Hebrews, and when they cried to 

Him He saved them. God's love for 

sinners should be brought out. Then 

the Guidance of God is recalled. He 

led them out and through the wilder 

ness and into the new land. Happy is 

the child that learns at home that 

God guides the family, and that all 

things work together for good to 

them that love God. After this the 

Gift of God is mentioned. God 

brought Israel out to give them the 

land He had promised to their fath- 

eis The gift of God, eternal life 

'hrough Jesus Christ our Lord, 

should be contrasted to the wages of 

sin, which is death. Then we have in 

these verses the Government of God. 

He is Sovereign and He has the 

right to command us to obey His 

laws. Doing- it is for our good always. 

We also ha\e the Guarantee of God, 

and finally the Grace of God. (These 

"G's" 

come from Moore's, "Points 

For Emphasis" 

again.) 

Some ycais ago a speaker at the 

Keswick Conference in England 

spoke from the 23id verse, "Ami |, 

bi ought us out that he wjjrh 

biing 

us in." 

We are brought out o 

the bondage of sin for the purpose o 

being- brought into the full life that i 

possible in Christ. If we stay in th 

"wilderness" 

half way between th 

Egypt of sin and the Canaan c 

pionnso we live ., 

miserable hf 

Whales ei you may think of KcMn, 

theology, experience teaches ns tha 

list coming out of sin and no! !>,. 

the rest of the way, leave- us wea 

and ancomfoi table and unccit,-.: 

Sometimes, we want to go back lu th 

old life whine we weie happier On 

brought us out . . that 

bring 

11 mi -,\ e- 

He m igb 

us in. If we do not j;n in wit 

,na\ hegu-. to think thai til 

wilderness life is the only hl'c (In 

has for i.s What a pity when uc J. 

not experience something hettet 

Another danger is that nt hei peopl 

will say. "God was not able to brin 

them in." 

They may think the half 

way life we are living is the bes 

God can do for His people. May mi 

witness be better than that. 

II. LIVING THE LAW IN QUI 

WORK. Leviticus 19:9-14. 

This is a part of a pasage that ma; 

have been constructed around tl:- 

number five. Possibly this was f' 

the sake of easier memorizing. Any 

way 

some have called attention l 

the twenty-five laws for neighbor 

which we have in this chaptei, nil 

have giouped them in fives. The fiv 

rules of harvesting: not wholly n-a 

the corners; not gather the gleaning 

in the field; 

not glean the vineyard 

not gather every giape; but leavi 

some for the poor and the stranger 

The five mles of common living: ni 

stealing; no false dealing; no h'ini' 

no false swearing; and no profanity 

The five rules of dealing 

with Hum 

over whom we have an advantaec 

not defraud neighboi ; 

not rob him 

not hold back wages that are due 

not curse the deaf; 

and not put . 

stumblingblock in front of the blind 

Now find the othci two lives 

The Isiaehtes were to he pr- 

dominantly 

an agricultural 

people 

and so these rules for living will 

our neighbors begin with haivisinU 

the crops, for il is m the harvest 

generosity 

tha' 

or selfishness show the"1 

selves. Read the book of Ruth for ai 

example of how Boaz obeyed tll;i 

rule of the haivest. and 

how he oi 

tiered his mapers to let some banc 

fuls of grain fall on 

gleaning 

purpose s the 

would be easiei. These rules 

can only be applied today 

'ciple, but the next five ran 

lowed lm-rall\ no steahnie 

in I'1'1" 

be '"' 

^"

September 15, i,J-ls THE COVENANTER WITNESS V7> 

dealing, lying, false sweating, or important place in all our 

piofanity. -'hips in life, 

as have all the com- 

icbition- How much value do we give to the 

testimony 

There is an crioneous impu-ssion mandments. And if it were truly trust? Is there any 

of a man whom we dis- 

today, due to the popular Bible obeyed how blessed all our relation- dealing with untrustworthy 

satisfaction in 

people'.' 

teaching that the Old Testament was ships would be! A murderer, a thief, an evildoci, a 

all hate, and the New Testament in- What is lequired in the Ninth busybody in othei men's matteis 

tioduced love, that Jesus Christ Commandment? It lequireth the could not have much influence I'm 

originated the idea that we should maintaining and promoting 

love our neighbor as ourselves. He between man and man, 

of truth Christ (I Peter 4:15). "A good name 

and of our is rather to be chosen than great 

was quoting from the Old Testament. own and our neighbor's good name, riches (Proverbs 22:1). We should 

Compare also Romans 12:20 with especially in witness bearing. seek to deserve the esteem of others 

Pioverbs 25:21. The Law called for We are required to maintain and and to preserve it if it is acquired. 

love, but the Law serves only to show promote truth among men. This we Integrity 

us how unable we are to do what the can do hy speaking the truth and by as a witness. 

of character is necessary 

Law requires without divine help. encouraging others to speak and wit- "He that filches from me my 

Jesus Christ brought that help ness for the truth at all times. False, good name, 

through His sacrifices foi sin, and in deceptive and untruthful witnesses Robs me of that which not en- 

sending the Holy Spirit to make us have caused great sorrow in the riches him, 

able to do what man can not do alone. world. How many innocent persons And makes me pooi 

The Golden Text is taken from the have been condemned by false wit- But we should not only 

last passage, 

printed verses, 

indeed." 

seek to 

which is not in the nesses! False witnesses testified maintain and promote our own good 

and it shows the or- 

against Jesus (Matt. 26:30). It was name, but the good name of others. 

dcr that is followed always in law in through the testimony of false wit- No doubt all of us have suffered and 

the Bible; the love of God is first, nesses that Naboth was put to death perhaps have caused others to suffer 

and then the love of our neighbor. (I Kings 21:13). False witnesses through "idle 

This is seen in the Ten Command- 

gossip" 

Instead of 

testified against Stephen (Acts 6:13). spreading some damaging report 

ments which summaiizc the moral "In maintaining and promoting about some 

law, and today's lesson has followed truth between man and man, 

the same order: teach the love of it be in common conversation, 

God, 

"weak" 

brother, we ought 

whether to shield him so far as we are able 

or in (Romans 15:1-2). 

your- 

and love your neighbor as our promises, oaths, bargains, or Dr Elliott in his little booklet, 

self. contracts, and whether the method of "Boyd Walker, the Elder" 

tells how 

PRAYER MEETING TOPIC ,-,, 

expressing our thoughts be by words, this young elder shielded Tom Ross, 

|)V ,,thei signs or tokens, we are talked and prayed with him privately 

FOR OCTOBER 20, 19 18 to obseive a strict veracity; and that am| W0M him back into an active 

NINTH COMMANDMENT even toward an enemy, we are not to Christian life. If others had had their 

Exodus 20:16; Deut. 5:20 make use of falsehood, although we Way this 

young- 

man's offense would 

Questions 76-78 niay lawfully conceal that truth, have been made public. Boyd Walker 

Comments: either in whole or in part, when he -as seeking to maintain and 

By M. K. Carson has no right to expect that we should 

mote the "good 

name" 

of one of the 

Psalms: 

make it known." 

Green. members. This should always he our 

Psalm 15, No. 28 Have doctors, nurses, ministers, attitude so far as we are able. Do we 

Psalm 141:1-4, No 38': and friends the right to hold the enjoy hearing and lepeatmg some 

Psalm 26:1-4, No. 64 truth from the sick and dying? What gossip 

pro- 

oi is it our delight to empha- 

Psalm 52:1-4, No 146 is the relation between this com- size the good things which we hear 

References: mandment and camouflage? about others? What a privilege it 

James 3:5-lX; Proverbs 1-3:1-4; I What are the definitions of char- should bt' l" helP 

Sam. 22:17-23; Jeiennah 0:1-9 acter and reputation? What is the 

Sincerity and tiuth in speech is a value of a "good name'"? Prov. 27:2; 

Christian virtue. This ,s emphasized 22:1; 

Eccl. 7:1. Can those who please 

maintain and pin- 

lll0te the 8'ood name t others. For 

th^' *k f tll,th ;llld '>ghteousess 

howeve, , 

we must expose heresy and 

wrong doing. W hen this is necessary, 

in this commandment. The opposite God count on the approbation and 

of truthfulness is falsehood and ly- 

k'1 us "amine vciv caietully the 

friendship of Christian people ? In the 

"l"' 

nl"tlve- ln ]'"" hea,'ts- 

inu. God hates lying and every false last analysis of course what othei s 

way. Psalm 128, 163. Such con- "'hat ,s forbidden m he Ninth 

think of 'us (reputation) is of little 

' 

i- 

, 

,, ,-r , i -.i . 

-t-u Commandment. It torbiddeth whatduct 

is contrary to His nature. He value compared with our standing with / . . 

' 

*'-''>' 

,n- 

- prej.id.c.al to truth, o, 

,s Truth 

God (character). Yet for the sake of a 

We cannot keep this perfect law doubtful reputation how many are 

jm'ious toôu, ownorou, neighbors 

and therefore we cannot be saved by willing 

works. Salvation is a gift. "For by 

to sacrifice character! A "good 

name" 

is a great asset. It should not 

grace are ye saved thiough faith; be sought merely to satisfy 

ôoc namc- 

Whatever is contiary to the truth 

one's own or injurious to the good name of our- 

and that not of yourselves; it is the proud ambitions or to gain popular selves or others is forbidden. This 

gift of God" 

(Eph. 2:8). But hav- applause. We aie to let our lights commandment has a special applica 

nt put on the new man, which after shine before men that we may glorify tion to oui courts of justice. If them 

God is created in righteousness and our Father which is in heaven (Matt. is to be justice, it must be based 

true holiness, we are to put away 5:16). But what kind of a light will upon the truth. False witnescs have 

lying We are to speak every man we have, if we do not have a "good often caused a miscarnage of justice. 

truth with his neighbor (Eph. 4:24- name"? No Christian can have much 

is Perjun. the.elore, a scions 

of- 

25) This commandment has a very of a testimony for Christ without it. fense. It is always wrong to give

17- THE COVENANTER WITNESS September lo, i^ 

false testimony. How much more so 

it is, when we are under oath. 

We should not limit this discussion 

to perjury for this commandment is 

broken in many 

be guilty 

guilty 

ways. Few of us may 

of perjury. All of us are 

of some breach of this com 

mandment, slander, forgery, decep 

tion, hypocrisy, tale-bearing, flattery, 

tattling, exaggeration. 

Sometimes an unfavorable impres 

sion is produced by 

a question, hint 

or suggestion. For instance, you 

might ask a question, "Have you 

heard about 

?" "No." 

"Well 

then, I should not repeat what I 

heard." 

Naturally the inference is 

that something is wrong. Lev. 19:16; 

Prov. 11:13; 18:8; 26:20-22; 20:18-19. 

One who was in the habit of speak 

ing falsely 

about others was told to 

open some ripe thistle pods. Quickly 

the wind blew the seeds hither and 

yon. Then the command was given 

to gather up 

is useless even to try" 

the scattered seeds. "It 

was the de 

spairing cry. Is not tale-bearing some 

thing like scattering thistle seeds? 

How careful we should be! "Set a 

watch, 0 Lord, before my mouth; 

keep the door of my lips (Ps. 141:3). 

The three legendary Japanese 

monkeys, one, "I speak no 

evil," 

with 

his paws over his mouth; the second, 

"I see no 

evil" 

with his paws over 

his eyes and the third, "I hear no 

evil" 

with his paws over his ears, is 

the reason, we are told, why the 

Japanese children are called the 

"most kind, courteous and well-be 

haved children in the 

world." 

We have God's own precious Word. 

How much more exemplary should 

Christians and the children of Chris 

tian parents be! Our difficulty is that 

the Bible is not believed, taught or 

obeyed as it should be. How noble 

our lives would be if we ilid measure 

up 

to its ideals! "Love thinketh no 

evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but 

rejoiceth in the truth" 

(I Cor. 13). 

According to James, we are to be 

slow to speak, 

slow to wrath (1:19). 

We are to "bless, and curse 

"to speak the truth in love," 

speak not evil one of 

not," 

"to 

another," 

and 

many other similar precepts. "Out 

of the abundance of the heart the 

mouth 

speaketh" 

(Matt. 12:34). May 

the Lord abide in us and we abide in 

Him so that the words out of our 

mouths may be 

helpful to others. 

pleasing- 


to Him, and 

That we may have a greatei re 

gard for the truth, for we are mem 

bers one of another (Eph. 4"25) 

Foi our young people who are in 

College, University and Seminary. 

For the Covenanter Crusade and 

Christian Amendment Movement. 

For our missionai ies, especially 

to the field this fall. 

those returning- 

STAR NOTES... 

s**We are booked to sail today, 

September 24, 

but the visas failed to 

come through, so we were delayed in 

Denver. We are now booked to sail 

on the Khedivial Mail, Pier 16, East 

River, New York City, on October 2. 

We have not seen the visas yet but 

hope they will be through by that 

time. Herbert Hays. 

*" 

After over seven years of the 

most pleasant associations with the 

congregation and community of 

Bloomington we have found it ex 

tremely difficult to adequately ex- 

pres our appreciation for the count 

less kindresses shown us during that 

time. During our final week in 

Bloomington, the congregation again 

demonstrated their thoughtfulness 

and good-will at a congregational 

dinner. Mrs. Willson, the children anl 

I, each one thank all those whose 

companionship has meant so much 

during these years. We also want to 

thank the congregation for the very 

generous purse presented to us along 

with the very generous expressions 

of affection. 

Again, we say "thank-you." 

S. Bruce Willson and family. 

"*Miss Bernice Jameson and 

James Carson who spent the sum 

mer vacation in Seattle have returned 

to Geneva College. Rev. David M. 

Carson, after enjoying a month's va 

cation in Seattle, left for Philadel 

phia where he will enter the Uni 

versity 

of Pennsylvania for graduate 

study. On his way east, David vis 

ited friends in Oakdale and assisted 

in the installation services of Rev. 

D. R. Wilcox on September 13. 

"""'Mrs. J. S. Mai tin of Santa Ana 

was a welcome guest in Seattle on 

September 19. After visiting a few 

days with Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Hus 

ton, Mrs. Martin returned to Port 

land for the W.C.T.U. Convention. 

Mrs, Huston returned with Mrs. Mar 

tin to California for a few 

weeks' 

visit with her children and friends. 

""Mrs. J. C. Tweed, who has been 

visiting friends in Seattle since the 

last of June, returned to her home in 

Aivada, Colorado, on September 22. 

Mis Tweed is a member of this con- 

giegation. We were soi ry to have hei 

leave us as her fellowship unci Ik,. 

were gieatly appreciated. 

*"Mi'. J. M Dodds, who was abl- 

to enjoy the Conference days a 

Camp Waskowitz, suffered a strok 

recently We are glad to i-epoi 

that his condition is greatly in- 

proved. Mrs. Maiy Crozier \vh 

spent much of the summer in th 

hospital is glad to be at home i 

gain, although she continues to su] 

fer. 

"Mrs. .Mr. R. Jameson and Mi 

S. M. Dodds of Seattle spent a shoi 

vacation in San Anselmo, Califnrnii 

visiting Mrs. Jameson's daughter ar 

her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Bert Ha 

low and brother, Mr. Harry Bodle. 

Our students who are in the Un 

verstiy of Washington this year ai 

Miss Margaret Jameson in her senit 

year and Mr. Joseph Lamont in h' 

junior year. Mr. Yerd Dunn wl 

plans to complete his college work- 

Seattle Pacific College began his d 

ties on September 28. We are vei 

happy to have Verd and Betty ai 

theii daughter Carol with us th 

winter. 

!**Our Seattle C.Y.P.U. office 

aie Mr. Verd Dunn, piesident; Mi 

Lavor.ne Dill, secretary; anil M 

Donald Crozier, treasurer. Miss Ma 

garet Jameson who was instructed 

work out plans for a "News Lette 

for the Pacific Coast Presbytery, 

preparing the first issue. 

CHURCH NEWS 

MEETING OF HOME MISSIO 

BOARD 

The Home Mission Board met Sej 

etmber 13 in the U.P. Communil 

House, Pittsburgh. The membci 

present were- 

Ministers R. A. Blai 

Robert Clark, D. H. Elliott, R. ('. Fu 

lerton, J. G. McElhinney, T. C M 

Knight, R. I. Robb, J. B. Willson, 

W. McMillan and eldeis J. M. Alle 

R E. Dill, Chester Fox. and M. 

Murphy 

This was the first meeting sin. 

the meeting at Synod. Many iten 

of busines were awaiting the Boare 

consideration. 

The sale of the Toronto Chun 

property has been and tl 

completed, 

money turned over to the Board 

Church Erection. Attorney A. E. M 

Kague rendered his services witho 

charge. The final disposal of th 

ooperty makes it even more 

tive that work be launched in 

impel' 

resun 

fields. The Board resolved v>

September 15, 194 while their sons Ed and 

Rus- 

Women's Missionary fishing" 

^.eU .',went 

in Wisconsin. 

ten days stay in a new Osteopath . 

Society. 

]yi t and Mis. Elfia Hunter spent 

hospital in Detroit. These doctors The Young 

People's Society pre- 

who teach other doctors proved their sented gifts to the Willson children 

several days with their son Ralph 

am] family in Indiana, 

Pa. Mr. and

17(5 THE COVENANTER WITNESS September 15, 1.1 Ks 

Mrs. Clarence Latimer and Mi and 

Mrs John Robertson and Judy vis 

ited Mr. and Mrs. Hubert Latimer in 

Philadelphia, Pa. Mr. and Mrs Dale 

Shaw spent two weeks with Dale's 

parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Shaw, 

in Superior, Nebraska. 

Mi. Hugh Hunter and Dr. and 

Mrs. Dale Russell were 

"back-home" 

and worshiped with us on Sabbath, 

September 5 

Nearly 


pleted a three-day 

two-hundred freshmen com 

orientation pro 

gram at Geneva College. The annual 

event, designed to better acquaint 

incoming 

students with the school 

and with the members of their class, 

included a number of social gather 

ings, assembly 

and tests. 

programs, meetings 

The new students were welcomed 

by President McLeod M. Pearse at 

the opening assembly. Dr. John Cole- 

men, head of the department of re 

ligious education, spoke on "What 

College Has for You." 

otrzkowski, 

Bernard Pi- 

a senior from Pittsburgh 

who will seivc as Student Senate 

president during the coming year, 

discussed "What Geneva Means to 

the Upperclasses." 

At the student activities chapel, 

representatives of various fields in 

cluded in the College's extra-curricu 

lar program, invited students to par 

ticipate in these functions. Ruth 

Petras, a freshman from Beaver 

Falls, 

presented a piano solo. Music 

was furnished by the College 

swing- 

band, directed bv Louis J. Krepps, 

James L. Bowers, associate director 

of the News Bureau, served as mas 

ter of ceremonies. 

A chapel for men featured talks 

by Dr. Robert Park, dean of men, and 

Bernard Piotrzkowski. Women, at 

their special chapel, heard Mis. 

Helen B. Reagle, dean of women, and 

Lois Crawford, 

piesident of the Wo 

men's Student Association. Miss 

Crawford is a senior from Rochester. 

Talks on College piocedure in 

cluded those of Mis. Eleanor I). 

Leighty. librarian, and Miss Lulu J. 

McKinney, registrar. 

Speech and English tests and phys 

ical examinations were given during 

the period. 

Freshmen were assigned faculty 

advisors to assist them throughout 

their College careers. 

Social functions included a party 

-ponsored by the Women's Student 

Association and a wiener roast given 

by 

the YM and YWCA. 

Several luncheons and a dinner 

were included on the schedule. The 

dinner was highlighted by the music 

of the College swing 

band and a 

reading by Joy Smith, freshman 

from Beaver Falls. Freshmen were 

introduced to faculty 

members and 

their wives at an informal reception 

following 

the dinner. 

Geneva College ma iked the open 

ing of its 101st year with the annual 

academic assembly 

fieldhouse. 

in the College 

In the main address, Dr. L. D. 

Smith, superintendent of the Beavei 

Falls public schools, urged the stu 

dent body 

of 850 members to apply 

the knowledge it has gained. 

tle 

"Pure knowledge in itself is of lit 

value," 

he declared. "With all 

yooi seeking of knowledge, you must 

seek understanding. It is only when 

knowledge is thus put actively to 

work that wisdom is 

procured." 

Dr. Smith, a Geneva graduate, 

commended the College for the Chris 

tian ideals to which it adheres. He 

stated that he is proud of Geneva's 

motto. "For Chi ist and Country" 

the way it is carried out. 

and 

President Dr. M. M. Pearce wel 

comed the students and faculty at the 

start of the program. He later in 

troduced the school's new faculty 

members. 

The new group includes: Rear Ad 

miral Raymond W. Holsinger, re 

tired, associate professor of engineer 

ing; Forrest E. Justis, assistant pro 

fessor of mathematics; Robert J. 

Hamilton, instructor in mathematics 

and engineering; Rev. Lawrence A. 

Lightfritz, instructor in Bible; Mrs. 

Giace McCabe. instructor in English; 

Robert C. Topping, assistant in voice; 

Louis J. Krepps, assistant in instru 

mental music; Dr. John C Lorimei, 

lectin er in religious education; Mm 

Mabel Forbes Mclsaac, assistant in 

English; Roscoe 0. Forney, Donald 

C. Mulhollen and Fred D. Roth, as 

sistants in accounting. 

The Beaver Falls High School 

band, directed by William M. Pal - 

nsh, furnished the music for the 

impressive opening ceremonies. 

Dr. John Coleman, head of the de 

partment of religious education, of 

fered the invocation. 

All day-school classes met briefly 

to enable instructors to check class 

rolls and make preliminary announce 

ments and assignments. Regular 

classes will begin Monday. 

A variety of subjects will be of 

fered again this year, allowing those 

who must work throughout the day 

an opportunity to receive a highei 

education during their free hours. 

BELLE CENTER. OHIO 

Twenty-one members of the con 

gregation attended the C.Y.P.U. Con 

t'd ence at Oakwood Hotel, Syracuse, 

Indiana. There vvas a fine Christian 

atmosphere there and wonderfully in- 

spnational programs were put on 

throughout the entne Conference. 

Mrs. Ellen Aiken and daughter 

Miss Rosamond Aiken have gone to 

Youngstown, Ohio, for the winter. 

Miss Aiken has a teaching position 

there. Mrs. Aiken has been in poor 

health for several months. She has 

another daughter and family (Mis. 

Robert Marshall) also living in 

Youngstown. 

Miss Olive Wroten of Fort Lauder 

dale, Florida, has been visiting here 

with relatives for the past month. 

A miscellaneous shower was given 

by the congregation at the lovely 

home of ihe new Mi. and Mis. How 

ard Keys for Mi. and Mrs. Ted Harsh 

who were married August C. The 

bride and groom received many beau 

tiful and useful gifts. Games were 

played throughout the evening and 

lefreshments of cookies and punch 

were served. 

STORMONTHARSH 

In a lovely setting 

of candlelight 

and white gladioli, honeysuckle and 

fern, Miss Claire Stormont of Xenia, 

Ohio, became the bride of Theodore 

Frank Harsh of Sidney, Ohio. The 

vows were spoken in the United Pres 

byterian Church in Cedaiville on Fri 

day. August (>. Dr R. E. Jamison, 

Rev. Paul Duncan and Rev. Luther 

McFarland solemnized the double 

ring ceremony. 

The bride is the second oaughter of 

Mi. and Mis. Meryl .Stormont. 

Feral 

Pike, Xenia, Ohio, and the bridegroom 

is the son of Mi. and Mis. Frank 

Harsh, Sidney, Ohio. 

Both the bride and bridegroom are 

graduates of Cedarville College. Mis. 

Harsh taught at the Jamestown High 

School last year and .Mr. Harsh has 

completed one year in the Reformed 

Presbyterian Seminary in Pittsburgh, 

Pennsylvania. 

They will make their home in 

Pittsburgh for the present as Mr. 

Harsh resumes his studies at the 

Seminary.

LESSON HELPS FOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER '24, 1948 


300 years of Witnessing- for. CHRIST'S Sovereign rights in tme church ^nd the. .WTiofJ - 

VOLUME XLI WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3S, 1948 Number .11 

L 

/ f. 2:i 

Q H 

Q 

Not An Ordinary Act 

By George Mecklenburg, Pastor 

Wesley Methodist Church, Minneapolis, Minn. 

When you attend church that's not an ordinary act. It is something 

tremendous. You take a stand for faith and for spiritual interpretation of 

life. You testify and witness to the faith that is in you. 

When you attend church you take the side of the angels, you count on 

the side of the spiritual, you tell the world you beieve in God and Eternity 

and Immortality, 

and that's tremendous ! When you attend church you 

challenge all that is evil, all that which is contrary to the will of God. 

When you attend church you say to the whole world that you are against 

slavery, prostitution, drunkeness, war and everything that hurts human 

beings. 

When you attend church you tell your neighbors who see you go that 

you are not simply an earth creature, that you are not giving up all your 

time to creaturely pleasures, that you are seeking for something higher. 

When you attend church you salute Christ and His Church. You ap 

preciate what the Church has done for humanity. 

When you attend church you come to God's house to adore, to worship, 

to praise. You become a part of that host that has been worshiping God 

down through the ages. You have been caught up in spirit. Excerpt 

from "When You Go To Church", 

reprinted from Sheperds.


QUm


GwiA&nt ouenti Prof. John Coleman, PhD., D. D. 

Two of the world's great men have left it: Charles 

Evans Hughes and Eduard Benes. Mr. Hughes began his 

public career as an investigator for a New York legis 

lative committee that on the strength of his uncoverings 

submitted to the legislature a code that has been a stan 

dard for life insurance laws all over the land. He was an 

excellent governor of New York, twice elected. He was 

twice appointed to the U. S. Supreme Court. In 1912 he 

resigned from the Court to run against Woodrow Wilson, 

and lost a part of California's electoral vote and with 

it the presidency by the narrow margin of 4000 votes. 

He was a fine Secretary of State under Harding and 

Hoover, and in that capicity secured the naval disarma 

ment treaty of 1922. He ended his public career as Chief 

Justice of the United States, and in the famous Macin 

tosh Case wrote the minority report that argued that 

Dr. Macintosh might still reserve his supreme allegiance 

to the Lord when he took the naturalization oath; a po 

sition which the Court itself adopted (with some unsatis 

fying limitations) in the recent Girouard Case. As a law 

yer in private practice Mr. Hughes took positions in one 

or two cases that one may regret, but that is a lawyer's 

way. America needs more great men like Mr. Hughes. 

Eduard Benes was the second president of Czechoslo 

vakia, and, with Thomas Masaryk, a leading architect of 

that republic. He had been ailing for over a year, but it 

is thought that the violent grasping of power by the 

Communist minority 

under Gottwald hastened his end. 

Benes' 

great friend, Jan Masaryk, died a few weeks ago, 

purportedly by his own hand; but an article in a recent 

Saturday Evening Post presented detailed proof, fur 

nished by his own physician, that he was murdered by 

the agents of the new regime. Both Benes and Masaryk 

were statesmen not only in the eyes of their countrymen 

but of the world. With all our vaunted industry 

and edu 

cation humanity's direst poverty is in its lack of great 

men. "God, give us 

men." 

Three books have given an added value to the writer's 

vacation. (1) "The Greatest Questions of the Bible and of 

Life" 

by Br. Clarence Macartney. The volume is, as the 

title suggests, a series of sermons. They are popular 

rather than scholastic, but are satisfying to the spirit 

and highly suggestive, so that a minister reading them 

is apt to think of other sermons that he himself might 

develop. 

The seccnd book is Arnold J. Toynbee's "Civilization 

on Trial". It follows the pattern of his gieat work "The 

Study 

of History" 

in a vigorous application of its prin 

ciples -to the present houi. Toynbee is certainly not ortho 

dox in his theology or his interpretation of the Scrip 

tures, but he finds the remedy for crises of our civiliza 

tion most of all in Christianity practically applied. One 

would like to quote passage after passage, but space and 

the copyright laws prevent. 

The third book is "The Gathering Storm" 

by Winston 

Churchill, one of England's all-time "greats", a robust 

statesman of the old imperialistic school. Some Ameri 

cans have written of the political sins of the United 

States that helped to bring on the last war, things that 

we did that we ought not to have done, but mostly things 

that we did not do that we ought to have done. (Church 

ill gives us in vivid detail the British errors that opened 

the way to the greatest of all wars, one that might eas 

ily have been pi evented had action been begun early 

enough. All students of the struggle should read Mr. 

Churchill's book even if they 

cannot accept all its inter 

pretations. He was at the- center of things, speaks with 

authority, and writes well. The volume is especially in 

teresting as we see the German pattern pictured by 

Churchill now being followed by Russia. 

Ontario's Hydro (short for her public hydro-electric 

system) is spending 57,000,000 to erect a 480,000-horse- 

power generating plant at the rapids of the Ottawa 

River, near Des Joachims. Eleven miles of the Canadian 

Pacific's mr.in line and ten miles of highway must be re 

located. A lake sixty miles long and a mile wide will be 

created. Canada, like most of the Unied States, is in 

creasing its appetite for electricity faster than it is de 

veloping sources. In both lands the Lord has provided the 

possibilities of an abundance of power. 

The European Recovery Plan makes heavy demands on 

the Ameiican taxpayer, but it also seeks revolutionary 

changes in Western lurope. First, tariff walls between 

the beneficiaries of the Plan are to come down; second, 

they are to set up a common currency; third, they are to 

begin the election of a United States of Weste.-n Europe". 

Winston Churchill has been urging such an organiza 

tion, but the present English leaders are edging away 

from it. They feel that they are going to get American 

aid without any such far-reaching venture. And then 

were Britain to join a European Commonwealth of Na 

tions, what effect would this have on her relations to the 

other partners of the present British Commonwealth of 

Nations ? What would be the reactions of Canada, Aus 

tralia, New Zealand, South Africa ? But the fact that our 

statesmen are urging the program is for thinking people 

an effective answer to the oft-repeated charge that the 

United States is taking over Western Europe. 

For this generation, brought up 

on movie thrill 

ers and silly comics, I covet a childhood nurtured 

on the Word of God. It might seem the depth 

of boredom to a modern youngster fed up on 

trash and jaded from worn out excitements, but 

life was happier before the Amen Age gave way 

to the era of So What. Vance Havner in JOUR 

NEY TO FAITH. (Revel!) 

"PASS IT ON" 

Mrs. Grace Sloan Overton, nationally 

for young people, tells the following story 

known writer 

on herself. 

She had been invited to be a guest in a home where 

daughter of the host watched with great interest and 

cocktails were served before dinner. The 8-year-old 

when Mrs. Overton refused the drink, 

Mrs. Overton old enough to drink, Daddy?" 

piped up: "Isn't 

Daddy, try 

ing to make the best of an embarrassing situation, said: 

"Perhaps she's old enough to know better". Thereupon 

the child rsked earnestly: "When will you be old enough 

to know better, Daddy?" 

To this there was no reply. 

Alabama Temperance Bulletin


A Jealous God 

By the Rev. Herbert A. Hays 

This is the second of five devotional addresses 

given before the Synod of 1948 

Joshua 24:19. He is a jealous God. 

The consideration of the subject "A JEALOUS 

GOD", or "THE JEALOUS GOD", brings to our 

attention the extreme zeal which He has for His 

people and the provocation of His jealousy by 

their unfaithfulness. Jealousy, humanly speak 

ing, is not considered a virtue. The dictionary 

and to me they have ascribed thousands: and 

what can he have more but the kingdom." 

And 

from that day he tried to kill him. 

3. The case of the elder brother at the return 

of the prodigal. That is the tendency of human 

nature. And we all could add experiences from 

every day life, and even from our own lives when 

we have been angry with and jealous of some one 

who has done us no harm. 

But that does not explain the jealousy of God 

for he is good and cannot do evil. 

The Biblical meaning of the word is "Intoler 

rivalry." 

ant of unfaithfulness or 

Tracing the word back through Middle English, 

to Old .French to Late Latin and finally to the 

Greek we find the original word 'zelos' 

meaning 

zeal. 

God's zeal for His own people makes Him jeal 

ous of them and in his acts toward them. 

I. HE LOVES HIS PEOPLE JEALOUSLY 

Every man who has ever loved a girl and every 

girl who has ever loved a man, understands the 

full meaning of that statement. 

God's love for His people has led Him to do 

everything possible for their good and for His 

glory. And because He is the Sovereign God, 

there was nothing left undone that had to be 

done. 

In the determinate councils of eternity. God 

ordained the salvation of those who would accept 

His great love. 

In love for that elect group, the Son from all 

eternity took upon himself the form of a servant. 

In due time, He was made in the likeness of 

men and being found in fashion as a man, He 

humbled himself and became obedient unto death, 

even the death of the cross. 

There on the cross His wonderful love reached 

the climax of its expression, for, as He said, 

greater love hath no man than this, that a man 

lay down his life for his friends. 

Such intense love requires the undivided loy 

alty and service of the loved. 

a- 

defines it as a feeling of envious resentment 

gainst a successful rival. Thus used, it is a term 

for evil doing on the part of human beings. 

Scripture furnishes us with a number of illustra 

tions. 

1. The case of Joseph's brethren as recorded in 

Gen. 37 :4. "And when his brethren saw that 

their father loved him more than all his brethren, 

they hated him and could not speak peaceably 

with him." 

Here was a jealousy which resulted 

in hatred, which Jisus says is murder, and illtreatment 

which ended in attempted murder. 

2. The case of Saul, I Sam. 18:8, following the 

battle of David with Goliath. "And Saul was 

very wroth and the Joshua was talking to a people who were serv 

ing idols. 

He said, "Ye cannot serve the 

saying displeased him ; and he 

said, They have ascribed to David ten thousands 

Lord." 

This was not said to discourage them nor to 

show God as inaccessible but to show the utter 

impossibility of worshipping idols and the true 

God, and to challenge them to faithful loyalty. 

The idols must be put away if they would serve 

God of Israel. 

He said only what Jesus said generations later, 

("Ye cannot serve God and mammom") "No man 

can serve two masters 

" 

Because God loves His people jealously, He is 

intolerant of any rival. 

II. GOD GUARDS HIS PEOPLE JEALOUS 

LY. 

This is best seen from a few illustrations: 

Abraham traveled from Canaan into the south 

country where Abimelech was king. Fearing 

his life might be taken that his wife might be 

sister." 

obtained, he said, "She is my Abime 

lech sent and took her to himself. That night in a 

dream, God spoke to him, saying, "Behold, thou 

art but a dead man for the woman which thou 

wife." 

hast taken; for she is a man's 

of heart 

Abimelech answered, "In the integrity 

and innocency of my hands I have done this." 

Then God said, "Yea, I know that, for I also 

withheld thee from sinning against me: there 

fore suffered I thee not to touch her." 

Thus the mother of the seed through whom 

the nations of the world were to be blessed was 

preserved. 

Through evil intent on the part of his brethren, 

Joseph was sent down into Egypt a slave, but 

he revealed himself to his breathren in later years 

for 

saying, "Be not grieved that ye sold me, 

God did send me before you to preserve life. Ye 

thought evil against me; but God meant it unto 

good .... to save much people 

alive." 

When all male children were being killed, 

Moses was cared for and reared by the enemy, to 

become the leader of the people of God and take 

them back to their promised land. 

The Psalmist has expressed God's Jealous care 

in Psalm 147:12 ff. "Praise the Lord, 0 Jerusa 

lem; praise thy God, 0 Zion. 

For he hath strengthened the bars of thy 

gates ; he hath blessed thy children within thee. 

He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth 

thee with the finest of the wheat. 

He showeth his word unto Jacob, his statutes 

and his judgments unto Israel." 

So He reveals to His own children what the


world cannot understand. 

It has ever been the same. Whenever it has 

appeared that Christianity would be annihilated 

completely and the prince of this world would 

reign, God has jealously preserved and guarded a 

remnant to profess His name and give glory to 

A minister may be guilty 

Him. God guards His people jealously. 

of serving his own 

interests bringing members into the Church for 

the sake of numbers, only to have them leave 

when he goes. He is worshiping an idol. 

We must never be guilty of exalting the Cov 

enanter Church and hiding the true Church whose 

head is the crucified Lord. 

III. GOD REWARDS HIS PEOPLE JEAL 

OUSLY. 

This is the logical sequence of the first two. 

According as people accept or reject Gpd's 

jealous love and care, so He rewards them. 

The first mention of this characteristic is in 

the second commandment. "For I the Lord thy 

God am a jealous God.visiting the iniquities of 

the fathers upon the children unto the third and 

fourth generations of them that hate me ; but 

showing mercy unto thousands of them that love 

me and keep my commandments. 

His jealous love will not admit of unfaithful 

ness. 

His jealous care is exercised to prevent un 

faithfulness and encourage faithfulness. 

In the case of faithfulness a glorious reward 

is given and in case of unfaithfulness a most 

horrible reward awaits. 

His judgments are executed in mercy. He 

patiently endures with all longsuffering the un 

faithfulness of His people. 

Apostasy was always punished but repentance 

was always rewarded with another opportunity 

to be loyal. 

The woman taken in adultery and brought to 

Jesus was rewarded by the gracious words of the 

merciful Saviour, "Neither do I condemn thee ; go 

and sin no 

more." 

His judgments are also just. 

All His rewards both of good to them that do 

good and evil to them that do evil are based upon 

conditions which He has made. 

God's jealousy makes Him intolerant of any 

rival. 

There is a rival the prince of this world. And 

he goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he 

may devour, Yes, and as an angel of light seeking 

if it were possible to deceive the very elect. 

But he is judged already, and those who try to 

serve two masters, the prince of this world and 

the true God, are at enmity with God. 

Endeavor to serve, two masters only provokes 

the jealousy of God and one who tries it may ex 

pect to incur His wrath. 

There is a tendency on the part of the average 

man of the world and maybe on the part of some 

in the church to think of other gods as idols which 

the heathen set up in their homes and bow down 

to. 

But they may be anything that the devil uses to 

keep the individual from giving his full allegiance 

to the one true God. 

A man may be guilty of using the Church for 

his own end, to further his standing in the com 

munity for business 

an idol. 

purposes. He is worshiping 

I have objected to the name 'Covenanter Cru 

sade' 

on the basis that it should not be a Cove 

nanter Crusade but a crusade for Christ. That 

objection was answered last night if we all keep 

that in mind. 

We are crusading for Christ and the one true 

Church, the invisible church, the members of 

which will sing the song of Moses and the Lamb 

to the praise of His name throughout eternity. 

The jealous love, the exercise of His jealous 

care,, and the assurance of His jealous reward 

urges us each one to examine carefully his loyalty 

and obedience to assure himself that it is undivid 

ed. 

BOOK REVIEW 

"The Bible Speaks to You", by 

Frances Carr 

Stifler, Graystone Press, 31 West 57th St., New 

York 19, N. Y-, $2.00. Perhaps the reason we do 

not read our Bibles more is because we do not ap 

preciate just how much life there is in the Word, 

that it may mean to us more than it does, what 

it means to the world and what more it could 

mean to the world. This book by the Public Re 

lations Secretary of the American Bible Society, 

will help you in just that kind of appreciation. 

It is divided into a number of chapters, as one 

might expect, such as: "The Bible speaks to In 

dividuals", to world-builders, to all sorts and con 

ditions of people, to the nations through various 

channels, and ten ways to use the Bible. Each of 

these chapters is divided into a number of sub 

divisions and we shall only quote the first chap 

ter, "The Bible speaks to human hearts, in times 

of personal crisis, to discouraged people, to the 

blind, to those behind bars." 

It is full of concrete 

illustrations of the thesis which it upholds. You 

will be helped in your Bible-reading by reading 

this book about the Bible. 

Some years ago, a youth named Wray entered 

Princeton as a volunteer for foreign missionary 

work. Once in the field, he simply lived the 

Christian life before the natives. And one day, 

according to the custom of the country, some of 

these natives were seated in a circle on the ground, 

lister ing to the instruction of one of their teach 

ers, v/hen the question was brought up, "What 

is it to be a Christian?" 

And no one could an 

swer. Finally a native pointed to where this 

young worker sat, and replied, "It is to live as 

Mr. Wray lives." 

Not one of them could read 

the Gospel according to Matthew, Luke or John, 

but everyone there could read the Gospel "ac 

cording to Wray."Emile Caillet in THE BE 

GINNING OF WISDOM. (Revell)


A Citizen's Duty 

ARE YOU SERVING YOUR COUNTRY BY 

REFUSING TO VOTE? 

/. C. Mathews, D. D. 

As the national election approaches Cove 

nanters will be challenged many times to prove 

their patriotism by casting the ballot. The im 

plication is that casting the ballot is THE supreme 

duty 

of the citizen. 

The following letter was written in answer 

to a Christian supporter of the Christian Amend 

ment who insisted, however, that for us to strive 

merely to create public sentiment in behalf of 

Christian civil government without supporting 

our efforts at the ballot box would be similar to 

a man who would prepare his field for wheat and 

then leave it in the hope that perhaps someone 

else would sow the grain. 

Covenanters who do not vote and avoid or 

refuse opportunities to explain why they do not, 

practically classify themselves with that large 

group of citizens who are rightly blamed for not 

voting simply because of indifference. The Cov 

enanter who is ready to use his refusal to vote as 

an occasion to call attention to the SIN of the 

United States in rejecting the sovereignty tof 

Christ and the authority of the Bible in the civil 

sphere and to propose and promote such acknow 

ledgment is doing more for his country, in the 

sight of God, by NOT voting than by casting his 

ballot for the greatest possible human effort to 

Qlean up the status quo. 

The following is printed in the hope that 

it may help some Covenanter thus to bear his 

testimony in the highest possible service for his 

country. 

My 

dear Mrs : 

September 27, 1948 

Topeka, Kansas 

We were very glad to receive your recent 

letters. I have before me now your letter of 

September 19. We are glad to know what people 

are thinking about with reference to making our 

nation Christian even though they do not wholly 

agree with us. We are trying to base our cam 

paign on the TRUTH of God's Word and conse 

quently recognize the need for keeping an open 

mind to the conception of that Truth as held by 

our Christian brethren. 

I, too, believe in voting and regret very much 

that it is the Christian citizens of our nation who 

are denying me the privilege of the ballot. If 

the multitudes of Christians in our country were 

as loyal to Christ in the civic sphere of their life 

as they are in their individual and church life 

this would be in reality a Christian nation, and 

I would be voting along with you. 

I think you make a mistake that is made 

commonly by Christian citizens in thinking that 

voting is the principal and greatest duty of the 

citizen. There are a dozen or more duties of the 

citizen, of which voting is one. I do not vote 

but I served my country in the first World War, 

and I did it willingly and enthusiastically. 

I do not see how you feel that you are obey 

ing God's command by voting when our govern 

ment fails to measure up to the requirements of 

civil government given by God in His Word. God 

has highly exalted Christ and given Him a Name 

which is above every name, has made Him Lord 

over all things, the King of the nations. Our 

government, however, ignores both God and 

Christ. Did not Christ say, "He that is not for 

me is against me"? You speak of rendering to 

Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God 

the things that are God's. What are the things 

that belong to Caesar and what are the things 

that belong to God? Are there not those who ren 

der to Caesar THE THINGS THAT BELONG 

TO GOD? 

It seems to me that most of our citizens 

who are Christians fail to realize that when they 

go ino the sphere of civil life and duty in our 

United States they have to leave Christ and the 

Word of God o nthe outside. They may be in 

dividual Christians, but they cannot be Chris 

tian citizens because Christ has no place in the 

Supreme Law of our land the highest authori 

ty recognized there is the authority of "We the 

people" 

an authority which we arrogate to 

ourselves. This is the opinion of Chief Justice 

Strong of the United States Supreme Court: 

"God and Chistianity are not once alluded to; 

although the constitution is itself the product of 

a Christian civilization, and although it purports 

to represent the mind of a Christian people, who 

in all their State Constitutions had made explic 

it reference to both God and religion. Hence it 

is that all the laws of this country in favor of 

a Christian morality 

are enacted and enforced 

outside of the Constitution. They rest only upon 

the basis of what is called common law. We have 

strictly no oath, no law against blasphemy, Sab 

bath breaking or polygamy that has any better 

foundation. And as matters seem to be going, 

it will soon be discovered and decreed that com 

mon law is only another name for custom, which 

has no binding force. And then where are we? 

anarchy." 

In atheism, corruption and 

That statement was made about seventyfive 

years ago. It has taken our courts about 

that long to realize that there is no legal basis 

in our federal Constitution for anything Chris 

tian. Hence, the recent McCollum decision of the 

United States Supreme Court which has declared 

that it is illegal to teach the Bible in our public 

schools. Much as we regret that decision, we 

are compelled to admit that legally it is in con 

formity 

with our federal Constitution. In con 

nection with that decision the Supreme Court de 

clared that it is the business of Congress to erect 

and maintain a wall high and imregnable be 

tween government and religion. It may take 

another seventy-five years or so to eradicate all 

the influences of Chrsitianity in our government, 

but according to our present Constitution they


have no LEGAL basis and ultimately they must 

go unless our Constitution is changed. 

Our country is rapidly becoming SECULAR, 

like our Constitution. Our homes, our schools, 

our business and industrial life are being secu 

larized to the point that God is almost completely 

ignored as He is in our Constitution even our 

churches are feeling the influence of this secu 

larization. This is not open opposition to Christ, 

but it is one of the devil's most powerful weap 

ons. The devil is perfectly willing for individuals 

and homes and nations to claim to be Christian 

as long as they don't say too much about it, and 

especially if they can be induced to deny to Christ 

that place of absolute supremacy in all of their 

life which is HIS, according to the Word of God. 

I am sure that your appeal to us to get into 

the government and vote and use our influence 

for Christ is very sincere and well intended, but 

I think it is ill-advised and illogical. Your illus 

tration of the farmer getting his ground ready 

and then not sowing his wheat doesn't apply be 

cause there is nothing morally wrong 

about sow 

ing wheat. If the only day he had on which to 

sow his wheat was the Sabbath Day and then he 

refused to do it because he would have to disobey 

God and would trust in God to take care of him 

withut sowing his wheat then your illustration 

would be more nearly a parallel of our position 

in refusing to vote. The only reason we refuse to 

vote is because we feel that it is morally wrong 

to give our supreme civil loyalty to a government 

which refuses to recognize the supreme sover 

eignty of Jesus Christ, the King of kings. 

I admit that there are multitudes of good 

Christian people in office in our government. I 

know that they have a sincere desire to make 

our government better, but when they become 

enmeshed in corrupt political machines, how 

much are they able to accomplish? Is it not 

primarily because the foundation of our whole 

structure of government is wrong? "We the 

people" 

are endeavoring to "form a more per 

fect union", but President Lincoln admitted dur 

ing the Civil War that is was GOD who must 

preserve the Union. "We the 

deavoring 

to "establish justice" 

; yet our land is 

people" 

are en 

full of injustice to racial groups, underprivileged 

people" 

are endeavoring to 

classes, etc. "We the 

"insure domestic tranquility"; yet the divorces 

mount in number and juvenile delinquency be 

comes more and more of a problem. "We the 

people" 

claim that we will "provide for the com 

mon defense" 

but during the last war our lead 

ing generals like Marshall, Eisenhower and Mac- 

Arthur gave GOD the credit for our great vic 

tories. And so we might go on to the end. There 

are indications that our nation's "foundation of 

_ 

sand" 

is already feeling the testing of Divine 

Providence. 

I feel that your appeal to us to get into the 

government in order to do more for our country 

is illogical. If I were driving along the road 

and came to your car mired down in a mudhole, 

even though you might beg me to do so, I would 

not back my 

car down into the mud-hole right 

beside yours in order to help you out. I would 

stay up on solid ground where I could do some 

real pulling. So our real reason for staying out 

of the government is because we feel that we 

can do more outside WITH CHRIST than inside 

without Him. And after all, this is His country 

and the first allegiance of the Christian citizen 

we feel should be given to Him. 

Last fall one of our representatives was 

talking to Dr. Tulloss, President of the United 

Lutheran Church of the United States, one of the 

larger Lutheran churches. After telling him of 

how the Christian Amendment message had been 

carried into all parts of our country and had been 

placed before Congress, so that Congress was 

faced with the necessity of deciding for or a- 

gainst Christ and when Dr. Tulloss learned the 

size of the Covenanter Church which was responsi 

ble for practically all of this work that had been 

done for Christ's proper recognition, he turned 

and said, "I consider that your church has ren 

dered a service to her country out of all propor 

size." 

tion to her 

I must not prolong this message. I hope I 

have helped you to see our point of view and what 

we believe is the strength of our proposition. 

Our motto is, "The Greatest Patriot Is the One 

Who Does the Most to Bring His Country to 

Christ." 

We appreciate your interest and pray 

ers and feel sure that you will do all you can to 

help this great work. We have some new litera 

ture in process of preparation and would be glad 

to have you distribute some of it for us. Pray 

ing that you may have God's blessing in your 

teaching His Word to your Sabbath School class 

and in all your Christian influence for righteous 

ness, 

Very sincerely yours, 

J. C. Mathews 



less 947 Catholics in comparison with 350 Protestants at 

work there. The reason for this is that the Catholics 

were not. all from the United States, Britain or Canada, 

and therefore did not have to leave Japan before the war. 

Israeli Rules Out God 

The Christian Century, referring to Time (magazine) 

points out that Rabbi Fishman, representing the ortho 

dox Jews tried to insert the word Elohenu (God the 

Lord) in Israeli's Declaration of Independence. Labor 

elements objected to this and Premier Ben Gurion, as a 

compromise, proposed that the words Tsur Israel (Rock 

of Israel) be used, since this was a literary expression 

lhat could be interpreted in either religious or irreligious 

fashion. The Ben Gurion compromise prevailed. When 

che Erglish translation was made an English-born typist 

substituted the words, "Almighty God" 

of II. 

:iel" 

Consequently 

in place of "Rock 

it was a deliberate ommission 

.vhen the name of God was omitted from the Israeli 

Declaration of Independence. A neutral term was used in 

place of God. The Christian world will condemn Israeli 

for ruling God out of its Declaration, but virtually the 

same thing took place when our own Constitution was 

framed, for the name of God was left out, not inadvert 

ently, but deliberately and in opposition to Christian men 

who earnestly sought a recognition of God.





BIBLE BOOK STUDY: COLOSSIANS 

Col. 2:1-23 

By the Rev. F. D. Frazer 

Psalms: 

Psalm 16:1, 4-7, No. 29 

Psalm 45:1-6, No. 123 

Psalm 89:14-17, No. 240 

Psalm 73:9-11, No. 197 

References : 

James 1:5, Prov. 2:1-9, John 17:3, 

I Cor. 1:24, 30, Rom. 14:1-23, Rom. 

2:25-29, I Cor. 10:31, I Cor. 7:19, 

Gal. 5:6, 6:15. 

Outline of Epistle: I. Introduction 

(1:1-14). Address to the Colossian 

Christians; thanksgiving for their 

faith, love and hope in Christ; prayer 

that they may have full knowledge of 

God's will, 

and live worthily. 

II. The Pre-eminence of Christ in 

His Person and Work (1:15-29). Be 

ing God, He is supreme in the uni 

verse; the God of Creation and the 

God of Providence (15-17). Having 

the entire fulness of God, He is su 

preme in the church and the universe 

restored; the God of Redemption 

(18-22). He is the Head (Originator 

and Controller) of the church; the 

First-born (Heir and Ruler) 

of the 

new creation; the Reconciler of all 

things through the blood of His 

cross; of all men who stand fast in 

the truth of the gospel, (23), which 

is proclaimed and taught with warn 

ings by a faithful ministry (23-29). 

III. The All-sufficiency of Christ 

for the Believer (2:1-4:6), set forth 

with appropriate warnings and com 

mands. Attain to a full knowledge of 

Christ! (2:1-5). Continue in union 

with Christ by faith (6), 

believing 

steadfast in 

the truth (7). United with 

Christ in His Death, beware of every 

doctrine and practice offered by men 

and the world (2:8-23). United with 

Christ in His Resurrection, 

put into 

practice the true doctrine of the 

Christian life (3:1-4:6). 

IV. Conclusion (4:7-18). Personal 

references (7-17). Autograph (18). 

Comments: The Colossian Chris 

tians had received the pure gospel, 

taught by Epaphras; its distinctive 

effects were in evidence; but, there 

were agitators among them insisting 

on rules and practices devised by 

men, dictated by Jewish and pagan 

formalism, and by a 

"philosophy" 

that reasoned 

without Christ. Paul 

knew that such things are too easily 

accepted and substituted for the es 

sentials of the Christian faith; that 

people are too ready to give up the 

facts of the true religion for the 

vanities of sophism. It is so nice to 

have your thinking done for you; so 

easy to go through the motions with 

out thinking. He knew that the one 

and only antidote for false teaching 

and the "wisdom" 

of this world is a 

fuller and clearer knowledge of 

Christ. 

In this second chapter, Paul re 

veals his deep concern that his breth 

ren stand fast in Christ, reminding 

them of their riches in Christ, warn 

ing lest, instead of increasing their 

possessions they be depi-ived of them. 

His warning is plain in terms of 

everyday experience. 

V. 4. "I am telling you this to the 

end that no one cheat (defraud) 

you, (as in the market place), by 

specious 

argument," 

substituting in 

ferior goods for the value promised. 

V. 8. "Beware lest anyone (as 

pirate, or gangster) carry you off as 

his booty into the mazes of that 

"philosophy" 

and vain deceit which 

is of the underworld, not of Christ. 

There may 

seem to be some higher 

truth or deeper emotion in it, but it 

has nothing to give. It results only in 

puting Christ in a subordinate place, 

or crowding Him out altogether. "In 

Christ dwells the whole fulness of 

God; 

and you are complete in Him," 

provided with everything needed for 

salvation and the abundant life. 

V. 16. "Let no one judge (con 

demn) you, (as in civil court), in 

matters of eating or drinking, 

or in 

regard to a set feast, new moon, or 

Sabbath, which things are a shadow 

of things ready to be manifested, 

but the substance, the reality, belong 

to Christ, is Christ in His fulness, 

or comes from Him. 

This verse has been used, without 

any justification whatever, to teach 

the abrogation of the Sabbath, of the 

sacraments, and of anything in the 

law of God that somebody does not 

like. As the sun casts a shadow of 

material things, so God, who is 

LIGHT, projects spiritual realities 

in certain material and temporal 

forms, suited to the need of our dual 

life of body and soul, matter and 

spirit. Both the shadow and the 

temporal form are provided for in 

the very constitution of things. We 

can find no fault with the shadow 

because it is not the body, neither 

with the outward form because it is 

not the spiritual essence. But, the 

presence and conformation of the 

shadow tell us something of what the 

thing is, directing our view to that, 

and to the sun. So these outward 

forms, cast by the light of God, tell 

us something 

of what the spiritual 

realities are, direct us to these, and 

to God. Paul in no way disparages 

the outward form in the place God 

it. The whole drive of his argu 

ment is against our perversity and 

foolishness in taking the outward 

form instead of the reality, as if it 

were the reality, and so of neglecting 

and losing the thing that is all-im 

portant. 

Now the rite of circumcision had 

already been changed into another, 

altogether different form, namely, 

baptism, "the circumcision of Christ," 

showing that the mere form is not of 

essential value. But, the fact that it 

was changed, not just dropped into 

the discard, shows that there is 

something back of it that is of es 

sential and permanent importance. 

Baptism too, is an outward form, 

but it points us to union with Christ 

in His death and resurrection, (vs. 

11-14), 

without which there is no 

salvation. So also the Sabbath was 

changed from the seventh day to the 

first, showing that the formality of 

the day is not essential, but that the 

institution is permanent; that the 

purpose of God still stands. See Ex. 

31:13, Ezek. 20:12. 

V. 18. "Let no would-be umpire 

disqualify you, (as in the games), 

and so deprive you of your right to 

the prize, by requiring some pride- 

fostering humility, or worship of 

angels. The prize of the high calling 

of God is in Christ Jesus. It is only 

by being in union wih Him, the Head, 

that we may win the victory and 

eternal life. 

Vs. 20-23. If you are dead with 

Christ to the world and the flesh, 

why keep on doing 

the works of the 

world and flesh? No man-made rules 

and prohibitions, no ascetic abstinence 

fom eating or drinking this or that, 

have any value against the indul 

gence of the flesh. There must be a 

new heart, mind and will. The new 

life and all it can need come from 

Christ. A common characteristic of 

all false religions is that they 

promise life to a man on condition

September 29, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 

that he do certain things. The true 

religion offers a man life by the free 

grace of God, that he may thence 

forth be willing and able to do the 

things that God commands. This is 

a sinner's only hope. 

For Discussion: 1. The glaring 

need, in these days of religious con 

fusion, countless sects, and false 

teachings at every turn, for better 

understanding of the truth of God, 

both for ourselves and for our wit 

ness to others. (Col. 1:9-11, 23; 2:6, 

7; Jude 3, 4). 

2. How can we use the time and 

opportunities of the Sabbath to gain 

fuller and clearer knowledge of 

Christ (See Larger Catechism, 116- 

121). 

3. How can we gain fuller and 

clearer knowledge of Christ by 

means of the sacraments, Baptism 

and the Lord's Supper? (See L. C, 

167, 170, 171, 174, 175). 

4. How can we keep our praying 

from becoming mere formality, go 

ing through the motions of which, 

long and hard enough, we vainly 

imagine we shall get certain things 

we want? How enter into real com 

munion with God, seeking to know 

and to be able to do His will? 

JUNIOR TOPIC 



Psalm 119, Part 1, No. 317 

In singing the Psalms, 

we have 

learned the importance of thinking 

of the words we sing. It is im 

the words so 

portant, too, to sing 

that the meaning is brought out. 

When we are talking or reading 

aloud, we emphasize some words and 

hurry over others. Imagine yourself 

saying to your mother, "This is the 

eaten." 

best cake I have ever Which 

word did you emphasize most? Did 

you give the same importance to the 

third and the fourth words? Why? 

When we sing we should recognize 

that not all words have the same 

value. 

The first part of Psalm 119, which 

we are learning today, begins with 

the idea, "How blessed these people 

are!" 

Say it out loud. When you sing 

"How blessed the 

"How blessed are they" 

and 

upright" 

remember 

that the word "blessed" 

is a key 

word. Read the first verse and then 

describe the blessed people. One who 

seeks God "with a perfect heart" 

wants only God; his heart is not di 

vided between riches and God, or 

fame and God, or power and God, but 

he is searching for God alone. What 

other Bible passage do you know 

that describes blessed people (Matt. 

5:3-12)? 

The word "precepts" 

in the second 

verse means rules or commandments. 

What are some of the precepts to be 

kept carefully? (Deut. 11:1; 5:7-21; 

Prov. 3:9; 13:1; 15:1; 20:1; Matt. 5: 

44; Romans 12:10; Phil. 4:8; I Thess. 

5:17). The psalmist wishes that he 

always could keep God's command 

ments. Like all of us, he sometimes 

failed. Discuss the meaning of the 

second verse, then write it in your 

own words in your notebooks. Fol 

lowing that, copy three precepts you 

will try to keep diligently this week. 

Read the words of each of the 

first two verses together and then 

silently. While the leader hums the 

tune, try to think of the words. If 

you can't remember them all, look at 

you book. 

Are you remembering to review 

each week the psalms you have 

learned ? Singing them through the 

week helps keep them in mind, too. 

Sing to yourself while you are do 

ing dishes or raking leaves. Ask the 

family to sing them at worship once 

in a while. 

Other psalms to sing about God's 

precepts are Ps. 15, No. 28; Ps. 119, 

Part 2, No. 319; Ps. 119, Part 5, No. 

322; Ps. 119, Part 14, No. 334. 




LESSON IV. HISTORY IN THE 

OLD TESTAMENT 

I Kings 4:21 to 6:38; 9:1 to 11:13 

Printed verses, I Kings 4:21-29; 

11:6, 9-11. 

Golden Text: 

"Blessed is the nation whose 

God is the Lord." 

Psalm 33:12. 

The books of History in the Old 

Testament follow the books of Law. 

However, the Law contains much 

history, so that it may be said that 

the first seventeen books of the 

Bible are historical, the book of 

Genesis covering more time than all 

the rest together. Bible history cen 

ters in one nation, and in that one 

nation in preparation for one indi 

vidual, Jesus Christ the Messiah and 

Saviour of the world. Therefore, 

starting with the first man, the 

father of all living, it works toward 

another individual, Abraham, the 

father of the faithful. Bible history 

discards much that took place in the 

world in order to do this. After the 

founding 

of the nation in Abraham 

it again works toward individuals, 

Isaac, Jacob, Judah, and David. Ish- 

mael's history is mentioned only as 

it is incidental to the story of the 

son of promise, Isaac. Jacob's his 

tory is given in some detail, Esau's 

is mentioned slightly; and it is so 

with their descendents. Much is writ 

ten "for our admonition," 

that is 

that we may learn how to live, but 

mainly Bible history works toward 

the Messiah. The purely historical 

books of the Old Testament are 

twelve. C. J. Sharp, following Her 

bert Moninger, arranges them thus 

for easier memorizing: 

Joshua 

Judges 

Ruth 

Ezra 

Nehemiah 

Esther 

I Samuel 

II Samuel 

I Kings 

II Kings 

I Chronicles 

II Chronicles 

This is good also for giving us a 

sort of bird's eye view of the Books 

of Bible History: three before the 

kingdom; three doubled during the 

time of the kingdom; and three af 

terwards. 

I. SOLOMON IN ALL HIS GLORY. 

I Kings 4:21-29 

The history of God's chosen people 

reached its climax in the reign of 

Solomon. Spiritually, financially, and 

culturally the nation was at its 

height. So we have as a sample of 

the history in the Old Testament a 

glimpse of the glory 

Day 

of Solomon. 

after tomorrow (from the time 

these notes are being written) Presi 

dent Truman will be in Fresno. No 

doubt he will be served better meals 

than any of us ate in the dining cars 

on our way to Synod; and his 

grocery bill in the White House is 

many times what ours is; but Presi 

dent Truman in all his glory is a 

long way behind King Solomon! 

Matthew Henry quotes estimates of 

the number of people the flour and 

meal would feed daily 

as from 3000 

to 4800, and says that the amount 

of meat was greater in proportion 

than the flour. What a grocery and 

meat bill Solomon had! And what 

taxes it took to pay it, 

and in a time 

of inflation too for .in Solomon's 

time silver was nothing accounted 

of. No wonder a delegation waited


on Rehoboam to see about lower 

taxes. Much of this came from na 

tions that paid tribute of course 

nations conquered by David, and 

held by the wisdom of Solomon. (An 

estimate of the flour and meal is: 

three hundred and thirty bushels of 

fine flour and six hundred and sixty 

bushels of meal.) Solomon himself 

said in Ecclesiastes 5:11, "When 

goods increase, they 

are increased 

that eat them: and what good is 

there to the owners hereof, saving 

the beholding of them with their 

eyes?" 

Let me quote Matthew Henry 

again as he outlines the passage be 

ginning with I Kings 4:29 and con 

tinuing to the end of the chapter. He 

says, "Solomon's wisdom was more 

his glory 

than his wealth, and here 

we have a general account of 

it." 

Then he outlines: I. The Fountain of 

his Wisdom; II The Fulness of it; 

III. The Fame of it; and IV. The 

Fruits of it. And he concludes, 

"Lastly, Solomon was, herein, a 

type of Christ, in whom are hidden 

all the treasures of wisdom and 

knowledge, and hidden for us; for he 

is made of God to us 

wisdom." 

Jesus Christ feeds His people with 

better food than Solomon provided; 

and He is made wisdom to us. 

II. SEEDS OF SIN. I Kings 11:6 . 

I was just now looking 

at Cruden's 

Concordance to find the passage 

about not multiplying horses, and I 

found "Deut. 17:16 not multiply 

horses to himself, 

nor cause the peo 

ple to return to Egypt, to the end 

that he should multiply horses." 

The 

very next reference was, "I Kings 

10:28 Solomon had horses out of 

Egypt." 

Turning to the passage in 

Deuteronomy we find in the 17th 

verse, "Neither shall he multiply 

wives to himself, that his heart turn 

not away: neither shall he greatly 

gold." 

multiply to himself silver and 

These things Solomon did, and the 

greatness and grandeur of the king 

dom began to wane. 

Compared to the other nations 

Solomon's horsemen were not many, 

and it may have seemed right to 

him to have all that he had. Looking 

at his alliances with foreign nations 

it no doubt semed wise to multiply 

wives too. But Solomon himself re 

peats several times in Proverbs, 

"There is a way that seemeth right 

unto a man, but the end thereof are 

the ways of death" 

(Prov. 14:12). 

Had you ever thought that although 

Solomon had a thousand wives and 

concubines only one son is men 

tioned ? 

III. A REMNANT FOR THE LORD 

I Kings 11:9-11 

Two things are brought out in this 

passage that are characteristic of all 

Bible history. The first is that God 

remembers His covenants. We really 

go on to the 12th verse to see this. 

God tells Solomon that for David's 

sake He will not -take away the king 

dom until his son comes to the 

throne, and in the 13th verse He 

says that for David's sake He will 

not take away all of the kingdom. 

God remembered His covenant. The 

second thing is that there is always 

a remnant left for the Lord. God 

tore away ten tribes from Solomon's 

son, but one tribe was kept, because 

of the -covenant. 

Let us remember that whatever 

greatness or glory we have, it is 

from God, and that "a greater than 

Solomon is here." 

Let us also re 

member that God has warned us 

against the seeds of sin, and the 

tendencies that lead to sin, and the 

only 

safe course is to follow God's 

will closely. And finally let us re 

member that God is always faithful 

to His covenant, keeping 

a remnant 

for Himself, because of His won 

derful grace. 


FOR OCTOBER 27 

"ABOUND IN THIS GRACE ALSO" 

Comments: 

11 Cor. 8:1-12 

By the Rev. R. McConachie 

References : 

Jas. 1:5; Prov. 11:25; I Pet. 2:1-5; 

I Thes. 3:12; I Jn. 3:17; II Cor. 

9:8; I Thes. 4:1; II Pet. 1:5-8; 

I Cor. 16:3. 

Psalms: 

Psalm 65, No. 171 

Psalm 116, No. 312 


Psalm 107, No. 293 

The grace of God produces many 

graces in the Christian's life. The 

one for study is the grace of Chris 

tian liberality "See that ye abound 

in this grace also". 

The writer was very gracious and 

tactful as he made this exhortation. 

He said that it was not a command, 

but I wonder if it did not border on 

rebuke. At any rate he presented a 

convincing argument to stir the 

liberality of the Corinthian Chris 

tians. Were the Corinthians stingy? 

Well, they 

were not as generous as 

the Macedonians whom they were 

asked to imitate. 

BECAUSE OF THE MACEDONIAN 

EXAMPLE 

The argument is made the more 

persuasive by its reference to the 

good work done by the churches in 

- 

Macedonia. They, who had little to 

give, gave liberally. They have gone 

the second mile, or the third, by ask 

ing or entreating Paul to take of 

their offerings for the crisis. Their 

generosity came out of "deep pov- 

erty". 

We feel sure the Corinthians were 

stirred to give by 

this appeal. If 

they had failed by oversight or neg 

lect oistinginess 

heretofore, they 

would now respond to the need. 

Is it not true that all giving is 

comparative ? We cannot properly put 

a value on what we give but as we 

consider what is left. So it was with 

the widow, who gave her all. 

Nor can we properly 

value our 

gifts but as we compare our giving 

with that of others, 

or with the gift 

of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look ever 

to your example as to how liberal 

you should be. 

BECAUSE OF THE NEED OF 

THE HOUR 

Fellow-Christians were in trouble. 

A famine and a persecution were at 

large in Jerusalem and unless the 

bowels of compassion were opened in 

some, many would die. It is good 

theology to say that no one should 

ever die of the lack of food while 

there are those who could prevent it 

by sharing. 

When any catastrophe strikes in 

our land, the Red Cross sends out its 

appeal and the response is always a 

good one. This response is made in 

the name of humanitarianism and is 

commendable, but we believe that a 

greater response and a greater sac 

rifice should be made by the Chris 

tian when he sees a brother in need. 

One member of the body is always 

on the look-out to rush to the de 

fense of another member and so it is 

with the body of Christ, 

or so it 

should be. The body is one and each 

member is expected to be sympa 

thetic of another. 

When our missionaries inform us 

of the. hardships of fellow -believers 

far away, we give and we would feel 

very unworthy of our Discipleship, 

if we did not do so. Can you think 

of the futility of life or the sorrow 

of the world, if there were no Chris 

tian response to the world's needs? 

"But whoso hath this world's good, 

and seeth his brother have need, and 

shutteth up his bowels of compas 

sion from him, how dwelleth the 

love of God in him?"


BECAUSE OF GRACES IMPARTED 

The Corinthians were commended 

for the graces they had shown. They 

were graciously and tactfully re 

minded of their faith, of their ut 

terance, of their knowledge, of their 

diligence in which they did abound, 

but they were just as clearly and 

firmly 

Christian liberality. 

reminded of their lack of 

They had these other graces and 

there was no reason why they should 

not add to them another one, even 

the beautiful grace of charity. We 

do not know if they lacked informa 

tion, or for why they fell short, but 

there is at least suggestion that 

they 

who had done so well in other 

lines should have produced more 

talents. A rod was in their hand and 

it should have been used. There is a 

dread responsibility upon the sin 

ner renewed by grace. Grace im 

planted implies a growth in grace. 

Paul, in other words said, "You who 

have done so well in other lines and 

who have abounded in several graces, 

should also see that you excel in 

others. It is expected of you." 

BECAUSE OF THE GRACE OF 

CHRIST 

The culminating weight of Paul's 

argument is presented in the ninth 

verse, 

as love to Christ and appreci 

ation for His service is used to 

clinch the argument. 

Consider the grace of our Lord and 

how He spent His riches for others. 

This is the argument of love, for no 

one can face the love of Christ and 

not respond in kind. "We love Him 

because He first loved 

us." 

It is be 

cause of the love of God outpoured, 

in grace, that men are constrained 

to serve and glorify Him. His love 

constrains or draws men to love and 

sacrifice. The believer's service and 

sacrifice must be measured in the 

light of Christ's love and sacrifice. 

He was rich with Heavenly riches, 

yet for us He became poor, that we 

might become rich. There is the 

standard by which all must give. His 

giving puts a heavy obligation on all 

who follow. 

Jesus came from Heaven to help 

the whole world and surely His fol 

lowers will be willing to help a few 

troubled brethren. Appreciate His 

love and a generous heart will be the 

answer. Men and women today are 

serving in arduous tasks and are per 

forming noble services for which they 

could never be paid. They are doing 

so, and gladly, because of their love 

for Christ. Their service springs 

from their appreciation of Christ's 

grace to them. 

Sir W. T. Grenfell bought a little 

ship in England for his work on the 

coast of Labrador. A shipping friend, 

looking it over and seeing its very 

limited coal bunkers, said, "You will 

never be able to pay any man to sail 

it across the Atlantic." 

He was met 

with the reply that that was a job 

that was not expected to be paid for 

but that would be done by love. For 

the love of Christ it was transported 

safely and freely across the Atlantic. 

There is no other force in the 

world so constraining or so powerful. 

There is no nobler incentive to serv 

ice than the love a man has for what 

the Lord did for him. "Abound in 

this grace 

also" 

for there is a grave 

need. Abound because of the noble ex 

ample of others. Abound because of 

the graces already given to you. 

Abound above all because of the 

grace of our Lord "who for our sakes 

became poor, that we through his 

povei ty might become rich". 




Monday 

1:00 P. M. 

SYNODICAL THANK OFFERING 

SUPERINTENDENT'S REPORT 

19 47-1948 

Your Thank Offering Superintned- 

ent wishes to report a total of $10,- 

210.00 Thank Offering 

and $1,912.19 

Self Denial Gift repoited by 83 so 

cieties. These figures may not tally 

exactly with the Treasurer's report, 

but they at least approximate out 

giving to these two funds. Some 

times it is interesting to break fig 

ures down and compare ourselves 

with others. This year's report 

showed a gain of nearly one thousand 

dollars in the Thank Offering 

and of 

about fifty dollars in the Self Denial 

Fund over last year. The average 

contribution per society 

for Thank Offering, 

was $123.10 

and $23.04 for 

Self Denial. This makes over seven 

dollars per member for Thank Offer- 

about fifty dollars in the Self, Denial 

The largest contributions came from 

3rd Philadelphia with a Thank Offer 

ing 

of $1,285.30, and Montclair with 

a Self Denial Gift of $136.00. Mont 

clair was one of the few societies re 

porting a special meting for the tak 

ing 

of this gift. Perhaps that helped 

to stimulate the interest. One other 

society reported a little different way 

of raising this fund. They have a 

bank at each meeting throughout the 

year into which the members put 

their gifts for this purpose, and on 

the special day the bank is opened 

and the gift counted. 

The programs reported were much 

the same as in former years with 

vaiious speakers, plays, etc. being 

used. In this connection I would re 

port that there were 41 copies of the 

plays on hand, 

sold last year. These 

plays were chiefly the property of 

Kansas Presbyterial, and I am send 

ing them the money received, since 1 

was only making them available to 

the church at large rather than to 

their own Presbyterial. There are 

still quite a few copies of these plays 

on hand which are available at 10c 

per copy plus 3c per copy postage. 

(They 

come under first class postage 

rates.) There is also a play contest 

being conducted which we hope will 

make more material of this kind 

available. Let me supply you with 

some of this material. 

I have sold only fifteen of the 

Sympathy Cards which are to be used 

when sending a gift of money to a 

designated cause in lieu of flowers. 

There is still quite a supply of these 

cards on hand and they 

are so suit 

able for the purpose that we wish so 

cieties might order a dozen or so for 

their own members to use or to sell 

to others. The price is 15c. 

Some one suggested that it would 

be a help in securing speakers for 

Thank Offering 

boring- 

meetings if neigh 

congregations knew when 

some one was in their vicinity. I 

would suggest that if you have se 

cured some one whom you think 

other congregations would be inter 

ested in hearing that you drop a card 

to others in your Presbytery telling 

them the speaker and the date. 

I have also issued the Memorial 

and Life Membership Certificates 

as given in the Treasurer's report. 


Mrs. John W. Kennedy 

STAR NOTES... 

-"Mrs. A. R. Torrens of Glen- 

wood, Minn., is making 

an extended 

visit with the members of the Tor 

rens families and with her sister-in- 

law, Mrs. Nannie B. Luney and 

with her many friends at Oakdale. 

"' * Mr. Henry McKeown, 

a mem 

ber of the Clarinda congregation, 

passed away September 15, at the 

age of 82. The funeral service was 

September 17, conducted by Rev. Wal-


do Mitchell of Blanchard. He is sur 

vived by his wife, daughters, Mrs. 

George Baker of Duncombe, Iowa, and 

Mrs. David Rice of Clarinda, Iowa, 

and one son Ray McKeown of Clarin 

da. He was a faithful and life long 

member of the Clarinda congrega 

tion. 

***Dr. R. H. Martin gave a lecture 

in the Eskridge Rural High School 

auditorium on the temperance ques 

tion Thursday evening, September 

30. The High School Band furnished 

music. 

***Rev. W. J. McBurney has been 

sending postal cards to all Eskridge 

boxholders, with information about 

temperance, before the November 

resubmission vote in Kansas. 

***The United Presbyterian and 

Wesleyan Methodist Churches are 

also sending 

out cards. Temperance 

ads have also been placed in some of 

the newspapers in Harveyville and 

Alma, Kansas. 

***Kenneth Hood was Oakdale's 

only representative attending the 

Young People's Conference at Syra 

cuse, Indiana, this summer. 

CHURCH NEWS 

Greeley, Colorado 

Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Ewing cele 

brated their 50th wedding anniver 

sary July 9 with open house. Sixtyfive 

signed the guest book. However 

the date of the anniversary was 

March 30 but due to the illness of 

their daughter, Mrs. Fred Brown, the 

celebration was postponed until July. 

Mrs. Mary French who has been ill 

for several weeks is now in the Good 

Samaritan Hospital in ) Denver for 

treatment. 

Miss Blanche Carson, who is super 

visor of the lunch counter in the 

large Woolworth store in El Paso, 

Texas, 

spent a week with her par 

ents, Mr. and Mrs. A. A. Carson, the 

first of September. 

Miss Jean Carson is teaching this 

year in the high school at Monte 

Vista, Colorado. 

Miss Anna Dickey, 

who teaches in 

Pocatella, Idaho, and her mother 

spent a few weeks in Greeley. They 

have been members of the Greeley 

congregation for many years. 

The Greeley 

ure of meeting 

people had the pleas 

and getting ac 

quainted with Mr. and Mrs. Robert 

Henning and baby George, 

also Miss 

Orlena Lynn at our Wednesday eve 

ning 

prayer meeting September 1. 

Mr. Henning is a 

Herbert Gilchrist. 

nephew of Mrs. 

On July 25 Dr. and Mrs. Jesse 

Mitchel were present at our Sabbath 

evening 

service. Dr. Mitchel preached 

a most inspiring sermon. 

We were delighted to have the 

Covichords with us July 19. A recep 

tion was given for them following 

their program. 

Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Searle and 

daughters of Twin Falls, Idaho, and 

Mr. and Mrs. James Kennedy of 

Kearney, Nebraska, 

were visitors in 

the Wylie Kennedy home the last of 

August. Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy are 

the paTents of James and Mtrs. 

Searle. 

Other visitors in August were Mr. 

and Mrs. Stewart Lee of Beaver 

Falls, Pa., visiting in the home of 

Mrs. Lee's parents, Mr. and Mrs. H. 

C. Gilchrist. 

Mrs. James Finley of Blanchard, 

Iowa, 

College Springs, Iowa, 

and Mrs. John Stephenson of 

were guests 

of the T. J. Edgar's. Mrs. Finley and 

Mrs. Stephenson are cousins of Mrs. 

Edgar. 

Mr. and Mrs. John Edgar and fam 

ily of Perry, Oklahoma, spent a few 

days in the home of Mr. 

Clyde Dunn. 

and Mrs. 

Mrs. Elliott of Superior, Nebraska, 

was a guest of her daughter-in-law, 

Mrs. Clifford Elliott and family, the 

last two weeks in August. 

BLANCHARD, IOWA 

The Winchester Gospel Team pre 

sented a helpful discussion of the 

Christian Amendment Movement at 

the morning services of May 9. 

Two children of Mr. and Mrs. G. 

E. Huffaker were baptized by the 

pastor June 27: Ruth Ann and John 

Huston. 

Mr. W. W. Copeland represented 

the sesion at Synod this year. His 

daughter, Mrs. R. F. Wheeler and 

sons, accompanied him home to 

spend the summer. 

The congregation always appre 

ciates the helpful presence of Miss 

Mary Cabeen during the summer 

months. She taught the Interme 

diate group in D. V. B. S. this year. 

A junior party was held at the par 

sonage June 29. Twenty-one Juniors, 

mothers, and babies enjoyed the 

games, visiting, and refreshments. 

The Covichords gave a splendid 

program at the Clarinda Church on 

.August 6. In spite of the rain, three 

carloeds of Blanchard members and 

friends were able to attend. 

Rev. Mitchel, Marjorie and Jean 

Mitchel, Clayton and Gary Barritt 

attended Forest Park Y. P. Confer 

ence the full time. Three cars made 

the trip for the Sabbath services. 

Members of the Adult Sabbath 

School classes are studying Torey'- 

book, "How to Bring Men to Christ." 

A prayer group is also held each 

Sabbath between the Sabbath School 

and church services, looking forward 

to our evangelistic meetings this fall. 

Elder A. M. Andrews is now living 

at the D. M. Armstrong home in 

Maryville, Mo. 

Members of Blanchard and Clar 

inda congregations enjoyed a picnic 

dinner together at a Shenandoah 

park, August 19. 

An afternoon, party was held at the 

home of Mrs. John Finlay, August 

28, in honor of Miss Rose Huston, 

Miss Marjorie Allen, and Miss Doro 

thy Thompson. 

Sabbath, August 29, was a red-let 

ter day for Blanchard congregation 

when we had the privilege of hear 

ing Miss Marjorie Allen of Syria at 

the morning service; and Miss Rose 

Huston of Kentucky and now on her 

way to China, at the evening service. 

Both missionaries spoke to large ap 

preciative audiences. 

Mrs. Mary Finlay is now visiting 

her sister at Grandview, Washington. 

The congregation welcomes visi 

tors, and summertime brings back 

friends and out-of-bounds members. 

Among those worshiping with us this 

summer have been Mrs. R. E. Wheel 

er and sons, Miss Mary Cabeen, 

Miss Dorothy Thompson, Mr. and 

Mrs. John Copeland and family, Mrs. 

Roy Lucas, Mr. and Mrs. Lynn Lu 

cas, Mr. and Mrs. Dean Shields and 

family, Mrs. W. W. Mitchel and He 

len, Rev. and Mrs. Cloyd Caskey and 

Jean, Dr. and Mrs. Murchie, Dr. and 

Mrs. R. W. George and family, Dr. 

Wyatt Huston and family, Mr. and 

Mrs. G. E. Huffaker and children, 

Mrs. Myrtle Strain, Miss Marjorie 

Allen, Miss Jeannette Huston, Miss 

Rose Huston, Mrs. Mabel Chestnut, 

Mr. and Mrs. Merton Bell, Mr. Har 

old Milligan, Mr. Lee Copeland, Mrs. 

James Hatfield and daughter, Mrs. 

Bessie Copeland and sons Delber and 

Bobby, Rev. and Mrs. E. G. Russell. 

Mrs. W. W. Copeland went East 

to Norfolk, Va., this month with her 

daughter, Mrs. R. E. Wheeler and is 

visiting there for awhile. 

The congregation sympathizes 

with Mr. and Mrs. Dean Shields in 

the recent loss by fire of their manu 

facturing 

plant at Red Oak.


The Dale Roach family had a good 

motor trip into Arizona and New 

Mexico in August. 

Mr. James Lucas has retrned to the 

Barritt home in Blanchard after 

spending the summer with his son 

and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Lucas 

at Nodaway, la. 

JUNIORS AT FOREST PARK 

Kansas Junior Camp 

at Forest 

Park is a growing concern, this year 

having 

an enrollment of 92 with an 

average of 63. This number does not 

count 23 Topeka children who put on 

a Child Evangelism program under 

the direction of Mrs. Martin Chest 

nut, Mrs. Herbert Davies and Mrs. 

Louise Calhoun. 

Our devotions and Bible study 

were conducted each morning by our 

Junior Superintendent, Mrs. A. J. 

McFarland, after which a varied 

program was presented. 

We enjoyed meeting and listening 

to the following missionaries: Miss 

Elizabeth McElroy, Harold Hutch 

eson, Miss Marjorie Allen and the 

Herbert Hays family, of Syria; Miss 

Blanche McCrea of Cyprus; 

and Miss 

Alice Edgar, Miss Orlena Lynn, and 

the Robert Henning family, 

for China soon. 

who sail 

As guest speakers we had: Mrs. 

Lester Kilpatrick, Rev. P. D. Mc 

Cracken, 

and Rev. A. J. McFarland. 

The Psalm Memory Contest was 

won this year by Topeka. First place, 

Mary Grace McCracken, Topeka; 

second, Karen Sue Robb, Topeka; 

third, Keith Copeland, Hebron. Other 

contestants were : Dale and Delia 

Blackwood, Denison; Maurine Ulrich, 

Quinter; Norma Woods, Clarinda; 

Jean Mitchel and Gary Barrit, 

Blanchard; Rowena Spencer and 

Twila Brown, Olathe. The two latter 

were students in the State School for 

the Deaf. They wrote their contest 

psalms but to the delight of all they 

"signed" 

two psalms as a quartet 

song. We thank their teacher, Miss 

Elsie McGee, and their pastor, Rev. 

Hays, for bringing these girls to us. 

Twila and her mother were baptized 

and joined our Olathe church the 

following Sabbath. 

The Temperance Poster Contest 

had 332 entries: Eskridge, Kansas 

City, and Olathe 1 each; Hebron 2; 

Topeka 3; Quinter 7; Winchester 8 

and Denison 10. Quinter ran off with 

all three prizes this year: Jean 

Mann, first; Jimmy Haney, second; 

and Wendel Graham, third. 

Bible Story 

Vera Young, Sterling. She took us 

was led four days by 

through the "Exciting Experiences 

of Paul's Life". 

Three periods of handwork were 

conducted by Mrs. Maurice Reed, 

Sterling, and Mrs. Wilson McMahan, 

Clay Center. 

On Sabbath morning Rev. Paul 

Faris brought a children's sermon 

and the Winchester Juniors drove 

over as a body and presented the 

evening meeting. Mrs. Ruby Freer 

and Mrs. Edith Duguid were their 

leaders. 

Wednesday evening the Juniors 

presented a public program in the 

auditorium, presenting demonstra 

tions of our work. Special musical 

numbers were: piano solos by Shir 

ley Rice, Quinter; Carlene Hutch 

eson, Denison; and Norma Woods, 

.Clarinda. Bible 

verses were given by 

Mary Alice Redpath, May Spear and 

Norma Hays, of Olathe. 

Our Sabbath Junior offering for 

National Junior Projects was $9.80. 

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 

On July 18 our service was in 

charge of the Gideon Society 

and a 

special offering was taken amount 

ing to S56.00. Friday evening, July 

23, we had the pleasure and privilege 

of having the Geneva Covichords 

with us. We enjoyed their fellowship 

and splendid ministry of music. Fol 

lowing the program, refreshments 

were served and a social hour spent 

getting better acquainted with these 

fine young Christians. Rev. Calder 

wood occupied the pulpit on July 26 

and Rev. P. J. McDonald on August 

1. Rev. Robert McConachie preached 

for us August 8, and on the 15th, 

the twenty-four members of our 

congregation who attended the con 

vention at Camp Waskowitz, Seattle, 

had charge of the service, and gave 

us glowing reports of the conference. 

Judging from their enthusiasm, the 

convention was a wonderful success 

and the hospitality 

of the Seattle 

congregation unsurpassed. On August 

22, Rev. Walter McCarrol preached 

for us and Rev. Sam Edgar on 

August 29. We are very grateful to 

these ministers who take care of us 

while we are without a pastor. 

ning 

On September 5, Rev. Robert Hen 

preached for us and we were 

glad to meet this fine young min 

ister and his wife and baby. We 

were also privileged to have Miss 

Orlena Lynn the same day who ad 

dressed the Bible School. On Sep 

tember 12, Rev. Calderwood again 

occupied the pulpit and shared the 

service with Miss Rose Huston who 

gave us a stirring account of the 

work in our Kentucky Mission. Miss 

Huston also spoke to the children 

in the Bible School. Located as we 

are on the West Coast, we often have 

the pleasure of having many 

of our 

missionaries stop over with us en 

route to and from the mission field. 

As we do not have a pastor, we 

are not having evening services, but 

all the other services are being kept 

up and well attended. 

John Allan, the baby son of Mr. 

and Mrs. John Keys, Jr., was bap 

tized by Rev. Patterson at his last 

evening service here, June 27. 

Miss Beverly Hinton has entered 

Glendale Junior College for her first 

year, having graduated from Frank 

lin High in June. Esmond Smith is 

entering the University of Southern 

California to study medicine, having 

graduated from Geneva College this 

summer. Marshall Smith has re 

turned to Geneva to continue his 

studies there. The C. Y. P. U. held 

at Santa Monica with 

a beach party 

Virginia Gilchrist, Margaret Fen- 

stermacher, Esmond and Marshall 

Smith as special guests. 

We are glad to report that Mrs. 

George Forsythe, Sr., who has been 

quite ill, seems to be on the road to 

recovery. 

The August meeting of the Cove 

nanter Daughters was held in the 

home of Mrs. Harper Lowe, with 

Miss Edith Fowler as co-hostess. The 

August meeting of the W. M. S. was 

held in the lovely out-door living 

room of the Oliver Walker home. A 

delicious luncheon was served at 

noon to the members and guests. 

Mrs. Samuel Marshall spent sever 

al weeks in August, visiting with 

her parents in Traer, Iowa. Mrs. C. 

stopped over in Los Angeles, en 

route to Burlington, Iowa, for a few 

days, and proceeded on her journey 

Monday, September 13, accompanied 

by her sister, Mrs. Martha McNeil. 

Mrs. Dean Hinton and Beverly 

were hostesses Tuesday evening, 

at a bridal shower in 

September 14, 

honor of Miss Lorena Copeland 

whose marriage to Lewis Keys takes 

place October 9. Lorena found a pot 

of gold at the end of a beautiful 

rainbow, filled with many lovely and 

useful gifts. Games were played and 

delicious refreshments were served 

by 

the hostesses. 

At a specially 

called congrega 

tional meeting on Wednesday eve 

ning, September 15, it was decided 

to purchase a vacant lot which is just 

across the street from our church, to 

be used for a parking lot. 

We are saddened by the death of


one of our beloved members, Mrs. A. 

I. Robb, who passed to her heavenly 

home Monday afternoon, September 

13 at her home in Van Nuys. Me 

morial service was held Thursday 

afternoon with Rev. Robert McCon 

achie in charge. Rev. P. J. McDonald, 

Rev. Sam Edgar and Rev. Calder 

wood had a part in the service. Mrs. 

Robb had been in ill health for a 

number of years. We extend our 

sincere sympathy to the bereaved 

family. 

NEWBURGH, N. Y. 

The June meeting of the W. M. S. 

was held at the church. This was our 

Temperance meeting in charge of 

the Temperance Superintendent. Fol 

lowing the book study and business 

meeting 

a social time was held. 

Dr. Paul D. McCracken of our To 

peka, Kansas, congregation, preached 

for us on Sabbath, June 6. He was 

accompanied by his wife. We were 

pleased to make the acquaintance of 

these fine people. On that evening 

Dr. McCracken preached in the Col 

denham Church at a joint service of 

Coldenham, Montclair, White Lake 

and Newburgh congregations. Many 

from our church attended this serv 

ice. 

The Sabbath School picnic was 

held on June 30 at Algonquin Park. 

There were 67 members of the Sab- 

hath School and friends present. Dr. 

W. J. McKnight preached during the 

month of July for us and was present 

at our picnic. 

Jack White, son of Elder and Mrs. 

John White, attended Junior Camp 

at White Lake, N. Y. 

During July, we were pleased to 

have the following people from the 

Third Philadelphia Church worship 

with us: Elder and Mrs. Robert J. 

Crawford, their daughter and son-inlaw, 

Mr. and Mrs. Everett D. Mclll- 

wee and Mrs. May McClay. Also, 

Morton Robinson and family from 

Pittsburgh, Pa. Morton, a member 

of our church, is the son of Elder and 

Mrs. Samuel J. Robinson. 

Ruth Lynn graduated from New 

Paltz State Teachers College in June 

with the degree of B. E. She is to 

begin teaching in Nanuet, New York, 

in September. 

After 46 H years of teaching in 

the Newburgh Public Schools, Mar 

tha G. Henderson resigned in June. 

We hope she will enjoy 

earned rest. 

a well 

Our church was closed during the 

month of August. 

Miss Ruth Lynn, Elder and Mrs. 

John J. McKay 

spent a week or 

more at White Lake Camp. Mr. and 

Mrs. Samuel J. Robinson, Mr. and 

Mrs. J. L. Klomp, Ida and Martha 

Henderson and Mr. and Mrs. W. H. 

Somers visited the camp for a day 

or two. 

Public worship conducted by our 

pastor-elect, Mr. Charles Sterrett, 

and Sabbath School opened our fall 

services on September 5. Mr. Ster 

rett was accompanied by his wife. 

They 

were entertained in the home 

of Ida R. and Martha G. Henderson. 

Dr. W. J. McKnight of Syracuse, 

N. Y., performed the informal cere 

mony 

when Miss Eleanor Irene Em- 

mett, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ly 

man Emmett and Ralph J. McKay, 

son of Mr. and Mrs. John J. McKay, 

were united in marriage Saturday 

afternoon, July 17, in the bride 

groom's home. The bride was given 

in marriage by her father. She was 

attended by Mrs. John Hamill of 

Rochelle Park, N. J. James Salisbury 

was Mr. McKay's best man. Both 

the bride and groom are graduates 

of the Newburgh Free Academy. 

Eleanor is employed by the New 

York Telephone Company and Ralph 

by the Firth Carpet Co. Ralph is a 

veteran of the Second World War, 

served in the Marine Corps. 

having 

Mr. and Mrs. McKay will make their 

home in Newburgh. 

The W.M.S. held its September- 

meeting on Tuesday, September 7, 

in the home of the President, Mrs. 

W. H. Somers. 

AGED PEOPLE'S HOME 

The Sabbath service was conducted 

on July 11 at 4 P. M. by the Rev. 

Kermit S. Edgar. 

A drinking fountain, given in mem 

ory of Mrs. R. J. G. McKnight, by 

her family, has been installed in the 

corridor 

The hospital room will soon be di 

vided into two rooms by means of a 

sound-proof partition,, thus making 

it possible to care for more than one 

patient at a time. 

Mrs. Coulton, the nurse who has 

served for over a year at the Home, 

has resigned and Mrs. Fleming has 

succeeded her. 

Mrs. S. R. Moffitt, the matron, 

took a short trip to New Jersey from 

September 9 to 11. 

Mrs. W. T. K. Thompson has been 

accepted as a boarder, and is ex 

pected to arrive shortly. 

Mrs. Anna McKittrick, former 

matron of the Home, passed away on 

August 12 at Grenville, Pa. Private 

McKnight. 

Miss Martha J. Teaz passed away 

August 18. Her funeral services were 

conducted by Dr. D. H. Elliott on 

funeral services were held on August 

16 and were conducted by Dr. E. L. 

Friday, August 20. 

Mr. Wilbur McWhinney, caretaker, 

visited in Ohio from September 7 

to 11. 

Members of the Home are busy 

preparing for and looking forward to 

the annual Reception and Donation 

Day on Tuesday, October 5, from 2-5, 

and 7-10 o'clock. 

Mrs. Margaret Gibson is bedfast 

and in a very weak condition. 

Mrs. Margaret Hunter has been on 

the sick list, but is improved now. 

Miss Ellen Wilson was confined to 

her bed for a while. Previous to this 

illness, she had enjoyed a trip to 

Sparta, Illinois. 

Mr. Oliver Willson sufers from a 

chronic heart ailment, and remains 

in bed a good part of the time. 

Mr. George McLaury has also 

ben a patient for some time. 

Mrs. Lamont Turner enjoyed a re 

cent visit to her brother's home in 

Denison, Kansas. 

Miss Elizabeth Miller spent two 

months visiting in Kansas City, her 

former home. 

Mrs. Jenny McFarland flew to 

California, stopping off in Kansas, 

both en route from Pittsburgh, and 

on the way back. 

Mrs. Emma Robb visited her 

granddaughter in Corry, Pa., for five 

weeks during the summer. 

Miss Myrna Croier spent two 

weeks in Edinboro, Pa., visiting her 

cousin, Jess Crozier. 

SPARTA OLD BETHEL 

GENEROSITY 

Is Friday, the 13th, an unlucky 

day? Not for the occupants of the 

Sparta parsonage! On Friday, the 

13th of August, the Edwin Patter 

son's invited us out for supper. But 

soon after the bounteous meal, a big 

surprise came when the whole Old 

Bethel congregation arrived to wel 

come the new bride and to present 

us with many beautiful, useful gifts. 

For these, 

and also for the generous 

increase in salary, we thank you very, 

very much. 

A few nights later the Sparta con 

gregation had a social on the W. J. 

Kirpatriek lawn. Besides enjoying 

the fun of the evening, 

we were 

again surprised with a parade of 

gifts which was climaxed by the con 

gregation's giving each of us a well


filled purse. But this is still not all. 

A study and bathroom are being 

added downstairs at the parsonage, 

and a neat, roomy wardrobe has been 

provided. For all these many kind 

nesses we are indeed grateful. 

John and Marion McMillan 


There were twenty-four from Sec 

ond Church who attended White 

Lake Camp this year. Three of our 

Juniors, Jean Finlay, Charles Jilek 

and Ronald Nimick, attended both 

the Junior and the regular Young 

People's Camp. The following at 

tended Camp for either full or part 

time: Sandy Adams, Sarah and Deb 

orah Archer, Thomas, Charlotte and 

Frances Dodds, -41, Beth, Betty 

Rodger, and Paul Ferguson, Kather 

ine and Jean Finlay, Jean and 

Charles Jilek, Ruth Mercer, Bertha, 

Ronald, and Eileen Nimick, Sam, Ev 

elyn, Linda and Lois Peoples, and Mr. 

and Mrs. Frank L. Stewart. Every 

one had a most enjoyable time and 

came back with glowing reports. 

On Friday night, September 17, 

the Cameronians sponsored a White 

Lake Camp "Echo Meeting" 

to which 

the First and Third Churches were 

invited. Splendid reports were given 

by the various delegates. The high 

light of the evening was the techni 

color moving pictures of White Lake 

campers and their "doings". The 

hay-ride, the lawn party, the base 

ball and volley ball games, the out 

door supper, the arrival of the Covi 

chords and many 

other events were 

pictured to us which made us feel 

that we were back at White Lake 

again. We were indebted to AI Fer 

guson for these very fine pictures. 

The meeting of the Women's Mis 

sionary Society was held on Thurs 

day evening, September 9, at the 

church. Due to the inclemency ot 

the weather, the attendance was 

greatly hindered. Mrs. Thomas Ni 

mick, the President, was the hostess 

for the evening. 

It was a pleasure to have Mr. ana 

Mrs. John Black from Canada, for 

merly of Ireland, worship with us on 

Sabbath, September 5. Mr. and Mrs. 

Black said it was the first time they 

had attended a Covenanter service 

in the "States" 

and thoroughly enjoyed 

it. The Blacks were visiting 

in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas 

J. Dodds. 

We were delighted to have Miss 

Letitia Patton, formerly a member 

of Second Church, worship with us 

on Sabbath, September 19. Miss 

Patton received a warm welcome 

from her many friends in Philadel 

phia. 

Betty Rodger Ferguson had a 

birthday party and her "star" 

guest 

was Rev. Frank L. Stewart whose 

birthday is on the same day 

as hers. 

This was a very happy occasion! 

OLATHE 

The week of August 30 Mrs. M. 

D. Everette's family had a real re 

union. Mr. and Mrs. Herman Ever- 

ette and daughter Mary Lou were 

here from Philadelphia. It had been 

four years since Herman was home. 

Miss Oreta Everette, from Denver 

hospital where she is taking train 

ing, and Mrs. Everette's three daugh 

ters living here, all had a fine fam 

ily visit. We all enjoyed them. 

Mrs. Nina McGee has been home 

from Sterling for a few weeks, 

meeting her former friends. 

The evening of August 17 we 

met at the church for a farewell 

fam 

party for the Rev. H. A. Hays' 

ily. We had a well prepared and very 

enjoyable program. The congregation 

presented Mr. Hays a well-filled 

purse. It was with a feeling of sad 

ness, as well as pleasure, for the 

Hayses to move from our midst, as 

they have been wonderful leaders 

and he a kind pastor. It will be 

Syria's gain. Refreshments were 

served at a late hour. 

Mrs. Jennie McFarland of Pitts 

burgh, Pa., has been visiting in our 

community and with her son Robert 

and family at Overland Park for 

several weeks. 

Dr. and Mrs. M. S. McMillan 

stopped with friends overnight as 

they were on their way to Stafford 

to attend their son's and Miss 

Marion Adams' 

wedding. 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles McBurney 

are now located in the upper apart 

ment of our parsonage. Charles is 

near his work in our High School. 

Miss Lila Smith went to Holton 

July 16 to attend the wedding of 

her niece, Miss Mary Elizabeth Coul 

ter, 

and Lawrence G. Hoyt. 

BLOOMINGTON, IND. 

Rev. and Mrs. Willson and family 

attended the joint Y. P. Conference 

of Illinois and Ohio Presbyteries 

at Lake Wawassee, Ind. Miss El 

len Curry 

and Carol Jo Baird also 

spent a few days at the conference. 

Mr. and Mrs. John Curry left 

August 24 for Kodiak, Alaska, where 

both will teach in a Naval High 

School. Enroute they stopped at 

Seattle, Washington, 

where they 

were entertained in the home of Rev. 

and Mrs. M. K. Carson. 

Our congregation is very happy to 

welcome Mr. and Mrs. Dick Weir, 

who are now making their home here 

while Mr. Weir attends Indiana 

University. Mrs. Weir is teaching in 

the Nursery School of the local 

University School. 

The opening of school takes some 

of our members away from home, 

while others are allowed to remain 

at home while attending school. 

James M. Moore will attend Purdue 

University, while Ed and Joe Ken 

nedy, James Stone, and Dale Shaw 

reenter Indiana University, as well 

as Carol Jo Baird and Don Kennedy 

who enter for the first time. 

Mr. and Mrs. John McCormack are 

the parents of a daughter, Mary 

Anne, born September 9. Mrs. Mc 

Cormack is the former Betty Moore. 

Teresa Collette, infant daughter of 

Mr. and Mrs. Foster Eugene Curry, 

was baptized by our pastor on Sep 

tember 12. 

MURPHY WEAVER 

Miss Margaret Ann Weaver, 

daughter of Dr. and- Mrs. O. M. 

Weaver of Lewistown, Pa., became 

the bride of David C. Murphy, son 

of Mr. and Mrs. C. D. Murphy, Fri 

day, September 3, in the Reformed 

Presbyterian Church, Syracuse, N. Y. 

The Rev. G. M. Robb officiated. 


by her father. Preceding the cere 

mony, Miss Janet Crockett, cousin 

of the groom, sang "Because," 

"I Love You Truly." 

and 

Mrs. Robert 

Carringer of Lewistown, Pa., was 

matron of honor and Freeman Wil 

liams of Syracuse was best man. C. 

Edmund Murphy 

and R. Alan Mur 

phy, brothers of the groom, were 

ushers. 

A reception took place in the 

church parlors. Later the couple 

left on a trip over the Sky-Line 

Drive in Virginia and then on to 

Atlantic City. N. J. They 

will reside 

in Pittsburgh where the groom is a 

student in Carnegie Technical Insti 

tute. The bride has completed her 

studies in the Margaret Morrison 

School of Carnegie Tech. 

On the Friday preceding the wed 

ding, Mrs. Arthur Russell enter 

tained for the bride with a miscel 

laneous shower. 

MRS. ALPHA MOORE 

After several weeks illness, Mrs. 

Alpha Moore passed away at her 

home on Saturday, July 3. Funeral 

services were held in the R. P. 

Church on July 5, 

with Rev. S. Bruce


Willson officiating. Surviving are 

her husband, Henry Ellsworth Moore, 

her mother, Mrs. Mary McCaughan, 

and three children, Mrs. John Mc- 

Cormick of LaGrange, Indiana, 

James M. Moore, Lafayette, Indiana, 

and Mary Evelyn Moore of Terre 

Haute, Indiana. Mrs. Moore had 

taught the Young People's Sabbath 

School Class for several years, and 

will be sadly missed by 

congregation. 

our entire 

ORLANDO, FLORIDA 

The annual Sabbath School picnic 

was held at Rock Springs on Satur 

day afternoon, July 17. Many en 

joyed swimming in the cool springs 

and all enjoyed the bountiful picnic 

supper. We were happy to have with 

us Mr. and Mrs. Harold Lassiter and 

small daughter of Washington, D.C., 

who were here on a short visit. 

Mrs. E. S. Dill, 

most of the summer, 

very 

who had been sick 

underwent a 

delicate operation whidh was 

very successful, for when school 

opened in September, she was able to 

resume her usual place as teacher in 

the Ocoee High School. 

Mrs. Maxine Baylis Johnston and 

her two children of Blanchard, Iowa, 

spent ten days visiting her parents, 

Mr. and Mrs. John Baylis. 

Miss Marjorie McClure of Pitts 

burgh, Pa., and her sister Mrs. Hel 

en Bishoff and small daughter, visit 

ed their father, Mr. John McClure 

and their aunts the Misses Lida and 

Margaret McClure. 

Many 

of our number have enjoyed 

vacations in the North. Mrs. Hattie 

Hagadorn visited relatives and 

friends in Johannesburg, Mich. Mrs. 

Grady Windham visited her brother 

John McFarland and family in De 

troit, Mich., and sister Mrs. Earl Can 

non and family of Chicago, 111. Mrs. 

Reed Terry 

and small son Bobby 

spent a month visiting relatives and 

friends in Oakdale and Mt. Vernon, 

III. 

Mr. Donald Huston motored to 

Washington, D.C., 

where he met his 

aunt, Miss Rose Huston. They spent 

a week together visiting places of 

interest. 

We feel that Orlando was well rep 

resented at White Lake Camp. Two 

car loads went from here Rev. A. W. 

Smith, Barbara Alice and Alvin 

Smith, Phyllis McFarland, Margaret 

Ann White, Mr. and Mrs. E. N. Harsh 

Bill Dill and Laura Donahue. Bill 

Mitchel, nephew of Mrs. E. S. Dill, 

who had spent a month with the Dills 

went along 

and attended camp. Our 

young people took an active part too 

as Bill Dill was president and Phyllis 

McFarland was junior leader. Alice 

Smith took first place in the Bible 

Reading contest, and our C.Y.P.U. 

won the Standard of Efficiency cup. 

They 

all reported a good time and 

spiritual uplift. 

Mr. and Mrs. J. C. McKnight and 

daughter, Mrs. Cecil Hall, 

went to 

New York City to visit their son and 

brother, Mr. Hugh McKnight and 

family. Mrs. Hall was priviledged 

to attend one weekend of White Lake 

Camp. 

Mr. and Mrs. Louis Donahue and 

family visited Mrs. Donahue's sister 

in Tampa, Fla., then toured south 

ern Florida for a few days before re 

turning home. 

The Misses Lida and Margaret Mc 

Clure spent the month of August at 

Daytona Beach. They both enjoyed 

the "salt air", especially Miss Marg 

aret McClure who has not been very 

well. 

Mr. and Mrs. W. C. McFarland and 

Mr. and Mrs. John Baylis spent a 

few days at Daytona Beach. 

One of the best attended fellow 

ship dinners we have ever had was 

held at the church the first Wednes 

day night in September. At this 

time Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Alexander's 

Fortieth Wedding Anniversary was 

celebrated. prayer meet 

Following^ 

ing, the young people who attended 

White Lake presented the program 

which Orlando gave on Stunt Night. 

We were glad that two of our col 

lege students were able to spend 

short vacations at home, Kenneth 

Smith from Geneva College and Rose 

mary Dudley from Emory. On Sab 

bath, September 5, Ken Smith, one of 

the Covichords, gave us something o'f 

the message carried to the church 

by the gospel team of the college. 

Ken will be a senior at Geneva Col 

lege and Rosemary 

will enter her 

second year of nurse's training- at 

Emory. 

The young 

people enjoyed a swim 

ming party at Sanlanda Springs on 

Saturday, September 11. This party 

was held especially for three collegi- 

ates, Rosemary Dudley, Kenneth 

Smith and Bill Dill. After swimming 

a hot dog super was served, topped 

off with ice cream and cookies. 

Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore Alexander 

and son Calvin are happy 

over the 

little girl Brenda Gale who came into 

their home early Saturday morning, 

September 11. 

REFORMED PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 

CONTRIBUTIONS 

APRIL 1, 1948 - 

SEPT. 

1948 

$86,000.00 is needed to serve. 

Receipts so far $9,979.54 

Receipts 

Foreign Mission needs 24,000.00 1,148.75 

Kentucky Mission 

^Jewish Mission 

6,000.00 

3,300.00 

200.47 

198.00 

None 28.45 

600.00 

6,000.00 

None 

12,000.00 

551.49 

317.50 

A. P. Home 1,500.00 

166.85 

3,500.00 

Min. Relief 4,000.00 

Geneva College 

655.00 

204.49 

2,000.00 120.00 

None 

15,500.00 

240.00 

908.89 

Covenanter Witness 6,800.00 5,000.00 

300.00 

Literary Fund etc ,400.00 

Nat. Assoc. Evangelicals .... 

* These departments have sufficient funds. 

100.00 

James S Tibby, Treas. 

209 9th St. 


18.00 

24.00 

6.00

LESSON HELPS FOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 31, 1948 


"oo VE/.RS or Witnessing- for. CHRIST'5 sovereio/s rights in the, church and the, wtiom . 

VOLUME XLI WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1948 Number 13 

-- IE dectector tests have taken their place in 

chain stores and commercial establish- 

II 

Ji/ments in Los Angeles, rather than police 

departments for which they originally 

signed. 

The Perfect Lie Detector 

were de 

Paul V. Troville, personnel consultant, said 

lie detector tests are being used as pre-employ 

ment routine and administered periodically to 

check pilfering. He said: 

"In one large national drug chain about 400 

employes were tested. Of these, 76 per cent were 

or merchandise from 

found to be taking money 

concern." 

the 

Troville said some 60 Chicago banks now use 

the lie detector. He added that when the banks 

first tested some 2500 tellers 62 per cent admitted 

to taking either small or large amounts of money. 

It must be extremely humiliating to be detect 

ed telling a lie. Since 62 to 76 per cent of those 

tested were found to be pilferers, it is safe to 

say that if all persons were tested in all depart 

ments of life, the verdict could be expressed in 

the words of the Psalmist : "Surely men of low 

degree are vanity, 

and men of high degree are 

a lie : to be laid in the balance they are alto 

vanity." 

gether lighter than (Psalm 62:9). 

It is quite possible that those administering the 

tests would be found guilty of falsehood in some 

minor or major matters ; but there in One with 

therefore He can 

whom it is "impossible to lie," 

righteously test all mankind. 

It is not necessary to wait until the judgment 

day to know how one fares in this matter, for the 

lie detector in spiritual matters is the Word of 

God. By applying that Word to our motives, 

words and deeds, we can test ourselves. 

thoughts, 

For example, that Word says : "If we say that 

we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the 

" 

"If we say that we have 

truth is not in us . . . 

not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is 

not in 

us." 

(John 1:8-10). No real purpose 

is served by attempting to find fault with the 

Detector. We are at fault and it is wisdom on 

our part to admit our sinfulness and take ad 

vantage of God's offer of forgiveness through 

faith in the work of redemption accomplished by 

His Son. "To Him give all the prophets witness, 

that through His name whosoever believeth in 

sins." 

Him shall receive remission of (Acts 10: 

43). 

And after we are forgiven, "if we say that we 

have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, 

we lie, and do not the truth." 

If found liars in 

this respect we should confess it, for "if we con 

fess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive 

us our sins and to cleanse us from all unright 

eousness." 

(I John 1:9). 

Those who preach, teach and write should con 

stantly contact the Detector, for "if they speak 

not according to this Word, it is because there is 

no light in them." 

(Isaiah 8:20). The Word 

asks: "Who is a liar but he that denieth that 

that denieth 

Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, 

the Father and the Son." 

(I John 2:22). We 

also read: "Add thou not unto His words, lest 

He reprove thee, and thou be found a 

liar." 

(Proverbs 30:6). 

In all likelihood, the, store and bank clerks 

never expected to be subjected to lie detector 

tests, but it happened. Multitudes of people nev 

er expect to be examined by God, but the Word 

says : "every one of us shall give account of 

himself to God." 

(Romans 14:12). 

"He that believeth not God hath made Him a 

liar; because he believeth not the record that 

God gave of His Son. And this is the record, that 

God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is 

in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life: and 

he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." 

(I John 5:10-12). Now


QUmpA&i ol ike fletufiawL WoaM 

Frank E. Alen, D. D. 

Red Gross on A-Bombs 

The International Red Cross meeting 

at Stockholm 

passed resolutions urging the nations to outlaw bacteri 

ological and atomic warfare, as well as the use of poison 

gas. There were other resolutions, as that of banning 

all concentration camps, deportations, torture of civil 

ians, taking of hostages, and asking that civilians be 

provided with safety zones in combat areas. The lead 

ers of the Red Cross have high ideals but probably know 

as well as the rest of us that in case of world-wide war 

involving great nations, little attention is paid to so- 

called rules of war. Would that the golden rule might 

be adopted by all nations and put into practice, then all 

such problems would be solved as we would have no war. 

The so-called Kinsey 

by Prof. A. C. Kinsey 

That Kinsey Report 

report which is rather a book 

on Sexual Behavior should be rel 

egated into oblivion. But a book which occupies a 

leading place in the current issues of The Calvin Forum 

and The Christian Century, papers widely separated in 

theological opinion, and which though felling for $6.50 

has become a best seller, can hardly be ignored. The 

Calvin Forum calls such books a mark of the decadence 

of a civilization. This writer further states that more 

often than not these books perform a disservice in the 

very matter which they 

purport to aid. The writer of 

the book and his three associates have interviewed over 

12,000 American men. The Report is inadequate in its 

scope, 

yet it seems to show a deplorable condition in 

the moral standards of men and boys, 

and this also in 

cludes women and girls. The correction for this may be 

found partly in education, but primarily in regeneration 

and Christian living according to Bible standards. 

Poor India 

The outbreak of war again in India with the threat of 

a general war in that ill-fated land with its tragic con 

ditions of poverty, unrest and clashing 

religions causes 

us to lament: Poor, poor India! The death of Mahomed 

Ali Jinnah, governor general of Pakistan, called the 

father of that Moslem dominion, caused loud weeping on 

the part of many of his followers. But now that the 

fabulously rich nizam (ruler) 

fused to join his wealthy 

of Hyderabad has re 

st?.te with the Hindu Indian 

dominion, 80 per cent of whose subjects are said to be 

Hindus, and the Indian Premier Nehru has declared that 

India was determined to send troops into Hyderabad to 

stop a "mounting wave of disorders", it is impossible to 

determine where this outbreak may 

end. The state of 

Hyderabad is about the size of Minnesota and is entirely 

surrounded by Indian territory. Indian officials fear 

that hostilities will lead to the massacre of Hyderabad's 

Hindus by Razakars, a Moslem, volunteer military group, 

and that Hindus may then attack India's Moslems. Un 

derlying 

religious differences and the bitterness which 

follows have been the cause of many if not most of the 

wars of history. Why cannot thinking 

men see the bene 

fits and blessings of Christianity with its gospel of peace 

and love? 

Misrepresentations Abroad 

The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church, Dr. Baird, 

has written from Glasgow, as published in Presbyterian 

Life, "I have met with a horrible specter for which A- 

merica is responsible. It is the idea that America wants 

war with Russia. A reporter sought me out in Belfast 

yesterday to get my answer: 'Does America really want 

war? We understand that her decision is, Come on and 

with.' 

let's get it over All say frankly that the fate of 

these islands lies in America's hands. And if America 

wants war well, it sounds to them like the stroke of 

doom. God forgive our heartless, irresponsible, politi 

cians for their careless statements! And God give us 

grace to correct tnis tragic misrepresentation of America's 

attitude! And let us correct it soon. Isn't this a task 

for American Christians? Can't we do something to 

enable European friends and foes to sense our deep, sin 

cere longing for 

peace?" 

What of Displaced Persons? 

Since Congress passed the Displaced Persons law last 

June, 

which was to allow 205,000 displaced persons to 

enter the United States, 

not a single D. P. has been 

cleared for entrance to this country, according to the 

New York Times. It is now stated by the chairman of 

the D. P. commissions that at the best not more than 

40,000 can now be processed for admission within the 

next eleven months. The consular agents insist that the 

D. P.s, who are more poverty strilken than ever, travel 

to the consulates at Stuttgart, Frankfort or Munich be 

fore their cases can be considered. It is a shame that 

this red tape cannot be cut and people who are now in 

desperate need be admitted to the U. S. before they per 

ish from starvation or cold, for at best the 

number al 

lowed are far fewer than our nation wiith her wealth 

and vast acres could easily 

citizenship. Christian charity 

as to individuals. 

support and absorb into our 

How We Won Yet Lost 

applies to nations as well 

In two articles running through the August 30 and 

iSeptember 6 issues of Life entitled, "How we won the 

war and lost the 

peace," 

Wm. C. Bullitt, formerly of the 

(Please tarn to page 199) 

tdp rr\T'rT7,'vr \ "YtrPi7,"D httvpcc. Published each Wednesday by the Reformed Presbyterian 

I hi f < ' J v 1.1NA Lf.K \i 1 1 IN !'..>^ . Churcli of North America, through its editorial office. 

Ht-v. P. R.-.ynond Tags-art.- D. D.. Editor and Manager. 1_9 Boswell Avenue. Topeka. Kansas. 

_


GuM&nt &4j&nt4. Prop. John Coleman, PhD.. D. D. 

Executive government by 

remote control is now in 

full demonstration. In the middle of September, candi 

date Truman left Washington for a swing 

around the 

circuit and candidates Dewey and Warren left New 

York and California for the same purpose. "Minions 

of Wall Street" 

and "Communists" 

and "fellow-travel 

ers" 

are again in the political vocabulary and the quad 

rennial show is on. The American people would feel 

themselves cheated if there were no such pre-election 

demonstrations, but Elmo Roper, a leading 

poll authori 

ty, in connection with a recent report that Mr. 

Dewey has all the best of it, entered into a somewhat 

lengthy discourse to prove that usually people already 

have their minds made up by this time and that all the 

hubbub, unless it is educative or a reassertion of our 

freedom of speech, is wasted energy. An indication 

of the Dewey lead is given by 

the declaration of Nor 

man Thomas, the six-time candidate of the Socialist 

party, that any Socialist who does not wish to waste 

his vote by casting his ballot for his own party should 

vote for Dewey, who, says Thomas, will give us a good, 

well-organized, though capitalist, government. 

* * * :!= 

The cold-blooded assassination of Count Bernadotte, 

the U. N. mediator in Palestine, has cast a cloud over 

Jewish aspirations. The Jewish government, however, 

is acting most vigorously and has rounded up 

900 mem 

bers of the Stern Gang, the extremist criminal group 

of "Patriots," 

survivors of the company 

and will make them pass before the two 

with Bernadotte. One of 

his assistants was killed. The Count did not succeed 

in bringing peace to Palestine, but he secured a truce 

in the fighting, and the longer it is stretched out the less 

likelihood there is of further bloodshed. 

Addressed to the Covenanter Witness, Beaver Falls, 

Pa., there has come to the writer's desk an extract from 

the Congressional Record giving a speech by Mohammed 

Amin El-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Palestine, "the 

leader of, and a spokesman for, 

millions of Arabs. Con 

gressman Ed Gassett inserted the speech in the Record. 

The Mufti was a Hitler adherent during the last war and 

fled to Berlin. He is not popular with the other Arab 

Arabs." 

leaders and scarcely speaks for "millions of Also 

his record makes his pious declarations of his zeal for 

democracy 

rather hollow. 

The U. N. Gerneral Assembly 

21 with a heavy budget of business: (1) the disposition 

met in Paris September 

of the Italian colonies; (2) the Palestine situation; (3) 

the reports of the U. N. Commissions for the setting up 

of self-government in Korea, the allocation of the con 

trol of Kashmir in India, and the protection of the Greek 

boundary from invasions by Communists from the north; 

(4) the provision of armed guards to protect such com 

missions or representatives (as Count Bernadotte) much 

as the President of the United States is surrounded by 

secret service men; (5) a demand on the part of India 

that the non-permanent seats in the Security Council be 

distributed on a regional basis so that Southern Asia may 

have more consideration; (6) proposals to limit the veto 

of Russia and other major powers on the actions of the 

Security Council; (7) the control of the atomic bomb; 

(8) disarmament; (9) the recent treaty for the control 

of the Danube; and (10) the situation in Berlin. Vishin 

sky 

is to lead the Russian delegation and will doubtless 

begin -the assembly as always, with a long denunciation 

of the Americans and British as imperialistic and war 

mongering enemies of democracy. 

Rotarian J. C. Penney (Penney Stores) 

moved the Ro- 

tarians of the United States and a number of other 

groups to secure a five-minute prayer period at the close 

of the morning church services on September 19, for the 

success of the United Nations Assembly 

which was to 

meet two days later in Paris. Governors and mayors 

were also asked to aid in the movement. In many com 

munities the suggestion was gratefully received and 

imitated even beyond the confines of the United States. 

In the copy 

sent last week it was said that Indian 

troops had invaded Hyderabad, a country 

of 82,000 

square miles. Now, several days before that item reaches 

the reader, comes the news that Hyderabad has been 

taken over in both military and civil affairs and the war 

is over. The Nizam it is said, may be allowed to retain 

his vast private fortune and possibly 

some power. It 

seems like a game called after the first batter is out. 

Would that all our wars could be concluded so speedily! 

A * * A * 

The United States is transporting 4,000 tons per day 

to Berlin, at a cost of $200,000 per day. It would cost 

$24,000 were Russia to allow the use of trucks, $20,000 if 

the railroads were open and $12,000 if the canals were 

free again. This means that resistance to the Russian 

program to chase us out of the city costs us about $180,000 

a day. 

We gave the Russians $11,000,000,000 in lend-ease, in 

cluding two immense icebreakers that we could well use 

on the Great Lakes, 95 Liberty ships (of which they re 

turned 8), and some 40 war vessels (of which they have 

returned none). The United States has asked repeatedly 

for negotiations to settle our accounts but we have been 

ignored. Make your own comment, but remember how 

you feel when a neighbor does not return a borrowed 

lawnmower. 

The Freedom Train has had three crowded days in 

Pittsburgh and Governor Duff has announced that a 

Pennsylvania Freedom Train to present the state's his 

tory 

will be inaugurated. Dr. J. B. Willson of the Geneva 

congregation in his explanation of the Terms of Com 

munion on September 19 presented "the Covenanter 

Freedom Train" 

preciated. 

It was a helpful discussion and ap 

The Pittsburgh Catholic quotes the following from the 

October issue of The Messenger of the Sacred Heart: 

"Suppose for just a moment that when you rise tomorrow 

morning the work of the nuns throughout this nation 

will suddenly have been suspended, what will happen? 

This will happen: fifty-four thousand young women will 

be turned out of one hundred and twenty-three colleges. 

and perilous- 

Half a million boys and girls will go sadly 




BY THE REV. J. G. VOS, TH. M. 

VI. NON-SUBSTITUTIONARY 

CHRISTIANITY 

NOTE : This is the sixth of a series of articles 

on common contemporary viewpoints which ave 

contrary to orthodox Christianity. 

The Substitutionary Atonment Of Christ 

"The Lord Jesus, by 

His perfect obedience and 

sacrifice of Himself, which He through the etern 

al Spirit once offered up unto God, hath fully sat 

isfied the justice of His Father; and purchased, 

not only reconciliation, but an everlasting inheri 

tance in the kingdom of heaven, for all those 

Thus 

whom the Father hath given unto Him." 

does the Westminster Confession of Faith (VIII, 

5) state the doctrine of the vicarious or substi 

tutionary atonement of Christ. This truth, which 

is taught with unmistakable clearness in the 

Scriptures, is the very heart of Christianity. We 

have only to think of the Passover, the Lord's 

Supper, Isaiah 53 and numerous passages of the 

Gospels and Epistles to realize the prominence of 

this truth in the Word of God. That Christ died 

as the sinner's Substitute is the very basis of the 

Scripture way of salvation. 

Briefly, the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement 

is the divinely-revealed explanation of 

the meaning 

of the crucifixion of Christ. It 

teaches that Christ suffered and died according 

to a divine plan by which He bore in our stead 

as our Substitute the wrath and curse of God 

due to us on account of our sins. In the atonei- 

ment, the sins of God's elect were imputed or 

reckoned to Christ charged against Him, or 

"laid 

upon" 

Him in order that God could, con 

sistently with His absolute justice, forgive their 

sins and impute the righteousness of Christ to 

them. The substitutionary atonement means that 

the innocent and holy Christ, according to the 

divine plan, suffered the penalty due to guilty 

and wicked sinners because of their breaking of 

God's law. It means that Christ and the sinner 

exchange places, each receiving what the other 

deserves. It implies that Christ's sufferings and 

death were necessary to save us from spending e- 

ternity in hell. 

" 

This doctrine of substitution has been largely 

abandoned by modern American Protestantism. 

There is perhaps no single doctrine of the Bible 

on which so much ingenuity has been expended 

in an effort to get rid of it or explain it awav. 

In most cases the idea of the atonement is not 

denied outright, but affirmed and then explained 

away. Thus the modern "liberal" 

"preacher pious 

atonement!" 

savs "Of course I believe in the 

ly 

and then explains the atonement to mean that 

Christ died to reveal the Fatherhood of God to 

"satisfaction" 

men. The substitutionary or view 

of the atonement is probablv held by onlv a 

minority of American Protestants today. Why 

should there be such intense opposition to this 

doctrine? Because it cuts to the very heart of 

human pride and self-confidence. The person 

whose creed, uttered or unexpressed, starts out 

with the affirmation "I believe in 

man" 

is deeply 

offended by the humiliating doctrine of the sub 

stitutionary atonement and its corollary of hu 

man sinfulness and helplessness. Indeed, this 

opposition is nothing new ; it existed in the apos 

tle Paul's day, so that he must write of "the of 

fence of the 

cross" 

(Gal. 5:11). To confess one's 

self to be a helpless, hell-deserving, wicked sinner 

is very humiliating to human pride ; it "excludes 

boasting", as Paul wrote (Rom. 3:25-27). The 

offence of the cross is precisely what is lacking 

from large sections of present-day American 

Protestantism. There is plenty of talk about "the 

cross", but the real offence of the cross has been 

carefully removed, with the result that Christi 

anity has been supplanted by a non-saving, count 

erfeit religion that is essentially only moralism 

or self-salvation. 

Evasion By Intentional Vagueness 

We shall now consider some of the ways in 

which the doctrine of the substitutionary atone 

ment is by-passed or nullified at the present day. 

The first is the way of vagueness. "I believe in 

the great fact of the atonement", says many a 

liberal preacher, "but I do not see the need for 

any theory of the atonement". This gives the im 

pression that he really believes in the main thing, 

and differs from the orthodox doctrine only in 

minor details. But it is a complete evasion of 

the truth. There can be no fact without a theory 

to explain it ; a fact without a theory would have 

no meaning at all. 

"fact" 

The so-called of the 

atonement was merely the crucifixion of a Jew 

1900 years ago some nails driven through a 

man's hands and feet, some blood dripping to the 

ground. As soon as we ask "Who was this suf 

ferer?", "Why did He suffer?", "What did it 

accomplish?", we must have a "theory" 

trine of the atonement. Without a doctrine, the 

fact of the crucifixion is meaningless. The real 

or doc 

question is not whether we shall have a doctrine 

of the atonement, but whether our doctrine shall 

be the revealed truth of God or merely one of the 

makeshift theories of men. 

Reference To A Law Of Self- Sacrifice 

Another way of getting rid of the substitution 

ary atonement is to classify Christ's death as an 

instance of the working out of a universal natural 

law of self-sacrifice, a law by which a mother 

sacrifices herself for her child, a hen for her 

chicks, a man for his country, and Christ for the 

human race. According to this idea the atone 

ment has been paralleled by millions of actions 

since the beginning of time, only the atonement 

stands out as something more monumental than 

the rest. Christ only did what multitudes of 

people, and even animals, have done and are do-

September 29, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 

ing but He did it in a fuller, 

greater and more 

remarkable way. "Sacrifice is the law of lite", 

say the advocates of this view, "and Jesus died 

according to that law". 

One objection to this view is that it eliminates 

the idea of substitutionary guilt-bearing. If there 

is such a thing as a natural law of self-sacrifice, 

it involves only sacrifice to rescue others from 

danger or suffering, not substitutionary bearing 

of a legal penalty the wrath and curse of God. 

To regard Christ's atonement as coming under 

such a category means to deny that the guilt of 

His people's sins was laid upon Him by the Fath 

er. This idea also destroys the uniqueness of 

Christ's atonement. It becomes only one happen 

ing of a class of happenings, all of which are es 

sentially the same and differ only in degree. 

That is to say, this view regards Christ as a 

mere human being, and his sacrifice as a merely 

natural human act, instead of regarding Him as 

the Son of God, and His sacrifice as the unique 

fulfilment of a special divine plan of salvation. 

This view regards the blood of Christ as a com 

mon thing. 

Nullification By False Theories 

The false theories of the atonement are legion. 

Many of them contain certain elements of truth. 

None the less they are all essentially false and de 

structive of Christianity. They have only one 

thing in common they 

all agree in their rejec 

tion of the truth that Christ bore the wrath and 

curse of God as the sinner's Substitute, to save 

the sinner from eternal punishment in hell. It 

would be impossible in this brief article to deal 

with all the false theories of the atonement that 

have been devised by human pride and unbelief. 

We shall merely mention a few of the most wide 

ly held. 

1. The "Military" 

theory of the atonement 

teaches that Christ by his death on the cross paid 

a ransom to Satan and thus canceled Satan's 

claim on the sinner. This theory was common in 

the early centuries and is found sometimes today. 

Christ did indeed seal the doom of Satan, but not 

by paying a ransom to Satan. He paid the ran 

som to God, to satisfy the justice of God on ac 

count of human sin. 

2. The "Example" 

theory 

holds that Christ died merely 

of the atonement 

as a martyr to His 

principles and ideals, and to leave the human race 

a noble pattern of self-sacrifice for men to imi 

tate. This theory denies that Christ suffered for 

the sins of men ; it teaches that He died merely 

as an example of self-denial. 

3. The 

"Mystical" 

theory 

of the atonement 

holds that Christ suffered and died in order to 

identify Himself with human sin, suffering and 

death, thus saving men by bringing about a mys 

tical union between the human race and Him 

self. This theory denies the truth that He suf 

fered he wrath of God as the sinner's Substitute ; 

it holds that men are saved not by substitutionary 

penalty-bearing but mystical union with by Christ. 

4. The 

"Governmental" 

theory 

of the atone 

ment holds that Christ suffered a "token" 

penal 

ty to show God's displeasure and opposition to 

without impairment of His moral government of 

the world. According to this theory, Christ died 

not to make it right for God to forgive sinners, 

but to make it safe for God to forgive sinners, 

somewhat as an earthly Judge sometimes singles 

out some one criminal and makes him a "public 

example" 

by visiting upon him a severe penalty 

to make people realize that crime is against the 

" 

law, while many others are left unpunished. This 

view holds that Christ's atonement was not for 

the sake of God's justice, but merely in the inter 

ests of His moral government of the world ; it 

was necessary because of practical considerations, 

not because of the demands of righteousness. 

5. The "Moral Influence" 

theory 

of the atone 

ment is the popular, dominant theory of the atonement 

in present-day American Protestant 

ism. It is so common that in "liberal" 

circles it 

is almost universal, and it is also held by some 

who call themselves "conservatives" 

or "evangeli 

cals" 

According to this theory Christ's atone 

ment had nothing to do with the justice of God'; 

its purpose was to influence men. It was intend 

ed to melt the stony hearts of men by producing a 

powerful moral impression on them. The advo 

cates of this theory like to say "Christ suffered 

to convince men of the love and Fatherhood of 

God" 

; 

"The cross of Christ reveals to men the 

sinfulness of sin and assures them of God's par 

don" 

; "The cross calls men to repentance by dis 

closing the compassionate heart of the heavenly 

Father", etc. These statements sound very pious, 

but every one of them, as an explanation of the 

essential nature of the atonement, is a subtly 

dangerous, soul-imperiling half-truth. The real 

intention and purpose of the atonement was not 

to influence men at all, but to satisfy the justice 

of God. It is the inward work of the Holy Spirit 

in effectual calling that really influences men, 

breaks down their hard and stony hearts, and 

brings them to God in repentance and faith. 

ary 

A Word Emptied Of Meaning 

The fact that a preacher, professor or mission 

claims to believe in "the 

atonement" 

means 

virtually nothing today. The word "atonement" 

has fallen so far off the gold standard, in its cur 

rent use in American Protestantism, that it 

hardly has a definite, accepted meaning any more. 

By and large, contemporary American Protes 

tantism is non-substitutionary "Christianity". 

It evades, by-passes and explains away the very 

heart of the Gospel, the vicarious atonement of 

Christ. When that is gone, nothing else matters, 

noliing else is worth retaining or striving for. 

May our Covenanter Church never be ashamed of 

the old Gospel of salvation by the blood of Christ, 

never seek to eliminate or cover up the offence of 

the cross. 

"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the 

law, being made a curse for us, for it is written, 

Cursed is every 

"For the preaching 

3 :13) . 

one that hangeth on a tree" 

(Gal. 

of the cross is to them 

(Please turn to page 1-99)


GENEVA/tOLLEGE 

The editor of The Witness has asked me to 

write something about the beginning of the col 

lege year, and, now that we are well under way, 

I am glad to do so. School opened with the ar 

rival of the freshmen on Tuesday, September 14. 

Two days were devoted to them, in a reception, 

some entering examinations and registration. 

Thursday the upper-classmen were registered, and 

on Friday we had our opening assembly. This 

assembly was a colorful affair. It was a beauti 

ful day; returning students were glad to greet 

their comrades ; the academic procession and pro 

gram were well planned ; and we felt we were off 

to a good start in the college year. 

Education has a large place in American life. 

Never before in the history of the world has a 

nation provided such large educational opportuni 

ties for its young people. America has come to 

believe that education pays. At Geneva we had 

expected a considerable drop in attendance, since 

most of the veterans (provided for by the gov 

ernment) had already been registered. This, 

however, did not prove to be true. Almost as 

many as last year were present, and most of the 

entering students were paying their own way. 

In the regular school 874 have been registered to 

date. 

The most surprising feature, however, 

was the 

registration in what we call the Extension De 

partment, which is evening classes. The night of 

the registration students came from all directions 

in the valley. Cars were parked all over College 

Hill and most of the faculty were busy register 

ing students. There are now over 600 in these 

evening classes. The result is that there are 

classes almost every hour of the day from eight 

o'clock in the morning until ten o'clock at night. 

run right through the noon-hour. This is 

They 

managed by serving lunch in two sittings, so 

that those who have classes at one hour can have 

lunch at the other. 

More care than usual has been exercised in 

selecting students. First of all, -of course, the way 

is open for students of the Covenanter church. 

No young person of the Covenanter church, fitted 

to do college work, has been denied admission. 

Even those who do not have ability to pay all 

their expenses are helped in every way possible, 

will do their part. This year we have 62 

if they 

of our Covenanter young people in attendance. 

Along with these we are glad to welcome young 

people of other denominations who want to come 

to Geneva. They 

College Opens 

At Geneva 

President M. M. Pearce, D. D. 

make a splendid element in 

our student body. Equally with them we are 

glad to have children of our alumni, or those rec 

ommended by them. These students usually 

come to Geneva because they know what kind of 

school it is, and want that kind. They are a real 

strength to the college. 

Last, but not least, we have many students of 

our community. It is gratifying to find that 

more and more Geneva is appreciated by the citi 

zens of our valley and vicinity. One hears very 

few criticisms and many commendations. It is 

natural that it should be so, for, wherever one 

goes, among the stores, factories, the churches, 

and the homes of this community, one finds Ge 

neva graduates. There are literally hundreds, 

who could not have had an education except for 

Geneva, who are holding fine positions, 

or prac 

ticing some profession, or -otherwise living use 

ful lives, and they naturally create a great body 

of good will for the college. Also, they are be 

ginning to support the college more liberally than 

in the past. 

Geneva is a Christian college. It is distinctly 

a church college. No pastor likes to speak boast 

fully 

of the spiritual life of his own congregation, 

and, similarly, we who are at the college have 

perhaps been too reticent in speaking of the re 

ligious life of the school. In religious matters 

we cannot, of course, give the same emphasis to 

distinctly denominational training, as we can at 

our summer camps. Still, a strong Christian in 

fluence can be maintained. Every 

student who 

enters the college makes application on a form in 

which is the statement that Geneva is distinctly 

a Christian college and has definite rules for 

bidding dancing, smoking, gambling, or drinking, 

and definite requirements, such as attendance at 

chapel, and courses in the study of the Bible, 

which all must observe. Understanding these 

things before they enter, most students cooperate 

freely and willingly. There are 255 students 

studying the Old Testament. This will require 

two hours a week for the entire year. There are 

111 studying the New Testament. This also re 

quires two hours a week for the entire year. 

There will be during the year probably 25 study 

ing advanced courses in the Bible. At some time 

during every student's course there is offered a 

year's study in missionary work ; one semester in 

the Psychology of Religion, which is a view of the 

false faiths which missionaries must understand,


and one semester in the history of missionary 

work itself. 

Under a gift from the estate of the late James 

Gailey, a course was established the purpose of 

which was to indicate how Christ is the center 

of all history, that His coming was the event to 

which all Old Testament history led, and from 

which all New Testament history proceeds. This 

course is taught by Dr. John Coleman. 

Of special interest to us, also, is the course 

in Political Science, also taught by Dr. Coleman, 

and definitely required of all students. This year 

it has been divided into five divisions and num 

bers in all, 185 students. In this course is pre 

sented the Christian conception of sovereignty 

and the degree to which it has held a place in 

our national political philosophy. To have this 

many students each year getting a clear and com 

prehensive understanding of our ideal for a Chris 

tian America lies close to the heart of our church. 

At the opening faculty meeting of the year, 

the writer took occasion to say to the members of 

the faculty that, valuable as he formal courses in 

the Bible and missionary history are, they are 

not the only, nor perhaps the most important, re 

ligious influences in the college. It was empha 

sized that every teacher in the college was cho 

sen as one who was sincerely religious, and that 

a Christian atmosphere in every classroom would 

have a deeper affect on the students than any 

formal teaching could have. 

Altogether, we hope that the first year of our 

second century may be the best we have had. 

POPULAR RELIGIOUS FALLACIES 


but unto us which are 

that perish foolishness ; 

saved it is the power of God" 

(1 Cor. 1:18). 

"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body 

sin, so that God could thereupon forgive sinners 

on the tree, that we, being dead to sin?, should 

live unto righteousness : by whose stripes jê 

were healed" 

(1 Peter 2:24). 



State Department, later Ambassador to Russia under 

the late Franklin D. Roosevelt, looks back on 15 years 

of U. S. foreign policy, explains America's dangerous 

position in the world today and reveals the inside story 

of Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam, where two American 

Presidents gave away the fruits of victory for Stalin's 

empty promises. He shows also how Marshall unwitting 

ly helped the Chinese communists to overrun Manchuria. 

He seems to be quite fair in his evaluation of F. D. Roose 

velt commending him in certain ways and yet in the end 

showing how self-willed, gullible and even dishonest he 

was and as a result has left our country in grave danger. 

These articles should be read not only because they are 

very revealing concerning the late President Roosevelt 

in his international dealings, but also because they show 

the corruption of politics and how whole nations may 

be brought into grave situations and even war through 

a few of their leaders. We may be re-impressed with 

the exhortation of Scripture that rulers should be man 

who fear God and hate covetousness. 



ly to the public high schools. Nine hundred thousand 

public school pupils will look in vain for religious in 

struction. Over two million parochial and grade school 

youngsters will be teacherless. Forty-five thousand way 

ward and underprivileged children will return to the 

streets to plague society and ruin themselves." 

Then fol 

lows an account of the care of the aged and of the Cath 

olic hospitals. But why should not all this work be done 

without the unnatural burden of celibacy? 

Some Protestant leaders propose because of the Cham 

paign, Illinois, decision to have the Protestant churches 

also establish parochial schools. Then we should have the 

fundamentalist-modernist issue among 

ourselves and a 

number of others. The writer looks back with pleasure 

and gratitude to the teachers he had in the public schools. 

There was no formal religious instruction, only 

verses and the Lord's Prayer, but they 

a few 

were Christian 

women who wore themselves out trying to make good 

men and women out of the children committed to them. 

I am sure there are millions of such teachers now start 

ing out on a new year of work, and we send our children 

to them neither "sadly" 

nor "perilously". We should 

sympathize with them in their hard work, support them 

and pray for them. 

FROM HOUSE TO HOUSE 

By Henry J. Heydt 

THE COMMAND of the Lord Jesus to the 

Seventy, recorded in Luke 10, contains the rather 

startling statement, "Go not from house to house" 

(verse 7). Is this a contradiction of the mission 

ary spirit? Did Paul violate it when he went from 

house to house (Acts 20:20)? Of course not; 

rather, it is an encouragement to the expeditious 

preaching of the gospel ! 

The preaching 

of the gospel does not permit a 

wasting of time. Hospitality in the East far sur 

passes that of the West. In fact, we of our day feel 

eastern hospitality to be -overdone and often hypo- 

critical. Hospitality, in Bible days, required much 

time. Strangers in a town would be invited from 

house to house to feast and visit. Such occasions 

were not for serious discussion or business, but 

merely a courteous exchanging of phrases. This 

the disciples were not to do. They were to be oc 

cupied with the Lord's business. Acts 20 makes it 

plain that Paul preached the gospel from house to 

house, with tears, exhorting to repentance toward 

God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 

The time is short! The need is urgent! Let us 

go back to the Pauline method of going to the 

people with the gospel, especially since the un 

saved no longer will come to churches where the 

gospel is preached. The need of souls is so desper 

ate, let us be careful about wasting time. 

WI atever opinions we hold on other matters, I 

.';nowyou will agree with me that be we Arminians, 

Calvinists, Premellenial, Postmillenial, Bap 

tists, Methodists, Presbyterians, or non-denomi 

national, what this world needs most of all, what 

it may have, what it can have, what we must of 

fer to it, is Christ and Him crucified. We can 

unite all on this one transcendant, tremendous 

proposition. Hyman J. Appelman in CHRIST 

IS OUR STRENGTH. (Revell)


Stories of Evangeline 

by the 

Rev. Remo I. Robb 

HOW MISS METHENY "GOT" 

A SHEIK 

Once as Miss Metheny rode 

through the mountains her path led 

near a village where lived a chief 

of some reputation. 

"You've never stopped to see the 

sheik," 

remarked th Bible woman. 

"Is there one of importance 

there?" 

asked Miss Metheny. 

'"Oh, yes, the sheik of this village 

man." 

is quite a wise 

Most Oriental villages have a 

chief, or sheik, as the natives say. 

Sometimes he is the oldest man in 

the village, sometimes a man of 

man" 

some learning-, or a "holy who 

has made the pilgrimage to Mecca, 

or maybe a merchant who controls 

the village finances. In any case, the 

sheik is the man whose word is law 

in the community. Often he is known 

over a wide -territory and is re 

spected wherever he is mentioned. 

So when Miss Metheny heard of 

this "wise" 

sheik, she said to her 

companion, "We have lots of time, 

let us go even now and pay him a 

visit." 

So saying they turned their horses 

toward the village, and soon were at 

the door of the sheik's house. 

After a knock they waited to hear 

the soft tread of shoes and a timid 

voice, asking "Who's there?" 

"An American lady to see the 

sheik," 

was the reply. 

The footsteps padded off into 

silence, 

and after a while a firmer 

step could be heard returning. The 

door opened, and the sheik received 

the two women into his parlor. 

Miss Metheny began conversation, 

but it was soon evident that the 

sheik did not care to talk. He could 

not conceive of a woman trying to 

talk with him as though she were 

his equal. He thought women were 

far beneath men, and especially be 

neath sheiks; he had heard of Amer 

ican women, 

who were considered on 

an equality with men, and he did not 

like the idea at all. By short an 

swers, by gruff replies, he let Miss 

Metheny 

being 

know that he was merely 

polite to her, and that her call 

was not at all a welcome one. 

As soon as the rules of hospitality 

would permit, he clapped his hands, 

and a servant appeared. "Bring 

food," 

he 

commanded. Then he rose 

and followed the servant out of the 

room. He returned soon and sat 

silent and sullenly tolerating these 

uninvited women guests. 

When the food was brought and set 

before them, Miss Metheny 

was un 

comfortably suspicious. Why had 

this man left the room? Had he 

given any evil orders to his servants? 

So she merely tasted a little of the 

food, enough to satisfy the demands 

of courtesy. The Bible woman, how 

ever, 

ate heartily for she was hungry 

and the food did taste good. As soon 

as they had eaten, Miss Metheny 

rose and carefully, without letting 

the sheik know of her fears, left the 

house followed by the Bible woman, 

and mounted her horse to start home. 

Out of hearing, she said, "I'm 

afraid that old old fellow put some 

thing into our food. We must hurry 

home. He will be watching us now, 

so we must go along as though noth 

ing had happened, hut as soon as we 

are out of sight we will go faster." 

"Oh," 

said the Bible woman, "and 

I ate so much." 

"Yes, I noticed that, but maybe we 

can get home before we get 

sick." 

But they had not gone far until 

the Bible woman did get sick. Very 

sick, so sick they could not hurry. 

Because she had eaten little, Miss 

Metheny was only uncomfortable, 

but at times she wondered if she 

would get the Bible woman home. 

After a hard journey they reached 

their mountain village. All night 

long, Miss Metheny 

was sick, and al 

most despaired of the life of her 

Bible woman, but toward morning 

both began to feel better. She knew 

then that their lives were spared and 

after a few days of quietness both 

were well again. 

Some time later in talking- 

the 

matter over with the Bible woman, 

Miss Metheny said, "I'm going to get 

that old 

she did it. 

sheik." 

And this is the way 

A Bible publishing house in Con 

stantinople used to advertise that it 

published Bibles in any language in 

the world. That is a rather large sort 

of claim, for with over a thousand 

languages to publish from, it is al 

most impossible that they could all 

be published correctly from one es 

tablishment. Yet this place sold 

Bibles over all the East and pub 

lished in nearly all the languages of 

the East. However, since the printers 

were not able to read all the lan 

guages they printed there were many 

errors in nearly all of their works, 

for they could not be proof read. 

They were accurate enough that if 

one read them he learned the truth, 

but the mistakes in printing made 

folks wonder if there were also mis 

takes in the message. Some time be 

fore, Miss Metheny had bought some 

Gospels of Luke in Turkish, and 

some leaflets containing the fif 

teenth chapter of Luke with its par 

ables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost 

Coin, and the Prodigal Son. Though 

she was skilled in many languages, 

she was not expert in Turkish. As 

she read the portions she had bought, 

she was aware of many mistakes in 

printing, but she was not sure just 

what the mistakes were nor how to 

correct them. 

Some time after her visit to the 

old sheik, 

she packed some Gospels 

and portions into her saddlebags, 

saying to her Bible woman, "Come, 

today we are going to visit the old 

sheik 

"Not 

again." 

I," 

said the Bible woman. 

"He tried to poison us before, and 

he almost succeeded with me." 

"But he won't this time, I am 

sure." 

"Oh, but he will. If he finds that 

he did not succeed the first time, he 

will try twice as hard when he has 

another 

chance." 

"I think not. Did not I say I was 

going to get him? Come along, you 

will want to be with me." 

The Bible woman argued further, 

but she knew from the beginning 

that when all discussion was finished 

she would be on her horse riding 

with Miss Metheny toward the vil 

lage of the old sheik. And that was 

exactly where they went. 

As before, they knocked at the 

door, listened for the soft footsteps 

and the timid voice, asking, "Who's 

there?" 

As before, the reply was "An 

American lady to see the 

sheik 

Again they heard the footsteps 

padding away into silence and after 

a wait heard firmer footsteps of the 

old sheik returning. He opened the 

door, and fairly 

staggered in amaze 

ment when he saw the samej two wo 

men whom he had tried to poison. 

He had put enough poison into their 

food to have killed them easily, yet 

here they were, 

and the American 

woman had begun to talk almost as 

soon as he had opened the door. 

"Oh great 

scholar" 

she had begun. 

"I have heard of your fame through


all these mountains and have come 

to you for help. I am told that you 

are skilled in the languages, and 

are specially 

skilled as a teacher of 

the Turkish language. I have come 

to you, because I I am just a poor 

woman, ignorant of Turkish, and 

greatly in need of 

assistance." 

in," 

"Come in, come he said, hard 

ly knowing what else to do, and 

feeling proud of the dignity which 

this American was according him, 

humbly. 

But she did not stop. "It is a priv 

ilege to come to such a person, 0 

great scholar, and to be assured that 

the help I am to get is that of one 

who knows language well, so that 

his teachings are known throughout 

the whole mountain region. My mat 

ter is of great concern to me, but 

before I state it I must know if you, 

0 great scholar, 

will be willing to 

give help to me, a poor woman so 

ignorant of the language in which 

you are so highly 

you 

"Why, yes, I'll help 

want?" 

skilled." 

you. What do 

"I have here in my saddle bags 

some portions of my sacred writings 

in Turkish. These are the Christian's 

Scriptures, but the writing is badly 

done, and I want it to be corrected. 

As you know, 0 great scholar, bad 

writing 

written, 

reflects on that which is 

and I would like to have 

these matters corrected. But of 

course, 

you would not want to ex 

amine the Christian 

gospels." 

As she spoke she handed him a 

portion containing the parable of the 

Prodigal Son. He took it and began 

to read. He called for writing ma 

terial and sat making notations on 

the margins. As he read he grew in 

terested. 

"What is this?" 

he asked. 

"Oh, that is a mere portion of one 

of the Christian writings. I am sorry 

to trouble you with it." 

"Is this all there is?" 

"Oh, no, there is much more, but 

I do not want to take your valuable 

time, 0 Scholar. Please make the 

corrections in that and I will not 

trouble you further." 

"Where is the rest of it?" 

"Oh, I have some here in my 

saddlebags, but it will not be neces 

sary for you to look at that. You 

are busy and I am sorry to intrude 

upon your time, but I wanted the 

best help I could find, 

said that you are the best." 

and all people 

The old man insisted on having a 

Gospel, so she gave him one, and he 

opened it to read. She sat in silence 

waiting for him to speak. Much 

later after he had read without 

speaking, he clapped his hands, and 

as before ordered a servant to bring 

food. 

"Eat heartily, if you 

wish," 

she 

whispered to her Bible woman, 

"There is no poison this time." 

Nor 

was there, for in her own way Miss 

Metheny had crossed the barrier of 

coldness and hatred, and the sheik 

treated her as a friend. 

In her journeyings through the 

hills, 

she never again passed that 

village without stopping to call on 

the old sheik. He always received 

her warmly, 

and gave her of his food 

as a true Oriental friend does. This 

strange friendship 

continued until at 

length she left the mountains and 

returned to Alexandretta. 

A few weeks before she was to 

retire from the mission field at 

Alexandretta and return to America, 

a young man came to her door. 

"You do not know 

me," 

he said, 

"but I will tell you right away who 

I am. I am the grandson of the old 

sheik in the mountain 

village." 

"Oh, how glad I am to see you. 

How is your fine Grandfather?" 

"I am sorry to say 

that he died 

not many weeks ago, and on that ac 

count I am here. You see, he took 

the Gospel of Luke which you gave 

him and read it. It seemed good to 

him, so he used to gather the men of 

the village and read it to them. It 

wore out, the corners of the pages 

got torn off, but my Grandfather- 

knew the words that were printed in 

the corners, so he went ahead and 

read it without the corners. Over and 

over again he read the book and the 

men loved it. Now he is gone, and 

they have asked me to read i t for 

them. But I do not know it like my 

grandfather did, 

and I cannot read 

where the pages are torn. So I have 

come to ask you. Will you please 

give me another Gospel so that I 

can go home and read it to the men 

of the village, like my Grandfather 

did?" 

And that's how Miss Metheny 

GOT the sheik. 

How gloriously 

well she GOT him! 

"Courtesy is that quality of heart 

that overlooks the broken gate and 

calls attention to the flowers in the 

yard beyond the 

day 

gate." 

Henry Clay Risner 

"Prayer should be the key 

and the lock of the 

of the 

night." 

Thomas Fuller 




Monday 

W. M. S. 

TOPIC FOR NOVEMBER 

1:00 P. M. 

THE CHRISTIAN'S WALK: 

IX THANKFULNESS 

By Mrs. John Coleman 

The topic as outlined in our Uni 

form Program suggests two lines of 

thought in regard to the Christian's 

walk in thankfulness: first, the at 

titude of our hearts, and, second, the 

leasons we have for an attitude of 

thankfulness. 

I. "In 

"give thanks" 

everything," 

Paul says, 

This seems like a 

large order. Thanks for the calm and 

sunny. days, yes; but for the dreary 

and stormy days too ? Yet the apostle 

was not one to preach what he did 

not practice, and from the records 

which remain to us it would appear 

that in his life the dark days out 

numbered the bright ones. "In stripes 

above measure, in prisons more fre 

oft" 

quent, in deaths so the catalog 

begins. Read the rest of it in the 

eleventh chapter of First Corinth 

ians. And his sufferings were not 

only of the body but of the mind and 

heart: "besides those things that 

are without.... anxiety for all the 

churches". At the time he wrote 

these words, it seemed as if for 

many 

of his churches all his work 

and sufering might be in vain, for the 

"false brethren" 

who opposed his 

work among the Gentiles were doing 

all they 

could to turn those whom 

he had led to Christ away from Him 

and from the gospel he had preached. 

Yet almost the first words of this 

letter to the church of Corinth are: 

"Blessed be God". 

How was he able, and how may 

we be able, to maintain such an at 

titude? 

Nothing 

can happen to us that the 

Lord will not use for our own good 

and for His glory. The dark days 

may bring us closer to Him, and 

make us more like Himself; and 

"this is the will of God, even your 

They may make it 

possible for us to help others who 

sanctificati 

are passing through similar experi 

ences. "Blessed be.... the Father of 

mercies, and the God of all comfort, 

who comforteth us in all our tribula-


tion, that we may be able to comfort 

them which are in any trouble, by 

the comfort wherewith we ourselves 

are comforted of God". They may be 

the means of leading unbelieving 

friends or neighbors to covet the 

peace and trust which they them 

selves do not have, and so of bring 

ing them to Christ. (Those who have 

read Margaret Runbeck's "The Great 

Answer" 

may recall the story of Mrs. 

Bell and her children.) But whether 

we can or cannot see how God is 

working out His purposes, if we 

trust Him to make all things work 

together for good to us we can be 

thankful to Him for everything that 

comes into our lives. 

II. If we have a habitual attitude 

of thankfulnes we shall find all sorts 

of occasions for giving thanks. If we 

have not, we shall manage always to 

find some reason for discontent. One 

summer when there had been abun 

dant rain, a pastor commented to a 

member of his church on the un 

usually fine pasturage, and her an 

swer was: "Yes, but there's so much 

water in the grass that the cows 

aren't getting 

much nourishment 

after all". Did the Lord like her at 

titude? When on a May morning we 

look up at the blue sky from under 

a tree loaded with blossoms, 

June day 

or on a 

over a field of waving 

wheat, do we remember to thank 

God both because He has given us a 

fruitful season and because He has 

made His world full of beauty as 

well as of food? Or do we take both 

food and beauty for granted, and 

forget that "every good gift and 

every 

from the Father"? 

perfect gift.... cometh down 

We may be in danger also of tak 

ing our spiritual blessings for 

granted. If we have generations of 

Christian culture behind us, 

we are 

free of many temptations that would 

otherwise make life harder. The 

Lord's people, 

we are told by David, 

by Isaiah, and by Christ Himself, 

are protected by a hedge. To take a 

single instance: what can we know of 

the struggles of the men (and wo 

men) who are rescued by Alcoholics 

anonymous ? We are free of many 

doubts. A woman whose brother had 

recently died asked a Covenanter 

girl, "What does your church teach 

about what happens to people when 

they 

die?" "Why," 

the girl an 

swered, "the same as yours"; for 

her friend was nominally a Presby 

terian. She hesitated a moment, and 

finally said, "And what is 

that?" 

Suppose that she had been sure that 

both she and her brother, whether 

in life or death, were the Lord's, and 

that as a child she had been taught: 

"The souls of believers are at their 

death made perfect in holiness, and 

do immediately pass into glory; and 

their bodies, being 

still united to 

Christ, do rest in their graves till the 

resurrection" 

how much doubt and 

grief might she hava been spared! 

And we are freed from fear: "I 

sought the Lord, and he.... delivered 

me from all my fears." 

Thanks be to God for His unspeak 

able gift, His only Son, through 

whom we receive all other gifts. 


General Topic: 

Comments: 


FOR OCTOBER 31 

"BIBLE BOOK STUDY" 

"PHILEMON" 

Philemon 1-25 


Psalms to Sing: 

Psalm 18:1-4, No. 38 

Psalm 119:1-3 No. 326 

Psalm 130:1-5, No. 362 

Psalm 37:7-10, No. 99 

Psalm 123:1-4, No. 351 

Scripture Readings: 

Gal. 5:22, 23; Acts 27:25; John 15: 

11; I Cor. 10:13; Heb. 10:36; Phil. 

2:3,4. 

One hot day 

in the year A. D. 64 

a strange reunion took place in the 

Asiatic city of Colossi. A run-away 

slave absent for many months had 

just returned, travel-stained and 

weary, to lie prostrate at the feet of 

his former master. The owner was 

astonished and troubled, and at a loss 

to know what to say to this slave 

who had served him so miserably in 

the past, had returned his kindness 

with robbery 

and desertion, and had 

at this very moment returned. 

The name of the slave was Onesi- 

mus a name compounded of two 

Greek words which together meant 

"profitable". His master had often 

meditated upon the irony 

of such a 

name, for as a slave Onesimus was 

worse than worthless. Always more 

of a nuisance than a benefit, he final 

ly had filled his shirt-front with 

some of the choice valuables of the 

household and absconded! He had 

set iris compass for the great city of 

Rome and had travelled by his wits 

and the price of some of his pilfer- 

ings across land and sea to that great 

city. We don't know how long he was 

there before he landed where he be 

longed in the jail. But while he was 

in that jail he met^the most unusual 

prisoner he would ever meet, a man, 

a Jew, formerly a Pharisee, a Roman 

citizen who spoke of himself as a 

"prisoner of Jesus Christ". It was 

that meeting and the time spent to 

gether there that accounts for this 

rare phenomenon a slave of his own 

free will returning to his master. 

The master was Philemon. He was 

a man of kind disposition, but more 

than that he was a Christian, an 

early convert of the Apostle Paul. 

He and his wife Apphia, and their 

son Archippus, had opened their 

home for a gathering place and house 

of worship for the other Christians 

in that city. And already the hos 

pitality of that home was well known 

to the missionaries -traveling that 

way. 

You begin now to have the setting 

for Paul's letter to Philemon. It is 

semi-private, intimate in its content, 

not doctrinal, a perfect gem, often 

overlooed in our New Testament be 

cause it fills but one page. This is 

the letter which Onesimus carried all 

the way from Rome to Colossi and 

delivered to his master, Philemon. 

From the selfish, unforgiving world's 

point of view Paul asks altogether 

too much. He asks his friend to: 1. 

Take back his run-away 

slave. 2. 

Treat him with as much kindness as 

if he were Paul himself. 3. Receive 

him not as a servant but as a be 

loved brother. 4. Whatever he owed, 

forgive and forget. 

To set down these requests apart 

from their context makes them sound 

like an imposition upon the good 

will of Philemon. But to read this 

beautiful letter, 

tesy 

sense its fine cour 

and winsomeness is to disprove 

any possibility that Paul was asking 

too much. 

1. THE SALUTATIONA MAS 

TERPIECE OF CHRISTIAN 

COURTESY 

You may well imagine the surprise 

of Philemon when he found that his

September 29, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 20? 

worthless servant was the bearer of 

a letter addressed to him from the 

old warrior of the cross, and with 

what eagerness he began to read: 

"Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, 

and Timothy our brother, unto Phile 

mon, our dearly beloved, and fellow 

laborer." 

What a thrill to be called. 

a fellow laborer with Paul! "And to 

our beloved Apphia." 

Paul the gentle 

man doesn't wait until the P. S. to 

mention the wife, but mentions her 

kindly in the position to which Chris 

tianity had elevated her, a place of 

equality as the helpmeet of her hus 

band. A pat on the head for their 

son is also included "and Archip- 

pus, our fellowsoldier, and to the 

Church in thy house." 

"Grace to you, and peace, from 

God our Father and the Lord Jesus 

Christ." 

Grace may be defined as 

"free, undeserved, unmotivated, self- 

springing- love." 

If we have the grace 

of God bestowed upon us then we 

will have what logically follows 

peace. "I thank my God, making 

mention of thee always in my pray 

ers, hearing of thy love and faith, 

which thou hast toward the Lord 

Jesus, 

and toward all the 

Who knows how far the sweet savor 

of a kind deed will travel. Far off 

in Rome Paul had received the news 

saints." 

of the love and faith and hospitality 

of Philemon and Apphia, and he 

could honestly 

assure them that he 

prayed for them every day. 

All through the letter, but especial 

ly in this salutation, 

you marvel at 

the charm and tact and courtesy with 

which the aged warrior writes. More 

than anyone else, a Christian should 

be tactful, 

quick to give commenda 

tion where it is due, encouragement 

when it is needed, 

and when there is 

a need to speak plainly, to do so in 

a spirit of love, recognizing what we 

so often forget, our own frailty. 

2. THE BUSINESS OF THE 

mus, 

LETTER 

"I beseech thee for my 

bonds." 

son Onesi 

whom I have begotten in my 

From the start Paul identi 

fies Onesimus with himself. When 

he had been thrown in with Paul at 

the first he had been a worthless 

slave, a no-good thief, with a heart 

filled with ugly desires and lusts, 

but in the days spent with the great 

apostle the message of Christ's love 

swept him clean and made him over 

again. He has come out square for 

Jesus Christ, 

and a miraculous trans 

formation has taken place. Paul is 

to vouch for Onesimus with 

ready 

this play on words: "Onesimus (prof 

itable) 

which in time past was to 

thee unprofitable, but now profitable 

to thee and to 

me." 

This is the 

miraculous power of the gospel of 

Jesus Christ. It changes people. Paul 

knew the power of the gospel! The 

highest 

calling- 

is the call to present 

the gospel to worthless men and wo 

men, boys and girls. 

3. WE ARE ALL GOD'S ONESI- 

muses 

That is what Martin Luther saw in 

this letter: "We are all God's Onesi- 

muses. The welcome which Paul 

sought for Onesimus when he re 

turned to Philemon is only a sug 

gestion of the welcome which we re 

ceive from God when we come unto 

Him. This is a true picture of what 

we are useless to ourselves, to 

others, to God. But just as Paul ap 

pealed to Philemon for Onesimus, so 

Jesus Christ intercedes with the 

Father for you and 

For Discussion: 

me." 

1. Describe the scene which you 

think followed after Philemon had 

i ead this letter from Paul. What 

did he say to Onesimus? 

2. In what circumstances do Chris 

tians sometimes show a lack of 

courtesy? 

3. Do you think that Paul, in re 

turning a slave to his master, was 

giving his approval to the institution 

of slavery ? 

4. Give a good example, other 

than Onesimus, 

of a worthless man 

who became worthwhile through the 

power of the gospel. 

JUNIOR TOPIC 


Mary 

Elisabeth Coleman 


One Sabbath evening a group of 

students at the University 

cago attended a meeting 

of Chi 

at which a 

very famous scientist spoke. (He is 

Arthur Compton, who won the Nobel 

prize for his studies of the cosmic 

rays. The cosmic rays are power 

ful rays that seem to come from out 

side our earth and the air around it.) 

On the front two rows were science 

students, who had come to hear a 

lecture on the cosmic rays. Many 

of them thought themselves too 

smart to believe in God. They called 

the Bible an old legend or fairy tale. 

Imagine their surprise, then, when 

this world-famous scientist spoke a- 

bout God, 

and the evidence in our 

world and our sun-system and the 

spaces beyond the sun that God 

made and controls all these. 

Long before Christ was born, the 

Hebrew people watched the sun and 

moon and stars and saw God's glory 

in them. David wrote about their 

orderly movement, but since he was 

a poet, he wrote about them using 

his imagination to make the facts 

clear. In the first two verses of 

Psalm 19 (Tune No. 43) he said the 

same thing the scientist said, but 

David said it more beautifully. The 

skies tell the glory of God. The day 

talks and the night teaches. What 

did David mean ? 

In the second verse he points out 

that the skies do not talk out loud, 

yet their words are heard. In the 

prose translation, the meaning is ev 

en clearer. Read the third verse of 

Psalm 19 in your Bibles. 

The third and fourth verses in the 

Psalter are picture verses. Did Dav 

id think the sun was a man? What 

words tell you he was using 

his im 

agination ? What work does the sun 

do that requires strength and power? 

When you are sure you know the 

meanings of all the words, 

go over 

the verses by reading aloud, saying 

the words while someone hums the 

tune, and then saying as much as 

you can without looking at your 

books. Choose partners and sing the 

Psalm to each other; one partner 

can watch the words while the other 

partner sings them. If your room 

is small, you may have to say the 

words rather than sing them. 

Other Psalms about God in the 

world around us are Ps. 8, No. 13; 

Ps. 29, No. 70; Ps. 65, No. 171, Vers 

es 4-6; Ps. 104, No. 277. Some of 

these selections have several verses. 

The leader should read them ahead 

of time and decide which ones to 

sing. 

Are you working on your Psalms 

for the adults to hear ? Remember 

our rules for singing: 

1. Show meaning by the tone of 

of your voice. 

2. Stand erect and breathe deeply. 

3. Sing 

the words clearly. 

4. Emphasize the important words. 



LESSON V. 

WISDOM LITERATURE 

IN THE BIBLE 

Proverbs 6:27, 28; 8:1-11; 10:1-9; 

15:1; and Ecclesiastes 2:1-3 

Printed Verpes, Proverbs 10: 1-9; 

Ecclesiastes 2:1-3 

Golden Text: 

"He that walketh uprightly


walketh 

surely." 

Proverbs 10:9. 


Leland Wang, the Chinese Evan 

gelist, gives us a very fine sugges 

tion for the use of the Book of Pro 

verbs. He says he uses it as his 

calendar. Since there are thirty-one 

chapters he reads one for each day 

of the month. (In addition he reads 

two chapters from the Old Testament, 

two from the New, and five Psalms, 

a total of ten chapters a day.) He 

says, "The Psalms teach me how to 

pray to God, and Proverbs teach me 

how to deal with men." 

Try reading 

Proverbs as your calendar. It will do 

a lot more for you than help 

remember what day 

it is! 

you to 

of the month 

The Book of Proverbs lays down 

the general principle that the good 

prosper and the wicked are punished, 

that virtue is rewarded and that 

crime does not pay. Of course there 

are two exceptions to this general 

rule. There is on the one hand the 

prosperity 

of the wicked, and on the 

other hand the suffering of the right 

eous. Ecclesiastes takes up the first 

exception and tells us about the 

wicked prospering. The Book of Job, 

which we shall study next week, 

takes up the second, the problem of 

why the righteous suffer. In general 

what Proverbs teaches is true, but 

because there are exceptions to the 

rule that righteousness pays and that 

sin is sure to be punished by poverty, 

we need Ecclesiastes to show us the 

prosperity of the wicked, and we 

need Job to show us about the suf 

fering 

of the righteous. 

The Wisdom Literature makes a 

distinction between knowledge and 

wisdom. A man may be smart and 

not be wise. A man may know much 

and not know how to apply it. And 

above all, the fear of the Lord is the 

beginning 

of wisdom. The right at 

titude toward God and toward Jesus 

Christ, the attitude of trust and al 

legiance and obedience, is the key 

to the application of knowledge so 

that it really counts for time and for 

eternity. What does it profit a man 

if he gains all the knowledge in the 

world and loses his own soul! 

The Book of Proverbs shows very 

clearly the characteristic of Hebrew 

poetry which puts two statements in 

parallel. Sometimes the parallel 

statements are both positive, and 

sometimes both negative, but much 

of Proverbs is written in contrasts. 

A positive statement is set over 

against a negative statement. So in 

the first of the printed verses of our 

lesson we have wisdom in contrast to 

foolishness, and gladness in contrast 

to heaviness. Notice Solomon's knowl 

edge of human nature in this verse. 

"A wise son maketh a glad father: 

but a foolish son is the heaviness of 

his 

mother." 

Who is it that gets out 

and shows his pride in his son's 

achievements ? It is the father. Who 

is it that stays at home and is ground 

down by the foolishness of a son? It 

is the mother. 

The Book of Proverbs can speak to 

you and to me if we give it the 

chance. The Holy Spirit can and does 

use Proverbs to convict us and to 

guide us. Last week a sermon 

brought conviction. Reading Proverbs 

"as a 

calendar" 

the next morning 

renewed that conviction from a 

verse that had not been so applied in 

last month's reading, or in any 

previous reading. But there it was, 

standing 

out from the rest of the 

chapter as the Spirit used it to bring 

up 

again the conviction of the pre 

vious evening. In the matter of guid 

ance and comfort Leland Wang tells 

how he claimed a promise the Spirit 

brought to his mind from Proverbs 

14:26. "His children shall have a 

place of 

refuge," 

when his children 

were separated from him and were 

scattered during the war. Until the 

war was over he had no way of 

knowing where or how they were, but 

he was sustained and guided by this 

promise, and when the war was over 

he found that his children were safe 

and that they had been provided for. 

Solomon's great wisdom and his wide 

experience are put in the Wisdom 

Literature of the Bible, and we can 

make what he wrote a wise guide for 

us if we permit the Spirit of God to 

apply it to us. Open your Bible to the 

first chapter of Proverbs and notice 

the five infinitives in the first six 

verses. To know, to perceive, to re 

ceive instruction, to give subtilty, 

and to understand. This is a pretty 

good statement of what the Wisdom 

Literature of the Bible will do for us, 

taken in connection with the state 

ment that follows, "The fear of the 

Lord is the beginning of 

wisdom." 

Ecclesiastes is a book that needs 

to be seen as a whole before it is 

safe to take parts of it and use them 

as proof's of what the Bible teaches. 

We need to remember that (1) Ec 

clesiastes limits itself to things that 

are "under the sun". Therefore its 

verses should not be taken to prove 

things about heaven. This is done by 

certain teachers of error. We should 

also remember that (2) Ecclesiastes 

states certain propositions and proves 

them false. So again the book needs 

to be seen as a whole in order that 

we may not quote some false propo 

sition as if it were the truth of God's 

word. We need to go to the conclu 

sion to see what the book really 

teaches. Solomon tried pleasure, 

riches, diligence in work, the golden 

mean (keeping in the middle of the 

road) and the like, and wrote about 

them and his conclusions about each. 

The wisdom of Ecclesiastes is the 

kind that needs study and analysis. 

In the Wisdom Literature of the 

Bible we have great riches of knowl 

edge and understanding in condensed 

form. We have the findings of the 

life of a man of widest experience, 

fabulous wealth, and with these 

things wisdom greater than that of 

any other man. Let us use what is so 

graciously given to us in Proverbs 

and Ecclesiastes. 


FOR NOVEMBER 3, 1948 

SAUL TESTED AND FOUND 

Psalms : 

WANTING 

I Samuel 13:1-14 

Psalm 68:18-20. 25, No. 180 

Psalm 52:1-4, No. 146 

Psalm 66:8-10, 13-14, No. 174 

Psalm 14:1-6, No. 26 

Psalm 119:1-3, No. 317 

Comments : 


Saul's standing army is numbered 

for us in the opening verses of the 

chapter, but before you have finished 

the passage assigned for our study 

you will find that God numbered the 

sins of Saul, and because of them has 

numbered the days of his kingdom. 

Saul was at the top, 

and in order 

to stay there he chose him men of 

Israel that the kingdom might be 

protected; his son, Jonathan, has part 

of the army under him. Jonathan 

moved to throw off the threat of the 

Philistines, 

and he was successful in 

smiting a garrison of the Philistines. 

This brought action from the Philis 

tines; they 

gathered themselves to 

gether to fight with Israel. The num 

ber of their chariots and men far out 

numbered Israel's. It was a time of 

distress among the people of Saul's 

kingdom. Some of them hid them 

selves in caves, and in thickets, and 

in rocks, and in high places, 

arid in 

pits. "And some of the Hebrews 

went over Jordan to the land of Gad 

and Gilead."


Saul was faced with a dangerous 

situation; the people were leaving 

him; the enemy was gathered for bat 

tle. Samuel was to come, but after 

waiting seven days, Saul could wait 

no longer: Those seven days must 

have been hard for Saul; how did 

he spend them? You will have to 

picture him for yourself as a man 

who could not sleep; he could not 

eat; perhaps he spent hours pacing 

back and forth. Finally he could 

stand it no longer; he called for the 

sacrifice that he might offer the 

burnt-offering. When he had offer 

ed the sacrifice, the figure of a man 

coming across the fields was seen. 

It was Samuel. Saul started out to 

meet him that he might salute him. 

Samuel could see the smoke of the 

dying 

coals of the sacrifice, and his 

words of greeting were "What hast 

thou done?" 

Saul knew what he 

meant; Samuel was not asking what 

preparations he had made for battle 

or what he had done in preparing 

for God's message to him. Saul's con 

science told him that he had sinned, 

and he started making excuses. But 

to see Saul, head and shoulders tal 

ler than Samuel, looking down upon 

the old man and giving excuses, we 

see rather a picture of one who is 

superior telling the prophet that it 

was his fault because he did not 

come as he had promised; 

were leaving him, 

the people 

and the Philistines 

were gathered at Michmash. "Here 

I 

was," 

Saul may have said, "left 

because you were not faithful to your 

word. I did not want to do it, but 

I had to force myself after all 

Samuel did not hang his head in 

shame; rather looking Saul in the 

eye, he said, "Thou hast done fool 

ishly; thou hast not kept the com 

mandment of the Lord thy God, which 

he commanded thee; for now would 

the Lord have established thy king 

dom upon Israel for ever. But now 

thy kingdom shall not continue; the 

Lord hath sought him a man after 

his own heart, and the Lord hath 

commanded him to be captain over 

his people, because thou hast not 

kept that which the Lord commanded 

thee." 

From this it seems that Saul's sin 

was extremely serious. Wasn't he 

doing his best under the circumstan 

ces ? Saul had been tested and had 

not measured up. His kingdom was 

to be taken and given to another. 

God has given us certain talents 

and opportunities; if we do not use 

them, he takes them from us and 

gives to others who are faithful. 

Perhaps as we study these verses we 

should consider his sins as possibly 

the ones that are our's. 

These sins of Saul may be given 

out. as suggestions for discussion; 

the leader may feel that other sins 

are more worthy of discussion, but 

these have come to me as those in 

volved in Saul's test and failure. 

Saul acted rashly; the word rash 

means "overhasty in decision, action 

or speech, too little regard for con 

sequences." 

Saul was impatient; he 

could not wait. Sometimes we act 

without weighing things carefully: 

Often times we say things we wish 

we could recall; we write letters that 

should have been torn up. Christian 

workers may demand too much of 

Christians young in the faith; they 

may not wait for the guidance of the 

Spirit. Sermons may be preached 

which should have been thought 

through more carefully. Was Saul 

rash in his actions ? 

Saul deliberately disobeyed. Sam 

uel had told him that he must wait 

for him to come. The time was sev 

en days. Saul waited for six days 

because he knew the command, yes, 

he waited the seven days, but still 

no Samuel. When Samuel came, he 

told Saul, "Thou hast not kept the 

commandment, of the Lord thy God;" 

Saul knew the command, but he dis 

obeyed. Was it a case of deliberate 

disobedience ? Is deliberate disobedi 

ence worse than disobedience ? 

Saul disregarded the proper media 

tor. Samuel had told him earlier that 

he would come and offer the offer 

ings, and shew what should be done. 

Samuel was the mediator between 

God and the king. Saul felt Samuel 

not absolutely necessary. People to 

day desire faster action than they 

get through the proper Mediator so 

they 

go to a spiritualist. Remember 

later on Saul went to the witch; 

this action in our passage was only 

the beginning. You may think of 

other mediators that people find. 

Saul had a carnal conception of 

God. "The thought of God just loom 

ed vaguely before his mind as a pow 

er to be considered, but not as the 

power on whom everything depended." 

The sacrifice was an outward homage 

that had to be paid to the power a- 

bove, but the way it was done was of 

little importance. It was a form, no 

more. This conception of God was 

far from the spiritual God He is. 

Do we ever regard the church service, 

the Sabbath, or family worship as 

Saul did the sacrifice? 

Saul deserted principle to serve ex 

pediency. He did not like to do it, 

but he was forced to do it; at least 

that was his exiuse. One writer 

gives some situations to illustrate 

this: "I don't like to tell a lie, but 

if I had not done so, I should have 

lost my position; I dislike common 

work on the Sabbath day, but if I 

did not do it, I could not live; I 

don't think it right to go to parties 

and play games on Sabbath, but I 

was invited by this or that great per 

son to do it, and I could not refuse 

him; I ought not to adulterate my 

goods, and I ought not to give false 

statements of their value, but every 

one in my business does it, and I can 

not be 

singular." 

These excuses are 

only confessions that the person feels 

that God's commands may be put 

aside for personal gain. We know 

the judgments of God on him because 

of it. 

The leader may think of other 

points that might be handed out as 

topics for discussion in addition to 

these, or in disagreement to what has 

been stated. 

SUGGESTIONS FOR PRAYER 

That we may have the grace of God 

and wisdom to overcome these sins in 

our lives; that the officers elected 

in our states and nation may not 

make Saul's sin fheir's; that Thanks 

giving day may not be spent as Saul 

might spend it; remember our Aged 

People's Home. 

STAR NOTES... 

***Dr. Kempf writes: Will you 

kindly 

put a little notice in the Star 

Notes to the affect that the Kempfs 

are leaving Hong Kong September 

22 on the President Jefferson. There 

semed no hope of any boat till No 

vember 6 and that one would only 

come if the strike was over soon. 

Someone gave up their passage at 

10 o'clock this morning and we were 

in the office at the time. Praise the 

Lord for His goodness and providing 

care! Staying in Hong Kong would 

have cost a young fortune if we had 

had to stay so long. 

Please ask all sponsors of children 

to send letters in future to Miss E. 

M. Stewart or Miss Barr, Takhing. 

Please send our "Witness" 

to us 

% Mrs. King, 858 Center St., San 

Luis Obispo, Calif. And give that 

address in Star Notes as our address 

for the winter. 

::'":!Mrs. Nannia B. Lunev and Mrs.


A. R. Torrens are visiting with their 

son and nephew Dr. K. D. Luney 

and Mrs. Luney at Lake Ozarks, Mo. 

***Rev. E. G. Russell underwent 

major surgery in a Syracuse hos 

pital on October 9 and at the present 

time is making satisfactory recovery. 

He was able during July 

and August 

to preach for the Lisbon congregation 

but a recurrence of his trouble in 

September made surgery necessary. 

***The Lisbon congregation has 

greatly enjoyed having Rev. E. G. 

Russell to conduct services here 

this summer. We hope that he and 

Mrs. Russell may be able to come up 

this way again. J. S. 

***The address of David M. Car 

son will be 4210 Spruce Street, 

Philadelphia 4, Pennsylvania, during 

the winter. He is attending the 

University 

of Pennsylvania. 

CHURCH NEWS 

SYRACUSE, NEW YORK 

Mr. S. D. Crockett was appointed 

delegate to Synod. He drove down 

accompanied by our pastor, Rev. G. 

M. Robb. On his return he brought 

his brother, Mr. Maurice Crockett, 

of Santa Ana, Calif., with him to 

visit with his brothers and sisters 

in Syracuse. 

Synod's report was given Sabbath 

evening, June 12. 

We have been glad to have with 

us for several weeks Mr. and Mrs. 

Finley Faris of Greeley, Colorado. 

They have been visiting 

son-in-law and daughter, 

Mrs. Hugh Martin. 

with their 

Mr. and 

Rev. and Mrs. E. G. Russell were 

here for about two weeks and Mr. 

Russell preached for us on June 19. 

They have gone to Lisbon, N. Y., for 

the summer. 

Mr. and Mrs. C. D. Murphy, Mr. 

and Mrs. D. Raymond Park and Mr. 

and Mrs. D. C. Park attended the 

Geneva College Centenial. 

The Sabbath school picnic was 

held at Highland Park, June 26. Mr. 

and Mrs. M. F. Murphy of Beaver 

Falls were here for a few days. 

The Daily 

Vacation Bible School 

was well attended -this year, al 

though the weather was very warm. 

A reception was held for Rev. and 

Mrs. G. M. Robb on their 15th an 

niversary. 

The Young Women's Group met 

with Esther Park Monday, July 12. 

The W. M. S. met with Mrs. James 

Park at her camp 

on Cazanovia Lake 

July 13. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ray Park enter 

tained the teachers and officers and 

their families July 19 at their camp 

at Cazanovia. 

A good number of the young peo 

ple of Syracuse attended White 

Lake, 

either all or part time. 

Mr. and Mrs. James Park had open 

house for their son and wife, Jim 

and Jean in June. A fine time was 

enjoyed by all. 

Rev. and Mrs. Bruce C. Stewart 

remained for a few days following 

Synod at Mrs. Stewart's home. 

COLDENHAM 

Mrs. A. M. Weddell was hostess to 

the W. M. S. for their August meet 

ing. The devotionals were led by 

Mrs. W. C. McClurkin, followed by 

the regular business meeting. Ice 

cream, cake, coffee, and punch were 

served during the social hour. 

A number from the congregation 

attended a part of the White Lake 

Conference. A choir of eight par 

ticipated in the Psalmody Festival 

on the Saturday evening program. 

Our pastor gave the Psalm explan 

ation on the second Sabbath of the 

Conference. 

We were happy to welcome the 

Misses Sarah and Deborah Archer of 

Second Philadelphia, Miss Isabel 

Crawford of Third Philadelphia and 

Mr. and Mrs. Everett McElwee and 

son Dewey to our worship services 

the Sabbath following 

Lake Conference. 

the White 

Other visitors to our services have 

been the McBurney family of the 

Montclair congregation, the McKays 

and Robinsons of the Newburgh 

congregation, and Dr. W. J. Mc 

Knight. 

The McClurkins enjoyed a short 

visit with relatives and friends in 

Pittsburgh over the Labor Day 

week-end. 

The September meeting of the 

W. M. S. was at the home of Mrs. 

George Thompson. A good atten 

dance of members and friends madt 

an interesting meeting with Mrs. 

Russell Scott leading the devotionals. 

After reports and routine business, 

Mrs. Thompson served delicious re 

freshments and the social hour was 

greatly enjoyed. 

The C, Y. P. U. meetings have 

been resumed under the leadership 

of Mrs. A. M. Weddell. Our pastor- 

is now giving 

a series of flannel 

graph talks on the Pilgrim's Pro 

gress at the C.Y. P. U. meetings. 

A Bible Reading and Fellowship 

meeting has recently been started on 

Wednesday evenings and will meet 

regularly 

or at the Manse. 

at the homes of members 

The James A. Beatty family re 

cently moved to a new home on Wy- 

ckoff Avenue, Ramsey, New Jersey. 

HOPKINTON, IOWA 

The Hopkinton congregation gave 

a reception in the home of Mr. Hugh 

McGlade in honor of Miss Marjorie 

E. Allen a few days after she reached 

home from Syria. Mr. W. J. Edgar, 

Superintendent of Schools at Grand 

Junction, la., 

was in charge of the 

program. There was appropriate mu 

sic in honor of Marjorie and Mr. 

Kenneth Sanderson, whose wedding 

is expected to take place in Syria be 

fore long. Mr. T. Lyle Joseph, 

on be 

half of the congregation, presented 

Marjorie with a chest of silver for 

eight and a dinner set of dishes for 

twelve. Delicious refreshments were 

served. 

Shortly before Marjorie left to re 

turn to Syria the Missionary Society 

gave her a shower in the home of 

Mrs. C. K. and Miss Margaret Greer. 

At this time she received many use 

ful and valuable gifts. They were 

presented by two little girls, Isabelle 

Joseph and Karen Caskey. 

The Missionary Society held their 

annual Thank-offering meeting on 

September 21 so that they could have 

Miss Marjorie Alen as the mission 

ary 

speaker. She gave a talk on the 

work in Latakia. Afterward light re 

freshments were served. Mrs. B. M. 

Ferguson, Thank-offering Superin 

tendent, 

collection amounted to $180.00. 

presided at this service. The 

Rev. and Mrs. R. W. Caskey ana 

children, Karen and Allen, 

visited in 

the home of Mrs. Caskey's parents 

and returned to their home in White 

Lake, N. Y., on September 20. Miss 

Marjorie Allen left for N. Y. City 

the following day to prepare for sail 

ing on the Marine Carp 

ber 24 for Syria. 

Ray 

on Septem 

and Thomas Joseph, students 

at Geneva College, with their parents 

Mr. and Mrs. R. P. Joseph drove to 

Beaver Falls. The boys are greatly 

missed in the activities of the congre 

gation. 

Miss Loretta Edgar of Washing 

ton, D. C, visited her parents Mr. 

and Mrs. J. C. Edgar and other rela 

tives the latter part of September. 

She is always a welcome guest in 

Hopkinton. 

Miss Anna M. Johnston visited rel-


atives and friends of the Hopkinton 

congregation and community during 

the summer. She is a well known 

and valued friend here. 

Mr. T. Lyle Joseph drove to Seat 

tle and Camp Waskowitz taking with 

him Rev. and Mrs. and Marjorie Al 

len. Miss Allen spoke at the Camp. 

Others who have been away dur 

ing the summer are Jacquelin and 

Loretta Patton to visit Rev. and Mrs. 

McKelvey in Canada; Miss Mae Ken 

ny on a trip through the West and 

Northwest; Miss Clarissa Morrow to 

visit her brother in Wyoming; Mr. 

and Mrs. Wilfred Kenny, Mr. and 

Mrs. Walter Johnson and Mr. and 

Mrs. H. McGlade on a trip east; Mr. 

and Mrs. B. M. Ferguson on a trip 

to New Mexico and Paul Ferguson 

taking some medical military training 

in Texas. Mrs. W. J. Edgar was for 

a time in the hospital at Iowa City. 

All of the sons of Mrs. Alice John 

ston except Gene were home for the 

funeral of their mother. Mr. and Mrs. 

Andrew Patton attended summer 

school at Teacher's College, Cedar 

Falls. Messers George, Ramsey and 

Bahij Madany 

attended services at 

Hopkinton on the Sabbath before 

Marjorie Allen left for Syria where 

their parents and family live. Mr. and 

Mrs. F. E. Allen and Elder Mr. C. K. 

Greer attended the fall meeting of 

the Iowa Presbytery 

29 at Morning Sun. 

on September 

THINGS THAT NEVER CHANGE 

By T. M. Slater, D. D. 

Twenty-nine years ago, when the 

Seattle congregation was making 

formal recognition of the ending of 

the work of myself and Mrs. Slater 

in that place, Dr. A. R. McCracken 

assured all who regretted our leav 

ing, that while their pastor and his 

wife were now expecting to live in 

the East, it was only a matter of 

time until they would certainly be 

floating back occasionally and often 

in an air plane, to renew the happy 

relations which we had hitherto en 

joyed so much. Little did any who 

then heard the "Beloved Physician" 

speak in this way, imagine that our 

first return would actually be as pre 

dicted, or that so many long years 

would elapse before that dream would 

have its first desired fulfilment. 

We now admit that twenty-nine 

years is too long for any 

pastor to 

be separated from his former con 

gregation, especially 

fection is as mutual, 

where the af 

reciprocal and 

unchanging as in this particular 

case. And that such feelings do ex 

ist on the part of the congregation, 

was fully evidenced by 

the large and 

eager delegation that were waiting 

at the air field to welcome us when 

we arrived considerably 

after the 

midnight of July 22 following a 

twelve hour flight from New York. 

The spirit of that welcome was the 

same that prevailed everywhere 

through the two months which seem 

ed all too short among such friends. 

To go into a full recounting 

of all 

the unexpected tokens of love and 

kindness which we received during 

those happy days would neither be 

proper nor possible in this connec 

tion, for they 

were almost beyond 

count in their richness and profu 

sion. We feel quite unworthy 

of all 

this, but are grateful beyond words 

both to them and to the Master in 

whose Name we all serve. 

At the first Sabbath meeting In 

the new church, Mrs. Slater and I 

were given the entire hour in which 

to say just a few of the things that 

filled our hearts, I mere spoke con 

cerning "The Changing, and the Un 

changing Things, in God's dealings 

with His Children". It was not hard 

to find illustrations of this in the 

past experiences of us all, and our 

mesent circumstances. The changed 

physical surrounamgs of me build 

ing 

and neighborhood in which we 

were then worshiping; the transfor 

mations recently 

made in the streets 

and towering structures of the city; 

the sluicing down of hills that once 

looked to be eternal; the erection of 

great steel bridges of most imposing 

proportions, the new Government 

Locks leading to the open sea, a mod 

ern flotilla driveway over Lake 

Washington; the obliteration of ev 

ery 

cality 

old familiar landmark in the lo 

where we once worshiped; and 

even the transformation of our once 

quiet old home from being- a private 

residence to become an apartment 

house with new doors and windows, 

numbered rooms and other unexpect 

ed changes; all told the same story 

of mutation and change in things 

physical. So far as I could learn, 

just one person in the congregation 

is now living- in the same home with 

which we were familiar in the past. 

Even more impressive were some 

of the physical and moral changes 

observed in many whom we had not 

seen for over a quarter of a century. 

The growth to manhood and woman 

hood of children whom I had once 

baptised, 

or known in the Sabbath 

School; the whitening of the heads 

of many Whom I could remember 

as mere youths; the advancement of 

some to places of honor and responsi 

bility in business or the professions, 

some now teachers or social work 

ers for the welfare of others, were 

changes that I was glad to recognize, 

and in their successes felt the satis 

faction which a father has in the ad 

vancement of his children. 

It was a real thrill that came to 

me in the private office of the Gen 

eral Secretary 

of the local Y.M.C.A. 

to have that fine Christian gentle 

man instantly recognize me as an old 

friend, 

and in our exchange of rec 

ollections have him tell me that, 

while he had received no religious in 

fluences in his own home, his train 

ing in our Sabbath School was re 

sponsible for his becoming fit for the 

important position he now holds. He 

particularly mentioned my having 

talked to him one day at the corner 

of Fifth Avenue and Pike Street, 

quoting my own words when I had 

said: "Charlie, I have been looking 

for an opportunity to have a little 

talk with you abort an important 

thing." 

According to his view that 

talk was the turning point of his 

whole life. 

Another thrill was felt when we 

visited a splendid institution, beauti 

fully situated on a lakeside, with all 

the most modern equipment, support 

ed by the City as a home lor seventy 

or more girls who had some Court 

record, and presided over by 

a gra 

cious young woman whose sainted 

mother had been a valued member of 

our congregation, did so much mis 

sionary visiting, and had such a great 

influence in the neighborhood sur 

rounding our old church. I shall nev 

er forget the home-like atmosphere 

of that place, the stories about so 

many who had here gotten a new vi 

sion of the meaning of life, and learn 

ed something of the way to reach 

true womanhood. Thus the influence 

of one good life continues in still wid 

er circles. 

It was with mingled feelings that 

in our church meeting each Sabbath 

we thought of so many others, both 

men and women, whom in other days 

we had known and loved as members 

of this congregation. Of the seven 

elders whose picture is now on the 

wall of my study, only two are still 

living, and but one of these is now in 

office. Of the surviving Charter 

Members in the reconstruction after 

1891, 

main; 

not more than two or three re 

but as I looked into the faces 

of the present group it was not hard 

to see in memory, 

these and all oth 

ers whom I had once known as listen-


ers in the pews of the old church; 

and could not but -be thankful that 

in the Upper Sanctuary they are 

listening to better words than I ever 

spoke, are now joining in the perfect 

worship 

of Heaven, and serving God 

without some weariness and sorrow 

which they had known here. 

It was a deep satisfaction to recog 

nize the efficiency and thoroughness 

with which congregational work here 

is being carried forward under the 

faithful leadership of the present Pas 

tor and his force of helpers. Through 

the regular Sabbath preaching and Bi 

ble School, 

the congregation is gradu 

ally and favorably impressing their 

influence upon the new community. 

The faithfulness with which some at 

tend who live at quite a distance, the 

activities of the Young People's 

group, the energy of the Women's So 

ciety, and many other symptoms in 

dicate a healthy state of congrega 

tional life, and that this group of 

Covenanters know what they believe, 

and why they have an organized life. 

I was pleased to hear that plans are 

in mind for organizing 

a "Gospel 

Team", whose members with the mus 

ical talent and speaking ability which 

they possess, may under God do ef 

fective witnessing right along in be 

half of the "Covenanter Crusade" 

and 

"The Christian Amendment Move 

ment". I was equally 

pleased to be 

told of one of our Covenanter stu 

dents in the University of Washing 

ton, -having recently in one of her 

classes challenged the theories of Ev 

olution being here exploited and for 

the approval of other 

this getting 

Christian students who had been out 

raged, but lacked courage enough 

to speak. 

In moving into a new church and 

a new community, 

our Covenanters 

in Seattle have taken with them not 

only 

some 

their religious beliefs, but also 

old property 

significant memorials of the 

and building with which 

their affections were closely entwined. 

One of these treasures of the past 

was the pulpit behind which has 

stood pastor every who had preached 

there from the beginning. The other 

memorial was the wood of the old 

cherry 

many 

tree that had stood for so 

years in the parsonage lot. 

The trunk of this tree was salvaged 

when the church building 

was dis 

mantled and removed, to be sawed in 

to lumber and made into artistic 

paper knives by 

one of our present 

members who has a unique talent for 

wood carving. It is more than a mere 

sentiment that these score or more 

portions of the old sanctuary have 

been distributed to every family in 

the church to serve as beautiful and 

useful reminders of the past, and 

testimony to those things of the past 

which never change. 

FARM FOR SALE 

80 A. Five miles S. E. of Olathe, 

has an 8 room house, barn, granary, 

chicken house and tile silo. Price 

$13,000. 

Harvey McGee 

Olathe, Kan. 

GOODBYE QUINTER 

Never will I forget the fellowship 

we have had together these past three 

years, 

also the hundred dollars for 

camp supplies, twenty-five dollars, 

a personal gift, the showers of table 

cloths, quilts, etc., by the missionary 

societies and last but not least, the 

lovely suit-case given by the congre 

gation. 

May Rom. 15:13, a sermon text of 

Rev. Faris, be a comfort to you as 

it has been to me. 

Yours for the work in Syria, 

Elizabeth McElroy 

DENISON 

At our fall communion there were 

eight accessions: Mrs. Grace Mc 

Crory, Mrs. Adalaide McCrory, Mrs. 

Marjorie Robb and Mrs. Dorothy 

Blackwood by certificate; 

on profes 

sion Delia Blackwood, Dale Black 

wood, John Robson and Bobbie Dean 

McCrory. 

James Porter has returned to his 

work in Sacramento, Calif., after 

spending two weeks in his 

parents' 

home (Mr. and Mrs. Jay Porter). 

Denison W. M. S. entertained 

members of Winchester W. M. S. at 

the meeting held in the home of Mrs. 

Delber Braum on October 1, a very 

pleasant time for us all. 

The Young Married Folks Class 

in S. S. will meet in our pastor's 

home Friday evening for a covered 

dish luncheon. 

Those attending college from our 

congregation are Edwin Braum, Wil 

lard Knowles, and John Robb at 

K. S. at Manhattan, Delber Robb at 

K. U. in Lawrence and Eleanor Faris 

at Geneva at Beaver Falls. 

IN MEMORIAM 

As members of the Woman's Mis 

sionary Society of the Reformed Pres 

byterian Church of Orlando, Florida, 

we record with sorrow the departing 

of one of our faithful members, Mrs. 

Emma lone McKinney. 

We say "with 

sorrow" 

not sor 

row for her who was a faithful work 

er in her Master's vineyard, and one 

who has been laid aside for several 

months, not being 

able to take a 

step, yet never a word of murmur 

from her lips: but sorrow for the 

members of her family 

left behind who in going 

and friends 

out and 

in, will miss her cheery smile and 

her contented spirit. 

We truly say, "She has finished 

her course, she has kept the faith". 

As a society we desire that this ex 

pression of our deep sympathy be 

sent to the members of the family 

and a copy of the Covenanter Wit 

ness. 

Committe: Mrs. Milford White 

Mrs. B. C. Terry 

OAKDALE LIBERALITY 

No congregation of Christian peo 

ple could be kinder or more generous 

than Oakdale has proved to be since 

we came the first of September. 

Much work was done in preparing 

the manse for its occupants and a 

program for the reception. But to 

top it off, the shelves have been 

loaded down with supplies from farm 

and store. May the Lord "bless it 

to our use and us in His 

service" 

a- 

mong them for the growth of His 

Kingdom. 

Gratefully, 

David, Mary, Sara, 

D. Ray, Elizabeth, 

and John Wilcox 

Our new address.: P. O. Box 22, 

Oakdale, Illinois. 

CLARINDA 

Rev. Richard Hutcheson preached 

for the Clarinda Congregation two 

Sabbaths in August. 

Clarinda enjoyed having 

a former 

pastor, Rev. Remo I. Robb, preach 

for us August 29. Mrs. Robb and 

Ellen Jean came the week before 

to the Leslie McCalla home. Rev. 

Robb joined them after the Forrest 

Park Convention. 

Mrs. Donald Whitehill and Mts. 

Claude Blair, the sponsors of the Y. 

P. Society, attended the Forrest Park 

Convention. Young People and Jun 

iors attending were Martha Caskey, 

Janet Whitehill, Delores and Char- 

lene Dunn, Delores Blair and Nor 

ma Woods.


LESSON HELPS FOR THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 7, 1948 


500YEARS Of WiTNeSSING- For. CrlRIST'5 50VERIOfS RIGHTS IN THE. CHURCH 4NDTHE. (MflTIQM _ 

VOLUME XLI WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1948 Number 1 1 

REV. ROBERT HENNING, 

WIFE AND SOX GEORGE, 

SAILING FOR CHINA 

CHINA PRESBYTERY AND BIBLE CONFERENCE 

GROUP, JULY 1948, LO TING. CHINA 

MISS ORLENA LYNN 

SAILING FOR CHINA 

MR. THOMAS EDGAR, 

TEACHER IN THE AMERICAN 

ACADEMY 

LARNACA, CYPRUS

210 THE COVENANTER WITNESS October 6, 1948 

QLmpA,e4, o^ tke (leU

October 6, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 211 

GuWient ouenti. 

(NOTE The copy for CURRENT EVE-NTS, usually 

forehanded, seems to have been delayed in transit and we 

are already on the press, so will hold it for the next 

issue. Editor.) 

Frank E. Allen, 

I). D. 

The DeShazers to Japan 

The Bible Society Record, under the caption, "A Raider 

Returns," 

tells of the sequel to the first air attack upon 

Japan made almost seven yc-ais ago by General J. H. 

Doolittle ?nd his brave ciew, of which Jacob DeShazer 

was one. 

When President H. C. Watson of Seattle Pacific Col 

lege spoke to the graduating; class on June 7, as Mrs. De 

Shazer was receiving her diploma, he said: "These are 

our best known students, and this is a high point in the 

history 

of the college. The conversion of Jacob DeShazer 

in a prison camp 

and his high resolve to save himself to 

the Japanese the people who persecuted him has made 

a profound impression upon the 

world." 

The Record continues: "Already Jacob DeShazer's in 

fluence has become a mighty force in the hands of Chris 

tian workers in Japan." 

Japan" 

widely 

His tract, "I was a prisoner of 

has been tanslated into Japanese and distributed 

with thousands of copies of the New Testament 

supplied by the American Bible Society. The writer adds: 

"About the time this article appears, Mr. and Mrs. De 

Shazer and their infant son will be on their way to Japan 

not with bombs this time, but with the love of God and 

a consuming desire to bring the light of the Gospel to 

onetime enemies. The prospects for the evangelization of 

Japan constitute one of the bright spots in a terribly 

dark world, for Japan today is looking for a new basis 

for her faith. Her people can read, almost all of them; 

they are reading the Christian Scriptures, which last 

December were found in a popular poll to be 

among- the 

ten 'best 

sellers' 

in Japan." 

The Bible Society has al 

ready supplied them with over 1,500,000 New Testaments 

and 150,000 whole Bibles. The Tokyo Bible House, stand 

ing like a lighthouse on one of the city's main streets, 

is a teeming center from which the Scriptures go forth. 

It was built there by the American Bible Society in 1983, 

and marvelously escaped destruction during the war, 

when great structures all around it were flattened with 

bombs. More gifts would permit more Bibles to be sent. 

Bible Translations in Africa 

The Bible Society's Secretary for Versions, 

ing a trip around Africa, 

after mak 

tells us that between 200 and 

300 missionaries, at least are giving themselves to trans 

lating and revising the Bible in various languages. Other 

hundreds are teaching- it in bush schools, village chapels 

and Bible-training institutes. Still other hundreds are 

the practical working-out of the Gospel in 

demonstrating 

hospitals, agricultural and industrial projects, and schools 

for secular training. 

Mrs. Leland Wang 

Ever since we met the daughter of Leland Wang when 

she was attending Iowa University, taking post-graduate 

work, and read a book by Leland Wang in which he tells 

the story of his life, we have been deeply interested in 

the Wang family. At the time we met their laughter the 

war was going 

on and she did not know whether her 

parents were dead or alive as she had not heard from 

them for thi ee years. She merely knew that they were 

prisoners in Java. 

Mrs. Wang is now in this country 

and writes in The 

Fellowship News of her own conversion, that of her hus 

band and family. She attended a Missionary college, but 

as her mother was a devout Buddhist and she had been 

trained in that religion, she was slow in yielding to evan 

gelistic appeals and to Christ. When she finally yielded, 

her heart was full of joy and peace. Then she wanted to 

win her parents and her fiance, Leland Wang. She prayed, 

her friends prayed for them, she read her Bible and gave 

her testimony to her husband when they were married. 

She got her husband to read the Bible. He was not in 

terested in the first of Matthew, but was interested in 

Matt. 5, the Sermon on the Mount. She prayed with him 

that night and he yielded to Christ. She praises the Lord 

for the saving of her husband and of her entire family. 

Acts 16:31 was fulfilled. She adds: "My God is a real 

living God who answered my 

prayers." 

Leland Wang is 

widely known as a Chinese evangelist and to our mission 

in South China for his aid in evangelism there. 

Mrs. Wang's testimony is an encouragement to mis 

sion schools and to evangelistic work in connection with 

schools and colleges. All the students in the school where 

she attended were saved as a result of earnest evan 

gelistic teaching, preaching 

and personal work. 

Presbyterian Problems 

Robert VV. Frank, President of McCormick Seminary, 

writes in Presbyterian Life on behalf of the Presbyterian 

Council of Theological Education on the subject, "How 

shall they hear without a 

preacher?" 

He says the great 

est problem of their seminaries is a shortage of young 

men for the ministiy. There were, last April, 582 men 

studying for the ministry in their seminaries when 

there should be 1200. In 1940 the Presbyterian Church 

had 660 fewer ministers than in 1930. For ten years they 

lost on an average of sixty-six men per year or 6 per 

cent. One of the most unfortunate features of the short 

age of pastors is that it is the small country churches 

that suffer first, 

and longest. 

Dr. Frank asks: "What is the life-expectancy 

Church if it continues to supply only 

of our 

about one-half of 

the ministers needed to serve as leaders of the churches? 

There is only one answer and tflat is a depressing one. I 

do not say that the Presbyterian Church will die. It is 

too tough-textured and has too many Scotchmen to do 

that. But it will be a 'washed 

up' 

institution as a dynamic 

and determinative factor in American Protestantism and 

American Christianity. Fortunately, 

a more adequate supply 

we are assured that 

of Presbyterian young people 

committed to church vocations is forthcoming." 

In their denomination, our own, or any other, the sup 

depends upon devout, 

ply of young men for -the ministry 

missionary-minded homes, 

ministiy. Young people must be taught by 

and a spiritual church and 

precept and 

example to place God and his kingdom first and to realize 

that the best treasure is laid up in heaven.



By WALTER McCARROLL, D. D. 

Outgoing Missionaries. When writing about 

Outgoing Missionaries in mid-August we had no 

word about Miss Blanche McCrea sailing for 

Cyprus. Later we learned that she was sched 

uled to sail September 24 on the Marine Carp 

along with the missionaries going to Syria. Miss 

McCrea returns to the Academy in Nicosia. She 

went out first in 1925 as a short term teacher, 

and she has been head of the School since 1927. 

During that period the school has had a remark 

able growth, and since 1936 has been entirely 

self-supporting, save for the travel expense of 

the missionary teachers and the furlough salary 

of the permanent missionary teachers. Through 

the years the School has been conducted in rent 

ed buildings which now are overcrowded and quite 

inadequate for its needs. A site for a building 

was purchased in 1940 but the war years inter 

vened to hinder further steps in that direction. 

.Synod authorized an appeal for funds but build 

ing 

costs have risen to such height that a new 

building seems unlikely for some time to come. 

The school has been conducted on a high spirit 

ual plane and our workers there are to be highly 

commended for their faithful witness by word and 

by deed to Christ as Saviour and Lord. 

Southfield Congreation. In the last issue we 

mentioned the fact that the Southfield congrega 

tion, from which comes the Rev. Robert Henning, 

had given three men to the ministry of the Church. 

More accurate information reveals the fact that 

Southfield congreation has given at least five 

ministers, one medical missionary, and one educa 

tional missionary to the work of the church. 

This is a record of which any congregation may 

well be proud. But there are congregations, we 

believe, that have done even better than that. 

It would be interesting and inspiring to have a 

record of the number of ministers and mission 

aries given to the Church by each congregation. 

This in the long run may prove of help to our 

missionary 

enterprise at home and abroad. I 

shall be glad to publish here the record that any 

congregation may send to me. 

Revived in Syria. From the September number 

of the Reformed Presbyterian Witness we take 

this account of a ten day spiritual conference in 

Idlib, written by the Rev. Wm. Lytle. This should 

furnish grounds for thanksgiving to the Prayer 

Groups scattered throughout the Church. This 

is paralleled by the Young People's Conference 

held on Mt. Troodos in Cyprus, as reported by 

Mrs. W. W. Weir in this issue. Such answers to 

prayer should have an important place in the 

meetings of prayer groups. 

Greek Harvest Gleanings. This is a quarterly 

pamphlet published by the American Committee 

for the Evangelization of the Greeks. In there 

is this striking record of the conversion of a 

young Greek: 

"A young Greek civil engineer who was the 11th 

designated for execution by the Germans in a 

party of nine which were already shot, and win 

ner of the Victoria Cross for service with the 

British Intelligence, has just been saved in one 

of our Greek meetings in New York, only nine 

months after his arrival in this country. His 

story is one of the most thrilling one could listen 

to. His life was preserved from certain death 

for a purpose for his soul to find Christ and 

be dedicated to His service. Whenever possible 

he will be glad to visit churches and give his 

testimony in Greek and Mr. Zodhiates will trans 

late into English." 

A society has been organized in Greece for the 

purpose of distributing the Scriptures to univ 

ersity and high school students, public school 

teachers, postal, telegraph, and telephone employ 

ees, to prison and hospital inmates and patients, 

to the Jews in Greece, and to all refugees. Mr. 

of the Million Testaments Cam 

George T. Davis, 

paigns, has furnished the money for the purchase 

of 13,500 New Testaments to help meet that 

need. He has also undertaken the publication 

of 50,000 pocket-size modern Greek New Testa 

ments to meet this great need among the Greeks. 

Here is an excerpt from Harvest Gleanings about 

that: 

"Our Committee is cooperating in setting new 

plates in New York and supervising the entire 

composition. Special permission for this edition 

has been obtained from the British and Foreign 

Bible Society. These Testaments also contain 

salvation' 

the 'plan of and a decision page for 

those who would accept the Lord Jesus Christ 

as personal Saviour. We believe this edition will 

be one of the best ever put on in the Modern 

Greek language as the type is very readable. 

We praise the Lord for Mr. Davis and his fine 

organization who do not turn a deaf ear to the 

"An invita 

salvation." 

sinner seeking 

tion has been extended to Mr. Zodhiates to visit 

Greece next December and present these Testa 

ments to the Greek Government and to King 

Paul of the Hellenes." 

Missionaries Pictures. In this issue we are 

printing the pictures of our new missionaries, 

The Rev. and Mrs. Robert Henning and son 

George, and Miss Orlena Lynn. Also that of 

the South China Presbytery and Conference 

Group, and one of Mr. Thomas Edgar if a cut 

can be made from a picture taken from the Com 

mencement Number of the Academv Herald. The 

pictures of others will appear as they 

vailable from time to time. 

become a- 

Et cetera. We are indebted to Moody Monthly 

for the article on Motives and Purposes of For 

eign Missions. Word has just come that Dr. and 

Mrs. J. A. Kempf sailed from Hong Kong on the 

President Jefferson, September 23. They should 

be due in San Francisco by the middle of October. 

The prolonged maritime strike has held up our 

missionaries on the west coast. This is a disap- 



Country 

"Ma Hui" 

Communions in South China 

(Part II) 

By Sam Boyle 

means "Horse Market", but there 

are no horses in Ma Hui now. 

This is one of our oldest stations. The people 

at Ma Hui have enjoyed a greater measure of 

spiritual and financial help than many others 

because of their proximity to Tak Hing where 

our work started in 1895. 

Sad to say, the fruits of this long investment 

seem difficult to find. There is little initiative 

and much spiritual failure. Miss Mary Adams 

has done a brave work of shepherding the scatter 

ed fragments of this congregation, however, and 

I was glad to accept her suggestion to give Ma 

Hui a chance for reviving through the Lord's Sup 

per. 

Missionary Living Conditions 

It may be of interest to some readers to know 

how we missionaries live when we do country itin 

erating. Where there are chapel apartments for 

the missionary, as at Wan Fau and Ma Hui, no 

great inconvenience or hardship is involved. Miss 

Adams goes into the people's homes to live, and 

poorer homes at that, so she knows far more of 

total conformity to Chinese living conditions than 

the rest of us. 

Food is our main problem. At Ma Hui an old 

woman who is employed as chapel keeper did my 

cooking. We ate a warm meal of rice and vege 

tables at 10 a.m. and another about 5 p.m. To 

supplement this I had a basket with such items 

as Nescafe, lemon juice, UNRRA tins of cheese 

and butter, cookies, bread, and tinned soup. I 

chapel- 

had a thermos bottle which the old lady 

keeper kept well filled with boiled water, so my 

bodily comfort was fairly 

well maintained. 

The bed at Wan Fau was a canvas cot, quite 

a luxury. In the Ma Hui chapel, however, there 

is only 

a regular Chinese bed of boards laid a- 

cross saw-horses. If some inventor could har 

ness the revolving body of a foreign devil try 

ing to get comfortable -on Chinese bed-boards, 

he would have the secret of perpetual motion. 

Alone in the Ma Hui Chapel 

Miss Adams had arranged to have Mr. Chue 

Man Cheung act as my guide in visiting the village 

Christians, but he did not understand and failed 

to show up. As I did not know how to get to the 

village homes, and had no Chinese helper, my 

time from Thursday to Saturday was largely 

spent in the chapel. 

Ma Hui is a market town of possibly 100 shops. 

The townspeople are diligent idol worshipers and 

most of the shops sell incense and other trappings 

of idolatry. Not much impression has been made 

on the town. Our members live in villages scat 

tered all around, some as far away as ten miles. 

There is consequently little fellowship and no 

steady leadership to mould this scattered consti 

tuency into a working church. Ma Hui presents 

a baffling problem. 

Unable to go to the country people, I sat in the 

chapel on a bench and talked to visitors who came 

in to see what I looked like. As I talked to one 

or two a larger crowd would gather around to 

listen. Then I would change from conversation 

to preaching. There were students who dropped 

in to chat. Children gathered every night to sing 

the Psalms, and by the light of one tiny kerosene 

lamp we had a Gospel meeting. After I had 

preached to them one night on the urgency of tak 

ing Christ, a small lad asked me, "How do you 

pray to Jesus?" 

I explained the meaning -of pray 

er and tried to teach them a short prayer of con 

fession of sin and faith in Christ for salvation. 

One day two young women came in looking for 

Miss Adams. I talked to them briefly. One is 

a Roman Catholic. She told me they had two 

Chinese nuns in their village who held church 

every morning. The Chinese priest rarely comes 

to their village and they do not like him very 

well when he does come. The other woman held 

her eight months old baby as she told me about 

her childhood in Hongkong. She had attended 

a Protestant Sabbath School there until her par 

ents, who were Buddhists, refused to allow her 

to go. Now her husband's home in Ma Hui is 

a home with no religion. They have thrown away 

idols and have no interest in religion of any kind. 

When I urged her to bring her husband to church 

and accept Christ, she only smiled. On commun 

ion Sabbath she was present with her baby and 

sat through the whole service watching intently 

the sacrament. 

One afternoon the small boys who always came 

to sing and listen began, with some embarrass 

ment, to argue with me about idols. They said it 

was no more foolish to worship idols than for us 

to pray to Jesus, because idols also have "spirits." 

While we talked I noticed a repulsive looking 

stranger sitting there. He was a dwarf, a hunch 

back, and his body was covered with the largest 

warts I have ever seen on any person. He seem 

ed so interested that I addressed my answers to 

him. He stood up and came over to talk to me 

about God. He was most attentive as I explained 

to him the uselessness of idolatry 

and urged him 

to believe in Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins 

so that he could know the True God. He seemed 

quite astonished that one can worship God with 

out incense or candles. 

These opportunities to talk about God and the 

Gospel of free grace were welcome, but I was sad 

because nobody accepted the Saviour. What can 

break the wall of indifference and pride which 

shuts so many millions away from eternal-life 

through Christ? "God, remove our iniquities 

and make us fit to serve Thee in a way that Thou 

canst use us to convert sinners to Thee." 

Visiting Ma Hui's Elder 

Ma Hui has only one elder, Mr. Chue Mak 

Heung. He is now 82 years old and can no longer 

get to church. I called on him the Saturday be 

fore communion. We found him standing in the 

doorway 

of his son's fine new brick home. T-Te 

leaned on a tall staff, and peered at me with that

214 THE COVENANTER WITNESS October 6, 19-18 

bewildered intentness which reveals failing sight 

and mind. He recognized me, however,- when 

they told him my name, and greeted me cordially. 

Painful as it was for him to move, he insisted on 

showing me the traditional courtesies of a Chi 

nese home. I was shown to a chair and he slump 

ed down heavily beside me. On a table near us 

was a large print New Testament. He said that 

Miss Adams had given him that Bible and he had 

read it from Matthew right on to the Second 

chapter of I Timothy before failing vision stop 

ped him. He asked me to lead in prayer. 

Before I prayed, I read from John 14th Chap 

ter. He dozed as I reead, but later conversation 

showed me that he had understood. I prayed 

for him and he murmured "Amen" 

at the close. 

He asked his wife and daughter-in-laws to take 

him back to bed after this, and with much diffi 

culty he made his way back into his bedroom. 

His wife told me that he talks more about Chris 

tianity now than ever, and wanted very much 

to get to Communion. 

Impressions of Chinese Society 

Walking along Ma Hui's central street one day, 

I talked to a middle aged man selling fruit at the 

door of his own shop. He suddenly asked me how 

was. I 

"Chan Yeuk Hon" 

(Dr. J. K. Robb) 

asked him how he knew Dr. Robb. He told me 

that when he was a boy he studied three years in 

our school at Tak Hing. He asked me about Dr. 

and Mrs. Wright, too, and confided to me that 

Paul Wright was a very mischievous lad when 

he was at Tak Hing. The sad thing about this 

man, whose name I forgot to ask, was his in 

difference to the Christian faith. We know many 

graduates of our schools who are faithful Chris 

tians today but this man was evidently the "road 

side 

Satan of all the good seed 

soil" 

robbed by 

sown there years ago. 

Living alone in the chapel I became acutely con 

scious of the sounds about me. Chinese houses 

are built side by side with a common wall be 

tween them. This makes the sounds of human 

life seem very close. Off to my left "the sound 

of the 

grinders" 

was low, as an apprentice in a 

rice shop turned the wooden mill to hull the rice. 

Next door a woman preparing breakfast for the 

family scraped her chopping block, and down 

stairs the chapel-keeper could be heard blowing 

through a hollow bamboo tube into the fire to 

make it blaze. Somewhere a small baby wailed 

and cried until the father lost his temper and 

yelled oaths at it. The child's crying increased, 

then a mother's low crooning gradually quieted 

the weeping. All around me the low murmur of 

conversation, 

heard. 

laughter or quarreling could be 

Over my head I heard the scratching of the feet 

of birds, or possibly a rat, on the tiles. From 

the pond came the hum of summer insects and 

birds sang from the bamboo grove along the 

river. Out in front of the chapel a solitary ped 

his nasal crv about the mending of 

dler sang 

skillets and kettles. Small children laughed at 

play and their bare feet scampered along the 

cobblestones of the street. 

These sounds impress us with the fact that 

we are in -a Strange land and that we are foreign 

ers. These are not the sounds of home. Even 

this sense of aloneness carries a blessing, for it 

drives one to prayer. God seems near if home 

seems far away. 

Best of all, these sounds or Chinese domestic 

life arouse in the missionary's heart a dream of 

some future day when the homes of Ma Hui, and 

-of thousands of other Chinese towns and village^, 

will sound with the praises of God from hearts 

and lives transformed through the Gospel of 

Jesus Christ. For that great day we labor and 

pray in South China. "Thy Kingdom 

come 

Chue Man-Cheung 

Communion Sabbath 

was once elected elder but 

refused to accept ordination. Fof all practical 

purposes now he serves in that capacity. It was 

he who prepared the bread and wine, arranged 

the service table and helped me interrogate the 

candidates for baptism. After one service he 

told me his own story. 

He was once an idolater who had never heard 

of Jesus. He and his wife went along with the 

village in all pagan practices. He observed, how 

ever, that the gods had no power to protest his 

livestock, for after one special sacrifice to safe 

guard his pig and cow, both died. He announced 

in disgust to his wife that he was through with 

the whole business. It was then that a traveler 

told him about Christ, and Mr. Chue began to 

study the new doctrine and finally believed and 

was baptized. 

Not long 

after he became a Christian his wife 

died, leaving him with two small children. He 

was helped by the church to educate this boy and 

girl, and both grew up in the Christian Church. 

His son was completing his education during the 

war when he came down with T. B. He passed 

away, leaving the daughter-in-law and a small 

grandson for Mr. Chue to care for. This nearly 

broke his faith. The neighbors remarked that 

his faith in the Christian God seemed to be use 

less, that he had worse luck than they did. His 

son's widow murmured. He had many doubts 

rise in his own heart. He felt very weak and un 

worthy. 

I told him the story 

of the 73rd Psalm and he 

agreed that Asaph's experience was quite similar 

to his own. We comforted each other with our 

mutual faith that God is good, even if circum 

stances sometimes bring us into great perplexity. 

Sabbath morning several village people came 

to be questioned for entrance into the church. 

Only one was ready, an illiterate country mother 

with two small boys. The radiant certainty of 

her faith was refreshing to me. She did not 

know much but she knew what she believed and 

she knew her Saviour. She seemed happy after 

the service. 

On communion Sabbath twenty-one persons 

communed, including one who was not in good 

standing in the church. I did not know that he had 

taken a concubine during the recent war years, 

so welcomed him to the Lord's Table. In fact 

he was so energetic and constructive in his sug 

gestions for helping revive our church in Ma


Hui that 1 took quite a lot of hope from his in 

terest. He is a son of a Christian home, has at 

tended Christian schools and has a Christian 

wife. The local people highly 

respect his work 

as a minor official and if he were free of the 

polygamous relationship it would be possible for 

him to do a great good in the church of Ma Hui. 

It should be our prayer that God will enable such 

Christians to know the Lord's will for recovery 

from Satan's snare, and by costly obedience to 

come through to genuine repentance. This ap 

plies to all Christians everywhere, for certainly 

God will help us find His way out of our prob 

lems whenever we follow on to know the Lord : 

"Come, let us return unto the Lord : for he hath 

torn, and he will heal us ; he has smitten, and he 

will bind us up. After two days he will revive 

us : in the third day he will raise us up, 

Revival In Syria 

By Rev. Wm. Lytle, B. A. 

and we 

We have pust concluded another school year 

and for me it has been by far the best I have ever 

experienced during 28 years out here. With a 

heart overflowing with gratitude and joy to my 

Heavenly Father I thank Him for His guidance 

and support throughout the year. With deep, 

deep gratitude we thank the Holy Spirit who 

guided us to close the yeat oy having a "Come ye 

apart." 

We spent ten days on the mount and 

during those days I saw and heard things I never 

heard before. We were not without our problems 

during the year in the boarding department but 

we weathered the storms fairly successfully. Not 

withstanding our efforts to make our home a 

place where young people could see Christ in 

action, the year came to a close and we felt that 

many of our boarders had not got what we wanted 

them to get, so some of us felt the guiding of the 

apart." 

Spirit to have a "Come ye I am almost 

tempted to use the word retreat but owing to its 

papal significance I refrain. Well, just as soon 

as school ended we began these meetings. We 

had invited teachers and some other young people 

from Mesopotamia where this European Mission, 

whose affairs I am looking after, has a school 

and other Christian work going on. By Satur 

day the 26th of June we were all assembled with 

in this fine building ready to begin the Sabbath 

morning. 

After breakfast we had morning prayers which 

really was the beginning of our ten happy, happy 

days. We had two services and a prayer meeting 

that Sabbath. The speaker at the two services 

was a lay man full of grace and the Holy Spirit. 

He is a tailor to trade. He lives in Damascus. I 

had tried everywhere I could think of to get a 

really keen speaker, a man who would speak in 

demonstration of the Spriit and of power, but 

had failed, so at last I felt guided to ask this man. 

He agreed and during ten days we enjoyed a 

spiritual treat, a feast of fat things from begin 

shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if 

we follow on to know the Lord : his going forth is 

prepared as the morning ; and he shall come unto 

us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto 

the 

earth" 

(Hosea 6:1-3). 

Conclusion 

These two country churches in South China are 

quite typical of most of our South China congre 

gations, though a few are stronger in numbers 

and ability than Wan Fau or Ma Hui. 

Our need is for the Holy Spirit to continue His 

gracious work in our own hearts and lives so that 

all who profess Christ can be able to put away 

idols, whether material or spiritual, and seek first 

the Kingdom of God. The- harvest is great but 

the laborers are too few. Pray ye therefore that 

the Lord of the Harvest in South China will 

thrust out His chosen reapers to gather in this 

abundant harvest for which we all pray. 

ning to end. We had a Miss Beck from this 

European Mission with us also. She gave a 

Bible lesson each day 

and this too was a spiritual 

feast. I was supposed to take a discussion meet 

ing each day but after the first day I hardly even 

got time to touch my subject. The Spirit of God 

took control, and a wave of testimony, prayer 

and praise took possession of the meetings such 

as reminded me of the day of Pentecost. For the 

first time in 28 years I had an answer to my 

prayers in seeing Syrians under deep conviction 

of sin and pleading for mercy and forgiveness. 

We were determined right from the beginning 

to let the Spirit of God have a free hand in -our 

meetings and so decided not to tie ourselves down 

to a hard and fast programme. Breakfast was at 

6:30 and around 7 o'clock we began morning 

prayers. We thought an hour would be enough 

for these giving us half an hour before beginning 

the Bible lesson at 8:30 but after the first day it 

was getting on to 9 o'clock before morning pray 

ers finished. Most of the boarders seemed to 

get their greatest blessing at morning prayers. 

Morning prayers having gone on for so long, 

naturally the Bible lesson was late. It was 9 :30 

sometimes before it began which meant that it 

was after 11 o'clock sometimes before my discus 

sion group 

could begin. After the first day, as 

I have already mentioned, the discussion time 

turned into a prayer, praise and testimony meet 

o' 

ing which went on several days till after 12 

clock. One afte" another of the boys and girls 

came right out and confessed Christ. 

The testimony 

of one of the boys was most in 

teresting. He said that before these meetings be 

gan he was completely disgusted with the board 

ing 

school as it was nothing but prayer, -prayer, 

prayer, so he was longing for the time when he 

would get away from it. No sooner had the meet 

ings begun than he found he had got caught up 

in the spirit of them. He became convicted of 

sin and had to yield to Christ whose claims,


from within, were being pushed so urgently up 

on him. 

"My," 

he said, "what a change has 

come into my life. With what peace I sleep now 

and I am finished with dirty dreams." 

This boy 

is from Mesopotamia from the river Chebar. 

He has gone back to witness to his people and 

work amongst them for the summer with anoth 

er very fine young man who also got great bless 

ing out of the meetings. Another young man 

rough and unpolished 

diamond and for whom I had little hope that he 

col- 

through and is now in Mount Lebanon doing 

would ever come out for Christ came right 

who came to us as a very 

p-orteur work for the summer. All of our senior 

boarders made profession of faith in Christ. The 

younger boarders went home as they were too 

young to get much benefit, and we needed their 

beds for guests from outside. I could write a 

very interesting article on any one of these young 

people. Some of them resisted the Spirit with 

all their fighting power but eventually they had 

to give in. We closed on Thursday evening the 

6th inst. with a baptismal and Communion ser 

vice. This was in many ways the high day of 

our meetings. 

After the Communion service was over and 

we were about to break up I knew there were 

still two in our midst at least who had not yielded. 

I felt I could not leave without making a last des 

perate appeal. One of our boys has been to the 

American University in Beirut and had got so 

far advanced as to feel no more need even for 

God. He was at our last meeting and I knew 

there were quite a few who were praying for 

him. There flashed through my mind, as I stood 

longing for something to say to those who had 

not yet yielded, that incident in the life of the 

late Mrs. Kennedy at the beginning of the first 

world war. She was lying ill in Alexandretta 

when a British war ship pulled into harbour in 

search of any Britishers who wanted to get out. 

The Captain came to the Mission building and 

found her lying ill. He said he could not possibly 

take her with him as he would be court-martialled 

for doing so. Miss Metheny was standing by. 

When she realized the situation and saw that 

the Captain was about to leave she threw her 

self at his feet and seized him telling him he 

either must take Mrs. Kennedy with him or be 

prepared to drag her with him to the boat. The 

situation was desperate so Mrs. Kennedy was tak 

en on board. I said I would most willingly lay 

myself at the feet of those still outside the King 

dom if only my doing so would bring them in. 

There and then he came right through and with 

great joy announced to Mrs. Lytle, who had been 

labouring with him for some time, that her pray 

ers had been answered. One of the boarders 

near this boy. 

who had not yielded was sitting 

It was quite evident that he was in deep trouble. 

He too broke into prayer and came through. It 

is very difficult to give a true picture of what 

happened. One had to be in the midst of it all 

to realise what was taking place. Anyhow our 

Boarding School has justified itself and that for 

me is a matter of great thankfulness. 

Let us continue to pray that this may only be 

the beginning 

of far greater things to come. Our 

God is rich and can give us far more abundantly. 

Let us unite in asking Him to do so. One of the 

greatest victories of these meetings was the 

winning of one of four teachers of Christ. He 

has been teaching in the school in Hassakey in 

Mesopotamia for some years. I had him specially 

in mind when we first thought of this Confer^ 

ence. He was one of the first to get caught up in 

the spirit of the meetings and eventually 

gave a 

most wonderful testimony to the .blessing he had 

received through faith in Jesus Christ. How much 

all these people need our prayers as they go back 

to their old environment! 

The Reformed Presbyterian Witness 

Troodos Youth Conference 

By Mrs. Elizabeth E. Weir 

In The Covencoiter Witness of July 7, Mr. 

Thomas Edgar wrote under "Meetings Bring Re 

vival" 

this statement: "We are conscious of 

the fact that the time of harvest is truly near; 

there is a definite feeling that we shall experi 

ence a revival among those with whom it is our 

privilege to work, a revival greater than any 

other which we have had for many 

years." 

That was a true prophecy. Mr. Clark Cope 

land in the same issue told of the meetings for 

which we had been praying and the follow-up 

meetings for prayer which were going on daily. 

They contiued until the end of school, and it was 

with regret that the boys gave them up to go to 

their homes, where many of them would have no 

at all. But no one can be 

Christian fellowship 

kept from praying if he wants to pray. Letters 

kept coming through the summer to the leaders 

and the note sounded in nearly all of them was 

of prayer for the summer conference. The lead 

ers themselves were praying. Since the Con 

ference a letter has come from Miss Eunice Mc 

Clurkin saying that at language school in the 

Lebanons they had a prayer group asking "for 

the Conference to be a great blessing and for 

the students who recently accepted Christ." 

The oneday conference of earlier years has 

grown now to a four-day one. August 11-15 

was the date of it and it was held at our camp 

as usual. On Saturday and Sabbath nights we 

had one hundred and eight people sleeping and 

eating here, in addition to all the other people 

who attended from other camps and villages. 

Yes, that is the largest group we have had. Our 

equipment is scarce, indeed, but we borrowed 

and rented tents; and the guests, with willing 

ness and patience, provided what they needed 

individually. In spite of primitive conditions or 

perhaps because of them, we managed to get 

along and expend our zeal on the meetings. Our 

school cook, almost single-handed, provided fine 

meals for all and seemed to feel "the more the 

merrier." 

The fact that we all lived in such 

crowded conditions and without friction was, 

we feel sure, because of the working of the Holy


Spirit which was so evident throughout the whole 

Conference. 

The theme of the Conference was TRANS 

FORMED LIFE "Lord, what wilt thou have 

me to do?" 

with these daily themes: 

Preparation for Sevice 

Conviction of Sin 

Transformation of Life 

WorKing for Christ 

The devotions, the Bible Study, the discus 

sion groups, the consecration meetings in the 

evenings, all blended so closely 

with the main 

theme as to present a solid appeal for accepting 

Christ and living a life devoted to Him. 

Each day the "Seekers after Christ" 

group 

led by the Rev. W. Martin discussed the problems 

of the younger conference people, taking up such 

questions as "Whom shall we 

seek?" 

and discus 

sing the ways to find what the Scriptures have 

to say about Christ, His preexistence, the work 

of creation, His virgin birth, etc. The results 

of their discussions can be shared with the con 

secration meetings. Certainly all efforts blend 

ed into one appeal. After the consecration meet 

ing each evening there were between fifteen and 

inquirers who met together for prayer 

thirty 

and questions, and several openly confessed 

Christ. 

When the buses rolled out on Monday morn 

ing filled with reluctant young people we felt we 

had had a real mountain top experience and 

joined in prayer for the Holy Spirit to go with 

them and with us all and be our Guide in these 

coming days and months. 

A Summer in Cyprus 

A LETTER FROM MRS. CLARK COPELAND 

Dear Friends: 

Larnaca, Cyprusa 

July 30, 1948 

It is my turn to write a few notes to home 

folks. I have let the month slip by all too fast. 

We are still in Larnaca as Clark has many things 

to do here at the school preliminary to next year. 

We prefer to stay down longer in spite of the 

as it is difficult to live all summer in the 

heat, 

mountains with the children with only a hut and 

tent to live in. The Weirs, Misses Reade, and 

Gardner, and the Donaldsons are up now. We 

have twenty-one boys there in the camp also, so 

it is quite a busy place. 

Thus far the weather has not been too unbear 

able, a few hot nights and sultry days, but most 

of the nights have been quite comfortable. We 

plan to join the others on August 3. 

Our summer Conference is August 11-15 so 

we will go up to be settled before that. Several 

of the group are busy with preparations for the 

Conference. We ask for your prayers that these 

meetings may truly be "mountain top 

to all of us. 

Rev. Semple from the Latakia, Syria, mission 

is several weeks in Cyprus. We are hapspending 

py to make his acquaintance. Others from there 

may come later. 

Our needs in the schools for teachers remain 

the same. We have an Englishman who is com 

ing to teach in the Larnaca Academy. He will 

be a boarding master, and we hope he will be the 

type of person needed ; however we need some of 

our young men out here as soon as possible. 

August 5. Here we are on Troodos, now! It 

is a pleasant relief from the heat of the lowlands 

and is so good to be here where we can have daily 

fellowship 

with Christian friends. The children 

are happy to be where they can play outdoors all 

and it is so good for them. 

day 

Greetings to our many friends and especially 

to those who have remembered us so kindly with 

letters and parcels. We are sorry we cannot an 

swer each one personally. 

EDITORIAL NOTES 

Very Sincerely, 

Ethyl Copeland 


pointment to all concerned, but our disappoint 

ments may prove to be God's appointments. 

The Revised Standard Version of Rom. 8 :28 

reads, "We know that in everything God works 

for good with those who love him, who are called 

purpose." 

according to his 

A September Morn's Interruption from HIM 

Morning worship over, I had just launched out 

on a busy day's program having seen the Orphan 

age Business Manager about the next step in our 

shoe making department, and the cinnamon mer 

chant who wanted to see about cashing a Hong 

Kong check for me when a strange young man 

appeared. On inquiry I found that he was a Mr. 

Chan Shing Kau, a Wai Tai man who had finished 

his college work in Canton and had returned to 

Lo Ting to teach in one of the High Schools. He 

coming- 

very openly divulged that his motive in 

was to find out about becoming a Christian. He 

was troubled over the wickedness in the world 

and fortunately admitted sin in his own heart. I 

proceeded to lead him step by step recognizing 

we are sinners, God has a plan, and the way to 

His plan of salvation is to believe, to receive. I 

turned to several passages in my Chinese Bible 

for him to read. He showed such sincere intelli 

gent interest that I told him he need not wait 

longer to become a Christian so we knelt in pray 

er and then thanked God for salvation received 

The glorious light from heaven seemed to shine 

from above. 

The interview was all so business-like, and def 

inite. Mr. Chan left with a New Testament which 

I marked, a catechism, and some tracts and I 

feel confident that he walked out a new man in 

Christ Jesus. How I praised God! God had been 

knocking at his heart's door and had sent him 

to me. How easily I might have missed this gold 

en opportunity! 

Later Mr. Chan came to the Student Saturday 

Evening Fellowship meeting and the following


day to my Bible class and the Sabbath services. 

Please help in prayer that this young man may 

have great jov in believing and grow rapidlv in 

the Christian "life.J. M. D. 

Thank You, Mr. Steele! 

Minute Adopted by the Board of Foreign Mis 

sions Regarding the Resignation of Mr. Joseph 

M. Steele. 

In the voluntary retirement of Mr. Joseph 

M. Steele from the Treasurership of this Board, 

we desire to put on record our appreciation of 

him as a Christian brother, the joy we have al 

ways had in his fellowship, us well as his long 

and efficient service in the Office which he filled 

with such acceptance. 

We admire the oreadth and genuineness of 

his sympathies, and the devotion with which he 

served Christ in so many other ways. Perhaps 

no layman in cur Church was more sought after 

to serve as a member, or even the head of other 

Christian organizations. These multiplied Chris 

tian activities with which he shared his time 

and abilities never seemed to him greater than 

the work of our Board, to which he gave the 

use of his Office, and- his thoughtful attention 

and support. The members of this Board re 

member gratefully that at times when our meet 

ings were being held in Philadelphia. Mr. Steele 

often had our luncheon served to us in the room 

where we were working, and presided as our 

gracious host. Both he and Mrs. Steele so long- 

as she lived, cultivated the personal friendship 

of many of our Missionaries who were given 

forms of assistance of which God alone has the 

full record. 

While re.grettin'T the circumstance:; which 

require Mr. Steele to retire from his work as 

our Treasurer, we as a Board rejoice in the hope 

and assurance of his continued interest and sup 

port of our work in every way possible. We be 

lieve that as some fruit trees yield their best and 

most valued products when the years of life and 

growth have increased, so Mr. Steele's fruitful 

life will be still more fruitful as he continues to 

live and grow in the Vineyard of his God. 


T. M. Slater. 



animism of Genesis through the anthropomorphism of 

.Abraham and honotheism of Moses to the moralized 

monotheism of the later prophet? a brief survey 

Old Testament, 

of the 

with comment upon its folklore, legal 

codes, history, poetry, drama and 

over as he took up 

philosophy." 

More 

the concept of the church he dealt 

with "the two major and five minor sacraments; the 

priestly 

and prophetic 

ministry." 

In speaking of Chris 

tian worship he dealt with "the service of beauty to 

worship; the more usual vestments and ornaments of 

worship." 

He who runs and reads may see that here is evolution 

at its worst, evolution in religion, an ignoring or deny 

ing the supernatural nature and revelation of the Bible, a 

false view of the sacraments and worship. This is what 

we are apt to get when religion is taught in our state 

schools or universities. It is evident to any earnest, 

orthodox Christian that such teaching is worse than 

none at all. 

What is equally alarming is that which Dr. Bell tells 

us concerning the teachers of many of the small colleges. 

"Colleges do not -train their own teachers. These come 

to them from the university graduate schools. Even 

the most illustrious of such colleges are intellectual satel 

lites. In respect to attitudes and opinions they too are 

wagged by the multicaudate universities; they retain 

small motion of their own less and less as the years 

go on. In short, the core of any problem having to do 

with American higher education, 

including- the problem 

of religion, will be found not in the colleges but in the 

universities." 

Are then our teachers of religion in our small colleges, 

who must have their higher degrees, to be stamped with 

the religious, biological and ethical views expressed by 

Dr. Bell and taught in our universities? As he indicates 

it is too largely true today and seems likely to become 

moie so as the years pass. May God deliver us from 

such heretical, higher critical, 

Surely 

modernistic teaching! 

we need a great evangelical revival of true reli 

gion and a university qualified to give the higher degrees, 

fervent evangelical teachers! 

which is staffed by devout, 

HOW A BAND OF CUT-THROATS WAS 

REDEEMED 

Dr. Clarke tells in his Journal of Missionary Travel 

'how once in Africa he listened in a humble tent to the 

song of a lot of coolies who had been a band of cut 

throats and murderers but who had been marvellously 

redeemed. One of them, named Kothabye, had been the 

chief of a robber band and at last had been captured 

and sold as a slave. But no master would keep him, he 

was so wicked. At last a missionary bought him, with 

the hope of saving him. One day he heard the missionary 

tell how the blood of Christ could cleanse a sinner. At 

the close of the message he came up and in a stealthy 

voice asked, "Could He cleanse a 

"Yes," 

assured the missionary. 

"But if he had killed five 

men?" 

murderer?" 

"Yes," aswered the missionary, "The blood of Jesus 

Christ cleanseth from all sin." 

"But what if he had killed thirty 

"Yes," 

men?" 

said the missionary; and he quoted precious 

promises to him. "All manner of sin shall be forgiven 

unto men". . . ."Though your sins be as scarlet they shall 

be as white as snow" 

crimson they shall be as wool." 

"Then," 

have killed thirty 

.... "Though they be red like 

said the murderer, "I am that sinner, 

men." 

for I 

He repented, accepted the Lord Jesus, and the Blood 

of Jesus Christ cleansed and saved him; and he was now 

the leader of a coolie band of soul winners, and they 

were singing every night the song 

could wash away the stain of thirty 

Dawn). 

of the Blood that 

murders. (The


Lesson Helps for the Week of November 7 

C Y. P. U. TOPIC 


(Used by permission of the Society 

of Christian Endeavor.) 

By the Rev. J. C. Mathews, D. D. 

"CHRISTIANITY LOOKS 

AT NATIONALISM" 

Psalm 33:12-22, Mark 12:13-17 

Psalms: 

Psalm 98:1-3, No. 262 

Psalm 47:1, 4-5, No. 128 

Psalm 99:1-4, No. 263 

Psalm 89:14-17, No. 240 

Psalm 147:8, 11-13, No. 398 


Isaiah 2:2-4; Psalm 2:10-12; Ro 

mans 13:1-6; Exodus 1:8-14; II 

Chronicles 25:17-24; Daniel 4:28- 

32; Habakkuk 1:5-11; 

1-3. 

Psalm 100: 

I. Study the passages from the 

Bible assigned in connection with 

this subject. 

The 33rd Psalm is a call to praise 

the Lord because of His Word and 

His works. Verse 4 shows that there 

is always a definite relation between 

God's Word and His works. The 

piinciple which is always manifest 

in God's works (v. 5) is one of the 

great subjects discussed in His Word. 

The verses (vs. 12-22) illustrate the 

works of the Lord in over-ruling in 

national affairs, especially in the 

government of His own people. 

What does this Psalm teach with 

respect to God's relation to a na 

tion ? Name and discuss briefly two 

definite duties which a nation owes 

to God and three important facts re 

garding 

as given here. 

a nation's relation to God 

The passage in Mark 12:13-17 

shows that the relation between God 

and civil government has long- been 

a subject of discussion. Many of the 

Jews of Jesus' 

day resented bitterly 

the sovereignty of the Roman em 

pire over their country. The ques 

tion asked Jesus was a catch ques 

tion intended to get Jesus into dif 

ficulty either with the Roman 

government if He answered one way 

or with the Jewish people if He an 

swered the other way. Jesus pointed 

out that the truth lay 

between these 

positions. 

seemingly contradictory 

It was not a case of "either-or", but 

one of "both-and." 

yet, people justify 

Too often, even 

civil government 

which ignores God completely 

on -the 

assumption that this is rendering 

"to Caesar the things which are 

Caesar's". They 

overlook the fact 

that Caesar and all rightful claims 

of Caesar upon the citizen exist only 

because authoi ized and made pos 

sible by the sovereignty and provi 

dence of Almighty God. Caesar has 

no claims upon any citizen except 

"under God" 

and no citizen is re 

quired to render unto Caesar any 

obedience which he cannot render in 

recognition of the supreme sov 

ereignty of Jesus Christ over all of 

human life. 

Enumerate several duties which 

the citizen owes to Caesar (his gov 

ernment) and several duties which 

the citizen owes to God. Is there any 

conflict between these duties ? Is it 

possible to render to Caesar that 

which belongs to God ? Explain. 

II. Study carefully the definition 

of "nationalism" 

until you feel satis 

fied that you understand what the 

teim means. Look up 

other defi 

nitions in addition to the two given 

here. 

"The dynamic expression of the 

cultural and political activities and 

ambitions of a nation or national 

state is most usually 

known as 

and logically 

nationalism." 

"Nationalism is a state of mind 

in which the supreme loyalty of the 

individual is felt to be due to the 

nation-state." 

At the time when the federal Con 

stitution of the United States was 

being framed and adopted there pre 

vailed what might be called a spirit 

of "provincialism". Each of the thir 

teen original colonies was very 

jealous of its own rights and fear 

ful of its own safety. This spirit 

had to be -counteracted before a 

stable federal government could be 

established. Discuss the advantages 

of nationalism over that kind of 

provincialism. Is there any "pro 

vincialism'in 

our nation today? If 

so, 

what prompts it ? Is it an asset 

or a liability? 

III. At the close of World War I 

"nationalism" 

seemed about to give- 

way to "internationalism" 

as repre 

sented in the League of Nations and 

in an international pact to outlaw 

war as an instrument of national 

policy. What conditions in the world 

with respect to economics and com 

munications led to this movement 

toward world-wide cooperation? What 

to the trend toward international 

ism? With what lesults? 

IV. Discuss the extreme national 

ism which developed in certain na 

tions prior to World War II. What 

was the cause of the inflated na 

tional egotism and intolerant pa 

triotism of these nations ? What was 

their attitude toward God and their 

obligation to the Divine sovereignty? 

V. Practical Problems foi- research 

and discussion: 

1. In England, Sweden and certain 

other European countries there is a 

trend toward nationalization of in 

dustry, that is, ownership and oper 

ation by 

the government of coal 

mines, banks, etc. Is this only an 

emergency measure or likely to be 

come an established policy? How 

will this affect "nationalism" 

as an 

influence in the world in the years 

to come ? 

2. We denounce the "nationalism" 

of Germany, Italy 

and Japan which 

led to many injustices to minorities. 

What about our treatment of the 

100,000 Japanese in our country who 

wei e i emoved from home and busi 

ness during the war ? Was this a 

necessary military precaution or an 

example of nationalism on our part? 

3. What is your opinion of the two 

young 

men described below who 

wished to be "world 

citizens" 

? "Two 

young Americans, embittered by the 

deception and insanity of war, have 

denounced all nationalism and pro 

nounced themselves citizens of the 

world with allegiance .to no one na 

tion. Because of the sensational na- 

tuie of these reports a good many 

papers carried the news that Garry 

young- 

Davis, former Army pilot and 

American actor, is going to Germany 

to live and work. His reasons 'Ger 

many has no national sovereignty, 

neither have I I am young and able 

and Geimany needs help. I am re 

sponsible for some of the damage 

there.' 

The first young American to 

take this step was Henry Noel, Jr., 

i'oimet Harvard student who re 

nounced his citizenship to work as a 

brick layer in Germany. Both have 

stated their abhorrence of commun 

ism but their determination to help 

build a new world based upon ex 

pansion of outworn national 

sov- 

eieignty into sovereignty of the 

human 

4. We are inclined to denounce the 

totalitarian nations for their failure 

to honor their word and keep their 

pi omises when the opposite seemed 

more to their advantage. What of 

our rejection of the Atlantic Charter


and similar commitments? Is Rus 

sia's charge as suggested in the 

following 

item justified? "Russian 

propaganda charges the United 

States with promoting the European 

Recovery Program for our own sel 

fish interests. We think that's ab- 

surb, 

but you should see what the 

rest of the world is saying 

about the 

fact that Congress forced 250 million 

dollars worth of American tobacco 

to be included in ERP funds and 

shipments. (Estimates on ERP's 

total expenditure for tobacco and 

wine run from 200 to 800 million 

dollars). Business interests through 

out the world naturally interpret 

this as our effort to keep 

a strangle 

hold on the world tobacco market as 

well as to pass a big profit to our 

own tobacco interests." 

VI. Application 

Which of the "facts" 

given in our 

Scripture passages regarding the re 

lation of the nation to God (I) are 

disregarded by 

the nations and the 

nationalism of which we have been 

studying ? 

How would obedience in the 

"duties'" 

enjoined on nations in those 

passages affect the character of 

their nationalism? Discuss the pos 

sible success of an internationalism 

which disregards the sovereignty of 

God and of Christ, as is the case in 

the United Nations. 

VII. PRAY for our United States, 

newly chosen leaders; that there may 

be members of Congress willing to 

re-introduce a Christian Amendment 

into Congress and promote its con 

sideration; that citizens may recog 

nize that freedom and democracy 

must rest on Christ and Christian 

principles as a foundation; that C. 

A. M. workers may have faith, 

courage, perseverance, wisdom. 

JUNIOR TOPIC 


By Mrs. G. Mackay Robb 

"THE CHRISTIAN AMENDMENT" 

Psalms 33:12 

When the United States became a 

nation, the Constitution of the United 

States was adopted as the highest 

law of the land. The Constitution of 

the United States is a wonderful law 

in many ways. It guarantees our lib 

erty, and our right of worship and 

of free speech, and many other privi 

leges not found in most countries. 

However, the Constitution of the 

United States is sadly lacking in on 

respect. It does not even mention 

God who is really 

the One from 

whom our nation has received all its 

blessings. Nor does the Constitution 

of the U. S. mention the Lord Jesus 

Christ who is declared in Psalms 22: 

28 to be "the governor among the na 

tions." 

As a nation we often ask God 

to bless us; yet this nation has com 

pletely failed to acknowledge Him in 

our highest law, the Constitution. 

Since all the laws that are made in 

any part of the country 

ure up 

must meas 

to the question of whether or 

not they are "constitutional", it will 

be seen that this is serious. 

From time to time, Christian men 

have brought before the nation the 

great need of having our Lord prop 

erly recognized in the Constitution. 

The proper law-making body to deal 

with this is the Congress of the Unit 

ed States which meets in the Nation 

al Capitol Building in Washington, 

D. C. There are two "Houses" 

or 

branches of the Congress. These 

are: the Senate, and the House of 

Representatives. Proposed laws or 

"bills" 

to give proper recognition to 

the Lord Jesus Christ in our Consti 

tution, were brought before the Con 

gress in 1844, again in 1894 and 1895, 

and again in 1908 and 1909. 

In 1947, the attempt was made a- 

gain. This time, the bill was brought 

into the Senate by Senator Arthur 

Capper of Kansas; and into the House 

of Representatives by Congressman 

Louis E. Graham of Pennsylvania. 

Up to the present time these pro 

posed laws or bills to give proper rec 

ognition to the Lord Jesus Christ in 

our Constitution have proposed that 

the Constitution be amended to as to 

include such recognition. For this 

reason, the movement to have Christ 

recognized in our Constitution is 

called "The Christian Amendment 

Movement." 

This work is being promoted by a 

monthly magazine which is called 

The Chiistian Patriot. Two of our 

church's ministers are giving all their 

time to this work. These ministers 

are: The Rev. A. J. McFarland, and 

Dr. J. Clifford Mathews. 

Dr. Mathews is the editor of The 

Christian Patriot. He also goes to 

Washington, D. C. to tell Congress 

men and other government officials 

about the Christian Amendment. 

Rev. A. J. McFarland travels all over 

the country, telling leaders of other 

churches about this work. Both these 

men are working very hard, and they 

need our prayers. 

When our nation acknewledges in 

her highest law (the Constitution of 

the United States) that the Lord Je 

sus Christ is really the Ruler of this 

nation, and that God is the One from 

whom we receive our blessings, then 

members of the Covenanter Church 

will be glad to support our country 

by voting in elections. Until our 

nation acknowledges the Lord, "we 

cannot expect to continue receiving 

God's blessing. 

Here are some ways in which Jun 

iors can help the work of the Chris 

tian Amendment Movement: 

1. Pray for this work. Pray for 

the leaders in it. Pray that the day 

will soon -come when our nation will 

acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ 

in the Constitution. 

2. Pass out literature from the of 

fice of the Christian Amendment 

Movement at 914 Clay Street, Topeka, 

Kansas. 

3. Write to Dr. J. C. Mathews, 914 

Clay Street, Topeka, Kansas, or to 

the Rev. A. J. McFarland, Sterling, 

Kansas, and ask them for suggestions 

as to what Juniors and Junior Socie 

ties can do to help them. 

PSALMS: 

Psalm 2:1-4, No. 4 

Psalm 68:31-34, No. 181 

Psalm 82:1, 2, 5, No. 223 

Psalm 100:1-4, 

No. 264 

VERSES TO LOOK UP AND READ 

IN THE MEETING: 

Revelation 11:15; 19:16; Mat 

thew 11:27; 28:18; John 5:22; I 

Corinthians 15:27; Ephesians 1:20- 

22; Philippians 2:9-11 




LESSON VI. DRAMA IN 

THE BIBLE, Job 

Printed verses, Job 1:1; 2:1-6; 

42:1-6, 10a. 

Golden Text: 

"He knoweth the way that I 

take: when he hath tried me, I 

shall come forth as gold." 

Job 23:10 

We must not let the subject, 

"Drama in the Bible," 

lead us into 

the error that Job is the part of the 

Bible written as drama, with little 

or no basis in fact. The book of Job 

is history. It is very dramatic his 

tory, and why should Bible history 

not be dramatic when it tells us of 

the doings of Almighty God? When 

He deals with men the account of it 

can't be anything less than dramatic. 

There is much in the Bible that is 

dramatic, and much that has in 

spired the writing of human dramas 

and oratorios based on its dramatic 

history. The book of Job is history,


written as a dramatic poem. 

I. A PERFECT MAN. Job 1:1 

Good men are the devil's targets, 

and Job was no exception. Get a good 

man to sin and worldly men not only 

rejoice but use his sin to justify 

their sins. But good men enjoy God's 

protection, and Job had been a pro 

tected man. Job feared God. This is 

the first essential of perfection. He 

also avoided all evil as something in 

jurious, the second essential to per 

fection. 

II. A PERSECUTED MAN. Job 2:1-6 

The devil is a liar. He not only 

tells lies, and is the father of lies, 

but he thinks lies. So what he ac 

tually 

thought about Job was a lie, 

although he did not know it. He said 

that the reason Job was so good was 

that God was paying him to be good. 

God had- built a fence around him and 

hacL *uM*ouTrdecniim with more good 

things than a 

"give-away" 

radio 

program loads on its succesful con 

testants. In answer, God gave per 

mission that whatever Satan wanted 

to do to Job would be done, only Job 

himself was not to be touched. Job 

met the test and although he lost 

everything, instead of cursing God 

as Satan was sure he would do, Job 

blessed God. Still Statan was not 

convinced that there can be such a 

thing as disinterested service of 

God. Surely, Satan thought, there 

comes a time when a man will turn 

against God if he is persecuted 

enough. But Satan was wrong again, 

and although Job suffered so much 

that physical death would have been 

better than living in his condition, he 

still feared God and avoided all evil. 

Satan could not understand that a 

man could say truthfully, "Though 

God slay me, 

yet will I trust him." 

The helpfulness of the book of 

Job for us lies not just in the prov 

ing 

of Satan a liar, and that there 

can be true service of God without 

our expecting any reward for ft,

to men of all nations. Yet the 

Apostles were very reticent to accept 

the idea that there was any other 

entrance to the Christian Church 

than through the narrow gate of 

Judaism, or to believe, in the words 

of Paul, that "There is neither Jew 

nor Greek, there is neither bond nor 

free, there is neither male or female, 

for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" 

(Gal. 3:28). 

Let us enjoy 

our wonderful priv 

ilege of looking down upon that wall 

of prejudice, and seeing- 

the simul 

taneous events on both sides of the 

wall, and how they dovetail perfectly. 

On the Gentile side, Cornelius saw 

d vision about the ninth hour of the 

day (3 P. M.), and in the vision an 

angel spoke his name: 

"Cornelius." 

Frightened, he replied, "What is it, 

Lord?" 

"Thy prayers and thine alms 

are come up for a memorial before 

God. . . .send men to Joppa, 

and call 

for one Simon, whose surname is 

Peter 

" 

On the Jewish side of the wall, 

Peter also saw a vision. He was upon 

the house-top praying, waiting for 

the meal to be prepaied below. Fall 

ing into a trance he saw the vision 

desciibed in Acts 10:10-16. While he 

was yet puzzling over the matter, he 

heard a cry in the street. Three men, 

in oriental fashion, were inquiring: 

"Is this the house where one Simon, 

whose surname is Peter, is lodged?" 

Judging- 

by the elaborateness of 

his vision, it took more to overcome 

Peter's prejudice than that of the 

soldier! But strong as his prejudice 

was. he was not going to~ 

disobey God. 

Later, when explaining these events 

to the Jerusalem Christians he said: 

"What was I, that I could withstand 

God?" 

There were ten in the company 

that journeyed to Caesarea: Peter, 

the three messengeis, and six breth 

ren (Acts 11:12). It was very wise 

that Peter took some witnesses along, 

for later he would need their testi 

mony to verify all that took place. 

When Peter and Cornelius finally 

^tood face to face, Cornelius fell 

down at his feet and worshiped him. 

So, Peter's first words -to Cornelius 

were: "Stand up; I myself also am 

a 

The Roman Catholic Church claims 

that Peter was the first pope, and 

that Pope Pius XII is Peter's succes 

sor. But notice: Peter said, "Stand 

up. . . 

" 

proudly 

The pope, 

Jesus Christ," 

on the other hand, 

claims the title, "Vicar of 

and people bow in his 

presence, and he permits his feet to 

be kissed. There is always the temp 

THE COVENANTER WITNESS October 6, 1948 

tation to worship 

men instead of 

God. The false church accepts such 

worship. The true says, "Stand up; I 

myself also am a 

man." 

When Peter was ushered into the 

house he found that many people 

had gathered. Never before had he 

been in such a position. Carefully and 

deliberately he stated his position 

(Acts 10:28, 29). With equal care, 

Cornelius recounted exactly his own 

experience. The people g-athered in 

the house were tense and expectant. 

A precedent was about -to be set that 

would affect the message and activ 

ity 

of the Church throughout all fu 

ture time. Peter began to preach to 

them, and his opening words must 

have been sjrprising to himself as he 

heard them coming from his own lips: 

"Of a truth I perceive that God is no 

respecter of persons; but in every 

nation he that feareth him, and 

worketh righteousness, is accepted 

with Him." 

With this opening remark and 

what a profound change in Peter's 

thinking- had come about he began 

and preached Christ to this eager 

audience. He told them about: 1. The 

Chiist who lived. "God annointed 

Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy 

Ghost and with power, who went 

good." 

about doing 2. The Christ who 

died. "Whom they slew and hanged 

en a tree." 

3. The Christ who lives. 

"Him God raised up the third day, 

and showed him 

openly." 

4. The 

Christ who can save from sin now. 

"Whosoever believeth in Him shall 

receive remission of sins." 

The affect of this sermon was just 

as wonderful, except from the stand 

point of numbers, as the affect of 

the sermon at Pentecost. Before 

Peter could finish the Holy Spirit 

fell upon all that heard the Word, to 

the great astonishment of the Jews 

present. Peter rightly regarded the 

presence of the Holy Spirit as an 

authorization to baptize the Gentile 

believers, which he proceeded to do 

at once. 


1. Compare Peter at Joppa with 

Jonah at Joppa. How were their cir 

cumstances similar ? How were they 

different? 

2. What characterized the audience 

g-athered in the home of Cornelius? 

Why 

would it be a delight to preach 

Christ to such a group ? 

'!. What would you say to the man 

who cites Cornelius as an example 

proving- 

salvation by 

good works ? 

4. What was the history back of 

Jewish-Gentile relationships. Was it 

more than prejudice ? 

FOR PRAYER: 

1. Pray 

that the prejudices that 

stand in the way of a full acceptance 

of Gal. 3:28 may be broken down. 

2. Pray for the many Roman Cath 

olic Priests who are dissatisfied with 

their office, but hesitate to face the 

hardships involved in breaking away. 

3. Pray for your pastor, that he 

may have more of the Holy Spirit 

power that Peter had, and for the 

people to whom he ministers, that 

they may have more of the conscious 

ness of God's presence, and expec 

tancy that Cornelius, and his friends 

had! 

STAR NOTES... 

***The pastor and family in Seat 

tle greatly enjoyed the fellowship of 

Rev. and Mrs. J. K. Gault and Tom 

during our Communion days, Octo 

ber 10. Mr. Gault's messages were 

very helpful. There was a fine at 

tendance on the Sabbath. Mrs. Daisy 

Skewis was received into full mem 

bership. 

***Mrs. Nelly Curtis of Seattle, 

who spent the summer visiting with 

her mother and other friends in 

London, England, has returned home, 

and was able to attend our com 

munion services. A few weeks after 

Mrs. Curtis arrived in London her 

mother, who had been injured during 

one of the air raids of the war and 

who was in very poor health, died. 

Mrs. Curtis had a great longing to 

see her mother whom she had not 

seen for many years, and this priv 

ilege was granted to her. We are 

glad to have Mrs. Curtis back with 

us again. 

***The Bible School of our Seattle 

congregation is averaging more than 

100 since our rally day on October 

3, but even with this fine attendance 

we have only begun to reach our 

neighborhood. Mr. S. M. Dodds, Mrs. 

Anabel Boyle and Mr. Donald 

Crozier are our efficient officers. 

**"'Mr. Norman McCune who spent 

a year in our Seminary and a month 

in Seattle during the sumer has re 

ceived a call from the joint congre 

gations of Stranorlar and Convoy. 

He has accepted this call and ex 

pects to be ordained and installed 

early in November. We have every. 

reason to believe that Norman will 

have a very successful ministry. 

***Carol Elizabeth, daughter of 

Mr. and Mrs. Verd V. Dunn, and


Robert William, son of Mrs. Wallace 

Crouch were baptized on Sabbath, 

October 10. Mrs. Crouch and son are 

living 

with her parents Mr. and Mrs. 

R. W. Mitchell of Seattle. For this 

little son, whose father, 

Mr. Wallace 

Crouch, was accidently killed on 

August 12, we pray that God will 

be a "Father to the 

and may 

fatherless" 

these parents be igiven 

great grace to train these precious 

lives which have been entrusted to 

them. 

***In their spacious home in Seat 

tle, Mr. and Mrs. Archie Moore cele 

brated their 25th Wedding Anniver 

sary on October 9. Mr. and Mrs. 

Moore were married in Philadelphia, 

the ceremony being performed by 

the Rev. Frank L. Stewart, but their 

wedded life has been in Seattle, 

where Mr. Moore has been success 

fully engaged in the grocery busi 

ness. Their children, Mr. and Mrs. 

Charles Trzcinski and son Bruce, 

and Robert Moore, a student in 

Whitman College, were among the 

one hundred and twenty-five guests 

who were present for this happy oc 

casion. 

* 

-Miss Rose Huston and Miss 

Alice Edgar spent a week in Seattle 

visiting friends and attending our 

Communion services, October 10. In 

our evening services on Sabbath, 

Miss Edgar spoke briefly about her 

call to China and Miss Huston gave 

a most interesting 

and informative 

mesage about the work and workers 

in our Kentucky field. We praise 

God that the work has flourished 

so- greatly during these few years. 

Miss Huston had the privilege of 

spending 

a few days in Hartford 

with her brother Ralph, and with 

her aunt, Mrs. J. G. Love. Miss Ed 

gar was entertained not only by Mrs. 

Love but also by Mr. and Mrs. A. B. 

Lintecum of Longview, members of 

our Sterling, Kansas, congregation. 

CHURCH NEWS 

CENTRAL-PITTSBURGH 

Rev. J. Renwick Patterson was of 

ficially installed as pastor of our 

church on Wednesday evening, Sep 

tember 22. The Rev. J. G. McElhin 

ney 

was moderator. The sermon, 

"Times of Refreshing" 

was delivered 

by Dr. D. H. Elliott, our former pas 

tor. The Rev. D. Howard Elliott led 

in the installation prayer. After this 

prayer the right hand of fellowship 

was extended to Rev. and Mrs. Pat 

terson and their family, by 

all who 

were present. The address to the 

pastor was given by Rev. T. C. Mc 

Knight. Rev. Kermit Edgar gave the 

address to the congregation. Immedi 

ately following this service, a recep 

tion was held in the church parlors. 

Cake, candy, and punch were served 

by the women of the church. A good 

many friends from other congrega 

tions joined with us in this happy 

event. A group of the Young People 

provided some entertainment by 

singing two folk songs. Helen Price 

and Ted Harsh sang a duet. We of 

Central are thankful that our pray 

ers have been answered, and we 

again have a leader. Rev. and Mrs. 

Patterson and their family are in 

deed a blessing to our church. A par 

sonage has been purchased for our 

new pastor 2nd his family. This par 

sonage is located at 328 Dunlap 

Street, only four doors away from 

the Allegheny parsonage. On Sep 

tember 29, the regular prayer meet 

ing is to be held at the new parson 

age, 

at which time the parsonage 

will be dedicated to the work of the 

Lord. 

On September 3, the Young People 

held their annu?l business meeting 

at the church. The officers for the 

coming year are as follows: Presi 

dent, Jack Oliver; Vice-President, 

Shirley Ann Hoy; Secretary, June 

Rinko; and Treasurer, Mary Mc- 

Closky. A social time was held after 

ward and a bushel basket of groceries 

was presented to Rev. and Mrs. Pat 

terson. 

The Young People are undertaking 

the project of building a summer 

camp. Rev. J. G. McElhinney has 

leased his farm to the Young People 

for 99 years. Every Saturday mor 

ning the young 

men from the group 

go down bright and early to work on 

the camp. The girls are not to be 

left out either, they go along and 

help do some of the work and also 

help feed the hungry men. Most 

of the woik that has been accom 

plished has been only through the 

many 

prayers that have been offered. 

Several of our young people have 

left us again for Geneva College. 

Dorothy Patterson, Jrck Oliver and 

Bill Price are now in their sopho 

more year. Vida Grace McKelvey 

has just entered her freshman year. 

Maribel McKelvy 

who graduated 

with highest honors from Geneva 

last semester is now a laboratory 

assistant at the Children's Hospital 

in Pittsburgh. 

Rev. Patterson has started some 

thing 

new in our church. A little 

paper which is published by 

him and 

is sent to the members of the church, 

and is called The sskiant Pastor. 

The purpose of this paper is to keep 

everyone posted on all the activities 

of the various groups in the church. 

Up to no-v we have received one 

copy of The Asistant Pastor. 

Robeit Oliver has gone to Florida 

to attend school there this year. He 

certainly will 

friends. 

he missed by all his 

ELIZABETH ELLEN MOORE 

Elizabeth Ellen Caskey was born 

January 26, 1878, near Clarinda, Io 

wa, and passed away at the same lo 

cation August 18, 1948, 

over 70 years. 

at the age of 

At about the age of twelve years 

she professed her faith in Christ and 

united with the Clarinda Reformed 

Piesbyterian Church, 

wa-- a member at her death.. 

of which she 

She attended Amity College at Col 

lege Springs. 

On June 11, 1902, she was united 

in marriage to William L. Moore by 

the late Rev. J. W. Dill. To this 

union were born three children: Ma 

ry Ellen Whitney, Eiaddyville, Iowa, 

Raymond Leslie, Bedford, Iowa, and 

Catherine Pauline of the home, all 

of whom with her husband suivive 

her. 

She was known to be honest, kind- 

heaited, ever ready to lend a help 

ing hand to persons in need. At dif 

ferent times unfortunate persons 

were cared for in her home. She 

-was a member of the Women's Mis- 

sionaiy Society. She loved the house 

of God and was very regular in at 

tendance as long as health peimitted. 

She was devoted to her family a 

loving 

wife and mother. 

JANET (CAMPBELL) ROBB 

Janet (Campbell) Robb was born 

near Eovina Center, N. Y., February 

10, 1866. She was baptized by Rev. 

Joshua Kennedy, and professed her 

faith in Christ in early womanhood. 

She graduated from the N. Y. State 

Teachers' 

College, taught in N. Y. 

State and in Seattle, Wash. She mar 

ried Dr. A. I. Robb in 1907 and la- 

tou-'d with him in China until 1921 

when ill health brought them home. 

She was a faithful wife, a 

mother,a 

loving- 

a friend to all, and a most 

efficient Christian worker and Bible 

teacher until laid aside by illness. 

"She hath done what she 

quietly 

could. 

She 

sl.-pt in Jesus at her home in 

Van Nuys, Calif., 

September 13, 

on the afternoon of 

after a long illness. 

"The Master is come, and calleth 

for 

thee.'





Monday 

1:00 P. M. 

SYNODICAL FLANNELGRAPH 

85 A Bride for Isaac 

86 Isaac Blesses Jacob 

87 Jacob's Vision of the 

45 

Ladder 

* Joseph's Dream 

46 *Joseph Sold 

47 ''Joseph's Coat Returned 

48 

* Pharaoh's Dream 

49 *Joseph's Exaltation 

21 Joseph Reveals Himself 

24 Baby Moses (small) 

25 *Moses in the Bulrushes 

(large 1 

51 *Moses and the Burning 

Bush 

52 *The Passover 

53 ^Crossing the Red Sea 

5 The Tabernacle 

57 *Report of the Spies 

56 *The Brazen Serpent 

11 Deborah and Barak 

58 *Ruth 

59 *The Boy Samuel 

4 David and Goliath 

10 Talks on the 23rd Psalm 

44 Elijah and Baal 

15 Naaman and the Little 

Maid 

7 Queen Esther 

27a 

62 

Daniel Refuses the King's 

Wine 

"Daniel in the Lion's Den 

Sets marked with asterisks (thus*) 

may soon be withdrawn. But they 

will probably be replaced later. 

Set No. 

42 

88 

a 

b 

L1BBAKI 

rchironological order of sets, as of 23 

April, 1948) 

Old Testament 

New Testament 

Title 

Birth of Jesus and 

Shepherds 

The Wise Men 

The Christ Child 

(Thomas Co.) 

The Christmas Story 

The Boyhood Days of 

Jesus 

16 

22 

39a 

Set N3. Title 39b 

91 The Creation 

1 Cain and Abel 

9 Noah and the. Ark 

83 Noah's Sacrifice after 

the Flood 

84 Abraham offers Isaac 92 

3 

2 

8 

35 

89 

17 

18 

19 

20 

Set No. 

12 

25 

27b 

32a 

32b 

33 

36a 

36b 

Set No. 

26 

28 

29 

34 

41 

43 

80 

The Boy Jesus Visits 

Jerusalem 

Object Lesson on Gifts of 

the Wise Men 

Object Lesson on Hearts 

Object Lesson on Sac 

rifice 

Hearts in Colors, of 

John 3:16 

The Woman at the Well 

Demons Cast Into the 

Swine 

The Sower 

The Sower 

The Unforgiving Servant 

The Good Samaritan 

The Prodigal Son 

The Rich Man and 

Lazarus 

Lessons from Matthew's 

Gospel 

(Sabbath School Series) 

Easter Series 

(Thomas Co.) 

Gethsemane Trial 

Crucifixion 

Resurrection Road to 

Emmaus 

Upper Room Ascension 

Object Lesson on the 3 

Crosses 

Object Lesson on the Sad 

and the Glad Road 

Object Lesson on Walk 

ing and Talking with 

Jesus 

Paul Blinded 

Paul and the Philippian 

Jailer 

Paul Before Agrippa 

Paul at Rome 

Temperance 

Title 

Out of the Bottomless Pit 

The Pitcher Plant 

The Sparkling Glass 

Mrs. Gray Bunny 

Gray Bunny Children 

Still Learning 

The Fearless Four 

Chickens Come Home to 

Roost 

The American Eagle 

Evangelism 

Title 

The Two Ways 

Little Red Ridinghood 

Humpty-Dumpty 

Tale of Two Cities 

Little Boat Twice Owned 

Transformation 

The Crooked Man 

Miscellaneous 

Set No. Title 

30 Convoys 

31 Peter Rabbit (Obedience) 

38 ( 1) Dark and Bright Sides 

40 

77 

73 

79 

81 

90 

of the Cross 

( 2) Monuments of Two Lives 

( 3) The Ways from the 

of Decision 

( 4) Christian's Heart and 

Sinner's Heart 

( 5) 

( 6) 

( 7) 

( 8) 

( 9) 

(10) 

(11) 

(12) 

(13) 

The Voice and the 

The Morning Star 

Plide Goeth Before 

Fall 

Life 

The Narrow Way and 

the Broad Way 

The Refuge of Sinners 

Barriers to Prayer 

The Seven Churches 

Prayer 

The Resurrection 

Conchita of the Philip 

pines 

Phoning Heaven 

(Prayer) 

Object Lesson Kit 

(10 Lessons) 

Building Life's Temple 

(13 Lessons) 

Letters 

Sowing and Reaping 

(13 Lessons) 

Due to the greatly increased use of 

the Library, it has been necessary to 

adopt the following rules: 

1. Each set (or group of sets, such 

as a set of several lessons) 

a 

must be 

returned within 8 hours after using. 

In this way, sets will not be laid 

aside and forgotten. 

2. All sets must be insured both 

ways. 

3. All sets must be well wrapped 

for mailing. 

4. Care must be taken that the 

figures do not become wrinkled. 

Handle carefully at all times! 

5. Sets wrapped for mailing posi 

tively must not contain writing or 

typing in the package unless post 

office labels are on the package 

stating that it may be opened for in 

spection. Writing or should 

typing 

be in a separate envelope with first 

class postage on it. This may then 

be pasted to the outside of the pack 

age. 

6. Users must send their requests 

at least 10 days before sets are to 

be used. 

7. In ordering, always give num 

ber of set as well as name. 

The new Flannel-Graph Librarian 

is Mrs. Ernest Elsey, 22200 W. Mc- 

Nichols, Detroit 19, Mich.



300 YEARS Of WiTME55IN& fog. CHRIST'5 SOVEREIGN RIGHTS IN TME CHURCH ^ND the. (MftTIOftj . 

VOLUME XLI WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1948 Number 15 

0.. H 

B 

Stewardship: A Primordial Principle 

WHEN God put the first man in charge of the Garden of Eden with 

instruction to tend it and use its fruits, He made one reservation. 

All of it he was to tend, but of the fruit of one tree he was forbid 

den to eat. This arrangement was more, we think, than a device to test 

man's obedience. It was a model contract of tenancy that was to hold for 

all mankind. It was to be a symbol of man's recognition of God's owner 

ship 

and his own stewardship. One tree whose fruit was as good as that 

of the rest was removed from the category of the utilitary in token of a 

higher need. The mere act of refraining from the use of its fruit after he 

had tended it was to remind him of God's claim upon the garden and the 

keepers of it, and of his partnership with God in the tilling of it. 

It is startling to face the fact, if our interpretation is correct, that the 

sin which "brought death into the world and all our was identical 

with the sin of which we are guilty when we take that which God claims 

in recognition of His ownership and use it for our own selfish ends. The 

thought should lead us to a new attitude toward the principle of steward 

ship. In it there is something basic and universal. It is more than a 

priestly device to collect taxes for the maintenance of organized religion. 

It belongs to a prior order. Like the Sabbath, it antedates the law, was 

from the beginning, of necessity must have been ; for the relationship which 

it symbolized began with man's occupancy of the earth. And when could 

that symbol more logically have been set up than at the time when man 

entered upon his tenancy of God's earth? 

If the principle of stewardship is as primordial as this, it does not pass 

with any passing system, nor does it bind upon those alone who choose to 

recognize and practice it. It is not optional. C. B. W. 

Associate Reformed Presbyterian. 

c aa emoi 'cput.v?:o 

spooA\. aau-'-OH


QlunpA&i ojj tii& Relitfiaud WoaJA 


Violence in Spain 

An account of what took place last summer in Spain 

was written by an eyewitness for The Sunday School 

Times. He says: "We held our usual sex-vice at 8:00 p.m. 

At 8:45 about thirty well-dressed young men, 

of them belonging to the professions, 

a number 

came in (to the 

Plymouth Brethren Hall) and sat down for a moment or 

two. Then suddenly there was a cry of 'Long Live the 

This was evidently the signal, for 

Holy Virgin Mary!' 

they immediately 

rose and smashed the electric lights 

and some of the windows with rubber truncheons, the 

broken glass flying all over the place. They then, led by 

the chief of the Phalangists in this town, smashed some 

of the seats and two organs, and assaulted the believers, 

using- 

'knuckle dusters' 

with sharp points; several of our 

men received head injuries, three of them heavy blows 

on the eye (one was badly hurt, but we are glad to say 

he will not lose his sight, as was at first feared.) One 

of the old believers was knocked down and trampled on, 

one woman was thrown down and hurt, many girls and 

women had their wrists and aims damaged, one girl was 

unconscious for a long time. More damage would have 

been done had not the police been sent for immediately. 

Twelve of the injured had to go to the first aid station 

for treatment, and a whole crowd went to the police sta 

tion to give evidence.'' 

The writer adds: "There is no doubt that this outrage, 

like others last autumn in different parts of Spain, was 

the indirect result of the campaign against the Protes 

tants initiated by Cardinal Segura last September, backed 

the Counselor General of Spanish Catholic Action." 

All Students Accept Christ 

Dr. Bob Jones writes from Greenville, S. C, in The 

Fellowship News, as follows: 

On September S, the 1948-49 school year of Bob Jones 

University began. As usual, we opened with an evangel 

istic service. For many years I have been an evangelist, 

and I have seen many manifestations of God's power; but 

in all my life, I have never known any evangelistic serv 

ice more powerful than the servjce we had here at the 

opening 

of school. The beautiful auditorium which ac 

commodates three thousand people was crowded to ca 

pacity. A message was given by my son, Dr. Bob Jones, 

Jr., the president of the institution. He talked about the 

things for which Bob Jones University stands. Congress 

man Joseph Bryson, 

who lives in Greenville and who is a 

member of the Board of Trustees of the University, gave 

a brief but very gripping address. Then I preached an 

old-time revival sermon. There were more than three 

hundred young people who either came to the Lord Jesus 

Christ for the first time or were brought back to the 

Lord in that one service. The next night all except about 

twenty of the students indicated that they were right 

with God, and all of these came forward on the invitation. 

I left the campus two days after the opening of school 

to fill speaking engagements in the city of St. Louis. My 

son preached on Friday night and then again Sunday. I 

understand that all the students on the campus who were 

not professing Christians have accepted the Lord Jesus 

Christ as their Saviour and Lord. The registrar tells me 

that we have matriculated 134 more students than we 

had matriculated up to this time last year. They have 

managed to crowd these students in somewhere. It is so 

hard to turn students away, especially when they wish 

to train for full-time Christian work. 

The A, B, C, D of Liquor 

Under the above heading some unknown 

prepared the following: 

writer has 

Arms more villains, 

Breaks more laws, 

Corrupts more officials, 

Destroys more homes, 

Engulfs more fortunes, 

Fills more prisons, 

Grows more gray hairs, 

Harrows more hearts, 

Incites more crimes, 

Jeopardizes more lives, 

Kindles more strife, 

Lacerates more feelings, 

Maims more bodies, 

LIQUOR 

Nails down more coffins, 

Opens more graves, 

Quenches more songs, 

Raises more sobs, 

Sells more virtue, 

Tells more lies, 

Undermines more youth, 

Wrecks more men, 

X-cites more murders, 

Yields more disgrace, 

Zeros more hopes, 

Than any 

mankind. 

Stalin's Writings Banned 

A news item from Rome, Italy, 

other enemy of 

says that writings of 

Prime Minister Josef Stalin are forbidden reading for 

Catholics, according 

tore Romano. 

to the Vatican newspaper Observa- 

What Ignorance! 

We exclaim, what ignorance! Or we may be inclined to 

declare it was well night blasphemy for the Rev. L. J. 

B. Snell, of the Church of England, at Hereford, Eng 

to assert to his congregation, "There are animals and 

birds in heaven as well as human beings and angels 

There is nothing contrary to our Christian religion in 

the belief that our pets will live hereafter." 

Such state 

ments were made on the eve of the feast of St. Francis, 

the patron saint of the animals. Children of the com 

munity were invited to bring their pets, so there were 

dozens of cats and kittens, ducks, chickens, guinea pigs, 

lambs, 

a white mouse and horses the latter had to wait 

outside as they were too big for the pews. To what 

depths of ignorance and heresy will men resort to gain 

an audience and publicity! Why does such a man want to 



T^TJT^ nr\TT~cr\T A VPTTTJ WTrT'YnTlC:


Gunsi&nt aent


Our Primary Obligations 

We are passing through an inflationary period; 

or, had we better say we are living in an infla 

suggests that 

tionary time. "Passing through" 

this period, if we may call it such, 

will have an 

end, and that we will soon be back to normalcy. 

But let us bear in mind that the American dollar 

is no longer backed by gold bullion, and printing 

presses are relatively cheap. The American dollar 

never again reach its pre-war value. This is 

may 

another way of saying that paper money and 

credit money is relatively plenty, and while it is 

a period of prosperity in that most people are em 

ployed, the purchasina; power of the average in 

come is net much bevond what it used to be 

though wages are high reckoned in dollars and 

cents. 

If we are .systematic givers, let us say tithers, 

and it is hoped we are, the Lord's portion of our 

income will seem relatively large. But there is a 

danger here, that is, we may consider that since 

our tithe is so much larger than it used to be, 

reckoned in dollars, that the church's budget of 

previous years can be easily raised, and that in 

dividually we have a surplus of the Lord's money 

to put into projects. And certainly there are 

plenty of projects that a/'e attractive for us to in 

vest in. But before we respond to too many local 

calls and special funds, let us be sure that we are 

making provision for our obligations to the 

church's work at large. Personal gifts to mis 

sionaries and pastors, and. others, are all good in 

themselves providing the regular salaries of these 

worthy servants are dulv provided. Let us bear 

in mind that our church budget is not what it 

used to be, but that it ab-o has an inflationary 

period to Dass th.rov.gh. We say these things be 

cause the Treasurer's report for the church shows 

that at the first of September about ten percent 

of the church's budget has been raised, although 

nearly one-half the year is already past; and it 

is our observation that almost anyone who nasses 

the hat for a special project, gets a hat full, and 

the Boavds on the church's wrork which are not 

saying much out loud, are being passed up. 

And m?v we take this occasion to remind the 

different departments of the church's work, that 

they 

are not usina' 

The Covenanter Witness as a 

means of nublicibT 

for the work that they are do 

ing, and that they stand in d?nger of their ex 

istence being forgotten and it is the duty of the 

various Beards of the church to keep their work 

before th? eves of the church. Remember the old 

proverb: "It is the squeaking wheel that gets the 

and if yon. do not put up some squeal the 

grease is going to be "out on the other bearings. 

In the meantime, Ave ai-e saving to every mem 

ber of the church, bear in mind your permanent 

obligations to all of the work of the church that 

goes on from vear to ""ear without much special 

publicitv, b^t which is, nevertheless, depending 

upon your fai'afalne^s for its continued func 

tioning. 

Glimpses of a Religious World 


pretend to preach the Gospel? As Jesus said of the Phar 

isees, they have their reward. 

Liquor on the President's Train 

The Pathfinder says concerning the President's train: 

There's nothing free about a campaign train. Even the 

President has to pay his own freight. 

The Government owns a plush Presidential coach it 

bought from the r-ailroads for a token $10. But when 

Truman began his campaigning in earnest September 

17, Uncle Sam stopped picking up his rail tabs. Now the 

Democratic National Committee has to keep him in 

everything from food to drink. (By 

special arrange 

ments with porters, liquor will be served aboard the train 

even in dry states.) 

Aboard-train breakfasts at $2-per and $4-and-up din 

ners will swell many an expense account. But Secret 

Service sleuths have it toughest: Whether they guard 

Truman or Dewey, their daily outlay will average S10. 

The Government will cover this with only a $6-per-day 

allowance. 

Mr. E. J. Tanis, 

The European Crisis 

heading, "The World Today," 

who writes in The Banner under the 

when commenting on the 

European crisis, after speaking of the tenseness of the 

situation, has this to say: 

It is important to note that on the very same day that 

the United Nations Assembly began its sessions, the 

Russian army newspaper, which is published in Berlin 

in the German language and circulates among the Ger 

man people, 

came out with the report that Russia is de 

manding that all foreign troops, including her own, be 

withdrawn from Berlin and all of Germany immediately. 

The newspaper gave the impression that this would mean 

independence for Germany and the beginning of a new 

and prosperous national life. Germany would be free of 

all foreign control! 

Readers must keep in mind that Russia has been train 

ing the German Communists for war and is ready to 

supply them with guns. There are thousands of potential 

soldiers in the Russian zone of G-ermany right now, and 

probably 

also in other parts of Germany. If the western 

armies should leave Germany, the Communists in Ger 

many, with the help 

of their Russian-trained soldiers, 

would seize the government of Berlin and other German 

cities, and Germany would be under the control of 

Moscow. 

It is very doubtful whether the United Nations Assem 

bly 

will be able to end the friction between Russia and 

the western allies. Real peace is still a long way off, and 

in the meanwhile the two greatest nations are actually 

preparing for a "showdown." 

Russia has the largest 

standing army in the world today, well-trained and well- 

equipped. What Russia lacks as yet is a large navy to 

prevent us from sending men and arms to the European 

front in case of war. It is safe to say that neither Rus 

sia nor the United States want war now, but it is also a 

fact that both sides are preparing for what appears to 

be an unavoidable conflict at some future time. 

The most successful man is the man who holds 

onto the old just as long as it is good, and grabs 

the new just as soon as it is better. 

Robert P. Vanderpoel.


The Rural Church Problem 

EDITOR'S NOTE 

The following paper was handed to the editor 

by its author, a student just recently graduated 

from Sterling College, who is now taking post 

graduate work at the University. It will contain 

not agree with, but it 

some things that you may 

does analyze a problem which is facing many of 

our congregations; and it makes some suggestions 

which may not be altogether practical but at least 

point to possible solutions of problems facing our 

church. May it holp us to face facts and seek pro 

foundly for the solution that fits the problem of 

our particular communities. Editor. 

By 

Glenn F. Blackwood 

ECONOMIC NEGLECT AND SPIRITUAL 

DECAY IN THE RURAL CHURCH 

Being deeply disturbed by the alarming decline 

of the Rural Church, I have recently 

study of my 

concluded a 

old home church located in a rural 

community in Southwestern Oklahoma, which 

has lately been disorganized. This church was or 

ganized in the frontier days when Kiowa County 

was first opened to homesteaders by the federal 

government in 1901. It was the first church in 

the rural community of Roosevelt, and it served 

this community for forty-four years before final 

ly succumbing to the forces of deterioration and 

decay which led to the sale of the fine brick build 

ing and other church property to a more recently 

organized and prosperous newly Baptist fellow 

ship in 1946. The sale of the property netted only 

$3,000.00 on an investment over the years many 

times that sum by the Board of American Mis 

sions of the United Presbyterian Church. If I be 

lieved that the Baptist Church would succeed 

where the United Presbyterian Church failed, I 

serves an analysis. 

My 

personal experience with the Roosevelt 

Church began when I moved to that community 

with my parents and five brothers in 1933. A few 

years later, in the last half of the thirties, the 

church reached the height of its career, when the 

Sabbath attendance reached a point near the one 

hundred mark, and there were at least twenty 

boys and six girls between the ages of ten and 

twenty-one in the membership of the church who 

afforded promise of new strength to the church 

and community as potential families. 

In spite of the apparent strength of the church 

at this time, however, there were hidden weak 

nesses that had been undermining 

its life from 

the be


farms for the young farmers of the church, as 

the church in Big Lick is doing, a local commit 

tee, or committees, should be set up to discover vo 

cational opportunities, jobs, farms for rent, farms 

for sale, and to help young church members take 

advantage of these opportunities. The church 

could be of great service to both old and young 

by helping to work out special contracts between 

retiring farmers and young farmers by which 

the retiring farmer would receive a substantial 

rent from his land the rest of his life, while at 

the same time the young farmer would be acquir 

ing ownership of the land. 

A program of this type would strengthen the 

church, build better communities, and develop 

better farming practice, for it is well known that 

the farm owner is a better church member, a bet 

ter community builder, and a better farmer than 

the unsettled tenant, the absentee land owner, or 

the industrial farmer. This program not only 

should have been applied in the Roosevelt com 

munity, but it can and should replace the handout 

program that is being used by so many denomina 

tions. It should not be assumed that local congre 

gations must wait upon denominational funds to 

institute a program of self-help, for some congre 

gations could well afford to raise the necessary 

capital locally. Such a program would translate 

into reality the gospel of Christian stewardship. 

With the present larming decline of the rural 

church, it is time for us to reorganize the entire 

rural program of the United Presbyterian Church 

before the last of our rural churches meet the 

same fate that many have already met, including 

my own home church which died in 1946. 

There appear to be three important steps lead 

ing to the strengthening of the rural church. 

First, the elimination of excessive competition, 

for it is obviously impossible for small communi 

ties of 1,000 to 1,500 people to properly support 

three or four struggling congregations which are 

competing with each other for survival. The last 

Federal Religious Census reveals a church for 

every 470 lowans, as compared with the ideal of 

1,000 people per church, advocated by the Home 

Missions Council. Second, the pastor of the rural 

church needs to become a nucleus of the com 

munity life. This step would put him in a position 

to lead the whole community in building the King 

dom. Finally, a local congregational committee 

needs to be formed to administer a program of 

economic self-help in order to stabilize the econo 

mic life of the church. For the sake of brevity 

and clarity this paper will treat only this latter 

issue. 

The duties of such a congregational committee 

are varied, but Dr. Lindstrom, Professor of Rural 

Sociology, University of Illinois, says that the 

congregational committee should act as an inter 

mediary for those wishing to buy land, work out 

variable payment plans to protect the purchaser 

on bad years, help develop plans for father-son 

partnership, 

devise inheritance plans for those 

staying on the home farm, see that all members 

have farms large enough to support a family 

adequately, survey and keep on file data concern 

ing available land for purchase, buy land for re 

settlement, and work for proper legislation. 

To help young church members to achieve farm 

ownership, the National Convocation on the 

Church in Town and Country, November 14-16, 

1944, 

recommended that the congregational com 

mittee supervise what it calls an "agricultural 

ladder" 

containing the following steps. Step one, 

cooperating farmers agree to hire and pay the 

average wage to an approved young man plus a 

bonus at the end of the year with provisions that 

this bonus be held in trust by the church's com> 

mittee until the young 

man moves into the next 

man is to work as a hired hand 

step. The young 

from two to five years, the time depending upon 

his farm background, the availability of land for 

rent, and other factors. Step two, the committee 

helps to locate a farm that is for rent, and helps 

to make necessary financial arrangements for the 

young man, who continues as a renter, under 

supervision of the committee, from two to ten 

years. Step three, the committee than helps to 

manage the necessary financial backing to enable 

the young man to buy a farm should he desire to 

locate more permanently in the community as an 

owner. Anyone receiving such aid from the 

church committee would agree to remain a coop 

erating member of the community for at least 

five years, and in case of sale give the congrega 

tional committee an opportunity to sell the prop 

erty to another worthy cooperator. 

Dr. Elrod of the Brethren Church is working 

on an arrangement by which local Brethren 

congregational committees will keep the district 

office of the denomination informed of farming 

and employment opportunities, as well as of 

young men needing placement, in order that the 

district office may serve as a clearing house for 

locating young men of the Brethren Church near 

Brethren congregations. 

In planning and executing this program of 

economic self-help, local congregations need the 

financial and administrative help of the denomi 

nation as a whole to be widely effective, but such 

help is not altogether essential. In many com 

munities church credit unions could take care of 

rental and purchase opportunities for worthy 

young men. Furthermore, many phases of the 

self-help program would not require financing, 

such as : locating available farms for rent, locat 

ing employment opportunities, encouraging heirs 

of estates to give church members first chance to 

buy the estates, encouraging and helping parents 

to arrange contracts for passing ownership of 

their land to a son or daughter who will remain 

in the church community, acquainting young 

members with the advantages of home-ownership, 

encouraging long-term leases for renters, and 

house for 

making the local committee a clearing 

such information. 

I believe that most of us twenty-five young 

people, who were economically forced out of the 

Roosevelt Church and community during the ten- 

year period from 1936 to 1946, would have re- 


October 13, 1948 

Reformed Evangelism 

By the Rev. J. G. Vos, Th. M. 

Reformed Evangelism: A Manual on Principles 

and Methods of Evangili.mtion, Compiled by the 

Grand Rapids Board on Evangelism of the Chris 

tian Reformed Churches. Published 1948 by Ba 

ker Book House, 1019 Wealthy St., S. E., Grand 

Rapids, 6, Mich. 447 pages, $2.50. 

At last there is a really comprehensive and 

thorough book on the subject of evangelism that 

is oriented to present-day American conditions 

and written throughout with a real grasp of the 

Reformed or Calvinistic faith and with consistent 

loyalty to that faith. Written by seventeen mem 

bers of the Christian Reformed Church, the vol 

ume constitutes a real achievement in applying 

the principles of the Reformed Faith to the field 

of evangelism. For this book sets forth an evan 

gelism which is really Calvinistic; not merely a 

type of evangelism which is to be added to Cal 

vinistic faith as something extra, but an evan 

gelism which is Calvinistic through and 

through Calvinistic in its principles, Calvinis 

tic in its objectives and Calvinistic in its methods. 

The book consists of two main parts. Part 

One deals with "The Theoretical Principles of 

Reformed Evangelism", and includes eight chap 

ters with the following titles : The Fundamental 

Principles of Reformed Evangelism; Highlights 

in the History of Evangelization ; The Reformed 

Approach ; Evangelization and the Church ; Ec 

clesiastical Organization for Evangelism; Mo 

tives and Incentives for Evangelsm; The Spir 

itual and Psychological State of the Unchurch 

ed; The Worker and His Qualifications. This 

portion of the book, dealing with the all-impor 

tant basic principles of the subject, occupies some 

200 pages. This is in happy contrast to many 

a- 

books on evangelism which have little to say 

bout basic principles, and place the main stress 

on methods and technique. Our Christian Re 

formed brethren see clearly that the practice 

cannot be sound unless the underlying princi 

ples are truly sound and Scriptural. 

Part Two deals with "The Practical Execution 

of Reformed Evangelism", and contains eleven 

chapters entitled respectively: The Sunday 

School and the Gospel Service ; Working with 

Children and Youth; Working with Adults; 

Personal Work and Family Calls; Open-air Serv 

ices; Tract Distribution; Approaching the 

Modernist ; Approaching the Roman Catholic ; 

Approaching the Jews; Approaching the Ad 

herents of the Cults; Personal Witnessing. At 

the end of the book there is a bibliography and an 

index. Many 

of the chapters also have special 

bibliographies attached. 

Among its other excellent features, this book 

admirably exposes the Arminian character of a 

"Fundamentalist" 

great deal of contemporary 

evangelism, and shows how the Reformed Faith 

is sounder, more Biblical and more satisfying in 

the end. Again and again and again the Cove 

nant of Grace is emphasized, 

THE COVENANTER WITNESS 231 

and it is stressed 

that truly Reformed evangelism must be covenantal 

in character : it must present Christ as the Me 

diator of the Covenant of Grace, and it must deal 

with sinners as covenant-breakers, for, apart 

lrom the fact that all are guilty of having brok 

en the Covenant of Works, the vast majority of 

the people of America have also violated the ob 

ligations of the Covenant of Grace ; that is, most 

Americans have a Christian background; they 

are first, second or third generation covenantbreakers. 

The guilt of this covenant-breaking, 

and the claims and rights of God, must be urged 

upon them. 

The book also rightly stresses the truth that 

evangelism is the function of the organized 

Church. Free-lance evangelism by individuals 

or voluntary associations cannot be approved ex 

cept as a second-best makeshift where the Church 

itself neglects or refuses to carry on evangelistic 

work. Again and again it is brought out that 

the Church is God's appointed agency for evan 

gelism. 

It would be quite impossible in this brief re 

view to mention all the valuable and excellent 

features of this remarkable book. It will un 

doubtedly have a wide influence in orthodox Cal 

vinistic circles in our country. The reviewer 

found a few matters in which he was unable to 

agree with the viewpoints advocated by the vari 

ous writers, chiefly with reference to the place 

of singing in evangelism. In the Book of Acts, 

with its inspired record of the wonderful evan 

gelistic work of the' 

apostles Peter and Paul, no 

thing is said about singing as a method of evan 

gelism, the only reference to singing being Acts 

16 :25 where Paul and Silas prayed and sang 

praises in the prison. In the judgment of the 

reviewer, the importance of singing is vastly ov 

er-rated in most present-day evangelistic work. 

The statements of the present volume on this 

subject are however quite moderate, and wholly 

incidental to the main message of the book. 

Every Covenanter Minister, every Covenanter 

elder, and every member of the Covenanter 

Church who is concerned about the need for evan 

gelism, should by all means read this book. This 

discussion of evangelism is really "different". 

It was written by people who are dead in earnest 

about proclaiming God's message in God's way 

and winning the lost to Christ and the Church, 

and who are not only talking about it but really 

working at it. Buy the book and read it for vour- 

self. 



A fluorescent lamp that takes no electric current has 

just been patented. It is not intended to produce contin 

uous current but is adapted to use as a tail-light or as a 

signaling light. The lamp consists of a glass vessel with 

the air exhausted and a low-pressure atmosphere of 

argon, 

neon or other inert gas sealed in. It contains a 

small quantity of mercury or one of the luminescent pig 

ments. No one knows just what makes the light, not even 

the inventor, but it is conjectured to be some kind of 

friction.

Christ Or The Lodge 

Introduction 

At the ninth General Assembly of the Ortho 

dox Presbyterian Church, meeting at Rochester, 

New York, June 2-5, 1942, the Committee on Se 

cret Societies presented its report. The Assembly 

instructed the Committee to send this report to 

the ministers and sessions of the Church for their 

study. The report deals with a matter of such 

timely importance that the Committee on Christ 

ian Education decided to publish it in its series of 

"Tracts for Today." 

The Committee which drew up the report con 

sisted "of R. B. Kuiper, Chairman, Oscar Holkeboer, 

Arthur 0. Olson, Robert A. Wallace, and 

Paul Wooley. The report is printed exactly as 

it appeared in the minutes of the ninth General 

Assembly, except that two introductory para 

graphs have been omitted. The Committee on 

Christian Education is responsible for the title. 

I. PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS 

1. Masonry and Other Secret Organizations 

The mandate given this committee speaks of 

oathbound secret societies in general. The com 

mittee frankly admits that it has not attempted 

a detailed investigation of all such societies. To 

accomplish that would have required even more 

time than was devoted to the preparation of this 

report, and much more time than the members of 

the committee had at their disposal. It may also 

be doubted whether so comprehensive an in 

vestigation is necessary. In the main the com 

mittee has restricted its study to that society 

which is known as the Ancient Order of Free 

and Accepted Masons. It should be borne in mind 

that Free-masonry, which is the oldest of the 

larger secret orders in this country, is generally 

admitted also to be their mother. Such popular 

orders as the Benevolent and Protective Order of 

Elks, the Knights of Pythias, the Loyal Order 

of Moose, the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows, 

the Improved Order of Red Men, the Woodmen 

of the World and the Order of the Eastern Star 

are all of them in many ways similar to their 

earlier prototype, the Masonic order. Their ritu 

als, secrets, terms of membership, objects and 

purposes have in varying degree characteristics 

like those of Masonry. It follows that, if the ob 

jections which have been taken to Masonry are 

well taken, then these same objections apply also 

in the main to the other orders mentioned and to 

whatever smaller orders of similar character 

may exist. 

2. Is Reliable Information Available? 

An objection frequently raised to any study 

of secret orders by non-members takes the form 

of the statement : You cannot get any reliable 

information. 

It may 

be said categorically that, in the case 

of the major orders, particularly the Order of 

Free and Accepted Masons, this statement is not 

THE COVENANTER WITNESS October 13, 1948 

correct. Reliable information concerning all 

points of major importance, and concerning many 

others that are not important, is accessible to 

any who will make a proper study of the matter. 

The so-called secrets of Masonry constitute 

only a portion of the total activity 

of the order. 

The general ideals of Masonry and the history 

and philosophy 

by 

of tne order have been developed 

numerous Masonic and non-Masonic writers 

in books designed for the general public as well 

as for Masons. Of course, even Masonic writers 

do not always agree fully with one another about 

these matters, but that is true of any field of re 

search. On the whole the agreement among them 

is striking. 

Much of the Masonic ritual is of a non-secret 

character, and handbooks concerning speeches, 

statements, prayers and similar matters are pubinformation 

concerning the relationship of the 

order to Christianity is available from volumes 

of this character. 

Further, the so-called ceremonies, grips, pass 

words and such matters are very largely avail 

able through printings by recognized Masonic 

publishing houses in cipher code. These cipher 

codes, at least some of them, are not difficult to 

read. They can be used as original sources of in 

formation, and also as checks by which to deter 

mine the accuracy 

of the plain English rituals 

which have been published by non-Masonic sourc 

es. Among the texts and descriptions published 

by such sources are those emanating from indi 

viduals who, for one reason or another, have de- 

mitted their membership in the Masonic order. 

When their evidence agrees with that from Ma 

sonic sources something of a check in both direc 

tions is provided. This committee has had the 

privilege of personally interviewing and ques 

tioning a former member of the Masonic order 

who was anxious to provide as much information 

as desired about the body. 

It is worth noting that a Mason, Eugen Lennhoff, 

who has written one of the most compre 

hensive and well-balanced books about Masonry, 

admits that the signs, words and grips, and cop 

ies of the Ritual and explanations of the symbols, 

are obtainable by anyone (The Free Masons, p. 

18). And in his Introduction to Free Masonry, 

Carl H. Claudy, also a Mason, says: "There is 

no obligation of secrecy regarding the truths 

taught by Freemasonry, otherwise such a book as 

written" 

this could not lawfully be 

p. 34). 

(vol. I, 

Masonic libraries containing books by Mas 

ons of high degree and excellent standing are open 

to the public. One of these is the Scottish Rite 

Library of Chicago. Masonic literature may be 

purchased of the Macoy Publishing and Masonic 

Supply Company of New York City. 

For further information on these particular 

matters the following books, among others, may 

be consulted :


Eugen Lennhoff : The Freemasons. Trans 

lated by Einar Frame. London, Methuen, 1934. 

Theodore Graebner : A Treatise on Free 

masonry. St. Louis : Concordia Publishing 

House, 1914. 

Theodore Graebne-r: The Secret Empire. 

St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1927. 

3. Criticisms That Do Not Seem Weighty 

Certain criticisms are sometimes offered with 

relation to secret orders which do not seem to 

this committee to be of such weight as to consti 

tute valid reasons for objection. 

One of these is the objection to secrecy as 

such. Obviously, there is nothing wrong in se 

crecy at the proper time and place. Every family 

has its secrets. Without secrecy in their prepara 

tion, academic examinations could hardly be con 

ducted in our institutions of learning. The pas 

tors and sessions of our churches often deal with 

personal matters which are much better not di 

vulged to the congregation. Our Lord Himself 

occasionally 

commanded His disciples not to re 

veal to all men things which He told them private 

ly. To be sure, in certain circumstances secrecy 

is sinful, but it may not be said that secrecy is 

evil in every instance. 

Another objection in the minds of some is 

to the taking of any oaths whatsoever. Whether or 

not the oaths required of Masons are reprehensi 

ble will be considered at another point in this re 

port. Just now the committee contends merely 

that the taking 

of an oath is not to be condemned 

under any and all circumstances. The Westmin 

ster Confession of Faith states that "a lawful 

oath, being imposed by lawful authority, in such 

taken" 

ought to be (XXII, 2). 

matters, 

Still another objection sometimes brought against 

Masonry concerns the alleged frivolous 

character of the symbols, garbs and ritualistic 

articles used. In particular instances criticism 

of such matters may be and, as will be pointed 

out later on, actually is well grounded. But a 

sweeping charge of frivolity should, in the opin 

ion of this committee, be avoided. The actual 

meaning, significance and value of symbols, as 

measured in terms of emotinal power, are diffi 

cult for a non-yparticipant correctly to gauge. 

What seems frivolous to an outsider may in actu 

ality not be so at all to the initiate. 

Fault has been found with Masonry for bar 

ring from membership women, negroes and the 

physically deformed. The worst that can be said 

about this provision is that it belies Masonry's 

boast of universalism. There does indeed seem 

to be an inconsistency here. But, apart from that, 

care should be taken not to stress this objection 

out of Prominent Masons have founded 

the Order of the Eastern Star for women. The 

fact that some lodges offer certain insurance 

benefits to members may be one reason among 

others for restricting membership to reasonably 

"good risks". And it surely cannot be said that 

every organization is in duty bound to open its 

doors to men of any and every race. 

There are those who interpret "the separated 

life" 

so as to rule out the membership 

of believ 

ers together with unbelievers in any organization 

whatever. They customarily quote 2 Corinthi 

ans 6:14-18 to substantiate this view. But that 

is a serious error. The passage of Scripture 

just cited condemns the fellowship of Christians 

and pagans specifically in the matter of religion 

and worship. To assert that believers may not 

hold membership with unbelievers in a book club 

or an automobile club, for instance, savors strong 

ly of Anabaptistic separatism. The apostle Paul 

took pains to tell members of the Corinthian 

church that he did not mean that they should 

have no company with the fornicators of this 

world, or with the covetous and extortioners, or 

idolaters, for then they 

out of the world (1 Corinthians 5 :9) . 

would needs have to go 

Therefore, 

to condemn membership of a Christian in the Ma 

sonic order on the sole ground that this order 

contains unbelievers, is unwarranted. 


THE RURAL CHURCH PROBLEM 


mained active members of the Roosevelt Church 

and that we would have added some twenty 

young families to the congregation, if only a por 

tion of the money from the Board of American 

Missions used for supplementing the pastor's sal 

ary had been used to support a sound program of 

helping young members to become farmers, and 

that the tithe of twenty new farmers would have 

been sufficient to support the pastor more ade 

quately than he was supported by the annual con 

tributions of the Board of American Missions. 

GODLINESS IS PROFITABLE 

It pays to be a Christian. Even if there should 

be no future immortal life to look forward to and 

to make preparation for, and if, actually, exis 

tence should cease with the grave, it pays, even 

for our earthly experience, short and restricted 

as it might be. True religion is of practical ad 

vantage to those who practice it, deterring them 

from many terrible evil results, and leading on 

to peaceful and advantageous conditions. 

The Christian life which counteracts everything 

like falshood, stealing, drunkenness, impurity, and 

war, just as good health counteracts all forms 

of disease, is within our reach if we accept it 

from God through Jesus Christ. The Christian 

life is, through the Blood, the assurance of happy 

and holy immortality, thus giving peace as we 

look out into the future. The Christian life of 

godliness assures one of peace with his fellow men, 

and if all the members of our human race were 

Christian, there would be harmony and peace 

universal. The Christian has God as partner in 

his business, and, instead of having dishonest 

relations with men that ruin him and others, is 

on the way to advance all good conditions and 

secure results that will be for the glory of God. 

Then, too, the Christian lives in such a way as 

to avoid much physical injury and disease, and 

to maintain physical strength and comfort. Exc.





CHRISTIANITY LOOKS 

AT COMMUNISM 

Acts 2:44, 45; Prov. 14:34; 

Matt. 25:31-46 

By Walter McCarroll, D. D. 

Psalms: 

Psalm 9:3-5, No. 16 

Psalm 9:8-10, No. 17 

Psalm 76:4, 5, No. 202 

Psalm 72:4-7, No. 192 


Prov. 11:11; Jer. 5:19; 5:24, 25; 

5:28, 29; 7:5-7; 7-27, 28; 18:7-10; 

Isa. 58:6-8; Ezek. 18:7, 16; James 

2:15, 16; Heb. 13:2; 2 Tim. 1:16, 17; 

Acts 4:32, 37; 4:34; Matt. 19:21 

Communism What is it? 

We are confronted not with a theo 

retical communism but with some 

thing that is actually at work called 

Communism. Whether it is what it 

should be by a purist's definition of 

communism is not our concern. The 

reality is the system of government 

that is operating in Russia and satel 

lite countries today. This is really 

Marxian Socialism and is based on 

the Manifesto of Karl Marx issued in 

the middle of the last century. In 

this discussion we are not concerned 

with the political structure of the so- 

called Soviet Republics, nor with its 

professed aims in terms calculated to 

deceive the very elect, but with its 

underlying principles that come into 

direct conflict with Bible Christian 

ity. We may note three of the out 

standing features of Communism 

that are anti-Christian. 

1 The class-struggle. This is based 

on the theory that all goods are pro 

duced by the so-called working class, 

and by working-class is meant all 

who work with their hands using the 

tools necessary 

to the production of 

goods. All other classes in society are 

more or less parasitic and are sup 

ported by the toil of the working 

class. These toilers are the proletar 

iat. Since the proletariat is the real 

and practically the only producing 

class, government should be in their 

hands, and they are entitled to get it 

by fair means or foul. To accomplish 

their end a dictatorship is necessary. 

and so we have the dictatorship of 

the proletariat. This in turn is based 

on the economic interpretation of 

history. By 

which is meant that all 

wars in their final analysis have been 

fought for material gain, for land, 

breathing- space for over-populated 

countries, raw materials, to get rid 

of the competition of slave labor, 

etc. There is enough truth in this to 

make it plausible. But the whole 

idea of the class struggle and the 

idealogy built around it is false and 

contrary to the Word of God. 

2 Collective ownership of all prop 

erty. All property belongs to society 

in the mass. In practice this means 

the State as representing society. 

But the voting part of society is 

limited to the Communist party, and 

the control of the Communist party 

is in the hands of the Politburo 

which is a dictatorship. So in theory 

all property belongs to the total 

society but in practice all property 

belongs to the governing body of 

men which has seized power. This 

means then that the farms, mines, 

factories, forests, means of pro 

duction, of distribution, of trans 

portation, of communication, etc., 

are in the hands of the State or of 

the national government and direc 

ted by the government. The beauti 

ful slogan "From each according to 

his ability and to each according to 

his 

need," 

means in effect that every 

man is the slave of the State and 

must work where his superiors tell 

him or starve or go to a concentra 

tion camp. Individual ownership of 

property is thus reduced to an ab 

solute minimum, though in practice 

no doubt there are many one-man or 

one-family businesses, as the gov 

ernment could not manage every 

thing. This collectivism means the 

complete loss of individual liberty as 

we know it in this country. The 

State is the end of all. The indi 

vidual exists only for the State, and 

as long as useful to the State will 

be cared for, but when no longer 

useful to the State will be thrown 

to the scrap heap unless he belongs 

to the Communist party. The col 

lective ownership of all property as 

exhibited in Communism or Marxian 

Socialism is in complete contradic 

tion to the Word of God. 

3 Materialism or Atheism. Xo God, 

no soul. There is nothing above man 

to which he is accountable, no final 

judgment, no heaven and no hell in 

the hereafter. Religion is the opiate 

of the people. According to this it 

makes people willing to endure the 

oppressions of the parasitic ruling 

classes in order to have "pie in the 

sky" 

The chief end of man is to 

glorify the proletariat and enjoy 

the communistic paradise. It is 

scarcely necessary to say that this 

materialism is anti-Christian. For a 

further discussion of Communism 

in the light of the Bible see "Blue 

Banner Faith and Life," 

Volume 3, 

Number 2, page 70. Excerpts fol 

low: "Communism is wrong in 

principle .... The principle of com 

munism is collective ownership of 

property enforced by the State. This 

presupposes that individual private 

ownership is an evil which can be 

tolerated on a small scale only, as a 

concession to human nature. This is 

contrary to the Bible which teaches 

that private ownership is a God- 

given right Communism as 

sumes that the individual person 

exists for the sake of the mass of 

society, but this is contrary to God's 

Word which teaches us that society 

and all social institutions exist for 

the sake of the individual, in order 

that the individual may attain the 

divine purpose for his life and thus 

glorify God." 

Is Socialism Anti-Christian? 

There are other forms of Social 

ism besides that of Marxian Social 

ism or Communism as practiced in 

Russia. The "communism" 

following 

Pentecost was purely voluntary, 

limited, and temporary, and appar 

ently was never intended to be a 

permanent feature of the Christian 

society. There is again the Socialism 

that we have in Britain. Can a man 

not be a Christian and a Socialist? 

All collective ownership of property 

is not evil and contrary to the Word 

of God. Enterprises affecting the 

public interest, in which all the peo 

ple are concerned may be taken by 

the government, if such a proposal 

is voted by a majority of voters, and 

adequate compensation is given the 

private owners. It then is not a mat 

ter of principle but of efficiency. 

Can an enterprise be run more ef 

ficiently by 

than by private enterprise? So 

a bureauracratic State 

cialists do not need to be atheists or 

materialists, and may be just as 

good Christians as the managers of 

our great corporations, or the lead 

ers of the Labor Unions. At the 

same time it must be recognized that 

the trend in the very nature of any 

Socialism is towards a totalitarian 

State, 

and a totalitarian State is 

evil and wholly evil. 

For further study of Communism


as practiced in Russia get a copy 

of "Author of Liberty" 

Carl Mc 

by 

lntire, published by the Christian 

Beacon Press. It probably can be 

gotten in almost any 

of the denomi 

national book stores, but if not, or 

der a copy from the Bible Truth 

Depot, Swengel, Union County, Pa. 

The price is $2.25. Have some one 

report on Current Popular Decep 

tions, 

pp. 160-167. Have another re 

port on the clash between the true 

gospel and communism, pp. 180-186. 

Have another report on the totali 

tarian Superstate as set forth in 

Chapter XI, 

pp. 187-194. In fact 

this volume should be required read 

ing 

for all the members of the C. Y. 

P. U. It would not be a bad idea to 

have some one give the substance 

of a chapter at each meeting of the 

society just to get a new and deeper 

appreciation of our liberties in this 

"land of the free," 

danger of losing them. 

JUNIOR TOPIC 

for we are in 


By the Rev. David M. Carson 

BIBLE LESSONS AROUND 

THE HOUSE 

One of the reasons that Jesus was 

such a great teacher was that when 

He wanted to teach folks something 

He illustrates His idea with some 

thing they 

all knew about. Lying 

around our homes we have many 

things which the Bible uses to help 

us understand God's plan of salva 

tion and to show us how to live. For 

our meeting today we are going to 

choose some of those things and 

find out what Jesus wants us to 

learn from them. 

1. An Eraser. Psalm 51:9; Acts 

3:19; 

Revelation 3:5. In each of these 

verses we have the words "blot 

out," 

which mean "erase''. What does the 

psalmist pray that God will do to 

his sins? The reference in Acts is 

part of a sermon Peter preached. 

What must we do to have our sins 

erased? What promise does God 

make to Christians in Revelation 

3:5? 

2. A Flashlight. Psalm 119:105. 

Have you ever walked along a 

strange road on a very dark night? 

If I were in your Junior meeting, I 

would tell you about once I did. But 

probably 

you have a story of your 

own. It is pretty nice to have a 

flashlight, isn't it? What tells us 

whether we are staying 

on the road 

of life or not? Can you think of 

some dangers the Word of God helps 

us to escape? You might sing these 

words. You'll find them in Psalm 

119, No. 333. 

3. A Mirror. James 1:22-25. Do 

you hate as much as I do to look in 

a mirror as soon as you get up ? My 

hair is tousled and my eyes look 

sleepy and my face needs washing. 

So I hurry to get cleaned up. If you 

hear the Word of God, 

Bible, 

or read the 

and don't change your life 

at all, James compares you to some 

one. Who is it? What is more 

sensible than that? If you have 

time look in these "mirrors" 

to see 

what you discover about yourself: 

Ephesians 4:25; 4:32; 6:1; 6:18; Ro 

mans 12:9; 12-11; 12:14; 12:17. 

4. Some Seed. Luke 8:4-8, 11-15; 

Matthew 13:31, 

32. Jesus told sev 

eral stories about seed; these are 

two of them. In the first, what does 

the seed stand for? (Luke 8:11). 

What four kinds of soil does the 

seed fall on? You know that it would 

grow well only on which kind? Can 

you decide what kinds of people 

these four kinds of soil represent? 

Luke 8:12-15 may help you. 

In the second story, 

what sort of 

seed did Jesus name? What was He 

describing by 

it ? 

- 

What is a seed 

for? Is a seed big or little compared 

to the plant that grows from it? 

Were there many 

Christians when 

Jesus died? But that little group of 

people was a seed. Are there many 

Christians now? Perhaps Jesus 

wants your junior society to be a 

"seed" 

plant. 

that will grow into a big 

5. A Match. James 3:5. Can you 

start a pretty big fire with a little 

match? Your sponsor may 

want to 

illustrate this by starting a fire of 

crumpled paper in a big pan. Don't 

let it get too big. You have, at any 

rate, all watched fires being lit. 

James says that a match (a tiny 

fire) is like what part of our body? 

Do we start a lot of trouble some 

times by the things we say? Can we 

cause a lot of happiness with our 

tongues ? Name two or three ways. 

Saying "hello" 

to grown-up folks is 

one way to make them happy. 

Jesus chose illustrations like these 

because they were easy to remember. 

When you look into a mirror, 

your flashlight, 

seed or use an eraser, 

or use 

when you plant 

when you see 

a match remember what Jesus 

taught you with them. 

For the worship 

section of your 

meeting, use psalms which you 

learned during October. Sing them 

well and thoughtfully. 

(To the sponsors: If the members 

of your society are old enough, you 

might assign each object to a jun 

ior, ask him to bring it and make a 

talk based on the references about 

it.) 




LESSON VII. PROPHECY IN 

THE BIBLE 

Amos 5:21 to 6:6; 7:10-17; Micah 

4:1-5; 5:2-4, 6:6-8. Printed text, 

Amos 5:21-24; 7:10-15; Micah 4:1-4. 

Golden Text: 

"He hath shewed thee, O man, 

what is good; and what doth the 

Lord require of thee, but to do 

justly, and to love mercy, 

and to 

walk humbly with thy God?" 

Micah 6:8. 

It will be a help in preparation for 

the lesson to read all the passages 

that are suggested, and not just con 

fine ourselves to the printed verses 

today. Reading 

at least that much 

more is necessary to the under 

standing of the part that is printed. 

I. THE PROPHET SPEAKING FOR 

HIS OWN TIMES. Amos 5:21 

to 6:6. 

A prophet is a "forth-teller" 

"for-teller'' 

"fore-teller." 

or a 

as much as he is a 

He speaks forth the 

things God tells him. He speaks for 

God, often using, as here, the pro 

noun "I" 

not for himself but for God. 

He also foretells the future, and it 

is this part of his work that has 

caught our fancy to such an extent 

that we hardly 

think of "prophet" 

as meaning anything else than one 

who predicts the future. 

The prophets of the Bible spoke 

forth against sin among the re 

ligious people of their time. Amos 

went to the kingdom of Israel and 

among 

other things he told them 

that God did not care for either 

their religious feasts or their long- 

faced assemblies, and that even 

though they 

offered all the specified 

sacrifices God would not accept 

them. Why 

not? Because of injustice 

and a lack of true righteousness, 

and because of hypocrisy. Israel 

really had an imitation worship, 

modeled on the true pattern, but 

lacking 

the proper priesthood and 

mixed with idolatry. This led to the 

idea that religion consisted in at 

tending meetings and offering sacri 

fices. So people forgot to be just 

and kind, and they did not know the 

meaning of the righteousness which


God gives those whose attitude to 

ward Him is right. They were at 

ease, and they trusted that God 

would always keep their nation 

great. So they went on feeling se 

cure and living a life of luxury and 

pleasure, and overlooked the violence 

and oppression in their country, and 

the danger of going into captivity. 

Revelation, the New Testament 

book of prophecy, tells about a 

church that thought it was rich and 

in need of nothing, 

really 

when it was 

wretched and miserable and 

poor and blind and naked. This con 

dition has existed among religious 

people of all times, for there is a 

tendency toward formality and the 

substitution of acts of religion for 

true worship and real piety. The 

human heart is deceitful, 

and we do 

not throw religion overboard when 

it conflicts with the way the natural 

man wants to live. Instead we modi 

fy religion so that we can satisfy 

our conscience by doing religious 

things, and we keep 

on with injustice 

and oppression and hypocrisy. To 

day's true prophets, 

our faithful 

ministers, cry out against substi 

tuting going to meetings and giv 

ing to charity and following certain 

forms for the righteousness that 

God gives us and that shows itself in 

doing justly, loving mercy, and 

walking humbly with our God. God 

does not care for outward shows of 

devotion while we keep 

on in sin. 

II. THE PROPHET SPEAKING 

WHERE GOD SENT HIM. Amos 

7:10-17. 

Bible prophets not only had a mes 

sage from God, but they were sent 

to definite places with their message. 

Jonah tried to run away, but God 

brought him back and sent him 

where He wanted him to go. Balaam 

on the other hand tried to go where 

the Lord had not sent him, 

and had 

to be straightened out so he would 

not disobey again and say some 

thing- the Lord had not told him to 

say. But these were the exceptions. 

Amos had definite instructions from 

God to go to Israel, and that is 

where he went. More than that, op 

position could not make him keep 

quiet or go somewhere else to pro 

phesy. The priest, or president, of 

Bethel first complained to the king, 

and then told Amos to get out of 

Bethel and go back to Judah and 

make his living 

there and not come 

to Bethel any more. We need to read 

more than the printed verses just 

here to see how Amos stood up to 

him. In addition to the answer given 

read verses 16 and 17. Does the pre 

diction: "Thy 

lot in the city, 

wife shall be an har 

and thy sons and thy 

daughters shall fall by the sword, 

and thy land shall be divided by line; 

and thou shalt die in a polluted land; 

Israel shall surely go into captivity 

forth of this land," 

seem too strong? 

Formal religion and hypocrisy have 

terrible effects on the morality of 

those very close to those occupying 

high positions in religion. After all 

without regeneration what is there 

to prevent immorality? While the 

hypocrite seems to keep his religion 

his family 

see through him and do 

not even cover up what they want to 

do. It is the prophet's duty to call 

for real religion, the only safeguard 

of the home and state. 

III. THE PROPHET SPEAKING 

OF THE FUTURE. Micah 4:1-5; 

5:2-4; 6:6-8. 

There will be many helps for the 

printed verses, the prophecy of fu 

ture peace, so just a word about the 

verses not printed, the prophecy of 

Bethlehem. Bible prophets were 

definite. Micah did not give a de 

scription of some city that might 

fit a number of places, but said 

definitely, "Thou Bethlehem Ephra- 

tah....(of) 

Judah" 

This prophecy 

was so definite that when the wise 

men asked Herod where they would 

find the Messiah the chief priests 

and scribes had the answer ready 

and quoted this passage. Other pro 

phets were just as definite about the 

Messiah, 

about what would happen 

to definite countries and cities, and 

about the Jews. The verification of 

their words by historians and arche- 

ologists strengthens our faith in the 

"Thus saith the Lord," 

Prophets. 

of the Bible 



By 

the Rev. M. K. Carson 

THE TENTH COMMANDMENT 

Questions 79-81. Exodus 20:17 

Psalms: 

Psalm 131, No. 364 


Psalm 73:1, 2, 9, 10, No. 194 

Psalm 49:4,8,9, No. 132 

References : 

Luke 12:13-21; Joshua 7:21-26; 

Luke 16:13-14; Eph. 3:3-5; I Tim. 

3:3; II Tim. 3:2; Romans 1:29; Prov. 

1:9-10; James 5:1-6; II Peter 2:14; 

I John 2:17; Heb. 13:5-6; Col. 3:5; 

Acts 5:1-11; I Kings 21:17-20; Mark 

6:16-27; Phil 4:11-12; Mark 7:20-23. 

Dr. Driver in his commentary 

states that the word 

"house" 

found in Exodus 20:17, appears to 

be used in a comprehensive sense, 

embracing not only the actual dwell 

ing, but also wife, servant, ox, and 

ass and other possessions constitut 

ing 

Deuteronomy, 5:21, the "wife," 

as 

a domestic establishment. In 

as 

the dearest and closest of a man's 

possessions, is named separately in 

the first place, and "house" 

is lim 

ited to ordinary domestic property. 

This commandment is warning 

against the sin of the inner life, one 

of the most common, yet one of the 

greatest sins. To covet "is to long 

inordinately to have as one's own 

what belongs to 

another.'' 

It is an 

inordinate desire for earthly things 

or for what belongs to another. 

Covetousness often leads men into 

various and terrible sins, in spite of 

Reason, Conscience and the Word of 

God. It is often the cause of murder. 

Because Ahab coveted Naboth'ls 

vineyard, Naboth was murdered. 

Achan was guilty of theft because 

he coveted the Babylonish silver 

and gold. This sin often leads to 

adultery and is the cause of many 

broken homes. Covetousness makes 

its victim selfish, dishonest, mean, 

cruel, crafty, greedy and jealous. It 

is the opposite of Godliness and is 

the enemy of contentment. 

In the law, the overt act of 

treason is distinguished from the 

design. Man cannot see and know 

what God sees and knows. Man can 

see the overt act. God sees the very 

beginning of sin in the human heart, 

the wrong desires, and inordinate 

longings. "Then when lust hath con 

ceived, it brfngeth forth sin; and 

sin, 

when it is finished bringeth 

forth death" 

(James 1:15). God sees 

the sin in its very beginning. How 

clearly this is brought out in the life 

of Saul. Compare I Sam. 15:22-23 

with the last days of Saul. 

Perhaps the first meaning of the 

word "covet" 

implies "delight" 

That 

which brings great delight we desire 

to possess. This desire in itself is 

not necessarily wrong. It is not un 

lawful to desire the property of an 

other provided that property is for 

sale and the buyer is willing to pay 

the price. Or you might see a beauti 

ful piece of furniture in your 

friend's home. You are delighted 

with it and want a piece like it. As 

there are many 

such pieces of furni 

ture like it in the store, you can 

easily satisfy 

your desires. This is 

not coveting because that desire 

may be satisfied legitimately. But


where the person or the object de 

sired cannot be obtained legitimate 

ly, it is a sin. "Thou shalt not covet 

thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not 

covet thy 

neighbor's wife . . . . 

Some men may have a measure of 

self-respect after a study 

" 

of the 

nine commandments, but this Tenth 

Commandment is the most searching- 

precept of all. Paul, who could say, 

as touching the law, that he was 

blameless, (Phil. 3:6) said, "I had 

not known sin, but by the law; for 

I had not known lust, 

except the 

law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 

But sin, taking occasion by the 

commandment, 

manner of 

wrought in me all 

(Romans 

concupiscence" 

precept." 

7:7-8). All evil propensities, inclina 

tions, dispositions, thoughts and de 

sires, 

which originate in the heart 

but which are not manifested in 

overt acts, are the very things which 

are prohibited in this commandment. 

The breaking 

of this command 

ment affects life in all its relation 

ships. The man who is dominated 

by covetousness is guilty of Idolatry 

(Col. 3:5), and therefore his life can 

not be blessed with the fruit of the 

Spirit. He is not right with God. 

When God fills the heart, it is 

satisfied. There is no reason for 

covetousness. Covetousness is evi 

dence that God is not in the heart. 

There was no place for covetous 

ness in the heart of the Psalmist. 

"Within my heart bestowed by thee 

More gladness I have found; 

Than they, 

wine 

ev'n then, when corn and 

Did most with them 

abound." 

Psalm 4 

Toward our fellowmen, this com 

mandment requireth a "right and 

charitable frame of spirit toward 

our 

It forbids "the envy 

neighbor" 

ing or at grieving the good of our 

" 

neighbor . . . . 

Why should it not be easy and 

natural to have a right and char 

itable spirit toward our neighbor? 

Why 

should there be any 

To be discontented at the possession 

by 

another of what one would like 

for one's self is 

envying?" 

envy." 

The farmer 

after looking over his fields and the 

fields of his neighbor seemed quite 

happy. Asked if he had better crops 

than he thought he had, he replied, 

"No, I do not have better crops but 

my neighbor's crops are far worse 

than 

one could have 

mine." 

Surely 

no permanent or satisfying joy with 

such an 

attitude toward his neigh 

bor. Covetousness destroys one's own 

happiness and peace. 

Is not the lust of possession the 

cause of much of the world's suffer 

ing ? Why are we cursed with the 

liquor traffic, impurity, gambling, 

Sabbath desecration, strikes, wars, 

and all other evils ? Is I Timothy 

6:10 the answer? 

believe,'' 

"I verily says Dr. Green, 

"that the force of this Tenth Com 

mandment in its real spirit and in 

tention, is never felt, except by 

those who are renewed in the tem 

per of their mind .... they 

see that 

all the transgressions of the other 

commandments have their root and 

spring from the motions of those 

vile affections or desires, which are 

directly condemned by this 

How essential it is to keep the heart! 

This is our prayer. 

1. That the Holy Spirit may re 

veal to us the heinousness of our 

own sins. 

2. That the spirit of true gratitude 

may fill our hearts at this season 

of the year. 

3. That our people may continue 

to manifest a generous spirit as we 

look forward to the American Bible 

Society 

Sabbath and the offering 

which we will make. 

4. For all our missionaries, espec 

ially 

the field this fall. 

our new workers who went to 

5. For the Covenanter Crusade 

and the Christian Amendment Move 

ment. 

STAR NOTES... 

*"The Church has already learned 

of the death of the Rev. W. T. K. 

Thompson, D. D., until recently pas 

tor of the Mercer congregation. But 

perhaps, like ourselves, the definite 

date was not known August 28. Be 

sides pastorates in St. Johns, N.B. 

and Superior, Nebr., Dr. Thompson 

was pastor of Mercer for some thir 

ty-eight years. He did a notable work 

in ministering the Gospel to the 

prisoners of Mercer County and was 

appointed a parole officer by the 

judge. "I was in prison and ye came 

unto 

me" 

will be the commendation 

of many an unfortunate man, and of 

the Master himself. A memorial will 

appear in a later number. 

*'** Misses Evelyn Hays and Jen 

Tapper of Denver, who spent a very 

happy vacation in the Northwest, 

worshiped with the Seattle congre 

gation on October 17. Our many 

friends who pass our way always 

encourage us by their presence and 

fellowship. 

v**The Seattle C. Y. P. U. spon 

sored a "Family Night" 

on Friday 

evening, October 15. A pot-luck din 

ner, 

games and devotional services 

provided a very much worth-while 

evening for about eighty (80) mem 

bers and friends. Our next "Family 

Night" 

is scheduled for November 5. 

"**Mr. and Mrs. Wilmer Hill who 

spent a very 

pleasant vacation re 

cently in California are back in their 

regular places in our services. Mr. 

Hill holds a very responsible posi 

tion in one of the large department 

stores in Seattle. 

***Mrs. J. M. Coleman is visiting 

in Kansas City in the homes of her 

brother, Dr. W. P. McGarey and 

family and with Dr. and Mrs. Paul 

Coleman. 

***Richard Howard was born to 

Mr. and Mrs. Delber McKee on Octo 

ber 10 at Indianola, Iowa. Mrs. M. 

K. Carson is spending 

a few weeks 

with her daughter Margaret and 

family and helping 

Richard. 

with the care of 

*:*The congregation is happy over 

the new baby, Sharon Louise, daugh 

ter of Harold H. and Margaret Hun 

ter Faris, born on September 7. 

(Kansas City) 

***We had a profitable communion 

season wdth the assistance of Rev. 

D. C. Ward from the Indian Mission. 

The preaching was helpful, the fel 

lowship was satisfying, 

and the talks 

on the work at the Mission by both 

Rev. and Mrs. Ward gave us a new 

appreciation of the work. Among 

the communicants were members 

from eight other Covenanter congre 

gations, including Mrs. Maggie Cur 

ry of Winchester congregation. 

(Kansas City) 

CHURCH NEWS 

WALTON, 

N. Y. 

Lloyd Eck visited with friends in 

and around Walton and had dinner at 

the manse before going back to 

school at Barker, N. Y., for his third 

year. Andrew Price, Don Lathan, and 

Bob Elwood spent one day helping 

to lay foundations for new cabins at 

White Lake Camp. 

Our Sabbath School picnic was held 

at More Park on Labor Day. The 

weather was ideal and most of our 

members got out for a good meal 

and a good time. Several of the men 

spent most of the day painting on


the church. 

The Missionary Societies met as 

usual during the month, 

one at the 

church and the other with Mrs. Wal 

ter Eells. 

James Alan, son of Mr. and Mrs. 

Howard Gilchrist, arrived at the 

Smith Hospital on the 7th. Mother 

and son are now home and doing 

nicely. 

The Men's Club met at the church 

on the first Tuesday evening and 

made plans for the fall months. On 

the third Saturday they harvested 

the Lord's Acre of potatoes back of 

the church and were surprised at the 

abundant crop. They expect to sell 

these at auction October 5. 

We are sorry to report the death 

of two of our members during the 

month. Mrs. Emma Arbuckle at 

tended the Sabbath School picnic on 

Monday. On the following Wednes 

day she was taken suddenly ill and 

died the next day. The funeral serv 

ice in charge of the pastor was held 

in the church with burial in Walton 

cemetery. Mr. George Russell died at 

the county Sanatorium on the 18th. 

His funeral service was held the fol 

lowing Monday 

home, Delhi, 

vina cemetery. 

at the Hall Funeral 

with burial in the Bo 

The young people held a planning 

meeting at the manse September 10. 

These plans are already working 

out with good results. A party was 

held the last Friday evening of the 

month in the Robert Russell barn 

with very good attendance. Refresh 

ments were served at the house. The 

young people of the Mundale U. P. 

Church accepted an invitation to wor 

ship with us on the last Sabbath eye 

ing- of the month. This made for a 

very 

-worthwhile meeting. Pictures 

entitled "Pilgrimage to Amsterdam" 

were shown. 

Mr. and Mrs. Phil Robb of Aliquip- 

pa, Pa., drove up 

the second week 

end of the month and brought Beth 

Robb of Topeka, Kansas, 

a student 

at Geneva along. They took Gladys 

Robb back to Geneva with them. She 

and Beth are roommates in the dor 

mitory this year. 

Mrs. Nellie Gregory 

of Bingham- 

ton, now 93 years old, had the mis 

fortune to fall and break a hip early 

in the month. She is in a critical 

condition in the Binghamton City 

Hospital. Being blind and deaf in 

creases her pitiable plight. 

The sesion met at the Howard Gil 

christ home September 13. Ralph 

Henderson was appointed delegate to 

presbytery. Communion was set for 

October 17 with Rev. Robert McMil 

lan of Beaver Falls as assistant. 

Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Thomson 

and daughter Patricia flew from Los 

Angeles to New York and have been 

visiting his parents in Walton. Mr. 

and Mrs. Arch Thomson Jr. were also 

visitors here for a short time. 

day 

The deacons met the second Tues 

of the month at the church. After 

checking the summer's work they 

made plans for getting one coat of 

paint on the manse before cold 

weather, if possible. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Henderson 

left the 21st for South Dakota to 

visit friends and relatives. They ex 

pect to be away some three weeks. 

The Robert Russell family, Mrs. W. 

R. Russell and Letha Conway vis 

ited the Murray Russells near Syra 

cuse the last Saturday of the month. 

OAKDALE, ILLINOIS 

Eileen Ruth is the name of the 

little daughter born to Mr. and Mrs. 

William Auld, August 28. This is 

their second daughter. 

The following young people are 

attending 

college: Miss Maxine Auld 

at Geneva; Miss Annie Laurie Hen 

derson at Bowling Green State Col 

lege at Bowling Green, Ohio; and 

Miss Juanita McClay 

College, Monmouth, 111. 

at Monmouth 

Our Communion was held the last 

Sabbath of August with the Rev. R. 

W. Caskey of White Lake, N. Y., in 

charge. His messages were helpful 

and much enjoyed. 

Our pulpit was supplied in July by 

the Rev. D. Ray Wilcox and Rev. 

Tuenis Oldenberger, each bringing 

us spiritual messages. 

Among our guests during the sum 

mer and fall were: Mrs. Reed Terry 

and Bobby of Orlando, Florida; Mr. 

and Mrs. Finley Torrens and Kay 

Ellen of Two Rivers, Wisconsin; Mrs. 

A. A. Wylie, the Rev. David Carson 

and Mr. S. R. Davis of Beaver Falls, 

Pa.; Mr. and Mrs. John Piper and 

Richard of Baden, Pa.; Mr. and Mrs. 

Lyle McClay, Marshall and Alice 

Janette of Waco, Texas; Miss Aletta 

Edgar of Greeley, Colo.; Mr. and 

Mrs. J. Oliver Carson and children 

of Jenkintown, Pa.; Mr. Elmer Boyd 

of Wilkinsburg; Mr. and Mrs. Clyde 

Boyd of Caldwell, Idaho. 

Our new pastor, the Rev. D. Ray 

Wilcox and his family, arrived in 

Oakdale the first of September, and 

are located in the parsonage. Mr. 

Wilcox was installed pastor the eve 

ning of September 13, 

with the Rev. 

John McMillan in charge of the serv 

ices. The following visiting ministers 

were present: The Rev. David Car 

son of Beaver Falls, Pa.; the Rev, 

Samuel S. Ward of Coulterville; the 

Rev. Ralph Donaldson and Rev. T. 

A. Davis of Oakdale. A reception 

following the installation service was 

held in the S. S. room. The guests 

were seated at tables. The color 

scheme of pink and white was car 

ried out both in the decorations and 

eats. Welcome greetings were given 

by 

representatives of the different 

organizations of the church, also by 

the visiting ministers. Among the 

guests were: Rev. and Mrs. John Mc 

Millan, Mr. Ralph Mathews and his 

family, Mrs. Lois Mathews, Mr. and 

Mrs. W. C. Finley of Old Bethel, Rev. 

and Mrs. Samuel S. Ward of Coulter 

ville, Mr. John Fullerton, Mr. and 

Mrs. Raymond Boyle, Mr. and Mrs. 

T. H. Wilson, Mr. and Mrs. James 

McDougal of Sparta, Mr. and Mrs. 

James Henderson, County Superin 

tendent and Mrs. Kenneth Frieman, 

Alice and Jerry of Nashville. 

Mr. and Mrs. J. K. Dunn and their 

daughter, Mrs. Wallace Evans of Wy 

man, Iowa, and Mr. S. W. Carrick of 

Albia, Iowa, visited recently in the 

homes of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Boyd 

and Mr. and Mrs. T. E. McLean. 

Our congregation greatly enjoyed 

the program presented by the Covi 

chords, and hope they 

again. 

will come 

Mr. Raymond Carson has accepted 

a teaching position in the high school 

at McHenry in northern Illinois. 

At a Sabbath morning service, Mr. 

and Mrs. Lyle McClay presented 

their little daughter Alice Janette 

for baptism. 

TOPEKA, KANSAS 

Topeka has five representatives at 

Geneva College this year. Beth Robb, 

Don and Paul McCracken are upper- 

class students. Howard McMahan 

and Paul Robb entered as freshmen. 

On September 18 the Master's call 

came to the Heavenly Home to Mrs. 

Irene Stafford who had passed her 

eighty-sixth birthday. Dr. McCracken 

appropriately chose as his text for the 

funeral service a part of Mark 4:35: 

"When the even was come, he saith 

unto them, Let us pass over unto the 

other 

side." 

The members of the Topeka con 

gregation are deply concerned about 

the proposal to repeal the state's 

sixty-seven-year-old Prohibition law 

which is to be submitted to the vot 

ers on November 2. Two meetings


devoted to this issue have recently 

been held in the church. On Wednes 

day evening, September 29, the Tem 

perance Committee of the W. M. S. 

had charge of a program consisting 

of songs by the juniors, special mu 

sic 'by a mixed quartet, the presen 

tation of a flannelgraph prepared 

by Dr. Paul Coleman, and the show 

ing of a temperance film. 

On Sabbath morning, October 10, 

Dr. C. D. Walker, Campaign Direc 

tor of the United Dry Forces, gave a 

stirring message to the congregation. 

He based his address on II Chroni 

cles 20:15-16, "Thus saith the Lord 

unto you, Be not afraid nor dis 

mayed by reason of this great multi 

tude; for the battle is not your's, 

but God's. Tomorrow go ye down 

against them." 

The Rev. J. G. Vos of Clay Center, 

Kansas, 

was the assistant at com 

munion on October 3. His inspira 

tional and practical messages con 

tributed much toward making this 

occasion a blessing to the congrega 

tion. Four new members were wel 

comed into the fellowship of the 

congregation at this time Paul 

Gibeson by profession of faith, Max 

ine Gibeson by certificate from 

Denison, Wilmer and Kathryn Piper 

by 

certificate from Oakdale. 

The congregation was happy to 

have Kansas Presbytery 

meet in To 

peka on October 5 and 6. A number 

of the local members enjoyed the 

sessions and participated in the 

Psalm Sing 

Wednesday evening 

which was held on 

under the leader 

ship of Charles McBurney of Olathe. 

On the mornings of October 11-14, 

Dr. Paul D. McCracken gave a series 

of fifteen-minute devotional broad 

casts over Station KTOP In Topeka. 

From October 14-24 he was in 

Blanchard, Iowa, assisting in com 

munion and conducting evangelistic 

services. 

FRESNO, CALIF. 

Fresno was happy to have the Hen- 

nings and Miss Lynn stop 

over on 

their way to San Francisco. We had 

a church dinner for them and enjoyed 

hearing 

from each one. As the date 

of sailing has been delayed the Rev. 

Robert Henning 

on November 10 also. 

preached in Fresno 

Mr. Towner spent about three 

weeks in the Fresno Community 

Hospital, 

and we are glad to be able 

to report that he came through his 

operations very 

again and on the mend. 

well and is at home 

Fresno had a very pretty church 

wedding when Miss Dorothy Hollenbeck 

became the wife of Francis 

Buck on September 10. Following the 

wedding there was a reception at the 

Hollenbeck home. Mr. and Mrs. Buck 

are now living in Burbank, and Mr. 

Buck is studying 

Angeles. 

medicine in Los 

Fresno had quite an interest in the 

wedding 

of Miss Lorena Copeland 

and Lewis Keys in the Los Angeles 

church. In addition to the parents, 

sisters, and cousins of the bride, the 

Fresno pastor went to perform the 

ceremony, Mrs. Annette Fischer to 

sing, and Freddie Jones and Janice 

Moore to be ring bearer and flower 

girl. Mrs. Frances Moore was matron 

of honor and Miss Lois Jean Cope 

land was one of the bridesmaids. 

Joe Caskey, Marshall Smith, and 

Kay Hill drove to Beaver Falls for 

the openingof 

Geneva College, stop 

ping a short time at Denison, Kan 

sas, on their way. 

THE REV. R.A. HENNING FAMILY 

LEAVE HETHERTON TO TAKE 

UP WORK IN CHINA 

We were deeply touched when 

about a year ago our pastor an 

nounced his intentions of leaving the 

pastorate here to take up work in 

China. So we were prepared when 

he announced in June that he was 

resigning to take affect August 8. 

On Friday, August 6, a farewell re 

ception was held at the church for 

Mr. and Mrs. Henning and George. 

About seventy-five people were in 

attendance, many of whom were 

friends that the Hennings had made 

in the community, as well as the 

members of the congregation. A 

short program was given by the 

young people consisting of singing, 

accordion music, recitations and a 

couple of short skits. Miss Anna Mc 

Kelvy then presented the Hennings 

with a gift of money which supple 

mented a steamer trunk which had 

already been given them. The remain 

der of the evening was spent in vis 

iting and partaking 

of a lunch of 

sandwiches, cake, jello and lemonade 

served by the ladies of the congrega 

tion. We have enjoyed having the 

Hennings with us and shall miss 

them greatly but we feel that our 

loss is China's gain. We hope that 

the Lord will soon see fit to send us 

another leader as we feel that there 

is a great field open here. 

LAKE RENO, MINN. 

The Junior Society was organized 

the last of July with Mrs. Edgar and 

Mrs. Charles Peterman in charge. 

Bobby, Jimmy, and Mikey Elsey 

spent the month of August at Grand 

Marais with Mrs. Vye and Evelyn 

Schinkel taking care of them. Dr. J. 

R. Elsey and Mr. Vye spent the last 

week there and they 

home together. 

all returned 

Miss Aletta Edgar and nephew 

David Wilcox of Greeley, Colorado, 

spent a few days at the Edgar home 

the latter part of August. 

Dr. and Mrs. J. D. Edgar and Miss 

Ruby 

Sinclair and also Rev. and 

Mrs. Frank Allen and daughter Mar 

jorie, 

and Lyle Joseph of Hopkinton 

stopped and visited with old friends. 

Both cars were on their way to the 

conference held in Seattle. 

Mrs. James and children of Madelia 

spent the week-end at the Robert 

Blair home during the latter part of 

August. 

Rev. and Mrs. Edgar and Louise, 

Mrs. Briars, Aletta Edgar, David 

Wilcox and Willa enjoyed a day at 

Itaska Park and saw the source of 

the Mississippi River during the lat 

ter part of August. 

The Edgars wish to be classed as 

"full fledged farmers" 

as they have 

a cow, a calf, a mother hen and 

some little chickens. They 

a stack of hay which they 

put up from their acreage. 

also had 

mowed and 

We were all thankful that no one 

was hurt in the accident Ed Blair's 

were in during the middle of August 

when another car ran into them as 

they tried to turn off the road in go 

ing home from town. Their car was 

very badly damaged. 

Miss Pauline Blair left the first 

part of August to visit friends in 

Seattle before returning to California 

where she again will teach. 

A girl, Linda Margaret, came to


make her home with Mr. and Mrs. 

Roland McCrory on July 11. 

We were all very glad to hear of 

the R. H. Peterman family of Cali 

fornia when Rev. and Mrs. Ed Kel- 

log and family of New Jersey wor 

shiped with us the first Sabbath of 

September enroute home after hav 

ing 

home in California. They 

spent some time at the Peterman 

visited at 

the Charles Peterman home while 

here. 

Mr. and Mrs. Mel Ewing and fam 

ily of Minneapolis spent Labor Day 

at the Matt Malyon home and also 

worshiped with us. 

On September 12 the sacrament of 

baptism was administered to Linda 

Margaret, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 

Roland McCrory and Janice Marie, 

daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Ny- 

gaard. On September 11 Mrs. Marie 

Peacock sold her household goods at 

public auction. A farewell was held 

for her at the parsonage and she was 

presented with a gift before leaving 

for Arizona where she and Robert 

will make their future home. Mr. and 

Mrs. Louis Nygaard and baby ac 

companied them and will also make 

their home in Arizona. 

KANSAS PRESBYTERY 

Kansas Presbytery met Tuesday 

evening, October 5, in the Topeka 

Church. The Moderator, Rev. Lester 

Kilpatrick, preached on Jas. 4:10, and 

emphasized the need for real re 

pentance as opposed to the sorrow 

of being detected in evil. 

The officers elected were: Moder 

ator, Rev. D. C. Ward; Clerk, Rev. 

Waldo Mitchel; and Assistant Clerk, 

Elder Harvey McGee. Twelve min 

isters and twelve elders attended as 

delegates; also Rev. C. T. Carson 

and Rev. S. Bruce Willson were vis 

itors. After adjournment Dr. Carson 

showed pictures taken by the Covi 

chords, mostly of Covenanter Church 

buildings and of the various Cove 

nanter camps. 

Wednesday morning devotionals 

were presided over by Elder J. J. 

McElroy 

of Quinter with Rev. D. C. 

Ward as speaker. He spoke from II 

Kings 6:1-7 about the borrowed ax 

or "Lost Power" 

The afternoon devotionals were 

presided over by Elder Harvey Mc 

Gee with Rev. June McElroy as speak 

er. He spoke of Isaiah the Man of 

God who realized his sinfulness in 

the sight of God. 

Elders Donald Whitehill of Clar 

inda and Dr. Paul Wright of Kan 

sas City were at Presbytery 

gates for their first time. 

as dele 

A committee on Audio-Visual Aids 

demonstrated what could be done 

with the recorder and loudspeaker 

or sound pictures. The committee 

was continued with authority to 

buy if they 

thought best. 

The report of the Christian, 

Amendment Movement was given by 

Rev. A. J. McFarland. It is hoped 

that the amendment will be intro 

duced early in the next Congress. 

Rev. Paul McCracken, Presby 

tery's Secretary of Young People's 

Work gave an encouraging report. 

The Temperance Committee re 

ported their work against repealing 

the Prohibitory Law of Kansas. 

They have prepared posters to put 

on cars so we can all show on which 

side we stand. 

Presbytery 

Beulah October 4, 1949. 

adjourned to meet at 

The evening meeting was spent in 

singing, under the direction of Mr. 

Charles McBurney, some of the tunes 

suggested for the revised Psalter. 

SOUTHFIELD YIELDS FRUIT 

The Southfield congregation does 

not believe in secret orders; that does 

not mean however that they cannot 

keep 

a secret. For all unknown to 

the pastor and his wife, 

the congre 

gation planned a surprise house 

warming and kitchen shower. On 

Wednesday evening, September 22, 

we returned home from Prayer Meet 

ing at the usual time, to find a 

group of cars parked along the road 

by 

the house. Our first thought vvas 

a fire! and then an accident! But 

we found it was no accident, when 

we entered the yard. There was the 

entire congregation waiting for us to 

unlock the door. When the doors were 

unlocked every one began streaming 

in with boxes of every size and de 

scription, and placed them in the 

center of the parlor floor. After 

every one was in and seated we 

opened the boxes to find a large sup- 

p\y of canned food, jam's and jellies, 

other things used in 

eggs, and many 

the kitchen. Also one box contained a 

live chicken, which did not seem to 

realize its danger or the extent of a 

minister's appetite for such as they. 

We feel that the people of South- 

field have been doubly 

generous to 

us in paying our entire moving ex 

penses to Michigan and then giving 

us this fine and generous shower. We 

only hope that we can be deserving 

these many kindnesses. We pray that 

we may be used of God in His work 

in Southfield, and may not only our 

temperal blessings be enjoyed to 

gether, but may our fellowship be of 

Christ, as we pray and work together. 

We thank you again. 

Harold and Mary Thompson 

PATTERSON RUTHERFORD 

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin 

B. Patterson in Baldwin, 111., was 

the scene of a very pretty wedding 

on Friday evening, September 3, 

when their only daughter Geneva 

Grace became the bride of James 

Melville Rutherford, 

son of Mr. and 

Mrs. J. C. Rutherford of near Belle 

fontaine, Ohio. 

At 6 p. m. Mrs. Linders, 

at the 

piano, played the musical selections 

"0 Promise Me", 

"Because" 

and 

Bridal March from Lohengrin. To 

the strains of the latter, the bridal 

party assembled before twin windows 

in the living room, where a large 

basket of white gladioli and green 

ery was encircled by 

an improvised 

upright wedding ring in white twined 

with ivy. 

Rev. John McMillan read the 

double ring 

service assisted in the 

ceremony by Rev. Luther McFarland 

of Belle Center, Ohio. The attendants 

were Miss Mary Elizabeth Ruther 

ford, sister of the bridegroom and 

Raymond Patterson, brother of the 

bride. 

During the reception, Miss Ru 

therford, the bridesmaid, sang two 

solos 

Truly" 

"Always" 

and "I Love You 

accompanied by Mrs. Linders. 

After a wedding trip, Mr. and Mrs. 

Rutherford will be at home on their 

farm near Northwood. 

WALLACE A. CROUCH 

Following is a memorial for Wal 

lace A. Crouch as approved by the 

Denver Congregation. 

In Memoriam 

The influence and memory of the 

leadership of Wallace A. Crouch 

among the young people of the Den 

ver Congregation will continue to 

give inspiration to many, though at 

the age of 26, he was suddenly called 

to be with our Lord. He is survived 

by his wife LaVerne of Seattle and 

his five month old son, Robert 

William. 

Signed 

Samuel J. Carson 

Congregational chairman 

Shirley Watmore 

Secretary

NATIONAL REFORM NUMBER 


300 years of Witnessing- 

fog. CHRIST'5 Sovereign rights in the, church ^nd the. Aj^TJOAt 

VOLUME XLI WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1948 Number 16 

Public School Education and National Welfare 

"Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to 

good government and the happiness of mankind, schools 

and the means of education shall forever be 

encouraged." 

Ordinance of 1787 

"The secularization of public education in America 

has issued in a situation fraught with danger. The situ 

ation is such as to imperil, in time, 

gion among the people, 

the future of reli 

and with religion the future of 

the nation itself. A system of public education that gives 

no place to religion is not in reality neutral, but exerts 

an influence, unintentional though it be, 

against reli 

gion. For the state not to include in its educational pro 

gram a definite recognition of the place and value of re 

ligion in human life is to convey to children, 

the prestige and authority 

with all 

of the school maintained by 

the state, the suggestion that religion has no real place 

and value. The omission of religion from the public 

schools of today conveys a condemnatory 

the 

Schools" 

children." 

suggestion to 

Luther Weigle in "God in Our Public 

"By our silences in secular education we have indoc 

trinated children to believe that God does not exist and 

that Jesus Christ does not matter. In protecting the 

scruples of agnostics we have trampled roughshod over 

the convictions of believers." 

"Christ and Man's Dilemma." 

George A. Buttrick in 

"If education goes wrong, what else is like to go right? 

If the battle for civilization is lost in the schoolroom, 

who will win it back elsewhere? If the whole community 

is set wrong in its thinking at schools, 

what chance has 

the clergy of setting it right from the pulpit? What are 

the chances of legislation? To begin by starting the 

community on the wrong road in the plastic period, and 

then, when it grows up, send the parson and the police 

man to bring it back what a fool's paradise would com 

pare to that?" 

Prof. L. P. Jacks of Cambridge, England. 

"The secular theory of the State cannot stand. Unless 

destroyed it will shake this nation to its foundations; no 

nation ever has stood without religion. No nation ever 

will stand without religion. No nation ever can stand 

without religion. If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground 

without the notice of God, a nation cannot stand without 

His aid. And He cannot aid a nation that ignores Him. 

The forms and power of religion must permeate the 

State and be recognized by it. The public school is the 

one place to put religion to make it effective in national 

life." 

Calvin Coolidge. 

"Let but one generation of American boys and girls 

be rightly trained in body, mind and spirit, in knowledge 

and love and unselfishness, 

of our American life social, 

and all the knotty problems 

economic and political 

would be far on the road toward complete solution. Let 

the training of but one generation be wholly neglected 

and our civilization, losing its art, science, literature and 

religion would be far on the road to primeval savagery. 

The right training of the young is the spiritual repro 

duction of the race, 

the flower of the nation's civiliza 

tion, the supreme test and the most accurate of its wis 

dom and 

Finley, formerly 

culture." 

Quoted with approval by John H. 

Commissioner of Education of New York 

State, from words written by Dr. Henry L. Smith of 

Washington-Lee University,


Qbsnfii&i o/ tlia ReldXfiaud, Wotld 


Christian Governor of Bombay 

The governor of Bombay, Maharaj Singh, is the first 

Christian governor of India. He does not smoke, drink 

or dance. 

Madras Presidency is Dry 

Even though it means a great loss of revenue, the 

Madras Presidency 

"dry.' 

According to the UEA, 

of India has decided to go entirely 

Drinking in France 

France is rapidly degenerating 

into a drunken nation and the Marshall Plan is aiding and 

abetting the process. Paul representative of Ghali, the 

Chicago Daily News in Paris, sends word that all records 

are being broken to meet the French public's demand 

for Scotch and bourbon, Scotch preferred. Whereas even 

the odor of whiskey was used to be scored, today "50,000 

cases of whiskey 

thirst." 

a year would not quench the French 

Formerly the French imported only from 25,000 

to 30,000 cases a year. It is said that thousands of young 

Frenchmen were initiated into the whiskey habit dur 

ing the war, or when visiting London or the United States. 

Millions of dollars of American ERP funds have been 

earmarked for liquor. 

The same authority 

regime in Hungary, fearing 

Revival in Hungary 

as above says: "The Communist 

the rapid growth of Protest 

antism, is beginning to clamp down on the freedom 

hitherto allowed church leaders. The Lutherans par 

ticularly are feeling the iron heel. The Lutheran and 

the Reformed churches have been working 

together in 

a nationwide effort to evangelize the people. For three 

weeks 300 important street corners were occupied by 

300 Christian workers distributing tracts and invitations 

to religious meetings. There were twenty-one such 

meetings in Budapest alone. Literally 

thousands were 

saved. Evangelicalism was literally sweeping Hungary 

when the 'red' 

purge began. Open State opposition is 

not apparent and religious interest is still high but some 

observers are seeing the handwriting 

on the 

Large Enrollment at Calvin 

wall.' 

The enrollment at Calvin College has broken all previ 

ous records. There were 1400 students enrolled and 

th registration was not complete as reported in The Ban 

ner. 

Food Trains for Europe 

We are told by Presbyterian Life that, "'Friendship' 

trains are on the move again. In spite of the elections, 

inflation, the European aid program, 

and increased in 

ternational uneasiness, American church people are still 

aware that the more they send abroad, the more lives 

will be saved. 

As usual, most of the food for the trains is coming 

from the West and the South. And this year, as in the 

past, the food train project is sponsored by Church World 

Service, Lutheran World Relief, and the Catholic Rural 

Life Conference through the medium of the Christian 

Rural Overseas Program (CROP). 

The trains, 

timed to coincide with this year's bumper 

wheat crops, started on their way late in August, although 

Wisconsin assembled a milk train in July. Over twenty 

food trains are scheduled to be made up before 1949, 

the majority of these around Thanksgiving time. 

The Westminster Confession 

Dr. W. D. Chamberlain, in his answers to questions 

sent to him, when answering, What is meant by the West 

minster Confession, replies in part: "The Westminster 

Confession of Faith is one of the three doctrinal stand 

ards of Our Church, the other two being the Larger and 

Shorter Catechisms. These were formulated by the 

Westminster Assembly, so named because the meetings 

were held in the Abbey Church of Westminster. 

The Assembly met at the call of the Long Parliment 

in 1643 to revise the Thirty-nine Articles, which were, 

in turn, 

a revision of the Forty-two Articles of 1571. 

These had embodied successively 

English Church. 

the theology of the 

The Westminster Assembly, composed of the ablest 

theologians of the time, did the work of revision. The 

largest group in the Assembly were Presbyterians, from 

both England and Scotland." 

Synod of Ireland 

The Minutes of the Synod of the Reformed Presby 

terian Church of Ireland have come to hand through the 

generosity of Mr. Holmes who is following in his father's 

footsteps in sending them to us. We have not yet had 

time to review the Minutes so as to summarize them but 

we note that a committee on Terms of Communion re 

ported, placing two sets of terms before the Synod in 

order that they might choose one set or the other. The 

Synod referred the report back to the committee for 

further consideration to report at the next meeting of 

Synod and to prepare a summary of the Testimony of 

the Church and report at the next meeting. 

The committee on Marriage Affinity 

was continued 

and authorized to keep in touch with the corresponding 

committee of the R. P. Church of North America, so 

that, if possible, the decisions arrived, at by both Synods 


TXTXa PflirPV 4 MT1?r> WTTl'M"t7,OC' Published each "Wednesday bv the Reformed Presbyterian ] 

IrirL tU VJM\ AIN lri,n WI llNrCSC) . Church of North America, through its editorial office. 

Rpv. D. Raymond Taggart, D. P., Editor and Manager, 120(1 Enswell Avenue, Topeka, Kansas. 

S2.00 per year; foreign -S2.50 per year: single copies 5c. Special rates to congregations. 

Entered as second class matter at Post Office in Topeka, Kansas, 


The Rev. R. B. Lyons. B. A.. Limavady, X. Ireland, agent for the British Isles. 

under the act of March 

ism.


GwiA&nt ouestii, Prof. John Coleman, PhD., D. D. 

At this writing the election is still several days off 

and the blockade of Berlin is still in operation, so both 

may be passed without comment. But election litera 

ture is plentiful, 

and a CIO pamphlet against the Taft- 

Hartley Act deserves consideration. When that measure 

was passed, labor leaders called it a "slave-labor" bill 

and were most virulent in their attacks. Some of us 

were not so sure the charge was justified, 

get details. 

1. Boycotts. "The law," 

and now we 

says the pamphlet, "has been 

interpreted to mean that your union cannot strike in sup 

port of any 

other union. To do so means your union 

can be sued for alleged damages caused by 

such action. 

.... You cannot collectively refuse to work on goods 

manufactured by non-union or scab labor 

" 

Fine! 

Chain strikes have been the bans of American industry 

and American life. Any 

such strike anywheie might 

bring the whole nation into economic chaos. 

2. Dues and initiation fees. "The National Labor 

Relations Board now has the power to determine what 

fees shall be charged by a union on an appeal by any 

person 

affected." 

Fine! A union in Western Pennsylvania has been 

charging an initiation fee of $200. An Ohio labor leader 

boasted to the writer that he makes his unionists (and 

he is head of a large union) pay 10% of their wages into 

the union treasury. 

3. Union instead of closed shop. "Union men are com 

pelled to work with non-union men hired by the employ 

ers for at least a period of thirty (30) days. If the un 

ion has a so-called union-shop 

agreement the non-union 

man is required to join within the 30 day 

period. If 

the union refuses to accept him, then he continues to 

work without affiliation with the union, even though 

he has consistently worked against the union and ethi 

cal practices or even if he or she is an avowed Commun 

ist." 

Fine! The union ought not to have the pov/er to keep 

any man the leaders may dislike from earning a living 

in his chosen trade. Why should a union have totalitari 

an powers any more than a government? The Bar As 

sociation in some Pennsylvania counties is able to shut 

out young lawyers from admission to practice in their 

areas: The American Bar Association ought to be put 

under the Labor Relations Board. 

4. No payment for work not actually performed. "This 

provision is so worded that present agreements provid 

ing for rest periods, traveling time, 

overtime rates can be ruled illegal. 

breakdown time and 

This item is intended to prevent "standby" 

employ 

ees being required by Petrillo and others. Men working 

on a house refuse to put in windows in which the glass 

in the sash has been inserted by the factory unless they 

are paid the amount they would have made if they had 

done the job. Farmers going into New York City have 

been forced to pay 

a truck driver, even though he never 

gets on the truck. The unions have themselves to blame. 

No cases are presented in which rest periods, etc., are 

unpaid, and overtime pay is required by the Wages and 

Hours Act, which is not annulled by the Taft-Hartley 

Act. 

5. Non-Communist affidavits. "All union officers are 

required to file an affidavit with the government stat 

Party." 

ing they are not members of the Communist 

Fine! In France the Communist-led unions are en 

deavoring to smash French recovery so that the Marshall 

Plan will fail and chaos will bring Communism. The 

Communists hate prosperity in ill non-Communist lands 

and have none in Communist lands. So long 

unions are Communist-led they 

any leniency would be folly. 

as labor 

are arms of Moscow and 

6. Right to strike restricted. "Regardless of the amount 

of time consumed by a Union in negotiating 

ployers, this Act requires a 60-day 

wijth em 

notification to the 

Board of the intention of the union to take strike action." 

Fine again! The general public has some rights, and 

tragedy is close when necessary supplies are cut off sud 

denly and even for a very small matter, with the idea of 

using dire public necessity as a club. 

7. Injunctions. "Restores indiscriminate issuance of 

injunctions in labor disputes." 

Wrong; 

there has to be 

a public necessity to justify the courts in issuing injunc 

tions, and these are at first only temporary 

justification has been thoroughly 

until then- 

considered. No John 

L. Lewis ought to be able to paralyze the life of the na 

tion until such time as he gets just what he wants. As 

a matter of fact there were more men out on strikes in 

September, 1948, than for some time, 

were not used against them. 

and injunctions 

The unions are a necessary part of our industrial life, 

and where they do not exist, 

as in some parts of the 

South, the condition of the employees is outrageous. 

Conditions were outrageous in the North before we had 

unions. The reactionaries who say 

right "if properly carried 

in a pine box," 

out" 

that unions are all 

usually mean "carried out 

and make no effort to end the abuses 

that have made unions a necessity in many fields. But 

as we limit corporations to prevent trusts and unfair 

practices, 

so we ought to limit unions to prevent gross 

abuses and gross exploitation of the public. The Taft- 

Hartley 

Act should remain on the statute books. 

* * --J: 

* 

& 

The Federal Courts have acted against the stainless- 

steel manufacturers for monopolistic practices and they 

have generally admitted the charge by entering nolle- 

contendere pleas. It is to be hoped that Mr. Dewey, if 

he wins, will not decrease the present activity in the 

enforcement of the Sherman Anti-Trust laws. His party 

tried in the last Congress to weaken these laws. 

by 

* * * * * 

A new machine for digging coal has been brought out 

a Pittsburgh concern the Sunnyhill Coal Co. A 

miner now produces on the average 5 tons a day, the 

best mechanized mines 20 tons, per man, 

chine can produce 500 to 1000 tons a day 

but this ma 

and all with 

out explosives. It will work in seams as low as 36 inches. 

The great trouble is to get the coal away. The machines 

would load the cars if they were present, but apparently 

only 

the endless-belt methods will get the coal out of 

the way fast enough. The machine may revolutionize 

coal mining here and abroad.


The National Reform Issue of The Covenanter 

Witness 

R. H. Martin, D. D. 

In this National Reform issue of The Covenant 

er Witness, the copy of which we are furnishing, 

we are following the example of the apostle Paul. 

The center of the expansive missionary enter 

prise of the early Christian Church was not Jer 

usalem, but Antioch. It was the Antioch Chris 

tians who first grasped the fuller meaning and 

obligation of the Great Commission to proclaim 

the Gospel to Gentiles as well as Jews and to the 

people of all lands and who resolved to do some 

thing about it. After prayer and fasting they 

chose Paul and Barnabas as their representatives 

to proclim the Gospel both to Jews and Gentiles 

beyond their own country. They went forth first 

to Cyprus, then to the mainland of Asia Minor 

preaching Christ and establishing churches. Af 

ter about one year they resolved to retrace their 

steps and go back to Antioch from where they 

were sent forth. On reaching Antioch, they gath 

ered the Church together. Instead of delivering 

a sermon on the Great Commission in the words of 

Scripture, they "rehearsed all that God had done 

with them" 

in carrying this Commission. We ex 

pect our missionaries to China and Syria, when 

they return home from these lands, not to deliver 

messages on the Great Commission, but to fol 

low Paul's example and tell how God has used 

them in fulfilling the requirements of this Com 

mission. 

We who are engaged in the work of National 

Reform are also missionaries God's missionaries 

to our nation. God has a message for nations as 

truly 

as for the individuals who constitute na 

tions. The Great Commission includes this mes 

sage to nations, "Go ye", said Christ, "disciple 

all nations- -....teaching them whatsoever I have 

commanded." 

National Reformers are those who have grasped 

this fuller meaning and obligation of the Great 

Commission and are resolved to do something 

about meeting its obligations. The National Re 

form Association came into being by the action 

of Christians of the Reformed Presbyterian 

Church and of other churches who banded them 

selves together to proclaim and apply the mes 

sage of God's Word to our nation. They are Anti 

och Christians of our times. The Reformed Pres 

byterian Church has not only furnished many of 

the workers of the Association, but has approved 

it and supported it both by its prayers and con 

tributions throughout its history. So that, we 

can truly say, it sends forth its representatives as 

missionaries, God's spokesmen to give His mes 

sage to our nation. And as Paul and Barnabas 

came back to Antioch to those who sent them 

forth, so we National Reformers come back to 

those who sent us forth, not to give a message 

on the great Scriptural truths which lie back of 

the National Reform Movement the moral char 

acter and accountability of nations, God's sover 

eignty over nations, Christ's rulership of nations, 

the Bible the supreme law for national life, the 

duty of nations to acknowledge this Divine ruler 

ship and order its life accordingly, etc. (Reform 

ed Presbyterians are well informed on these 

Christian principles of civil government) but 

following Paul's example, to tell how God has 

used us in carrying forward this great task for 

the Christianizing 

mental life. 

of our national and govern 

The National Reform Program 

I. Publication of the Christian Statesman 

every other month. Formerly every three 

months. Number of copies published 

25,000, reaching probably 150,000 people 

many of whom are Christian leaders. 

II. 100,000 copies of liquor leaflets printed 

in colors and distributed largely from 

house to house reaching those who most 

need the information and appeal they con 

tain. 

III. 10,000 copies of a 9 x 12", two-page leaf 

let prepared and published for use in the 

campaign to prevent the repeal of con 

stitutional prohibition in Kansas, largely 

distributed from house to house or 

through the mail. A large part of this 

leaflet appears in this issue of The Cove 

nanter Witness under the title "Legal 

Liquor in America Since Repeal." 

IV. 50 addresses against repeal of constitu 

tional prohibition in Kansas made by Dr. 

R. H. Martin. Itinerary appears on page 

255 in this issue. 

V. Rev. E. M. Hertzler continued his Bible 

in the Schools work contacting superin 

tendents of schools and religious leaders 

in various communities in Ohio and In 

diana arranging for classes in Bible study 

in the public schools until the Supreme 

Court decision in the atheist school case 

when it was deemed inexpedient to con 

tinue this work. Had it not been for this 

Court's adverse decision he would prob 

ably now have had to his credit 10 or 12 

thousand students studying the Bible each 

week under trained teachers, to add to 

the 42,000 students who were already 

schools' 

studying the Bible in the due to 

his efforts. 

While our information is incomplete, 

we have good reason to believe that many 

of these classes are still carrying on. 

though some of them formerly conducted 

in public school buildings are now being 

held in churches. 

VI. Publication and distribution, in nart, of 

5,000 conies of a four-page circular pub 

licizing Dr. Fleming's book, "God in Our 

Public Schools." 

One Baptist bookstore 

in Texas has ordered 105 copies of this 

book within the past three months. 

VII. Publication of the series of articles in the 

last three issues of The Christian States 

man pointing out the errors and fallacies 

in the U. S. Supreme Court decision in 

the McCollum school case excluding all


religious instruction from the public 

schools. These articles will be revised 

and published in document form for wide 

circulation throughout the U. S. 

VIII. Our Association took a prominent part in 

the hearings before a Committee of the 

U. S. Senate on the Capper Bill to pro 

hibit liquor advertising. 

IX. Sam Morris Meetings. Under the aus 

pices of The National Reform Associa 

tion, Rev. Sam Morris of San Antonia, 

Tex., known throughout America as the 

Voice of Temperance and America's out 

standing temperance leader, addressed 7 

meetings 6 in Ohio, 1 in Penna. Six of 

these were county-wide meetings. 

X. Cooperation with other groups. Our As 

sociation is a constituent member of the 

National Temperance and Prohibition 

Council. The Association's President, as 

chairman of the Council's Committee A- 

gainst Liquor Advertising, presented his 

annual report on the amount spent in li 

quor advertising to the Council's annual 

meeting in January, 1948. This report 

requires a careful and extensive investi 

gation covering at least a month's time 

per year. He also gives out releases on 

this subject to about 250 religious and 

temperance papers. His figures are ac 

cepted as authoritative and widely quoted 

throughout the country. 

XI. Addresses. Probably 160 addresses were 

made by representatives of the Associa 

tion in addition to those made by the As 

sociation's California Branch on behalf 

of Christian government and various 

phases of National Reform. 

XII. Beaver County Branch of The National 

Reform. Association. Its program of ac 

tivities found elsewhere in this issue of 

The Covenanter Witness. 

XIII. California Branch. See Dr. McCarroll's 

article elsewhere in this issue for up-todate 

report on this Branch. 

XIV. New workers added to Association's staff. 

Rev. David Calderwood, Th. D., for halftime 

service in California and William 

E. Black for half-time service in the Pitts 

burgh district. 

XV. Participation in local option elections on 

liquor and beer in Pennsylvania. 

XVI. Enlarged office quarters. For several 

years past the work of our office was 

greatly hindered due to lack of office 

space. Since January we have two large 

rooms on the fifth floor of the Publica 

tion Building, Pittsburgh, which greatly 

facilitates our office work. 

XVII. An important event is the Annual Meet 

ing of the National Reform Association, 

which will be held in the East Liberty 

Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, Tues 

day, November 23, 1948. 

XVIII. Messages by Geneva College students. 

Four Geneva College students have vol 

unteered their services in giving messages 

on the liquor issue. They have already 

given several addresses and will give many 

more in coming months. Our Beaver 

County Branch has already arranged for 

meetings in each of the 10 Sabbath School 

districts of the County to be addressed by 

these students. 

XIX. The Christian Amendment. All the work 

of The National Reform Association is 

basic and contributory to the securing of 

a Christian Amendment to our National 

Constitution. We have supported the 

amendment introduced into the last Con 

gress in the columns of The Christian 

Statesman and would have given it sup 

port at hearings before the Judiciary Com 

mittees of the House and Senate had such 

hearings been held. 

XX. As for our future program. It will be 

largely along the lines of the past year. 

Some of the items have been mentioned 

above. We are now ready to go to press 

with a new 1947 liquor leaflet which will 

be superior both in content and attrac 

tiveness to those we have published in 

former years. Our program calls for pub 

lishing hundreds of thousands of copies 

of these leaflets and their distribution as 

far as possible from house to house. 

The question of the Bible and religion 

in our public schools has become a burn 

ing issue as a result of the U. S. Supreme 

Court decision in the atheist case. Due 

to this fact and the further fact that the 

determination of this question falls back 

upon the basic issue of whether we shall 

have a Christian or secular government 

and gives a new interest to the discus 

sion of this subject, we wall give more 

attention to our Bible in the schools pro 

gram, than heretofore. 

We also need and hope soon to publish 

much needed literature on the basic prin 

ciples of National Reform. 

XXI. An important work of our Association 

is securing the funds necessary to carry 

forward the 4-\ssociation's program. The 

receipts for this year amounted to ap 

proximately $10,500, of which amount 

Reformed Presbvterians contributed 

$3,631.00. 

IMPORTANT NOTICE 

Contributions, gifts and bequests to the Na 

tional Reform Association are exempt from in 

come tax by a ruling of the Internal Revenue 

Department of the U. S. Government. 

Will pastors please make this announcement 

previous to the taking of the offering for National 

Reform in their Congregations. 

R. H. Martin, President

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October 20, 1948 'HE COVENANTER WITNESS >47 

Versus Secularized Education 

The readers of The Covenanter Witness are familiar with 

Dr. Fleming's book "God in Our Public Schools." 

A good 

number of them have secured a copy of this book for their 

own use and others have secured copies in quantities and 

presented them to public school superintendents and teach 

ers, ministers and other educational and religious leaders. 

Two editions of the book have been disposed of and a third 

edition was printed and two to three hundred copies of 

this edition are already gone. 

This book has been highly commended and has already 

made an impact upon the thinking of many educational and 

religious leaders throughout our country. 

Now that the U. S. Supreme Court in the McCollum school 

case has ruled against the Bible and religion in the public 

schools, this book is needed more than ever and has a still 

greater mission to fulfill. If Dr. Fleming had written this 

book after this Supreme Court decision had been handed 

down few changes would have been nec-essary. Chapter 

Eight of this book refutes nearly every error in the Court's 

opinion in this case. 

THE CLASSIC BOOK ON THIS SUBJECT 

In a letter received from Rev. Robert C. M'Quilkin, D. D.: 

President of Columbia Bible College, Columbia, South Caro 

lina, following the Supreme Court decision in the atheist 

school case, he says : 

"I believe that Dr. W. S. Fleming's book 

on 'God in Our Public Schools' 

is the clas 

sic book on this vital question of the rela 

tion of our public schools to God and the 

Bible." 

Concerning this decision and Dr. Fleming's book 

he says: 

"There' 

is an astonishing 

confusion in 

the minds of religious leaders on the 

principles involved. This confusion has 

come to a climax in the recent decision 

of the United States Supreme Court in 

the McCollum Case. The Supreme Court 

justices are unbelievably 

confused on 

the definition of the word 'sectarian' 

and the relation of 'sectarianism' 

to secu 

larism on the one hand, and to the Bible 

and Christianity on the other. This re 

cent decision flies right in the face of 

the former solemn pronouncements 

of the Supreme Court of the United 

question." 

States on this 

"Dr. Fleming's book is the best thing I 

know to present the whole issue in a care 

way." 

ful, scholarly and Christian 

We are confident that pastors and members of 

the Reformed Presbyterian Church are deeply in 

terested in the refutation of the Supreme Court's 

errors in this case and in otherwise assisting in 

carrying forward the National Reform program 

for the Bible and religion in our public schools. 

This book placed in the hands of key persons 

superintendents, principals, teachers in our pub 

lic schools, members of school boards, parentteachers 

associations, W. C. T. Union officers, 

COD 

IN OUR 

HJBUC ! 

CH00LS 

GOD IN OUR 

PUBLIC SCHOOLS 

Tlurii R>" 

pastors and other religious leaders in school and 

public libraries, will be a most effective way of 

advancing this cause. 

The Christmas Season is approaching. Why 

not secure copies of this book and present them 

to some of these key persons ? 

Gerda Koch, a school teacher in Franksville, 

Wisconsin, wrote The National Reform office 

November 15th last asking us to send her seven 

copies of Dr. Fleming's book, six copies for Christ 

mas presents. She says: "I am sorry I have not 

heard of it sooner. I am using it plenty now, es 

pecially for my English paper entitled, 'The Need 

of Putting God into our Public Schools.' 

Dr. Fleming heartily for 

me." 

Thank 

Another teacher. Miss Joann Brooks of Semi 

nary Hill, Fort Worth, Texa^, ordered fourteen 

copies for Christmas gifts, sending us the names 

and addresses of as many persons to whom to 

mail them university president and professors, 

superintendents and teachers of public schools, 

editors, bank presidents. 

In both cases checks covering the cost of the 

books were included in the letters. Why not fol 

low the example of these fine Christian teachers? 

We will send copies direct to you, or if you pre 

fer, send us the names and addresses of those to 

whom you wish copies sent and we will mail the 

copies postpaid $1.50 per copy.


Faith in GodThe Foundation of Our Democracy 

Luther A. Weigle, Ph. D., D. D. 

Dean of the Divinity School of Yale University 

"Beneath all other contributing factors, modern 

democracy is rooted in religious faith. Our ideals 

of freedom spring from faith in God. The six 

teenth century brought the Bible to the people 

in their own tongue. 'England, says Green in 

his 'Short History of the English 

the people of a book, and that book was the Bible. 

people,' 

'became 

The whole temper of the nation felt the change. 

A new conception of life and of man superseded 

old.' 

the 

"In the seventeenth century, this new concep 

tion of life challenged the absolutism of the Stu 

art kings. In the eighteenth century, the princi 

ples set forth in the Bill of Rights of 1689 were 

thought through and lived out on American soil, 

and they eventuated in our Declaration of Inde 

pendence and the establishment of the United 

States of America. 

'"The basic postulate of the democratic faith,' 

says Professor Ralph Gabriel in his objective stu 

dy, The Course of Ameiican Democratic Thought, 

'affirmed that God, the creator of man, has also 

created a moral law for his government and has 

endowed him with a conscience with which to 

apprehend it. Underneath and supporting human 

society, as the basic rock supports the hills, is 

a moral order which is the abiding place of the 

eternal principles of truth and 

righteousness.' 

"From the point of view of the descriptive sci 

ences, the first of the self-evident truths stated 

in our Declaration of Independence is not evident. 

It is simply not true that all men are created equal. 

But from the point of view of the law and love of 

God it is true, and that is the point of view that 

the authors of the Declaration took. They as 

sumed the equality 

laws of nature and of nature's God.' 

That means 

their equality before His impartial justice and 

His fatherly love. Faith in God underlies and is 

distinctly 

of men in the light of 'the 

avowed in the Declaration of Inde 

pendence. So only does the Declaration make 

sense. 

"The principle of the separation of the church 

and state, as we hold it here in America, is often 

misunderstood and misapplied. It means just 

what the phrase implies that church and state 

are mutually free. It means a separation of con 

trol so that neither church nor state will attempt 

to control the other. But it does not mean that 

the state acknowledges no God, or that the state 

is exempt from the moral law wherewith God 

sets the bounds of justice for nations as well as 

for individuals. 

"There is nothing in the status of the public 

school as an institution of the state, therefore, 

to render it godless. There is nothing in the prin 

ciple of religious freedom or the separation of 

church and state to hinder the school's acknow 

ledgement of the power and goodness of God. The 

common religious faith of the American people, 

as distinguished from the sectarian forms in 

which it is organized, may rightfully be assumed 

and find appropriate expression in the life and 

work of the public schools. 

"We must keep sectarianism out of our public 

schools. But that does not necessitate stripping the 

schools of religion. To exclude religion from the 

public schools would be to surrender these schools 

to the sectarianism of atheism or irreligion. To 

omit faith in God from our philosophy of educa 

tion and from the program of our schools is to 

convey to children and youth a strong negative 

rather than to 

suggestion which tends to nullify 

fulfill our American principle of religious liberty. 

It is to undertake the impossible task of attempt 

ing to perpetuate and advance a culture the 

American way of life without informing our 

children as to the faith which has inspired and 

sustained that culture. It is to imperil the fu 

ture of American Democracy." 

From Dr. Weigle's 

Introduction to "God in Our Public Schools." 

ture of American Democracy." 

From Dr. Wei- 

gle's Introduction to "God in Our Public Schools." 

The Bible In Education 

Editor. 

National Reform Association Bible in the Schools 

Program AND $10,000 Memorial Fund 

The National Reform Association plans to give 

more time and put forth more effort than here 

tofore in carrying forward its program for the 

Bible and moral and non-sectarian religious in 

struction in the public schools due to the recent 

decision of the U. S. Supreme Court in the Vashti 

McCollum school case. A large place in this pro 

gram will be given to showing up the errors, fal 

lacies and contradictions of the Court's opinion 

in this case, in addresses from the platform and 

in the publication and wide distribution of lit 

erature prepared for this purpose. 

Three extended articles on this decision have 

already been published in The Christian Statesman. 

These are being revised and will soon be 

published in pamphlet form for wide distribution 

throughout the nation. The purpose is to help 

build up a public opinion on this issue which will 

eventually lead to a reversal of this decision. 

The program, however, 

It calls for: 

goes far beyond this. 

I. Daily devotional reading of the Bible and 

prayer in the public schools of the nation. 

II. Moral and non-sectarian religious instruction 

in the public schools with the Bible as the 

textbook. 

III. The preparation, publication and use in our 

public schools of textbooks with a moral and 

religious content textbooks of the character 

of the McGuffey Readers, so widely 

the schools for almost half a century. 

used in


This program will be carried forward by 

addresses and by literature already in hand 

and literature to be prepared on this subject: 

a. Dr. Fleming's book, "God in Our Pub 

lic Schools," 

now in its third edition, 

the classic book on this subject, has al 

ready made an impact upon the thinking 

of many educational and religious lead 

ers and is more needed and effective 

since the adverse ruling of the Supreme 

Court. 

b. A booklet on this subject covering the 

more important related points and writ 

ten in popular style for common and 

busy folk, is greatly needed. We hope 

to provide it in the near future. 

IV. Securing the funds to carry forward this 

work is an important part of this program. 

To this end the Board of Directors of the Na 

tional Reform Association authorized the 

raising of a Memorial Fund of $10,000 in 

memory of Drs. J. S. Martin, W. S. Fleming, 

and W. W. T. Duncan, recently deceased, all 

of whom were leaders in the National Reform 

Association and deeply interested in its Bible 

in the schools work. About $2,500 of this a- 

mount has been contributed in sums varying 

from a few dollars to several hundred. A 

concerted effort will now be made to secure 

the entire amount to make possible the carry 

ing forward of a much larger program in 

this field of Christian work. When this a- 

mount has been secured from friends of our 

Association, the Association will undertake 

the raising of a much larger sum from others 

interested in this cause, who are not acquaint 

ed with our Association's work. 

Synod has approved the raising of this special 

Memorial Fund and requests liberal contributions 

to it from the members of the Reformed Presby 

terian Church. Here is an opportunity to invest 

a portion of the Lord's money entrusted to you 

where it will bring large returns in building the 

character of the American youth, strengthening 

them to meet the many temptations of our 20th 

Century American life and in laying a necessary 

foundation for making ours a truly Christian 

nation. 

Send your contribution to The National Reform 

Association, 209 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh, 22, 

Pa., and indicate it is for the Memorial Fund. 

National Reform and the Sabbath 

The Sabbath has always had a place in the 

program of the National Reform Association. Its 

greatest contribution to this cause in recent years 

has been in providing two books on this subject 

These 

"The Day," 

and "Six Studies of The Day." 

books met a real need and the Association still 

has calls for them. This past year a Presbyterian 

Presbytery 

secured 125 copies of "Six Studies of 

The for use in the study 

of the Sabbath in 

a Summer Conference. This Presbytery values 

the Association's work on behalf of the Sabbath 

so highly that it has contributed $300 a year to 

the Association for the past two years. 

The Supreme Court and 

the Atheist School Case 

The decision of the Supreme Court of the Unit 

ed States in the Champaign, Illinois, school case, 

with the reasons given in support of the decision, 

was the greatest mistake this high court has ever 

made, and the most disastrous, if the principles 

enunciated are carried out to their logical con 

clusion. It would result not only in a Bibleless, 

Christless, Godless system of public education in 

our country, but also in the elimination of every 

Christian feature of our national life and in mak 

ing our nation a secular, atheistic state. 

We hasten to add, it is our conviction this will 

never occur. The millions of God-fearing citi 

zens of our country will not permit it. This high 

court is not supreme. The people (under God) 

are supreme in our democracy. Public officials 

are their servants, not their masters. When 

those whom they 

choose to represent them mis 

represent them, they will find ways of displacing 

them, or of correcting their errors. We predict 

they will do so in this case. 

The Supreme Court is not infallible. It has 

never claimed infallibility. It has made mistakes 

in the past and with further light and study, has 

recognized its mistakes and has had the honesty 

and courage to correct them. Sooner or later we 

believe this will result in this case. 

But that it may result, the errors, fallacies of 

the Court in this case must be given the widest 

possible publicity : also the dire disaster that 

would result to our public schools and nation if 

the principles enunciated by the Court were car 

ried out to their logical conclusion. This will 

build up a public sentiment that will eventually 

result in a reversal of this decision. In this case, 

it will not be, as some one has put it, atheism's 

greatest victory, but atheism's greatest defeat. 

This we believe to be a high duty that we, as 

Christian citizens, owe American youth, our na 

tion, the cause of liberty and democracy even the 

Supreme Court itself. 

What the atheist woman in whose name this 

case was taken into Court and appealed to the 

U. S. Supreme Court demanded was. not only the 

discontinuance of the "released-time" 

program 

conducted in the public schools of Champaign, 

111., but of "all instruction in and teaching 

of re 

ligious education in all public schools and in all 

public school buildings of said 

district." 

The 

Court directed this to be done without any limi 

tation or restriction. As one of the Justices of 

the high Court said, "She would ban all teaching 

of the Scriptures, every form of teaching which 

suggests or recognizes that there is a God." 

Eight of the nine Justices concurred in the de 

cision though some of these wrote separate opin 

ions, declaring that some limitations should have 

been placed upon the decision. Only one Justice 

Reed dissented and wrote a strong dissenting 

opinion.


Errors and Fallacies 

The limitation of this article will permit of 

only a statement and brief explanation of the main 

errors of the Court. For a much more complete 

statement and refutation of the Court's errors 

we refer the readers of The Covenanter Witness 

to three extended articles on this subject appear 

in the last three issues of The Christian States 

ing 

man. 

Error No. 1. In interpreting the prohibition of 

"an establishment of 

religion" 

in the First Amend 

ment to the Constitution, as banishing religion 

whereas its true intent was to 

from the state, 

disestablish any and every church. For example, 

the Episcopal Church once was the established 

church in Virginia that is to separate church 

and state so that neither will attempt to control 

the other. 

Error No. 2. In making the church and reli 

gion identical whereas they are widely different. 

The church is a religious organization and reli 

gion is a life, a spirit, a principle which by its 

very nature should permeate every 

society. 

institution of 

Error No. 3. In confounding sectarianism and 

instruction with religious instruction sectarian 

ism with religion. Christianity, Judaism, Moham 

medanism, Buddhism are different religions 

not sects. Sects are groups within a religion. 

Pharisees and Sadducees were sects of Judaism. 

Protestants, Catholics, Presbyterians, Baptists, 

are sects of Christianity. They differ in minor 

matters; the basic doctrines and teaching of 

Christianity they hold in common. This distinc 

tion the Court ignored and in large measure bas 

ed its arguments against religion in the schools 

on the ground that the exclusion of sectarianism 

from the schools (which our laws properly do) 

means the exclusion of religion. 

Error No. 4. In claiming that the exclusion of 

religion from the schools was not inimical to re 

ligion but "good for it." 

Whereas a secular sys 

tem of public education would exert a subtle, but 

powerful influence against religion, and secular 

ize American life faster than the church would 

be able to Christianize it. 

The Court did not limit the application of the 

principles enunciated to excluding 

religion from 

the public schools. It declares the separation of 

church and state means the exclusion of reli 

gion from the state. This would prevent the state 

from administering the oath (which is a strictly 

religious act) to public officials, jurors and wit 

nesses in our Courts. In fact it would invalidate 

the oaths which have been taken, even those Su 

preme Court Justices took; require the dismissal 

of chaplains in Congress, State Legislatures, in 

the army and navy, the extraction of acknowledge 

ments of God in our State Constitutions, the ex 

punging of the religious declaration from the 

Declaration of Independence, the discontinuance 

of our national Thanksgiving days and every oth 

er Christian feature of our national life. It 

would exclude God from every department and 

activitv of the state. 

The exclusion of God and religion from our 

public schools would be disaster of the first mag 

nitude. It would mean that fully half of Ameri 

can youth would, in this so-called Christian land, 

with no religious instruction and 

very inadequate and ineffective instruction in 

grow up 

morals. All the churches of America are now 

reaching less than half of the 30,000,000, of our 

youth of public school age, with religious instruc 

tion. The half they are not reaching come largely 

from religionless homes. With religion banished 

from the public schools, they will grow up like 

pagans in a pagan land unfitted for the duties of 

citizenship, and increasing the already menacing 

lawless and criminal element of our population. 

But to stop here would miss the most impor 

tant question involved whether America is to 

be a secular, 

atheistic state or a Christian state. 

For this decision is based upon the secular theory 

of civil government. If it is to be the former 

this means the downfall of our nation. Calvin 

Coolidge has truly said, "the secular theory of 

the state cannot stand. Unless destroyed it will 

shake this nation to its foundation." 

We must make it the latter. 

This decision of the Supreme Court is a chal 

lenge to the National Reform Association with 

respect not only to its program for the Bible and 

religion in the schools, but to its entire program 

for Christian as against secular government. It 

has made a burning issue of this question of re 

ligion in the schools, an issue in which vast num 

bers of American citizens are deeply concerned: 

and along with this it has brought to the front 

and made a practical issue of the deeper question 

of whether we are to be an atheistic or Christian 

nation. It is a challenge to the Christian Church 

es and Christian citizens of America. 

There is much confusion in our country, even 

among many Christians, on this matter of the 

Bible and religion in the schools, of what is in 

volved in our American doctrine of the separa 

tion of the church and state, and of what should 

be the relation of religion to the state. If this 

decision of the Supreme Court leads to a much 

needed study of this issue, if our Christian lead 

ers take up the discussion of this subject from 

a Christian standpoint and develop a correct pub 

lic sentiment on these great issues what appears 

now to be a major disaster will result in a great 

blessing to America. 

As for The National Reform Association we 

expect to put forth our best efforts to this end. 



may be in agreement with each other. 

Expansion in Foreign 

Missions 

The secretary of the Foreign Missions Conference, W. 

C. Fairfield, tells us that one hundred and eight foreign 

mission boards have approved a joint campaign this fall 

for a vast five to ten-year expansion program in over 

seas work. It is expected that $150,000,000 will be re 

quired for the first five years of this undertaking.


N. R. A. 

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BRANCH 

Report of Activities 

By Walter McCarroll 

The activities of the past year have been largely 

along two lines, a program designed to create pub 

lic support for the reading of the Bible in the 

public schools of the State, and lectures in behalf 

of the Christian Amendment. Our field repre 

sentative, Dr. David Calderwood, has been dili 

gent in presenting the cause before Ministerial 

Associations, Teachers' 

Institutes, denomination 

al Synods, Assemblies, Conferences, etc., as well 

as in Churches and Clubs of one kind and another. 

Providentially an opportunity 

was afforded us 

to present the cause before a sub-committee of a 

Commission appointed to revise the State Consti 

tution. This hearing was held March 20 in the 

State Building in Los Angeles, and was in charge 

of Andrae B. Nordskog a member of the State 

Advisory Board. Some sixty representatives of 

various church and other organizations were pre 

sent and spoke for the reading of the Bible in the 

public schools and in favor of including such a 

provision in the new constitution. Two days lat 

er Mr. Nordskog gave a fine account of the hear 

ing in a message over the radio. In April a hear 

ing was granted the opponents of the measure 

which was attended by only 18 or 20 persons. A 

Jewish lawyer, representing the Jewish communi 

ty of Los Angeles, opposed the measure on the 

ground that it would be a violation of the Ameri 

can doctrine of the separation of church and state. 

A Christian Scientist also opposed it on the same 

ground, but afterwards this position was revers 

ed by the national organization of the Christian 

Scientists. Others, 

who appeared to be atheists 

or communists, opposed on the ground that the 

state is secular. 

In July three public meetings were held in El 

Monte, Los Angeles, 

and Santa Ana in behalf of 

this cause with Mr. Nordskog as the principal 

speaker. While this sub-committee was favor 

able and so recommended to the full Commission, 

yet the nine other sub-committees voted to elimi 

nate only obsolete matter from the old constitu 

tion and to recommend no new additions. This 

was not surprising so was not disconcerting. It 

was a door providentially opened and gained many 

new friends for the cause. 

I gave the flannelgraph lecture on the Chris 

tian Amendment, 

some ten times during 

entitled "Christ for the Nation" 

the year. A pamphlet en 

titled "The State and the Bible" 

was prepared 

and printed with a first edition of 5,000 copies. 

In December a letter with material on the Bible in 

our public schools was sent to some 600 pastors. 

Gifford Gordon, nationally known temperance 

advocate, gave considerable publicity to the work 

of our Association in his radio talks over station 

California. Later we sent 

KGER, Long Beach, 

a letter with informative material to 500 people 

who had pledged prayer and financial support 

for our program. Still later we sent a letter with 

folders dealing with proposed legislation to auth 

orize the reading of the Bible in our public schools 

to the 115 members of the State Legislature, Sen 

ators and Assembly men. 

On October 27 a Christian Citizenship Confer 

ence was held in the United Presbyterian Church 

of Santa Ana in which a number of the churches 

of the town united in the fallowing program: 

Theme: RESPONSIBLITY OF THE CHRIS 

TIAN CITIZEN 

I. In the Sphere of the Civil Sabbath. 

Address : Vital Role of the Christian Sab 

bath in Community Weil-Being. 

by the Rev. R. A. Young, Spur- 

geon Memorial Methodist Church. 

Address : What Christians Can Do to Pro 

mote A Better Observance of the 

Lord's Day. By the Rev. Oran H. 

Smith, Bible Center Church. 

II. In the Sphere of Civil Government. 

Address : A Christian Philosophy 

of Govern 

ment. By the Rev. Walter McCar 

roll, President of So. Calif. Branch 

of the N. R. A. 

Address : A Proposed Christian Amendment 

to the Constitution. By the Rev. 

Alvin W. Smith, Orlando, Florida. 

III. In the Sphere of Public Education. 

Address : The Bible Indispensable in Educa 

tion. By the Rev. DeWitt Safford, 

United Presbyterian Church. 

Address : Requiring Daily Bible Reading in 

Our Public Schools. By the Rev. 

David Calderwood, Greyfriars 

Church, Los Angeles. 

The annual meeting of the Association is sched 

uled for November 19 in the Second Presbyterian 

Church, 2500 N. Griffin Ave., Los Angeles. 

Beaver County, Pa., Branch 

The Beaver County Branch of The National 

Reform Association has an Executive Committee 

of 17 members pastors, schoolmen, Christian 

business men and an attorney. E. D. Davidson, 

County Superintendent of Public Schools, is Pres 

ident ; W. A. Bliss, Vice President of the Dravo 

Construction Co., Vice President ; Rev. H. P. 

Smith, United Presbyterian Pastor, Secretary. 

This Branch has been active for a number of 

meeting- 

years. At a recent of the Executive 

Committee it was decided to enlarge the program 

for the coming year to include the following : 

Eight Point Program 

1. Publish and distribute (from house to house 

as far as possible) 25,000 copies of a new 1947 

liquor leaflet in colors visualizing the enormous 

cost of liquor in terms of money and character. 

2. Furnish up-to-date and appropriate litera 

ture to the churches and Sabbath Schools of the 

county for use on Temperance Sabbaths and to 

suggest action on liquor issues. 

3. Develop 

an informed public opinion so as to 



LEGAL LIQUOR IN AMERICA SINCE REPEAL 

1947 

THE PEOPLE OF THE OniTED STATES SPEflT FOR 

INTOXICATING LIQUORS IN 

$9,640,000,000.00 

* Per Capjta *68-8 

PUBLIC SCHOOL EDUCATION 

IS4B per capita $20.76 $2,906,857,221.00 ** (Total Expense) 

1946 Tr^rtTST $1,730,562,749.00 

* * 

(Teachers Salaries) 

With Liquor Legalized The American People Are Now Spending 

$3 13 for Liquor for every $1.00 for Public Education 

$5 12 for Liquor for every $1.00 for School Teachers' 

Salaries 

10,000,000 NEW HOMES NEEDED IN THE U.S. IN THE NEXT 10 

YEARS 

"Leading public and private housing authorities gen- dwelling accomodations each year for the next ten years 

erally agree that we must build a minimum of 1,000,000 to relieve the present critical shortage." 

housing 

The $9,640,000,000.00 Spent for Legal Liquor in 1947 Would Have Built 1,000,000 

HOMES AT AN AVERAGE COST OF $9,640.00 EACH. 

If the Present Rate of Liquor Expenditures Is Kept Means for Building the 10,000,000 HOMES REQUIRED 

Up for Ten Years, 

This Amount Would Provide the TO PROPERLY HOUSE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. 

INDUSTRY'S ANNUAL LOSS FROM ALCOHOLISM 

$1,000,000,000. 

This is the estimated loss to Industry from absentee- in Chicago, 111., on March 26, 1948, and attended by more 

ism and inefficiency due to alcoholism by the FIRST than 300 Representatives of over 50 different lines of 

INDUSTRIAL CONFERENCE ON ALCOHOLISM held industry from 38 States, Canada, 

and Mexico. 

LIQUOR ADVERTISING EXPENDITURES FOR 1947 

$150,000,000. (approximately) 

To glamorize and popularize drinking and thus in- $25,000,000 in advertising on these three media and prob- 

crease their profits, The Liquor Industry is spending vast ably enough on other media to bring their total up to 

sums in bewitchingly attractive but misleading and false 

$40,000,000.00. Based upon purely business sources, the 

total advertising expense of the Industry for 1947 would 

advertising in magazines, newpapers, over the radio, and , *.- 

. 

" ' 

_ x .4, 

, 

approximate $150,000,000.00. Life Magazine's revenue 

other media. Four big distillery companies 

Seagrams, from liquor, wine and beer advertisements in 1947 was 

Schenley, National, and Hiram Walker in 1947 spent $9,500,000. It claims a readership of 26,000,000.


THE HUMAN COST OF THE LEGALIZED LIQUOR TRAFFIC 

1. THE COST TO AMERICAN YOUTH 

The present generation of drinkers in the U. S. are 

dying 

Industry 

off at the rate of 1,000,000 each year. The Liquor 

must get 1,000,000 new drinkers each year to 

keep their business going 

at its present level. It can 

get them only from the oncoming generation the boys 

and girls in our schools and homes. It IS getting them. 

With what result? According to the best authorities 

there are now in the U. S. 

750,000 ALCOHOLICS and 3,750,000 EXCESSIVE DRINKERS 

These all began as moderate drinkers, most of them as The Federal Bureau of Investigation of the U. S. Gov- 

social drinkers. Two-thirds of them began their drink- ernment reports that for the year 1947 fingerprint arrest 

ing habits at high school age; One-third began to show records sent to Washington totaled 734,041. This was 

signs of alcoholism at the age young people enter col- the number of fingerprint arrests for 28 different crimes 

lege. and misdemeanors. According to this report 30 per cent 

No one knows whether he is allergic to alcohol or not; of these arrests were due directly and solely to liquor. 

no doctor or scientist can tell him. He can learn only the Drunkennes 174 722 24% of the total 

hard way-by experience. No total abstainer ever became Driying whUe Intoxicated 38,325- 5% of the total 

an alcoholic or an inebriate. 

. ... , . .. 

_, ,, 

, , . Liquor , 

But the selfish, unscrupulous liquor dealers are doing 

Law Violation 7,523 1% of the total 

^ ' 

everything in their power to get American youth to be- Total 220,570 30% of the total 

come drinkers. And they ARE getting them at the rate As is well known, liquor is a major cause of many oth- 

of 1,000,000 a year, and of this number 60,000 will beer crimes and misdemeanors; of murder, rape, assault, 

come alcoholics and 300,000 inebriates. .Are 

you willing prostitution, commercialized vice, 

offenses against the 

that the life of your boy or girl be wrecked to keep up family and children, disorderly conduct, vagrancy, etc. 

the Liquor Industry? 

Add liquor's part in these above and we would have at 

11. THE COST IN HUMAN LIVES DUE TO least 50% of the total fingerprint arrests due directly or 

CRIME 

indirectly to LEGAL LIQUOR IN AMERICA. 

Our Worst Plague 

THE RELEGALIZED LIQUOR TRAFFIC IS 

"OUR WORST PLAGUE" 

ACCORDING TO 

WM. RANDOLPH HEARST, (newspaperman 

and outstanding leader for repeal) 

Hearst in his chain of newspapers, denounced 

national prohibition in the strongest terms, urged 

its repeal and return to legal control of the traffic. 

He also inserted full page paid advertisements in 

other leading daily newspapers. 

Now after 15 years of "Legal Control" 

of the 

traffic, he is terribly concerned over the condi 

tions that the relegalized traffic has brought upon 

our nation. Editorially in his chain of newspap 

ers, he is setting forth those conditions, declaring 

that unless something is done at once to remedy 

them, they will result in the downfall of our na 

tion. The following editorial appeared in the July 

6, 1948 issue of one of his papers The Sun-Tele 

graph of Pittsburgh, Penna. Similar editorials 

have appeared in other Hearst papers. 

"OUR WORST PLAGUE" 

Americans are noted for their attentive con 

cern over the public health. 

They move with generosity, and energy to re 

duce the incidence and halt the ravages of dread 

diseases like cancer, tuberculosis, malaria, diptheria 

and the legion of infections that cause dis 

ability or death. 

Vast sums are invested in research, laborator 

ies, 

There is, however, 

clinics and enforcement of hygenic measures. 

one disease of vast social 

and medical importance, shameful and squalid in 

itself, a destroyer of minds and bodies, a prime 

cause of vice and crime, a major factor in vio 

lence and death, which is being allowed to grow 

unchecked. 

That sickness and derangement is alcoholism. 

Ugly and evil in its aspects and consequences, 

excessive drinking is nevertheless too often re 

garded as an amiable frailty or pardonable folly. 

It has become a source of indulgent laughter or 

risque titillations in the media of mass entertain 

ment. 

And yet, drunkeness works its ruin far beyond 

the physical, mental and spiritual body 

drunkard. 

of the 

Its victims are more among those who do not 

drink, than among those who do. 

The habitual excessive drinker afflicts and hu 

miliates and often leads to destruction, whole fam 

ilies, societies and classes. 

That is something that cannot be said of can 

cer or tuberculosis. 

Take at random the statements of police authori 

ties in any large American city. Some examples, 

from the records of one metropolis alone : 

"About 75 per cent of assaults with deadly wea 

pons would not have occurred, if either the sus 

pect or the victim had not been drinking." 

Another : 

About 90 per cent of wife beaters are drunk at 

the time of the 

A third : 

assault." 

"Alcoholics suffer destruction of their moral 

fiber. To get money for liquor, they 

indulge in 

begging, petty theft, exhibitionism and prostitu 

tion. Many women alcoholics not only become 

prostitutes but lures for 'drunk 

rolling' 

and other


offenses like sluggings and other assaults to get 

money." 

a drunk's 

Still another: 

"It is a conservative estimate that liquor is in 

volved in 75 per cent of all felonies handled. In 

the last 12 homicides, liquor was involved in 10, 

on the part of victim or 

A Superior Court judge : 

"Ninety 

suspect." 

per cent of all criminal cases tried be 

fore me, have liquor in the background." 

A district attorney: 

"Fifty per cent of crimes involving theft or 

personal injury involve liquor as a direct or con 

cause." 

tributory 

The tragic testimony is endless, monotonous, 

and appalling in its connotations. 

Alcoholism, in fact, is the one disorder that 

qualifies as our worst threat to national sanity 

in modern times. 

It is something that is either curbed, quickly 

and drastically, or something that will, in time, 

vitiate the vigorous stream of American life and 

lead it into the same morass where rest the glory 

and grandeur of other civilizations which suc 

cumbed, first to internal vice, and then to external 

enemies. 

Synod Requests $10,000 for National Reform 

(Resolutions adopted by the Synod of the Re 

formed Presbyterian Church, June 8, 1948.) 

I. That Synod approve the work of the Associ 

ation and commends the association to the 

support of the membership of the Reformed 

Presbyterian Church. 

II. That Synod urges the support of the members 

of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of the 

nation-wide protest to Life, Time and For 

tune magazines for affording the liquor in 

dustry the extraordinary facilities of these 

magazines in promoting the sale and use of 

alcoholic beverages, by their advertisements. 

III. That Synod again approves the raising 

of a 

special Bible in the School fund as a memori 

al to Drs. Martin, Fleming and Duncan and 

requests liberal contributions from members 

of the church for this fund. 

IV. That the first Sabbath of November be desig 

nated for taking the annual offering for Na 

tional Reform, that $10,000 be the amount 

requested from our people for the support 

of this cause ; that in view of the great need 

of promoting this cause of Christian govern 

ment in these days our people be urged to 

contribute this amount and that pastors be 

requested to present the work that is being 

done by the association to their people with 

a view to securing from them the largest 

possible support for this cause. 

V. That the names and addresses of contribu 

tors be sent either to the Association head 

quarters, 209 Ninth St., Pgh., Pa., or to J. 

S. Tibby at the same address, that the Chris 

tian Statesman may be sent free to contribu 

tors. 

VI. That Synod requests that our people make 

constant prayer on behalf of this work, and 

that strength and wisdom may be given to 

those on whom rests the responsibility of 

carrying it forward. 

Beaver County, Pa., Branch 


refute the fallacies of the recent U. S. Supreme 

Court decision in the Champaign, Illinois school 

case which imperils all religious activity in cur 

public schools by 

(a) Sale of 50 copies of our bcok, "God in 

Our Public Schools." 

(b) Distributing in pamphlet form an eval 

uation of the probable results of this 

unfortunate decision. 

4. Give information to county leaders and to 

suggest the proper action to defeat bad blils that 

will be introduced into the Pennsylvania Legisla 

ture when it meets next January bills on liquor, 

gambling, the Sabbath, etc. 

5. Organize an extensive speaking campaign 

against liquor and other moral issues using a 

Geneva College team of young men as well as 

prominent leaders in the county. 

6. Assist communities in local option elections 

on the liquor issue. 

7. Purchase time on the Beaver Falls radio for 

a brief message on moral issues. 

8. Secure 500 new readers of The Christian 

Statesman throughout the county. 

To carry forward the above 8-point program at 

least $2,000 will be needed. 

DR. R. H. MARTIN in KANSAS FIGHT 

Rev. T. M. Hutcheson 

Dr. R. H. Martin, President of the National 

Reform Association of Pittsburgh, Pa., made a 

most valuable contribution to our Kansas Fight 

to retain State Prohibition. During five weeks 

he traveled over 2,500 miles lecturing throughout 

the state, from September 12 through October 17. 

His message, in which he gave an over-all picture 

of the Liquor Industry and Traffic in America, 

was exceedingly valuable to Kansans. These 

facts coming from a man of Dr. Martin's experi 

ence and authority were highlv acceDtable to the 

Drys and convincing to the Wets. One business 

man came to him after he spoke before the Ki- 

wanis Club and said, "Well, Dr. Martin, I'm a 

wet, but you certainly gave us the facts to-night." 

Because of so many requests, from the listeners 

for Dr. Martin to give them the statistics which 

he quoted in his lecture, 10,000 copies of a leaf 

let entitled, "Legal Liauor In America Since Re 

peal" 

were printed and widely distributed. They 

are the most readable leaflet being distributed, 

according to the estimation of many to whom I 

have given copies for distribution. 

Dr. Martin reached approximately 5,324 pers 

ons with his lectures and possibly doubled that 

through the distribution of the leaflets. A sum 

mary of his work is as follows :


Dr. Martin carried his message to various siz 

ed audiences ranging from 400 persons down to 

6. None was too large and none too small for 

him, and he presented the message equally well 

at every meeting. In every case those who at 

tended were workers who would propagate the 

truth further. 

His trip to Kansas was the contribution of Kan 

sas Covenanter Churches to the Dry cause, and 

the churches underwrote his expenses. Each 

congregation was responsible for arranging a 

speaking itinerary of three days. Beginning at 

Denison on September 12, for five weeks, he spoke 

practically every day, and on some days he gave 

three or more addresses. 

Dr. Martin's lectures in Kansas were in Co 

50 Addresses Made by Dr. Martin in Kansas Campaign Against Re 

peal of Constitutional Prohibition 

Addresses at Public Meetings 

DATE Hour Place Attendance 

Sept. 

12 11 a.m. High School Auditor, (union) Denison 200 

12 8 p.m. Court House Square Holton 300 

13 8 p.m. Presbyterian Church Horton 15 

14 8 p.m. Methodist Church Havensville 20 

15 8 p.m. Township Hall Valley 

operation with the Kansas United Dry Forces 

who praised his work as a valuable contribution 

to the cause of Temperance. 

We in Kansas Presbytery wish to sincerely 

thank the National Reform Association for re 

leasing Dr. Martin from his regular duties with 

that organization for these five weeks to give us 

this help to meet our problem. And many thanks 

to Dr. R. H. Martin! 

The outcome of this contest will probably be 

known before this goes to print. At least by No 

vember 3 we should know. We are hoping and 

praying God will see fit to answer our prayers 

and through His providential care, Keep Kansas 

Dry. 

Falls 65 

17 7:45 p.m. Court House Square Oskaloosa 200 

19 9:45 a.m. Second Presby. Chunjch Topeka 75 

19 11 a.m. Third Presby. Church Topeka 100 

19 8 p.m. East Side Baptist Church Topeka 400 

20 8 p.m. Covenant Presby. Church Topeka .... 

50 

22 8 p.m. Methodist Church Burlingame 6 

23 8 p.m. High School Auditor, (union) Eskridge 150 

26 11 a.m. Reformed Presby. Church Olathe 75 

26 7:30 p.m. First Baptist Church Olathe 130 

27 7:30p.m. Evangel. United Brethren Wichita .... 

28 7:30 p.m. Bethany Methodist Church Wichita ... 

35 

40 

30 8 p.m. Methodist Church Wakefield 100 

Oct. 

1 8 p.m. High School Auditor, (union) Longford 30 

4 8 p.m. Community Building Burr Oak 50 

5 8 p.m. High School Auditor, (union) Esbon .... 

13 

6 3 p.m. Meth. Wom's. Mission. Soc'y. Wakeeney 25 

6 8 p.m. Presby. Church Wakeeney 25 

7 7:45 p.m. Presbyterian Church Hoxie 40 

8 8 p.m. Reformed Presbyterian Church Quinter 75 

10 10 a.m. Reformed Presbyterian Church Sterling 110 

10 3 p.m. Baptist Church (union) Arkansas City 110 

10 7:30 p.m. Evang. United Brethren Arkansas City 50 

12 8:15 p.m. United Presby. Church Zenith 50 

13 8 p.m. Baptist Church St. Johns 50 

14 8 p.m. Christian Church (union) Stafford .... 

50 

14 11 a.m. Reformed Presby. Winchester 100 

Oct. 

2 

Sept. 

15 

16 

31 Public meetings reaching 2,739 persons 

Youth for Christ Meetings 

8 p.m. High School Auditorium Wichita 350 

8 p.m. Sterling College Sterling 110 

2 Youth for Christ meetings reaching 460 persons 

High School Addresses 

8: 45 a.m. High School Denison 90 

11:40 a.m. High School Winchester 100 

< 

mm 

fllll? 

Willi 

Mi -mm: 

David Calderwood, D. D., 

Lecturer for the Southern California 

Branch of the X.R.A. 

m 

William E. Black (See page 256)


16 12:45 p.m. High School Valley Falls 150 

17 2 p.m. High School Oskaloosa 100 

23 2: 45 p.m. High School Eskridge 100 

Oct. 

1 2 p.m. High School Clay Center 400 

5 1 p.m. High School Mankato 150 

7 9: 30 a.m. High School Wakeeney 250 

7 10: 10 a.m. Junior High School Wakeeney 150 

13 1 p.m. High School Stafford 150 

14 11:30 a.m. High School St. Johns 225 

11 High School audiences reaching 1,865 

Addresses before Service Clubs 

Sept. 

13 6: 30 p.m. Kiwanis Club Hqrton 50 

16 6:30 p.m. Rotary Club Oskaloosa 30 

11 6:30 p.m. Rotary Club Sterling 30 

12 12 noon Rotary Club Lyons 55 

14 12 noon Lions Club St. Johns 30 

14 6 p.m. Lyons Club Stafford 65 

6 Service Clubs reaching 260 

31 Public Meetings reaching 2,739 persons 

2 Youth for Christ meetings 460 

11 High School Audiences 1,865 

6 Service Clubs 

TOTAL 

260 

50 Meetings reaching 5,324 

Offerings were taken at 28 meetings. Total amount received $837.00. 

Addresses were made under auspices of the Kansas United Dry Forces. Miles 

travelled in Kansas approximately, 2,500. 

FIELD WORKER ADDED 

TO THE STAFF 

The Board of Directors at the re 

cent meeting in Pittsburgh invited 

Mr. William E. Black of Ambridge to 

serve as Field Director on a part 

time basis. He will assist Dr. Martin 

in the routine work of the office and 

will be given direct responsibility for 

broadening the activities of the As 

sociation throughout Western Penn 

sylvania. 

Mr. Black began his work in Sep 

tember by launching the enlarged 

program of the Beaver County 

Branch of the National Reform As 

sociation. The details of this aggres 

sive campaign of education appear 

on page 251. The new Field Director 

has been a resident of Beaver Coun 

ty throughout the past twenty years 

and is widely known as a leader in 

religious work and moral reform. He 

is an elder in the Presbyterian 

Church of Ambridge, 

and served as 

Vice Moderator of the Presbytery of 

Beaver. He is also Superintendent 

of the Sabbath School of that church 

and for the past six years has been 

President of the Tenth District of 

the Beaver County 

Association. 

Sabbath School 

He was one of the speakers at the 

State Sabbath School Association in 

Scranton last year and has led many 

conferences on Sabbath School work 

in Beaver County. His wide range of 

acquaintances among religious lead 

ers and his zeal in Christian service 

form a splendid background for his 

new work with the National Reform 

Association. 

Mr. Black is a native of Scotland 

and retains his early love of the Sab 

bath and his appreciation of the 

value of the Sabbath Day in the life 

of the community and the nation. By 

profession he is an insurance sales 

man. Formerly he had been employed 

as a foreman of the American Bridge 

Company 

and as a newspaper re 

porter and court stenographer. 

The new Director has entered up 

on his work in Beaver County with 

contagious enthusiasm and with an 

unwavering faith in the effective 

ness of a properly planned program 

of community education. He believes 

that young people are ready to re 

spond to a challenge of service and 

is planning a series of temperance 

rallies in each of the ten Sabbath 

School districts throughout the coun 

ty, using as the speakers young men 

from Geneva College whom he will 

help to train in presenting effective 

ly a temperance message. 

He also sees great possibilities in 

the new four-color leaflet which our 

Association is pioneering in house- 

to-house distribution of temperance 

literature. He plans to contact all of 

the 

ministers' 

associations through 

out western Pennsylvania to suggest 

a practical plan of door-to-door dis 

tribution in order that everyone, not 

merely church members, can be 

reached with a temperance message 

visualizing both the human and 

financial cost of the rapidly expand 

ing liquor traffic. He will be avail 

able for messages on various phases 

of the work of our Association and 

will help to organize community and 

county-wide rallies. 

STAR NOTES... 

***The material pertaining to the 

National Reform Association's work 

in this issue is furnished by them, 

and any commendations or animad 

versions as to content should be ad 

dressed directly 

to them. 

Editor. 

***The new and permanent ad 

dress of Dr. W. J. McKnight is 227 

Montgomery Street, Newburgh, N. Y. 

***We praise God for His care in 

sparing our three year old daughter, 

Mary, from death or injury when 

she fell from a high second story 

window recently. 

D. Ray 

and Elizabeth Wilcox 

***Dr. Jesse Mitchel writes: "We 

are still waiting for the strike to end 

and the ships to start on their cours 

es again. So far there has been little 

or no progress in reaching a settle 

ment. How much longer we shall 

have to wait we canot tell. But we 

hope that it will not be too long. Yet 

the Lord may have His own purpose 

for us which we do not see as 

yet." 

***The Rev. J. A. Kempf, D. D. 

and Mrs. Kempf arrived in San Fran 

cisco on October 15 after a rough 

voyage of 24 days, including 

day lay 

a five 

over in Okinawa. Their ad 

dress during the winter will be 858 

Center Street, San Luis Obispo, 

California. 

***Word has been received of the 

safe arrival of Miss Elizabeth Mc 

Elroy and Miss Marjorie Allen in 

Beyrouth, Lebanon on October 10. 

***Miss Blanche McCrea arrived 

safely in Nicosia, Cyprus, on Octo 

ber 19. 

The Rev. and Mrs. Herbert A. 

Hays sailed from New York for 

Latakia on October 2. They are ex 

pected to arrive in Latakia about the 

first of November. J. P. W.



300 YEARS OF WITNESSING- 

fOR. CHRIST'S SOVERtlO/H RIGHTS IN TrtLCHURC H ^ND the.


QUmpAM o/ the RelifiouA WotM 

Frank E. Allex D. D. 

Japan Favors Christianity 

As stated in the Des Moines Register, "Japan soon may 

become a Christian nation, the head of the National 

Christian Council of Japan told the World Mission as 

sembly. 

'"It's amazing how our people have lost all prejudices 

and misunderstanding of 

Christianity,' 

said the Rev. 

Michio Kozaki. 'There is a lot to do and many obstacles, 

but Japan stands at the threshold of becoming Christian.'" 

The Rev. Mr. Kozaki told the 3,000 delegates attend 

ing the largest Protestant gathering 

in 23 years that Ja 

pan gained more than she lost in the war, although she 

lost 70 per cent of her industries and 1,000,000 men. 

'Before the war Japan was a militaristic, totalitarian 

state but now the new constitution has given all men 

equal rights and freedom of 

religion,' 

and 'the whole 

attitude of the people has become more spiritual as a 

war.' 

result of its devastating experience during the 

also moderator of the Church of Christ in 

Kozaki, 

Japan, said that since the war Japanese have purchased 

more Christian literature than they did in the 30 years 

previously." 

Kyung Chik Han, 

Korea May Be Christian 

vice-chairman of the National Chris 

tian Council of South Korea, said Christians there believe 

Korea will be the first truly Christian, democratic na 

tion in the Far East. 

Yoshio Higa, head of the Y. M. C. A. and Y, W. C. A. 

department of the Okinawa Association of Christian 

Churches, 

said that before the war there were 18 Chris 

tian congregations with 800 members on the island. 

"Today there are 40 congregations with over 3,000 

members," 

he said. 

Wider View Encouraging 

One of the prominent speakers said at the World Mis 

sion assembly: "As one travels over the Far and Middle 

East, 

the political and economic conditions are often la 

mentable, sometimes as in China 

tragic," 

he said. "But 

the condition of the Christian church, save in some Mos 

lem lands, is extremely heartening." 

No Compromise with Totalitarianism 

Bishop Dibelius has been at odds with the Soviets who 

sought, in June, to oust him from his position. He said 

in a public address, 

"At first, the totalitarion state appears friendly when 

it seems that the Church wants to meet it half-way. But 

the state soon cools off and finally develops an open 

antagonism. The Church realizes sooner or later that the 

price of compromise is the denial and the falsification of 

the Bible's message. .. .It is 

,1^ 

part of the nature of the 

totalitarian state to insist that every group within it 

support its political aims and help 

authority. 

strengthen its 

"But the state cannot force the Christian Church to do 

this because the Church serves no one but its Lord 

Jesus Christ." 

In Czechoslovakia 

Dr. Hromadaka, Czech theologian, told delegates from 

several nations that complete religious freedom, includ 

ing the right of churches to propagandize, 

Czechoslovakia. 

Miss America Does Not Smoke or 

Drink 

exists in 

The National Voice tells us that Miss America, 1948, 

like her last year's predecessor, 

neither smokes nor 

drinks. Miss Barbara Jo Walker, of Tennessee, thrilled 

the nation last year when her clean won living for her 

the coveted title. Miss Beatrice Shopp, of Minnesota, 

continues the tradition this year. 

The winner of the 1948 Atlantic City beauty pageant 

can drive a tractor, loves "to clean fish,' 

piano, drum, 

and plays the 

and vibraharp. As the result of her tri 

umph, this red-blooded, clean-cut farm girl is richer by 

$16,000 in prizes. 

But to win her crown the new Miss America had to 

have more than beauty. She had to display 

poisia in 

an evening gown as well as in a bathing suit. She had 

to show cultural talent. She had to evidence a winning 

personality. 

And she came through with flying 

colors without the 

aid of a cigarette dangling from the corner of her mouth 

or a beer or cocktail glass held languidly 

between her 

fingers. And what will the cigarette and booze ad men 

do now? Poor things. 

Commending Our Cyprus Mission 

Mr. Ernest Gordon, in The Sunday School Times, gives 

an interesting and encouraging report of our mission in 

Cyprus, though he does not mention it by name. His 

statement follows 

The Rev. and Mrs. Donaldson, Bible Presbyterians, 

driven out of Palestine by the disturbances there, have 

taken refuge in Cyprus. The Jewish settlement of Kfar 

Etzion, 

visible from the Donaldson home, was wiped 

out by Arabs and every inhabitant massacred. 

Mr. Donaldson is now teaching in the American Acad 

emy in Larnaca, Cyprus. This school has 385 students 

from 70 places in Cyprus and from Iraq, Syria, Sudan, 

Ethiopia, Tanganyika, 

and Egypt. Each student is re 

quired to take an hour of Bible study daily, 

Donaldson, besides teaching 

(Please tui n to page 265) 

THE COVENANTER WITNESS : ECr^% ?A I^t^Z^\t, 

and Mr. 

English and geography 

Reformed Presbyterian 

editorial office. 

Rev. D. Raymond Taggart. D. D., Editor and Manager, 120fl Boswell Avenue, Topeka, Kansas. 

S2.00 per year: foreign S2.ri0 per year: single copies 5c. Special rates to congregations. 



The Rev R. E. Lyons. B. A.. Lima: ady, X. Ireland, agent for tlif British Isles. 

under the act of March 3, 1ST!).


GuWierit ooenti. 

Well, the election is over, and to the surprise of every 

one except perhaps the Truman family, Mr. Truman 

won with almost as many votes as all his 

rivals' 

put to 

gether. The polls were against him; the Republicans 

were already dividing the spoils; the Democrats had giv 

en up, and except for Mr. Truman were just "playing 

out the game"; several of the Cabinet took no pant in 

the campaign. Gamblers were offering 15 to 1 against 

him; the columnists had already explained why he was 

going to lose but he won. In the First World War, when 

the Germans were driving with apparently irresistible 

force into France, General Foch sent a dispatch to head 

quarters: "They have defeated my right wing, they have 

broken my left wing, and I am attacking with my cen 

ter." 

Mr. Truman's right wing (the Dixiecrats) had left 

him, his left wing (the Progressives) had left him, he 

attacked furiously with his center. Day after day he can 

now, if he lives, sit for another four summers on that 

balcony 

which he had built on the White House. With all 

the story before him, no one can now say with much ex 

pectation of being believed that American elections are 

all "fixed". 

The "Monday morning 

A i'fi :|: jj: ; 

quarterbacks" 

(those who ex 

plain why Saturday's football game was lost) have been 

busy: (1) The total vote was smaller than four or eight 

years ago and the Republicans must have stayed at home; 

(2) Mr. Truman stirred the sporting spirit of the nation 

by his almost single-handed fight against seemingly over 

whelming odds; (3) labor was recording its protest 

against the Taft-Hartley Law; (4) the farmers felt surer 

of price support from the Democrats; (5) the common 

people felt Mr. Truman to be of their type and Mr. Dewey 

a silk-stocking; (6) Mr. Truman was very frank and Mr. 

Dewey too non-committal; (7) the Eightieth Congress 

(especially the House) had a bad record, the special ses 

sion of that Congress climaxed it, 

and Mr. Truman used 

this steadily in the campaign; (8) between sixty-one and 

sixty-two million people are employed and they feared 

the Republicans would kill their jobs and bring on an 

other Hoover panic; (9) the Democrats had better Sena 

torial candidates than the Republicans; (10) with the Wal 

lace defection the Communist charge that was leveled 

against F.D.R. could hardly 

be brought against Mr. Tru 

man. This is not a complete file, but the election is an 

event "unparalleled in history" 

graph. 

***** 

and worthy of a para 

In the three and a half days after the election the 

security market dropped by at least six billion dollars. 

Since stocks and bonds never had gone up at all in the 

degree that prices had risen, and since corporation earn 

ings are at an all-time high level, the decline is rather 

difficult of explanation. It is true that the Administra 

tion has been enforcing the anti-trust laws as -they have 

never before been enforced and many hoped that Mr. 

Dewey 

would reverse that program and go back to the 

good old days when "freedom of enterprise" 

meant not 

free competition but freedom for enterprise to do just r.s 

it pleased. It is certainly doubtful whether Mr. Dewey 

would have granted their wish; but the men of the 

Eightieth Congress would have done so had they been 

continued in power. That was proved by the way in which 

the House of Representatives passed laws limiting the 

Prof. John Coleman, PhD., D. D. 

application of the anti-trust laws. The Bulwinkle Bill, 

for instance, which Mr. Truman vetoed, would have freed 

the railroads from the Sherman Act. 

* X 'r * + 

Uncle Sam has just spent $250,000. on a building on the 

secluded north shore of Cyprus, a radio monitoring sta 

tion, whose sensitive antennae (one is over a half-mile 

long) are expected to get direct information on the prop 

aganda that the Communist powers of the Balkans and 

Russia are sending to their people. The Associated Press 

says that Moscow-trained Cypriots of the island's aggres 

sive Communist organization have tried to prevent the 

project by beating up workmen, burning their homes, and 

threatening them personally. Now we are entirely ready 

to have the Communists listen in on all our broadcast 

ings, long-wave, short-wave and FM, 

rank as "cruel and unusual 

compelled to listen. 

* * * * ^ 

punishment" 

although it might 

if they were 

Kansas has lout prohibition in the wet-and-dry refer 

endum by about 46,000 votes. The present laws will con 

tinue on the books until the legislature acts to put repeal 

in effect. In the state of Washington the people approved 

the licensed sale of drinks in hotels and restaurants and 

defeated a proposal to abolish wine and beer taverns. In 

South Dakota a proposal to ban the sale of liquor in food 

stores was snowed under by 100,000 majority. In Cali 

fornia proposals to give local areas control over the sale 

of liquor and to bar minors and unaccompanied women 

from bars went down by 

a two to one majority. In Colo 

rado a local option proposal was defeated. Only in 

Oregon did the drys win, 

and there a proposal to license 

the sale of drinks in hotels, restaurants, and clubs was 

defeated. Every day in every way we aie getting wetter 

and wetter; but the devil always overraches himself. He 

is reputed to be a fool. 

-I :!= * * 

The Associated Press reports that the United States 

has given the Chinese more than $2,000,000,000 since V- 

J day, of which about one-third was military 

aid. All 

seems to have been in vain. The Communists have taken 

all of Manchuria and are hastening 

southward to absorb 

northern China. The American-trained divisions, which 

were also equipped with American arms, have been brok 

en up or captured or have followed the good old Chinese 

custom of going over to the opposition. The Chinese gov 

ernment has wanted more money, but the "squeeze" 

(Chinese for "graft") is everywhere present. Another 

source reports that commanders used to turn in the size 

of their armies at a half more than their real totals and re 

ceived money accordingly. Since the custom was general 

the matter was solved by reducing the squeeze to 10%. 

Chiang Kai-shek is considered honest, but he has for a 

long' 

time been tied up by the warlords who controlled 

most of the army and the country. Reform movements 

that would have cut the ground out from under the Com 

munists have been sidetracked. Now it is a question of 

all China 450,000,000 coming 

under the Communist 

which for a time at least means Russian-control. Do not 

believe that this will go on for many, many years. The 

Chinese do not like foreign dictatorships and have in the 

past eventually swallowed up the conqueror. But in the 

meantime the great nation and the Christian mission 

aries and schools and the Chinese Christians themselves 

are and will be in a precarious condition. "Precarious" 

means needing prayer, You pray.


The Cloud Over Sunny Kansas 

For sixty-eight years the state of Kansas has 

had written into her constitution, "The sale and 

manufacture of intoxicating liquors are forever 

prohibited." 

That clause made Kansas sunny 

even though it was not as strictly enforced as we 

should have liked to have had it. Fourteen years 

ago the question of repealing this part of the con 

stitution was put to a vote of the peple and lost by 

90,000 votes. On the 2nd of November this ques 

tion was again on the ballot and the repealists 

won by 60,000 votes. This marvelous decline in 

the period of fourteen years ! It is sad to think 

that this may be an indication of the moral de 

cline of our nation during those fourteen years, 

and if it is so, how much longer are we "drunk 

ards of Ephraim" 

to exist? 

One of the failures of Democracy, and it has 

its failures, is that it makes the opinion of the 

majority the standard of righteousness. There is 

an old saying that "one with God is a majority'-. 

In formula it would read 1 + G=m, but the science 

of democracy ignores that factor G by saying "we 

us." 

will not have this One to rule over "This is 

the heir. Come, let us kill him and the inheritance 

ours." 

shall be But the Lord of the vineyard has 

the last say : "He will utterly destroy those hus 

bandmen." 

would put the 

A godly democracy 

power in the hands of the best citizens by popular 

vote and the result would be an aristocracy of 

wisdom, but if God is left out then the opinion of 

the average citizen becomes the law of the land, 

and, sad to say, the average citizen falls far be 

low the divine standard for mankind. 

In Nebuchadnezzar's image the feet were part 

ly iron and partly clay. We may suppose that the 

clay was preponderant, the more valuable element 

was the rarer. Is it not so in our present day so 

ciety? The clay has prevailed, and perhaps will 

prevail until that stone cut out of the mountain 

shall break in pieces the iron and the clay. 

The real cloud hanging over Kansas is the loss 

of moral indignation against wrong. Kansas has 

voted to give up her place of leadership, her place 

of honor in standing in the gap between prohibi 

tion and drunkenness. The mottoes which the re 

pealists carried on their cars, read : "Vote Yes 

for decency". In conversation with one who 

planned to vote Yes, he stated that we have it 

now, meaning through the bootleggers, and we 

have to pay high prices, but when it becomes 

legal that we will be able to buy strong drink at 

decent prices. "Vote Yes for decency", decency in 

price. But how little he appreciated the price that 

we are going to pay. And what did a vote Yes 

mean? 

It meant first of all, 

a vote for disease dispen 

saries. The wets are fond of telling us that alco 

holism is a disease. Let us accept it. Dr. Roy L. 

Smith tells in a lecture how he tenderly cared for 

his mother in the last stages of her life, dying of 

cancer, and of the great fear he has always had 

of that disease. A little later in life he had a fear 

that he had tuberculosis. He read everything 

concerning tuberculosis and determined that if 

it were at all possible he would save his life from 

that disease. All through his ife there has been 

the dread of these diseases, but he says there is 

one disease which is killing more people and 

bringing more misery and suffering than any 

other, yet he has the formula by which he guaran 

tees that anyone following it can avoid this worst 

of all diseases. A simple formula, and yet he of 

fers a reward of $25,000.00, if I remember right 

ly, for the one who will produce a single case of 

this disease where his formula has been followed. 

The disease is alcoholism, and the formula is, 

"Don't drink alcohol". How many hospitals and 

dispensaries and clinics we gladly pay for to 

eradicate the other diseases, and yet we license, 

we invite, we dispense with legal protection and 

promotion, this worst of all diseases. Kansas has 

voted for dispensaries of disease. 

Kansas, deceived by the idea of additional 

revenue, has voted for high taxes. Massachu- 

ssetts has gone into the cost the profit and loss 

of the revenue obtained from alcohol in their 

state, and they find that for the $13,000,000.00 

brought in through the excise tax, they spend 

$65,000,000.00 for the additional expense of police 

courts, poverty, insanity, and those thousand ills 

that either do accompany or flow from intoxica 

tion. Wine is a mocker. Strong drink is raging, 

and whosoever is deceived thereby into thinking 

that he can eliminate the state taxes, is not wise. 

Kansas has voted for murder on the highways. 

Conservative figures go to show that a great pro 

portion of the accidents brought about by our 

motorized traffic, are due to the drivers or the 

pedestrians being slightly or worse intoxicated. 

Unnecessary death, and there is one every few 

minutes, and millions more are maimed is 

nothing else but murder, and the state of Kansas 

becomes a partieeps criminis by licensing this 

highway murder. 

Kansas has voted for problem families. The 

problem child has long been a problem for the 

state as well as for the home in which it is born, 

and how sad the home! But drink makes the 

problem family. The family that is appealing for 

a dviorce, the family that is in poverty, the family 

that is producing children that are feeble-minded. 

the family that is on relief in times of stress, and 

on the pension roll in old age. 

Kansas has voted for the sale of our sons and 

our daughters. The wets say we will have 

$10,000,000.00 in revenue for the privilege of 

drink being sold to our citizens, not $10,000,000.00 

brought into the state but $10,000,000.00 taken 

out of the state, for the revenue must come from 

the pockets of the consumer. And who are to be 

these consumers? Not so much the citizens of 

the older generation, but the citizens of the young 

er generation; those who have not attained to 



Thanksgiving Festivals 

Miss Cecil Smith 

Cincinnati, Ohio 

As we are entering the holiday season of our 

year, it is interesting to look back on former times 

in Old Testament days when the Jewish people 

celebrated the Feasts of the Lord after His ap 

pointment of them and then notice their continu 

ation in fulfillment to this present day. These 

Feasts of the Lord were not occupied with bare 

ritualism or empty symbolism but were promis 

sory shadows in a preparation period to be com 

pleted in the figure of the true, even the fore I suffer : for I say unto you, I will not any 

more eat thereof, until it be FULFILLED in the 

Kingdom of God. And He took bread, and gave 

thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, 

'This is my body which is given for you; this do 

me.' 

in remembrance of Likewise also the cup 

after supper saying, 'This cup is the New Testa 

vou'" 

ment in my blood, which is shed for (Luke 

22:15, 16, 19, 20). 

Initially John the Baptist proclaimed the com 

ing of "the Lamb slain before the foundation of 

world" 

the by crying, "Behold, the Lamb of God, 

Messiah, who taketh away the sins of the St. 

their full meaning illuminated in reading the 

Paul bore the same witness when he wrote : 

New Testament. 

us" 

"Christ, our Passover is sacrificed for (I Cor. 

God instituted three great annual Thanksgiv 

5:7). 

ing Feasts at which every male was required to 

appear before the Lord at the sanctuary, these 

being: The Feasts of the Passover, Pentecost 

and Tabernacles, to be held in spring, summer 

and fall respectively or in our March, May and 

September. God did not appoint a winter feast 

when traveling to the sanctuary would be diffi 

cult for so large a mixed company, for God is 

ever mindful of His own. Those who thought up 

camp meetings certainly borrowed their idea from 

God's conventicles for His Chosen People. The 

purpose of these three festivals was to bring to 

remembrance past blessings, thanking God for 

present ones while depending on Him for future 

provisions. 

Each person in attendance was to bring free 

will offerings as tokens of thanksgiving in ac 

knowledgement of their lease-holder position 

in a world belonging to the Lord with the fullness 

thereof. With their full hands, they were to 

bring full hearts as sacrifices of praise which in 

the sight of God is of great price. 

The Passover 

The Passover or Hebrew Pesach the first and 

greatest of this Thanksgiving triology began on 

the evening of the fourteenth day of the first 

month and was a Festival of Redemption, also 

called the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Both 

names were commemorative of the night when 

God delivered the Jewish People from Egyptian 

slave status to Israelitish free men, the angel of 

death having passed over all houses where the 

blood of the paschal lamb was sprinkled on the 

side and upper door posts. The sacrificial death 

of the lamb gave life to the first born. Eating- 

unleavened bread signified purity 

and the haste 

with which they fled their concentration camp, 

of the bread 

never forgetting their long eating 

of affliction nor their joyful release. 

To Christians, the Passover Feast has been 

transformed into the Lord's Supper, for on that 

memorable Passover night in which he was be 

trayed, He revealed and demonstrated the Pass 

over significance in The New Testament Com 

munion service when He said : "With desire I 

have desired to eat this Passover with you be 

world. 

It is significant also that the day in which our 

Lord made His Triumphal Mar -h into Jerusa 

lem was the tenth day of the month, four days 

before the crucifiction, the very day the law de 

creed that the paschal lamb should be tak^n up 

and set aside for its sacrificial service 'Ex. 12 3). 

Certainly Christ's constant intentions that the 

Scriptures be fulfilled were done so in every de 

tail, even to the method of His approach to Jerus 

alem as foretold in Zechariah 9:9: "Rejoice 

greatly, 0 daughter of Zion : behold, thy King 

cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salva 

tion ; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a 

colt the foal of an 

ass." 

Pentecost 

The second of the three annual Thanksgiving 

Feasts was that of Pentecost, called 'Shovuous" 

in 

Hebrew, meaning weeks. It was also called the 

Feast of First Fruits and Feast of Weeks having 

been celebrated seven weeks or fifty days after 

the consecration and introduction of the grain 

harvest season at the Passover, with the offering 

of the first ripe barley sheaf on the morning af 

ter the first day or the morning after the Sab 

bath of the Passover (Lev. 23:10, 11). This 

consecration ceremony gave the Jewish people 

the libertv to put in the sickle to the corn (Deut. 

16:9). 

Pentecost was observed in the local sanctuary 

with the offering of two loaves of leavened wheat- 

en bread along with the prescribed animal sacri 

fices and marked the end of the grain harvest. 

It only lasted one day, God knowing how busy 

His people were on their farms at this season, so 

allowing them a speedy return to the country. 

This annual feast was instituted in thankful 

remembrance of the giving of the Law on Sinai, 

the fifteenth day after the Children of Israel 

came out of Egypt. 

This Feast of First Fruits, brought forward 

to fulfillment, was a type of our Lord's resur 

rection from the dead, "Who became the first 

fruits of them that slept", being raised on the 

very day 

when the sheaf of first fruits was of 

fered. 

Most notable of all Pentecosts was the one


which came fifty days after the Resurrection ot 

Christ, the perfection of all past ones, when the 

law of Faith was given and three thousand souls 

became the first fruits of the Holy Spirit and 

the Christian Church was begun. Now the Holy 

Spirit was given in full measure without the in 

tervention of prescribed rites, as prophesied by 

the prophet Joel. 

Feast of Tabernacles 

The third and last Jewish Thanksgiving Feast 

was the Feast of Tc(bernacles, in Hebrew, "Suk- 

kos," 

meaning huts, from which came the Feast 

of Booths. From the other name, the Feast of 

Ingathering, we parallel with our own Thanksgiv 

ing Day, then held on the fifteenth day 

of the 

seventh month. In Deut. 16:14-15, the command 

feast: because 

was: "Thou shalt rejoice in thy 

the Lord shall bless thee, thou shalt surely re 

joice." 

This autumn event marked the end of 

the agricultural year and was most joyous of all 

the festivals. The complete harvest of field, or 

chard and vineyard was garnered and now being 

free from toil, the Jewish people became Pilgrims 

again to journey to Jerusalem or to the nearest 

sanctuary and since the weather at this time was 

balmy and there was no fear of rain, it was pleas 

ant to make booths or arbors of tree branches 

and live in them. Wherever one looked in Jerusa 

lem one saw palm leaves, olive branches, odorous 

myrtle, fragrant willow and branches from which 

hung citrous fruit. Through these adorned streets 

"lulov" 

every man carried a or ceremonial branch 

of palm leaves, an individual symbol of joy, lib 

erty 

and victory. 

As the pilgrims approached the Holy City they 

sang Psalms, notably the Hundred and 

Twentysecond: 

"I was glad when they 

said unto me, 

Let us go into the house of Jehovah. Our feet 

are standing within thy gates, 0 Jerusalem,. . 

whither the tribes go up, even the tribes of Je 

hovah, for an ordinance for Israel, to give thanks 

unto the name of Jehovah." 

The purpose of this feast was to keep the 

Jewish people in perpetual remembrance of the 

were desert wanderers, liv 

Exodus, when they 

ing in tents or tabernacles God also having set 

up for Himself a Tabernacle in the midst of 

theirs, as a Sanctuary. 

The worship 

of God under the New Testa 

ment is prophesied in Zechariah 14:16 as like 

keeping 

the Tabernacle Feast: "And it shall 

come to pass, that every one that is left of all 

the nations shall even go up from year to year 

to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to 

keep 

the Feast of Tabernacles." 

Certainly the 

cheering crowd escorted King Jesus, the Lord of 

Hosts, 

with palm branches in their hands, strew 

ing His way to Jerusalem before Him, as was 

their custom when traveling to the temple at the 

celebration of the Tabernacle Feast. 

Thanksgiving Day 

Lastly, we arrive at our well beloved Thanksgiv 

ing Feast, now observed as first inaugurated in 

this country by 

our Pilgrim Fathers in the No 

vember of 1621, the autumn after a terrible win 

ter of cold, hunger, fear and constant sickness. 

At one time there was only seven well people in 

the colony and week by week new graves were 

dug, 

until there were forty-six in the new grave 

yard overlooking the bay. But the next summer 

brought overflowing harvests and Governor Brad 

ford speaking for himself and the colonists said, 

now we shall feast 

"We have fasted to-gether, 

together. God has remembered us. Now we 

shall remember Him." 

This was no innovation, 

for in their respective home countries they had 

observed the traditional harvest'festival, originat 

ing in the Feast of Tabernacles. 

So a special day was designated in November 

for the beginning of a three day feast, to which it 

was decided to invite Chief Massasoit, with his 

brother and a fitting 

escort of braves to the pro 

posed Thanksgiving days of dining. When all 

were counted, there were one hundred Indian 

guests and fifty-five Pilgrims to be served. This 

was loving one's neighbor as one's self in a prac 

tical way, Indians and Pilgrims in reality making 

One World, the good will shown proving a life 

insurance for the little colony ; for without peace 

ful relations with the Indians, this handful of 

exiles would never have survived. 

When one considers that only five women with 

a few young girls were the cooks for one hundred 

and fifty-five people, one wonders at the variety 

and quantity of the meals. The long tables were 

set under leafless trees in the warm air of what 

we call "Indian Summer", the same mild, balmy 

weather recurring on so many November days 

thereafter that the Pilgrims would say, "Why, 

here is the Indians' again!" 

summer 

The menus sound most delectable even to our 

modern dilettantism and were a tribute to the in 

telligence and culinary skill of the few cooks. At 

the first meal the tables were set with wooden 

bowls of hasty pudding served with treacle and 

butter and other bowls of excellent clam chowder 

in which floated biscuits. At other times the 

wooden and pewter plates were filled with roast 

turkey, stuffed with beechnuts accompanied with 

barley and corn breads. Then there were mighty 

venison roasts and pastries, the deer having been 

presents from the Indian guests, as well as large 

baskets of oysters, made into a scalloped dish and 

served in individual scallop shells and heaps of 

popped corn. Still other means provided savory 

stews made of partridges, wood pigeons and all 

that flies in the Plymouth woods but now swim 

ming in glorious broth, the "piece de 

being large woden bowls of salad set off with 

resi 

wreaths of autumn leaves and great baskets of 

grapes and plums, along with flagons of ale con 

cocted into root beer, well flavored with sassa 

fras learned from the Indians. 

Each day was always begun with prayers; 

more especially were these Thanksgiving Days 

begun with sppecial devotions of gratitude to the 

Giver of all good gifts the Indians showing rev-


erent attention to the Pilgrims' 

Praise Service of 

Worship. 

Thereafter, Thanksgiving Day has had a wan 

dering career, with some years missed altogether 

and some states ignoring it while others observed 

it, until a certain Christian woman from Boston, 

Sarah Josepha Hale, deploring the need of a set 

day of observance, having written for twenty 

years to Governors and Presidents, finally won 

her point. In 1864 Abraham Lincoln declared 

that hereafter, by annual Presidential Proclama- 

Christ Or The Lodge, II 

(Continued from the issue of October 13) 

II. THE RELIGION OF MASONRY 

1. The Issue Stated 

The foregoing paragraph has named the 

point on which this investigation must be cent 

ered. Is Masonry a religious order, or is it not? 

That is the crucial question. If it should prove 

that the answer to this question must be affirma 

tive, then the further question, no less crucial than 

the first, will arise, what the religion of Masonry 

is. If it is Christianity, well and good. If it is 

anything but Christianity, the religion of Mas 

onry is necessarily false, for it is axiomatic that 

Christianity is the only true religion. And in 

that case no Christian may have communion with 

Masonry. 

2. Is Masonry A Religion? 

On this score the evidence is overwhelming. 

There is no room for any reasonable doubt as 

to Masonry's being a religion. Not only do the 

symbols, rites and temples of this order point un 

mistakably to it as a religion, but a great many 

Masonic authors of note emphatically declare it 

to be just that. Of almost numberless quota 

tions that could be given here the committee has 

selected a few. 

J. S. M. Ward, the author of several standard 

Masonic works, defines religion as "a system of 

teaching moral truth associated with a belief in 

God" 

and then declares : "I consider Freemas 

onry is a sufficiently 

organized school of mysti 

religion." 

cism to be entitled to be called a 

He 

goes on to say : "I boldly aver that Freemasonry 

is a religion, yet in no way conflicts with any 

other religion, unless that religion holds that no 

saved" 

one outside its portals can be 

(Freemas 

onry: Its Aims and Ideals, pp. 182, 185, 187). 

T. S. Webb says in his Masonic Monitor: 

"The meeting of a Masonic Lodge is strictly a 

religious ceremony. The religious tenets of Mas 

onry are few, simple, but fundamental. No 

lodge or Masonic assembly can be regularly o- 

pened or closed without 

Albert G. Mackey, 

prayer" 

(p. 284). 

General High Priest of 

the General Grand Chapter of the United States, 

and the author of numerous works on Masonry, 

has this to say: "Freemasonry is emphatically 

a religious institution ; it teaches the existence of 

God. It points to the celestial canopy abjove 

tion, the last Thursday in November be observed 

a national Thanksgiving Day. 

But from our Pilgrim Fathers came the orig 

inal initiative of a national holy day to return 

thanks to Him who giveth to all men liberally. 

"Ay, call it holy ground, 

The soil where first they trod : 

They have left unstained what there 

they found 

Freedom to worship God." 

(Felicia Hemans) 

where is the Eternal Lodge and where He pre 

sides. It instructs us in the way to reach the por 

tals of that distant temple." 

(The Mystic Tie, p. 

32). And in his Lexicon of Freemasonry the 

same celebrated authority asserti : "The religion, 

then, of Masonry is pure Theism" 

(p. 404). 

Extremely significant is the testimony of 

Joseph Fort Newton, a zealous advocate of Mas 

onic principles. He deplores the fact that within 

the lodge there are many who regard it as "a 

mere social order inculcating ethical ideals and 

practicing 

philanthropy." 

He continues: "As 

some of us prefer to put it, Masonry is not a re 

ligion but Religion not a church but a wor 

unite" 

ship, in which men of all religions may 

(The Religion of Masonry, pp. 10, 11). With this 

agrees A. G. Mackay's declaration: "The truth 

is that Masonry is undoubtedly a religious in 

stitution, its religion being of that universal 

agree" 

kind in which all men (Textbook of Mas 

onic Jurisdiction, p. 95). 

To be sure, H. L. Haywood says that "there 

is no such thing as a Masonic philosophy, just as 

there is no such thing 

as a Masonic 

(The Great Teachings of Masonry, 

religion" 

p. 18). But 

on careful analysis it becomes clear that he means 

that Masonry is not to be put in a class with 

other religions; in a word, that it is a super-re 

ligion. For he asserts that Masonry has a re 

ligious foundation all its own and that its reli 

gion is universal (Idem, p. 99). No doubt, Hay 

wood would agree with Newton that "Masonry is 

not a religion, but Religion." 

Such is the unmistakable testimony, not of 

critics of Masonry, but of Masonic authors who 

are recognized by Masonry itself as authorities. 

3. The Religion Of Masonry Evaluated 

In seeking to evaluate the religion of Mas 

onry our standard must be Christianity, the one 

true religion. That Masonry cannot be simply 

non-Christian is self-evident. Neutrality with 

reference to Christianity is an obvious impossi 

bility. Either Masonry as a religion is in agree 

ment with Christianity, or it must be anti-Christ 

ianity. Either it is Christian, 

or it must be anti- 

Christian. A comparison on several important 

ment with Christianity, or it must be at odds with 

Christianity. Either it is Christian, or it must be 

anti-Christian. A comparison on several impor-


tant points of the religious teaching of Masonry 

with that of Christianity should reveal which of 

these two possibilities in the abstract is concrete 

reality. 

a. The Origin of Masonic Religion 

Christianity is based squarely upon God's 

supernatural revelation in the Scriptures of the 

Old and New Testaments. Many Masonic authori 

ties take pains to deny that Masonry is based up 

on the Bible. A. G. Mackey's Encyclopedia of 

Freemasonry informs us that in Masonry the 

Bible is regarded only as a symbol of the will of 

God and is on a par with the sacred books of oth 

er religions p. 104). And in speaking of the 

Blue Lodge, which is the foundation of all Mas 

onry, both the York Rite and the Scottish Rite, 

Chase's Digest of Masonic Law declares: "Blue 

Lodge Masonry has nothing whatever to do with 

the Bible; if it did, it would not be Masonry, it 

else" 

would be something (p. 207). 

Many authorities maintain that Masonry is 

rooted in ancient paganism. For example, J. S. 

Ward, who after fourteen years of research wrote 

his greatest book, Freemasonry and the Ancient 

Gods, traces the religious tenets of Masonry back 

to the religions of India and ancient Mexico and 

the mysteries of pagan Egypt and Rome (for ex 

ample, p. 341). And A. T. C. Pierson, another 

celebrated interpreter of Masonry, says in his 

Traditions, Origin and Early History of Free 

masonry that Masonic religion comes from the 

Orient and has reference to primitive religion, 

whose first occupation was the worship of the 

sun (p. 34). Several Masonic authors put forth 

the claim that Masonry represents the oldest re 

ligious system in the world and constitutes the 

common basis on which all the religious systems 

of history were founded. 

Whatever one may think of Masonry's claims 

to antiquity, it is clear that James Putt, a critic 

of Masonry, states the case well when he concludes 

as to the origin of Masonry: "This, then, is the 

situation. Masonry claims to be the essence of 

all religions. It guards the most ancient esoteric 

worship. It aims at a universal religion on the 

basis of the religious aspirations of man. It is 

naturalistic and evolutionistic rather than super- 

naturalistic and 

revelationary" 

(Masonry, 

p. 24). 

b. The God of Masonry 

The God of Christianity is the God of the 

Bible, the Holy Trinity. Is he also the God of 

Masonry, or is Masonry's God another? Recog 

nized Masonic authorities themselves supply the 

answer. 

Says T. S. Webb in his Masonic Monitor: 

"So broad is the religion of Masonry, and so care 

fully are all sectarian tenets excluded from the 

system, that the Christian, the Jews, and the 

Mohammedan, in all their numberless sects and 

divisions, may and do harmoniously combine in 

its moral and intellectual work, with the Buddhist, 

the Parsee, the Confucian, 

and the worshipper 

of Deity under every form" 

(p. 285). This ai- 

mounts to saying that the God of Masonry is that 

Deity which is worshiped by the adherents of 

all religions alike. That the Christian concep 

tion of God differs essentially from all other con 

ceptions of God and that the God of the Bible is 

God alone these truths are ignored and by neces 

sary implication denied. 

In perfect harmony with Webb's teaching 

concerning the God of Masonry is J. S. M. Ward's 

statement: "Freemasonry has taught each man 

can, by himself work out his own conception of 

God and thereby achieve 

salvation" 

(Freemason 

ry : Its Aims and Ideals, (p. 187). But Chris 

tianity maintains that only the God who has re 

vealed Himself in the Bible is truly God and that 

all other Gods, products as they are of human 

speculation, are idols. 

The divine transcendence is boldly denied 

by J. F. Newton. After lauding as the three great 

rituals of the human race the Prajapati ritual of 

ancient Hinduism, the Mass of the Christian 

Church and the Third Degree of Masonry, he 

says : "These testify to the profoundest insight 

of the human soul that God becomes man and that 

man may become God" 

(The Religion of Masonry, 

p. 37). 

In a pamphlet entitled The Relation of the 

Liberal Churches and the Fraternal Orders, and 

published by the American Unitarian Associa 

tion, E. A. Coil, minister of the First Unitarian 

and one-time Wor 

Society of Marietta, Ohio, 

shipful Master of the Masonic Lodge of that city, 

pleads for closer cooperation between the liberal 

churches and the fraternal orders. He bases his 

plea on the contention that both have essentially 

the same conception of God. Both, he holds, be 

lieve in the universal fatherhood of God (p. 9). 

With this agrees J. F. Newton's assertion : "The 

basis of our Temple of Fraternity rests back upon 

Fatherhood" 

the reality of the Divine (The Re 

ligion of Masonry, p. 116). Needless to say, the 

universal Father of all mankind is not the Father 

of the Lord Jesus Christ and of those who 

through faith in Him have received the right to 

be called the sons of God (John 1:12). 

c. Masonry and the Word of God 

As was already shown, Masonry disclaims 

being founded upon the Bible. Says A. G. Mackey: 

"Within a few years an attempt has been 

made by some Grand Lodges to add to these sim 

ple moral and religious qualifications another, 

which requires a belief in the divine authenticity 

of the Scriptures. It is much to be regretted that 

Masons will sometimes forget the fundamental 

law of their institution, and endeavor to add or 

detract from the perfect integrity of the build 

ing as it was left them by their predecessors. 

Whenever this is done, the beauty 

of our temple 

must suffer. .Thus, in the instance here re 

ferred to, the fundamental law of Masonry re 

quires only a belief in the Supreme Architect of 

the universe, and in a future life, while it says 

with peculiar toleration, that in all matters of re 

ligious belief Masons are only expected to be of 

that religion in which all men agree.... Under 

the shelter of this wise provision, the Christian


and the Jew, the Mohammedan and the Brahmin 

are permitted to unite around a common altar, 

and Masonry becomes in practice, as well as in 

universal" 

theory, 

(Text-book of Masonic Juris 

prudence, pp. 94, 95). 

It is significant, however that in Masonic- 

ritual in use in so-called Christian lands, as Great 

Britain and the United States ( quotations from 

Holy Scripture abound. It cannot be doubted 

that this act has blinded the eyes of many to the 

real character of the Masonic order. And yet, 

no keen discernment is required to penetrate this 

thin veil of seeming Christianity. Regarding it 

self as the essence of all religions, Masonry has 

no difficulty adapting itself to the prevailing re 

ligion of any land. Therefore, in a historically 

Christian country like America it employs the Bi 

ble in its ritual and by the same token it employs 

the Koran in Moslem countries. As a matter of 

fact, eminent Masons, such as A. G. Mackey, 

openly avow that for them the Bible and the 

sacred books of other religions are all in a class 

Êncyclopedia of Freemasonry, p. 104). 

Frequently in Masonic ritual the inspired 

Word of God is seriously mutilated, and in many 

instances this mutilation consists in the omission 

of the name of Jesus Christ. In Mackey's Mason 

ic Ritualist the name of Christ is omitted from 

1 Peter 2:5 (p. 271), 2 Thessalonians 3:6 (p. 

348), and 2 Thessalonians 3:12 (p. 349). With 

reference to the elision of the Saviour's name 

from 1 Peter 2 :5 the following explanation is of 

fered : "The passages are taken, with slight but 

necessary 

of Peter...." 

modifications from the First Epistle 

(p. 272). The for this 

modification is obvious. Masonry does not claim 

to be Christian but, on the contrary, purports to 

be the essence of all religions ; therefore, its ritu 

al has no place for distinctly Christian material. 

That the omission of the Name which is above 

every name is described as a slight but necessary 

modification speaks volumes. 

In view of the foregoing it is to be expected 

that the name of Christ would be omitted also 

from the prayers offered in the lodge. As a 

matter of fact W. P. Loveless, a former Masonic 

chaplain who seceded, has this to say : "As Chap 

lain in the Masonic Lodge I offered the prayers 

which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth 

it.' Rev. ii. 17." 

The same blasphemous use of the Holy Scrip 

ture appears in the following quotation from J. 

S. M. Ward's Freemasonry and the Ancient Gods: 

"Light is the key which opens the door to our 

mysteries, and it is the same Light which 'shines 

in every letter of the Koran,' 

and is the Light of 

Mithra, who is the light of Ahura-Mazda. It is 

the same Light from which Moses shaded his 

eyes when it appeared to him in the bush, and the 

sign of a R(oyal) A(rch) is still made by an 

Arunta native of Australia when he returns from 

the final degree through which he passes in the 

mysterious ceremonies peculiar to that primitive 

people. It is the Light of which it is written in 

our Scriptures that 'the Light shineth in the 

Darkness and the Darkness comprehended it 

not'" 

(pp. 61, 62). 

It is no exaggeration to assert that Masonry 

does most serious violence to the inscripturated 

Word of God and does the gravest despite to Je 

sus Christ, the personal Word. 

(To be concluded) 

The Cloud Over Sunny Kansas 


the years of discretion ; those whose habits are 

not formed. The cruelties of those who offered 

their children to Moloch are not greater than the 

cruelties of the parents who will offer their chil 

dren to this modern, cruel god of strong drink. 

Kansas has voted for the judgments of God. 

His blood be on us and our children, is the cry 

of those who vote for Barabas and cry "Crucify 

Jesus". God never has allowed himself to be 

mocked. "Be not deceived; God is not 

They that sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind. 

I tremble for Kansas when I remember that God 

is just. 

moc 



three hours, teaches three hours of Scripture also, daily. 

He preaches twice on Sabbath and has charge of the 

Christian Endeavor. This school gives to Cyprus much 

ot its leadership, 

before graduation. 

and most of the boys are spoken for 

of the Lodge and heard many others offered, but 

never one in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

excluded" 

His name is (The Christian and Secret 

Societies, p. . 14) 

Time and again in Masonic ritual portions of 

the Word of God are erroneously and, it must 

be said, even blasphemously Recently, revival has broken out. "We began to have 

nine or ten in the inquiry room each night. These new 

converts began to meet at noon and again after the even 

ing service, almost demanding a second service. This 

gave them three meetings a day in addition to their 

studies. They 

applied. One strik 

ing instance may be cited. On page 286 of Mack 

ey's Masonic Ritualist is found an etching of the 

Masonic keystone. Above it and alongside of it 

one reads : "The following passages of Scriptures 

are here appropriately introduced : 'This is the 

stone which was set at nought of you builders, 

corner.' 

which is become the head stone of the 

Acts iv. 11 'To him that overcometh, will I give 

to eat the hidden manna; and I will give him a 

white stone, and in the stone a new name written, 

began to testify and pray before one 

another with joy and power. On Friday evening, I 

asked four of them to witness before the whole church. 

Some were a bit fearful, but when the time came they 

acted like veteran preachers, even calling upon the en 

tire congregation to pray with them. There was neither 

time nor need for my sermon. Out of fifty to sixty 

who came seeking the Lord, thirty or forty have formed 

themselves into a happy, holy band which meets fojr 

fellowship and study one hour a day. In this group 

are Greeks, Turks, Armenians, and even a Jew and a 

black Abyssinian.'




FOR NOVEMBER 21 

PAUL'S REASONS FOR 

THANKFULNESS 

I Cor. 1:4-8; 

II Tim. 1:3-5 

By the Rev. John McMillan 

Psalms: 

Sparta, Illinois 

Psalm 136:1-4 No. 373 

Psalm 147:1-4 No. 397 

Psalm 92:1-4 No. 251 

Psalm 9:1, 2, 5 No. 16 

References: 

Dan. 2:23; Acts 28:15; I Cor. 15 

57; II Cor. 9:15; I Tim. 1:2; Ps. 100 

4; Col. 1:12; Col. 3:15; I Thess. 5 

18; I Chron. 16:8; Eph. 5:20; Col. 

3:17 

The harvest season has long been 

recognized as a particular time for 

giving thanks to God. Devout men 

look upon their fields of ripened 

grain as a gift from the Lord, and 

as a special evidence of His good 

ness to them. We may plant and we 

may water; but it is God who gives 

the intcrease. This will always be 

true of the material harvest which 

we reap from the earth. Yet those 

are also the very words with which 

Paul accounted for the growth in the 

church at Corinth. He had planted; 

Apollos had watered; but God gave 

the increase. That was the kind of 

harvest of which Christ was speak 

ing, when He said, "Say not ye, 

There are yet four months, and then 

cometh harvest? Behold, I say unto 

you, Lift up your eyes, and look on 

the fields; for they are white al 

ready to harvest." 

inth, 

The fields had been white at Cor 

when Paul first went there on 

his second missionary journey, and 

there had been a real harvest. Many 

in that stronghold of wickedness had 

been filled with the grace of God; 

they were enriched by Christ in all 

things; and Paul, seeing that great 

harvest of souls, gave unceasing 

thanks to God. It was characteristic 

for the Apostle Paul to give thanks 

whenever he saw the grace of God 

at work in the church. He thanked 

God for the faith of the Christians 

at Rome a faith that was spoken 

of throughout the whole world. He 

gave thanks when he called to mind 

the unfeigned faith of his friend 

Timothy. 

These things were Paul's chief 

concern in life. His one great mission 

was to preach Jesus Christ, and 

Him crucified; 

and he knew that 

God alone could keep that preaching 

from being worthless. Paul could 

explain the way of salvation to 

Timothy day after day, but he could 

never of himself make Timothy be 

lieve it. Paul couldn't kindle that 

spark of spiritual life in Timothy's 

soul that would make him love 

Christ as h-:s Saviour. Timothy's un 

feigned faith was a gift from God. 

Paul even went so far as to say that 

he that planteth the seed is nothing. 

Some evangelists and ministers have 

been accused of taking 

credit upon 

themselves for souls that were saved. 

As far as we have record, the 

Apostle Paul was never guilty of 

that sin. "Neither is he that plant 

eth anything, 

eth.'' 

neither he that water- 

All of the credit, the praise, 

and the thanks belong to God, who 

gives the increase. 

In the 136th psalm we sing, "0 

thank the Lord for good is he; For 

mercy hath he ever. Thanks to the 

God of gods give ye; For his grace 

faileth 

never." 

God's spiritual gifts 

are the greatest evidence of His 

goodness and mercy. Certainly God 

is good when He gives us our daily 

bread; 

or when he provides us with 

shelter or clothing or health, or any 

other blessing in this life. We must 

never stop thanking God for all these 

things. Yet "What shall a man give 

in exchange for his 

soul?" 

What is 

more important to us than our 

eternal life through His Son. "Thank 

you, Lord, for saving my 

soul" 

should be the daily prayer of every 

Christian. 

We must not forget, however, that 

Paul's reason for thankfulness in the 

passages we are studying was not his 

own salvation (much as he thanked 

God for that), but rather the salva 

tion of others. Is that not where our 

gratitude is most likely to fall short? 

Are we truly 

grateful for what God 

does for other people? If we would 

have this kind of gratitude in our 

heart, we must begin by centering 

our interest in something outside of 

ourself. If our interests in life are 

largely selfish, our reasons for 

thanksgiving will be corresponding 

ly limited. But if our interest, like 

Paul's is centered in the whole 

church of Christ, we will seldom, if 

ever, fail to have a reason for thank 

ing God. If a young Mohammedan 

Turk on the Island of Cyprus yields 

his life to Christ, the church is 

strengthened, and we will be thank 

ful. If our next door neighbor is 

successful with God's help in giving 

up the drink habit, we will again be 

thankful. If our congregation is 

showing 

more zeal and consecration 

to the Lord's work than it did last 

year, we will take notice, and give 

God the praise. Every time we see 

new evidence that the grace of God 

is at work in human lives, and is 

using 

them for His glory, we will 

give heartfelt thanks. This will be 

the natural result when we center 

our interest, no longer in ourselves, 

but in Christ, 

of His kingdom. 

and in the whole work 

Intercession and Thanksgiving 

should go hand in hand. This was 

certainly the case in the life of Paul. 

He had been praying daily for 

Timothy; 

faith. He had been praying for the 

he gave thanks for his 

church at Corinth, and for the church 

at Rome; and he now gave thanks for. 

the evidence that those prayers had 

been answered. The things for which 

we are praying earnestly today are 

the things for which we will be giv 

ing thanks in the months and years 

ahead. 

The less credit we give to men, the 

more thanks we will be ready to 

give to God. We need always to re 

member that every good gift and 

every perfect gift cometh from the 

Father. He may work through us, but 

the power is His. May the praise and 

the thanksgiving be always given to 

Him. 


1. Look up all of the references 

to Paul's giving thanks, and classify 

them as to the reasons for his thank 

fulness. 

2. What was the connection be 

tween intercessory prayer and thanks 

giving in the life of Paul? 

3. What reasons has the Cove 

nanter Church had for being thankful 

to God during the past year? Name 

several of them. 

Our talents may be few and incon 

spicuous; but they may still be sig 

nificant if like the loaves and fishes 

they are given to God; and so meet 

a great need. For the Christian it is 

not the amount of talent that counts 

but the way it is employed. The 

steward recognizes it as God's gift Xu 

be used in His service for the better 

ment of mankind. James H. Riggs


JUNIOR TOPIC 


By Isabelle Murphy 

THE MAN WHO SAID 

"THANK YOU" Luke 17:11-19 

(Could best be told with aid of 

Flannelgraph.) 

Psalms : 

Psalm 100 No. 264 

Psalm 89:1-3 No. 239 

Psalm 95:1-4 No. 258 

Psalm 138:1-2 No. 377 

Verses : 

John 3:16; 2 Cor. 9:15; James J? 

17; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 4:6; Prov. 17:8; 

Prov. 21:14; Eccl. 3:13; John 4:10; 

Rom. 6:23 

Every 

autumn there was held at 

Jerusalem "The Feast of the Taber 

nacles". On their way from Galilee : 

to Jerusalem to attend this feast 

Jesus and His disciples went through \ 

the country of Samaria where the 

' 

people hated the Jews. There was a 

place where the Samaritans would 

not let Jesus and His disciples come 

into their village, because they saw 

that they were Jews going to Jerusa- 

. lem. When they 

came to one village 

to find a resting place, they met out 

side the gate ten men with the dread- 

*ful disease of leprosy. There seems 

to be no way to cure leprosy. When- 

a man has this disease he is not per 

mitted to go near other men. That is 

why 

these ten men were forced to 

stay outside the gate of the town. 

Many of the Samaritans had heard 

stories about Jesus and the wonder 

ful things He had done for the peo 

ple who were sick in body and sick 

in spirit. When these men saw Jesus 

coming with His disciples they cried 

out aloud, "Jesus, Master, have 

mercy on 

us." 

Jesus said to them, 

yourselves to the 

"Go and show 

priests." 

-"-If ever a leper became well, in 

those days, he was to go to the 

priest, and to offer a sacrifice, and 

then he was allowed to return to his 

home and to live again among other 

men. These men believed that Jesus] 

would cure them, and so obeyed His 

word right away. As soon as they 

started to go to the priests, they 

found that were well already. 

they 

When they found this all the men 

went on to their homes and friends. 

All but one man! This man came 

back to thank Jesus, 

feet, giving 

was not a Jew, 

and fell at His 

praise to God. This man 

but one of the Sa 

maritans who hated the Jews. When 

Jesus saw him He said, 

not ten 

"Were there 

cleansed? But where are the 

nine? Were there none who came 

back to give glory to God, except 

this 

stranger?" 

Then He said to the man, "Rise up, 

and go your way; your faith has 

saved 

you." 

This is the story of the man who 

appreciated Jesus' 

wonderful gift of 

making him well again, and remem 

bered to say "Thank 

you" 

to Jesus, 

while the nine others accepted the 

same gift, but did not bother to re 

turn to Jesus to praise Him for it. It 

wasn't such a hard thing for this 

Samaritan to do, but cannot we im 

agine the warm, happy feeling- that 

Jesus had when He saw the man 

coming to tell Him how much he 

'appreciated the glorious healing. 

jHaven't we felt as Jesus did when 

Mother and Father thanked us for 

-^something 

we brought to them or 

made for them? Didn't we feel a 

little happier when our friend or 

-neighbor asked us to help 

with an 

errand, and told how much they ap 

preciated our help? We would have 

been hurt and disappointed if Mother 

and Dad had received the gifts and 

nothing at all had been said about 

them. We would not continue to feel 

so friendly toward our neighbors if 

they 

accepted our gift of service and 

said nothing. 

Yet there may be times when we 

ourselves are more like the nine 

lepers than the one who returned to 

praise God. Mother does many things 

for us every day. She selects and 

prepares the kind of food that will 

keep us well and strong. She sees 

that always we have clothes that are 

clean and pressed, and when they be 

come worn or torn, it is Mother who 

mends them. When we are ill it is 

Mother who nurses us back to health. 

,Fatherworks every 

day to earn the 

money to buy the food, the clothing 

and the fuel to keep us warm, the 

medicine to make us well when we 

are sick, and the many other things 

to keep us comfortable and happy. 

We are so used to having these com 

forts and kindnesses that sometimes 

we forget that someone has had to 

work hard to make them possible. 

But whether or not we remember to 

say "Thank 

you",' 

Mother and Father 

will continue to do all they 

can to 

keep us comfortable and happy, be 

cause they love and want to help us. 

Isn't that the way sometimes we, 

God's children, are toward God, our 

Heavenly 

Father? He is the one who 

makes it possible for us to have the 

nourishing food to -strengthen us for 

daily living. He gives us clothing, 

shelter, 

and our friends and play 

mates. He has sent us the Holy 

Spirit as a comforter when we are in 

sorrow. And, best of all, He offers 

to each of us the promise of ever 

lasting life, through the salvation of 

Jesus, His Son. All we need to do is 

ask, and we shall receive. It is not 

hard to remember this part about 

asking, and we ask for many things 

in our prayers. Sometimes we don't 

remember that thanksgiving holds 

an important place in our prayers, 

too. But whether or not we remember 

to say "Thank you", God will con 

tinue to fill our hearts and lives with 

His bountiful gifts, because He loves 

us and wants to help us. 

How do we say "Thank 

you" 

to 

our family and friends ? Of course 

we can do just that when Mother 

mends our socks or uses her busy 

time making the special dessert we 

like so well, when Father buys the 

new bike .we 

have 

wanted, when 

Sister helps us with those difficult 

fractions, we can say, "Thank you, 

Family! We appreciate your thought- 

fulness." 

It is not hard, it doesn't 

take long to say it, but it will give 

them the warm, happy feeling we 

have when they say "Thank you". 

We are able to show our thanks 

and appreciation also in our actions. 

If we carry on our share or errands 

and tasks in the best and most 

cheerful way, if we take our best 

care of the toys, clothes and furni 

ture in the home, if we do all we 

can to be the kind of Christian 

Mother and Father want us to be, we 

will be showing how much we ap 

preciate the privilege of being part 

of such a grand family. 

How do we say, "Thank 

you" 

to 

God ? Of course we remember to 

thank Him in all our prayers and 

we remember to talk to God in pray 

er. We can show our thanks and 

appreciation to God also in our 

thoughts and actions. If we do all 

that we can to be as nearly like 

Jesus as we can in our daily life, and 

pray for God's guidance in helping 

us, we will be showing God how 

much we appreciate the privilege of 

being 

family. 

a part of His great Christian 

(Questions for the end of .the 

discussion.) 

1. In what ways has God given us 

reason to thank Him ? 

2. What was God's Greatest Gift? 

3. In what ways can we show 

Thankfulness in our actions and 

thoughts ? 

4. How many things can I name 

for which I am Thankful?





LESSON VIII. 

POETRY IN THE BIBLE 

I Samuel 2:1-10; II Samuel 1:19- 

27; Psalms 23 and 24; 103; 136:1-9; 

Habakkuk 3:17-19; Luke 1:46-55. 

Printed Verses, Psalm 24. 

Golden Text: 

"He hath put a new song in my 

mouth, 

Psalm 40:3. 

even praise unto our God." 

What causes poetry? Isn't it great 

depth of feeling? Spring, love, 

death, victory, these things stir 

people to an outburst of poetic im 

agery. If it is great depth of feeling 

that produces poetry, then we cer 

tainly expect poetry in the Bible. 

And we do find it there. Hannah 

was so moved when the Lord had 

answered her prayer and had given 

her Samuel her son that when she 

had "lent him to the Lord" 

her heart 

overflowed poetically 

in a prayer of 

thanksgiving and praise. David was 

so moved by the death of Saul and 

Jonathan that his naturally poetic 

nature broke over into a lament that 

took the form of poetry. Habakkuk 

was so moved by the Lord's revela 

tion of things to come, and with his 

own feeling of trust in the Lord no 

matter what happened, tnat hip 

prophecy took the form of poetry. 

The Virgin Mary naturally broke in 

to poetic song at the realization that 

the Messiah would be her son. These 

are all mentioned in the passages 

suggested for today's lesson, and 

there are additional poetic passages 

throughout the Bible. There is the 

victory song of Moses at the Red 

Sea, and that of Deborah and Barak 

in the time of the Judges. In a re 

cent lesson we also found that part 

of the Law of Moses was written in 

poetic form, possibly for the sake of 

easier memorizing. 

While extraordinary 

events give 

rise to poetry, the great mass of 

poetic writing comes from natural 

poets. Again it is this way in the 

Bible. David and Solomon wrote 

most of our Bible poetry. Thus we 

have the Psalms, so many 

of which 

were written by David that they are 

often called the "Psalms of David," 

and we have from the poetic pen of 

Solomon the books of Proverbs, Ec 

clesiastes, and the Song 

of Solomon. 

The author of the other book of 

poetry, the Book of Job, is not 

known. 

How shall we take up today's les 

son and follow the printed text and 

at the same time think of our sub 

ject, "Poetry in the Bible"? We 

might center our thoughts around 

Psalm 24 as follows: I. Bible Poetry 

and the Greatness of God; II. Bible 

Poetry and the Grace of God; and 

III. Bible Poetry and the Glory of 

God. (If we care to take up the 

Twenty-third Psalm in addition to 

the printed verses we could add 

another point, Bible Poetry 

and the 

Goodness of God: Every Want Met; 

Every Fear Allayed; Every Need 

Supplied.) 

I. BIBLE POETRY AND THE 

GREATNESS OF GOD. Psalm 

24:1, 2. 

We should see the Lord Jesus 

Christ in these verses, for He was 

God the Son who was in the begin 

ning with God, 

and all things were 

made by Him; and it is to the Son 

that the earth and its fulness belong. 

The Lord of the Psalms is the King 

of kings and Lord of lords. Psalm 

136 calls on men to praise Him first 

for what He is, and then i n verses 

4-9 for what He has done in creation. 

(Find the rest of the things men 

tioned, as redeeming Israel, leading 

in the wilderness, subduing kings, 

giving the land, providing heaven, 

etc.) The Book of Job also calls at 

tention to the greatness of God, 

especially the closing chapters. Bible 

poets could never do full justice to 

the greatness of God, but they do stir 

our hearts to think of it and to see 

it in a new light. 

II. BIBLE POETRY AND THE 

GRACE OF GOD. Psalm 24:3-6. 

(Psalm 103) 

Psalm 136 repeats over and over 

that the mercy, or grace, 

of God is 

forever; Psalm 103. enumerates many 

ways in which God has shown His 

mercy and grace; 

and these verses 

of Psalm 24 show us some results of 

God's grace. Again the "man whose 

hands are clean, and whose heart is 

pure, who hath not lifted up his soul 

to vanity 

nor sworn deceitfully," 

none other than the Lord Jesus 

Christ. In Him we see the grace that 

God meant for us to have, but how 

far short of it we come! Yet God 

does impart grace to those who fol 

low Him, giving them cleanness of 

hands and purity of heart, and mak 

ing them more and more able to lift 

up their souls to Him alone, and to 

keep from deceit and falsehood. This 

is the man who receives "righteous 

ness from the God of his 

is 

salvation." 

Our righteousness is not our own, but 

that which we receive from God 

through Jesus Christ and the Holy 

Spirit through the death of Jesus 

Christ and the present work of the 

Spirit of God in our lives. The right 

eousness in which we shall stand be 

fore God is the perfect righteousness 

described here and elsewhere, and 

imputed to us. Only 

with this right 

eousness can we ascend into the hill 

of the Lord, and stand in His holy 

place. 

III. BIBLE POETRY AND THE 

GLORY OF GOD. Psalm 24:7-10 

Many things reveal the glory of 

God. The heavens declare it, His 

works show it, and naturally the 

poetry 

of the Bible attempts to de 

scribe it. But above all it was, and 

is, and is yet to be, revealed in Jesus 

Christ. He is the one for whom the 

gates are to lift up their heads, and 

the everlasting doors are to be lifted 

up, that He, the King of Glory, may 

come in. Therefore lift up the doors 

of your life, the doors of your 

churches and the doors of national 

life, 

and let Him come in. Then we 

shall see His glory and experience it 

and still more eagerly wait for the 

full manifestation of it. 



THE LAW OF SPIRITUAL 

ACTION AND REACTION 

Scripture Reading: 

II Cor. 9:6-12 


Psalm 142:1, 4, 5, 6 No. 384 

Psalm 66:8, 9 10, 14 No. 174 

Psalm 109:12-16 No. 303 

Psalm 103:1-4 No. 273 

References : 

Prov. 11:24; 19:17; Gal. 6:7-9 

Dan. 12:3; Matt. 16:27; Luke 18:27 

I Cor. 3:8; Rev. 22:12; Ps. 126:5, 6 

Isa. 32:20; Hos. 10:12; Luke 8:5. 

Comments : 


A person cannot read 

about or 

study world conditions, or conditions 

in our own country, in our Churches, 

or in our families without realizing 

to some extent the need for the 

knowledge and obedience of the "Law 

of Spiritual Action and 

This law can be used, 

Reaction" 

as man's 

servant to lead him to a higher and 

better and a full happy 

it is not used as his 

life. And if 

servant to lead 

him to higher things then it is used 

as his enemy to tear down his life to 

make him poor and miserable. 

The law is stated very plainly by 

Paul in II Cor. 9:6: "But this I say,


he which soweth sparingly shall reap 

also sparingly; and he which soweth 

bountifully shall reap 

fully." 

also bounti 

Our main purpose is to look at this 

from a spiritual aspect, but never 

theless the physical life lends some 

good illustrations. Does the farmer 

return from his field saying grudg 

ingly with a sorrowful heart, "There, 

all that good seed is thrown away 

and lost." 

No, he doesn't say that. He 

has a feeling- of satisfaction and ac 

complishment. For he knows if his 

crop grows and bears, he will have 

many times as much as he planted. 

So he does not begrudge the putting 

of the seed in the ground, but rather 

takes pleasure in it. 

Neither if we are trying to sow 

the word in the hearts of other peo 

ple do we go just once and tell them 

of the Word of God, and Jesus' 

salva 

tion, 

but we go until that person has 

made their decision for Christ. "He 

which soweth bountifully, 

also bountifully. 

First, 

shall reap 

note the Proportionate Re 

ward. He which soweth sparingly 

shall reap 

also sparingly; and he 

which soweth bountifully shall reap 

also bountifully. You get out of it in 

proportion to what you put into it. 

If we were to take the example of 

God in our own lives and follow that, 

we would sow bountifully, exceed 

ingly 

so. For God has not withheld 

any thing from us, even His own Son 

He was willing to give on the cross 

for our sins. He has indeed been 

gracious to us. It is worth noting 

that those who enter most into the 

Church activities whether it is Sab 

bath School, Missionary Society, 

Young People's or what ever it may 

with the Church 

be, not only help 

work, but receive a greater blessing 

of peace and satisfaction. And the 

more a person gives the more they 

themselves receive. 

Verse 7 says: "Every 

ing 

let him give; 

man accord 

as he purposeth in his heart, so 

not grudgingly, or of 

necessity; for God loveth a cheerful 

giver." 

This principle of proportion 

ate reward is true and practical in 

the idea of giving as well as in doing. 

The Christian expects his reward, 

not as due to merit, but as connected, 

in a constitution of grace, with those 

acts which grace enables him to per 

form. The pilgrim who has been led 

to the gate of heaven will not knock 

there as worthy of being admitted; 

but the gate shall open to him, be 

cause lie is brought thither. He who 

sows, even with tears, the precious 

seed of faith, hope, and love, shall 

"doubtless come again with joy and 

bring his sheaves with him," 

because 

it is in the very nature of that seed 

to yield, under the kindly influence 

secured to it, a joyful harvest. 

Note second, this is a- 

spiritual 

sowing. "And God is able to make all 

grace abound toward you; that ye, 

always having all sufficiency in all 

things may abound to every good 

good 

work." 

One reason Paul was 

stating this law of Spiritual Action 

and Reaction was that the Cor 

inthians had sent gifts to the Church 

at Jerusalem. Once the Christians at 

Jerusalem had had their doubts about 

the Corinthians and other pagans 

who were said to have received the 

Gospel; they had heard marvelous 

reports about them, certainly, but it 

remained to be seen on what these 

reports rested. They would not com 

mit themselves hastily to any com 

promising relation to such outsiders. 

Now all their doubts have been 

swept away; the Gentiles have 

actually 

come to the relief of their 

poverty, and there is no mistaking 

what that means. The language of 

love is intelligible every where, and 

there is only One who teaches it in 

such relations as are involved here 

Jesus Christ. 

In Europe we see the effects of 

sowing the seeds of hatred. We see 

the effects of sowing the seeds of 

atheism in the minds of the univer 

sity students there for the last 40 or 

50 years. It bore fruit in a nation 

that was willing to be led of one who 

hated God. The fruit was a war 

which not only tore down and 

brought to destruction their own na 

tion, till they are powerless today, 

but took the lives of many thousands 

of others in the great conflict. 

We know what is happening- 

some of the communistic controlled 

countries today. We wonder how the 

minds of such men work, and how 

anyone can be so cruel to the people 

under them. But when you read the 

things that they 

in 

are taught you see 

the reason and realize it is the ef 

fect of sowing the wrong kind of 

seeds. When you realize the 

young- 

people in those countries have no 

opportunity to compare what they 

are being taught with what is right, 

what chance have they ? Lenin said 

in one of his pamphlets that has 

been read widely among leaders in 

communistic countries: "Religion 

teaches those who toil in poverty all 

their lives to be resigned and patient 

in this world, 

and consoles them with 

the hope of reward in heaven. As for 

those who live upon the labor of 

others, religion teaches them to be 

charitable in earthly life, thus pro 

viding a cheap justification for their 

whole exploiting existence and sell 

ing them at a reasonable price a 

ticket, to heavenly bliss. Religion is 

the opium of the people. Religion is 

a kind of spiritual intoxicant in 

which the slaves of capital drown 

their humanity and their desires for 

some sort of decent human existence. 

Our program is based entirely on 

scientific to be more precise upon 

a materialistic world conception. In 

explaining our program, therefore, 

we must necessarily explain the ac 

tual historical and economic roots of 

the religious fog. Our program neces 

sarily includes the propaganda of 

atheism. The publication of the re 

lated scientific literature (which up 

till now has been strictly forbidden 

and persecuted by the autocratic 

feudal government) must now form 

one of the items of our party work. 

We shall now, probably, have to fol 

low the advice which Engels once 

gave the German Socialists to 

translate and spread among the 

masses the enlightening atheist 

literature of the eighteenth 

century." 

And so on this pamphlet goes. And 

to think that the seeds of that doc 

trine are being implanted in the 

minds of thousands of people today. 

Is it any wonder that the world con 

dition is a matter of concern in the 

minds of people who care for the in 

tegrity of humanity? Who of any of 

our working classes in this country 

today would choose to go to Europe 

to any communistic dominated coun 

try and take up their work there? 

None would go. They prize the free 

dom that we have in this country. 

And yet the freedom has been taken 

from other people in other countries, 

simply by the sowing of the wrong 

kind of seeds in their minds. In the 

light of these facts we do not have 

to look long or to think long 

to see 

the need for sowing the seeds of 

righteousness. This law is working; 

either we will be sowing the seeds of 

righteousness, spiritual action; or 

there will be a reaction and that 

which is good and right and free will 

be taken away from us. 

Is it any wonder that the religious 

leaders of our country, who know 

that there are over 17,000,000 chil 

dren growing up in our public 

schools who have no Christianity 

taught to them, is it any wronder 

they 

are concerned about the recent


decision of the Supreme Court, in ***Miss Elizabeth McElroy and 

the light of this law of action and Miss Marjorie E. Allen landed at 

reaction? There must be a spiritual Beirut on October 10. They went on 

sowing if people are to be saved. to Latakia the next day. Miss Mc- 

Notice third, our obligation with Crea transferred at Piraeus, Greece, 

regard to this law. "Every man as to take another ship to Cyprus. The 

he purposeth in his heart, so let him Marine Carp did not stop at Alex- 

give." 

Important is the purpose of andria. The voyage over was quite 

our heart. Some of us have been go- stormy. 

ing 

about our neighborhoods invit- 

***a cablegram came from Miss 

ing others to church, and asking Marjorie E. Allen saying that she 

them about their soul's salvation. The arl(j Kenneth Sanderson were to be 

valuable thing in the universe is married on the forenoon of October 

genuine, practical love, 

or charity 30. 

towards others, for without that we 

can accomplish nothing. It confers 

happiness on the man who practices 

it. Every 

own soul, 

act is a seed of life m his 

and will germinate, grow, 

and produce imperishable fruit. The 

!!;,,*Tf youi. 

witness seems to be 

coming ;omewhat irregularly it is 

because we have ,been trying to 

catch up on back woA_due to pre- 

yioug pi.esg diffjicuities--between 

times Editor 

more of these deed-germs he sows . 

. 

, , . 

4., i_ 4. ***The next hurdle is the Minutes 

the more abundant the harvest. 

PRAYER SUGGESTIONS 

of Synod-too long 

delayed. D. R. T. 

Pray that the Christian Religion ***Miss Esther Taggart became 

may be given its rightful place in the bride of James R. Burrow at a 

the Universities and Schools of our Quiet wedding at her home in Topeka, 

land, that our young people may not in the presence of the immediate 

grow up in ignorance of God. families, on the of evening October 

Pray that God may open the minds 29, her father officiating. The happy 

of people to know the result of not 

couple will make their home in 

spiritual lives. 

Chicago. 

living 

***Communion was held at South- 

:^^=^^^^^_^_^^_^_^^^_=___^^ field, Mich., on October 31, 

STAR NOTES 

with Dr. 

J. D. Edgar of Chicago assisting. 

The meeting'13 weie wel1 attended, 

and Dr. Edgar brought fine inspira- 

'-***-****' ----' -i^_--;. tional messages to us. We had two 

***A daughter was born to Mr. 

additions to our membership both of 

and Mrs. Rudolph Falk of Clarinda which were by certificate, Mrs. Al- 

September 26. 

Helen Louise. 

She has been named 

leyne Baumgartner from Hetherton, 

and Mrs' Harold ThomPsn from 

Oakdale, Illinois. We thank the Lord 

***Rev. Charles Carson of Beaver 

for the blessings of this season. 

Falls, Pa., was with us at Clarinda 

conon 

Sabbath, October 10. He 

***0n 0ctober 24' four baptisms 

ducted the communion service and were Performed at Southfield by the 

preached on Friday evening and Pastor: Judith Marle Robb' daughter 

Saturday afternoon before com- 

of Edmond and Evelyn Beardslee 

munion Robb; Carolyn Marie, Robert Earl 

and Mary Ann Baumgartner, chil- 

***Clarinda has enjoyed having dren of joseph and Alleyne Baum- 

Rev. A. J. McFarland, Rev. Paul gartner. "The promise is unto you, 

McCracken and Rev. J. C. Matthews 

children." 

yom, 

and to 

Our hearts re- 

preach for us recently. joice with those 0f the angels for 

***In the Thank- Offering Play these little ones. 

Contest which was sponsored by the 

Women's Synodical Mrs. Sam Boyle 

SPECIAL NOTICE 

of Canton, China, was awarded first We have in stock some fifty copies 

prize with the play entitled, "Inas- 

of the Reformed Presbyterian Psal- 

much". Mrs. George McFarland of ter. The new edition with revised 

Latrobe, Pa., was awarded second tunes will likely 

appear next Fall 

prize with the play entitled, "Go Ye 1949. If your psalter looks shabby, 

Into All the World". Miss George better get one before the fifty copies 

Tate of Selma, Ala., with "And the are sold. Price one dollar a copy 

Master Came"; and Mrs. J. Ralph delivered. 

Wilson of Morning Sun, Iowa, with James S. Tibby 

"At the Birthday Party" 

tied for 209 9th St. 

third prize. Pittsburgh, Pa. 

HOT SPRINGS, NEW MEXICO 

After a swing-back from Florida 

via Selma, Alabama, and Beaver 

Falls, Pa., Boyd A. and Dr. Edna 

White spent most of the summer in 

Kansas; then came to Hot Springs, 

where they are now located. It was a 

real joy and inspiration to visit our 

Selma church friends again, on our 

way north, 

and our Cache Creek 

church friends on our way southwest. 

Since arriving here, Sabbath serv 

ices and mid-week prayer meetings 

have been held in the James Lucas 

home at 1801 Broadway. The Re 

formed Presbyterian church service 

was announced on the Hot Springs 

Broadcasting Station KCHS, for the 

first time, Sabbath morning, October 

24, 1948. There are many churches in 

Hot Springs, but as yet not one of 

the Presbyterian faith. From the 

Lucas home to where the Whites 

are living, a mile and a half farther 

down the Rio Grande valley in the 

Williams addition, there is no 

church; but there is much opportun 

ity for missionary work. 

The latest arrivals are the Rev. 

and Mrs. Owen F. Thompson. Hav 

ing formerly been the pastor of the 

Lucas family, and fellow-workers 

with the writer at our Indian Mis 

sion, makes their presence doubly 

welcome. We hope that the benefits 

of this Health City, 

with its healing 

waters and beneficial sunshine, may 

greatly help them as they take a 

much needed rest. 

Every day 

new stories are heard 

of health blessings received by 

drinking the mineral waters, by 

bathing in the hot springs, and by 

basking in the warm sunshine. 

Cripples are a familiar sight on the 

streets; and many more will be com 

ing as the weather grows colder 

farther north. The Whites have not 

come here because of personal health 

problems, but because they desire to 

link their efforts with the healing 

benefits God has planted here for 

the help of many in the Church and 

outside of it who suffer with ail 

ments varying from stomach ulcers 

to arthritis. 

Church services for the time-being 

will be held in Covenanter homes 

until a Chapel may be provided. The 

prayers of the Church are desired, 

that the blessings of Hot Springs, 

New Mexico, may be shared by many 

afflicted in the Church and that 

souls may be brought into Christ's 

Kingdom through the united labors 

here. B. W.


AGITATION FOR A CHRISTIAN 

AMENDMENT KEEPS 

ROLLING ALONG 

The work of the Christian Amend 

ment Movement since Synod time 

has been principally "under 

cover" 

work. Our program and literature 

were geared to bringing pressure up 

on Congress to grant the Christian 

Amendment Resolution a hearing. 

The adjournment of Congress with- 

out giving 

consideration to this Res 

olution made it necessary 

to change 

our program. This change included a 

revision of our literature so as tc 

present the Christian Amendment 

message whether or not a Resolution 

is before Congress. 

Within the last month there have 

been several interesting develop 

ments in our work. Notice was taken 

of the Christian Amendment Res 

olution by the Washington, D. C, 

Office of the Federal Council of 

Churches and a two-page "memo 

randum" 

regarding 

it was sent out 

to the executives of the churches 

connected with that organization. 

An editorial appeared in the Octo 

ber 7 issue of "The Christian Advo 

cate" 

entitled, 

ment". The article states, 

"The Christian Amend 

"We would 

like to see the Constitution so 

amended," 

and calls for a general 

discussion of the proposed Amend 

ment by all classes of citizens in our 

country from Congress on out to the 

equivalent of 

present-day 

the groups 

around the old corner store cracker 

barrel. This would indicate that 

though Congress failed to give the 

Christian Amendment Resolution a 

hearing 

ing 

a "dead" 

the proposal is far from be 

issue. 

Our last Synod authorized its of 

ficers to send a statement regarding 

the Christian Amendment and an 

appeal for its consideration to the of- 

ficei s of as many 

other denomina 

tions as could be reached. This mes- 

sage was transferred to representa 

tives of about two hundred twenty- 

five different organizations on Sep 

tember 30 by Synod's Clerk. Replies 

have been coming in from these let 

ters, 

couraging. 

and some of them are quite en 

We have ready for distribution 

two new pieces of literature. "The 

Christian Amendment What It Is 

What You Can Do To Help" 

is a twelve-page leaflet illustrated 

with cuts from "The Christian 

Patriot." 

It is intended as a means 

of introducing the Christian Amend 

ment proposal to those who have 

not heard of it before. "Christ 

Before the Court of Public Opinion" 

is an eight-page leaflet which empha 

sizes the fact that though Congress 

did not give consideration to the 

Christian Amendment Resolution, it 

is 

still before the people of our 

country, and the final decision re 

garding it must be made by them. 

There is a return postal with each 

of these so that those who read them 

may 

register their response to this 

message. 

We have prepared script for three 

fifteen-minute radio broadcasts giv 

ing the Christian Amendment mes 

sage and using Grinnell Psalm re 

cordings for the theme song and 

musical parts of the program. 

These programs are intended to give 

the Christian Amendment message 

from the young 

person's point of 

view, and are prepared for use by 

the young people of the church. 

Five speakers, three young men and 

two young women, give the message 

in interlocutory form. This use of 

different voices adds to the interest 

appeal of the message. The introduc 

tion and musical part of the pro 

grams take about five minutes and 

the message about eight minutes, 

leaving some leeway for differences 

in reading speed of different indi 

viduals. 

This script is mimeographed ready 

for use. As many 

copies can be pro 

vided as may be needed by any con- 

giegation in the church. It is hoped 

that the young people of our various 

congregations will endeavor to get 

this message on the air in their 

respective communities. In many 

places the' e are smaller radio sta 

tions which give some free time to 

religious and patriotic programs. 

This is entitled, "A Christian Pa 

triotic Yorth Program," 

in the hope 

that it might be given as much con 

sideration as possible on that basis. 

It would help in getting on the radio 

to show station managers the edi 

torial in "The Christian Advocate" 

which suggests that this matter 

should be discussed widely. 

If free time cannot be secured, 

perhaps there are young people's 

societies who will endeavor to raise 

enough money to put these pro 

grams on the air. There are prob 

ably friends of the Christian Amend 

ment Movement who would be will 

ing to provide money for this pur 

young- 

pose if they knew there were 

people prepared and willing to put 

the programs on the air. On many 

stations the cost of putting the 

three programs on the air would be 

approximately 

Probably the best time would be on 

successive Sabbath Days. 

one hundred dollars. 

We have prepared also TRACT 

RACKS to be placed in railroad sta 

tions, doctors' 

waiting rooms, hotel 

lobbies, and other public plaices. 

These racks cost us about seventy- 

five cents each. We should like to 

have some individual or organiza-

si: THE COVENANTER WITNESS October 27, 1948 

tion in each congregation take one 

or more of these and assume respon 

sibility for keeping 

them supplied 

each week with literature and copies 

of "The Christian Patriot". This is 

one way of making a small financial 

investment in Christian Amendment 

work, and it would afford opportun 

ity for a real investment of interest 

and prayer. Literature for use in the 

racks will be provided free. We are 

offering 

to send the lack free to 

those who do not feel they can pay 

foi- 

it, but we are hoping 

that our 

Covenanter friends will be willing to 

make this investment on their own 

account in Christian Amendment 

work. 

If racks are placed in public 

places they must be looked after and 

kept replenished with literature, old 

copies of "The Christian Patriot" 

re 

moved and new ones supplied; other 

wise the racks might be detrimental 

instead of helpful to our cause. We 

will mail the racks knocked down 

with an instruction sheet for putting 

them together and will send litera 

ture and as many 

copies of the cur 

rent issue of "The Christian Patriot" 

as may be ordered. 

Synod authorized efforts to re 

introduce the Christian Amendment 

Resolution into the next Congress. 

The prayers of the Church are re 

quested for the guidance and bless 

ing of Almighty God in this and all 

other activities of the Church's 

Amendment workers. 

NEW ALEXANDRIA 

The James S. Beatty family of 

Coldenham visited Mrs. Beatty's 

family when they 

came for the fu 

neral of Mr. Beatty's aunt, Miss 

Mary Gray. Miss Gray 

was the old 

est member of the New Alexandria 

congregation. They 

October communion. 

also attended the 

Mr. and Mrs. Warren Smail of 

Washington, D. C, 

the communion season. 

With the passing 

were home for 

of Mr. 

"Mack" 

Shaw the community lost a real 

friend and the church a faithful 

member. He had attended over 60 

communions. 

Rev. Lester Kilpatrick of Sterling, 

Kansas, 

was an able and appreciated 

assistant at our October communion. 

Mrs. Sarah Elder entertained the 

W. M. S. in September and Mrs. J. 

W. Steel in October. 

Mrs. Mary Louise Elder Tait en 

tertained the Young Woman's Mis 

sionary Society at the home of her 

mother in October. The September 

meeting 

was held at the church. 

Miss Edna Patterson entertained 

the Girls' 

Missionary Society in 

October, and the November meeting 

was held at the home of Mrs. Leo 

nora Pierce Kepple. 

Mr. and Mrs. R. L. Brown spent 

their vacation in Miami, Florida. 

The September C.Y.P.U. social was 

held at Mrs. Clarence Clark's home 

in Latrobe. In October, Mrs. J. W. 

Steel entertained the young people 

at a mask Halloween party. 

Mr. W. T. Jack spent his 85th 

sister- 

birthday at the home of his 

in-law, Mrs. Clark Marshall. The 

congregation remembered him with 

birthday greetings. 

We are glad to have Mr. Walter 

Porter at church again after a seige 

of pneumonia. 

Mr. J. E. Steel is now almost com 

pletely recovered from a rather ser 

ious accident which occurred earlier 

in the season. 

Due to an oversight on the part of 

the correspondent the following 

events are just now being published. 

At a beautifully appointed church 

wedding on June 2, 1948, Miss Leo 

nora Pierce and Mr. Robert Kepple 

were married by the Rev. R. C. Ful 

lerton. The bride, given in marriage 

by her brother James, a student at 

Geneva, was attended by the follow 

ing: Matron of Honor, Mrs. Clarence 

Clark, Bridesmaids, Miss Priscilla 

Ludwig, Miss Edith Kepple, sister of 

the groom, and Miss Betty Flournoy 

of Atlanta, Georgia. The best man 

was George Woodward, and the ush 

ers, Paul Graham, Clarence Clark 

and Dick Weinshenker. The wed 

ding 

Hazel Beattie, 

march was played by Miss 

and two numbers were 

sung by Mary Louise Elder preced 

ing the ceremony. Tapers, which 

were a part of the decorations, were 

lighted by Grace Marshall and Wil 

ma Shaw. F'olowing the ceremony a 

reception was held at Rushwood. 

The young couple intend to make 

New Alexandria their church home. 

On their wedding trip they worshiped 

with the Almonte, Canada, congre 

gation and were there entertained 

at the home of the James Morton's. 

On August 7, 1948, the New Alex 

andria church was again the place of 

a wedding. Miss Mary Louise Elder 

and Donald Burkholder Tait were 

united in holy matrimony by the 

Rev. R. C. Fullerton. Mary Louise 

was given in marriage by her 

brother, Robert, and her attendants 

were: Matron of honor, Mrs. Robert 

Elder; bridesmaids, Miss Ruth Tait, 

sister of the groom, and Mrs. Leo 

nora Pierce Kepple. The best man 

was the Rev. Alton Hoffman. Mr. 

Raymond Tait and Robert Folk were 

ushers. Jean Elder, niece of the 

bride, and Nancy Frost were flower 

girls. After the reception the happy 

couple left for State College. The 

following 

YOU ARE INVITED TO SUBSCRIBE TO 

week thev attended and 

helped with the Junior work at 

Camp Caledon. Their present ad 

dress is State College, R. F. D. 1. 

Blue Banner Faith and Life 

for 1949 

A help to Bible study, published quarterly. Shows how the truths of 

our Covenanter faith stand firmly on the rock of Holy Scripture, and 

applies them to present-day problems. Endorsed by many Covenanter 

ministers. Now about to enter its fourth year. 

Recommended by the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian 

Church (1947) 

"We wish to commend the work of J. G. Vos in publishing Blue Banner 

Faith and Life. It sets forth accurately and clearly much that is of value 

in Church history and doctrine. This publication is attractively prepared 

and would be a suitable addition to any library for 

reference." 

Each issue provides 13 weekly lessons on Bible truth for class or indi 

vidual study, besides articles, book reviews, sketches from the Church's 

history, devotional study of Psalms, answers to 

readers' 

queries, and 

other features. 8'/2 x 11 inches, punched for loose-leaf binder. S1.50 per 

year. 

J. G. Vos, Publisher 

Route 1 Clay Center, Kansas

LESSON HELPS FOR THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 28, 19 18 


300 YEARS Of W'tAieSSING- 

TOR. CHRIST'S SOVEREIGN RIGHTS IN IMF. CHURCH ^ND THE. (W,T'OfJ 

VOLUME XLI Wednesday, November 3, 1948 Number 18 

The Rev. S. E. Boyle, 

Patricia, 

> 

KrJ > til ?V^ 

wife and children, Mary 

Robert Scott and Margaret Mae. 

k 0Ut 

As our Orphanage pupils look going 

r" 

r 

to and 

from school. Their bamboo hats which serve for 

sun and rains are hanging on their backs. 

Lo Ting 1948

274 THE COVENANTER WITNESS November 3, 1948 

QlimfileA. ajj ike (lelujAXHtl %a>Ud 


Conditions in Russia 

The leading aiticle in the October issue of the Re 

formed Presbyterian Witness of Scoiland is on "Life in 

the Soviet Union.'' 

It says: "An outftanding work has 

recently been published on the Soviet Union, which gives 

a thorough-going, up-to-dr-te, and scholarly 

very 

analysis of a 

complex situation. The writer, Mr. Dallin, goes to 

the original Russian sources for his information, and 

knows the Soviet Union at first hand, not as a visiting 

journalist, but as a member of the Moscow Soviet. . . . 

The conclusion he reaches is that either an internal 

transformation of Russian's political system will prevent 

another war, or a war will lead to an upheaval in Russia. 

The vast number of government employees are somewhat 

cool in their allegiance to the Party machine. Dallin says: 

They find it intolerable that almost every family has 

some member who is being subjected to repression at 

' 

home or is confined in a concentration camp; that one's 

every step is watched not only by superiors, but by some 

else.' " 

one They find it unbearable that they cannot lead 

a quiet life. 

"The second fact that stands out in the book is the vast 

number of people of both sexes who are doing forced la 

bor in concentration camps. Dallin estimates that the 

number of these unfortunates is twenty million at least. 

Slaves are now a greirt social class in the Soviet Union." 

They are utterly merciless with these people. "People are 

dying there like flies, perishing in various ways, without 

anyone knowing about it, for the sentences dooming 

victims to piison and labor camps carry with them the 

notation 'without right of 

They live 

correspondence.' 

" 

under hoi rible conditions and are slowly dying from 

weakness, exhaustion and hunger. More than 200,000 

prisoners \vre employed in the construction of the White 

Sea- Baltic Canal. More than 50,000 died during a 

period of a year and a half. No heating 

was provided; 

they were told to keep themselves warm by working. 

Many of the victims were discovered dead on the 

ice with saws and axes in their hands. If a prisoner 

escaped, the rest of the company was punished by hav 

ing their terms of service lengthened. Those caught 

escaping were shot. 

The writer of this article. Rev. Guthrie, points out that 

"Russia made the big mistake of banishing God, His 

Word, His Day 

and His Christ from the land. What the 

Russian revolution needed more than anything else was 

the leavening- effect of true Christianity." 

>-reatest need of every land ? 

What of Retiring 

at Sixty? 

Is this not the 

The Sunshine Magazine says that an examination made 

of the careers of some four hundred men, the most 

notable of their time and outstanding in many activities 

statesmen, painters, warriors, poets, writers show that 

the decade of years between sixty and seventy contained 

35 per cent of the world's greatest achievements; be 

tween 70 and 80 years, 23 per cent; after 80 years, 8 per 

cent. In other words, 64 per cent of the great achieve 

ments have been accomplished by 

their 60th year. 

Teachers in North Dakota 

men who have passed 

Since the people of North Dakota voted to abolish the 

religious garb in the public schools of that state the 

nuns who were teaching have begun to wear dresses the 

same as other school teachers. Because the nuns have 

had their heads shaved they wrap handkerchiefs around 

their heads. The pupils do not address the nuns as Miss- 

So-and-So, but still call them "Sister." 

The 75 nuns who were teachers drew the regular sal 

aries paid by public school teachers of their districts. 

Because they had taken vows of poverty before entering 

their respective convents, they assigned their pay checks 

over to the church. An official of the Bureau of Internal 

Revenue ruled that income tax deductions should not be 

made because their salaries go to the Catholic Church. 

What of Amsterdam? 

Much has been written about the Amsterdam World 

Assembly 

of Churches. The most elaborate report which 

we have seen appears in the October 6 issue of The 

Christian Centi'ry. We have read, with some degree of 

patience, the upward of twenty pages of this report. As 

we read of the debates and decisions and findings the old 

proverb came to our mind, "The elephant labored and 

bought forth a 

port of their findings, 

mouse." 

There is nothing new in the re 

and the so-called discoveries are 

only weak, denatured statements of what the Bible 

teaches and what the church has known for centuries. 

It may be expected that representatives of 135 churches 

would have to delete all except the barest, almost mean 

ingless statements of doctrine and government if they 

were to agree in accepting them. It has been affirmed 

that the fact that so many churches could meet together 

at all with a semblance of harmony is a great step for 

ward. This would be true if, like the Westminster Assem 

bly, they had stood firmly upon the Word of God, prayed 

for direction, and debated with the effort to find the 

exact meaning and a concise statement of the sum of the 

doctrines and precepts of the Bible. This they manifestly 

did not do. Time will tell the ultimate value of such a 

World Assembly. We cannot see how it can materially 

forward the work of the Kingdom of God, rather we be 

lieve it has been and will be an added movement in the 

promotion of liberalism in ecclesiastical circles. 

Russia's Plan in Palestine 

Students of the recent developments in Palestine have 


TTJT? PHVFViVTPP W'TTWCIQ Published each Wednesday by the Reformed Presbyterian' 

1H11, LUVr..\A.\lbIi V\ lllNl^bb. Church of North " 

America, through its editorial office. 

Rev. Y.i. Raymond Taggart, D. D., Editor and Manager. 1200 Boswell Avenue, Topeka, Kansas. 

S2.00 per year: foreign S2..VI per year: single copies 5c. Special rates to congregations. 

Entered as second class matter at Post Office in Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. 

Authorized August 11. 1933. 

The Rev. R. B. Lyons. 13. A., Limavady, NT. Ireland, agent for the British Isles.

November 3, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 275 

GuWiesit ooetiti. 

Britain and all the Dominions are rejoicing over the 

birth of a son and prospective heir to Princess Elizabeth. 

May our world take on a new look, peace and prosperity 

for all peoples, before the boy is old enough to discern 

his right hand from his left. 

A hale and hearty "All's well with the 

world" 

is rend 

ered difficult this Thanksgiving by several chilling facts: 

(1) The Communist tide in China is sweeping southward 

and threatens to engulf the nation in but a few months. 

(2) American aid to Western Europe is being blocked 

in France by strikes that are planned to this end and 

by a wildcat strike of the longshoremen in this country 

that is preventing shipments across the sea even of the 

supplies and mail of our soldiers in Germany. It is 

true that the wildcat strike has been "regularized" 

by 

formal union action, but that does not decrease its 

harmfulness. The union president, Mr. Ryan, had ne 

gotiated a ten-cents-an-hour raise and the men wanted 

more. It would be well for the F. B. I. to discover wheth 

er the strike has not the same origin as those in France. 

(3) The countries of Western Europe are moving rap 

idly toward an alliance, but it is for military protection, 

and the United States is expected to provide the arma 

ment and lead in their defense against Russian invasion. 

In each of them there will be a sturdy underground Com 

munist "fifth 

column." 

(4) The liquor interests have 

won most of the contests this election and are making 

more drunkards than ever. 

> .. > 

"Rejoice in the Lord always and again, I say, 

rejoice." 

America has had the greatest crops in history. Our 

fields have yielded 3,629,000 bushels of corn, 1,283,000,000 

of wheat and with other crops have given the nation a 

total of 137% of the 1923-32 average. Between sixty and 

sixty-one million people are at work and our industrial 

plants are pouring 

out goods. Our schools and colleges 

and universities are training more men and women than 

ever before in history. And the Christian Amendment 

has been brought ta the attention of more men and wo 

men than ever before in our history, 

and the result is 

being seen in many articles in many journals. The writ 

ers may not know whence they received their inspira 

tion, but the Amendment agitation has brought the con 

ception before the Christians of the whole land. 

* f * * 

At Amherst College in old Massachusetts the Phi Kap 

pa Psi fraternity has pledged a Negro Sophomore as a 

member and has been suspended therefor by the presi 

dent of the National on body the ground of "unfraternal 

conduct." 

What does fraternal mean anyhow? The 

j^mherst boys are going on serenely with their program. 

Perhaps the race issue is being solved by moves like 

this more than by legal steps. It is what men want to 

do rather than what they are compelled to do that counts 

most in the long run. 

* * 

In Palestine thousands of Jews are changing their 

names and creating 

some confusion for bill-collectors 

and tax-gatherers. For example, Joseph Goldberg for 

the sum of $1.00 becomes Yosef Har-Zahal or Joseph of 


the Hill of Gold, the equivalent of the German Goldberg. 

In Jerusalem a committee of scholars has been set up 

to expedite the transformations. But there is a promise 

of a better name than merely one in the ancient Hebrew, 

and a name given in a better city than the old Jerusa 

lem. "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the 

temple of my God, 

and he shall go no more out: and I 

will write upon him the name of my God, and the name 

of the city of God, which is the new Jerusalem, which 

cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will 

write upon him my new name." 

4- ^ 

A century ago there were almost no hospitals in this 

country and they were poorly 

.' 

staffed. Now there are 

6,280 and these equipped with 1,500,000 beds. In 1872 

the first professsionally trained nurses were graduated 

from Bellevue Hospital in New York City and now al 

most all of the hospitals are also training schools for 

nurses. The Bulletin of the Federal Council of Churches 

says that there are now about 450 Protestant Hospitals. 

Some are vast institutions, 

as the Presbyterian in New 

York. In 1947 there were over 28,000,000 participants 

in Blue Cross Hosptialization Insurance and the number 

has increased considerably in the past year. Many more 

hospitals and nurses are needed. The program of Fed 

eral aid for the building and equipment of hospitals, 

fathered by Senator Taft of Ohio, needs to be continued 

and it would be well if the aid to 

nurses' 

training es 

tablished during the war were re-established. Mr. Tru 

man has talked of national health insurance, but before 

it could be handled effectively 

we need more hospitals, 

more nurses, and more doctors good doctors. 

Fines totaling $56,000 were levied the second week of 

November on the General Electric Co., two subsidiaries, 

and three officials for violation of the Sherman Anti- 

Trust Act and the Wilson Tariff Act. The government 

asked for imprisonment for the officials, but Federal 

Judge Knox said it is the first criminal patent pool anti 

trust case ever tried in the country, so he would not go 

for imprisonment. The issue had to do with the monopo 

lizing of hard metal compositions in this country and 

abroad. 

In Cleveland the same week six corporations includ 

ing General Electric and Westinghouse were indicted 

for four separate violations of the Anti-trust Law in 

the matter of street lighting 

equipment. If these cor 

porations were trying to hasten state socialism, they 

could do little that would secure that end more quickly. 

The Greek cabinet has resigned and Tsaldaris, head 

of the Populist party, is apparently to form a new one. 

The Greek Populists, unlike the old American party by 

that name, is most reactionary 

and inclined to Fascism. 

It will irk many Americans to have to pour money into 

Greece to uphold a regime headed by 

his ilk. 

Tsaldaris and 

Spain hopes to get into the good graces of America 

and receive part of the Marshall Plan money. Senator 



Motives and Purposes of Foreign Missions 

Harold R. Cook 

Why do you want to be a foreign missionary? 

What reasons impel you to want to give your 

life for Christian service in a foreign land? 

In one way or another every young person who 

volunteers to serve Christ in the foreign field has 

met, or is sure to meet, this question. Sometimes 

it will come from scoffers those who have no 

real comprehension of Christianity and cannot 

be expected to understand its world mission. But 

more often than not the young Christian will 

hear it from the lips of professing Christians, 

some of whom would sincerely like to know. He 

will even hear at times his own heart repeating 

the question, 

and an answer must be given. 

It is important that we evaluate carefully our 

motives in seeking appointment to a foreign field. 

Perhaps in no other type of work is effectiveness 

of ministry so closely tied with motivation. Ro 

mantic notions, the desire to travel, the lure of 

the exotic, the purely emotional response to a 

stirring missionary 

message these and other 

such reasons soon show their frailty in the at 

tempt to support the resolution of one who is 

brought face to face with conditions in an un 

favorable, even actively hostile, heathen environ 

ment. Something more fundamental, more deep 

ly compelling, must thrust the missionary out, 

something such as was experienced by the apostle 

Paul when he wrote, "Woe is me if I preach not 

gospel!" 

the 

In the experience of most successful mission 

aries there are two motives which I believe stand 

out as more compelling than any others. First 

is the sense of possession of a message and a life 

so eternally valuable that they ought to be the 

possession of the whole world. The man for 

whom the way of Christ is not only a better way, 

but is the only good way ; the one whose experi 

ence of Christ has transformed and ennobled his 

life; the Christian who faces heathenism frankly 

and realizes its awfulness, and at the same time 

realizes that it can be changed by the same Sav 

iour who transformed his life, such a man can 

not but feel the consrtaint of foreign missions. 

Such a motive is not only sufficient to send him 

to the field, but will sustain him in times of dif 

ficulty and discouragement. 

A second motive, closely related to the first, 

is the command of Christ. For one who has not 

acknowledged the Lordship of Christ, His com 

mand would have little force. Neither would it 

be of much force in the life of one who is not ac 

customed to obey, who is not used to seeking the 

pleasure of anyone outside himself. But he who 

wholeheartedly has submitted himself to the auth 

ority of Christ, who finds pleasure in seeking to 

do His will, or even feels strongly the sense of 

duty to his Lord, finds this motive strong and even 

sufficient of itself. No other reason is needed, 

he concludes, and it is for His children to obey. 

There are many less important motives which 

often enter into the decision of a young Chris 

tian who seeks to go out as a foreign missionary. 

It is likely that none of us can completely analyze 

all his motives in their complexities. But seldom 

do these other motives provide the necessary sus 

taining strength. 

Those who look with disdain on the theological 

views of an earlier generation of missionaries and 

pride themselves on their "modern" 

outlook and 

presumed broad-mindedness in seeking to create 

a spirit of brotherliness and mutual helpfulness, 

without regard to the existence in mankind of 

willful sin, have found little response among 

young people to their appeals for missionary can 

didates. And among those who do respond, few 

are ready to spend their whole life in the work. 

The bright idealism of hopeful youth does not 

easily survive the disillusionments of middle age, 

and an altruistic desire to help humanity is not 

a motive which can generate perserverance. 

By 

common admission it is that viewpoint which 

considers heathendom as sinners in need of a 

personal Saviour which inspires the greatest of 

fering of young lives for missionary service and 

which causes them to persist in it. Christian 

idealism, compassion for human suffering, and 

other such motives are in themselves good, but 

not sufficient. Their place is secondary. 

It is the motives which determine the purposes 

of foreign missions. The man who is moved only 

by compassion for human suffering will feel that 

his ministry is completed when he has been able 

to alleviate physical distress. His purpose is to 

heal sick bodies, to feed the hungry, to give shel 

ter to the homeless, and to restrain unjust oppres 

sion. 

But he who is moved by a desire to propagate 

that gospel which has meant life to him goes much 

deeper. He has one main purpose to witness 

to Christ in such a way that men will come to 

put their faith in Him and receive forgiveness 

of sins and a new, abundant and eternal life. To 

this one purpose all others will be subordinated. 

Yet he will have many other purposes related 

to this one. He, too, will heal the sick and feed 

the hungry, but not as an end in itself. It will 

be as an expression of the life of Christ. He 

come to 

will teach the illiterate, that they may 

a better understanding of Christ. He will in 

troduce new ideas, new practices, perhaps even 

a new civilization, but not because he thinks that 

these things are in themselves of superior value. 

It will be because they are necessary to the ex 

pression of the life of the Saviour. All his pur 

poses will center in that one purpose, 

and from 

it they will derive their significance. 

Two motives an inner compulsion and an out 

ward command; a single purpose, and that a 

spiritual one ; the young person who sees these 

clearly and feels them deeply is ready to become 

Christ's missionary to another land, or to his 

own. Moody Monthly.


News From Canton 

At the first Thursday evening evangelistic- 

meeting in our Canton chapel after Pastor Soong 

had returned from his holiday in Hongkong, a 

huge crowd gathered to hear his message over 

the amplifier. 

Not all remained, but some two hundred per 

sons must have listened through to the appeal 

for decisions. When the ones who raised their 

hands in decision gathered at the pulpit after the 

meeting was over we found eight men and three 

women there. They gave us their names and ad 

dresses, 

received words of instruction and were 

presented with a Gospel of Luke and a tract. 

Pastor Soong 

prayer as they went home. 

committed them to the Lord in 

*P *F "K 

China's "Moon Festival" 

came this year dur 

ing the absence of Pastor Soong. The Young 

People of the Canton Congregation asked to have 

three nights of evangelistic meetings. Mrs. Boyle 

helped train a group to sing, and one person di 

rected the singing each night. Mr. Boyle gave a 

chalk talk on Thursday night, and again on Fri 

day. On Saturday night Rev. Calvin Lee of the 

London Mission gave a fine sermon. Several 

young 

people gave Christian testimonies. Our 

weather was excellent and one night the crowds 

filled the street so that policemen came and clear 

ed a path for the busses. Five young high school 

boys came forward one night, and several days 

after the meetings we had a long letter from some 

soldier who had been attracted to our meeting by 

the sound of music over the amplifier. His let 

ter stated that he had always been a bitter critic 

of Christianity, for he had seen village churches 

where only poor people joined to get material 

help from the foreigner. After listening for two 

evenings his mind was completely enlightened, 

and he hoped regularly to get to some Christian 

church service. 

%: :fc :,: ifc 

City people are much more ready to make a 

public decision for Christ than the usual villager, 

it seems. These people often confess some earlier 

contact with the Christian movement, as a young 

man who came forward last Thursday. He had 

attended a Christian school in Hongkong and was 

rooming in a building across the street from our 

Gospel Hall when he heard this amplifier. He 

was very lonely, for he knew no friends in the 

city where he came only recently to study radio, 

and decided to visit our service. He said, "I have 

decided to take Christ this 

definitely 

* * * * 

evening." 

The temptations and pressure of a great city 

like Canton make conversions many 

resemble 

"thorns" 

ground" 

the or type of Christian 

"stony 

hearers. Many who decide for Christ are never 

seen again. What happens to them we cannot al 

ways know, but our Lord knows His own and the 

truly 

elect will be somewhere serving Him. 

# # * * 

Our need for a church building is a constant 

burden. Our present tiny hall is far too narrow 

for any effective work or worship. The landlady 

is grasping and quarrelsome, and we cannot get 

any living space there even for our janitor. We 

are considering two possible plans. One is to 

buy land and erect a modest, one-story church 

hall. The other plan is to buy a substantial threestory 

apartment building near our present site 

and use the ground floor for church and the up 

per floors for office, dwelling rooms, or for rent 

ed apartment space. The cost of the best building 

now for sale is around U. S. $10,000. Recent 

sale of two of our mission buildings in Tak Hing 

has provided the Canton Church with $2,000 tow 

ard such a price. A suitable piece of land would 

cost U. S. $10,000. 

Dr. and Mrs. Kempf left Canton September 18, 

hoping to sail for U. S. A. by October 6. To their 

consternation, they discovered on reaching Hong 

kong that the freighter which they had expected 

to board October 6 had reached Hongkong three 

weeks ahead of schedule! They were not able 

to get business matters taken care of by Monday 

when the ship sailed. 

After desperate searching in all steamship of 

fices for last-minute cancelations, the Kempfs 

suddenly found space on the President Jefferson 

at 11 a.m. of the day the ship was to sail. Mr. 

Kempf called Todd's Hospital (Canton) to tell 

Mr. Boyle, but he was out. When he received the 

message the only available transportation fast 

was CNAC com 

mercial plane, leaving Canton at 5 :45. He bought 

enough to get him to Hongkong 

a ticket and went to the office at 4:30. The 

flight was canceled on account of rain. 

Dr. and Mrs. Kempf sailed away without one 

of our own missionaries there to see them off. 

The gift of Tak Hing Congregation to them is 

still here in Canton. We regret this unavoid 

able failure of courtesies and wish the Kempfs 

a happier reception on the other side of the Pa 

cific Ocean. 

Miss Barr and Miss Adams returned from a 

summer rest in Hongkong on September 17, stay 

ed at the same rooming house with Kempfs that 

night, and left for Tak Hing the following day. 

Letters report their safe arrival. 

Our prayers for a comfortable, low-priced home 

in Canton sufficiently large to take care of our 

the language in Can 

new people who are to study 

ton seem to have been answered. 

Through Mr. Lockwood of the Y. M. C. A. 

there came an opportunity to rent a newly re 

modeled Y. W. C. A. residence in the suburb "Pak- 

hoktung", twenty minutes away from Canton by 

motor ferry. Although the distance and incon 

venience of travel seemed rather serious obstacles, 

the excellence of the house and grounds and the 

low price (about U. S. $70 per month) made the 

missionaries decide to lease it for a year. 

The house has a three-quarter basement with 

several finished rooms, and three floors above 

it. The whole house is freshly remodeled and


entirely screened. There is a full length veran 

dah on the main floor and above it a screened 

sleeping porch. There are two modem bath 

rooms, electricity and our own well and electric 

pump to provide running water. The house even 

had a hot water heater in it ready to go. It will 

be adequate for Hennings, Misses Lynn and Ed 

gar, the Boyle family, and our other missionaries 

who come and go through Canton. Mrs. Kempf 

took some pictures of it to show the home side 

Covenanters. 

Boyles plan to move in on October 1. 

* * * * 

We wait most eagerly for news of the settle 

ment of the longshoremen's strike on the Pacific 

Coast, so that our fellow missionaries can sail 

for Hongkong. We sympathize with them in the 

trial of proglonged delay. Possibly God is giving 

them all a good long rest so that the mad scramble 

of getting inside China with all that cargo will 

not completely overwhelm them. 

Language school began here in Canton on Sep 

tember 6, but classes are organized for newcom 

ers whenever they arrive. There is still enough 

Chinese to go around, so our delayed language 

students need not chafe too much under delay. 

:;: * * # 

Miss Ella Margaret Stewart is expected to ar 

rive in Canton from up-country this week, Octob 

er 1. She has not been away 

from her work all 

summer and it is the hope of others that she may 

have a profitable and enjoyable vacation now. 

Pastor K'ang 

The Hero Who Needs Our Prayer 

By 

Min Chiu Li 

"... For I know whom I have believed and I 

am sure that He is able to guard until that day 

what I have entrusted to Him" 

1 :12. 

II Timothy 

Mr. K'ang Li-ping, the fragrant fruit and 

Christian hero of our mission field in Manchuria, 

was born in a noble aboriginal Manchurian family 

and brought up in a strict Chinese scholastic 

conventional environment. His father died early 

when he was very young 

and besides him was 

survived by his mother, grandmother, 

aunt, 

a widow 

an elder and a younger brother. His first 

contact with our church was purely through the 

zealous effort and the sparkling, converted Chris 

tian life of his physically handicapped younger 

brother who in one evening, about eleven years 

ago, by chance came to an evangelistic meeting 

held by the church in Tsistsihar. The thrilling 

address of the preacher and the most sincere and 

friendly attitude of the church people had deeply 

impressed him at his very first experience in the 

fellowship 

with Christians. After one or two 

years' 

regular attending 

church and Bible studies 

he was baptized and received great consolation 

and happiness through his belief in Jesus Christ. 

Unfortunately, a year later he died from ty 

phoid fever. This, of course, was a great loss 

to his family and, indeed, also a severe testing of 

Mr. K'ang's faith who had just begun to lead a 

Christian life and was especially grateful to him. 

Yet. instead of stumbling, he was further forti 

fied in faith and decided to consecrate his life 

to God by proclaiming the Gospel to those who 

might have similar adversity 

as his and were 

hopeless because of their ignorance of a merciful 

Father and a permanent home in Heaven. 

Just a year before the Pacific War broke out 

he was enrolled as a student in an outstanding 

seminary in North China. Throughout his long 

years' 

diligent study in the war-ravaged area he 

often-times encountered many a financial prob 

lem as well as adverse happenings, which some 

times were even strongly against the continua 

tion of his preparation; yet he struggled along 

happily with his cherished slogan, "Jehovah-ji- 

seen!" 

reh, in the mount of God it shall be Mr. 

K'ang was practicing great faith, trust, and cour 

age before men and the Lord. 

By the time of his graduation, many favorable 

positions had been offered him by different chur 

ches in that area and he also knew that our 

church activities in Manchuria had been tre 

mendously restricted by the Japanese. In ad 

dition, his return to Manchuria from such a school 

would cause him to be suspected by the Japanese 

underground workers; but his inward calls: 

"Tend my 

and 

sheep" 

relatives" 

and "Back to your own people 

were so strong that he couldn't 

refuse this challenge and finally he went straight 

back. 

Immediately 

upon his arrival in Tsitsihar he 

began to work secretly in his own home but soon 

found that although some members did come very 

regularly, yet they were under a high tension, 

afraid of the detectives. Thereafter he 

being 

learned that I An, 

a closed congregation abou>, 

50 miles from Tsitsihar, would be a most suitable 

location where less attention was paid by the 

government concerning religion. There he re 

sumed worship and teaching according to the 

principles of our church in a most cautious man 

ner and re-enforced the faith of the members 

by setting up a convincing example of courage 

and trust in our God throughout the last year 

of the war. 

Personally, Mr. K'ang is a quiet, prudent, hum 

ble and intelligent young man with a sincere 

and attractive bearing. He has always been a 

voluntary worker and satisfied with whatever 

God had provided for him. He and his wife are 

now presumably still among the Chinese Commu 

nists, therefore we should always remember them 

when we come to the presence of our gracious 

Heavenly Father so that he may be preserved, 

strengthened, and blessed abundantly through 

these chaotic, difficult and suffering days. 

(Synod authorized the raising of $1,000 for Mrs. Jea- 

nette Li and Pastor K'ang. The sum of $852.30 was re 

ceived. Of this amount only $200 has been forwarded, 

leaving $652.30 in the hands of the treasurer. Editor)


Encouragment in Our China Field 

Jesse G. Mitchel, D. D. 

We are all interested in hearing about people 

being converted and turning to the Lord. The 

Foreign Mission Board reported at last Synod 

that 26 persons were received into the church at 

Loting at the Fall communion a year ago. Rev. 

Wong wrote us some time ago that 37 were re 

ceived at the Spring communion season of this 

year. This gave Loting church an increase of 

some 63 persons within the year. A good num 

ber of these are from the older group of the 

Orphanage but we are glad to hear that not a 

few were students in the Government high 

schools. It is most encouraging to see so many 

of the youth accepting Christ as their Saviour. 

Each Saturday night a meeting for students is 

conducted with an attendance of 150 to 300. It 

is not uncommon to have several come to the 

leaders after the meeting declaring their desire 

to become Christians. 

It is now almost two years since Evangelistic 

work was started in Canton City. Reports are 

that they have a church membership of about 40 

baptized Christians. They are faced with a seri 

ous problem of securing a place of sufficient size 

to carry on the good work. 

About the same time that work started in Can 

ton, Miss Sung, a Bible Woman in our Mission, 

felt that she should return to her home communi 

ty for a time to tell her people of the Gospel. At 

that time there were but six or seven of her im 

mediate family who were Christians. It is now 

reported that there is a baptized membership 

in our church at Hok Shaan of about fifty per 

sons. The work continues most encouragingly 

and Miss Sung needs more help in this work. 

There have been increases in other places yet 

not so great in numbers. These cited gave us 

great encouragement to go on. Please pray much 

with us for these new Christians that they may 

be strong in the Faith and good witnesses for 

the Saviour whom they have come to know. 

We have something further to report regard 

ing the Relief goods collected in Topeka and Los 

Angeles near a year ago. More than a ton of 

goods was collected and sent to the Direct China 

Relief Committee in San Francisco to forward 

to our Mission in China. Due to the difficulty of 

getting such shipments into China the lot was not 

shipped until July of this year. We hope that 

all will be in the hands of our Mission for dis 

tribution by the time winter weather is on. In 

this shipment was a bale of cotton, weighing 

570 lbs., which was a gift of Mr. I. F. Craven, 

of the Columbia Mfg. Co., Ramseur, N. C. This 

gift was secured for us through Mr. Wm. deCamp 

of New York City, who was with the U. S. forces 

in China and stationed for a time at Loting. We 

appreciate greatly 

the generous heart of these 

gentlemen. 

Due to the 

men's Union scarcely any 

continued strike of the Long-shore 

commercial ships are 

sailing from our West Coast. So our party for 

China are still etained on the West Coast. 

The strike has been on for a month and a half 

and still little sign of any settlement. When we 

will get away no one can say. Our ship is to sail 

about one week after the strike is settled. So un 

til that time our address will be % Home of Peace, 

4700 Daisy St., Oakland 2, California. 

Dr. and Mrs. J. A. Kempf arrived in San Fran 

cisco the 14th of October from China. They re 

port a very comfortable crossing. We are glad 

to see them looking so well. 

Returning 

Blanche McCrea 

Dear Friends: 

to Cyprus 

S. S. Marine Carp 

September 30, 1948 

If I were to tell you all the interesting events 

about getting ready to return to Cyprus and our 

voyage even up to the present moment, I'm afraid 

I would bore you. Even yet I do not know wheth 

er I shall disembark at Piraeus or Alexandria. 

When I went to have my ticket checked at the 

Pier, having first checked my baggage and got 

back my rug which had been sent back to the 

Express Office the day before, but which they 

were quite willing to accept that clay, I was told 

the boat was not stopping at Alexandria, period! 

No reasons were given and suppositions are var 

ied. However, I would have to get off at Piraeus 

(port of Athens), or Beirut. Not being certain 

of passage from Beirut to Cyprus, I chose Pi 

raeus from which I was told I could get passage, 

so had to dash off to get a Greek visa. This took 

about an hour and a half and I suppose I was 

about the last to board the ship, but it was still 

some time before it sailed. 

We are sorry the Hays family is not with us, 

but it is nice that there are three of us, anyway. 

I shall miss Elizabeth and Marjorie when we 

separate. We managed to have a few join us in 

a very informal meeting on Sabbath. 

It was a pleasure for me to get to visit so many 

of our congregations during the year I was at 

home. I have renewed many Friendships and 

made new ones. May this bind our work for 

the Lord more strongly together. 

The future is uncertain before us. One thing 

is certain : "Jesus Christ is the eame, yester 

day, today and 

. 

forever" 

(Heb. 13 :8) "The word 

of our God endureth forever" 

(I Peter 1:25). 

It is with these certainties that we must all face 

the uncertainties. 

The Covenanter Church, and may this include 

the distant as well as the home congregations, is 

out for a Crusade for Christ a Crusade to win 

souls for Him and to the Church which we believe 

conforms most nearly to the gospel. Let us 

"be not forgetful to entertain 

strangers" 

both in


our church and elsewhere. If new members are 

to be brought into our churches, many must be 

strangers. God forbid that they should feel like 

strangers among 

us. If I were one of them I 

should like to feel as much at home as one who 

had been attending 

our church since childhood 

and made free to offer my help. The love of the 

Lord Jesus must so penetrate our hearts that 

these people will see that we love them, that we 

really live our Christianity, making it attractive 

and desirable to others. May Christ and His love 

have first place in our Crusading Church! 

"Wherefore, my brethren, be ye steadfast, un- 

moveable, always abounding in the work of the 

Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is 

not in vain in the Lord" 

(1 Cor. 15:58). 

We go out with the prayers of the church be 

hind us and may they be fervent prayers that 

our work may abound. We go out praying for 

the Church at home, especially for those con 

gregations we call "home" 

left many dear friends, 

and where we have 

even though loved ones 

have gone, or before we return may go, to be 

with the Lord, the "Head of the Church." 

Personally, I have many 

thanks to extend for 

all the kindnesses shown me during the year, 

for contributions from individuals and congrega 

tions for our building fund, for personal gifts, 

special thanks to the Sterling Congregation for 

their kind farewell, their gifts, and the help so 

willingly given by which I was able to finish my 

preparations to start, and lately to the members 

of the Foreign Mission Board who helped us in 

New York. 

The special plan made for soliciting contribu 

tions for our building fund did not get into the 

mail before I left New York, but should be be 

fore each congregation soon. May it receive 

your prayerful consideration. 

I set out to write a short note, it has grown, 

so let me stay its further growth, even though 

there may be other things which out of necessi 

ty or interest should be included. 

Yours for united effort in Christ, 

Blanche McCrea. 

Mailed in Piraeus from which I sail the 13th to 

arrive in Cyprus the 19th or 20th. 

Returning 

Elizabeth McElroy 

to Syria 

Aboard the Marine Carp 

I heard over the telephone at Forest Park Con 

passport had come. I was so 

vention that my 

delighted that as soon as I put the receiver up 

east." 

I almost shouted, "All aboard for all points 

At first it seemed almost impossible for me to 

get ready to sail September 24 with the Hayses 

and ladies Misses McCrea and Allen. But "The 

good hand of the Lord was upon me", with Dr. 

an appointment was im 

Sterrett McElroy's help 

mediately made for a check up with the oculist 

and with satisfactory purchases which I could not 

make until I was sure I was going to Syria. 

It was difficult leaving the dear friends in my 

home town and especially my parents, but on the 

other hand I was so happy that I could once again 

return to the work I love. 

On my way to the eastern coast I visited friends 

in Denison, Topeka, Clarinda, Beaver Falls, New 

Kensington and Pittsburgh, as Miss McCraken 

is reported to have said, "I was painting pictures 

Memories." 

of 

to hang in my gallery 

This is 

what I have been doing my three years in the 

home land. Each home, each person, each gath 

ering with friends is a picture long to be remem 

bered and thought of during the next seven years. 

On arriving in New York I was met by the 

Rev. Robert Edgar with the news that the per 

mission from Syria for my visa had not come. 

After an interview with the Syrian Consul I 

learned that under certain conditions the visa 

might be given in time for me to sail September 

24. The next morning when I went back he im 

mediately stamped my visa, but not without some 

subway traveling by Mr. Edgar the afternoon 

before, and I was on my way to the Travel Agen 

cy to secure my ship ticket. I got on Deck A, first 

class but not in the same cabin with, my friends. 

The two days in New York were busy ones, Mr. 

Edgar taking the three of us here and there, mak 

ing our last minute purchases, phoning to locate 

our baggage and even going twice to the pier 

to see if it was there. 

Our most pleasant memory of New York was 

the Prayer Meeting at Mr. Edgar's Church Wed 

nesday night and also the delicious luncheon 

Thursday with the Foreign Mission Board. After 

the lunch we were given time to express what 

was on our hearts for the work in Syria and Cy 

prus. The sympathetic attitude and interest of 

each member brought us closer to each other and 

in the days to come we will always feel that close 

ness because of our fellowship together that day. 

At this time I wish to express in writing my 

thanks to the Board and the Church at large for 

their support financially and spiritually. My 

desire is that I may be worthy of that support. 

The good hand of the Lord was upon us and 

we were on the boat with our luggage and visas, 

at least an hour before the boat sailed. From 

the upper deck we waved and waved at our 

friends on the pier, Rev. and Mrs. McClurkin, 

Mrs. John and Thomas Park, Rev. Mr. Crawford, 

Miss Weir, Mrs. Carson, Rev. Mr. Edgar and 

others. We thank them and all those who sent 

letters, chocolates and magazines. 

Again I wish to thank you one and all from 

coast to coast for what you have done for me. 

Truly "the good hand of the Lord has been 

Your co-worker in Syria, Elizabeth McElroy. 

upon." 



Gurney, James A. Farley and Eric Johnston, all of whom 

were recent visitors to that unhappy country, 

are ad 

vocating taking little Franco under our wing. It would 

please the Pope also. Our military leaders want it, since 

Spain might become a base for operations against Rus 

sian invaders of Western Europe. But for the Ameri 

can people, friendship for Franco should be too, too 

much.


Foreign Mission Board Meets 

By The Rev W. C. McClurkin 

The F. M. B. met at 23rd St., Y. M. C. A. on 

September 23. Nine of the members were pres 

ent. Devotions were conducted by Rev. G. M. 

Robb. 

' 

"A pleasant feature of the meeting was the 

luncheon and conference with the missionaries 

who were to sail the next day; the Misses Eliza 

beth McElroy and Marjorie Allen to Syria and 

Miss Blanche McCrea to Cypress. 

The Hays family 

who had expected to sail at 

the same time were detained in the West by some 

delay in the issuance of their visas. Arrange 

ments have been made for their sailing on the 

Khedive Ismail, October 2. 

It was a pleasure to the members of the Board 

to have as their guest Miss Esther Naaman, a 

member of our Latakia Congregation, temporari 

ly residing in Brooklyn, and now a regular wor 

shiper in our New York congregation. 

The sailing 

of our new installment of mission 

aries for South China, which was to have been 

on the General Meigs from San Francisco Harb 

or, September 18, did not occur as planned, it 

was learned. The cause, 

a strike of maritime 

workers on the West Coast. Their time as well 

as their lives being in God's hands, they are be 

ing reasonably and comfortably sheltered in the 

"Home of Peace" 

near the harbor. It is hoped 

that their sailing may not be long delayed. 

Miss Blanche 

A circular letter, submitted by 

McCrea, for solicitation of funds for the propos 

ed new Academy Building in Nicosia, was ap 

proved. 

in Cypress referred 

A matter of church polity 

to the Board in a letter from Clark Copeland, was, 

the Board, referred to Synod. 

by 

The Corresponding Secretary was directed to 

advise Mr. Copeland of the action of the Board, 

and also to 

tion of his conciliatory 

express to him the Board's apprecia 

efforts toward bringing 

about a favorable solution of the problem. 

Other routine matters of travel expenses, pen 

sion plans for the new missionaries, etc., were 

attended to. 

Committee gave promise ot hav 

The Publicity 

ing new missionary films to show the home con 

gregations in the near future. 

The Misses Allen, 

McCrea and McElroy sailed 

from New York Harbor on S. S. Marine Carp, 

September 24. At the Pier to wish them God 

speed were Rev. R. D. Edgar, John Crawford and 

Lola Weir of New York; Rev. Robert J. Crawford, 

Jr., 

Mesdames John, Thomas and William Park, 

Mrs. A. M. Weddell Rev. Walter 

of Montclair; 

C. and Morna G. McClurkin, of Coldenham. 

Glimpses of the 

(Continued from 

Religious World 

page 274) 

what 

been 

kind of a game Russia is playing 

wondering 

there. There is a hint in this, that the Russian legation 

in Palestine requires all Russian citizens in Palestine to 

register. It applies, among others to priests of the Rus 

sian Orthodox Church. There are quite a number of these 

in Palestine and they hold extensive properties, some in 

Jerusalem, some on the Mount of Olives, and some in 

small towns near Jerusalem. Under Soviet law, all church 

property belongs to the state. Observers in Tel Aviv 

therefore conclude that this registration of priests is a 

preliminary to the taking 

over of Russian Orthodox 

property in Palestine by the Soviet Union. This will give 

Russia a strong foothold in their further effort to spread 

communism in Palestine. She has been using various de 

vices to try to gain the good will of the Israeli state. 

India's Agricultural Institute 

Presbyterian Life tells us that the Allahabad Insti 

tute, the only all-India Agriculture college, since last 

November, has become interdenominational. "The Pres 

byterians started this school early in the century, but 

now the Disciples, Evangelical and Reformed, 

and Meth 

odists, as well as an Anglican society, are represented on 

the board under a Disciple chairman. 

Traditionally, the Allahabad school, down the Ganges 

Basin from Agra, has tried to promote better agricultur 

al methods so that small peasants, who make up most 

of India's vast population, will have a better life and be 

free of the threat of starvation. Now the new principal, 

Dr. Arthur T. Mosher, 37-year-old Presbyterian with an 

interdenominational background, 

and a British Anglican 

chaplain are experimenting with schemes for linking bet 

ter Christianity and better farming, in the belief the two 

go together. 

Down towards the southern tip of India, at Vellore, 

is a famous medical work in what has traditionally been 

a field of the Reformed Church in America. The hos 

pital here was founded by Dr. Ida Scudder, who became 

so famous that a letter addressed simply, 'Dr. Ida, India,' 

reached her." 

Dulles Son To Priesthood 

Mr. Gordon also tells us that the son of John Foster 

Dulles, who was marked to be the coming Secretary of 

State (himself a Presbyterian minister's son), is study 

ing for the Roman Catholic priesthood in St. Andrews 

Jesuit College in Poughkeepsie. 

Progress in Latin America 

In Latin Ameiica, evangelical churches are making 

rapid progress, according to Dr. G. Baez-Camargo, secre 

tary 

of the National Evangelical Council in Mexico. Dr. 

Baez-Camargo reported that increasing numbers through 

out Central and South America are looking to evangel 

ical Christianity to satisfy their spiritual longings. 

He added, however, that there were still many people 

there who regarded a religious minority 

as an obstacle 

to national unity, patriotism, and loyalty, both geograph 

ical and social, in Latin America. 

Dr. Samuel Lizo, clergyman in the Presbyterian Church 

of Brazil, reported that there were more than a million 

Protestants in that country, 

more Protestants than in 

any other Latin country in the world. He said that Brazil 

had complete religious freedom and that churches were 

springing up everywhere. Protestant clergymen, he 

added, were taking leading positions in political life in 

America's largest country.





THE WORK OF THE AMERICAN 

By 

BIBLE SOCIETY 

Rev. M. W. Martin 

Deut. 17:18-20; Acts 2:6; Joshua 

8:32, 34, 35. 

Suggested Home Readings: 

119. 

II Kings 22:8-20; Ezra 8:1-18; Ps. 

Psalms : 

Psalm 119:1-3 No. 317 

Psalm 119:1-4 No. 325 

Psalm 119:1-4 No. 319 

Psalm 119:1, 

4-6 No. 333 

It is of utmost importance that 

the Bible, above all other books, be 

distributed extensively and effective 

ly 

to the far corners of the earth. 

There is but one American agency 

dedicated exclusively to this task. 

The American Bible Society was 

founded in 1816, a year after the 

Holy 

Alliance was presented to the 

rulers of Europe. In this Alliance, 

the Czar of Russia suggested that 

they rule their nations by the Bible. 

It is probably the oldest interde 

nominational agency in the United 

States. Its first president, Elias 

Boudinot, was president of the First 

Continental Congress. Among its 

founders and early presidents were 

such men as John Jay, John Quincy 

Adams, and Richard Variek. Its 

present Board of Managers num 

bers 48 prominent Christian laymen 

operating through seven standing 

committees. 

The Society is designed to en 

courage the wider circulation of the 

Holy Scriptures without note or com 

ment and without purpose of profit. 

In recent years there has been added 

an unparalleled stimulation in the 

use of the Bible. Leaflets can be 

encouraging- 

secured from them, 

per 

sonal and family devotional reading. 

Through intensive promotion of the 

Thanksgiving-to-Christmas "W o r 1 d 

Wide Bible Reading" 

and the ob 

servance of Universal Bible Sab 

bath, the Society annually focuses 

the attention of millions of people in 

many lands on the power of the Holy 

Scriptures. Helpful leaflets suggest 

ing practical ways of reading the 

Bible most rewardingly are always 

available. 

The Society 

tions with a membership 

serves 48 denomina 

of more 

than 40 million in the distribution of 

the Scriptures both at home and 

abroad. 

One of the Society's tasks is to 

make the Scriptures available to 

every 

man in his own tongue. It is 

continually aiding missionaries who 

are engaged in translating the 

Scriptures into new languages and 

revising translations already made. 

It has thus shared in the great his 

torical effort resulting in the publi 

cation of some portion of the Scrip 

tures in almost 1100 languages, 

spoken by nine-tenths of the human 

race, a process that is advancing with 

vigor among primitive peoples today 

at the rate of nearly one new lan 

guage a month. 

The major task of the Society is to 

put the Book into the hands of those 

without it. To do this it operates 

through 12 offices in the United 

States and 13 foreign agencies serv 

ing 

more than 45 countries abroad. 

The principal method of distribution 

in foreign lands is by colporteurs 

Bible distributors native Christians 

who for a modest salary devote their 

lives to taking the Bible to their fel 

low countrymen. In this country a 

variety of methods are used, includ 

ing colportage an allowance of 

small commissions to mission-minded 

pasfiers and laymen. The Society 

also works through home mission 

boards, and makes direct shipments 

to needy institutions such as jails, 

orphanages or hospitals, and supplies 

Scriptures for the armed forces. 

It is the Society's responsibility to 

make the Bible the most available 

book at the lowest possible price. Its 

time-tested policy is to sell the book 

wherever possible never at a profit, 

and frequently below cost. In the 

foreign field, prices are designed to 

meet the prevailing economic situa 

tion. In cases of demonstrated need, 

especially with institutions, full or 

part grants are made. 

The Society is principally de 

pendent upon living donors to carry 

on its work. Churches contribute 

either denominationally or individ 

ually, on a percentage of budget or 

an annual offering basis. In addition, 

thousands of Christians contribute 

directly with gifts of varying 

amounts. 

References : 

Ps. 19:7-11; Prov. 6:20-23; 30:5,6; ! 

Isa. 40:8; Matt. 7:24, 25; Mark 12: j 

24; 13:31; Luke 8:11-15; 16:31; John 

2:22; 5:24; 5:39; 17:8, 17; 20:31; 

"t" 

Rom. 10:17; 15:4; Eph. 6:17; Heb. 

2:1-3; II Pet. 1:4, 19-21; Rev. 1:2. 


1. How extensively is the Bible 

read ? 

2. How can we help extend the 

work of the American Bible Society? 

3. How can we increase the effec 

tiveness of the Bible in our C.Y.P.U. 

meetings ? In the Sabbath School ? 

In our homes ? 

4. How much does the Bible , in 

fluence our living ? 

5. How many young people do you 

think have personal daily devotions? 

Would it help if more established 

this practice ? 

6. How many homes in your church 

and in the community have family 

worship ? Should not this be en 

couraged ? How ? 

(Material obtained from American 

Bible Society tracts.) 

JUNIOR TOPIC 


By Mrs. T. R. Hutcheson 

PRAYER AND PRAISE 

What are the things we do at 

church besides listening to the ser 

mon? We also have prayer and sing 

praise, don't we? Last month we 

studied Psalms of praise and just 

last week we had Thanksgiving Day 

when we were offering up prayers of 

thanks to God for His goodness to 

us. Prayer and Praise go together. 

We can scarcely thank God for His 

care over us without wanting to 

praise Him, too. In this meeting we 

will have both prayer and singing of 

praise. 

Perhaps Thanksgiving only started 

us thinking 

of the blessings we re 

ceive from God. Perhaps by now we 

can name many more. We want to 

make Thanksgiving a habit, not just 

a holiday with a capital letter. The 

small catechism asks, "How often 

ought we pray to God?" 

The answer 

follows, "at least every morning and 

evening." 

Surely every twelve hours 

we can think of something for which 

we should thank Him. It need not 

always be something different. He 

gives us the same blessings day by 

shouldn't we return our thanks 

day; 

the same way ? 

Of course there are other kinds of 

prayers, too. We all know about 

"asking prayers", when we need help 

or guidance, 

and prayers for our 

friends when they are sick, and pray-


ers for forgiveness when we have 

done something wrong you can 

think of other kinds, too, but let's 

not forget "thank-you" prayers. Can 

each one of you think of at least one 

thing to Letâs 

pray about? stng 

258" 

verse five of Psalm 95, No. and 

then we will pray. 

Is there anything we can do that 

will fully repay God? No, not if we 

did our very best for a thousand 

years, for we read in Psalm 90:4 that 

a thousand years in His sight are 

but as yesterday when it is past 

and how small that seems, even to 

us! But there is something that He 

has asked us to do for Him, and that 

is to offer to Him prayer and praise. 

Have someone read Psalm 100, or 

perhaps you have learned it and can 

say it without a book. 

In Isaiah 61:3 praise is called a 

garment. We have different clothes 

for different things and to wear dif 

ferent places. For a party we feel all 

dressed up, 

and in our old clothes at 

home we feel comfortable and easy. 

So it is with the Psalms there are 

different ones for different times. 

There are ones to sing when we feel 

joyful, and others to comfort us. when 

we feel sad. There are ones to help 

and encourage us, too. No matter 

where we are or what we are doing, 

we can always find a suitable Psalm 

to praise God. 

Let us put on some of these Psalm- 

garments. If you don't know all the 

Psalms, you can slip 

on the garment 

and then just listen quietly while 

your leader and the others sing it. 

Church Clothes: 

Psalm 122:1, 2, 5, 6 No. 350 

Psalm 84:1, 2, 9 No. 226 

School Clothes: 

Psalm 34:7, 8, 9 No. 84 

Psalm 119:1-4 No. 332 

At Home Clothes: 

Psalm 139:1, 2, 3 No. 380 

Warm Winter Clothes for Procection: 

Psalm 91:1, 2, 4 No. 248 

Travel Clothes: 

Psalm 121:1-4 No. 349 

Servants' 

Uniform: 

Psalm 123:1 No. 351 

Night Clothes: 

Psalm 4:8 No. 6 




LESSON IX. PARABLES IN 

THE BIBLE 

Isaiah 5:1-7; Matthew 13:31-33, 

44-46; Luke 10:25-37; 15:3-32. 

Printed verses, Matt. 13:31-33, 44-46; 

/ for 

Luke 15:3-10 

Golden Text 

"Never man spake like this 

man." 

John 7:46 

When someone says 

"parables" 

those of us who know the Lord think 

of His parables as recorded in the 

New Testament. We would seldom 

think of parables written or spoken 

by anyone else, nor even of Old Tes 

tament parables in the Bible. The 

librarian knows when we ask for 

Trench, or Arnott, 

writer on "The Paarbles" 

or some other 

that we 

mean the parables of our Lord. This 

is not to be wondered at when we 

remember that He is God, and it is 

natural that the words of God are so 

far ahead of men's words that our 

Lord's parables are called "The Par 

ables," 

and that people said about 

Jesus Christ, "Never man spake like 

this 

man." 

In the same way when we 

say "The Miracles" 

we think of His 

miracles. (Compare the works of the 

Holy Spirit: "The Psalms," 

"Pro 

verbs,"The Bible," 

which is literal 

ly the 

"Book," 

and "The Scrip 

tures.") It would be the same if 

Jesus Christ had chosen to write 

poetry. His poems would have been 

so far superior to others that they 

would have been known as "The 

Poems." 

Think what our Lord, the 

Maker of the universe and the one 

who worked out the courses of the 

stars for countless ages, could have 

left us in the field of mathematics 

if He had so chosen! Or in astron 

omy, or agriculture, or chemistry, or 

physics! But He has seen fit to let 

man find these things out for him 

self, and in finding them out to 

"think the thoughts of God after 

Him," 

* 

as it has been so aptly put. 

Even the parable leaves something 

man to work out himself, and 

consequently men do not agree on 

the interpretation of parables. To 

some "it is given to know the mys 

teries of the kingdom of heaven," 

and 

to others it is not given. (Matt. 13: 

11) To some a parable is just a 

simple story. To others it holds a 

challenge to hunt for a hidden mean 

ing, and the revelations of eternity 

will make clear the exact meaning of 

all the parables of our Lord. One 

fact we should think about is that 

those closest to Him were privileged 

to understand the parables the best. 

I. SOME PROPHETIC PARABLES. 

Isaiah 5:1-7; Matthew 13:3,1-33. 

These notes have had to be rewrit 

ten several times to get them con 

densed enough. So much can be said, 

and has been said, about these par 

ables that there is material for 

several lessons, so they have to be 

lumped together this time. Isaiah's 

parable of the vineyard, the parable 

of the mustard seed, and the parable 

of the leaven are all prophetic par 

ables. They are prophetic both in the 

sense of forth-telling and fore-tell 

ing. Isaiah spoke out and told the 

people that God had looked for fruit 

(judgment and righteousness), and 

instead He had found wild grapes 

(oppression and a cry). Therefore 

the vineyard would be laid waste, 

exactly as history shows us that the 

land was laid waste and the people 

carried into captivity. 

In the parables of the mustard seed 

and of the leaven we have a picture 

of the growth of the kingdom. From 

an insignificant, 

almost unseen be 

ginning, it is growing unbelievably 

and beyond all expectations. Who 

would expect a mustard seed to pro 

duce a plant as big as a tree? So 

with the Master and His few dis 

ciples. They will surely be swallowed 

up in the world and forgotten. But 

no, the kingdom grows and affords 

shelter to what could so easily have 

swallowed it up in the beginning, 

under the care of the Father. 

How does the kingdom grow? It 

is like the leaven in meal. A little 

leaven leavens the whole lump. It 

makes the whole become like itself. 

The leaven used was a little bit of 

fermenting dough which found new 

material to work on and soon per 

meated the whole mixture and 

leavened it. Do not spend time argu 

ing 

about whether leaven always 

means sin. The usual application fits 

the facts of history. A few believers, 

filled with spiritual life, have 

wrought an unbelievable spiritual 

transformation wherever they have 

gone. 

II. SOME PARABLES ON THE 

DESIRABILITY OF THE KING 

DOM. Matt. 13:44-46. 

It is worth our while to give up 

everything else for the kingdom. It is 

like treasure in a field. We do not 

buy the treasure, but we give up 

everything for the sake of possessing 

the field, and in the field is the 

treasure. It is like a pearl so valuable 

that we may part with everything 

else in order to have it. 

III. SOME "GO AND DO THOU 

LIKEWISE" 

PARABLES. Luke 

10:25-37; 15:3-32. 

There will probably not be time in 

class to take up the parable of the 

Good Samaritan. It is one of the par 

ables given in response to a certain


situation (the lawyer's public ques 

tion to trap Jesus), to teach right 

action. So also are the parables of 

the four lost things in Luke 15. Yes, 

there are four, and to help us re 

member them we may borrow 

Charles E. Fuller's designation of 

them: the lost Sheep, the lost Silver, 

the lost Son, and the lost Sympathy. 

It was this lack of sympathy that 

gave rise to all three parables in the 

chapter, so do not omit the reading 

of verses 1 and 2 for the setting of 

the parables. The positive teaching 

in these parables is to seek for the 

lost, to encourage their return, and 

to rejoice when they return. The 

negative warning is to avoid the 

spirit of the elder brother. 

Please turn to pages 286-7 for 

Prayer Meeting Topic. 

Jtar note's^. 

"*Joleen Elliott, daughter of Ro 

land Elliott, formerly 

of Superior, 

Nebraska, won the first prize in a 

Silver Medal Declamatory contest at 

the Kansas State W.C.T.U. Conven 

tion in Parsons October 21. Mrs. A. 

J. McFarland conducted the contest 

and reports "Joleen, a high school 

sophomore, has exceptional 

Roland is a chemist in Parsons. 

ability." 

***A call, moderated by the 

Rev. Waldo Mitchel for the Clarinda, 

Iowa, congregation on the evening of 

November 11, resulted in the unan 

imous choice of Dr. C. T. Carson. 

***Carolyn Lee, the seven year old 

daughter of James and Virginia 

Honeyman of Morning Sun answered 

the call of her Master and the funer 

al services were held in the Morning 

Sun Church October 29. In the ab 

sence of the pastor, the services were 

conducted by M. W. Dougherty. 

***Born to Donald G. and Betty 

(Coleman) Weimer on October 15 at 

Kansas City, Missouri, a son, Donald 

Paul. May 

the Lord bless his life! 

*** Attention White Lakers! The 

time of the White Lake Reunion to 

be held in Orlando, Florida, in De 

cember has been changed from De 

cember 31, January 1 and 2 to 

December 28, 29 and 30. 

Phyllis McFarland, 

Secretary of White Lake Camp 

***The 85th Annual Meeting and 

Dinner of the National Reform As 

sociation will be held in the East 

Liberty Presbyterian Church, Pitts 

burgh, Pa., on Tuesday evening, No 

vember 23. Reports on the work of 

the past year and the program for 

the coming year will be given by the 

Chairmen of the Departments of the 

Association, representatives of the 

Beaver County and Southern Cali 

fornia Branches of the Association 

and by 

the President of the Associ 

ation. The address of the evening 

will be given by Rev. W. W. McKin 

ney, D. D., Ph. D., First Vice Presi 

dent of the Association and Pastor 

of the First Presbyterian Church of 

Ambridge. 

***Mr. Robert Wallace of the Al 

legheny 

pital recovering 

congregation is in the hos 

from a fractured 

hip, and is getting along very well. 

Mr. Wallace is the father of Mrs. 

Alvin Smith of Orlando. His address 

is Suburban General Hospital, Belle- 

vue, Pittsburgh 2, Pa. 

***Blue Banner Club of Allegheny 

congregation met in the home of the 

pastor Friday evening, November 12, 

with Mr. and Mrs. John Allen, co- 

hosts. A delightful social hour was 

spent with games planned and con 

ducted by Mr. and Mrs. R. H. George. 

***Baby girls have come to the 

homes of Mr. and Mrs. Knox Elder, 

and Mr. and Mrs. Glen George. Mrs. 

George was the former Miss Mary- 

lois McFarland. (New Alexandria) 

CHURCH NEWS 

AGED PEOPLE'S HOME 

Miss Elizabeth Beattie visited with 

her cousin in Erie, Pa., for three 

weeks during the month of August. 

Miss Ellen Wilson enjoyed a trip 

to her home town of Sparta, Illinois, 

last summer. Her niece drove her 

out by automobile. She was also 

privileged to have her nephew, Solon 

Wilson, 

assist her to the communion 

service at Allegheny Church on Sab 

bath, October 24. 

Mrs. Knox Thompson came on 

October 7 to stay for an indefinite 

time as a boarder. 

Mrs. Jenny McFarland arrived 

home on October 7 from a visit with 

her son in Kansas City. 

Mrs. Lamont Turner has also re 

turned from an extended tour and 

visit in the mid-west. 

The original hospital room has 

been divided into two rooms. They 

are now refinished and cleaned, 

ready for use. 

A large majority of the members 

were afflicted with colds during the 

past few weeks, but all are im 

proved in health now. 

Mrs. Lovett is now acting as both 

night and day nurse, but may not be 

able to stay much longer. The Home 

is very 

much in need of a permanent 

nurse, either trained or practical, 

who likes old people. The Board of 

Managers would appreciate it if any 

one reading this article who might 

be interested in such a position, or 

knowing of some one else suitable, 

would contact by mail, or phone the 

President, Mrs. W. S. Robb, 320 

Lafayette Ave., Pittsburgh 14, Pa. 

Phone Fairfax 6223. This is an op 

portunity for work in a worthy 

Christian cause. 

ANNUAL DONATION DAY 

AND RECEPTION 

On Tuesday, October 5, 1948, the 

annual Donation Day and Reception 

were held at the Aged People's 

Home, 2344 Perrysville Avenue, 

Pittsburgh, Pa. In spite of the cold, 

rainy weather, a large number of 

friends visited the Home, were 

greeted by the reception committee, 

and served ice cream and cake by 

the social committee of the Board 

of Managers. The buildings, especial 

ly cleaned and brightened up, were 

enhanced by large bouquets of 

autumn flowers dahlias, marigolds, 

gladioli, zinnias and chrysanthe 

mums. Bouquets of roses and carna- 

ATTENTION CONGREGATIONS! 


Order your Bible Readers now. Four kinds are available 

REGULAR DAILY (short passages, including S. S. and C.Y.P.U. 

topics); CHRONOLOGICAL (through the Bible in a year); OLDER 

BOYS' 

AND GIRLS'; and CHILDREN'S. 

or more 

Prices are the same for all Readers Less than ten 5C each; ten 

3

JSTovember 3, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 285 

tions, donated by florists and other 

friends, decorated the dining rooms 

and_ the individual 

members' 

rooms. 

The hours weie from two to five, and 

seven to ten P. M. Mrs. Agnes E. 

Steele, Treasurer, reports the receipt 

of 1700.00 in cash. This was in ad 

dition to groceries, canned goods, and 

articles for household use received 

by the donation committee and 

turned over to the Matron, Mrs. S. 

R. Moffitt. 

The Board of Managers wishes to 

express its thanks to all the kind, 

generous friends who contributed to 

the success and happiness of the day. 

During 

our pastor, 

Mrs. James L. Mitchell, 

Press Committee. 

ALLEGHENY 

the three weeks absence of 

who was assisting at 

communion in the Sharon, Morning 

Sun and Hopkington congregations, 

we held prayer meeting on August 

29 led by Mr. R. H. George. On Sep 

tember 5 Rev. Robert Crawford 

preached for us and on September 12 

Dr. George Coleman. Dr. Coleman 

preached for us again on October 10 

when the Rev. Kermit Edgar was 

assisting College Hill in communion. 

Our congregation observed the 

Sacrament of the Lord's Supper on 

Sabbath, October 24, 

D. Howard Elliott assisting. The pre 

with the Rev. 

paratory services preceding were 

very impressive. Prayer meeting was 

held on Tuesday evening led by Mr. 

John W. Anderson and Rev. Howard 

Elliott gave us heart searching ser 

mons on Wednesday, Thursday and 

evenings. Friday We had seven ac 

cessions, Mary Eileen Mitchell and 

Betty Joan Heck, children of the con 

gregation; Nancy McRoberts Brown 

by confession of faith and baptism; 

Mr. Wilbur McWhinney and daughter 

Mrs. James E. Mitchell by letter from 

Belle Center, Ohio; and our two 

brides, Mrs. Jack George by letter 

from Central Pittsburgh; and Mrs. 

Donald Fox by letter from Mt. Zion 

Lutheran. 

Mr. James L. Mitchell was our 

elder to 

at the meeting 

Wilkinsburg. 

Many 

joyed being 

represent the congregation 

of Presbytery in 

of our members greatly en 

with the Central Pitts 

burgh Congregation on the evening 

of the installation and 

reception of 

their new pastor; and also with the 

Wilkinsburg congregation at the 

celebration of their 

were very happy 

centennial. These 

occasions and we 

congratulate both of our good 

neighbors. 

The James L. Mitchell family has 

moved to Beaver Falls, 3112 Fifth 

Ave., as an aid toward educating their 

children. They are very greatly 

missed in Allegheny. 

Mr. and Mrs. John Stiver (Jean 

George) have returned to Pittsburgh 

from Jersey Shore, Pa. 

Mrs. George McKee has had a 

very painful experience with a 

broken hand but is making a good 

recovery. 

Our pastor's wife, Mrs. Edgar, has 

accepted the presidency 

of the Per- 

rysville Ave. W. T. C. U. We con 

gratulate her and pray for the suc 

cess of this much needed work. 


Roberta Jones, senior, from Pitts 

burgh, Fern Drexler, junior, from 

Carnegie and. Miss Charlotte Nai- 

smith, instructor in physical educa 

tion, represented Geneva College at 

a meeting of the Western Pennsyl 

vania Division of Athletic Federa 

tion of College Women, held at Grove 

City College, October 29, 30 and 31. 

Miss Drexler led in a period of dis 

cussion for the small coeducational 

colleges. Miss Jones spoke on the 

new point system and other informa 

tion pertaining to the work of the 

Women's Athletic Association at 

Geneva. 

An invitation from the Theater 

Guild of America to attend the first 

screening- 

of Laurence Olivier's pro 

duction of Shakespeare's "Hamlet," 

was extended to Dr. M. M. Pearce, 

president of Geneva College, and 

members of the English, speech, 

music and related departments at 

Geneva. The showing was held at 

Schenley High School Tuesday eve 

ning. 

The Math Club of the College 

opened this year's activities recently 

with a meeting at the home of Dr. 

and Mrs. William Cleland, 3201 Sixth 

Ave., Beaver Falls. 

An automatic washing machine has 

been installed in North Hall, men's 

dormitory. It has been in use since 

October 20, when a representative of 

the Sahli Motor Company gave a 

demonstration of its operation at the 

dorm. The women's dorm, McKee 

Hall, has been using 

washer since September. 

an automatic 

GENEVA CONGREGATION 

In September, 

each of the Sabbath 

School classes chose a special proj 

ect to be completed by Christmas. 

The pre-school class, Mrs. Fenton 

Farley teacher, are saving their 

cards and papers each week to be 

sent to the children in Syria. 

The second class, ages 6 and 7, 

Mrs. Robert Hemphill teacher, and 

third class, ages 8-10, Miss Adella 

Lawson teacher, have cut specified 

pictures from old magazines for the 

Kentucky Mission and also some 

P'lannel-Art pictures to be sent to 

Mrs. Clark Copeland. 

The fourth class, Junior High 

Students, 

Mrs. George Coleman, 

teacher, are donating food for a 

complete Christmas dinner with all 

the trimmings for a local needy 

family. 

The High School and College girls 

class, Mrs. Janet Downie teacher, 

have sent a Care package to Europe. 

The Women's class, Mrs. John 

Coleman teacher, have donated 

$28.25 toward equipment for a bath 

room to be installed on the third 

floor of the Women Teachers' 

ters in Latakia. 

quar 

The Men's class, Mr. John Dodds 

teacher, are collecting 

used winter 

clothing and blankets to be sent to 

Mrs. Flora Rader Wolfe, one of our 

members now residing in Germany, 

for her disposal among the needy. 

The Bible class, Mrs. Lucille Hen 

ery teacher, purchased and canned a 

bushel of peaches for the Aged 

Peolpe's Home. 

We welcome the James L. Mitchell 

family who are now residing in 

Beaver Falls. Their son "Jim" 

is a 

Freshman at Geneva this year. 

We also welcome back Eleanor 

Patterson who for the past six years 

has been living 

with her brother and 

family in California. 

The annual hike and wiener roast 

was held this year in September at 

the Cameron Patterson farm, wel 

coming 

the new Covenanter students 

at Geneva. Over a hundred of our 

Covenanter Young People were pres 

ent to partake in the group singing, 

games and eats. 

Mrs. Agnes Templeton and Mr. T. 

W. Funk of Belle Center, Ohio, vis 

ited in Beaver Falls, 

Templeton visited in the home of her 

recently. Mrs. 

daughter Mrs. M. F. Murphy, and 

Mr. Funk visited in the home of his 

daughter Mrs. C. M. Patterson. 

Clarence Young 

Akron spent the last week in October 

who is employed in 

with his family in New Galillee. 

Rally and Promotion Day was ob 

served September 26. Pins, bars, and 

certificates were awarded for at 

tendance.


Rev. J. Ren Patterson of the Cen 

tral Pittsburgh Church assisted Dr. 

Willson with communion October 3. 

We welcomed three new members in 

to our congregation at this time: 

John H. Piper by 

Oakdale, Mrs. Isabelle Murphy, by 

certificate from 

certificate from Belle Center, and 

William Van Carpenter by letter 

from the local United Presbyterian 

Church. 

Mr. and Mrs. Don C. McCune are 

rejoicing over the arrival of Robert 

James McCune on September 28. 

Mr. and Mrs. Sam Edgar are re 

joicing 

over the arrival of a new 

granddaughter at the home of Mr. 

and Mrs. Paul M. Edgar, name 

Sylvia Kay. 

The sacrament of baptism was ad 

ministered October 24 to John Leslie 

McNaughton, 

son of Mr. and Mrs. 

Thomas McNaughton and Leonard 

Alan Dixson, son of Mr. and Mrs. 

James Dixson. 

We are happy to report that Mrs. 

Elizabeth Smith who has been ill for 

several weeks is much improved. 

Mrs. Raymond McFarland recently 

underwent an appendectomy but is 

back with us again and feeling fine. 

Sandra Hemphill had her tonsils and 

adenoids removed early in October 

and is feeling fine again too. 

Teddy Downie is doing post-grad 

uate work at the University of Colo 

rado, Boulder, Colo. 

Don Coleman is attending the 

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 

The body of Pfc. David E. Law- 

son was returned from Germany. 

Funeral services were held from the 

Scott Funeral Home Sabbath after 

noon. October 31. 

Monday evening, Oct,oh'- 

25, the 

Juniors held their Halloween party/ 

in the church basement. All 

masked and prizes were given to the 

best dressed, most comical and hard 

est to guess. Shirley Lathom was 

presented with a farewell gift from 

the Junior Society 

as she has gradu 

ated to the Youne People's. 

The Young People's held their 

Halloween party Thursday evening, 

October 28. All were psko^ to mask 

and to come to see and be seen. 

Prizes were given for the hardest to 

ffuess. funniest, etc. Games and con 

tests were the diversion of the eve- 

nine- 

after which doue-hnuts and 

cider were served by the lunch com 

mittee headed by Mrs. J. B. Willson. 

Dr. Willson recently suffered an 

attack of appendicitis but it did not 

necessitate an operation. We are glad 

he is feeling much better. During 

his absence from the pul*, October 

31. Dr. R. H. Martin made his an 

nual presentation of the work of the 

National Reform Association. 

The annual Thank-offering service 

is planned for Wednesday evening, 

November 17, by our Missionary So 

cieties. Each of the members of the 

Lillian McCracken Society 

and the 

Geneva Guild have been making 

various articles which will be on dis 

play 

at this service and will later be 

sent to the Southern Mission for 

their bazaar. 

The BOOK of 

ALL NATIONS 

WORLDWIDE BIBLE READINGS 

Thanksgiving to Christmas 

Thanksgiving Psalm 103 

Friday Psalm 90 

Saturday Psalm 91 

November 28 

Sabbath Psalm 23 

Monday Ephesians 6 

Tuesday Philippians 4 

Wednesday John 17 

Thursday Revelation 21 

Friday Psalm 121 

Saturday Psalm 27 

December 5 

Sabbath Acts 17 

Monday John 15 

Tuesday Hebrews 11 

Wednesday Romans 12 

Thursday John 3 

Friday Romans 8 

Saturday John 14 

December 12 

Sabbath Matthew 13 

Monday Luke 14 

Tuesday Luke 15 

Wednesday Luke 16 

Thursday 

I Corinthians 13 

Friday Isaiah 55 

Saturday John 1 

December 19 

Sabbath Mark 4 

Monday Matthew 5 

Tuesday Matthew 6 

Wednesday 

Matthew 7 

Thursday Isaiah 2:1-5; 9:1-7 

Friday Isaiah 11:1-9; 40:1-11 

Christmas Matthew 2 


FOR DECEMBER 1, 1948 

GOD CAN SAVE BY MANY 

Scripture: 

OR BY FEW 

I Samuel 14:1-16 

Psalms: 

Psalm 9:6, 8-10 No. 7 

Psalm 43:1-6 No. 116 

Psalm 76:1-3, 5 No. 202 

Psalm 46:1-2, 7-10 No. 127 

Comments: 

By 

the Rev. Paul E. Faris 

In a few days we will be reminded 

that it is an anniversary of Pearl 

Harbor; the military 

men of the 

country and many others for some 

time have been urging Universal 

Military Training for our young men; 

as I write, the situation between the 

East and West has reached the point 

where it could lead to war. Does it 

take big armies and large navies tp 

defend ourselves ? According to mo 

dern thinking it does. According to 

Biblical teaching it does not. The 

more arms a godless nation gathers 

to itself may result only in a greater 

loss. 

Our study gives us a picture of 

Israel in a situation which looked 

as if there was little hope for them. 

They had no swords and spears, ex 

cept Saul and Jonathan. Saul had 

only six hundred men with him. 

Without equipment what could they 

do ? Some of the Hebrews had sur 

rendered themselves to the Philis 

tines; others hid themselves in Mount 

Ephraim. It was a discouraged group 

that remained with Saul. The Philis 

tines were waiting for the kill; there 

was no hurry. Saul could pull no 

surprises. Between them was a nat 

ural barrier that would keep them 

from making any surprise raids. It 

is evident that Saul had no thought 

at this time of making any attack 

on the Philistines. 

It was in this situation that we see 

Jonathan perform a feat which has 

few equals; he took counsel with no 

one about it. He breathed nothing of 

it to his father. The only person who 

knew about it was his armor-bearer; 

and he was not consulted. Jonathan 

only asked him to follow him, say 

ing, "Come and let us go over unto 

the garrison of these uncircumcised; 

it may be that the Lord will work for 

us; for there is no restraint by the


Lord to save by many or by few." 

No words are needed to show the 

daring character of this project. The 

physical effort to climb those rocks 

was itself most difficult. If they 

were seen coming up the rock, it 

would not take much to stop them. 

In every resps^t this enterprise 

seemed foolish; except for the fact 

that the Lord might favor them in 

the attempt. If He did, it made no 

difference how many they had, He 

could save by many or by few. Jona 

than knew that the loss would be 

small, if they did not succeed; if they 

did, it would mean much. He was 

willing to sacrifice his life in the 

cause; it meant that much to him. 

It was faith working in his life; per 

haps he had heard Samuel talking 

with his father. He knew that his 

father lacked faith in God. If all that 

Samuel said were true then why not 

act on faith ? 

Between Jonathan and his armor- 

bearer was this agreement: If the 

Philistines said to them, "Come up to 

us," 

that was the signal to go ahead. 

Should the Philistines defy them, it 

would mean that they had better not 

attempt it. Would you have followed 

Jonathan had you been his armor- 

bearer ? 

The results of this venture are al 

most beyond belief. The Philistines 

saw them coming and invited them to 

come into the camp. The two men 

climbed to the top of the rock, and 

then they began to kill. So sudden 

and unexpected was their action that 

the garrison was thrown into a panic. 

In short order they 

slew twenty 

men. Confusion and terror prevailed 

on every side. Every 

man's sword 

was against his fellow. "There was 

trembling in the host, in the field, 

and among the people; the spoilers 

and the garrison, they 

also trembled, 

and the earth quaked; so it was a 

very great 

trembling." 

From across the way, the Israelites 

saw that the multitude melted away. 

Our scripture ends here, but go on 

and read of the great victory for 

Jonathan and his armor-bearer. Other 

Hebrews who had given up and had 

joined with the Philistines now came 

to the aid of the two fighters. Others 

came out of hiding. Had you wit 

nessed that battle to whom would 

you give the credit? Jonathan had 

said, "It may 

be that the Lord will 

work for us; for there is no retraint 

to the Lord to save by many or by 

few." 

Thus the faith of Jonathan was 

rewarded. Such a faith is needed to 

day. The powers of darkness are en 

trenched on every 

side. One phase 

of the battle may be with the nations. 

Those nations that deny God may 

disturb the peace of the world. Faith 

such as Jonathan's could be used in 

this realm. If we had only a frac 

tion of the faith which we have in 

armaments placed in God, 

we would 

not have so many fears, nor would 

defeat be so likely. 

The liquor industry is getting a 

grip on our land, and it is not satis 

fied; it would like to make it much 

stronger. Perhaps it will continue un 

til a Jonathan comes along 

who has 

faith and feels that God has given 

him the task to break that strangle 

hold. His methods may 

not sound 

reasonable, but when his life is 

ended, 

men will rejoice that he acted 

on faith. The book entitled "The 

Scar" 

illustrates this near its close as 

the character stands leading true to 

his convictions. He has been elected 

to the state legislature where the 

vote is taken to determine if the 

state is to remain dry; the vote is 

veiy close; he knows that his own 

life is at stake if he stands by his 

convictions. He votes dry, and then 

the only remaining 

legislator with 

out much backbone follows and votes 

dry. The state goes dry. One man 

turned the tide. 

Our world needs the gospel indi 

vidually 

and nationally. It has been 

suggested that if we really 

took it 

seriously and went to work, we might 

see the change of the world in a gen 

eration. Not many feel that such 

could be possible; at least not many 

work in that spirit. 

One could take the various vices 

which pollute our land; 

each one of 

them is serious enough and strong 

enough that many tremble at the 

power of them. But where is Jona 

than? We need many 

such men. "If 

ye have faith as a grain of mustard 

seed ye shall say 

unto this moun 

tain, Remove hence unto yonder 

place; and it shall remove; and noth 

ing 

shall be impossible unto 

"For there is no restraint by the 

Lord to save by many or by few." 

ASSIGNMENTS 

1. How did Jonathan have faith 

for such a venture? 

ture. 

2. Describe the results of the ven 

3. Name some characters in history 

who have acted against great odds 

as did Jonathan and describe their 

feats. 

4. Are our opportunities to witness 

you." 

for Christ often in places where we 

must act on faith against greater 

numbers than may be on our side ? 

5. Mention some fields of reform 

where we need men with Jonathan's 

daring faith. 


Pray that we may have the same 

courage that Jonathan had; that the 

Lord will use us to overthrow the 

evil powers which are continually 

working against His church; for the 

work of the American Bible Society; 

for its program of Bible reading 

which is conducted at this time of the 

year; that many may find Christ 

through their reading. 

A WORTHY PREAMBLE 

"We, the delegates to the Fortythird 

Annual Convention of the Kan 

sas Division of the Educational and 

Cooperative Union of America, as 

sembled to draft a program of ac 

tion and guidance for the ensuing 

year, desire in the beginning to say 

that the greatest strength of our 

organization is in our belief in, and 

devotion to, Almighty God. We pause 

at this moment to give thanks for 

the countless blessings received and 

to petition and pray 

His Son, Jesus Christ, 

that through 

all heresies 

of disbelief in Him will expire and 

that we will in our time know peace 

throughout the world. 

"We urge that all members of the 

Farmers' 

Union pray that Faith, 

Hope and Charity through God's 

grace, take the place of greed, envy 

and lust for 

power." 

(The above quotation is the pre 

amble to a series of 

"planks" or 

resolutions adopted by the conven 

tion of the Kansas Farmers' 

at Topeka, 

October 29, 1948.) 

HOLLENBECKBUCK 

Union, 

Miss Dorothy Hollenbeck, daugh 

ter of Mr. and Mrs. G. E. Hollenbeck, 

and Francis Buck, son of Mr. and 

Mrs. Willard Buck, were united in 

marriage in the Fresno R. P. Church 

on Friday evening, 

September 10, 

1948. The double ring ceremony was 

performed by their pastor, the Rev. 

C. E. Caskey. The wedding was fol 

lowed by a reception at the bride's 

home. After the reception the bride 

and groom left for their honeymoon 

at Lake Tahoe and Santa Cruz. Mr. 

and Mrs. Buck will make their home 

for the present in Los Angeles where 

Mr. Buck is attending osteopathic 

college.





Monday 

TOPIC FOR DECEMBER 

1:00 P. M. 

By Mrs. John W. Kennedy, 

Bloomington 

THE CHRISTIAN'S WALK: 

IN LOVE 

I Cor. 13; Eph. 5:2 

I suppose the whole Bible is a com 

mentary on this subject, for God's 

love for man in providing redemption 

is the theme of the Bible. How many 

times we are commanded to "be 

holy, 

even as your Father which is 

in Heaven is holy!" 

Perhaps the hardest of God's at 

tributes to make our own is this one 

of love, because it is so all-incluisve. 

Rightly 

we begin our consideration of 

this subject by thinking 

of our love 

for God. Not by accident was the 

First Commandment placed first. It 

was put there because it must be 

there. It is the foundation on which 

all the others rest. It is only when a 

person or a nation has accepted this 

basic commandment, 

at least as a 

standard, that there will be willing 

obedience to the rest of the law for 

very long. The emphasis today is 

not along this line. We tend to feel 

that we have done our full duty if 

we love our fellow men, not realizing 

that we do not even know how to love 

them as we should until we have the 

love of God Himself in our hearts. 

When we do have this love for God, 

then it floats out to others as our 

means of expressing our love for 

Him. 

The early Christians were notice 

able because of their love for each 

other. "Behold how they love one 

another!" 

was the comment of the 

world concerning these first century 

Christians. Do you suppose they were 

more lovable than Christians are to 

day? From some of Paul's letters we 

would gather not, but they were 

filled with a vital Christianity. They 

were so dependent on each other, and 

there was so much work to be done 

that there was no time for fault find 

ing- or bickering. Perhaps the trouble 

with us today when we are not char 

acterized by this spirit of love for 

the brethren is that we have lost our 

sense of mission and have 

nothing- 

more important to do than to find 

fault with others. As a church, 

though, I think we do have this 

sense of unity. I doubt if there is an 

other denomination that would have 

so large a percentage of its member 

ship 

come the distance that ours do 

to attend a "Winona" 

or "Grinnell" 

because we love the Lord and the 

brethren. 

It ought to be easy 

Lord, because He is perfect, 

to love the 

and it 

ought to be fairly easy to love our 

brethren, because they are trying to 

be perfect, but our enemies are some 

thing 

Sabbath School lesson comments 

else. I read in some of the 

some time ago, that it was possible 

to love some one whom you didn't 

like. I've thought about that a great 

deal, 

and I believe it is true. We must 

not like what is evil, but we can see 

the possibilities of a changed life 

and have faith to extend our love be 

fore we can extend our "liking". We 

look at Russia today as they seem to 

us to defy both man and God, and 

we cannot like them, but we can 

pray for them and strive to bring 

them to Jesus Christ. We had a 

neighbor one time who had always 

been a wicked godless 

man. He had a 

severe illness and a minister came 

to call on him and started to pray 

for him. The sick man ordered the 

minister out of the house and told 

him not to come back. As he left, the 

preacher said, "You can keep me 

from praying for you here, but you 

can't keep me from praying for 

And such was the power of prayer 

you." 

that it wasn't long until he was sent 

for and the sinner became a saved 

Sometimes we become so familiar 

with a portion of Scripture that we 

repeat it without realizing what it 

means. For this reason it is good to 

read some of the modern translations 

of the Bible to startle us into seeing 

what the meaning is. I especially 

like Goodspeed's translation of the 

13th Chapter of 1st Corinthians. It 

ought to be' 

placed where we could 

see it daily. "Love is patient and 

kind. Love is not envious or boastful. 

It does not put on airs. It is not rude. 

It does not insist on its rights. It 

does not become angry. It is not re 

sentful. It is not happy over injustice, 

it is only happy with truth. It will 

bear anything, believe anything, hope 

for anything, endure anything. Love 

will never die 

that kind of love! 

out." 

May 

we have 

LEAGUE OF 

COVENANTER 

INTERCESSORS 


shall ask in prayer, believing, ye 

shall 

receive." 

Matt. 21:22 

LEAGUE OF COVENANTER 

The party 

INTERCESSORS 

of missionaries bound 

for China and booked to sail in mid- 

September are detained on the West 

Coast bv the strike of longshoremen. 

Word from China indicates that our 

missionaries there are distressed be 

cause of difficulties arising 

out of 

the manipulation of exchange rates. 

These should be matters of constant 

and earnest prayer. 

Our Communion ser"ic"" 

are 

es- 

sentiallv revival services. Have you 

asked for and received revival bless 

ings in connection with your Fall 

Communion service ? Revival of the 

Church must precede 

while evangelistic effort. 

?"v worth 

In two instances wHrj;" the past 

few weeks, 

nation-wide public atten 

tion has been called to The Christian 

Amendment without any prompting 

whatever from those connected with 

The Christian Amendment Move 

ment. The Christian Amendment is a 

"LIVE issue" 

Pray that it may be 

given a worthy hearing by 

ple of our country. 

GEORGE G. McLAURY 

the peo 

Mr. George G. McLaury passed 

away on Thursday, October 14, 1948, 

in his 90th year. He had been con 

fined to his bed because of weakness 

for some time. Born on February 19, 

1859, in Delaware County, New 

York, he came to the Home from 

Orlando, Florida, on March 9, 1947. 

Funeral services were conducted at 

the Home by the Rev. Kermit S. Ed 

gar on Saturday, October 16, 

at 2:00 

P. M. The Rev. Edgar also accom 

panied the body 'to Coldenham, New 

York where burial was made in the 

church cemetery. The Rev. Walter 

C. McClurkin officiated at a brief 

service at the grave at 2:30 P. M., 

on Monday, October 18. The Rev. 

Edgar assisted, leading in prayer, 

and speaking briefly about Mr. Mc- 

Laury's connection with the Home.

LESSON HELPS FOR THE WEEK OF DECEMBER 5, 1948 


"300 YEARS Of W'T"NeS5INCr fOR. CHRIST'S SOVEREIOfl RIGHTS IN I"L CHURcTT 1WD the. AlATjOflj 

VOLUME XLI WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1948 NUMBER 19 

Common Days 

ONE OF the chief dangers of life is trusting occa 

sions. We think that conspicuous events, strik 

ing experiences, exalted moments have most to 

do with our character and capacity. We are wrong. 

Common days, monotonous hours, wearisome paths, 

plain old clothes tools, everyday tell the real story. 

Good habits are not made on birthdays, nor Chris 

tian character at the New Year. The vision may 

dawn, the dream may waken, the heart may leap 

with a new inspiration on some mountaintop; but the 

test, the triumph, is at the foot of the mountain, on 

the level plain. The workshop of character is every 

day life. Thank God for a new birth, a beautiful 

idea, a glorious experience; but remember that un 

less we bring it down to the ground and teach it to 

walk with feet, work with hands, and stand the 

strain of daily life, we have worse than lost it we 

have been hurt by it. The uncommon life is the child 

of the common day, lived in an uncommon way. 

The Church of God Evangel.

290 THK COVENANTER WITNESS November 10, 1948 

QlimpA&i ojj the folixjMiul Would 

Accoiding 


The Bible in Scotland 

to The Watchman-Examiner, every boy and 

giil in Scotland will receive Scriptuie training 

on a par 

with mathematics and languages in a 6-year schedule 

launched lecently in Scottish schools. Scotland still has 

something to teach America. 

Outlawing Bigamy 

A bill has been adopted in the legislative assembly 

of Dadras, India, to outlaw bigamy among 

Hindus. The 

law applies if either of the parties to the marriage is a 

Hindu. 

Sentenced for Disrespect for Pope 

An Italian young man by the name of Campani started 

to whistle during the showing of a film in which the pope 

was depicted bestowing his apostolic blessing. For this 

offense he was given a 10-month suspended sentence by 

a court in Leghorn, Italy. 

Where Our Money Goes 

The Boston Herald has compiled figures taken from the 

Department of Commeice which show that 10.5 percent 

of our national income goes for individual incomes taxes; 

4.9 percent is spent for alcoholic beverages; 3.4 percent 

goes for betting on horse races; 1.9 percent is spent for 

tobacco and cigarettes; and .85 percent is given to reli 

gious and social welfare. 

Priests Leave Rome 

Many piiests are leaving the Roman Catholic Church in 

Italy. The Vatican calls these "communists." 

Possibly 

some of them are, but many are not. Those who are op 

posed to the Vatican policies are generally called, "com 

munists." 

Last year, there was organized in Florence 

the International Association of Ex-priests. This organ 

ization claims 4000 piiests who have abandoned Catholi 

cism. The Vatican Concordat denies civil rights to priests 

who have left the Catholic Church. 

Wet and Dry Election Results 

In Texas the 3 counties which voted in local option elec 

tions voted by large majorities not to legalize the sale of 

alcoholic beverages including beer. 

In Oregon the dry forces defeated the proposal to li 

cense the sale of drinks in hotels, clubs and restaurants. 

In Kansas the 68-year-old prohibition amendment lost. 

In Colorado, Washington, and South Dakota the dry 

forces lost in their various effort. 

In California a propostion sponsored by the wets, 

known as Proposition No. 2, lost, and one sponsored by 

the drys asking for local liquor control, known as Pro 

position No. 12, also was lost. 

Stanley Jones Why Dry 

During the recent temperance campaign in Kansas, Dr. 

E. Stanley Jones startled his audience by telling them 

why he was dry. He said: "I don't believe I have ever 

mentioned this to anyone before, and I know I have never 

mentioned it in public, but the reason for my fierce- 

hatred for this abomination, this curse, is that my own 

family was struck by it. It struck my own father. Our 

furniture, 

and even our beds fell a victim to this terrible 

curse. You see why I hate it, and why 

every breath until I die." 

His experience was evidently 

I'll fight it with 

much like that of Sam 

Mor.is who tells of how his father drank up his money 

and the value of their farm until he finally disappeared 

and was not heard of for years; and during those years 

his mother had to work hard at the wash tub to make the 

most meager living for her family. 

Dr. Jones gave a very forceful prohibition address over 

the air in reply to a sermon by the Catholic Bishop Mark 

K. Carroll in a Sabbath morning sermon in which he had 

urged repeal of the Kansas prohibition law. That sermon 

is published in the National Voice of Nov. 11, 1948. 

Dr. R. D. Wilson on Higher Criticism 

The booklet written by the late Dr. Robt. Dick Wilson, 

then professor in Princeton Seminary, has been republish 

ed by The Sunday School Times, 325 N. 13th St., Phila 

delphia, Pa., 

price 25 cents each. A biological sketch 

of Dr. Wilson is included in it. Dr. Wilson's scholarship 

far exceeded that of the critics and he demolishes their 

arguments. The booklet ought to be in every home. It 

is not heavy or hard reading, but interesting, reassuring 

and stimulating. 

Presbyterians in Mexico 

There are now 60,000 Presbyterians in Mexico and they 

have organized a General Assembly. In the City of Mex 

ico they have three large churches and twenty chapels. 

The largest of these has 2,000 members who worship in 

a former Roman Catholic church which was built by the 

fines and confiscated property of the martyred victims of 

the Inquisition. 

Greek Catholics 

The World Council of Churches has received the Greek 

Catholic churches into its membership. This Eastern 

church believes that "Christianity without the veneration 

religion.." 

of Our Lady is another 

are intolerant 

They 

of those who do not believe in the cult of Mary, and even 

persecute those who reject this cult. 

The Name of God in UN 

According to UEA the name of God is very distasteful 

to the United Nations. Another attempt was made by 

Christians at the current Paris meetings to introduce the 

name of deity in the first article of the UN Declaration 

on Human Rights, but it did not "get to first base." 

Mem 

ber nations were reluctant to "impose Christian philo 

sophy on divergent faiths in such countries as China, In 

dia and Russia. The Soviet representative nonchalantly 


T'TJ'C rT\~\TV\T A TvTTTT'T} VS7TT'M"E1Q C Published each . Wednesday by the Reformed Presbyterian 

Ixlhj UU ViMN.rt.lN Ifjll WillNlLtoS. church of North America, through its editorial office. 


32.00 per year: foreign $2.50 per year: single copies 5c. Special rates to congregations. 


Authorized August 11, 193::. 

The Rev. R. B. Lyons, B. A.. Limavady, N. Ireland, agent for the British Isles. 

under the act of March 3. 1879.

November 10. 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 291 

Cwibent ovetttb 

Has the Berlin blockade been a decoy to draw away the 

attention of the Western world while China is being swal 

lowed up? This may be the case; at least the odds in 

China seem to be with the Communists. Nationalist 

armies such as the former command of Feng, the "Chris 

tian General," 

have been switching their allegiance to 

the Reds and taking their equipment with them. The 

Nationalists have adopted no fundamental reforms and 

therefore have not acquired the enthusiastic support of 

the common people. The government is supported 

thiough fear of the Communists rather than by any in 

spiration of loyalty. 

The Peoples-First-N'ational Bank and Trust Co., of 

Pittsburgh is sending its customers an analysis of the 

present political situation by Dr. Nadler of New York 

University, a consulting economist of the Central Han 

over Bank and Trust Co., of New York. A section of one 

paragraph gives food for thought: "From the Civil War 

up to 1932, the United States was normally a Republican 

country. However, since 1932, and with the growth of 

organized labor, this situation has undergone a consider 

able change. From now on, and so long as organized 

labor marches in the ranks of the Democratic party, this 

country 

will be Democratic The second basic change 

that has taken place is that the United States is definite 

ly against left-wing and Communist-dominated parties. 

The third basic factor is that a trend to the right of center 

which was so pronounced in 1946 has been reversed. The 

fourth is that a New Deal philosophy remains a power 

ful factor in the economic thinking 

of the United States. 

I believe that these are basic changes and the sooner we 

take them into account the better off we will be." 

One might add, however, 

that it was the farmer vote 

rather than that of organized labor that held President 

Truman in office: that the situation is exceedingly fluid, 

and that another depression even of moderate depth 

might send the country either fgain into the conservative 

column or into the Wallace ranks. All the rest of the 

world, except the countries under the control of military 

will be to the left of the United States even if 

fascists, 

we again adopt New Deal measures. 

% . . 

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

chapter of 

Alpha Chi Sigma, national chemistry fraternity, has sur 

rendered its charter as a protest against the racial dis 

crimination demanded by 

ganization limiting membership 

of the Caucasian 

the by-laws of the national or 

race." 

S. F. Radke, 

to "non-Semitic members 

president of the 

chapter, says that both faculty and student members of 

the group have made a strong effort to repeal the ob 

jectionable rule adopted when the Ku Klux Klan was ac 

tive, but to no avail, 

and so take the only course open to 

them. The spirit of democracy is still vigorous in the old 

United States. 

The potato yield this year is 431 million bushels, or 204 

bushels to the acre. The average between 1937 and 1946 

was 139 bushels. Uncle Sam is having to buy up vast 

quantities in order to 

of parity. The net loss is estimated 

maintain the legally required 90% 

at $90,963,000 as 

against a net loss last year of 839,529,000. An Agricul 

tural Department spokesman 

says all the potatoes will 


probably be used for animal feed, alcohol or flour, or dis 

tributed to schools and charitable institutions, and that 

it is not likely that any will be dumped. The parity pro 

gram was adopted as a war program. The war should be 

over some day. 

* 

The Western Powers plan to hold elections for city of 

ficials in the Western part of Berlin on December 5. The 

Communists are denouncing the move as "contrary to the 

Constitution" 

and a means of "splitting the city into east 

ern and western 

parts." 

Why 

do not the Russians also 

hold real elections ? The Western Powers tried for years 

to get p united Germany 

project. 

"Skid Row'' 

and Russia always balked the 

is that section of Madison Street in Chi 

cago's 27th Ward to which the down-and-outs of that 

metropolis descend. Mr. Toughy, 

superintendent of the 

street cleaning of that section, reports that one of his 

men picked up 460 empty bottles in one evening. He 

says: "Wc are going to keep the bottles off Skid Row, 

empty bottles that 

is." 

Apparently the bottles are the 

great problem,not the lost men and women. 

The financial pages are still discussing the action of 

the U. S. Supreme Court making basing-point prices il 

legal. This is the method that sells you gasoline in 

Wyoming, for instance, where there is plenty of produc 

tion right at hand, at a price fixed by the cost of ship 

ment from some arbitrary point many hundreds of miles 

away. The price all over the zone has to be high enough 

to give the shipper at a distance enough profit to do busi 

ness. Then the man who produces next door puts the 

freight costs of his competitor into his pocket as addi 

tional profits. Cement, steel, 

and such commodities are 

sold on this basis. For the time being, the decision has 

made things worse instead of better: prices have not gone 

down to the next-door customer and the freight rate is 

added now when long shipment is required. The Federal 

Trade Commission needs to bring some more suits for 

price-fixing. The leader may be weary of such items, 

but they might come much oftener for there are plenty 

of examples. Our present free enterprise set-up is being 

betrayed by those who claim to be its friends. 

Eight thousand years ago the Sahara is said to have 

been rich and fertile territory; then the rains failed and 

the sand took over. The French Colonial Administration 

is drilling wells and finding water in abundance. True, 

it is a mile down, but the wandering Bedouin are hasten 

ing to the newly watered oases and towns are springing 

up almost instantaneously. There are sections both in 

the eastern and western Sahara that are below sea-level, 

and some day the sea may be turned in, power generated, 

and lakes created that may give moisture as dew and rain 

to the surrounding- 

areas. 

The U. S. Office of Education tells us that the schools 

of higher education 1,800 of them show enrollments up 

72,000 over last year, although there are 100,000 less vet 

erans. The veterans have dropped from 48r* 

to 42% of 

the total. The writer regrets the passing of the veterans: 



Christ Or The Lodge, III. 

(Continued from week of October 27) 

d. The Ethics Of Masonry 

In his Text-book of 

Masonic Jurisprudence 

A. G. Mackey is careful to explain that the moral 

law of Masonry is not the moral law of the Bible. 

We read : "Every Mason is obliged by his tenure 

to obey moral law. Now this moral law is not to 

be considered as confined to the decalogue of Mo 

ses, within which narrow limits the ecclesiastical 

writers technically retain it, but rather as allud 

ing to what is called the lex naturae or the law of 

nature. This is the moral law to which the old 

charge already cited refers, and which it declares 

to be the law of Masonry. And this was wisely 

done, for it is evident that no law less universal 

could have been appropriately 

selected for the 

government of an institution whose prominent 

characteristic is its universality. The precepts of 

Jesus could not have been made obligatory upon a 

Jew; a Christian would have denied the sanctions 

of the Koran; a Mohammedan must have rejected 

the law of Mcses, and a disciple of Zoroaster would 

have turned from all to the teachnigs of his Zend 

Avesta. The universal law of nature, which the 

authors of the 'Old Charges' 

have properly called 

the moral law, is, therefore, the only law suited 

resnect to be adopted as the Masonic 

in every 

code" 

(p. 502). 

H. L. Haywood in his Greed Teachings of 

Masonry places Masonic ethics on an exneriment- 

. 

al, humanistic and utilitarian basis. Says this 

teacher of Masonry : "Human experience, both 

individual and racial is the one final authority in 

morals. .Wrong is whatever hurts human life 

or destroys human happiness. . 

.Acts a**e not 

right or wrong intrinsically but 

acTdin"as 

their effects are hurtful or heloful" 

(\y. ?>f^. 

More blatant disregard of the law of God 

hardly imaginable. 

is 

In this connection refernce must be made to 

Masonic oaths. According to Theodore Graeb- 

ner's A Treatise on Freemasonry (pp. 22. 23). 

the followingis 

an example of the ver^ first oath 

required in Masonry, that for a candidate being 

initiated as an Entered Apprentice Mason : 

"I, , of my own free will and 

accord, in the presence of Almighty God and his Wor 

shipful Lodge, erected to Him and dedicated to the Holy 

Saint John, do hereby and hereon most solemnly and 

sincerely 

promise and swear that I will always hail, 

ever conceal, and never reveal any 

parts, 

of the secret arts, 

or points of the hidden mysteries of Ancient 

Freemasonry, which have been heretofore, may 

at this 

time, or shall at any future period be communicated to 

me as such, to any 

person or persons whomsoever, ex 

cept it be to a true and lawful brother Mason, or with 

in a regularly constituted Lodge of Masons, and neither 

unto him nor them, until by strict trial, due examination, 

or legal information I shall have found him or them as 

lawfully entitled to the same as I am myself. 

"I furthermore promise and swear that I will not 

write, print, paint, stamp, stain, cut, carve, make, nor 

engrave them, nor cause the same to be clone upon any 

thing movable or immovable, capable of receiving the 

least impression of a word, syllable, letter, or char 

acter, whereby the same may become legible or intel 

ligible to any person under the canopy of heaven, and 

the secrets of Freemasonry be thereby unlawfully ob 

tained through my unworthiness. 

"To all of this I most solemnly and sincerely prom 

ise and swear, with a firm and steadfast resolution to 

keep and perform the same without any equivocation, 

mental reservation, or secret evasion of mind what 

ever, binding myself under no less a penalty than that 

of having my throat cut across, my tongue torn out by 

its roots and buried in the rough sands of the sea at low 

water mark, 

where the tide ebbs and flows twice in 

twenty-four hours, should I ever knowingly or willing 

ly violate this my solemn oath or obligation as an Enter 

ed Apprentice Mason. So help me God, and keep me 

steadfast in the due performance of the 

same." 

From the viewpoint of Christian ethics this 

oath is open to serious criticism on more than one 

score. The Christian, bound as he is to main 

tain justice and equity before God and man to 

the best of his powers, has no right to pledge him 

self in advance to keep secret something the 

bearing 

of which on questions of justice and 

morals he cannot know. And, aside from the 

question whether an oath is not too solemn a 

transaction for a ceremony of such doubtful im 

portance as reception into a mere human organi 

zation, it must be said without hesitation that 

the violence of this oath is plainly contrary to 

our Lord's principles of speech as set forth in 

Matthew 5:34-37. 

According to the cipher ritual a Master Ma 

son takes the solemn pledge "that I will not have 

illicit carnal intercourse with a brother's wife, 

his mother, sister or daughter, I knowing them 

such." 

In the opinion of the committee 

some critics of Masonry are too severe in their 

denunciation of this pledge. For example, it 

to be 

has been said evidently to leave "no closed seas 

on" 

for other women and to protect even a Mas 

onic brother's women relatives only when they 

are known to be such. That seems to be an exag 

geration. A promise to abstain from illicit in 

tercourse with some women does not necessarily 

imply a reservation of liberty to engage in such 

intercourse with other women. Nevertheless, 

it cannot be denied that this pledge does intro 

duce a distinction which is not only foreign to 

Christian ethics, but even contrary to it. Chris 

tianity demands that a man respect the chastity, 

not merely of certain women but of all alike. 

e. Salvation According to Masonry 

Every 

religion has a doctrine of salvation, 

and to that rule Masonry is no exception. Is the 

Masonic teaching on this important subject in 

harmony with the teaching of the Holv Writ, or 

are the two at variance with each other? The 

answer to that question may well be unequivo 

cal.

Novembc ittE COVENANTER WITNESS 293 

claims to be the only true re 

_ _ Christianity 

ligion and to set forth the one and only wav of 

salvation. Christ Himself declared: "I am the 

way, and the truth, and the life no one cometh 

unto the Father, but by 

me" 

(John 11:6). "In 

none other is there salvation: for neither is 

there any other name under heaven, that is given 

among men, wherein we must be 

saved" 

(Acts 

4:12). But Masonry teaches that there is sal 

vation in other religions as well. W. L. Wilmhurst, 

Grand Registrar of West Yorkshire Dis 

trict, says: "Our science in its universality lim 

its our conception to no one exemplar. Take the 

nearest and most familiar to you, the one under 

whose aegis you were racially born and who there 

fore may serve you best ; for each is able to bring 

you to the center, though each may have his sepa 

rate method. To the Jewish brother it says : 

"Take the father of the faithful, and realize 

what being gathered to his bosom 

To 

means.' 

the Christian brother, it points to him upon whose 

breast lay the beloved disciple. To the Hindoo 

brother it points to Krishna, etc. To the Bud 

dhist it points to the Maitreja of universal com 

passion. And to the Moslem, it points to his 

Prophet, and to the significance of being clothed 

in his 

(The Masonic Initiation, 

mantle" 

p. 105). 

According to the July 10, 1940, issue of The Cove 

nanter Witness, J. S. M. Ward has attempted to 

express the same thought in verse: 

"Bacchus died and rose again, 

On the golden Syrian Plain ; 

Osiris rose from out his grave, 

And thereby mankind did save ; 

Adonis likewise did shed his blood 

By the yellow Syrian flood ; 

Zoroaster brought to birth 

Mirthra from his cave of earth. 

And we today in Christian lands 

We with them can join hands." 

The Christian doctrine of salvation is hetero- 

soteric; it teaches that man must be saved by 

another. Masonry's doctrine of salvation, on the 

other hand, is autosoteric; it teaches that man 

must and can save himself. 

"Freemasonry," 

we 

are told by J. S. M. Ward, "has taught that each 

man can, by himself, work out his own conception 

of God and thereby achieve salvation (Freemas 

onry; Its Aims and Idea's, p. 187). And in his 

book, What Masonry Means, which is warmly 

recommended in an introduction by J. F. Newton, 

William F. Hammond says: "Mansonry's con 

is something for which 

ception of immortality 

man must qualify while still in the flesh. Through 

of a moral discipline Masons are 

the fellowship 

taught to qualify 

life" 

(p. 171). 

The Christian way 

for the fellowship of eternal 

of salvation is supernatu 

of salvation is natural 

ral. But the Masonic way 

istic. According to Christianity the new birth 

is a suernatural work of the Holy Spirit. Ac 

cording to many Masonic authorities a person 

is born again through initiation into the lodge. 

H. L. Haywood, for instance, 

whole process (of initiation) 

declares: "The 

should be made one 

of the most crucial experiences of the candidate's 

life, one that will change him to the center of his 

being. . .It is like the moral and spiritual change 

which comes over a man who passes through the 

religious experience known as 

'conversion' 

'regeneration'.. .Masonic initiation is intended 

to be quite as profound and revolutionizing an 

experience. As a result of it the candidate should 

man" 

become a new 

Masonry, pp. 30, 31). 

(The Great Teachings of 

Salvation by grace is the very core of the 

Christian doctrine of salvation. But Masonry 

boldly teaches salvation by works and character. 

Says William E. Hammond: "Masonry incul 

cates faith in immortality as indispensable to 

moral living and urges its members to qualify 

for eternal life by the practice of those qualities 

integrity, fellowship, and service which may 

reasonably be expected to constitute the felicity of 

a future life" 

(What Masonry Means, p. 175). 

At this point may be introduced two somewhat 

lengthy quotations from the pointed pamphlet, 

The Relations of the Liberal Churches and the 

Fraternal Orders, by E. A. Coil, a Unitarian min 

ister and a Masonic Worshipful Master. Says 

this clear-headed writer. 

"That the fundamental differences in the 

principles embodied in the historic creeds of 

Christendom and those of our modetrn secret 

orders has not been clearly thought out is indi 

cated by the fact that many pledge themselves to 

both. There are lodge men who, in the churches, 

subscribe to the doctrine that 'We are accounted 

righteous before God only for the merit of our 

Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, by faith and not 

for our own works or deservings,' 

and enthusias 

tically join in the singing 

or 

of hymns in which that 

idea is embodied. Then in their lodge meetings 

they just as enthusiastically assent to the follow 

ing declaration : 'Although our thoughts, words 

and actions may be hidden from the eyes of men, 

yet that All-Seeing-Eye whom the sun, moon and 

stars obey, and under whose watchful care even 

comets perform their stupendous revolutions, 

pervades the inmost recesses of the human heart, 

and will reward us acording to our merits'. A 

little child, once its attention is called to the mat 

ter, ought to be able to see that it is impossible to 

harmonize the creed statement here quoted, with 

the declaration taken from the monitor of one 

of our greatest and most effective secret orders, 

and found, in substance, in the liturgies of nearly 

all the others. If 'We are accounted righteous 

before God, for the merit of our Lord and Sav 

iour, Jesus Christ, by faith and not for our own 

works or deservings', then it cannot possibly be 

true that the All-Seeing-Eye 'Pervades the in 

most recesses of the human heart, and will re 

merits.' 

ward us according to our One of those 

declarations excludes the other. Men cannot con 

sistently 

subscribe to both" 

(pp. 10, 11). Coil 

goes on to say : "I have been devoting much 

time to an investigation of the subject, and I say, 

without fear of successful contradiction, that 

the liberal churches, from their beginning, have


been developing in thought and sentiment, along 

the same lines as those followed by most of our 

great modern fraternities. They have champion 

ed and advocated the fatherhood of God, the 

brotherhood of Man, immortality and salvation 

by character, and these are the very principles 

for which nearly all the great fraternities stand. 

Taught these principles in childhood, as they 

should be taught them in the Sunday schools and 

churches, people will not have to unlearn or deny 

them should they choose to identify themselves 

with almost any one of our present day fraterni 

ties, as those brought 'Orthodox' 

up in Sunday 

schools and churches have to unlearn, deny or 

ignore much that has been taught them if they 

become members of a lodge" 

(pp. 17, 18). 

f. The Brotherhood of Masonry 

Scripture tells us that God "made of one 

blood every 

nation of men to dwell on all the 

earth" 

(Acts 17:26). Therefore it 

face of the 

is not amiss to assert that there is a physical 

brotherhood of all men. It may even be admitted 

that by virtue of such remnants in fallen man of 

the original image of God as reason and con 

science , all men are brothers in more than a phy 

sical sense. But Scripture emphaticolly denies 

that the universal brotherhood of man is spiritual. 

On the contrary, it teaches that there is an abso 

lute spiritual antithesis between believers and 

unbelievers. Spiritually they are opposties like 

righteousness and iniquity, light and darkness, 

Christ and Belial (2 Corinthians 6:14, 15). 

Masonry boasts of the brotherhood of its 

members and glories in the universal brotherhood 

of man. Says J. F. Newton : "If one were asked 

to define Masonry in a single sentence, it would 

be to say : Masonry is the realization of God by 

the practice of brotherhood." 

He goes on to de 

scribe universal brotherhood as physical and in 

tellectual and spiritual. It is spiritual, according 

to him, because, while religions are many, "Reli 

gion is One." 

He adds that the genius of the re 

ligion of Jesus was "the extension of the idea 

of the family to include all humanity" 

(The Re 

ligion of Masonry, pp. 116, 123ff.). And E. A. 

Coil says : "It is becoming more and more clear 

to me as the facts relating to the subject are 

brought out, that the fraternities and churches 

called 'Liberal' 

have been working along paral 

lel lines ; but, because the one puts the chief em 

phasis upon the fatherhood of God, and therefore 

emphasizes theology, while the other puts the 

chief emphasis upon the brotherhood of man, and 

therefore emphasizes sociology, they have not 

realized that they were occupying practically the 

ground" 

same 

(The Relation of the Liberal 

Churches and the Fraternal Orders, pp. 9, 10). 

g. The Universalism of Masonry 

There is a Christian universalism. God has 

His elect in every age and every nation. Ever 

since the fall of man the Son oi God has been 

gathering the elect into His church by His Word 

and Spirit. In Christ Jesus there is neither Jew 

nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female, for 

all are one in Him (Galatians 3:28). John saw 

the four living creatures and the four and twenty 

elders fall down before the Lamb and he heard 

them sing: "Thou wast slain, 

and didst pur 

chase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe, 

and tongue, and people, and 

5:9). 

nation" 

(Revelation 

Masonry also lays claim to universalism, but 

its universalism differs radically from that of 

Christianity in that it denies Christian particu 

larism and exclusivism. 

Christianity claims to have the only true 

book, the Bible. Masonry places this book on par 

with the sacred books of other religions. 

Christianity lays claim to the only true God, 

the God of the Bible, and denounces all other 

gods as idols. Masonry recognizes the gods of 

all religions. 

Christianity describes God as the Father of 

Jesus Christ and of those who through faith in 

Him have received the right to be called the sons 

of God. The God of Masonry is the universal 

father of all mankind. 

Christianity holds that only the worship of 

the God who has revealed Himself in Holy Scrip 

ture is true worship. Masonry honors as true 

worship the worship of numerous other deities 

Christianity recognizes but one Saviour, Je 

sus Christ, the only Mediator between God and 

man. Masonry recognizes many saviours. 

Christianity acknowledges but one way of 

salvation, that of grace through faith. Masonry 

rejects this way and substitutes for it salvation 

by works and character. 

Christianity teaches the brotherhood of those 

who believe in Christ, the communion of saints, 

the church universal, the one body of Christ. 

Masonry teaches the brotherhood of Masons and 

the universal brotherhood of man. 

Christianity glories in being the one truly 

universal religion. Masonry would rob Chris 

tianity of this glory and appropriate it to itself. 

Christianity maintains that it is the only 

true religion. Masonry denies this claim and 

boasts of being Religion itself. 

The committe finds that the evidence pre 

sented concerning the religion of Masonry per 

mits but one conclusion. Although a number of 

the objections commonly brought against Mason 

ry seem to the committee not to be weighty, yet it 

is driven to the conclusion that Masonry is a re 

ligious institution and as such is definitely anti- 

Christian. 

Far be it from the committee to assert that 

there are no Christians among the members of the 

Masonic fraternity. Just as a great many who 

trust for eternal life solely in the merits of Christ 

continue as members of churches that have de 

nied the faith, so undoubtedly many sincere Chris 

tians, uninformed, or even misinformed, concern 

ing the true character of Freemasonry, hold mem 

bership in it without compunction of conscience. 

But that in no way alters the fact that member 

ship in the Masonic fraternity is inconsistent 

with Christianity.

Novemuer m. 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 295 

A Protecting God 

A Devotional Address at our last Synod. 

By The Rev. J. C. Mitchel, D. D. 

Scripture II Chron. 32 : 1-23. 

The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold, 

And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and 

gold; 

And the sheen of their spears was like stars 

on the sea, 

When the blue waves roll nightly on deep 

Gallilee. 

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is 

green, 

That host with their banners at sunset was 

seen; 

Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath 

blown, 

That host on the morrow lay withered and 

strown. 

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the 

blast, 

And breathed in the face of the foe as he 

passed ; 

And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and 

chill, 

And their hearts but once heaved, and forever 

grew still. 

And there lay the rider distorted and pale, 

With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his 

mail, 

And their tents were all silent, 

and the banners 

alone, 

The lances unlifted, the trunrpet unblown. 

And the widows of Ashar are loud in their wail, 

And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal ; 

And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the 

sword, 

Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord. 

Thus does Lord Byron picture to us, in his 

most able way, in his poem "The Destruction of 

Sennacherib". God's way of protecting His peo 

ple. Through Isaiah 31 :5 the Lord said, "As birds 

so will Jehovah of hosts protect Jeru 

hovering, 

salem : he will protect and deliver it, he will nasi 

over and preserve it." 

Again in Zech. 2:8 it 

says, "For he that toucheth you toucheth the ap 

eye." 

ple of his 

There is a touch of affection in this verse. It 

contains the concern of a father for his beloved 

children, so dear to his heart. Very often indeed 

the Children of Israel experienced the preserving 

and protecting care of a Heavenly Father m 

times of trouble and danger. Truly they were 

a people who could sing with spirit such Psalms 

as the 46th. the 18th, and many others such 

which tell of their deliverances from the enemies. 

God Does Protect His People 

The Lord does protect the people and nations 

who call upon Him in time of trouble and need 

Our forefathers have left to us a testimony ot 

such care in times of 

persecution. Their witness 

should stir us to greater trust and courage m a 

God who cares for His own. 

The past has much confirmation to this fact. 

Let us not think that we lack such confirmation 

in these days. In a copy of Capper's Weekly 

of some time past, there was an article entitled 

"Miracles of World War II Beyond Human Ex 

planation" 

which begins by saying, "So incredi 

ble are some of the events of World War II they 

have been officially written into the records of 

the War and Navy departments at Washington 

One incident taken from the Brit 

miraces." 

as 

ish Admirality tells of the strange fog which set 

tled over Dunkirk when the British army was 

being hurriedly evacuated. The fog appeared 

over the area just as the evacuation started and 

disappeared with the same suddenness when the 

evacuation was completed. The strange feature of 

it was that from the surface of the sea and for 

fifty feet above it was clear and the great num 

ber of craft, many with amateur pilots and crews, 

were able to take on board th3 soldiers from 

shore. But from fifty feet above for several 

thousand feet the fog was so dense that no ob 

server from plane could see what was taking place 

below. This saved Britain from what would have 

been One of her worst military disasters." 

But 

let us remember that a week or more before Eng 

land had observed a day 

of prayer at the call of 

the King asking God for help in their dark hou" 

of need. Truly the Lord answered their cry in 

a most remarkable deliverance on the shores of 

Dunkirk. 

"General of the Army George C. Marshall has 

told of what happened in connection with the 

landing of our huge expeditionary force in North 

Africa. General Eisenhower says that this was 

his tensest day during the war with Germany. 

The transports were nearing Africa when two 

storms were seen approaching either one of which 

could have raised mountainous seas and wrecked 

the heavily loaded ships. The commanding offi 

cers frankly and openly prayed and their prav- 

ers were followed by an astonishing 

event. The 

two storms seemed to neutralise eac-h other and 

the ships continued safely on their journey, land 

ing at Casablanca in a sea described as 'calmer 

on that particular coast than it had been for six 

ty-eight 

years.' " 

We might continue at groat length with these 

reports and repeating testimonies of the air forc 

es, of the army and navy men, 

of refugees of 

many lands and many, many others tellinpc how 

God heard and answered in most remarkable 

ways in deliverance. Yes, God does protect and 

deliver His people. This I know for if He had 

not answered prayer on my behalf I would not 

be here to give this message. 

Prerequisites To Protection 

II Chron. 32, begins by saying, "After these 

things". To find what is the meaning of "these 

things" 

we must read the preceding chapters. 

There it tells us of the reforms of Hezekiah as 

king of Judah. The Law was brought forth and


read to the people and the truth applied. The 

people were brought under conviction of sin and 

in repentance put away the idols and the evils 

in their midst and returned to the worship of 

the Lord Jehovah. It was a time of reform and 

revival. Following this came the invasion of 

the Assyrian hosts, laying waste the land and sur 

rounding Jerusalem. After a time of seige de 

mands were made for the surrender of the city. 

The king took these demands and spread them 

out before the Lord, asking His help in the time 

of great need. He sent a request to the prophet 

Isaiah that he pray and seek a word from the 

Lord. Then it was that the Lord sent a message 

of assurance and without action on the part of 

Judah meted out a great slaughter upon the en 

emies of his people. 

It is noticeable that such help comes after re 

pentance and confession of sin. Such was the 

experience of a Mr. Chan whom we knew in 

China. A large force of bandits attacked his 

town and after looting every thing of value, some 

80 persons were taken away with them to be 

held for ransom. Mr. Chan was the head of the 

local guards and they had resisted these bandits 

many times. He realized that because of this 

work he would not be held for ransom as the 

others but would be executed. While pondering 

on this fact a conviction came upon him that he 

had not been a very faithful follower of the Lord 

whom he had taken to be his Saviour. He con 

fessed his sins and asked the Lord to work in 

his behalf for he had no other help. That night 

he and a number of others were confined in a 

room. All were weary after a long march and 

soon fell into a heavy sleep. Late in the night 

he was suddenly awakened and thought some 

one was calling him by name. He had the im 

pression also that he was told to get up and go 

out. He had been securely tied with a rope but 

he found that he was able to loosen one hand. 

After freeing himself he raised up and saw that 

all were sound asleep including the guard at the 

door. So he got up and stepping over his friends 

and the guards he walked out into the dark. Know 

ing the region he started for the home of a friend, 

arriving at the break of day. There he was hid 

den during the day and at night was taken to 

a place of safety where he was able to go back 

home. He was strong in his testimony that the 

Lord had answered his prayer and had saved 

him as he did Peter when he was in prison. 

Some have been much disturbed when it ap 

pears that God has not delivered His people from 

danger or trouble and may be left to suffer. 

Years ago in the Boxer war in China the Goforth 

family were most marvelously preserved and 

came through alive. They were faced with the 

question of why they had been spared when many 

other godly missionaries had suffered death. 

They had no answer for those who wanted to 

know. Later after returning home a lady came 

to them after a meeting saying that during the 

days when they were in such peril she had been 

greatly burdened in prayer that they might be 

protected in danger and trouble. Dr. Goforth 

said he could not explain their deliverance in an.i 

other way but that God had heard her prayer 

and had spared them for future service. 

We might say that some seem to place them- 

selves beyond the protection of the Lord. We 

can imagine that it would have been possible for 

Stephen to have fled Jerusalem as others did and 

escaped death. He rather chose to stay and face 

his persecutors and die for the Lord. No doubt 

the Lord used that witness of his to have a part 

in the conversion of the young man Saul who 

held the clothes of those who did the stoning. He 

was to become the great apostle to the Gentiles. 

Many others have chosen as did Stephen and 

have glorified their Lord in death for him. 

A Spiritual Protection 

Man is inclined to seek most of all the protec 

tion of the physical being. Jesus said, (Matt. 

10:28), "And be not afraid of them that kill the 

body, but are not able to kill the soul : but rath 

er fear him who. is able to destroy both soul and 

body in hell." 

"The Lord shall keep thy soul", is 

a most precious promise to us. There is so much 

said in the Bible about the protection for our 

spiritual being. Bunyan dwells upon this theme 

so much in his writings. It is truly a protection 

which we all greatly need. Paul writes in Eph. 

6:11, 12, "Put on the whole armor of God, that 

ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the 

devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and 

blood, but against principalities, against the pow 

ers, against the world rulers of this darkness, a- 

gainst the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heav 

enly places". 

"I to the hills will lift mine eyes: 

From whence shall come mine aid? 

My safety commeth from the Lord, 

Who heaven and earth hath 

made." 

The Lord shall keep thy soul, 

He shall preserve thee from all ill; 

Hence forth thy going out and in 

will." 

God keep forever 



they are mature students who know why they are in col 

lege. But evidently the non-veteran interest in higher edu 

cation has grown enough to prevent a marked decline in 

enrollment. There are at least two dangers to be feared: 

(1) In the effort to keep up 

the attendance the colleges 

will lower entrance standards. (2) That with large at 

tendance there will come an area or impersonal, mass 

education. 



Mennonites to South America 

The announcement was made at Mennonite headquar 

ters at Scottdale, Pa., that 1,578 European Mennonites 

have sailed from Bremerhaven, Germany, for Uruguay 

and Paraguay.

Novem^4. THE COVENANTER WITNESS 297 

The Youth Department 

This is the first of a series of 

features to be issued monthly under 

this heading "The Youth Depart 

ment." 

The students of our Theo 

logical Seminary are assuming re 

sponsibility for the material. 

* t. * 

THE COVICHORDS SUMMARIZE 

"The Covichords are here!" 

These 

were the words which greeted us 

many times this past summer. The 

audiences before whom we stood 

night after night, probably won 

dered just w"hat the Covichords had 

to offer them, and rightly 

so. We 

sincerely hoped that all we had to 

offer in our spiritual messages and 

secular songs would be completely 

satisfying. 

But if that audience in Syracuse 

or Clarinda or Santa Ana or wher 

ever we were, did a little wonder 

ing, it was only logical that we too 

had much to wonder about each 

time we stood before a new audience. 

There were many 

questions in our 

minds; some of them questions 

which had been formed even before 

the tour had started. Questions such 

as: "What can we expect from this 

congregation ? How will they re 

ceive such a message ? Will they 

like our selection of songs ? Are 

these people interested in Geneva 

College, 

ing 

and what Geneva is striv 

to do in the world of education? 

What do these people think of 

evangelism down-to-earth, forthright 

evangelism? How many young peo 

ple will we meet tonight? What 

will be the spirit of these young 

people, and what do they think ol 

their Covenanter Church? These 

are, perhaps, the most pertinent 

questions which faced us from the 

beginning, 

or which grew in our 

minds as our travels extended. 

Here is to be a summary, 

not a 

recollection of the many amusing 

or gratifying experiences of our 

trip. Time and space will never per 

mit the latter. For this we are truly 

sorry, for we could tell you many 

things which show to us the power 

of the Holy 

of our message. 

Spirit and the success 

By answering, in the best fashion 

we know how, 

raised above, 

sent to you a fairly 

mary 

some of the questions 

we think we can pre 

complete sum 

of our trip. We learned from 

the very beginning that our idea of 

what we might expect from the con 

gregation to whom we presented our 

message and with whom we spent 

some time was never really adequate. 

Each congregation and every con 

ference, we found, far surpassed our 

limited idea of hospitality. The 

friendliness with which we were 

greeted from place to place over 

whelmed us. We all, having been 

reared within the Covenanter Church, 

were somewhat aware of that spirit 

of warmth and friendliness which 

was present there; but upon com 

pleting our tour, which enabled us 

to meet and know perhaps eighty lo 

ninety per cent of our people in the 

United States, we learned what true 

Christian love manifest in the hearts 

of Christ's followers could mean to 

us who were dependent all along 

those many miles upon you members 

of the Covenanter Church for our 

food, shelter, and entertainment. 

Those church dinners,, the swims, 

the sight-seeing, the generous advice 

given to us on ways and means of 

travel, and the many happy hours 

we spent playing baseball, tennis, or 

golf at your expense these things 

we can never forget. 

Due to our extremely crowded 

schedule it was necessary to present 

our program, complete, to most of 

our audiences during 

one evening. 

We realized that this meant that 

they 

would have to listen to a pro 

gram somewhat longer than they 

might have expected. We knew that 

in many 

cases the warm evening- 

plus the tiring work day would cause 

this arrangement to work to the 

disadvantage of many people. But 

there was no recourse, 

extremely 

and we were 

gratified to find the re 

sponse so enthusiastic. The combin 

ation of a gospel team message with 

a program of secular music we found 

to be no simple matter to arrange. 

We hope that we handled this com 

bination to the best advantage and 

with the best of taste. In no case 

was our doing this misunderstood, 

and we thank you sincerely for that. 

The response to the message of 

the crusade was overwhelmingly 

gratifying. It was here, perhaps, 

that the most doubt lay 

as we pre 

pared for our trip. None of us had 

had a great deal of experience along 

these lines; therefore, we were some 

what dubious about tackling so big 

an undertaking. Here we must say 

that the knowledge gained concern 

ing the power of prayer is something- 

that we count among the treasured 

results of our trip. It was through 

constant prayer to our Heavenly 

Father, both on our part and by a 

host of our loved ones and friends, 

that we were so richly rewarded 

with the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

We feel definitely that His presence 

with us and with our audiences each 

night, did more to put across our 

messages, both in words and in song, 

than we could ever have hoped to have 

done with our limited talents. The re 

sponse to the message was varied, 

but we grew in knowledge each time 

that some one person came to us at 

the end of the service and expressed 

his opinion or just his simple words 

of thanks. 

We will also be ever grateful to 

Geneva College for having 

such faith 

in us to have been willing to send us 

upon such a tour. We have tried our 

best to justify 

that faith in our small 

way. We spent many hours in prepar 

ation for the secular portion of this 

program. In selecting our songs we 

endeavored to choose, within very 

restricted limits, songs which would 

suit the taste of young and old alike. 

We reviewed at one time or another 

over 300 different pieces of music. 

This was not easy work, and we felt 

greatly rewarded for our labor in the 

uniformly high praise we received 

for our endeavors praise which 

oftentimes we felt we hardly de 

served. From your response, 

we felt 

that you did like our music; but here 

again we wish to give credit to our 

Lord, whose protecting hand was 

constantly near us through every 

mile of the trip. Never did we come 

close to any serious accident during 

our travels (covering 12,200 miles); 

more remarkable than this, among 

the five of us there was never a sign 

of a sore throat or of illness during 

the entire six weeks period. We 

thank God for that. It was His mar 

velous and kind protection which 

enabled every audience, schedaled to 

hear our message and song, to have 

been able to do so; although one 

very faithful congregation had to 

sit in church for an extra hour while 

we traveled to them. 

We were pleased to find great in-


terest in the college of the Cove 

nanter Church our own Geneva. We 

found that many of you in the West 

had long 

memories and remembered 

quite clearly the previous visits of 

musical groups from Geneva. Re 

membering them, you welcomed new 

representatives of Geneva College in 

the finest fashion posible. We en 

joyed representing the college. We 

were glad to represent a college with 

a fine Christian atmosphere; a col 

lege which was interested enough in 

its own church young people to send 

us out; a good college academically 

and spiritually; one which we know 

will increase in Christian stature. 

We were glad to find so much in 

terest in such a school among the 

older people, and more than glad to 

see it in the minds and hearts of the 

young people. To the young people 

may 

we once more say, "Geneva 

needs her Covenanter young people; 

you young people of the Covenanter 

Chuich need Geneva and what it of 

fers to you. Do all in you power to 

come to Geneva, and we are sure that 

Geneva will do her best for 

you." 

The problem with which we were 

most concerned, previous to starting 

this tour, had to do with the spirit 

we could expect 

to' 

find among our 

young people in regard to the Cove 

nanter Church and the Covenanter 

Crusade. During the weeks of prepar 

ation, while we worked together on 

the college campus, we often found 

ourselves engaged in some sort of 

"bull 

session." 

The problem men 

tioned above was the one which con 

cerned us the most. We often asked 

ourselves if the general spirit among 

the young people was optimistic or 

pessimistic. Did the young people 

know the meaning of evangelism ? 

Were they interested in the success 

of the Covenanter Crusade? Would 

this type of evangelism, advocated by 

us as a means of securing our goal in 

the crusade, appeal to the 

young- 

people? We found ourselves able to 

argue with equal vigor on either side 

of most of these questions. We knew 

for certain, however, that the tour 

would be the only positive way to 

answer these questions. 

We were much in prayer during 

this preparation period, and we found 

ourselves relying more and more up 

on the power of prayer and the work 

of the Holy Spirit to lead us satis 

factorily to what we would say and 

do as we spoke to the young people 

of our church. We now feel that in a 

great measure these questions were 

answered for us during the summer. 

Inherent in our Scotch nature, per 

haps, the church through the years 

has neglected the evangelistic ap 

proach to a large degree and has 

frowned upon it in some instances. 

We found, however, 

that there were 

large numbers of our young people 

who were quite well acquainted with 

personal evangelism as a means of 

spreading the gospel. They had had 

contact with such a group as the 

Youth For Christ or others similar in 

nature, 

and as a result of these con 

tacts, a few of the young people had 

already considered these methods 

quite seriously and some were even 

practicing them. In this respect we 

found that the young people were 

not ignorant of the facts of evangel 

ism. We are happy to say here that 

the general spirit of the Covenanter 

young 

people is optimistic. For this 

we rejoice. We also know that this 

spirit must remain with us and if it 

does we will see great things done 

for the Lord in our church. It had 

been told us that the young people 

were eager to be doing something 

that they were just waiting, in many 

cases, to get their hands on some 

thing concrete with which they could 

carry out the plan of the Covenanter 

Crusade. This we found to be quite 

true, and we sincerely hope that we 

have helped in some measure to give 

you young people new thoughts and 

ideas along- 

these lines. This is the 

very reason for this new feature in 

the Covenanter Witness. For this 

reason it should be continued. It is of 

great help to have some such inter 

change of ideas among the young 

people throughout our church. You 

young 

people indicated to us quite 

clearly that you wanted to do some 

thing, and that you were willing to 

do it. You showed to us a magnificent 

spirit of optimism which we have 

long needed in our church. We had to 

ask ourselves many times during the 

course of our journey if we were 

really practicing those things we ad 

vocated to our audiences. It is hard 

oftentimes to do so. It will be dif 

on" 

in this 

ficult for you to "carry 

spirit of optimism, but you must do 

so. Never has there been such a time 

when the need for the Gospel mes 

sage has appeared so urgent. Neither 

has there been such a time, apparent 

ly, 

when the harvest was so ripe. 

There are many among us today who 

are confused and bewildered with 

no apparent hope in their future. 

Cannot we do something for them, 

and in turn for our Lord? The 

growth in the Covenanter Church 

will surely follow. Remember always 

the power of prayer. Let us be more 

and more in prayer, so that we may 

have the power and presence of the 

Holy Spirit as we approach others. 

We attended six Covenanter con 

ferences. None lacked the very high 

est in spiritual inspiration. All ex 

tended to us the hand of Christian 

fellowship in a way which we had 

never befoie experienced. We well 

lemember the appeals made in each 

conference challenges to us to, "Go, 

and preach the gospel unto every 

cieature." 

We find the road of obedi 

ence rather difficult, perhaps, after 

such an experience as a summer 

conference, but we must all walk 

this road. We must all go and seek 

and bring the knowledge of Christ to 

those who need Him so desperately. 

Let us remember this during the 

winter months and the months of 

spring 

until the summer time again 

when once again we meet in our 

conferences. 

In all sincerity, and with the ut 

most appreciation for all that has 

been done for us, and for the prayers 

of those who followed us throughout 

the summer we thank you again and 

again. May the Lord richly reward 

you. 

THE COVICHORDS 






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years many 

of theology 

of the greatest scholars 

and language were em 

ployed to produce this great trans 

lation. No other version touches it 

in the beauty and dignity 

of language. 

Although the Revised and American 

Revised Versions have been in use 

over fifty 

years the Authorized still 

holds first place in the hearts of the 

majority of English-speaking Chris 

tians. 

The Revised Version of 1885 was 

madB for four reasons: (a), the 

discovery of many 

ancient manu 

scripts; (b). the great advances in 

the science of textual criticism; (c). 

the better acquaintance with the Sa 

. cred Languages; and, (d) the 

change and growth of our own lan 

guage. This is the greatest revi 

sion in regard to the scholarship and 

research of source material employed. 

It has lost some of the grace of 

phraseology 

sion, but many 

of the Authorized Ver 

of the apparently 

minor changes in the text have ser 

iously altered the meaning of certain 

passages. The American Revised 

Version, made a little later, brings 

the reader closer still to the exact 

meaning 

of the sacred writers. 

Through these various translations 

and years of study we have convinc 

ing 

proof that our Bible is the same 

as that which was originally divinely 

communicated to God's chosen scribes. 

QUESTIONS: 

1. What is the importance of gov 

ernmental approval in the 

translation of the Bible? Cite 

instances from history. 

2. Why is it so important that the 

Bible be the Word of God rath 

er than that of men? 

3. What are the great differences 

between the Bible and the scrip 

tures of other faiths such as the 

Koran? 

4. Why is it better that we have 

many sources for the Bible that 

are sometimes incomplete, rath 

er than one record kept contin 

uously by a certain line of per 

sons? 

Editors Notes . 

The writer of the 

above comments neglected to identify 

himself by signing the manuscript. 

JUNIOR TOPIC 


BY MRS. ANNA G. MARTIN 

Keeping Our Bodies Fit Temples 

For God 

1 Cor. 3:16, 17 

Sing Psalm 122, No. 350. 

Read together 1 Cor. 3:16, 17. 

What did the Temple mean to the 

Jews? What is the first line of Psalm 

122? The Temple was God's house. 

Read Psalm 26:8. 

The Temple for Christians is our 

church and it is God's house just as 

we each one have a house in which 

we live. 

Why do your parents wish to keep 

your home painted and repaired in 

side and out? "To make it beautiful 

and to keep it from tumbling down." 

Do you think God cares as much 

to have His Temple beautiful and 

in good condition inside and out as 

we do our homes? 

Someone may 

5, 15, 

read II Chron. 29: 

16. Over and over in the Bible 

we read where God orders His people 

to cleanse and repair His Temple. 

Do you remember how happy we 

all were when as a congregation we 

repaired and decorated our Church 

God's House? Do we try hard to 

keep it so? 

God's House should mean more to 

us than even our homes do, 

and we 

would not think of deliberately drag 

ging in anything 

desrtoy our homes, 

that would mar or 

would we? 

So our church should be very sa 

cred to us all. 

Does God wish to dwell only in 

the Church building? Read again 

in I Cor. 3:16 and 17. 

What does that mean? God wants 

to live right in each one of us in 

our hearts and minds and souls. He 

wants to fill us with His Holy Spirit. 

Then which should we each one 

be more careful to keep 

clean from 

every evil thing our home or our 

body the Temple of God? 

Do you think God would care to 

live in a boy 

or girl or in anyone 

whose heart or mind was cluttered up 

with things He does not like? 

In the olden days the lords of the 

castles, in order to keep out the ene 

my, wiuld close the gates leading 

into the castle. 

So there are certain gates we must 

close to keep evil out of our body 

the Temple of God. 

What do we use most when we 

study or read or watch the stars, cr 

walk through the woods looking for 

wild flowers? Yes, 

our eyes. 

We will call our first gate the Eye 

Gate. What about cheating in school 

with our eyes? What about looking 

at bad pictures or reading bad books, 

or watching evil tricks? 

If you are tempted to use your 

eyes for seeing anything 

that will 

leave evil pictures on your mind or 

that will keep Jesus from living in 

your hearrs, 

what should you do 

with your Eye Gate? Yes, shut it 

tight and lock it. Open it only for 

pure, 

clean and good things. 

Next comes the Ear Gate. Some 

boys and girls are always ready to 

tell a dirty 

or an immoral story. 

Could Jesus live in a person whose 

mind was filled with such things or 

whose heart loved them? When such 

stories are being told or mean things 

said about others, shall we keep the 

Ear Gate open? "No shut it." 

We have three Bible passages to 

read: Psalm 39:1; Psalm 119:171, 

172; Psalm 120:2, 3. Sing Psalm 

34, No. 87, vs. 6-8. 

The Third Gate is the- Mouth Gate 

in which is the tongue. What a lot 

of wickedness can be done with the 

tongue also what a great amount of 

good! 

Before we speak, let us first con 

sider this: if we speak evil, we must 

first think evil. So let us try to 

speak no evil, but always good, and 

the first thing 

always thinking good. 

we know we will be 

The castle gate is not only to be 

shut against the enemy, but also to 

be opened to admit friends. So the 

Mouth Gate should be opened for 

things that will help us keep our 

hearts and minds clean and pure and 

should be closed tight against evil. 

What other things would hinder 

us from keeping 

our bodies fit tem 

ples for God? Do you think He 

would care to live in a temple sat 

urated with tobacco? Shall we open 

the Mouth Gate for cigarettes? 

Suppose wine, beer, hard cider, 

cocktails, or any other drink in which 

there is alcohol, should ring the bell 

for admittance and try to open our 

Mouth Gate? "Padlock the 

gate." 

In the Loyal Temperance Legion 

the children learn such rhymes as 

this: 

"Alcohol Outside Not Inside" 

"Ladybird, Ladybird, see people 

drink! 

Isn't it strange that they won't stop 

to think? 

Outside the body, its uses are many; 

Inside the body, its no use, not 

any!" 

Another one says: 

"When Old King Alcohol rules a man 

He makes the man his slave. 

But I refuse this drug to use! 

I'll be nobody's Knave." 

A fine thing to remember is: 

"There is a little drinking house


That anyone can close, 

And that's the little drinking house 

Just underneath your 

nose." 

Keep the gates closed against all 

that would destroy the Temple of God 

but keep your bodies fit Temples for 

Him. 

Sing Psalm 48, No. 130, vs. l,-2, 9, 



By the Rev. C. E. Caskev 

LESSON X. 

HISTORY IN THE NEW 

TESTAMENT 

Acts 1:8; 2:1-4; 4:1-4; 8:4-17, 25; 

11:1-18; 13:1-3; 14:26, 27; 16:1-10; 

28:16, 30, 31. 

Printed Verses: Acts 1:8; 4:1-4; 

13:2, 3; 16:9, 10; 28:16, 30,31. 

Golden Text: 

"Go ye therefore and teach all 

nations." 

Matthew 28:19. 

(We should feel sympathy for the 

linotype operator and the proof 

reader with all these references to 

copy and get correctly set up. It 

has taken more time to type them, 

with rewriting copy and erasing mis 

takes, than it did to look them up 

and read them! Are these the ones 

you would have chosen for this 

subject ? ) 

Some of our lessons this quarter 

have included both the Old Testa 

ment and the New under one sub 

ject, but today, as we study Bible 

History again, we are taking up the 

second half of it only. We had a les 

son on Old Testament History few 

weeks ago, the first half of the sub 

ject, "History 

in the Bible," 

and to 

day we study New Testament His 

tory. Why the division ? Not because 

there were too many books for the 

one book 

New Testament has only 

on history but because of the dif 

ferent character of New Testament 

History, and because of its im 

portance. Old Testament History be 

gan with an individual, Adam, and 

worked toward Jesus Christ. The sub 

ject, "Biography in the Bible," 

should 

not have been confined to Abraham, 

but should have also been divided 

to give us a lesson on the New Testa 

ment books of biography, the Gos 

pels, 

which give us the life of this 

one Person toward whom Old Testa 

ment History pointed. This would 

have shown us what the Holy Spirit 

led the writers to emphasize the 

suffering and death of Jesus Christ 

for our sins. (Birth, 4 chapters; min 

istry, 58 chapters; last week, 24 

chapters of which six chapters tell 

of the last twenty-four hours of His 

life; and resurrection, 5 chapters.) 

Now to get back to History in the 

New Testament. The gospels end like 

a serial story, leaving you asking, 

"What 

next?" 

The Acts of the 

Apostles gives the answer. But it 

also leaves us wondering, and feel 

ing 

that "To be 

continued" 

belongs 

after the last verse. It is an un 

finished book, and you and I have 

our part in the answer to the ques 

tion, "What comes 

afterward?" 

The 

commission, "Go ye therefore and 

teach all 

nations," 

which sent the 

disciples out to make the history 

recorded in the 'Acts, is for us also. 

Some have said that instead of "The 

Acts of the Apostles," 

we might call 

this book of history "The Acts of 

the Holy Spirit." 

It tells what men 

did under the guidance and in the 

power of the Holy Spirit. The pres 

ent day acts of modern Christian 

workers should have the same char 

acter. They should be the doings of 

men led by the Spirit and working 

by the power of the Spirit. 

I. PROPHECY AND PLAN. 

Acts 1:8; 2:1-4. 

In Acts 1 :8 we have both a proph 

ecy of things to come, and a plan. We 

have a plan of the book of Acts, and 

a plan for work. First there was to 

be the coming of the Holy Spirit up 

on the Apostles, as recorded in Acts 

2:1-4. Then the disciples would be 

witnesses in Jerusalem, and in Judea, 

and in Samaria, and unto the utter 

most part of the earth. Naturally 

this is the outline of the book, for 

the prophecy was a true one, and the 

book is history's record of how the 

prophecy was fulfilled. As a plan for 

work, this was the wisest possible 

plan of action. First at home, then to 

those near geographically and so 

cially, and progressively to the end 

of the earth. 

II. PERSECUTION 

Acts 4:1-4; 8:4-17, 25. 

In order to carry out the divine 

plan for the spread of the gospel it 

was not enough for God just to lead 

the disciples. They had to be driven, 

and persecution was a means of the 

wider spread of the gospel. Many 

were driven out of Jerusalem, and 

wherever they went they preached. 

Thus the Gospel entered Samaria, as 

well as Judea. This was one step 

away from preaching only to Jews, 

and a step toward world wide effort. 

In the command of our Lord to pray 

for workers, the expression "Pray ye 

the Lord of the harvest, that he will 

send forth laborers into his harvest," 

admits even the use of force in send 

ing forth the laborers. Here perse 

cution was the force. 

m. PETER TO THE GENTILES. 

Acts 11:1-18 

The next step in presenting the 

gospel to the whole world was to 

preach to the Gentiles. First to the 

Jews, then to the Samaritans, and 

then to the Gentiles. Peter's vision 

and the clear call of the Lord led 

him to Cornelius, and when Cor 

nelius and those with him believed 

they also received the Holy Spirit. 

Peter's account of what took place 

convinced the rest of the leaders at 

Jerusalem that God had indeed given 

"repentance unto life" 

tiles. 

IV. PAUL TO ASIA. 

Acts 13:1-3; 14:26, 27 

to the Gen 

Another step in the spread of the 

gospel was the ordination of Saul 

and Barnabas as missionaries by the 

church at Antioch. Through this 

work not only 

were individuals con 

verted, but churches were established, 

and government officials were per 

suaded also. 

V. PAUL TO EUROPE. 

Acts 16:1-10; 28:16, 30, 31. 

It was the vision of a man of 

Macedonia calling for help that led 

Paul into Europe. Of course there 

was the closing 

of other doors too 

which helped Paul to be sure he was 

to go that way. Then there was the 

immediate blessing that came from 

his preaching in Philippi, and the re 

sponse from the other cities he 

visited. 

The Spirit led the disciples to key 

cities and towns, and so it is to be 

expected that someone would be the 

Lord's witness even in Rome, the 

capital of most of the civilized world, 

and the last of the Acts tells of the 

Apostle Paul there preaching and 

teaching confidently. 


Comments: 


CONVERSION OF THE 

PHILIPPIAN JAILER 

Acts 16:25-34 


Suggested Psalms : 

Psalm 117:1, 2 No. 313 

Psalm 67:1-4 No. 175 

Psalm 118:13, 16, 17 No. 315 

Psalm 29:1, 4, 5, 8 No. 65 

Forget the present for a little 

while, 

and let your mind turn back 

some 2000 years to the earliest years 

of the Christian era. It is midnight. 

The place is a prison, dark and


damp and silent, 

except for an oc 

casional groan or curse from the lips 

of some prisoner, tossing on a bed 

of stone. But listen! We hear a new 

sound a sound that falls as strange 

ly 

upon the prison silence as the 

music that the shepherds heard 

when the angel-chorus sang. It is the 

sound of singing, 

all, there is a joyful note: 

and strangest of 

"He from his holy place looked 

down, 

God viewed the earth from 

heaven on high 

To hear the pris'ner's mourning 

groan, 

And free them that are 

doomed to die." 

Yesterday, the other prisoners 

watched while two men were brought 

in. They saw them thrust into the 

inner prison, and their feet fastened 

in the stocks, and they wondered 

what terrible crime had been com 

mitted to merit such precautions on 

the part of the jailer. And now it is 

midnight, 

and the strange sound of 

singing and praying is heard. No one 

is surprised that the prisoners are 

unable to sleep, but never before 

have the sleepless hours been em 

ployed in this manner! 

We do not know the words which 

Paul and Silas used in framing their 

petitions, but we know how the 

prayer was answered. A great earth 

quake came that shook the founda 

tion of the prison, sprung the locks, 

and freed the prisoners. 

No other natural phenomenon is 

as awe-inspiring as an earthquake. 

Never does man feel so utterly help 

less as when the earth begins to 

heave and sway, and houses fall. 

Perhaps you can recall some tremor 

that rattled the dishes in the cup 

board. But a real earthquake makes 

people do strange things. William 

James, the great psychologist, was 

at Leland Stanford University 

at the 

time of the San Francisco earth 

quake. He went up to the city the 

next day, and in a book of memories 

he recounts some of the mental im 

pressions that the earthquoke made. 

Many thought that it was the end 

of the world and the beginning of 

the final judgment. The earthquake 

was of such magnitude that men 

were stunned, and not so much 

afraid as passively 

whatever would come. 

surrendered to 

Returning to the prison in Philippi, 

we find the jailer, sword in hand, 

ready to take his own life. Are not 

the prisoners his personal responsi 

bility? Earthquake or no earthquake, 

escape. But 

his life is forfeit if they 

just as he is ready to plunge the 

sword into his heart he hears a sharp 

command: "Do thyself no harm: for 

we are all here." 

Paul, 

At this word from 

the jailer drops his sword and 

calls for a light. A quick inventory 

proves that the prisoners are all 

there. And then, the jailer calls for 

another light, 

when he falls trembling 

a light for his soul, 

before Paul 

and Silas, saying, "Sirs, what must 

I do to be 

saved?" 

In reply Paul 

points to the Light of the World: 

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 

and thou shalt be saved, and thy 

spake unto him the 

house, and they 

word of the Lord, 

and to all that 

were in his house. And he took them 

the same hour of the night, and 

washed their stripes; and was bap 

tized, he and all his, straightway. 

And when he had brought them into 

his house, he set meat before them, 

and rejoiced, believing in God with 

all his house." 

HERE, IN THIS ACCOUNT, WE 

HAVE ALL THE CONDITIONS 

FOR SALVATION. 

1. A Spiritual Awakening. 

A spiritual awakening is a work 

ing of the Holy Spirit upon our 

hearts so that we see ourselves as 

we really are, not as we think we 

are. It was because he was spiritual 

ly awakened to the ugliness and mis 

ery of his own heart that the 

jailer cried out, "What must I do 

to be 

Holy 

saved?" 

The means which the 

Spirit used were the earth 

quake and the apostles. Ordinarily, 

the jailer was fully confident that 

his prisoners would stay where he 

put them. But the earthquake was an 

act of God. It demonstrated some 

thing of the power of God, and the 

jailer was helpless before it. 

The testimony 

of Paul and Silas 

also served to awaken the jailer. He 

had seen two men, 

seized on an un 

just charge, savagely beaten, and 

thrust into the inner prison. He had 

had a part in it. He had heard their 

singing and prayers in the night, and 

finally, 

when he had been prepared 

to take his own life, he had been ar 

rested by the cry of one of them: 

"Do thyself no harm." 

The ordinary 

prisoner would have been glad to 

settle old scores with the jailer by 

taking the sword himself and plungit 

deep into his heart. But here were 

two prisoners that took an active in 

terest in the well-being of their 

persecutor. In them, the jailer saw 

an exhibition of the love of God. 

Desperately ashamed, he opened his 

eyes to his own heart's condition. 

2. A Faithful Instructor. 

We are not taking any of the glory 

from the Holy Spirit as the primary 

means by 

which a soul is awakened 

and instructed in the way of salva 

tion when we say 

that He uses hu 

man instruments. What would have 

happened to the jailer if, in his 

awakened condition, there had been 

no one to point, "Believe on the 

Lord Jesus Christ, 

and thou shalt be 

saved?" 

What would have happened 

to the Ethiopian Eunuch if there had 

been no Philip to climb into his car 

riage and explain the Word, and 

lead him to Christ? What happens 

when a soul is awakened, but there 

is no one to instruct? Simply this: 

he goes back to sleep! Paul himself 

speaks of the plight of those who 

have no one to instruct them (Ro 

mans 10:13-15). 

3. An Honest Decision. 

No awakened soul becomes a 

Christian without making a personal 

decision. It is this decision that the 

natural man shrinks from more than 

anything else. The devil is well aware 

of this; he knows that when a soul 

is awakened he has to work fast. He 

has a special tool for just such oc 

casions postponement. The tempta 

tion for the awakened soul is to 

postpone making an honest out-and- 

out decision for Christ. Knowing this, 

we should do everything to help an 

awakened soul to avoid this tempta 

tion. "Choose ye this day 

will 

whom ye 

serve." 

"Today, if ye shall hear 

his voice, harden not your hearts." 

"Behold, 

now is the accepted time; 

now is the day of 

FOR DISCUSSION 

salvat 

1. What is a decision for Christ? 

2. Why is there so little conviction 

of sin, and so few decisions for 

Christ in our churches? 

3. Why 

must our message be more 

than "Come to Jesus?" 

FOR PRAYER 

(v. 32) 

1. Pray that God will "increase our 

faith," 

the 

that we may have a "song in 

night," 

as Paul and Silas did. 

2. Pray that our witness, in the 

church and out, may be such that 

will lead to conviction of sin, and 

decisions for Christ. 

3. Think of the apostles, then ask 

God's forgiveness for our effeminate 

service. 

Buy Your 

MINUTES OF SYNOD 

50 Cents 

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STAR NOTES 

***Are you looking for Christmas 

gifts or Sabbath School prizes for 

children from six to twelve years ot 

age? Rose Huston's true stories of 

Chinese children, entitled "How Yung 

Fu Saved a Bible", are now available 

in a second edition. The book is 

bound in Chinese yellow, with blue 

lettering, and the price is 80 cents a 

copy. Send your ordeis to Mis. J. S. 

Martin, whose address until further 

notice is 254 North Mountain St., Up 

per Montclair, New Jersey. 

***We have just received a list ot 

subscribers for the coming year from 

a rural congregation. We find seven 

teen names on this list are subscribed 

by one of the young elders, and many 

of these are going to pastors and 

other families of his neighborhood. 

.That is 

enthusiasm with a real back 

ing, and we like to end up as Jesus 

ended one of His parables, "Go and do 

thou likewise'' 

Editor. 

***The Pev. Wylie Caskey has ac 

cepted the call of the Winchester 

congregation and moved his family to 

the manse. A very nice reception was 

given him and his good family on the 

evening 

of November 16, at which 

not only a good number from the con- 

gragation but from Kansas City, 

Denison and Topeka were also pres 

ent. The installation service date is 

fixed for December 11, at which time 

Dr. Paul McCracken will assist Mr. 

Caskey in communion services. 

***The Rev. Frank S. Stewart has 

accepted his call to be pastor of the 

Olathe congregation, and the installa 

tion services are to be on December 3. 

This is in connection with their com 

munion services, and Dr. Paul Mc 

Cracken will be the assistant at these 

services. 

CHURCH NEWS 

A PRINCE HAS FALLEN 

The thoughts of thousands will be 

centered about Geneva College these 

days on learning of the passing on of 

Dr. M. M. Pearce. He suffered a 

heart attack on November 13 and was 

taken to the Providence Hospital for 

a period of rest the next morning. He 

passed away Monday morning, No 

vember 20. 

If our thoughts were tangible 

things it would be possible to piece 

together a great part of Dr. Pearce's 

life from the memories of his many, 

many friends, and they 

are pleasant 

memories. He was on impressive per 

sonality and was much in the public 

eye. We all mourn our loss in his 

going from us. 

NATIONAL JUNIOR PROJECTS 

The report of 1947-48 Junior 

Projects. 

The contributions were: 

Grinnell Offering $ 8.47 

The following Junior Societies 

Los Angeles 10.14 

Youngstown 3.00 

Quinter 30.00 

Denison 6.00 

Topeka 201.00 

Stafford 3.50 

Eskridge 3.70 

Oakdale 10.00 

Clarinda 10.00 

Belle Center 8.50 

Geneva 28.00 

Olathe 5.00 

Lochiel 10:24 

Kansas City 9.00 

Beaver Falls 5.00 

Chicago 7.00 

Parnasus 10.00 

Sterling 7:9,6 

Winchester 10.00 

Bloomington Primary 

S. S. Class 4.00 

Morning Sun Girls S. S. Class 2.65 

Charles Finley, Jr. 

(Old Bethel) 1.00 

Mrs. T. A. Merritt, Newburgh 

(Adult) 

Ralph E. Joseph (Hopkinton) . 

5.00 

. 1.00 

Miss Marie Wright (Adult) 

(Riverside, Calif.) 15.00 

Miss Mary L. Stenett 

(Fullerton, Calif.) 1.00 

Robert Perry, Jr. 

(Red Oak, la.) 25.00 

Mi s. Margaret Austin 5.00 

(A tribute to her grandchildren) 

Glenda Kimbal age 3 

Harold Kimbal 9 months 

Iowa Presbyteria! 10.09 

Total receipts $275.25 

With this fund we sent: 

2 sewing machines to China . 

. $81.00 

A lavatory to Selma, Ala 25.00 

2 globes, 2 pencil sharpeners, bath 

room scales (girls) Cyprus 

25.00 

Scholarship for poor boy 

(boys) Cyprus 25.00 

Cloth for sewing 

(girls) Syria 25.00 

Typewriter (boys) Syria .... 33.00 

Kansas Presbyterial added 812.00 

to our 833., making 

$45. for a 

good second hand machine. 

Papers and supplies for Moun 

tain S.S. work in Kentucky 20.00 

Payment on piano 

(Apache, Okla.) . 

Books, slates and printing 

. . 20.00 

material (Jewish) 20.00 

Total $274.00 

Letters of appreciation have been 

received from all these mission 

stations 

Our 1948-49 projects are sailing 

along too. On November 8, as I write 

this, we have received as follows: 

Oakdale Juniors $5.00 

Youngstown Juniors 5:00 

First Beaver Falls Juniors . 

. . 11.00 

Old Bethel Juniors 8.50 

. . . 

Parnassus Juniors 5.00 

Forest Park Jr. Offering 14.80 

Toltal $49.30 

We have sent $21.00 to the Indian 

Mission and $25 to the girls school 

in Syria. 

Although we can't always find out 

ahead what is needed, 

we do have 

calls for $25. to be used in Selma 

for a projector $21. in Syria to pay 

for "Abraham's" 

tuition in the boys' 

school and $20. for copies of Rose 

Huston's book, new edition, "How 

Young Fu Saved a Bible" 

for the 

Jewish Mission before Christmas; 

so rally once again, Juniors; let's 

help answer these calls to all Jun 

iors of the Covenanter Church. On 

hands $3.30. 

Sterling, Kansas 

MONTCLAIR, N. J. 

After enjoyable vacations spent in 

varied locations North, South, East, 

and West the Montclair Covenant 

ers returned to the work of a new 

church year with lots of energy. The 

Adult Study Class was resumed, and 

likewise the Young People's Society. 

Mr. Russell Marsters is serving as 

the new Y. P. sponsor. The former 

sponsor, Mrs. Robert Crawford, is 

now taking charge of a Junior group 

which was recently organized. A few 

of the neighborhood children have 

come in as Juniors and we hope this 

may be an opening wedge. 

Our fall communion was observed 

on October 3 with Dr. W. J. Mc 

Knight as our assistant. It is always 

nice to see some of our members 

from a distance who are able to be 

with us at communion. The com 

munion season always brings times 

of spiritual refreshing. Twenty-nine 

sat down at the Lord's Table. 

On October 17, the pastor preached 

in Newburgh, N.Y., and the pulpit


was occupied by Dr. T. M. Slater 

who gave an interesting 

the Camp 

report of 

Waskowitz conference 

which he and Mrs. Slater were priv 

ileged to attend. 

On November 2 the Young People 

sponsored a game night at the 

church. Tom Park served as Master 

of Ceremonies and a good number 

of the congregation was on hand to 

enjoy the games he had planned. 

Refreshments of cider, doughnuts, 

and cake, also provided and served 

by the young people, brought the 

pleasant evening to a close. 

The Marsters have from 

Nova Scotia and are now settled in 

their new home in Bloomfield. We 

are glad to have them with us again. 

Wade Marsters graduated from 

Union College in June and is now 

studying in Albany Medical School. 

We wish him every success in this 

field. 

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Orrin 

Ferry in Verona was the scene of a 

happy gathering on Friday, Novem 

ber 5, when the congregation de 

scended upon the bride and groom of 

three months. A pair of lovely hur 

ricane lamps was presented to the 

happy 

the Montclair Covenanters. All en 

couple with the best wishes of 

joyed a pleasant social time together. 

We have enjoyed the fellowship of 

several visitors at our church serv 

ices recently. Among them have been 

Miss Ruth McElroy of Washington, 

D. C, Miss Jean McElroy of Kansas 

City, Miss Marjorie Humphreys of 

Sterling, Miss Ruth Lynn of New 

burgh, Miss Eileen Bosch of White 

Lake, and Mrs. Hugh Nesbit of Sas 

katchewan. We hone these friends 

will come again and we welcome any 

others. 

The September and October meet 

ings of of the W.M.S. were held at 

the homes of Mrs. Thomas Park 

and Mrs. Mario Messa respectively. 

As usual, the meetings prove helpful 

to all in attendance. 

The ladies have also resumed 

their weekly sewing meetings and 

are at present making hospital 

gowns for use in the Burwell Hos 

pital in Selma. At one meeting re 

cently several members of the New 

York W.M.S. joined them in this 

project. 

ALMONTE. ONTARIO 

The L.M.S. met at Mrs. Alan 

Burns' 

home in June. 

Miss Evelyn Rose, Miss Geraldine 

Coates, and Mr. and Mrs. S. J. Burns 

and family went to Hamilton for the 

wedding of Miss June Johnstone and 

Sam Burns, Jr., who were married 

June 26. 

A party was held at Mrs. Tom 

Waddell's in honor of Rev. and Mrs. 

T. R. Hutcheson's fifth wedding an 

niversary and Mr. and Mrs. Alex 

Burns' 

36th. 

Our annual Dominion Day picnic 

was held in Rob Bowes' 

bush; 

a large 

number attended. A baseball game 

was played in the afternoon, which 

everyone thoroughly enjoyed. 

The L.M.S. met for July 

Milton Bowes' 

home. 

at Mrs. 

Martin Hutcheson returned to Al 

monte with his aunt after a visit to 

his grandfather's in Vermont. 

On July 29 a reception was held 

for Mr. and Mrs. Sam Burns, Jr., at 

the home of the groom's parents 

where they spent two weeks vaca 

tion. Many lovely gifts were received. 

We were happy to have the par 

ents of Rev. T. R. Hutcheson visit 

with us the first of August. A party 

was held in their honor at Mr. and 

Mrs. Alex Burns' 

they 

home. We hope 

will come to see us again soon 

and will be able to stay longer next 

time. 

Mrs. White and Mr. Hutcheson 

were the only ones from here who 

were able to attend White Lake. Mrs. 

White gave a report of the social 

events at the C. Y. P. U. business 

Meeting 

at her home on the 20th of 

August. After the report Mr. and 

Mrs. White showed us slides that 

they had taken from Florida to Al 

monte, Canada. 

We enjoyed having Rev. R. H. 

Martin with us in Mr. Hutcheson's 

absence in August. 

On August 26 the L.M.S. met at 

Mrs. S. J. Burns' 

home. Mrs. Ross, a 

returned missionary from China, 

gave a very interesting and enlight 

ening talk on the conditions in China. 

On Labor Day we got together for 

a wiener roast in the field in front of 

Sam Burns' 

house. 'The evening was 

highlighted by guitar music by two 

very talented musicians, and singing 

White Lake songs; also a little croon 

ing 

was dene on the side. But alas! 

the night passed too quickly and the 

next day a lot of the young folks 

went back to school for another term. 

Miss Geraldine Coates started to 

Business College and our youngest 

pupil started to public school. It has 

been reported that both these are en 

joying- 

from the rest. 

their studies. No comment 

The L.M.S. met at Mrs. Alex 

Burns' 

home September 23. 

October was our busy month. In 

the week of October 4 a religious 

survey was taken in Almonte, spon 

sored by the Ministerial Association. 

The C.Y.P.U. canvassed for the R. P. 

Church. 

On October 8 many friends gath 

ered at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ed 

Rose to congratulate them on their 

35th wedding anniversary and to 

wish them many more happy years. 

On October 11 the Covenanters 

gathered in church to thank God for 

His many blessings during this past 

year; 

after the service families got 

together for delicious dinners. 

On October 17 we had Communion 

with Remo I. Robb assisting; his 

sermons will not soon be forgotten 

but encourage us to look forward and 

try 

Glory. 

to live more to God's Honor and 

On the next Tuesday and Wednes 

day the St. Lawrenice Presbytery 

met here and Mr. Hutcheson accepted 

the call to Almonte and was in 

stalled. Rev. McKelvy addressed 

Mr. Hutcheson and Rev. Remo Robb 

addressed the congregation. After 

the service he showed us slides of the 

different churches, the Grinnell Con 

ferences and many other pictures. 

We want to take this opportunity 

of telling both Rev. and Mrs. Hut 

cheson how glad we are that they 

have decided to stay 

with us. 

The L.M.S. for October met at the 

Manse; a lovely 

supper was served 

by Mrs. Hutcheson. 

Many wierd figures turned up at 

the Halloween party at Mr. and Mrs. 

W. R. White's home. There was a 

bag 

with "This side 

up" 

on it, a 

couple of Indians, two gypsies, gen 

tlemen, ladies, 

a clown and many 

others. A delicious lunch was served 

later in the evening. 

Mrs. Chester Argue came from 

Toronto for her mother's birthday, 

Mrs. James Morton, on Nov. 10. 

RACHEL E. OTTENBACH 

Miss Rachel E. Ottenbach passed 

away at the Home for the aged on 

Saturday, October 9, 1948. She was 

in her 90th year, and had been bed 

fast for some time with 

and heart trouble. Born in Pitts 

burgh, Pa., on June 30, 1859, she 

came to the Home from her residence 

in Pittsburgh on October 27, 1943. 

Her funeral services were conducted 

on Monday, October 11, at the Home 

by the Rev. Carl A. Skoog, pastor 

of the North Ave. Methodist Church. 

Burial was in the Home plot in 

Uniondale cemetery.



300 VEARS or Witnessing- 

for. CHRIST'5 50VERioM Rights in the, church ^nd the! AiATioaL, 

VOLUME XLI WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 19 18 NUMBER 20 

The Bible and the Church 

The Bible and the Church the Church and the Bible. 

They are inseparable, no matter in what order they may 

be placed. One cannot get along without the other, and 

any 

effort to make them stand alone will always be in 

effectual if not disastrous. 

The Church is an institution ordained of God. In its 

full fruition it is the "Body 

over all things to the 

church." 

of Christ.' 

He is "the head 

The Church is His body His hands by which He works 

among men, His feet by which He travels the highways 

and the byways of the world, His heart with which He 

loves all humanity, feeling 

the pain and anguish of the 

tormented nations. Thiough His Church must His will 

be done in earth as in heaven. 

Jesus Christ is the only hope of men and nations, and 

He chooses to work thiough the Church of which He is 

the head. 

The Bible is the only primary 

about Jesus Christ. 

In this Book is the story 

the story 

then known world. 

source of knowledge 

of His life. In this Book is 

of the early Church and its growth in the 

In this Book are the records the only records of 

His spoken woids. He Himself is the Word incarnate. 

"The Word was made flesh, 

and dwelt among 

us." 

The whole Book is the revelation of God to men. God 

at sundry times and in divers manners spoke in times 

past unto the fathers by 

the Prophets, but spoke at last 

unto us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things 

and by whom also He made the worlds. 

The record of all these things we have in the Book 

which we know as the Bible. 

And we we who love the Lord Jesus who are we1? 

We are members of His body, the Church, and the cus 

todians of His Book. We are stewards of the manifold 

grace of God. 

And what are we to do? We are to advance His 

Church in the world, not by conforming 

ourselves to 

this world, but by being transformed by the renewing 

of our minds. 

In our communities we are to be His Epistles known 

and read of all men. In more distant places we are to 

go by means of our gifts, 

women who go in person in our places. 

which support other men and 

In our own lives we must read, mark, 

learn and in 

wardly digest His Word. That comes first; and then 

we must make provision through our gifts for His Book 

to go with His Church, end often ahead of His Church, 

to the whole world. We cannot translate it, but others 

can for us. We cannot print it, 

but others can for us. 

We cannot carry it on its world journeyings, but others 

can do it for us. 

Our gifts, no matter how small, 

tion of the Scriptures, 

given for the circula 

makes us sharers in tne great 

mission of the Church everywhere in hundreds of 

languages. Through us as members of the Body of 

Christ, and through His printed Word, every man can 

hear in his own tongue, wherein he was born, the won 

derful works of God. 

There is no greater evangelist than the Book itself. 

Many have testified that they have found their Lord 

through the Bible alone, with only the Holy Spirit as 

interpreter. 

Jeremiah reported the challenge of his day: "Behold, 

they say unto me, Where is the word of the Lord? Let 

it come now." 

One of our foremost duties as Christians in a chaotic 

world is to give the people the Word of the Lord now. 

Bible Society Record


QlUtuxl&i ol the (lelufiauA, It/osdd 


The Value of a Temperate Life 

In the story that is being told of the late World War 

by General Eisenhower, he tells of the great care that 

was taken to keep secret the time and place of the 

European invasion that was being planned about a year 

in advance. The knowledge of this was only 

few higher officers. One of them became tipsy 

given to a 

and let 

out some information, but fortunately it was not of sig 

nificant importance. After that the top 

officers to 

whom this information was to be given were selected 

with the greatest care. No one was chosen who was 

known to drink or who had a history of drinking, and 

even in General Eisenhower's own staff he had the secret 

service men screen them most carefully. This shows 

that in critical times the use of liquor, past or present, 

prevents men fom 

being 

most trustworthy 

selected for the highest and 

positions in the armed forces. 

Morals in the Army 

The Christian Herald received a letter from an officer's 

wife giving 

a schedule of "social" 

events planned for 

one month at the officer's club and mess, at one Army 

post. No wonder, she writes, 

it. The following is the schedule: 

that she is worried about 

"Sunday: Juke Box Dancing; Monday: Bar is open. 

Come out and relax; Also Monday: Let's rest in our 

Cocktail Bar; Tuesday: Women's Club. Meet the wife 

for cocktails and Family (!) Dinner; Wednesday: Bingo 

tonight. Bring the kids to this one; Also Wednesday: 

Bar open from 7 to 11. Come on out. It's like heaven. 

Thursday: Maid's night out. Bring your husband here; 

Friday: Pay Day Night. Come out and drink it over; 

Also Friday: Bridge Party, 25 cents per seat. Winner 

takes all. Whiskey for Booby Prize; Saturday: Monte 

Carlo Free Champagne 8 to 9. Juke Box Dance 9;" 

etc. ad nauseam. 

etc. 

"We read further, that the Non-Coms Club has the 

same schedule. For the love of heaven, is this what 

we're sending 

our youngsters into?" 

And this from Dan Poling's paper! Dan who has been 

campaigning in favor of universal training! His brother 

Paul has taken sharp issue with him on this point. Who 

is right? Could we win a major war with this kind of 

material for officers and men? Where would General 

Eisenhower get his trustworthy officers who do not 

drink and have no history of drinking? 

J. Edgar Hoover Churchman 

An article in Presbyterian Life with the above title 

tells of J. Edgar Hoover's early training 

and standards 

of life. He was "Reared on the Shorter Catechism, the 

Bible, 

and disciplined worship, and it is perfectly natu 

ral that his zeal for righteousness would make him a 

relentless antagonist of gangsters and lawbreakers. I 

know that the religious emphasis in his writings is in 

accord with the rest of his life. The Bible and evening 

prayers are among his oldest memories. 

"As soon as he became director, Mr. Hoover -began 

eliminating 

incompetent political job-holders and ex- 

convicts from the FBI. The exacting 

requirements Mr. 

Hoover has set up for appointees to the FBI are legend 

ary. His recruits must be lawyers or accountants 

there are a few jobs for others with special training 

who will bring to law enforcement a spirit of sacrificial 

consecration not unlike that of a missionary. They 

must be men of the highest moral standards and re 

ligious convictions. They 

athletic records behind them, 

must have good academic and 

and have demonstrated 

leadership in extra-curricular activities in college. 

"As a one-time Sunday school superintendent, he be 

lieves that the Sunday 

school is "a crime prevention 

laboratory. Our youth, he writes, cannot be saved 

without the Church. Democracy 

cannot survive with 

out the constant influence of the Christian faith. A 

virile, 

day." 

active Church is the great need of America to 

The Rebellion in Korea 

Life was normal in Korea until October 20, when a 

large force of Communist rebels swept up into Sunchon 

from the island of Yosu, twelve miles away, 

where the 

revolt started. The rebels poured in;o the city, murder 

ing the small city 

police force and seme 500 civilians. 

As soon as the missionaries discovered what was going 

on they barricaded the mission compound and prepared 

for the worst. Two U. S. Army 

been trapped in the center of the city 

cape due to a friendly 

lieutenants who had 

managed to es 

rebel sergeant. These came to 

the mission compound to seek shelter and also to aid 

the missionaries. The rebels were turned back three 

days later by South Korean troops. 

Hungary 

and Communism 

The Communist-controlled government of Hungary has 

taken control of the educational system. There are 

1,097 grammar schools of the Reformed churches, 2,800 

Roman Catholic schools, and 579 Jewish or Greek ortho 

dox institutions which have been brought under the con 

trol of the Communists. There are also high schools 

with more than 1,700 teachers who are under govern- 

THE COVENANTER WITNESS: ^JK S ZZ^T&tXA 


Reformed Presbyterian 

editorial office. 

Rev. D. Raymond Taggart. D. D., Editor and Manager, 1209 Boswell Avenue, Topeka. Kansas. 

$2. no per year: foreign $2.50 per year: single copies 5c. Special rates to congregations. 



The Rev. R R. Lyons, B. A., Limavady, N. Ireland, agent for the British Isles. 



GuWi&nt &o&mIi Prof. John Coleman, PhD., D. D. 

The situation in China grows more desperate day by 

day. The nationalist government has demanded more 

and more American help, but has as regularly resisted 

all American demands for a cleanup of the waste, graft, 

and exploitation that have led the peasantry to believe 

that there is little choice between it and the Communists. 

Away back in war days Chiang Kia-shek agreed to give 

General Stilwell the same position in Asia that General 

Eisenhower had in Europe, but failed to make good and 

finally 

got Stilwell removed. American diplomats and 

advisers have labored and given up in despair. Now 

Madame Chiang Kai-shek is in America seeking more 

aid. She may get that, but not American soldiers. Their 

entrance into the conflict would precipitate an anti-for 

eign movement that would tend to unite all China a- 

gainst us. 

The Generalissimo has called Sun Fo to the premier 

ship. He is the son of Sun Yat Sen, has inherited his 

father's prestige and is reputed by Americans to be a 

good man. If such men had been called to power earlier 

there might have been a different situation. The Cleve 

land Plain Dealer says editorially: "Too often Chiang 

has juggled his cabinet for the sake of appearance. He 

has assiduously avoided placing in key 

posts men who 

could give China the kind of government the Chinese 

would willingly fight for." 

President Romulo Gallegas of Venezuela who took of 

fice last February as the first president elected by the 

direct vote of the people has been removed from office 

by an army conspiracy and the F.rmy has taken over. 

Extremist labor groups threatened a general strike in 

support of the president, 

and reports seem to indicate 

that the declared purpose of the revolution was to pre 

vent any 

strikes on the part of native oil workers. Gal 

legas was inaugurating extensive improvements in roads, 

schools, and social welfare that promised, if carried out, 

to place Venezuela much higher among the nations. 

In the issue of November 3, 

-fc -'r 

it was reported that Tsal 

daris had become prime minister of Greece. It was so 

announced, 

but fortunately Themistocles Sofoulis, (88), 

returned to power. It is tragic for a nation to have so 

few good men that a broken old man must remain in 

this most responsible position because there is no fitting 

replacement. Greece has always had men of keen in 

telligence, has them now, 

but they have too often been 

more interested in themselves than in the nation. 

i * 

The football letter men of Yale met at the end of the 

season and unamimounsly 

halfback, 

' 

elected Levi Jackson, colored 

captain of next year's team. The New York 

Herald Tribune of November 24 heads an editorial on 

the event "Honor to Yale" 

and says that it is a "man- 

to-man tribute that should lift the heart of every Ameri 

can. This is the direction of the times, 

Yale, by 

and the men of 

their warm and unaffected action, added ma 

terially to our quickening 

% 

* * & 

Electric output in the week ending 

soared to an 

November 20 

all-time high of 5,626,900,000 kilowatt- 

hours, 

and this was the seventh consecutive week of 

new records. In much of America there is an actual 

shortage of electric power and also unexploited water 

power that should have been used already 

for power 

generation. Hydro is the most expensive to build but 

the least expensive to operate. Speedy action is needed, 

for another war would make the shortage tragic. 

* $ * 

It is curious how men and corporations when they 

talk, often unconsciously 

expose the littleness of their 

own souls. The M. A. Hanna Co., Cleveland, iron ore 

and coal mine (principally stripping) 

and lake fleet 

operator, has through its president asked the Ohio sena 

tors to support the St. Lawrence Seaway project. The 

president frankly admits that "our company has been 

active in opposing the St. Lawrence Waterway for a 

number of years,' 

developed which entirely 

but now finds "that new facts have 

change the 

new facts are that the Hanna company 

situation." 

The 

has discovered 

vast iron deposits in Quebec and Labrador and is spend 

ing millions developing them, and wants a way 

for its 

own fleet to bring its own iron ore up the St. Lawrence 

when the Superior deposits begin to fail. The communi 

cation is not so warm for the development of power 

with the Seaway and wants that "limited to economic 

justification." 

It is not the welfare of the whole country 

but its own interests that move the great company to 

ask the national government to build the seaway. 

This is in line, however, 

Each party vied with the others in offering special fav 

with the recent campaign. 

ors at the public expense to special groups; to labor, 

to the farmers, to the soldiers, to the aged, to the Jews, 

to the Negroes, to the corporations. Some of the pro 

posals were in themselves good, but they 

were pre 

sented, not as carrying out God's will for men or as 

dictated by a desire to advance the welfare of the na 

tion, but as bribes to self-conscious groups of voters. 

Men were expected to vote on a basis of what they 

temselves could get out of it all, 

not as Christians or 

as good citizens. This is a reason why Prohibitionists 

got so small a vote. That party alone had a purely 

idealistic platform. 

Bill Lias of Wheeling, W. Virginia, 

made millions out of gambling 

reputed to have 

and other rackets, may 

soon be reducing his 340 pounds in a Federal prison. 

After 20 years justice has partially caught up 

with him 

and for evasions of the income tax he will pay $903,984 

back income tax plus a 509* penalty plus interest at 

S'/r. Then, he is to go to jail for five years and pay a 

fine of $10,000. The church people in Steubenville, led 

by their ministers, cleaned up that city a few years ago, 

the program was catching and nearby Wheeling churches 

and ministers forced a cleanup there. "Onward, Chris 

tian soldiers." 

The last Congress tried to get the three armed services 

together so that the tragic waste of lives and money be 

cause of their mutual jealousies in the last war might 

not be duplicated financially in peace and in lives in 

(Please turn, to page 310)


Calvinism and Secularism 

(No. 3 in the series on Calvinism.) 

By the Rev. Lester E. Kilpatrick 

"Ye cannot serve God and 

mammoii." 

Mt. 6:24. 

In Secularism Calvinism faces its most numer 

ous enemy. Secularism is the popular, respect 

able creed and practice of the rank and file of 

men. It is Calvinism's diametrical opposite in 

practical, everyday living. In the field of thought 

and intellect the devil is a Humanist. In the 

field of action he is a Secularist. 

We found in the last article, Humanism to be 

the enemy of Christ, and concluded not only that 

Calvinism can stand unscathed before the attacks 

of Humanism, but that Calvinism alone is a suf 

ficient weapon by which the soldiers of Christ 

can overcome their intellectual enemy. 

But we must face the fact that the most of the 

sin and meanness we find in the world is not the 

result of careful and sober thought. It has not 

been systematized into Humanism. The majority 

of sinners sin first, and don't bother much about 

thinking through and justifying their conduct. 

In any case, if they do think it necessary to justi 

fy themselves, they do it afterward. Most sinful 

living is simply the natural working out of man's 

evil heart. "When they knew God, they glorified 

him not as God" 

(Rom. 1:21). When a person 

sins while knowing what is right, the result is 

a heart that grows harder by degrees. Pharaoh, 

with a fearful demonstration of God's command 

ment to him, and of His power, in nine successive 

plagues visited on him, still held the Israelites in 

cruel slavery. His heart was hardened until he 

but openly, 

not only "glorified him not as God," 

defiantly, rebelled until he dashed himself to 

pieces against God's will. 

The knowledge that there is a God, and that He 

require-; obedience to His will, is to be found in 

every heart. It is the fool who "hath said in his 

God." 

heart, There is no But fools were not 

created fools. "They became fools" 

(Rom. 1:22). 

A man must think to be a fool in the Scripture 

sense. The ordinary worldly sinner is not neces 

sarily a fool. He is simply a human being who 

knows that there is a God, but who follows the 

natural course in which his evil heart leads him. 

This is Secularism. Most people living a secular 

life are not yet sa hardened that they have delib 

erately and "Goodbye" 

finally said to God. We 

ought to be evangelizing the secular who are not 

yet confirmed Humanists. 

Like Humanism, Secularism may be found in 

differing degrees. There are first the immoral, 

profligate, shameless, sinners, abandoned com 

pletely to vice. Of them there are far too many, 

but they 

are still a decided minority. Then there 

are others who deliberately abandon all pretense 

of serving God. while thev are not necessarily giv 

en to crime and sensuality. They may be quite 

respectable. Such a one many have simply sub 

stituted the service of man for the ^ ervice of God. 

His good works, philanthropy, hospitality, may be 

known and praised in his community. But he 

has no time or use for God. Again other Secular 

ists may maintain their church membership, hab 

its of worship and a form of godliness, but seek 

at the same time to enjoy all the worldly plea 

sures, movies, Sabbath reacreation and amuse 

ment, and worldly friends. They must not "get 

too serious about their 

religion" 

they call it 

"getting fanatical" 

and "being 

puritanical." 

In 

a word the Secularist is one who is serving his 

soul with things of this world, either exclusively 

or along with formal Christianity. 

Secularism is the force against which the Chris 

tian Church must contend in the hand-to-hand 

conflict with the world. Our Christian congre 

gations, whatever may be the nature of the com 

munity where they are located, urban or rural, 

with many churches or few, stand in the midst 

of Secularism. Our members are certain to be 

rubbing shoulders with its patrons day after 

day. These secular folk live within range of our 

church buildings. They are not vicious, bitter, 

spiteful, constantly plotting to overthrow the 

church and to defraud the members of their 

wealth. They are merely so concerned with them 

selves, their interests, their families, their busi 

ness, that they have no time for God or His wor 

ship. 

Is Calvinism an adequate weapon for reaching 

these ordinary folk? Or is it only for the in 

tellectual ? Is it true, as one recent apologist has 

admitted, that "The masses, even in the western 

hemisphere, will not listen to the voice of Cal 

vinism?" 

Must we, in order to reach the folks 

who are all wrapped up in earning a living and 

in having a good time, drop back to lower ground 

with our Arminian brethren? In other words, 

Is Calvinism Practical 

The revival of Calvinism is far more noticeable 

in the struggle against Humanism than in prac 

tical evangelism. This is doubtless the proper 

order. The foundation must precede the struc 

ture. Something definite to believe must be pre 

sented before we may expect people to believe it. 

Still, the foundation is not the complete structure. 

We cannot stop with formulating and defending 

Christian doctrine. To do so is to begin to build 

without counting the cost, just as truly as does 

the one who confesses Christ but is unwilling to 

give up all for Him, or the one who stops at the 

half way house of Arminianism. When the doc 

trine has been formulated, the masses must be 

reached with it. 

There is no warrant in the Word of God, how 

ever, for modifyingthe 

truth in order to reach 

the masses. God saves whom He will, and "No 

man can come (to Christ) except the Father 

draw him" 

(Jn. 6:44). This truth which, to 

man's mind, appears to overlap the ground of 

the free, unlimited offer of the gospel to whom 

soever will accept it, should alwavs stand in the


background of the offer of salvation. Certainly 

this truth should never be denied. To bring these 

two together constitutes the meat of the gospel, 

"comparing 

spiritual things with 

However, to try to reconcile these truths for 

the unconverted by saying, for instance, that 

willing," 

"God can't save you unless you're with 

spiritual." 

out explaining that it is God who also makes a 

person willing (Phil. 2:13), reduces God to be 

a tool of man. Such a presentation may get 

"converts," 

but we need not wonder if they fall 

away in time of trial and temptation. 

Jesus spoke to the masses without ever so de 

grading the character of God. The multitudes were 

occupied with getting their bread and butter, and 

with seeking release from cares by forgetting 

them in fleshly indulgence. They had great 

er occasion for being so occupied than we today, 

because of their poverty and suffering. In His 

teaching, while He opened wide the door of the 

gospel "Come unto me, 

all ye that labor and 

rest," 

yet 

are heavy laden, and I will give you 

He never modified God's sovereignty. "Ye can 

mammon." 

not sevve God and 

He was condemn 

Secularism in no uncertain terms. 

ing 

From a human point of view this seems to be 

intolerant, that mammon cannot be retained in 

some measure, along with the service of God. 

It even appears untrue to the person who refuses 

to stop and think. But Jesus showed that even 

the interest of the worldly masses can be captured 

with the truth. He used the very things in which 

they were interested, treasures, life, meat, drink, 

clothing, to demonstrate the insecurity of Secu 

larism, and at the same time He confirmed the 

sovereignty of God. He showed them first that 

It Is Most Impractical To Serve Mammon, 

Even A Little Bit 

"Lay not up for yourselves treasure upon 

earth." 

There are moth, rust and thieves. How 

insecure are earthly treasures! Yet with your 

treasure will be your heart. There are a thou 

sand lurking foes of property. We think that we 

have overcome the danger of moths with moth 

balls, of rust with paint, chrome and plastic, 

and of thieves with bonds, securities, insurance 

and vaults. But there are still floods and high 

water, tornado and fire, as thousands are con 

reminded most forcibly. Then there are 

tinually 

strikes in the ranks of labor that can paralyze 

business and industry, and bring ruin to those, 

thousands of miles removed from the scene of 

the strike. We've had only a taste of the de 

structive power of labor strikes, but that taste 

is bitter enough. Then there is inflation that 

can rob any earhly investment of its value. 

But, suppose your property is safe, it can't 

insure your life. Oh, yes, we have a life expec 

tancy of 65 years today, we are told, but we're 

also told that cancer, heart ailment, and a dozen 

other killers capture thousands in unpredictable 

fashion who are well under 65. Not long ago a 

man, young, vigorous, athletic, began to ail. His 

trouble could not be ascertained by the best of 

physicians, and the slow, relentless hand of Death 

claimed him, leaving not a clue as to the physi 

cal cause. We are also told that accident takes 

the lives of thousands more, and that the place 

where most of them occur is right in our own 

homes. Finally, looming 

over all this is the 

atomic bomb. And if it should suddenly tangle 

with the formula of the law of averages that 

gives us a life expectancy of 65, no one questions 

which would be the victor. But even after 65 

or 80 or 100 then what? "For what is your 

life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a 

away" 

little time, and then vanisheth (Ja. 4:14). 

Yet even property and life do not satisfy the 

human heart. Where is happiness to be found, 

is a growing question to those who have every 

thing 

else. The fact that the field of amusement 

is attracting an ever growing arm,/ of well paid 

entertainers, is evidence of the hunger for hap 

piness in this land of plenty. The trouble is that 

the fleshly pleasures, instead of satisfying the 

longing soul, merely stir up the lusts that are 

within us, until they become our unmerciful mas 

ters. 

When all that the secular life can give us is 

gained, we're still in God's hand, and must an 

swer to Him. "Whosoever therefore will be a 

friend of the world is the enemy of God" 

(Ja. -1 : 

4). 

On the other hand, Jesus taught the masses 

It Is Most Practical To Serve God 

He was speaking to ordinary folk, bringing 

practical instruction, not ideals huiai'essly be 

yond us, as some would have us to believe He gave 

in the Sermon on the Mount. Treasures may be 

laid up in heaven, and there is no enemy yet that 

has penetrated that stronghold. Your life, like 

that of the sparrow, is in the Father's hand. Not 

even a hair of your head can fall without His 

permission. And we have His promise that if 

we "seek first the kingdom of God and his right 

eousness- .all these 

(us)." 

things shall be added unto 

It is true that we are sinners, helpless of our 

selves to do any good, but so wa ; Elijah. He 

stood alone and hurled a challenge at the 150 

prophets of Baal, to engage in a contest as tc who 

is the true God, and he carried the day. Yet he 

was "a man subject to like passions as we 

(Ja. 5:17). 

How can we please God, being 

are" 

weak and sin 

ful? Thomas wanted to know too. "Lord, we 

know not whither thou goest; and how can Ave 

know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the 

way, the truth and the life" 

(Jn. 14:5,6). "He 

that believeth on me, the works that I do shall 

he do also ; and greater works than these shall 

Father" 

he do; because I go unto my (v. 12). 

Through faith in Jesus Christ He dwells in us. 

He gives us counsel in His Word for our daily 

conduct, and makes Himself responsible for the 

consequences. 

The service of mammon is complicated. In 

fact, it is hopelessly beyond the foresight of any 

human. In what stock or business shall I invest? 

While every other goes up, the one that experts


recommend may go down. How can I keep my 

health and safety ? The only answer that human 

wisdom can give, 

after you've been as careful 

as you know to be, is insurance, a money payment 

in case death, injury or sickness comes. Where 

can I find happiness and satisfaction? In the 

end "all is vanity 

and vexation of 

secular life is hopelessly complicated, 

lutley 

spirit." 

The 

and abso- 

void of all desirable rewards at life's end. 

The service of God, on the other hand, is put 

within the capacity of the most humble of men. 

It is through knowing, by faith, a Person, and 

then that Person, Jesus Christ, works in us what 

is pleasing to God. "This is the work of God, 

sent" 

that ye believe on him whom he hath (Jn. 

6:28, 29). How simple and practical it is! 

"Ye cannot serve God AND It re 

mains true, of course, that there are some Chris 

tians who cannot be distinguished through man's 

judgment, from those who serve mammon, and 

Paul says concerning them (I Cor. 3:1) that he 

must write to them as though they were still 

carnal. Still, the division between the servants 

of God and of mammon is in God's sight, abso 

lute. 

And so, as Calvinists, we can never e4xcuse our 

selves from reaching the masses on the conten 

tion that we are sent to the intelligentia. When 

Calvinists work at the task, as a certain segment 

of Arminians are working, the masses will be 

reached. There must follow now, the stirrings 

such as followed the preaching of Jonathan Ed 

wards, George Whitfield and their fellows in 

the faith. 

Our Faith Mission in China 

ey 

Paul Coleman, D. D. 

When Rev. A. I. Robb and Rev. Elmer McBurn 

were appointed in 1895 to go as pioneer mis 

sionaries to our field in China, it was an act of 

faith faith in the power of the gospel, faith in 

the faithfulness of God to use His consecrated 

servants, faith in God's blessing on the Covenan 

ter Church for adding this undertaking to her 

rapidly expanding program which in ten years 

had added a mission to the Indians, a Witness 

Committee and then a mission in China. This 

Covenanter Church with limited resources of 

workers and income, was reaching half way round 

the world to take a share in the evangelization of 

the immense nation of China. 

That faith in the mission in China has often 

been severely 

and death to Mrs. Robb, and to Dr. Maude George 

who had gone to strengthen our force. When the 

mammon." 

tried. Disease brought sickness 

Boxer uprising compelled our missionaries to 

come home, faith sent them back again when the 

difficulty was over. Sometimes missionary par 

ents had to pay the price of separation from their 

children who were left with friends in this coun 

try to get an education, but faith in God's provi 

dence stood the strain. Daring and studied faith 

has manned the mission through the years. 

Through losses in membership in the home 

church, through periods of lowered income of 

the depression years, that faith which established 

the mission has carried through. New workers 

have been recruited, adjustments have been made 

in methods and in control, and for fifty years 

and more, in peace and war, the work has gone 

on. 

Faith Support For China Mission 

Just as the undertaking 

of a mission in China 

was as an extra undertaking beside many others 

which the Church had adopted, so the support of 

the mission in China has for many years been 

as a portion of an inclusive budget adopted by 

the Synod year by year. Missionary societies 

concentrate on the support of mission workers, 

and legacies often meet emergencies and supple 

ment other sources, but the Church has asked that 

we include this work in regular contributions to 

the united work of the Church in all her fields. 

The Church has had faith in the loyalty of 

children as they grow up that they will support 

regularly and faithfully the work which their 

parents knew and loved, for which their parents 

prayed and sacrificed. The Church has had faith 

that when the newness of the work is over, when 

the news of the work tells of most difficult con 

ditions, the support will still be available. China 

is shaken by civil war following years of terrible 

invasion; commerce is difficult; the inflation of 

the currency is maddening. To meet that, the 

Synod increased the appropriations for the work 

in the faith that Covenanters would accept an 

enlarged budget. 

Shall Faith Win Its Victory In 1948? 

Contributions for the budget tend to hang back 

till after the first of September. This year they 

have hung back more than usual. Perhaps other 

special campaigns have been part of the reason 

for slow returns here. Not many weeks of the 

year remain. Let us prove our faith in the China 

Mission as one of the blessed sections of the work 

of our Covenanter Church for the Lord and fin 

ish 1948 with reaching its share of the support 

needed. Let us justify the faith which the Church 

and her workers and her Lord have placed in us. 


(Continued from, page 207) 

the possible next war; but the battle is still on. The 

air force is to control strategic bombing, but as a sop 

the navy is to be permitted to build an enormously cost 

ly 

place-carrier that will be so large that it cannot ge)t 

through the Panama Canal. Then we shall be asked 

to pay for a bigger canal; indeed, that is already pro 

posed. The country has the draft, 

and will have new 

taxes next year to provide $15,000,000,000 for the armed 

forces, 

and some of their leaders seem to feel that it 

all exists for them and their glory. In the last war the 

high officers got distinguished service crosses apparently 

just for being officers; the men had to earn them the 

hard way. It was a non-com who said to the writer: 

"I never sent any man to do what I had not done or did 

not do 

myself."


Review of "The Holy War" 

by the Rev. R. C. Fullerton 

John Bunyan is best known for "Pilgrim's 

Progress". It is enough to make his fame secure. 

He has other books which ought to be better 

known and more widely read. 

"The Holy War", like Pilgrim's Progress, is 

an allegory. It tells the story of the warfare be 

tween the forces of the Lord and Satan for the 

city of Mansoul. This can be either the individual 

or society, or both. But the soul of the individual 

seems best to fit the story. This city was created 

sinless by the Lord, but was coveted and attacked 

by Diabolus. He managed to persuade the in 

habitants that the laws imposed upon them by 

their King were both unreasonable and intoler 

able. He insisted that they were kept in a con 

dition of blindness and ignorance. He finally 

overcame Captain Resistance and Lord Innocen- 

cy and took the city. 

He then deposed Lord Understanding, and de 

graded Mr. Recorder whose name is Mr. Con 

science. He persuaded the people that Mr. Con 

science was a raving fool. Therefore his warn 

ings were the ravings of one who had lost his 

mind. 

The tragic news of the capture of Mansoul was 

carried to heaven, and immediately the decision 

was made to recapture the city. An army of for 

ty thousand men under command of Boanerges, 

Conviction, Judgment and Execution was sent 

to drive out Diabolus and recapture the city. The 

four officers asked for additional help, and the 

Lord then sent His Son, Emmanuel, accompanied 

by a great army. Diabolus tried to make peace, 

and failed. Then he tried to reform the city, but 

failed also. The town was captured and cleansed 

of all its filth. The inhabitants asked for pardon 

and this was freely given by the Lord. 

In order that the city might be held, those 

who aided Diabolus were brought to trial. Athe 

ism, Lustings, Forget-good, False-peace, Piti 

less and Haughty were found guilty and executed. 

This trial scene is one of the best chapters in the 

book. 

The Lord then held the city. Satan, or Diabol 

us, continued to make his efforts to retake the 

city, but failed. 

The story is written somewhat after the man 

ner of Pilgrim's Progress. It, too, is written for 

warning, for correction, for reproof and for in 

struction. It warns of the malice and working of 

Satan, and points the way to victory with the 

of Christ. It can do a great work for those 

help 

who read it carefully and reverently. 

The Moody Press has done the Christain world 

a great service in publishing a new edition of this 

fine, old work. It is one in "The Wycliffe Series 

of Christian Classics". It can be had from anv 

book store and the price is $3.50. The book it 

self is well planned and printed for easy reading;. 

The notes are a help to the understanding of por 

tions of it. The Index makes any passage easy 

to find. It is a good investment for every home. 



ment dictatorship. 

Teaching Biology 

Arnold Brink, Educational Secretary, writing 

of Cal 

vin College in The Banner, says of the biology depart 

ment: "Among the special courses is one which is al 

most unique among college courses of study. It is called 

Biological Problems, and is taught by Dr. John P. Van 

Haitsma. It deals particularly with the theory of Evo 

lution and teaches students how to combat that theory 

on recognized scientific grounds. The testimony of many 

students who go on to the universities from Calvin is that 

this course was one of the most valuable they could 

have given." 

Of the same courses Edwin Y. Monsma writes: "If 

there is any department at Calvin College where a dis 

tinctive approach to the subject matter is necessary, it 

is certainly the Biology Department. The reason for 

this is that present-day biologists interpret natural phe 

nomena from an evolutionary 

point of view. Creation 

is considered as an obsolete explanation of the origin 

of living organisms and the biblical account of the crea 

tion of plants, animals, and man is considered as a high 

mythical presentation of the ideas of an ancient ill- 

ly 

informed people. Present day knowledge and the ap 

plication of the scientific method, so it is claimed, have 

shown us a more accurate interpretation of origins in 

the old and pagan idea of evolution. Over against such 

views Calvin College attempts to present to its stu 

dents a thoroughly biblical and, at the same time, sci 

entific interpretation of observed facts .... 

"It is often said that students lose their faith in the 

study of biology. Why is this so? It is because they 

are uually taught to abandon their faith at the outset. 

At Calvin College we try to avoid this fatal mistake. It 

is our hope and prayer that by the grace of God your 

sons and daughters when they have been under the in 

fluence of our teaching may not only have kept their 

faith but may have been enriched by the 

The Blind in India 

experience." 

There are 10 million people in India who are totally 

blind; 30 million others are partially so. About 100,000 

with cataracts are operated on every year, and most of 

them receive their sight. For every blind Indian given 

sight there are ten others who might be enabled to see 

if the finances were sufficient. Dr. Rambo has estimated 

that at least 500,000 persons in India with operable catar 

act could see now if surgei y could be applied to them. 

George F. Johnson Dies 

We note in the paper today (Nov. 30) the passing of 

another Christian man of national renown. Mr. George 

F. Johnson. He was founder and president of Endicott- 

Johnson Shoe corporation, of Binghampton, N. Y. He 

was an outstanding Christian man who permitted his em 

ployees to share in the profits of the company, set up 

f i ec libraiits, community stores, bathing pavilions, hos 

pitals and amusments of barious kinds. He was very 

liberal in his Christian giving, had Mil-boards set up in 

the depot and the roadside bearing religious messages and 

quoting Scriptuie text;,. Would that wealthy men all over 

our land had the same Chi istian spirit, care for their em 

ployees, liberality, and an earnest public testimony for 

Christ!


Lesson Helps for the Week of December 12 



By Mary Jane Wilson, Rosepoint 

THE BIBLE'S SIGNIFICANCE 

3:16. 

TODAY 

Ps. 119:105; Heb. 4:12; II Tim. 

Psalms to Sing: 

Psalm 122:1-4 No. 350 

Psalm 107:1-4, 

No. 293 

Psalm 92:1-4, 

No. 251 

Psalm 133:1-3 No. 369 


Col. 3:16, 17; Gal. 5:14; Matt. 

5:16; Ps. 19:8; Prov. 6:23; Isa. 40: 

28, 29; Ps. 27:1; Rev. 22:5; John 

5; John 8:12; John 12:35. 

How important is the Bible today? 

The reason for knowing 

the Bible 

is to come to know God. A good 

place to begin the study of the Bible 

is with the first four words "In the 

beginning God." 

Men have guessed, experimented, 

pondered and suggested answers as 

to the beginning of things, but the 

Bible uses only four words on the 

whole matter. It all centers in God. 

The reason for teaching the Bible 

to others is that they, too, may come 

to know God. 

If we come to know only the Book 

and fail to know God through the 

Book, then we have failed, the Bible 

has failed in its intent and God's 

purpose in the Book has been de 

feated. 

The word "Bible" 

comes from the 

Greek word "biblos", which means 

book. The Bible means "The Book". 

While it contains history, law, bi 

ography, and poetry similar to other 

books, yet it contains something that 

no other book or group 

of books 

claims to contain. It is the Word of 

the Living God. In this it is unique, 

differing entirely from all other 

books. It is the one and only Book 

of which God can be said to be the 

Author. 

God reveals Himself to us through 

nature and the laws of science and 

in many other ways, 

yet He speaks 

to us only through the Bible. 

Through nature, as we look at the 

trees, flowers, rocks, and rivers, we 

may 

come to know Him as Creator, 

but only through the Bible can we 

hear His voice speaking 

to us as our 

Father. Everyone likes to know 

where he comes from, 

he has for living, 

what purpose 

where he is go 

ing, and numerous other questions, 

Human knowledge breaks down at 

this point. It is appalling 

so many 

to read of 

people committing suicide 

these days. It is here that the Bible 

comes in as a revelation by man's 

Creator to reveal whence man came, 

what his purpose is and what the 

future holds in store for him. It 

reveals man to himself and also re 

veals God to man. Only 

omniscient, 

God is 

and His wisdom is re 

vealed to us through His Word. 

The Bible is in two divisions: the 

Old Testament with tihirty-nine 

books, and the New Testament with 

twenty-seven books. It consists ot 

five groups of books: the Old Testa 

ment, which leads to the coming of 

Christ; the Gospels, 

which reveals 

Christ to us that we may believe in 

Him and want to become 

following- 

Christians; the Acts, which tell us 

how to become active Christians; the 

Letters, 

the Christian life; and the Revela 

tion, which tells us to be faithful un 

to death, or to keep on living the 

which teach us how to live 

Christian life to the end. 

Suggestions for Personal Use 

In considering any passage of 

Scripture, keep clearly in mind the 

following rule: determine who is 

speaking, to whom he is speaking, 

for what time he is speaking, and for 

what purpose he is speaking. The 

Scriptures contain the Word of God, 

but they 

also contain, in recorded 

conversations and histories of events, 

the words of others besides God, 

Christ, the Holy Spirit or inspired 

men. For instance, "What have we 

to do with thee, thou Son of God?" 

(Matt. 8:29) is quotation from the 

devil. 

We might learn verses beginning 

with the letters of the alphabet, also 

learning where the verse is found, 

e. g. "A good name is rather to be 

chosen than great riches, and lov 

ing favor rather than silver and 

gold," 

(Prov. 22:1) and so on, 

through the alphabet. 

Read a chapter or two a day, 

thinking about what God is saying to 

you personally. Use a systematic 

method of leading, such as starting 

at the beginning of the Bible and 

reading through to the end, or fol 

lowing a Bible Reading Folder. 

Questions 

1. For what purpose is the Bible 

given us ? 

2. In the light of science why is 

the Bible needed? 

3. Why must a Bible Teacher be a 

Christian ? 

4. How is the Bible different from 

other books ? 

JUNIOR TOPIC 


By Mrs. J. Paul Wilson 

THE BIBLE FOR EVERYONE 

References: 

Romans 1:16, 17 

Psalm 119: 97-105; John 20: 

30-31; II Tim. 3:14-17; Joshua 1: 

8; Isaiah 40:8; Col. 3:16. 

Psalms: 

Psalm 119:1-4 No. 332 

Psalm 119:1, 5, 6 No. 333 

Today 

men and women and boys 

and girls all over the world are 

thinking about the Bible. How does 

this happen? It is because this is 

Universal Bible Sabbath. Here in 

America anyone who wants a Bible 

may go to a store and buy one, and 

if he should not have enough money 

to get one, there are agencies like 

the American Bible Society 

Gideons who will supply 

and the 

one free. 

But this is not the story in other 

countries. Requests have been sent 

out by chaplains in

November 17, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 

continuing through it until the very 

end. Compare the following scrip 

ture passages, written hundreds of 

years apart and see if you are not 

thrilled by the fact that only 

an in 

spired book could contain all these 

prophecies and their exact fulfill 

ment years later: Micah 5:2 with 

Matt. 2:1; Isaiah 40:3 with John 1: 

23; 

Jeremiah 31:15 with Matt. 2:16- 

18; Isaiah 53:3 with John 1:11; 

Psalm 41:9 with Acts 1:16. 

Another reason for the Bible's 

Universal appeal is its influence 

over the lives of men and women and 

even boys and girls. Many stories 

have been told of the conversion of 

men in prison camps during the last 

war. One such story is that of Jacob 

DeShazer, a bombardier of Jimmy 

Doolittle's raiders who carried out 

that famed first raid on Tokyo, 

April 18, 1942. He was one of the 

four flyers who afterward spent 

forty awful months in Japanese 

prison camps. He says, "When I 

flew with Jimmy 

Doolittle on that 

first raid over Japan, my heart was 

filled with bitter hatred for its peo 

ple." 

Later a Japanese guard in the 

solitary confinement cell of the 

prison gave Mr. DeShazer a Bible. 

As he read it he was given new 

spiritual eyes. He no longer hated 

the Japanese and after the death of 

another Doolittle liver in the prison 

he heard the Lord's clear call to 

missionary service. He returned to 

America and after studying several 

years is going back to Japan as a 

missionary, accompanied by his wife 

and baby boy. It is another of those 

instances where we can only stand in 

wonder before the mysterious power 

of God, 

who brings about in ways 

no man can see the triumph of His 

grace. Somewhere there was an Eng 

lish Bible in a Japanese prison 

camp, somehow an impulse was born 

in a Japanese heart to hand this 

Bible to a miserable, suffering 

prisoner. Without the help of any 

earthly interpreter, the Bible spoke 

for God to the prisoner's soul. The 

death of a fellow sufferer made 

God's voice more plain. Hatred gave 

way to love; enemies became lost 

souls, and a missionary was born 

there in the prison camp. 

The Bible is God's Word. We must 

know it if we live to please Him. 

There is only one way to know it, 

and that is to 

read it ourselves over 

and over. If we own a Bible we must 

pay the price of 

do not actually 

we make it ours. Owning 

means reading 

earnest study. We 

own anything until 

a Bible 

it every day, mem 

orizing whole passages and letting 

the message of the Book speak to 

us. Learning Bible verses may seem 

hard to us now, but the verses we 

commit now are the ones that stay 

by us through life. In later years 

they may become precious promises 

sent especially to us by a loving God 

to help us in a decision or ease our 

heart in time of trouble. Bible read 

ing will become more interesting if 

we read until a word strikes home 

to become the "order of the day" 

for 

us. That word from the Bible may 

on some days leap out of the first 

verse we read. On other days it will 

have to be hunted as we would hunt 

for something we have lost. It may 

be a word about God or His world, 

or it may be His will for us. But be 

sure of this: there is enough truth 

in the Bible to keep us supplied for 

our whole lifetime. 

HANDWORK: In your notebooks 

chaw a large heart. On this heart 

draw an open Bible and print on the 

left-hand page, Deut. 6:6, 

and on the 

light-hand page Psalm 119:11. Look 

up 

these passages and learn them if 

you do not already know them. In 

order to get the Bible into our 

hearts, we must first get it into our 

heads. If we read the Bible careless 

ly or indifferently, 

helped, but if we read it thought 

fully and with a desire to know what 

we will not be 

it teaches, God will speak to us 

through it. 

Have the children give their 

methods of daily Bible reading. I am 

sure there will be many different 

methods given. Here are some other 

suggestions. (1) Have your Bible 

reading time just before you do your 

homework for school. Then say a 

little prayer to ask God to help you 

study well, and your schoolwork will 

be bettei. (2) Mark your Bible neat 

ly 

when you come to a helpful verse. 

This will make the Bible and the 

verse more your very own. (3) Go 

through the Bible looking for and 

marking 

promises of God. 


FOR DECEMBER 12. 1918 

By 

LESSON XI. 

the Rev. C. E. Caskey 

LETTERS IN THE BIBLE 

Philippians; I Timothy; I John 

Printed verses, Philippians 1:1-11; 

1:8, '.). 

Golden Text: 

"These things have I written unto 

you that believe on the name of 

the Son of God; that ye may know 

that ye have eternal life." 

I John 5:13. 

There are three kinds of letters in 

the New Testament, and we have 

examples of each kind in the books 

suggested for study. Philippians is 

an example of a letter to a church; 

I Timothy is an example of a letter 

to an individual; 

and I John is an 

example of a general letter. The let 

ters to individuals are to the men 

whose names they bear, Timothy, 

and Philemon. The letters that 

Titus, 

are general aie from the men whose 

names they bear, James, Peter, John, 

and Jude. Perhaps someone would 

like to look up 

some letters that are 

mentioned in the Old Testament, and 

the letters to the seven churches in 

Revelation, just to make the study 

of Letters in the Bible more com 

plete. We shall confine our comments 

to the printed verses, yet we shall 

try to bring in characteristics of all 

the New Testament letters. 

I. NEW TESTAMENT LETTERS 

WERE WRITTEN TO BELIEV 

ERS. Golden Text, 

and Phil. 1:1. 

The Golden Text begins, "These 

things have I wi itten unto you that 

believe." 

And the fiist verse of the 

lesson says, "To all the saints in 

Christ Jesus which are at Philip- 

New Testament letters were 

to Christians. Every one of Paul's 

letters is addressed either to the 

church, 

or to the saints, in the places 

to which he wrote, and of course the 

individuals to whom he wrote were 

Christians. The general letters also 

show by their salutations that they 

are to Christians. So if someone 

takes a passage like James 1:27, 

"Pure religion and undefiled. . . .is 

this, to visit the fatherless and 

and applies it to the 

unsaved as a way of salvation, he is 

wiong. That was written to believ- 

eis. Acts 2:38. "Repent and be bap 

tized," 

comes first, and James 1:27 

was writUn to people who had first 

done what Acts 2:38 says. There are 


the second verse of our lesson are 

characteristic of the thought behind 

all the letters of the New Testa 

ment. We are saved by grace, kept 

by 

grace (and verse 6 expresses the 

confidence that God's grace will keep 

working in us to the end), and the 

graces we show we have received 

from God, learned from His word, 

and seen in His people. To try to 

maintain the high standard set in the 

letters without dependence on God is 

sure to lead to disappointment and 

failure, and such a life is the most 

uncomfortable life imaginable. "By 

grace are ye saved through faith; 

and that not of yourselves; it is the 

gift of God" 

(Eph. 2:8). "The wages 

of sin is death; but the gift of God 

is eternal life through Jesus Christ 

our Lord" 

(Rom. 6:23). "And such 

were some of you; but ye are washed, 

but ye are sanctified, but ye are 

justified in the name of the Lord 

Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God 

(I Cor. 6:11). "The fruit of the spirit 

is love," 

etc. (Gal. 5:22). See verse 

eleven of the lesson. 

III. NEW TESTAMENT LETTERS 

SHOW DEEP CONCERN FOR 

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE OF THE 

BELIEVER. 

"I long 

after you 

8). There is nothing- 

all...." 

(verse 

that prompts 

letter writing like love and deep con 

cern for someone. The writers of the 

New Testament letters certainly had 

a deep love for the ones they were 

writingto, 

and a great concern for 

their spiritual condition. When there 

was danger of error, they wrote to 

correct the error. When sin came in 

to the church, they wrote to rebuke 

it and to exhoit and plead that it be 

confessed and everything 

made right. 

And when the Christians had to en 

dure persecution and suffering they 

wrote to comfort and encourage 

them. 

IV. NEW TESTAMENT LETTERS 

HOLD UP THE HIGHEST IDEALS 

"And this I pray, that your love 

may abound yet more and more in 

knowledge and in all judgment; that 

ye might approve the things that are 

excellent; that ye may be sincere and 

without offence till the day of 

Christ; being filled with the fruits 

of righteousness, which are by Jesus 

Christ, unto the glory and praise of 

God" 

(verses 9-11). The whole class 

period could be spent on these verses 

alone. How the Apostles prayed, the 

emphasis placed on love and how 

everything springs from it, the 

abundance of things that have to do 

with the Spirit, the gift of discern 

ment as to what things are best, sin- 

ceiity, giving 

no offence, persever 

ance, the fruits of rig-hteousness, how 

they 

aie from Jesus Christ and how 

they are to the glory and praise of 

God. That is surely enough to think 

about for at least one class period! 

In addition there are the last two 

veises, giving 

a list of things we 

should think about. No higher ideals 

are found anywhere than those held 

up in the New Testament letters. 

They are the fruits of righteousness, 

made possible only through Jesus 

Christ and a close walk with Him, 

but leading to true piety 

and peace. 



By 

Psalms: 

the Rev. M. K. Carson 

SIN'S DESERT AND THE 

WAY OF ESCAPE 

Questions 82-85 

Psalm 51:1-2 No. 143 

Psalm 130:1-3 No. 362 

Psalm 31:1-4 No. 75 

Psalm 103:7-10 No. 271a 

I. 

"Is any man able perfectly to keep 

the commandments of God?" 

Gen. 

6:5; Rom. 3:9-18; James 3:2; Eccl. 

7:20; I John 1:8-10; Gal. 5:17; Ro 

mans 7:18, 19; Gen. 8:21; Matt. 22: 

37-39. 

How telling, pertinent and pecul 

iarly appropriate this question is, 

coming as it does immediately after 

the discussion of the Ten Command 

ments! Strange that any man should 

fail to realize the necessity of Sal 

vation by grace and not by works 

after a study of the Decalogue. The 

Word of God, conscience, history and 

our own personal experiences prove 

the correctness of the answer to this 

question. Man's inability to keep the 

law is deeply impressed upon those 

who give these Ten Commandments 

serious consideration. 

In this expression, "No mere 

man...." 

Jesus Christ is excluded. 

Jesus Christ is God. As our High 

Priest, He was tempted in all points 

like as we are, yet without sin (Heb. 

4:15). This answer describes man's 

condition since the fall. And since 

that time, man has been unable to 

keep perfectly the law of God, even 

for one day. Who would care to say, 

"Great God, I appeal to Thee, that 

on such a day my thoughts were all 

in perfect harmony 

with supreme 

love to Thee, and with love to my 

neighbor as to myself; and when all 

my words and actions were without 

fault." 

Some claim and I think 

rightly so that we sin not only daily, 

but that there is not one thought, 

word or deed of our whole life but 

what is imperfect, or mingled with 

sin. Every one is corrupted with 

original sin. How then could any 

thought, word or deed be perfect, 

coming 

as it does from a corrupt 

nature ? If a stream is polluted at 

its source, 

could one be certain of 

a glass of water from that stream? 

There is a principle of corruption, 

in the Christian, as well as of grace, 

between which there is a continual 

struggle. "For the flesh lusteth 

against the Spirit and the Spirit 

against the flesh;;. .. .Gal. 5:17. 

II 

"Are all transgressions of the Law 

equally heinous?" 

John 19:11; Ezek 

iel 8:6, 13, 15; I John 5:16; Psalm 

78:17, 32, 56; James 4:17; Luke 12: 

47-48; Heb. 2:3; Mai. 1:14; Psalm 

51:4. 

The least sin is an offence to God. 

It is a violation of God's most just 

and holy law. But some sins are 

more heinous in the sight of God 

than others. The penalty for the sin 

of murder was greater than the 

penalty for the sin of theft. 

In the Larger Catechism some of 

these aggravations are mentioned. 

Question 151. 

1. "From the persons offending; 

if they be of ripe age, 

perience or grace, 

greater ex 

eminent for pro 

fession, gifts, place, office, guides.. 

examples...." 

The sin-offering, Lev. 

4:3, seems to teach that the guilt of 

any 

sin is the heaviest, when it is 

committed by one who is placed in a 

high position of religious authority. 

The consequences of the sin of one in 

a high position of authority, of 

course, 

are more far-reaching and 

serious. How careful we all should 

be, but especially those in position 

of leadership! How greatly we need 

His grace and strength. Constantly 

our prayer should be that we might 

be strong in the Lord (Eph. 6:10). 

2. "From the parties offended; if 

immediately against God, His at 

tributes, and against worship ; Christ, 

and His grace; the Holy Spirit, His 

witness and 

workings...." 

Acts 5:4; 

Psalm 51:4; Romans 2:4; 

29; 

Eph. 4:30. 

Heb. 10: 

3. From the nature and quality of 

the offence; if it be against the ex 

press letter of the law, 

commandments, 

break many 

contain in it many 

sins; if not only conceived in the 

heart, but breaks forth in words, 

and actions, 

scandalize others, 

and


admit of no reparation. .. ."Prov. 6: 

30-31; I Tim. 6:10; Col. 3:5; Matt. 

11:21; Rom. 1:32. 

4. "From circumstances of time 

and place; if on the Lord's day, or 

other times of divine worship; or 

immediately before or after these or 

other helps to prevent or remedy 

such miscarriages; if in public, or 

in the presence of others, who are 

thereby likely to be provoked or de 

filed." 

II Kings 5:26; Ezekiel 23: 

37-39; John 13:27. 

Men look upon sin in a different 

light than God. We live in a sinful 

world. Our own natures are cor 

rupted. Too often we put evil for 

good and good for evil and tone down 

the greatness and heinousness of sin 

with soft names. "Who can under 

stand his errors ? Cleanse thou me 

from secret 

13). 

faults" 

Ill 

(Psalm 19:12- 

"What doth every sin deserve?" 

Gal. 3:10; Romans 6:23; James 2: 

10-11; Exodus 20:1-2; I John 3:4. 

The wrath of God is His dis 

pleasure against sin and His curse 

is the penalty for sin, 

which is 

death. Primarily, all sin is against 

an eternal God and so the wrath and 

curse is eternal. All sin deserves 

this punishment because it is against 

the Sovereignty 

of God. Sin is re 

bellion. We will not have this man 

to reign over us (Luke 19:14). Sin 

is also against the Holiness and the 

Goodness of God. '"Thou art of 

purer eyes than to behold evil and 

canst not look on iniquity" 

(Hab. 1: 

13). God is good and how often we 

have sinned agfainst infinite good 

ness! 

Does the Bible recognize the dis 

tinction between "mortal" 

nial" 

and "ve 

sins ? The wages of sin is 

death not only "great" 

And there is only 

sins, but sin. 

one remedy for 

sin the Blood of Jesus Christ His 

Son cleanseth us from all It is 

useless to try to diminish the guilt 

of our sin. Our only hope is in 

Christ. "What doth God require of 

us, that we may escape his wrath 

and curse due to us for 

sin?" 

John 

3:16; Luke 13:3; Romans 10:14; Acts 

20:21; Isaiah 55:3; Heb. 10:39. 

We thank God there is an "escape 

from the penalty of 

sin." 

All have 

sinned. All deserve the penalty of 

death. All are in peril [the most 

awful peril. But there is a way of 

escape. Man is helpless to provide a 

way 

of escape, but God has provided 

an answer for this important ques 

tion, "Sir, 

what must I do to be 

saved?" 

Acts 16:30. 

What are these requirements ? We 

might speak of these means as the 

"inward" 

and the "outward". The in 

ward means of grace aie "Faith in 

Jesus < 'hrist and repentance unto 

life" 

titled" 

for it. 

By these means we are "en 

to eternal life and "qualified" 

Then there is the diligent use of all 

the outward means. What are these 

means? Question 88. 


That we may realize more and) 

more the heinousness of sin. 

That we may be able to present to 

men the only Way of Escape from 

sin. 

That our preaching, Bible Study 

and witnessing may be more effec 

tive, in our home congregations and 

on our Mission fields. 

That the Covenanter Crusade and 

Christian Amendment Movement may 

be remembered daily in prayer. 

STAR NOTES... 

***The present address of Dr. 

Owen F. Thompson is Hot Springs, 

New Mexico. 

'-**Mrs. J. W. Baird of the Sharon 

congregation passed into her Eternal 

Home, November 21, 1948. She had 

lived almost 98 years, a long life of 

lich service for her Master. She left 

to mourn her death 7 children, 25 

grandchildren and 33 great-grand- 

cihldren. She leaves a memory of a 

wonderful life lived in her commui- 

ity and church. Hei1 burial was con 

ducted by her pastor assisted by Rev. 

H. G. Patterson. 

'" Roberta Dill, 10-year member 

of the Bon Ame 4-H club of the 

Sterling community, has been award 

ed a trip to the National 4-H club 

congress in Chicago November 26 to 

December 2. 

The Rice county 

girl has been 

named state 4-11 clothing champion 

and received the trip 

award which 

goes with this title. She will be one 

of approximately 25 Kansas club 

workers at the congress. Roberta, a 

Sterling College sophomore, is the 

daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert 

Dill. She is precentor of Sterling 

congregation. 

::*Mi's. Victor Lynn has been ap 

pointed correspondent for the White 

Lake congregation. Anyone wishing 

to get in touch with the congrega 

tion should address her at Kauneonga 

Lake, N. Y. 

**'Many thanks to the good 

friends from coast to coast who have 

been praying for me. Thanks be to 

the Lord who answered your prayers 

and made me well. I have had a fine 

recoveiy 

and hope soon to be normal 

again. Psalm 92:4. June McConachie 

""Elder E. V. Tweed of Denver 

worshiped with the Seattle congre 

gation on Sabbath, October 24, and 

visited in the home of Mr. and Mrs. 

R. W. Mitchell and family. 

'-''Rev. C. A. Dodds preached a 

very helpful sermon in Seattle on 

October 31 on "Eternal Life" 

and 

spent a few days in the home of his 

cousins, Mr. and Mrs. S. M. Dodds. 

'""'For the purpose of presenting 

the Chiistian Amendment Movement 

in this community the Seattle C.Y. 

P.U. organized a Gospel team. Verd 

V. Dunn is president of our society. 

***The four brothers and three 

sisters living in Seattle were shocked 

to hear of the sudden death of their 

oldest sister, Mrs. Mary (Fleming) 

Scollan of Philadelphia. That the 

children in the Fleming home were 

taught to fear the Lord and to serve 

Him is evidenced by their Christian 

lives and service. So those who have 

been called to their eternal reward 

are indeed blessed. 

***Miss Elda Patton of Sterling 

is expected to arrive in Seattle 

shortly after Thanksgiving 

to take 

up Bible School work in our con 

gregation and community. We are 

praying for her safe arrival and 

for the Lord's blessing upon her 

work here. 

**'Mrs. E. C. Mitchell and Mrs. D. 

R. Taggart of Topeka, Kans., had as 

their guests their sisters, Mrs. Vance 

D. Peacock of Houston, Pa., 

and Mrs. 

M. N. Coleman and Mr. Coleman of 

Ashville, N. Carolina. Mrs. Mitchell 

returned with them to visit friends 

in Pittsburgh before 

ville, N. Carolina. 

going- 

*5*The Iowa Presbytery 

to Ash 

met in the 

Morning Sun Church on Wednesday, 

September 29. Those from a distance 

who attended were Dr. and Mrs. F. 

E. Allen, Rev. and Mrs. John Edgar, 

Dr. J. D. Edgar, Mr. Greer and Mr. 

and Mrs. Charles Peterman. The eve 

ning 

conference was centered on the 

Covenanter Crusade. Very interest 

ing discussions were given byr the 

ministers and elders. A delicious din 

ner and supper were served by the 

social committee at the home of Mrs. 

Elizabeth Baird.


CHURCH NEWS 

AN ITINERARY THROUGH 

THE WEST 

By T. M. Slater, D. D. 

In addition to the joys of our two 

months visit in Seattle recently, Mrs. 

Slater and I had the rare pleasure of 

visiting 

several of our congregations 

on the way homeward. Our reasons 

for this itinerary were not merely the 

advantages of taking this trip in 

short stages, but moie especially it 

was in answer to the invitations of 

friends, and our desire to keep these 

friendships living more vitally. For 

Mrs. Slater it was an opportunity of 

getting 

acquainted with some people 

and places that had in some cases 

been only a name, while we both had 

a desire to serve the cause of Christ 

as opportunities were open. 

In the Portland Area 

My interest in Portland as a Cove 

nanter center goes back to days be 

fore we had any 

work established 

here. Having once been stopped in 

this city late Saturday evening by 

a breakdown in train service, on Sab 

bath having 

visited a U. P. Church 

where I was asked to preach, at the 

close of the service I met a young- 

woman teacher who said she was a 

member of our Evans congregation, 

and expressed a desire that we might 

have a Covenanter church started 

here. A little later, when Licentiate 

Frank D. Frazer, after finishing his 

Seminary work, wrote asking my 

opinion of Portland as a possible 

mission field, I advised him to cor 

respond with Miss Elizabeth Knight 

who was still heie. As a result of 

these early contacts, before leaving 

the West I had the satisfaction of 

serving- 

as one of Presbytery's Com 

mission in the organizing of the Port 

land congregation, assisting 

them in 

making out their Call for a pastor, 

and ordaining and installing Mr. 

Frazer in this 1 elation in the neat 

chapel which they 

place of worship. 

Only 

still use as their 

Heaven has the full record of 

all this missionary and his family 

have done during these past years in 

securing its present measure of suc 

cess. Since his resignation, the Rev. 

J. K. Gault and his family have been 

here as leaders, and at the Wednes 

day prayer meeting and at the Sab 

bath services we had opportunities 

of meeting with this devoted group, 

and noting many evidences of vitality 

and success. The children 

being- 

taught the Word of God are potential 

Covenanters under these spiritual in 

fluences. In the meeting that morning 

I talked to a man from the neighbor 

hood who had recently suffered 

beleavement 

in his family, and who told 

me of his hope of joining this sympa 

thetic group. Worshiping with them 

that day were two splendid Cove 

nanters from Long View, Washing 

ton, who are carrying on a vital 

work in their own city which has in 

it the hope of another Covenanter 

congregation in God's good time. 

Between the Frazer home near 

Vancouver, Washington where we 

had an affectionate reception and 

the city of Portland, lie all that is 

left of the recently destroyed com 

munity of Vanport, consisting 

of the 

most desolated wilderness of wrecked 

buildings and rubbish of every kind 

that could be imagined. These ruins 

will never be rebuilt, for such houses 

without any secure foundation could 

not withstand the floods of the 

Columbia River which came with 

such overwhelming force. And to 

my mind, these wrecked buildings 

presented a vivid contrast to the 

kind of construction which we be 

lieve has been going on in the near 

by Covenanter Church during the 

past years, and which we trust will 

continue to survive in the floods of 

ungodliness that surround them 

both in the lives of those who are 

openly sinful, and the low religious 

standards prevailing in many who 

are professed Christians. The recent 

addition of two fine young men to 

their Session, and the quiet earnest 

ness of many others encourage such 

hopes. 

In Two Colorado Congregations 

On the train that carried us east 

ward we had a helpful contact with 

a Minister of the Nazarene Church, 

the General Superintendent of their 

work in the Northwest, who had 

during his life in California become 

acquainted with the Covenanter 

Church through acquaintance with 

our Rev. W. A. Aiken. Their church 

is one with ours in their testimony 

against Secret Societies, and seems 

to be ahead of us in their stand 

against tobacco. Their 240,000 mem 

bers would be strong supporters of 

the Christian Amendment if more 

fully enlisted. 

Our first stop in Colorado was at 

Greeley, where I had not been since 

the meeting of our Synod here in 

1920. In looking for a place to lodge 

it was natural to think of the Mar 

tin Hotel, formerly run by 

one of 

our Covenanters, and still under a 

distinctly Christian management. 

From here I was able to contact Rev. 

H. B. McMillan who gave helpful 

information concerning the Cove 

nanters; it was disappointing to 

find that Dr. Owen F. Thompson, 

after resigning his pastorate, was 

no longer here. Though Mr. R. M. 

Carson was a busy man as Registrar 

of the State Teachers College, he 

and his wife weie most cordial in 

their desire to show us everything 

of interest in their beautiful city, in 

cluding the fine church building 

where our people worship, and the 

parsonage where willing hands were 

employed in putting everything in 

shape, making it a welcome home 

for their new pastor, Rev. S. Bruce 

Willson, who has since entered upon 

his work here. That evening we had 

a helpful fellowship 

with those who 

attended the Prayer Meeting, at 

which I was glad to find such a 

large propoition of young people, 

most of whom took an active part 

in the services. It was good to renew 

acquaintance with friends of former 

years; 

and we will never forget that 

when we were leaving, Mr. Carson 

took us to the train and was kind 

ness itself in his care of us in many 

ways. 

The Lord's Supper was being cele 

brated on the Sabbath we were in 

Denver, the pastor having 

our Mis 

sionary H. A. Hayes as his assistant. 

The last time I had been in this 

church was in 1902, during the pas 

torate of Dr. T. H. Acheson, and 

while my sister Mrs. Elizabeth S. 

Sackett was living 

as one of the 

charter members of the congrega 

tion. Only 

a few of that generation 

are still here, but the present pastor, 

Rev. Paul D. White, and the Cove 

nanters in that holy 

nothing 

service lacked 

of the brotherliness and 

Christlikeness of their ancestors in 

the Faith. It was a real joy to unite 

with them in our communion with 

the Master who is "the same, yester 

day, todays, and forever". In the 

home of my niece, Mrs. Robert 

Gross, we were entertained, and had 

a renewal of fellowship which only 

the members of the same family 

can ever enjoy. Mr. White had al 

ready endeared himself to us because 

of his unfailing attention and serv 

ice during my sister Mrs. Sackett's 

declining 

years. We found him still 

as big-hearted and kindly as ever, 

and feel doubly indebted to him for 

his recent ministries of love. 

Topeka and Neighbor Places 

All the time that my home was in 

the West I never crossed the Con 

tinent without stopping at Topeka, 

for here lived the McClelland fam-


ily with whom I was closely related. 

After the removal of some of them 

by death, and the rest for other 

reasons, I had recently been tempted 

to assume that the friendship senti 

ment no longer existed with the 

strength it once had. But following 

the experiences of our recent visit I 

csn never again feel that we no 

longer have friends here. The cordial 

ity 

of the Editor of the Covenanter 

Witness, with his family; the friend 

ship of the Secretary of the Chris 

tian Amendment Movement, and that 

of his household; the readiness of 

the Pastor of the congregation, and 

of his wife and children both in their 

home and elsewhere, to do every 

thing 

within their power to give us 

a good time to say nothing of the 

unchanging fidelity of so many 

former friends all gave full evi 

dence that we still had a warm place 

in the hearts of these good people. 

At the time we were in Kansas, 

Dr. R. H. Martin was there delivering 

addresses in support of their State 

Prohibition Law; 

and with the Pas 

tor giving assistance to this public 

cause, and attending 

to his own 

pastoral duties, he was more than 

busy both day and night. But in ad 

dition to his home hospitality, he 

took time to aid us i n visiting the 

Pastor and church equipment in 

Eskridge; in visiting and inspecting 

the church building and parsonage 

in Winchester, and also meeting 

some of the Covenanters there; and 

on the same circuit calling on the 

Pastor's family at Denison, and 

seeing the church building 

and new 

parsonage there. At the latter place 

it was a privilege to call on Elder 

George C. Robb now over 90 years of 

age, and who told me that his three 

brothers, Doctors A. I., J. K., and 

Wilson, were all now over the 80 

year limit. Returning 

to Topeka we 

were made happy by the gracious 

hospitality 

of the families of Dr. 

Taggart and of Dr. Mathews. How 

ever, the devotional spirit of the 

Wednesday evening prayer meeting, 

and the report that at the Sabbath 

services they have a problem in find 

ing seating room for the worshipers, 

did us more good than anything else 

especially 

since the secret of this 

state of things is open to every con 

gregation that will organize and 

support prayer-circles, as they do 

here. 

At Kansas City 

and Olathe 

As Dr. Paul Coleman was perhaps 

more responsible than anyone else 

for our 

undertaking- 

this itinerary, 

it was natural that one of our 

stops should be where he now lives 

and works. Up 

until this point it had 

been our policy on reaching any of 

these stops, to get established in 

some hotel before letting 

our friends 

know we were in town. In the present 

case, however, this rule went by de 

fault when we found that preceding 

our arrival the arrangements were 

already made for us to lodge in the 

hospitable home of Dr. and Mrs. Paul 

Wright. No wayfarers ever had a 

moi e cordial welcome, or received 

more gracious entertainment than 

was given us here. We had not seen 

Dr. Wright since he had as a child 

been in our Seattle home, as his 

sainted parents came and went in 

their passage to and from China as 

missionaries. Though Mrs. Wright 

was close to us in kinship, the cir 

cumstances of our lives had hitherto 

kept us from the closer fellowship 

which was now so happily begun. 

It would not be possible to tell 

how much we enjoyed our brief stay 

with this devoted couple and their 

two children, and such an account 

might interest others less than our 

selves. The main purpose of stop 

ping here, as elsewhere, 

was to get 

or give something that is of lasting 

value, and we certainly received such 

things in association, with our Cove 

nanter friends in this place. In the 

Pastor's home we met their daughter 

Betty, who a few years ago had been 

for some time a valued helper in our 

work in Montclair, 

and in whom and 

her present relations our interest is 

still unchanged. The Sabbath we 

were there was 

"Preparation" 

day 

for the Communion, and the spirit of 

that Holy Feast was already present. 

Thoroughness and efficiency were 

evident in everything that concerns 

God's cause here, so far as a brief 

visit revealed; and the attachment of 

Pastor and people is not hard to 

understand. I was told that the Clerk 

of Session, Mr. Adams, keeps his 

records with an accuracy and exact 

ness that is nowhere excelled, and 

rarely if ever equalled. May his tribe 

increase. 

Before leaving, the Wright family 

took us auto by to Olathe to see the 

church equipment and meet with 

some of our Covenanter friends. The 

church building was familiar to me, 

as it was here that at the meeting of 

Synod in 1922 I had preached the 

retiring Moderator's sermon. The 

parsonage was also associated in my 

mind as the former home of Rev. 

and Mrs. M. R. Jameson, with whom 

1 had been a few years later in con 

nection with a Communion Service in 

which I was his assistant, and then 

baptised one of their children, as I 

had befoie baptised the mother. On 

this occasion the congregation was 

making renovation of the parsonage 

in hopes of its occupancy of the 

Pastor just recently 

here. 

called to come 

The addition of Mi-. Charles Mc 

Burney to their membership gives 

promise of leadership in the praise 

services of this congregation which 

many hymn-singing groups might 

desire to secure, but which we are 

glad to know he has consecrated to 

the cause of Psalm-singing, and 

which we hope will reach out in its 

influence throughout all of our con 

gregations. 

I speak of Mr. McBurney's ex 

ample because it is typical of the 

spirit of consecration that I recog 

nized in every Covenanter congrega 

tion covered in this itinerary. Not 

only have we good singers in all of 

such congregations whose abilities 

may be sufficient to make them 

eligible as members of more fashion 

able choirs; but we have ministers 

who might easily get a "call" 

to some 

wealthy and worldly 

congregation in 

other denominations, but whose de 

votion to the truth of our Creed and 

Covenant makes them hold fast the 

profession of our Faith without 

wavering. This is the spirit that 

makes our Church live, and those 

who lack this consecration can never 

stand against the pressure toward 

apostasy so common in our times. 

We ended this trip helped by the ex 

ample of those who love Christ's 

truth more than worldly gains, and 

thank God that these whom we have 

met in this way are only samples of 

so many others of whose fidelity the 

Master fully knows. 

ON LEAVING WHITE LAKE 

I cannot think of the years that I 

spent in White Lake without a feel 

ing 

among 

of gratitude toward the people 

whom I served for fifteen 

years. Those years were marked with 

a great many evidences of the loyal 

ty 

which the members of the White 

Like congregation show their min 

isters. Paiticularly was this loyalty^ 

shown as we made preparation to 

leave. At a farewell reception a 

present was presented to Mrs. Cas 

key from the Ladies Missionary So 

ciety in appreciation of her work. 

Then we were presented with a bill 

fold from the congregation and 

friends which contained $176.00.


During the yeai s that we were in 

White Lake we had always received 

our salary one month in advance; 

on our last Sabbath the treasurer 

presented the usual check for an 

other month with the assurance that 

it was the desire of the congrega 

tion that we should receive this as 

a further token of their interest in 

our welfare. 

We found the field of service in 

White Lake to be large. There is a 

fine opportunity to work among 

unchurched people; White Lake 

Camp makes it possible to have an 

influence among the young people 

of the Tri-Presbyterial; and there 

was an opportunity to share in the 

larger work of the church as a mem 

ber of the Foreign Mission Board. 

We pray the Lord of the Harvest 

that he shall send anotner shepherd 

into this field and that the work of 

the Lord shall be prospered in his 

hand. 

Mr. and Mrs. R. W. Caskey 

GREELEY COLO. 

Rev. S. Bruce Willson took up his 

new pastorate in Greeley the first 

of October. He was installed as pas 

tor on Wednesday evening, the 13th. 

This service was in charge of Rev. 

Paul White of Denver. 

Following the installation service 

a reception was held in the basement 

of the church in honor of Mr. and 

Mrs. Willson and children. A num 

ber came from Denver for this happy- 

occasion to help us welcome the Willsons 

to Greeley and to the Colorado 

presbytery. 

We enjoyed having Rev. and Mrs. 

Boyrd White with us September 19. 

Mr. White preached for us morning 

and evening. Mrs. White is a cousin 

of Miss Harriott McCandless and Mr. 

Wnite is a cousin of Mr. A. A. Car 

son. 

Dr. C. T. Carson of Beaver Fails, 

Pa., and Mr. and Mrs. Willard Car 

son of Ft. Morgan, Colo., visited for 

a few days in the home of Roy M. 

Carson and family. Dr. Carson oc 

cupied the pulpit on the 26th of Sep 

tember. He is one of our former pas 

tors and always a welcome visitor in 

GreeleyT. 

Dr. and Mrs. 0. F. Thompson are 

now at Hot Springs, New Mexico, 

for an indefinite stay. 

Miss Dorothy Thompson is the of 

fice nurse of Dr. Huston in Win 

chester, Kansas. Dorothy was our 

talented and faithful choir leader. 

Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Hays have left 

for Lancaster, California, to spend 

the winter with their son-in-law and 

daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Neal Stear 

ley. 

SOUTHFIELD, MICH. 

We were truly privileged in hav 

ing so many ministers and mission 

aries filll our pulpit while we were 

without a pastor from November 

1947 to August 1948. Rev. Remo 

Robb; Licentiates Charles Sterrett, 

Bruce Stewart, W. N. McCune; Dr. 

R. H. Martin, Rev. M. W. Martin, 

Rev. Charles T. Carson, Dr. R. A. 

Blair, Miss Blanche McCrea, Dr. Jes 

se Mitchel, Dr. Samuel Edgar, Dr. 

J. C. Mathews Rev. Theodore Mc 

Donald and Rev. Robert Henning. 

We became quite well acquainted 

with Mr. McCune who spent the 

Christmas holidays with us, mfnis- 

teiing to our spiritual needs for 

three Sabbaths and visiting us in our 

homes. Dr. R. H. Martin brought us 

his message on National Reform and 

Miss McCrea told us of the work at 

Nicosia and the need of more work 

ers there. Dr. Jesse Mitchel brought 

us stirring messages at our Com 

munion Season and went on to 

Hetherton with those who were at 

tending- 

Presbytery 

and Presbyterial 

there. He was the main speaker at 

those meetings and by 

request ex 

plained some o*f his work and con 

tacts during 

the war years. 

Dr. Samuel Edgar was with us for 

Sabbath preaching and was the main 

speaker at our Mother and Daughter 

Banquet. He has not lost any of his 

power of vivid word pictures and 

can be heard by all, which was much 

appreciated. 

Dr. J. C. Mathews stopped when 

he passed near us on his travels and 

he with his family was here for the 

Bowes-Jameson wedding, spending 

part of their vacation in our midst. 

Rev. Theodore McDonald, 

a former 

son of our congregation, preached 

for us the first two Sabbaths of July. 

It is good to see our young men de 

velop into strong and effective lead 

ers as well as ministers in the Faith. 

Rev. Robert Henning and Rev. 

Luther McFarland were in charge of 

moderating 

calls for a new pastor 

which resulted in our now enjoying 

Rev. and Mrs. Harold Thompson in 

our midst. They arrived in time to 

meet all and enjoy the Sabath School 

picnic dinner and fun. 

Rev. Henning and family were 

tendered a farewell party at the 

home of his parents, by the congre 

gation and friends, before they 

started their westward trip, attend 

ing conferences and speaking to 

many congregations on the way. 

There were 13 of our young people 

who attended the conference at Oak 

Park. The reports they brought back 

to us showed the many benefits re 

ceived from attending and having a 

part in like meetings. 

We must not forget the enjoyable 

and inspirational evening had when 

the Covichords were with us and the 

social hour that followed. 

The young people enjoyed several 

good times during the summer. 

Swimming 

was followed by weiner 

roasts and singing about a campfire. 

After most of the vacationers had 

returned the congregation surprised 

Rev. and Mrs. Thompson by waiting 

for them to return home after pray 

er meeting on September 22, and 

tried to make them feel at home 

throug-h the social hour together. 

Rev. and Mrs. Thompson invited 

all the congregation and friends to 

an evening 

of fun at the church 

October 1. It was an evening of 

many laughs, followed by excellent 

refreshments. We need more of the 

same sociability. 

AN APPRECIATION FROM 

"The Christian Patriot" 

In the late summer and early fall 

an appeal was made to our congre 

gations to give a boost to the steadi 

ly decreasing "Christian Patriot" 

subscription list. We are happy to 

report that although the response 

has not been all that we had hoped 

for, it has been sufficient to check 

the decline. 

The staff of "The Christian Patriot" 

wishes to give recognition to those 

congregations which have cooperated 

in this project. Some of these had 

already assumed responsibility foj- 

annual lists before the last appeal 

was made. 

To Hebron, with a total of one 

hunderd thirty names, go top honors. 

Fine lists, ranging from fifty to one 

hundred names, came from Colden 

ham, Los Angeles, Quinter, Santa An- 

a, Southfield, Sparta, and White 

Lake. 

In the twenty-five to fifty-name 

bracket are Cambridge, Old Bethel, 

Sterling, Walton, and Winchester. 

Shorter lists have come from Bear 

Run-Mahoning, Blanchard, Blooming 

ton, Boston, Central Pittsburgh, Den 

ison, Fresno, Geneva, the Greeley C. 

Y. P. U., Kansas City, Mercer, New 

burgh, Parnassus, Rose Point, and 

Seattle.


We wish we could say: "Thank 

you. The job is done." Unfortunate 

ly 

this is not the case. The decreas 

ing list has been halted. The next 

step is to start it on the way upward. 

May we again suggest the following 

as a goal: 

(1) Every Covenanter family sub 

scribing to the "Patriot" 

(2) Every Covenanter family send 

ing the paper to at least three 

people outside our church 

(3) Twenty congregations sending 

gift subscriptions to one hun 

dred or more non-Covenanters 

(including No. 2) 

Will you prayerfully 

consider this 

goal and the response which your 

congregation has made to it. We 

feel sure the next step 

will then be 

made plain to you. By Mildred G. 

Boyd, Assistant Editor. 

SANTA ANA, CALIF. 

The Missionaries on the Pacific 

Coast, who are waiting to sail for 

China, have all spent some time with 

us. We count it a great privilege and 

a blessing. Each one brought us a 

message. 

October 17, Rev. Alvin Smith of 

Orlando very ably 

assisted at our 

Communion services. He also gave 

his lecture "The Faith of the Cove 

nanter in the Atomic Age." 

Rev. 

Frank Allen of Hopkinton was pres 

ent at the Friday evening service. 

Among 

our guests during the late 

summer and fall were Mr. and Mrs. 

J. C. Brown and daughter of Sharon; 

Mrs. Daisy Huston of Seattle; Mrs. 

Chas. Stewart, of the U. P. Mission 

in Pakistan, India, who told us of 

their work there; Mrs. Hollenbeck, 

Mrs. Richardson, Mrs. Buck and her 

son Francis and his wife, 

of Fresno; 

and a number from Los Angeles. 

Our sick are improving. Mrs. Scott 

McClelland is able to walk with the 

aid of a cane. The broken limb is 

mending. June McConachie is able to 

attend church after having Polio. Mr. 

Shepherd and Bruce are recovering 

from the mumps. Mr. Nelson was in 

disposed, but is better. 

Rev. Robert Henning brought us 

the message at our Thank-offering 

service Friday evening, 

The offering 

November 5. 

amounted to $180.00 

Darrell Thomas is the name of the 

little son born to Robert and Eva 

(Curry) Blackwood, November 6. 

November 9, Mrs. Edgar left us 

for a visit with her relatives in Gree 

ley. 

November 10, the W. M. S. packed 

boxes for the bazaar at the Southern 

Mission. 

Mrs. Coulter, Mr. and Mrs. Boyd, 

Mrs. May Crissman and daughter of 

Long Beach, and Mrs. Blanche Mey 

er of Corona, worshipped with us 

November 7. 

PHOENIX, ARIZONA 

Having been appointed by the 

Home Mission Board for work in 

Phoenix for five or six months and 

desiring to get things moving as 

soon as possible, we are making a 

few suggestions in advance. 

We should like to conduct a tourist 

information service for our church 

members and their friends, furnishing 

information as far as we can con 

cerning living quarters, 

ditions, etc. 

climatic con 

We should like to be of use to 

those who might wish to move to the 

Phoenix district in helping them to 

secure employment of various kinds, 

including teaching, or in buying a 

home or business. 

We want anyone who has friends 

in or near Phoenix to write us names 

and addresses, 

whether Covenanters 

or not, especially if not identified 

with some church in the city. Until 

such time as we have a permanent 

address, write to us at Phoenix, 

Arizona, General Delivery. We ex 

pect to reach Phoenix on or before 

December the first Sabbath. J. G. 

and May McElhinney. 

IN MEMORIAM 

Thomas W. McBride, 

member of 

Central-Pittsburgh congregation pass 

ed away, November 3, 1948, at the 

age of 87. He was born in County- 

Down, Ireland, 

and came to America 

in early youth. All the remainder 

of his life was spent in the vicinity 

of Pittsburgh, Pa. He has been a 

retired machinist since 1929. Mrs. 

McBride preceded him eight years 

ago. He leaves one brother, Alex 

ander McBride, an elder in the Cen 

tral-Pittsburgh congregation, three 

sons and two daughters. Mr. Mc 

Bride united with the Pittsburgh R. 

P. Church on Eighth Street in his 

boyhood and continued his member 

ship in the united Central-Pittsburgh 

congregation until his death. The 

funeral service was conducted by 

Rev. D. H. Elliott, his former pastor, 

and Rev. J. Ren Patterson who is 

now in charge. 

KENNYSMITH WEDDING 

Mr. Alexander M. Kenny and Miss 

Delores Smith were married on Oc 

tober 15, at Hopkinton, la. Their 

wedding trip included Niagara Falls 

and Pittsburgh, Pa. A reception was 

given to the happy couple at the 

home of Mr. and Mrs. Walter John 

son by the members of the congre 

gation, 

at which time a large plate 

glass mirror was presented to them. 

They 

are making their home on the 

Kenny farm near Hopkinton. 



met at the home of Mrs. Margaret 

Wilson in Belle Center on Thursday 

afternoon, October 14. A busy and 

profitable afternoon was spent after 

which delicious refreshments were 

served by the hostess. 

A masquerade social and wiener 

roast was held at the home of Mr. 

and Mrs. Ralph Quay and family on 

Fridays evening, October 15. 

Mr. T. W. Funk spent a few days 

in Beaver Falls, Pa., with his daugh 

ter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. 

Cameron Patterson and family. 

Mrs. Agnes Templeton also visited 

a few days in Beaver Falls with her 

daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and 

Mrs. Patrick Murphy. 






BOYS' 


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one hundred or more 

212o' 


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Order from F. F. RHADE. 318 Metropolitan Ave.. 



CAMBRIDGE 

The Eleventh Annual Daily Vaca 

tion Bible School was conducted in 

the Cambridge church from June 29 

to July 

16. There were seventy-two 

pupils enrolled, of which fifty-two 

received diplomas. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Lesslie are 

the proud parents of a baby girl. 

Little Patsy was born on Monday, 

June 28, in a Yankee hospital, and 

her Rebel father hasn't gotten over 

it yet. 

Mrs. Aughtra George and her 

daughter Linda visited at the home 

of Mrs. Wm. Ramsey, Sr., this sum 

mer. Mrs. George is the former Leah 

Ramsey. 

The Blue Banner Society met on 

Labor Day in Cranston, R. I., at the 

now home of Mr. and Mrs. M. C. 

Stewart. The guests tested the 

strength of the house, the size of the 

yard, and the capacity of their 

stomachs. We were happy to have 

the Edwin McBurney family of Mont 

clair with us on this occasion. 

The October Blue Banner Meeting 

was held at the home of Mr. and 

Mrs. Wm. Ramsey, Jr. in Needham. 

They, too, have a beautiful new home 

and gave us a warm welcome. 

Nellie Smyth and Dottie Mer- 

sereau entertained the young people 

at the church on Friday evening, 

September 10. The election of this 

year's officers resulted as follows: 

President, Nellie Smyth; Vice Pres 

ident, Barbara Murphy; Secretary, 

Doris Dean; and Treasurer, Winifred 

Burgess. 

In October, the young people had 

a Halloween party. Traditional jack- 

o-lanterns, ducking for apples, dough 

nuts and cider were the order of the 

evening. 

The September meeting of the 

W.M.S. was held at the home of Mrs. 

E. J. M. Dickson. The October meet 

ing was an all day meeting 

at the 

church. The project of preparing 

flannelgraph stories for the China 

and Kentucky Missions has been 

continued with much interest. 

On September 15. White Lake 

Campers conducted an Echo Meeting 

of this year's encampment, replete 

with pictures. A covered dish supper 

preceded the program. Miss Spragge 

was presented with flowers in honor 

of her ninety-second birthday. 

Miss Lillian Faris has recovered 

remarkably from her operation, and 

we are glad to have her at our church 

services again. 

Sabbath, October 3, was Rally Day 

in our Sabbath School. A special pro 

gram was prepared and a large num 

ber of children responded. Mr. Wm. 

Ramsey showed a film strip drawn 

byr Phil Saint about the Prodigal 

Son. Mr. Watson Stewart and our 

pastor gave interesting 

to the children. 

chalk talks 

The Worship Service that morning 

was a Covenanter Crusade Service to 

which each member was asked to 

invite a friend. The response was en 

couraging 

tendance. 

and we had a good at 

Our two Service men, Tom Smyth 

and Bill Stewart, worshiped with us 

recently and we were glad to see 

them again. Tom is serving in the 

Navy in Florida, 

Army Air Corps in Texas. 

and Bill is in the 

Betty Jo Dickson gets home oc 

casionally from the Yale School of 

Nursing and Mac Stewart, Jr. is 

back again after living in Seattle and 

Wisconsin. 


Our congregation has again been 

saddened by the death of one of its 

faithful members. Mrs. Mary Mc- 

Caughan passed away while sleep 

ing 

on October 13. Funeral services 

were conducted in the Reformed 

Presbyterian Church on October 15, 

with Rev. R. S. McElhinney officiat 

ing. Surviving are her two sons, Dr. 

Russell McCaughan of Chicago, Il 

linois, and Marcus McCaughan of 

Kokomo, Indiana. Her only daughter, 

Mrs. Alpha Moore, preceded her 

mother in death in July. Five grand 

children and several great-grand 

children also survive. 

Mrs. Lizzie Kennedy has been ill 

for the last few weeks, and we are 

hoping for her speedy recovery. 

Mrs. R. S. McElhinney has been 

returned to hei- home after under 

going an operation to remove a bone 

from her throat, in the Methodist 

Hospital in Indianapolis. A second 

operation was averted by the speedy 

action of penicillin. 

Since the departure of our pastor 

we have been privileged to hear the 

following speakers: Rev. J. W. 

Hanger of Bloomington; Mr. Buir- 

key, a Missionary to China for 12 

years; and Dr. John Minnick of 

Philadelphia, Pa. On the remaining 

Sabbaths we have had prayer meet 

ings led by various members. 

Miss Teresa Curry, infant daugh 

ter of Mr. and Mrs. Foster Curry, 

has been returned to her home after 

treatment in the Methodist Hospital 

in Indianapolis. 

Miss Wilma Jean BrashaJber, 

daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walter 

Brashaber, and Lawrence Curry, son 

of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Curry, Sr., 

were united in marriage on Satur 

day, October 16. They are making 

their home with Lawrence's parents 

for the present. 

Our delegate to the Illinois Pres 

bytery this year was Ucal Faris who 

attended the meetings in Oakdale 

on October 26. 

Mrs. G. R. Steele of Cincinnati, 

Ohio, worshiped with us on Sabbath, 

October 31. We are always glad to 

have our out-of-bounds members 

with us. 

Rev. R. S. McElhinney was hon 

ored recently by being included in 

the new edition of Leaders in Edu 

cation. 

Two baby boys, James Virgil Stone 

III and George Edwin Curry, have 

arrived recently to brighten the 

homes of their parents, Mr. and Mrs. 

James Virgil Stone, Jr. and Mr. and 

Mrs. Robert Curry, Jr., respectively. 

SECOND NOTICE TO ARTHRITIS 

AND OTHER CHRONIC 

SUFFERERS 

Our food supplement of February 

11 has been streamlined and in 

creased in potency yet not in price, 

as it can now be made in so much 

larger quantities. The response to the 

first notice has been very gratifying 

both in the number of inquirers and 

the number who subscribed, and we 

have been cheered by the many cus 

tomers who tell us of benefit received. 

The old grades Nos. 15, 10, 7, 5 are 

all being taken off the market. Only 

one grade with increased potency 

and the same price as old No. 15 will 

be offered at $19.50 a month for 

ten months with supply for two 

months furnished practically free. 

But those who wish a less expen 

sive product can get it by simply 

dividing the dose, thus making the 

monthly 

payment for this half dose 

only $9.75 per month. And the mini 

mum which we had in No. 5 can be 

had by taking the half dose only 

every other day 

as No. 5, $5 a month. 

at the same price 

Let us hear from you on any of 

these three propositions. We are sure 

you will be pleased with any of them. 

Address 

Rev. A. J. McFarland 

706 East Pine 

Santa Ana, Calif.

THEO 

300 years Of Witnessing- 


[ok. CHk'isT'o sommj-.iuH __^>j 

ght .-.__ ,n 

_ 

r f. C >MJRc h ind tuc. 

i'vatjoaL. 

VOLUME XLI WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21. 1918 NUMBER 21 

THE LATE 

W. T. K THOMPSON, D. D. 

Pastor of 

ST. JOHNS, N. B., R. P- CHURCH 

May 1809 May 1905 

SUPERIOR, NEBR.. R. P. CHURCH 

January 1906 May 1910 

MERCER, PA., R. P CHURCH 

September 1911 -May 194S 

CALLED TO HIS REWARD 

August 28, 1948

THE COVENANTER WITNESS 

Qhm


Gwilent &ue+il'i Prof. John Coleman, PhD., D. D. 

The Army has slashed its 20,000 January draft call in 

half and its February call to 5,000. Evidently these are 

token calls just to keep the machinery in operation. The 

armed forces have asked for $23,000,000,000 for the fiscal 

year beginning July 1 and the President has said that 

$15,000,000,000 must be the limit. To make it stick he as 

commander-in-chief has had to forbid all officers lo 

propagandize for a larger appropriation. They probably 

will not do so in public. If all the forces used their 

money economically the nation would be more sympa 

thetic. Ask a class of veterans whether they personally 

saw outrageous waste of valuable materials, and a third 

answer in the affirmative. 

The bitter struggle between the army, navy and air 

branches of our national defense is getting hotter. Each 

wants the money, the power, and the honors. Congress 

and President have tried to unite the services to avoid 

the waste in men and money through service rivalries 

so flagrant in the last war, but so far their efforts have 

failed. Congress will probably make another try in the 

coming session. 

The Central American country of Costa Rica is in the 

limelight because its provisional president, Jose Figuer- 

es, has disbanded the national army and returned to its 

democratic tradition of having more school teachers than 

soldiers. 

Peru and Venezuela have both had revolutions in which 

liberal regimes were overthrown by the army, and army 

officers established in full control. The United States 

has recognized the Peruvian revolutionists and probably 

will repeat in Venezuela. It seems at this distance as if 

we righteously spend hundreds of thousands of men and 

billion of money to put down militarism in Europe and go 

along 

with it in the Western hemisphere. 

The situation in China is changing so fast that one 

hestitates to report on it, but at this date (December 4) 

the Communists are carrying 

all before them and have 

either taken over, destroyed, surrounded, or practically 

disarmed all the best divisions of the government's 

army. 

The Thirty-fourth Annual Church Pensions Conference, 

meeting in New York, November 1, 

with representatives 

from twenty-one Protestant denominations in addition to 

the Y. M. and Y. W. C. A., reported an annual pension 

load of $18,216,099. The boards have a total of $314,125,- 

000 in endowments and actuary 

reserve funds and an 

annual income of $37,352,341. 44,000 retired ministers, 

layworkers, 

widows and orphans are receiving pensions. 

A number of churches are considering increasing the 

pensions because of the greatly increased cost of living. 

The DuPonts announce a new synthetic fiber, the 

most silk-like yet discovered, and name it Orion. It is 

not to displace nylon or rayon but to supplement them. 

It has the nearest resemblance to wool of any fiber of 

which the Company knows. 

* * # * 

American and British engineers have come to an agree 

ment on a standard screw thread, which will be a boon 

to trade in peacetime and of obvious benefit in time of 

war. In the last struggle the difference in threads cost 

American industry millions of dollars and months of 

time. The push for such an arrangement has been going 

on since 1918. Now, brethren, 

ard bolt thread. 

; >. 

get together on a stand 

Uncle Sam is the biggest holder in the world, by mort 

gage, of agricultural products. He has made loans of 

31 lie a pound $162 a bale of cotton on the average, 

on 2,300,000 bales and may possess 5,000,000 bales by 

late spring. The wheat loans of $2.00 a bushel may reach 

300,000,000 bushels, the corn loan of $1.44 a bushel may 

reach 500,000,000 bushels. The farmer pays 3C', interest 

on the loans, half of which goes to the banker that makes 

the loan and the other half to the government, which 

guarantees the loans. This is big business. 

The Soviet Union is planning a 15-year program of 

soil conservation and fight against drought with 3,000 

acres of forest shelter belts and 25,000 water reservoirs. 

This is fine; but the boast that such a thing could not be 

done in a capitalist country is nonsense. The U. S. Soil 

Conservation Service shows in less than 15 years 25,249 

miles of windbreak embracing 213,000 acres and 108,000 

reservoirs and farm ponds. The Russians must have got 

ten their idea right from the U. S. A. They are welcome, 

but should make acknowledgment. 

The Cleveland Board of Education by 

unanimous res 

olution has declared war on fraternities and sororities 

in the city junior and senior high schools. The Ohio 

law forbids such groups, and thirty days of grace are 

allowed to Cleveland student members to get out of 

them. A hint that racial and religious factors have de 

termined membership is found in the remark of one 

school board member that they 

Klans." 

are "miniature Klux 

A Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist tells of a girl who 

rebuked a friend of her mother for offering another 

woman a cigarette: "I don't mean to be rude to you 

youn 

and Mother but you just look around you when you are 

out and see for yourself if there aren't more gray-haired 

women smoking than there are Jeannies with the Light 

Brown Hair." 

The girl added the comment that not a 

girl in her college dorm smoked. Let us hope! 

There is but one cause for complete divorce in the 

state of New York, violation of the Seventh Command 

ment; and there have been 9,000 such decrees in the 

past two years. Now it has been discovered that much 

of the evidence lias been faked, and some divorces may 

be nullified, some lawyers disbarred for suborning per 

jury, and some perjuring witnesses sent to jail. Agi 

tation for a liberalizing 

of the divorce law is already 

in full cry. The Roman Catholic and the Episcopal 

churches are strong in the state and will uphold the 

present law. 



Look Now From Heaven 

Owen F. Thompson, D. D. 

No, it is not a quotation from the Scriptures, 

though it sounds very much like it. Abraham, 

in his time of testing, was directed : "Look now 

toward heaven." 

And that was the proper thing 

to do for what God wanted Abraham to see. But 

in our subject today we are directed : "Look now 

from heaven." 

And that is the proper thing to do 

for what God wants us to see in this study. Ab 

raham was looking away from earth, not toward 

it; he was looking at things not on earth but in 

heaven ; he was looking upward, not downward 

for his source of inspiration, assurance, direction 

and hope. We, on the contrary, in our times of 

discouragement and trouble are to consider our 

selves as occupying the heavenly position by the 

side of Christ and find the answer to life's prob 

lems and testings by looking at them through His 

eyes who knows all things and can see through 

every obstacle, who can see in the darkness as 

in the light, who knows every path that we do 

not know and could never discover. For, is He 

not the Great Shepherd of the Sheep? And has 

he not said, "I am the way"? So, whether it be 

Abraham and his problems, or whether it be you, 

it is always wise and satisfying to look at life in 

the light of Heaven, whether it mean looking to 

ward Heaven or looking from Heaven upon our 

mysterious and often hidden paths that we must 

travel here. 

Thus far has been by way of introduction. Let 

us call this the beginning of the book proper. 

We had decided to go mountain climbing that 

day, taking 

our lunch and warm clothes. 

"We" 

means Mrs. Thompson and I. We planned to 

eat our lunch on the highest peak of all and spend 

the hour there looking down over the lower moun 

tains and the many valleys and then away far 

out over the plains to the east and south. It was 

irrigated country and most beautiful. Broad 

fields of grain and many other crops such as hay, 

potatoes, beets, beans and truck produce, all laid 

out in their separate fields made almost a child's 

garden of the world beneath us. 

But there was one thing in particular that we 

had planned to note from the mountain peak that 

day. I will speak of it in a moment, for of all 

the things that we saw that day from the "high 

peak" 

est mountain this one was to be the most 

wonderful and the most comforting and satisfy 

ing of all. It was a bare peak, as far as plant or 

animal life goes, but that did not keep it from be 

ing exceedingly 

and satisfy the souls of men. 

rich in the fruits that nourish 

Well the path was rough. Everywhere were 

stones, large and small. There were weeds and 

nettles and cacti and thorns and almost everything 

one could imagine that would impede progress. 

The thing that bothered us most in our climbing 

those days was that the paths seemed to inter 

lace and combine and divide and double back and 

climb half way up the mountain side, then dip 

down into the valley or the ravine again so that 

we seemed to lose all the altitude that we had la- 

borously 

gained. This "trick of the 

paths" 

was 

the big thing for which we were climbing to the 

highest peak that day and spending our noon 

hour on the top of the world. We wanted to solve 

the problem of the paths if there were such a 

solution. We wanted to see what the paths of 

the hill sides and valleys looked like "from up 

there." 

So we climbed on. Sometimes the path seemed 

plain enough. Sometimes the plain path proved 

to be the wrong path and we must return to the 

last crossing and take the other path, the one we 

had decided against the first time. Sometimes 

rolling stones kept us sliding backward almost 

as fast as we could go forward. Sometimes a 

plain path would branch outward into three or 

four dim paths forcing us to guess and go on 

uncertainly. Many times, like Abraham of old 

we went on not knowing whither we went. Some 

times the path circled a bush or a great rock or 

went under a barbed wire fence. But at last, 

walking by faith much of the way, only making 

sure that the general trend was upward toward 

the peak, we came at last to the last short steep 

climb just those few hard steps, and we were 

"ON TOP." 

Panting, we sat down right there 

getting our breath again and taking brief glimp 

ses of the great and wonderful panorama beneath 

us. Our lunch was soon uncovered and as we ate 

we looked to solve "the paths and their lessons." 

How different things seemed from far up in the 

sky. How strangely clear and plain the paths that 

led from our cabin by the highway to the mountain 

peak. How easy to follow now are the paths 

that we had groped our way along, too intricate 

to be solved from the low lands where we could 

see but the one path and often no more than ten 

feet ahead. 

A little bird, once on a time, building her nest 

a few feet from the ground by an invalid's win 

dow, was bidden to, "Build higher, build high 

er," 

for there were dangers down too near the 

low places and only in living above these in the 

clear air of the sky could she be safe. Even so 

God would have us to understand that life can 

be lived safely, problems can be solved surely, 

intricate paths can be unraveled that are too in 

tricate for the valleys, and the broad, beautiful 

visions of God's great plans and His world King 

dom can be understood as we look at them from 

heaven, from that place where Christ sits at the 

right hand of God. 

As we ate and looked and talked, our eyes fol 

lowed the paths below us. They were the same 

paths that we were looking at now only they 

were so different. Instead of being a jumble 

of meaningless turns and tangles, now each path 

has its own meaning and ever, from the very be 

ginning at the foot of the hills, there was one


clear path rising higher and higher and drawing- 

nearer and nearer the top. There was one path 

but just one path to be followed to the heights 

from whence we might "look now from heaven" 

and see things in their true meaning and in their 

proper perspective. 

Might we not let that mountain top be Christ 

above us. He has traveled every one of these 

earthly highways and knows them every one. 

He has said of Himself and His pathway for 

life, This is the way, walk ye in it. Let Him, 

from far, far above all earthly limitations, be 

your Guide, your Counselor, your Goal. Let 

yourself find your place by His side and look from 

there. 

Perhaps it is some providence of God, perhaps 

it is some trouble, some sickness, some loss, some 

sorrow, some disappointment, some failure, some 

testing 

like that of Abraham. Perhaps it is some 

experience like that of Martha and Mary who 

could not understand until they looked from the 

Saviour's side and presence. "LOOK NOW 

FROM HEAVEN". That vantage point will help 

you solve your life problems, too. 

And what of Eternity and the Heavenly life 

and home? Will we look from Heaven and re 

call the life we lived here on earth? I do npt 

know. God has not told us certainly. But we do 

know that many life's problems, testings and 

inequalities as we know them here will truly be 

solved there so that we can be assured that "Heav 

en holds the and that, somehow, we know 

that the wrongs of the past will all be made right 

with its full 

as we look at them "from heaven" 

er knowledge and its "knowing 

known." 

Iii Memory of W. T. K- Thompson, 

CALLED HOME 

Rev. M. W. Martin 

In the year 1870, Dr. William Knox Thompson 

was born near the town of Canonsburg. Pa. The 

Miller's Run Church was in the process of being- 

rebuilt that year. He joined this church sixteen 

years later, and in this vicinity gained his early 

education. 

Dr. Thompson attended Geneva College, gradu 

ating in the year 1894. That same fall, he enter 

ed the Seminary of our church in Allegheny. In 

the spring of 1897, he was licensed to preach the 

gospel at Parnassus by Pittsburgh Presbytery. 

The following December, Dr. Thompson gradu 

ated from the Seminary. While enroute to his 

first pastorate, a train accident almost ended his 

career before it had begun, but the Lord spared 

him for many years of service in His wo'-'k. 

Dr. Thompson was ordained and installed pas 

tor of the St. Johns, New Brunswick, church m 

May, 1898. In October of that year, he was unit 

ed in marriage with Miss Jennie May McCcn- 

aughy, of Washing-ton, Iowa. After serving m 

this field for seven years to the day. he was re 

leased, 

Nebraska, congregation. After 

servingthere 

for four vears, he again made a change, which 

brought him to the Mercer congregation. He be 

soon to take the work in the Superior, 

gan his ministry there in September of 1911, 

and continued until ill health influenced him to 

give up his active work in this congregation in 

June of this year (1918). 

Many 

things might be said about his activities- 

at Mercer during his thirty-seven years of service. 

His work in the jail was unique. Shortlv after 

his arrival there, he was asked to take his turn 

speaking to those in the jail, it then bein; under 

the direction 

of the group at Mercer. 

Because of the irregularity with which the minis 

ters carried out their obligations in this matter, it 

was only a few weeks until Dr. Thompson was 

asked to take over the work bv himself. This 

he did, and carried on the work faithfully and 

D. D. 

even as we are 

effectively to within a few months of his death. 

In 1920, Judge J. A. McLaughry 

Thompson as parole officer. He was the first 

named Dr. 

parole officer the county ever had, and continued 

in the office for sixteen and one-half years, dur 

ing which time he wrote hundreds of encourag 

letters to boys and men under parole or on 

ing 

probation. Recognition of his outstanding work 

in juvenile cases brought about his election in 

1926 as president of the State Association of Pro 

bation and Parole. This was only one of the 

many ways in which he daily served his Lord and 

his community. 

Because of ill health, he felt it best to retire 

from active service in the Mercer congregation 

ind June of this year, and was made Pastor Em 

eritus by a loving congrea-ation. Dr. Thompson 

worshiped his last Sabbath on earth among the 

people he had sewed for so many vears. He de 

parted this life on August 28, 1948. 

These comments may soon be forgotten, but 

the friendly smile, the ready wit, the cordial 

greeting, the helpful words and works, the sin- 

care love of Dr. Thompson for his congregation 

and his friends will never be forgotten. Having 

been a member of Pittsburgh Presbytery for the 

past thirty-seven years, Dr. Thompson will be 

greatly missed by the church. He trulv followed 

in the steps of his Master, and served Him faith 

fully and well. 

The following poem was found among his pap 

ers on his desk : 

AFTER WORK 

Lord, when thou seest my 

work is done, 

Let me not linger on, 

With failing powers, 

A clown the weary hours, 

A workless workocin 

a world of work. 

But, with a word. 

Just bid me home ; 

And I will cine right gladly. 

Yea, right gladly will I come.

"My Kinsman According 

to the Flesh" 

My 

J. K. Robb, D. D. 

real acquaintance with this cousin and 

friend really began when we were both coming 

into young manhood. We had met a few times 

during our 'teens, but it was not until we were 

room-mates in College that our real acquaintance 

began, and our friendship developed into close 

intimacy. We were students together in both 

College and Theological Seminary, he being one 

year ahead of me. After finishing our theologi 

cal work we were widely separated, he being set 

tled in Nova Scotia and I in Colorado, until I 

went to China, which separated us still farther. 

So it was just after years of separation that we 

would meet again. 

But the friendship that had been established 

during our years of schooling was just as mani 

fest and natural as if we had been meeting regu 

larly year after year. After my return from the 

mission field it was my pleasure to be with him at 

a communion season, which was a delightful re 

newal of our former friendship. It was then that 

I came to know something of the work he was 

doing among the inmates of the county jail in 

Mercer, Pa. It was then that I detected some 

developments in him that I had not noted in 

earlier years, and they were, I thought, and still 

think, the fruit of his labors among the prisoners, 

produced in his own life. His earlier years in 

the ministry, and indeed from his childhood, were 

such as to give him no very direct contact with 

the criminal classes, and the depths to which sin 

ful humanity can descend. And it was his own 

testimony that it was his service in behalf of 

the criminals in the Mercer jail that really open 

ed his eyes to the dreadful results of sin in men's 

hearts, and what salvation is, and how nothing 

but the blood of Christ can cleanse from its stains. 

So, while he retained to the last his cordiality and 

spontaneous sense of humor, there had developed 

in him, 

an unmistakable growth in grace that 

made him the kindly and spiritually-minded man 

that he was. His long pastorate at Mercer, sev 

ered so shortly before his departure, testifies to 

his fidelity as an under-shepherd of the Great 

Shepherd's flock. But no greater service did he 

render than when, following the example of his 

Master, he ministered to those unfortunates who 

could say 

unto 

me." 

of him "I was in prison, and ye came 



sonnel and expand in numbers and courses offered. His 

reports to Synod were pleasingly and clearly 


given al 

most entirely without a note to refresh his mind even in 

the financial items and proposed expansion. He was a 

man of pa'-ts. a genial companion, a welcome after-dinner 

speaker, a capable scholar a good preacher, an honored 

and loved college president, and a Christian gentleman. 

He Was My Friend 

November 24, 1948 

In memory of the Rev. W. T. K. Thompson, D. D. 

by The Rev. Boyd A. White 

'Twas long ago when first we met, 

And near the summer's end; 

'Twas in his home he greeted me, 

That day became my friend. 

Years later he was passing near, 

Some service to extend; 

He came to see me where I lived, 

This one who was my friend. 

A few years more, I eastward went 

Our College to attend. 

He too had moved, again we met. 

He was my loyal friend. 

When I again was far away, 

His letters he did send 

To cheer, encourage, 

faithful friend. 

He was my 

strengthen me. 

Nor was he friend to me alone, 

This one whom God did send 

To be the Shepherd of a flock, 

And ever be their friend. 

On through the years our friendship grew; 

While those who did offend 

The laws of justice and of right, 

Found him a trusted friend. 

Not long ago, 

And drawing 

when he was ill 

near the end, 

I called on him what joy I had 

With him my long-time friend ! 

Now he has gone to be with Christ, 

Where richest friendships blend. 

Some day I hope to meet again 

This one who's still my friend. 



Boyd A. White. 

Father Divine's followers have paid $485,000 for the 

246-room Lorraine Hotel on North Broad Street in Phil 

adelphia. Father Divine has announced: "The hotel 

will be open to everyone. It will be run on a Christian 

basis. There will be ho drinking, no smoking, no profan 

ity and no mixing of the sexes." 

In the Journal of the American Medical Association, 

three doctors of the United States Public Health Service 

declare that there are now only 48,000 narcotic addicts, 

mostly men, in the United States. The drug users have 

decreased to this figure from 150,000 to 200,000 in 1914. 

Apparently prohibition does prohibit with drugs, al 

though they are easier to conceal than liquor. When 

there's a government that wants to enforce there's a 

way. 

We extend our sympathy to his wife and family. May the 

Lord guide the Board of Trustees in selecting his suc 

cessor!

November 24, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS :>st 


YOUNG PEOPLE'S TOPIC 


By the Rev. D. Howard 

Psalms : 

GOD'S GIFT AND OURS 

Matt. 2: 112 

Psalm 104: 1717. No. 284 

Psalm 98: 14, No. 261 

Psalm 29: 13, 6, No. 70 

Pfcalm 40: 5. 6. 9. 10: No. 110 

Additional Scripture passage 

II Cor. 8: 112. 

This is the gift season of the year. 

Selfish people think of what they will 

get. Truly Christian people think of 

what they will give. We may think we 

are happy in getting but the greatest 

happiness comes in giving. 

What Is A Gift? 

A gift is a piece of property or 

thing of value that is volutarily trans 

ferred without compensation. 

Where Do We Get the Idea of 

Giving 

The coming of Jesus Christ is rep 

resented in Scripture as a gift. John 

at Christmas Time? 

3: 16; II Cor. 9: 15. And also when 

the wise men came to see the Christ 

Child, they opened up 

their treasures 

and gave to the new born king. Matt. 

2: 11. 

Is It All Right to Have One Season 

In the Year When We Think Espe 

cially about giving? 

How Differently Might We Expect 

Christians and Non-Christians to 

Look On the Matter of Giving? 

What Gifts Have We Received 

From God? 

They 

are too numerous and precious 

to mention them all. They may be 

summed up briefly in order of theii 

importance as (1) Jesus Christ. 

Through Him we have all spir 

itual blessings and the hope of a per 

fect existence after this life. (2) 

Physical life, which includes health, 

stength, and abilities. (3) Possessions, 

which is our material property and 

oppoitunities for the comforts of 

physical life (Deut. 8: 18). Sometimes 

things of a disagreeable nature are 

valuable gifts from God. 

What Uundesirable Things Have 

Sometimes Come To Be Recognized 

Valuable Gifts From God? 

Why Has God Given To Us? 

He doesn't owe us anything. It isn't 

because we are so good and please 

Him so much. God's gifts to us are 

the result of His own nature. It is 

the natural outgrowth of His right 

eousness, love and mercy. 

Are Any of God's Gifts to Us 

Prompted By Our Living Right? 

Because of God's Gifts to Man, 

What Relationship Therefore Would 

We Normally Expect to Exist Be 

tween God and Man? 

Think of a similar situation existing 

between two men. One has given the 

other one all that the second one ever 

had and is regularly 

generous with 

him. How could the world in general 

expect the second man to act toward 

the donor? 

In General What Do Men Regard As 

the Source of Their Blessings? 

Why Does God Give Anything To 

Those Who Disregard Him? 

How Is a Proper Relationship With 

God to Be Shown? 

If we truly 

recognize from whence 

our blessings come and are apprecia 

tive, 

we will strive to please Him who 

gives so much. When we want to 

please a person we give him some 

thing 

not always a material thing. 

What are some non-material things 

that we can give to make people 

pleased? If we want to please God, 

we will give to Him such things as 

obedience, love, service, 

property. 

and material 

How Can We Give Anything to God 

Who Already Owns All Things? 

What Things May We Give to God? 

Are There Things That We Should 

Not Give to God? 

What Gift Does God Most Desire 

of Us? 

Socrates said, "Know thyself." 

ero said, 

"Control thyself." 

in effect, "Give thyself." 

Psalms: 

JUNIOR TOPIC 

Cic 

Christ said 

I Cor. 8: 5. 


By Mrs. Fenton H. Farley 

CHRISTMAS GIFTS 

Favorite Psalms: 

Those Studied In October. 

Teacher Ask the children to bring- 

to this meeting 

ing 

two verses each, tell 

what God gives to us and two 

verses telling 

what God wants us to 

give to Him. Have the first group of 

verses lepeated as the Scripture 

reading at the beginning to the meet 

ing 

and close the meeting with rlie 

verses telling what we may 

Him. 

give to 

Materials needed: 1. A colored pic 

ture of the child Jesus in the manger, 

backed with outing 

flannel. 2. A heart 

cut from red 

construction paper and 

more than large enough to complete 

ly 

cover the manger picture. Cut out 

the center of the heart, leaving a 

heait frame about an inch in width. 

Back this with outing flannel. 3. A 

flannel board. If you do not have one, 

cover vei y heavy cardboard or a 

board about 24 x 30 with dark blue 

outing 

flannel. If you do not have an 

easel, set it on a chair or table of suit 

able height. 

GOD LOVED US AND SENT US 

HIS SON." 

I JOHN 4: 10 

Boys and gills, what is it that al 

most all of you are thinking about 

these days ? Isn't it Christmas pres 

ents ? Have some of you been saving 

your pennies, nickels, and dimes for 

several weeks so you would have 

something- 

to buy a nice present for 

Mother and Daddy, and perhaps for 

Bi other and Sister too? Are some of 

you making presents and having a 

haid time to keep them hidden? 

Chiistmas is a red-letter day, indeed, 

for us, for it is the happiest of times 

in the giving and receiving 

of gifts. 

Uo you know how Christmas presents 

began ? 

Let's go back in our Bible stories to 

wheie sin came into the world ana 

made this earth a very sad place for 

God, the Creator, to look upon. God 

told His own people, whom He had set 

apait from all thy heathen people in 

the world, that He would some day 

send them a Saviour who would bring 

joy and salvation to their hearts, and 

be a light to all the world. 

After God gave this promise to His 

people, 

everytime a little baby was 

born the father and mother hoped 

their baby 

might be this Messiah, or 

Saviour. Everytime the people of- 

feied sacrifices they were looking for 

ward to the coming of the Messiah. 

.After many generations God's Son 

was horn, and then the very angels 

sang 

songs of happiness for this gift 

of God to all people. You remember 

the stoi y, how the shepherds saw the 

angels and heard them say, "Unto you 

is boi n this day in the city 

of David, 

a Saviour which is Chi ist the Lord;" 

then how the wisemen saw the star in 

the East and followed it to where 

Jesus lay in the manger in Bethle 

hem. They brought gifts of gold, 

frankincense, and myrrh and gave 

them to the child Jesus. I think this 

is wheie we get the idea of giving 

gifts at Christmas-time. First, God 

gave His Son, 

that whosoever believ 

eth in Him should not perish, but 

have everlasting life. Then we should 

all keep Jesus in our hearts, to show


our Heavenly Father we truly appre 

ciate His gift to us. 

Let us place this beautiful picture 

of the infant Jesus in the manger on 

our flannel boaid, so that we shall al 

ways remember to keep God's gift to 

us in our hearts; let us placce this 

large red heart frame around the 

manger. Now, we see with our eyes 

Jesus in our hearts. Unless the Lord 

Jesus Christ is truly in our hearts, we 

cannot know Him and show Him to 

others. But when we keep God's Son 

"framed" 

have the joy 

within our hearts, then we 

of sins forgiven and we 

may lead others to Him. 

"What can I give Him, poor as 1 am? 

rf I were a shepherd, I would bring 

a lamb; 

if I were a wise man, I would do my 

part. 

What can I give Him ? Give Him 

mv heart." 

Close with memory verses and 

praver. 



LESSON XII. GOOD NEWS IN THE 

BIBLE 

Matthew 1:18 to 2:12; Mark 2:114. 

Golden Text: 

"Fear not; for, behold, I bring 

you good tidings of great joy, 

which shall be to all people." 

Luke 

2:10. 

For a long time it was customary 

to uge the regular lesson in the se 

ries being followed for the quarter 

instead of the Christmas Lesson. 

Now it is difficult to find anything 

suggested except the Christmas Les 

son. It would be well today to keep 

the subject, Good News in the Bible, 

but by no means to limit it to the 

Good News of the birth of Christ, but 

to bring in all that Good News means 

in the Bible. Out of 89 chapters in 

the Gospels only four tell of the birth 

of Christ, while 57 tell of His life, 24 

of the last week He lived, and five of 

the resurrection. Of the 24 telling of 

His last week of life, six tell of the 

last twenty-four hours. Jesus Christ 

Himself established only one memo 

rial, the Lord's Supper, and that was 

to commemorate His death. When 

Paul wrote of the gospel he preach 

ed he said: "I declare unto you the 

gospel which I preached unto you, 

which also ye have received, and 

wherein ye stand ; by which also ye 

how that Christ died 

are saved, .... 

for our sins according 

to the Scrip 

tures; and that he was buried, and 

that he rose the third clay according 

to the Scriptures: and that he was 

êen of Cephas,. . . . then 

of the 

twelve: of above five hundred breth 

ren at once; .... of James; .... 

ot 

ail the apostles. And last of all of 

me also, . 

. . . 

I am what I 

" 

"By the grace of God 

I Cor. 15: 1 10. 

am." 

So the four Gospels, the "gospel" 

Puul preached, and the Lord Him 

self emphasize the death of Christ 

more than His birth, and our study of 

the Good News in the Bible is not 

complete without the life, death, ana 

irsurrection of Christ, and is of little 

practical value to us unless we lay 

hold or. the power of His presence. 

Only by receiving Him and letting 

Him dwell in us can we have the per 

manent Christmas spirit. 

"Good 

news" 

and "gospel" 

are the 

same thing, and are the noun form ot 

the word used as a verb in the Gold 

en Text and translated, "bring good 

tidings" 

and used in the quotation 

from Paul, the noun translated 

"gospel" 

"preached," 

and the verb translated 

in the words, "the gos 

pel which I preached unto 

you." 

I. THE GOOD NEWS IS FROM 

GOD. 

It was of God that Jesus Christ 

became man. It was of God that He 

was born in Bethlehem Judah, the 

city of David, according to prophecy, 

and not in Nazareth. We must think 

back of the message of the angels to 

the God of the angels for the Good 

News in the Bible. Jesus Christ is 

God; the events in connection with 

His birth, life, death, and resurrec 

tion were controlled by God; and the 

plan of redemption through Jesus 

Christ, is from the mind of God. 

There is a tendency to add much that 

is human, mythical, ritualistic, super 

stitious, and even commercial to the 

Good News. We should carefully re 

ject all but the divine, for the Good 

News is from God. 

II. THE GOOD NEWS IS FOR ALL 

TIME. 

During the first world war it is 

said that one Christmas Day some 

British and German soldiers, inspired 

by the spirit of the day, began to 

make friendly advances toward each 

other. A British soldier held up a can 

of beef, of which the British had 

plenty and the Germans had none. A 

German in turn held up something he 

had which the British did not have. 

At first they tossed their "gifts" 

each other, but soon they were out in 

no man's land fraternizing, and even 

at one point they secured a fooroall 

in some way and staged an impromp 

to 

tu game. If men could only feel to 

ward each other the way these sol 

diers felt that Christmas Day there 

would be no more war. But it is one 

thing to have the spirit of peace and 

good will that is brought on by ex 

ternal circumstances, and by the mem 

ories that have come down to us from 

customs held for generations, and 

that lasts for a day; 

and it is quite 

another thing to have the constant 

Christian spirit that is inspired from 

within by the Holy Spirit, that tran 

scends outward circumstances, and 

that is permanent. Jesus Christ came 

and died to change men's hearts and 

to give them this enduring 

peace and good will. 

spirit of 

III. THE GOOD NEWS IS TO ALL 

PEOPLE. 

"Which shall be to all people." 

(Golden Text.) The Good News is 

for all, but some reject it. Langsdon 

Hughes, an American Communist, is 

credited with the following poem: 

"Goodbye, Jesus Christ, Lord God Je 

hovah, Beat it away from here. Make 

way for a new guy with no religion at 

all: a real guy named Marx Commun 

ist, Lenin 

peasant." 

One shudders to 

quote this, but it was an excess of su 

perstition, and formalism, and exploi 

tation of the people under the cloak 

of religion that prepared the way for 

Communism and the doctrine of Karl 

Ma ix. Isaiah said, "He is despised 

and 1 ejected of 

men." 

John wrote: 

"He came unto his own, and his own 

received him 

not." 

But John contin 

ues: "But as many as received him, to 

them gave he power to become the 

sons of God, even to them that believe 

on his 

name." 

True faith in Jesus 

Christ makes us brothers, regardless 

of poverty or wealth, of color or race 

or social standing, and this message 

of Good News is to all people. 

IV. THE GOOD NEWS IS ABOUT 

SALVATION. 

It was levealed to Mary, to Joseph, 

and to the shepherds that Jesus 

Christ was to be the Saviour. The 

word Jesus means Saviour. A Sav 

iour from what ? Our passage in Mat 

thew tells us plainly that it is from 

our sins. "Thou shalt call his na4iie 

JESUS: for he shall save his people 

from their 

sins." 

There is much su 

perficial thinking at this season which 

will result in high sounding phrases 

about peace and good will, but which 

will neglect the great essential fact 

of sin in the human heart. Let us re 

ject the human and hold to the divine 

in the Good News of the Bible; let 

us sift out the ephemeral and hold to

November 24, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS :J29 

the eternal; and let us not be carried 

away by the superficial but get down 

to what is real. 



Theme: "THE WEAPONS OF OUR 

WARFARE 

By the Rev. Harold F. Thompson. 

Scripture Lesson: 

II Cor. 10: 4-6. 


Psalm 119: 3-6, No. 339 

Psalm 52: 1-4, No. 146 

Psalm 119: 1-5, No. 335 

Psalm 68: 18-21, No. 180 

The most universally discussed sub 

ject at the present time is: "Can 

there be peace in the 

cating 

world?" 

indi 

that if peace efforts fail that 

sooner or later there will be another 

war. And yet war is a thing that few 

noimal people in the world want. In 

a physical sense war is a thing that 

comes and goes according to condi 

tions. There have been periods of war 

and there have been periods of peace 

all down through history, that is, war 

in which physical armies and phys 

ical weapons are engaged. 

There are other wars however that 

are being fought continually, from 

age to age, and from generation to 

generation, from day to day, and 

from hour to hour. Basically the 

greatest of these is the war between 

the kingdom of God and the kingdom 

of Satan, 

the battle of righteousness 

against sin. And this is a war that 

we as Christians should be directly 

interested in, for it has a direct bear 

ing on the physical wars that we are 

so concerned about. 

Paul tells us that this war against 

sin is not fought with carnal weapons 

or fleshly or earthly weapons. Living 

in an age of power as we do, it is 

hard for some people to conceive of 

the idea that there is any thing 

stronger than some of our mouera 

weapons, the atomic bomb, for in 

stance. It is hard for us who have 

never seen the work that it can do, to 

realize its power and destructive abil 

ity. And yet how was the Atomic 

bomb made ? Was it not made by the 

knowledge of man concerning some of 

the natural laws ? Man did not in 

vent atomic energy 

through pure im 

agination. We found atomic energy 

by finding 

out and working with nat 

ural law. But some one had to estab 

lish the world and establish a natural 

and David tells us that God is 

law, 

that one. "The earth is the Lord's 

and the fullness thereof; the world, 

and they that dwell therein. For He 

hath founded it upon the seas, and es 

tablished it upon the floods" 

(Ps. 24: 

1 2). Would not a power that can 

control atomic energy be stronger 

than the energy itself? Would the one 

who created that energy not have the 

power to control it? The power of 

control then is not physical but Spir 

itual, because it comes from God. And 

our weapons against sin are not car 

nal or fleshly, but are spiritual 

weapons, controlling the physical. 

It was not David's strength, or the 

army of Israel back of him, for they 

were not back of him when he killed 

the giant. "Then said David to the 

Philistine, "Thou comest to me with a 

sword, and with a spear, 

and with a 

shield; but I come to thee in the name 

of the Lord of Hosts, whom thou hast 

defied." 

As far as David's own power 

was concerned it was very small in 

comparison with that of Goliath's. 

But that is not what David used, he 

used the power of the weapon of God. 

The word of God is referred to a 

great many times as the spiritual 

weapon. Paul said "And take the hel 

met of salvation, and the sword of 

the Spirit which is the word of God." 

Again in Heb. 4: 12 "For the word of 

God is quick and powerful and sharper 

than any two edged sword, 

even to the dividing 

and spirit, 

piercing- 

asunder of soul 

and is a diseerncr of the 

thoughts and intents of the heart." 

There is no man-made weapon that is 

strong enough to change the thoughts 

and intents of the heart, only spirit 

ual weapons can do that. "For the 

weapons of our warfare are not car 

nal, but mighty 

pulling- 

down of 

through God to the 

An 

strongholds." 

other translation says "But divinely 

strong for destroying fortresses:" 

If 

you win a person's heart, you win that 

person themselves, do you not? If you 

have an enemy, 

way 

would not the best 

to make friends be to win his 

heart? He would no longer be an 

enemy. 

It seems as though some times 

a people's heart will not be won to 

God. God either works in the mind of 

another nation to destroy them or He 

just allows them to decay and destroy 

themselves. Here are some of the 

things happening 

when we see God's 

power working in the pulling down ot 

strongholds. Jesus gave power to His 

disciples: "Behold, I give unto you 

power to tread on serpents and scor 

pions and over all the power of the 

enemy; and nothing shall by any 

means hurt (Luke 10: 19). Paul 

was certainly convinced of the power 

of God: "Who shall separate us from 

the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, 

or distress, or persecution, or fam 

ine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 

Nay, in all these things we are more 

than conquerors through him that 

loved 

us" 

(Rom. 8: 35, 37). So we 

can see that God does win the vic- 

toiy even in overthrowing the 

mighty. 

Paul then gives us a little further 

insight into the methods that God 

uses. "Casting 

down imaginations," 

or another translation says "over 

throwing 

reasonings" 

and another 

translation (Goodspeed) "I destroy 

arguments." 

I don't suppose they uced the term 

"complex" 

in Bible times. And yet I 

am sure there were people who had 

what we call complexes. The under 

sized person who likes to imagine 

that he is strong and athletic and then 

talks about it. Theie are many people 

who like to enlarge their own men 

tal abilities, or achievements, things 

that give them power, and some who 

even have the nerve to place them 

selves above God, 

and His omnipo 

tence. And some of them present 

very well sounding reasonings, but in 

leality they are presenting only fool 

ishness. But we are not to use man 

made reasoning- 

in this war; to use 

the Word of God, for the Word of 

God casts down all imaginations, it 

presents the truth, overthrows rea 

soning, destroys arguments. 

We have many examples of evil im 

aginations. "And God saw that the 

wickedness of men was great in the 

earth, and that eveiy imagination of 

the thoughts of his heart was only 

evil 

continua 

(Gen. 6: 5). 

But God used the flood as a weap 

on to overthrow them. Paul knew very 

well what was going on in his time 

too. To the Romans he wrote "Be 

cause that, when they knew God, they 

glorified him not as God, neither 

weie thankful; but became vain in 

their imaginations, and their foolish 

heart was 

circumstances from either experi 

ences or imaginations, 

and thus to 

constitute the mind as a picture gal 

lery 

more or less furnished in pro 

portion as we cultivate the study and 

tastes for those things. It is tftus 

that the "Pilgrim's Progress has 

commanded a reputation beyond that 

of any 

other uninsnired wnrk. It is 

itself a gallery of pictures states of 

mind described, abstract principles 

personified, and the whole inward ex 

perience of the soul expressed in the 

form of outward and familiar illus 

trations." 

So the weapons of our war 

fare are used for the overthrowing 

of evil imagination0 

He casteth down e"0"; ^gh thing 

that exalteth itself 

ag-ain=

November 24, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 

Historic Coldenham Observes 200th Anniversary 

200 years ago, in the log-cabin 

home of James Rainey, the Colden 

ham Covenanter congregation was 

born. An anniversary remembrance 

of this humble beginning was held in 

the Coldenham Covenanter Church, 

October 17, 1948. It was in the Sab 

bath evening worship 

service at the 

close of the regular Fall Communion 

season. The Coldenham pastor, the 

Rev. Walter C. McClurkin, presided. 

Rev. Robert J. Crawford, Jr., pastor 

of the Reformed Presbyterian 

Church of Montclair, N. J., was the 

guest preacher for the occasion. The 

text of his sermon was I Kings 18: 

43; the subject, "Faith Without 

Signs". 

Even after 200 years, "there is 

nothing", as some might say, noth 

ing of consequence here, no sign of 

anything auspicious. So said the 

preacher. There is nothing here but 

a mere handful of people worshiping 

regularly in an antique building, 

struggling hard to maintain an 

existence separate from 

neighboring- 

churches, into which they might 

readily be admitted at much less ex 

pense to themselves, and do more 

good, if they would only unite with 

them. So they are told. But their 

faith is not in man, 

not in great 

numbers of men, not in big churches. 

Their faith is in the Lord and His 

Word. It is an implicit faith in the 

divine promises, a faith maintained, 

like Elijah's of old, when all signs 

fail: "Faith Without Signs". And it 

is a faith that, like Elijah's, 

will be 

rewarded in the end. It will be re 

warded by the coming of the bless 

ings of Christ's kingdom, blessings 

that will come like an abundance of 

rain on a parched and barren land. 

Really, faith in the ultimate triumph 

of the Lord Jesus Christ over all 

who are against Him, 

and the duty 

of everyone's entire submission to 

Him in all relations of life, is sym 

bolically and collectively witnessed 

here by the display of the old Blue 

Banner, "FOR CHRIST'S CROWN 

AND COVENANT." 

Now the birth of the Coldenham 

Covenanter Church that gives this 

collective witness here, was on this 

wise: In 1748, when as yet there 

were no Covenanters here, Mr. and 

Mrs. James Rainey, encouraged by 

their friends, the Coldens, and feel 

ing that the Lord was calling them 

hither, departed from Philadelphia, 

trekked through the "forest prim 

eval" 

to this region of the Wallkill 

Valley, ten to fifteen miles west of 

the Hudson River, and decided to 

make their home here. The Coldens 

had obtained a grant of 3000 acres 

about three miles southeast of the 

Wallkill River. The Raineys selected 

a slight elevation about three miles 

northwest and homesteaded there. 

Though the Coldens were their warm 

friends, there was a barrier of dif 

ference of religious and political be 

lief between them, in addition to the 

unbridged river; so the Raineys did 

not unite with the Coldens for public 

worship. And, though Dutch Re 

formed and Presbyterian congrega 

tions, which sang the Psalms they 

loved, had already been organized in 

this region at that time, they did 

not join them. The Raineys kept 

worship in their own home, after the 

manner of their own Church Cove 

nant. It was not long until they were 

joined by others, and the Rainey 

home became the center of a Cove 

nanter praying society. 

In 1753 this praying society was 

1948, 

THE OLD RAINKY HOUSE 

shows the house as it looks now. 

built in 1779, for both a home and 

church. This picture, taken Oct. 28, 

visited by Rev. John Cuthbertson, 

who, in 1751, had been sent by the 

Church in Scotland to minister to the 

scattered Covenanters in America. 

On this first visit to the "Wallkil- 

lians", as he called them, he preached 

in the Rainey home for three Sab 

baths, and "baptized Sam, Christian, 

Ruth and Esther, children to James 

... .and Rainey James 

and Patrick 

sons to Arch McBride, and William, 

son to William Wilkins." 

From 1753 till 1783, 

according- 

the Cuthbertson Diary, this pioneer 

Covenanter minister and missionary 

visited this Wallkill Society eleven 

times in as many 

to 

different years 

staying from one to three months in 

the summer or early fall. On these 

visits he preached, lectured, cate 

chized, baptized, and performed 

marriage ceremonies, for the most 

pait in the Rainey home. 

As early as 1759, it is said, a brick 

house replaced the log cabin on the 

Rainey farm. The bricks for this 

house were manufactured on the 

faim. This was reported to be the 

fii st brick house built in Orange 

County, N. Y., and it still stands. It 

was so constructed as to serve both as 

a home and a church, and actually 

fulfilled both purposes for about 

forty years. 

So carefully and faithfully was 

the Covenanter faith cradled and 

nurtured in the Rainey home that, 

in the good providence of God, a 

Covenanter congregation can still 

stand and serve in this area. In the 

Rainey home the Society originally 

known as Wallkill, was first organ 

ized in 1769, with James Rainey and 

William Wilkins as ruling elders. 

But about ten years later, 

an As 

sociate R. P. Church under Rev. An 

nan's ministry began to sap the 

Covenanters' 

strength. By 1783, with 

the encouragement of John Cuthbert 

son himself, 

who later forsook the 

Covenants, all the former members, 

except the Raineys, went over to the 

Associate R. P. Church. 

The Raineys kept the faith. Dis 

organized as a congregation and again 

reduced to a praying society oncq 

more, they prayed earnestly for the 

pei petuation of their faith in this 

community. After the death of 

James Rainey, his son David took 

over the homestead and kept up the 

meetings for social worship regular 

ly on the Sabbath Days. As truly 

stated in Glasgow's History, "All 

honor is due to James Rainey for 

establishing, and to David Rainey, 

his son, for maintaining Covenanter- 

ism in Orange County, N. Y." 

David 

Raineys name is listed among the 

Sons of the American Revolution. In 

17S.3, when at Temple Hill, about 

ten miles from the Rainey home, 

George Washington was refusing a 

crown offered him by the American 

colonies, David Rainey, 

with the few 

members of the Rainey family 

grouped around him at the old 

Rainey homestead, was refusing to 

incorporate with other churches 

which they 

all believed vere not 

established and operated after the 

pattern shown in the mon.it. 

The Raineys were still Covenant 

ors when Rev. James Reid, another

minister from Scotland, 

out, 

sought them 

strengthened them in their stand 

and encouraged them to carry on. 

Soon afterward they were joined by 

the family of Robert Johnson. Then 

Robert Beattie of the Associate R. P. 

Church of Little Britain acceded to 

the Covenanters in 1795. Others in 

the community 

were added to the 

group. The Sabbath meetings for wor 

ship 

alternated for a time between 

the Rainey house and the Beattie 

barn. In the Beattie barn, 

at a noted 

meeting of the Reformed Presby 

tery, in which John Black, Thomas 

Donnelly, 

Alexander McCleod and 

Samuel B. Wylie were licensed to 

preach the Gospel, arrangements 

were made for the re-organization of 

the Wallkill Society 

gation, 

into a congre 

and the privilege was granted 

them thereupon to have the modera 

tion of a call for pastor. This was in 

1798. David Rainey and Robert Beat- 

tie were then duly elected and or 

dained and installed elders. Alex 

ander McCleod was called to become 

their pastor, and accepted, on con 

dition that members owning slaves 

would be required to free them. 

Alexander McCleod was installed 

pastor of the united charges of Wall- 

kill and New York City on July 6, 

1801. 

In 1799 the congregation built a 

place of worship 

near its present 

site in Coldenham, a growing com 

munity at that time and more central 

for all the members. The name of 

the congregation was then changed 

from "Wallkill" 

to 

"Coldenham" 

Since officially organized, therefore, 

the Coldenham congregation has been 

witnessing for 150 years, but includ 

the critical and important period 

ing 

of nonage in the Rainey home, 200 

years. 

So what? For the faithful wit 

nessing of the Rainey family in 

those pioneer days here, and for 

their noble example, along with that 

of others who joined them and fol 

lowed them, 

we of the present gen 

eration in Coldenham give thanks to 

God. The labors of the Lord's proph 

ets here, nine of them pastors, one, 

J. R. Willson, 

of national distinction, 

has not been in vain. Though still 

small among all the thousands of 

Israel, 

tion among 

and again a weak congrega 

the tribe of Covenanters, 

and reputed to be the oldest living- 

Covenanter 

congregation in America, 

though no visible signs yet appear of 

the 

establishment of the Kingdom of 

God on earth, we are encouraged by 

the faith of our fathers, to pray for 

it. to seek it first, 

and to give it the 


November 24, 1948 

last full measure of our devotion as 

they did. "Looking unto daughter, Annette Fisher, and their 

Jesus, the families. 

Author and Finisher of our Faith", Our thank offeiing program was 

and theirs, "we see Jesus held on Friday evening, November 5. 

crowned" 

and can envision "the king 

doms of this world become the 

Kingdoms of our Lord and of His 

Christ." 

ORLANDO, FLORIDA 

On Saturday afternoon, September 

25, the Business Woman's Missionary 

Societv entertained their families 

with a picnic at Lake Lorna Doon. 

Two weeks later the Woman's Mis 

sionary Society had a nicni'' for their 

husbands at the home of Mrs. W. C. 

McFarland. 

Our fellowship dinner was held on 

September 28, so that Rev. Remo 1. 

Robb of Beaver Falls, Pa., our assist 

ant at communion, could Ko with us. 

After the dinner Rev. Robb brought 

us an entertaining and spiritual mes 

sage. Prenaratorv services were held 

on Thursday and Friday 

nights with 

communion on Sabbath. Rev. Robb 

brought us challenging messages and 

we enjoyed his fellowship with us. At 

this time Allen Windham, Anabel 

Margaret Ann White and 

Donahue, 

Miss Margaret McClure were re 

ceived into the church on profession 

of faith in Christ. 

Mr. John McClure has been ill for 

some time. He underwent a delicate 

operation, and we hope and pray for 

his early recovery. 

On Friday evening, November 12, 

the congregation gathered at the 

home of Mr. and Mrs. M. C. Black to 

honor Mr. Black on his 80th birth 

day. Mr. Black's son, George, and 

his two cousins, the Messrs Black, 

from Pennsylvanit, were here to 

help Mr. Black celebrate. They wor 

shiped with us on Sabbath. 

Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Young of Edmond, 

Okklahoma, spent two weeks 

with the Young's sisters, Mrs. Mil- 

ford White and Mrs. L. L. Dudley 

and their families. Mrs. Young's sis 

ter and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. 

Wayne McCoy 

of Crescent, Oklaho 

ma, came with them. Miss Rosemary 

Dudley fiom Emory University spent 

a week end at home while her uncle 

and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Young, were 

here. 

It is good to have Mrs. J. E. Hu- 

heey home again from her long visit 

with her daughter in Portland, Ore. 

Fev. Smith was away for four Sab 

baths in October preaching in our 

congregations in California. While 

there he visited his brother and his 

family and his son, Bob Self, and 

After a covered dish dinner, Mrs. E. 

S. Dill and Mrs. John Huston were in 

chai ge of an interesting program 

centered around the lives of our lady 

missionaries. 

LOS ANGELES 

Dr. Li has returent to Los Angeles, 

to carry on his studies here, after 

some months spent at Ann Arbor, 

Mich. We are so happy to have that 

cheeiy 

again. 

smile and the owner with us 

Miss Mary Wilson, 

in the hospital since early in Septem 

who has been 

ber, has had a turn for the worse. 

The September meeting of the Cov 

enanter Daughters met at the Oliver 

Walker home, 

with Miss Jean Robb 

and Mis. Earl Wilson as hostesses. 

The W. M. S. met in the home of the 

Misses Caskey 

and we were so glad 

that Miss Mayme was well enough to 

have us in the home. The October 

meeting was held in the home of Mrs. 

J. T. Kerr. 

The C. Y. P. U. sponsored a pot- 

luck dinner in the church September 

21. October 10 and 17, Dr. F. E. 

Allen of Hopkinton occupied our pul 

pit and brought us very helpful mes 

sages. We were very happy to have 

Dr. Allen with us and he was able to 

visit a good number of the homes in 

the congregation, particularly the 

homes where there was sickness. 

Dr. Allen spent one day in Santa 

Ana,, October 15, and attended the 

evening prepaiatory communion serv 

ice when the Rev. Alvin Smith of 

Oib.ndo brought the message. This 

was Dr. Allen's first visit to our con 

gregation and it was a pleasure to 

have him here. Our communion serv 

ice was held October 24 with Rev. 

Alvin Smith conducting the service, 

assisted by Rev. Robeit Henning. We 

had a wonderful communion season 

and look upon it as one of the high 

lights in our church life. Rev. Smith 

also preached for us November 7 and 

left on the 8th for his home. We en 

joyed having Rev. Smith with us and 

he did a great deal of visiting in the 

congregation also, 

and was the guest 

of his son, Mr. Robert Self, also his 

brother, Dr. E. S. Smith. 

Mr. Gray Caskey is a patient in the 

Good Srmaritan Hospital, and we are 

praying that the special treatments 

he is receiving will help him. Mrs. 

E. T.. Dodds was in the Burbank 

Hospital for a few days for observa-


tion and tests, but has returned to 

her home, and we understand that he 

is much improved. Mrs. Oswald Mor 

row, her sister from Hemet, has come 

to spend some months with her. 

The October meeting of the Cov 

enanter Daughters was held in the 

Alex McCurdy home, with Miss Mary 

Marshall as co-hostess. At this time 

a lovely blue wool Pendleton blanKet 

was presented to Mr. and Mrs. Fran 

cis Buck. Francis and his bride are 

from our Fiesno congregation and 

Francis is attending the College of 

Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons 

and Dorothy has a position with the 

Bank of America here. 

The C. Y. P. U. held a very hilari 

ous and successful Halloween cos 

tume party 

at the Oliver Walker 

home, where volley ball was played 

and delicious red-hot hambergers 

were served sti aight from the out 

door grill. 

They say it is an "ill wind that 

blows nobody any and the fact 

that the Pacific shipping strike is 

holding Miss Alice Edgar and the 

Robert Henning's here, makes it very 

pleasant for us, as we are enjoying 

these folks immensely and working 

Rev. Henning very hard as he is as 

suming the duties of a pastor here 

for which we are vei y grateful. They 

are living- at the Dr. Smith home in 

Burbank. 

Tuesday evening, November 9, the 

Covenanter Daughters sponsored a 

social hour in honor of four of our 

newly married couples, Mr. and Mrs. 

John Keys, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Donald 

Walker, Mr. and Mrs. Francis Buck, 

and Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Keys. The 

brides were festooned in white crepe 

paper veils ornamented with chrysan 

themums, while the grooms wore 

large lace paper doily and chrysan 

themum buttonaires. The President, 

Mrs. George Chambers brought words 

of welcome and Donald Birdsall, mas 

ter of ceremonies, presented the 

brides with glass rolling pins (should 

have been wood, they would last 

longer) 

and the grooms with 

can- 

openers. Miss Jean Robb gave a rec 

ipe for happiness and Dr. and Mrs. 

Hinton and Beverley a short play, 

written for the occasion by Mrs. Hin 

ton. Mrs. Willetta Ross, social 

chairman and her committee, were iii 

charge of the refreshments. The tea- 

table, resplendent with silver, flowers 

and candles, offered dainty sand 

wiches, cookies, tea and coffee. Mrs. 

Esmond Smith and Mrs. David Hein 

itz poured tea and coffee. 

The Elders and Deacons put on a 

dinner November 12 and the ladies 

are glad to find out how well the 

men can cook and serve. The mis 

sionary societies had their Temper 

ance air] Thanksgiving program fol 

lowing the dinner, 

when the speaker 

was Miss Mary Jane Campbell, who 

spent forty years as a missionary in 

India, undei the United Presbyter 

ian chuich hoard. She also spent 

some ten years in Palestine and 

brought us a fine message and a 

great deal of inside information about 

conditions in Palestine, as she has 

been theie within the last two years. 

Our thankoffering amounted to 

S180.74. Messages were also given 

by Miss Alice Edgar and Rev. Hen 

ning. 

Rev. Walter McCarroll of Santa 

A na and his brother Rev. Hugh Mc- 

Cairoll of Los Angeles, and Rev. 

Jessie Mitchel have been kind 

enough to preach for us and always 

biing us stirring messages. 

The November meeting of Coven 

anter Daughters was held in the 

home of Mis. Donald Dodds, with 

Mrs. Willetta Ross as co-hostess. 

Miss Nana Caskey and Mrs. Dean 

Hinton have resumed the Junior 

meeting's at the church on Tuesday 

afternoons and report the attendance 

as encouraging 

and increasing. 

Mr. Ralph Shuman is being con 

fined to his home on account of a 

heart attack but is improving. 

The Doctor Hinton family have 

recently moved into their lovely new 

home in Spar Heights, Glendale, and 

the Donald Birdsall's have just moved 

into a new home in Roscoe, neat 

Burbank, California. Mr. and Mrs. 

David Heinitz have recently returned 

from a trip to Kansas. 

The eyes of the members of the 

congregation aie being considerably 

dazzled by the sparkle of two new 

diamond lings on the engagement 

fingers of Miss Betty Relph and Miss 

Beverley Hinton. Clarence Walker 

and Eddie Chambers are the happy 

voting 

men in the case. 

COPELAND KEYS 

A background of fern, 

baskets of 

white chrysanthemums and candela 

bra foimed the setting for the 8:00 

o'clock ceremony 

on October 9, in 

which Lorena E. Copeland and Lewis 

C. Keys were united in holy matri 

mony. 

The bride is the daughter of Mr. 

and Mrs. H. M. Copeland of Fresno, 

California, and the groom is the son 

of Mr. John W. Keys of Los Ange 

les. 

Rev. C. E. Caskey of Fresno per 

formed the ceremony which took 

place at the First Reformed Presby 

terian Church of Los Angeles. 

A cousin of the bride, Mrs. Frances 

Moore of Fresno, was the matron of 

honor, and bridesmaids included Miss 

Lois Jean Copeland of Fresno, Mrs. 

John B. Keys of Alhambra, and Mrs. 

Donald Walker of Los Angeles. The 

flower girl was Janice Moore, and 

Freddie Jones served as ring bearer. 

Attending as best man was John B. 

Keys of Alhambra, while Robert 

Morse of Los Angeles and Clarence 

Walker of Van Nuys and Donald 

Walker of Los Angeles ushered. "My 

Hero", "Because" 

Truly" 

and "I Love You 

were sung by Mrs. Annette 

Fisher of Fresno with Mrs. Kather 

ine Kirk at the organ. 

A reception followed in the church 

parlor with Mrs. Margaret Wilson 

and Mrs. Elva Huising, sisters of the 

groom, hostesses. 

The newlyweds honeymooned at 

Grand Canyon and are making- 

home in Los Angeles. 


their 

Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Reed and Mr. 

and Mrs. Frank Harsh spent the 

weekend of October 9-11 in Pitts 

burgh at the home of Mr. and Mrs. 

Ted Harsh. They attended the Cen 

tral-Pittsburgh Church on Sabbath 

and made a few stops with relatives 

and friends on the way both 

out and coming back. 

going- 

The W.M.S. met at the J. C. 

Rutherford home on Thursday, Nov. 

1 1 , 

for an all day meeting. 

We have been missing Mr. Roy 

Templeton from church and other 

meetings since he has been having 

tumble with one of his knees, which 

he has had in a cast for almost a 

month. 

On Wednesday evening, November 

17 we held our annual Thanksgiving 

service. Rev. Ray? Hemphill of Vv rig- 

ley, Ky., sent about ninety colored 

pietuies to be shown. Mrs. Melville 

Rutherford and Miss Jane Harsh who 

have worked in Kentucky for a while, 

told about the work there. A playlet 

was put on, entitled, "And the Mas 

ter during 

which the choir 

sang very beautifully and softly 

some Psalm numbers. 

The Thanksgiving story was very 

ably given by Marion McFarfand. 

The offering received amounted to 

$170.00.


Contributions to 

SYNOD'S BUDGET 

are running far behind! 

FOR THE SAKE OF THE MISSIONARIES who 

face rising costs and accelerated inflation in all our For 

eign Mission Fields, but who continue to preach Salva 

tion through Christ, we appeal to the Church to contrib 

ute generously 

and speedily to Synod's Budget! 

Contributions may be sent to MR. JAMES S. TIBBY, 

CONTRIBUTIONS 

209 Ninth Street, Pittsburgh 22, Pa. 

(Prepared by the Board of Foreign Missions) 

Reformed Presbyterian Church of N. A. 

SEPT. 1, 1948 DEC. 1, 1948 

At least $86,000.00 is necessary to carry on the work 

32'r RAISED WITH 4 MONTHS TO GO 

Foreign Mission Work needs $24,000.00 Received so far $9,172.30 

Home Mission Work 6,000.00 

Home Secretary 

3,300.00 

'Southern Mission None 

*Indian Mission 600.00 

Kentucky 

Mission 6,000.00 

-Jewish Mission None 

Witness Work 12,000.00 

Aged People Home 1,500.00 

Theo. Seminary 

3,500.00 

Students Aid 2,000.00 

Ministerial Relief 4,000.00 

'Widows & Orphans None 

Geneva College 15,500.00 

" 

" 

" 

" 

" 

" 

" 

" 

" 

" 

" 

" 

" 

1,920.00 

1^056.00 

1 743.43 

575.90 

2,037.21 

3,018.43 

593.85 

1,120.00 

640.00 

1,280.00 

4 960.00 

Covenanter Witness Magazine 6,800.00 Preferred Claim 5,000.00 

Christian Education 300.00 

Literary Fund 400.00 

Nat. Association Evang 

These departments have sufficient Funds 

100.00 

" 

" 

'' 

JAMES S. TIBBY, Treasurer 

209 9th St. 


96.00 

128.00 

26.00


FRESNO, CALIFORNIA 

Fresno was privileged to have the 

Rev. Alvin W. Smith of Orlando, 

Florida, as assistant with communion 

services the last of October. His 

daughter, Mrs. Wayne Fischer, lives 

in Fresno. David Allen Webster and 

Linda Susan Graham were baptized 

Communion Sabbath. 

Dr. Min Chiu Li gave the Thank- 

offering 

address for the Fresno Wo 

men's Missionary Society and the 

Young Women's Missionary Society 

on Thanksgiving Day. Forty mem 

bers of the congregation joined in a 

Thanksgiving dinner at the church 

afterwards. Dr. Li spoke of China 

as an "Old, Blessed, and Punished 

Nation," 

and while he was speak 

ing- we could not help but think of 

America as the oldest existing repub 

lic, a nation greatly blessed of God, 

very- 

yet a nation doing many of the 

things for which God punished China 

and other nations in the past. Dr. Li 

returned to his studies in Los Ange 

les the following day. 

The Rev. C. A. Dodds stopped off 

in Fresno a few hours on his way to 

Los Angeles, visiting the Fresno pas 

tor and also his cousin, Mrs. John 

Dodds. 

Miss Elda Patton drove through 

Fresno on her way to Seattle, but did 

not stop to visit, as she hoped to 

reach the Allan Linticum home in 

time for Thanksgiving dinner. 

MORNING SUN, IOWA 

After eight months death has 

again taken from us one of our most 

faithful and devoted members, Mrs. 

J. E. Dunn. She became ill on Sab 

bath morning November 7 and died 

the same day. She was in her usual 

health and going about her duties in 

the home and community and church 

till the day of her death. The funeral 

was held in the home and attended by 

a large company of relatives and 

friends. Her brother Mr. C. S. Dodds 

of Beaumont, California, was visiting 

in Colorado at the time of her death 

and came to Iowa for the funeral. The 

funeral was conducted by 

her pastor 

assisted by Rev. W. M. Dougherty, a 

relative of the family. Burial was at 

Washington, 

Iowa. Besides her hus 

band, three children and ten grand 

children mourn their great loss. She 

fulfilled the condition of the promise 

and shall have the reward : "Be thou 

faithful unto death, and I will give 

thee a crown of life." 

Mrs. Elizabeth Baird accompanied 

her sister and brother-in-law, Dr. and 

-Mrs. D. 

H. Elliott, to Camp Wasko 

witz, Seattle. She reported to the 

Congregation and told of a wonderful 

trip and a splendid conference. Dr. 

Elliott preached for us Sabbath, 

July 11. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Huston of 

Long Beach, California, spent the 

month of September in Morning Sun, 

visiting with friends and relatives. 

Theyr were welcome guests at our 

church services several times. Mr. 

Huston was formerly a deacon in the 

Congregation. They were accompa 

nied by their daughter, Mrs. Selma 

Todd, and her little daughter. 

Mrs. Cora Kimble returned to her 

home the latter part of Septembei 

from the Mercy Hospital in Daven 

port, where she was receiving special 

treatment. She is being cared for in 

her home by 

her sisters. 

Mr. and Mrs. Smith and babe of 

Washington, D.C., visited Mrs. Smith's 

parents, Mr. and Mrs. Samson, in 

Morning Sen the latter part of Au 

gust. 

Mrs. Emma Schofield has been on 

the sick list and confined to the home 

for a number of weeks. 

Our pastor accompanied by Janet 

Royer, Robert Royer, Marilyn Todd, 

Mary Ann Armstrong, and Donald 

McClurkin attended the Forest Park 

Conference. On the Sabbath after 

their return they 

gave most interest 

ing reports of the meeting. 

Fifteen members of the Junior 

Band enjoyed a wiener roast at Honey 

Creek on the J. Ralph Wilson farm 

Saturday 

afternoon September 16. 

They completed three scrap books 

which have been sent to the Southern 

Mission, along with three others that 

were made by the Junior S. S. this 

summer. 

Sabbath, September 26, 

was child 

ren's day in our church. During the 

S. S. hour the children gave a special 

program. This was promotion day. 

The teachers and parents are to be 

commended for the work done in 

tiaining the children. The pastor 

gave a flannelgraph sermon to the 

the Junior 

children. In the evening 

Band gave a devotional program dur 

ing the regular church hour. The 

sponsors were Mrs. Patterson and 

Mrs. James Honeyman. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Wilson and 

children enjoyed a trip 

east in Au 

gust. They visited in Philadelphia 

and New York City. 

Mrs. ôis Honeyman and her son 

John enjoyed a trip to Philadelphia 

this fall and visited a number of 

friends and 

relatives in the East. 

Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Wilson of 

Philadelphia worshiped with us on 

Sabbath October 3. They visited his 

mother and brother. 

During 

the month of November the 

pastor and his wife visited friends in 

his two former charges at Southfield, 

Michigan, and Vernon, Wisconsin. 

While at Southfield they made their 

stopping place at the home of Mrs. 

Patterson's cousins, Mr. and Mrs. 

Claire Jameson, for one week. Mr. 

Patterson was happy to return and 

worship 

with the Southfield people 

again after so many years and greet 

his old friends. The reception given 

for him and his wife by the congre 

gation at the home of Mrs. Jennie 

Bell Morrow was a happy occasion. 

From there they journeyed to Hether 

ton through many miles of the most 

gorgeous display of fall foliage they 

had ever been privileged to view. 

While at Hetherton they lived in the 

comfortable parsonage, furnished 

with all that was necessary to make 

their stay a happy one. Rev. Patter 

son preached for the congregation 

three Sabbaths and held their fall 

communion. We hope and pray that 

this congregation of good and kind 

people will very soon have a pastor 

to go in and out among them ana 

break the Bread of Life for them. 

While at Vernon they stayed at the 

home of Mrs. Bartholomew at Big 

Bend. Though the stay there was 

short, it was a great pleasure to 

meet kind friends again. 

Miss Mary Ann Armstrong has 

returned to Geneva to continue her 

studies there. Miss Helen Stodgell 

has entered the State College at 

Ames. Mr. Leonard McElhinney has 

returned to his school work at the 

Iowa Wesleyan College at Mt. Pleas 

ant. Mr. Bruce Todd is attending 

Parsons College at Fairfield, Iowa. 

Mr. Howard McElhinney has a 

teaching 

Ainsworth. Iowa. 

position in the schools at 

The marriage of Miss Zelda McEl 

hinney to Mr. Robert Ickenberg 

took place September 11. Their home 

is in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. 

Miss Elizabeth Stodgell and Mr. 

Keith B. Renner were married Mon 

day, October 4, at the Little Brown 

Church at Nashua, Iowa. The bride 

is a graduate nurse from the Bur 

lington Hospital. After a trip into 

Canada they will be at home on a 

farm near Danville, la. Mrs. Renner's 

relatives and friends gave her a 

bridal shower in the Morning Sun 

Library building the evening of No 

vember 11.


IRISH NEWS 

Londonderry. There was a good 

attendance of the members of the 

Londonderi y congregation and their 

friends when they met together in the 

lecture hall on Wednesday, November 

10, on the invitation of their pastor 

and his wife Rev. Hugh and Mrs. 

Wright. The purpose of the 

meeting- 

was to mark the tenth anniversary of 

Mr. Wright's installation as pastor 

of the congregation. Mr. Wright 

presided and conducted devotional ex 

ercises. He then welcomed those 

present and introduced a varied and 

much enjoyed musical program. Fe 

licitous addresses were given by Rev. 

J. Renwick Wight, B. A., Moderator 

of Synod, and Revs. R. B. Lyons, 

B. A. (Limavady) and Prof. J. Mc- 

Ilmoyle, M. A. (Dublin Road, Bel 

fast). An altogether unexpected item 

took place at the end of the program 

when Miss E. S. Mathers, having 

asked permission to speak, in a few 

well-chosen words expressed the es 

teem and respect in which the con 

gregation held Mrs. Wright and then 

on behalf of the congregation pre 

sented her with a silver three-tiei 

cake-stand. Mrs. Wright having re 

plied, Mr. R. M. Watson (treasurer 

of the congregation) 

addressed Mr. 

Wright, and on behalf of the congre 

gation presented him with a check, 

expressing the good wishes of the con 

gregation and their hope that both 

Mr. and Mrs. Wright might yet be 

spared to have many more 

years' 

ser 

vice in their midst. Mr. Wright re 

plying, thanked the congregation for 

their gift and also for their co-oper 

ation and help during 

the past ten 

years, and gave utterance to trie nope 

that unitedly pastor and people in the 

days to coma might go forward in 

their Master's service, 

blessing 

vancing- 

and with His 

eccomplish much for the ad 

of His kingdom on earth. 

Following the singing of Psalm 133, 

the asking of a blessing and the Ben 

ediction, all present were entertained 

to tea which had been provided by 

Mrs. Wright, 

by 

and which was served 

the ladies of the congregation. 

Stranorlar and Convoy. Mr. Nor- 

ban McCune, B. A., having accepted 

the calls made upon him by the con 

gregations of Stranorlar and Convoy, 

the church building in Stranorlor was 

filled to capacity on Wednesday, No 

vember 10, when the Western Pres 

bytery 

ing 

met for the purpose of ordain 

him and installing him as pastor 

of both congregations. Rev. S. W. 

I.vnas, B. A. (Milford) conducted de 

votional exercises and preached from 

the text "God be merciful unto us and 

bless us; and cause his face to shine 

upon us; that thy way may 

be known 

upon earth, thy saving health among 

all 

nations" 

(Psalm 67: 1, 2). Rev. 

R. B. Lyons, B. A. (Limavady) gave 

"An Exposition and Defence" 

formed Presbyteiianism," 

of "Re 

following 

which the Clerk of Presbytery (Rev. 

J. W. Calderwood, Bready) 

"narrative" 

read the 

of the steps which had 

been taken to fill the vacancy. The 

prescribed questions were put to Mr. 

McCune and to the congregations by 

the Moderator of Presbytery (Rev. 

Hugh Wright, B. A., Londonderry) 

and Mr. McCune signed the formula. 

Rev. Prof. John Mcllmoyle led in the 

ordination and installation prayer, fol 

lowing which the Moderator admit 

ted Mr. McCune to the pastoral 

charge of the congregations and gave 

him the right hand of fellowship. 

Other members of Presbytery and 

members of other Presbyteries who 

were present also extended the right 

hand of fellowship wishing him all 

comfort and success in the Lord. The 

charges to pastor and congregations 

weie delivered by the Moderator of 

Presbytery 

after which the service 

wes brought to a close by the Mod 

erator of Synod (Rev. J. Renwick 

Wright, B. A.. Ballymoney) with 

praise, prayer, and the Benediction. 

After the service the large congre 

gation adjourned to the Presbyterian 

Hall which had been kindly loaned 

for the occasion, and there everyone 

was served with tea by the ladies of 

the two congregations, the Modera 

tor of Presbytery presiding. After 

tea a welcome was extended to Mr. 

McCune as the new minister of Stran 

orlar and Convoy, Rev. J. W. Calder 

wood speaking on behalf of his pres 

bytery (The Western) and Messrs. 

D. J. Magee and J. Stewart on behalf 

of Stranorlar and Convoy congrega 

tions respectively. Mr. McCune thank 

ing them for his welcome, in a short 

but veiy excellent speech, told us 

something of the influences that had 

brought him to the position in which 

he now stood, referring especially to 

his parents and other teachers. He 

also let us have some insight into the 

vision that he had as a young minis 

ter standing now at the beginning ot 

his ministerial service for His Lord. 

Following this there were other 

speakers including the Moderator of 

Synod, (speaking both for the Synod 

and the Northern Presbytery) Revs. 

J A. Cresswell Blair, B. A. (for the 

Southern Presbytery) Isaac Cole, 

B. A., (Mr. McCune's minister, and 

speaking 

also for the Eastern Pres 

bytery,) James Campbell, B. A. (for 

the Theological Hall, and speaking 

also as the former pastor of the con 

gregations) and Rev. Mr. Eadie 

(Presbyterian Minister in Stranor 

lar, speaking 

for the other denomi 

nations represented.) The reception 

was concluded with praise and the 

pronouncing of the Benediction by the 

newly installed minister. 

The same evening 

a social ar 

ranged by the Convoy congregation 

to welcome Mr. McCune was held in 

the Black Memorial Hall, Convoy. 

MANY THANKS TO SECOND 

PHILADELPHIA 

On Wednesday evening, November 

10, the congregation of Second 

Church, 

Philadelphia held a fare 

well party for their pastor and his 

wife, which was a most beautiful oc 

casion. The Sabbath School room 

was artistically decorated with all 

kinds of autumn flowers. After the 

regular Prayer Meeting, which was a 

helpful devotional for the occasion, 

Dr. John Peoples the chairman of the 

evening 

read a set of Resolutions 

which represented the Session, the 

Board of Trustees, the Sabbath 

School, the Women's Missionary So 

ciety and the Cameronians (the 

Young People's Society) , 

expressing 

appreciation and gratitude for all 

the services rendered during the 

twenty-seven years of our ministry. 

Richard Stewart Adams, 

who was 

our newest church member, then pre 

sented a beautiful corsage to Mrs. 

Stewart and a most generous purse 

to Mr. Stewart. 

The reception table was beautifully 

decorated and filled with tasty re 

freshments. The lovely, big two-tier 

cake looked too pretty to cut. A 

very attractive guest book, in which 

each one present signed his name, 

was later presented to the Stewarts 

with a copy of the "Resolutions of 

Appreciation." 

Many thanks to you, Second Phil 

adelphia, for this very 

enjoyable oc 

casion and for all your kindnesses 

and generosity. We have enjoyed a 

very delightful ministry through the 

years. We shall always be interested 

in your welfare and our prayer for 

you is that you may have God's rich 

est blessing upon you. 

Frank L. and Hattie S. Stewart




3oo vears of Witnessing for. CnmsT'5 aovc.Rt.ioft rights inthl church ^nd tê. ai^tiom . 

VOLUME XLI WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1948 NUMBER 22 

Cfjrtsitmas! 1948 

SELDOM, since the beginning of Christendom, have 

intolerance and tyranny been so rampant to perpet 

uate turmoil and Godlessness throughout the world 

as on this anniversary of the birth of the Prince of Peace. 

Surely, this is a time for strong 

minds and stout 

Christian hearts to remain calm and firm in their un 

wavering faith in God and to pray for His guidance and 

wisdom that we may keep this great democracy of ours 

united against the brute forces of hate and unenlighten- 

ment. 

Yet, let us be charitable and understanding toward 

all peoples. Let us overcome our own shortcomings and 

be determined to defend the brinrifiles of Christianitv so 

that all mankind mav enjov the fruits of freedom and the 

right to worship God. 

Christmas Greetin'is of lute- vtimml Paver Coinoaini


QL+npAeA. ol the (leli(îcuiA WanlA 


Church Gambling 

The police raided a bingo game at St. Mary's Catholic 

Church in Des Moines, la. A professional gambler, whose 

bingo game at an amusement park had been raided the 

night befoie, requested the raid. He asked the police: "If 

bingo is legal at the church why isn't it legal at my 

place just two blocks 

away?" 

Deplorable Conditions in China 

It has been repoited that the people in Shanghai are 

more fearful of mobs of half-starved multitudes in the 

city than they are of the Communists if they should take 

the city. Even students often subsist on one meal a day 

and that deficient in vitamins so that malnutrition is 

common. Inflation has risen so fast that it is almost use 

less to quote the exhoibitant prices which people pay loi 

the simplest necessities of life. Eighty 

percent suffer 

from malignant diseases. There are no school facilities 

for three-fourths of the children. These are fruits of 

heathenism and athei-m. Sin when it is full grown bring- 

cth forth death. 

Gift of Bibles to Russia 

The American BiHe Society, as a Christmas gift from 

the Ameiican people to the people of Russia sent 10,000 

Bibles, 

5,000 Testaments and 100,000 Gospels in the Rus 

sian language for free distribution by the Russian Ortho 

dox Church. 

Missions Closed by Communists 

the advance of 

Accoiding to the Watchman-Examiner, 

the communists in North China has wiped out or hindered 

the work of 1 1 major Protestant denominations. 

False Religions Affect Nations 

Many people are puzzled as to why Eire is breaking 

her last ties with Britain. They do not see that Romanism 

is at the loot of all the trouble between Eire and Britain. 

The government of Eire has made it as difficult as pos 

sible for Northern Ireland to succeed in business and 

otherwise, in order that the North might be willing to 

unite with the South of Ireland. False religions are at 

the root of the trouble between Britain and India and 

Egypt. Religion, or the lack of it, Atheism, which in the 

form of Communism is virtually a religion, is the source 

of the trouble in Europe and Asia today. It clashes with 

Romanism and with the true religion or Protestantism. 

And vet leaders in our nation and other nations continue 

to urge that the state should divest itself of all religion. 

They 

urge that there should be no semblance of religious 

worship or teaching in our schools. Thus they foster the 

atheistic influences which are at enmity with our national 

welfare. If our nation becomes godless it will also be un 

democratic. Tyi anny can never flourish or stand in a 

truly Christian nation. 

LTncle Sam's Liquor Business 

Dr. Harry Rimmer writing in UEA under the heading, 

says: "We are all in the liquor 

"Satan's Offspring," 

TUTC r,ni71?'MA'NTrn7'R VKCTT'-MTr'QQ 

December 1, 1948 

business. Uncle Sam is the chief offender he cheerfully 

encourages his nieces and nephews to swallow more and 

more poison because he likes to hear the clink of dollars 

in his cash register. He is not going to do anything to 

halt the income regardless of ruined lives, paupered 

citizens, wrecked homes, heartbroken women and desti 

tute children. What do these matter compared to rev 

enue ? Every publisher who takes money to advertise 

booze, every grocer and storekeeper who sells it, is 

equally guilty 

of the blood of wretched victims. And 

every citizen who countenances the evil traffic by silence 

shares the guilt of this awful destroyer." 

The Cigarette 

With reference to the cigarette, Dr. Rimmer continues: 

"The case against the cigarette is equally black, but 

not so self-apparent. The cigarette smoker does not stag 

ger and fall on the sidewalk, is not moved to maudlin 

friendliness, and does not feel the urge to harmonize on 

'Sweet Adeline' 

at two o'clock in the morning. So the 

average person is inclined to scy 

that 'nicotine is not a 

moral issue like alcohol, and it's a man's own business 

whether he smokes or not.' 

I disagree with that premise: 

the cigarette evil is a moral issue. Slow suicide is only 

less reprehensible than immediate self-destruction and 

cigarettes are shortening the life-span of millions of our 

citizens. Cigaiette smoking mothers are bringing into the 

world deficient, sickly^, 

neurotic and doomed babes, 

poisoning a generation at its very source. Huge fires are 

started by careless smokers who are lawless when the 

fierce urge of desire for nicotine is upon them, in which 

property is destroyed and lives lost a type of man 

slaughter which the forces of the law and justice in our 

land are now seeking means to punish .... 

"Nicotine robs the cigarette victim of every semblance 

of courtesy, consideration and thoughtfulness . . . . Laws 

and rules mean nothing to these poor drug-ridden masses. 

When they crave their narcotic they are going to have it, 

regardless of who suffers .... In a great chemical plant 

producing a highly explosive product I actually 

man sitting 

saw a 

on a sign which said 'Danger! No Smoking!' 

calmly sucking in on his 

cigarette." 

"Uncle Sam does have laws against some narcotics; 

but he is in the business of making addicts to nicotine. 

He purveyed it to all his children in the armed forces; he 

exacts a huge revenue from the sale of the cigarette and 

cares nothing for the wrecks the traffic causes.... 

"Our next great moral issue must be met, and con 

quered or we will go down in disaster. That moral issue 

is the complete casting out of booze and dope: the 

renunciation of whiskey and the cigarette. .. .Make no 

mistake about this: either we will have to master these 

twin evils or they will destroy 

us." 

He closes by saying 

that confessing our faults and cleansing our land of 

these soul-destroying traffics might be the first step 

along 

the road to national revival. 


IrilL CU VIClNAlN llLrv VV 11 lNICOS . church of North America, through its editorial office. 

Rev. D. Raymond Taggart, D. D.. Editor and Manager, 1209 Boswell Avenue, Topeka, Kansas. 

S2.00 per year: foreign .$2.50 per year: single copies 5c. Special rates to congregations. 

Entered as second class matter at Post Office in Topeka. Kansas, 

Authorized August 11, ln.-J.I. 

The Rev. R. B. Lyons, B. A.. Limavady, N. Ireland, agent for the British Isles. 


December 1, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 339 

Gutle+it SrvesttA, Prof. John Coleman, PhD., D. D. 

Almost unnoticed by the American papers an event has 

occurred in India that is in many 

ways equivalent to 

Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and the constitu 

tional amendments that follewed it: The Indian Consti 

tutional Convention has unanimously adopted a section 

that abolishes untouchability and frees the 50,000,000 

people who were under its curse. The Hindu word for 

"caste" 

means "color" 

(blacks). Their veiy 

and these people were the Sudras 

shadow brought pollution to the 

higher castes and their little offenses were often pun 

ished by death. As in this country^, 

is not always fulfilled in practice and it doubtless will be 

what is done in law 

long before the villages accept the new program, but 

there is great progress. The Christian missionary de- 

seives the major credit, for often his work has been to a 

large degree among these outcasts and under the touch 

of Christianity the lowly 

have advanced in character 

and civilization beyond their masters; and this fact was 

evident to all. May India prosper in her espousal of the 

doctrine of human equality! 

A few years ago Dr. Ralph Diffendorfer, Presbyterian 

missionary on furlough, lectured over the churches of 

that denomination concerning his experiences in the Com 

munist-held area of China and told how well he was 

treated and of the general good conduct of the Com 

munist leaders. Now executive head of the foreign mis 

sion division of the Presbyterian Board, he is lecturing 

again but with a modified story. He says that the Com 

munist tactics have three phases. First there is apparent 

tolerance and freedom of religion. Then freedom of move 

ment, assembly and preaching is strictly 

limited. The 

third phase is active opposition, marked by bans against 

preaching and expulsion of missionaries from the terri 

tory. Missionaries are being withdrawn both for their 

own safety- 

and to avoid embarrassment to Chinese min 

isters and church members who might be accused of as 

sociating with foreigners. 

# * * % 

Full election returns are in at last. 49,363,798 ballots 

were cast, but 683,382 voted only for state and local 

candidates and ignored the presidential contest. Truman's 

total vote was 24,104,836, Dewey's 21,969,500, Thur- 

mond's 1,169,312, Wallace's 1,157,100, Thomas' 

(Socialist) 

132,138, Watson's (Prohibitionist) 103,343. The total vote 

is the second highest on record. 

* * * t 

The Red spy issue row occupies the headlines. The 

Un-Amei ican Committees of the House of Represenatives 

is filling 

new:- 

the and a Federal Grand Jury, which of 

course does not hold public hearings, is "getting the 

goods" 

on the guilty parties so far as that can be done. 

The Committee's present favorite witness has turned 

over some important microfilms that he had hidden with 

a relative in Brooklyn for the past ten years and then 

for a few days in a hollowed pumpkin on his farm in 

Maryland. Why lie did not take them from Brooklyn to 

the Committee has not been explained, but it certainly 

would not have been so melodramatic and so appealing 

to the movie-trained public. 

Some congressmen and the American Bar Association 

have demanded that the Committee, if continued, be re 

quired to act only by a majority of the Committee; that 

before charges are aired in the newspapers private hear 

ings be held; that the accused be allowed to have counsel 

and to subpoena witnesses and cross-examine witnesses 

of the Committee. A good many people think that the 

F. B. I. and the Federal Courts ought to handle such 

matters, or at least that such men as John Rankin and 

Parnell Thomas ought to be excluded from the Congres 

sional committee. 

* 

J- 

-r * 

Thomas, indicted for grafting on secretaries paid by 

pleading- 

ihe government, is that the grand jury was m 

some regai ds irregular and that the statute of limita 

tions lets him off anyhow. Well, there is the income tax 

on the money he took, and apparently 

that. 

he has not paid 

Bread is still 16c a loaf in much of the country and 

the government says that the farmer gets but 1.3c of 

that. The wool in a S50.00 suit brings the grower $5.70. 

Of course the raw wool is a long way 

tailored suit. The leather in a pair of shoes costing the 

from the finished 

consumer SI 0.00 brings the farmer SI.37. These figures 

might be multiplied. The greater the distance in miles 

or in handleis or in transactions between the first pro 

ducer and the consumer, the greater the disparity in 

prices, and our modern economy necessarily has these 

a farmer in the less 

many steps. This is one reason why 

feitile East may make more money than the farmer in 

the broad West, far from the consumer. The producer 

who can himself make the jump and sell to the ultimate 

consumer fares well indeed. In recent years, however, if 

the price of farm land is a true index, almost any farmer 

has been doing pretty well; land has climbed high. Now 

with big crops, farm prices are going down and unless 

subsidies and government support of prices are contin 

ued will go much further. The restriction of production 

to hold up prices is going to be almost necessary, or the 

taxpayer will be hard hit. That is called the "economics 

of scarcity", and is widely denounced by business men 

who themselves produce only as much as they 

at their price also the "economics of 

*>p 3fS %Z 5JC 

can sell 

scarci 

Briefs: Mary Mcllrath, a girl who two years ago sat 

in a front seat in a Political Science class at Geneva 

writes that she has gone by plane into the heart of New 

Guinea to survey her field of work among the savages 

there.* ^ *Lafayette College, Pennsylvania, will not ac 

cept eii invitation to play in a Texas "bowl 

game" 

be 

cause the Texas team will not permit a Lafayette colored 

boyf to play.* * *The reigning 

queens of Iran and Egypt 

have been divorced because they have had no male chil 

dren. The queen of Pan is the sister of the king of 

Egypt.* ! *Vishinsky, in a speech to the U. N. at Paris, 

declared that Russia would not permit Russian women 

to follow their husbands out of that country because in 

other lands and especially in the United States women 

get "dixhpan hands" 

learn how that can be 

He ought to listen to our radios and 

prevented.* * *The U. N. has ad 

vanced S5,00l),000 for the relief of 500,000 Arab refugees 

and asked member and non-member nations to contribute 

$32,000,000.* * ::The American Medical Association is 

raising S3,500,000 to fight socialized medicine. 

(Continued to page 316)

3 10 THE COVENANTER WITNESS December 1, 1948 


By Walter McCarroll, D. D. 

Miller's Run Congregation. A while ago we 

had a note as to the number of ministers and 

missionaries given to the church by the Southfield 

Congregation. A correspondent, Mrs. Eliz 

abeth Thompson Vogt, from Hemet writes about 

the old Miller's Run Church which made a notable 

contribution to the church at large. Mrs. Vogt 

herself is only 

a "granddaughter" 

of that church, 

and has only her memories to guide her, but as 

far as her recollection goes the list of missionaries 

and ministers is as follows : 

"Miss Etta H. Thompson was an educational missionary, 

having worked in the Indian mission till she was forced 

to come home to look after her mother. Miss Kata Mc 

Burney and Miss Jean McBurney 

were the medical mis 

sionaries, going to China. Then there wei e many more 

preachers whom I recall. These were T. P. Tobb, R. J. 

George. J. S. Thompson, W. T. K. Thompson, A. I. Robb, 

S. G Conner. George McBurney, I. T. M. McBurney, Wil 

bur McBurney, and T. M. Slater. Then there were D. R. 

Taggart and J. C. Slater who were baptized members and 

later became pi eachers. I think that Dr. Ida Scott was 

also a baptized member and may 

have been a member 

when she went to China the first time. Then J. G. Vos 

was the pastor when he went to China." 

This is a noteworthy 

contribution indeed. It 

might be said that the life blood of that church 

was siphoned into the stream of the larger church 

life, and gave its life for the larger cause of the 

Christ. A worthy ambition for every pastor to 

work and pray for is that at least one enter full 

time Christian service during his pastorate. 

China's Only Hope. The following excerpt is 

from a Comment on the World Scene in the Pro 

phetic Word. 

"At a time when a war is being fought in China and in 

all Asia for the control of men's minds; 

when disillusion 

ment and instability characterize nations and people 

throughout the East; when forces antagonistic to Chris 

tianity are gaining power; when some leaders, even 

Christian leaders, admit that only a miracle can change 

the situation at such a time as this we need to be re 

minded of the words of Madame Chiang Kai-shek: 'If 

there is one outstanding thing which the Christians of 

China ask of the Western world in this time of decision, 

it is that world Christianity support China with its pray 

ers. . . .There is no greater power on earth, which can be 

generated by 

of the 

the united prayers of the Christian churches 

world.' " 

This is especially pertinent to our own church 

at this time. In view of the rarjidly deteriorating 

situation in China it may be that the detention 

of our missionaries on the west coast is a provi 

dential restraint, and one of love's delays, the 

meaning of which at the beginning was hidden 

but now is being made clear. Is the situation in 

China just another challenge to our faith, or is 

it an invitation to reconsider and not endanger 

life needlessly? The situation does indeed call 

for the prayers of the church that wisdom may 

making- 

be given in the of critical decisions. 

Idlib. Missionary William Lytle spent some 

time in Lebanon attending a Conference and to 

have a short holiday. In the Irish Covenanter 

he writes as follows : 

"I am here for a Conference for the Protestant youth of 

Syria and Lebanon. There are over 90 present, and there 

would have been many more but there is no more ac 

commodation. Theie are four delegates from Idlib. Our 

young people have been telling me that this Conference 

is a very poor one compared with the one we had in Idlib. 

I am not surprised at that, but at the same time I feel 

this Conference is well worth while. We had an address 

from a native pieacher this morning at prayers, which 

was a spiritual treat, a feast of fat things. It is my 

strong hope that there will be much more of the same 

kind. The Protestant churches in these lands are in great 

need of revival, and this Conference is being held with 

a view to helping- on that revival. One thing that greatly 

delights me about it is that it is being run by the native 

people themselves, independent of us foreigners. I have 

been noticing that I am the only foreign man amongst 

the whole group. There are three foreign ladies. We are 

only 

prsent as 

guests." 

The China Situation 

Dear Editor: 

Hongkong, November 22, 1948 

In view of the world interest in China, and the 

recent emergency brought on by Communist mili 

tary victories, I thought some word from our 

South China field might be of interest. 

We are enjoying temDorary peace and safety 

such as China affords in her less violent periods. 

I had my suitcase snatched this morning in Can 

ton while I was paying off my ricksha puller, but 

saw the thief soon enough to pursue him. He 

dropped my suitcase and ran. I was devoutly 

thankful, for all my mission checks and papers 

were inside. Such minor dangers exist. 

The Consul here has given out a somewhat 

milder warning than the general order from the 

ambassador. We are told to "begin to get ready 

to think" 

what we could do if we had to move. 

No local crisis is expected here before the first 

of 1949. But the Consul strongly advises out- 

coming missionaries not to come now, at least not 

until a steadier situation can be guaranteed here 

in China. I have sent this word to the Board al 

ready. 

Consular advice is always thus. The less people 

they have to be responsible for, the better. Mis 

sionaries are not very good at obeying consuls, 

usually, and already some missions in North 

China have decided to let workers stay on if they 

choose. 

China. 

We have not made plans yet to leave 

The Canton congregation has at last purchased 

its own building. The generous help of the Board 

of Church Erection made this possible. The 

downstairs will be a chapel, and the two upper 

floors are to be used for office, rooms for our 

staff, and rental. There is still a debt of U. S. 

$3600.00 which must be paid. Possession of the 

building is already granted. No interest will be

December 1, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 341 

charged us for the unpaid balance during the first 

three months. If we cannot pay the balance in 

three months, an interest rate will be fixed for a 

second three months period. This building meets 

an urgent need, but the Chinese still look forward 

to building a church. This will be a temporary 

investment until the work increases enough to 

make possible the erection of a real church. 

Miss Stewart and Miss Barr are at Tak Hing. 

Miss Adams is still tramping the village roads in 

our Tak Hing field. Dr. Scott is a busy, effective 

doctor at our Tak Hing hospital. Miss Dean is 

all alone as the missionary representative at Lo 

Ting. Reports from all are that they are very 

busy. Our family is busy day by day in Canton. 

Jeanette Li is working in our Tak Hing field. 

Pastor Soong is to leave Canton this week for 

communions at Ma Hui and Ko Leung. Pastor 

Chung On-Taai works this month and next at 

Hoi Kin and Yuet Shing. Pastor Wong has 

most of the country communion work on the Lo 

Ting side. I go to help Miss Soong at Hok Shaan 

in December. We are all trying to do more than 

we can do, but we rejoice that a door is still open 

here for preaching. We do not know how long 

this door will remain open. Only God knows what 

is ahead. 

We are sad indeed to think that Dr. Mitchel 

and others are not to come out. The nicely re 

paired missionary home which we prepared for 

language students in Canton seems bleak and 

empty in face of the disappointment. Still pray 

that God will turn back the evil floods and let His 

Gospel go forth unhindered in China. But His 

judgments are abroad in the earth and we must 

draw nigh to Him. 

Sincerely, Sam Boyle. 

Progress In South China 

By Dr. J. A. and F. McG. Kempf 

It is just about two months since we said our 

last farewell to fellow-missionaries on the South 

China Field. They had just come safely through 

the heat of another summer and, though lighter 

in weight, were strong in body and spirit, ready 

and happy in taking up the work for another 

season. 

Up to the time we left the Mission Field, (Sep 

tember) , the political situation was not hinder 

ing the evangelistic work. In chapels, at district 

markets or roadside tea huts, in schools and in 

shops, an audience and a friendly hearing was 

given to the Gospel message. High School stud 

ents occasionally came into our homes for a 

friendly chat. They asked questions about Christ, 

the Church and Christian doctrine. They liked 

to practice on us in speaking English and begged 

us to teach them this ("universal"?) language. 

During the past year the out-stations had more 

regular preaching and teaching from Chinese 

workers than in any previous year. The Church 

had the service of more Chinese pastors, evangel 

ists and Bible women than in any previous year 

since 1923. 

If statistics mean anything, then the S. China 

Presbytery's statistical report for 1948 should 

show marked progress as far as increase in num 

bers and contributions is concerned. Advance 

towards self support has not been as great as we 

had hoped for nor as evident as we think it should 

be. However, the decrease in Relief Funds from 

the Home Church should arouse and stir the Chi 

nese Church to realize that they need to make a 

greater effort to support the Lord's work and 

free themselves from dependence on funds from 

abroad. 

Two stations, Hoi Kin and Uet Shing, are 

persistently begging for more attention. Two 

other stations are wrestling with the problem of 

securing a more favorable site and a larger Chap 

el building. Some of their members have strong 

and differing opinions on the question, but the 

very fact that these groups are concerned about 

this problem is surely evidence of progress in 

the Church's work. The new Canton congrega 

tion is deeply concerned about securing a perma 

nent place of worship and Church work. Paying- 

rent, which increases monthly, to hold an unsuit 

able hall for an uncertain period of time is great 

ly hindering and discouraging the development 

of the great opportunities for evangelistic work 

in that great city. This congregation have their 

eyes on a desirable piece of ground. A very 

strong committee are working on the project of 

securing this site and erecting a church build 

ing. On this item I cannot do better than to 

quote from Mr. Boyle's recent letter. "The Can 

ton congregation are hot on the trail of the new 

church location now. We have been, and still are, 

aiming at the erection of a church building. This 

matter has occasioned many night meetings, and 

I am run ragged by them. I am often comforted, 

however, by the strength of the committee we 

have, and (here follows a list of 17 names) most 

of them are from Takhing or Loting. In this we 

have the fruits of our work in both Takhing and 

Loting. This group has the intelligence and spir 

itual initiative which country Christians lack. 

Col. Kwok Ping Cheung 

made a splendid speech 

last night reviewing the history of our Mission 

work in Takhing. He began by saying, T am the 

oldest Covenanter member here tonight.' 

We had 

two or three seasons of prayer during the meet 

ing- 

last night and the spirit was fine." 

It may 

be interesting to note that the Canton Church com 

mittee is made up of men and women who came 

out of our schools twenty and more years ago, 

and a few who have come into our Church during 

our work for refugees, in the early part of the 

Sino-Japanese War. 

When we passed through Canton we went to 

see the new house in Pak Hok Tung, rented for 

the use of the Boyle family and the new mission 

aries during their study of the language. It is 

a fine healthy location. Mr. Boyle, in a recent 

letter says, "The generous support of our mis 

sionaries in contributions to buy furniture has

342 THE COVENANTER WITNESS DeceniDer 1, 1948 

made possible the furnishing of the downstairs 

rooms and providing desks and dressers to go 

upstairs." 

round 

Mrs. Boyle is planning to house 

to whole group 

of new missionaries and we are 

sure she can make it comfortable for those who 

will remain in Canton for their year's language 

work. 

The Chinese war news is rather gloomy. It 

is a time when we find it easy to be concerned 

but I do not think we need to be pessimistic over 

the situation. God is watching over our Mission 

aries and over the Chinese Church, and there is 

much witnessing to be done yet in that great land. 

But we need to be much in prayer. My feeling 

is that if the way is open for our waiting mis 

sionaries to sail for China, and no hindrance or 

advice comes from the State Department in Wash 

ington, they should go forward and reach the 

field as soon as possible. Such a forward move 

ment will stimulate the interest of the Home 

Church and will greatly encourage the missionar 

ies on the field and our Chinese brethren. 

Our Takhing Orphanage 

By F. McGill Kempf 

858 Center St.. San Luis Obispo, California 

Our Orphanage in Takhing is growing. When 

we opened in June 1947, we started with 37. Since 

then, four have died but we have taken in 33. 

Miss Barr brought several down from Loting 

where they had been left in the Hospital by moth 

ers who did not want them. Quite a number were 

left at Kempfs' 

gate, and others on the roadway, 

and others, were brought by relatives who could 

not afford to bring up motherless children. One 

little boy was blind, a fair bonnie boy who lies 

quite contented all day and cries very little. A 

month or so ago, a mother brought two children. 

She wept and begged us to take them. She her 

self had been a slave girl, had married and the 

mother-in-law now threatened to sell these two to 

be slaves in some family. As the mother was a 

widow she could not do anything except bring 

them to us. We have taken them in. 

We now have five blind children and these will 

go to a special school run by the Presbyterian 

Mission in Canton, when they are abie to look aft 

er themselves. They 

will get as good an educa 

tion as our other children and will be taught 

braile, reading, etc., as well as a trade, knitting, 

making mats and baskets. By the time they are 

through the eighth grade, they are supposed to 

be self supporting. 

Since we left, the money of China has deprec 

iated a great deal. Prices are soaring too and 

we just wonder how they manage in the Orphan 

age with rice being scarce and the price high. 

But the Lord knows their need and we know He 

will supply 

all their needs. 

I have just finished writing letters to all spon 

sors, except those whose children have gone to 

Loting. When Miss Dean sends me their pic 

tures, I will write, or perhaps Miss Dean will 

write the sponsors herself. Will any sponsor who 

has not received a letter please write me at the 

above address. One letter has been returned as 

insufficiently addressed, one to Mrs. J. B. Steele. 

Please send me a p. c. with your address. Thank 

you. 

Mr. Kempf and I are enjoying the beautiful 

weather here. When the slides which we are 

having made are ready, we also will be ready to 

show them to those who would like to see them. 

A Spiritual Harvest 

By W. W. Weir 

The Lord has laid it on my heart to share with 

you some of the pleasure which has come to us 

recently. Why share with you? For your en 

couragement. Some of you worked in Cyprus 

when the going was hard. It is still hard. But 

when a comparison is made, the present is the 

hardship of the reaper who has the sight of the 

grain the fruit of his labor to lighten the 

task; whereas in your day there was the hard 

ship of the one breaking the sod, who has only his 

faith in the future harvest to lighten his task. 

You all know of one here and one there who 

have come out for Christ while students in the 

academy. How few they have seemed! What a 

tide of opposition rose to drown the new-born 

child in Christ! 

Perhaps it would be fair to say that with the 

coming of Pastor Marcus in the spring of 1945 a 

definite step forward was taken in the effective 

ness of our annual evangelistic meetings held in 

the month of May. Some would perhaps prefer 

to name the war years as marking a more definite 

change, for there was some splendid Christian 

fellowship 

with the troops. But in the meetings 

of May, 1948, the blessing came in like a flood. 

You may have heard already that at the end of 

that week of meetings 55 students had their names 

on the list of those who had come all-out for 

Christ, or had remained behind for instruction 

and prayer after one of the meetings, or had 

asked for prayer. At Nicosia there was a group 

also. Meetings had been held there the week be 

fore the Larnaca meetings. 

Following this, regular meetings were held for 

prayer, Bible reading and Christian fellowship, 

to assist the converts in spiritual growth. About 

ten of this group of fifty-five were from abroad, 

from various countries of the Near East and 

Africa. So when the Academy Summer Camp 

opened in July on Mount Troodos, accommodating 

all the twenty-two students from abroad, there 

was a good nucleus for group meetings in camp. 

They were held three evenings a week during 

eight weeks of camp. 

The one-day annual conference for young peo 

ple held at Pasha Livadhia, Troodos, was extended 

last year to include three days, accommodation 

being provided in tents for four nights. This sum-

December 1, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS ol.j 

mer it was extended to four days of conference 

five nights in camp. One hundred and eight 

persons ate and slept at the camp during the con 

ference. What a blessing we had! Many who 

had come out for Christ at the day meetings were 

present. There were conversions, re-dedications, 

pledges to greater service. Where was the oppo 

sition? We read nothing in the newspapers op 

posing the work. Letters from converts showed 

they were meeting some opposition in family 

circles and among friends. But no public opposi 

tion from the church or state. 

We have enrolled in the Larnaca Academy 447 

students, to date, an all-time record. I have not 

heard the number at Nicosia, but, like ourselves, 

they have turned away many 

applicants for places 

in the bearding department, and their total num 

ber must have been determined by the capacity of 

their buildings. 

Our Armenian evangelist, Mr. Sagharian, at 

tended the Youth for Christ Conference at Beatenberg, 

Switzerland, in August. He tried to 

interest some of the delegates there in the Cyprus 

field. Mr. and Mrs. Lindberg of Chicago, who 

are not Youth for Christ workers but who at 

tended the Conference at Beatenberg, promised 

to stop off at Cyprus on their way back after a 

visit in Palestine. They arrived on September 

17, and were here in Larnaca the following day 

to discuss possibilities of Youth for Christ Rallies 

in Cyprus. A meeting was called for Monday the 

20th to make plans. A few came from Nicosia 

and one from Larnaca. Much prayer and plan 

ning led to a Youth for Christ Rally last night in 

the newest (about a year old) theatre in Larnaca. 

It will seat 750. There must have been about 600 

present. The message was brought by Bob Fin 

ley whom Mr. Sagherian had persuaded to stop 

off, along with the Philippino, Gregory Tingson, 

on their way to India from the Beatenberg Con 

ference. At the close of the one and a half hour 

meeting the theatre platform could scarcely hold 

those who stayed behind as enquirers, quite a 

number of whom had raised their hands indicat 

ing their desire to accept Christ as Saviour. The 

work of these two young men in the school and 

in the groups of young people in the church was 

a great blessing. 

Now what does all this add up to? An abund 

ant harvest. As I have seen this harvest ripening, 

and have seen the sickle the Holy Spirit 

thrust into the grain, I have felt it was not fair 

to enjoy this wonderful experience without shar 

ing it with some of you who years ago longed to 

see this day. You not only longed for it, but you 

prayed for it and you worked for it. You must 

know that that labor was not in vain. Take cour 

age. Let us each one keep adding 

our bit in the 

corner where we are. Will you join your prayers 

with ours that the work here, now that the har 

vest is coming in, may not be hindered, but rather 

that it may go forward until this Island shall be 

a light to the whole Mediterranian area. God can 

bring that day! 

Life in Camp and in School 

By Rose Munnell 

Dear Covenanter Friends, 

This is again a busy time of the year for all 

school teachers. We are just finishing up our 

fifth week of school and reports go out the first 

of next week, and that always means extra work. 

We were glad to welcome back Miss McCrea 

and glad 

to see her looking so well and with so much ener 

gy to get into the work again. She has been busy 

ever since she landed as there is always lots to 

do around a place like this. 

Another term of school is well on its way and 

we have the largest enrollment we have ever had, 

a total of 312. Then it was necessary for us to 

refuse a number of students. We just don't have 

on Tuesday of last week (October 19) 

any place to put any more and we are having a 

time making room for all the extra ones this year. 

You see this is the only secondary school for girls 

on the island which teaches them English, and 

English has become a very necessary language 

here now. We still need our new building and 

we are praving that we mav soon have that need 

fulfilled. 

We spent the summer on Ti-oodos at Weir's 

Camp coming down on September 13. We -had 

four of our girl students with us. These stu 

dents live outside of the island. Three of them 

come from Abyssinia and the other from Bag 

dad. The Larnaca folks had some twenty-one 

boys up with them and so you see when I say 

"camp" 

I really mean a camp. In the camp next 

to Mr. Weir's which used to be Dr. McCarroll's 

we had some other Canadian, American and 

English friends which helped to make the summer 

very interesting. You notice I didn't say it was 

restful as both Miss Reade and I felt that we 

were busy all the time. We did our own cook 

ing for the seven of us and then Miss Reade was 

busy all summer getting" 

long with school work 

things in line for the opening up of school again. 

On Thursday and Friday of the week we came 

down from Troodos we attended a Teacher's In 

stitute down at the Larnaca Academy. This was 

very interesting as well as helpful in getting us 

into the line of correct thinking as we again took 

up our new duties for another year. 

Rev. Sagherian had the good privilege of at 

tending the Youth for Christ Conference in Switz 

erland this summer and came back with great 

enthusiasm. Then there were four others from 

this group that came and visited Cyprus and two 

Rallies have been held, one in Larnaca and one in 

Nicosia. At both these meetings a large number 

of people showed their desire to know about 

Christ and an effort is being made to have meet 

ings with all these people and give them some 

Bible teaching and training in preparation for 

their Christian life. 

Rev. Copeland also comes up on Thursday af 

ternoon each week and meets a couple of Bible 

classes and then meets with the Academy girls

344 THE COVENANTER WITNESS December 1, 1948 

who are interested in their soul's salvation and 

they have a very interesting and helpful time. 

Three days a week the girls meet at noon for a 

prayer meeting and discuss personal problems 

which they meet in school. 

Our Sabbath School with the Armenian group 

has started and Miss McCrea has been chosen as 

their Superintendent. We have classes in Greek, 

Turkish, Armenian, 

and English. The C. E. also 

has gotten started and our president this year is 

Miss Yester Dombourian. We are holding our 

prayer meetings on Saturday evenings with the 

aim of making them a means of better prepara 

tion for the Sabbath Day. 

Last spring I think Miss Gardner reported about 

the big birthday celebration which Mr. Vag 

atzi had for his friends. I'm sorry to report that 

at present writing Mr. Vagatzi is ill and hasn't 

been able to be out to Church or any meetings all 

fall. Mrs. Mouradian hasn't been so well either 

and has been in bed a great deal of the time. We 

pray that the Lord will restore to health and 

strength both of these his servants. 

We miss very much from our midst Miss Rosa 

lie Salakian who has been sent by the government 

to England to study Probation Work in the care 

of delinquent girls. Of late this has become quite 

a problem here in Cyprus and Miss Rosalie is 

interested in this kind of work and feels that 

she can be of better help to her people this way. 

We are also happy to tell you that a little baby 

girl has come to brighten the home of Mr. and 

Mrs. Barnabas Constantinopoulos. Mr. Barna 

bas is the Colporteur here in Cyprus for the 

British and Foreign Bible Society and is a mem 

ber of our Greek Congregation living in the house 

occupied by the Caskeys on the Mission property. 

We ask you for your prayers for the work here 

in Cyprus, especially for the boys and girls that 

have accepted Christ and are trying to live the 

Christian life. We ask also for your prayers for 

a greater spiritual growth in the Congregations 

and all Christian work. 

At the present time we have a need for fifty 

Psalters. Since we have so many more students 

this year we need more Psalters for chapel and 

the Armenian Congregation also needs Psalters. 

If any groups would be interested in supplying 

any number we would be very grateful to them. 

We appreciate your prayers and ask that you 

continue because without your prayers we would 

not be able to accomplish much. May the Lord 

bless you in your separate fields of labor. 

Missionaries Detained 

Due to the present critical situation in China 

the Foreign Mission Board has delayed indefinite 

ly the sailing for the party of missionaries going 

to South China. A cable was received from the 

workers on the Field suggesting this course. 

The ship 

on which we were to sail is scheduled 

to go on Dec. 14th., now that the strike has been 

settled. It is a keen disappointment to those who 

have been waiting for three months, yet we do 

not question the wisdom of the decision that has 

been made. 

We of the party wish to thank all the good 

folks who have sent gifts, messages of greetings 

and assurance that you are praying for us. We 

would earnestly request that all of you pray 

much for China in these her dark days. Also 

That the Lord will direct the way before us. 

J. C. Mitchel 

Back Again in Syria 

Dear Friends : 

By Elizabeth McElroy 

Miss Allen and I arrived in Beirut October 10, 

where we were met by Mr. Hutcheson, Mr. Sand 

erson, Helen and Florence Fattal. As I had been 

absent from Syria for three and a half years it 

was necessary for me to go on to Damascus to get 

the proper entrance credentials. Mr. Hutcheson 

was kind enough to go with me. 

Bus transportation was as comfortable here as 

on the American Greyhounds although passengers 

did have to make a mad scramble to rescue their 

packages, loaves of bread and paper sacks from 

the floor when someone upset the water jar. 

At the bus station in Latakia we were met by 

a group of friends and conducted to the third floor 

of the Girl's School, my old camping ground. My 

what a change! The old knotty wood floor had 

been replaced with one of cement and tile. Mr 

Hutcheson had spent his 1947 summer vacation 

supervising this work when he should have taken 

his family to the mountains for much needed re 

cuperation from the summer heat in the city. Miss 

Allen had spent many after school hours in paint 

ing the sixteen windows and as many doors. 

Miss McClurkin has acquired sufficient com 

mand of the language to be able to give the daily 

orders of food to the buyer ; Miss Allen is making 

calls on the sick and comforting them; Mr. San 

derson suggesting agreeable terms for the cook, 

who wants more compensation; concrete mani 

festations that they have adjusted themselves to 

the customs of the country and with a zest that 

shows they are enjoying it. 

What a relief this is to Mr. Hutcheson, who up 

to this time had to supervise both schools, the 

boarding department, the work in the villages, 

oversee the repairing of the buildings, deal with 

the government, make the social calls and enter 

tain, all of which had to be done in Arabic. If 

Miss McClurkin is not enticed to doing too much 

extraneous work so as to interfere with her con 

tinued progress in the language she should be 

able to take over the principalship of the Girl's 

School next year. 

Sabbath is a full day, preaching in Arabic 

by Rev. Awad at 10 A. M. ; Girls intermediate at 

11 A. M.; Sabbath School at 3 P.M.; the Amer 

ican Group meet at 4 P. M. for prayer; Young 

People's meeting after supper in the Boys' 

School. 

Last Sabbath Miss Allen led the Intermediate


meeting while Miss McClurkin gave a talk and 

led the singing. 

At the 4 o'clock meeting Mrs. Hutcheson 

reviewed the morning Arabic sermon in Eng 

lish to the American group. I was asked to give 

a report of the Covenanter Crusade. It greatly 

encouraged them to learn of the interest mani 

fested by the various home organizations in this 

field's work. 

Pray very definitely for the young people gath 

ered in both the Sabbath School and day classes, 

as this is the only source from which workers for 

the future can be recruited. This is your field! 

Your co-worker in Syria, 

Elizabeth McElroy. 

Jottings from the Marine Carp 

By Marjorie E. Allen (Mrs. Kenneth Sanderson) 

This is my second day aboard the ship. I am 

feeling fine although we are having some of the 

roughest weather I have ever seen on the ocean. 

We began to get into rough sea yesterday about 

dinner time and it has continued ever since. The 

boat both pitches and rolls quite badly. 

Yesterday we had a relatively 

In the morning 

quiet Sabbath. 

we read until ten. Then six of 

us ladies went down to D Deck and had a prayer 

meeting. We each took part in an informal dis 

cussion. One lady present was an Arab, whose 

father had been a missionary in Palestine for 

forty years. She has been an opera singer of 

late, and says she has lots of temptations. She is 

going back to get her old father's blessing before 

he dies. He is 96 years old. 

There are about 370 passengers on board, many 

of them Jews. The latter congregate as thick 

as flies in the middle of the top deck. I do not 

see how they can stand to be so thick and noisy. 

We are to stop at Piraeus, port of Athens ; then 

Haifa ; and then back to Beirut. We go to Haifa 

first to avoid incidents between the Arabs on land 

and the Jews aboard. 

Most of the passengers are Jews going to Haifa. 

There are a few Arabs and I have gotten acquaint 

ed with some of them. There are a few Greeks 

going back to visit and three or four boys going 

out to Cairo University to teach. We were told 

in N. Y. that the U. P Church is sending out 16 

missionaries on the Excalibar, one of the new Ex 

port Line Aces, on which the cheapest passage 

is $400. 

I have figured up the list of things I bought 

this summer for ourselves and for other people. 

We are very grateful for the gifts which we have 

received. I received $168.15 for the bathroom 

and for books for the school. My traveling ex 

penses in the U. S. have been covered by gifts 

and collections, so I have cost the Board nothing, 

and I hope I have gained some good will for the 

mission. I have bought a considerable amount 

for other people and altogether it runs into large 

figures. I will be glad to quit dealing in such 

higher mathematics and settle down to our more 

or less routine household accounts, which must 

be figured up each Saturday afternoon. God has 

greatly blessed us in leading us to know Christian 

men who have been very kind in giving us valu 

able discounts. 

Yesterday morning we saw five British sub 

marines. They were quite close to our ship. I 

wanted to take a picture of them, but while I 

was putting the film in my camera they passed 

and were too far away when I got up on deck 

again. They were following a large troop ship. 

I got a picture of it. At the table I asked a Greek 

officer sitting by me some questions about the 

submarines for he has had a great deal of ex 

perience in them. When a storm is on they go 

far enough down, about 20 meters, to escape 

rough seas. He said their greatest danger is to 

avoid turning over when they come up in a rough 

sea, and if they do it is the end of that submarine. 

They are building larger submarines which will 

go 19 knots per hour patterned after the German 

submarines. They can stay under water about 

30 hours, but in an emergency as long as 2 or 3 

days. Two of his brothers were killed in the war. 

Thursday morning 

we were in Piraeus when I 

woke up, in fact we went into the harbor and 

dropped anchor the night before. When they al 

lowed passengers off, after 10 :00, some of us la 

dies got a taxi and went to Athens. It was quite 

a decrepit old wreck of a car, but the driver knew 

English, which was quite an advantage. He took 

us first to Athens and then to some of the his 

toric places in the city. We went to the Acropo 

lis. It is quite impressive and interesting. Then 

we went to the Parthenon, which is really a part 

of the Acropolis, and then across the road to 

Mars Hill. It is lower than the Acropolis, but 

there is a fine view of all Athens from it, and one 

can well imagine Paul standing there and pro 

claiming his message of the unknown God to the 

Greeks. We saw the stadium where the Olympic 

games were held when they were in Athens, the 

king's palace, and various other places. We had 

a great time trying to count out our money and 

pay our bills. Surprisingly enough, food was rel 

atively cheap there, and things look quiet and 

peaceful. One would never know there was such 

awful guerrilla fighting going on further away. 

One can see the result of the bombing in Piraeus, 

but it is quite well cleaned up in most places. 

There are 10,000 drachmas to the dollar, so one 

pays in thousands for everything you buy. The 

man across from us at the table said he and his 

wife had 900 drachmas left when they came back 

to the ship, so they told a shop keeper to give them 

its equivalent in pistachio nuts, and so they got 

six ! It's really six for 9 cents though. 

A construction engineer who has been working 

in Greece is now sitting 

at our table. He has 

way- 

traveled all over the world and is now on his 

back to America. I asked who was supporting the 

war in Greece, if it was the Communists, or who ; 

and he replied that he didn't know, but the Com 

munists were defintely sending in money. He 

said that at least every 

week there is a village


raided by the guerrillas and their possessions are 

taên away. They mine the roads all the time, too, 

and every morning before they go out to work 

they have a mine sweeper go along, but it wouldn't 

get all the mines that had been laid, and they 

lost several Greek drivers, as well as quite a lot 

of equipment when mines exploded in the roads. 

There were three Americans got on at Piraeus 

who are going to Tel Aviv to set up a military at 

tache's office there. Since the Israeli government 

has been recognized we must establish some kind 

of a U. S. representation there. 

There were 210 got on at Piraeus. Many of 

them seem to be almost starved. They were 

lined up at six this morning waiting to get in 

to eat. There were four little sisters put on the 

boat, the oldest about five and the youngest about 

three months, they appear to be about starved. 

They are being looked after by a Greek woman; 

the youngest is in the hospital. They are to be 

met by their mother in N. Y. 

Haifa, Israeli. We have been here all day in 

port getting passengers and baggage off. It 

has been a long day in port; they have taken our 

deck chairs leaving us no place to sit and it is 

very hot in the cabin. Haifa looks about the 

same as ever. It is quite a modern city with 

many five or six story buildings, but few if any 

higher than that. There seems to be lots of con 

struction going on, 

and as far as the port is con 

cerned one can see no evidence of bombing or 

war. They told us not to take pictures, and any 

one caught doing so would have his camera con 

fiscated. 

The Jewish young men of military age had to 

enlist as they got their papers to get off. I guess 

they don't mind that though, for that is what they 

came for. One has to admit, whether pro-Arab, 

or not, that the Jews do know how to conduct 

their country efficiently in a good many ways. 

We will likely get off at Beirut tomorrow morn 

ing fairly early and go on home on Monday. If 

I haven't learned the patience of the Near East 

on this trip there is something wrong with me. 

It has surely been a long trip 17 days. I must 

admit that I do feel rested though. 



Possibly due to Peron influence military dictatorships 

are spreading over Latin America and replacing the 

progressive democratic regimes that have been imp-rov 

ing life in those countries. In quick succession Peru, 

Venezuela and Costa Rica have had revolutions, and the 

Pan American Council met in Washington, December 12 

to take action to protect Costa Rica, into which military 

forces are marching from Nicaragua to upset the en 

lightened government there. Communists are said to be 

among the invaders. This may or may not be true, but 

do you know of any disturbance in any non-Communist 

country in which the Communists are not partners? Tur 

moil and misery 

and disillusionment are the best plow- 

ings for their seed. Even fascism helps them in the long 

run. 

Thanks to Dr. F. M. Wilson 

The recent retirement of Dr. F. M. Wilson as 

Corresponding Secretary leads us as a Board to 

pay this tribute to his high qualities as a fellow- 

member, his devotion to the cause for which we 

are united in service, and the outstanding excel 

lence of his work in the office in which he served 

during the past thirty-three years. 

The period through which Dr. Wilson was 

Corresponding Secretary was a time of disturb 

ance and unrest everywhere. During this era two 

great World Wars did much to give unrest to our 

mission fields, our missionaries, and our work. 

The financial depression made necessary the clos 

est economy in the use of mission funds, and the 

discontinuing of some forms of missoinary activ 

ities. But in the face of these discouragements 

our Corresponding Secretary was a leader in en 

couraging the opening of new fields, and estab 

lishing new centers in old fields. It put upon him 

added responsibilities in helping to find workers 

that were qualified for these tasks; keeping the 

proper balance between the Evangelistic, the 

Medical, and the Educational work in many of 

these places. Introducing new and improved meth 

ods, and untried policies in an age when every 

thing seemed to be changing, called for a wisdom 

greater than any of us could provide, and of this 

our Secretary was fully conscious. On him lay 

heavy responsibilities, and of him exacting re 

quirements were made, in being the channel of 

communication between the missions and the 

Board, between our missionaries and the Church, 

and to some extent between the different fields 

and their workers. For such problems and per 

plexities our Corresponding Secretary needed 

more support than the Board and the Church 

sometimes gave him; nor could he have worked 

as faithfully without the Power from on high. 

For the great length of time through which 

Dr, Wilson filled this office, the efficiency and 

thoroughness with which he did his work ; his de 

tailed acquaintance with all of our missionaries 

through letters and personal contacts; his ma 

ture judgment, along with his kindly Christian 

treatment of his fellow-members in the Board, 

and willingness to defer to their judgment in deal 

ing with difficult questions in all such mat 

ters Dr. Wilson won, and held, the confidence 

both of the Board, the missionaries, and of the 

Church with a heartiness not given to every pub 

lic servant, but of which he proved himself wor 

thy; and which should make his name and mem 

ory live as an outstanding representative of our 

Covenanter mission work. 

Along 

with the name of Dr. Wilson should be 

associated the work of his beloved wife, Mrs. 

Laura A. Wilson ; and his Secretary, Mrs. Marga 

ret A. Gill, both of whom made contributions 

for which this Board and our Church owe this 

expression of gratitude. 

Respectfully submitted by T. M. Slater.




FOR DECEMBER 26 

HAVE I GROWN SPIRITUALLY? 

Scripture: 

I Peter 2: 1-5. 


Psalm 119: 1-4, No. 319 

Psalm 119: 1-4, No. 322 

Psalm 143: 4-6, No. 386 

Psalm 139: 1-3, 13, No. 380 

COMMENTS 

By Eleanor Faris, Geneva College 

On March 14 of this year we stud 

ied the topic, "How Can I Grow Spir 

itually?" 

Tonight we want to take 

a spiritual inventory to see what 

progress we have made in the past 

year in pur spiritual growth. This 

topic can be of value to us only as 

we make it personal and apply it to 

our own heaits. May the Holy Spirit 

through the Word reveal our failures 

to us and lead us forward in the com 

ing year. 

We might note one qualification 

that Peter makes in our Scripture 

passage for the evening "If so be 

that ye have tasted that the Lord is 

gracious.'' 

The depth of His grace 

(love in action) may be found in Ro 

mans 5: 8, "But God commends His 

love toward us, in that while we were 

yet sinners, 

Christ died for 

us." 

there is no life, there can be no 

growth. Paul, in writing to the Eph 

esians, 

It 

chapter 2: 1-3, 11-12, pictures 

us without Christ. We were dead in 

trespasses and sins, fulfilling the 

lusts and desires of the flesh and 

mind, Gentiles in the flesh, aliens and 

strangers having no hope, and with 

out God in the world. However, we 

were not left in that condition, for by 

faith we may taste that the Lord is 

gracious (Romans 2: 8, 9). "But God, 

who is rich in mercy, for His great 

love wherewith He loved us, even 

when we were dead in sins, hath 

quickened us together with Christ, (bv 

grace are ye saved:) and hath raised 

us up together in heavenly places in 

Christ Jesus" 

(Eph. 2: 4-6). By the 

grace of God we have been "born 

again, 

not of corruptible seed, but of 

incorruptible, by 

which liveth and abideth 

the word of God, 

forever" 

(I Peter 1: 23). So before we go on 

with our spiritual growth, let us each 

answer the question, 

life in me ? 

What should 

do I have that 

we look for in a ma 

ture Christian life? Turn in your 

Bible to Ephesians 3: 16-19, 

13 to 15. May 

and 4: 

I suggest that you read 

this together, afterwards commenting 

on the personal touch there is be 

tween Christ and us. Notice the in 

dwelling of Christ, and the emphasis 

of love in attaining the fulness of 

God. 

We have before us the beginning 

and the goal of the Christian life, but 

as Paul said: "Brethren, I count not 

myself to have apprehended: but this 

one thing I do, forgetting those 

things which are behind, and reach 

ing forth unto those things which 

are before, I press on toward the 

mark..." 

(Phil. 3: 13-14). We are 

in the midst of that race and the 

purpose of our meeting 

tonight is 

to look back over the distance cov 

ered in the last year to see what we 

have attained. 

Might we turn our thoughts in 

ward and see if during 

the past year 

we have done anything about 

put- 

ing off the old man and putting on 

the new man as we find in Ephes 

ians 4: 20-32? Have I come to feel 

His presence with me day by day 

than last year ? Do I 

more closely 

have less desire to enjoy 

the pleas 

ures of the world? Do I have a 

more earnest desire to find God's 

plan of service for my life? Have I 

found through experience that more 

of God's promises are real than I 

thought last year? Is prayer more 

powerful, moie satisfying than it 

was a year ago ? Are the fruits of 

the Spirit (Gal. 5: 22, 23) more 

abundant in my life than they were 

last year or even last month? These 

are only a few questions to start us 

in taking our spiritual inventory. I 

hope that this meeting will not be 

the end, but the beginning of our 

our New 

self-examination and may 

Year's resolution be a renewal of 

our C. Y. P. U. pledge as found in 

the Covenant of the American Cov 

enanters, "Aiming to live for the glo 

ry of God as our chief end, 

we will, 

in reliance upon God's grace, and 

feeling our inability to perform any 

spiritual duty in our own strength, 

diligently attend to searching the 

Scriptures, religious conversation, 

private prayer, family worship, 

prayer-meeting, 

and the sanctuary, 

and will seek in them to worship 

God in spirit and in truth. We do 

promise 

solemnly 

to depart from alliniquity, 

and to live soberly, right 

eously 

and godly in this present 

world, commending and encouraging 

by our example, temperance, love 

and 

godliness." 

Suggestions for the Meeting. 

Open the meeting 

near the end of 

the discussion for a few words of 

testimony from those who have seen 

the evidence of the Lord working in 

their own lives. This can prove very 

helpful in encouraging and strength 

ening each other for the coming year. 

JUNIOR TOPIC 

DECEMBER 26, 1948 

By 

Mrs. M. K. Carson 

A "REMEMBER" 

Meeting 

The last Sabbath of the year is a 

"looking backward" 

time, just as the 

first S2'bbath of the New Year is a 

"looking forward" 

time. For the last 

Sabbath of the year, let us have a 

"REMEMBER" 

meeting. 

For Scripture reading, let us say 

"Remember" 

verses, 

some of the lad 

der verses that are still in your mind, 

the "Golden Gloves" 

verse (which) 

Dr. Ida Scott says was translated in 

to Chinese, fingers and all, 

by 

Tak Hing hospital) 

and used 

one of the Bible teachers in the 

or other verses 

that you like specially well. Can you 

remember a "Trust in the Lord" 

verse, 

or a "Salvation" 

about the "Lord's Way" 

verse, 

or one 

or "He Is 

Able" 

? May be you can have sever 

al turns around the group saying 

verses you have stored in your minds. 

For reference verses, let us read 

these "Remember" 

verses. What we 

?re to remember Deut. 8: 18; Eccl. 

12: 1; Exodus 20: 8; Psalm 77:11; 

Psalm 20: 7; I Cor. 11: 24-25. What 

the Lord remembers Gen. 8: 1; Ex 

odus 2: 42; Psalm 98: 3; Isa. 43: 25; 

Psalm 103: 14; Malachi 3: 16. 

There are many memory 

Psalms to 

use in the praise service in a "Re 

member" 

meeting. There are the 

ones that Miss Mary 

Elizabeth Cole- 

niLin taught us to sing with expres 

sion and with understanding. Can 

you sing them all ? Do you remem 

ber some of the "clothes" 

Psalms 

that Mrs. Hutcheson mentioned? The 

winter clothes (for protection) Psalm 

91, the travel clothes, Psalm 121, or 

the church clothes, Psalm 122? Per 

haps you were at camp 

last summer 

and learned some of the Psalms with 

motions "He counts the number of 

the 

stars" 

or the "Candle" 

Psalm, 

Psalm 18: 25, or others that you have 

been taught. See how many of them 

you can remember well enough to sing 

without a book. Perhaps each one 

could start a Psalm from memory


and have the others join in and sing 

a verse or two. Or have the leader 

start the first word or two and have 

the children carry on themselves. 

Instead of having 

a special topic 

for this meeting, let us recall some of 

the meetings we enjoyed most during 

the year. Perhaps in the week be 

fore the meeting, you might look 

back through the copies of the Wit 

ness for 1948, and see how many fine 

lessons we have had this year. That 

would help you to remember. Per 

haps different ones of the group 

might be assigned different months 

to "remember" 

and tell which one of 

the topics of that month they liked 

best. You might ask your teacher to 

do over again some object lesson that 

you liked very much, or may be the 

Juniors could each present an object 

lesson given during the year. Or you 

could tell the story you liked best. 

There are many ways of recalling the 

lessons presented in 1948. 

How many missionaries did you 

meet this year in your congregations, 

in your camp or through the pages of 

the Junior topic ? Do you "remem 

ber" 

them and the things they asked 

you to do ? They 

need to be "re 

membered in our thoughts and in our 

prayers every day, for that is a part 

of the work that we all can do. Could 

you have a season of prayer for the 

special needs that your leader can tell 

about at the time of the meeting ? 

Maybe you can think of other things 

you would like to "remember" 

in this 

meeting. Maybe there will be so 

many things there will not be time to 

tell them all. But it is a good thing 

to take time once in a while to "re 

member." 

Now for one "forward look." 

Be 

ginning with next week, Mrs. McKel 

vy is writing our lessons once more. 

Isn't that good news! The lessons 

that you had from her this last year 

were ones she wrote for boys and 

girls who were Juniors a dozen years 

ago, 

and we thought those lessons 

were so good that we asked her if we 

might reprint them for you. But now 

she will be writing lessons just for 

you! I know you can hardly wait to 

see what she is going to write about. 

Watch for the first topic of the year. 

It is time to close our "Remember" 

meeting 

now and after prayers of 

thankfulness for the good things of 

the year, and prayers for God's keep 

ing grace in the months ahead, let us 

sing the Psalm that is the "Good- 

Night" 

song at so many camp fires, 

after so many of our Sabbath eve 

ning services and is a good Psalm to 

close our Junior meetings for the 

year 

"I will both lay me down in peace 

And quiet sleep will take 

Because thou only me to dwell 

In safety, Lord, dost 

make." 





LESSON XIII. APOCALYPTIC LIT 

ERATURE IN THE BIBLE 

Daniel 7; Revelation 1: 21, 22. 

Printed verses, Revelation 21: 1-7; 

Golden Text: 

22: 1-5, 17. 

"The kingdoms of this world are be 

come the kingdom of our Lord, and 

of His Christ; 

ever and 

and he shall reign for 

ever." 

Revelation 11: 15. 

Any difficulty with the pronuncia 

tion and meaning of "Apocalyptic" 

in 

today's lesson title ? Rhyme it with 

stick," 

"A box of lip and translate it 

into the better known word, "Reve 

lation." "Apocalyptic" 

is the adjec 

tive of the noun "Apocalypse," 

which 

is from the Greek words "from" 

"a cover, or 

veil." "Reveal" 

corresponding Latin, from "re" 

and "velum" 

veil or 

and 

is the 

back, 

veil, "drawing back a 

cover" 

according to the dic 

tionary. So "Apocalypse" 

tion," 

is "Revela 

and when capitalized it refers 

to the Book of Revelation in the Bible. 

In fact it has practically come to have 

the technical meaning of "the revela 

tion made to the Apostle John." 

Yet 

the dictionary also says it means "any 

remarkable revelation. As we 

expected poetry in the Bible because 

poetry comes from deep emotion, we 

expect revelation in the Bible because 

of the supernatural character of the 

Book. It is God's Book and we look 

for some revealing of hidden things 

in it. We find them in Daniel and 

Revelation. 

There are supposed to have been 

some red faces following the last elec 

tion. There will be some red faces 

when the true interpretation of the 

book of Revelation finally comes to 

light. And yet at that time the joy 

of the real meaning of the things not 

now understood will probably over 

shadow all the embarrassments of the 

good people who have misunderstood 

them. And perhaps it should be 

added that the consternation at the 

reality of some of the things described 

will leave no room for consternation 

at our failure to have grasped their 

meaning. Our Lord told His disciples 

many things before His death and 

resurrection which they did not un 

derstand at the time, even though He 

told them plainly. After His death 

and resurrection and the coming of 

the Holy Spirit at Pentecost these 

things became plain. They were re 

vealed to the disciples in one era, and 

it took the coming in of a new dis 

pensation to make all their meaning 

clear. So it may be with the Reve 

lation. History 

will reveal the true 

meaning of some things, future events 

may clear up others, and still others 

will await the coming of a new heaven 

and a new earth, another era, before 

they 

be ashamed if we do not have an ex 

can be understood. We need not 

act, detailed explanation for things 

revealed in the Bible, for from I Pe 

ter 1: 10-12 we learn that both the 

prophets and even the angels did not 

understand all about the time and the 

nature of the sufferings of Christ in 

His work of salvation. Perhaps no 

one today has the correct interpre 

tation for the times, the sufferings, 

and the future glory described in the 

Revelation, but we should imitate the 

prophets and the angels and "search 

diligently" 

to know all that we can. 

Then when we recall from history 

the events or cycles that have trans 

pired we may be able to say, "It was 

pictured that way in the Revelation." 

Or when future events take place we 

may recognize in them the fulfillment 

of things predicted in the Apocalyp 

tic parts of the Bible. We should 

know the content of Daniel and the 

Revelation even if we do not know the 

meaning. 

Daniel was much troubled and he 

even fainted because of what he un 

derstood from his visions. Revelation 

also tells of terrible things that are 

to happen. Of these things the late 

Dr. J. C. McFeeters says, "As the 

earth in springtime, amid melting 

snows, swollen rivers and destructive 

storms, breaks her icy chains and is 

set free from winter, so the world 

among tumults and commotions will 

be released from the long winter ot 

oppression, unhanniness and abnor 

mal conditions." 

Of the final war he 

says that although the world will suf 

fer immense loss, the compensation 

will far exceed the loss. It will be 

the only profitable war that was ever 

waged. (America in the Coming 

Crisis.) Both the book of Daniel and 

the Revelation agree in one thing, 

and that is the final triumph of the 

Lord Jesus Christ and His kingdom. 

Taking up the printed verses we


have first Renewal and Fellowship, 

from Rev. 21: 1-7; second, Life and 

Light, from Rev. 22: 1-5; and third, 

the Call, from Rev. 22: 17. 

RENEWAL AND FELLOWSHIP 

Revelation 22: 1-7 

Matthew Henry says of the first 

eight verses, "We have here a more 

general account of the happiness of 

the church of God in the future state, 

by which it seems most safe to un 

derstand the heavenly 

New Jerusalem he says, "This New 

state." 

Of the 

Jerusalem is the church of God in its 

new and parfect state, 'prepared as a 

bride adorned for her husband,' 

beau 

tiful with all perfection of wisdom 

and holiness, meet for the full frui 

tion of the Lord Jesus Christ in glo 

ry." 

A new heaven; a new, perfect, 

sinless earth; and a renewed, sancti 

fied church; these would lessen the 

need for the present separation be 

tween heaven and earth, between man 

and man, and between God and man. 

So we find that there is no more sea, 

and we find God dwelling with men. 

Perfect fellowship is restored, and 

pain, which came with sin, will be no 

more. Christ who is the Alpha, the 

beginning, is also the Omega, the end, 

and the blessedness of the original 

state is restored in Him. 

LIFE AND LIGHT 

Revelation 22: 1-5. 

The sources of life are pictured 

as the river of water of life and the 

tree of life. The river comes from 

the throne of God and of the Lamb. 

This is a reminder of the source of 

eternal life and an assurance of the 

continuance of eternal life. The tree 

of life, from which man was separat 

ed when he sinned, is made accessible 

again. The Lord God is also the source 

of light, so that they need no candle, 

light made by man's ingenuity, or the 

sun, God's natural light bearer, and 

still there is no night there. 

THE CALL 

The invitation to come and partake 

of the water of life is given by the 

Holy Spirit and by the bride, the 

Church. It is also given by those who 

have heard and obeyed the call. In 

some cases we have only an invita 

tion to "join the 

church." 

The bride 

without the Spirit is not enough. 

Again there may be the urge by the 

Holy Spirit, but no church backs it 

up. The Spirit and the bride should 

unite in the call. And 

when conver 

sions come it is always true that the 

most enthusiastic call to others is 

from the new converts. He that hears 

says, Come. 



TWILIGHT IN MANCHURIA 

Rom. 15: 14-2.1. 

Comments Prepared 

By the Rev. J. G. Vos 

Psalter Selections: 

Psalm 13: 1-3, No. 25 

Psalm 143: 1-3, No. 385 

Psalm 102: 1-6, No. 267 

Psalm 102: 7-12. No. 268 

The topic originally assigned for 

this prayer meeting was "Our Gospel 

Workers and Work in Manchuria." 

In view of the lamentable trend of 

events in Manchuria since Japan's 

surrender, it seemed proper to change 

the title to "Twilight in Manchuria." 

It is suggested that the leader obtain 

a large map of China, or Asia, for 

use in connection with this topic. A 

map in a school geography or any at 

las will do. Explain the main geo 

graphical facts about Manchuria to 

the group. It is that portion of China 

located north and east of the Great 

Wall of China. Area, 

about 360,000 

square miles. Present population, 

about forty million. Population about 

95 percent Chinese, the remainder be 

ing aboriginal tribes, Koreans, Japan 

ese, Russians, and others. Mainly an 

agricultural country, the principal 

crop being soy beans, though wheat, 

corn, millet and other crops are pro 

duced. The southern part of Manchu 

ria, centering around Mukden, has 

been industrialized, with coal mines, 

iron foundries, rubber and steel mills 

and many other industries. The larg 

est open cut coal mine in the world 

is in South Manchuria, producing ex 

cellent coal. The South Manchuria 

Railway, originally built by Russia, 

was taken over by Japan after the 

Russo-Japanese War (1905) and 

greatly improved. Probably the fin 

est railroad in Asia, it had rock-bal 

lasted double tracks for hundreds ot 

miles, operated with clock-work pre 

cision and even had some streamlined 

and air-conditioned trains, as well as 

fine, modern stations. Today, it is 

rusting to junk after capture by the 

Communists. 

Manchuria became important after 

the First World War, in the nineteen 

twenties, 

when one to two million im 

migrants a year entered the country 

from China Proper as homesteaders. 

The population and prosperity 

jumped. Christian missions also ex 

perienced a wide-open door and most 

remarkable success. The people were 

receptive toward the Gospel and the 

work was most encouraging. Among 

well known missionaries in Manchu 

ria were Dr. and Mrs. Jonathan Go- 

forth of the Canadian Presbyterian 

Church. 

Covenanters in Manchuria 

Covenanter work in Manchuria was 

opened in the summer of 1931 with the 

arrival of Misses Rose Huston and 

Lillian McCracken and Rev. and Mrs. 

J. G. Vos at Tsitsihar, in the northern 

part of the country. Later Rev. and 

Mrs. Philip Martin joined the force 

there. For two or three years the 

missionaries were principally occu 

pied with getting hold of the lan 

guage, while making many contacts 

with the people. Then active work 

began, first in Tsitsihar, then in sev 

eral country towns within a 150 mile 

radius of the city. 

In 1934, besides the missionaries, 

there were 3 communicant members 

of the Covenanter Church in Man 

churia. In 1935, there were 15. In 

1936, there were 32. In 1937 the 

number had risen to 59; by 1938, to 

61; in 1939 there was a large increase 

to 121 communicants. In 1940, the 

last year reported in the Minutes of 

Synod, there were 164 communicants 

and a total of 199 souls, counting 

communicants and baptized children 

of believers. These were located in 

four stations that had regular 

preaching of the Gospel: Tsitsihar, 

Mingshui, I-an, Lintien. The above 

figures are for net membership after 

deducting all losses by death, church 

discipline, joining 

tions, 

other denomina 

etc. A few were baptized after 

the last report was sent in, giving a 

total communicant membership for 

the Covenanter Church in Manchuria 

of perhaps 175 and over 200 souls. 

Japanese Interference 

Japan conquered and governed the 

whole of Manchuria, starting just 

after our missionaries reached the 

field in the late summer of 1931. For 

three or four years the Japanese, 

while extremely suspicious, did not 

attempt to interfere very much with 

missionary and Christian work. They 

lequired interminable statistics. We 

had a small suitcase filled with car 

bon copies of questionnaires and 

similar documents. But in the latter 

part of the thirties there was a def 

inite change. Finally 

the Japanese 

showed their hand. They issued a 

law making religion a government 

monopoly and requiring all churches, 

temples and religious workers to ob 

tain licenses from the government. 

The conditions involved in obtaining 

the licenses were completely destruc-


tive of Christianity. A church could 

not even call a pastor without gov 

ernment permission. Preaching 

against "local 

and shinto worship) 

(idolatry 

customs" 

was forbidden 

under penalty of fine or imprison 

ment. About 95 percent of the church 

es, missions, 

and Christian workers 

of Manchuria complied with this 

wicked totalitarian law. The Cove 

nanters, Orthodox Presbyterians, 

Presbyterian Independent Board 

missionaries, and a few others, 

formed a small resisting minority, de 

termined never to comply, 

no matter 

what might happen. They decided to 

stand up for the separation of church 

and state, 

and the crown rights of 

Jesus Christ, and leave the issue with 

God. Members of other denomina 

tions predicted that within six 

months there would be no Covenant 

er Church left in Manchuria. 

God preserved the Covenanter 

Church. He was able to restrain the 

wiath of man. Our churches and 

workers never complied with Japan's 

wicked demands. But expansion of 

the work was out of the question. 

Even the normal work gradually had 

to be limited and mostly 

given up, 

due to circumstances beyond our con 

trol. The worst of Japan's demands 

came in the spring 

of 1942 when a 

decree was issued requiring all 

churches to install a Shinto shrine in 

their place of worship 

and bow to it 

at the beginning of every service. 

War between America and Japan re 

moved all our missionaries from the 

field. Some devoted Chinese workers 

were left in charge. 

Japan's Downfall 

Divine judgment was impending for 

the nation that had defied the living 

God and persecuted His people. Just 

before the atomic bomb was dropped 

on Hiroshima, Russian armies from 

Siberia crashed through Manchuria 

like a giant steam roller. The Japan 

ese troops, exhausted by years of war, 

were unable to resist. In a brief pe 

riod Soviet Russia was in undisputed 

control of Manchuria. 

War's end found two Covenanter 

workers at their posts, Mrs. Jeannette 

Li at Tsitsihar and Mr. Kang Li-ping 

at the station of 

country 

I-an. North 

Manchuria being faced with perma 

nent Communist rule, Mrs. Li wisely 

escaped to Changchun and took up 

work in a Christian hospital there. 

Mr. stayed Kang on at I-an doing 

what he could in a quiet way. He has 

not been heard from since the sum 

mer of 1943. The whole Covenanter 

field in Manchuria is now under Com 

munist domination. Missionary work 

is impossible. What personal work 

the local Christians may be able to do 

we do not know. There is no way to 

send a letter, telegram or money to 

anyone in the Communist area. So 

far as getting in touch with them is 

concerned, they may be living 

moon. 

on the 

After systematically looting the 

industries and factories of Manchuria 

the Russians belatedly withdrew their 

troops, and everywhere the vacuum 

was immediately filled by well-equip 

ped Communist armies. There were 

no known Communists in Manchuria 

when our missionaries were on the 

field. After Russia withdrew they 

swarmed like bees over the country. 

The government of China made a des 

perate effoit to hold part of Manchu 

ria, but without success. City after 

city fell to the Reds. Finally only 

two key positions remained, Chang 

chun, in the center of the country, 

and Mukden, in the south. Chang 

chun, 

with perhaps 200,000 people, 

was beseiged until surrender was 

forced by 

starvation. Before it fell 

this fall human flesh was being (il 

legally) 

sold for food at U. S. $1.20 

per pound. Finally Mukden also fell, 

a few weeks ago, after a long siege. 

Its normal population of half a mil 

lion had been swelled by 

soldiers and 

refugees to about two million people. 

Now Manchuria is totally under Chi 

nese Communist control. Worse than 

that, the whole of China north of the 

Yangtze River is now threatened with 

this plague of militant, atheistic Com 

munism. 

Mrs. Jeannette Li, in the provi 

dence of God, has been able to reach 

our South China field safely. Mr. 

Kang is still, so far as known, in 

North Manchuria. There are reports 

of Communists crucifying Chinese 

Christians, and burying 

others alive. 

The Christian people of Manchuria 

will now be faced with the test of 

bitter persecution. For some of them 

it may mean 

martyrdom for their 

faith in Jesus Christ. Under Japan 

Christian work was extremely diffi 

cult; under Communism, it is virtu 

ally impossible. The open door that 

was so promising in the nineteen 

twenties and early thirties has been 

slammed shut. The issue is now in 

the hands of God. When will the door 

be opened again? Are the shades of 

night descending 

Asia? 

Topics for Prayer: 

on the whole of 

1. That God will give special grace 

to the Christians of Manchuria to 

stand up for Christ in the face of per 

secution and suffering. 

2. That the seed sown by mission 

aries and Chinese workers in past 

years may 

lives. 

may 

yet bear fruit in many 

3. That God, if it be His holy will, 

so order international events 

that the closed door of Manchuria may 

be opened to the Gospel again. 

MID-WEEK PRAYER MEETING 

FOLDERS FOR 1949 

Subjects and Space for Leaders 

5 Cents Each in Quantity 

Service Print Shop 

1121 Buchanan Street, Topeka, Kansas 

C. Y. P. U. TOPIC CARDS 

for 1949 

5 Cents Each 

Special Printing $2.50 Extra 


1121 Buchanan Street, Topeka, Kansas



W. M. S. TOPIC 

FOR JANUARY, 1949 

THE CHRISTIAN WALK: 

BY FAITH 

II Cor. 5: 7. 

By Mrs. Sadie Greenlee 

Denison, Kansas 

Faith is the topic for our January 

meeting a fitting subject for the 

new year. Faith gives us a path 

through the dark places. 

Problems of great importance are 

just ahead and require faith and 

works on our part to meet them if we 

do the Christian's work. 

It is essential then that we have 

acquaintance with the Author of our 

faith, Jesus Christ. It is not enough 

to believe the enemy often does 

that but to know Him in whom we 

believe and be guided into His truth. 

We need our daily study of His Word, 

prayer and waiting on the ordinances 

and, above all, the Holy Spirit direct 

ing us. 

Our walk then in faith will be a 

fruitful walk, receiving the benefits 

of the Covenant of Grace and dispens 

ing 

them about us. Faith is that link 

that connects us with Christ, without 

whom we can bring no fruit. 

Our walk then in faith will be a 

triumphant walk. "Whereby 

ye are 

able to quench all the fiery darts of 

the 

wicked." 

Our goal this year is one of prog 

ress against sin in all the forms that 

confront us until we reach the end of 

faith even the salvation of souls. 

Christ is the perfecter of all true 

faith. May 

throughout this year! 

we walk closer to Him 

Faith in Jesus Christ is a saving 

grace whereby 

we receive and rest 

upon Him alone for our salvation, as 

He is freely offered to us in the Gos 

pel. 

STAR NOTES... 

***The Young 

People of the Gree 

ley Congregation are making plans to 

present three radio programs on the 

Christian Amendment Movement oyer 

Radio station KFKA-Greeley (1310 

kc). These programs will be on three 

succeeding Sabbath afternoons, Jan 

uary 2, 9, 16 from 3:15-3:30 P. M. 

Anyone in the listening area is invit 

ed to listen. 

***The Maurice Hutcheson family 

visited in Glenwood, Minnesota, re 

cently. Mr. and Mrs. Walter Hut 

cheson visited with their son Rev. 

Richard Hutcheson and family in 

Almonte during part of August. 

(Morning- 

Sun) 

**'!'Dr. and Mrs. Leslie Fallon of 

Geneva congregation announce the 

birth of a daughter, Elizabeth Grace, 

on November 12, 1948. 

CHURCH NEWS 

HEBRON 

The young adults have organized a 

study group which meets each Sab 

bath evening. Members of the group 

take turns in leading the study. The 

current topic is "Prayer" 

Mrs. Robert Mann visited with her 

daughter, Mrs. Melvin McCrory of 

Denison. 

Mr. Byron McMahan and Rev. Vos 

represented our congregation at the 

meeting of the Kansas Presbytery, 

which was held in Topeka. They 

gave interesting 

reports to the con 

gregation. Mrs. McMahan accompan 

ied her husband. 

Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Copeland 

and Keith and Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd 

Copeland spent a delightful two 

weeks visiting 

their daughter and 

lister, Mrs. Raymond Hemphill and 

family of the Kentucky 

enjoyed hearing of their trip 

work at the Mission. 

Mission. We 

and the 

Mrs. John Greenlee, Mrs. Ray Mil 

ligan and Mr. Robert Mann have 

been recent patients in the Clay Cen 

ter Hospital. We are glad to report 

their recovery. 

We extend sympathy to Mr. and 

Mrs. Clyde Goodin in the loss of 

their infant son, Douglas Ray. 

We offer congratulations and best 

wishes to Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Mc 

Crory 

ber. Mrs. McCrory, the former Clara 

who were married in Septem 

Mann, was guest of honor at a mis 

cellaneous shower given by Mrs. Ray 

Milligan and her daughter, Mary 

Olive. Many lovely gifts were re 

ceived for the newly established 

home near Denison. 

Mrs. B. W. McMahan spent sev 

eral weeks visiting in the home of 

her son, the Irl McMahan family 

near Topeka. 

A Memorial Library 

given in re 

membrance of Larry Engel by many 

of his friends has been established. 

Many lovely 

in a case made by 

children's books are now 

Larry's father. 

The Juniors are spending many 

fruitful hours reading these books. 

A pulpit lamp given in Larry's 

memory will be in use when our elec 

tricity is installed. 

We are rejoicing over the gravel 

that has been placed on the road 

leading 

to the church. This should 

make for regular winter church serv 

ices. We are grateful for the homes 

which have been opened for chui'ch 

services in the past, but look forward 

to regular worship in the Lord's 

House. 


held a bazaar, food sale, and chicken 

dinner in the City 

Hall on Novem 

ber 13. Our regular monthly collec 

tions are large, but by this extra 

labor, we are able to cany 

extra projects. 

out some 

Rev. A. J. McFarland preached 

morning and evening, October 3, 

while Rev. Vos assisted with Com 

munion at Topeka. 

Mr. Lloyd Copeland led prayer 

meeting on Sabbath, November 7. 

as Rev. Vos was away assisting with 

Communion Services at the Beulah 

congregation. 

The C. Y. P. U. took a hay-rack 

ride to Clay Center where they en 

joyed a roller skating party. After 

this they "hay-racked" 

back to the 

country home of Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd 

Copeland for a watermelon feast. 

NEWS OF THE WALTON 

COVENANTERS 


met for an all day meeting at the 

church Thursday October 7. The 

Y. W. M. S. met the same evening 

with Mrs. Robert Russell. Another 

barrel of canned goods was packed 

and sent to the Aged People's Home 

in Pittsburgh. 

The Men's Club had another of its 

famous auctions on October 8. Pota 

toes from the Lord's Acre plot be- 

hind the church was the main item for 

sale. These with a few other items 

and the boxes of food brought in 

by the women for refreshments 

hi ought in some seventy dollars, a 

very 

vested. 

good return for the work in 

Eleven of our people went to White 

Lake on October 12 for a work day. 

The men helped with the new cabins. 

The women did sewing 

and repair 

work. Mrs. Robb was in charge of 

the meals. A total of forty people 

were there for the day 

work was accomplished. 

During 

and much 

October a bee was held to 

put a prime coat of paint on our 

manse. There was a good turn out.


The job was not quite complete in a 

day, but several of the men returned 

later and finished it. The deacons set 

November 5 as the date for a spa 

ghetti meat-ball supper for all those 

who helped with the work of painting. 

Never have so many contributed so 

much labor to our church in a single 

summer. It has been a good testi 

mony 

to our community. 

Mrs. Nellie Gregory, 

one of our old 

est members, passed to her reward on 

October 15. After much suffering 

from a broken hip she died in the 

Hospital. Funeral 

Binghamton City 

services were held in our church with 

her grand nephew Rev. Lollis Bell in 

charge. 

Our communion was held on the 

third Sabbath of October with Rev. 

Robert McMillan assisting. His mes 

sages were much appreciated. Cath 

erine Elizabeth Stewart, daughter of 

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Stewart, and 

James Alan Gilchrist, son of Mr. and 

Mis. Howard Gilchrist, were baptized. 

Ralph Henderson was our elder to 

presbytery this year, 

Birnet, Vt. The meeting was well at 

tended in spite of the snow and cold. 

which met in 

At the evening service Rev. Philip 

Martin was installed as pastor of the 

Barnet congregation. 

Mrs. Ralph Henderson has been ill 

for some time and spent a few cTays 

in the Smith Hospital. 

Marion McNaughton is now work 

ing in Albanv. but e-ets home nearly 

every week end. Margaret Thomson 

visited relatives on Long Island re 

cently. Thomas Rowley is leaving for 

the navy 

the first, of No"mber. 

Rev. Remo Robb visited our church 

October 4 and brought inspiring mes 

sages. 

The local W. C. T. U. was held at 

our manse on the 23rd. It was well 

attended. Several babies received their 

white ribbons. 

Our pastor helped with a preaching 

mission in Stamford for three eve 

nings during the month. These were 

very successful. The County Council 

of Churches is sponsoring other such 

evangelistic efforts in the county this 

fall and winter. 

STERLING, KANSAS 

While Rev. L. E. Kilpatrick assist 

ed communions in Rose Point, New 

Alexandria, and Stafford this fall, Dr. 

D. R. Taggart, the C. Y. P. U. and 

Rev. A. J. McFarland took charge in 

his absence. Rev. Paul Coleman, D.D., 

capably assisted in all our communion 

services the weekend of October 31. 

Two adults, Mrs. Mabel Foley and 

Mrs. Neilia Foley, were welcomed into 

membership of the church upon pro 

fession of faith. Mary Nanette, daugh 

ter of Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Dill, re 

ceived baptism. The Dills moved to 

Nickerson November 13, where Ray 

mond is teaching. 


Arthur Humphreys and Maurice 


for 1949 





Recommended by 

the Svnod of the Reformed Presbyterian 

Church (1947) 





reference." 



history, devotional study 

of Psalms, answers to 

readers' 

queries, and 

other features. 8 54 x 11 inches, punched for loose-leaf binder. $1.50 per 

vear. 

Route 1 


Clay Center, Kansas 

Reed were recently 

elected as elders. 

Mr. Humphreys having declined the 

office, Mr. Reed was installed Novem 

ber 17. 

Mrs Alice Reed, Topeka, has been 

caring for Mrs. Maurice Reed, who 

has been ill several weeks. She is 

improved at this time. 

Miss Mary Henery, our S. S. Secre 

tary and Witness correspondent, was 

married to John Henry Edgar in Au 

gust. Although their home is in Per 

ry, Oklahoma, they are both teaching 

in Haviland. 

Ruth McFarland has been appoint 

ed to take Mary's place as Secretary 

of S. S., and Mrs. A. J. McFarland 

as Witness correspondent. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wayne Milligan, Bel- 

ville; Mr. and Mrs. John Edgar, Per 

ry, Okla.; Mr. and Mrs. Willis Ed 

gar, Coats; Miss Dorothea Edgar, 

Langdon; Miss Jean Edgar of Kan 

sas City returned for Sterling Col 

lege Homecoming. Several remained 

for our fall communion. Mr. and 

Mrs. Cecil Hays and Hugh Robert of 

Hoisington worshiped with us re 

cently. 

Rev. A. J. McFarland supplied the 

pulpits of Stafford November 7; 

Sterling November 14; Clarinda No 

vember 21, besides assisting com 

munions in Belle Center, Ohio, and 

New Concord- White Cottage in Octo 

ber. While in the East he spoke in 

seven colleges on the Christian 

Amendment, securing endorsements 

from seventeen college professors. 

Our high school Bible class has 

recently chosen Mrs. Eldo McFarland 

as their teacher. 

FARM FOR SALE 

A 160 acre farm, four miles north 

of Denison, is for sale. It has a 6 

room bungalow style house with 

bath, and full basement, also a barn 

and chicken house. It is on a gravel 

road and has electricity. 80 acres in 

pasture. Price asked, $115 per acre. 

If interested inquire of T. M. Hut 

cheson, Denison, Kans., or write to 

owner Mr. Ed. Logan, Holton, Kans. 

WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED? 

From time to time clerical posi 

tions in a local State College are 

open. This College is conveniently lo 

cated near a Covenanter congrega 

tion. Just at present there is an open 

ing for some one trained in secretar 

ial work. If interested, write for 

more information to: 

S. Bruce Willson 

1505 Tenth Ave. 

Greeley, Colo.


LESSON HELPS FOR THE WEEK OF JANUARY 1, 1948 


300 YEARS Of WiTWeSSING Fog. CHRIST'S SOWkX'oN PlGBT&_ I -si IrtL CHL)RCrT

354 

THE 

COVENANTER WITNESS 

QlUnpAei o/ tk& RetifUUU Modi 


The Finnish Church on Divorce 

The Church Assembly 

of the Evangelical Lutheran 

Church of Finland has taken a strict stand 

against the 

remarriage of divorced persons. Before this action be 

comes law it must be approved by the Finnish Parliament. 

Divoices have increased in Finland from 6.9 per cent in 

1939 to 24.3 per cent in 1945. 

Applying Christianity 

Governor Luther Youngdahl of Minnesota, when speak 

ing to a group of Christian laymen recently, said: 

"We have failed to put Christianity into practice in 

our homes. That is why we have one of every three mar 

riages terminating in divorce, and juvenile delinquency is 

an acute problem. 

"We have failed to put it into practice in our very church 

es in many instances. That is why we have disunity ana 

ineffectiveness in much of our work. 

"We have failed to put it into practice in management- 

labor lelations and that is why we have work stoppages, 

vindictiveness, bitterness between these two great groups 

in our society. 

"We have failed to put it into practice in politics and 

government. That is why 

we have dishonesty and cor 

ruption disregaid and disrespect for law. 

"We have failed to put it into practice in our treat 

ment of minority groups. That is why we have race riots,, 

intolerance, and bigotry. 

"We have failed to put it into practice in our inter 

national relations. That is why we have 

war.'' 

We feel inclined to add to these pertinent statements 

by the Governor, that the first step in bringing Chris 

tianity into our national life and politics is to acknowl 

edge the founder and the head of all Christian life and 

thought, the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who has 

supreme power in our nation and who is giver of all 

blessings. 

Rules for New Converts 

Under the above heading, Rev. O. G. Wilson, in the 

Free Methodist, gives the following rules for new con 

verts. They should be considered carefully, not only by 

new converts, but by 

mature Christians. 

1. Declare your faith in Christ at once. Do not allow 

anyone to put you on the defensive. Speak out for Christ; 

at the earliest posible moment, let all know of your pur 

pose to live for Him. 

2. Charles Schwab once said, "A man who trims him 

self to suit everybody 

will soon whittle himself 

away." 

It should be your undying purpose to please Christ and, 

in pleasing Christ, trust that you will bless many people. 

?. Decide to spend your life for something that will 

out-last life something that will endure when the last 

star has fallen from its socket. 


4. Go only to those places where you would be glad to 

have the Master accompany you as guest and companion. 

5. Practice only those intimate personal habits which, 

in your inner soul, you feel He practiced while living His 

life in the humdrum of Nazareth. 

6. Have a time and place for prayer, and shape all your 

social and business life so that such a time will be ob 

served religiously. 

7. Practice His presence constantly; live each day with 

the thought uppermost in your mind that His glorious 

appearing may 

occur today. 

8. Be courteous in act, 

cism, 

and helpful in service. 

9. Strike the word 

generous in praise, kind in criti 

"compromise" 

from your vocabulary. 

Do not hesitate to make war on all forms of sin and on 

the devil. Give out a tract; make an opportunity to 

speak to another about Jesus. 

10. Do not trust your feelings, but lean on the Word 

of God. Know the Bible; practice the Bible; teach the 

Bible. 

11. Receive the Holy Spirit. Honor Him; follow His 

leadership; 

ye shall never fall." 

walk in His strength. "If ye do these things, 

Dr. W. D. Chamberlain, 

The Date of Christmas 

who answers questions each 

week in Presbyterian Life, gives the following 

answer to 

one who asks, "How was the date December 25 chosen 

as the day for celebrating the birth of Jesus?" 

"There is no absolute proof as to how this date was 

fixed. There are no clear indications in the Gospels as to 

Jesus' 

the day or the month of birth. The statement 

only 

that can be used in deciding the date is Luke 2:8, which 

refers to the shephards "abiding in the fields, and keep 

ing watch flocks." 

by night over their Some scholars have 

pointed out that the flocks were not usually left in fields 

overnight in December. They have suggested February; 

David Smith has suggested August as the month of Jesus' 

birth. 

"The observance of December 25 is probably a trans 

formation of one of the pagan festivals, which was cele 

brated by Romans in December. The most likely one is 

the Saturnalia, the birthday of Sol Invictus, the uncon- 

quered sun. It seems to have been connected, in the minds 

of Christians, with the Sun of Righteousness, who should 

rise with healing 

in his wings. 

"The Saturnalia was a day 

when labor ceased, prison 

ers were set free, slaves were given special liberties, and 

gifts were given to children and to the poor. It was also 

a time of feasting and revelry. Both the good and the 

bad features of this celebration have come down through 

the centuries as a part of our Christmas. 


THE COVENANTER WITNESS : 3t*t North 7ml 

by the Reformed Presbyterian j 

through its editorial office. 


S2.00 per year; foreign $2.50 per year; single copies 5c. Special rates to congregations. 

Entered as second class matter at Post Office in Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3. 1879. 


The Rev. R. B. Lyons, B. A., Limavady, N. Ireland, agent for the British Isles.


Gunsient &vent


Our Glorious God 

A DEVOTIONAL ADDRESS IN THE SYNOD 

OF 1948 

By the Rev. Walter C. McClurkin 

"The priests could not stand to minister by rea 

son of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord had 

filled the house of God" 

(I Chron. 5: 14). 

Here we learn that when God manifested His 

glory at the dedication of Solomon's temple, the 

priests who were ministering there had to retire 

in humility and reverence. Such a feeling and 

attitude becomes us as we linger in our devotions 

in His temple today to view "the glory of the 

Lord"; gratitude also, "For God who commanded 

the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in 

our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of 

the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 

In His Lio-ht we see light, and see that our God 

is truly a GLORIOUS GOD, above all that are 

called gods, the only living and true God, being 

the self -existent, independent and eternal Jeho 

vah, "the Father of lights, with whom is no vari 

ableness, neither shadow of turning" 

; that He is 

the Supreme Being, of incomparable moral ex 

cellence, and greatly to be admired of all who are 

round about Him, and that "man's chief end is 

ever." 

to glorify God and enjoy Him for 

And, we have learned that "God is a Spirit, in 

finite, eternal and unchangeable in His being, 

wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and 

truth" 

; that He exists and operates in Three Per 

sons, "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, 

and these three are one God, the same in sub 

stance, eaual in power and glory". We learn, 

further, that He is our Creator, the Creator of 

all things visible and invisible, animate and in 

animate, rational and irrational; that for His 

pleasure they are, and were created, and that 

therefore He is worthy to receive glory and hon 

or. Moreover, "by Him all things consist", and 

for His acts of Providence in preserving and 

governing all His creatures and all their actions, 

He is worthy to receive glory. His special act 

of Providence, His great work of redeeming 

His elect among fallen men, having predesti 

nated them to the adoption of children by Jesus 

Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure 

of His will, is "to the praise of the glory of His 

grace". All God's works praise Him; that is to 

say. they are an expression of His glory. 

"The Lord our God is one Lord" 

; beside Him 

theve is none else. He is omniscient, omnipotent. 

Whither shall we flee from His presence? Though 

He be nearer than breathing, nearer than hands 

?.nd feet, can a man by searching find out God? 

Such knowledge as we have of Him, or of His 

priory, we have only as He is pleased to reveal it. 

It is onlv from Him that we have learned that He 

is A GLORIOLTS GOD, and so we will declare Him 

to be: 

Glorious in the Revelations of His glory; 

Glorious in the Requirements of His glory; 

Glorious in the Responses to His glory. 

REVELATIONS OF GOD'S GLORY 

The Revelations of God's glory are significant; 

they are numerous; and they are graded. A dis 

tinction in God's glory that has been revealed, 

and has long been recognized, should be noted, 

viz : the distinction between God's essential glory 

and His declarative glory. The infinitude and 

absolute perfection of all the attributes of God's 

moral nature constitutes His essential glory. 

God's essential glory can never be diminished, 

however much fallen creatures may try to vilify 

Him. And God's essential glory can never be in 

creased, however much and long redeemed and 

holy creatures may glorify Him. Angels and 

saints will be singing God's praises throughout 

eternity, but they will never add one iota to God's 

essential glory. For His glory, like Himself, is 

"the same yesterday, and today, and forever". 

God is entirely independent of all His creatures 

in His essential glory and perfect blessedness. 

But God's declarative glory varies as He is 

pleased to reveal it and as it may be reflected in, 

through, and by His creatures. It has pleased the 

blessed Lord to declare, or manifest His glorious 

nature and attributes in order that they may be 

perceived, admired, esteemed and loved by His 

intelligent and moral creatures, whom He created 

for this very purpose. 

A declaration of the glorious nature and attri 

butes of God is made in part even by the inani 

mate creation. "The heavens declare the glory 

of God, and the firmament showeth His handi 

work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night 

unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech 

nor language where their voice is not heard. Their 

line is gone out through all the earth, and their 

words to the end of the world". In every part of 

creation, the boundless wisdom, power and good 

ness of God are conspicuously manifested. 

But it is in the volume of inspiration given by 

Himself that we have the clearest revelation, or 

declaration of the nature and perfections of God. 

It is here alone, that we are taught to form right 

conceptions of God's purity, holiness, justice and 

love. And in no other way whatever, than by His 

own revelation could we be assured of God's 

mercy, or His readiness to pardon guilty sinners 

of the human race. 

Such revelations of God's glory as were suffi 

_ 

cient were given to the very first sinner of our 

race, our father Adam. To Adam and Noah, and 

Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph and 

Moses and later worthies of the Old Testament, 

God so appeared that they should not be mistaken 

about the identity of His person, the reality of 

His presence, the verity of His voice, or the 

sincerity and meaning of His Words. Of all the 

views of God's glory given to individual partri- 

archs and prophets of old, the outstanding one 

was that which God granted unto Moses. The


greatest petition that any creature ever asked of 

his God, Spurgeon thought, was that of Moses 

when he said unto the Lord, "I beseech Thee, 

glory" 

(Exod. 33:18-34:8). 

shew me Thy 

Spurgeon remarked about this incident of God's 

showing of His glory to Moses: the gracious 

manifestation of God's glory, the gracious con 

cealment, 

and the gracious shielding. All these 

gracious features were more or less in evidence 

in all those Old Testament apparitions of God's 

presence and glory, not only to particular indiv 

iduals, but to God's presence and glory, not only 

to particular individuals, but to God's people in 

general; "the Israelites to whom pertaineth the 

adoption and the glory", among 

blessings. 

ing 

other special 

The visible symbol of God's presence and bless 

of His ancient people in their journeys from 

Egypt to Canaan, was that physical phenomenon 

of a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by 

night, proving their guide and defence. To the 

visible manifestation of the Divine Presence and 

Glory, 

over the ark in the Tabernacle and again 

in the Temple, the term Shechinah has been given. 

The idea of this which the different accounts in 

Scripture convey is that of a brilliant and glori 

ous light enveloped in a cloud, so that only the 

cloud itself was for the most part visible ; but on 

particular occasions the glory appeared, but 

somewhat modified. 

On the occasion of the dedication of Solomon's 

Temple we are told "that then the house was 

filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord ; 

so that the priests could not stand to minister 

by reason of the cloud ; for the glory of the Lord 

had filled the house of God." 

This indicated to 

Solomon and the people that God approved of 

the new Temple and its service as He had ap 

proved of the old Tabernacle and its service. 

To the minds of God's people of that age, there 

fore, about 1000 B. C, the Temple was linked 

with all the glorious associations of the past, and 

became, if not the climax, a notable advance to 

ward the climax, of a long series of the mani 

festations of God's presence and glory among 

the children of men. 

That manifestation of God's glory in Solomon's 

Temple was really prophetic. Whether or not 

many, if any, so viewed it then, we look on it 

now as prophetic of a more glorious future, as 

imaging forth to men of that age higher forms 

of Divine manifestation that in the fulness of 

time should come to pass. 

Later prophets of the Old Testament so viewed 

it. For, when the second Temple was being built 

many of the people were troubled at the thought 

that it would be so inferior to the first, and the 

old men who had seen "the first house" 

wept. 

But the prophets of the time were commissioned 

to comfort them with the assurance that, though 

the old symbolic grandeur was gone, the glory 

of the latter house should be greater than that 

of the former. Though it would contain no ark, 

no mercy seat, no Shechinah, no heaven-kindled 

fire, no Urim and Thummin, a nobler Presence 

than had ever been seen on earth before would 

irradiate it in the coming time. Said Malachi 

(3:2) "Behold, I will send my Messenger, and 

He shall prepare the way before Me: and the 

Lord whom ye seek, shall suddely come to His 

Temple, even the Messenger of the Covenant, 

whom ye delight in ; behold, He shall come, saith 

the Lord of hosts". 

In the fulness of time, the Lord came. And ev 

ery time the Lord Jesus, "the brightness of the 

Father's glory", entered the Temple as a Babe in 

His mother's arms, as a boy girding Himself for 

His Father's business, 

as a man in the fulness of 

His Divine authority, purging it from defilement, 

expounding in it the law of acceptable worship 

and of real giving, making it the center of His 

beneficent healing ministry, He verified the 

words of the prophets of old. 

At the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, God, in 

very deed, dwelt among us and manifested His 

glory" 

(though even then somewhat veiled; but 

glory," 

"we beheld His says John, speaking for 

the disciples, "we beheld His glory, the glory as 

of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace 

and truth." 

When the eternal Son of the Father laid aside 

"the form of God" 

and took upon Him "the like 

ness of sinful flesh", He filled the temple of a 

human body with the Divine glory. Then God 

came to dwell in very deed "amongst men upon 

the earth". The Infinite Unseen submitted to 

the finite conditions of a finite visible personali 

ty, yet remained an infinite divine Person, "the 

forever." 

same yesterday, and today, and He 

who was the Light insufferable which no man can 

approach unto, veiled Himself in a cloud of mor 

tal flesh, so men might behold His glory. 

It is related that when Ulysses came back from 

his Trojan campaign and entered his home in 

full armor, his little son ran away from him in 

terror. Ulysses then unbound his helmet, put 

off his glittering coat of mail, put on his ordi 

nary civilian clothes, and again appealed to his 

boy. His boy then ran sobbing with joy into his 

father's outstretched arms. Thus does God in 

Christ adjust His glory to our weakness. But 

notwithstanding this accommodation of His 

glory God is none the less glorious, and appears 

none the less glorious to His own children. 

REQUIREMENTS FOR GOD'S GLORY 

As concerning the requirements for God's glory, 

speaking generally, these are that all His crea 

tures should glorify Him. His intelligent and 

moral creatures, in particular, 

should reverent 

ly recognize God, obey His commandments, and 

praise Him. It is required of us "to know, and 

acknowledge God to be the only true God, and 

our God ; and to worship and glorify Him accord 

ingly". 

No mere fallen, unregenerate man meets this 

requirement, or has a desire to meet it. But an 

extraordinary Man did, the Man Jesus Christ, 

God in the Person of His Son. He did it, and


offered Himself a sacrifice to God to atone for 

man's sin. And in His death upon the Cross, in 

effecting the work of our redemption, He gave 

such a glorious display of the Divine perfections 

as could never have been observed by men in all 

the other works of God. How truly He could say 

to the Father, "I have glorfiied Thee on the 

earth" 

! 

And now, to have all the benefits of Christ's 

glorification of God for ourselves, "God requireth 

of us faith in Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, 

with a diligent use of all the outward means 

whereby Christ communicateth to us the bene 

fits of redemption". "My yoke is easy", Christ 

says, and what an easy requirement this is, in 

comparison with glorifying God in our fallen 

condition! In requiring us to glorify Him, God 

simply requires us to do what is absolutely right, 

and what is at the same time indispensable to 

our highest welfare. 

And let it be remembered by us that any re 

quirements which God makes of us, are not to sup 

ply any need or deficiency on His part. He is 

infinitely blessed and glorious in Himself. He 

is not dependent on us for glory, or for anything. 

God was, is, and ever will be, essentially, and in 

Himself, a Glorious God, whatever our responses 

will be. 

Responses to God's Glory 

Considering the graciousness of God's Reve 

lations and Requirements, fitting Responses are 

due from the children of men. Such responses 

can be made only by the grace which God gives 

through our Lord Jesus Christ. Though one have 

faith in God and abound in the good works re 

quired by Him, the grace and strength by which 

these are produced come from God. So, "No 

flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him 

are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto 

us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, 

and redemption : that, according 

as it is writ 

ten, He that glorieth, let Him glory in the Lord." 

For the salvation and eternal happiness of all 

His people God must have all the glory. As for 

those who reject the savation offered and are 

condemned to everlasting punishment, even in 

that, God will be glorified, however much and 

long the incorrigible and condemned sinners in 

their eternal misery may try to impugn and vili 

fy the holy and just and yet perfectly gracious 

and glorious God. 

In our Christian fellowship today it is our 

high privilege to live for and exhibit God's glory. 

The fulfillment of the type of glory seen at the 

dedication of Solomon's Temple, which began with 

the Incarnation of Jesus, was continued on the 

day of Pentecost, when the early disciples of 

Jesus were filled with the Holy Spirit.. It is 

still being continued in this New Testament age 

in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit in and 

through all believers in Christ. This is indeed 

a dispensation of grace and glory, of the grace 

and glory of God. 

In our Synod, met in His name, we deliberate 

and plan as seems good to the Holy Ghost, and 

to us, and decide on what we believe will be most 

for the glory of God in His Church. Our deci 

sions and ministry to God's people should be in 

cluded in this : "Whether therefore ye eat or 

drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of 

God". And in this glorious ministration, "we all, 

with open face beholding as in a glass the glory 

of the Lord, are changed into the same image from 

glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord". 

Advancing thus through this kingdom of grace 

to God's kingdom of glory, we conclude our 

prayers, saying "For thine is the kingdom, and 

the power, and the glory, for ever". And our 

praise: "Unto Him be glory in the Church by 

Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without 

end. Amen". 

The Lord Reigns 

Those who are concerned for the future of 

Christian missions in China should find encour 

agement in the word of Jesus, "All authority hath 

been given unto me in heaven and on earth. Go> 

The history 

ye therefore." 

of missions in China 

in the last fifty years shows repeated illustrations 

of Christ's over-ruling power in the face of threat 

ened disaster, according to Dr. Marcus Ch'eng of 

the China Inland Mission. In 1900 the Boxer up 

rising against all foreigners sent most mission 

aries home, but the testimony of the Chinese 

Christians as to the value of Christ opened the 

way again for their return. The Revolution of 

1911 again made it necessary for missionaries to 

leave, but the friendliness toward Christianity of 

the leaders of the new republic brought new prog 

ress. As a result of the treatment given China 

at the close of World War I, there was an anti- 

Christian movement led by the students in China's 

schools ; the movement was shortlived. Japan in 

vaded China in 1926 and made swift and disas 

trous gains of territory. If Japan had won if 

there seemed to be an end of Christian ad 

vance in China. But Japan did not win, 

war brought a spiritual awakening to China 

largely through the help given by the countries 

and the 

from which missionaries had come, and through 

the courageous loyalty of the missionaries. 

Already the Communists have conquered Man 

churia and keep extending their control further 

south. Devout Christians all over the world are 

praying that China may not be closed to Christ 

ian evangelization by Communist control. Thank 

God for the authority of Jesus Christ, which has 

proved supreme over great dangers in the past. 

Yes, thank God for the authority of Jesus Christ 

in China. P. C. 



falo do not want the seaway because it might carry trade 

down the St. Lawrence directly to Europe and thus cut 

off some of the shipping that goes through Buffalo and 

New York City. Why do so few people look at issues 

from a national point of view entirely apart from their 

local and selfish interests ?

December 8, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 


VII. UNITARIANISM 

By the Rev. J. G. Vos, Th. M. 

NOTE: This is the seventh of a series of ar 

ticles on common contemporary viewpoints which 

are contrary to orthodox Christianity. 

WHAT IS UNITARIANISM? 

Unitarianism is that religious system which 

denies that there are three Persons in the God 

head. It holds that there is only one divine Per 

son, God the Father. Accordingly, Unitarian 

ism denies the true deity of Jesus Christ, and 

the deity and distinct personality of the Holy 

Spirit. It teaches that Jesus was a great and 

good man, and that the Holy Spirit is merely a 

divine influence. The term "Unitarianism" 

is 

really ambiguous, for the orthodox doctrine of 

the Trinity (which Unitarianism denies) in 

cludes belief in the unity of the Godhead. 

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 

The Unitarian heresy has a long history back 

of it, for there have always been tendencies work 

ing to undermine the Christian doctrine of the 

Trinity. Perhaps the most ancient form of Uni 

tarianism was Arianism, a heresy which flour 

ished about 300 years after Christ. Although 

heretical, Arianism was much closer to the truth 

than modern Unitarianism. The early Arians 

believed that Jesus was much more than a mere 

human being; they held Him to be the first and 

greatest of all created beings, through whom God 

created the rest of the universe. They did not 

hesitate to call Christ "the Son of God", but they 

denied that He existed from all eternity; they 

held that the Son had a beginning. They also 

denied the true deity of the Holy Spirit, affirm 

ing the Spirit to have been created through the 

Son. Arianism was rejected as a heresy by the 

Church at the Council of Nicaea, A. D. 325. 

In the period following the Reformation Uni 

tarianism again became prominent in a system of 

religion called Socinianism, after its founder 

an Italian theologian who died 

Faustus Socinus, 

in 1604. The Socinians held that Jesus Christ 

was a mere man, who did not exist before He was 

conceived by the Virgin Mary. They also denied 

that the Holy Spirit is a distinct Person of the 

Godhead. Yet they held that Jesus Christ has 

been exalted by God the Father to be Lord and 

Ruler over the whole creation. On the other hand, 

they denied the doctrines of original sin, imputed 

righteousness, the substitutionary atonement, pre 

destination, 

and others. 

Modern Unitarianism developed in England 

from the gradual break-down of orthodox Chris 

tianity. It is the next to the last station on the 

journey from Calvinism to irreligion. Many in 

fluences were at work fostering this process of 

disintegration. In general it may be said that 

the breakdown took the following form-: (1) The 

359 

full, consistent Calvinism of the Westminster Con 

fession and other Reformed creeds was given up 

for inconsistent Calvinism; (2) inconsistent Cal 

vinism gave way to Arminianism ; (3) Arminian 

ism, except where sustained by repeated revivals, 

tended to break down into Unitarianism; (4) 

Unitarianism, 

after the lapse of considerable 

time, tends to pass over into almost complete re 

ligious indifference. This is a long trail, but when 

once consistent Calvinism has been toned down 

or modified, there is no real, permanent stopping 

place until infidelity has been reached. 

THE UNITARIAN CHURCH 

The Unitarian Church in America owed its ori 

gin to 'Unitarian teachings imported from Eng 

land, the movement beginning in Boston about 

1785. A number of ministers began to accept 

and teach the Unitarian doctrines. The first 

avowedly Unitarian church in America was King's 

Chapel, Boston, the original Episcopal Church of 

Massachusetts. Its pastor, James Freeman, was 

refused ordination in the Episcopal Church be 

cause of his unsound views about the deity of 

Christ. The church then became independent and 

ordained Freeman, who preached Unitarianism 

there until he died. 

By preaching and literature, Unitarianism was 

spread and the movement gained considerable 

ground. In 1805 Henry Ware, a man of definite 

ly unitarian views, was appointed professor of 

Divinity in Harvard College. Ths event resulted 

in a general feeling in orthodox Congregational 

circles that Harvard could no longer be regarded 

as a sound institution for training ministers. Ac 

cordingly, in 1808, a new institution was estab 

lished on an orthodox basis at Andover, Mass. 

Slowly but definitely the movement gained 

ground and adherents. A leader on the Unitarian 

side was the noted preacher W. E. Channing. 

Besides his Unitarian sentiments, he was unsound 

on a number of Christian doctrines. Channing 

was opposed by Moses Stuart, professor in An 

dover Seminary, who defended the doctrines of 

the Trinity and the Deity of Christ. Finally the 

controversy 

reached a stage where the churches 

and their members had to take sides and choose 

between Unitarianism and orthodoxyr. The Con 

gregational churches became divided into "Uni 

tarian" 

and "Trinitarian" denominations. Thus 

originated the Unitarian Church in America. 

CRYPTO-UNITARIANISM 

The Unitarian Church has undoubtedly exerted 

an influence contrary to the truth of Christianity. 

But official Unitarianism has been less influen 

tial than might perhaps be expected. For one 

thing, it is frankly and honestly labeled "Unitar 

ian", with no beating around the bush or equivo 

cal use of terminology. Thus the Christian public 

has fair warning to be on guard against heretical 

doctrine. In the second place, official Unitarian 

ism has proved to be a very mild and inactive


movement. Possessing almost no missionary or 

evangelistic zeal (no wonder, for Unitarianism 

has no real Gospel to preach) , the movement has 

progressed only very 

energy 

slowly. It has lacked the 

and enthusiasm which would make it a 

real menace to Christianity. 

Much more subtle and dangerous is what may 

be called "Crypto-Unitarianism", 

or concealed 

Unitarianism. This term is applied to ministers 

and members of officially orthodox churches, who 

hold Unitarian views. This situation has existed 

and exists today on an extremely 

wide scale. A 

number of the largest and most influential de 

nominations of American Protestantism have been 

thoroughly infiltrated by 

Unitarian theology. In 

such denominations the official creed of the 

church can no longer be taken at face value by 

the public; it has become "a scrap of 

tradicted by the real facts of the situation. 

paper" 

con 

Crypto-Unitarianism is especially a sin of min 

isters, though large numbers of church members 

are involved. Candidates who hold Unitarian 

views, usually acquired at an unsound theological 

seminary, apply for ordination in officially ortho 

dox denominations. To obtain ordination, they 

must answer the prescribed queries and take the 

regular ordination vows, which involve an accept 

ance of orthodox Christian theology, including the 

Trinity and the Deity 

of Christ. To get past this 

barrier, the candidate answers the queries and 

takes the vows with mental reservations, "inter 

preting" 

the doctrines of the Trinity, the deity of 

Christ, etc., in a Unitarian sense. 

Such "interpreting" 

of doctrines to make them 

mean something contrary to their proper, histor 

ical meaning, is of course dishonest. But we should 

not suppose that it is always, or even usually, 

done with conscious dishonesty. Crypto-Unitar- 

ians no doubt often sincerely believe they are hon 

est and upright in taking such a course of action. 

They feel justified by such rationalizations as the 

following: "It is no longer possible for intelli 

gent, educated people to accept the old doctrines 

of the Trinity and the deity of Christ"; "The 

'liberal' 

when the interpretation of 

day is coming 

accepted" 

; "The ac 

religion will be universally 

ceptance of creeds should not be allowed to inter 

fere with the march of progress". Thus the Crypto-Unitarian 

clergyman can publicly accept a 

creed which teaches the doctrines of the Trinity 

and the deity of Christ, even though he person 

ally rejects both of these doctrines. When such a 

man says, "I believe in the divinity of Christ", his 

affirmation is virtually meaningless. Many "liber 

als", under the influence of modern philosophy, 

have a belief in "God" 

which is virtually pan 

theistic, regarding God as an aspect of the uni 

verse. When they say 

"Jesus is divine" 

or "Jesus 

is God", this is not because they have a high view 

of Jesus, but because they have a terribly low 

view of God. The meaning 

"Jesus is God" 

depends entirely 

bv the word "God." 

of the statement 

on what is meant 

THE HARM OF UNITARIANISM 

Unitarianism, 

whether that of the Unitarian 

Church or the Crypto-Unitarian variety, is ab 

solutely destructive of Christianity 

as the power 

of God unto salvation. Scripture represents the 

plan of salvation as the working out of an eter 

nal covenant between the Persons of the divine 

Trinity. Without the orthodox doctrine of the 

Trinity there is no real Christianity. Unitarian 

ism sabotages the plan of salvation and renders 

it impossible. Christianity is then reduced to 

a form of moralism, or salvation by works and 

character. Jesus is regarded as a mere man ; the 

Gospel becomes mere advice. We can repeat the 

words of Mary Magdalene at the tomb of Jesus : 

"They have taken away my Lord". Yet a type 

of theology which is essentially Unitarian is not 

only tolerated, but dominant, in a number of the 

major "evangelical" 

denominations of America 

today. Men who are publicly known to reject the 

Trinity and the deity of Christ are honored by 

being accorded prominent and responsible posi 

tions in their denominations. Attempts to deal 

with such situations by church discipline have 

usually failed. A new Reformation is urgently 

needed in contemporary American Protestantism. 

"For the time is come that judgment must begin 

at the house of God" 

(1 Peter 4:17). 



"What does it mean thai; we do not know the date of 

Christ's birth? Simply 

that the New Testament writers 

did not regard it as important. The fact of the incarna 

tion was the supreme thing."' 

The CROP Trains 

The Christian Rural Overseas Program (CROP) is 

doing a large work to remember the people of Europe 

this Christmas. Farmers in 24 states are contributing 

food to fill 24 Christmas trains whose destination is 

Europe. When the trains have a full load of corn, wheat, 

beans, dried fruit, and milk they will be assembled at ten 

different ports in the country. On Christmas day they 

are to be dedicated and sent abroad. It seems evident 

that Iowa will contribute a number of train loads of corn 

to be sent to Europe. 

Comic Books Banned 

We read of a number of towns and communities which 

have taken action against undesirable comic books and 

papers. A Citizens' 

Committee in Richmond, Ind., nas 

been instrumental in getting thirty of these books banned 

from the news stands and the deputy prosecutor has an 

nounced that there will be more prosecutions if necessary. 

The Free Methodist which makes note of this action says 

that Rev. 0. B. Noren, 

president of the Ministerial As 

sociation, is chairman of the committee and that he de 

clares: "This is not the end of the work. We will continue 

to study and make surveys of comic books on our news 

stands. Another meeting will be held in a month, 

so that 

we may report our findings. In the meantime we urge 

parents to co-operate by seeing that their children are 

supplied with more educational and worth-while reading 

mateiial in place of comic books or other literature that 

is unfit for them."


Lesson Helps for the Week of January 1 

C Y. P. U. TOPIC 

FOR JANUARY 1, 1949 

"LIFE IS JUST A BOWL 

OF CHERRIES" 

By Joseph A. Hill 


Endeavor Society). 

Genesis 25:27-34; James 5:1-5. 

Psalms: 

Psalm 144:10, 13 No. 388 

Psalm 16:2, 7, 8, 10 No. 29 

Psalm 27:4, 5, 8 No. 27 

References : 

I Cor. 10:21,31; 15:32; 6:13, 19, 

20; Luke 12:19, 20; 15:13, 14; Heb. 

11:24, 25; Ecc. 2; 12:1; Isa. 22:13; 

12:3; Jno. 15:11; Matt. 5:3-12; Rom. 

14:17; Jno. 6:55; Matt. 6:25. 

Little Johnny takes in his first 

carnival. His eyes are big as tin cups. 

He has a whole dollar (better make 

it S5 in 1949) to spend in any way 

his little heart desires. All day he 

roams around the circus grounds. 

He is lost in the crowd. He doesn't 

think of home from the time he left 

home until dark. He rides, he eats, 

he sees and he loves it all! But 

when night falls and little Johnny 

thinks about going home, he cannot 

find his way out of the fair grounds. 

There are so many people there! His 

clothes are mussed and dirty. And 

he is sick. The apples and candy 

didn't mix with the caterpillars and 

swinging plane thrills. 

But that is what life is, so young 

America thinks. Life is an amuse 

ment park with candied apples on a 

stick, merry-go-rounds and cotton 

candy at every turn, rides, thrills 

and side-shows galore! The old pop 

ular song, "Life is Just a Bowl of 

Cherries" 

isuggests other songs 

which sing of the gala mardi-gras 

called life "Row, row, row your 

boat, Gently down the stream, Mer- 

rilly, merrily, merrily, merrily, Life 

is but a dream". "Some think the 

world was made for fun and frolic, 

And so do I." 

This philosophy is called hedon 

ism. As a system of thought it has 

a long history. It began at least as 

early as Aristippis in the fourth and 

third centuries B. C. Aristippis 

founded the Cyrenean school after 

having sat at the feet of Socrates, 

whose philosophy was boiled down to 

the principles of virtue and happi 

ness. Aristippis took the latter idea 

and developed it something like this: 

"Get pleasure; 

get all you can of 

whatever kind, but especially bodily 

pleasure." 

Then the Cynics sought 

pleasure merely as the absense of 

pain. They said, "If you seek sheer 

pleasure and do not find it, you are 

the more miserable. So do not desire 

anything, and you will not be disap 

pointed. If you are never disap 

pointed you will always be happy." 

And they gathered all the pessimists 

to themselves. The Epicureans of 

Jesus' 

time said, "Eat, drink, and be 

merry; but try to choose pleasures 

which are 

virtuous." 

However, said 

Epicurus himself, "Beauty, virtue 

and the like are to be valued if they 

produce pleasure; if not, we must 

bid them farewell". In other words, 

pleasure is the queen of life, and vir 

tues only the handmaids which do 

her homage. "We call pleasure the 

alpha and omega of a blessed life," 

said Epicurus. This makes pleasure 

the greatest good, the aim of living, 

and the criterion of moral action. 

In more modern times a renuwnea 

advocate of the "greatest happiness 

principle" 

was John Stuart Mill. He 

held that "actions are right in pro 

portion as they tend to promote hap 

piness. ... The ultimate end.... is an 

existence .... as rich as possible in 

enjoyments, both in point of quantity 

and 

quality." 

Another idea which 

Bentham upheld is that pleasure is 

the only good in life. 

But what is right and good cannot 

be identified with what brings hap 

piness. Moreover, this philosophy 

gives Christ a subordinate place in 

life. It tends to stamp 

out the ideal 

"that in all things he might have the 

preeminence". He who said, "I am 

the alpha and the 

omega," 

is given 

no place in the life of one who can 

not find joy in loving and serving 

Christ. 

The inordinate love of pleasure 

leads one to think of life in the same 

whimsical way as the Rubaiyat of 

Omar Khayyam: 

Ah, 

make the most of what we yet 

spend, 

Before we too into the Dust 

descend; 

Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to 

lie, 

Sans wine, sans Song, 

Henry 

ing Passion" 

and. . . .sans End. 

sans Singer, 

Van Dyke spoke of a "Rul 

of life. Every 

life has 

a preeminent goal toward which all 

moral acts converge. A man may 

make money his goal, toward which 

all moral acts converge. A man may 

make money his goal. Whatever he 

does contributes to growth of riches. 

Fame may be the central hub of life. 

The man who has fame as his aim 

puts all his eggs in one basket, the 

glory of self. The Christian says that 

God" 

"man's chief end is to glorify 

primarily, and to enjoy Him as a 

result. This goal leads him to say, 

"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, 

or whatsoever ye do, do all to the 

glory of God." 

All Protestant churches, in one 

ni2nner or another, more or less teach 

the glory of God to be man's chief 

end. They teach young men and wo 

men to mould their lives in accord 

with that goal. But life outside the 

church faces youth with a contrary 

philosophy. The neon lights attract 

them to the bars; the technicolor 

movies lui e us to a pipe dream-world 

where nothing seems real. The bill 

boards invite young men to snuggle 

up to the blonde who smiles over a 

beaker of beer. The clothing fashions 

of the times sacrifice modesty for 

sensuality and pleasure. 

There may be pleasure in all this; 

no one denies that. But the attractive 

pictures, the neon lights and full 

mirroied ballrooms are pernicious. 

When a young Christian leaves the 

sanctuai y on Sabbath, then on Mon 

day night goes out on a "bender", 

what he does not know is that he will 

become like little Johnny. He will 

get lost in the crowd. He won't think 

of church until it is dark. He gets 

into the habit. He finds he likes 

movies better than church, the wine 

of the night club more than the cup 

of communion. And when he tries to 

leave it and come back home, he can 

not find his way out of the "fair 

grounds" 

There is such a crowd 

there ! 

Christ was talking 

sense when He 

said, "No man can serve two mas 

ters," 

etc. Be it money or the un 

seal enable riches of Christ, fame on 

earth or greatness in the Kingdom 

of Heaven, pleasure or the glory of 

God, no man can put all his desires 

and affections and energies into 

moie than one of these. Sooner oi 

later the stronger aim wins over the 

weaker. One leaves; the other stays. 

What then ? Is life to be sinister ? 

Is pleasure a sin? On the contrary, 

we ought to expect pleasures in the 

Christian life. Christ did not come to 

take the joy 

out of living. He came 

to give joy, to enrich life and make 

it worth something. In light of the 

Christian goal of life, here is a rule:


Pleasure as a motive and aim of liv 

ing NO! The glory of God as mo 

tive and aim, with pleasure as a 

result YES! When recreations and 

amusements prevent us from serving 

Jesus Christ, 

we must bid them 

good-bye. Whenever they 

serve as 

handmaids to our consecration and 

service to Him, we must welcome 

them and enjoy them. 

Young people face these alterna 

tives in life. Let us not sell our birth 

right to eternal life for a bowl of 

cherries. Everyone wants to be hap 

py; no one wants to be sad. True 

pleasures and the happiness which 

lasts are to be found in God. "Thou 

wilt show me the path of life: in thy 

presence is fullness of joy; at thy 

right hand are pleasures 

(Psalm 16:11). 

JUNIOR TOPIC 



evermore" 

STORIES OF JESUS IN THE 

OLD TESTAMENT 

I. Jesus, the Creator 

Our Theme Song for the New Year 

is Psalm 98, No. 262. Sing the first 

verse. 

Memory verses: "God. .. .created 

all things by Jesus Christ." 

Eph. 3: 

9. "He hath made everything beauti 

ful." 

Eccl. 3:11. 

Tell the story 

of Creation. In pre 

paring your story, use both Moses' 

account (Gen. 1) 

and David's poem 

(Psa. 104). See also Ezek. 31:8 and 

Isa. 51:3. Illustrate with pictures cut 

from magazines and fastened to blot 

ters with paper clips. Use these on 

your flannelgraph board. 

Eden: the Beautiful Home 

The garden of Eden was the hap 

piest home on earth. Its very name 

means "a delight". It was a type of 

Heaven which is itself called the 

Paradise or Garden of God. (Explain 

the meaning of "type". We shall use 

this word often in future lessons.) 

Eden was beautiful. Jesus Himself 

was the Landscape Gardener who 

planted this Paradise-on-earth. Great 

cedars, fir trees, 

chestnut trees cov 

ered the far-reaching plain. Among 

them were lovely flowers, parks of 

luxuriant grass and fields of abun 

dant food. In the valleys happy birds 

nested and sang among the branches 

of fruit trees that bent low beside 

peaceful waters. 

In the midst of the garden stood 

the tree of the knowledge of good and 

evil and the tree of life on the bank 

of a crystal-clear river ' 

which later 

divided into four great streams. 

Truly Jesus "made everything beauti 

ful" 

in this lovely Garden of God. 

What a joy for Adam to be placed 

in such a pleasant park to till it and 

to guard it! The rivers watered it. 

There were no injurious weeds. 

Plenty 

of food grew everywhere. The 

animals were all contented and peace 

ful. Among them walked Adam, 

ruler of all, yet servant of God; dis 

covering 

new secrets of nature and 

governing all to the glory of his 

Lord. Beside him was Eve, a com 

panion and helpmate for the master 

of Eden. 

The climax of each day's joy came 

when the wind blew cool and the 

Lord God came walking through 

Eden to visit His children. Then in 

deed the garden of the Lord became a 

place of perfect joy and gladness; 

then indeed "thanksgiving and the 

voice of melody" 

were heard there. 

In the evening time, Eden, the de 

lightful Garden of God, Eden, the 

bountiful granary, became also Eden, 

the happy home where a loving 

heavenly Father talked with His 

children. 

If the mere type was so beautiful, 

how glorious must Heaven be! 

Closing: Sing 

our theme song. 

Name the most beautiful things 

you have ever seen. Thank Jesus foi 

these "wonders He hath 

and given to you. 

Next week we shall tell of an even 

more wonderful Gift which God has 

given us. 

Handwork 

A Creation Booklet. Use construc 

tion paper from the 5 & 10. Or ask 

your printer for colored trimmings. 

To make Cover: Dark blue, 6" 

Fold in center to make booklet 6" 

4" 

wrought" 

x 8". 

In center front 34 in. from top, 

cut out a 3 in. circle. Pages: All pages 

are 4 in. wide. Page 1 : Light green, 3 

in. high. Round top up slightly. This 

is a grassy hill. Page 2: Tan, 3% in. 

high. Round top slightly down and 

up. This is earth. Page 3: Dark 

green, 4 in. high. Cut top in two ir 

regular peaks, each one inch high. 

These are two trees. Page 4: Green 

ish-blue, 

Page 5: Lavendar, 414.in. higE Right 

3*2 in. high. This is waters 

side, one inch down from top, cut in 

to center, then up and down, leav 

ing a mountain peak at left top of 

page. Page 6: Yellow, 4 in. high. 

Center top, mark around a nickel. 

Leave this circle attached at bottom. 

Cut around it and out to each side of 

page. This is the sun. Page 7: Light 

blue, 6 in. high. This is sky. 

x 

Teacher's Preparation: Mark around 

the above pages for the children to 

cut out. Now type the following 

verses on slips of gummed paper. 

Type the connecting words in red. 

These are our Memory Verses for 

the next two months. 

Page 1: ALTHOUGH ALL have 

sinned and come short of the glory 

of God, AND 

Page 2: The wages of sin is death, 

YET 

Page 3: The blood of Jesus Christ 

his Son cleanseth us from all sin 

BECAUSE 

Page 4: Christ Jesus came into the 

world to save sinners, 

FOR 

Page 5: God so loved the world that 

He gave His only begotten Son 

that whosoever believeth in Him 

should not perish but have ever 

lasting life. 

THEREFORE 

Page 6: If thou shalt confess with 

thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and 

shalt believe in thine heart that 

God hath raised Him from the 

dead, thou shalt be saved. 

Page 7: O Lord, I am thine, save me! 

Children's work: Cut out the pages. 

Paste each verse at bottom of its 

corresponding 

page. Now assemble 

with page one on top. Slip all pages 

inside cover with bottoms even. Now 

see the lovely picture through the 

circle on the cover. There is a grassy 

hill, a rolling field beyond, water 

glimpsed between trees and a moun 

tain beyond with the sun peeping 

around it. Fasten the pages to lower 

left coiner of back cover with a 

paper fastener. Read the story of 

salvation in your booklet. 

Suggestion: On a large cardboard, 

print these verses as a continuous 

story of salvation with connecting 

words in red. Hang at front of Jun 

ior room during next two months. 



THE WORLD IN WHICH 

JESUS LIVED 

Gal. 1:4a; Luke 2:1-7; Matt. 22: 15, 

16, 23a. 

The lessons for the first six months 

of this year are taken almost entirely 

from the Synoptic Gospels, (Mat 

thew, Mark, and Luke) and present 

in abridged form a sketch of the 

life of Christ. The gospels are in a 

sense the most important part of the 

Bible, because they give us the record 

of the life of the Saviour of the 

world. It is this story that the mis-


sionaries tell first to their hearers. 

It is comforting to know that our 

Christian faith is built upon a firm 

historical foundation, and not on 

some figment of the imagination. This 

lesson and the one following are in 

troductory in character, leading up to 

a study 

of the life of Jesus as found 

in the lessons for the next six months. 

This first lesson takes us back to 

the centuries before the advent of 

the Saviour, 

when the world was in 

course of preparation for His com 

ing. And Paul, in Gal. 4:4a refers to 

the climax of that period as "the ful 

ness of the time." 

The implication to 

be drawn from that expression is 

that the advent of Jesus into the 

world was opportune, and that His 

coming at any 

earlier time would 

have been premature. One might be 

led to ask why His advent was so 

long delayed, to which the answer 

by implication is that the world was 

not ready for His coming. There was 

no delay on God's part, nor was 

there any undue haste. "The fulness 

time" 

of simply means that when 

the appointed time had come, the 

Saviour made His advent into the 

world as the Redeemer of sinful men. 

Some particulars may 

assist us in 

understanding this course of prepar 

ation. 

For one thing, 

raised up 

a people had been 

who lived in expectation of 

a Redeemer. This was the Jewish 

people. All their laws, 

rifices, 

prophets, 

all their sac 

all the teachings of their 

pose of directing 

were for the express pur 

their minds and 

hopes to the coming of Him who was 

to be the word's Redeemer. There 

was scarcely any part of their daily 

life that was not linked up in some 

way with their worship of God. This 

was His way of cultivating in His 

chosen people a spirit of devotion to 

Himself, so that when the fulness 

of the time was come, there would 

be a people prepared for, and living 

in expectation of a promised Re 

deemer. 

A second element in this course of 

preparation was the development of 

a language best fitted for giving 

expression to religious thought. The 

Greek language was 'the vehicle em 

ployed for that purpose. It pos 

sessed two great advantages over 

all other languages of the time. For 

one thing, it lent itself more readily 

than did any 

other to the expression 

of religious ideas; and for another, 

it had become an almost universal 

language. The conquests of Alex 

ander the Great had served to carry 

Greek thought and the Greek lan 

guage to the ends of the known 

world. So we may easily understand 

how it came about that before the 

coming 

of Christ there was a Greek 

translation of the Old Testament. 

We can see too, how it was that the 

New Testament was written in 

Greek. That was God's plan for giv 

ing the gospel message to the great 

est number of people in a language 

they would most leadily understand. 

Still another element in this course 

of preparation was the rise of a 

political force that practically dom 

inated the world. That was the Ro 

man empire. The world at that time 

piesented the curious spectacle of be 

ing largely Greek-speaking, but be 

ing under Roman authority. Greek 

ideas prevailed, but Roman power 

and authority dominated the world. 

Where the Greeks emphasized the 

intellectual the Romans stressed the 

material. Great public highways 

were built, primarily for military 

purposes, but making 

travel in gen- 

eial very easy. Large centers of pop 

ulation were found throughout the 

empire. A state of religious tolera 

tion rather remarkable, was brought 

about by the fact that so many re 

ligious sects were within the em 

pire's borders. All these elements 

had much to do with the rapid spread 

of the gospel within the empire. 

"When the fulness of the time was 

come, God sent forth His Son." 

The passage found in Luke 2:1-7 

tells in the simplest words imagin 

able that when the world was ready 

to hear and receive the gospel, the 

Redeemer made His advent. How 

miraculous it is that all those dif 

ferent elements were gradually con 

verging toward a common meeting 

point for the same purpose, and that 

when they met, then transpired the 

greatest of all mysteries, 

the advent 

of the Son of God in the likeness of 

sinful men. Probably nothing could 

be more profitable in studying this 

part of the lesson than to just read 

carefully the accounts given by Mat 

thew and Luke of the birth of the 

Saviour. Much might be written, but 

the leading facts are clearly told in 

those passages. 

The verses from Matthew 22:15, 

16, 23a take us forward to near the 

end of our Lord's ministry, and re 

fer to two classes of opposition to 

Him and His work, 

and whose an 

tagonism culminated in His death on 

the cross, the Pharisees and the Sad- 

ducees. They, the Pharisees, 

were of 

the Jewish aristocracy, taking a 

"holier than thou" 

attitude toward 

the common people. They placed 

great emphasis upon strict observ 

ance of the Mosaic law as inter 

preted by their traditions. Their re 

ligion finally degenerated into mere 

formality 

and legalism. It was upon 

them that Jesus pronounced His 

most severe condemnation. 

The Sadducees also were of the 

aristocracy, but otherwise differed 

widely 

from the Phaiisees. Verse 23 

refers to one of the distinctive ten 

ets of their religion. They were ra 

tionalistic, and rejected all the Old 

Testament except the five books of 

Moses. They did not share in the 

Messianic hope, and were unpopular 

with the common people. We have 

but to lead the gospel accounts of 

Christ's ministry to see how per 

sistently and malignantly both Phar 

isees and Sadducees opposed the 

labors of the Saviour and His dis 

ciples. Pilate's judgment hall fur 

nished the climax of that opposition 

and that scene has been re-enacted 

many times since that day. 


Comments: 


SAUL REJECTED FOR 

DISOBEDIENCE 

I Sam. 15:10-23 

By the Rev. R. W. Caskey 

Psalms: 

Psalm 91: 1-4 No. 248 

Psalm 5:1-3 No. 8 

Psalm 119:1-4 No. 332 

Psalm 40:9-12 No. 110 

References: 

Jeremiah 36:21-25; Exodus 19:4-6; 

Jeremiah 42:6; Romans 6:16; Ro 

mans 10:20, 21; Acts 5:28, 29; Gala- 

tions 3:1; I Tim. 1:9; Titus 1:16; I 

Peter 1:22. 

Obedience is a hard thing for 

people to learn. We first come into 

conflict with obedience in obeying 

the rules of the home. In the home 

we should be taught obedience not 

only to the rules of the home but 

also to the laws of the civil govern 

ment and to the laws of God. In 

proportion as we learn to obey the 

laws of man and especially the laws 

of God we find that life is good. 

There are certain things that we 

need to notice about the disobedience 

of Saul. 

1. What was that disobedience? 

His disobedience was a failure to 

obey a command of His God. God 

had told him to go out and utterly 

destroy the Amalekites, but when he 

had gone out they brought back the 

king of the Amalekites and the Dest 

of the sheep and the oxen. It was


disobedience to a direct command of 

his God. 

The command that Saul had re 

ceived to go our and totally destroy 

the Amalekites was one that is hard 

to reconcile with our present day 

standards, but the very fact that it is 

hard for us to reconcile makes it just 

that much more important to be 

careful to obey 

all the commands of 

God as He gives them to us. We who 

are finite cannot always understand 

the reasons that lie back of the com 

mands of God. Because Saul refused 

to follow this command he was cast 

out from being king over Israel. 

Saul was apparently not conscious 

of his disobedience; at least, he tried 

to put on a brave front before Sam 

uel, for when he came before 

Samuel he said, "I have performed 

the commandment of the Lord". He 

apparently felt that though he had not 

kept the letter of the law he had at 

least kept the spirit of the law. We 

emphasize keeping the spirit of the 

law and it is well that we should, 

but keeping the spirit of the law 

should not keep us from keeping the 

letter of the law also. For the letter 

is not necessarily the enemy of the 

spirit. 

2. Saul's excuses for disobeying. 

Saul was quick to make excuses 

for his disobedience. The first ex 

cuse that he gives is that they have 

kept back the best of the oxen and 

the sheep that they might offer them 

as sacrifice to the God that they 

have disobeyed. There can scarcely 

be any weaker justification than 

this, we disobey so that we can serve. 

Certainly God knows as much about 

the way that He wants to be served 

as we do, and obedience is more im 

portant than sacrifice. Yet, we still 

give the same excuse for disobeying 

the laws of God. Those who would 

break the Sabbath day 

first start out 

by breaking it for some worthy 

cause. Those who break God's laws 

concerning the way that He is to be 

worshiped break them that they may 

bring- a better medium of praise. 

Saul's excuse did not stand before 

God and similar excuses do not stand 

today. 

Saul's second excuse was that the 

people were the ones that had saved 

the best. After all you know we must 

listen to the voice of the people and 

the people did not like to destroy all 

these fine oxen and sheep. Saul as 

ruler was first of all responsible to 

no right to revoke a command of' 

God. Any question that involves a 

question of what God has said and 

disobedience to that direct command, 

should never be submitted to a refer 

endum. God is always a majority 

even if the whole human race should 

take the other side and we have no 

right to revoke His commandments. 

3. The Result of his disobedience. 

The result was that God sent His 

prophet Samuel to tell Saul that God 

had rejected him "Because thou hast 

rejected the word of the Lord, he 

hath also rejected thee from being 

king." 

Disobedience to the commands 

of God is so commonplace today that 

we feel that there is no very severe 

penalty connected with that diso 

bedience. Because that penalty is de 

layed sometimes people feel that 

there is no penalty. God does not 

settle His accounts at six o'clock 

every evening, nor necessarily at the 

end of the month nor of the year, but 

He settles them just the same. Diso 

bedience to the law of God will bring 

a penalty. The commands of God are 

given not only for our immediate 

good but also for eternity. Diso 

bedience to a command of God in 

the light of a few days or years may 

seem to us to make little difference, 

yet it may make a vast difference 

in the light of eternity. Jesus said 

"Whosoever therefore shall break 

one of these least commandments 

and shall teach men so, he shall be 

called the least in the kingdom of 

heaven: but whosoever shall do and 

teach them, the same shall be called 

great in the kingdom of heaven." 

Questions : 

1. Why it is important to obey all 

the commands of God ? 

2. Is obedience a sign of greatness 

or weakness ? 

3. What excuses are given today 

for breaking the Commands of God? 

4. What Commands of God are 

more frequently broken today? 

5. Can we keep the spirit of the 

law and disregard the letter of the 

law? 

Prayer suggestions: 

1. That we may be so directed by 

the Spirit of God that we shall not 

be inclined to break any of his com 

mandments. 

2. That the church of Jesus Christ 

may follow more whole-heartedly 

the commands of God for His church. 

3. Pray that the Covenanter 

church may always be faithful to 

his God, and his secondary responsi the Commands of God and that the 

bility was to the people. The rulers ministers and elders may faithfully 

have no right and the people have lead our congregations. 

W . M. 

S. Department 

SYNODICAL TEMPERANCE SU 

PERINTENDENT'S REPORT 

FOR 1947-1948 

As this year passes without a Syn 

odical gathering, reports have come in 

less promptly. At this time your su 

perintendent has received reports 

from six presbyteries Philadelphia, 

Colorado, Pittsburgh, Ohio, Illinois 

and Pacific Coast, and one individual 

society, Lochiel. 

Aside from the statistical report, 

these show that societies are working 

as their local needs demand, and that 

is what each society can and should 

do. 

Locally, we need to work first in our 

Sabbath schools. Here are children 

to whom the subject must be present 

ed interestingly and convincingly. 

There are several illustrated temper 

ance lessons in the Flannelgraph li 

brary to help you here. Many are 

bringing the lessons home by the use 

of films and slides, thus teaching the 

evils of drink and tobacco by means 

of visual education as well as by pre 

cept. 

Our children can and should be or 

ganized into L. T. L. and Y. T. C. 

groups which provide a means of put 

ting these teachings into active ex 

pression by the children themselves. 

There are several such groups among 

our churches, correlated with Sab 

bath School or C. Y. P. U.; 

more. 

we need 

Membership in W. C. T. U. is grow 

ing year by year. Let us enroll our 

whole family in one or another of 

these groups. They furnish a chan 

nel through which we may work more 

effectively toward the goal a dry 

nation. We also find that "Union 

Signal" 

and "The Young Crusader" 

subscriptions are on the increase. 

Other publications are "The National 

Temperance Digest" 

Address: The 

National Temperance Movement, Inc., 

Chicago 2, Illinois; and "Foundation 

Says" 

American Business Men's 

Association. 

Literature on alcohol and tobacco 

may be obtained from W. C. T. U. 

headquarters at Evanston, Illinois, for 

distribution. 

Our Standard of Efficiency requires 

that we sponsor one public temper 

ance meeting each year. No doubt we 

have all felt the futility of preparing 

an interesting program and present 

ing it before a lot of empty seats. It 

is not a popular method of entertain-


ment at present. Yet if it can be liv 

ened up by means of speech con 

tests, which should be progressive and 

kept going by a skillful director, or 

by such films as "That Boy Joe," 

"God of Creation," 

"God and the At 

om," 

and by singing pep songs, per 

haps people would not find them so 

"dry." 

Frances Willard stressed three 

methods of working: education, agita 

tion and legislation. The first we pro 

mote in the ways mentioned. The oth 

ers by women going 

about with peti 

tions for local option, for closing of 

bars on Sabbath, or to protest licens 

ing sale of liquor in grocery stores, 

or opening of taverns or beer gardens 

near our towns. By writing letters 

to our representatives expressing our 

interest in bills we hope to see 

passed, to magazines protesting 

against radio advertising of liquor and 

tobacco, 

warfare goes on in all our 

presbyteries. As long 

as the wet 

forces present new attractions to sell 

their wares, 

we must contrive new 

methods of combating them. 

STAR NOTES... 

***>Pjle clarinda congregation is 

rejoicing over the word received 

from Dr. C. T. Carson that he will 

accept their call and hopes to take 

up his work among them about Feb 

ruary 1. 

to -iank 

***Mrs. Pearce and family wish 

the members of the church 

for the many comforting letters that 

came during our recent bereavement. 

Words are inadequate to express the 

comfort they have brought, us. We 

can only say "Thank you and God 

bless 

you!" 

***A little girl came to gladden 

the home of Mr. and Mrs. James 

Henning. Vicki Lynn is their first 

baby. Mr. and Mrs. George Henning 

are the grandparents. (Southfield) 

***The Civil Aeronautics Board 

has announced that it has appointed 

Robert J. G. McClurkin as director 

of the Bureau of Economic Regula 

tion. Mr. McClurkin is the son of the 

Rev. and Mrs. Walter C. McClurkin 

of Coldenham. Mr. McClurkin has 

served as assistant director (inter 

national) of the Bureau of Economic 

Regulation since October 30, 1946. 

During this period Mr. McClurkin 

was a member of the United States 

delegations to the first and second 

assemblies of the International Civil 

Aviation Organization and also 

served on the ICAO Commission on 

a multilateral air transport agree 

ment. Prior to his employment by 

the board, Mr. McClurkin served as 

director of the Aircraft Division in 

the office of the Foreign Liquidation 

Commissioner of the Department of 

State, where he was responsible for 

sale of surplus aircraft and aero 

nautical equipment to foreign cus- 

tomeis, and for negotiations concern 

ing disposal teims for non-combat 

aircraft included in lend-lease settle 

ments. 

***Mr. McLeod Braum, 76, the 

father of the late Mrs. Mabel Cas 

key. mie of our former missionaries 

in Cyprus, died at his home in Den 

ison, Kansas, 

on December 17. The 

funeral service was held in the 

United Presbyterian Church in Den 

ison the following Monday. 

***Pfc. David E. Lawson, a mem 

ber of the Geneva congregation, was 

killed in Germany September 13, 

1945. A service was conducted in his 

home Septembei 29 by his pastor, 

attended only by the family and near 

relatives. His body was brought back 

to this country, and a service was 

held in the Scott Funeral Home on 

October 31, 1948, conducted by his 

pastor. Burial was in the Concord 

Methodist cemeteiy, near Beaver 

Falls. J. B. Willson. 

CHURCH NEWS 

OAKDALE, ILL. 

Oakdale Pastor and Wife have 

"Open House." 

October 17, 

On Sabbath morning, 

each attendant of church 

was given an invitation to "Open 

House" 

for the following Wednesday 

evening 7-10 p. m., signed by the 

pastor and family. The congrega 

tion responded heartily 

and were 

entertained. 

very royally After vis 

iting together we were given the 

privilege of going upstairs and into 

every 

room in the house. We were 

then invited to the dining room, 

by the gracious hostess where 

the table was beautifully decorated 

with the last of the season's 

flowers. A candle burned brightly at 

each end of the table, 

where we 

were served very tasty cakes, baked 

in her own kitchen. Also coffee, tea, 

cheesets, nuts, and mints. Not only 

the members of the congregation, but 

also friends and neighbors were made 

welcome. 

At the close of the evening 

a wor 

ship service was held by singing of 

the 121st Psalm, Scripture reading, 

and prayer. 

As we said good-bye we were 

thankful for the hearty welcome re 

ceived and were thankful that Rev. 

and Mrs. Wilcox had heard the Lord's 

call to this part of His vineyard, and 

may we as servants of Him press 

forward delighting to do the worth 

while things toward che advancing of 

Christ's kingdom, and may we find 

pleasure as we labor together as 

pastor and people. 


The Fall Communion of Second 

Church, Philadelphia was held on 

the second Sabbath of October. Rev. 

Bruce C. Stewart, 

a "son of the 

manse", was the assistant and gave 

both inspirational and practical mes 

sages. It was a delight to have Bruce 

and Roselyn in our midst. It was 

a unique Communion Season because 

the pastor, Rev. Frank L. Stewart, 

announced to the congregation his 

intention of accepting a call to the 

Olathe, Kansas, Congregation. There 

were many 

sad hearts and moist 

eyes. The occasion will be one long 

to be remembered. 

We were glad to have Richard 

Stewart Adams join the church at 

this time on profession of faith. Prof. 

John Murray of The Westminster 

Theological Seminary was present 

on this occasion. We are always glad 

to have him worship with us and ob 

serve the Communion Service. 

The October meeting of the Cam- 

eronians was held at the church, with 

the Jileks as our hostesses for the 

evening. There were four visitors 

present Emily Baxter, Mary Hoopes, 

John McElwee and William Bunker 

who added to the enjoyment of 

the evening. 


met on Saturday afternoon, October 

9, 

at the beautiful home of the Miss 

es Sarah and Deborah Archer in 

Paoli, Pa. A very delicious luncheon 

was served before the meeting and 

all had a delightful time. We were 

happy to have Mrs. Thomas Fox and 

Mrs. Bruce C. Stewart present. Mrs. 

Albert Ferguson led in the Devotion 

al Period on the subject, "The Chris 

tian's Walk In Light" 

Mrs. Thom 

as Nimick and Mrs. James A. Car 

son reviewed chapters of our Mission 

Study book, "Out of the Labyrinth.'' 

Our Synodical Treasurer, Mrs. James 

A. Carson, urged us to remember the


new missionaries who are going out 

to our mission fields and the neces 

sary 

the fields, 

raises in salaries of those on 

so that we might make 

our Thank-offerings and Sacrificial 

Gifts as liberal as possible. 

The annual Halloween Party of 

the Sabbath School was held on Fri 

day evening, October 29 at the 

church. The Sabbath School room 

was appropriately decorated and 

formed a fitting background for those 

who were attired in weird and also 

beautiful costumes. The games 

which were played were enjoyed by 

all as were also the apples, the cook 

ies and the candy. 


Miss Martha Sue McClintock, 

daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Foster Mc 

Clintock, and Gene Taber, son of 

Mr. and Mrs. Taber, were united in 

marriage on November 14 at the 

Fairview Methodist Church by the 

Rev. Charles R. Query. Martha's 

twin sister, Miss Mary Lou McClin 

tock, was her maid of honor. A re 

ception was held at the bride's 

parents' 

home following the cere 

mony. Martha is employed at the 

Electronic Laboratory at Indiana 

University. They have now moved 

into their newly-built home. 

We have had one Sabbath of 

preaching during the month of No 

vember. On November 14 Rev. J. G. 

McElhinney delivered two inspiring- 

messages. Rev. and Mrs. McElhinney 

visited with Rev. and Mrs. R. S. Mc 

Elhinney during their short stay in 

Bloomington. 

On Friday. November 19, we held 

our annual Thank-offering dinner 

and program in the basement of the 

church. The program was sponsored 

by the W.M.S. and Phoebe's Mission 

ary Societies. Mrs. R. S. McElhinney 

led devotions. The prize-winning 

play "Inasmuch", by Mrs. Sam Boyle, 

was presented by Mrs. Mary Emma 

Kennedy, Miss Ruth Smith, Miss 

Ruth McKnight, Miss Jessie Smith, 

Mrs. Dale Shaw, and several chil 

dren, and coached by Mr. and Mrs. 

Dick Weir. After the play Dick Weir 

gave a very interesting- talk on Cy 

prus and the work of our mission 

aries there. 

Mr. and Mrs. Harold Hanna have 

returned from a two-weeks vacation 

in Colorado where they visited with 

Mrs. Hanna's brother and family, 

Mr. and Mrs. Wylie Kennedy, and 

other relatives. Mr. Hanna also went 

deer hunting in the mountains. 

Dr. H. L. Smith was honored re- 

cently 

when his biography was in 

cluded in the latest edition of World 

Biographies. 

THE CHRISTIAN AMENDMENT 

By 

MOVEMENT 

the Rev. A. J. McFarland 

The Editor of The Covenanter 

Witness has asked that different 

movements or organizations giVe 

their cause a little publicity 

so that 

the financial budget might mean 

moie to the church. We feel that the 

church has most generously sup 

ported the C.A.M., and we know this 

support will continue. However, a 

brief resume of the past and some of 

our hopes for the future will not, we 

hope, be out of place. 

It was my 

privilege last year to 

be in thirty-eight states. Our pro 

gram was geared to the Bill which 

was in Congress, and we were seek 

ing to tell as many people as possible 

about it. We interviewed state and 

national secretaries of denominations 

and secured their cooperation in 

sending- 

literature to their constitu 

ents. Around 75,000 church and state 

leaders received the literature. 

When the Bill was not granted a 

hearing and automatically died with 

the adjournment of the 80th Con- 

giess, it meant a change in our 

program of action. In contacting 

summer conventions we found we 

needed a different story to tell, and 

needed something different to ask 

our hearers to do. So I have been 

spending considerable time lately at 

my desk preparing material. I have 

tried in this preparation to keep in 

mind the continuing changes that 

may come in this movement, and we 

hope what has been prepared will be 

usable whether a bill is in or out. 

This literature is not, and no litera 

ture will ever be, 

all that will be 

needed. "Of the making of many 

books there is no end." 

But at least 

this new literature will not bring us 

up to a blank wall. 

"A Message on the Christian 

Amendment" 

is an eight-page tract 

and contains the message which we 

give before college classes and 

groups wherever we go. Instead of 

the large flannelboard which re 

quired several minutes to assemble, 

we now use 'ten lil-foy-SO-ijndh 

plaques. This does away with an 

extra bag to carry, for these plaques 

fit nicely into a suitcase. Also we can 

now speak in college classes one 

after another with little or no in 

convenience. Since these are held 

before the students by hand, no flan 

nel is required on the back. 

More opportunity to preach Christ 

to these students and people who 

need it has been granted this last 

month than was ever granted before 

in our experience. Teachers in state 

colleges have granted the entire 

period, and one morning this week I 

talked for thiee solid hours to three 

different classes in Wichita Uni 

versity, and fifteen minutes were 

granted in another class. The mam 

discussion centered around the ques 

tion, "Why do you use the name of 

amendment?" 

Christ in the 

Do not 

let anyone tell you that the Christian 

Amendment Movement is a sideline. 

It is definitely 

on the main line of 

our Christian purpose in the world. 

At Hays State Teachers College, 

Hays, Kansas, one teacher gave over 

the entire period, but warned, "There 

are skeptics in this class, so be 

ready." 

I gave my message in the 

usual way. Then the usual questions 

came and we had an excellent oppor 

tunity to preach Christ as Saviour 

of men and nations, and a genuine 

Gospel 

sermonwas 

given that day. 

We are hoping that many min 

isters and teachers, 

as well as other 

laymen and Gospel team groups, will 

use this address as a basis for 

presenting a message on this sub 

ject. Two lists of eighteen questions 

and answers have been prepared for 

use in connection with this address. 

The questions are exactly the same 

in both lists, but the answers cover 






BOYS' 


Prices are the same for all Readers Less than ten 5c each; ten 

or more 3c each; one hundred or more2% c each. We will appreci 





sixteen pages in the folder for the 

class leader, while only six pages are 

in the folder for the class. The 

leader would first present his mes 

sage; then pass out the six-page 

folder to each person or family in 

his group; then conduct a discussion 

of the matter at that same meeting, 

or give time for study of the ma 

terial and return at a later time for 

the discussion. Ask for a sample 

copy of our "Study Group Material". 

You will receive the Message and the 

two sets of questions and answers. 

DENISON, KANS. 

Mrs. Minnie Wilkey and son Ev 

erett drove to Iowa and spent 

Thanksgiving Day with relatives. 

Four car loads of young people at 

tended the Psalm Festivals at He 

bron R. P. Church. Those going were 

Alta and Twila Blackwood, Mr. and 

Mrs. Junior Blackwood, Harold Mc 

Crory, MaTy Robson, Kathleen Mc 

Crory, Annetta Knowles, Mr. and 

Mrs. Stewart Robb, John and Eliza 

beth Robb, Ruth Porter, Edwin 

Braum, Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Mc 

Crory, Mrs. Truman Hug, Mrs. 

Charles McCory, Mr. and Mrs. Henry 

Faris, 

cheson. 

and Rev. and Mrs. T. M. Hut 

Mr. and Mrs. John S. Greenlee of 

Idana visited in the J. S. Wright 

home and attended the Thanksgiving 

gathering of the Porter clan in Horton 

at Rev. W. C. Porter's. 


Sterling congregation welcomes her 

city missionary, Mrs. D. B. Martin, 

home from a three 

months' 

visit with 

her daughter Mrs. Leonard Reid and 

family in England with a dinner and 

program. November 4, the congrega 

tion honored Mrs. Martin upon her 

return and Miss Elda Patton on her 

departure November 15 for Seattle, 

Washington, where she is employed as 

city missionary. On this occasion Elda 

was presented a beautiful scarf. The 

program presided over by Vera 

Young, 

Karl Cunningham, 

presented Roberta Dill and 

teachers in the Jun 

ior department who gave words of 

farewell; 

a reading, Melody McFar 

land; vocal duet, Bonnie and Wynona 

Monley, 

accompanied on the guitar 

by Wynona; a mixed C. Y. P. U. 

quartette, Roberta Dill, Johnetta 

Beard, Joe McFarland and Karl Cun 

ningham; 

ing "0. P. R. A.," 

another quartette present 

consisted of Mrs. 

Foy Oline, Mrs. Eldo McFarland, Karl 

Cunningham and Eldo McFarland, 

with Mrs. L. E. Kilpatrick at the 

piano. Seattle's gain is Sterling's 

loss, for Elda has been superintend 

ent of the Junior Sabbath School sev 

eral years, and for eight years one 

of the Bible teachers in the public 

schools, besides helping in every 

Christian activity. 

We arc happy to have sixteen Re 

formed Pi esbyterian college students 

worshiping regularly with us this 

year: Kenneth Tippen, Olathe; Ruth 

Adams, Stafford; Gene and Francis 

Spear, Topeka; and Marjorie, Loretta, 

Max and Lawrence Tedford, John 

etta Beard and Emma Lee and Ruth 

McKissick of Minneola. Our local 

students are Carol Edgar, Vera 

Young, Roberta Dill, Joe McFarland, 

and Karl Cunningham. Of these, 

Ruth is College Y. W. President, Joe 

and Max are "first 

string" 

of the 

college foot ball team; Roberta is on 

a free trip to Chicago, 

a reward for 

winning the 4-H state championship 

in clothing-; Vera was recently a del 

egate to a Home Economics conven 

tion in Manhattan; Marjorie was the 

foot ball queen; Johnetta was attend 

ant to the queen, and a quartette of 

Roberta, Johnetta, Joe and Karl, rep 

resenting our C. Y. P. U. in Y. W. 

Stunt Nite program, won a cash 

prize. This same quartette made a 

hit in the college "Sadie Hawkins 

Day" 

activities. 

Mrs. R. P. MacClement and Mrs. 

Ed Wilkey recently returned from a 

Texas trip, and Mrs. John Connery 

from visiting on the West Coast. 

Mr. George Viles is a patient in the 

T. B. Sanitarium in Norton. 

Mrs. Laura Patton Haltom of Har 

per and Elda Patton recently visited 

their brother Allan in Bucklin. 

Rev. and Mrs. G. R. McBurney have 

gone to Quinter to visit their son 

Waldo and family. 

Sympathy is extended Mrs. W. B. 

Hay, whose brother, Will Staley, of 

Beloit, died recently. Mr. and Mrs. 

Wendell McFarland, Sara and Mar 

tha Hay attended the funeral Novem 

ber 2. 

Our teachers this year are: Miss 

Mary Hindman and Ben Vose, near 

Sterling, Miss Lulu Tippin and Mrs. 

Blanche Cunningham in Sterling; 

Miss Ora Hays, Sterling College; Mr. 

and Mrs. Willis Edgar, Coats; Miss 

Dorthea Edgar, Langdon; Miss Viola 

McFarland, Kansas City; Raymond 

Dill, Nickerson; Mary Edgar, relig 

ious education supervisor, College 

Springs, Iowa, and Mrs. A. J. McFar 

land, religious education, Sterling 

Junior High. 

A group of R. P. College people: 

Ruth Adams, Vera Young, Carol Ed 

gar and Gene Spear presented via 

flannelgraph the graphic and timely 

message "To the Stars Through Dif 

ficulty" 

thirteen places in Rice Co. 

We thank Winchester for having this 

flannelgraph prepared (by Dr. Paul 

Coleman) and lending it to us. 

In addition all C. Y. P. U. members 

and their pastor helped hang "Vote 

No" 

County 

MID-WEEK PRAYER MEETING 

FOLDERS FOR 1949 

Subjects and Space for Leaders 

5 Gents Each in Quantity 



keys on every door knob in Rice 

the night before election. 


for 1949 

5 Cents Each 



1121 Buchanan Street, Topeka, Kansas


HOPKINTON NEWS LETTER 

The Missionary Society 

of Hopin- 

ton has been using for their mission 

study, recently, the book, "The Widen 

ing Wedge." 

Their last meeting 

was an all-day meeting at the home 

of Mrs. R. P. Joseph when they did 

some sewing and collected articles 

for the box for the Southern Mission. 

Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Edgar are 

spending the winter at Roseland, 

Florida. They write of the warm 

weather there while the storms rage 

in the middle-west and north-west. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wm. R. Ferguson 

have moved from Glidden to Hop 

kinton, la. Mr. Ferguson was princi 

pal in the schools at Glidden, but 

gave up that position to take up the 

work of editing The Hopkinton 

Leader. He had taken Journalism in 

Iowa University 

and is well quali 

fied for the work of editing and 

managing a printing 

glad to have them "home" 

again in Hopkinton. 

office. We are 

with us 

Mrs. C. K. Greer of Hopkinton is 

visiting relatives in various points in 

California. 

Mrs. F. B. Tibbitts is in the Uni 

versity Hospital at Iowa City, la. 

Pier friends in Hopkinton wish her 

an early recovery and return home. 

The mother of Mrs. B. M. Fergu 

son, Mrs. Harvey, died recently and 

her funeral was held in Dubuque, la. 

Some friends from Hopkinton, as 

well as the family, attended the 

service. 

THANKS TO MY MANY FRIENDS 

Provided I may be granted a bit of 

space in our Church paper, I wish, in 

this general manner, to thank all of 

you who have remembered me during 

my illness in prayer at the throne of 

grace. All the "Get Well" 

cards, 

letters, flowers and other remem 

brances came into the sick room like 

a bright ray 

of sunshine into a 

gloomy place. The Lord is raising 

me up now that I may show forth His 

praises again among His beloved peo 

ple, I trust. 

Especially do I wish to make grate 

ful acknowledgment of the gift of a 

large sum of money from the Syra 

cuse congregation, where I was for 

merly the pastor. May the Lord re 

ward them bountifully for their love 

and generosity. 

It is my hope that I shall be able 

to engage again in preaching soon af 

ter the coming of the New Year. 

Gratefully 

of Christ, 

your friend and servant 

E. G. Russell. 

213 Elk Street, Syracuse 5, N. Y. 

ROBBFRAZIER 

Mr. and Mrs. J. K. Robb of May- 

etta, Kans., have announced the mar 

riage of their daughter Doris to Mr. 

Harold Frazier, 

John Frazier of Moberly, 

son of Mr. and Mrs. 

Mo. The 

wedding vows were exchanged at 

3:00 o'clock the afternoon of Novem 

ber 24th in the Presbyterian Church 

of Kansas City, Kansas, Rev. Ralph 

L. Jennings officiating. Mr. Frazier 

was attended by Mr. Henry Harris 

of Kansas City, Kans. After a short 

visit with their parents at Mayetta 

and Moberly, Mo.,they 

at 607 Nebraska St., Kansas City, 

Kansas. Both Mr. and Mrs. Frazier 

are at home 

aie employed in Kansas City, Kan 

sas. Mrs. Frazier is in the office of 

the Montgomery Ward Co. and Mr. 

Frazier with "The Dairy" 

sing Plant. 

YARGERCHESTNUT 

Proces 

On August 21, at 4:00 P. M. in 

the Topeka Reformed Presbyterian 

Church, the Rev. T. M. Hutcheson, 

assisted by the Dr. P. D. McCracken, 

read the double ring ceremony unit 

ing in marriage Miss Audrey Yar- 

ger, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Clyde 

Yarger of Centralia, Kans., and Mr. 

Glenn Chestnut, son of Mr. and Mrs. 

Ira Chestnut of Denison. The bride 

was given away by her father and 

was accompanied by her sister, Miss 

Mildred as maid of honor. Mr. Martin 

Chestnut attended his brother as 

best man. A reception in the church 

basement followed, 

at which Mrs. 

Martin Chestnut presided. After a 

wedding trip to Michigan they are 

making their home at 1262 Clay St., 

Topeka, Kansas, where they are both 

employed in the offices of Morrell's 

Packing Co. 

J. FRANK BOYD 

J. Frank Boyd, second son of Rich 

ard and Jane Boyd, was born Sep 

tember 26, 1872 near Oakdale, Illi 

nois and departed from this life on 

Sabbath evening, November 21, 1948. 

He united with the Oakdale congre 

gation in full communion during the 

pastorate of the Reverend D. G. 

Thompson. In 1907 he was united in 

marriage to Miss Anna E. McLean 

of Oakdale. They lived near Spring 

field, Illinois, for awhile and then at 

Wyman, Iowa, for a number of years. 

Failing health made it necessary to 

give up farming eight years ago. They 

lived at Morning Sun for a year and 

then returned to Oakdale. About the 

moment of Mr. Boyd's death the con 

gregation was singing from Psalm 37 

at the church. . . 

."surely 

the latter end is 

peace." 

of this man 

The pastor 

was assisted by the Reverend Samu 

el Ward in the funeral. Burial took 

place in the historic cemetery, out 

where the old Elkhorn church stood, 

now the Oakdale Cemetery. As the 

Lord has sustained them both during 

their suffering, so may His peace be 

with Mrs. Boyd during the lonely 

years. 

MRS. MARY CRAIG McCAUGHAN 

The life that Mary Craig Mc 

Caughan lived among 

us for more 

than eighty-one years has closed so 

suddenly that we can still hardly 

believe it is true and yet so peace 

fully 

that we can rejoice that she 

was spared further suffering. That 

she was ready and willing 

have no doubt. 

to go we 

As we think of her life there are 

many things that were worthy of 

emulation. First was her interest in 

the things that concerned the church 

and the Missionary Society. Al 

though she lived at a distance, 

through the school year for many 

years her interest and devotion to 

the Covenanter Church never fal 

tered. In the summer time when she 

was here and able to attend the 

Missionary meetings, it was always 

her joy to do so. She was one of the 

charter members of this organiza 

tion, and after moving back to 

Bloomington, she was one of the 

ones who was counted on to carry 

out the different projects of the So 

ciety, especially the sewing. This 

she was able to do even to the last, 

and many times when confined to her 

bed she would be working on some of 

the Missionary sewing. 

The other interest in her life was 

her home, which was home not only 

to her own family, but to her mother 

whom she cared for through long 

years of illness, and at various times 

to her three sisters-in-law and her 

mother-in-law. Her devotion to her 

husband in his long, serious illness 

and to her daughter who was called 

home so recently, was typical of her 

whole life. As some one has re 

marked, "Her very presence was 

comforting." 

As a Society, we will miss her 

greatly. We will miss her presence, 

her abilities and her interest. "Be ye 

also ready, for in such an hour as ye 

think not, the Son of Man 

Susan Russell 

Maggie Craig 

Mary Emma Kennedy, 

Committee 

cometh."



300 vears of Witnessing- 

ITNES ' 

^ 

/cHWJTJi 

CR.OXM 

fog. Christ's sovereign Rights in t^l church ^md tme, ai^T'.Oj61- 


Saved Through a Hole In the Wall 

"There was the cotton weaver of Cheng-hsien saved through the 

preaching of Tao-hsing, saved through a hole in the wall amid ridicule 

and laughter, but blessedly saved! He was just a poor orphan lad, the 

slave and drudge of the family who had adopted him. Hearing unusual 

sounds of merriment one day from the adjoining house, he left his work 

and went to a little opening he knew of, where a knot had dropped out of 

a wooden partition. The son of the neighboring family had just returned 

from the city and was telling his experiences. He was making fun of 

someone he had heard talking to a crowd. It was the well-known gambler, 

Tao-hsing, who had 'eaten the foreign 

religion,' 

and whose life had be 

come so changed. He was telling the matchless story of the prodigal son, 

telling it out of a full heart. Travestied as it was in the reproduction, it 

still appealed to the dejected, lonely listener as nothing else that he had 

ever heard. Could it be that there was a God a Father in Heaven who 

loved like that? 'Oh, go on, go 

on!' 

he cried, almost without knowing it 

when the recital ended. 'Let us hear more of those good 

words!' 

Aston 

ishment and laughter on the other side of the partition drove him from his 

vantage ground, but only to send him in search of his neighbor, from 

whom he learned where the wonderful teaching could be heard, and once 

he had grasped the heavenly message, nothing 

away from the Saviour, whom not having seen, he loved." 

From Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor's 

would induce him to turn 

Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission


QL+npAeA afj the. (lelifUuil Wofrld 


WORK IN CHINA 

The UEA reports that evangelicals are agreed that the 

Christian Church must keep working in the Communist- 

held areas of China. They 

stay or not to stay 

realize that the decision to 

must be left to the individual mis 

sionary, and ways and means of carrying on must vary 

according to local conditions. Communists do not per 

mit church members to contribute to the support of a 

native pastor, so he must earn his living as a farmer, or 

in some other work. As only small meetings are per 

mitted, he cannot call his flock together, but must go to 

them, generally on foot. Foreign missionaries, especially 

Americans, are proving an embarrassment to the Chinese 

pastor or Christian worker. In instances, it is better if 

the outside missionary evacuates. 

One .American missionary was told by Communist of 

ficials that religious freedom is permitted but when he 

attempted to hold services he found a soldier placed at 

the door of the house to "protect" 

the worshipers. On 

the door was a card, "All Americans are traitors." The 

name of each worshiper was taken "for future refer 

ence." 

Only a few came. Shortly afterwards the mis 

sionary was murdered. 

MEDAL TO MYRON TAYLOR 

A Medal of Merit has been given to Myron C. Taylor 

by President Truman for his missions to the Vatican and 

incidentally for his labor-management services while a 

steel industry executive. The President's personal rep 

resentative to the Pope was given the medal at a White 

House ceremony. He is called the representative of two 

presidents of the United States to the Pope, 

with the 

rank of ambassador. It should have been a medal of de 

merit for any one who would accept such an appointment 

which has been condemned and re-condemned by nearly 

all Protestant denominations. This may be revealing as 

to where many 

the President recently. 

of the votes came from which elected 

GOSPEL BROADCAST TO RUSSIA 

There were not only many conversions under the 

preaching of Hyman Appleman in Rochester, N. H., but 

enough money 

Russia over the Luxembourg 

to broadcast these messages. 

was raised to broadcast the Gospel to 

WALDENSIAN CENTENARY 

station. Dr. Appleman is 

The Waldensians from all over Italy try to revisit their 

mountain traditional home every autumn to keep in 

touch with the faith of the past. But this year, the cen 

tenary 

of the Church's civil emancipation, they came 

from many countries to celebrate and renew their Scrip 

tural faith. We all owe much to the unyielding and 

sturdy 

faith of these heroic people. 

It is fifty 

PROGRESS IN BURMA 

years since the first American missionaries 

went to Haka, in the Chin Hills of Burma. They had a 

very difficult time at first. In that area there were about 

1,000 Christians before the war; but by 1946 the number 

had increased to 5,000 and by 1947, to 6,000. Pastor San 

Ling 

explains the remarkable growth in this way: "Be 

fore the war we were always hampered by 

funds. There were very few preachers, 

shortage of 

and we were 

always asking for more pay, so it was little wonder that 

there was no great response to our preaching. When the 

missionaries had gone, 

could reach us, 

ing, 

and no foreigin mission grants 

our church had to become self-support 

and the members agreed to tithe. The war brought 

money to the Chin Hills, and last year's church contribu 

tions amounted to 2,250 pounds. Now we have six or 

dained pastors and five lay preachers, all adequately 

paid and able to devote their full time and energy to the 

work. In addition there are eleven part-time helpers." 

The people are losing 

spirits and are attracted by the kindly, 

the Christians. 

confidence in the power oif the 

EVEN PSYCHOLOGISTS CH4ANGE 

Dr. Henry C. Link, 

generous life of 

a well-known psychologist, has 

advocated in a recent statement the use of corporal pun 

ishment for children. He says: "Physical punismment, 

orthodox psychologists now agree, is not only permis 

sible, but at times the most effective way of dealing with 

a child, and much less injurious than prolonged reason 

ing and discussion." The Bible and common sense 

taught parents that many centuries ago. We are told in 

Proverbs, "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, 

but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him." 

BIBLE CLASSES IN N. C. 

It is repported that there has been little change in 

weekday religious education programs in North Carolina 

as a result of the Supreme Court decision in the Cham 

paign case. Forty-three of the 100 counties report Bible 

courses in one or more schools. 

IOWA LEADS IN GIFTS TO CROP 

The radio reports that Iowa has raised more than 200 

car loads of grain, honey, etc. for the gifts to Europe 

through CROP. That is an average of more than a car 

load for each county of the state. The report also states 

that this leads all the states in the gifts of grain for 

CROP. Iowa should be generous for it has had splendid 

crops. We are glad that our people have not ceased to 

be charitable. "When saw we thee hungry 

thee?" 

some time. 

Every 


and fed 

man will have to face this question at 

TTJTT1 nrWTVKt A TITTUP WTTMTT'QQ . Published each Wednesday by the Reformed Presbyterian \ 

Itit, IXJVrMNAiN lHiK WlllNlLbb. church of North America, through its editorial office. \ 

Rev. D. Raymond Tag-g-art, T>. D., Editor and Manager. 1209 Boswell Avenue, Topeka, Kansas. 

S2.00 per year; foreign $2.50 per year; single copies 5c. Special rates to congregations. 

Entered as second class matter at Post Office in Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3, 1879. 

Authorized August 11. 1933. 

The Rev. R. E. Lyons, B. A., Limavady, N. Ireland, ag-ent for the British Isles.


GuWiettt Zuentl 

Christmas afternoon. The snow is falling. 

"It was the winter wild, 

While the heaven-born child 

All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies; 

Nature in awe to him, 

Had doffed her gaudy trim, 

With her great Master so to sympathize: 

It was no season then for her 

To wanton with the Sun, her lusty Paramour. 

Only with speeches fair 

She woos the gentle air 

To hide her guilty front with innocent snow; 

jAnd on her naked shame, 

Pollute with sinful blame, 

The saintly veil of maiden white to throw; 

Confounded, that her Maker's eyes 

Should look so near upon her foul deformities." 

# sj! 4s 

John Milton. 

The Prince of Peace looking down on the world sees 

the desolation of two great wars and also new and con 

tinuing wars: (1) The Dutch in Indonesia have violated 

a U. N. truce and made a "blitz" attack on the Indones 

ians to restore their colonial empire. (2) The Jews 

have violated the U. N. truce and attacked the Egyptian 

garrisons in southern Palestine. (3) The Chinese civil 

war is marked by rapid actions involving hundreds of 

thousands of troops with uniform Communist successes. 

(4) The Pan-American Union has sent a commission to 

investigate the alleged invasion of Costa Rica by forces 

from Nicaragua. (5) The civil war in Greece goes on 

steadily, with the Communist bands supported by the 

Russian satellite countries to the north. (6) American 

troops are in Japan, Korea, Germany 

and Austria and 

the cold war about Berlin is getting colder and more ex 

pensive day by day. (7) The United States must not 

only face the burden of its own improvements neglected 

durmg the war years and the heavier burden of Euro 

pean economic recovery, but also the burden of the re 

armament of both ourselves and Western Europe. What 

does the Lord think of it all and how does He appraise 

the American part in all this? 

* * 

The Russians and their spokesmen bitterly accuse the 

United States of engaging in the herculean European 

Recovery 

plan because we want to enslave the countries 

aided by the strings we attach to our beneficence. That 

is not true, but it is true that we should have attached 

strings to many of our gifts. For instance, 

we should 

not have trusted the Russians to act like gentlemen, and 

have had ropes attached to the eleven billion given them 

in Lend-Lease concrning which they have refused to ne 

gotiate. Holland was allotted $68,000,000 for Indonesia 

and of that $54,000,000 has already been given. The 

other $14,000,000 is being withheld. But we have given 

Holland directly, in ERP, $298,000,000 (New York 

Times), $247,000,000 in Lend-Lease, and credits of 

$300,000,000 in the Export-Import Bank for the purchase 

of U. S. War surplus, 

and $190,000,000 worth of civilian 

supplies for military relief. Of the Export-Import Bank 


loan apparently $170,000,000 has not yet been drawn. 

This totals from the beginning of the War $675,000,000, 

besides what Holland received in UNRRA aid and in 

Indonesia. Now Holland tells the U. N. and the United 

States that what she does in Indonesia is strictly her 

own business, and it is intimated that if the United 

States withdraws her bounty Holland will go over to 

Russia. Call that bluff! 

* * * * 

In Palestine the Jews and the Egyptians each blame 

the other for the battles in the Negev and around Gaza. 

King Abdullah of Transjordania has wanted all along to 

give the Jews most of what they 

asked for and himself 

absorb the remainder. The other Arab countries, jeal 

ous of Abdullah, have blocked this settlement and the 

Jews seem to be trying to bring the Egyptians into ne 

gotiations at once. The U. N. truce, of course, forbids 

all warfare. 

* * * * 

All German prisoners of war held by the Allies were 

to be returned by January 1, 1949. The U. S. and Bri 

tain have returned the hundreds of thousands they held, 

France with only 40,000 out of 750,000,000 promises to 

send them back by that date. Russia is the only 

"welcher." 

Molotov said in March, 1947 that Russia 

then held 892,000. By November 1, 1948 only 340,000 of 

these had gotten back to Germany. Where are the rest? 

Some have been in communication with their relatives 

in Germany, but the 

others' 

situation is a mystery. It was 

a part of the war agreement that the prisoners were to 

be well cared for, but those who do get back to Germany 

are worn out and almost destitute of clothing. (Material 

primarily from the New York Times.) 

* * * * 

The removal of the big snow of December 19 cost New 

York City over $3,000,000, or something over $150,000 

an inch. In the wheat belt of the West the recent deep 

snows have clogged the highways but have deposited 

moisture that may give the nation another great wheat 

harvest next summer. 

# ? 

The National League of Decency has this year rated 

more films as "Objectionable" 

than at any time since 

1935. Of 451 films, it has ruled as follows: "A-I, moral 

ly unobjectionable for general patronage, 174 or 35.58 

per cent; A-II, morally unobjectionable for adults, 188, 

or 41.69 per cent; B, morally objectionable in part for 

all, 82 or 18.18 per cent; and C, condemned, 7 or 1.55 per 

cent." 

:|= * 

:|: * * 

The United States has engaged in the manufacture 

of rum in the Virgin Islands, and many states, 

as Penn 

sylvania, are in the wholesale and retail whiskey busi 

ness. Britain is following 

our example. On December 

14, says the Associated Press, the House of Commons 

voted to give the government the right to license and 

manage "pubs" 

in newly 

established towns and sur 

rounding areas. The Home Secretary described as 

"wild 

exaggeration" 

the charge that the government is 

about to nationalize the whole drink trade. 



The Departed Power 

It was Thursday afternoon, November 9, at 

3 :15, so all the electric clocks agreed, when some 

thing happened. In our place of business the lin 

otypes ceased to click, the presses were stopped, 

the lights were gone. Was it a fuse? But there 

had been no extra load. But so far as our build 

ing was concerned, the power was definitely off. 

We looked about for our neighbor's lights and 

there were none, but it was not a dark day so 

that told us nothing. The power company must 

be repairing the local lines so we tried to call 

them and got a cross-wire, for someone in the 

opposite end of town was calling them also and 

trying to inform them that they had no lights. 

Then we realized that the trouble was not local. 

Later we learned that the downtown stores had 

closed up and Christmas shoppers had gone home, 

some goods having been snatched, Christmas 

gifts for someone. Calling our several homes we 

learned that the lights were still off and all home- 

appiances had ceased to function. Thermostat 

controls on furnaces had shut off heat; radios 

were silent; our furnaces cooled, and refrigera 

tors warmed. 

Darkness fell on schedule, about five o'clock, 

but there were no neon signs to shout at people 

in colors louder than words, that business was as 

usual. The streets were festooned with electric 

bulbs and evergreens, but these were dead. Traf 

fic had almost ceased for commuters had gone to 

their dark homes via the gasoline alley or the good 

old method of walking. There would evidently 

be no hot time in the old town tonight. 

But do not jump to the conclusion that our fa 

mous city had become a ghost town at 3:15. At 

that very moment the sirens of our fire depart 

ment and ambulances began to whistle on the 

highways, while doctors rushed, 

with their nurs 

es, to the scene of the catastrophe, for there had 

been a series of explosions in the power plant 

which furnished all the lights and power for our 

own city and for the cities within a radius of one 

hundred miles in every direction. That power 

house was now a mass of wrecked iron, crushed 

glass and leaping flames. Almost in the twink 

ling of an eye nine men had lost their lives. Eigh 

teen more had suffered injury, and rumor had it 

that one hundred or two hundred had been en 

trapped, and that eighteen hours would be the 

best that we could expect the return of power, 

lights and the hundreds of conveniences that de 

pend upon them. Candle markets were busy, too ; 

but their supply of this ancient luxury was soon 

and the highways were jammed 

dissipated. Yes, 

with cars of curiosity-seekers, and, sad to say, of 

seekers for loved ones who would return no more. 

The police turned the former aside on the main 

highway, the latter frantically broke through the 

lines, for fire cannot quench love. Some of them 

found their loved ones alive, unharmed; others 

found theirs wounded and some found theirs de 

parted. "In such an hour as ye think not, the Son 

cometh." 

of Man 

Of course, there were many murmurs at the 

inconvenience of powerlessness, and the discom 

fort, for we are a thoughtless people. But there 

being no lights to read, shows and dinner clubs 

so that there was no 

having been disbanded, 

place to go; the radios were silent so there was 

nothing to keep our thoughts off ourselves, but 

what a time to think! It would almost seem 

that it would be a good thing if God took away 

the power of electricity for at least a few minutes 

every day, during darkness preferably, to call us 

all to meditation. What could we think about 

profitably ? 

But let us first get these lights going. About 

six o'clock, unable to get the power company, I 

called the newspaper office to see what they had 

learned about the possible return of lights and 

power, and on." 

they said, "Ours have just come 

That was encouraging. After dining by candle 

light and waiting for another half hour in semidarkness, 

the refrigerator began to purr, a wel 

come sound. I flipped the switch. We had lights 

and our neighbors likewise. In a little while the 

city was agog again. By sections the light had 

returned. How was this miracle accomplished? 

Well, our neighboring city of Wichita, 175 miles 

away, had loaned us some of their power; and 

Oklahoma City, some 400 miles away, had con 

tributed likewise. How many others, we do not 

know. But for us, the next day we were in oper 

ation as usual, and within two or three days the 

larger plants of the city were likewise doing their 

and though we have been urged to 

usual work; 

be sparing with all light and power, we are suf 

fering 

no inconvenience whatever. 

Now to return to our meditations. First of all, 

how dependent we are! How dependent upon the 

help 

of our fellow-men ! The marvel of our pres 

ent civilization is its complexity, its unity, its 

service. Nine men gave their lives in that trag 

edy, but multitudes and multitudes are laying 

down their lives daily for our comforts, and we 

among them. When will nations learn that the 

prosperity of one is the prosperity of all? To de 

stroy as we threaten to do, the millions of people 

with an atomic bomb, would be to our destroy 

own customers, our producers and our consum 

us that the world is 

ers. I know they are telling 

going to be over-populated soon and we are go 

ing to starve to death. If we starve I think it 

will be our own fault and not the fault of Provi 

dence who has stored our world with all need 

ful things for all generations to come if we will 

use wisely. 

neighbor- 

Another subject for meditation is the 

liness of our community. While we all suffered 

inconvenience, we all sympathized one with an 

other, for we were all in the same boat. But what 

of Wichita and Oklahoma City, who were not suf 

shared their good things. Andthe 

fering? They 

vitality of a nation that has a basis of Christian 

ity shows how soon we can recuperate. If one


member suffers, the whole body suffers, by each 

organ performing some special function as in 

the human body, a function not their own. Na 

ture and commerce likewise are soon functioning 

in the same old way. 

Another thought is the apathy we have toward 

our servants in this complex civilization. We shall 

not long remember the names of those who per 

ished in this disaster, much less those who suf 

fered minor injuries. A thousand or more of our 

public servants retire from public duty every day. 

no more. Like the coral animals, perhaps we 

hope to build an atoll, but we ourselves are soon 

submerged beneath the waves of the sea. Time 

rolls over us. Solomon would have said: "Van 

ity of vanities ; all is 

vanity," 

and never mind 

what Omar Khayyam would have said. Neverthe 

less, the memory of the just is blessed, and the 

good that men do lives after them. 

But the most marvelous thought that we can 

have concerning such a time is that we are 

wholly dependent upon God. I have often thought 

that electricity was given to us as a parable of 

the Holy Spirit. It is light and it is power, it is 

communication, it is invisible, and He is all 

of these, and what use is there of electricity 

that the Holy Spirit does not have a correspond 

ing function to perform? We are the appliances. 

He is the power. We have machines that seem 

to think, but all manipulated by electricity. Man 

thinks by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is 

the light that lighteth every man. All our hu 

man race is joined together by the Holy Spirit 

working 

out the plan of God. He is the simple 

explanation of all the complex system by which 

he foreordains whatever comes to pass. He is 

the light, He is the power. This applies to the 

unregenerate man as well as to the regenerate 

man. But the Holy Spirit comes in a special way 

to the Christian. He is life as well as light and 

power. 

Have you ever seen that power suddenly cut 

Tomorrow they die and the next day they are 

buried, and the third or fourth day they are for 

gotten. Of course, we expect to be treated the 

same way. The grass withereth, the flower fad- 

off in an individual? Suppose one has a violent 

temper and loses his control. His power is gone 

and his light is gone ; momentarily we hope. And 

yet, at times we can say of people as was said of 

Saul, that the Spirit of God departed from him. 

men." 

"My Spirit shall not always strive with 

We may see similar losses in churches. A church 

eth, and the place where it once was knoweth it quarrel may ruin the church's influence in a com 

munity for years and even for generations. And 

The Incarnation 

PRESUPPOSITIONS OF THE DOCTRINE 

It presupposes the Fact of Monotheism, One 

Living 

and True God. 

The Incarnation as it is set before us in the 

Scripture narratives would be meaningless among 

peoples whose minds were dominated by Greek 

and Roman mythologies, with gods constantly 

taking on human forms ; or in lands dominated by 

the teachings of Hinduism with an infinite num 

ber of reincarnations of the human spirit and 

even of the gods which they worshiped. One more 

incarnation would be without distinguishing sig 

nificance. It would be meaningless too among 

believers in Pantheism, where everything is the 

expression of the life of God, which comes to con 

sciousness only in man, and in all men good and 

bad alike. It could have no meaning for the wor 

shipers of idols, or for the worshipers of sun, 

moon and stars as gods. 

It could have meaning only among a people ab 

solutely dominated by the belief that there is but 

ONE God almighty, the Maker of heaven and 

so may the quarrel between church members. 

The glory departs, the power departs. 

It is true of the Protestant church at the pres 

ent time. It is not so much the divisions of the 

church into various organizations, call it denom 

inations, names ; but it is the divisions that result 

from the loss of seeking for the truth, and living 

the truth. Each denomination at one time em 

phasized some particular truth, or perhaps a par 

ticular heresy. Usually heresies originate as eva 

sions of some unpleasant truth, unpopular truth, 

and to win favor heresy is taught. The power 

house has besn disconnected. The calamity is not 

in the powerhouse this time, but in the powerline. 

The glory is departed and the power is de 

parted. The lights are dead. Appliances are with 

out the necessary 

tricity in the 

current. Had there been elec 

apostles' 

time and the time of our 

Saviour, He might have said, "I am the powor- 

house, 

ye are the appliances". But do not read 

into this a denial that the Holy Spirit is a person 

of the Godhead, equal in power and glory. 

Walter McCarroll, D. D. 

earth. The fact that polytheism and idolatry 

were so universal is but a sign of the deep degra 

dation of the human mind. Hence the long disci 

pline of Israel until purged forever from idolatry. 

The repeated apostasies of Israel indicate how 

difficult it was to instil into the life of even one 

people this initial and fundamental truth. It re 

quired the complete overthrow of Israel as an or 

ganized people and the rigorous discipline of the 

Captivity to purge away the last vestiges of idol 

atry from this people. This first and fundament 

al truth at last was indelibly imprinted in the 

minds and hearts of this people. Hence the burn 

ing 

rage of Saul of Tarsus against the apparent 

whose fol 

revival of idolatry by the "Jesus Cult" 

lowers worshiped man. The imperative prerequi- 

sition for a true incarnation is a people unshak- 

ably convinced that there is but one living and 

true God. A people convinced that this living God 

has spoken to them in times past "in the prophets 

by divers portions and in divers 

(Heb.. 

1: *) 

It Presupposes the Bible View of God as Triune. 

mann


The truth of the doctrine of the Trinity is basic 

to the doctrine of the Incarnation. This is a pro 

found mystery and unexplainable yet basic to the 

Bible teaching concerning the Incarnation. God is 

revealed in the Scriptures as a person who knows, 

loves, and acts. He is revealed as, Father, Son, 

and Spirit, yet but ONE GOD. the Scriptures 

present each of the three persons in turn as hav 

ing all the attributes and doing the works of God. 

The truth of this doctrine may be corroborated 

inferentially by realizing that the higher we rise 

in the scale of being the greater the complexity 

and the greater the unity. The fact of the Incar 

nation assumes that God is a Triune Being, one 

God in three persons the same in substance and 

equal in power and glory. Trinitarianism and 

Incarnation are thus opposed to Unitarianism and 

the denial of Incarnation, whether it is found in 

the denomination of that name, in Mohammedan 

ism, or in Modernism. 

It Presupposes the Bible View of Man. 

The Bible view of the nature of man seems es 

sential to the Bible view of God tabernacling 

among men in human flesh. It is contrary to the 

Word of God to suppose that He would be clothed 

with any other flesh than that of a being made in 

His own image. Since God is knowing, holy, and 

righteous, the Incarnation could only be in the 

nature of a being with a capacity for knowledge, 

righteousness, and holiness. According to the 

Bible, 

man was created upright in the image or 

likeness of God, with a body fitted and adapted 

to such a spirit. It would seem that the Incarna 

tion as revealed in the Scriptures could not have 

taken place in the nature of a being developed 

through countless ages by forces resident within 

the life cell, forces that are impersonal and have 

no known goal in view. A creature thus brought 

into existence would seem to have no community 

of life with the Creator who is also the heavenly 

Father. The evolutionary hypothesis would seem 

to rule out the possibility of an Incarnation in 

the Bible meaning of the term. 

It Presupposes the Bible View of Nature. 

The Bible view of nature is in harmony with 

that of science, that is, that the world is operated 

according to certain fixed and unchanging laws. 

The miraculous becomes possible only on the basis 

of a fixed and predetermined order of things. The 

Incarnation, like the resurrection, called for an 

especial interposition of God, which we call a mir 

acle. But what is a miracle? Not a suspension 

of the laws of nature, nor of the forces operating 

in nature, but the use by the Creator of known 

laws and forces unknown to man, for a special 

end that the heavenly Father has in view. The 

Incarnation would not have been possible in a 

topsy-turvey world, or if possible would have been 

meaningless if the earth were not governed ac 

cording to laws imprinted on nature, and if man 

himself were not a creature subject to law. The 

Bible view of the Incarnation fits in with the 

Bible view of God, of man, and of nature. The In 

carnation as presented in the Scriptures does not 

fit in with the theories of men as to the nature 

and character of God, the origin and nature of 

man, hence by them rejected. The stone however 

that was rejected by the builders has become the 

headstone of the corner. 

The Problem That God's Purpose in the 

incarnation poses and solves 

God made man for Himself, in His own image 

or likeness, having a community of life with Him 

self, but subject to the law and will of God. Man's 

chief end was to glorify and enjoy God in a union 

of close cooperative living and activity. This pur 

pose was frustrated by sin, the image of God 

marred, and the union of cooperative activity de 

stroyed. God's purpose is to restore that image 

and that union so that man might fulfill the great 

end for which he was made. That restoration 

must take place within the framework of man's 

own essential nature. The Restorer then must 

be a partaker or sharer in that nature. As the 

writer of the Letter to the Hebrews puts it, "Since 

then the children are sharers in flesh and blood 

he also himself in like manner partook of the 

same" 

(Heb. 2: 14). It is in man's nature that 

the law is to be fulfilled and every righteous ordi 

nance observed. It is in man's nature that the 

punishment of sin is to be borne and the power 

of the devil is to be broken. A specially created 

being, though created with flesh and blood as was 

Adam, would be outside the blood-stream of man 

kind and so could not fulfill God's purpose in and 

for man. The Restorer had to be within the blood 

stream of mankind; but that blood-stream is 

tainted. A tainted human being cannot atone for 

himself, let alone for others. The problem is, 

How can the Rescuer of man be within the blood 

stream and yet free from its taint? 

God in His infinite wisdom found the way. The 

Virgin Mary was the chosen instrument by which 

the Son of God was clothed with a true human 

nature. The entail of sin in its guilt and stain in 

the blood-stream was broken in that the holy 

thing begotten in the womb of Mary was begot 

ten by the Holy Spirit coming upon her and the 

power of the Most High overshadowing her. The 

holy thing thus begotten was called the Son of 

God. Thus the problem was solved. The Rescuer 

was made partaker of flesh and blood, yet with 

out sin. The sinless One, the Second Man, kept 

all of God's commands perfectly in thought, word, 

and deed. He being God as well as man made up 

for all the failures of all of His people. He bore 

the punishment due to them. He bore their sins 

in His own body on the tree. "And through death 

he delivered them who through fear of death 

were all their lifetime subject to bondage." 

He 

was "made like unto his brethren that he might 

become a merciful and faithful high priest of 

things pertaining to God." 

"For we have not 

an high priest that cannot be touched with the 

feeling of our infirmities ; but one that hath been 

tempted in all points like as we are, yet without 

sin." 

He was within the blood- stream yet free from 

its taint in order to redeem human life in all its


stages, childhood, motherhood, womanhood, and 

manhood. This life then as recorded in the Scrip 

ture narratives is all of one piece. The sinless life 

requires a sinless beginning and a triumphant 

ending. The miraculous birth, the perfect life, 

the marvalous deeds, the transcendent teachings, 

and the rising from the dead, all form one per 

fect and complete piece. Every part is necessary 

to the whole. No one part can be removed or ex 

plained away without destroying the whole. 

"And so the Word had breath and wrought 

With human reason the creed of creeds. 

In loveliness of perfect deeds 

More strong than all poetic thought." 

The purpose of God in the Incarnation is what 

gives it its tremendous significance. The Incar 

nation was not an end in itself. Bishop Westcott, 

in an Excursus at the close of his Commentary 

on First John, advocates the idea that the Incar 

nation would have occurred even if man had not 

sinned. But it is the consistent presentation of 

the Scriptures that He was manifested "for up 

salvation." 

men and our 

"God was in Christ 

reconciling the world unto himself" 

(IlCor. 5:19). 

"To this end was the Son of God manifested, that 

He might destroy the works of the devil" 

( I John 

3:8). "And ye know that He was manifested to 

sin'' 

take away sins, and in him is no (I John 

3:5). The manger was but preparatory to the 

cross. 

The first purpose of the Incarnation is to re 

veal God to man. Sin has blinded the mind of 

conceptions of God. The 

man so that he has wrong 

true likeness of God is seen in Christ, the Word 

made flesh. The second purpose is to restore man 

to the place of fellowship with God. To that end 

The Prayer Meeting 

Engine Or Caboose? 

I. The Church Prayer Meeting 

A real prayer meeting is the business meeting 

of the Board of Directors of the "House of God." 

It is the one period in the week when the spiritual 

members of the church come together face to face 

with God. In all the other meetings of the church 

they deal mostly with people and earthly affairs. 

The prayer meeting is God's hour. It is almost 

trite to call it the "Powerhouse of the Church," 

but that is exactly what it is. You could not say 

that the pulpit, the Sabbath school, the sewing 

room, the choir loft, or the dining room, 

in any 

could be 

sense called the source of supernatural 

power : These are merely the outlets of power 

when there is any power ! If there be no prayer 

meeting there will be no divine power to let out. 

It is very strange that the less of prayer and 

power a church has the more machinery it will 

add, the more outlets it will provide. Conversely, 

the more of power there is the less of machinery 

there will be. For then men and women them 

selves become the implement the outlet of 

the power of the Spirit. The prayer meeting is 

the link between the church, and Heaven the base 

of supply. 

it is necessary first to destroy the works of the 

devil and then to impart life. "I am come that 

they might have life and that they might have it 

abundantly" 

more 

(John 10: 10). No substitute 

in the form of a deified man or a humanized God 

can be accepted. God is here revealed as the One 

who pays the uttermost price for the redemption 

of His people. The shadow of the cross extended 

even to the manger. The cross was the price that 

He came to pay. 

But why was it necessary that the one Mediator 

between God and man be both God and man in 

one person? The Westminster Larger Catechism 

sums up the answers as follows : 

"It was requisite that the Mediator should be 

God, that He might sustain and keep the human 

nature from sinking under the infinite wrath of 

God, and the power of death; give worth and ef 

ficacy to His sufferings, obedience, and interces 

sion; and to satisfy God's justice, procure His fa 

vor, purchase a peculiar people, 

give His Spirit 

to them, conquer all their enemies, and bring 

salvation." 

them to everlasting 

"It was requisite that the Mediator should be 

man, that he might advance our nature, perform 

obedience to the law, suffer and make intercession 

in our nature, have a fellow-feeling in our infir 

mities; that we might receive the adoption of 

sons, 

and have comfort and access with boldness 

grace." 

unto the throne of 

"It was requisite that the Mediator, who was 

to reconcile God and man, should himself be both 

God and man, and this in one person : that the 

proper works of each nature might be accepted of 

God for us, and relied on by us, as the works of 

person." 

the whole 

Condensed. 

(Published by request of Synod's Prayer Meeting 

Topics Committee) 

II. The Passing of the Church Prayer Meeting 

Why have so many church prayer meetings 

been given up ? The world, the flesh, and the devil 

come in for a good share of the blame, of course. 

But very many prayer meetings have died from 

inside causes. They have been killed by well-in 

tentioned "friends." 

Both the leadership 

and the 

membership are to blame in many instances, for 

a prayer meeting is not foolproof. 

(1) Many prayer meetings die for want of 

good leadership. Not for lack of good men, but 

good leaders. One could more easily find fifty 

men who can give a good talk on the subject of 

prayer, than one man who possesses the skill to 

guide a body of believers in an hour of prayer. 

It is safe to say that there are churches whose 

memberships run into the thousands, but do not 

include one skilled prayer leader. The churches 

train men for the ministry of preaching, the min 

istry of music, the ministry of education, etc., but 

who ever heard of a church training men for lead 

ership in prayer? 

When a prayer meeting has a leader who will 

open the meeting with a long prayer, then give a 

forty-minute "prayer meeting talk," 

or a Bible 

lecture, and then close with another long, aimless


prayer by himself only by the long-suffering of 

those faithful ones who attend can such a 

prayer (?) meeting be kept going. It is enough 

that the people sit at the feet of a man on Sab 

bath morning and evening without having to sit 

at the feet of a man on Wednesday night! 

We knew a retired minister who acted as inter 

im pastor for some months in a certain church. 

Though this church was of the old fashioned 

Methodist spirit, and full of prayer, this minister 

used all the prayer time for his own long pulpit 

prayers and exposition of long chapters of Scrip 

ture. The good, patient, suffering people had to 

sit still. Finally, an old sister said : "Brother , 

couldn't we have a little time for prayer our 

selves?" 

The minister said nothing that night, 

but when the meeting opened the following week 

he made a short prayer, read a short chapter and 

sat down, folded his arms and said: "Now go on 

to!" 

and pray all you want 

Then there is the prayer meeting leader who 

will come into the meeting 

with no preparation of 

mind or heart for the most important business in 

the world. He doesn't even suppose the people 

might have any definite sense of prayer need. He 

will give a rambling talk and then he will say: 

prayer." 

"Now let us go to He will usually get 

down into a corner of the front pew, put his face 

down in his hands and groan ! How can we pray 

unless somebody wants something and says so? 

But the fault is not only with the leadership. 

2. Many prayer meetings are killed by some of 

those who faithfully attend and who would not 

for the world have the prayer meeting cease. 

There are the ones who lag behind and those who 

unwittingly run away with the meeting 

espe 

cially if the leadership is weak. Those who are 

too slow in taking part act as a brake on the meet 

ing. They grieve the Spirit and vex the leader. 

They claim to be retiring and shy, but you should 

hear some of them on the way home from meet 

ing! If these are too slow, others are too fast. 

answers" 

They "know all the 

and give them, 

though the others are all deprived of a chance to 

speak. Instead of waiting a minute for the slow 

ones, they are always first to lead out in prayer. 

Some pray so glibly and extensively that the tim 

id ones will not even try to pray. They make men 

tion of everything under the sun and use every 

word in their vocabulary to do it. There is noth 

ing left for the slow ones to pray about. This is 

another cause for groans; another reason why 

prayer meetings die. 

But we have not written all this with the idea 

of leaving the prayer meeting in the graveyard. 

There must be a resurrection of the deceased 

prayer meeting. 

How to Restore the Prayer Meeting to Life 

First, we must have a small company of believ 

ers who can pray or are willing to learn how to 

pray. To make sure that they will take the prayer 

meeting seriously let them be told that prayer is 

the most important function of the church even 

more so than preaching. The minister will not 

feel offended at this if he be a true man of God. 

"We will give ourselves continually to prayer and 

word." 

Acts 6 : 4. No matter 

the ministry of the 

who the minister may be his church can be no bet 

ter in God's sight than its prayer meeting. We 

heard recently of a minister who requested a 

prayer group in his church which was not of 

his begetting not to pray for him and his work 

in the church. 

Secondly, 

we must have for a leader a man who 

will take his office seriously enough to prepare 

his heart and mind for the high and holy minis 

try of leading his brethren out to meet God. A 

prayerless leader will kill the meeting. He must 

wait on the Lord to prepare his heart and to get 

his mind filled with the items of God's business 

which need to be prayed about. He who puts noth 

ing into the meeting will bring nothing out of it. 

Prayer is the one thing we approach without 

preparation. 

As to how to proceed. Cut the preliminaries 

to the bone. Let there be three or four requests 

ibr prayer, definitely stated in a few words, no 

speeches about details. Give the people plenty of 

opportunity to present their prayer needs. If they 

do not respond quickly let the leader introduce 

some prayer requests. As each request is present 

ed, ask some one to volunteer to briefly present 

it to the Father. When enough volunteers have 

been secured to take care of three or four re 

quests then go to prayer. Repeat this process. 

Never ask for a lot of requests and then say : 

us?" 

"Now, let us go to prayer, who will lead The 

result of such a course is that most of the re- 

requests receive no attention because people so 

easily forget. If the people should be slow to vol 

unteer in accepting a request to pray for, ask 

them to take one or another of the requests. In 

a short time a prayer meeting that was once dull 

will become so blessed that everyone will be sorry 

that the meeting cannot go on longer. And no 

one will look at the clock unless some inconsid 

erate person prays too long. And that brings to 

mind another prerequisite to a healthy prayer 

meting. 

The people must be brought back to simplicity. 

The common practice of making use of many 

words in prayer by those who are fertile-minded 

and fluent of speech should be discouraged. The 

prayer meeting of all places is no place for 

such a practice. It has the effect of brow-beat 

ing the timid, slow ones into silence. It also has 

the appearance of trying to make an impression. 

We cannot impress the Lord with words and we 

should not try to impress our brethren with long 

prayers. That was the Pharisee's idea! Matt.3:14 

We should always begin with the petition, 

pray." 

"Lord, teach us to Luke 11 : 1. And let us 

never add that senseless comment which we hear 

"Lord, 

pray" 

so often : "Not how to pray ; but to 

pray" 

teach us (how) to was what the disciples 

meant. "We know not what to pray for as we 

ought." 

Rom. 8 : 26. Much less do we know how 

to pray so as to receive answers. 

The Lord is the only one who can teach us how 

to pray. But, strange to say, He is the one we 

pay the least attention to. The Lord's method of 

prayer is efficient, time-saving. In a public


prayer meeting, where there are many who are 

eager to participate, time is a very important con- 

consideration. Suppose we have an hour of time 

and thirty people who wish to pray. That means 

two minutes for each person. If two or three 

thoughtless persons should take up five or ten 

minutes each, half of the others would be cheated 

out of what they came for. This is a serious mis 

demeanor and should not be permitted. Do not 

feel badly if you are unable to sustain an interest 

effort" 

in some one's long "literary which some 

folk call prayer. The Lord Himself, no doubt, 

"turns the dial" 

on such prayers. He loves to 

hear short, crisp, businesslike prayers the kind 

He teaches us in His word. Long prayers in pub 

lic are a "pretense" 

of something or other (Matt. 

23: 14). Let us learn from the Lord how to com 

press a lot of meaning into a few words. Take the 

prayer of the publican: "God be merciful to 

me a sinner" 

(Luke 18 : . 13) With seven words 

the publican addresses God; makes his petition; 

tells the Lord who and what kind of a person it 

is that is seeking His favor. Time: About three 

seconds. Take the petition of the disciples (Luke 

11: 1). With eleven words they addressed the 

Lord ; made a great request ; indicated for whom 

the request was made and pointed to John and 

his disciples as an example. Time : About five 

seconds. 

prayer" 

Now look at the "model (Matt. 

6: 9-13). There are only sixty-seven words in 

this prayer, but with these few words the Lord 

makes a majestic approach to the Father ; makes 

seven major petitions and closes with a mighty 

note of praise (Matt. 6: 9-13). Time: About forty 

seconds. Both of the above-mentioned brief 

prayers brought an immediate answer. "After 

ye!" 

this manner pray Long prayers, supplica 

tions and intercessions should, as a rule, be made 

three" 

in the closet or when praying with "two or 

others. 

When a petition has been offered, in a definite 

mannner, which, as we have noted, requires less 

than a minute even with some words of confes 

sion, praise and thanksgiving included addi 

tional words only dilute the request and spoil it, 

as water added to milk spoils the milk. When 

one makes a clear, short request it will have the 

heart-support of those who hear. But if it be 

come involved by the addition of many unneces 

sary words, the people will lose all interest in it 

and so will the Lord. Oh, if we only realized how 

unimpressive a long, wordy prayer is ! If one has 

a heart full of prayer let him pray, briefly, sev 

eral times about different things, instead of mak 

ing one lengthy prayer. 

We should never go into a prayer meeting with 

out something to pray about. And a prayer lead 

er should have a reserve of requests either in 

his mind or notebook. Be it remembered that in 

real prayer meetings the church is doing business 

with God. Therefore let there be a full agenda. 

Let the "Order Department" 

of Heaven be 

swamped with requisitions! Pray first for the 

prayer life of all Christians. Pray for revival. 

Pray for every member of every family in the 

church. Pray for the convicting, converting 

power of the Spirit. Pray for the sick, the tempt 

ed, the backslidden. Pray for the whole body of 

Christ. Pray for America and all nations. Pray 

for all in authority. Pray for the ministers and 

the missionaries by name. 

It is a helpful plan for each member to have a 

notebook in which each request for prayer is en 

tered with the date. Each request should be kept 

before the Lord 'til it is answered. Then mark 

it "answered." 

The problem of the prayer meeting is PRAYER 

not numbers. Prayer is scarce. MEN of prayer 

are scarcer yet; but the knowledge of what to 

pray is scarcest of all. 

A. E. REINSCHMIDT, Minister 

Providence Congregational Church 

Echo Park and Morton Avenues L. A. 



Eire, on December 21, cut the last formal tie with 

Great Britain, so far as she is concerned, when Presi 

dent Sean O'Kelly signed the Republic of Ireland Bill. 

The British Parliament must take similar action before 

Eire is wholly independent, but that will come, with the 

Parliament ready 

even to have the Irish who emigrate 

to Britain hold both citizenships, that of Ireland and 

of Britain. The Irish will now concentrate their ener 

gies on the absorption of the Ulster area. Ulster had 

greater wealth and more industries and is not at all anx 

ious to take on the support of a poor relative. Neither 

is Ulster ready to accept the Roman Catholic elements 

in the Eire constitution. 

Three Yale professors seem to have found a test that 

will reveal in 75 percent of the cases the presence of 

incipient cancer. At that stage the disease is rather ea 

sily stopped. Cancer is the second of the great causes of 

death in the United States. 

Seventh Day Adventists, 

who preach the world's im 

minent end, recently were jailed in Fiume, Yugoslavia, 

for "sabotage and defeatist 

propaganda." 

One cannot 

but admire the courage of these people and others like 

them such as the Russellites and the Mormons. Their 

courage is worthy 

of better causes. 



Moody Students Prepare for Missions 

Of the students of Moody Bible Institute who are to 

graduate in December, one third are preparing to become 

foreign missionaries and 18 per cent for home mission 

work. Others are preparing 

for the pastorate, teaching, 

etc. There are 84 to be graduated on December 16. The 

students come from 25 different states and Canada and 

from 14 different denominations. 

Barnes Notes Republished 

ministers and theological 

Many Christians, especially 

Barnes' 

students, will be glad to hear that Notes on the 

New Testament are being republished and the first vol 

ume will be ready in February. A volume each month will 

be issued thereafter until the 11-volume set is complete. 

This is being done by The Baker Book House, Grand 

Rapids, Mich.





By T. F. Harsh, Seminary Student 

LOOK OUT FOR YOURSELF! 

(This topic is used by 

special per 

mission of Christian Endeavor.) 

Bible References: Matt. .6:33; 16: 

24-26; 25:24, 25; Mark 8:34; Luke 

12:15-21; 13:6-10; 17:7-10; Rom. 12: 

3, 10, 16; 13:9, 10; 15:1; I Cor. 10: 

15:1; I Cor. 10:24; II Cor. 5:15; Eph. 

3:16-21; I Tim. 6:6-10; II Tim. 4:10; 

James 2:8, 9. 

Traveling on the street cars here 

in Pittsburgh, one often overhears 

conversations of those sitting near. 

And after many a tale of woe comes 

the old refrain: "Well, you've got to 

look out for yourself, 

because if you 

don't, nobody else 

will." 

It is from this prevailing philos 

ophy of life that we draw our topic. 

We may not attach much importance 

to this chance remark, but before we 

pass it by, let's see what lies be 

hind it. 

The remark carries with it the 

implication that man's chief end is 

himself his own happiness, his own 

comfort, his own material gain. 

The truth of the statement lies in 

the fact that so many hold that view 

point, and where each individual is 

ministering only to his own wants, it 

is easy to conceive of the world as 

a place where "dog eat 

dog" 

or 

himself" 

man for is the rule. 

"every 

The fallacy 

of the idea, however, 

is what Jesus pointed out in His 

parables of the "fowls of the 

air" 

and the "lilies of the field". He 

showed us that if we do not "look 

out for ourselves", that if we "seek 

first the kingdom", our Heavenly 

Father will "look 

out" 

for us, and 

"all these things shall be added unto 

you." 

"Human laws," 

The Great Law 

someone has said, 

"are made only to be broken." 

The 

laws of God, however, which he has 

stamped into our very natures can 

not be broken. If we attempt to 

break the law of gravity, we end up 

broken ourselves. The law 

by being 

that individuals and groups break 

themselves upon when they become 

self-centered is this: "Whosoever 

will save his life shall lose it." Con 

centrate yourself on yourself and 

that self will disintegrate not only 

spiritually, but also mentally and 

physically. 

Why? Because our urges are so 

constituted as to require us to regard 

others as well as ourselves. We can 

not completely disregard ourselves. 

There aie some who think that is 

what Christianity is. But Christ 

thyself." 

said, "Love thy neighbor as 

Dr. E. Stanley Jones in Abundant 

Living says, "If you do not love 

yourself, you would not develop 

yourself. So all attempts to eliminate 

the self end in hypocrisy and disas 

ter. If you put yourself out of the 

door, it will come back through the 

window perhaps in disguise. Frank 

ly and honestly 

you must love your 

self not as a master but as a serv 

ant; for self is a glorious servant, 

master." 

but a gruesome 

On .the other hand, when we make 

ourself the center of our life, and 

seek to arrange everything around 

that self, we court disaster just as 

surely 

as when we seek to eliminate 

ourselves. When we do, we declarts 

war on ourselves we are a house 

divided against itself. We know that 

such a house cannot stand. 

The Log Jam 

An eminent psychiatrist tells of a 

socially prominent woman who had a 

nervous breakdown because she lived 

in a state of constant self-reference. 

She mulled over herself in self-pity. 

She felt that those who tried to 

change her attitude were persecut 

ing her. He says that her life was 

all jammed up, and the one key log 

in the jam was self-centeredness. 

Had she pulled that log out had 

she changed her center from herself 

to God, the whole inner clogged up 

condition could have broken loose, 

and she would have been freed from 

this conflict with herself. 

Unstopping the Barrel 

In his play, Peer Gynt, Henrik 

Ibsen has his hero (who sets out to 

"be myself") visit an insane asylum. 

He remarks to the man in charge 

that the inmates must all be "outside 

themselves". But the man corrects 

him. "It's here that men are most 

themselves themselves and nothing 

but themselves sailing with out 

spread sails of self. Each shuts him 

self in a cask of self, the cask 

stopped with a bung of self, and 

seasoned in a well of self. None has a 

tear for 

others' 

woes or cares what 

any 

This is the end of the self-cen 

other thinks." 

tered person in this life he starts 

out to draw life to himself all of 


its pleasures and good things and 

ends up in drawing to himself only 

self-pity and disillusionment because 

he has missed the true happiness. 

In eternity, his end is worse for 

his misery lasts forever. In self wor 

ship, God is denied His rightful 

place in the heart. And for those who 

love not God, the only promise is 

unending torment. In the case of the 

self-centered person, that torment 

begins in this life. 

There is only one way 

hell of self-centeredness, 

out of this 

and that is 

to make God the center by believing 

on His Son. 

"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ 

and thou shalt be 

saved" 

not only 

from the log-jammed horrors of self- 

centered existence, but to a life of 

peace and joy both in this world and 

in the world to come. 

JUNIOR TOPIC 




OLD TESTAMENT 

II. Jesus, the Substitute 

Sing the Morning Song, Psa. 118: 

17. 

Teacher's Prayer for guidance in the 

meeting. 

Read together the Salvation Chart 

prepared last week. 

Memory verse: All have sinned, 

and come short of the glory of God. 

Rom. 3:23. 

Last week we talked about the 

wonders Jesus wrought. Today we 

shall hear of the greatest wonder of 

all salvation. Our Theme Song tells 

of 

Jesus' 

earning this salvation. 

Sing Psalm 98:1. Why did He earn 

salvation when He Himself did not 

need to be saved ? Find the answer in 

verse 2. Sing both verses. 

And now I am going to tell you 

the sadest story in all the history 

of man. You remember how perfect 

ly happy Adam and Eve were in 

their beautiful Garden? This was be 

cause they loved God and always 

enjoyed obeying Him until one sad 

day Satan came sneaking into the 

Garden. He told Eve that if she dis 

obeyed God she would not die as 

God had said she would. And Eve 

believed wicked Satan! She did just 

what God had asked her not to do. 

Then she tempted Adam and he, too, 

disobeyed God. And after all that 

God had done for them!


Well, when Eve and Adam sinned, 

everything was spoiled. Their souls 

died and their bodies began to grow 

weak. They had lost their lovely 

robe of righteousness so .they made 

themselves aprons of leaves. And 

while they were doing this, God came 

walking through the Garden. He 

knew what they had done but still 

He loved them and came to them! 

And now comes the wonderful 

part. When God asked Adam and 

Eve about their wicked disobedience 

and they had confessed, God told 

them what their punishment must be 

but Listen! He at once showed 

them a Way whereby all their awful 

sins could be washed away and their 

souls be born again. 'He showed them 

Jesus. With the wonderful gifts of 

creation, Jesus added this above all, 

He offered to take the punishment 

for Adam and Eve and earn for them 

the Gift of Salvation. 

God told Satan that Eve's child 

should bruise his head and that he 

should bruise the child's heel. This 

child was Jesus. As one would 

stamp the head of a mad dog, giving 

it a death-wound, yet bruising his 

own heel, so Jesus would give Satan 

his death-wound and in doing so, 

would Himself be bruised. Can you 

tell when this happened? When was 

Jesus "bruised for our iniquities"? 

To help Adam and Eve remember 

Jesus as their Substitute, God took 

away 

the ragged leaf-aprons which 

were a type of their own righteous 

ness and after killing an animal and 

shedding its blood, God substituted 

coats of skin which were a type of 

Christ's righteousness. With these 

the kind and loving 

them. So Jesus' 

God clothed 

precious blood was 

shed for us and with the robe of His 

righteousnes we are clothed. 

Barry, 

a Substitute 

John had disobeyed his teacher and 

she said he must stand in the corner 

for half an hour. As he was going 

there, little Barry raised his hand. 

"Please, Miss Brown, may I take 

place?" 

John's 

The teacher was surprised but al 

lowed him to do so. 

When the time was up, Miss 

Brown asked Barry 

if John had per 

suaded him to take his place. 

be 

it." 

this 

"Oh, 

no," 

he replied. 

"Don't you think John deserved to 

punished?" 

"Oh, 

yes," 

he said, "he deserved 

"Then why did you want to bear 

punishment in his 

"Because, Miss Brown," 

place?" 

answered 

Barry earnestly, "because I love 

him." 

And then Miss Brown did a 

strange thing. She called John and 

ordered him to go to the corner. But 

the children protested. 

"Barry has taken his 

free." 

they said. "So John must go 

"It would not be fair to punish 

John, 

too," 

added one boy. 

punishment," 

Then the teacher read Gal. 2:20: 

"The Son of God who loved me, and 

me." 

gave Himself for And she said, 

"If Jesus loved me and gave Him 

self for me will I be punished, too?" 

And all the children answered, 

not if you believe 

"No, Miss Brown, 

in Him as your Savior." 

Adapted. 

Boys and girls, let us thank Jesus 

for bearing 

our punishment. The best 

way to thank Him is to live for 

Him and obey Him. Remember He 

said, "My son, 

Handwork: From green construc 

tion paper, 

give me thine heart." 

cut a tree 5 in. high. On 

red paper mark around two pennies 

to form a figure "8". This is one 

fruit. Write a verse on it. Fold this 

fruit between the two circles and 

cut out, leaving the circles attached 

where folded. Paste the back of oil*. 

circle to the tree. The other circle 

forms a flap and looks as though it 

is hanging 

on the tree. Lift this flap 

and read the verse inside. Make five 

of these fruits. In them write these 

verses: I Sam. 15: 22 (last part); 

Rom. 6:16 (first part); Acts 5:29; 

Eph. 6:1; Jn. 14:15. Attach one end 

of a piece of heavy 

paper 1 in. x 4 

in. to back of tree. The tree now 

stands up. 

Home-work for the older Juniors: 

Start learning Isa. 53:1-9. This 

memory work is to be completed by 

the last of February. 



By 

J. K. Robb, D. D. 

SOURCES OF OUR KNOWLEDGE 

OF JESUS 

Luke 1:1-4; John 20: 30, 31; 21:25; 

I Cor. 15:3-5; I John I: 1-4. 

It is needful that as we begin the 

study of the life of Christ, 

we con 

sider our sources of knowledge con 

cerning Him. The reliability 

of those 

sources of information is a matter 

of first importance. If they should 

prove to be inaccurate, whether 

knowingly, 

senting 

or ignorantly misrepre 

the facts, they become not 

only valueless, but dangerous. Or, if 

the earliest sources of our knowledge 

were found to be several centuries 

after the death of Christ, their value 

would be of but little value, if any. 

Christians therefore should find 

great satisfaction in knowing that 

the historical evidence ^concerning 

the Lord Jesus Christ is both abun 

dant and accurate. Our principal 

sources of information are the writ 

ings of the New Testament. They 

were penned by 

men who were alive 

when the Lord was on earth, and 

they "spake as they were moved by 

the Holy Ghost." 

LUKE 1:1-4 

This passage is one quite involved 

sentence, grammatically speaking. 

Looked at simply as such, it would 

be worthy of study. It is easily seen 

that the writer, before he wrote this 

gospel which bears his name, had 

access to written narratives concern 

ing Christ, the gospel according to 

Mark being in all probability one of 

them. But whatever other documents 

of the same character there were, 

Luke states with positiveness that 

they were penned by 

men who were 

eyewitnesses of what they wrote. 

Luke goes on to say that he had 

taken pains to be fully and accurate 

ly informed as to the reliability of 

what he had learned. He was not 

speaking in praise of his own knowl 

edge, but rather as a historian who 

had made the most careful investi 

gation of the subject in hand, and 

was convinced that what he was 

writing was true. So the Gospel ac 

cording to Luke is a masterpiece of 

its kind; the work of an inspired 

writer who was dealing 

with facts 

which had been corroborated by per 

sons who were eyewitnesses of what 

he was writing, the things which 

they had seen and heard. 

JOHN 20:30, 31; 21:25 

These verses are a sort of con 

cluding statement made by John, 

stating the purpose for which his 

gospel had been written. His pur 

pose in writing as he did was to 

make plain that Jesus was the Son 

of God, and he recorded a number 

of miracles performed by Jesus in 

proof of that claim. It is noticeable 

that John recorded fewer miracles 

than did any 

other of the gospel 

writers. But it is also to be observed 

that those he did record were of such 

a character as to give unmistakable 

proof of the divine power which per 

formed them. Then, following his 

statement about the "signs" 

wrought 

by the Lord, John goes on to say 

that He who could do such mighty 

works could also give everlasting 

life to all who believed in Him. It 

is as an eye witness that John wrote, 

and not as a casual hearer or spec-


tator. He could say in literal truth, 

"We speak that we do know, and 

testify that we have 

seen." 

I CORINTHIANS 15:3-5 

These words are Paul's testimony 

supporting the claim that Jesus is 

the Christ. That expression "first of 

all" 

should be taken as indicating 

the importance of the facts concern 

ing Christ which he had received, 

and which he had been preaching. 

He claims that his instructor was 

none other than the Lord Himself 

(See Gal. 1:12). But he doubtless 

learned much from the other apostles 

who had been with Jesus. For ex 

ample, it was doubtless a grand op 

portunity for him to hear and learn 

many things about his Lord during 

that fifteen day visit he had with 

Peter about three years after his 

conversion. The facts concerning 

Chiist's earthly life were without 

doubt learned by Paul through his 

association with the men who had 

been eye witnesses of them. But 

Paul himself makes very clear that 

while he had learned much from 

other sources, his first and greatest 

teacher was the Lord Himself. 

I JOHN 1:1-4 

This is a simple statement that 

Christ was from the beginning, be 

fore all things, but Himself without 

beginning, 

and that He was seen and 

heard and touched by His followers. 

The disciples had the testimony of 

their own senses to confirm their 

faith in Him. What stronger and 

more convincing proof of the Deity 

of Jesus Christ could be found? 

But while much is revealed of 

Christ and His teachings in the apos 

tolic writings in the New Testament, 

the fact remains that it is the four 

gospels which furnish the fullest and 

most important evidence concerning 

Him. There have been many and 

determined efforts made to show 

that the gospels were not written 

until a much later time than during 

the apostolic period, and hence the 

claims were made that coming at 

this later time they 

were rendered 

unreliable by the presence of myths 

and legends concerning Christ. But 

such claims have long since been ut 

terly discredited by reliable and im 

partial investigators whose only con 

cern was to ascei'tain facts rather 

than to obtain some plausible sound 

ing 

material which would serve to 

bolster up their false claims. The 

outcome of such research has been 

to make more certain than ever the 

fact that the gospels were written 

by the men whose names they bear, 

and that they were written during 

the first century of the Christian 

era. 

As to the order in which they were 

written, the concensus appears to be 

that Mark's writings were the 

earliest, and John's the latest, with 

Mathew's coming second, and Luke's 

third. But for purposes of study, the 

precise order is not a matter of 

John, both being apostles, could 

write of what they had seen and 

heard of Jesus, is sufficient to re 

move all doubt as to the reliability 

of their testimony concerning Him. 

And that Mark and Luke, having 

been associates and fellow-workers 

with the apostles, should be able to 

write with truthfulness and accuracy 

what they received from them, 

should serve to remove all doubts as 

to the character of their testimony. 

So, to these four men was granted 

the unique distinction of giving to 

a sinful world the immortal mes 

sage of good tidings and great joy 

which was to be for all people. 



THE HISTORIC REALITY OF THE 

WORD OF LIFE 

Scripture: I John 1:1-4 

Psalms: 

Psalm 98:1-4 No. 262 

Psalm 106:1-4 No. 288 

Psalm 133:1-3 No. 369 

References : 

John 1:1-5, 14; 15:11; 17:20, 21; 

20:24-28; 21:24, 25; Luke 1:1-4; 24: 

39; Acts 2:32; 4:20; 5:32; Rom. 16: 

25-27; Heb. 1:1-3; I Peter 1:10-12; II 

Peter 1:16-21; I Tim. 3:16; II John 

12; I Cor. 1:9; II Cor. 13:14. 

Comments: 

By the Rev. Walter C. McCludkin 

With this epistle John aims to 

confirm the faith of Christians and 

strengthen the Christian Fellowship. 

He desires that each member of the 

Fellowship be better impressed with 

its real basis and fundamental part, 

"the Word of Life", Jesus Christ. 

Christians, Christian prayer meet 

ings and Church assemblies would 

not be in existence today, nor would 

Christian work be carried on, if 

Christ had not come. The manifes 

tation and work of the Son of God 

in the flesh 1900 years ago started 

something, enough to persuade us of 

the Historic Reality of the Word of 

Life. 

He Appeared in Person 

He "was manifested", not orig 

inated. He was "from the begining". 

He was "in the beginning". He had 

"life in Himself" 

He was "the true 

God, and eternal life". He "came 

down from heaven"; did not just 

spring out of the dust. Mere crea 

tures of the dust seem more or less 

freakish when the wind blows. But 

the Son of God, having 

appeared in 

Person as the Son of Man, stood up 

against all the stresses and storms 

of this world as no mere man had 

ever done. He grew up from baby 

hood as humans are supposed to do, 

but never do, without sin. 

John, in his Gospel, declared the 

Living Word to be truly God. Here 

in this Epistle John says in effect 

that He was truly man; that he and 

the other Apostles had been with 

Him and really heard Him proclaim 

the doctrine of eternal life; that they 

had often seen Him with their own 

eyes and always admired Him; and 

that with their own hands they had 

handled and frequently touched His 

body. They had every, proof of the 

identity and reality of His wondrous 

personality that their senses of hear 

ing, seeing and feeling could pos 

sibly require. None of those who 

knew Him best doubted either the 

humanity or divinity 

Jesus Christ. 

of the Lord 

It was in order that we might the 

better know, and be assured of the 

mind and will and love of God, and 

that we might have His gift of 

eternal life, that He appeared in 

human form and lived as a real man 

without sin. Christ always acted and 

talked as though He were perfectly 

human, though He did and said 

things no other man could do or say. 

He was hungry, tired and was 

tempted as we all are, yet without 

sin. He rejoiced with those that re 

joiced and wept with those that wept. 

He suffered real pain and eventual 

ly died a real death. But Jesus was 

victor in all trials, over all misunder 

standings, desertion, defeat, and 

death. For He rose again and 

"shewed Himself alive after His pas 

sion by many infallible 

proofs" 

and 

then ascended into heaven. But just 

before His ascension, and in order 

that others, later generations, and 

we today might be persuaded of all 

these incontrovertible facts concern 

ing Him, He appointed His disciples 

who had witnessed these things to be 

His witnesses. 

Creditable Witnesses 

In consequence of their appoint 

ment the witnesses, as John says, 

"bear witness and shew. .. .de 

clare and these things write". Be-


ing so well convinced themselves, the 

Apostles had the witness of ex 

perience as well as of observation; 

and having the Lord's appointment 

and the inspiration of the Holy 

Spirit, they were well qualified wit 

nesses. They testified orally with 

great success, for many believed. 

And testimony that the Lord deemed 

important to those who had not seen 

and heard Him, He inspired them to 

"write". 

Therefore "it is written". And 

what a blessed thing for us that we 

are not dependent upon tradition for 

all those facts concerning Jesus 

Christ, historical facts upon which 

our faith and our future depend. 

"That we might know the certainty 

of those things" 

the Evangelists and 

other Apostles and Prophets of old, 

about forty in all, all wrote; and 

when they wrote, "spake as they 

were moved by the Holy Ghost". 

Concerning 

what ? "What the Spir 

it of Christ which was in them did 

signify, when it testified before 

hand the sufferings of Christ, and 

the glory that should follow" 

The 

eternal Spirit clothed Himself with 

humanity to speak to us, as the 

Eternal Son became Man to redeem 

us. To this end, before all time, He 

chose men "subject to like passions 

as we are". For this His foresight 

was exercised, and He prepared their 

character, circumstances, style, meth 

od, time and course. And thus it is 

that the Gospel is the tenderness 

and sympathy of God, as well as 

"the wisdom and power of God". 

How thankful we should be for the 

Scriptures, the inerrant, infallible 

Word of God! The Holy Scriptures 

are the authoritative source of all 

we know about Jesus Christ and the 

Christian way 

of life. If we do not 

give full faith and credit to the 

Written Word which we can see and 

read for ourselves we are in great 

danger sooner or later of diminish 

ing 

the love and honor we give the 

living Word whom we have not seen. 

Only in the 

have the infallible 

life of the living Word, 

drous works and words, 

written Word do we 

account of the 

of His won 

such as "I 

am the light of the world"; "Come 

unto me, all ye that labor and are 

heavy laden, and I will give you 

rest"; "I am the ressurrection, and 

the life: he that believeth in me, 

though he were dead, yet shall he 

live: And whosoever liveth and be 

lieveth in me shall never die"; 

"Father, I will that they also whom 

Thou hast given me, be with me 

where I am: that they may behold 

My glory, which Thou hast given 

me". What if the record were 

wrong? If we believe in Christ we 

will believe His Word. From His 

Word He speaks to us today, and in 

vites us into His fellowship. 

The Living Fellowship 

The Lord Jesus must surely have 

been the kind of Person the sacred 

History says He was since He in 

spired such a fine fellowship, includ 

ing with the Trinity such a luminous 

line of saints through all the cen 

turies of history. He founded the 

Church of the Ages, 

as He said He 

would do, and is the Supreme Source 

of all that is highest and best in the 

world. Truly He is "the firstborn 

among many brethren", the first 

born of a new and better order of 

society. 

In this Fellowship, the Father, His 

Son Jesus Christ, and all believers 

have all things in common. All the 

resources of each in the wondrous 

relationship 

are at the disposal of 

the others. It is a Fellowship of 

souls divine and human in which the 

law and life are love, the Kingdom 

of God realized on earth. In heaven, 

it issues in the "fulness of joy" 

in 

God's presence, and the "pleasures 

for 

evermore" 

at His right hand 

the right hand of fellowship, ideal 

ized, or realized. And the reality of 

all that hinged upon what Christ 

did between His Incarnation and 

Ascension, the historic reality of the 

Word of Life then expressed. 

Questions for Study : 

What are the important evidences 

of your faith in Christ? 

What are the qualifications of a 

good witness for Christ? 

What are the implications of fel 

lowship 

with Christ ? 

STAR NOTES 

***On Friday evening, November 

19, the Sabbath School teachers and 

officers of Central Pittsburgh gath 

ered at the church for a covered dish 

supper. Good food, good fellowship 

and good entertainment with the Bell 

Telephone Hour were enjoyed. A 

special feature of the evening was 

the presentation of two medals 

awarded by 

the Pennsylvania State 

Sabbath School Association to recog 

nize 50 years of continuous service 

by Sabbath School workers. One of 

these awards was to Miss Mary 

Thompson who began teaching in the 

Chinese Sabbath School of the 

Eighth Street Church. The other 

medal was presented to Miss Carrie 

Henzel and Mrs. McCauley, sisters of 

Miss Ida Henzel who passed away 

last February in her 55th year of 

service as a teacher. She began her 

work in the Faith Chapel Mission. 

***The home of Henry Blackwood 

at Denison, Kans., was completely 

burned to the ground on the night of 

December 23 amid a driving snow 

storm. Practically everything was 

lost in the fire. Mr. Blackwood and 

his five children were away for sup 

per and upon returning about 10:30 

P. M. found the house in flames. It 

was a sad Christmas for this fine 

family. We extend our sympathy and 

help to them in this tragedy. 

***The Committee appointed by 

Synod to revise the words of the 

Psalter would be glad to receive ad 

ditional suggestions concerning inac 

curate or awkward versions or state 

ments in the present Psalter. What 

do you think should be changed? 

Why? Do you have any suggestions 

as to how to make the change? 

Committee members are: C. E. Cas 

key, 775 N. Barton Ave., Fresno 2, 

Calif.; G. M. Robb, 121 Warner Ave., 

Syracuse 5, N. Y.; and David Car 

son in Philadelphia. 

***A son, Jerel Keith, 

came De 

cember 10, 1948, to make his home 

with Rev. and Mrs. J. E. McElroy 

at Superior, Nebraska. 

City 

***Rev. Paul Coleman of Kansas 

preached for the Clarinda con 

gregation both morning and evening, 

December 12. 

***Friends of Mrs. Myrtle Tippin 

of Clarinda will be glad to know of 

the safe arrival of her daughter-in- 

law, Mrs. Lyle Tippin, by plane 

from China. 

***The new adress of Rev. and 

Mrs. Frank L. Stewart is 443 East 

Loula St., Olathe, Kansas. 

CHURCH NEWS 

MOOREMANN 

November 30 at 7:30 

On Tuesday, 

in the evening, Miss Jeanne Moore 

of Grinnell, Kansas, and Mathew 

Mann, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Mann 

of Quinter, 

were united in marriage. 

The double ring ceremony 

took place 

in the Reformed Presbyterian manse; 

the Rev. Paul E. Faris officiated. 

Mr. and Mrs. Mann will be at home 

on a farm near Quinter.


DICKEYTOTH 

On Saturday, July 10, at 3:00 

P. M., Miss Florence E. Toth, daugh 

ter of Mr. and Mrs. Otto Rochow of 

New York City, became the bride of 

Mr. Samuel Dickey, son of Mr. and 

Mrs. Joseph Dickey, 

also of New 

York City. The double ring ceremony 

was performed in the Reformed 

Presbyterian Church by the pastor, 

the Rev. Robert D. Edgar. Miss Em 

ma Murphy sang, "The Lord's Pray 

er," 

"Oh Perfect Love" 

and "I Love 

You Truly" 

and was accompanied at 

the piano by Miss Elizabeth Ha 

niann. 


by her father. Mrs. Bert Whitehead, 

sister of the bride was matron of 

honor. The two bridesmaids were 

Miss Peggy Campbell and Miss 

Elaine Sklar. Mr. William Watson 

was best man. The two ushers were 

Mi'. J. Foster Dickey, brother of the 

groom and Mr. Otto Rochow, brother 

of the bride. 

After the ceremony 

and fifty 

one hundred 

guests were entertained at 

a reception in the Lecture Room of 

the Church. 

After a wedding trip through 

Canada and the Western States the 

bride and groom plan to live in New 

York where Mr. Dickey is employed 

as a New York City Fireman. 

BEULAH, NEBRASKA 

Communion was held at Beulah, 

with Rev. 

Nebr., on Nevember 17, 

J. G. Vos assisting. Having received 

a good rain on Thursday, making the 

loads impassable, 

enjoy a preaching 

we were unable to 

service that eve 

ning. The other meetings were well 

attended, and Rev. Vos brought in 

spiring messages. 

Beulah is quite fortunate in secur 

ing the services of Rev. J. E. McElrey 

of Superior who brings a helpful mes 

sage each Sabbath afternoon. 

Charlotte Schott, a senior of the 

university in Lincoln, spent the week 

end of November 6-7 at the home of 

her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Frank 

Schott. 

The annual Thank Offering meet 

ing of the W. M. S. was held at the 

home of Mrs. Oliver Mearns in Novem 

ber. A box of clothing, old and new, 

was made ready to send to our South 

ern Mission in Selma, Alabama. A 

very generous offering 

was received. 

On November 7 three baptisms were 

performed at Beulah with Rev. J. E. 

McElroy officiating: John Dean, son 

of Bernard and Nelda Meinert; Nor 

man Dennis, 

son of Norman and Ro- 

ma Shaw; Vern Richard, son of Orin 

and Dorris Dillon. 

POLLOCKMEARS 

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles 

E. Mears of Marion Center, 

R. D. 1, 

was the scene of a lovely wedding 

Tuesday evening, August 17, at 8 

o'clock when their daughter, Ethel 

Grace, became the bride of Wallace 

Pollock, son of Mr. and Mrs. Clark 

C. Pollock of Marion Center, R. D. 2. 

The double-ring ceremony was per 

formed by Rev. I. L. Peterson, pastor 

of the Tanoma Evangelical United 

Brethren Church. 

The bride's only 

attendant was her 

sister, Mrs. Murray Martin. Herbert 

Pollock served as his brother's best 

man. 


by her father. Laura Pollock, sister 

of the bridegroom, played appropri 

ate wedding music, including Lohen 

grin's "Wedding March". She also 

accompanied Anthony Delpra who 

sang "Because" 

mony. 

preceding the cere 

Following the reception the couple 

left for a wedding trip to Niagara 

Falls and the Finger Lake region of 

New York. 

BARNET, VERMONT 

We were happy to have Rev. and 

Mrs. Philip Martin and children come 

here in the spring and to have preach 

ing services once more. In August 

Mr. Martin was given a unanimous 

call by the congregation which he 

accepted. 

The congregation was very pleased 

to have the members of New York 

Presbytery meet here on October 19 

for their fall meeting. Thanks are 

extended to the Montclair congrega 

tion for giving up this privilege so 

graciously to us this year so that 

our pastor-elect might be installed at 

this time. The W.M.S. had the joy 

of entertaining the group at the 

noon and evening meals. 

In the evening the members and 

adherents met in the church with 

the New York Presbytery for the 

installation of the pastor-elect. The 

Rev. Robert Crawford, Jr., preached 

the fine installation sermon on "The 

Offense of the Cross" 

based on Gala 

tians 5, especially verse 11. Mr. 

Crawford led in the installation 

prayer. A most helpful charge to 

the pastor was delivered by the Rev. 

McClurkin on the text "Study to 

shew thyself approved unto God, a 

workman that needeth not to be 

ashamed, rightly dividing the word 

of truth" 

(2 Tim. 2:15). Rev. Reed 

gave the address to the congregation 

bringing God's message from Nehemiah, 

"So built we the wall 

for the people had a mind to work". 

After the closing actions of Pres 

bytery, the congregation extended to 

the new minister, his family, and 

father-in-law, the right hand of fel 

lowship. 

Rev. and Mrs. Richard Hutcheson 

and family visited at the McLam 

home in June and again in August, 

and we enjoyed having Rev. 'Hut 

cheson preach for us one Sabbath. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ellsworth Shields 

are the parents of a son, David Ells 

worth, born August 25. 

The annual Thank-offering meet 

ing was held at the church Novem 

ber 26 in charge of Mrs. Roger Ber 

ry. Devotionals were conducted in a 

fine manner by the Junior Society 

which has been organized by Mrs. 

Martin. Following this Mr. Martin 

gave an interesting talk and showed 

us his pictures of Manchuria. 

On Sabbath, November 28, the 

President of the Vermont Gideon 

Society spoke at the morning service 

and told us very interestingly of the 

work of the Gideons. The morning's 

offering was given toward this work. 

Mrs. Hattie Fellows who has been 

ill for many months, 

underwent a 

serious operation in November and 

has now returned to her home and 

is making 

a good recovery. 

THIRD PHILADELPHIA NEWS 

The W. M. S. met in June at the 

home of Miss Ruth MacKnight, in 

July at Miss Margaret Crozier's, in 

September at Mrs. John McClay's, 

and in October at Mrs. Danenhour's. 

The November meeting was held at 

the church with Miss Matilda Wol- 

fert and Mrs. Robert Adams as host 

esses. This society continues to pro 

vide a speaker once a month for the 

Mothers' 

Club at the Jewish Mission 

as a special project. Recently they 

sponsored, together with the W.M.S. 

of First Church and Second Church, 

the showing of a motion picture 

about life at Girard College. Pro 

ceeds from this entertainment were 

contributed to White Lake Camp for 

the purchase of additional bedding. 

The Sabbath School has main 

tained its usual activities in the past 

months. Children's Day was cele 

brated on June 13. Each of the 

classes had some part in the church 

program on that day. Very appropri 

ately Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Forchetti


presented their twin sons, Robert and 

Richard, for baptism at this time. 

The annual picnic was held on June 

19. Although it began as a rainy 

day, the skies cleared for the dura 

tion of our picnic and everyone had 

a good time. Following the lean 

summer months, we had Rally Day 

on September 26. This featured 

echoes from White Lake Camp, in 

cluding the singing 

of some of the 

proposed new Psalm tunes. We were 

happy to have Mr. and Mrs. Ross 

Keyes of Winchester, Kansas, with 

us on Rally Day. The Sabbath School 

Halloween Party was held at the 

church on October 29. An assortment 

of tramps, pirates, gypsies, 

and var 

ious other costumed participants 

joined in the merriment of the 

evening. 

Class 6 met in September at the 

home of Herman and Margaret Ev 

erett. At this time we had the satis 

faction of forwarding 

to White Lake 

Camp the sum of $1000.00 for the 

erection of a cabin in memory of 

Samuel Allen McClay 

who lost his 

life in World War II. At present 

writing, the cabin is nearly com 

pleted. A rummage sale was held 

during October. The proceeds of this 

sale will go toward the purchase of 

a new furnace at White Lake. The 

October meeting was held at Miss 

Isabel Crawford's home. The most 

outstanding feature of this meeting 

was a stork shower for Lois and 

Bob Adams. In November the class 

met at the home of Mrs. Samuel 

Behm. After the business meeting, 

we enjoyed watching 

pictures and a comic feature. 

some travel 

It seems as if this is a "baby'' 

year 

at our church. Jessie and George 

Fisher welcomed a new grandson on 

August 26. He is the first child of 

their daughter, Marge, 

and is named 

David. John and Elizabeth McClay 

added another granddaughter to their 

family 

tree on October 10 with the 

arrival of Donna, first child of their 

daughter, Edna. Ed and Frances Mc 

Clurken are rejoicing over the pres 

ence of a little daughter in their 

home since October 20. She is to be 

known as Kathleen Ann. To all these 

young families we extend our con 

gratulations as they 

start down the 

path of life with these God-given 

treasures. 

The Youth Department 

JANUARY 

2. (CE) Unit Competing- of Life. 

Philosophies 

1. "Life is just a Bowl of Cherries"- 

Gen. 25:27-34: II Tim. 3:1-5 

9. (CE) 2. "Look Out for Yourself!" 

Luke 12:15-21; Matt. 16:24-26 

16. (CE) 3. "Don't Count on Me!" 

Ro 

mans 14:7-12: Luke 12:48b 

23. (CE) 4. "I Serve!" 

Luke 22:24-26; 

Matt. 2025-28 

30. (CE) Let God Speak Through Me! 

I Cor. 3:16; 4:2 

FEBRUARY 

6. (CE) Let God Speak through a 

United Church. I Cor. 12:4-14 

13. (CE) Unit Pride and Prejudice 

2 topics 

1. Has Our Nation a Caste System? 

Gal. 3:26-29; Acts 10:9-18, 34, 35 

20. (CE) 2. Making America Safe for 

Differences. Matt. 7:1-5 

27. (ICE) 3. "Keep Mv Commandments. 

John 14:15-21; 15:10-14 

MARCH 

6. Unit Sharing My Faith (Four CE 

Topics) 

1. Digging Deeper Into Faith. Gen. 

26:17-22; II Tim. 2:15 

13. (CE) 2. Christianity is Contagious! 

20. 

Mark 1:14-20; John 1:35-45 

(CE) 3. Launch the Offensive! Matt. 

28:19, 20; Acts 1:8, 9 

27. (CE) 4. Operation Youth. I Tim. 4: 

12-16 

APRII. 

3. (ICE topic for May 15) Use Your 

Head! Josh. 24:14. 15; Acts 19:21-41 

10. (CE) I Believe in Christ's Church. 

Matt. 16:13-19; Acts 2:1-12 

17. (CE) I Serve a Risen Savior. Mark 

16:1-8 

24. (CE) Money Master or 

Isaiah 55:2; I Tim. 6:6-10 

Servant? 

MAY 

1 UnitBlueprints for Life3 CE 

Topics 

(CE) 1 Vocations of Christian Sig 

nificance. Eph. 4.1.3. 

3:8-14 

11, 12; Phil. 

C. Y. P. U. Topics for 1949 

8. (CE) 2. Christian Homes in a Pa 

gan World. Prov. 4:1-7; Eph. 6:1-4. 

15. (CE) 3. We Must Be The World We 

Want. Eph. 6:10-17 

22. The Book of Obadiah a study 

29. Should Synod Interest the Young 

People? Psalm 107:31, 32 

JUSTE 

5. (CE) Summer Opportunities for 

Christian Service. Neh. 4:1-6; Col. 

3 '23-25 

12. The Meaning of Commencement. 

Eph. 4:1-16 

19. (CE) This Problem of Drinking. 

Prov. 23:19-21, 31, 32; 20:1 

26. (CE) This Problem of Petting. I 

Cor. 6:19, 20; 10:31 

JULY 

3. What is True Patriotism? Jer. 17: 

5-8; 18:7-10 

10. (ICE Unit Topic) The Church 

through the Centuries 3 topics. 

1. Standard 

Acts 11:19-26 

Bearers of the Cross. 

17 (ICE) 2. Fathers of 

Rom. 1:16, 17; 5:12; 

Protestantism. 

Gal. 3:24-26 I 

Tim. 2:5,' 

6. 

'M (ICE) 3. The Church Expands. Acts 

6:1-7; Mark 4:26-33. 

31. The Book of II John. A Study 

AUGUST 

7. Christ in the Psalms. Ps. 22, Ps. 110 

]4. The Ten Commandments in the 

Psalms. Psalm 81 

21. The Needs of Life in the Psalms. 

Psalm 34 

28 Singing the Psalms Meaningfully. 

Psalm 100 

4 (CE) Worthy 

SEPTEMBER 

of His Hire. Luke 10: 

. 

1-7 ,. 

11. Three CE Topics on Religious 

Freedom. 

1. Religious Roots of Education. 

Deut. 6:4-9 

18 (CE) 2. Can We Educate Without 

Religion? Prov. 3:1-6, 13-18; Jno. 

8:31. 32 

25. (CE)3. Religion in Schools Today. 

Prov. 8:1-11; II Pet. 1:1-9 

OCTOBER 

2. (CE) Keeping Ourselves Fit. Lu. 2: 

52; I Cor. 3:16, 17; II Tim. 2:3-7 

9. Our C. Y.P.U. Pledge Are We 

Faithful To It? Num. 302; Deut. 

23:21 

10. (CE) Shall We Follow the Fash 

ions? Rom. 12:1, 2; I Pet. 1:13-21 

23. (CE) The Romance of Diving. Heb. 

11:32; 12.2 

30. (CE) They Caught A Vision. Acts 

16:6-10; 26:19 

NOVEMBER 

6. The Book of III John. A Study. 

13. The Book of Jude. A Study. 

20. (CE) What Does World Order 

Mean? Mark 12:13-17; Micah 4:1-5 

27. (CE) What Price "One World"? 

Phil. 2:1-11; Matt. 25:31-46 

DECEMHER 

4. (CE) Little Known Characters of 

the Old Testament. II Sam. 12:1-15 

11. (CE) Little Known Characters of 

the New Testament. Philemon 1-25 

18. The Year Round Christian Virtue 

of Brotherly Kindness. Gal. 6:1-10 

25. God's Gift and Mine (A discussion 

of tithing) Lev. 27-30; Mai. 3:8-10 

Reference Marks: 

CE Christian Endeavor Topics, from 

the International Society of Chris 

tian Endeavor, the source to be 

acknowledged. 

ICE Intermediate Christian Endeavor 

Topics, from the same source. 

likewise to be acknowledged.


THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S CAMPS 

OF 1948 

By Rev. Remo I. Robb 

A report on the summer confer 

ences of our young people should 

have been in print long 

ago. The 

rush of work in the fall season with 

frequent trips away from my type 

writer seems to have hindered me in 

more than one matter that should 

have been marked "Attended to". 

But soon the Thanksgiving season 

will be upon us, and its coming stirs 

again my feeling gratitude in our 

young people and in the happy en 

thusiasm I shared in four of their 

five camps this summer. 

Early August found me on my 

way. I went first to White Lake, N. 

Y. for five days at the beginning of 

their two weeks encampment. They 

have a well developed camp with 

established traditions that have 

grown up through a quarter of a 

century. The camp operates smooth 

ly and everyone has a good time. 

Daily lectures by selected ministers, 

and a night on foreign missions were 

enjoyed, 

but the program had not 

yet reached its climax when the tinu. 

came for me to leave. The Geneva 

College Male Quartette, known as 

the Covichords, was there after tour 

ing- the churches of the midwest and 

attending the Pacific Coast young 

people's camp. They gave their en 

tertainment on my last evening at 

camp, 

but their inspirational Cru 

sade program came later. Miss Mar 

jorie Allen from Syria also was to 

address the convention, and the 

climax, I am told, was reached in 

their consecration service on their 

second Sabbath evening. 

My next stop was at Camp Caledon, 

of the Pittsburgh young people, 

beautifully 

situated on Lake Erie. At 

their consecration service on Sab 

bath evening some forty hands were 

raised in a declaration of their ser 

ious intention under the guidance of 

the Spirit to seek to save at least 

one soul each through this coming 

year. The same evangelistic conse 

cration was manifest at the other 

camps. At Caledon, too, the Covi 

chords arrived to present their pro 

gram, and again I was privileged to 

hear their entertainment but had to 

leave before they 

presented their 

Crusade program. However, I had 

heard their excellent presentation of 

the Crusade before they 

their tour, 

started on 

except that sickness pre 

vented the appearance of the quar 

tette singing 

the psalms. At both 

White Lake and Caledon I was on 

the reception committee, 

but at the 

other two camps they left me their 

farewells and departed less than half 

a day before my arrival. 

At Lake Wawasee, Indiana, where 

the Ohio-Illinois group met, one 

young man volunteered for the min 

istiy. We were privileged to have 

the Kentucky mision force present, 

and to have some of the new mission 

aries to China in attendance. This 

added much to the spiritual atmos 

phere of the conference. Since the 

convention I have heard repeated 

high praise of the Rev. Bruce Will- 

son and his study 

of the Shorter 

Catechism. It was a complete course 

in theology. This group has named 

itself "COVAMIKIO". The COV, of 

course, is from COVenanter, and the 

other eltters are the initials of the 

states from which the group is 

drawn. 

From Indiana I went to Forest 

Park, home of the Kansas young 

people at Topeka. Iowa and Colorado 

young people were also in attendance 

this year. I found it going full swing. 

Discussion groups on such subjects 

as "How Can I Know I am Saved?" 

and "How I Can Know the Lord's 

Will about my Life Work"; panel 

discussions were given on our Dis 

tinctive Principles, on Committee 

Activities, etc.; 

and Dr. Paul Cole 

man's Devotional Period all these 

were most interesting 

and brought 

forth many fine voluntary testimon 

ies. During the meetings one young 

man accepted Jesus Christ as His 

Saviour, and a young lady, daughter 

of an out-of-bounds member, signi 

fied her desire to unite with the 

Church. 

I did not attend the Pacific Coast 

conference, but all reports are that 

it was of a high order, and one who 

was present has said that it was the 

best of its kind he ever attended. 

The spirit of our young 

people is 

excellent. They are more ready for 

action in the Lord's service than are 

some of the older leaders. They are 

not discouraged. They believe that 

they 

are come to the Kingdom for 

such a time as this, and are anxious 

to havj goals set before them, diffi 

cult to attain, and requiring devotion, 

energy, action, spiritual power. The 

immediate volunteers for duty are 

not many, but everywhere a strong 

undercurrent is openly 

manifest of 

surrender to Jesus Christ and His 

service. As I have seen them in their 

camps this summer, I am free to say 

"The Covenanter Youth are the 

Covenanter Hope." 

I have examined all, as well as my 

narrow sphere, my 

straitened means, 

and my busy life would allow me: 

and the result is, that the Bible is 

the best book in the world. 

John Adams 

It costs more to avenge wrongs 

than to bear them. 


for 1949 

5 Gents Each 









BOYS' 


Prices are the same for all Readers Less than ten 5tf each; ten 

or more 3^ each; one hundred or more 2% $ each. We will appreci 




THEO 

LESSON HELPS FOR THE WEEK OF JANUARY Hi. 1949 

300 \EAR5 OF WTWES5IN& FOR. CHRIbT'p 50VERf.'w'N '""


QLmpA&i oJj the (ZelifixuU Would 


Bootlegging Increases Rapidly 

Don't "put this in your pipe and smoke it", but put in 

your book and keep it; put it in your mind and be ready 

to declare it to any simple, half-blinded tongue-wagger 

who declares with great gusto that moonshiners and 

bottleggers were a product of that "terrible" prohibi 

tion period. 

The Associated Press has reported that Moonshiners 

are giving the government a run for its liquor tax mon 

ey. An internal revenue report shows that 3,010 stills 

were seized during the July-November period this year, 

or 122 more each month than in the same fiv/c months 

period last year. 

The seized stills were capable of turning 

gallons of whiskey daily, reflecting 

out 16,369 

a 48 per cent in 

crease over last year on a production capacity basis. 

Moonshiner arrests by 

alcohol tax unit 

totaled 3,545 persons, boosting the monthly 

bout 120 over last year's comparative period. 

'revenooers' 

average a- 

Revenue bureau men attribute the increased arrests 

and still seizures in good part to highly modern methods 

of tracking down moonshining airplane spotting, walk 

ie-talkie radio communication, etc. 

The whiskey makers who are under government li 

cense blame the average federal and state tax of $10.42 

a gallon for making moonshining attractive because it 

boosts the price of legal liquor so high. But even the 

recent rising 

below the level of 1939, 

$2 or $2.25 a gallon. 

moonshiner arrests and seizures are far 

when the federal tax was only 

Moonshining is made easier now, since the war, by 

the return of plentiful supplies of sugar and grain, and 

the greater availability of copper for stills and barrels 

for storage. 

Many drinkers prefer to buy "white lightning", or 

moonshine liquor, because it sells at prices in the $3 to 

$6 a gallon range. 

This is the secret of the whole business of moonshin 

ing and bootlegging, namely, the large amount of money 

to be made. Large values of liquor can be carried in 

a small space and the appetite of drinkers makes a de 

mand for it. Bootlegging and black markets do not 

depend on prohibition or no prohibition, but upon the 

large amount of money to be made. There are crooks 

and law-breakers at all times in our land and they quick 

ly seize upon that form of law-breaking which will 

bring in large amounts of money with little work. It 

has been clearly demonstrated that men will bootleg 

sugar, meat, automobile tires, gasoline, automobiles, 

houses, rents, cigarette and liquor when they can make 

large amounts of money by their illegal acts. Do not 

be so stupid as to believe that prohibition makes boot 

leggers! The Devil makes therrt as he works upon their 

lusts. There is on the side of the producer lust for 

money 

and on the part of the purchaser lust for drink. 

The Bible in Prisons 

A prison chaplain in Germany, Gerd Sternberg, writ 

ing in the Bible Society Record, tells of his work in the 

juvenile prisons of Hamburg. He says that the German 

youth have forgotten the language of prayer during the 

twelve long years when it worshiped an idol. And now 

it is struggling to find words to speak to the true God. 

But the important thing is that the young people are be 

ginning to talk to God, even though they may only be 

able to cry out: "Lord, Help Me!" 

"In our corrupted youth, 

whose ways have led them 

through much guilt and sin to the prison cell, it is only 

too obvious that the search for the true God, the God of 

Jesus Christ, has now come over them suddenly like a 

panic. They are seeking Him along wrong paths, but 

they are seeking Him! To all who read these lines, I 

would say as emphatically and as solemny as I know 

how: these young people in the prisons are wanting to 

get back to the God of their fathers. We prison 

chaplains are daily 

THE COVENANTER WITNESS ,?ubllthed4, âc\ 

amazed at their readiness to listen 

to the Word of God. These young people really beg us 

for Bibles and religious literature. 

"Let us tell you something of the greatest experience 

of my life as a pastor, in the cells of young men con 

demned to death in a Wehrmacht prison during the war. 

For a long time I tried to comfort these young men with 

kind and friendly words; and then I realized how power 

less human words are in face of such suffering, such 

fear of death. And so I let the Word of God speak for 

itself, the glorious, mighty words of the Saviour con 

cerning eternity and the peace of God. And each time, 

without exception, these young men who found it so 

hard to leave their young lives and who had previously 

screamed and cursed in their agony and fear of death, 

Decame quiet and went to their death in peace. Young 

men and young women who have not had a Bible in 

their hands for some ten years or so can be seen in the 

cells eagerly spelling out the words and studying with 

their fellow prisoners. Many of them have become so 

attached to their Bibles that they want to take it with 

them on their release from prison as their companion 

and guide in a new and better life. It is remarkable that. 

in studying the Bible, the desire for novels disappears 

more and more, and that the Bible, by virtue of its in 

ner power, also becomes the 'Book of Books' 

prisoners! We beg 

for the 

you to send us the Word of God in 

our poverty! There is no gift more precious to 

us." 


Wednesday by the Reformed Presbyterian 

lliu, wvuimiiinik vvij.in.C400. Church of North America, through its editorial office. 



Entered as second class matter at Post Office in Topeka, Kansas, under the act of March 3 1879 


The Rev. R. B. Lyons, B. A., Limavady, N. Ireland, agent for the British Isles.

December 22, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 

GuVie+it ^nenti 

Two days before New Year's. May 1949 bring us: 

(1) A national revival. (2) A reintroduction of the 

Christian Amendment, growing support, and a full and 

weH-publicized hearing. (3) A solving with justice to 

all of the problems that threaten peace in Western and 

Central Europe, Greece, Turkey, Palestine, India, China, 

Indonesia, and Central and South America. (4) A con 

sequent resumption of disarmament in the United States, 

an end to the draft, and a use of the funds now going 

into armaments to pay our war debts. (5) Development 

of the industrial use of atomic power. (6) Good crops. 

(7) A growing temperance and prohibition movement 

with actual results. (8) A solution of cur labor prob 

lems. More could readily be added. 

For the Covenanter Church one might add: (1) The 

attainment of the budget of members, membeis full of 

faith and the Holy Spirit. (2) The attainment of the 

financial budget. (3) The divine blessing 

on the insti 

tutions of the church in the United States and the mis 

sion fields. (4) Successful young people's camps next 

summer. 

President Conant of Harvard declares that we need 

more education on Communism so that we know what 

it really is. He might add that we should be taught to 

distinguish between the British democratic socialism and 

the Russian police-state Communism so that they will 

not be lumped together in the popular mind. It would 

be well also for us to realize that collectivism has in 

some degree marked our local, state, 

and national econ 

omy for over a hundred years and that our approach to 

it should be discriminating and not by way of wholesale 

denunciation. Then our citizens might study the growth 

of "private 

collectivism" 

in the United States and the 

manner in which certain families have built up great 

industrial feudal estates that are constantly being 

brought into court for their violations of the Antitrust 

laws. 

Our national government now has more than $600,000,- 

000 tied up in support loans on our grain crops and their 

amount is likely to reach a billion. There is quite a di 

vision of opinion among the farm organizations as to the 

desirability of the adoption of a permanent policy of 

making such loans. They 

were really a war emergency 

program and might involve vast annual expenditures if 

made a standard program when war prices decline. The 

Southern farmers have voted for permanence and the 

grain farmers for a gradual reduction: after 1950 have 

the government maintain 60 percent of parity rather 

than the present 90 percent. 

The Westinghouse Electric Company has been selected 

by the Atomic Energy Commission to build the world's 

first atomic plant for ship propulsion. Then a vessel 

will never need to be refueled and can stay at sea in 

definitely. This would be a great asset for battleships, 

but some of us would like to see atomic energy used in 

areas wholly isolated from the thought of war. 


387 

Since January 1, 1946, the Jones and Laughlin Steel 

Corporation has set aside the vast sum of $210,000,000 

for the improvement of its present set-up and the erec 

tion of new unitd. Part of the money has come from 

borrowings but much from the ploughing back of earn 

ings. Steel is the bottleneck of our present industrial 

situation, but some companies hesitate to enlarge their 

facilities lest a depression come and find them with ex 

panded plants and little use for them. J. & L. is count 

ing 

on continued prosperity. 

The Census Bureau tells us that our population has 

increased by 3,000,000 in 1948 and that we now total 

148,000,000. Very little of the growth has come through 

immigration: we just have had a big birth rate and a 

'ow death rate. 

* * * * 

A team of British doctors have discovered a new drug 

antrycide that is expected to restore to the world 

4,500,000 square miles of great cattle country in tropical 

Africa where Trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) has 

killed off cattle, horses, camels and men. Better reme 

dies have been found for men, but this is the first to be 

suited for large-scale use with animals. This adds an 

area one and a half times that of the United States to 

the world's habitable lands. It is almost beyond belief. 

The New York Times also reports that British, Portu 

guese and Rhodesian capitalists are planning 

rail and 

port developments to open up great copper, chrome, and 

coal reserves in Rhodesia. 500,000 tons of chrome are 

said to be above ground and ready for export, but trans 

portation facilities are lacking. The United States now 

depends for chrome, in a considerable degree, on Russia, 

and the supply may be cut off suddenly at any time. The 

-nthracite coal seam is near the surface and of such di 

mensions that there may soon be set up one of the larg 

est open-pit coal mines in the world. 

^s $ % ^ 

The Indonesian situation is such that one hates to take 

it up. The Security Council is required by 

the U. N. 

constitution to be ready for immediate action at any 

time, but the Dutch knew it was adjourned for the holi 

days when they made their paratrooper attack on the 

Indonesian capital. The Russians took five days to get 

to Paris from Moscow and took time to make speeches 

accusing the United States, the Dutch, the Indonesian 

Republic for what had happened. The lai-t was included 

because it had put down a Communist uprising that 

undertook to take over the republic. The Council at last 

ordered the Dutch to cease hostilities forthwith and to 

release the President and other officials of the Republic. 

The Dutch say they will cease fighting at the end of the 

year or two or three days later, and will release the cap 

tives if the latter agree to abstain from any political ac 

tion. Th Dutch count that when they confront the Coun 

cil with the accomplished fact of their possession of all 

of Java and most of Sumatra, matters will be left in just 

that situation. 

(Continued on page 392)


Higher Education for Modern Needs 

Centennial Commencement ddress, Geneva Col 

lege, Beaver Falls, Pa., June 1, 1948 

Dr. John Dale Russell 

Director, Division of Higher Education 

U. S. Office of Education 

The citizens of the United States today mani 

fest an unprecedented interest in educational 

services. It is not without significance that our 

country, wishing to express its gratitude to those 

Who have served it well in the armed forces, has 

set up by Act of Congress a series of benefits 

among which are included generous provision for 

continued education. It is equally significant 

that of all the benefits set up for veterans the ed 

ucational provisions of the G. I. Bill of Rights 

have proved most attractive. The fact that most 

of those veterans are candidates for what we 

know as higher education has focused special 

attention on that level of the American school sys 

tem. It is particularly appropriate at this time 

to examine the service of higher education in a 

modern society. 

At the outset the term "higher 

education" 

needs 

to be defined. A distinguished university presi 

dent has recently suggested that the term "higher 

education" 

should be abandoned completely ; he 

proposes to substitute "advanced 

education" 

as 

being less snobbish or less disparaging to other 

levels of education. The term "higher education", 

however, is firmly rooted in the American speech 

and will probably continue to be used, though all 

of us do not have the same definition of it. 

My own view is that higher education must be 

defined in terms of the characteristics of the stu 

dents which it serves. I would reject the idea 

that higher education can be defined basically in 

terms of the institutions in which it is obtained, 

or in terms of the particular objectives which are 

served, or the methods of instruction followed, or 

the subject matter taught. Higher education to 

me means those forms of institutionalized in 

struction that are appropriate for young people 

of a certain level of intellectual maturity. Under 

modern conditions that maturity level is repre 

sented by the normal person who has completed 

about twelve years of schooling. Neither the 

name we give the institution, nor the methods of 

instruction, nor the subjects taught seem to be 

fundamental in distinguishing this level of educa 

tion, for these factors are conditioned by the 

characteristics and needs of the students who are 

served. The definition I have suggested would 

imply that traditional concepts of academic or 

ganization or curriculum content might readily 

be changed to adjust to new social conditions or 

new groups of students, without disturbing the 

validity of the instruction as true "higher educa 

tion." 

A fundamental question may be asked : Why 

are institutions of higher education maintained? 

What purposes does the social order seek to serve 

in suppporting and fostering colleges and univer 

sities ? Six widely different points of view may be 

distinguished in the answers that are given in 

current practice to these questions. 

One point of view is that higher education is 

maintained for the sake of the continuance of 

certain institutions that are engaged in these ac 

tivities. When stated bluntly and simply, as the 

continuation of an institution for the sake of its 

own continued existence, the idea seems obviously 

absurd. But this point of view, though not often 

stated explicitly, frequently controls in a power 

ful manner the actions and attitudes of members 

of boards of trustees, administrative officers, fac 

ulty, and alumni. 

A second attitude sometimes found seems to 

be based on the idea that higher education is op 

erated for the benefit of faculty members. I am 

sure most of you in this audience have met per 

sons who seemed to believe that colleges and uni 

versities are operated so that scholars on the fac 

ulty mav have convenient and comfortable places 

in which to carry on their work and other activi 

ties that they find pleasant. 

A third opinion, widely held and much more 

-"1uisible than the two mentioned, is that highe- 

education is obtained for the sake of pure learn 

ing as such. From this standpoint our accumula 

tion of culture and knowledge is looked upon as 

a precious heritage to be transmitted to the on 

coming generation untarnished and undiminished. 

without any particular regard to whether or not 

the next generation or any future generation will 

need that knowledge. The content of instruction 

from this point of view is determined by the 

knowledge available for teaching rather than by 

the needs of those who are students. 

A fourth point of view expresses the opinion 

that higher education is maintained for the bene 

fit of individual students. An example is the 

stress sometimes given to the alleged monetary 

value of an education. The conclusion that edu 

cation pays big cash dividends in return for the 

money and time invested in it is probably inaccu 

rate and misleading, but this idea is still frequent 

ly set before young people to induce them to at 

tend college. Large numbers of students and par 

ents seem to be interested in higher education 

chiefly for the improvement they think it will 

make in their personal economic status. But is 

this the basic reason for maintaining our institu 

tions of higher education? The validity of this 

point of view is challenged by the fact that 40 

percent of the funds for the support of higher ed 

ucation in the United States are supplied by tax 

appropriations, and many millions of dollars are 

-ontributed annually by philanthropically incline'1 

persons. Would higher education be supported 

in this manner if its purpose was merely to en 

hance the earning power of the relatively few 

among our population who are able to enjoy the 

privilege of education at the college level? 

A fifth viewpoint postulates that higher edu-


cation is maintained for the benefit of certain 

limited social groups. In the days of rapid ex 

pansion of denominational colleges, institutions 

of that type were widely urged by churchmen for 

the furtherance of sectarian purposes. Today, 

however, most denominational colleges disavow 

any such narrow aim. In a few instances one 

might draw the conclusion that certain state offi 

cials have believed that their publicly controlled 

universities and teachers' 

colleges were main 

tained for the benefit of the political party in 

power. Fortunately these instances are not com 

mon and have usually been corrected by vigor 

ous action on the part of the citizens of the state. 

Perhaps a more common instance of the atti 

tude that higher education is maintained for lim 

ited social groups is the restrictions on entrance 

that are maintained, either openly or covertly, by 

some institutions. Any widespread policy of dis 

crimination against the admission of students on 

the basis of race or creed or other arbitrary fac 

tors can only be interpreted as an expression of 

the opinion that society does not expect higher 

education to be fully available to all academical 

ly 

qualified applicants. 

In another respect modern practice, perhaps 

unconsciously, restricts enrollment to a limited 

social group. The fees charged at most colleges 

and universities today cannot be met by most of 

those in the lower brackets of the economic scale. 

The G. I. Bill of rights has provided a much need 

ed correction against this situation for a part of 

our population, but even in this instance there is 

a limited group that is served. 

Finally there is a sixth point of view, the atti 

tude that higher education is maintained for the 

benefit of society as a whole not for any lim 

ited social group, not for the benefit of the indi 

vidual student except as he is a member of society 

and is willing 

and able to contribute to its wel 

fare, not for the sake of pure learning 

except as 

our cultural heritage serves a social purpose in 

the modern world, 

not for the benefit of people 

with scholarly inclinations that hold faculty ap 

pointments, nor for the continuation of certain 

ivy-clad institutions, but rather for the general 

benefit of the whole society in which we live. 

A well known document written more than a 

century and a half ago carries a very clear state 

ment of this point of view. The Ordinance for 

the Government of the Northwest Territory, 

passed by Congress in 1787, declares: "Religion, 

morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good 

government and the happiness of mankind, 

schools and the means of education shall be for 

encouraged." 

ever 

It is upon the foundation of 

this principle that the public school system was 

established in this country. The support of higher 

education from tax sources rests upon this prin 

ciple. It is furthermore upon this principle that 

the right to charter privately controlled institu 

tions rests; and their privilege of tax exemption 

without which few of them could continue to ex 

ist, is based upon the attitude expressed by this 

statement. The founding fathers were unequiv 

ocal in their declaration of a large social purpose 

in fostering the establishment of "schools and the 

education." 

means of 

If it be granted that institutions of higher edu 

cation exist for social purposes, it becomes im 

portant to examine critically what the social or 

der demands in our times. Three areas into which 

the demand for higher education seems to fall 

may be described. 

In the first place society has relied for many 

centuries on institutions of higher education for 

the preparation of men needed for the professions. 

In relatively recent times women have been ad 

mitted to the professions and have been added to 

the student bodies of colleges and universities. 

The range of professions and occupations for 

which higher education is expected to prepare 

practitioners has increased greatly during the 

past few decades, and promises to increase even 

more rapidly in the future. 

The second service expected from higher insti 

tutions is the discovery, conservation, and pro 

mulgation of the truth in an unbiased manner. 

The social order of today seems to realize the ne 

cessity of this provision more fully than ever be 

fore. The so-called "academic freedom" 

of insti 

tutions and faculty members is probably more 

assured today in this country than in any previ 

ous period of the world's history. It must be re 

membered, however, that academic freedom is 

protected, not for the sake of the institutions, nor 

for faculty members, nor even for the truth itself, 

but only because modern society realizes that it 

must have centers in which the truth can be in 

vestigated and taught fearlessly and without dis 

tortion. When a society decides that it wants on 

ly a narrow or distorted version of the truth, as 

has happened within our memories in some coun 

tries of the world, its institutions of higher edu 

cation take on a very different character. We are 

fortunate to live in a time and in a country in 

which the right to investigate and teach the truth 

is well protected by the general attitude of the 

people. 

A third service demanded in modern times 

from institutions of higher education is prepara 

tion for all round living. The development of 

means of communication has made necessary a 

much broader social understanding than was re 

quired in simpler times, in order that we may get 

along happily in our enlarged circle of human con 

tacts. Discovery and invention have complicated 

greatly the processes of our daily lives. The 

changing character of the home has added new 

burdens to the schools and colleges. Increased 

realization of the value of music, art, literature 

and similar subjects for the enrichment of human 

living has required wider diffusion of knowledge 

and skills in these areas. These and other cir 

cumstances have made necessary a considerable 

increase in the extent of preparation needed for 

effective living. As a result the period of formal 

education for an increasing number of young peo 

ple now extends into the age levels normally serv 

ed by institutions of higher learning. There is


thus brought to the colleges and universities a order? Some comfort can be taken from the fact 

demand for new types of instruction. The in that readjustments have been made in the past 

creased numbers of students bring with them 

wider ranges of talents and abilities than were 

history 

formerly served at the college level. The term 

education" 

"general 

is now frequently used to 

define an area of service that is of increasing 

importance in higher education. 

of higher education, though usually with 

considerable lag behind the demands of the times. 

A couple of examples of such readjustments may 

be cited. About one hundred years ago people 

began to want to study a new subject, science, 

which was not considered a respectable subject 

at the college level by the academicians of that 

The implications of this analysis of the service 

required from institutions of higher education by 

a modern society are clear. If higher education 

be defined as service to young people of a given 

maturity level, modern social conditions clearly 

demand an increased number of people prepared 

in institutions of higher education. Just now 

colleges and universities are struggling to cope 

with heavy enrollments, brought about in con 

siderable part by the provisions for veterans edu 

cation. The question is everywhere raised as to 

whether or not this is a temporary bulge or wave, 

that will recede within a few years after the vet 

erans have completed the education to which they 

are entitled. The trend toward increased demand 

for higher education, however, had been manifest 

for more than a half century before it was inter 

rupted by World War II. As a matter of fact, 

if there had been no war and no "GI Bill of 

Rights" 

and if enrollment trends manifest be 

tween 1934 and 1940 had continued without 

change, we would have had almost as many stu 

dents in college in 1946-47 as were actually en 

rolled. There is every indication that the present 

increase is part of a fundamental movement, and 

that as long as our social order retains its pre 

sent chracteristics college enrollments will con 

tinue to increase toward a somewhat indefinite 

point of saturation. 

The second implication is that the range of 

sevvices rendered in higher education will con 

tinue to increase. As has often ocurred in the 

past, new areas of study will continue to be open 

ed up in the effort to serve current demands. 

we can expect that 

As has usually been the case, 

these new subjects will be at first looked upon 

with disdain and scorn by the academic guardians 

of vested interests in traditional subject-matter 

fields, but as the worth of these new kinds of 

studies begins to be more and more evident, and 

as capable scholars come to devote their energies 

to these areas, these new subjects will in turn 

become respectable and fully accepted by the ac 

ademic brotherhood. 

The readjustments necessary in higher educa 

tion to satisfy the changed demands in the social 

order such as the increased numbers of stud 

ents, the increased variety of talents among stud 

ents, 

and the expansion of instruction into new 

subject-matter fields are certain to prove dis 

turbing. They will meet with opposition from 

many quarters. We in higher education are by 

nature conservative, and we shrink from chang 

our customs and habits. 

ing 

What are the prospects that institutions of 

higher education will make the reajustments nec 

essary to serve effectively the modern social 

time. The demand for instruction in science was 

met by a stubborn refusal on the part of the 

guardians of existing culture. Read the Arnold- 

Huxley debates for a review of the arguments 

that were used on this issue in England. Society 

in general, however, recognizing that it wanted 

and needed to have science taught, and being con 

fronted by the stubborn refusal of its existing 

institutions of higher education to render this 

service, would not be balked. What happened? 

In 1862 after some preliminary efforts, the Con 

gress of the United States passd the so-called 

Morrill Act, providing Federal funds for the es 

tablishment of a new type of higher education, 

which was to be devoted chiefly to teaching the 

applications of science to agriculture and the 

mechanic arts. These efforts forced the hands of 

the existing institutions, and soon, more or less 

reluctantly, they began to offer the instruction 

in science that society was demanding. Today 

instruction in these fields is everywhere recog 

nized as on a par with other subjects, the profes 

sors of which a hundred years ago were so dis 

dainful of science as beneath the level of academ 

ic respectability. 

Another example of a reajdustment of higher 

education under social pressure may be cited from 

somewhat more recent times. Some years ago 

demand began to arise for better prepared teach 

ers in the public schools. Existing institutions of 

higher education were in many cases loath to in 

troduce professional preparation for teaching in 

to their sacrosanct curriculums. The echoes of 

this struggle have not yet died down, but most 

colleges and universities have modified their pro 

grams in accordance with this new demand of 

society. These examples of previous reorganiza 

tions are hopeful signs of the possibility of re 

adjustments in present-day institutions. 

Considerable hope may also be drawn from the 

experience of the secondary school, which some 

what earlier began to meet this very same de 

mand for readjutment that is now facing the col 

lege. Two generations ago the aristocratic idea of 

secondary education began to break down in re 

sponse to a demand for wider opportunities for 

education at this level. The secondary 

school re 

sponded to this demand, modified its outlook, en 

larged its curriculum, and began the development 

of a flexible program to serve the society by 

which it was maintained. Today the American 

high school, while far from perfect, is perhaps 

the greatest achievement ever attained in democ 

ratizing education; it is an outstanding example 

of a desirable adjustment made by an institution 

to the demands of its social order. The adjustment 

in the high school was not made without a strug-


gle, and many earnest leaders had to reorganize 

their thinking considerably to bring it about ; but 

it is here today as a monument to the wisdom of 

this leadership and as an outstanding example 

of a highly serviceable social institution. 

Examples are not lacking in the history of 

higher education during the past two decades 

to show that it too is capable of making readjust 

ments. The machinery of the system creaks a 

little at the joints but changes are surely coming 

about. The current interest in curriculum reform 

with respect to general education indicates a will 

ingness to readjust. During the war institutions 

proved surprisingly flexible in making 

rapid a- 

daptations to new conditions. Changes are cur 

rently resulting from the impact of the large 

group of veterans who, as students, have a some 

what more mature notion about what they want 

in education than the typical entering freshman 

has. These veterans, I feel sure, will be more 

effective than previous generations of students 

have been in obtaining modification of the pro 

gram of higher education to serve current needs. 

The alternative to continued readjustments is 

not pleasant to contemplate. If existing institu 

the modern social order are even now well under 

way. I have no doubt that society will continue 

to foster and support progressive programs in 

its colleges and universities, and that it will con 

tinue to look to them for important contributions 

to the general welfare. 

We might devote much more time than is avail 

able today to a dicussion of what the demands 

of society are on its institutions of higher educa 

concern is also with the question of the 

tion. My 

attitude which those who have enjoyed the advan 

tages and privileges of higher education should 

take toward the investment that society has made 

in them. It is important, I think, that those who 

have had the opportunity for higher education 

should realize how heavily society has invested in 

them. 

Higher education is not something that can be 

bought and paid for, as one would buy a bottle 

of milk or a ton of coal. Some of the graduates 

of the class of 1948 have no doubt made personal 

sacrifices in order to obtain your education, and 

your parents have also contributed for that pur 

oftentimes from far too slender resources. 

pose, 

But nothing 

have 

that the students or their parents 

supplied could have created the conditions 

that you have enjoyed at Geneva College. Only by 

the cooperative efforts of many persons, only by 

the generosity of many philanthropically inclined 

donors, only by the self-sacrificing services of 

generations of faculty members and administra 

tive officers, has it been possible to create and 

maintain here at Geneva College an institution in 

which young people many enjoy the advantages of 

higher education. You have been privileged to 

enter into the fruit of the labors of these many, 

many persons who have worked cooperatively for 

a common social purpose, and the contribution 

that any one of you has made, no matter what 

personal sacrifices it has entailed, could never of 

itself have purchased for you the advantages of 

higher education. 

The society which has created these facilities 

has a right to expect, in return for its generous 

provisions for your education, that you use the 

preparation you have received in the service of 

society, that you employ the talents that have 

here been developed, not purely for personal prof 

it or pleasure, but for the benefit of society. 

In no small measure you, along with others who 

have enjoyed the privileges of higher education, 

are trustees of the whole attitude of society to 

ward its institutions of higher education. The 

tions should by any chance become inflexible and 

unwilling to adapt their programs to changing 

conditions, they would unquestionably be doomed 

to a smaller and smaller sphere of service. They 

would cease to be regarded with favor and appre 

ciation, and ultimately, like other relics of bygone 

ages, they would be preserved only as museum 

pieces or even become extinct. Nature's com 

mand to social institutions, just as to biological 

organisms, is "Reajust to changing environment, 

or die." 

extent to which you fulfill the expectations of 

society for effective social service is most likely 

to govern the continued support of higher educa 

tion by society. If the modern generation of 

college and university people should in large num 

bers use their higher education for purely selfish 

ends, society has no method of calling them to 

account individually 

I personally have great faith that the 

adjustments in higher education demanded by 

and personally, but it can 

and undoubtedly would retaliate on the institu 

tions that gave such a preparation, and the next 

generation of young people would find the col 

leges and universities less adequately maintained, 

less favorably supported by society. 

The responsibility 

therefore rests to a large 

extent on those who have enjoyed the advantages 

of higher education to convince society that its 

investment has been wisely made; with that con 

viction prevailing, there need be no fear of the 

future of higher education in the American social 

order. 



Chinese Liberality 

A Chinese Christian business man has given $1,000,000 

to missions. This is the largest cash donation ever re 

ceived by the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions 

from a living donor and it was given anonymously. He 

wrote that he was making the gift "in gratitude to God 

for my 

Christian education and in appreciation of the 

service your missionaries have given in China." 

This 

money is to be used for a foundation in the U. S. to pro 

vide housing 

and care for retired Presbyterian mission 

aries. He says that he is to give an equal amount to 

underwrite a retirement plan in China for ministers and 

church workers connected with the Church of Christ in 

China.


The Great Delusion 

By the Rev. Marcellus Kik 

Reprinted by Permission from "Bible Christian 

ity", Ottawa, Canada, by special permission. 

One of the greatest delusions ever to enter into 

the Christian Church is that Satan now cannot be 

defeated. The impression in the Church is that 

Satan will more and more obtain control of this 

world and that events are leading to a final pe 

riod of great apostasy and stress. The only hope 

for the Christian Church is the personal, second 

coming of the Lord. Until the second coming the 

Church can only look forward to one defeat after 

another. Satan is the master of the situation. 

That is the great delusion. 

This great delusion has been instigated by Sa 

tan himself. He is the great deceiver. Although 

he knows that he has been vanquished through 

the death of Christ on the cross, yet he likes to 

create the impression that he cannot be defeated 

in this dispensation. He points out the various 

giants that are in the world which militate 

against the Church possessing the world : Mod 

ernism, Paganism, Secularism, and Atheism. As 

the faithless spies brought a report to Moses that 

the heathen giants were too strong for Israel to 

posses the promised land, so the faithless of today 

are reporting that Satan and his followers are 

too strong for the Church to possess the world. 

This is the great delusion. 

It is the clear teaching of Scripture that Satan 

can be defeated and that easily. Read the tenth 

chapter of Luke. After the Seventy returned from 

their preaching tour they reported : "Lord, even 

name." 

the devils are subject unto us through thy 

Jesus replied : "I beheld Satan as lightning fall 

from heaven. Behold, I have given unto you power 

to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all 

the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by 

yon." 

any means hurt How different the report 

of the Seventy from the ten spies! Devils were 

vanquished by them. And Jesus assured them 

that He beheld 

heaven. 

Satan as lightning fall from 

But it may be said that Satan was only cast out 

of heaven. He is now the god of this world. How 

ever, Christ stated in John 12 : 31, "Now is the 

judgment of this world; now shall the prince of 

out." 

this world be cast It was in no distant fu 

ture that Satan was to be cast out of his domain 

on earth. It was now in this dispensation. And 

Christ points out the means in the following 

verse: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, 

will draw all men unto 

me." 

The victims of Satan 

will be drawn by the cross of Christ. 

It is frequently stated that only through the 

second soming of Christ will Satan be bruised ac 

cording to the promise of Genesis 3 : 15. It is 

true that Satan will be cast into the lake of fire 

at the Second Coming. But it is also true that 

the Church has the power to bruise Satan. Writ 

ing to the Church at Rome Paul states in Romans 

16: 20. "And the God of peace shall bruise Satan 

under vour feet shortly. " 

Notice that it is under 

"your feet" 

under the instrumentality of the 

Church. And it is to be shortly. Not by the sec 

ond coming but by the Church. 

And as to the power of the devil we read in 

James 4 : 7, "Resist the devil, and he will flee 

from 

Only 

you." 

an effort of resistance will 

cause the devil to flee. Is the devil in your heart? 

Resist him and he will flee. Is the devil in your 

congregation or denomination? Resist him and 

he will flee. Is the devil in the world? Resist 

him and he will flee. 

This is also borne out by Revelation 12: 11. 

There we read, "And they overcame him by the 

blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their tes 

timony; and they loved not their lives unto the 

death." 

It is by the blood of the Lamb and by 

the testimony of the saints that Satan is over 

come. This testimony may bring about persecu 

tion but eventually it will bring victory. 

Why then is it that the devil seems to have so 

much power in the church and in the world? It 

is because he has been successful in deceiving 

Christians as to his power in this world. This has 

weakened the faith of the church. With sufficient 

faith the Church of Christ can easily conquer. 

And yet when the Son of Man comes will He find 

this faith? 



AN AMERIC4AJNT POPE? 

The Evangelical Christian tells us that "a Canadian 

press despatch from Montreal published recently tells! 

us that on the authority of a recently 

arrived Jesuit in 

Canada plans have been made in Rome for the transfer 

ence of Papal authority to the Western World in case of 

an emergency arising in Italy. The mantle of the Pope 

in that case would descend upon the shoulders of a 

hemisphere.' 

'young cardinal in the Western Apparently 

Cardinal Spellman of New York has been chosen to lead 

the forces of Popery 

should the occasion arise." 

The 

writer of this editorial thinks that the occasion will arise 

and that in a not far distant day. He further 

states: "The wooing 

of the United States that has been 

going on in recent years, helped forward by the .Ameri 

can representative at the Vatican, is all paving the way 

for the establishing of the hierarchy on this side of the 

Atlantic." 

He thinks that many of us will live to see the 

Pope flee from Rome to find an asylum either in Quebec 

or Washington. 



The Hoover Commission which is surveying the func 

tioning of the national government and offering sugges 

tions for its more effective and economical organization 

has found vast waste in the hospitals maintained by the 

Veterans' 

Administration and has proposed that they be 

relocated under the National Health Bureau that is to be 

established. There are now in these hospitals 13S,000 

veterans, 

of whom about half have been in for more 

than a year and some must always be there.



C.Y.P.U. TOPIC 

By Robert Tweed 


"DON'T COUNT ON ME" 

(Used by permission of the Chris 

tian Endeavor Society) 

Scripture Text : 

Luke 12:48b; Romans 14:7-12 

Psalms: 

Psalm 119:1-5 No. 326 

Psalm 134:1, 2 No. 370 

Psalm 22:9, 11, 14 No. 53 

Psalm 133:1-3 No. 369 

Scripture References : 

Eccles. 12:13; Jer. 13:1-10; Luke 

12:43; 17:10; John 9:4; 12:35; Rom. 

12:4-8; I Cor. 4:1, 2; 10:31; I Pet. 

4:10. 

The complexities and interdepen- 

dencies of modern social and indus 

trial life reveal to us the importance 

of individual cooperation in determin 

ing- 

their success or failure. Mass 

production in an automobile factory 

is an example of this. Every indi 

vidual on the assembly line has some 

particular task to do and its accom 

plishment is dependent to a large de 

gree on the accuracy 

ing 

of the preced 

person. If all are conscientious 

about their work then a beautiful, 

smooth-running car will result, but 

if a single person failed, perhaps in 

some minute detail, the work of all 

is marred. 

As this is true in the automobile 

industry 

so it is in the Church and 

the Young People's Society. An ac 

tive and prosperous church was never 

established through the sole efforts 

of one or two people. There may 

have been an enthusiastic leader but 

his plans and proposals could not be 

realized until he had secured the 

cooperation of all concerned. Nothing 

can be accomplished apart from 

unity 

duty 

of effort, everybody doing his 

whether it be of great account 

or rather insignificant. No one can 

afford to say: "Don't count on 

me," 

for upon us all depends the spread of 

the gospel. 

I. We have a responsibility 

to our 

fellow workers. Paul, in Rom. 12:4-8, 

bears out the fact that we are all en 

dowed by God with 

special talents 

which differ and quanti 

qualitatively 

tatively. He compares the church to 

the human body 

which consists of 

members that differ as to their 

many 

appearance and the function they 

perform, but each is equipped for a 

task that it alone can fulfil. The ear 

cannot take the place of the eye, nor 

the hand of the foot, and in the same 

manner, one person might not be 

capable of leadership in church ac 

tivities but could serve equally well 

in some other office. It is the respon 

sibility of everyone to discover with 

what particular talents he has been 

endowed and put them to work in the 

Lord's service. A young people's 

group always has a diversity of 

talent and yet Paul found a unity in 

diversity. Find your place, whether 

in teaching, 

personal invitations, 

psalm leading, prayer, 

and perform the task well. 

or all of these, 

II. We have a responsibility to God. 

This is brought particularly to our 

attention in Romans 14 and cannot be 

too emphatically presented. It is so 

easy to forget that we have been 

created for a special purpose to 

honor and glorify God in whatever 

we do. We are "His 

and even as a small boy takes a 

pride in having built a model air 

workmanship" 

plane and accordingly receives praise 

from his father, so God has a pride 

in man, the masterpiece of His 

creation, and has a right to expect 

his homage. One way we can render 

to God the homage due iHs name is 

by being 

dependable workers in His 

kingdom. We must be willing to ac 

cept responsibility. How pleased 

Job must have felt after his afflic 

tion was past to have been chosen 

by God as one on whom He could 

depend to "come forth as 

gold" 

even 

when brought to the very depths of 

despair. In this age of indifference 

God needs willing 

workers to hold 

high the standards of faith, young 

people who will accept responsibility 

in the house of the Lord. 

III. Finally, 

according 

we will be rewarded 

as we have made use of 

our talents. Read again the passage 

from Luke. We in America have 

been granted gifts from God in a 

measure far exceeding 

that of most 

other people, both spiritually and 

materially. But we are told that unto 

whom much is given, 

much more be 

of him will 

required. Look into 

your life and see if you are render 

ing 

to God in proportion to your re 

ceiving. God is pleased when we 

^ 

make use of our abilities but if we 

fail in exercising them, they 

removed and 

place we 

It is 

will be 

another will take the 

might have occupied. 

important that we learn to 

take our place in the house of God. 

Christ must have zealous servants 

to carry out the work of His king 

dom and the time to learn is now. 

The sooner we learn to assume some 

duty 

or duties the more proficient 

we will become in later years. Never 

be a person to say: "Don't count on 

me," 

for whatever service we may 

be called upon to render will not 

only be of value now, but we may 

unknowingly be qualifying ourselves 

for an even more important work in 

years to come. 

Questions for discussion: 

1. Ilxplain Christ's teaching on 

duty. Luke 17:7-10. 

2. What incentives do we have for 

Christian service ? 

3. Give examples from the Bible 

of men and women who surrendered 

their talents to God's service. 

4. Name several outstanding liibli- 

cal examples of people who recog 

nized their personal responsibility 

to others. 

17. 

JUNIOR TOPIC 




OLD TESTAMENT 

III. Jesus, the Saviour 

Sing the Morning- Song: Psa. 118: 

Teacher's Prayer for guidance in 

the meeting. 

Read together the Salvation Chart, 

the teacher reading 

words. 

the connecting 

Memory Verse: The wages of sin 

is death; 

but the gift of God is 

eternal life through Jesus Christ our 

Lord. Rom. 6:23. 

Sing 

1, 2. 

our Salvation Song: Psa. 98: 

Last week we talked about Jesus, 

our Substitute. we Today shall see 

how Noah's ark reminds us of Jesus, 

our Saviour, 

our sure Saviour. 

our only Saviour, and 

After Adam and Eve left Eden, 

many children and grandchildren 

were born to them. Some of these 

were murderers; some were liars. 

But there were a few good men who 

worshiped God by offering lambs. 

This showed that they believed that 

Jesus, the Lamb of God, would one 

offer Himself as their Substi 

day 

tute. Amng 

these good men were 

Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah. 

By the time Noah was born, most 

of the people in the world were


wicked. They were very wicked. God 

looked into their heaits and saw that 

they never had even one good 

thought. Although it was 1056 years 

from Adam to Noah, yet Noah's 

father was 56 years old when Adam 

died. Many of the people could have 

heard Adam, himself, tell that Jesus 

wBs coming. Instead of believing 

him, they increased in wickedness. 

Noah was the only one in the whole 

world who quietly kept on serving 

God. 

All this terrible sin grieved God 

at His heart and He decided to wash 

these wicked men from the earth as 

filth is washed off and thrown down 

the sewer. 

Still, in His patience, God gave 

them another chance to repent and 

be saved. Noah's building of the ark 

was a 120-year long sermon to these 

sinners. Every blow of the ax 

warned them the flood was coming: 

every tap of the hammer called 

them to repentance. But they laughed 

and sneered. 

It reminds me of the story of the 

"Titanic", that great ship built in 

1912. People said she could never be 

sunk. They called her a life boat. 

On her maiden voyage, on a Sab 

bath morning, a wireless message 

came from the steamer 

"Caronia" 

that there were icebergs nearby. 

After lunch, another message came 

from the " ornian" 

Calif that there 

were three icebergs near. The wire 

less operator did not bother to copy 

the message. Not long after, another 

message came from the "Baltic". 

The operator sent this one to the 

Captain who did not even post it un 

til six hours afterward. No one paid 

any 

attention to the warnings. Their 

ship could not sink; why worry? So 

the great 

"Titanic" 

kept going 

through those dangerous waters at 

22 knots an hour. That is almost 25 

miles an hour. 

Not long before midnight another 

message came from the "Califor- 

nian". This time the operator on the 

"Titanic" 

keep 

told the "Californian" 

to 

quiet. And then the lookout 

shouted, "Iceberg!" 

The engine room 

was signalled to stop, to go back 

ward. But it was too late! The "Ti 

tanic" 

struck. A hole over 300 feet 

long- was sheared in the bottom of 

the ship. 

Even then, 

no one thought she 

could sink. But gradually the sea 

came in. At 12:30 people were or 

dered to the boats, but many refused 

to go. Boats were lowered half-full. 

One 40-passenger boat took only 12. 

And then at 2:20, the "Titanic" 

sank. 

Only 

711 people were rescued. Near 

ly 1500 went down with the ship. 

Noah preached a 120-year long 

sermon to the people of his time. 

Finally, the sermon was ended. For 

seven extra days, the people saw 

Noah's family and the animals go 

ing into the ark. This was the final 

call, the last chance to repent and 

be saved. But they just went on eat 

ing and drinking, until at last God 

shut the door. The time was past; 

their chance was gone; and the flood 

came. 

The rain poured down until the 

earth was covered; the hills were 

covered; the highest mountains were 

covered. Only Noah and his family 

were safe in the ark as it floated on 

the long, slow swell of the seas. 

After 40 days, God closed the 

fountains of the great deep. He shut 

the windows of heaven that there 

might be no more rain. Then He sent 

a wind to dry up the flood and push 

the water back into the ocean. When 

the ground was dry again, Noah left 

the ark and the first thing he did 

was to thank God for saving him. 

He may have used words like those 

in Psa. 18. (With expression, read 

No. 38, vs. 1-13.) 

The ark is a type of Jesus, our 

Saviour. If we believe in Him we will 

be safe when the floods of death 

come. There was only 

one ark: Jesus 

is the only Saviour. There was no 

danger that the ark would sink be 

cause God had promised to save 

Noah. Jesus is a sure Saviour be 

cause God has promised "eternal 

life through Jesus Christ our Lord". 

Sing Psa. 18:1, No. 38. 

Close with the Evening Song: 

Psa. 4:8. 

Handwork: From blue paper cut a 

piece 4 in. x 8 in. Round one end by 

making a half-circle 2 in. in radius. 

Three inches from the round end, 

fold across. Now, the round end is 

the flooded world and the square 

end sticking up behind it is the sky. 

At center of the half-circle, punch 

a hole through front and back. 

From black paper (the ark was 

covered with pitch) cut a small sil 

houette of the ark, extending the 

bottom of the ark down to form a 

strip 2' 2 in. long. Punch a hole % 

in. from bottom of this strip. Put a 

paper fastener through the holes in 

the world, the strip, and the sky. 

Now, the ark can be made to sail 

back and forth around the world. 

Paste a rainbow across the sky. 

Print the memory verse across the 

world. 


By J. K. Robb, D. D. 


THE BOYHOOD AND YOUTH 

OF JESUS 

Luke 2:39-52, Mark 6:3ab 

Our lesson for December 19 con 

tained the story of Christ's infancy, 

taken from both Matthew and Luke. 

Our lesson for today contains the 

story of His boyhood and youth. The 

first verse of today's lesson is a sort 

of connecting link between the in 

fancy of Jesus and His boyhood, as it 

records the return of Joseph and 

Mary 

with their child to Galilee. 

Luke omits all reference to the visit 

of the wise men and the flight into 

Egypt, and to the temporary resi 

dence there until after the death of 

Herod the Great. As we read these 

two accounts of the birth of the 

Saviour, we must be impressed with 

the fact that they were written quite 

of each other. Mat 

independently 

thew's account brings Joseph into 

the forefront. Luke's account is writ 

ten from Mary's standpoint. But the 

two accounts dovetail into each other, 

and together present a consistent 

account of the infancy 

of Jesus. 

THE SILENT YEARS 

Luke 2:39, 40 

The time that elapsed from 

Christ's infancy 

until the beginning 

of His public ministry is marked, 

with a single exception, by perfect 

silence. The apostles, with the pos 

sible exception of James and John, 

were not eyewitnesses of His career 

until the beginning of His public 

ministry. The first thirty years of 

His life were of local interest only. 

They were years of physical, mental, 

and spiritual development. They 

were also years of obscurity. He 

was the oldest of a large family of 

children, four brothers and a number 

of sisters, just how many we do not 

know. It would seem quite certain 

that during these years, 

none of the 

family learned that He was the ex 

pected Messiah. Even when His 

earthly ministry was near 

drawing 

to its close, they were still ignorant 

of that great fact. (See John 7:2-5.) 

As Jesus grew up into young man 

hood He learned the carpenter's 

trade and engaged in honest toil, 

helping, no doubt, to assist in pro 

viding for the needs of a large fam 

ily. So those silent years were spent 

in obscurity 

home. 

in a humble Jewish


THE TEMPLE EPISODE 

vs. 41-47 

Joseph and Mary, with their oldest 

child with them, had been to Jerusa 

lem to observe the Passover feast. 

Now a company made up of friends 

and relatives had started on their 

homeward journey. Joseph and Mary 

very naturally supposed that their 

son was in the company, and it was 

not until they had gone a day's 

journey homeward that they dis 

covered that he was not. Jesus was 

twelve years of age at this time, a 

significant age in Jewish custom and 

law. At the age of twelve a Jewish 

boy became a "son of the law," 

and 

with the responsibility of a man. 

Learning that Jesus was not in the 

company, Joseph and Mary returned 

to Jerusalem in search of him. Final 

ly, after a three day search they 

found Him in the temple in discus 

sion with the rabbis, listening, ask 

ing, and answering questions, and 

occasioning 

great surprise on the 

part of all who heard. For a twelve 

year old lad to be able to discuss in 

telligently religious subjects with 

the learned doctors of the law, was 

something 

outside their experience 

as teachers. To be able to ask ques 

tions that showed intelligence and 

leflection might not in itself seem 

very strange. But for a lad of twelve 

to be able to answer the learned 

doctors' 

thing. We may 

questions was quite another 

well believe that as 

Jesus grew up He learned much 

through the processes of ordinary in 

struction and observation. But along 

with this there must have been what 

one writer has termed "a deep, in 

tuitive perception of spiritual 

truth" 

which did not depend upon evidence 

or instruction, but was given by His 

Father. That this was true even dur 

ing His ministry 

seems quite evident 

'from His own words in John 12:49. 

While it is true that the child 

Jesus was 

knowledge utterly 

endowed with wisdom and 

beyond that of 

children in general, it should be rec 

ognized that children reared in Chris 

tian homes are often endowed with 

spiritual powers far beyond what 

might be expected of them. Parents 

are often asked 

questions by their 

children about religious topics, and 

all too frequently the parents are led 

to put them off by saying that they 

would be better able to understand 

such things when 

knows but that such 

child's 

tation 

older. But who 

questions on the 

part may not be the manifes 

of a spiritual intuition in their 

youthful minds? 

THE MISUNDERSTOOD 

QUESTION vs. 48-50 

Not the least surprised at that 

scene in the temple were the parents 

of the boy Jesus. The spectacle of 

their twelve year old son discussing 

religious topics with the learned 

doctors of the law was certainly well 

calculated to amaze them. But finally 

the mother came back to the matter 

that had been uppermost in their 

minds, and demanded from the boy 

an explanation of His doings. A 

young boy's causing his parents such 

a degree of concern and worry, and 

making a three day search necessary, 

was not a thing to be just passed 

over without explanation, and per 

haps reproof. So it was but natural 

for her to put the very pointed ques 

tion, "Why hast thou dealt thus with 

us?" 

And the reply was as mysterious 

as it was unlooked-for; "Wist ye not 

that I must be about my Father's 

business?" 

The revision has it "Wist 

ye not that I must be in my Father's 

house," 

No wonder that the parents 

could not understand that strange 

question. Does "Wist ye 

not" 

suggest 

surprise on the part of Jesus that 

His mother did not know what He 

in His youth had come to know? In 

what sense was Jesus using the 

words "My Father?" 

in which all Christians may 

There is a sense 

call God 

their father. But Jesus, in the course 

of His ministry 

made frequent use 

of that expression "My Father," 

as 

meaning His unique relationship 

with God, and that must be the sense 

in which He used it in this passage. 

So at the tender age of twelve He 

was aware that the Father's business 

was to be the work of His life. 

And yet, 

with that relationship in 

mind, He continued to live in the 

home of His earthly parents, just 

one of the family, growing in wis 

dom and stature, and generally 

known as "the carpenter's It 

son." 

would be of interest to know how 

Luke heard of this episode in the 

temple. Certainly the character of the 

conversation between Jesus and His 

mother would indicate that she must 

have related it, 

perhaps to the evan 

gelist himself. We would like to hope 

that it was so. 



Shorter Catechism Questions 86-87 

Comments: 

By 

Let all 

Alvin Smith 

A Suggested Program 

repeat in conceit the an 

swers to the questions. 

Praise: Psalm 98:1-4, No. 262 

Prayer. 

Leader's Introduction 

The key to the understanding of 

the subjects under consideration to 

night lies in the answer to question 

85 What God Requires. The Bible 

makes it clear that salvation is a 

MUST. It is the responsibility of the 

church through her ministry and 

membership to bring 

a realization 

of this requirement to lost sinners. 

Note the example of both John the 

Baptist and Jesus: Mark 1:4, 15. 

Also the example of Paul in Ephe- 

cus: Acts 20:18-21. 

This lesson should be of great 

help in personal work in bringing 

the prospt;t to realize his guilt and 

then to cry out as Peter's hearers 

did on the day cf Pentecost (being 

pricked in their hearts) : "Men and 

brethren what must we do?" 

Acts 

2:37. The sinner under conviction 

will be ready to do anything re 

quired. 

Praise: Psalm 51:1-4, No. 143 

Scripture reading: Matthew 3:1-12; 

Mark 1:9-15 

The First Requirement 

(Reverse Order) 

Repentance unto Life Q. 87 

First Speaker: 

Have this assigned to speaker one. 

(The writer of the comments takes 

the liberty of reversing the order of 

the questions inasmuch as repen 

tance logically 

precedes faith and 

acceptance and since John the Bap 

tist, Jesus and Paul called for re 

pentance first.) 

Explain each step in repentance. 

Scripture illustrates these in the 

case of David, of Peter, of the 

Prodigal Son and of the Ephesians 

in Acts 19:17-19. 

Second Speaker: 

Give two instances of genuine re 

pentance unto life from modern 

times. 

Prayer: 

a. That God will bring about these 

results through the ministry. 

b. For God's blessing 

newly 

upon the 

installed officials in govern 

ment positions from the President 

down; upon the new Congress. Pray 

er that God may open the way for 

the presentation, 

consideration and 

adoption of the Christian Amend 

ment. 

Praise: Psalm 25, No. 62 

The Second Requirement 

Faith in Jesus Christ Q: 86 

Third Speaker: 

The answer here furnishes a fine 

outline for explanation: Faith a


saving grace. Salvation, a receiving 

of Christ. See John 1:11, 12. 

Draw the contrast between receiv 

ing and rejecting. Salvation, a rest 

ing upon Christ alone: Acts 4:12. 

The way Christ is offered in the 

gospel. 

Note the results of Pentecost as 

an illustration, also the case of the 

Samaritan woman and the Ethiopian 

Eunuch. 

Fourth Speaker : 

Give two instances of saving faith 

manifested in those who came to 

Christ in this way as a result of the 

presentation of Jesus in the gospel 

message. 

Prayer : 

a. For God's blessing 

upon the 

work of the Covenanter Crusade all 

through the new year. 

b. For local needs. 

Final Psalm: 116:1-6, No. 312 


Mrs. E. Greeta Coleman, Dept Editor 


Monday 1:00 P. M. 

REPORT OF THE FOREIGN 

MISSIONS SYNODICAL 

SUPERINTENDENT 

1947-1948 

Reports were received from eight 

of our Presbyterials, Colorado, Il 

linois, Iowa, Kansas, New York, 

Ohio, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, 

and from Lochiel Society in Ontario, 

a total of seventy-three societies. 

Eleven of our own foreign mission 

aries weie heard on many different 

occasions, 

and six speakers from 

other mission fields were heard. All 

Presbyterials reported having sent 

letters and cards to the workers on 

the field. Second Philadelphia con 

ducts a "Round Robin" 

correspon 

dence, and one society in Pittsburgh 

Presbyterial sends an air mail letter 

to a missionary each month and 

prayer is offered for that particular 

missionary during the month. 

We will not use space here to give 

a complete statistical report. Suf 

fice to say that many, many boxes 

have been sent to the foreign field, 

including clothing, cards, Psalters, 

books, Flannelgraph sets, personal 

gifts besides the many contributions 

of money, and the support of seven 

teen Chinese orphans. 

One Presbyterial Foreign Mission 

Superintendent wrote these words 

which I feel can be adapted to all 

our Presbyterials. "These reports 

show an active interest by 

all so 

cieties. Yet mere statistics cannot 

convey the real feeling for our mis 

sions and missionaries in far away 

fields. Let us quicken our interests 

and unite in our efforts to send the 

message and more messengers to 

those who have not been brought 

under the power of the gospel of 

Jesus Christ." 

Respectfully submitted 

Orlena M. Robb 

LEAGUE OF 

COVENANTER 

INTERCESSORS 

~~ 


shall ask in prayer, believing^ ye 

shall 

receive." 

Matt. 21:22 

INTERCESSORS 

LET US UNITE IN PRAYER 

With the Week of Prayer close at 

hand, we should be particularly in 

the spirit of prayer. 

Pray for Geneva College; for Dr. 

Lee, the newly elected acting presi 

dent; for guidance in the many 

problems by which he is faced; for 

the committee of the Trustees 

which is faced with the problem of 

whom the next president shall be. 

Pray for the Christian Amend 

ment movement and the plans that 

are under way to present the Amend 

ment to the 81st Congress, soon to 

convene. Pray for our general secre 

tary, for the lecturers, for the men 

of authoiity with whom they shall 

meet, and for the speedy enthrone 

ment of our Lord Jesus Christ over 

our nation. 

Pray that our Church Budget may 

be raised in full, and do all you can 

to bring God's answer. 

Pray for the outgoing China mis 

sionaries, whose sailing has been 

cancelled, due to unsettled conditions. 

Pray that they may be led into the 

Lord's work in the mission field 

which is our Church in America. 

Pray that God will keep our workers 

through the unsettled conditions 

which mark all our mission fields. 

Pray for the Covenanter Crusade 

and the 1949 Spring Advance Pro 

gram which is soon to be sent out 

to the Church. Pray that the final 

details may be wrought out to the 

glory 

of His Name. 

Pray for the pastorless congrega 

tions. Pray for an increase in the 

number of available ministers. Pray 

for the guidance of the Holy Spirit 

in all these leaderless flocks of the 

Lord's people. 


A weekly prayer calendar for the 

national C.Y.P.U. is going to press. 

There will be a supply sufficient for 

all who would like to have a prayer 


for 1949 





Recommended by the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian 

Church (1947) 





reference." 



history, devotional study of Psalms, answers to 

readers' 

queries, and 

other features. 8'/2 x 11 inches, punched for loose-leaf binder. S1.50 per 


Route 1 Clay Center, Kansas


guide. They may be secured from the 

Rev. Remo I. Robb, 1102 Ninth Ave., 

Beaver Falls, Pa after January 1, 

1949. Cost 5c each. 

STAR NOTES 

***The Allegheny Congregation 

held a fine entertainment on Thurs 

day evening, December 23. rhe 

chahman. Mrs. Jay Wissner and 

her assistant Mrs. Jack George were 

aided by the Sabbath School teach 

ers and their classes. 

***Mrs. S. E. Greer of First Phil 

adelphia is in the Pittsburgh vicinity 

to work on the new tunes for the 

Psalter. She presented an impressive 

message to the Allegheny S. S. on 

Sabbath, December 26, by the use of 

the flannelgraph. 

***The "Church In The House" 

Phoenix, Ariz., is at 1022 E. Indian 

School Road. Sabbath School at 10 

A. M. Preaching at 2:30 P. M. The 

McElhinneys live at the same ad 

dress. Including temporary visitors, 

there were 18 at the service Decem 

ber 26. We wish to help all prospec 

tive settlers and visitors. Western 

Union will contact us if you wish to 

wire in their care. Pray for us and 

the work here. J. G. McElhinney. 

CHURCH NEWS 


Our Fall Communion was held on 

October 24. Assisting 

the Rev. M. W. Dougherty 

Sharon, Iowa, 

in 

our pastor was 

of the 

congregation. We en 

joyed his fine messages at the prep 

aration services and on Commun 

ion Sabbath. At that time, two 

of our younger boys, Roderick Fra 

ser and Glenn Jackson were united 

with the church on profession of 

faith; 

Roderick was also baptized. 

Mr. and Mrs. Keith Aiken had 

their baby son, Jefferson, baptized 

on October 10. 

The Sabbath following our Com 

munion, our pastor assisted at the 

Southfield, Michigan, Communion. In 

his absence the services were in 

charge of the elders. 

This thanksgiving season, the Wo 

men's Missionary Society sponored a 

Thanksgiving Program featuring the 

Chinese Mission play entitled "Inas 

much", written by Mrs. Samuel 

Boyle. Other numbers on the pro 

gram included poems, and songs by 

the choir and a quintet. On Thanks 

giving morning we held a worship at 

which opportunity was given for 

many to give personal testimony of 

the goodness of God during the past 

year. Our Thank-Offering this year 

was the largest in our congregation 

al history, $443.91. 

The congregation was pleasantly 

surprised to see Orlena Lynn in 

chuich on Sabbath morning not long 

after her farewell party. She served 

temporarily as our city missionary 

while waiting for conditions to settle 

on the West Coast to allow passage 

to China, and was disappointed that 

the group's passage was finally 

concelled due to the political condi 

tions in China at this time. 

Mr. and Mrs. Jack Taner recently 

became the proud parents of their 

first child, Lynn Marie. 

Mrs. Hattie Plagge left this world 

on Wednesday, October 27. She was 

almost eighty-nine years of age, and 

was looking forward to meeting her 

Saviour. Our sympathy to Miss Flor 

ence Plagge and the other members 

of her family. 

Dorothy Willis recently came up To 

Chicago from New York to join her 

family here. Luella McCalla from 

the Clarinda congregation recently 

secured a position here. We wel 

come both of them. 

Recent visitors who worshipped 

with us were Dr. Li who is settled 

in his work at the University of 

Southern California; Miss Carrie Mc 

Knight, member of the New Concord 

church; Ralph MacFarland of Southfield, 

and Alexander Nahas. 


recently sponsored two clothing 

drives. The first one was sent to the 

Selma, Alabama, Mission, 

and the 

second to the Church World Service 

for the aid of needy Christians over 

in Europe. They 

also sent to the 

Selma Mission a box of toy stuffed 

animals which the women made in 

their spare time. 

The choir met at the Smith home 

on September 10, and a social follow 

ed in honor of Sidney Willis who left 

the following day for Geneva College. 

The young people recently held a 

hard-time party. On Saturday, Octo 

ber 30, the children celebrated Hal 

loween; 

most of them were costumed 

and everyone had a fine time. 

Several of our Sabbath School 

children and others from the neigh 

borhood have been attending the Fri 

day afternoon Bible Classes being 

taught by two Moody Bible Institute 

students. 

The Older Young People's Bible 

Class held their September dinner at 

the home of Dr. and Mrs. J. D. Ed 

gar. The theme of the party was 

"School Days", and the merry 

evening was complete with sling 

shots, spit-balls, balloons, lolly-pops, 

and "naughty children". Highlighting 

the evening was a pie-social where 

the "men" 

had to dig into their 

"Jeans" 

for coppers to buy the pieces 

of pie so prettily wrapped by the 

feminine members of the group. The 

October dinner was held at the Peter 

MacRitchie home, and the November 

one at the Hyman Levy home. The 

Christian fellowship of these monthly 

get-togethers is greatly enjoyed by 

the members of the class. 

WALTON, N. Y. 

There are a number of birthdays 

in our congregation in November. 

Mrs. Anna Strong and Mr. Will Dag 

always celebrate theirs on the 1st 

day 

of the month. Both are now shut 

in and not given to much activity. 

The W.M.S. met at the church the 

first Thursday of November. After 

the business meeting they tied two 

quilts for the Southern Mission. The 

Y.W.M.S. met at the home of Mrs. 

Thomas Henderson. They began 

preparations for a box to Cyprus. 

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Loker held open 

house for Mr. and Mrs. Fred Loker 

on their thirty-fifth wedding anni 

versary November 4. Many friends 

and neighbors were in during the af 

ternoon and evening. They were 

given a chicken supper by Mr. and 

Mrs. Calvin Loker the same day. 

The spagehetti supper promised to 

those who helped paint the manse 

was held in the church on the first 

Friday evening 

fifty 

of the month. Some 

people were present. All seemed 

to enjoy the good supper prepared 

by Mrs. .Anthony Cucciarre, a friend 

of our congregation. After supper 

there was a song sing, then paint 

ings by 

a local artist of native scenes 

were presented to Mr. and Mrs. E. 

R. Carson in appreciation for all 

they have done for our congregation 

while in Walton, and to Mr. and Mrs. 

Teleford Sanderson, Mr. and Mrs. T. 

A. Henderson, and Mr. and Mrs. Fred 

Loker in honor of 

their' 

wedding an 

niversaries. Dr. Eells showed some 

movies starring several of our mem 

bers and friends. Also educational 

films were shown. All present agreed


it was a very good evening well 

spent. 

Mr. and Mrs. A. M. Thomson Sr. 

drove to Woolaston, Mass., 

on No 

vember 11 to visit with their son and 

his wife, Mr. and Mrs. A. M. Thom 

son Jr., in their new home. They 

took with them Rev. Lathom who as 

sisted communion in the Cambridge 

congregation, 

and Ellen Lathom who 

went along to visit friends. On the 

way out Ellen was taken seriously 

ill. She was taken to the home of 

Dr. and Mrs. E. J. M. Dickson where 

she was well looked after. The fol 

lowing Monday she was brought 

home in the Thomson car and the 

second day after entered the Smith 

Hospital, Walton, for a major oper 

ation made necessary by a rup 

tured appendix. Under the care of 

Dr. Eells she has made a good re 

covery, but is still confined to the 

hospital. She has been well remem 

bered by many cards and gifts, in 

cluding a sunshine box from the 

Y.W.M.S. which she appreciates 

very much. 

Our Thank-offering service was 

held on the third Friday evening of 

November. After a brief program by 

our two societies the moving picture, 

"Beyond Our Own," 

was shown. The 

offerings, which are not yet com 

plete, amounted to a little over 200. 

Refreshments were served after the 

meeting. 

Mr. Will Millen and daughter 

Dorothea from White Lake were 

visitors in Walton and Bovina on 

November 23. 

Our union Thanksgiving service 

was held in the Methodist Church 

this year with Rev. Herbert Cooper, 

the Baptist pastor preaching. Other 

local pastors took part in the service. 

Our pastor was asked to conduct 

the funeral services of Edward A. 

Barr, father of our missionary in 

China, Miss Jean Barr, in Syracuse 

on November 26. Mrs. Lathom, Mrs. 

Orlena Robb, and Walter Price also 

attended the funeral service. Rev. G. 

M. Robb, pastor of the Syracuse 

congregation, assisted in the service. 

Mr. Barr died at the Aged People's 

Home in Pittsburgh. 

Margaret Thomson has been doing 

nursing in Shavertown the last few 

weeks. Mrs. Agnes Laidlaw has fin 

ished her work in Oneonta and is tak 

ing care of Mrs. Anna Strong at 

present. 

Miss Ruth Lynn of Newburgh was 

a visitor in the Price home during 

the Thanksgiving vacation. 

The young people held a "pop 

social" 

in the church on November 

26. A scrapbook was made for Ellen 

Lathom. Games were played and 

popcorn balls and soft drinks were 

served. 


Vickey and Judy Wilkey, Elaine 

Boyd, Bonnie Marley and Donnie 

Zimmerman have recently received 

Bibles in the Junior Sabbath School 

for perfect attendance for a year. 

Although Kansas voted "wet" 

on 

the liquor question November 2, the 

Sterling 

idly by. Under the leadership 

Congregation has not stood 

of Mrs. 

A. J. Young, six medal contests and 

temperance rallies have been held 

during October. Besides the con 

tests, there was a flannelgraph or a 

speaker and music, "The O. P. R. A.," 

by a quartette, from the following 

six voices for all could not always 

attend: Heloise McFarland, Nadine 

Oline, Roberta Dill, Johnetta Beard, 

Karl Cunningham, and Eldo McFar 

land. Either Mrs. Kilpatrick or Mrs. 

Robert McCray was at the piano. 

Vickey Wilkie and John McFarland 

were among the medal winners. 

Miss Alice Edgar, R. N., has been 

visiting in the home of her uncle 

Wilson Dougherty in Arcadia, Cali 

fornia, awaiting permission to sail 

for China, where she will be nurse in 

our mission orphanage. 

At the yearly W. M. S. temper 

ance program led by Mrs. E. P. Cun 

ningham November 1, two medal con 

tests were conducted by Mrs. A. J. 

Young. The McFarland Male Quar 

tette (A. J., Joe, Armour, and Rob 

ert) 

and one of the "O. P. R. A." 

quartettes sang on this occasion. Ad 

ditional readings were given by John 

Kilpatrick, Sharon Stubblefield, and 

Melody McFarland; piano solos by 

David Kilpatrick, Katherine Maris, 

Dionne Oline, and Eleanor Maris. 

Miss Sara Hay, Mrs. Seline Becket 

and Miss Ella Adams are employed 

at Sterling Hospital. 

Mis. Lester Kilpatrick has recently 

acquired a new pair of 'eyes.' 

They 

are the first pair of contact lenses 

to be worn in Sterling. The lenses are 

worn directly on the eyeball, so that 

they 

are invisible to the casual ob 

server. They 

are made of plastic and 

are practically unbreakable. Fluid 

must be worn between the eye and the 

lens, and this takes care of the irreg 

ularities in the eye. 

She is quite pleased with the con 

tact lenses. They are a lot more 

bother than ordinary lenses, but for 

her particular eye trouble, ordinary 

glasses did not give enough correc 

tion to make it possible to read with 

out a great deal of strain and effort. 

She had practically given up reading 

but is now able to read again quite 

comfortably. Another advantage of 

the new lenses is that they exert 

pressure on the eye and in most 

cases keep the eye from getting 

worse. 

HEBRON THANKSGIVING 

PSALM FESTIVAL 

On Friday evening, November 26, 

over 100 Covenanters from nine con 

gregations gathered at the Hebron 

Church. The evening's program be 

gan with a meal served in the base 

ment by the Hebron C.Y.P.U. During 

the meal, group singing was led by 

Dr. Paul McCracken. 

Later, the Hebron folks joined the 

already filled auditorium for a serv 

ice of Thanksgiving and Praise. 

Choirs representing Olathe, Sterling, 

Denison, Winchester, Quinter, and 

Hebron, sang one Psalm from the 

Psalter, and one from the proposed 

new tunes. The Hebron Juniors sang 

a number. 

Rev. Paul Faris gave an inspira 

tional talk on the Psalms, calling us 

to a better rendering of them, as well 

as a new consideration of their 

meaning. 

Under the capable direction of 

Charles McBurney, the entire group 

sang many of their favorite Psalms, 

and several of the new tunes. 

The Lord was exceedingly good to 

us in sending perfect weather for 

the occasion, as the next day 

zard arrived. 

a bliz 

The evening proved to be most 

enjoyable for everyone, as the en 

thusiastic guests begged for more 

before smarting their homeward 

journey, which meant a drive of 

nearly 200 miles for some. 

OAKDALE 

A joint meeting of Illinois Presby 

terial and Presbytery met in the 

Oakdale Church October 26 at 8 

o'clock. The retiring moderator's ser 

mon was given on the subject "Pat 

terns for the World to Follow", Titus 

2:7, 8, by Rev. John McMillan of 

Sparta and Old Bethel. 

The court was constituted and 

Rev. D. Ray Wilcox of Oakdale was 

the newly elected moderator, and 

Oscar McClay of Oakdale, 

clerk of 

Presbytery for the coming year. 

The theme "Fit for the Master's 

Use" 

was used through the meeting, 

with Wednesday morning devotionals 

led by Miss Nannie Piper on Repen-


tance (Matt. 17:21). This was fol 

lowed by the Bible Study 

on John 3 

by Rev. D. Ray Wilcox. The presi 

dent's address was given by Mrs. 

Ralph Mathews of Old Bethel, after 

which a business session followea 

and Presbytery 

met in the parson 

age. The afternoon devotionals were 

led by Mrs. Elwyn Carson of Oak 

dale on the subject "Complete Conse 

cration" 

(Acts 9:16). Rev. Raymond 

Hemphill of our Kentucky mission 

then delivered an address. 

On November 17 Rev. and Mrs. D. 

Ray Wilcox of Oakdale, Illinois, en 

tertained the elders and their wives 

at a 7 o'clock dinner at their home. 

Their hospitality 

and delicious din 

ner were greatly enjoyed by all 

present. After dinner the pastor and 

elders retired to the living room for 

an elders' 

meeting while Mrs. Wilcox 

and the wives enjoyed an evening of 

social fellowship together. 

Mrs. Wilcox and daughter Miss 

Marjorie of Princeton, Indiana, spent 

the Thanksgiving holidays with their 

son and brother and family, Rev. C. 

R. Wilcox. 

Mr. and Mrs. Oscar McClay of 

Oakdale, Illinois, attended "Open 

House" 

at the State Bank in Sparta, 

Illinois, 

daughter, Miss Mary Elizabeth, is 

employed. 

on December 4, where their 

The Annual Thank-offering service 

of the joint Missionary Societies was 

held in the Church Sabbath morning, 

November 28. Mrs. Oscar McClay 

presided. The juniors sang 

a number 

of Psalms with motions. Talks on 

Thank-offering, 

illustrated with chalk 

talk and flannelgraph, were given 

by Rev. and Mrs. D. R. Wilcox. The 

offering amounted to $297.00. Also 

one memorial membership dues was 

received from the children of the late 

Mrs. Richard Boyd, 

mother a 

Women's Synodical. 

who made their 

memorial member of the 

Our three college students are 

home for the holidays, namely, Miss 

Maxine Auld from Geneva College, 

Beaver Falls, Pa., Miss Annie Laurie 

Henderson, State College, Bowling 

Green, Ohio, and Miss Juanita Mc 

Clay, Monmouth College, Monmouth, 

Illinois. 

Mrs. A. R. Torrens 

after an ex 

tended visit with her relatives, the 

Torrens and Luney families, has re 

turned to her home at Glenwood, 

Minnesota. 

The Willing Hands M. S. held their 

annual bazaar and 

supper the eve 

ning of November 26. The program 

of the evening was furnished by the 

Greenville College (Free Methodist) 

Quartette of Greenville, 111. 

Elder and Mrs. W. S. Coulter en 

tertained at open house Thanksgiv 

ing afternoon in honor of their 

golden wedding anniversary. Eighty- 

five guests registered during the 

afternoon. 

Merle T. Carson, who has been sick 

for the past year, returned from 

California recently to enter the Pal 

mer Sanitorium, Springfield, 111. His 

father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. 

Robert E. Carson, have made two 

trips to visit him there. We pray for 

a speedy recovery. 

Charles Palek, 

one of our out-of- 

bounds members who has been un 

dergoing 

hospitalization for several 

weeks, is able to return to his home 

at Roxanna, 111. 

The Oakdale 

congregation lost one 

member by death this fall, Mr. J. 

Frank Boyd. He had 

suffered from 

a lingering illness of eight years 

duration. Mrs. Boyd lemains in the 

home at Oakdale. 

The Annual 

Congregational Dinner 

and Program will be held at the 

Church on Thursday, 

at noon. 

December 30, 

Dr. and Mrs. K. D. of Luney Lake 

Ozark, Mo., and Mr. and Mrs. 

Charles Rolphing of Mt. Vernon, 111., 

C. A. Stevenson and family of 

Cen- 

tralia, 111., 

cently. 

We 

worshiped with us re 

enjoyed a Psalm festival at a 

Sabbath evening 

service recently in 

which the members of the Old Bethel 

and Sparta congregations partici 

pated; also their pastor, the Rev. 

John McMillan and Mrs. McMillan. 

Mr. F. Redpath and John Duguid 

of Olathe, Kansas, 

with 

who were visiting 

relatives at Sparta, attended an 

with 

service in 

the 

company 

evening 

Rev. and Mrs. John McMillan. 

Our 

THIRD PHILADELPHIA 

communion was held on Octo 

services on 

ber 17 with preparatory 

and 

the preceding Thursday Friday 

privileged to have 

evenings. We were 

as our assistant Rev. David Carson 

who is now taking up 

University 

his 

prepared, 

studies at the 

of Pennsylvania. All ot 

messages were extremely well 

challenge to a 

Christ. 

and presented to us a new 

Because of ill health, 

closer walk with 

our pastor 

was forced to take a two months 

vacation from his 

pulpit this sum 

mer. We are happy to say that he is 

once again in his usual place. We 

have missed Mrs. James McCleary 

and Mr. John McClay from the serv 

ices lately. Ill health has laid them 

aside for a time. It was with sincere 

regret that we bade farewell to> 

George and Jessie Fisher on Novem 

ber 7 as they left for Cleveland, 

Ohio. They will surely be missed here. 

Recently Miss Elizabeth McHatton 

presented to the church a fine 

pulpit clock in memory of her 

brother. 

WATCH FOR THE COVENANTER 

CRUSADE 1949 SPRING 

ADVANCE 

A Nine Week Preaching Program 

centering around the Spring Com 

munion. 

Four Sabbaths of Looking Toward 

the Saci anient. 

The Sacramental Season. 

Four Sabbaths of Looking Toward 

the Future. 

An attractive leaflet setting forth 

the Aims and the Complete Program 

will be in the mails shortly after the 

first of the new year. Look for it, 

plan to follow it. 

Let the spring season see the 

Covenanter Church unitedly "Ad 

vancing Still From Strength to 

Strength." 

IN MEMORIAM 

Publication of the following mem 

oirs of beloved pastors has been re 

quested by 

New York and Beulah 

congregations respectively: 

DR. F. M. FOSTER 

The Session of New York congre 

gation regrets to record the death of. 

Finley 

Milligan Foster. Dr. Foster 

was born in Cedarville, Ohio, Decem 

ber 1, 1853. On graduating from the 

local school he entered Geneva Col 

lege. He graduated from the Uni 

versity of Indiana in 1876. He studied 

Theology in the Allegheny Seminary 

?nd was licensed by the Lakes Pres 

bytery 

dained by 

April 11, 187!). He was or 

the same Presbytery and 

installed Pastor of the congregation 

of Bellefontaine, Ohio, on May 13, 

1880. He was released from this 

charge August 23, 1887. He was in 

stalled Pastor of the Third Congre 

gation of the city 

of New York Sep 

tember 7, 1887. This pastorate con 

tinued until 1940. He was Pastor 

Emeritus 

until his death January 10. 

194S. He was one of six of a large 

class to have his Thesis 

a Doctor's 

"Testimony 

accepted for 

Degree. He wrote the 

of the Church" 

and "Is 

Christ Divine?" 

besides many other


tracts. He was recording secretary of 

the Board of Foreign Missions, a 

member of the Board of Church 

Erection and of the Board of Super 

intendents of the Theological Semin 

ary. He was a great lover of God's 

Word, and a powerful preacher, and 

was always in the pulpit at least five 

minutes before the hour of service. 

He was Moderator of Synod in the 

year 1900. Synod recognized his or 

atorical abilities. He preached in 

sixteen Synod churches during Synod 

meetings. He adorned the pulpit and 

the Gospel Ministry. He was clerk of 

Synod for many years. He was pres 

ident of the Foreign Mission Board. 

He was widely read, and, like Theo 

dore Roosevelt and Dr. Parks S. Cad- 

man, he had a very retentive 

memory, which was shown by the 

many illustrations given. When the 

Pope made the first American Car 

dinal, he preached a sermon on the 

Catholic Church. Dr. Johnson of Gen 

eva was present on the occasion, and 

at the following Synod he told Synod 

of the sermon by Dr. Foster and ex 

pressed himself thus: "I never was 

so proud as then of being 

nanter." 

a Cove 

Submitted by Elder Joseph Dickey, 

Alex Geddes, Clerk of Session. 

RICHARD CAMERON ADAMS 

The Session and Congregation of 

the Beulah Reformed Presbyterial 

Church want to attempt to express 

in writing some appreciation of their 

late beloved pastor and "Shepherd 

of the Flock". 

Words are inadequate to express 

the loyalty, friendship, 

and kindness 

which "Rich" 

Adams and his family 

showed to us while in our midst for 

almost six years. He was a faithful 

Undershepherd of the Lord Jesus 

Christ and led us in reverence and 

loyalty to Him who is our Saviour 

Jesus Christ. By precept and ex 

ample he led us in allegiance and 

worship of Him. 

His first thoughts were of serving 

the Lord and the congregation of 

His people in this part of the Mas 

ter's vineyard; 

and at the same time 

keeping before us the claims of the 

Great Commission in which he had 

been actively engaged for so many 

years. 

The memory of his attitudes, 

words, and works in a humble way 

will long endure in this congregation 

and community. 

We are confident that when he 

was called to his Heavenly Home, the 

Saviour said, "Well done, good and 

faithful servant, 

enter thou into the 

joy 

of the Lord." 

May the blessings of the Holy 

Spirit the Comforter abide with Mrs. 

Adams and each of the children and 

their families, to guide and sustain 

them through the journey of life. 

In behalf of the Congregation, 

Signed, 

Lloyd Dillon, Clerk 

Franklin Schott 

W. A. CASKEY 

William Alfred Caskey, the son of 

James M. and Ellen Caskey, was born 

near Clarinda, Iowa, December 11, 

1875, and passed away in the Holton 

Hospital October 12, 1948, at the age 

of 73 years. 

On March 1, 1900, he was married 

to Margaret Jane Moore. To this 

union were born five daughters. 

Mr. Caskey farmed in Iowa, fol 

lowing his marriage, 

with his family 

until 1920. He 

moved to Denison in 

1920, where he has since made his 

home. Besides being a farmer, Mr. 

Caskey was a builder. 

He joined the Covenanter church 

at Clarinda, Iowa, at an early age, 

later transferring his membership to 

Denison, where for the past ten years 

he has served as a deacon. He was a 

loving husband, a kind father, 

good neighbor. 

and a 

JAMES MARSHALL GRAHAM 

James Marshall Graham was born 

September 16, 1868, in Washington 

county, Iowa, and departed this life 

November 9, 1948 at Quinter, Kan 

sas, age 80 years. In early manhood 

he united with the Tabor Covenanter 

congregation in Clay county Kansas. 

On October 7, 1891 he was united in 

marriage to Jemima Moore. In 1894 

they 

moved to Olathe, Kansas, where 

they resided until 1910 when he came 

to Quinter with his family. Those 

who live to mourn his loss are: a 

daughter, Mrs. Alma Copeland of 

Fresno, Calif., and three sons, 

Charles, Harry and Earl, also two 

brothers, Alfred and Elmer, all of 

Quinter, and a sister, Mrs. Mary 

Tweed of Denver, Colo. He made his 

home with Earl and family since the 

death of his wife in 1931. His chil 

dren were very attentive to all his 

needs in his last illness. He was a 

kind and loving father, and while he 

was of a rather retiring disposition, 

he was always very much interested 

in the welfare of his church and his 

community. He will be greatly 

missed by his many friends and loved 

ones. 

MRS. ANNA E. MeKITTRICK 

The board of managers of the 

Aged People's Home desire to place 

on record a tribute to the memory 

of Mrs. Anna E. McKittrick who for 

twenty-seven years guarded care 

fully the "Home" 

and the members 

who lived in it. She was kind and 

considerate of the needs and wants 

of the members, and spared no pains 

to make it as homelike and pleasant 

as possible for those who spent their 

evening time of life in it. She had a 

motherly care over the members of 

her flock, especially those who were 

sick. She answered the call of the 

Master on August 12, 1948, and went 

to enjoy the home that is prepared 

for those who serve Him. To her 

daughter, Mary, we extend our sin 

cere sympathy. 

Mrs. D. C. Mathews, 

Mrs. J. H. McBurney. 

IN MEMORIAM 

Samuel Oliver Willson, 

son of John 

and Nancy Elliott Willson, passed 

away at the Aged People's Home in 

Pittsburgh, December 21, 1948, in his 

eighty-seventh year. He was born 

near Morning Sun, Iowa, May 6, 

1862. In early life he united with the 

Sharon congregation. Later he was 

transfered to Morning Sun. He later 

was engaged in business in Pitts 

burgh where he became an elder in 

the East End congregation. Return 

ing to Morning Sun he was there 

installed an elder where he served 

until his entrance into the Aged 

People's Home where he remained 

four years until his death. 

He frequently attended the meet 

ings of Synod and was interested in 

all the activities of the Covenanter 

Church. He is survived by one sister, 

Mrs. Margaret Gloss of Pittsburgh. 

The funeral was conducted by Dr. 

D. H. Elliott assisted by Dr. T. C. 

McKnight. His remains were interred 

in the Home plot in Uniondale Ceme 

tery. 

It's good to have money and the 

things that money can buy, but it's 

good, too, to check up once in a 

while and make sure you haven't 

lost the things that money -can't buy. 

use. 

George Horace Lorimer 

God grinds the axes He means to 

Do little things now; so shall big 

things come to thee by and by ask 

ing to be done. Persian Proverb.



300 years of Witnessing- 

fog. CHRIST'S Sovereign rights in the, church ^nd the. rvATiOftl , 


McCLEOUD MILLIGAN PEARCE, D. D., L. L. D. 

Late President of Geneva College


QL+npAeA ajj the (leliXftouA Wanld 

Frank E. .Allen, D. D. 

Education Endangered 

Leading eprresentatives of civic, religious and polit 

ical organizations declared in a recent meeting that free 

public education is being endangered by pressure groups 

which are influencing decisions of high-ranking school 

officials. Several of these named The Tablet, a Catho 

lic paper in Brooklyn, as such a pressure instrument. 

These speakers held that there is as great a peril from 

the Catholics as from the Communists. Such views ap 

peared in a news item in the New York Times. 

Exploiting Religion 

The Watchman-Examiner says: "It now has become 

the habit that no sooner is Thanksgiving over than stores 

and avenues and main streets of our cities and towns 

take on a Christmas atmosphere. We live in a world 

that uses Christmas as a commercial asset, 

although the 

world itself ignores the teaching of Christ. Along with 

tinsel, festoons, ornaments, and the traditional Santa 

Claus, we have a step up in drunkeness in many places 

and community festivities which remind us of the Ro 

man Saturnalia. It is a confusing mixture of holiday 

festivities and commercial exploitation of religion which 

leaves far too many 

fied when the real Christmas 

people exhausted and others satis 

arrives." 

Philippine Students 

In the Central Philippine College, Iloilo, there are 2000 

students enrolled, 

an increase of more than 450 students 

over the enrollment of a year ago. More young men and 

women are enrolled in courses designed to train for full- 

time Christian work than has been true for many years. 

Marriage Mill Voted Out 

What is said to be a notorious "marriage 

ton, Md., 

mill" 

at Elk- 

was voted out in the recent elections. The 

vote in that county made it illegal for any one to solicit 

weddings or "loiter about public buildings" 

wedding business. 

Manse Taxes Relaxed in 

Canada 

in quest of 

The Evangelical Christian informs us that Protestants 

have won their fight with the Canadian Government in 

protesting against the iniquitous system of taxing the 

manse they live in for income tax purposes while Ro 

man Catholic priests have gone free. It is certain that 

the wrong 

would never have been righted had not Pro 

testants taken a firm stand.... What puzzles and saddens 

one is the lack of conviction on the part of professing 

Protestant members of the Government and the Cabi 

net who can tolerate and perpetuate such injustices, and 

who evidently place expediency 

ples. 

above Christian princi 

mtTTTi rirvTrtp-NT A MTi-iri'D TX7TT'vr'nioc! . 

Comics Under Fire 

As a spolier of childhood and contributor to crime a- 

mong youth, the movie still holds first place, 

says The 

Free Methodist. The editor continues, "But now have 

come two competitors; the crime program over the rad 

io, and the 'comics'. The contention against these in 

fluences seems to be coming not primarily from Protest 

ant church people, as one would expect, but from civic 

groups. 

"At South Bend, Indiana, has been organized the South 

Ben-Mishawaka Pharmacy Club, 

which has adopted a 

tentative 'code' for examination of the comics: 

"The code provides that the following 'comics' 

are 

considered objectionable: (1) Those which glorify or 

condone reprehensible characters or acts; (2) Contain 

material offensively sexy; (3) Contain gruesomely pre 

sented scenes of bloodshed, mangled bodies and similar 

scenes; (4) Contain scenes of cruel or unusual tortures 

so presented as to invite sadism; (5) Advertise products 

or objects tending to contribute to juvenile delinquency, 

and (6) Are marked by, or tend to create, disrespect 

for law and its 

officers." 

Family Religion 

The Committee on Kingdom Extension of The Associ 

ate Reformed Presbyterian Church has been promoting 

the use of the Bible in the home and family worship. 

This committee suggests, in part, that there should be 

in the home at least one attractive, readable copy of 

the Bible for each member of the family. Regular fam 

ily worship should be held. Some one member of the 

family should be responsible for family worship. Under 

normal circumstances this person should be the father. 

The reading of the Scriptures may be shared by various 

members of the family. Any minister should be glad 

to cooperate by holding an initial service in the home 

and offering helpful instruction for the family. 

The better world of tomorrow must have its roots in 

the home the kind of a home in which the Bible has an 

exalted place. If the world is to be a world where right 

eousness shall prevail under democratic rule, 

mon man, who is the ultimate ruler, 

thing 

the com 

must know some 

about the freedoms we would enjoy. These free 

doms are essentially religious. They have never been 

successfully 

propagated apart from the regular use of 

the Bible. Searching the Scriptures finds tis highest 

approval and deepest significance in the home. 

Playing the Stock Market 

Rev. N. J. Monsma, in The Banner, replying to a ques 

tion of a reader, discusses the subject of playing the 

stock market. "The assertion that men of our churches 



lnfj OUV-EjJNAJN IJiK W 1 1 JN riibb . church of North America, through its editorial office. 

Rev. D. Raymond Tag-g-art, D. D., Editor and Manager, 1209 Boswell Avenue, Topeka, Kansas. 




The Rev. R. B. Lyons, B. A., Limavady, N. Ireland, agent for the British Isles. 

under the act of March 3, 1879.


Gum&hI (svenil Prof. John Coleman, PhD., D. D. 

Today (January 3) the 81st Congress met and organ 

ized. The Senate re-elected Dr. Peter Marshall as its 

chaplain despite the fact that he had been put in two 

years ago as a Republican displacing Dr. Harris, 

a Meth 

odist Democrat. Senator Lucas, the Democratic floor 

leader, 

said the Democrats would return to the custom of 

keeping good men despite political considerations. 

When the Christian Amendment was presented to him, 

Dr. Marshall was so pleased that he took the title of the 

Rev. G. M. Robb's address, "New Glory for Old Glory," 

and preached from it. Sen. Kilgore of West Virginia, 

a member of the church, delighted with the sermon, 

asked "leave to 

print" 

and the sermon is in the Con 

gressional Record. Many thousands of copies have been 

sent out by the leaders in the Christian Amendment 

Movement. It was used last year in classes in Geneva. 

Legislation in the House of Representatives has long 

been controlled by the Rules Committee, which has been 

determining 

what bills would be permitted to come on 

the floor. Measures which the majority 

of the House 

favored were sometimes smothered. The Committee 

has long been dominated by 

a combination of Republi 

cans and the most conservative Southern Democrats, and 

it seemed as if the seniority 

rule would continue this 

control in the new Congress. The Republican caucus 

voted to fight for such a situation. But many Republi 

cans, disregarding the action of the caucu^, joined the 

progressive Democrats in voting for a change, 

powers of the Committee were effectively limited. 

* * * * 

and the 

In the Senate the great fight was between the conserva 

tive and progressive elements of the Republican party. 

The conservatives won. Sen. Wherry of Nebraska, a loud- 

voiced reactionary, 

was made floor leader for the party 

and the Policy Committee of the Republican caucus was 

left in the hands of Senator Taft as chairman. The rule 

of the caucus had been that a man could not retain the 

chairmanship 

more than four years and Senator Taft 

had served that term. But the rule was ignored and 

Taft still reigns. Senator Taft, however, is not so con 

servative as many 

of his colleagues. 

* # * * 

Sixteen state legislatures have passed laws against the 

closed shop and on January 3 the U. S. Supreme Court 

declared these laws constitutional. The decision is not 

at hand, and one would need both it and the state laws 

to know whether or not the union shop authorized by 

the Taft-Hartley Law still is legal in these states. The 

union shop 

allows the employer to employ whom he 

pleases!, but if the majority of the employees have so 

decreed new employees must join the union within thirty 

days or be discharged. The Taft-Hartley 

law also pro 

vides that the man cannot be fired from the union as 

long as he pays his dues. Perhaps these sixteen states 

will now outlaw the union shop also, if their present 

laws do not do so. 

With the new year airmail rates go up from five to six 

cents, 

* * * * 

special delivery from thirteen to fifteen cents and 

parcel post rates on a somewhat similar scale. No post- 

office function is paying for itself but the firct-class let 

ters and the postal savings. The postcards that now go 

for a cent cost the government, all told, on delivery, 

2%c and the Hoover Commission recommends that the 

price now be 2c. The entire deficit for the year ending 

next June is expected to total about $550,000,000 a lot 

of money. Of this about $200,000,000 is due to depart 

mental and congressional mail that goes free. That will 

have to be paid for somehow through one budget or 

another. Second-class mail will have a probable deficit 

of $207,000,000. Try and raise that rate! 

The Hoover Commission is going to recommend that 

the postmaster-general be removed from politics and 

given a ten-year term; that no Senatorial ratification be 

required for any postmastership; 

and that the funds of 

the Post-office be a revolving fund, with Congress ap 

propriating only the deficit, if any. Now all receipts go 

into the U. S. Treasury, and even the money to print 

more postage stamps has to be appropriated by Congress. 

Fifty years ago Gen. Miles led an American army into 

Puerto Rico and it became American territory. The 

Puerto Ricans were made American "subjects" 

own 'em, don't 

we?" 

serted itself and in 1917, 

"We 

But the better American self as 

under the progressive leader 

ship of Woodrow Wilson, the islanders became "citizens 

of the United States." 

Gradually the island was given 

self-government and in 1946 President Truman appoint 

ed Jesus T. Pinero, a Puerto Rican, governor and on 

January 2, 1949, Mr. Munoz Marin, elected by an over 

whelming majority in November, was inaugurated. The 

island has been in dire financial straits for a number 

of year^, largely due to its great increase in population 

and the ownership of the best land by American sugar 

corporations. The natives had work at certain seasons, 

but were dependent on this, 

and with the advent of 

modern machinery there was less work than ever. Now 

the island is going industrial and its tragically low stand 

ard of living is beginning to rise. 

? ? & * 

Some 105,234 officials of national and local unions have 

filed non-Communist affidavits in compliance with the 

Taft-Hartley Law. The National Labor Relations Board 

said (December 10) this gave 95 national AFL unions, 

31 CIO unions and 50 independent organizations the 

right to use its services. A total of 11,078 local unions 

have met the requirements. But among top union offic 

ials not signing are John L. Lewis and Phillip Murray. 

In Cleveland, Ohio, says the United Press, 

a 55-year- 

old woman has been granted a divorce because her hus 

band is a teetotaler. He had deserted a New Year's 

party "to pray for the poor 

sinners1" 

even had turned down an "unspiked" 

went upstairs to read his Bible and pray. 

he left behind. He 

eggnog before he 

Churchman's Magazine (British) has an article by Sen 

ator Henry Taylor of the Ulster Parliament, who strongly 

resents the efforts of Eire to absorb the northern prov 

inces and declares that Ulster, besides paying its own 

governmental expenses, "contributed out of taxation more 



Calvanism and Communism 

By 

the. Rev. Lester E. Kilpatrick 

Part I What Communism Is. 

In Communism, Calvinism faces the most effi 

ciently organized enemy of Christianity in our 

day. We shall consider in this article, what Com 

munism is, and later, Calvinism's task with re 

gard to it. 

In two previous articles we have considered 

Humanism as Calvinism's chief enemy in the 

field of thought, and Secularism as its chief ene 

my in the field of action. We found them com 

panion evils, the Secularist utterly indifferent to, 

or rebellious toward, God, not taking the trouble 

to consider seriously God's claim on him, seeking 

to feed his soul on the things of this world ; and 

the Humanist seeking to justify such conduct, 

taking the trouble, not only to consider God's 

claims, but to reply against God. But Secularists 

and Humanists, as such, are not organized. 

Satan always seeks to integrate and marshal 

his forces. He cannot claim the loyalty of his 

servants through their love and respect for their 

master, or through their devotion to the program 

in which they engage. Hence, he must use the 

iron heel of a vigorous despotism. That, he is 

fully 

prepared to do, for his servants have willing 

ly accepted his tyranny in return for the indul 

gence of their sinful natures. "He that commit- 

sin." 

teth sin is the servant of 

Communism Today Is Satan's Instrument. 

Currently the name of Satan's organized force 

is Communism. He is organizing his army of 

Secularists and Humanists so that he can hurl 

them unitedly against the people of God. Of 

course, not all Humanists and Secularists are 

even be active and bit 

Communists. Many may 

ter enemies of Communism, for there is no real 

unity among the wicked. But when force is ap 

plied, and Satan begins to use the weapon of stark 

fear, as he always does, the Humanist and Secu 

larist quickly fall in line. The devil is working 

today toward such complete enslavement of his 

servants. 

The devil isn't concerned about the name under 

which his force marches, but he always has such 

an organized force, corrupt, greedy, merciless. It 

once was Babylon. Babylon may fall, but Persia 

rises. The deadly wound to Satan's beast is healed. 

Greece. Rome, The Holy Roman Empire, Naooleon, 

Fascism, Nazism! One falls but another 

comes. 

Today it is Communism. Communism is not, 

in its essential characteristics, the opposite of 

Fascism and Nazism, as some have contended. It 

is the same in germ. One of these oppressive 

powers may 

rise by means of men of wealth and 

property, another by making impossible promises 

to the common people. One may confiscate all 

property for the State, another may leave it in 

private hands and tax it at pleasure. But they 

are all the same in that they are humanistic, ma 

terialistic dictatorships. Satan seems always to 

have a humanistic system, the proportions of its 

ambitions being world domination, in which to 

regiment his servants. 

Communism Today Is Russia 

To identtify the descriptive term "communism" 

with the Russian power may be thought by some 

to be not strictly accurate, "communism" 

ally being merely a term denoting 

origin 

social owner 

ship of all property for the benefit of all. How 

ever, in present day popular usage, the Union of 

Soviet Socialist Republics or, more briefly, 

Russia is the embodiment of Communism. And 

in Russia, Communism is a merciless dictatorship 

of the party in power. 

Communism, as a benevolent social movement 

bringing the benefits of the productive economy 

of a nation to everyone, including the poor and 

needy, the widow and fatherless, is far removed 

from the revolutionary force that has united the 

nations of eastern Europe behind an iron curtain. 

The concept of those sincere folk, who, from re 

ligious or humanitarian motives, have embraced 

Communism, is not in itself a serious threat to 

our Republican form of government. However, 

consciously or unconsciously, even while they ex 

pressly repudiate Russian Communism as do 

the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in 

America and the World Council of Churches 

it is just here that the movement in America has 

received some of its most effective momentum 

and promotion. 

There are many liberal preachers and human 

ists who insist that Communism does not at all 

involve the dictatorial powers of the Russian 

head, and the godlessness and inhuman excesses 

that have accompanied that regime. However, if 

they insist that Communism does not involve the 

Russian pattern, it must still be admitted that 

there has never been a practical demonstration 

of benevolent Communism in operation on any 

considerable scale. Those experiments of that na 

ture for they have never continued beyond the 

stage of experiment have always been of de 

cidedly limited bounds. The Oneida settlement 

in New York State soon became involved in dif 

ficulties, and the thriving business that continued 

after the communistic element was eliminated 

from the undertaking, cannot be claimed as a 

specimen. The Harmony Society of the Econo 

mies near Beaver Falls, Pa., soon played out. 

This has been the fate of unnumbered ventures 

of this kind. 

Whenever such an experiment has reached siz 

able proportions, the natural depravity of the hu 

man heart has risen to harass the enterprise. The 

definition which has often been used jokingly, 

soon became disturbingly near the truth: "A 

Communist is a man who has nothing and he is 

willing to share it with 

you." 

As soon as he 

comes to have something he becomes unwilling to 

share it. Thus, the utopian goal has proven im-


practical because of the depraved human raw ma 

terial with which Communism must work. It is 

hard for some of us to see how anyone who ac 

cepts the Scriptural teaching of fallen man, could 

expect anything else than that force, with all the 

attendant bloodshed, deception, revolution, con 

centration camp horrors, forced labor camps, po 

litical executions, and many other crimes, even 

less nice to speak of, should be required in order 

to enforce equal sharing. 

Those apologists who hold to the theories of 

Communism, while disclaiming the bloody accom 

paniment, have been described as "anaemic Marx 

ists." 

It is the bloody 

revolutionist in the Com 

munist ranks who has looked realistically at his 

own system, and has seen what is involved in it. 

Without going into a discussion of the possibility 

of a Communistic society on the Christian pat 

tern, we may turn to the Communism of Russia 

as the significant enemy with which Calvinism 

must deal. 

Communism, a Threat in America 

Communism has demonstrated that it is a con 

tender in our generation for the political domina 

tion of the world. Supposedly the domination is 

political, but actually it is no secret that the dom 

ination would extend to the control of the whole 

life of its subjects. A popular news magazine 

(Pathfinder 11 August '48, p. 31) reports the 

Encyclopedia" 

"newly published Soviet as guar 

anteeing that "religion would have full freedom 

exists.' 

in the U. S. S. R. as 'long as it But then, 

sternly, it pointed out that it was the people's 

duty to make sure it didn't exist very long." 

Communism is a subversive, unprincipled force 

with which even the United States must contend. 

Two principal means by which it has attained 

such proportions are college and university teach 

ing, and agitation among certain union groups. 

Here the appeal has been largely humanitarian 

and utilitarian. Russian domination of the Com 

munist system has been kept in the background 

and, in so far as possible, expressly denied. 

Even so, it must be admitted that Communism 

could not have made such inroads in America, 

with such an utterly unattractive example as 

Russia before us, had it not been true that there 

is in our country, shameful poverty amid wealth 

and plenty, inexcusable lack of opportunity, and 

maldistribution of the fruits of the national econ 

omy, on which Communist agitators can capital 

ize. This is in full recognition of the fact that 

America in these respects is far, far ahead of 

every 

other nation on the globe. But agitators 

are able to agitate successfully because the under 

privileged compare their lot, not with someone 

across the seas, but with their neighbors here. 

Communism has come in, and in three decades 

of ground work in colleges and in the press, has 

promised to set these matters straight, to equal 

ize the privileges of all, and to provide a more 

efficient economy. It has gotten a wide and cul 

tured hearing, as well as a limited popular follow 

ing. The latter is negligible, so far as numbers 

are concerned, but Communists themselves ad 

mit that they depend on rigid discipline and stra 

tegic placing of their men, rather than on a ma 

jority in an election. They fully expect to use 

revolution when the time comes to strike. 

Since they know they cannot win control of any 

country by popular vote, all their planning and 

organizing is done underground. In the open the 

plan is to use other organizations which are made 

up of people seeking to bring benefits to society, 

to spread their doctrines and propaganda. They 

seek to bend all agencies for material betterment 

to their advantage. 

Research foundations are an especially useful 

tool for them to capture. They have money. They 

publish their reports. They influence tne edu 

cated in business and in government. Schools and 

charitable organizations have been declared by 

ex-Communists to be particularly 

valued as a 

means of getting out Communist propaganda. 

The YMCA and the YWCA have had officers and 

secretaries who, in their public speeches, have 

followed closely the Communist party line. Some 

of these organizations appear to be very nearly 

in complete control, for the Communists do not 

want of their "fronts" 

specific endorsement of 

Communism. That would discredit the organiza 

tion and end its influence. They want their pro 

gram of government control proclaimed and ex 

tended. Then when they get ready to take over, 

the people will be already receptive to such ideas 

and in some measure persuaded that they are de 

sirable. 

It is significant that the Christian organiza 

tions which the Communists have infiltrated most 

successfully with their propaganda are those 

which are liberal in theology, those which have 

completely dropped from their active testimony 

the doctrine of man's total depravity, the deity 

of Jesus Christ, the substitutionary blood atone 

ment, the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures, 

and others. 

Against such an instrument of the devil, what 

can the righteous do? To ignore this threat, and 

to regard the evidence of infiltration of our 

institutions, churches and government, as some 

thing invented by the Fascists, would be sinful. 

It would be even more sinful to ignore the sins of 

sensuality and extravagance in our country, nour 

ished by injustice and oppression. For it is this 

which lies back of this threat, and which prepared 

the way before this stealer of our liberties. 

that we must remember is that as a 

One thing 

Church "The weapons of our warfare are not car 

nal, but mighty to the pulling down of strong 

holds." 

The battle is the Lord's. 

(To be continued.) 

(Concluded from next page) 

Thousands of persons visited the president's home, 

Ferncliff on the campus to pay their respetcs. At times 

the throng was so huge that many were obliged to stand 

outside until there was room in the residence. Mes 

sages of 

condolence to the family poured in from all 

parts of the United States and more than a hundred flor 

al tributes were received.


In Memory of Dr. Pearce 

A NOBLE CHARACTER IS GONE 

A prince of the church, 

a noble character and a dis 

tinguished citizen, that was Dr. M. M. Pearce, presi 

dent of Geneva College, 

shocked all Beaver Valley yesterday. 

whose unexpected death so 

Dr. Pearce, in his quiet, unobstrusive way, was a lead 

er in his field, and his field was one of many facets. His 

eloquent pulpit delivery was based on solid, orthodox 

belief, and his sparkling wit and effulgent personality 

made him equally popular as an afterdinner speaker. 

His service along this line was not bound by creed nor 

performance for pecuniary gain. He took delight in fill 

ing any niche that presented itself and with zest and 

fervor entered into the spirit of any activity with which 

he became associated. 

"Old Main" was no prison for Dr. Pearce. He entered 

whole-heartedly in civic and community work, was a 

leader in educational fields and was well known and 

highly respected by countless men, women and children 

throughout a wide area. Geneva College, during the 

quarter century Dr. Pearce served as president, became 

better and more widely known than perhaps at any oth 

er time in its century of existence. 

Dr. Pearce charted Geneva's course through dark 

and troubled times, and brought it to brighter days a 

better and stronger institution of higher learning. Lean 

depression years gave way to the equally dark wartime 

when most of the male students were with the military 

forces. Then came the Air Cadet training period on the 

campus. With the end of the conflict a brighter day 

dawned and Dr. Pearce with his indomitable spirit and 

enthusiasm was the guiding genius in the elaborate cen 

tennial celebration of the College. 

It was but natural that the last campus appearance of 

Dr. Pearce was at the Geneva-Bethany football game, 

the evening he was stricken, for he was an ardent sports 

fan. He never became so deeply steeped in academic 

subjects nor so engrossed in administrative policies that 

he had no time for sports in all its various fields. "Clean 

sportsmanship" 

was his practice. 

was his motto; "clean sportsmanship" 

The Church (and we use that word in its broadest 

sense) , 

the field of education and the community will 

sorely miss the presence and ministrations of Dr. Pearce, 

but the ennobling influence of his life will continue as a 

fitting monument to his memory and an inspiration to 

all. 

Dr. McLeod Milligan Pearce, 

president of Geneva Col 

lege for more than a quarter of a century, died unex 

pectedly on the morning of November 22, in Providence 

hospital, Beaver Falls, Pa., where he had been conva 

lescing from a heart attack suffered on November 13, 

after the Geneva-Bethany football game. Dr. Pearce was 

74 years old. 

Funeral services were held on the following Wednes 

day in the College chapel, with Dr. John Coleman, pro 

fessor of religious education presiding. 

Dr. Pearce was born in Bellevue, July 16, 1874, a son 

of William and Margaret McKinney Pearce. The family 

moved to Beaver Falls when Dr. Pearce was a boy. It 

was William Pearce who as a contractor was given the 

contract for erecting Old Main on the Geneva campus in 

1881, the year following the removal of the College from 

Northwood, Ohio, to Beaver Falls. As a boy the future 

president of the College wheeled stones for the structure. 

He was educated in the Beaver Falls public schools 

and graduated from Geneva with an A. B. degree in 

1896 and from the Reformed Presbyterian Seminary in 

Pittsburgh three years later. His first pastorate was 

the St. Louis Reformed Presbyterian Church which he 

served from 1899 to 1911. He was then pastor of the 

East End Reformed Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, 

from 1911 to 1913, and served the first R. P. church, 

Philadelphia, 

until 1919. Then followed four years as 

editor for the American Sunday School Union. 

In 1923 he was chosen president of Geneva, his 25th 

anniversary being marked earlier this year. The thir 

teenth president of the College, he headed it for one- 

fourth of its 100-year history. Dr. Pearce was one of 

the few American College presidents to serve so long a 

period. 

He was listed in "Who's Who" in America, and in 

"World Biography". A leader in civic, religious and 

educational life in Beaver County he was prominent in 

every community, frequently occupying 

pulpits in the 

various churches and being in great demand as a speak 

er. 

Dr. Pearce was three times accorded honorary degrees. 

In 1915 Geneva conferred on him the degree of Doctor 

of Divinity. Westminister College conferred a similar 

degree in 1924. This year at the Grove City College 

commencement he recieved the degree of Doctor of 

Laws. He was to have received the Doctor of Laws 

degree at the Waynesburg College commencement exer 

cises this summer. 

He attended the College Hill Reformed Presbyterian 

Church in Beaver Falls, and was a member of the Beav 

er Falls Historical Commission. 

Dr. Pearce leaves his widow, Mrs. Carrie McKaig 

Pearce, two sons, Robert Melville Pearce, of Forrest- 

ville, Conn., and Dr. John McKaig Pearce, of Beaver; a 

daughter, Mrs. Kenneth Saxton, Beaver Falls, and three 

grandchildren. 

Dr. Allen C. Morrill, dean of the faculty, 

and the Stu 

dent Senate assisted Dr. Coleman in funeral arrange 

ments. Dr. Robert F. Galbreath, former president of 

Westminster College, and now pastor of the First Pres 

byterian Church, New Castle, spoke. Dr. J. B. Willson, 

Rev. Robert McMillan and Dr. Delber H. Elliott assisted. 

The Genevans, College choir, sang for the services, and 

students formed the honor guard, served as pallbearers 

and acted as ushers. 

Students and faculty members of Geneva college form 

ed an honorary guard that extended from the main en 

trance of Old Main to College avenue Wednesday after 

noon as the funeral procession for the late Dr. McLeod 

M. Pearce, president of the college for a quarter of a 

century, left the campus for the Beaver Falls cemetery. 

More than 500 persons attended the solemn services held 

in the college chapel. 

Pallbearers were the four class presidents and four 

other men students chosen by the student senate. 

(See previous page)


Yet Always Rejoicing 

Address at the Funeral of Dr. M. M. Pearce, pres 

ident of Geneva College, held in the College Chap 

el, Nov. 24, 1948 

Prof. John Coleman, D. D., Ph. D. 

When the word that Dr. Pearce had passed a- 

way came to the College Monday morning, just 

as the first classes were taking up, it was to fac 

ulty and to those students who had heard the 

news almost impossible to go on as usual. Some 

thing vital had gone from College life. Then 

with an added shock came the thought, "This is 

Thanksgiving week how rejoice and give 

thanks?" 

Therefore this text: "In everything 

give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ 

Jesus concerning 

you." 

The will of God in Christ 

Jesus, and Christ Jesus is the Lord of all all 

things are in His hands and He giveth songs in 

the night. 

Mrs. Pearce, you and Dr. Pearce grew up to 

gether, you sat near one another in church, you 

attended the same social gatherings ; he gave you 

his heart and you gave him yours; forty-eight 

years you have lived together "in joy and in 

sorrow, in plenty and in want, in sickness and 

in health," 

and there has been much of joy and 

little of sorrow, there has been careful economiz 

ing, as in many a minister's family, but little of 

want; there have been months of severe sickness 

but much of health; your children came, and 

grandchildren have played about your knee and 

gone with Grandpa to his office ; both you and he 

have precious memories that both you and he 

will treasure forever : for these things give 

thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus 

concerning you. 

You, his children, 

you have had both father 

and mother through childhood, have had their 

love and guidance through the years of your edu 

cation and early maturity, have had holidays with 

them full of delightful hours ; you bear an honor 

ed name, more and more honored through the 

years; you, his children, give thanks. 

Members of the Board of Trustees and Facul 

ty, twenty-five years ago you were in turmoil 

and distress, this institution had need of leader 

ship; Dr. Pearce came and with him came harm 

ony and renewed progress. His father had lab 

ored in building the walls of this college home in 

which we worship, he has labored in adding to 

its educational structure (it is now fully accred 

ited) and its spiritual life this is a noteworthy 

record of Christian service and achievement: 

give thanks. 

You Alumni and Students of Geneva, you have 

memories of chapel and convocation services, of 

friendly 

greetings and interviews, and even when 

the latter were on rare occasions concerned with 

discipline they were probably more gracious and 

kindly than you deserved. These memories will 

be vivid long after the details of your scholastic 

attainments have faded to the point of vanishing. 

Is he not for you one of those immortal dead who 

live again in lives made better by their presence? 

Give thanks. 

And citizens of the Beaver Valley, you have 

known him in your public gatherings, your 

schools, your churches, your service clubs, where 

with personal friendliness, dignity, and effective 

speech he gave himself to you all: do you give 

thanks. 

And Dr. Pearce himself, is he not giving 

thanks? Perhaps he was unconciously sensing 

the nearness of the end of his earthly service, for 

it has been remarked that more and more of his 

sermons have dealt with immortality and redemp 

tion through the Lord Jesus Christ. He felt the 

burden of his office. Besides the daily prob 

lems that arise in an institution with an enroll 

ment of over 1,400 there were the unfinished cam 

paign and other problems to solve. At least 

three times in the past year and a half he has 

said to me privately: "It is hard to know what 

to do, and every morning just before I come to 

the College, I ask the Lord to give me wisdom and 

guidance in the decisions of the day. I want to 

do the right thing." 

Within the last month he 

told me of a check he had just received for the 

College. Checks are always welcome in college 

life, but the money was not the chief cause of his 

joy it was the accompanying message, which 

said that the check was a token of gratitude from 

a Geneva student who in his classes had found 

the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour and Lord. 

There is said to be joy in heaven among the an 

gels over one sinner that repenteth. There was 

joy also in the College executive office. 

In the old English legend King Arthur said 

to his last surviving knight: "My end draws 

nigh ; 'tis time that I were gone.... Then saw 

they how there hove a dusky barge, dark as a 

funeral scarf from stem to 

stern." 

The decks 

"were dense with stately forms," 

and there was 

lamentation "like a wind that shrills all night in 

a waste land.... Then 

murmured Arthur : 'Place 

me in the barge. I have lived my life and that 

which I have done may He within Himself make 

pure." 

Then the barge put out to sea 

and was at last one black dot on the verge 

of the horizon. David, when he saw that his 

end was near wrote : "Thou wilt perfect that 

me." 

which concerneth David was speaking of 

himself and his life work. The passing of every 

Christian is another occasion for our praise of 

the Lord Jesus for what he has wrought through 

His people on earth (of that we have been speak 

ing) , for his removal of the bitterness of death, 

and for His glorious reception of His own into 

the eternal heavens. 

One of the quests of the knights of King Arth 

ur was the cup, not one like it, but the very cup 

which in the upper room, the same nigh't in 

which He was betrayed, the Lord took and gave 

to His disciples, saying: "This cup is the New 

Covenant in my blood, shed for many for the


remission of sins. Drink ye all of it, for as often 

as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do 

come." 

show the Lord's death till He King Arth 

ur's men sought the magic of the cup ; far better 

the grace of which its contents are the symbol. 

A few Sabbaths ago Dr. Pearce and wife togeth 

come." 

er partook of that cup. "Till I Last Mon 

day 

at dawn the Lord came. At His right hand 

is fulness of joy. They walk with Him in white. 

"His servants shall serve Him." 

If someone were 

to go to the casket with power effectively to com 

mand the dead, "Arise:" 

would he come, or would 

he as from afar answer to the one who called, 

to the wife, the children, the grandchildren, us 

all : "No, I shall not go to you, but do you make 

ready 

and come to me. It is far better." 

Life's Victory 

Remarks made at the funeral of Dr. Pearce. 

Robert F. Galbreath, D. D. 

We have just heard read portions of the fif 

teenth chapter of First Corinthians. 

For this hour it is a well-chosen scripture for 

it is a paean of victory, not a cry of defeat. It 

rises to its climax in that startling challenge 

"Oh death, where is thy victory?", and, then, lest 

any should not understand, the apostle adds the 

answer "The victory is ours, thank God!" 

Dr. Pearce has won life's greatest victory. He 

has justified the Christian's deepest faith and 

fondest hope a place in my Father's House. 

The quality of that place is intimated in the 

words of Jesus to the man dying beside Him on 

Calvary "Today, thou shalt be with me in Par 

adise." 

Paradise is, in clearer interpretation, 

"the Gardens of God." 

Infinite love has prepared 

a place for each of His own and to that place our 

friend has found abundant entrance. 

This hour recalls times of comforting and help 

ful fellowship. Coming as I did, to a college pres 

ident's office after Dr. Pearce had already gath 

ered years of experience, in my inexperience I 

resorted again and again to my good neighbor 

and friend for advice. He never failed me. On 

each occasion he weighed the issues and then 

spoke freely and wisely. He was a neighbor in 

the richest meaning of the word. 

He was an educator of capacity. 

In the councils of our state organization he was 

faithful. He upheld those standards of academic 

e.xcellence any college is proud to achieve. He 

spoke only when he had a carefully prepared 

opinion to present and his counsel was respected 

by his colleagues. 

I would be untrue to fact, however, if I did not 

at once add that Dr. Pearce was more concerned 

to see well-rounded lives than to develop intellect 

at the price of moral and social poverty. He him 

self set before young men and women here today 

and those absent thousands an example of a fully 

rounded life, social, religious, intellectual. His 

dream and hope for you was that you would find 

the challenge to Christian life and service and 

answer that call with your lives. Whatever other 

tribute you may wish to pay him, nothing else 

can be of comparable value to a careful living out 

of his dream and hope for you. 

So we gather today in sorrow for ourselves, 

sorrow for a loneliness we know because his place 

is vacant here; but also with a sense of victory 

because Dr. Pearce had fought the good fight, 

had finished his course, had kept the faith and 

has answered the summons to come where the vic 

tor's crown awaits. 

While he fellowships with the redeemed of all 

the ages we shall best cherish his memory by 

making effective in our lives the things he loved 

and illustrated so well in his life. 

To Mrs. Pearce and the family we commend the 

blessed memories of this life so near and dear to 

you and the confidence in a glad reunion in the 

land where separations and tears no longer bur 

den the soul of God's children. In every lonely 

hour may you find rich fulfillment of the prom 

sufficient." 

grace is 

ise, "My 

CHARLES MARSTON LEE 

Acting President of Geneva College 



than 2,000,000,000 pounds to the British Exchequer to 

wards the cost of defense and other United Kingdom 

services." 

He adds that "because of its strategic posi 

tion and its participation in the world war Ulster made 

possible the winning of the Battle of the Atlantic. Even 

assuming the impossible the annexation of Ulster by 

Eire there is no assurance that the Irish Republic would 

be at Britains side in another conflict."


The National 

Temperance Movement 

By the Rev. J. 0. Edgar 

The following items were gathered by the chair 

man of Synod's Temperance Committee at a re 

cent convention of the National Temperance 

Movement : 

The National Temperance Movement features 

what it calls "The New Approach to the Alcohol 

Problem." 

This new approach is largely elucational. 

Efforts are being made to provide the 

latest and best scientific materials on all phases 

of the alcohol problem. Speakers are being sent 

into the public schools to try to reach youth with 

the message. The organization cooperates with 

the various churches and also seeks the enactment 

of legislation which will curtail the liquor traffic. 

Each year, in April, a school is conducted for 

workers. Last year the school was held at Chi 

cago university, and it will be held there again 

this year. Criticisms which have been leveled 

at the Yale School of Alcohol Studies, cannot be 

applied to this school. 

With one accord speakers at the convention 

stressed total abstinence. This organization takes 

no stand short of prohibition of all kinds of liq 

uor. One speaker stated, "We feel badly that 

the dry forces in Kansas were defeated. But", 

he continued, "Kansas had beer ; Kansas was not 

a dry state. There is no middle ground. If a 

state is going to have beer, it will have trouble 

with hard liquor." 

A retired railroad man who works in behalf 

of the Minnesota Temperance Movement, spoke 

trieily about the railroad's concern about the 

drinking problem. On one line a conductor went 

to the officials and told them he would not again 

enter a club car for the purpose of collecting 

fares. He said that the railroads have an iron 

clad law about employees entering a place where 

liquor was served, and that he was violating the 

law when ever he entered the club car. The com 

pany could dismiss him if it wished, but he would 

not be guilty of breaking the law anymore. The 

conductor did not lose his job. 

Another example was given of the officials of 

a railroad meeting to discuss various problems. 

Conductors who were present suggested the elim 

ination of a club car would do much to solve the 

problem. An official in charge of providing new 

equipment left the meeting and when he returned 

reported that he had just canceled orders for four 

new club cars. 



play the stock market is alarming .... Playing 

the stock 

market is gambling and stands unequivocally condemn 

ed. No Christian should wish to have any 

in such transactions .... 

"I understand that in such 'playing' 

part or lot 

the buyer is not 

at all interested in the securities themselves. He does 

not desire to invest his money as safely as possible. He 

only seeks to increase his wealth by the fluctuations of 

the prices of the securities. Moreover, he hardly ever, if 

ever, purchases the securities of 'futures' 

out right, but 

buys 'on margin', risking only part of the total price, 

his broker furnishing the other part. If the price de 

creases he loses, if it increases he gains. In fact, some 

products (wheat, corn, etc.) with which he gambles may 

not even exist as yet. This playing of the stock market 

is, therefore, not ordinary speculation, but it is gambling. 

"For a number of reasons this gambling is sinful. (1) 

It inevitably leads to superstition. These gamblers trust 

in fate or luck or a 'hunch'. They 

transgress the First 

Commandment. (2 These gamblers have the sinful and 

inordinate ambition of getting rich quick. Money is 

their god and they give no heed to the Tenth Command 

ment. (3) Moreover, they have no regard for Chris 

tian stewardship and actually risk the possession of 

money God has entrusted to them. (4) They transgress 

the second table of the law (and thereby also the first), 

since they show no love for their fellowmen and are 

willing 

to enrich themselves at the expense of the loss 

of another and possibly even his ruin .... No man should 

engage in this sordid business, and, of course, least of 

all a Christian." 

Quakers Reject Military Taxes 

The Norwegian government has been informed by the 

Society of Friends (Quakers) that they do not intend to 

pay the defense tax recently voted by their Parliment. 

The Friends say that this tax, which is to be used for 

military purposes, is contiary to their religious convic 

tions. They have, however, stated that they would be 

willing to contribute an equal amount for use by "human 

itarian" 

institutions. 

Religio" Control in Argentina 

All the clergy and missionaries from now on must have 

special ecclesiastical credentials, to be presented when 

ever required by government officials. If a missionary or 

clergyman in Argentina receives and retains credentials, 

he must be in favor with the government. 

Food-Liquor-Tobacco 

After research the Temperance League of America re 

ports the comparative expenditures last year of people of 

the U. S. for food $48,276,000,000, for alcoholic bev 

erages $9,640,000,000; for tobacco products 3,880,000,000. 

Soviets Restrict Publications 

Two Evangelical church publications are to receive no 

more news print, according 

to an order of the Soviet 

authorities in Brandenburg province, it was learned in 

Berlin. These publications, 

the Potsdamer Kirche and the 

Berliner Kirche, were printed under Soviet license. Thus 

Atheism strikes again at Christianity. We are glad -mat 

we have the promise of Christ that the gates of hell 

shall not prevail against the church. 

Anti-Crime Drive in Cicero 

Cioero, almost within Chicago, long 

a notorious center 

of crime, is now experiencing a heroic battle, led by 

ministers and church members, against liquor and 

gambling. These have declared that they intend "to 

combat, expose and prosecute in every possible way 

every 

instrument and agency of wickedness and vice." 

May their bow abide in strength.

410 THE COVENANTER WITNESS December 29, 1948 




"I SERVE" 


Endeavor Society). 

By Philip L. Coon 

Luke 22:24-26; Matthew 20:25-28 

Psalms': 

Psalm 3:3-5 No. 5 

Psalm 22:18-21 No. 50 

Psalm 113:1-3 No. 309 

Psalm 145:1-3 No. 389 

Psalm 131:1-3 No. 364 

References : 

Ps. 100:2; I Cor. 13:3; Matt. 23 

12; Jam. 2:20, 24, 26; I Cor. 9:22 

Jam. 5:20; Matt. 25:40; Matt. 25:21 

Jno. 4:36; Dan. 12:13. 

The Roman Empire at the time of 

Christ was in full sway, and held 

within its grasp the greater part of 

the known world. The seat of the 

government was in Rome and from 

there issued forth the power and 

dominion which held its subjects in 

obeisance to the will of its ruler. To 

effectively carry out the administra 

tion of its law, Rome appointed 

provincial governors to rule over 

smaller segments of the Empire. 

Pontius Pilate had been given com 

mand over Judea and was its ruler 

at this time. He was a typical Ro 

man, accustomed to the pleasures of 

Rome, with its theaters, baths, 

games, and gay society. He hated 

the Jews whom he ruled, and in 

times of irritation, freely shed their 

blood. In his rule he was corrupt and 

unjust, ever seeking 

more power 

and authority to carry out his own 

selfish ends. The pomp and grandeur 

which he demanded was a front for 

the ill motives he sought to carry out. 

Pilate was typical of the princes 

of the Gentiles which Christ used as 

an illustration as He instructed His 

Beloved. Christ, 

with tender mercy, 

sought to lead His disciples from ithe 

corrupt mercenary ways of the self- 

centered princes. These spiritually 

immature disciples gathered about 

the Saviour were to become the lead 

ers of the Apostolic Church, there 

fore it was important that they 

should not act as the proud politician 

of Rome. 

The principles which He gave to 

His Chosen were before them con- 

stantly; completely 

visible in the 

acts and sayings of our Lord. Yet 

the disciples who were under divine 

guidance were so influenced by the 

customs of earthly rulers that they 

vied for the place of honor in the 

coming 

Kingdom (Luke 22:24). Jesus 

commanded His disciples, "It shall 

not be so among 

you," 

because the 

spiritual world is quite different 

from earthly domain. Earthly rulers 

pride themselves in dominion and 

authority over their lowly subjects. 

They require that men humble them 

selves in their presence and obey 

their every command. They would 

have all men "Bend the knee," 

and 

render proper honor to their great 

ness. The thought which gives them 

courage is that, being great men, 

they may do anything they so de 

sire, crushing all that hinders their 

aim. But the aims of earthly rulers 

are not given slightest consideration 

by Jesus as He sets forth the prin 

ciples for the rule of His people. 

Christ saw fit to banish it complete 

ly 

out of His church. Paul himself 

disowns dominion over the faith of 

any (II Cor. 1:24). 

How then shall it be among the 

disciples of Christ? It is the duty of 

Christ's disciples to serve one an 

other for mutual edification. We as 

Christian stewards must instruct 

worldly men, as well as Christians, 

in the ways of Light. We must coun 

sel and comfort them in times of 

need. We must be eager to serve all 

who need help, . 

both physical and 

spiritual. But Christ also instructs 

us as to the manner of our service. 

He does not openly rebuke His dis 

ciples for desiring honor and author 

ity, but He calmly, gently, tenderly, 

seeks to lead them in the ways of 

righteousness. So we should be pa 

tient and understanding in offering 

counsel to those in need. What are 

some of the principles He laid down? 

I. First to be desired is Love. 

As a testimony to the great love 

of Christ, St. John tells us, "Greater 

love hath no man than this, that a 

man lay down his life for his friends" 

(John 15:13). The apostle Paul 

further substantiates that love is to 

be placed above all things (I Cor. 13: 

13). As Christ ministered to the 

multitudes, His love for man was the 

motivating factor. No one could work 

among the mentally ill, those taken 

with hideous leprosy, the hopeless 

cripples, without having complete 

love for them in their condition. 

What love could be greater than 

that which Christ showed for all 

mankind? To help others we must 

have love and compassion for those 

who find themselves in need. 

II. Humility is Necessary. 

As an example to His disciples 

Christ, at the Last Supper, humbled 

Himself to the lowly station of the 

foot servant. He took a towel and 

girded Himself, 

basin, 

ciples' 

poured water into a 

and proceeded to wash the dis 

feet. He did this to instruct 

them that they 

must humble them 

selves, even as He did, to be of serv 

ice to mankind. "Even as the Son of 

Man came not to be ministered unto, 

but to minister, and to give His life 

a ransom for 

many" 

(Matt. 20:28). 

To reach those who are unregenerate 

we must be humble and be in earnest 

for their welfare. It is impossible to 

gain ground and lead them to Christ 

using pride and deception as a foun 

dation. We must humble 'Ourselves as 

Christ did to successfully approach 

those in need. 

III. We must be Useful. 

According to the Oriental custom, 

wisdom was left to the aged and 

service to the young. The young man 

looked up to the wise man with ad 

miration and astonishment. When 

counsel was needed, the aged man 

was sought, for he had experience 

behind him to influence his judg 

ments. The old man in turn looked 

to the young man to perform the 

necessary daily tasks of life, for he 

was preoccupied with weighty de 

cisions. Christ in answer to this said, 

"But he that is greatest among you 

let him be as the younger, and he 

that is chief, as he that doth 

(Luke 22:21). 

Christ Himself was the greatest 

Servant. He came to minister help 

to all that were in distress. He made 

Himself a servant to the young and 

old alike, to the sick and diseased; 

He endeavored to be of service to all 

mankind. He took much pains to 

serve" 

serve them, He attended continually 

to this very thing, and even denied 

Himself both food and rest to attend 

to it. 

To be of service to Christ we must 

possess the attributes which He has 

laid down as principles for His 

Church. It must not be our supreme 

motive to become greatest but to be 

of greatest service. This is impos 

sible if we do not show love for 

others and humble ourselves to the 

task which He has set before us in 

the Great Commission, "Go ye there 

fore and teach all 

nations." 

Christ 

as the Great Teacher used these 

principles to lead all men to Salva 

tion. It is our duty to follow the

December 29, 1948 THE COVENANTER WITNESS 411 

pattern which He has given us and 

apply the principle of love, humility 

and usefulness in furthering the 

growth of His Kingdom. 

For Discussion : 

1. Give Biblical examples of Serv 

ants of God. 

2. How may we be of best service 

to Christ? 

3. What are other attributes of a 

good servant? 

4. How may your society be of 

service to the church? 

JUNIOR TOPIC 

FOR JANUARY 23 



OLD TESTAMENT 

IV. Jesus, the Beloved Son 

Sing the Morning Song: Psa. 118:17. 

Teacher's Prayer for guidance in the 

meeting. 

Read the Salvation Chart. 

Memory Verse: The blood of Jesus 

Christ His Son cleanseth us from 

all sin. I John 1:7. 

Sing 

our Salvation Song: Psa. 98:1-3. 

Because the first people had no 

Bible, God told them stories of Jesus 

in many different ways. He spoke to 

Adam, telling him that Jesus would 

destroy Satan. By the object lesson 

of the coats, He also taught Adam 

that Jesus is our Substitute. The ark 

was another object lesson to teach 

that Jesus is our Saviour. Today, we 

shall see how God showed Abraham 

that Jesus is the Substitute, the 

Saviour, and the beloved Son whom 

God would give. 

Two years after Noah died, Abra 

ham was born. When he was grown, 

God made a Covenant with him. A 

Covenant is a solemn promise and 

this is the promise, or Covenant, that 

God gave Abraham: 

"In thee shall all families of the 

earth be blessed." 

Gen. 12:3 

Can you guess who would come 

from Abraham's line and be a bless 

ing to "all families of the earth"? 

Yes, it was to be Jesus. Abraham 

understood this but years later when 

he was very old and still had no son, 

he began to wonder. Then God again 

told him that he would have chil 

dren. Read how God told him in Gen. 

15:5, 6. 

So when Abraham was 100 years 

old, Isaac was born. How he loved 

the lad! Isaac was the son of the 

covenant. All Abraham's hopes were 

in him and he loved the boy more 

than anything 

else on earth. 

Then God tested Abraham to see 

if he still loved God best and still 

trusted Him. He told Abraham to 

take his son to the land of Moriah 

and offer him there on a mountain. 

Abraham had often offered lambs 

to God but this time he was to offer 

his only son, his beloved Isaac. Yet 

he did not hesitate. At once, he 

started the three-day journey to the 

mountain and, as he went, he re 

membered that Jesus was to come 

from the dear son walking beside 

him and Abraham thought perlraps 

God would raise Isaac from the dead. 

top 

So they went both together to the 

of the mount and there, Abra 

ham bound his son, laid him on the 

altar, 

and took his knife to offer him 

to God when, suddenly, God's angel 

called to him, "Abraham, Abraham". 

And he said, "Here am I". Then God 

told him not to kill the boy 

and as 

Abraham looked up, behold, a ram 

caught in a thicket by its horns. So 

Abraham offered the ram as a sub 

stitute in place of his dear son. Isaac 

was saved. 

Then God again gave Abraham 

the precious promise of Jesus. We 

know that all people who believe in 

Jesus are called the children of 

Abraham who believed and trusted 

God. So how many "children" 

do you 

think Abraham would have? God 

told him in Gen. 22:17, 18. 

As Abraham returned home, he 

had much to think about. As he re 

membered the ram and its shed 

blood, he realized anew that Jesus 

would also be offered and His 

precious blood shed to "cleanse us 

from all sin". As he looked down at 

Isaac walking 

did 

too, 

so happily beside him, 

Abraham understand that he, 

was saved because God would 

provide Jesus, the Lamb of God, to 

take his place? Then, as he remem 

bered how he had so loved God that 

he had been willing 

his only son, 

to give Isaac, 

did he understand that 

God the Father so loved the world, 

that He would give Jesus, His only 

begotten Son, "that whosoever be 

lieveth in Him should not perish, but 

have everlasting 

These were the 

life." 

wonderful stories 

of Jesus which God showed Abra 

ham that long-ago day 

on the mount. 

God has given His dearly loved 

Son for you: What can you give to 

Him? Listen! 

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, 

that ye present your bodies a living 

acceptable 

sacrifice, holy, unto God, 

which is your reasonable 

My heart, my life, my 

service." 

all to Thee, 

0 Lord. For Jesus' 

Close by reading 

tion Chart. 

sake, Amen. 

again the Salva 

Handwork: Let's make Abraham's 

Altar. From gray paper cut an ob 

long 3 in. x 8 in. In the upper righthand 

corner draw an altar of rough, 

unhewn stones. The altar should be 

about 2 in. x 4 in. 

From green paper, cut a jagged 

oval about 3 in. x 4 in. This is the 

thicket. 

Now place the thicket at the left 

of the altar. Paste the top 

and bot 

tom of the thicket. Leave the center 

unpasted. 

Can you sketch a little ram about 

3 in. long? Or perhaps you can copy 

one from a Bible story book. Paste 

him on the end of a strip of heavy 

paper 6 in. long. Slip the ram behind 

the thicket where it was not pasted. 

The strip of paper sticks out at the 

left of the thicket. Now, by pushing 

and pulling on the strip of paper, you 

can make the ram appear in front of 

the altar or hide again behind the 

thicket. 

Print the memory verse below the 

altar. 

Assignment: Please bring an empty 

spool for your handwork next 

week. 



JESUS AND THE PREPARATORY 

MINISTRY OF JOHN 

Matthew 3:4-17 

By J. K. Robb, D. D. 

This chapter introduces, without 

any preliminaries, 

one of the most 

remarkable characters in Bible his 

tory. Like the Old Testament proph 

et, in whose spirit and power John 

the Biptist came, Mathew presents 

him without any reference whatever 

to his birth and early life. It is Luke 

who gives us the extended account of 

his ancestry and early life. His place 

in history is entirely 

unique. To a 

greater extent than was true of any 

other man, John the Baptist was the 

connecting 

link between the old and 

the new dispensations. He was a 

prophet of the Lord, but he was more 

than a prophet, as he was also the 

forerunner of the Messiah Himself. 

Luke's 

account shows him to have 

been related to Jesus through the 

relationship of his mother to Mary, 

the mother of our Lord. He was a 

few months older than Jesus, and 

like Him, lived in obscurity until the


time came for him to announce the 

coming of the Messiah. His early 

training had not been under the 

guidance of the learned teachers of 

the time. On the contrary, he had 

made his home in the desert, alone 

with God and nature, far removed 

from the public eye. But as we read 

the accounts of his life and service 

we discover traits of character which 

stamp him as being just what the 

angel had declared that he would be, 

"great in the sight of the Lord," 

therefore a truly 

great man. 

JOHN'S GREATNESS 

and 

When he made his appearance be 

fore the public, no evidences of 

greatness were apparent. His cloth 

ing was of the very plainest. His 

diet would seem to us almost repul 

sive. His appearance and manner 

were such as to lead to mistaken 

conclusions about him. But real 

greatness was there, and people who 

came under his spell soon recognized 

that this was no ordinary man. His 

greatness revealed itself in numbers 

of ways. 

1. His Courage. 

None but a brave man could do 

what John did. His messages, calling 

on men of all classes to repent, were 

not what a timid man would have 

dared to deliver. But his fearlessness 

was not mere physical courage. It 

was his consciousness that he was 

sent by God that enabled him to 

meet any and all opposition without 

fear. He came as God's messenger, 

and delivered God's message regard 

less of personal interest. 

2. His Humility. 

The Pharisees and Sadducees may 

not have discovered this trait in the 

Baptist as quickly as they learned of 

some other qualities. "0, generation of 

vipers, who hath warned you to flee 

from the wrath to 

come" 

does not 

sound like a humble statement. 

Herod was probably more deeply 

impressed with some other of John's 

traits than his humility, since he had 

been told in so many words that "It 

is r.ot lawful for thee to have thy 

brother's 

he was only 

wife." 

But John knew that 

an instrument in the 

hand of God. So he lost all personal 

interests in remembrance of what he 

had been sent to do. He declared 

himself to be but a voice crying in 

the wilderness. He felt his work to 

be so much greater than himself that 

he became completely 

3. His Self-renunciation. 

absorbed in it. 

At the beginning of his ministry 

he had been the cynosure of all eyes. 

He was even looked upon by some 

as the Messiah Himself. But he was 

not the bridegroom, but just His 

friend. Eventually he saw the crowds 

that had attended upon his ministry 

begin to thin out and go over to the 

greater Preacher. And finally, it was 

his lot to stand aside entirely, and 

to hear within the gloom of prison 

walls of the better ministry of the 

Nazarene. Renouncing all honors, it 

was given him to say, "He must in 

crease, but I must decrease." 

So we have this noble example of 

John the Baptist as revealing the 

secret of real Christian living. Sel 

fishness has no place in Christian 

service. In the Kingdom of Heaven 

he is the best and greatest servant 

who gives himself truly and wholly 

to the King's service. He that sav- 

eth his life shall lose it. But he that 

loseth his life, forgetting himself in 

his service of his Lord, has found 

life forevermore. 

A UNIQUE BAPTISM 

God had commanded John to bap 

tize the people. See John 1:33. This 

appears to have been something new 

for the Jewish people, though some 

what similar to the rite of initiating 

proselytes into Israel. Those who 

submitted to it declared their pur 

pose to forsake their sins and lead 

a new life. But one day Jesus, the 

Sinless One, appeared, and requested 

that He too, might be baptized. At 

first John declined, for he knew that 

Jesus had no need to repent. His own 

sense of sin was revealed by his pro 

test "I have need to be baptized of 

Thee, and comest Thou to 

me?" 

However, he yielded to the Master's 

will, in accordance with His explan 

ation that "thus it becometh us to 

fulfill all 

righteousness." 

Christ's 

submission to this rite has been a 

matter of much discussion, together 

with a good deal of what might well 

be termed theorizing. John's baptism 

was of "repentance unto the remis 

sion of 

sins," 

but that could not have 

been its meaning in the case of 

Jesus. What then was its signifi 

cance ? A number of inferences may 

be drawn from it. 

1. It was a public endorsement of 

John as a messenger of God. 

2. It was from God. (Matt. 21-25). 

3. It was a rite which Jesus Him 

self enjoined on His followers, and 

therefore He submitted to it. 

4. Its chief purpose was the formal 

setting 

apart of the Lord Jesus, a 

consecration, for His great mission. 

Following this ceremonial was the 

descent of the Holy Spirit in the 

form of a dove, and resting upon 

Him, and a voice from heaven said, 

"This is My beloved Son, in whom 

I am well pleased." 

The full import 

of this declaration is beyond us. But 

it may suggest at least that just as 

the Lord's submission to baptism 

was indicative of His formal accep 

tance of the work given Him to do, 

so it was the Father's expressed 

pleasure with that acceptance on the 

part of the Son. 


Comments: 


By the Rev. Kermit S. Edgar 

"Types of Christ in the Record of 

Primeval Man: Adam, Tree of Life, 

Sabbath and Flaming Sword." 

Genesis, chapters 1-3 

Psalms: 

Psalm 8:3-7 No. 13 

Psalm 51:5, 6, 8 No. 144 

Psalm 130:1-5 No. 362 

Psalm 37:3-6 No. 98 

The fourth topic each month this 

year will deal with Old Testament 

types of Christ. May the purpose of 

these studies be that expressed toy 

John: "that ye might believe that 

Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God: 

and that believing ye might have life 

through His Name" 

(John 20:31). 

The word "type" 

comes from the 

Greek term "tupos" which occurs 16 

times in the New Testament, and is 

variously translated as print, figure, 

pattern, fashion, manner, form and 

example. Another term is translated 

"shadow," 

and a third "copy". These 

translations might be summarized in 

the word "likeness" 

A person, event 

or thing is so fashioned as to re- 

'semble or 

"typify" 

two are spoken of as 

another. The 

"type" 

and 

"antitype". The former is the symbol 

and the latter the reality 

which is 

symbolized. As an old writer ex 

pressed it: "God in the types of the 

last dispensation was teaching. His 

children their letters. In this dis 

pensation He is teaching them to put 

their letters together, and they find 

that the letters, arrange them as 

they will, spell Christ, and nothing 

but Christ." 

"The International Standard Bible 

Encyclopedia" 

tells us that a type, 

to be such in reality, must have 

three distinctive features. 1. It must 

be a true picture of the person or 

thing 

it represents. 2. The type must 

be of Divine appointment. 3. A type


always pre-figures something future. 

It further tells us types fall into 

three classifications. These are: 1, 

Personal types, meaning 

those per 

sonages of Scripture whose lives and 

experiences illustrate some truth of 

redemption; 2, Historical types, such 

as historical events through which 

Providence became strikingly the 

foreshadow of good things to come; 

and 3, Ritual types, such as the 

Altar, the Offerings, the Priesthood, 

the Tabernacle and its furniture. 

These may be further divided into 

many 

subdivisions. With this intro 

duction to typology, let us proceed 

to the study of Genesis, chapters 1-3. 

I. ADAM AS A TYPE OF 

CHRIST. Genesis gives two accounts 

of the creation of man. In Genesis 

1:26-31, 

man is represented as 

created on the sixth day, along with 

the animals, and in a measure identi 

fied with the animal world; but dif 

fering from them in bearing the 

image of God, and in having do 

minion over all created things. In 

the second account, Genesis 2:4; 3:24. 

man's identity to the animal world 

is minimized (2:20), 

while the em 

phasis is upon man's spiritual 

nature; how that God breathed in 

his nostrils the breath of life, and 

man became a living soul. Thus from 

both approaches, Adam is the head 

of the human race. 

The third chapter of Genesis 

records how sin came into the world. 

Review "The Shorter Catechism," 

questions 12-19. God entered into a 

covenant of life with Adam upon 

condition of perfect obedience (2: 

16-17). Therefore, "the 

covenant be 

ing made with Adam, not only foi 

himself, but for his posterity, all 

mankind, descending 

ordinary generation, 

from him by 

sinned in him, 

and fell with him, in his first trans 

gression." 

Paul writes, "by 

sin entered into the world, 

by sin; 

one man 

and death 

and so death passed upon 

all men, for that all have 

Turning to the New Testament, we 

see how Adam was a type of Christ. 

Paul writes: "As in Adam all die, so 

also in Christ shall all be made 

alive." 

In Romans 5:12-19, 

stitutes a series of 

Paul in 

comparisons and 

contrasts between Adam and Christ: 

two persons, two works, 

sults. Adam's 

and two re 

disobedience results in 

death. Christ' 

obedience (even unto 

death) results in righteousness and 

life. Hence Paul's statement as 

quoted 

above from I Cor. 15:22, con 

cerning life for all who are in Christ 

Jesus. 

II. THE TREE OF LIFE, A TYPE 

OF CHRIST. Gen. 2:9; 

3:22. The 

tree was in the midst of the Garden, 

and its fruit of such a nature as to 

produce immortality. Was this phys 

ical or spiritual immortality? Re 

member Jesus continually pictures 

great spiritual facts by means of 

material objects. Such were most of 

His parables. Remember also that 

man was made a living soul. At first 

he is pictured as neither mortal nor 

immortal, but either is possible, as 

represented by the two trees. By 

Adam's choice, he sinned and be 

came mortal, and immortality was 

then denied him. So the writer un 

derstands the Tree of Life as a sym 

bol of the glorious possibilities which 

lay within man's grasp, had not his 

sinful condition prevented it. 

This interpretation is substanti 

ated by the many uses of the term, 

"Tree of Life," 

throughout Scrip 

ture (Prov. 3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15: 

4; Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 14). All these 

represent that which is a source ot 

great blessedness. What is that 

source? When the Tree of Life was 

denied man in the Garden, 

a much 

higher and more glorious way was 

provided through Jesus Christ, whom 

to know is life eternal. "I am come 

that ye might have life, 

might have it 

6:53-56, although speaking 

manna, 

and that ye 

In John 

abundantly." 

of the 

yet Jesus speaks of man's 

partaking of Him as a condition of 

life. 

There is a warning hera for man. 

Two tree's were mentioned in the 

Garden at the beginning, but the 

Tree of Life, the permitted one, 

seems to have been ignored until it 

was no longer accessable. "Of all 

sad words of tongue or pen, the sad 

been.' " 

dest are these, 'It might have 

How many today ignore Jesus Christ 

until it is too late! 

III. THE SABBATH A TYPE OF 

THE SPIRITUAL REST IN CHRIST 

In Genesis 2:2-3, we read that God 

"rested on the seventh day from all 

made." 

His work which He had What 

is meant by God 

resting? It is not 

the rest of weariness, for "He faint- 

eth not, 

neither is 

It is not 

weary.'' 

the rest of inactivity, for Jesus said, 

Father worketh hitherto and I 

"My 

work." 

in a finished 

It is the rest of satisfaction 

work. This was the 

equivalent of saying, "This creation 

of mine is all that I meant it to be, 

finished, 

perfect. I am completely 

satisfied; there is nothing more to 

be done; it is all very 

good." 

The fourth chapter of Hebrews has 

for its subject, the rest for the peo 

ple of God. Whose rest is it? HIS 

rest, says verse 1; MY rest states 

verse 3; God's rest, verse 4; 

BATH rest, 

a SAB 

verse 8. How then can 

man realize this rest? The Sabbath 

did not realize that promise to man, 

for it was broken by man's rebellion 

as soon as God had sanctified and 

hallowed it. The Sabbath is a type 

looking forward to future realiza 

tion. Canaan did not realize that 

rest (verse 8). Where then is it 

realized? The type is fulfilled in 

Jesus Christ (verse 10). As God 

rested after the completion of the 

work of creation, so Jesus Christ 

perfectly 

completed the work of re 

demption when He offered the sacri 

fice once and for all, 

and is set down 

at the right hand of the Majesty on 

High. In order to enter into this 

rest of God, 

the Christian must ac 

cept through faith the finished work 

of Christ. There is no other way. 

IV. THE FLAMING SWORD A 

SYMBOL OF GOD'S HOLINESS 

AND RIGHTEOUSNESS, THE DE 

MANDS OF WHICH ARE FUL 

FILLED IN JESUS CHRIST. Our 

first, parents were expelled from the 

Garden for their disobedience. The 

Cherubim and the flaming sword 

were placed at the gate "to guard 

the way 

of the Tree of Life." 

The 

sword with its flaming brightness 

and revolving moments is the em 

blem of God's avenging justice, the 

instrument of man's exclusion from 

the region of life. 

How is that justice satisfied? It is 

only by the atoning work of the 

Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. To 

us he says, "I am the way, the truth, 

and the life; no man cometh unto the 

Father but by Me." 

ASSIGNMENTS FOR STUDY 

1. What is meant by 

"Typology of 

Scripture?" 

the term, 

2. Why is it reasonable that the 

Old Testament should typify the 

Lord Jesus Christ? 

3. Discuss the comparison or con 

trast between Adam and Christ, in 

Romans 55:12-19 and I Cor. 15:22. 

4. What is "the 

eth to the people of God ? 

rest" 

that remain- 


1. For ourselves, 

that in all God's 

Word we may see Jesus Christ ana 

Him crucified as God's answer to 

man's sin. 

2. For our missionaries presenting


Jesus Christ to a lost world, that ......,,,,,,.,,,,,...,,,,,: 

into 

the platform of the union still 

they may be sustained in strength lives on. It goes to show what one 

and security. ----- STAR NOTES can do if they make opportunities 

3. For our Sabbath School teachers, _____^_^_^____^______^^_4^ 

to testify for Christ. 

that in teaching the Old Testament 

***The following is from a letter 

they may be able to present Jesus ***The address of the Rev. Bruce received from one who was not a 

Christ. C. Stewart, Pastor of the Cambridge member of our church, but who re- 

T 

.-^-. Belmont, 

congregation, is now 8 Frederick St., ceived the Covenanter Witness dur- 

Mass. ing the years of the war. He writes: 

***Complaints have come from "I received the Witness during most 

W . IVl. S. Department various localities regarding the late of my four years in the navy. It was 

MMrs. vK rGreeta t r n vA't 

Coleman, Dept. Editor 

arrival of the Witness. New York a great spiritual aid to me. I was 

c;ty received copies three days fe. aiso aided beyond measure by the 

SYNODICAL PRAYER HOUR fore Beaver Falls. Five copies came many letters of encouragement from, 

Monday 1 : 00 P. M. in the same mail at Phoenix, Ariz, and the prayers of Covenanter wo- 

Copies of Sabbath's lessons arrived men folks who cooperated in that 

at 

DT^nz-vrirri 4-vt-, c.-.r-.T4-,T^T^ . x Fresno, Calif., the following Mon- wonderful program of writing to the 

KiiiFUKl Or &YJNOD1CAL , . 4. Im, m, M1 . 

day, etc., etc. We are very sorry as service men. They will never know 

SUPERINTENDENT OF the Japanese diplomats used to say. how much it often meant for a lone- 

HOME MISSIONS For many weeks mailings have been ly Christian boy in the seemingly 

1947-1948 behind unavoidably. However they God-forsaken environment, to get 

. 

4. , p 

rcepoits were received 

i-, 1 4. , 

., 

trom the 

^, , 

have been fairly regular and the 

, j,. ... , , 

whole issue leaves our office in the 

letters reminding him that there are 

,. 1114.1.14. 

many others who had not bowed to 

,, 4, 

following Presbyterials: , ^- 

Colorado, , 4., ,4. 4. -, 

T1i. 

tt- 

.4,. T 

same ^1 t, 

truck, sufficiently early to ar- the evil one. 

' 

* 

Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Pacific . 

. .. :.. 

4. , 

, , 

e a' d+estlnatln ^ 

Coast, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, lef < 

But y0ur Uncle Sa+m 

and Lohiel W.M.S. Illinois, Kansas, heIpS. CHURCH NFWS 

d;ji- 

exercises 1 his sovereign power to V^JIUI\\/IJ I v L*i Vr tj 

,-. 4. 1-H.-1 j 1 

Pacific Coast, Philadelphia, and ... . 

. ... 

. 

4. 4.4. 

decide what mail 

p;tfArn.v, -o u 4. 1 4. 1 is most important ^^^^^...................^ 

Pittsburgh Presbyterials are to be , . 

, , 4 , , 

, 1 ... 

, 4. , before Christmas, and en- 

somewhere _T.... 

commended for their complete and . . 

BLANCHARD 

, , , , 

. . 

. 

, , 

concise reports, which came 

. 

in on 

route we 

_ 

are 

, , 

consigned 

. , , 

to cold 

, 

, ,-, 

Preparatory and Communion serv- 

4o 

time. 

storage. Sorry! but what can we do? . 

" 

, ,, n 

ices were held October fol- 

15-17, 

, , n_ ,_ - 1 

, 

Of the forty-four societies 

We hope to do better from now on. , 

,.4.. 

, , ,4, 

4. 

report- 

' 

ing, forty-three missionaries were 

Editor 

lowed ^ a week of evangelistic meet 

ings- Dr. P. D. McCracken was God's 

heard on different occasions, and 

***A cablegram to Dr. F. M. Wil- four hundred and fifty-one letters 

son tells of tne safe arrival of Miss 

messenger at all of these meetings. 

Good interest was shown in both 

and cards were sent to missionaries. 

Rose Huston in Hongkong on Januchildren's 

and adult's messages from 

Fine local work has been reported. 

There are two Mothers' 

ar-v 3- the Word of God. A number of 

clubs, and ***Mrs. Rosa Tomasson, 87, died" 

friends from Tarkio and Clarinda at- 

other work such as Daily Vacation at the home of her daughter, Mrs. tended as well as members and 

Bible Schools, Released time Bible Frank H. Jannuzi, Nutley, N. J., 

on friends from the local community. 

classes, classes in Child Evangelism, December 17, after an illness of ten On Communion Sabbath the pas- 

Junior Societies on week days, co- days. Funeral services were held tor baptized Gary and Philip Barritt. 

operation with the W.C.T.U., helping December 20 in Beaver Falls, Pa. Dr. In the same service Gary and Philip 

with the Mothers' 

Club at the Jewish John Coleman was assisted by the and Jean Mitchel were received into 

Mission, distributing N. R. A. book- Rev. David Carson. Mrs. Tomasson church membership. 

lets to school principals and other was a member of Geneva congrega- The annual Thank-offering meet- 

literature, such as the Upper Room, tion for many years, but she trans- ing of the W. M. S. was held October 

distributed in saloons. Two hundred ferred her membership to Eastvale 20 with Dr. McCracken bringing the 

and two calls were reported. No when that congregation was 

organ- message. The Juniors had the open- 

doubt there were many more, but all ized. She is survived by five chil- ing devotionals led by J. C. Barritt. 

are not reported at the meetings. dren: V. A. Tommason, East Orange, 

fol- 

Memorized scripture was given, 

Sixty-one letters and fourteen cards N. J.; F. J. Tomasson, Ellwood City, lowed by prayers by the children re- 

were sent to Senators and Repre- Pa.; Mrs. C. B. Metheny, Beaver membering our missionaries by 

sentatives in support of the Chris- Falls, Pa.; Mrs. Frank Jannuzi, Nut- name. A social hour followed the 

tian Amendment Movement. Dona- ley, N. J.; Mrs. Paul D. White, Den- service. The Thank-offering amounted 

tions to many needy families and ver, Colo. to about $152. 

causes have been given. ***Some weeks ago we printed a Mrs. Robert Peck of Detroit was 

Pittsburgh Presbyterial listed fif- declaration of the Kansas Farmers' 

teen different projects of Local Mis- Union regarding their faith in Christ Kie home. 

a recent visitor in the R. S. V. Mc- 

sion Work. That is fine! as the basis for all their work, and The September, October and No- 

Our Donations to Home Mission we have since been advised that this vernber W.M.S. meetings held at the 

Stations, including Indian Mission, declaration was a result of the work parsonage, Huston home and Chris- 

Jewish Mission, Kentucky Mission, of E. Irtis Ward of Stafford, who tiansen home 

athave 

been better 

Selma, and the Home for the Aged, was for long years a member of the tended by Members and visitors with 

reached a total of $4,520.75. program committee. Although Mr. helpful devotional discussions. At the 

Respectfully submitted Ward passed away some time ago, October meeting a large donation of 

Jean S. Smith his influence in putting such matters new and used clothing was packed


for Selma as well as a box of cut 

quilt blocks for the Indian Mission. 

A social evening and Psalm prac 

tice was held at the parsonage in 

October. 

Mr. Harold Ward, professor in 

Tarkio College, is the new teachei 

of the Young Adult S. S. Class. Miss 

M. E. Martin has been the faithful 

teacher for some time, but had to 

give up the work due to ill health. 

Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Copeland of 

Tarkio are on a vacation trip to 

California. 

Joe McFarland of Sterling, Kans., 

was a recent visitor at church. 

On two Sabbaths in December, 

special offerings were lifted for the 

National Reform Association and 

American Bible Society. 

Jean Mitchel and Clayton Barritr 

completed the daily Bible reading 

agreed on for the year by the Junior 

Band and each was presented a book 

as a reward. 

In spite of unfavorable weather 

and roads, some drove to Tarkio one 

night in December and held prayer 

meeting 

in the Harold Ward home 

with other Tarkio members in at 

tendance. We listened to the Grin 

nell Psalm records after the meeting. 

The congregation expresses its 

sympathy to our elder, Dr. O. E. 

Baird, in the recent death of his 

mother, Mrs. J. W. Baird, of Morning 

Sun, Iowa. 

Mr. A. M. Andrews is now living 

in Quinter, Kansas. 

ing 

All classes of the S. S. are mak 

a united effort to memroize a 

portion of a Psalm selection to be re 

cited or sung from memory each 

Sabbath. 

Mrs. Elizabeth Huston and Miss 

Jeanette Huston recently 

new psalters to the church. The Sab 

bath School is having 

rebound. 

gave four 

some psalters 

The Week of Prayer is being ob 

served by two cottage prayer meet 

ings and a preaching service on 

Thursday. 

WANTED 

WANTED A Covenanter young 

lady with some secretarial experi 

ence for an important position 

within the bounds of a Covenanter 

congregation. Write to Rev. Remo 

I. Robb, 1102 Ninth Ave., Beaver 

Falls, Pa. 

SITUATIONS WANTED An ex 

pert watch-renair man, and a qual 

ified barber seek openings for 

their trades within the bounds of 

a Covenanter congregation. Write 

to Remo I. Robb, 1102 Ninth Ave., 

Beaver Falls, Pa. 

NEWBURGH, N. Y. 

At the September Women's Mis 

sionary Meeting, we welcomed Mrs. 

Margaret J. Klomp into our society 

as an active member. 

On September 18 Miss Edith Han- 

non was married to Mr. Harold Oak 

ley in Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 

On September 25 Mr. Edgar Lynn 

was married to Miss Emily Johnson 

of Newburgh, N. Y. Mr. Lynn is an 

Elder and Treasurer of our church, 

also Superintendent of the Sabbath 

School. 

The October W.M.S. meeting was 

held at the church. At the close of 

the meeting, two boxes of clothing 

and Christmas gifts were packed 

for our Selma Mission. Elders John 

McKay and Samuel Robinson were 

our guests. We depend on Mr. Mc 

Kay to pack the boxes. Mrs. J. J. 

McKay, Mrs. J. L. Klomp and Mrs. 

John White surprised those who had 

birthdays in October with delicious 

refreshments. 

The Men's Club has been meeting 

regularly the second Tuesday of 

each month. They 

heating 

converted the coal 

system of the church to gas. 

Much material was contributed. Sev 

eral members of the club painted the 

church kitchen. 

The semi-annual congregational 

meeting was held in November. War 

ren Hannon, chairman of congrega 

tion, led the devotional period prior 

to conducting 

the business session. 

The Sabbath School officers and 

teachers met in the home of Miss 

Craig 

in November. Reports of all 

departments of work were given and 

arrangements were made for the 

Christmas exercises. A Social time 

followed, with delicious refreshments 

being served by Miss Craig and her 

sister Mrs. Williams. 

Miss Ruth Lynn attended the 

White Lake Camp reunion in Florida. 

Several of our members went to 

White Lake Camp on October 12 to 

assist in the work being done for the 

improvement of the camp. 

The November W.M.S. meeting 

was held in the church. Elisabeth 

Henderson conducted a Thank-offer 

ing 

hostesses 

having 

honored. 

program. She and her aunts were 

afterwards. Those members 

birthdays in November were 

The December meeting was held in 

the home of Mrs. John White. The 

visiting committee planned Christmas 

baskets for those who are not able 

to attend church. Many 

plans of 

work were discussed. At this meet 

ing, instead of the members ex 

changing gifts among themselves, 

each one brought a gift, 

which was 

later sent to our Jewish Mission in 

Philadelphia. A social hour was en 

joyed afterwards. 

A daughter, Lauralee, was born on 

December 17 to Mr. and Mrs. Harold 

Foster. Mrs. Foster is a member of 

our church. 

Our Wednesday evening prayei 

meetings have been well attended. 

Some have led who never led before. 

We were glad to have the follow 

ing visitors worship with us recent 

ly: Mrs. Orlena Robb and Mr. An 

drew Price of Walton and the Misses 

Ralston from East Orange, N. J. 

The Christmas Party was held on 

Saturday, December 18. An interest 

ing program under the leadership of 

Mrs. Walter Somers was enjoyed. Lt. 

Col. G. M. Simmons impersonated 

Santa Glaus. Dr. W. J. McKnight 

was the guest speaker. All the chil 

dren and employees of the McQuade 

Foundation were our guests. After 

gifts were distributed, refreshments 

were served by Miss Elisabeth Hen 

derson, Mrs. John White and Miss 

Ruth Lynn. We were sorry, because 

of business, our superintendent Mr. 

Lynn could not be present; his as 

sistant, Mr. Robert Meneely led the 

devotional period. 

Mr. Nathaniel Coutant, husband of 

Mrs. Irene Coutant, a member of 

our Missionary Society and Church, 

was operated on recently for im 

provement in his eyesight. We trust 

that the operation was successful 

and pray for a speedy recovery. 

Since the last notes from New 

burgh, in the September 29 Witness, 

we have had the following ministers 

preach in our church: Robert Edgar, 

Robert Crawford, David K. Carson, 

Robert Park, Remo I. Robb, (who 

conducted the communion services in 

October), Joseph Johnson, Dr. W. J. 

McKnight and our pastor elect, Mr. 

Charles S. Sterrett. All have given 

us good messages. 

Licentiate Thomas Donnelly of 

Belfast, Ireland, 

ary 2, 1949, 

will preach Janu 

and we hope our pastor 

elect will be with us the next Sab 

bath. 

THANKS TO HEBRON 

May we express our hearty thanks 

to the members of Hebron congrega 

tion for a most generous "shower" 

of all kinds of good things, with 

which we were surprised after the 

annual congregational dinner on New 

Year's Day. We deeply appreciate 

the kind thoughtfulness of our many 

friends, and it is our hope and pray 

er that we may serve the Lord 

among 

them faithfully through 1949. 

J. G. and Marian M. Vos


UNION CONGREGATION'S 

NEW LOOK 

The village of Mars lies eighteen 

miles to the north of the city of 

Pittsburgh. It has a population of 

about fourteen hundred. Located here 

is the Union Congregation of the Re 

formed Presbyterian Church. Thb 

organization is 142 years old and the 

frame building has been standing 

for seventy-one years. The Church is 

now being served by Dr. D. H. 

Elliott. 

The congregation held open house 

on the evening of December 16 to 

celebrate the completion of exten 

sive repairs which have transformed 

the appearance of the whole building. 

About 125 persons were in atten 

dance. Representatives from neigh 

boring churches in the town and 

from outlying Covenanter churches 

were present for the occasion. Eleven 

ministers were in the audience in 

cluding two students from our Sem 

inary. Delegations came from the 

congregations of Central-Pittsburgh, 

Allegheny, First Beaver Falls, Par 

nassus, Geneva and College Hill. 

After a brief devotional service 

Dr. Elliott welcomed the guests and 

narrated the steps in the improve 

ments of the premises. The old 

frame building has been covered with 

red insulbrick with the frames 

trimmed in white. Two new rooms 

were partitioned off the rear of the 

auditorium. A new automatic gas 

furnace now replaces the four gas 

stoves formerly distributed over the 

auditorium. The furnace is housed in 

one of the added new rooms. 

A cement sidewalk now connects 

the street with the front entrance. 

An aluminum awning 

covers the 

front steps and protects the exposed 

doorway from the weather. Ten new 

art glass windows replace the old 

which were beginning to fall apart 

with age. Seven of these are memori 

als to worthy leaders of the past. 

Four of these are in memory of the 

four deceased pastors: John Gal- 

braith, 1843-1870; Dr. Alexander Kil 

patrick, 1876-1927; John B. Gilmore, 

1944- 

1929-1943; Norman F. Spear, 

1947. The other three windows are in 

memory of Dr. and Mrs. Samuel 0. 

Sterrett; James M. Sterrett and 

Samuel A. Sterrett; and Evadna 

Sterrett-Balph and I. Evadne Ster- 

rett-Peoples. 

The inside of the building has been 

completely 

repainted and repapered 

which gives a new and clean appear 

ance to the entire surroundings. 

Yes, it does take money to accom 

plish all this. But the 

cost has been 

fully taken care of. The congrega 

tion by generous contributions and 

by drawing upon a small fund at its 

disposal contributed a large part of 

the expense. Then many friends of 

the congregation who are interested 

in its welfare made liberal donations. 

Two of the memorial windows were 

paid for by those not members of the 

congregation. Another contributed 

fifty 

new psalters. Another donated 

a pulpit lamp. Many 

others made 

gifts in cash. All of this together with 

a liberal grant from our Board of 

Church Erection has met all costs of 

these much needed improvements. 

Other friends in the neighborhood 

sent in decorations for the church 

for the evening's celebration, includ 

ing a gorgeous display of palms and 

flowers, all of which were greatly 

appreciated. 

The Union Congregation sincerely 

thanks all who have so generously 

helped them in this adventure. Above 

all they thank the Heavenly Father 

for putting it into the hearts of His 

people to "rise up and build". 

Dr. J. Burt Willson gave an ad 

dress at the celebration recalling in 

teresting bits of history concerning 

this congregation. Representatives 

from the various churches attending 

the meeting extended their greetings. 

Following the program, the ladies 

served light refreshments to all who 

were there. It was an evening long 

to be remembered by the congrega 

tion and its friends. 

A TASK FOR ALL CHURCH 

Recently 

MEMBERS 

By Rev. A. J. McFarland 

what our work is now, 

you were told a little of 

together with 

some suggestions as to how you 

might use the new material which 

has been prepared. We hope you will 

secure this "Message" 

the "Group 

together with 

Questions and Answers" 

and use them in your Sabbath School 

class, 

any 

or in presenting a Message to 

club or community organiza 

tion. Take a set of each and present 

them to the superintendents of neigh 

boring Sabbath Schools, or to pas 

tors. Take them to your history or 

government teachers in your high 

school. 

Remember we are now in the third 

phase of our campaign for this 

Christian Amendment Movement. The 

first depended largely upon us who 

were in the field. We spent three 

years lecturing seeking to test out 

public opinion on this question, and 

we found the people ready for this 

Christian Amendment. The next was 

getting the Bill into Congress and 

giving the people something to which 

to rally their support. Now we are 

ready to crystalize public opinion in 

favor of this Movement, and every 

one can have a part in this. 

A TRACT TO DISTRIBUTE 

Every interested person should 

have in his pocket a dozen of the 

new small tract entitled "THE 

CHRISTIAN AMENDMENT MOVE 

MENT, WHAT IT IS, WHAT YOU 

CAN DO TO HELP". This tract is 

small enough to go in a small size 

envelope, has seven cartoons, and 

seeks to answer the questions asked 

in its title. In each tract is a small 

card already addressed to our head 

quarters. This card suggests seven 

things the reader might do, or might 

like to have in helping him advance 

this cause. 

This tract prepared at th sug 

gestion of Mrs. T. M. Slater fills a 

great need in our work. I handed 

one to a lady sitting ahead of me on 

the train. All I had said to her pre 

viously was, "Are you a Christian?" 

When she said she was, I said, "May 

be you would be interested in know 

ing 

of the Movement which I repre 

sent," 

and I handed her one of these 

tracts. After reading 

the tract she 

turned and handed me fifty cents, 

gave me her name and address and 

that of her married daughter, and 

asked that The Christian Patriot be 

sent to each for a year. She also 

asked for fifteen extra copies of the 

tract, so that she might take them 

with her to a committee meeting she 

was attending in Chicago. 

This tract is brief and to the point, 

and one in a few minutes reading 

can get a very clear understanding 

of the Movement, the Amendment 

and what it will do for our country. 

Be sure to write for a "Sample Pack 

et" 

cluded. 

of literature and this will be in 

It is not for us who are passengers 

to meddle with the chart and the 

compass. Let that all-skilled Pilot 

alone with His own work. 

God writes with a pen that never 

blots; speaks with a tongue that 

never slips; and acts with 

that never fails. 

a hand 

The habit of viewing things cheer 

fully and about thinking life hope 

fully, may be made :o grow up in us 

like any other habr1.

Covenanter Witness Vol. 41 - Reformed Presbyterian Historical ...

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