Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

penny."
you."
out"
the'
church."
REMO I. ROBB, D.D.
Covena
ECHOES
March, 1955
TO ILLUSTRATE THE APRIL
TOPICS
April S
Dollars to Doughnuts
Helping On The Work Of God.
A widow found pardon and pe.acg in
her Saviour in her 69th year. Her grat
itude and love overflowed and often
refreshed the hearts of Christians of
long experience. The house of God be
came very dear to her, and she was
often seen to drop a gift in the church
door box though her income was only
75c per week. A fall in her 72nd year
prevented her ever coming out again.
A little boy being seen to drop some
thing into the box was asked what it
was. He said "It is Mrs. W 's
He was told to take it back to
her, and to say that her good intention
was priced, but that her friends could
not let her reduce her small means,
especially as she could not come out to
worship. She replied, "Boy, why did
you let them see you give it Take it
again and put it in when no one sees
Then weeping she said, "What!
and I am not to be allowed to help in
the work of God any more because I
can't get
April 10
The Living Jesus.
A Fact of History.
Lord Lyttleton and Gilbert Best, two
English scholars who rejected the Chris
tian faith, agreed to do concentrated
research on two themes, expecting to
discredit Christianity once and for all
by the publication of their results. One
undertook to disprove the resurrection
of Jesus Christ and the other under
took to disprove the supernatural ex
perience of Saul of Tarsus on the Dam
ascus road. After a period of time, ac
cording to their agreement, they met
to report results.
Both were honest men and had taken
it for granted that their results would
discredit Christianity, but as each made
his report and submitted his conclusions,
he rendered an affirmative statement.
Proceeding to evaluate all evidence, they
concluded (1) that Jesus actually arose
from the grave, and (2) that Saul of
Tarsus was truly converted.
200
AprU 17 Church Membership and Its
Responsibilities
"Any person capable of forming moral
judgments and of -decisions
making for
himself, may be received into full mem
bership in the Reformed Presbyterian
Church when he accepts the TeVins.of
Communion, wherein he professes his
faith in Christ and purpose of obe
dience to Him, acknowledges the Bible
to be the Word of God, approves the
standards of the church
founded upon
the Scriptures, and promises submis
sion in the Lord to the courts of the
church.
"Candidates for church membership
shall be examined by the session in
constituted court. The examination shall
seek to bring out
'degreeof
the
candidate's knowledge of Divine truth,
his personal sense of sin and need of
salvation, his knowledge and willing ac
ceptance of the distinctive principles
of the church; his purpose to keep the
Sabbath, to separate from all associa
tions inconsistent with the Christian
life, to abstain from the manufacture,
sale or use of intoxicating liquor as a
beverage, to make diligent use of the
means of grace the reading and study
of the Word, prayer, family worship,
faithful attendance upon the public ex
ercises of Divine worship
and to con
secrate a due proportion of his income
to the Lord's work. The degree of know
ledge necessary for admission depends
to a considerable extent, upon the ca
pacity of the candidate and the oppor
tunities which he has enjoyed. Child
ren should be asked to memorize the
Shorter Catechism and urged to read
and study the Testimony and Confession
of Faith as they come to years of fuller
understanding. No one should be ad
mitted who is ignorant of the first prin
ciples of the plan of salvation, or who
gives no evidence of having been born
again, or who assumes an attitude an
tagonistic to the principles set forth in
the standards of the
Constitution of the Reformed Pesbyterian
Church, page 229, 230.
April tk Our C.Y.P.U. Pledge.
What Do We Rely Upon
I shall never forget what the late Dr.
A. C. Dixon of Spurgeon's Tabernacle
For
once said when speaking upon the idea
of prayer. I cannot quote him verbatim,
but the substance was this. "When we
rely upon organization, we get what
organization can do. When we rely upon
education, we get what education can
do; when we rely upon eloquence, we get
what eloquence can do; and so on. Nor
am I disposed to undervalue any of these
But,"
things in their proper place. he
added impressively, "when we rely upon
do."
prayer, we get what God can
Lord."
"I'll pay my vows now to the
CORRECTION
In last month's Echoes Conference
Calendar, I listed as Pacific Coast
Young People's Secretary, the Rev. Rob
ert McMillan of Fresno, Calif. I am in
formed that that was a mistake, and
that the "real" secretary is Dr. Dean
Hinton, D.D.S., 1215 Oak Circle Drive,
Glendale 8, Calif. Correspondence con
cerning the Pacific Coast Conference
should be directed to Dr. Hinton, or to
Miss Tillie Buck, the president.
THE MINISTER'S TASK
"Just as the people get the kind of
government they demand, so do we lay
men get the kind of church we demand.
One must admit that, over the years,
we have been demanding from our min
isters many services which are largely
secular. "We have burdened them with
endless odd jobs, instead of doing those
jobs ourselves so they can concentrate
on the work which they alone can do
studying, meditating, praying, searching
out ways to best meet the deep needs of
man's inner life, teaching us by spoken
and written word to understand the
moral code which should govern our
relationships with God and with our
neighbors, and the techniques and disci
plines for coming to know more of God.
"The situation is described in a letter
from a father to his son, in which he
says :
'What does a minister do, my son
Well, his time is his own, which means
that he is always on the job. The min
ister teaches, though he must solicit his
own classes. He heals, though without
pills or knife. He is sometimes a lawyer,
often a social worker, something of an
editor, a bit of a philosopher and en
tertainer; a salesman; a decorative piece
for public functions, and he is supposed
to be a scholar. He visits the sick, mar-
COVENANTER WITNESS