Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

months,"
shampoo,"
closet, the household, the fellowship-
Also, the word "love" is used
instead of "charity.")
meeting."
guaranteed."
go."
sin."
me."
woman
Lesson Helps for the Week of April 24, 1955
"OUR C.Y.P.U. PLEDGE
C. Y. P. U. TOPIC
For April 24, 1955
I Cor. 10:31
Comments by Eev. Robert W. McMillan
"Aiming to Live for the Glory of God
as my Chief End, I will in Reliance upon
God's Grace and feeling my inability to
perform any spiritual duty in my own
strength, diligently attend to Searching
the Scriptures, Religious Conversation,
Private Prayer, Family Worship, the
Prayer Meeting, and the Sanctuary, and
will seek in them to worship God in
Spirit and in Truth. I do solemnly prom
ise to depart from all iniquity, and to
live Soberly, Righteously, and Godly in
this World, Commending and Encourag
ing by my Example, Temperance, Love
and Godliness."
One of the most common devices em
ployed in modern merchandising is the
giving of a guarantee, or a pledge, or a
warranty, or a promise regarding the
quality of a product and the willingness
of the manufacturer to stand back of it.
A serviceman was installing an Autolite
battery in the car. "What's the guaran
tee"
we inquired. "Twenty-one
he assured us. Later, the same
day, the Raleigh salesman tapped a bottle
of shampoo with his forefinger. "This
he said impressively, "is un
conditionally
It may help you to understand the
purpose of the C.Y.P.U. Pledge if you
think of it as your personal pledge (call
it a guarantee if you wish) to God in
consideration of the infinite price which
He paid when He purchased redemption
for His children (I Peter 1:18, 19; I Cor.
6:19, 20; 7:23).
The C.Y.P.U. Pledge is taken from
the Covenant of 1871, section one, para
graph two, slightly modified. (The per
sonal pronoun is used and modern term
inology is employed instead of archaic
expressions such as "the duties of the
Caution: do not recite the pledge
merely as a memory-feat, or as a beauti
ful example of English prose. This is a
solemn promise, and if we recite it
"just for fun" or as something else to
do to add variety to the meeting we may
be guilty of profanity.
The following seven topics may help
you to discuss the meaning of the
pledge :
1. MY AIM: Aiming to live for the
glory of God .
218
. .
2. MY SOURCE OF STRENGTH: In
reliance upon God's grace . . .
3. MY ATTITUDE TOWARD SELF:
Feeling my inability to perform any
spiritual duty in my own strength . . .
4. MY DEVOTIONAL HABITS : Dili
gently attend to searching the Scrip
tures, religious conversation, private
prayer, family worship, the prayer meet
ing, and the . . .
sanctuary
5. MY PURPOSE: (I) will seek in
them to worship God in spirit and in
truth . . .
6. MY SOLEMN PROMISE: To de
part from all iniquity, and to live sober
ly, righteously, and godly in this world
7. MY INFLUENCE AND EXAM
PLE: Commending and encouraging
temperance, love and godliness.
Young person, this pledge is not for
those who want to live a shallow, world
ly, self-centered life. This is the ringing
declaration of a good soldier of Jesus
Christ (2 Tim. 2:3). The keeping of this
pledge means that you will have a vic
torious devotional life and an effective
testimony for your Saviour.
For discussion:
1. Which phrases in our pledge are
Bible expressions (See John 11:4; Luke
2:40; John 5:39; John 4:23; 2 Tim. 2:19;
Titus 2 :12)
2. Tell of how you won a victory re
garding any
one of the spiritual duties
mentioned in the C.Y.P.U. pledge.
3. What should we do if we don't care
to attend Prayer Meeting Recite the
pledge anyway Recite all but that par
ticular promise Begin attending Prayer
Meeting, and PRAY (Will you)
JUNIOR TOPIC
April 24, 1955
Miss Eleanor Boyd
Montclair
Topic: Bricks without Straw. Exodus
5:1-19.
Memory Verse: And Pharaoh said,
"Who is the Lord, that I should obey
his voice to let Israel go I know not
the Lord, neither will I let Israel
Exodus 5:2.
Psalms
Memory Psalm 103:1-15, page 244
Psalm 2:1, 2, 4, 7, page 4
Psalm 25 :7-10, page 59
Psalm 34:6-7,
You remember how Pharaoh had
page 82
made slaves of the Israelites. They were
slaves of the State and not of individual
masters as the slaves in our country
were before the Civil War.
They had been in Egypt nearly four
hundred years and the time was draw
ing near when they would be liberated.
Moses asked Pharaoh to allow the
children of Israel to go for three days
into the wilderness in order to offer
sacrifices unto the Lord. Our memory
verse tells us his reply.
Pharaoh had no
knowledge of the
Lord nor did he want to know Him.
The reason for his defiance and final
ruin was that he closed his heart against
God. In his haughtiness he said that the
Israelites had too much time on their
hands, therefore he would see that they
were really kept busy.
The very day of Moses' and Aaron's
visit, a new order was issued by Phar
aoh to the task masters of the Israel
ites. Probably before night, word had
passed from the taskmasters to the lead
ers who were set over the people and
were responsible for the daily delivery
of a certain amount of bricks, that
they must expect no more straw, al
though they must make as many bricks
as ever.
There followed a time of great dis
tress. The Hebrew leaders assigned
some of the people to scatter themselves
over the country
They
to collect stubble.
urged the rest of the people to
work faster. From early morning until
night the whole nation worked beneath
the scorching sun. Yet as the bricks
were counted there were not enough.
In vain did the taskmasters hurry them
saying, "Fulfill your tasks as when
there was straw."
In vain were the
leaders beaten, and such beating as
they would get might mean death.
What do you suppose sustained the
Israelites under this cruel regime Yes,
it was their faith in God and His prom
ises.
The dilemma of the Israelites reminds
me of a story of a young Covenanter
woman in Scotland during the struggle
between the Covenanters and the Eng
lish. The soldiers had killed her hus
band and were taking her cow. As she
stood in the doorway of her cottage,
one of the soldiers felt sorry for her.
He turned and said,
"Poor
"Dinna ye call me poor," she replied,
"the Lord is my portion and ye canna
take Him from
Pharaoh could be cruel but he could
not take away their faith. Do we need
such faith today
Throughout the Bible the slavery of
Israel in Egypt is referred to as typical
of the slavery under which the sinner
is held. Our Lord himself says, "Who
soever commiteth sin is the slave of
(John 8:34).
COVENANTER WITNESS