Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

system,"
all
is the greatest force to control lawlessness and
crime.
We believe that the Covenanter Church renders
special service by the high standard of truth which
of the Lord
it teaches. We proclaim the Kingship
Jesus Christ. He is Lord over the whole of man. He
is Lord over our doctrines, and we cannot give them
up because they are unpopular, or to suit our own
desires or convenience. He is Lord over our worship.
We still sing in worship the Psalms, and we still
leave out of our praise service instruments of music,
because we believe this is His appointment. He is
Lord of our life among men. We believe that this
rules out membership in a secret order. We believe
that in our social life, in our business life, in our
political life we must give Him the first place. We
believe that He is Lord of nations, the divinely ap
pointed King of kings and Lord of lords, and that
nations should acknowledge His supreme authority.
Since our nation makes no acknowledgment of Him
in the fundamental law, the Constitution, we do
not seek political office nor vote for others to hold
office. We bring no railing accusation against those
who differ with us on some or all of these points.
To use the words of Abraham Lincoln, "with malice
toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in
right,"
the right as God gives us to see the we cleave
to our profession of faith, and strive to finish the
witness which we have received from our fathers.
We believe that this congregation renders a distinct
service in holding and in proclaiming this high stan
dard of truth and of loyalty to truth.
The Church is a Nation's Protecting Wall
The temple was finished and was dedicated.
But Jerusalem's wall lay in ruins. Over fifty years
later Nehemiah came to the city. At his urging a
host of earnest men got to work. There were those
who kept aloof the nobles of the Tekoites put not
their necks to the work of their Lord. But many
wrought faithfully, and often the work was done
by individuals or groups over against their own
houses. They were working both for themselves
and for their city. And the wall was finished.
Let us apply this all to a wall which we need
around our homes and our nation, not a wall of ma
terial weapons and defenses, but a wall of spiritual
protection. There can be such a wall. And in a real
sense, in building the house of God, we build this wall
around our homes, our cities and our nation.
Dr. Donald Grey Barnhouse in his survey of
1954 in the January issue of his magazine Eternity
ended a brief discussion of the relations of our Amer
ican oil interests and our government with Arab
countries and Israel with the statement that if the
United States favors Israel against the Arab states,
God cannot allow Russia to strike us, but that if we
side with the Arabs against Israel, we will have lost
our protection. We disagree with him in the apparent
implication that the righteousness required of our
nation for its safety from the Russian foe is limited
to taking the part of this new Jewish nation against
its enemies. We agree in two ideas suggested, that
God can keep a nation secure from enemies, and that
His requirement for the giving of such security is
obedience to His law.
It was sin and disobedience that brought judg
ment on the nations round about Israel and on Israel.
The cup of their iniquity become full. Because Israel
326
sinned, she was delivered into the hands of her ene
mies. Her earthly kings helped her to forget her
heavenly King; and the nation that will not serve
Him shall perish. God's command to nations is "Kiss
the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from the
way when His wrath is kindled but a little." "Right
eousness exalteth a nation."
"Blessed is the nation
whose God is the Lord."
In commanding that the men go up regularly to
Jerusalem for the appointed feasts, God gave the peo
ple assurance of protection for families and posses
sions left at home. "No man shall desire thy land."
In the days of the Judges deliverance and peace came
when Israel repented and made a new effort. When
Sennacherib threatened Jerusalem, Hezekiah laid the
matter before the Lord. The Lord disposed of the at
tacking army. Solomon, wisest of men, said, "If a
man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his ene
mies to be at peace with him."
We think of our nation's sins
robberies, gam
bling (including the unrighteous plots at Harrisburg
within the week), murders, sins of impurity, the
liquor traffic with its train of evils, profanity, Sab
bath desecration, disregard for God and for His law,
sins of fathers and mothers, and sins of our young
boys and girls. The wall around our persons, our
homes and our nation is crumbling. We keep wonder
ing if an atomic war is about to bring our day of
judgment.
The way to build up the wall is to build the house
of God, and to maintain its worship, its fellowship,
its service. Then from our churches will go forth
bands of boys and girls, and of men and women,
whose hearts God has touched, to touch the lives of
all the people of the land, and to touch the nation's
life for God. This is our hope.
Will all of you who are here tonight join hearts
and hands in building the house of God and the wall
You come from different communities and from dif
ferent churches. You have a common goal. Will you
build, every one of you Will you begin by building
each one over against his own heart and his own
home Will you say with Joshua of old, "As for me
and my house, we will serve the Lord " Let us arise
and build.
As this house is dedicated this evening and as
we rededicate ourselves, may joy fill our hearts. May
the blessing of God which maketh rich and addeth
no sorrow rest upon the old house and the new, and
upon all who come here to worship. To this commun
ity and to a wide circle of influence may He make
this house and these people a blessing.
"BACK TO BASICS" . . . continued from front page
the marvel of these modern methods. It is horrible
to behold the "Hollywood in so much of
Christian work, as if the message of salvation were
otherwise crippled or bereft of its life-giving power.
But the Lord is the same in every direction.
There is the same gospel. His call to the gospeleers
is the same ; men and women "on fire ... out . . .
aflame,"
out and out . . . heart's with passion for
the sake of the Man of Calvary. When He has the
whole man as the living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1), then
and not until then ! does He have His Basic Method
of moving on and out with the Message. Let us never
lose sight of that in these days of clamoring changes.
COVENANTER WITNESS