Covenanter Witness Vol. 54 - Rparchives.org

martyrs'
song!"
etc."
waters."
etc."
etc."
etc."
soul."
over."
etc."
etc."
etc."
Lesson Helps for the Week of February 13, 1955
C. Y. P. U. TOPIC
February 13, 1955
Charles McBurney
PSALMS IN THE LIVES OF
EARLY MARTYRS
Psalms 23 and 121
A martyr is one who, in face of perse
cution and even death, insists upon the
reality of his experience and holds fast
the faith inspired ,by it. "Witness" is the
literal meaning of the word. A Christian
martyr is one who knows the Lord Jesus
and professes faith in Him unto death.
General references in history to Psalmsinging
by persecuted
Christians, even in
the moments preceding cruel execution,
abound, and such mention of specific
Psalms as there is makes us realize that
the
favorites are our
favorites,
that not merely one Psalm, but many
Psalms were loved and sung by each of
the many martyrs who knew them.
Let me suggest a circumstance in which
we know some Psalm brought courage or
comfort for the hour and a Psalm that
might have been used. If you think of
another equally fitting, we can sing it in
stead, or both of them.
Two young missionaries, recently ar
rived in Europe, had been worshiping
with a group
on the banks of a river
near Philippi and, after several encount
ers with a young slave girl who said
weird and surprising things (worth
money in those days), had healed her.
The slave masters were not at all pleased
and had the young missionaries arrested,
beaten, and thrown into prison, with
their feet made fast in the stocks. In the
middle of the night these men (you
know, of course, they were Paul and Si
las) prayed and sang praises. Now they
might have sung, "Out of the depths have
I cried, Lord, unto
Thee,"
or, "Save me,
my God; defend from foes." But in view
of the fact that prisoners stayed awake to
listen, I think likely they sang, "It is a
good
thing to give thanks unto the Lord."
Take your pick: Psalm 130, 59, or 92.
Any one of them could cause an earth
quake under the circumstances.
In 363 A. D. Christians were suffering
severe persecution under the Roman Em
peror called Julian the Apostate. Since
they had enjoyed several years of relig
ious freedom and since Julian himself
once was a professing Christian, this turn
of affairs should have been most dis
heartening. Only an apostate,
some have
said, can be really thorough in persecu
tion, and Julian gives convincing evi
dence to support the statement. Do you
know one of the favorites of the perse
cuted Christians of this period We are
58
told it was Psalm 96, "O sing unto the
Lord a new
I don't know what
tune they used, but none could have
scared Julian more than the one we have
on page 232
words do. Sing stanzas 1,
packing the wallop those
2, and 5 and
see for yourself. Disheartened The mar
tyrs knew whose side to be on!
In the beautiful valleys below the Alps
between Italy and France lived for cen
turies a little band of Apostolic Chris
tians called Vaudois. They
never needed
a
Reformation, for they believed and
worshiped and lived with the sincerity
and devotion of the early disciples at
Jerusalem and sent their missionaries all
over Italy. Crushed between the great
Papal powers of Italy, France, Spain, and
Austria, these valiant Vaudois were
cruelly massacred and finally driven into
exile in 1686, and not until after a dec
ade of heroism and hardship, sustained
by
an unquenchable love of their Lord
and their native valleys, were they finally
able to return. Would you select as the
song
of triumph for these Psalm-lovers
the 85th or the 126th
In 1682 the Ottoman Turks laid seige
to Vienna in one of their last bids for
control of eastern central Europe. Sobieski,
King of Poland, had a band of
Christian soldiers in the fight to save
Vienna from the religion of the sword,
and on the eve of victory they sang as
their battle song, "Lord, not to us, not
unto us, but do Thou glory take to Thine
own name."
In any language Psalm 115
is a mounment to martyrs.
Luther referred to a trio of Reforma
tion songs as the Psalms of Paul, be
cause they gave musical expression to
Paul's great doctrine of salvation
through faith
confession and remission
of sins through the blood of Christ. They
are Psalms 32, 51, and 130. If you wish
to sing some of the early
verses of the
first of these now, I will suggest next a
settingfor
some of the later verses.
The immediate historical forebears of
our faith, dear to us because they sang
Psalms in our own tongue, endured much
for their devotion to Christ. The Cove
nanter believed in the Shepherd of Psalm
23 and the Keeper in the hills of Psalm
121. I wonder if young Richard Cameron
ever sang stanzas 9 and 10 of Psalm 32
after a hair-breadth escape from the
dragoons, knowing that, even when cap
tured and condemned, he would still be
encompassed with songs of deliverance.
For those at Grinnell last summer I
need only mention the reference Dr. Cole
man made in his Sabbath morning ad
dress just before the Covenant-signing.
The aged Donald Cargill, when he tried
to speak to the throngs about his scaf
fold, was driven to silence by a
volley
of drums, but he broke into the song as
sociated with many baptisms and com
munions in his long ministry, "Bless thou
soul."
Jehovah, O my If you haven't time
for the whole Psalm, do a bit of choral
reading and sing
at least the triumphal
conclusion found on page 248. No won
der drums weren't loud enough to drown
that song!
You will, of course, want to sing our
text Psalms in your favorite versions.
Perhaps you would libe to read Psalm
23 from your Bibles in this manner:
All read verse 1.
Leader: I shall not want for rest.
Group: "He maketh me to lie down,
Leader: I shall not want for peace.
Group: "He leadeth me beside the still
Leader: I shall not want for strength.
Group: "He restoreth my
Leader: I shall not want for guidance.
Group: "He leadeth me in the paths,
Leader: I shall not want for courage.
Group: "Yea, though I walk,
Leader: I shall not want for compan
ionship.
Group: "For thou are with me,
tion.
Leader: I shall not want for recogni
Group: "Thou preparest my table,
Leader: I shall not want for healing.
Group: "Thou anointest my head,
etc."
Leader: I shall not want for refresh
ment.
Group: "My cup runneth
Leader: I shall not want for reward.
Group: "Surely goodness and mercy,
Leader: I shall never be in want for
anything.
Group: "And I will dwell in,
Have you prayed yet this meeting
Martyrs always do. Sometimes they
might conclude with the prayer at the end
of Psalm 80, "O let Thy hand be still
upon the man of
Thy right hand."
CURRENT EVENTS
(Continued from Page 51)
denies responsibility for the attacks
and protests against any move to arm
Costa Rica. The Organization of Ameri
can
States, which includes all
twentyone
American republics, has demonstrat
ed its value in this dispute. It's council
met
immediately in Washington and
sent an
investigating committee to the
scene.
COVENANTER WITNESS