Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

part of the stem of the original Church of Scotland. Itsdistinctive testimony turns on the supreme headship ofJesus Christ. It holds that He is the exclusive Head ofthe Church, deciding as to the manner of worship, sothat its congregations use only Bible Psalms, and noinstrumental music, in the service of song, on theprinciple that what He has not required is forbidden;and also as to form of government, which in all itsleading principles is Presbyterian — not leaving tohuman device matters so essential to the efficiency ofthe gospel ministry and the edification of His people."It also holds that He is the Head of the State,and that every nation, not only in its individualcitizenship, but in its corporate capacity, owes worshipto God and this worship can only be rendered throughHis mediation, so that its members refuse to swearallegiance to any civil constitution that fails to honorHim as Head of the Church and Prince of the kings ofthe earth; and believe it is the duty of all Christians tohave no dealings with the political body that might beinterpreted as an approval of national disloyalty to theMediator."(The New Schaff-Herzog Religious Encyc. Vol. Ill, p.233.)Going back much farther than the history of Scotland,the early martyrs, God's witnesses in the first century A.D.saw this vision very clearly and gave their lives in loyalty toLord Christ and not to lord Caesar. The later martyrs duringthe Inquisition and during the Reformation, saw this vision,both on the Continent and in the British Isles and faithfullycontended for the authority of Scripture as opposed to thepresumptuous claims of the Church of Rome.Still later, they contended for the Headship of Christover the Church as opposed to the authority of prelates(bishops) appointed by the kings and queens of Britain.(There lay the springs of liberty in the WesternHemisphere.) The vision crossed the Atlantic in the mindsand hearts of the writers of the various colonial charters, upuntil the Constitutional Convention. Those writers werebold in proclaiming the authority of Jesus Christ, whilesetting up the instruments of civil government in thecolonies. What a tragedy it was that the delegates to theConstitutional Convention did not incorporate in our presentUnited States Constitution this same acknowledgment.On a recent morning in October 1970, others besidesthe writer listened to the confessed and blatant atheist, Mrs.Madeline O'Hare on Channel II, KDKA as she was interviewedby Marie Torre. Mrs. O'Hare, notorious for herhaving started the movement which resulted in court rulingswhich banned devotional exercises such as Bible reading andprayer from the public schools, said some things that weretrue and they really hurt.In one statement she said that the writers of theDeclaration of Independence and of the Constitution later,deliberately left out the name of Jesus Christ from bothdocuments because those men were deists, that is, the mainleaders were deists. Webster defines deism: "Belief in theexistence of a personal God with disbelief in Christianrevelation. The doctrine that God exists as a being whollydistinct from the physical universe, of which man is a part,God's operation upon the universe being purelymechanical." Deism is thus, NOT Biblical Christianity.Mrs. O'Hare went on to say that unless and until there is aconstitutional amendment there can be no place for Biblereading and prayer in our public schools.May I remind the reader that this is the very thingwhich the Covenanter Church has been testifying on behalfof the Christian Amendment? The American Associationfor the Advancement of Atheism has contended that theUnited States Government is in no sense founded on theChristian religion, because there is no mention of God or ofthe Bible in the U.S. Constitution. So, the United Statescould be classed as atheistic or pagan. Although we havechanged the name of the Christian Amendment Movementto Christian Government the purpose and goal of both arethe same.The Covenanter Vision sees the United States,hopefully, let us say, pictured as the familiar figure of UncleSam, on his knees before Christ. He expresses thatacknowledged fealty to Christ's sovereignty by filling in theomission which is so glaring in our fundamental governmentallaw, namely, the recognition of Jesus Christ as thesource of all authority and law. This is a larger and betterway of saying, as we do, in the salute to the stars and stripes,"ONE NATION UNDER GOD."Such a confession would serve as a foundation for allphases of Christian legislation which would promote law andorder in the land and would assist the church in fulfilling hermission. This would give sanction to devotional exercises intax-supported schools. It would also provide protection foremployees (page Constantine), securing to them the right torest from labor on the Lord's Day and be free to engage inpublic and private worship of God.Once our nation as a government, a sovereignty,should acknowledge the authority that is higher than itself,namely the authority of God in Jesus Christ, she would be ina better position to command respect and obedience from hercitizens.But there is a disturbing question: Do the leaders andmembers of the Covenanter Church still carry this vision, orhas it faded out? Has the pressure of modern living crowdedout a devout study of God's Word to find therein what Godhas purposed for the world?Has the neglect of this unpopular doctrine of theSovereignty of Christ caused our church to shift emphasisalmost exclusively to the conversion of individuals and sopush aside the preaching of the Lordship of our Savior andRedeemer? Dr. W. J. Coleman was right when he said:"THE NATURE OF THE GOVERNMENT,WHETHER IT IS SECULAR OR SPIRITUAL, SETS THECLIMATE IN WHICH THE CHURCH FUNCTIONS.THAT CLIMATE IS EITHER FRIENDLY ORHOSTILE."There is increasing evidence to show that thegovernment of the United States is becoming hostile to the6 COVENANTER WITNESS