Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

1963 meeting, to 'urge the Congress to make clear andbeyond challenge the acknowledgement by our nation andpeople of their faith in God, and permit the free andvoluntary participation in prayer in our public schools'."(Clarence W. Hall op cite)In addition, opposition to the Court's Decision onBible reading and prayer came from school authoritiesacross the country. The Albert Gallatin area SchoolDistrict of Fayette County, as an example in Pennsylvania,challenged the Decision by continuing prayer and Biblereadings of a devotional nature. The U.S. District Judgejudged them illegal.Thus I firmly believe that the history of this greatnation supports the religious use of the Bible andvoluntary prayer in the schools of the nation, as a continuingpractice. Also the historical interpretation of theFirst Amendment had nothing to say about prohibitingreligion in public life, many have concluded.American ingenuity has introduced secular uses ofthe Bible in the public schools, but this alone can never besatisfactory, for man is "incurably religious" and thereforeno area of his life can be cut off from God, including hispublic school education. Finally opposition from Constitutionalscholars, Congressmen, governors, and schoolauthorities gives hope of rectifying the situation before itis too late to reclaim millions of youth from the"irreparable injury" the Supreme Court has done to them.A BIBLEALPHABETA good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.Proverbs 22:1.Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is inheaven is perfect. Matthew 5:48.Cast thy burden upon the Lord. Psalm 55:22.Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. James4:8.£ven a child is known by his doings, whether his work bepure, and whether it be right. Proverbs 20:11.Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for Iam thy God. Isaiah 41:10.Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to everycreature. Mark 16:15.//appy is the man that findeth wisdom. Proverbs 3:13./can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.Philippians 4:13.Judge not, that ye be not judged. Matthew 7:1.Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are theissues of life. Proverbs 4:23.Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of myheart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord. Psalm 19:14.My times are in thy hand. Psalm 31:15.Wo man can serve two masters. Matthew 6:24.Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, andfor his wonderful works to the children of men! Psalm107:8.Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. IThessalonians 5:21.Quench not the Spirit. I Thessalonians 5:19./?emember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth.Ecclesiastes 12:1.Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon himwhile he is near. Isaiah 55:6.7Tiou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayedon thee. Isaiah 26:3.Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in theheavens. Psalm 123:1.Verily there is a reward for the righteous. Psalm 58:11.What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, andto love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah6:8.EXcept the Lord build the house, they labor in vain thatbuild it. Psalm 127:1.7e that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord: he is their helpand their shield. Psalm 115:11.Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judahrejoiced because of thy judgments, O Lord. Psalm 97:8.— American Bible SocietyFRUIT OF FAITHFUL PREACHINGIn the Church of Somerville, New Jersey, where Iwas afterwards pastor, John Vredenburgh preached for agreat many years. He felt that his ministry was a failure,and others felt so too, although he was a faithful ministerpreaching the Gospel all the time. He died, and diedamidst some discouragements, and went home to God; forno one ever doubted that John Vredenburgh was a goodChristian minister.A little while after his death there came a greatawakening in Somerville, and one Sabbath two hundredsouls stood up at the Christian altar espousing the cause ofChrist, among them my own father and mother. And whatwas peculiar in regard to nearly all those two hundredsouls was they they dated their religious impressions fromthe ministry of John Vredenburgh.—Autobiography of T. DeWitt Talmage."The true way to a forgiving spirit is to be forgiven,to go back again and again to God, and count over ourdebt to Him. The man who thinks justly of his ownwrongdoing has no heart to make much of the injuriesdone to himself. He always feels how much more he hasbeen forgiven than he can ever be called upon to forgive.His soul gladdened, softened, and humbled by a sense ofthe great compassion that has remitted his great debt,loses all power to be harsh and defamatory. We musttherefore begin with the truth about oursehes. We neednot proclaim to every man we meet the reason, but wemust let all men see that we have a reason forlovingkindness, for humility, for gravity, for tenderconsideration of others, for every quality that banisheshatred from earth and welds men closer into one community."Marcus DoddsMARCH 24, 1971 9