Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

sent"submission."o'utation,"lie church. I became in all truth a citizen of thechurch living, by accident, in the United States.The most important aspect of this prolonged indoctrination is the identification of the Romanchurch with God and the identification of all churchsuperiors with the Roman church and therefore withGod.I 'had to learn to crush the lusts of the flesh byfasting, self denial and even physical torture. ManyAmericans have read stories of the ascetics and hermits of the early middle ages of Christianity torturing themselves by wearing hair shirts, fasteningchains about their wrists and sleeping on boards orin bare coffins. But it might surprise them to knowthat in the senior seminaries for Franciscan priestsin the United States there hangs inside the door ofeach cell, or bedroom, a scourge. It is made of severalstrands of heavy cord, each knotted at the ends. EachMonday, Wednesday and Friday evening at 5:45clock we closed the doors of our cells and to the chantof the "Miserere" removedour underwear and"scourged our flesh to bring it intoBut we were not unhappy. After years of seclusion andindoctrination,we knew no other world.We were unaware of our indoctrination of fear. Wethought it was love. We were constantly told so. Wehad come to accept celibacy as supernatural not unnatural. The simple pleasures granted us, permissionto talk to each other at times, an occasional picnic,a glass of wine on special feasts, satisfied souls thathad become not merely childlike, but even childish.We belonged to what we firmly believed to be theonly enduring organization in the world the RomanCatholic church, and through it we belonged to God.It is my firm belief that every young man of thethirteen of us, kneeling before the Archbishop Cantwellon ordination day in June 1933 was so thoroughly indoctrinated in his belief in the Roman Catholicchurch that he sincerely believed that his was thegreatest privilege given to mortal man, that nothingelse mattered, nor friends, nor relatives, nor countryonly the culmination of his dreams ofmany yearsto hear the Archbishop pronounce the awesomewords, "Thou art a priest forever, according to theOrder of Melchesidech." To himself and to all theRoman Catholic world he was "Alter Christus""another Christ." (To be continued)GLIMPSES . . . Cont'd from page 146"A third lesson we can learn from the failure of our workin India is the necessity of a careful, in loco investigation of acontemplated field by a competent committee of more thanone or two men. In the multitude of counselors there is wisdom. . . ."A fourth lesson is one we may learn from other denominations which have had more experience in mission workthan we. Up to the present time we have seldom if ever givenour prospective missionaries any kind of special preparationfor the particular field to which they were to be sent. Certaindenominations at home and abroad, require of their missionaries to spend some time in a mission school before leavingfor the field. The Reformed Churches of the Netherlandshave such a school at Baarn where prospective missionaries,ordained as well as unordained, must spend two years beforethey are judged ready for their work. They take not only general courses in missions but also special instruction in thelanguage, customs, and mentality of the people to whomthey are to beSeptember 8, 1954A Challenge to the ChurchMorning Sun, IowaJuly 6, 1954To the Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Churchof North AmericaThe Board of Deacons and the Session of theSharon congregation, deeply concerned about the financial needs of the church, request the synod totake specific action in regard to the promotion of atithing campaign throughout the church.Believing that the promises of God are as truetoday as when they were first uttered by the prophets, we feel that a larger emphasis should be givento the tithing principle than has been given in thepast. God says, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, andprove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts if Iwill not open you the windows of heaven and pouryou out a blessing that there shall not be roomenough to receive it."It has been the experience of our congregationthat when emphasis was being given to the tithethat there has always been adequate funds to carryon our work and to support liberally the work of thechurch at large. We believe that when a congregationis faithful in its tithes that God will abundantly bless.By withholding the tithes we not only hinder God'swork but are in truth impoverishing ourselves.Over a period of years in which tithing has beentaught from the pulpit and in the home there hasbeen a remarkable change in the attitude of our people toward giving. Many now regard giving as a happy privilege rather than a heavy obligation to meetarising needs.In view of the church's great concern aboutmeeting the financial goals set before us each year,we believe that emphasis should be placed upon obedianceto God's command rather than upon the raising of a designated sum of money. If the work is theLord's He will enable His people to give in suchabundance that His cause shall not fail.In keeping with our Covenant Renewal this year,we believe that one of the first steps toward thekeeping of the covenant should be faithful obedienceto the giving of the tenth. To obey is better thansacrifice.John O. Edgar, Moderator of SessionM. W. Baird, clerk of SessionA. M. Kilpatrick, Chr. of Board of DeaconsThis paper was received by Iowa Presbytery,July 16, 1954, and ordered transferred to Synod.H. G. Patterson, Mod.Waldo Mitchell, ClerkSynod recommended the publication of this appeal in the Church paper.Editor"BEING A PROPHET" . . . Cont'd from front pageHe would take us, but alas, we are not trulytempered for the holy taking. It hurts to be a nothing, to be a nobody, to other's sight-and-measure. Weimagine the loss that we shall therein suffer! Butwhat of the Lord whom we profess to believe, tofollow? The Word says, "He made Himself of no repand though we are familiar with the lettering, we are alas ! strangers to the spirit therein. Thuswe grievously suffer . . and much. more doth HEgrieve and suffer over us. It is high time to awakeout of sleep !151