Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

obedient."citizen"visions"further report on the effect of the hearing has beenheard but the Committee felt that a great gain hadbeen made. Dr. R. J. G. McKnight said that one ofthe principal speakers against the amendment wasa Jewish Rabbi and he regretted that he had notlearned until afterwards that the Israel constitutionacknowledges God and while the Jews were claimingthat this Christian Amendment makes the Jew a"second class that their constitution in Israelwould make all except Jews second class citizens.He thought that this would be a good point to stresswith anyone that claimed it was any infraction onthe Jews' rights.The Foreign Mission Board's report was short.It was read by Rev. Charles Sterrett. It stated thatno effort was being made to send out additionalworkers this year on account of the scarcity ofmoney and the large deficit hanging over the Board ;however, this statement was somewhat modifiedwhen it was said that the Fattal girls of Syria werepromising to support a short term worker for threeyears on their own sacrificial efforts.Saturday evening service was a general assembly and three speakers presented the service ofpreparation for Covenant signing tomorrow. Rev.S. Bruce Willson discussed "Why Covenant Now." Hesaid every Covenant starts with some particular location and the question was where do we go fromhere. The Highlights of Covenanting were presentedby Rev. Roy Blackwood who discussed the Covenantsof Scotland; the "Challenge of Covenanting" waspresented by Rev. Willard McMillan. This was anearnest service and one well suited to the purposeof preparing our hearts for swearing the Covenant.Sabbath DayThe Covenant signing service was presided overby the Moderator of Synod, Dr. F. E. Allen. Afterthe usual preliminaries of call to worship by singingand prayer and Scripture reading, Rev. D. HowardElliott gave an address on The Spirit in WhichWe Should Covenant, Humbleness of Mind andIntegrity of Heart and Sincerity of Soul H-I-S.These three constitute the feeling that we are Hisas we enter into this Covenant this morning. Thiswas followed by a prayer by Dr. John Coleman andthe reading of the Covenant by Rev. David M. Carson, the Synod standing and answering after eachparagraph (all persons had the printed Covenantin their hands) with uplifted hands "We do." Afterthe final paragraph the congregation said "We do.All that the Lord God hath spoken will we do andbeThis was followed by an address byDr. Paul Coleman (taking the place of J. Boyd Tweedwho was to have had this part of the program) andthe Benediction. The members of Synod went forward in a quiet and orderly manner ushered by thevarious ushers to the tables in front of the roomwhere the Covenant was signed as the memberspassed. 657 members signed the Covenant that morning and a number later. The attendance now hasreached 915. A good many of these are children andit was advised that children would not sign whowere not of church communicant age.That afternoon a program was carried out"Around the World with the Covenanter Message,"at which a number of young people spoke. Thesewere some who had been on the field with theirAugust 11, 1954parents or were natives of the countries from whichthey came.At 7:30 a consecration service was presided overby Rev. Kenneth Smith and the consecration message"Where Young Men shall See was deliveredby Dr. M. K. Carson which was followed by a callto consecrate ourselves. About fifty young peoplewent forward.Monday SessionsIn the devotional period of the morning Rev.was the speaker and the subject "InR. A. HenningReliance on God's Grace." We shall hope to havethese morning addresses in the Witness soon. Synodconvened : the first matter of importance before theSynod was the Report of the Committee to examinethe Biblical and Creedal phases of the Church's Task.This report was read by C. T. Carson, Chairman ofthe Committee. Rev. Willard McMillan said that hefelt there was another plan for dealing with the increase in membership rather than the decrease ; although he had thought first of bringing in a minorityreport, his modesty of youth led him to supplementthe other report with a program of work that mightbring many more people into the church if we enteredheartily into this task.The Committee report on Evangelism was readby Dr. P. D. McCracken and due to the scatteredlocations of the various members of the evangelisticcommittee the recommendations were to continuethe program of last year which will be found in theMinutes of Synod.Rev. Kermit S. Edgar read the report of theBoard of Home Missions and the discussion on thisreport centered about the proposed raise in salariesfrom $2400 and parsonage to $2700 and parsonage.Some of those receiving the minimum salaries objected to the increase as not being in good taste forSynod to raise their own salaries, especially as themajority of the Synod is made up of ministers. Atthis point Prof. William Russell brought the reportof the Elders' Conference which recommended thesame raise and the two matters were consideredtogether. The Elders had recommended that theminimum salary be $2700 plus parsonage, and incases where parsonages were not available the minimum is to be $3300. As naturally this subject is ofgeneral interest both to the laymen and ministersit took up a good portion of the time of the afternoonsession.Other Committees reported their work throughthe year and reports were accepted. No meeting ofSynod had been scheduled for Monday night butsince we were behind with the docket, an eveningsession was held.This was a disappointment to many who wantedto hear the program "Christ in the Psalms" whichwas being given in the Darby Assembly Hall andwas a very worth while program for everyone tohear. There was a good chorus of singers and thechoir was led by Mrs. M. W. Martin of Seattle withanother lady reading the Script whose name I didnot learn. Among those who read Scripture in prosewas Rev. James Carson, Miss Marie Munnell, formerly of our Cyprus Mission and others. This wasChoral reading.Now to return to the night meeting of theSynod. The Report of the Board of Geneva College85