Covenanter Witness Vol. 53 - Rparchives.org

soldiers'yours"pays."was read by Dr. R. C. Fullerton and the report of theBoard of Trustees of Geneva College by J. MerrillRobb. President C. M. Lee was heard on behalf of theCollege and reported on the College activities. Thisreport will be available with the Minutes of Synod.The National Reform Report was ready by Dr.J. Ren Patterson and accepted.The report of the Signs of the Times were readby Robert McMillan and accepted.The report of the Foreign Mission Board wastaken from the table and this recommendation waspassed by the Synod: "That an appeal be made fora new worker but the worker be not sent (this is ahand."new worker for Japan) until the funds are atRev. Sam Boyle proposed the motion that one moreordained minister be appointed by the Board to goto Japan in September 1955 provided that the ChurchBudget were oversubscribed by $5,000 or more byApril 1, 1955. This ought to be an inducement forpeople to contribute liberally to the Budget that thenation of Japan perish not. However, no special appeal will be made for this work and that presupposesthat funds will not be counted over and above thebudget until the Budget is raised.The other matter to come before the sessionwas a resolution that the Home Mission Secretaryshould be elected a year in advance before his termexpires.Tuesday ForenoonAt the devotional service on Tuesdav morning,Curse,"Rev. J. A. Hill spoke on "A Blessing and aDeuteronomy 11:28.The Committee on the Oath (to U. S. Constitution) reported that the "Explanatory Declaration"was to be used in simple matters, such as the schoolteachers'and the oath but should not beused in the political sphere, that is, in running foroffice. The Explanatory Declaration is not to supplant our political dissent, lest we forget the purposeof political dissent.When the Coordinating Committee reported onlast Thursday a Budget of $110,000.00, it was explained that this was 10% below asking of the various Boards, and that all askings had been trimmedaccordingly. But since the Covenanter Witness isnecessary to promote the work of the church andcannot operate on less than its asked amount ofmoney, the Publication Board asked for postponement of action until their report should be read.They asked for the restoration of the $8,000 insteadof $7,200 proposed by the Coordinating Committee.The question whether $800.00 might not be takenfrom the Service Print Shop reserve fund, havingbeen raised and opposed as confiscatory, the matterwas referred to the 'Finance Committee for recommendation. That committee this morning recommended that $7,800 of Budget funds be granted as apreferred claim as of last year and the deficit bepaid out of the Service Print Shop Funds. D. R.Taggart thanked the Committee for their efforts tohelp, but said that the costs of printing had gone up,the income from subscribers was going down due toless membership, that the Service Print Shop incomehad helped last year to the amount of $1,000.00 andhoped to do at least that much during the currentyear, and that in some past years it has paid onehalf of the Editor's salary, and had always paid a86generous part, that these Shop funds were profitablyinvested in a rising stock market and to sell themwould cripple the future funds of the Witness, thatto add the full $800 to the Budget would add .734of 1 % ,and that it would not pay in dollars and cents,to suspend publication for a few issues to meet thedifficulty and besides "crime never None ofthis reserve fund had ever belonged to The Covenanter Witness, but is the result of the sacrificialefforts of the Editor, and the Church ought to payThe Witness cost in full. The Synod voted the additional amount asked, to be added to the Budget.A second recommendation of the Finance Committee concerned the salaries of Dr. Remo I. Robb,Home Mission and Young People's Secretary, Dr. A.J. McFarland, Field Secretary who has done suchmagnificent work in getting the Christian Amendment programs on the air, and the Editor of theWitness. Inasmuch as the minimum salaries havebeen raised $300 on account of the increased cost ofliving, the aforesaid salaries were increased by $60.00per annum to meet the minimum. At a later sessionof the Synod the Editor was granted the privilege ofthe floor to thank the Synod sincerely for the necessary funds to carry on the publication work,and todecline the raise in salary that would burden theBudget additionally. Like Abraham declining hisshare of the spoils of battle, he (Taggart) would notwant anyone to feel they were making him rich, evenby a shoe lachet. Synod graciously acceded to thisdeclinature.Tuesday AfternoonA considerable part of the afternoon was takenup with the report concerning the standing of theR.S.V. Bible. The report was read by Dr. D. H.Elliott and while commending many features of saidBible it also criticized the writers as being modernists in their view, the publishers as those who hadrealized well on the printing of this Bible and that$500,000.00 as reported by Look Magazine had beenspent in the initial promotion of the Book. 4000Rallies were reported to have been held over thecountry to sell the Book to the public before theyhad an opportunity to examine it. The translationwas also criticized on account of its betrayal of themodernist slant. The use of quotation marks has itsadvantages. The mention was made of the distinctionbetween "thee and thou" of the King James Versionsubstituting "you andfor persons addressingJesus Christ. But it was brought out in the discussionthat this was not done with the intention of discounting Christ's divinity so much as it was tocomply with the attitude of the person speaking toChrist, whether he considered Jesus as divine. Someof the Psalms have been brought down to the levelof making them appear as applying only to the timesof the writer. So it was observed that the R.S.V. isnot a faithful rendering of the original; it treatsthe Old Testament with the freedom which is notcompatible with high regard for its trustworthinessand wide authority which is so marked a featureof the 1611 version. The recommendation was that(1) in view of the many imperfections of the Revised Standard Version the King James Version remains the approved version of the Reformed Presbyterian Church for use in our homes and churches.(2) That the Revised Standard Version be recognizedon a similar basis as other private translations forTHE COVENANTER WITNESS