Covenanter Witness Vol. 55 - Rparchives.org

now?"me,"tive life all you are living? Many things that have nodirect harm in them have no good in them either, because, "My Lord has not told me to do it."The only place in the Word of God where peoplemade merry and sent gifts was when they had slainthe Lord's two witnesses in Rev. 11:10. The worldhas slain the Lord's Faithful and True Witness ofRev. 3:14. Will you, dear reader, have part in theircelebrations? The only Birthday celebrations in theBible are Pharaoh's andHerod's, both accompaniedby murder."In vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of (Matt. men"15:9)."Thus have ye made the commandment of Godof none effect by your tradition" (Matt. 15:6)."Full well ye reject the commandment of Godthat ye may keep your own tradition" (Mark 7:9)."Making the Word of God of non-effect throughyour tradition" (Mark 7:13).To all who, after reading this message, go on intheir idolatry we will give the solemn warning of ourLord Jesus Christ:"Ye are they which justify yourselves beforemen, but God knoweth your hearts ; for that which ishighly esteemed among men is abomination in thesight of God" (Luke 16:15).As a publishing institution we positively refuseto print anything that countenances the celebrationof any of these so-called holy days. We will haveplenty to do carrying out that which the Lord "has"commanded without adding some of the traditions ofmen. "Add thou not unto His Words, lest He reprovethee, and thou be found a liar" (Prov. 30:6).CHRISTIAN SERVICE, Phila. 15, U.S.A.CURRENT EVENTS from page 403inum automobile engine blocks, and in the substitutionof aluminum for tin in tin cans. In the past year the useof aluminum foil has increased over one-third. The onlydrawback to this boom is that much of our aluminum oremust be imported.SPADE WORKBritish archeologists and classical historians are deciphering ancient texts from Crete and Greece which throwlight on the origin of the Homeric legends. Archeologistshave long known of the Cretan ruins, the remains of acivilization which flourished around 1300 B.C. It was onlyabout two years ago, however, that a London architectdiscovered how to read the Cretan inscriptions, whichare found on clay tablets. The inscriptions indicate thatmen bearing the names of Achilles, Hector, and otherHomeric heroes held land on Crete. There also are references to the legendary Queen Ariadne, who was supposedto have helped Teseus slay the fabulous Minotaur in alabyrinth.R. F. D. ANNIVERSARYA West Virginia community recently celebrated thesixtieth anniversary of the first rural free deliveryof mailin this country. In the early days, farmers had to pickup their mail at the nearest postoffice. The establishmentof rural free delivery came as the result of a long campaign by farmers' orgnizations. The first routes were established onlyafter a sufficient number of farmers petitioned for the service. Rural routes began to be motorizedin 1915, and since then the service has reached a high pointof efficiency.408"Unmoved ?>"None of these things move cried Paul ofTarsus when, tarrying for a brief time at Miletus,that he might fortify his faith bycommunion withthe Ephesian elders, he confronted the events whichwere to befall him at Jerusalem, all the more formidable because unknown for a large part of theterror of the future lies in its shadowy indistinctness, its vagueness of outline. Definite dangers maybe boldly met, but it is these haunting dreads, suffused with a dismal feeling-tone, that unnerve theordinary man. In Paul's case the only light thrownupon his future was that in every city "bondsand imprisonment" awaited him. Paul, however,was no ordinary man, and truly reported his experience and attitude in the brave pronouncement:me!""None of these things moveBut this was no mere stoic stolidity,or unimpressed passivity. Paul was a sensitive man, keenlyalive to the humiliation and embarrassments of thesuccessive social situations in which he was placed,freeborn as a Roman, yet fettered as a Christianpreacher, beaten, bruised, and often, as though aman of Succoth, "taught with thorns." He sufferedmost in spirit, and yet was brave amid it all bravest of all because very sensible of danger.So when Paul said he was unmoved, he meantnot that he did not feel things, but that he would notallow circumstances to overmaster him he was unmoved from his higher spiritual purpose, his ministry for Christ and men. What swayed him was animperative, inexorable heavenly motive. He mustfinish his course with faithfulness, and thereforewith joy. There could be no flinching nowhad been staked on the rigorous realitytoo muchof the newdoctrine of Christ, too much had already been sacrificed for Christ^the full measure of consecrationmust be filled up.So Polycarp, led to execution, yet pressed torecant, could say, "Forty years have I served Him,and He has done me no harm and shall I deny HimPersecution can be overcome only by perseverance ; there is no promise in going back after thatwhich will never come again, but only in going on.So Paul was unmoved, that is undeterred, butnot unmotived. His overmastering passion for Jesus, nay more, the far greater love of Christ for himwhich "constrained" the man of Tarsus, pushed himinevitably on toward heaven by way of Jerusalemand Rome. It was a splendid motive, but it costmuch. Moved Paul was in feeling, yet that was notallowed to affect his will, for the whole current of hislife, motivated by the urge of the Cross, was settingGodward, and not even Caesar on his imperial thronecould tempt him from Christ.Perhaps to one or another of ustoday is Gethsemane, or the place of our tarrying is some waystationMiletus. If so, our prayer must urgently,evenpassionately, be for grace to go on, for strengthto endure, for wisdom to unfold, during so much oflife as remains, the fuller implications of the motiveof the Cross. Zion's Herald, U.S.A.COVENANTER WITNESS