What Has Happened
to
Our Music?
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.' And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O'er the land of the free and the home of - the brave!" Has America fallen asleep? Has the enemy come in to reap a whirlwind of devastation? May God help us to "awake to righteousness and sin not for many have not the knowledge of God." "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." Likely the fourth stanza of our beloved "America" will come under attack from the atheistic forces now so vociferous in our land. One wonders what our founding fathers would think if they were alive to hear any objection to these precious words which are a prayer: "Our fathers' God, to Thee, saw the enormity of his sin. Falling into sin — lying, ! immorality, pride, cruelty, corrupt thought and speech, all the unsavory list — reveals that the Christian has not turned to Christ in time of temptation. He has not learned instant obedience to the Spirit’s voice. As one who bears the name of Christ, and represents Him before a hostile world, he even involves the Lord in his trespass. The formula for right living is not difficult. Isaiah de clared that “ the way of holiness” was so easily discerned that “ wayfaring men, though fools” could not “ err there in.” “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.” “ Happy are ye, if ye know these things, that ye do them.” It is that simple. The power is not ours, “ but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.” We can overcome in His strength; and through His blood. In Pilgrim ’s Progress Christian describes to Prudence four things which inspired him to holy living: “When I think what I saw at the Cross, that will do it: and when I look upon my broidered coat, that will do it; also, when I look upon the roll that I carry in my bosom, that will do it; and when my thoughts wax warm about whither I am going, that will do it.” “ How do I love Thee? Let me count the ways. Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling . . . I love Thee so much I cannot count.” THE KING'S BUSINESS Author of liberty, To Thee we sing; Long may our land be bright, With freedom's holy light; Protect us by Thy might, Great God, our King!"
How often have you heard all the verses of our national anthem? fould you quote words beyond the first stanza? An interesting item has been dispatched from Albany, New York where State Educa tion Commissioner, James E. Allen, says there have been questions raised over the use of the fourth stanza of “The Star Spangled Banner." Mrs. Miriam Rubenstein of Hicksville, Long Island, has asked the Commissioner to pro hibit the use of this verse in schools of that community. The quotation was brought into use following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling that "official" prayers were not to be offered in public schools. Meditate on these beautiful Words, written by Francis Scott Key: "Oh! thus be it ever, when free men shall stand Between their loved homes and the war's desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n- rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and pre served us a nation. "Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, How Do I Love Thee (continued) “ the chiefest of sinners” welcomed an examination of his personal life. He wrote to the Thessalonians: “Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and righteously and unblamably we behaved ourselves toward you that believe” (I Thess. 1:10 ASV); and to the Corinthians: “We have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the Word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commend ing ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Cor. 4:2 ASV). He believed — and rightly so — that those to whom he ministered as an expert in the things of God had a right to expect a correspondence between his preaching and his conduct. A sinning Christian does not fall by himself. He drags down with him those who have been looking to him as an example; he hurts the faith of young Christians; he sins against every other believer, for when one suf fers, the whole church suffers. And what about the un saved? “ A righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain and a corrupt spring” (Prov. 25:26). For his heinous sin, David was censured severely by God through the prophet Nathan because, among oth er effects of his wrong-doing, David had given “ great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme.” Psalm 51 reveals the agony of his heart when in God’s light he
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