“Form the habit of daily pondering the wondrous works of God.”

I came across the following message recently in an old copy of STUDIES IN THE SCRIPTURES, a little publication issued in the 1930s & 1940s by A.W. Pink. This particular message is central to our purpose here at This Day in Presbyterian History, and I do hope you will be edified by it. 

REMEMBERING
New’s Year Message. To be read on January 1, 1951.

We propose to write now upon a twofold “remembering”—God’s of us, ours of Him. We need hardly point out that when the Scriptures speak of God “remembering,” such language is a gracious concession on His part—the Infinite accommodating Himself to the language of the finite. With the great I AM there is neither past nor future, but rather an ever-present now—”Known unto God are all His works form the beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18) expresses far more than His bare omniscience. Thus there is not such thing as forgetting or recalling on God’s part, yet that does not mean the term is devoid of significance when it is referred to the eternal One; very far from it. When the Bible tells us God “remembers” His people, it means that He is mindful of them, that they are the objects of His favourable regard, that He has their welfare at heart. As might be expected, the first time the term occurs in Holy Writ it is in connection with God; as a matter of fact, the first five references are to the Divine remembering—how significant and blessed! Equally anticipative and suggestively, the first time it is used of man is in Genesis 40:23, “yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph,” who had befriended him—so fickle is the human memory.

“And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark” (Gen. 8:1). In order to appreciate the blessedness of those words, we need to ponder the occasion and visualize the situation. To carnal reason and natural impatience it would appear that the Lord had completely forgotten those within the ark. Not only days and weeks, but months had elapsed since He had “shut him in” (8:16). Previously God had promised Noah that He would preserve him and all who were with him in the ark (6:14-20), and now no less than nine months had passed (8:5) and still they were confined therein! His faith had been put to a great test in the building of the ark, and now his hope was severely tried, for there is no record that God had informed him how long he would have to remain therein. How often it has been thus with the Lord’s people! For a season He seems to overlook them, yet in due course He appears for them. In “wrath” upon the wicked, God remembers “mercy” (Hab. 3:2) unto His elect. Let every saint who is in straits take comfort and fresh confidence from Genesis 8:1. “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation” (II Peter 2:9). If not one sparrow is forgotten by God (Luke 12:6), He certainly will not forget one of His dear children.

“He hath remembered His covenant for ever” (Psalm 105:8), the reference being unto that formal and solemn arrangement which God entered into with Christ before the foundation of the world, wherein, as the Head of His people, the Mediator pledged Himself fully to discharge their obligations; and the Father, on His part, promised to bestow upon them the reward earned by their Surety. That everlasting covenant is the basis of all God’s dealings with His elect, the ground of the Divine procedure in all His dispensations with them. Exodus 2:23-25, supplies a blessed illustration thereof. When the Hebrews were being sorely oppressed in Egypt, and they sighed and cried by reason of the bondage, we are told “God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant . . . and God had respect unto them.” God cannot violate that gracious compact, for it is sacred to Him, being sealed by the blood of His Son (Heb. 13:21). In Psalm 105:42, the covenant is termed “His holy promise,” and a holy God must make good His oath (Psalm 89:4, 19). “He will ever be mindful of His covenant” (Psalm 111:5), for He takes great care in acting always according to its engagement. It does not become obsolete by the lapse of time; it cannot be broken, for God is faithful. Zacharias recognized that the wonders God wrought in his day were the fulfillment of His covenant promises (Luke 1:68-72).

“For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14). Blessed consideration is that! God is not forgetful of our mortality nor unmindful of our infirmities, and therefore does He deal gently with us. We too often overlook our frailty, unduly burdening ourselves and overtaxing our strength. Nor do we sufficiently bear in mind the infirmities of others—how many a husband fails to realize that his wife is “the weaker vessel” (I Peter 3:7), and instead of giving honour unto her as such imposes upon her. Not so the Lord: “He remembereth that we are dust.” He is no Egyptian task master! Nor is the Lord Jesus: His yoke is easy and His burden light. The Lord is compassionate unto His feeble creatures. “Feeble” we say, for though the world may talk of some men possessing “an iron constitution,” Scripture declares “all flesh is grass” (Isaiah 40:6). The measure of our natural strength is sovereignly allotted by our Maker. It is not those of the most powerful physique who live longest—witness Marshall Petain, King Gustav, G.B. Shaw. For the Lord to “remember” us is to be considerate of our frailty, to hear our cries (I Samuel 1:19-20), to succour and help us (Gal. 2:10).

“Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Heb. 10:17). Those words point one of the many contrasts which the apostle was here drawing between the old and new covenants as he set forth the immeasurable superiority of Christianity over Judaism, for in the latter there was “a remembrance again made of sins every year” (verse 3). How precious is this emphatic declaration! It signifies that God absolves those who savingly believe in Christ from the guilt of their sins, so that they will never more be brought against them for their condemnation. It means that the penal and eternal consequences of our sins have been annulled, and therefore that they will never be recalled by God as He exercises His office of Judge. It expresses the fixity and finality of Divine forgiveness: that God will never revoke His pardon, that He has not only remitted our sins, but acts as though He had forgotten them. It is unspeakably blessed to observe how repeatedly and emphatically this truth is expressed in the Word. God has cast all our sins behind His back (Isaiah 38:17). He has removed them from before His face as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). He has cast them all into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19). He has blotted them out, as the sun completely dissipates a cloud (Isaiah 44:22). Beautifully is this illustrated by the fact that none of the failures and falls of the Old Testament saints are recorded in the New! Why? Because all their sins were under the blood of Christ!

“Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God” (Deut. 8:18). At the beginning of a new year beg Him to write this word upon your heart and make it effectual in your life. Does not your past show the need thereof? Alas, how quickly have His mercies faded from our minds. How transient the effects produced in our souls from His Word. Feelings stirred, but no lasting results, for Truth loses its efficacy when not seriously thought upon. We listen to a powerful sermon or read an impressive article and receive the Word with joy, but the resultant emotions soon subside. For a brief moment only are we melted by a sense of the Lord’s goodness. Why is this? Because we meditate so little upon His favours: we do not take time to think gratefully upon them, and though our sinful neglect they depart from our hearts (Deut. 4:9). A sanctified remembrance is one where faith, fear, and love for God are active. In the scriptural meaning of the word, to “remember” God is to have heart-warming apprehensions of His perfections and the excellency of His will, as we are said to remember His commandments when we earnestly set ourselves unto the practice of them. Form the habit of daily pondering the wondrous works of God. “Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.”

“Remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee: (Deut. 8:2). Most suitable word is this too at the beginning of the year. Some are dismally prone to dwell upon the rough parts of the path, others desire to recall only the smooth ones; but we are bidden to remember “all the way.” The places where we distrusted and murmured—that the recollection may humble us. The unpleasant sections when, because we followed a policy of self-will, God hedged up our way with thorns (Hosea 2:6)—that we may profit from His chastenings. Remember too the testing parts, when providence so ordered your course that you were brought to wits-end corner, yet in response to your cries the Lord delivered you. Recall the trying stages of the journey, when visible supplies and outward means failed, and your wonder-working God gave you water out of the smitten Rock, so that you can acknowledge, “who remembered us in our low estate” (Psalm 136:23).

Let these two things be fixed in your mind at the entrance of 1951 [and here too in 2019!]: the fact that the Lord will never forget you, and your duty ever to remember Him. See that you are one  of those who holy resolution it is, “we will remember Thy love” (Song of Sol. 1:4). Say “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits” (Psalm 103:2), realizing that each of them issues from His love. Let the realization of His love ravish your heart, for it will greatly heighten your valuation of it. As you do so, it will make sin more odious, banish fear, tranquillize your mind and make Christ more precious to you.

Great Sacrifice in Difficult Circumstances

The Houston Mission was a work of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, General Synod (New Light), situated in one of the poorest areas of rural Kentucky. Staffing that ministry for most of its half-century of existence were two selfless women, one of whom is recounted here in a memorial which was spread upon the Minutes of the 152nd General Synod of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod (1974). A most admirable work, closed now many years past, it has been interesting to come in contact from time to time at the PCA Historical Center with those whose lives were touched by this ministry.

Those interested in knowing more about the Houston Mission may write to the PCA Historical Center to obtain a PDF of a 50 Year Anniversary History of the Houston Mission, the sixteen page booklet produced in 1957.

Miss Elva Foster was called to be with the Lord on January 3, 1974. In 1907 she and Miss Susan J. Cunningham founded the Houston Mission in Breathitt County, Kentucky, which for many years served the people on Turkey Creek in spiritual, educational, and physical ways. Miss Foster taught school and later was matron of Ananth Home, the dormitory for the grade school children.

Most of her life was spent at this mission post with the exception of some time she was at home to care for her aged mother. She was the perfect lady in surroundings of crude and sometimes unfriendly character. She put much of her small salary back into the work and was the spiritual “mother” of the children of the mission. Even after her retirement when she went to live near relatives at Hebron, Nebraska, she was vitally interested in the work in Kentucky.

Her life reminds us of the verse in 2 Kings 4:8 where it says, “And it fell on a day, that Elisha passed to Shunem, where was a great woman;”

Through much of the later half of the 20th century, evangelical and conservative Presbyterians were almost constantly taken up with efforts at merger. By contrast, the 21st century has thus far seen an almost total absence of such efforts. In the closing of the 20th century, Dr. Robert Godfrey’s brief article, “A Reformed Dream,” seemed a last grasp at the goal of a more united Church.

Reading in Samuel Brown Wylie’s Memoir of the Rev. Alexander McLeod, I learned something. I did not previously know that in 1825 the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. resolved to confer through committee with the Reformed Presbyterian Church. This was a hand of fellowship extended to open up fraternal correspondence between the two denominations. Today the denominations that together form the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (NAPARC)  widely practice similar fraternal correspondence, but apparently it was a rare thing in that era. Still, what might we learn from this early effort at ecumenical unity?

When the Reformed Presbyterian Synod met later that same summer, they readily took up the proposal and adopted a favorable response, with the Rev. McLeod and Rev. John Gibson appointed to the committee to draft a reply. McLeod’s biographer comments on this effort:

This synodical transaction might, indeed, be considered as a new era in our ecclesiastical concerns in this country. By the maxims of common sense, by our Covenant engagements, and by the obligations of the sacred oracles, we were bound to use all lawful endeavors to promote uniformity in the doctrine, worship, discipline and government of the church of our Redeemer. That church we found divided into various sections, cherishing prejudices, too often indulging animosities subversive of the interests of true godliness; and, although members of the same body—the body of Christ—laboring under alienation of affection from each other yet all holding the same head, and all acknowledging one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. How shall all these be brought to that uniformity requisite for organic communion and demanded by the unity of the truth? Will it not be by the cultivation of social communion and friendly correspondence? Does not a repulsive distance, on the part of brethren, promote alienation of affection, foment jealousies, rivet prejudices, and cherish unfriendly feelings? Shall we stand aloof, and with sanctimonious air, like the proud Pharisee, say, “Stand by, we are holier than you!” No; God forbid! such was not the conduct of our reforming ancestors. With other sentiments, they formed and swore the Covenant in 1648, by the spirit of which we still hold ourselves bound. But this subject will again present itself, when the report of the committee shall come under discussion.

It need scarcely be remarked here, that Dr. McLeod cordially concurred in the project of the contemplated correspondence between the General Assembly and our Synod. The current year had not come to a close before he had attended to and finished the business assigned to the committee of which he was appointed chairman. Doctor McLeod, in a letter, dated New York, January 2, 1826, says, “we met on Friday, and finished the business unanimously, ere we separated.”

The articles drafted by the Reformed Presbyterian committee were in substance as follows:

1. Maintaining the proper unity of the visible church, and lamenting its divisions, we mutually covenant to employ our exertions patiently and prudently to bring our respective churches together, to a uniformity in doctrine, worship, and order, according to the Word of God.

2. In the meantime, we covenant that ministries, elders, and people shall treat each other with Christian respect, that the validity of ecclesiastical acts shall be reciprocally admitted; and each of the contracting parties may, without offence, examine persons, and review cases of discipline, on points distinctive to the respective denominations.

3. That the superior judicatories shall appoint two members, as commissioners, to attend the meetings of the other, not as members of that other, but with liberty to deliver opinions on any subject of interest, whether in discussion, or otherwise, but in no case to vote on a question.

4. That the General Assembly shall, on ratifying, appoint their delegates, to meet General Synod, so soon as they [the General Synod] shall have ratified this covenant.

Wylie relates how McLeod summarized his own view of the matter:

“Thus,” continues the Doctor, “so far as I perceive, we give nothing up; we forego no privilege we now have, and we gain a public admission of truth in a respectable connection with a sister church, and a covenant with them for future reform, or, at least, for the use of lawful means to lead thereto. . . . I hope little more will be said upon this subject, until it rises up to view in the [PCUSA] Assembly.

“Yours sincerely,
“A. McL.”

And then Wylie adds the sad summary put upon the matter by Reformed Presbyterians in general:

The good Doctor’s hopes in this case were disappointed. It was spoken against, written against, decried from pulpit, press, and by private denunciation, as a violation of our covenants, long before it rose to view in the General Assembly. Every prejudice that could be excited was enlisted against it, and the tocsin [i.e., an alarm bell or signal] of incipient apostasy was rung over the length and breadth of the land.

Words to Live By:
It is interesting to compare Dr. McLeod’s earlier 1802 stand against slavery, a resolve which led his entire denomination to that same conviction, often at great cost. But nearly 25 years later, the seemingly simple effort to open up fraternal correspondence between denominations met with stiff opposition. How very curious. And sad. Perhaps the seeds of the 1833 RP split began in some respect with that widespread rejection in 1826.

“So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.”—Romans 14:19, ESV.

“But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”—1 Corinthians 12:24-26, NASB.

“Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”—Ephesians 4:3-6, KJV