September 2014

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September 9: Eagle Wing Lost

9 September, 2014 in September 2014 by davidtmyers | 2 comments

The First Attempt to Cross the Atlantic Ocean Failed

It was an ambitious plan to move four Presbyterian pastors and another 140 church members to the new world for religious freedom on a new ship specially built for crossing the Atlantic Ocean. That was the blessed hope and prayer of Scottish Presbyterians living in Ulster, yet under great difficulty from the Church of England. The four ministers—Robert Blair, John Livingston, James Hamilton, and John McClellan—were the spiritual leaders of the expedition. Their life and work in their congregations was being made more and more difficult. So through a letter to the Rev. Cotton Mather in New England asking whether Presbyterians could exist in that colony, and being assured that it could, plans were made.

For a ship to cross the ocean, a ship was built named Eagle Wing, based on Exodus 14;4, “Ye have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagle’s wings and brought you unto myself.” Finished at the small village of Groomsport, Ireland, it was barely large enough for the passengers to board it. With no trial run to see how it would do through rough seas, the ship and its passengers boarded it and left Carrickfergus, Ulster on September 9, 1636. Pastor Livingston commented that “there was much toil in our preparation, many hindrances in our setting out, and both sad and glad hearts in taking leave of our friends.”

Off the coast of Newfoundland, the ship was hit with a mighty hurricane featuring “mountains of water.” Springing a leak, which was fixed, the rudder next broke. A brave passenger went over the side with a rope tied to him so he could be extracted. He fixed the rudder. After a discussion among the whole body, Pastor Livingston suggested that they should wait a day to see if God would give them smooth sailing. However when that delay didn’t accomplish their wishes, they turned around and sailed back to Ulster with smooth sailing.

The first attempt to cross the ocean for Scot-Irish Presbyterians met with failure. But was it a failure? It is true, they did not get to their new place of ministry. But their presence back in Scotland strengthened the cause of Christianity. They became leaders in the new National Covenant of 1638. In Scotland and Ireland, they laid the spiritual foundation of that church which could justly claim to be the mother of the American Presbyterian Church. And after the lapse of a century or less, swarms of Scots-Irish sailed again and again to the shores of this new land, filling the colonies of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas, and beyond, with godly Presbyterian families.

Words to Live By:
There have been occasions in all of our spiritual lives where dreams of life and ministry were frustrated by what many have called “dark providences.”  We thought that this was where God wanted us to be, or what God wanted us to do. But instead, God’s sovereign will lovingly spoke by means of a closed door. God had other plans for us, not unlike that which was spoken to the Jewish church in Babylon, where there were “plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give us a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11.) Learn the spiritual lessons behind the Eagle Wing, dear readers. As Solomon writes in Proverbs 16:9, “The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.”

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September 7: The Privilege of Suffering

7 September, 2014 in September 2014 by archivist | No comments

September 7, 1915 marks the birth date of PCA teaching elder and foreign missionary Francis Rue Steele, who died in 2004. Here today, for our Sunday Sermon, is his article, The Privilege of Suffering.


THE PRIVILEGE of SUFFERING.
by Dr. Francis R. Steele

steel_Francis_RueWhy do Christians suffer? Is there a purpose in it and if so what is that purpose? Should all suffering be treated as a calamity and considered as punishment? How should the Christian behave in the face of suffering; gloomy or patient—or what? Note first of all that there are two kinds of suffering: deserved and undeserved. We are not here concerned with suffering which is the just desserts of our own foolish or sinful behavior. “For what glory is it if when ye be buffeted for your faults ye take it patiently” (I Peter 2:20). “But let none of you suffer as … an evildoer” (I Peter 4:15). But what about undeserved suffering, why is it permitted and how should we behave?

What does the Bible have to say on this point? It says, quite clearly and unmistakably that God permits suffering to come into the lives of His children as a special privilege and that it is an experience to be sought from Him for His glory. How different this attitude is from that of the world toward suffering and, for that matter, of most Christians as well.
The Lord Jesus laid the foundation of this truth in His teaching and it was later developed further by the Apostles. Let us see what they have to say and ask God to clarify our thinking on this much misunderstood point.

UNAVOIDABLE SITUATION:
The whole matter is summarized thus by the Lord: “These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) The first statement is conditional “ye might have.” The second is unconditional “ye shall have.” If we fail to understand the principles under which God is operating in this present world we may well feel distraught and upset by our experiences. However if we understand we may enjoy the tranquility of soul which resting in the promises and providence of God affords. Our enjoyment of His peace is conditioned by our accepting His will. But in either case we shall experience tribulation; this is inescapable. This is the unavoidable situation confronting Christians because, in the very nature of things, there must be conflict between light and darkness, good and evil, the Christian and the world just as there is between God and Satan. There is no possibility of “peaceful co-existence” between righteousness and unrighteousness.

It is more difficult for those of us who live in North America to appreciate this fact than for those Christians who live among hostile Muslim people in North Africa. The atmosphere of religious respectability and material abundance here at home blinds us to the real world outside. We are easily deceived into equating our social and material comfort with the privileges and benefits we believe are rightfully ours by virtue of our being Christian. If so, however, we are ignorant of two facts. (1) For the first few centuries of its life the whole Christian church was despised and persecuted by the world and (2) the majority of our Christian Brothers and Sisters living outside our artificial environment are still living under extreme hardship and severe persecution even today.

But even more important than that, we have explicit teaching from the Lord concerning the elements of a life of true discipleship. “Remember the word that I said unto you, The disciple is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also.” (John 15:20) Or put another way even more forcibly, “It is enough for the disciple to be as his Lord.” (Matthew 10:25) Enough! Who could wish for anything more? Isn’t that the goal and aspiration of my life? But, is it; really? Or have I a mistaken concept of my desire when I sing so heartily “I would be like Jesus.” Do I not really have in mind undescribable joys and pleasures flowing from a life of such sweetness and goodness as I have never known before? If so, then I had better turn my eyes away from these dazzling dreams and listen to His voice again, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you . . . if they have persecuted me they will persecute you also.” Can it be that I actually desire to be more than He was in this world; more popular, more comfortable? God forbid that He should ever have to say of me, “The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.” (John 7:7). God forbid that the world should ever see so much of itself in me or that I should be so attractive and congenial to it that it would look with favor on me while at the same time despising the Lord I profess to follow.

A word of caution is necessary at this point. The world hates Jesus because His life of holiness convicts it of sin. That’s what He meant when He said, “They hated me without, a cause.” (John 15:25) There is no need for us to seek or produce occasion for suffering. No suffering brought on by stupid, sinful or selfish behavior glorifies God. “Let none of you suffer . . . as an evildoer.” (I Peter 4:15). We should rather “seek after godliness and true holiness” and then “think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings.” (I Peter 4:12-13).

UNEXPECTED SOURCE:
It’s no great surprise to us that grossly sinful or viciously anti-religious people treat us rudely or harmfully because of our witness for Christ. Though, be assured, few of us in America ever know anything like the persecution our Christian Brothers overseas suffer constantly. Nevertheless, whether we welcome such treatment or not, we can understand why it comes when it comes. Such people don’t know any better therefore we realize we ought to be patient with them no matter what the cost. Whether we do or not, of course, is quite another matter.

But what if unjust, undeserved treatment comes from within the family of believers? How easily and quickly we become hurt and resentful. Yet wasn’t this precisely our Lord’s experience. Isn’t this peculiarly characteristic of His deepest suffering. He was misunderstood by his closest disciples—even his own family. He was betrayed by one of the twelve. He was deserted by all men at Calvary. He was blasphemously denied by one of the specially privileged three. And “as he was in the world so are we.”

The Psalmist speaks of this when he cries out, “It was not an enemy that reproached me, then I could have borne it. Neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me, then I would have hid myself from it, but it was ‘thou, a man, my own equal, my guide and acquaintance;” (Psalm 55:12-13) not a declared enemy but a supposed friend. It hurts deeply to remember that once “we took sweet counsel together, and went up into the house of God in company” (verse 14) then to discover that although “the words of his mouth were smoother than butter, yet war was in his heart.” (verse 21)

Such was the heartbroken reply of one missionary to another when the disloyalty of a colleague was revealed, “If an Arab had spat in my face on the street, that I could have understood and accepted it but . . .” Yes, that’s the difference “it was thou.” No matter how willing or able we may think we are to suffer reproach from unbelievers—though rarely tested at this point—it is an altogether different matter when it proceeds from a brother in Christ. Still, it is at exactly this point that we have the pre-eminent example of the Lord “because Christ also (thus) suffered for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow in His steps.” (I Peter 2:21).
We fail the test at this point since we have failed to heed His advice and warning; “in me ye (may) have peace, in the world ye shall have tribulation.” The simple truth is that true, lasting peace can only be found in Christ; He is the only unfailing Friend. Nothing and no one in the world is completely reliable or trustworthy. It is unwise to lean too hard upon even the most saintly Christian. God grant that we seek our peace only in Him and be satisfied. He will never disappoint us.

UNNATURAL REACTION:
No matter what the source, however, most Christians react to suffering in more or less the same way; either bitter resentment or lugubrious silence. Moreover, some Christians seem to take morbid pleasure from their having to “bear a cross,” as they put it. They are at great pains to point out how noble they are to bear so patiently with such misfortune. What a disgraceful parody upon real Christian grace! Such behavior betrays the evil motive of selfish pride behind it. Bearing “a cross” (Mark 8:34) means giving complete obedience to the Lord. It has no reference whatsoever to sickness, accidents, calamity or any other hardship as such.
The gem of truth lies in the very heart of the Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount. Following a familiar pattern in Semitic didactic literature we find here two groups of four statements the fourth of each being the major thought of the group. Notice the development (Matthew 5:3-12). The first climax is, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.” then follows the second group with its climax, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake.” But the crowning climax brings the lesson home personally, “Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against
you falsely for my sake.” And finally, “Rejoice and be exceeding glad.” That is the unnatural reaction. “I can imagine suffering wrongfully,” you might say, “yet scarcely consider myself fortunate for it. But as for actively rejoicing in it . . .” Still that’s exactly what Jesus said; and what He meant. No matter what the source when we truly suffer for righteousness sake we should respond with positive joy. “Praise God, I am privileged to suffer shame, of any degree, for His sake!”

But let us turn from the proposition to the practice of this grace as recorded in Acts chapter 5.
Here we read of Peter and John who having been twice falsely arrested and imprisoned for preaching the Gospel were then unjustly and cruelly beaten. Notice their reaction upon their release, “And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.” (verse 41). Surely this lies far beyond the ability of most of us. But why does it? Is it not because we fail to recognize such undeserved suffering as a privilege rather than a calamity? Surely this was the source of their joy. They rejoiced that “they were counted worthy.” What an absolutely opposite light this throws on the whole question. Can it be that I have been so blind in my complacency that I interpreted as a special blessing from God the almost total absence of such suffering from my life? Why did it never occur to me to wonder if the reason God spared me from suffering was that He knew I was not worthy. I have been kept from these privileged experiences because God knows I would disgrace Him in them. Did this ever occur to you? Did you ever pray, “O God cleanse me from the fault, the sin, that prevents me from witnessing with rejoicing heart at the privilege of suffering anything for thy glory. Make me worthy to suffer shame for His Name.”

May God give us grace to understand that such suffering for Him is a real privilege to be sought after for His glory. May we realize that it is a gift of great price to be desired eagerly, not a disastrous calamity to be avoided if possible at all cost and if not then to be borne grudgingly. That’s what Paul meant when he said, “Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake.” (Phil. 1:29) All of us will readily acknowledge that “to believe” is a gift, a free gift of grace (the basic meaning of the verb in this verse). But few are prepared to accept suffering also as a gracious gift of the same character. May God forgive us for our foolishness and teach us the true value of this high privilege.

UNFAILING POWER:
Granted, then, that suffering for Christ’s sake is a priceless privilege, as I know myself I realize that I am not able of myself either honestly to seek or victoriously to bear suffering of this kind. Are there any resources of spiritual power available for me? I can give intellectual assent to the proposition that that which God wills for my life He is able to perform in my life but how? The answer to this question involves a remarkable spiritual principle. I cannot know the power before or without the suffering. God is not prodigal in His giving. The God of all comfort (strength) has promised to undertake for me under certain conditions. “As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.” (II Cor. 1:5). Would you know to the full the abundant consolation of Jesus Christ? Would you know the preciousness of His presence, the strong comfort of His love? There is only one way. “As the sufferings . . . so the consolation.” The deeper the need the greater the love. The more severe the testing the more powerful the Presence. For it is in “the valley of the shadow of Death” that in the fullest sense “Thou art with me.” We see, therefore, not only that suffering “for righteousness sake” is a high privilege, but also that it is the only way to know the fullness of the comfort of God’s great love.

“But let none of you suffer . . . as an evildoer . . . but rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” (I Peter 4:15 & 13).

by Francis Rue Steel [1915-2004].

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September 6: Bible Presbyterian Church

6 September, 2014 in September 2014 by archivist | 1 comment

The first General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church Meets

They said that the Presbyterian Church of America which began in 1936 had been “a false start.”  Issues regarding  the exact details associated with Christ’s second coming as well as the total abstention from alcoholic beverages formed a divisive wedge between once united brothers in Christ.   The place of independent agencies in the new church versus denomination agencies added another issue to the contention of “a false start” in the Presbyterian Church of America.  Some would even argue that the death of J. Gresham Machen was a blow to the original testimony.  But whatever it was, in 1937, a small group of ministers and ruling elders had gathered in another place from the General Assembly then meeting to set up the rules for association for a new church.


And now, beginning September 6, 1938, and continuing two more days, thirty-nine teaching elders and eleven ruling elders met at the new tabernacle building of the Collingswood Bible Presbyterian Church, in Collingswood, New Jersey.  The name of this new church had been taken from the name of the congregation pastored by the Rev. David K. Myers, a home missionary of the Presbyterian Church of America in Lemmon, South Dakota.  That constituted  the first Bible Presbyterian Church in the nation.  The other churches were represented by seven presbyteries: New Jersey, Great Plains, Philadelphia, Great Lakes, Chicago Bible, Iowa, and California.  In its beginning days, it would have a glorious testimony to the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Some of its original ministers were individuals who had and would have a testimony in present and future years.  They were: Francis A Schaeffer, H. McAllister Griffiths, Carl McIntire, Harold S Laird, Oliver Buswell, Allan MacRae, Charles Dana Chrisman, A. Franklyn Faucette, J. A Toms, and others.  J. A Toms was elected moderator, and H. McAllister Griffiths was elected the Stated Clerk.  Those who had suffered censure in various degrees by the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. were absolved of all such censure.

Two of the original resolutions passed by this new church were the exact two which were issues in the Presbyterian Church of America.  The church was decidedly placed in the premillennial camp by adding parenthesis to the Confessions Standards.  Further, the call for holiness and specifically a call for total abstinence from alcoholic beverages was passed by the new church.

Even though they were classified as independent agencies, both the Independent Board for Foreign Missions and Faith Theological Seminary were endorsed by the new denomination.   

Words to live by:  There is always joy over the birth of something new, especially a church body.  But to have individuals who had stood the test of orthodoxy in an increasing liberal church find out that they cannot agree with one another on other issues is disheartening. The issue of the doctrine of the last things was not premillennialism per se.  It was dispensational premillennialism.  The issue of holiness of life and total abstinence from alcohol was an issue in the days of prohibition, but to this writer it was not a reason to separate from brothers in the Lord.  Westminster Seminary put out a directive right around this time which enjoined its students from alcohol, citing a witness to the world and that of offending brothers in Christ.  But there is encouragement even in small blessings, for just a few years ago, modern Bible Presbyterians approved a motion in granting observer status to the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. There are blessings to brothers who dwell together in liberty.

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September 5: Covenanter Slaves

5 September, 2014 in September 2014 by davidtmyers | No comments

A Final Covenant

Twenty-eight Presbyterians signed a final covenant on the eve of their departure from Leith, Scotland in early September, 1685. It said in part,

“That, now to leave their own native and Covenanted land by an unjust sentence of banishment for owning truth and standing by duty, studying to keep their Covenantal engagements and baptismal vows, whereby they stand obliged to resist and testify against all that is contrary to the Word of God and their Covenants; and that their sentence of banishment ran chiefly because they refused the oath of allegiance which in conscience they could not take, because in so doing they thought utterly declined the Lord Jesus Christ from having any power in His own house, and practically would by taking it, say, ‘He is not King and Head of His Church and over their consciences.’ And, on the contrary, this was to take and put in His room a man whose breadth was in his nostrils; yea, a man who is a sworn enemy to religion; an avowed papist, whom, by our Covenants; we are bound to withstand and disown, and that agreeable to Scripture: ‘When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shall possess it and shall dwell therein, and shalt say, I will see a King over me, like as all the nations that are about me, thou shalt  in any wise set him King over thee, whom the Lord thy God shalt choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set King over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.  Deut. 17:14, 15.”

To this final covenant, they signed their names.

It is not known to countless Christians today that many Presbyterians were carried from their beloved land of Scotland to the shores of this America, not as free immigrants, but as slaves. Slaves? Yes, slaves! The black African was not the only race to be transported to the new world as slaves. Joining them in that cruel trade were white Covenanters, who were removed from prisons all over the British isles, all for the sole reason that they refused to take an oath of allegiance to the King and failed to recognize the King’s authority over the church of Scotland.

On this occasion, the twenty-eight who signed the last covenant and another ninety seven Covenanters left on September 5, 1685 on the war ship “Henry and Frances” for landfall at Perth Amboy New Jersey. It was a terrible journey with the  ship carrying leaks, shortages of food and water, fever among the prisoners, resulting in 31 of the number dying and buried at sea. The captain of the ship was very cruel. When worship services were attempted to be held in the hold, the captain would throw wooden planks down to disrupt the services and injure the worshipers.

When they arrived at their destination in New Jersey, the inhabitants of Perth Amboy were inhospitable to them. However inhabitants of a further town inland, thought to be Woodbridge, received them and cared for their needs. Eventually they were able to find employment according to their gifts, not as slaves, but as free people.

Words to Live By:
Still other Covenanters continued to serve as slaves in places like South Carolina and the Barbados, which raises an interesting question. From where did the African slaves hear the Gospel of the Lord Jesus? Certainly their home land did not have it. Many believe, and studies have been made on the question, that they heard it from their fellow slaves, the Covenanters. May we who live in increasingly difficult days in these United States, with biblical Christianity under attack from all directions, remember the example of the early Covenanters, and be faithful to stand up for the gospel by our lips and lives, wherever the Lord may take us. Moreover, should the Lord take us into difficult places, may we remember that He has us there for a great purpose.

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September 4: Death of Beatrix Umpherston, lead writer of Children’s Covenant  (1686)

4 September, 2014 in September 2014 by davidtmyers | 2 comments

Children’s Covenant

Our post today is set in the context of the small devotional groups which arose in central and southern Scotland after the death of Richard Cameron and Donald Cargill (see July 22 and July 27). They were known as the Society People of Scotland, and we will consider their existence on December 15.  For now, this was a family oriented commitment to faith and devotion in Christ. It so permeated their spiritual lives that even the youngest of their families had a sincere belief in that faith and life.  And nowhere is this seen better than what has been called the Children’s Bond.

Fourteen young girls, the oldest of them around ten years of age, came together in Pentland outside of Edinburgh to commit  themselves to God and His Word.  One of them, Beatrix Umpherston, is thought to be the originator of the bond made between them. Precious is personal faith by any Christian, but especially precious is this seen in young girls at the dawn of their teenage years. The Bond is worth reprinting in full, as a witness to all ages.

“This is a Covenant made between the Lord and us, with our whole hearts, and to give up ourselves freely to Him without reserve, soul and body, hearts and affections, to be  His children and Him to be our God and Father, if it please the Lord to send His gospel to the land again, that we stand to this Covenant which we have written, between the Lord and us, as we shall answer at that great day. That we shall never break this Covenant which we have made between the Lord and us, that we shall stand to this Covenant which we have made; and if not, it shall be a witness against us in the great day when we shall stand before the Lord and his holy angels. O Lord, give us real grace in our hearts this day to mind Zion’s breaches which are in such low case this day: and make us mourn with her, for Thou hast said them t hat mourn with her in the time of trouble shall rejoice when she rejoiceth, when the Lord shall bring back t he captivity of Zion, when he shall deliver her out of her enemies’ hand, when her King shall come and raise her from the dust, in spirit of all her enemies that oppose  her, either devils or men. That thus, they have banished their King, Christ out of the land, yet he will arise and avenge His childrens’ blood at her enemies’ hands, which cruel murderers have shed.”

On the back of the written Covenant were found these words: “Them that will not stand to every article of this Covenant which we have made betwixt the Lord and us, that they shall not go to the Kirk to hear any of those soul-murdering curates we will neither speak nor converse with them. Any that break this Covenant, they shall never come into our Society.  We shall declare before the Lord that have bound ourselves in Covenant, to be covenanted to  Him all the days of our life, to be His children and Him to be our Covenanted Father.”

And then: “We subscribe with our hands these presents — Beatrix Umpherston, Margaret Galloway, Helen Moutray, Janet Brown, Helen Straiton, Helen Clark,  Marion Swan, Janet Swan, Margaret Brown, Janet Brown, Isobel Craig, Margaret McMoren, Martha Logan, Christian Laurie, Agnes Aitken.

It would be neat to trace the development of each young person who signed this Covenant.  We only have discovered one follow-up, that of the first signer, Beatrice Umpherston.  He eventually married a Covenanter pastor by the name of John M’Neil.  God gave  her a long life in service for Christ.  She died when she was 90 years old, on this day, September 4, 1763 and was buried in Old Pentland Cemetery, Scotland.

Words to Live By:
Is there not a spiritual lesson for us readers today, pastors or lay people?  If the church is to recover her spiritual soul and be a powerhouse for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, then she must surely work toward,  and pray for, a family faith in the Triune God to be existent in our homes.  Fathers and Mothers of This Day in Presbyterian History, is your family  setting the Lord Jesus first in all that you believe and do?  Pastors and Ministers of This Day in Presbyterian History, is your congregation aiding the family to be Christian families in the world today?  Would/Could any similar covenant by our children and teenagers today be similar in commitment as this Chrildren’s Bond was written?  Lord God, we pray for the Christian families of America, and especially those represented by our Presbyterian churches.

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