February 2015

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February 8: Van Horn on WSC Q. 5

8 February, 2015 in February 2015 by archivist | No comments

STUDIES IN THE WESTMINSTER SHORTER CATECHISM
by Rev. Leonard Van Horn.

Q. 5. Are there more gods than one?

A. There is but one only, the living and true God.

Scripture References: Deut. 6:4. Jer. 10:10.

Questions:

1. What proofs can we offer that there is only one true and living God? We can offer proof from Scripture as it says, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.” (Deut. 6:4). We can offer proof from reason since there can be only one first cause and ultimate end of all things. Scripture is logical when it states as the first verse: “In the beginning God . . .” Many have called this one of the important verses of the Bible.

2. Why not begin our study of God with the Trinity?

We begin with God since this is the method the Scripture uses. The Bible presents first the truth of the one true and living God and then proceeds to unfold the mystery of the Trinity.

3. What does it mean when it says “one only” in this Question?

The teaching here does not deny the fact of the Trinity or the deity of Christ or the Holy Spirit. It rather points out that absolutely none other person or being shares the attributes of the “one only” true God. He cannot be compared to anything else in the entire uni­verse, all of which He alone created and governs.

4. What may we learn from this truth?

We may learn to recognize Him as Almighty and Sovereign. Our at­tention is thereby called to the fact that there is only One Supreme Being, Maker, Designer and Lawgiver of the world and that He is the only One.

5. What do we call the doctrine of one God?

This teaching is called “Monotheism” in opposition to “Polytheism”, the teaching that there are many gods. The pagan world is Poly­theistic. In contrast to this, Paul says, “. . . we know that air idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one.” (I Cor. 8:4b)

6. What is the meaning of the word “living” in this Question?

The word “living” emphasizes that He alone has life in Himself and is therefore the Fountain of life to all His creatures. Dr. William Childs Robinson points out that “He calls Himself the LIVING God. Our Lord Jesus speaks of God as the LIVING Father, Peter con­fesses the Saviour as the Son of the LIVING God, Paul calls the Church the Church of the LIVING God and believers the children of the LIVING God.” He further states that “He has life in and of Himself and He gives life to everything else.”

THE ONE GOD and CHRISTIAN LIVING

Bavinck states in his treatise on “The Being of God”: “The first thing that the Holy Scripture wants to give us, in its use of all those descriptions and names of the Divine Being, is an ineradicable sense of the fact that Jehovah, the God, who has revealed Himself to Israel and in Christ, is the very, the true, and the living God. The idols of the heathen and the idols (panthesistic and polytheistic, deistic and athe­istic) of the philosophers, are the work of men’s hands: they cannot speak nor see, they cannot hear, nor taste nor go . . . People want to make God a dead God so that they may treat Him as they please.”

There should be a definite relationship between our belief in the “one only, the living and true God” and our Christian living. We can not treat our God as the world desires to treat Him. Those of us who have been redeemed by the sovereign grace of the Sovereign God should recognize that our belief in Him implicates us in serious responsibilities.

There is our responsibility for Prayer and Bible Study. This is basic in order for us to be good stewards of our responsibilities. It is fine to have definite beliefs and to be able to recite the Catechism. It is fine to be known as those who are committed to the Standards of our Church, who are Calvinistic to the core. But without diligence in prayer and in the study of God’s Word, the committed one becomes a weak sound for the Saviour. Too many of us are in such a hurry about material things, about duties of the church, that we do not have time for private de­votion. If a person is wrong here he becomes wrong all the way through.

There is our responsibility for God-centered living. The Christian who is dedicated to the Westminster Standards, the Reformed point of view, is a Christian who in his world and life view must stand in direct contrast to the non-Christian in all of his actions, words and thoughts. One of the greatest hindrances to the testimony of the church today is that it is too difficult for an unbeliever to tell the difference between himself and the nominal Presbyterian who has merely professed to believe.

Many other responsibilities could be mentioned. However, if all of us would make a covenant with God, the living God, to fulfill the above two in the months to come, the living God would make use of His peo­ple in a mighty way. The result would be something all churches need. The result would be REVIVAL of religious living!

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February 7: The Rev. George Smith Boardman, D.D.

7 February, 2015 in February 2015 by davidtmyers | No comments

Our candidates for this date are few, and information is sparse. Today’s entry comes largely from Alfred Nevin’s Encyclopedia of the Presbyterian Church, with some additional details provided by the Biographical Catalogue of the Princeton Theological Seminary.

George Smith Boardman was born at Albany, New York on December 28, 1796. He graduated at Union College in 1816, and entered Princeton Seminary that same year, later graduating there in 1819. His time at Princeton Seminary would have been during those years when Dr. Archibald Alexander and Dr. Samuel Miller were the only professors serving at the young Seminary; Dr. Alexander being the first professor in 1812 and Dr. Miller joining him a year later in 1813. Charles Hodge did not join the faculty until 1822.

Third Presbyterian Church (Old Pine Street)After receiving license to preach the gospel, George Boardman spent about two years preaching from place to place in Ohio and Kentucky, which was then the “Far West.” He was ordained by the Presbytery of St. Lawrence on July 26, 1821 and was installed as pastor of the Presbyterian church at Watertown, New York, where he served for sixteen years. In 1837 he accepted a call to the Bethel Presbyterian church of Rochester, New York, where he remained six years, excepting a period of six months in 1842, when he labored at Columbus, Ohio in connection with a revival, and then supplied for a while the Third (or Pine Street) Church in Philadelphia.

Pictured at right, Third Presbyterian church, Philadelphia, PA.

In 1843 he took charge of the Second Presbyterian Church at Rome, New York, which he left in 1847, to enter upon a short pastorate at Cherry Valley, New York. At the latter place he remained until 1850, when he accepted a call to the Church at Cazenovia, New York.  This pastorate extended to 1865, a period of nearly fifteen years. At the end of this time impaired health required his release. After his health was restored he eagerly engaged in preaching, either as an occasional or stated supply. For longer or shorter periods he filled the pulpits of the First Presbyterian Church of Rome, as well as the Presbyterian churches in Ogdensburg and Little Falls, all in New York. He died in Cazenovia, New York, on February 7, 1877.

In 1858, during the time that he was serving as the pastor of the Presbyterian church at Cazenovia, the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on Rev. Boardman by Madison University in New York (now Colgate University).

Words to Live By:
Just the facts, ma’am. Looking over what is known of Rev. Boardman’s life, we don’t have available the usual details that would add life and vibrancy to the story. Just the bare details.  Most of us seemingly just plug away at our calling in life, with little hoopla or ceremony. Occasionally we might enjoy an honor or two in life. But for the most part, we simply do our part and trust the Lord that our lives will matter, for His glory and for the good of others. And God has given us this confidence, that our lives do matter: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10, ESV).

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February 6: Roy & Bertha Byram

6 February, 2015 in February 2015 by archivist | No comments

The Safest Place in the World Is At the Center of God’s Will.

In the turmoil of those early days of World War 2, Presbyterian missionaries Roy and Bertha Byram, who were at that time serving in present day Manchuria, were, along with Bruce Hunt imprisoned for their faith.

byram“Prison Songs” is the title of a small collection of songs written by Mrs. Bertha S. Byram and Mr. Bruce F. Hunt while in solitary confinement during the days between October 22, 1941, and February 6, 1942, when they and Berth’a husband Dr. Roy M. Byram were imprisoned in Antung and Harbin Manchuria with more than thirty of their Korean Christian friends on charges arising out of their opposition to Japanese State Shinto and a law for the government control of the church.”

Later returned to the States in a prisoner exchange, the Byram’s wrote of their imprisonment:

“Now your missionaries did not have to suffer like Paul at Lystra. In prison our feet were not put into the stocks although we were handcuffed some of the time to others. We were not even beaten, nor did we endure any form of physical torture. We were expelled, however, as was Paul from Antioch in Pisidia. As a matter of fact your missionaries feel very humble indeed because we were not able even to approximate the tribulations that our Korean friends willingly endured. God simply allowed us a look from behind clanging, bolted doors. That was all. We saw what it was like to be looking out from within the bars; what it was like to be accused before magistrates; what it was like to suffer trouble as an evil doer even unto bonds; what it was like to endure hardship as though we were good soldiers of Jesus Christ. And we found out how it felt to lie helpless in prison without the assurance that a free American citizen usually enjoys as a missionary in a foreign land, for after war was declared, as far as we knew no power on earth could deliver us for the duration. So passports and American citizenship did not enter much into the seriousness of our thinking in those days. We realized that we had been on business for the King of kings and that it was up to Him alone if deliverance came.

Words to Live By:
What joy and comfort for the Christian, to know that whatever may befall our physical bodies, that we are safe in our Savior’s arms, our names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and that nothing in this life can truly harm us. And so the Christian speaks and acts from the vantage point of a glorious courage, a courage moored steadfast on the death and resurrection of God’s own Son.

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February 5: J. J. Janeway’s Diary

5 February, 2015 in February 2015 by archivist | No comments

J.J. JanewaySabbath, February 5, 1809.

“When conversing on politics, I find that my mind is too apt to become warm when opposition is made to my opinions. Pride is at the bottom ; and it behoves me to guard more effectually againt pride and undue earnestness in political conversation. The Lord succour me with his grace!

” Whenever by occurrences I am prevented from having my hour on Saturday evening for devotion, reflection, and self-examination, I find that my frame on the Sabbath is less comfortable. Last night I did not get my hour, and this morning I felt quite uncomfortable; but having mourned over my coldness, and sought Divine grace, I felt more comfortable. I spent between one and two hours this evening in examination with respect to my growth in grace; and I trust that I have reason to think that I do make some advances in it, though, alas! but too little. I applied for assistance to a chapter in Doddridge’s Rise and Progress of Religion. In the present heat of politics I find it necessary to guard my temper and lips, lest I sin; and I pray God for assistance! I feel that I am a man of like passions with others. The Lord direct my steps, and give me grace! In this day of alarm I would rest in God’s grace, and commit myself and family to his protection and disposal. The Lord give me faith!”

LIFE OF DR. J. J. JANEWAY, p. 153

 

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February 4: Birth of Alexander Dobbin

4 February, 2015 in February 2015 by davidtmyers | 2 comments

If any of our readers are among the one and one half million visitors to the Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, you know that you and your family can not possibly see the entire Civil War battlefield without stopping for a meal.  And among the restaurants in that south central Pennsylvania town is the Dobbin’s House and Restaurant.

Many who park in its lot may not notice the small sign to the left of the building which identifies it as a Presbyterian historical site.  In fact, many will not know anything about its Reformed Presbyterian roots unless they turn to the back of the menu and read something about its connection to American Presbyterianism.  It was built in 1776 and was the home of the Rev. Alexander Dobbin, his wife Isabella, and eventually a family of eight children.  It was the manor house of a three hundred acre homestead, a Covenanter homestead, and a classical school, which was the first school west of the Susquehanna River.

Alexander Dobbin was born on this day, February 4, 1742 of Scottish heritage.  His father was described as a “pious sailor.”  Early on in his education at Glasgow University in Scotland, from which  he graduated in 1771, he had a desire to enter the gospel ministry.  Eventually  he was ordained by the Reformed Presbytery of Ireland on August 20, 1772.  He left with his wife Isabella in  1773 to go to the American colonies, accompanied by the Rev. Matthew Linn of the same presbytery to engage in missionary work.  Together with the Rev. John Cuthbertson, they would establish the first Reformed Presbytery of America at Paxtang, Pennsylvania.  Rev. Dobbin  became the pastor of the Rock Creek Presbyterian church in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Teaching Latin, Hebrew, and Greek in his classical school, twenty-five of his male students became ministers of the gospel.  He was instrumental in advancing the cause of the gospel in that section of Pennsylvania.  Working with James Gettys, he helped lay out the streets of what later on became Gettysburg.  When his first wife died, he married a widow by the name of Mary Agnew, with ten additional family added to his home.

Later on, he would divide his ministry at Rock Creek with the Lower Marsh Creek Presbyterian Church west of Gettysburg.  The building of that congregation is still to be found on the grounds of what is now a congregation of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.

When the Civil War came to the area culminating in that three day battle on July 1 – 3, 1863, the Dobbin House became a hospital with both  Union and Confederate wounded in it.  Before that, it was one of the stops of the Underground Railroad, all of which took place after his death.  His son Matthew was one of the “captains” of that railroad ferrying on escaped slaves to points north.

Alexander Dobbin died on June 1, 1809. He is buried in the Lower Marsh Creek Presbyterian Church burying ground off of Knoxlyn Road.

Words to Live By: 
It was said of Rev. Dobbin that his visage was not at all an imposing one.  He had a dark eye, a pointed nose, and was rather small in stature.  In other words, it was not so much his outward appearance which was effective in drawing worshipers to the visible church, but it was the spiritual zeal of his character and conduct which drew men and women to the gospel message.  Too much emphasis in the author’s opinion is placed today on the outward appearance of our pastor-teachers, when we should be spending more attention on his spiritual qualifications.  Pray that the Holy Spirit will fill your pastor daily as he seeks to please Him who called him to the gospel church.  And join with him as he labors to build up God’s kingdom in and through your local church to a needy world.

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