THE SCHOOL & FAMILY CATECHIST
by Rev. William Smith (1834)

The Westminster Shorter Catechism, Questions 53-54.

Q.53. Which is the third commandment?

A. The third commandment is, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain,” Exod. xx. 7.

EXPLICATION.

Take the name of God in vain. —To mention the name of God when there is no occasion for doing it ; and to use it without that seriousness and reverence, with which we ought always to speak of God, and to pronounces his name.

Not hold him guiltless. —Not suffer him to go unpunished.

Q.54. What is required in the third commandment?

A. The third commandment requireth the holy and reverent use of God’s names, titles, attributes, ordinances, word, and works.

EXPLICATION.

Reverent use. —Using them with a holy fear an awe of God upon our minds, and at the same time with love to him in our hearts.

God’s names. —Such as Jehovah, Jah, God, Lord, I am, &c.

God’s titles. —Such as the Lord of hosts, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy One of Israel, the God of salvation ,the Hearer of prayer, &c.

Attributes of God. —His perfections, such as Infinity, Eternity, Unchangeableness, Power, Wisdom, Truth, Holiness, Goodness, &c.

Ordinances of God. —God’s appointments, such as prayer, preaching, the sacraments, lawful oaths, &c.

God’s Word. —His revealed will, as contained in the Scriptures, which may be divided into the Law and the Gospel.

God’s works. —The works of Creation, Providence, and Redemption.

ANALYSIS.

The duties required in the third commandment are six in number :

1. A holy and reverend use of God’s name. —Psalm xcvi. 8. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name.
2. A holy and reverent use of God’s titles. —Rev. xv. 3, 4. Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name?
3. A holy and reverent use of God’s attributes. —Jer. x. 6, 7. O Lord, thou art great, and thy name is great in might. Who would not fear thee, O King of nations?
4. A holy and reverent use of God’s ordinances. —Eccles. v. 1. Keep thy foot when thou goest to the houses of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools.
5. A holy and reverent use of God’s word. —Psalm cxxxviii. 2. I will worship towards thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy loving-kindness, and for thy truth; for thou has magnified thy word above all thy name.
6. A holy and reverent use of God’s works. —Job xxxv. 24. Remember that thou magnify his work, which men behold.

A New Method of Missionary Work
by Rev. David T. Myers

For centuries, the work of foreign missions all over the world  had been done by faithful missionaries going from nations like England or America, serving the Lord in some field white unto harvest, and then going off the scene back to their sending agency.  That method was in need of changing, and the Rev. John Livingston Nevius would be the one who would change foreign mission methods forever.

Born on March 4, 1829 in western New York, John Nevius attended Princeton Theological Seminary in the 1850’s.  Called while in seminary to the foreign mission field, he found the perfect mate in Helen Coan in 1853. Marrying her, they set sail for China.

At first they traveled, setting up missions and schools. Then they settled down in one province of that vast land.  Observing the work of other missionaries in that nation, this Presbyterian missionary began to see the need to establish “self-propagating, self-supporting, and self-governing indigenous churches from the very beginning of a missionary’s work on the field.  Interesting, even though this approach, which was eventually crystallized in a book, was first developed in China, it never really matured into reality there. But when broaching the same method in the land of Korea, it was received completed by the Korean church. And today, that land and its churches have taken the three “self’s” and followed them religiously.

John Nevius also in his plan suggested that Christian missionaries should only begin programs which the national church desired and supported.  Further, the national church should call out and support their pastors.  Intensive beliefs and doctrinal instruction should be provided each year by the missionaries.  It is clear that the focus would not be on some Western culture and church, but rather on the mission field’s culture and church.  Indeed, the missionary’s “job” was to work themselves out of that “job,” and leave it to the Christian church people to win their nation to Christ.

Countless church bodies have followed the Nevius plan.  The Mission to the World agency of the Presbyterian Church in America employs this plan, often setting deadlines for establishing a Presbytery of pastors and churches, and then sending the missionary to some other field to continue the process.

John Livingstone Nevius died while in China on October 19, 1893 and is buried in China.

It is deeply interesting to ponder the Lord’s sovereign hand in the affairs of China, from that time until now, how the Lord has purified that Church. To read another missionary’s account, from 1927, click here.

Words to live by:
When I hear of a church which has closed down when a pastor has left by moving on or by death, I reflect that this John Nevius plan wouldn’t be a bad one for our local American church scene.  For reasons known only to the pastor and people, the work to equip the saints to do the work of service, as Ephesians 4:11, 12 states,  had been missing in that closed church.  Now it was the pastor’s fault.  He wanted to think that he was irreplaceable.  Or maybe the members resisted that Scriptural methodology.  But whatever the reason was, the work came to an end when the pastor was removed from the scene.  So here is my question?  Pastors, are you equipping the saints to do the work of ministry?  And members, are you zealous to be equipped to do the work of ministry?  It is important to ask and answer these questions.

Is God constrained?

Is God constrained? Will He yet again work in powerful ways? Are we expectantly watching and praying for Him to yet again walk among His people? In 1859, there were mighty acts of God observed and recorded world-wide, with great numbers brought to saving faith in Christ. Much of this occurred notably in the United States and throughout Great Britain. See for instance the sermons of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones delivered on the centennial anniversary of the 1859 revival, here. Or read The New York Pulpit in the Revival of 1858, by James W. Alexander (son of Archibald Alexander). And yet another account that I have just come across quite unexpectedly, in an address given by the Rev. Dr. William Childs Robinson. Dr. Robinson, or “Doctor Robbie” as he was affectionately known by his students, was professor at the Columbia Theological Seminary from 1926 until his death in 1982. This is an excerpt from his Centennial Address delivered before the Synod of Alabama (PCUS) in 1961, as reported on the pages of The Presbyterian Journal, vol. 20, no. 25 (18 October 1961), pages 5-6, 8, 18.

“Despite the fanfare and cavalcades for evangelism, this last year saw the lowest increase on professions of faith in five years, the greatest number of losses, and the lowest net gain. These shocking statistics ought to send us to our knees that we may know God’s way with His people today. Perhaps, there is a word for this year in the account of the revival God granted through John L. Girardeau’s ministry in the Anson St. Presbyterian Church of Charleston where nine-tenths of the 500 members were Negroes.

“The greatest event in his ministry was the revival in the later eighteen fifties. This began with a prayer meeting that constantly increased until the house was filled. Some of the officers of the Church wanted him to commence preaching services, but he steadily refused, waiting for the outpouring of the Spirit. His view was that the Father had given to Jesus, as King and Head of the Church, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and that Jesus in His sovereign administration of the affairs of His Church, bestowed Him upon whomsoever He pleased, and in whatever measure He pleased. Day after day, therefore, he kept his prayer addressed directly to the mediatorial throne for the Holy Spirit in mighty reviving power.

“One evening, while leading the people in prayer, he received a sensation as if a bolt of electricity had struck his head and diffused itself through his whole body. For a little while he stood speechless under the strange physical feeling, then he said: “The Holy Spirit has come; we will begin preaching tomorrow evening.” He closed the service with a hymn dismissing the congregation, and came down from the pulpit, but no one left the house. The whole congregation had quietly resumed its seat. Instantly he realized the situation. The Holy Spirit had not only come to him — He had also taken possession of the hearts of the people.

“Immediately he began exhorting them to accept the Gospel. They began to sob softly, like the falling of rain, then with deeper emotion to weep bitterly, or to rejoice loudly, according to their circumstances. It was midnight before he could dismiss his congregation. A noted evangelist from the North, who was present, said, between his sobs, to an officer of the Church: ‘I never saw it on this fashion.’ The meeting went on night and day for eight weeks. Large numbers of both black and white were converted and joined the various churches of the city. His own was wonderfully built up, not only in numbers, but also in an experience that remained in the Church. It is in such events that ‘Our God is marching on.’ “

The following plaintive appeared on the pages of a Presbyterian newspaper in October of 1879, exhorting both pastors and parents to pay better attention to the spiritual nurture of the children of the Church. The account is interesting in itself, but also for the vignette provided on the ministry of Rev. Daniel Baker, so noted for his children’s sermons.

The Christian Observer and Commonwealth, 58.41 (8 October 1879): 1, col. 4.

Presbyterianism is a family religion. Every baptized child is a member of the Church. The children are the lambs of the flock. They must be fed, but they cannot receive and digest the food suitable for veterans in the faith.

Surely they should not be left at home in idleness and spiritual starvation, while the parents are receiving the bread of life; yet, does it benefit the poor little lambs to be thrust into starchy clothes and imprisoned “bolt upright,” in an uncomfortable pew for an hour and a half, staring in idiotic vacancy at the preacher, who utters not a word within the ken of childhood? Nay! many a disappointed little heart is carried home, having been denied, from sheer oversight, a single crumb from the Master’s table. Some faithful parents still marshal their children to church? But what do they go for? Are not the majority of shepherds forgetting to feed the lambs; forgetting that these little boys are the future elders and deacons, nay, the future ministers in the Church of Christ?

Not a quarter of a century ago the “family pew” was an institution. The usual Sabbath morning scene was that of whole families going together to Church. The father and mother each leading a toddling little one; and respectfully walking behind the fresh, clean boys and girls, some half dozen or more, even those old enough for beaux and sweethearts, deeming it out of the question to be absent from the family pew Sunday mornings.

Every little fellow had his “Sunday clothes,” instead of his “evening dress,” and the Sabbath was to him the white day of the seven, when “brand new,” he turned over a clean leaf in life, and started over again. The mother then knew that her boy was not on the church steps in doubtful company, or one of the disorderly occupants of the back pew. Parents ruled their households then; now the children have the supremacy. They go to church or not, as they like, and sit where they please when they go.. Sabbath evening drills in the Shorter Catechism are old-fashioned; memorizing the Psalms and hymns, a fogy notion, and the main idea is to make the Sabbath a pleasant day. When the minister calls, the children go tumbling out of the back door as if some frightful apparition had made its appearance.

How many of the readers of the OBSERVER remember Rev. Daniel Baker, that blessed old patriarch, embalmed in the memory of every one who, as a child, heard his children’s sermons–literally the milk for babes. How often have many of us sat in a crowded house of children, and heard him talk right to our hearts about “coals of fire;” and the songs he would sing, in the midst of his sermons, to bring into wakeful surprise some nodding head or drooping pair of eyes; such as “Let dogs delight to bark and bite;” and the swearing word he gave the boys, “Pot hooks and hangers!” as a cure for swearing.

The children must be looked after. The world is carrying on its interests, and so is the Evil One, upon the very wings of lightning. The boys can hardly wait to get into their “teens,” or to show a shady upper lip before they are hurried into the battle of life.

An immense energy must, on the other hand, be thrown into the religion of the present day, and children must be enlisted before the world has filled up their hearts, as it will, and that right early.

Words to Live By:
When children are baptized in a Presbyterian church, the pastor typically asks the congregation if they will covenant to pray for that child. Sad to say, but most of us probably thereafter forget to ever again pray for that child. Brothers and sisters! Take this occasion to stop and pray for the children in your church, that the Lord would be at work in their hearts, leading them to saving faith in Christ Jesus as their Savior, drawing them near to a lifetime of discipleship, striving to walk closely with Him.

George Andrew Blackburn, D.D., was born in Greene County, Tennessee, on this day, October 16^th, in 1861. He was the son of John Melson* Blackburn, a Presbyterian minister, who held a number of pastorates in the State of Alabama. George received his preparatory school education at his home, his collegiate course at the Southwestern Presbyterian University and he prepared for the ministry at Columbia Theological Seminary [this was while it was still located in South Carolina], graduating from Columbia with the class of 1886. He was soon afterward installed as pastor of the Presbyterian church in McConnellsville, SC, a post which he held for fifteen months, resigning there to accept the call of the Arsenal Hill Church, of Columbia, SC. In this pulpit, he was the successor of the late Dr. John L. Girardeau, the organizing pastor of this church. Rev. Blackburn labored here in this church until called to his reward, on May 25, 1918, having served the Arsenal Hill church as pastor for over thirty-one years. It was during this time that he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from the Presbyterian College of South Carolina.

[*Note: There is some confusion as to George’s father’s middle name. Some sources have “Nelson” while others provide “Watson” as his middle name. But we take our source, the memorial for Rev. Blackburn found printed in the Minutes of the Synod of South Carolina, as closest to the source and thus authoritative.]

On April 7, 1886, he was married to Annie Williams Girardeau, daughter of John L. Girardeau, D.D., and this union was blessed with four children, all of whom survived him. They were Mrs. Johnson Hutchinson, of Auburn, AL, Misses Chauncey and Laura Blackburn, of Columbia, and Rev. John C. Blackburn, pastor of the Darien and St. Mary’s group of churches.

The work of Dr. Blackburn centered largely around the building up of the Arsenal Hill church, but he was also very active in all of the work of the Southern Presbyterian Church, in whose courts he was regarded as an able advocate, a wise, conservative and safe counselor.

He was a charter member of the Congaree Presbytery, faithful in attendance upon its sessions when able. His knowledge of Presbyterian law and practice was given considerable weight in the decisions of his Presbytery. As a member of the Presbytery’s Committee on Theology, he usually conducted the examinations of candidates for the ministry, because of his comprehensive grasp of the whole Calvinistic system. As Chairman of the Committee on the Sabbath, his reports were always full of appeal for a proper and Scriptural observance of the Christian Sabbath. His rigid Scriptural stand on the sanctity of the Sabbath was well known. Simplicity of worship, which was rigorously advocated and maintained by Dr. Girardeau, was made a permanent feature of the ministry of Dr. Blackburn.

As a man, he was genia and pleasant; as a friend, he was loyal, sympathetic and helpful to those who came to him for counsel. A man of firm convictions and courage, he was unwilling to compromise where it mean yielding of principle.

He was especially a friend of the poor, the needy and the outcast, among whom he did a great work; greater than most were aware of, since he never paraded his good deeds.

Among his greatest works to the Church at large may be mentioned The Life Work of John L. Girardeau, D.D., which was completed and published a short time before his death. In his failing health, his desire and prayer was that he might live long enough to finish this book, which prayer God graciously answered.

During his last illness, he said to some friends who visited him: “I only know I am on the earth and not in heaven when my friends visit me. I am holding sweet communion with my Lord every moment.”

So, through days of anxious watching and waiting, he finally received the call of God and entered peacefully into his rest and reward May 25, 1918, and his body was laid to rest in Elmwood Cemetery, attended by a host of sorrowing relatives, friends and church members.

“Servant of God, well done!
Rest from thy loved employ;
The battle fought, the victory won,
Enter thy Master’s joy.

“Soldier of Christ, well done!
Praise be thy new employ;
And while eternal ages run,
Rest in thy Saviour’s joy.”

 –W.S. Harden, for the Synod of South Carolina, Minutes of the Synod of South Carolina, pp. 26-27 [lightly edited]