August 3: Maltbie Babcock

2 August, 2020 in August 2020 by Wayne Sparkman | No comments

Seeing My Father’s world
by Rev. David T. Myers

He never even heard the hymn which he wrote, sung by a choir or congregation. He never heard it as an instrumental musical piece. That is because he wrote it as a poem in 1901 and it wasn’t published until 1916, set to music for the Presbyterian songbook for Children. But more than children have made it a favorite of theirs.

Maltbie Davenport Babcock was born on August 3, 1858 in Syracuse, New York of wealthy and prominent parents. With an amiable personality and an outstanding mind, he soon began to make the proverbial waves at the University of Syracuse. An outstanding athlete combined with a skill in music caused him to be chosen to be the director of the University orchestra. He could have been anything in life, but he chose the ministry, and specifically the Presbyterian ministry.

Studying at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York, and graduating in 1882, he was ordained and became the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. It was there that the words of this poem and eventually the hymn of “This is My Father’s World” came into being. It was said that he loved to walk in the morning and see the beauty of God’s creation. In fact, he would say to anyone he met that “I am going out to see my Father’s world.”

His next place of ministry took place in Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland. There, he had such an impact among the students of nearby Johns Hopkins University, that the educational institution set up a special room on campus so he could minister to the student body.  He had a unique manner of presenting spiritual truths in new and fresh ways.

With the death of Henry Van Dyke at the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York, Rev. Babcock went to New York City for  his third charge.  It was there that they sent him, after a time of labor, to the Holy Land. In the midst of that trip, he suddenly died on May 18, 1901. His wife Katherine waited until 1916 before she published his poems. This one on His Father’s Word was set to music by Franklin L. Sheppard in 1915. It originally had sixteen verses, but he chose only three verses, which are found in the red Trinity hymnal on page 111. In the blue Trinity hymnal, it is found on page 109.  We need to reflect often on God’s creation.  Or by Pastor Babcock it, this is our Father’s world.

Words to Live By: Found on the flyleaf of Pastor’s Babcock’s Bible is the following quote.  It says, “Committed myself again with Christian brothers to unreserved docility and devotion before my Master.”  Whether this was at a conference or even a small group of Christians, we don’t know.  But Maltbie Babcock’s life was committed to Christ during his three pastorates. To him, “though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.”  With that as his comfort, he could and did go forward to serve His heavenly Father.

August 2: God’s Providence in the Church

2 August, 2020 in August 2020 by Wayne Sparkman | No comments

God’s Providence in the Church.
by Rev. Henry A. Boardman, pastor of Philadelphia’s Tenth Presbyterian Church, from 1833 until his retirement in 1876.

            The Church has lived on through all changes, not without feeling them. It is the only earthly witness which has seen these vicissitudes from the beginning; for it is older by two thousand years than even the Jew, who antedates by more than half that period any existing nation. It has been a spectator of the convulsions which have so often sported with the European nations, and dissolved and re-constructed them as children play with their nursery-blocks. It saw the Northern hordes devastate Rome. It saw the rise of Antichrist, and the blood-stained career of Mahomet. It saw the Holy City burned up, and the chosen nation dispersed over the earth. It stood by the cross in mute anguish when its Lord was crucified. It looked on in adoring wonder when Media and Assyria dissolved in smoke. It shared the seventy years’ captivity, and long before that, the bondage in Egypt, and the wanderings in the desert. It dwelt with the patriarchs in their tents. The ark bore it in safety over the waters of the flood. It saw the confusion of tongues in Babel. It received into its bosom Enoch and Seth, and their pious contemporaries, and bore witness to the faith of the proto-martyr Abel. What a record is this to be made of any existing Institution! And yet it is literally true of the Church. Nay, it is but a small part of the truth. It were remarkable that any Institution should survive in a world like this for six thousand years. This is seen in the fact that no other Institution has survived for half that time. But the peculiarity of this case, is, that between the Institution thus distinguished, and the world, there is a radical and permanent antagonism. Had all nations and governments, however differing among themselves, united in cherishing and protecting it, the preservation of the Church had been less remarkable—though even then, it would have been a more extraordinary event than almost any other which history records. But the Church could look for no such indulgence. It was the wickedness of the world which gave occasion for its establishment. It was founded as a witness for God and His truth, to testify against the world continually, that the works thereof were evil. This it has never ceased to do. It has done it, just in proportion to its own faith and purity, in all lands, and under all circumstances.

            It used no violence. Its only weapons were light and love—truth and holiness.

            Yet neither the wisdom and excellence of its requirements, nor the moderation with which they were enforced, could save the Church from persecution. But God has its interests in view in all the dispensations of His Providence.

            It was an ancient promise concerning Zion—“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper: and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.” Most signally has this pledge been redeemed: and the redemption of it has involved the fulfillment of a correlative prediction against the hostile nations: “For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.” So has the event proved: the nations have been consumed as by the moth, but the gates of hell have never prevailed against the Church.

            Trials and afflictions may still await it; but the end is sure. Christ will yet come to present it to Himself, a glorious Church, and all who have faithfully served Him, or faithfully suffered for Him, will then rise and reign with Him forever.

August 1: Rev. C. W. Grafton [1846-1934]

31 July, 2020 in August 2020 by Wayne Sparkman | No comments

“Tell me about them big arms!” 

Cornelius Washington Grafton was born on December 21, 1846 and died on this day, August 1st, in 1934. Trained for the ministry at Columbia Theological Seminary, Rev. Grafton was for forty-three years the pastor of the Union Church Presbyterian Church in rural Mississippi. Most of our resources on this memorable pastor are not at hand, and so we will glance over further details of his life, but the transcript of a little booklet he wrote on his years of ministry is available and it presents some interesting insights into rural ministry before the advent of the automobile. In the following portion of that booklet, Rev. Grafton gives an overview of his work as a pastor in a rural setting:—

PASTORAL WORK AT UNION CHURCH FOR FORTY-THREE YEARS.

The pastoral work has been very laborious. Including Bensalem, the sister church, our congregation stretches over twenty miles in legnth and about the same in breadth, 400 square miles. Around the church the people are more thickly settled, and they can always come to church and Sunday School. And a good deal of the pastoral work can be done by walking around from house to house. But in the outlying sections of the congregation this has been impossible. Some of our members rarely ever get to church and they cannot have the benefit of the Sunday School and the prayer service. And when the preacher goes to see them, it’s a long, hard day’s work; if the roads happen to be bad, especially hard. Some of the trips the country preacher has taken, make one tired to think about. Three fine horses and two or three buggies have been worn out in the service and I am now looking around for the horse that will probably last till sunset comes.

(Since the above was written for the General Assembly, the school boys and girls of the Union Church High School, of which I was principal for ten years, as will be explained further on, united and bought for their teacher, a Ford touring car. At out summer communion occasion this year, a bright young lawyer from a neighboring town, one of our former schoolboys, made a touching address to the congregation, presenting the car as an expression of their tender regard.)

A visit to quite a number of our families cannot be made oftener than once a year, but a pastoral visit in the country means more than it does in the cities and towns. In the big cities, I suppose, the preacher spends his mornings in the study and walks out in the afternoon and calls on his flock and goes to see four or five and sometimes just leaves a card. But not so in the country. You send word beforehand that you are coming such and such a day, and when that day comes, rain or shine, you start early in the morning. You get to the house by and by and find them all looking for you, and they come out to the gate to meet you. Your horse is put away and fed; after a little while, if it is summer time, they cut the big melon or bring out the peaches and figs. By and by the bell rings in the dining room and lo, dinner is ready.

Solomon says, “Put a knife to thy throat when thou sittest at the table of kings.” He says again, “Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.” But in these old country homes you have the ox and love too, besides the clean herbs of the field. If you ever felt like eating in all your life, now is your chance. But be sure you don’t eat too much. Many ridiculous stories we could tell of persons who forgot Solomon’s injunction. Two hours after dinner comes the ice cream, and again you minister to the outward man, for they have sent for this occasion out to the railroad for ice.

At last the Bible is brought out and now preacher, here again is your chance. You may not see some of these people again in twelve months. Give meat to parents, and pure milk of the Word for the little ones. Speak tenderly and earnestly and then in prayer remember all three generations that are here present, father and son and son’s sons and daughters. Sow seed for eternity.

The preacher naturally forms a line of habits. The first Saturday evening in January he goes to the Baker home, the first of February to the Buie home; Saturday before communion occasion to the Currie home, and so on and on throughout the year. Changes occur in the program of course, for death comes and homes are broken up. These long pastoral rides are formidable indeed. To wit: to ride 20 miles on horseback or in a buggy to see one of your people and back again the same day, twenty-five miles to see another family and back again the next day; and this is repeated again and again. Journeys of 15 miles a day are too numerous to mention.

One recompense though, is the pure air and the bright sunshine, and the beautiful woods and the flowing streams and the long trip with your boy or your girl. While laborious, some of these pastoral trips have been inexpressibly sweet and carry memories that can never die.

A missionary in distant China sits down in his home with his little boys and tells them of the long trips he used to take with his father in Mississippi, and how he talked of Bismarck and Napoleon and made the miles seem short as he drew pictures of the future. And the girl now grown to womanhood, can never forget the long rides to the railroad, the dinner by the roadside, the deep creeks and scary-looking bogs, the outpourings of girlish confidence and the warm-hearted friends met on the way.

Another recompense is in carrying the gospel personally to men. “Tell me about them big arms!” This was the language of a dying Scotchman as the pastor entered the room. The old man had heard the preacher talk sometime before about the God of Jeshurun, and underneath the everlasting arms, and like a babe in early childhood, he now felt the need of the strong arms.

Words to Live By:
Our Lord and Savior does indeed have big arms, and He is able to save to the uttermost all those who trust and cling to Him for salvation. This glorious truth is the same whether proclaimed in the city or the country. All men and women are at heart the same wherever they are. In all ages and times and settings, we are desperate sinners, dead to all that is holy and good and in need of One who will make us alive unto God, redeeming us from our sin and restoring us to eternal fellowship with the God who made us.   So much attention is given to taking the Gospel to the cities. Pray the Lord would raise up those who would faithfully go to the towns, villages and countryside with the life-giving message of salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord.

The booklet, A Forty-Three Year Pastorate, by C.W. Grafton, is available from the Log College Press. Click here to view details

July 31: Edward T. Noé

30 July, 2020 in July 2020 by archivist | No comments

Edward Terris Noé was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 18, 1919 to parents Bradford Massey Noé and his wife, Lydia Terria Noé.

He was educated at Johns Hopkins University, New York University and at the National Bible Institute (1947), and upon graduation at NBI, he married Ruth Helen Buswell, of New York City, on June 20, 1947. He then began his preparation for the ministry by enrolling at Faith Theological Seminary, graduating there in 1950.

He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Philadelphia (of the Bible Presbyterian Church) in May of 1949 and ordained in June of 1950 by MidSouth Presbytery (also BPC), being installed as pastor of the First Bible Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis, Indiana. He served this church from 1950 to 1969. Concurrently, he also served as director of the Versailles Camp in Indiana, 1951-1968.

Rev. Noé was next pastor of the Bible Presbyterian church of Cono Center, in Walker, Iowa, 1969-1979 and concurrently principal of the Cono Christian School, 1969-1979. Both of those institutions were started by the Rev. Max Belz.

Leaving that post, he served as pastor of the Reformed Presbyterian church of West Chester, PA, 1979-1988 and was on the church relations staff for Covenant College, 1988 until his death. He was honorably retired in 1989 and died on July 31, 1991 while a member of the PCA’s Tennessee Valley Presbytery.

Words to Live By:
Rev. Noé was not well known outside his immediate church circles, yet he was a faithful servant of the Lord and was a great influence in the lives of those under his years of ministry. He is yet another example of how the Lord calls each of us to persevere in our life’s calling, whatever that may be, to seek to honor and glorify His name in all we do, endeavoring to do His will, as revealed in His Word, and to be faithful in keeping covenant with our God, in loving our spouse and our children, in serving our church and in loving our neighbors as ourselves.

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July 30: H. Lenox Hodge, M.D.

30 July, 2020 in July 2020 by Wayne Sparkman | No comments

Today’s entry is drawn directly from Alfred Nevin’s Encyclopedia of the Presbyterian Church (p. 333), with just a little elaboration.

Third in an Illustrious Line of Medical Doctors

H. Lenox Hodge was born in Philadelphia, July 30th, 1838. His father was the eminent physician, Dr. Hugh L. Hodge. [His uncle was the equally eminent Princeton Seminary professor, Dr. Charles Hodge]. Lenox received a collegiate education, which terminated in 1855, in his native city, and afterwards studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1858.

In the Fall of the same year he became resident physician of the Pennsylvania Hospital, retaining that office till the Spring of 1860, when he opened an office for the practice of medicine in Philadelphia. He was appointed Demonstrator of Surgery in the University of Pennsylvania, and, in 1861 commenced giving instruction to private classes, on Chestnut Street, between Ninth and Tenth Streets, and subsequently lectured in Chant Street, on Anatomy and Operative Surgery. During the Civil War, Dr. Hodge served at West Philadelphia’s Satterlee Hospital, and he was also attached to the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps of Surgeons, serving as a field surgeon at Yorktown, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg. In 1870 he was appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania, and was, for nearly ten years, attending surgeon at the Children’s Hospital. At the opening of the Presbyterian Hospital, in 1872, he was appointed attending surgeon to that institution.

Dr. Hodge, by his talents, industry, integrity and energy, attained a high rank in his profession. He was a gentleman of polished address and peculiar benevolence. For a number of years he was an exemplary, active and useful ruling elder in the Second Presbyterian Church. Removed by death, in the midst of his years, June 10th, 1881 [surviving his uncle by not quite three years, Charles Hodge dying in 1878], he bore his last and lingering illness with marked resignation, and left the record of one who had adorned all the relations of life by his cultivated intellect, kind disposition, and exemplary Christian character. At the time of his decease he was a member of many medical societies and associations.

Words to Live By:
When we think of Christians who are, or were, medical doctors, the easy association is to the New Testament author, Luke, who wrote one of the four Gospels, as well as the Book of Acts. Next to the pulpit ministry, the medical profession is perhaps preeminently an appropriate one for Christians, focused as it is on the art and science of healing. As much as we need to be reminded to pray for our pastors, don’t we also need to be praying for doctors and other medical professionals? In a culture that seems fixated on death (Prov. 8:36), Christians in the medical profession face unique challenges today.

For Further Study:
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia maintains an archival collection of Dr. Hodge’s case notebooks. The finding aid for that collection can be viewed here.

H. Lenox Hodge was buried in the Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia. His gravesite, with an accompanying photograph, can be viewed here.

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