Shock-Absorbers and Servants, and other links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• A Short History of the Orser Family -- "George W Orser, son of William Orser, and a brother of Samuel B Orser, began to preach at the age of 15 years, was married to Miss Abigal [sic] Shaw at the age of 20 and was ordained as a minister that same year."
• Another former staffer accuses Rep. John Conyers of sexual misconduct -- "Veteran Rep. John Conyers is facing a fresh round of sexual misconduct allegations, with a former staffer saying he made unwanted sexual advances toward her."
• Behind the harassment scandals, another dirty little secret: pornography -- "...nobody is talking about what could be one of the most effective ways to attack the problem: Recognizing that pornography consumption is a public health crisis."
• Deacons: Shock-Absorbers and Servants -- "Deacons are shock-absorbers: the seven men chosen by the church in Jerusalem to care for widows, who seem to be precursors to deacons, were chosen to preserve unity at a time when botched administration was creating fissures in the church."
• Does Modesty Really Matter? -- "If you dress immodestly, you are NOT causing someone to become a rapist."
• Free Will Baptists in Tennessee by Robert E. Picirilli (Tennessee Baptist History, Fall 1999, pp. 43-52) -- "The frustrating thing about the history of Free Will Baptists in Tennessee is that it has been poorly preserved and researched."
• How a Roman Catholic View of Church Authority Compares to a Protestant View -- "At least we Catholics know who’s in charge of our Church! And our Church has lots of authority. You Protestants are like tribes without a chief, like ships without a rudder."
• Modesty Misunderstood: What Men and Women Need to Know -- "The idea of modesty has been almost exclusively attached to women’s dress...Real Christians love to fade into the background, serving the needs of others, asking Jesus to take center stage."
• NBC Fires Matt Lauer Over Sexual Misconduct Allegation -- "The reckoning over sexual harassment in the workplace claimed another leading television personality on Wednesday..."
• White privilege bolstered by teaching math, university professor says -- "Gutierrez says evaluations of math skills can perpetuate discrimination against minorities, especially if they do worse than their white counterparts." See also HERE

The only people who get better, and other quotes

The posting of quotes by human authors does not constitute agreement with either the quotes or their sources. (I try to confirm the sources that I give, but may miss on occasion; please verify if possible.)

"The only people who get better are people who know that, if they never get better, God will love them anyway." --  Steve Brown

Prayer is not a conveyor belt from heaven to get the things one wants. Rather prayer is the means whereby the mind and heart of the sons of God are reconciled unto God's will. -- Mike McInnis

"Every gift which is given, even though is be small, is in reality great, if it is given with affection." -- Pindaros

"I call God to record against the day we shall appear before our Lord Jesus, that I never altered one syllable of God’s Word against my conscience, nor would do this day, if all that is in earth, whether it be honor, pleasure, or riches, might be given me." -- William Tyndale

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it." -- William Arthur Ward

"People can’t drive you crazy if you don’t give them the keys." -- Mike Bechtle

"Learning how to ignore one’s conscience is a terrible thing to learn."

"A good beginning makes a good end." -- Louis L’Amour

"Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our Thanksgiving." -- Westlake T. Purkiser

"Our rural ancestors, with little blest, 
Patient of labor when the end was rest, 
Indulged the day that housed their annual grain, 
With feasts, and off'rings, and a thankful strain." -- Alexander Pope

B. W. Nash printing

Bushrod Washington Nash was an editor and printer in addition to being a preacher. He began a religious periodical called the Baptist Review in the summer of 1873. He started publishing in La Grange, NC, but later moved to Goldsboro in 1882. In addition to printing the Baptist Review, Nash’s Baptist Review Job Office also printed association minutes books – at least from the Cape Fear Free-Will Baptist Conference in 1884, to the Vernon Freewill Baptist Association in 1904 and the Jasper Freewill Baptist Association in 1905. In 1876 B. W. Nash published a hymn book titled  Baptist Harmony: a New Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs (La Grange, NC: The Author, 1876), and which was released in a second edition in 1884 (Baptist Harmony: a Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs, (2^nd edition, Goldsboro, NC: Baptist Review Job Office, 1884).

Some of B. W. Nash’s sons also learned the trade, and at one time ran Nash Brothers Printing business in Goldsboro.

Lark O'Neall of South Carolina

Lark O'Neall was the moderator of the Southern Baptist Association (not SB Convention) when it met in Williamsburg County, South Carolina in 1878. He was a veteran of the Florida Seminole Indian war of 1836. Following that, he was a law student until he abandoned the legal profession to become a Methodist preacher. At some point (at least after 1848) he left the Methodists for the Baptist Church (possibly being converted on the doctrine of immersion baptism). Originally with the close communion Baptists, he adopted the view of open communion and preached that several years before his death. I would be interested in finding more biographical information. Any help appreciated!

From The Newberry Weekly Herald (SC), April 13, 1881

Taking men from the fishing net

“We can see no good reason why God can not take men from the fishing net, workshop or plow and make efficient ministers of them now as well as thirty, forty, fifty or eighteen hundred years ago. We can not see why a proud hireling priesthood is not as injurious to the church in these present times as in former years when Freewill Baptist preachers were not permitted to preach in school houses or meeting houses if they could possibly be prevented...We think, as far as our knowledge extends, that those ministers most intimately connected with that institution (the theological school in New York) are doing most to change the former customs and usages of the Freewill Baptists, and that the time is not far distant when a man to be a Freewill Baptist minister will be necessitated to pass through all the various institutions of learning and obtain certificates from the various authorities, as do the Congregationalists...Such a state of things we can not give our aid to bring about.” – Excerpt of a reply of the Canterbury, New Hampshire Freewill Baptist Church to a call for financial assistance to the theological seminary in Whitestown, New York (History of the Town of Canterbury, New Hampshire, 1727-1912 (Volume 1), James Otis Lyford, Concord, NH: The Rumford Press, 1912, p. 331)

A parting hymn we sing

1. A parting hymn we sing (A hymn of joy we sing)
Around Thy table, Lord,
Again our grateful tribute bring,
Our solemn vows record.

2. Here have we seen Thy face,
And felt Thy presence here;
So may the savor of Thy grace,
In word and life appear.

3. The purchase of Thy blood,
By sin no longer led,
The path our dear Redeemer trod
May we rejoicing tread.

4. In self forgetting love
Be our communion shown,
Until we join the church above,
And know as we are known.

Aaron Robarts Wolfe, 1858

Hero Who Stopped Texas Church Shooter, and other links

The posting of links does not constitute an endorsement of the sites linked, and not necessarily even agreement with the specific posts linked.

• Advancing Progressive Orthodoxy: William Owen Carver -- "One of the most important debates among scholars of southern religion concerns the reaction of white southern evangelical Protestantism to the modernizing influences that prevailed outside the region from the end of the nineteenth century to well into the twentieth century."
• Biden: Hero Who Stopped Texas Church Shooter Was Wrong To Have A Gun -- "The kind of gun being carried he shouldn't be carrying."
• Bodycam Advocates Now Claim Body Cameras Are A 'Threat To Civil Rights' -- "A big concern listed in the report is an officer's ability to watch the footage whenever they want, including before they write incident reports."
• Church in Henderson turns 175 years old -- "It is older than the state of Texas and the town of Henderson."
• Little-known gem, the Virginia Baptist Historical Society has been housed on campus since 1876 -- "Anywhere from 350 to 600 researchers from Virginia, the nation, and across the globe come through the society’s doors every year to comb through the archives for historical information."
• Museum of the Bible opens in DC -- "It is an ambitious attempt to appeal simultaneously to people of deep faith and no faith, and to stand out amid the impressive constellation of museums in Washington."
• Ohio Lawmaker resigns after ‘inappropriate behavior’ with another man in state office -- "It became clear that his resignation was the most appropriate course of action for him, his family, the constituents of the 87th House District and this institution."
• One Week After Texas Church Shooting, a Sunday Service Offers Hope -- "On Sunday morning, congregants sang “Amazing Grace” and said they found strength in Mr. Pomeroy’s message: Darkness will not win."
• Pastoring a Rural Church Isn’t a “Lesser” Ministry -- "Though it’s true that rural and urban churches have many differences, it’s important not to overstate the case."
• Two accidentally shot in church while discussing church shootings -- "Both the husband and wife, who is also in her 80s, were flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center with injuries that police said didn't appear to be life-threatening."
• The Church Has Two Missions: Narrow and Broad -- "...we can say that God authorizes a church-as-organized-collective one way and a church-as-its-members another way."
• Update: Tennessee Baptists Kick Out Church with Lady Impastor -- "...Tennessee Southern Baptists have given the church the left boot of fellowship."

T. W. Springfield: Alabama preacher and music teacher

I find it exciting when my research interests (in this case Baptist history and Sacred Harp singing) intersect at the same place. I’m searching for information on a “unity meeting” called by Free Will Baptists in 1889 to organize in the South “Baptists who believe in free will, free salvation and free communion.” Woods Springfield was a Free Will Baptist preacher of the Mount Moriah Association in Alabama, who also supported the unity convention. I thought his name was unique enough to garner some special hits while researching. In doing so I found he was also a Sacred Harp singer and music teacher!

Pickens County Herald and Alabamian, September 22, 1886

The Lamar Democrat, May 24, 1922

And from The Guin Gazette, April 2 1897:

SINGING INSTITUTE
The first session of the Marion County Music Teachers Institute was held at Guin commencing on Saturday March 20th, 1897.
SATURDAY 1:30 P.M.
Institute was opened with singing by the class and prayer by Rev. T. W. Springfield, after which the following order of business was transacted.
FIRST - 
Election of Officers
J. A. Hamilton was elected President.
M. A. Springfield Secretary
SECOND - 
Address of Welcome - by T. W. Springfield
THIRD - 
The need to a Musical Institute - by Prof. J. T. Allen, M. A. Hamilton, and J. L. Smith.
FOURTH - 
A Blackboard Illustration - by J. L. Smith and T. A. Vaughn.
FIFTH - 
A Musical Measure - by A. M. Stanford and J. T. Allen.
SIXTH - 
The use of Flats and Sharps at the beginning of a Composition - by T. T. Vaughn, J. L. Smith and T. W. Springfield.
SEVENTH - 
Is Punctuation observed in Music as indicated literally - by J. T. Allen and J. L. Smith.
EIGHTH
How many real kinds of keys - by J. T. Allen, J. L. Smith and A. M. Stanford.
NINTH
Should votes culture* be taught in Primary Singing Schools - by J. L. Smith and J. T. Allen.
TENTH
Why is minor music not used at the present time - by T. A. Vaughn and J. T. Allen.  Adjournment until 9:30 a.m. Sunday
SUNDAY 9:30 a.m.
Institute met and reported as follows A. M. Stanford, J. T. Allen and J. H. Holcomb conducted the music 15 minutes each.  Recess 15 minutes.
10:30 
House called to order and music conducted by J. H. Holcomb, A. M. Stanford, J. L. Smith, and J. T. Allen. Guin was selected as the place for holding the next Institute commencing on Friday before the third Sunday in July 1897.  J. H. Holcomb, J. L. Smith, and A. M. Stanford were appointed committee on program, adjourned until 1:30 p.m.
1:30 p.m.
House called to order and the music was conducted by J. A. Hamilton, A. M. Stanford, and J. H. Holcomb. After prayer by Rev. A. A. Smith, the Institute adjourned.
M. A. Springfield, Secretary

* perhaps “vocal culture” is intended?

Let All Things Now Living

Let all things now living a song of thanksgiving
To God the Creator triumphantly raise;
Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us,
Who guides us and leads to the end of our days.
God’s banners fly o’er us; God’s light goes before us,
A pillar of fire shining forth in the night,
Till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished,
As forward we travel from light into light.

“Let all things now living” was written by Katherine Kennicott Davis (1892-1980) in the 1920s to fit the Welsh tune Ash Grove (12.11.12.11.D.).

A shape note arrangement of The Ash Grove

Newspaper Collections

Some Newspaper Collections Available Online (related to yesterday’s Baptist History and Newspaper Research)

• Alabama Online Historical Newspapers (lists many which are free and some that are not)
• Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1841‐1902
• California Digital Newspaper Collection
• Christian Newspapers Collection
• Chronicling America
• Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection
• Digitizing Louisiana Newspapers Project
• Free Newspaper Archives in the US
• Gateway to Oklahoma History
• Georgia Historic Newspapers, c. 1800-1900
• Historical African American Newspapers Available Online
• Historic News Accounts of Florida
• Historic Newspapers of South Carolina
• Historic Oregon Newspapers
• Mississippi Online Historical Newspapers (lists some which are free and some that are not)
• Missouri Digital Heritage: Historical Newspapers
• Newspaper Archives of Gentry (Ark) Courier Journal
• New Orleans (Methodist) Christian Advocate (1850-1946)
• North Carolina Newspapers
• Portal to Texas History
• Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library
• Tennesseee 19th Century Newspapers Database
• Utah Digital Newspapers
• Virginia Newspaper Project
• Wellington (Texas) Leader (1909–2008)

Copyright Term and the Public Domain in the United States

Baptist History and Newspaper Research

Discovering Baptist History through Newspaper Research

By Robert L. Vaughn

This article is a revision of “Recovering Sacred History through Newspapers,” which first appeared in the Sacred Harp Publishing Company Newsletter in December 2015 (Vol. 4, No. 2)

The general principles are the same, whether the topic is Baptist history, Sacred Harp, etc.

Baptist history is a field that has occupied much of my interest and research time for over 40 years. Louis Asher and J. W. Griffith were important mentors to me, each of whom was my pastor at one time – one when I was baptized and the other when I was ordained. They were historians and seminary professors. They nurtured my predisposition toward things historical.

Many facets of our Baptist history may seem hopelessly lost, like pieces of a puzzle misplaced and missing over time. Many churches, associations and conventions have been disbanded for years. Their records are gone. Many individual Baptists are gone and forgotten. Hopes of uncovering their stories may seem dim, but there are resources available that can offer surprising glimpses of the history of our tradition. Newspapers, correspondence, family histories, county histories, and genealogists can be sources of otherwise hidden information about our Baptist past. In this essay I offer some tips for recovering Baptist history by searching historical newspapers online, with a word on why I think this work is important.

Empty Spaces – the Need for Recovery

There is a need to recover Baptist history. There are empty spaces in the facts of our Baptist past. Knowledge is loaded in some areas and light in others. Often the focus has been on the major players to the disinterest in others. Denominational histories are useful, but evidently emphasize their own interests, understandings, and biases. Thus, a purported “History of Texas Baptists” likely is not a history of all Texas Baptists generally, but only a specific portion of them.

People, places, churches, and events are forgotten – maybe even entire denominations.[i] Time is passing away. Each passing day is one day farther away from our Baptist past, regardless of the area in which we live, or whether its history in that area dates from 1639 or 1939. Waiting increases the likelihood that meaningful data will not be recovered. Much information is missing. Records have been lost, destroyed, or are otherwise decaying. Memories fade.

Yet some things associated with the passing of time are helpful! The rise of the Internet made much information available that was previously inaccessible. The continued interest in and compilation of historical and genealogical materials gather many resources in a single, accessible place. Cemetery enumerations, such as Find-a-Grave, often are surprisingly comprehensive.[ii] Old newspapers are digitized and find their way onto cyberspace. Association proceedings, Fifth-Sunday meetings, revivals, announcements, building dedications, and obituaries have all found their way onto period newspaper pages. All is not lost. Hope arises.

Surprising Places – the Way of Recovery

Recovering our history requires research—intensive research. Don’t let that scare you. If you like history and love Baptists (or vice versa) the research can be a labor of love rather than a chore. The discovery of information can come from surprising places. One of those places is the medium of newspaper. In this article I will focus on discovering and recovering history through newspapers and other digital media.

Newspapers can be researched in physical and digital formats. Physical searching involves paging through hard copies of newspapers or microforms (film reproductions requiring a special reader). This is a time and labor intensive process that can be tiresomely challenging. To cut down on the tedium and increase the chance of success, searching through physical newspapers should begin with an idea of the time and place where relevant information might lie. Digital searching includes online newspaper archives and search engines such as Google that can lead to digitized newspaper articles. At least a few libraries have begun to digitize their microfilm holdings to make them searchable. Others have digitized hard copies of newspapers in their collections. Digital searching vastly reduces the time and labor, but introduces the problem of Optical Character Recognition not reading or recognizing what the human eye can and will.[iii]

Here are some tips for (mainly digital) searches, most of which I have learned by trial and error.

• Take advantage of free online newspaper archives, such as the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America or state-based archives such as the Portal to Texas History. Wikipedia.org publishes a list of online newspaper archives, including both free and subscription (pay) archives.
• Read newspaper microforms at the library, where they’re available for free. You can also purchase newspaper microfilm (from the Georgia Newspaper Project for example), but this can become expensive.
• Subscribe to an online newspaper archive. Many of the most comprehensive archives only sell subscriptions to academic libraries.[iv] Most archives that offer subscriptions to individuals have newspapers of interest to Baptists, since Baptists are spread widely across the U.S. Before signing up for a pay site, be sure that the given archive has papers that are specific to the time and location you are researching. (I subscribe to Newspapers.com, which offers a complete list of papers that they have available. Most other sites should do the same.)
• Vary your searches
• Search without quotes. This opens up the largest amount of results, though often with much peripheral or unrelated material through which to wade (sometimes necessarily).
• Search with quotes. This narrows the results to the exact phrase that is placed within quotation marks and makes the finding more likely to be relevant. (Be aware that quotation marks do not always function the same in all types of searches.)
• Use “advanced search” for resources with this capability, in order to be specific and narrow findings. At times change and browse by newspaper, location and date.
• Vary search engines for online searches (e.g. Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yahoo). Sometimes one will find something another will not. Sometimes a search engine such as Google might search a site better than that site’s own search feature!
• Use variations of a person’s name. Searching for information on the founder of Free Will Baptists in Texas, I searched for “A. M. Stewart,” “Angus M. Stewart,” “Angus McAllister Stewart,” and “Rev. A. M. Stewart.” Even variant spellings or misspellings – such as McAlister or Stuart – should be considered. Older preachers often went by their initials rather than their names, so this should generally be the most common method of searching. But just because we know “J. R. Graves” doesn’t mean he won’t show up in a newspaper as “Jas. R. Graves.” Start simply. Search for a name, then narrow by time or place from the results page.
• Search for the common first, and then the uncommon to narrow results (as a general rule). When researching people, search for uncommon names over common names when it is possible that either one might yield the relevant information. If you are researching a Baptist association of which John Smith was the moderator and Mordecai Fowler Ham was the clerk, try searching for Mordecai Ham first!
• Remember that many search results are based on OCR text. In material where the image is not clear, OCR processing might read words incorrectly or miss them altogether. Finding nothing doesn’t mean there is nothing. Revert to old fashioned search methods when you believe you should have found something.
• Understand that some sites are more user friendly than others, and develop different techniques for different sites as you realize what works best in each place.
• Even misinformation can help. A genealogist might not get some detail right, but get it close enough for you to sense that you are on the right track or have found the right person.
• Record what you’ve searched, when, where and how—so you don’t duplicate your efforts by searching for the same terms over and over in the same context. (But do go back and search later; material is always being added to the web and newspaper archives; just because you don’t find something today does not mean you won’t find it next month or next year.) Save your results. Some sites go down, never to return to the World Wide Web.
• Create a good filing system. I’ve learned this the hard way. I’m always looking for something that I filed away who knows where! Keep insignificant bits of information. They might initially seem worthless now, but may help create an “aha” moment when you find another piece that fits this piece of the puzzle.
• Be sensible. Don’t let your preferences and prejudices trip you up. We don’t use the title “Reverend” in our church – but you can expect journalists did in their writing! Adding “Rev.” before the name of a preacher both narrows your search and enhances your finds. Also don’t forget the titles Elder/Eld., Dr. and maybe even Bishop.
• Realize that just because something is printed in a newspaper doesn’t mean it is correct. Learn to discern what can be relied on and what cannot. For example, if you find someone’s obituary in a paper it is most likely that they really died, but the obit may get other facts wrong—the day of death, when and where they were born, etc. Materials submitted by an organization (such as minutes supplied by an association clerk) are generally more reliable than those traced to a newspaper reporter; a journalist’s opinions and observations are just that. Verify from other sources if possible.
• Search, search, search. Persistence can be the mother of discovery. “If at first you don’t succeed: try, try, try again.”

I made a recent significant newspaper discovery while researching the history of Free Will Baptists in Texas. The traditional view is that Free Will Baptists in Texas were a product of the Northern branch of Freewill Baptists. Founder A. M. Stewart’s newspaper obituary clearly points to his roots in the Free Will Baptists in Georgia. Armed with this information, I found other sources (censuses, association minutes) that enhanced and supported it.

Leaving Traces – the Goal of Recovery

Discovering, recovering and recording facts can help us learn things we did not know and better understand things we already knew. Finding previously unsearched and unknown Baptist history brings new data to the Baptist field of study. New facts can be considered in the framework of present working knowledge, and pooling this data can help grow the reservoir of easily accessible information on Baptist history from which future writers and researchers can draw. Understanding who we are as Baptists is one of the higher goals of recovering our history. Knowing our past gives us a sense of our present and a guide for our future.[v]

If you have filled in some empty spaces in Baptist history with information found in surprising places, you must leave traces of what you have found for those who follow. Contributing to this communal project means sharing the results of your research! Posting information to a Baptist listserv or discussion group are ways to dispense information. It gets the attention of the wider community, where others may offer information, insight, and interpretations. An individual can start a Baptist-history related website or offer the information to existing sites of Baptist historical societies or a site like Jim Duvall’s “Baptist History Homepage.”[vi] Writing is another way to preserve some of our history. You could write an article for a Baptist periodical, historical journal, or genealogical newsletter. They are usually looking for good material. 

What about the long term? Keep discoveries and documents as long as you need them for your continuing research. For all items, plan ahead. You may want to pass down sentimental-value materials through your family.[vii] For everything else, look into options for a permanent repository. Placing Baptist materials and research with such an institution will typically grant broader access to the items and ensure their preservation using proven techniques. Consider these possibilities:

• An organization operated by Baptists, like the Free Will Baptist Historical Commission, Primitive Baptist Library, and Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives [viii]
• A university library, archives, or special collections department
• Your state archives
• Your local library or church library

Many of the online materials we find will lack appeal for archives and museums, but they might find a nice home in the vertical files of your local library’s genealogical or historical department.

However you decide to go about it, let’s start discovering and recovering the missing pieces of our Baptist history. By combining our efforts, we can make a valuable contribution to this important effort.[ix]

Endnotes

---

[i] I use “denominations” in this piece to refer to sub-groups or sub-denominations of Baptists – such as ABCUSA, Bible Baptist, Free Will, Missionary, Old Regular, Primitive, Seventh-Day, and Southern.

[ii] Often offering biographical information on Baptist preachers, deacons, and laypersons, and sometimes pointing to sources of such information.

[iii] Optical Character Recognition, or OCR, is a technology in which computers attempt to automatically recognize text and reproduce it.

[iv] If you have access to an academic library, Baptist Museum conservator and historical consultant Christopher Sawula recommends the following databases, which include a number of local and regional papers: 19th Century U.S. Newspapers, America’s Historical Newspapers, African American Newspapers, 1827–1998, African American Newspapers: The 19th Century, America’s Historical Imprints, American Antiquarian Society Historical Periodicals, American Broadsides and Ephemera, Accessible Archives, and ProQuest Historical Newspapers.

[v] I mean this in terms of historical considerations. The Bible is the final and authoritative source for our faith and practice.

[vi] Baptist History Homepage is a great resource for old and original Baptist documents.

[vii] For example, an association minute book containing an obituary of an ancestor or relative might be of great interest for family members to preserve.

[viii] Baptist Studies Online has a more complete list of Baptist Archives.

[ix] Research efforts ought to reach across Baptist denominational aisles. The history of Baptists intersects and intertwines in various dissenting and divided groups. We should not reject sincere offers of historical help and insight from others with whom we differ theologically. We will learn together (and better) by observing this suggestion.

A Good Soldier

"Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." 2 Timothy 2:3

How is the Christian soldier made? By going to chapel, by reading the Bible, by singing hymns, by talking about religion? Just as much as the veteran warrior is made at Aldershot or Southsea. He must go into the battle and fight hand to hand with Satan and the flesh; he must endure cruel wounds given by both outward and inward foes; he must lie upon the cold ground of desolation and desertion; he must rush up the breach when called to storm the castles of sin and evil, and never "yield or quit the field," but press on determined to win the day or die. In these battles of the Lord, in due time he learns how to handle his weapons, how to call upon God in supplication and prayer, to trust in Jesus Christ with all his heart, to beat back Satan, to crucify self, and live a life of faith in the Son of God.

Religion is not a matter of theory or of doctrine: it is to be in the thick of the battle, fighting with the enemy hand to hand, foot to foot, shoulder to shoulder. This actual, not sham, warfare makes the Christian soldier hardy, strengthens the muscles of his arm, gives him skill to wield his weapons, and power sometimes to put his enemies to flight. Thus it "works endurance," makes him a veteran, so that he is no longer a raw recruit, but one able to fight the Lord's battles and "to endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." What then have been your best friends? Your trials. Where have you learnt your best lessons? In the school of temptation. What has made you look to Jesus? A sense of your sin and misery. Why have you hung upon the word of promise? Because you had nothing else to hang upon.

Thus, could you look at the results, you would see this, that trials and temptations produced upon your spirit these two effects; that they tried your faith, and that sometimes to the uttermost, so that in the trial it seemed as if all your faith were gone; and yet they have wrought patience, they have made you endure. Why have you not long ago given up all religion? Have your trials made you disposed to give it up? They have made you hold all the faster by it. Have your temptations induced you to let it go as a matter of little consequence? Why, you never had more real religion than when you were tried whether you had any; and never held faith with a tighter grasp than when Satan was pulling it all away. The strongest believers are not the men of doctrine, but the men of experience; not the boasters, but the fighters; not the parade officers in all the millinery of spotless regimentals, but the tattered, soiled, wounded, half-dead soldiers that give and take no quarter from sin or satan.

 J. C. Philpot

Seeking the Beloved and Wrestling Jacob

Seeking the Beloved. (From Olney Hymns, Hymn XIII.)

1. To those who know the Lord I speak,
Is my beloved near?
The bridegroom of my soul I seek,
Oh! when will he appear?
2. Tho’ once a man of grief and shame,
Yet now he fills a throne,
And bears the greatest, sweetest name,
That earth or heav’n has known.
3. Grace flies before, and love attends
His steps where-e’er he goes;
Tho’ none can see him but his friends,
And they were once his foes.
4. He speaks—obedient to his call
Our warm affections move;
Did He but shine alike on all,
Then all alike would love.
5. Then love in ev’ry heart would reign,
And war would cease to roar;
And cruel and blood-thirsty men
Would thirst for blood no more.
6. Such Jesus is, and such his grace,
Oh, may he shine on you!
And tell him, when you see his face,
I long to see him too.
Song of Solomon 5:8.

Wrestling Jacob. Charles Wesley.

1. Come, O thou Traveller unknown,
Whom still I hold, but cannot see;
My company before is gone,
And I am left alone with thee;
With thee all night I mean to stay,
And wrestle till the break of day.
2. I need not tell thee who I am,
My misery or sin declare;
Thyself hast called me by my name;
Look on thy hands, and read it there!
But who, I ask thee, who art thou?
Tell me thy name, and tell me now.
3. In vain thou strugglest to get free;
I never will unloose my hold.
Art thou the man that died for me?
The secret of thy love unfold:
Wrestling, I will not let thee go,
Till I thy name, thy nature know.
4 Yield to me now, for I am weak,
But confident in self-despair;
Speak to my heart, in blessings speak,
Be conquered by my instant prayer.
Speak, or thou never hence shalt move,
And tell me if thy name is Love!
5. ‘Tis Love! ‘tis Love! Thou diedst for me!
I hear thy whisper in my heart!
The morning breaks, the shadows flee;
Pure universal Love thou art:
To me, to all, thy mercies move;
Thy nature and thy name is Love.
Genesis 32:24-32

A Good Commentary Format, and other reviews

The posting of book reviews are a matter of interest and does not constitute endorsement of the books reviewed or book reviews that are linked.

• A Good Commentary Format -- "I have two unique commentaries in my library, The Gospel of Luke, Expository and Homiletical by W. H. Van Doren and Studies in Romans by Thomas Robinson. What makes these commentaries unique is their format."
• Book Review: Church Order in the New Testament, by Eduard Schweizer -- "The truth is that the book isn’t really about the steps and procedures necessary for healthy church government, and he only references those things as a means unto an end."
• Book Review: Delighting in the Trinity -- " It is theologically sound and profound and yet thoroughly practical."
• Book Review: Seven Leaders, by Iain Murray -- "Seven Leaders is unique insofar as it demonstrates church leadership through seven brief biographical sketches of seven different pastors, the majority of whom will be unfamiliar to most readers."
• Is Gospel Amnesia Creating a Third Great Schism? -- "Historically, schisms have been rather public, bloody things."
• The Five Solas: An Interview with Matthew Barrett -- "So, the goal of The Five Solas series is to help Christians understand the historical and biblical context of the five solas and how to live out the relevance of Reformation theology today....All five books (and solas) fit together and are inseparable from one another."

Roy Moore fights his inner demons

Roy Moore fights his inner demons. It's not pretty. Matt Bai writes, "...if you’re running for a Senate seat that Republicans absolutely have to have, and if you’re easily the best chance they have to retain that seat, and if, despite all this, the same Republican leaders who have steadfastly stood by Donald Trump for the last year, even as they privately (and sometimes publicly) worried that he might destroy the country and accidentally annihilate the world, are bailing on you so fast and so frantically that they’re actually talking about refusing to seat you if you win, then let’s just put it this way: You’ve got to be one bad hombre."

I choose to disagree. Regardless of the truth or lack thereof regarding the accusations against Roy Moore, I believe that the Republican establishment does not want and has never wanted hide nor hair of Roy Moore -- because he is a loose cannon they don't know how to handle.

Mrs. Elizabeth C. Nash, obituary

Mrs. Elizabeth C. Nash, relict of the late Rev. B. W. Nash, died at her home in this city Wednesday night, aged 75 years. For more than 30 years Mrs. Nash had been a resident of Goldsboro. Some three years ago her husband preceded her to the grave, and from that time she had been in slow decline. She is survived by four children—Messrs. L. M., J. W. and B. W. Nash and Mrs. W. D. Morris. She was a member for many years of the Free Will Baptist church. 

“Goldsboro News Items,” Greensboro Daily News, Sunday, November 15, 1914, p. 11

Bushrod W. Nash, obituary

Well Known Baptist Minister Died at Goldsboro Yesterday
(Special Star Correspondence)

Goldsboro, N. C., Jan. 26.—Rev. B. W. Nash died at his home here this morning, after an illness of several weeks, having lived to the advanced age of 86 before his death. He was a follower of Spurgeon’s faith, known as the Union Baptists,[i] and for several years was editor of the official organ of that church in the State. He is survived by a wife, two daughters and three sons, the latter being the well known printers, Nash Brothers, of this city. The funeral will be held from the family residence tomorrow morning at 10 o’clock. 

“Rev. W. B. Nash,” (sic) The Wilmington Morning Star, Friday, January 27, 1911, p. 7

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[i] The reference to “a follower of Spurgeon’s faith” is obscure. The most common Spurgeon was Charles Haddon Spurgeon of London, England. Both Spurgeon and Nash were Baptists, and perhaps that is the only meaning intended. But Spurgeon was a Calvinist soteriologically and Nash was an Arminian. The “Union Baptists” in North Carolina have no known connection to Spurgeon. Other possible explanations include that Nash converted to “Spurgeon’s faith” sometime at the end of his long ministry and before his death – or that the editor made a false assumption about “Nash’s faith.”