3 Things We Must Believe, 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.

• 3 Things We Must Believe about God’s Word -- “God’s word is firmly fixed in the heavens ; it doesn’t change. There is no limit to its perfection; it contains nothing corrupt.”
• Baptist Church History (Part 1) - God’s Promise to Preserve His Church -- “The genuine spirit of religion has been and will be preserved by those only, who dissent from all establishments devised by human policy.”
• Colin Powell, former secretary of state, dies from COVID-19 complications, family says -- “He rose through the ranks of the armed forces in a decades-long career that culminated in his service first as national security adviser to then President Ronald Reagan and as the 12th chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the highest-ranking military appointment in the Defense Department.”
• Does the Book of Acts Teach Spontaneous Baptisms? -- “This argument is powerful, and if true, would seem to tilt the table. He’s not alone in this. Many contemporary Baptist scholars agree with his assessment.”
• Gab Launches Brand-New Job Board To Help Unvaccinated Americans -- “While vaccine mandates continue to sweep the nation in connection the fight against COVID-19, the free-speech social-media site Gab.com on Tuesday launched a “No Vax Mandate Job Board” to help American employers and workers who want nothing to do with the shots.”
• Honoring the Historic Women’s Schools of Tennessee -- “In Nashville alone, several ladies institutions sprang up, from Boscobel College to Buford College to the Nashville College for Young Ladies.” (Oddly enough, or not, this historical article acknowledges no connection to their often religious and denominational roots.)
• New Ford Baptist - Org 1795, Wilkes County -- “Both blacks and whites attended the church above, which was built in 1832. After the war, the white members decided to build a new church and ownership transferred to the African American members.”
• Skin Problems, Neuropathy, Paralysis All Part of Over 500,000 Adverse Events Reported After COVID Vaccine -- “...there’s a reason we refer to doctors as “practicing” medicine. Because it’s not just about science.”
• The False and Exaggerated Claims Still Being Spread About the Capitol Riot. -- “Insisting on factual accuracy does not make one an apologist for the protesters. False reporting is never justified, especially to inflate threat and fear levels.”
• The January 6 Insurrection Hoax -- “The indisputable fact about January 6 is that although five people died at or near the Capitol on that day or soon thereafter, none of these deaths was brought about by the protesters.”
• There Is A Gnawing Worm Under The Bark Of Our Tree Of Liberty: Anti-Mission Baptists, Religious Liberty, And Local Church Autonomy -- “Far from being an obscure offshoot of the past, anti-mission Baptists represented—and represent—an alternative to the active involvement of conservative evangelicals in politics.”
• U.S. FDA advisers weigh case for COVID-19 vaccine booster shots -- “If the FDA signs off on Moderna’s boosters, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will make specific recommendations on who should get the shots.”
• U.S. pastors, advocacy groups mobilize against COVID-19 vaccine mandates -- “From the modest building however, Shane Vaughn, the Pentecostal church’s pastor, has helped spearhead an online movement promoting personal faith as a way around workplace COVID-19 vaccine mandates.”

What Gives You the Right to Preach?

What gives you as a preacher the right to stand up at least once a week for, say, half an hour and claim to speak on behalf of God? Not even the president of the United States boasts such authority. No one thinks a math teacher or literature professor deserves this privilege.

As preachers, we draw our authority not from superior knowledge, political power, or rhetorical flourish. We draw it from God’s Word alone. “Preach the word,” Paul told his young disciple Timothy, the pastor in Ephesus; “be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2).

As we rediscover church amid this pandemic, we’re looking for divine authority and not merely human wisdom. We have more than enough human wisdom today. Self-help books dominate bestseller lists. Podcasts promise a better you. So a church that offers human wisdom meets stiff competition. Why listen to a local pastor instead of subscribing to a YouTube channel? Why get up on Sunday morning instead of watching the news programs featuring powerful politicians?

We get up and gather with the church weekly because that is where we go to hear from the divine King—his good news and his counsel for our lives. The best preachers don’t make you marvel at their own skill. They show you God’s glory as seen in his Word. And when you see God that way, you want as much of him as you can get.

Collin Hansen, The Gospel Coalition

Whate’er my God ordains is right

I posted this Hymn by Samuel Rodigast back in 2016, but did not give any information about it. “Whate’er my God ordains is right” is an excellent hymn about submission to the will of God. What God does, he does well (Mark 7:37), and he will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).
 
Samuel Rodigast (1649-1708) is the author of “Whate’er my God ordains is right,” which was written circa 1675-76. He was a German teacher and hymn writer, the son of Johann Rodigast. According to Julian, his father was the Lutheran pastor at Groben near Jena, and Samuel attended the Gymnasium in Weimar, then studied at the University of Jena.
 
Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878) translated this hymn into English. She was a skillful English translator of German hymns, creating pleasing verse that was faithful to the originals. Many of her translations remain in use today. John Julian calls her “the foremost in rank and popularity” of modern translators from the German into English.
 
This hymn seems consistently to appear with Was Got Tutt (from the first line “Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan,” i.e., “What God does is well done”), a tune attributed to Severus Gastorius (1647-1682 ). It is said that Rodigast wrote the hymn to cheer up Gastorius when he was sick. The meter of the hymn – 8.7.8.7.4.4.8.8. – is somewhat unusual or uncommon in English hymn meter, limiting the tune choices. Gastorius probably wrote the tune to match the hymn.
 
1. Whate’er my God ordains is right: 
His holy will abideth; 
I will be still whate’er he doth; 
And follow where he guideth. 
He is my God:
though dark my road. 
He holds me that I shall not fall. 
And so to him I leave it all.

 
2. Whate’er my God ordains is right: 
He never will deceive me. 
He leads me by the proper path; 
I know he will not leave me. 
I take, content,
what he hath sent. 
His hand can turn my griefs away, 
And patiently I wait his day.

3. Whate’er my God ordains is right, 
Though now this cup, in drinking, 
May bitter seem to my faint heart, 
I take it all, unshrinking. 
My God is true;
each morn anew. 
Sweet comfort yet shall fill my heart, 
And pain and sorrow shall depart. 

4. Whate’er my God ordains is right. 
Here shall my stand be taken. 
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine, 
Yet am I not forsaken. 
My Father’s care 
is round me there. 
He holds me that I shall not fall, 
And so to him I leave it all.

“In” words and other words

• anaphora, noun. (Grammar) The use of a word referring to or replacing a word used earlier in a sentence, to avoid repetition. (Rhetoric) The repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses.
• catacomb, noun. (usually catacombs) An underground cemetery, especially one consisting of tunnels and rooms with recesses dug out for coffins and tombs.
• faux, adjective. Made in imitation; artificial; not genuine; fake or false.
• homegoing, noun. A person’s death understood as a return to home; also, a service marking a person’s death.
• immurement, noun. The act of entombing in a wall (sometimes as a method of execution).
• inhumation, noun. The act or ceremony of putting a dead body in its final resting place (also, sepulture).
• interment, noun. The burial of a corpse in a grave or tomb, typically with funeral rites.
• inurnment, noun. The placement or burial in an urn, especially ashes after cremation.
• investiture, noun. The action of formally investing a person with honors or rank; a ceremony at which honors or rank are formally conferred on a particular person.
• in-coming, adjective. Coming in, arriving; commencement; succeeding (as an officeholder).
• in-ground, adjective. Located in the ground;: not built above the ground (e.g. of an outdoor swimming-pool: built into the ground, as distinct from one placed above ground).
• lambent, adjective. Dealing lightly and gracefully with a subject; brilliantly playful
• niveous, adjective. Snowy, resembling snow; white and lustrous like snow.
• ossuary, noun. A place or receptacle for the bones of the dead.
• outgoing, adjective. Going out or away; departing; retiring from or relinquishing a place, position, or office.
• panoplied, adjective. Clad completely in armor.
• queue, noun. (mainly British) A line or sequence of people or vehicles awaiting their turn to be attended to or to proceed.
• queuemanship, noun. The exercise of ploys and tactics in order to minimize time spent waiting in a queue.
• redivivus, adjective. Brought back to life; come back to life, revived. Chiefly in figurative or literary use.
• sepulcher (or sepulchre), noun. A small room or monument, cut in rock or built of stone, in which a dead person is laid or buried.
• vault, noun. A concrete or metal enclosure in the ground, into which the casket is lowered at burial.

Skeptical U.S. hospital workers, 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 few skeptical U.S. hospital workers choose dismissal over vaccine -- “Jennifer Bridges loved her job as a nurse at Houston Methodist Hospital, where she worked for eight years, but she chose to get fired rather than inoculated against COVID-19...”
• A Gospel Moment on YouTube: Alistair Begg on the Thief on the Cross -- “On what basis are you here? The man on the middle cross said I could come.”
• Carved In Stone: The Art of East Texas Headstones -- “Legend has it Bessie Moore was shot in the head by Abraham Rothschild, a wealthy man who had picked her up in a brothel in Hot Springs, Arkansas.”
• Ceres-Musella Baptist Church, Crawford County, Org. 1884 -- “In rural Crawford County, a small community called Ceres emerged, named after the Roman Goddess of agriculture. While there isn’t much left of Ceres today, parts of its history have survived in the nearby community of Musella.”
• Focus on Texas: Fillin’ Stations -- “Some are tourist attractions. Others are a bit more off the beaten path. Fillin’ stations can transport us to another time...”
• Haunt Hunting in Jefferson -- “Jefferson, Texas, was built by a log jam. The colossal log jam, or the ‘Great Raft,’ as the people of Jefferson called it, was more than 100 miles long and disrupted the flow of the Red River...”
• How to delete cookies from your computer — and why it matters -- “You visit a website and get a notification that encourages you to read the company's cookie policy. Then, the site asks if they can have your permission to give you cookies.”
• It’s So Hot... -- “Here are the many ways readers finished this sentence.”
• Joint open letter – Transport heads call on world leaders to secure global supply chains -- “Our collective industries account for more than $20 trillion of world trade annually, and represent 65 million global transport workers, and over 3.5 million road freight and airline companies, as well as more than 80% of the world merchant shipping fleet.”
• Learning Rocks -- “On a breezy April morning, five Comstock high school seniors clamber around boulders and hop across a stream in Seminole Canyon on their way to inspect some of the finest examples of rock art in the world.”
• Murvaul Missionary Baptist Church History -- “Murvaul Missionary Baptist Church was organized in 1902 by W. H. Williams and M. C. McChristian in the Murvaul School House.”
• Restoring the Old Saltsburg Cemetery -- “The city of Saltsburg lies amidst the rolling green hills of Western Pennsylvania’s Indiana County.”
• Smyrna Primitive Baptist, Brantley County, Org. 1824 -- “Nothing could be more representative of this all pervasive, conservative approach to life and religion than the architecture and design of these “Crawfordite” Wiregrass Primitive meeting houses of Southeast Georgia.”
• The Canonicity of the Received Bible (Textus Receptus) Established from Reformation and Post-Reformation Baptist Confessions -- “The Lord having promised His church the perpetual availability of the inspired oracles, and the Holy Spirit having secured their perpetual acceptance by the saints, the church cannot have neglected the true text of the Bible for hundreds of years.”
• WM 211: Childers, Gurry, Text, & Apologetics -- “In Word Magazine # 211, Jeff Riddle reviews an interview of Peter Gurry by Alisa Childers on how to know we have an accurate copy of the New Testament.”
• 32 Principles for Public Prayer -- “Public prayer should abound in the language of Scripture. ”

The older lesser-known brother: Zuinglius Calvin Graves

Zuinglius Calvin Graves (April 5, 1816 – May 18, 1902) was an American Baptist preacher and educator. He is most noted as the President of the Mary Sharp College (1851–1896), located at Winchester, Tennessee. It was the first women’s college in the United States to offer degrees equivalent to the degrees offered at men’s colleges – preceding Vassar College in New York by ten years.

Z. C. Graves, Jr. was born in Chester, Windsor County, Vermont, the son of Zuinglius Calvin Graves and Lois Snell. He was the older brother of influential 19th-century Baptist preacher James Robinson Graves. The children of Z. C. Graves, Sr. were left fatherless in 1820. About 1838, Z. C. Jr. removed to Ashtabula County, Ohio, where he taught at the Kingsville Academy for twelve years. While in Ashtabula, he met and married Adelia Cleopatra Spencer in 1841.[i] She was the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Daniel Spencer, and a niece of the noted calligrapher and penman Platt Rogers Spencer.[ii] Z. C. and Adelia Graves had four known children: James R., Florence M., Zuinglius Dickinson, and Hubert A.

After Mary Sharp College was chartered in 1848 (as the Tennessee Female Institute), trustees hired Z. C. Graves to lead the new effort. The school opened January 1, 1851, with Graves as the President and his wife Adelia as the Matron.[iii] Z. C. Graves’s sister and brother-in-law, Louisa M. and Warren P. Marks, also joined the faculty at Winchester. “The Mary Sharp College under Dr. Graves’ presidency acquired a national reputation, and he avers that its success was owing quite as much to her wise counsels and management as to his own efforts.”[iv]

 According to the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture “Graves...patterned the classical curriculum at Mary Sharp College after those offered at Amherst College, Brown University, and the University of Virginia. He emphasized religious and moral training and required every student to attend chapel. Students at Mary Sharp, unlike those at other female colleges and academies, studied algebra, geometry, and trigonometry; Latin and Greek; English literature, grammar, and composition; ancient, English, and American history; philosophy and rhetoric; geography and geology; and botany, chemistry, astronomy, and physiology.”

In addition to leading Mary Sharp College, Z. C. Graves also served at Soule College in Murfreesboro, Tennessee – going there in 1889 when the Baptists bought it. When Nashville Baptists opened Nashville Baptist Female College (aka Boscobel), the interest in Soule was sold, and several faculty members, including Graves, joined the school at Nashville.[v]

With thirty-nine other messengers, Z. C. Graves participated in the organization of the Tennessee Baptist State Convention at Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1874.[vi]

Zuinglius Calvin Graves died in May 18, 1902.[vii] His remains are interred at the Winchester City Cemetery in Winchester, Franklin County, Tennessee.

Messengers to the meeting at Murfreesboro

---

[i] Wilson, James Grant and John Fiske, editors. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume II. New York: D. Appleton & Co, 1888, p. 727
[ii] Livermore, Mary Ashton, Frances Elizabeth Willard, editors. A Woman of the Century, Buffalo, NY: Charles Wells Moulton, 1893, p. 333
[iii] Wardin, Albert W., Jr. Tennessee Baptists: a Comprehensive History, 1779-1999, Brentwood, TN: Tennessee Baptist Convention, 1999, p. 171
[iv] Livermore, Willard, editors. p. 334
[v] Wardin. 1999, p. 241
[vi] Ibid., p. 230
[vii] His tombstone is incorrectly engraved 1901. Period newspaper obituaries confirm 1902 is the correct year of death.

Southern Harmony in Western Tennessee

While searching for information on the Baptist preacher Alonzo Nunnery, I found the following obituary posted on the Find-A-Grave memorial for William Robert Vaughan (no known relation) of Weakley County, Tennessee.

DEATH OF WELL KNOW CITIZEN

Mr. W. R. Vaughan died Tuesday night at his home, one mile east of Ralston, after an illness of several months of cancer of the stomach, followed by paralysis. Mr. Vaughan was one of the oldest and best known men of that vicinity. He had lived there practically all his life and was one of the original members of the Old Southern Harmony singing class, which held regular annual reunions up until a few years ago. He was a splendid citizen upright and honorable in all his dealings with his fellow man. On Sunday night he suffered a stroke of paralysis, remaining speechless all the following day and died Tuesday night. Mr. Vaughan was the father of Mrs. Desdy Bragg of Dresden, Tom Vaughan of Martin and Cleveland Vaughan of Memphis. The remains were laid to rest Wednesday at the Martin cemetery. Many friends extend sympathy to the bereaved wife and children.

Dresden Enterprise and Sharon Tribune, September 09, 1921, page 5.

One thing that caught my eye was that he “was one of the original members of the Old Southern Harmony singing class, which held regular annual reunions up until a few years ago.” I’ve not known a lot of how the general demise of singings from the Southern Harmony book played out – but here we see it continuing in Western Tennessee into the first quarter of the 20th century.

All-day singing in Flatwoods (probably the one in Perry County, Tennessee)

The Camden Chronicle, April 26, 1901, page 2

The Family of J. R. Graves

James Robinson Graves (1820-1893) – preacher, author, publisher, debater – was probably one of the best-known Baptist preachers in the United States in the 19th century. He remains well known today in certain circles, and, of course, by religious historians and Baptist history buffs.

As an avid genealogist as well as a Baptist history buff, I noticed something that is a frequent problem among historians of the religious (or even the popular) – a tendency to ignore the families of the people they study. Even Graves’s son-in-law, Orren Luico Hailey in J. R. Graves: Life, Times and Teachings, spends precious little time writing about the family of Graves. Further, genealogists at Ancestry.com seem not to have connected that he had a family by his first marriage. I have spent a fair amount of time and effort in censuses, periodicals (both religious & secular), and other records trying to “reconstruct” the family of J. R. Graves so that we might know a little more about them. This includes (1) creating a “James Robinson Graves Family Tree” at Ancestry.com, (2) trying to add and link up the family members on Find-A-Grave, and (3) adding a section on the family of J. R. Graves at Wikipedia. (Note: the Ancestry family tree is set as public, so if you have an Ancestry.com account, you should be able to see it.)

The number of children of J. R. Graves should be substantially correct. The 1900 census cites Georgianna Graves as the mother of three children, and all three were living. Concerning the death of Louisa Jane Graves, a report in The Baptist mentions five children, all of whom are known. The deaths of the children of Lua Spencer Graves are reported in The Baptist. It hardly seems there could have been more than these four children in their brief marriage of about 5-1/2 years.

Parents
Zuinglius Calvin Graves (13 October 1790-4 April 1820) (son of Luther and Phebe Graves of Leominster, Massachusetts; also spelled Greaves)

Lois M. Snell Graves (ca. 1791-1867)

1st wife
Lucinda Ellen “Lua” Spencer Graves (1826-1851) married 1845 in Ashtabula County, Ohio

• Zuinglius Graves (1846–1846)
• Lua Ellen Graves (1847-1847)
• James Rollin Graves (1849-1849)
• Luella Kells Graves (1850-1860)

2nd wife
Louisa Jane Snider Graves (1838-1867) married in 1856 in Madison County, Tennessee, at Jackson

• Nora Snider Graves Hailey (1857–1933)
• James Robinson Graves (1860–1929)
• George S. Graves (1862–1886)
• Lois M. Graves Crutcher (1865–1897)
• Lou Ellen Turley Graves Wood (1867-1948)

3rd wife
Georgianna Snider Graves (1843-1932) married in 1869, probably at Memphis

• William Caruthers Graves (1870–1960)
• Lillian M. Graves (ca. 1876–1899)
• Infant Graves (1879–1979)
• Zuinglius Calvin Graves (1881–1926)

I close with this story about the mother of J. R. Graves, related in The Baptist.

[Lois M. Graves] had been reared under Congregational influences, but that when contemplating a profession of religion she demanded baptism on a profession of her faith, at the hands of Dr. Burnap, then pastor of the Congregational Church at Chester [Vermont], but subsequently of Lowell, Mass. Her views in regard to this ordinance were derived entirely from the reading of the Bible. She had never been thrown among Baptists, nor had read their works; and the reasonings by which the Congregational minister sought to removed her scruples as to the practice of his own communion, only confirmed her judgement in the correctness of her interpretation of the sacred oracles on this subject.  Upon the avowal of her determination to abide by her conviction of the divine teaching, the Doctor, though with evident reluctance, acceded to her demand to be buried with Christ in baptism, and himself administered the rite. Mrs. Graves was then about 34 years of age. Subsequently she came to entertain doubts as to the validity of the baptism thus administered, about 12 years ago was re-baptized by the Rev. Dr. J. M. Pendleton, at the First Baptist Church, Nashville.

From The Baptist (Memphis, Tennessee, Saturday 02 November 2, 1867, page 4)

[Note: The first wife of J. R. Graves was a sister of the wife of his brother, Zuinglius Calvin Graves, Jr. (1816-1901).]

Tidbits for Ancestry.com users

If you use Ancestry.com for genealogy, here are three links that might be useful to you.

• Ancestry Hints® for the Wrong Person -- “When Ancestry Hints® are the wrong person in your tree, you can attach the record associated with the hint to the correct person.”
• Potential Mother and Father Hints -- “A potential mother or potential father on your family tree is a hint or collection of hints that point to a certain person. You can accept, ignore, or reject a potential parent suggestion.”
• How Ancestry Hints® are Updated -- “When we update your hints, we want to put the best hints we find at the top of your hints lists. You can find these lists on the Person Page, Hints tab, and the All Hints Page.”

God bless you, my brother

God bless you, my brother, and crown your remaining days with great usefulness. May the “everlasting arms” be underneath you, and when called from labor to the rest that remaineth, may you know by blessed experience how much better it is to depart and be with Christ.

Excerpt of a letter from J. M. Pendleton to J. R. Graves, dated April 2, 1880 on the occasion of Graves’s upcoming 60th birthday, April 10, 1880. The Baptist, Memphis, Tenn., April 17, 1880, Vol. XXXVI, No. 44, p. 697.

Before the Throne of God Above

Back in 2013, I posted the hymn “Before the Throne of God Above” by Charitie Lees Bancroft, but did not give any information about it.

The author, Charitie Lees Smith Bancroft (1841-1923), was the daughter of Charlotte Lees and George Sidney Smith, an Anglican rector in Ireland, as well as professor at Trinity College in Dublin. She was born June 21,1841 in the county of Dublin, Ireland. She married Arthur E. Bancroft in 1869. Sometime afterward they came to the United. States. In 1880, they were living in Clarke County, Virginia. They returned to the UK, where her husband died in 1881. Charitie returned to the US around 1884, settling in California near her brother George. She married Frank DeCheney in 1891. Charitie Smith Bancroft DeCheney died in Oakland, California January 20, 1923, at age 81, and is buried in Oakland’s Mountain View Cemetery.

 

According to John Julian (Dictionary of Hymnology), Charitie Lees Smith’s hymns were collected and published as Within the Vail and Other Sacred Poems in 1867. This appears as the first hymn, titled “Within the Vail” and referencing Hebrews 6:19-20 … which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast…

 

“Before the Throne of God Above” is dated 1863 in Spurgeon’s Metropolitan Tabernacle Our Own Hymn-Book. It speaks of the security and assurance of salvation found in the work of Christ and the accompanying joy of salvation – “Because the sinless Saviour died, my sinful soul is counted free! We are secured by his divine provision on the cross and the fact that he ever lives to make intercession for us.

 

1. Before the throne of God above

I have a strong, a perfect plea;

A great High Priest, whose name is Love,

Who ever lives and pleads for me.

 

2. My name is graven on his hands,

My name is written on His heart;

I know that, while in heaven He stands

No tongue can bid me thence depart.

 

3. When Satan tempts me to despair,

And tells me of the guilt within,

Upward I look, and see Him there

Who made an end of all my sin.

 

4. Because the sinless Saviour died,

My sinful soul is counted free;

For God, the Just, is satisfied

To look on Him and pardon me.

 

5. Behold Him there! the bleeding Lamb!

My perfect, spotless Righteousness,

The great unchangeable ‘I am,’

The King of glory and of grace.

 

6. One with himself, I cannot die;

My soul is purchased by His blood;

My life is hid with Christ on high,

With Christ my Saviour and my God.

See also:
Hymnary.org
Hymnology Archive

Oakland Tribune, Sunday, January 21, 1923, p. 7-X

Two Old Bethels

Marker at Bethel in Clayton, Panola County, Texas

On September 23, 1843, Isaac Reed founded the Bethel Baptist Church in the Reed Settlement near Clayton in Panola County (still Harrison County at the time). It was possibly the third Baptist Church he organized in East Texas. Below are pictures of the old meeting locations of two descendant churches, Bethel Baptist at Clayton and Old Bethel Baptist at Reed’s Settlement. Neither are 1843 old, and neither building exists today.

Around 1870 the white church members of Bethel began to move from Reed’s Settlement to what is now the town of Clayton. The black members of Bethel continued to meet at Reed’s Settlement, perhaps at the original meeting location. In recent years (after I took these pictures in 2006) Bethel at Clayton built a new building at the same location, and Old Bethel at Reed’s Settlement has also moved to Clayton.

Bethel at Clayton, 2006

Old Bethel at Reed’s Settlement, 2006

Landmarkers at Texarkana, 1905

“Landmarkers at Texarkanna,” by O. L. Hailey is an interesting piece in Word and Way (Kansas City, Missouri, Thursday, March 30, 1905, pp. 5-6). It contains the viewpoint of an outsider observing the organization of the General Association of Baptists in the United States of America in Texarkana in 1905. Hailey’s perspective may be somewhat unique, in that he both supported the Southern Baptist Convention rather than the General Association – and was the son-in-law of J. R. Graves, who many would consider the “father” of the “Landmark” movement.

Ironically, it was the “Landmarkers at Texarkana” and not his Southern Baptist Convention that reprinted Hailey’s book J. R. Graves: Life, Times and Teachings.

Anyone who has a Newspapers.com account can read the full article HERE.

The verb ending "-edst"

On Wednesday, i7sharp inquired about the verb ending "-edst" that is found in the King James translation. He had found my post about the Use of "-est" and "-eth" in the KJV. In that post, I did not consider or discuss the use of "-edst". I looked up some of the words he mentioned, and found a few others.[i] What follows is a tentative conclusion based on the examples I examined.

As best I can tell the "-edst" ending is only used for the second person singular when it is past tense. So it is matched with the “thou” pronoun. However, "-edst" is not always used in such cases. For example, in Genesis 49:4, both "-est" and "-edst" are used with the past tense (wentest and defiledst).[ii] Perhaps it is used only where it is needed to distinguish between the past and present – e.g. anointest vs. anointedst.

Here are some of the verses i7sharp mentioned plus some that I found that use the "-edst" ending. If you know of other examples, please share them.

• Genesis 31:13 -- thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me
• Genesis 31:30 -- thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father’s house
• Genesis 49:4 -- thou wentest up to thy father’s bed then defiledst thou it [iii]
• Exodus 2:14 -- as thou killedst the Egyptian
• Deuteronomy 6:11 -- houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not
• Deuteronomy 18:16 -- According to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God
• 1 Samuel 24:18 -- thou killedst me not.
• 1 Samuel 28:18 -- thou obeyedst not the voice of the Lord, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek
• Psalm 73:18 -- Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
• Isaiah 12:1 -- thou comfortedst me
• Isaiah 57:8 -- thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it.
• Jeremiah 22:21 -- thou obeyedst not my voice
• Ezekiel 27:33 -- thou filledst many people
• Matthew 18:32 -- because thou desiredst me
• John 17:24 -- thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

The English language is a language full of irregular verbs. It has many exceptions to its rules. There probably are some exceptions to the above “rule”. It needs more research, but this is a small beginning.

---

[i] I could not figure out how to search for just the "-edst" ending in the program I use. I also tried using Google to search it and a few others, but that did not work either. 

[ii] The past is already in the form “went’ without a need for the “ed”.

[iii] “Defiled” is used in 70 verses in the King James Bible – with he, they, the 3rd person singular and plural.

About stetted.com, 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.

• about stetted.com -- “I focus on fresh ingredients and uncomplicated flavors, with spins that keep mealtime interesting. Real food is possible, even for busy moms like me.”
• ‘A four-alarm fire’: Tight Virginia governor’s race holds warning signs for Democrats -- “With early voting under way, the non-partisan Cook Report has labeled the Nov. 2 contest between Democrat Terry McAuliffe, a former Virginia governor, and Republican businessman Glenn Youngkin, a toss-up.”
• Anthony Fauci can’t stand for scrutiny -- “If there’s one thing the scientific community can’t stand these days, it’s critical thinking. Independent thinkers, cooler head questioners, individual researching — countering viewpoints...”
• Cherry Grove Baptist & School, Org. 1875, Wilkes County -- “A nearby community called Cohentown was founded on November 30, 1881 when a formerly enslaved Peter Arnett (1814-1892) acquired 62 acres of land from Gideon B. Bunch, a native Virginian, ex-Confederate soldier and deacon at the Danburg Baptist Church.”
• Connecticut angler’s catfish record revoked; state issues apology -- “Without the ability to examine the actual fish, identification is left to still images and videos, which have proven to be ambiguous and inconclusive to definitively identify the species of catfish in this case.”
• Crawfordville Baptist, Taliaferro County, Organized 1802 -- “This church was originally called Bethel Baptist, named for the neighboring Bethel Springs. The church organization was established in 1802 by Rev. Jesse Mercer and James Matthews – well before the creation of Taliaferro County in 1825, or Crawfordville, in 1826...”
• Emmys takeaway: ‘Masks are for peasants’ -- “This is the tale of two emerging societies in America: those who have to obey coronavirus restrictions and those who don’t. And guess which category you fit.”
• Fighting Burnout as a Pastor’s Wife -- “Too often, we toil in our own strength and wonder why we’re so exhausted. Other times, we work and work only to forget that man cannot live by bread alone.”
• Florida Court Awards Temporary Win to Workers Being Forced by Their Employers to Obtain the COVID Vaccine -- “The city’s vaccine mandate would have required employees to be fully vaccinated or face possible termination by Oct. 30.”
• Kids Cooking -- “I’ve encouraged my children to join me in the kitchen ever since they were little. Cooking with kids requires extra patience but reaps rewards down the line.”
• Philips Mill Baptist, Wilkes County, Or. 1785 -- “Phillips Mill Baptist Church is certainly one of the most historic, seminal and prominent Baptist Churches in Wilkes County. The principal organizer was Silas Mercer.”
• Providence Methodist Church, Camden County, Georgia -- “In the 165 years that she has stood here, the building has endured and still retains much of its historical charm, despite significant damage from a hurricane in the 1920s.”
• Siloam Baptist, Greene County, Org. 1828 -- “Siloam Baptist Church was originally organized as Smyrna Baptist and was constituted in December of 1828. The name was derived from the community known as Smyrna...”
• Sweet Potatoes -- “Sweet potatoes are an ingredient that doesn’t often get much love outside of the holidays, but these versatile spuds deserve a spot in your regular rotation.”

Was Samuel a priest?

It seems to be a popular idea that Samuel was priest, or even the high priest. But was he?

Scripture describes Samuel as a “Seer” or “Prophet” and a “judge” – but never specifically as a priest (1 Samuel 3:20; 1 Samuel 7:6; 1 Samuel 7:15; 1 Samuel 9:18-19). If so I have not found it, though some of his actions might be considered priestly functions. To be a priest Samuel must have been a Levite, and to be high priest he must have been a descendant of Aaron. The former may be understood from Scripture, but not the latter.[i]

Though there are some differences in the spellings/names in 1 Samuel 1:1-2 and 1 Chronicles 6:16-30, it is observable that these are the family of the same Samuel in both places. A simple explanation of how Elkanah was both a Kohathite and of mount Ephraim is this – Kohathite describes his lineage/parentage and of mount Ephraim describes where he lived in the country of Israel.[ii] The Levites had no portion of land of their own, only cities and land within the land of the other tribes, which included Ephraim (see Joshua 21).[iii] Samuel was in the lineage of the priests, but not in the lineage of Aaron the high priest.

In the days of Samuel, God pronounced judgment against the house of Eli (1 Samuel 2:34-35). Complete judgement seems to have arrived in stages. See, for example, 1 Samuel 22:17-19, 1 Samuel 23:6, and compare with 1 Samuel 21:1 & 1 Kings 2:26-27. 1 Samuel 14:2-3, 18-19 suggests that Eli’s descendants (specifically Ahiah) were still operating in the priesthood at that time, even before the death of Samuel:

And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree which is in Migron: and the people that were with him were about six hundred men; and Ahiah, the son of Ahitub, I‑chabod’s brother, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eli, the Lord’s priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod....

And Saul said unto Ahiah, Bring hither the ark of God. For the ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel. And it came to pass, while Saul talked unto the priest, that the noise that was in the host of the Philistines went on and increased: and Saul said unto the priest, Withdraw thine hand.

Psalm 99:6 also seems to distinguish Samuel from Moses and Aaron. I think that Samuel was a priest, but not a high priest.

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[i] Some people think that since Eli brought him up, Samuel could be considered a son of Eli, by adoption of sorts.
[ii] An “Ephrathite” may possibly only refer to Elkanah’s ancestor Zuph, meaning that Zuph (a Levite) originally lived in Bethlehem of Ephrata
[iii] In Judges 17:7 a Levite is described, in a way, by the tribe within which he resided.

Five Good Reasons and Five Links

A back and forth series that some of you might enjoy.

• Five Good Reasons Reformed and Confessional Christians Should Use the KJV -- “...I no longer question God’s word; I no longer stand in judgement over it with my textual apparatus, but it stands in judgement over me as a saved sinner.”
• Three Questions for the “Textus Receptus” or KJV-Only View -- “However, we did receive one response with sincere questions that should be posited to the TRO advocates.”
• Response to Questions About KJV-Only and Textus Receptus-Only Position -- “While I use and advocate for the continued use of the KJV (Dr. Joel Beeke makes 13 arguments for its continued usage here), as I have mentioned above, it is not the only translation that Confessional Text advocates utilize.”
• More Questions Regarding KJV/Textus Receptus Onlyism -- “Although I know little about the TR’s history or textual criticism, I believe these questions go to the heart of the matter, and answers to them would be immensely helpful for all parties involved.”
• More Questions Answered About the KJV or Textus Receptus-Only Position -- “Brother Remus has put forward a couple more good questions for those of us who hold to the Confessional Text Position and I hope to provide helpful answers in return.”

I have never taught Anabaptism

“I have never taught Anabaptism. I know of none, except that in Acts xix. But the right baptism of Christ, which is preceded by teaching and oral confession of faith, I teach, and say that infant baptism is a robbery of the right baptism of Christ, and a misuse of the high name of God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, altogether opposed to the institution of Christ and to the customs of the apostles.”

“Baptism is a public testimony of faith which the baptized one himself makes before the church, not godmothers or godfathers. In that each believing person has three witnesses in heaven: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in whose name and power he inwardly surrenders to God and outwardly has obligated himself to lead a new life according to the Rule of Christ.”

Balthasar Hubmaier: Theologian of Anabaptism, translated and edited by H. Wayne Pipkin and John H. Yoder, Classics of the Radical Reformation (Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1989).

Love Constraining to Obedience

“No strength of nature” by William Cowper is found Cowper’s & Newton’s Olney Hymns. In the 12th edition it is in Book III, Hymn 62 – under the theme “Dedication and Surrender” with the heading “Love Constraining to Obedience.” The hymn stresses the “then” and “now” difference of a sinner struggling for worthy obedience, and of a believer who has seen Christ fulfill the law and has heard “his pardoning voice.” The “strength of nature” is not sufficient for the just to live by faith. The 12th edition of Olney Hymns (and perhaps the original) has a footnote for this hymn referencing Romans 3:31 (Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.). Some later hymn books connect it with Romans 7:9.
 
The hymn does not appear in many popular hymnals, though it would make a worthy addition. Being in common meter, it might be paired with any good common meter tune. Hymnary.org prints it with the tune Aberdeen or St. Paul. This melody apparently first appeared as St. Paul’s Tune in Rudiments of Music: or, A Short and Easy Treatise on the Subject by Robert Bremner (Edinburgh, 1756).
 
1. No strength of nature can suffice
To serve the Lord aright;
And what she has she misapplies,
For want of clearer light.
 
2. How long beneath the law I lay
In bondage and distress!
I toil’d the precept to obey,
But toil’d without success.
 
3. Then to abstain from outward sin
Was more than I could do;
Now, if I feel its pow’r within,
I feel I hate it too.
 
4. Then all my servile works were done
A righteousness to raise;
Now, freely chosen in the Son,
I freely choose his ways.
 
5. “What shall I do,” was then the word,
That I may worthier grow?
“What shall I render to the Lord?”
Is my inquiry now.
 
6. To see the law by Christ fulfilled,
And hear his pard’ning voice;
Changes a slave into a child,
And duty into choice.

In other words, feminine and masculine

• alogical, adjective. Beyond the scope of logic or logical reasoning; not determined or guarded by logic or rationality; non-logical. Cf. illogical.
• anti-vaxxer, noun. An individual who distrusts or is opposed to vaccination, especially a parent who refuses to have a child vaccinated.
• bogeyman (aka the bogeyman), noun. An imaginary evil spirit, referred to typically to frighten children.
• bonny clabber, noun (UK). Milk that has naturally clotted on souring.
• busybodyism, noun. Behaviour characteristic of a busybody; acting as a busybody, meddling.
• feminine, adjective. Having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with women; the female sex or gender; a female person.
• genteelism, noun. Affectedly polite or refined behavior, attitudes, or characteristics, esp. when intended as a sign of superior social status.
• gentilism, noun. The quality of being a gentile, especially heathenism; paganism.
• gribble, adjective. Irritable, bad-tempered.
• illogical, adjective. Not logical; contrary to or disregardful of the rules of logic; unreasoning. Cf. alogical.
• intercept, verb (used with object). To take, seize, or halt; cut off from an intended destination; to see or overhear (e.g. a message meant for another); to stop or check.
• masculine, adjective. Having qualities or appearance traditionally associated with men; the male sex or gender; a male person.
• perfidy, noun. Deliberate breach of faith or trust; faithlessness; treachery.
• pro-vaxxer, noun. An individual who supports and advocates for vaccination, especially a parent who wants to have a child vaccinated.
• septemfluous, adjective. Flowing in seven streams.
• spiritdom, noun. The spirit world; a non-physical realm which incorporeal or disembodied spirits are considered to inhabit.
• stet, verb. (used without object) Let it stand (used imperatively as a direction on a manuscript, printer’s proof, etc.); (used with object) To mark (a manuscript, printer’s proof, etc.) with the word “stet” or with dots as a direction to let cancelled material remain.
• urbs, noun. A city as a technical entity or in contrast to a suburb, etc.
• vaxxer, noun. See pro-vaxxer.
• zest, noun. keen enjoyment; an enjoyably exciting quality; gusto.