Make your marriage a priority

“Make your marriage a priority. Children grow up and move out, parents leave this world, and friends change over time. In the end, it is just the two of you—so build a bond that cannot be broken.”

“Real Mom Thoughts” Facebook page, November 3, 2025

Mercy, O thou Son of David

XCV. Bartimeus. [Mark] x. 47, 48. [8s.7s. meter]

1. “Mercy, O thou Son of David!”
Thus blind Bartimeus prayed;
“Others by thy word are saved,
“Now to me afford thine aid.”
Many for his crying chide him,
But he called the louder still;
Till the gracious Saviour bid him,
“Come, and ask me what you will.”

2. Money was not what he wanted,
Though by begging used to live;
But he asked, and Jesus granted,
Alms, which none but he could give:
“Lord, remove this grievous blindness,
“Let my eyes behold the day.”
Straight he saw, and, won by kindness,
Followed Jesus in the way.

3. Oh! methinks I hear him praising,
Publishing to all around;
“Friends is not my case amazing?
“What a Savior I have found!
“Oh! that all the blind but knew him,
“And would be advised by me!
“Surely, would they hasten to him,
“He would cause them all to see.”

By John Newton, in Olney Hymns, In Three Books, Hymn 95, pp. 117-118.

John Newton (1725-1807) is best known – is some cases almost exclusively – for his hymn “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.” It is certainly a good one! One that has been called a “spiritual national anthem” or “Christian national anthem.” Newton wrote many good hymns on texts of scripture. “Mercy, O thou Son of David” is one of these. In it he takes the historical incident and related miracle of “Blind Bartimaeus” and teaches us a lesson on spiritual blindness. It needs to find broader use in conservative Christian communities. Listen to three four-line stanzas (1a, 2a, 2b) of John Newton’s hymn, sung with the grand tune Villulia. 

J. M. Day wrote this tune, but nothing is known of who he was.

In the seed, and other quotes

The posting of quotes of 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.)

“In the seed lives the hope of the harvest.” -- J. T. Harris

“It is not the absence of sin but the grieving over it which distinguishes the child of God from empty professors.” -- A. W. Pink

“Slogans are often unhelpful, because they leave too much unsaid and often end up creating more confusion.” -- Tim Barnett

“Social media is warping our reality and our humanity.” -- Kaizen Asiedu

“The clock keeps moving toward an appointment written on a calendar we cannot see” (Hebrews 9:27). -- Rich Bitterman

“A dead man’s calendar can still look busy.” -- Rich Bitterman

“A good day doesn’t begin with perfect circumstances; it begins with a perfect God.” -- Matt Gholson

“Bitterness ensnares you in yesterday. Anxiety enslaves you to tomorrow. Jesus gives peace for today.” -- Garrett Kell

“Many go into court to get wool, but come out closely shorn.” -- Charles H. Spurgeon

“The spiritual enemy doesn’t ‘fight fair.’” -- Shane Wiggins

“The Holy Scriptures are our letters from home.” -- Augustine of Hippo

“Our Father dwells in tents as well as in temples, but his favorite abiding-place is in the hearts of mankind.” -- J. Fred Jones

“You can be born again, but you cannot be born again and again and again.” -- Charles H. Spurgeon

“If you can’t tell the difference between a female athlete and a male athlete in a wig, you’re a pallbearer for the death of common sense.” -- Nancy Mace

“When your funds run out, your ‘friends’ will run out.” -- James V. Peoples

Spiritual adultery in U.S. pulpits

Jeremiah 2:12-13, 23-24

Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways; a wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.

As I notice the wild unbiblical raging and rambling that is multiplied in U. S. pulpits, I think of the condemnation God brought against his people through the prophet Jeremiah. After all that God had done for them, they forsook the eternal fountain of living waters in trade for broken cisterns that would not hold water. They in their flagrant idolatry were like the wild donkey used to the wilderness. This wild donkey in heat (in her occasion) runs around seeking paramours; she sniffs the wind, and sends her scent over the winds; she is not hard to find. Oh, how descriptive of the depravity of debased so-called Christianity in our day. It will neither love the Lord nor heed the word of God, but in spiritual adultery turns away to seek that which is vile, debased, and broken.

Jeremiah 3: 2 Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.

Every minister of Christ should

A statement on ministers recorded at the annual Kehukee Baptist Association held in May of 1784, at Sandy-Run Meetinghouse, Bertie County, North Carolina.

Upon the whole, we suppose that it is necessary every minister of Christ should, in the first place, be truly converted, and regenerated by the grace of God, that he have a general acquaintance with the word of God, and that he should be called of God to preach the gospel: ‘No man taketh this honor to himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.’ Heb. v. 4. An evidence of his call, for his own satisfaction, is, first, if his views in preaching the gospel be not for the sake of lucre, nor for honor nor applause; but, secondly, if he aim at the glory of God and the good of souls. An evidence of his call, to the satisfaction of others, is, first, his spiritual understanding in the word of God; second, his ability in explaining the meaning of the word; third, the success of his ministry in the conviction and conversion of sinners, and comfort of the saints. It is necessary that a person thus called to the ministry, should preach on trial for some time, and when the church is satisfied with his call and usefulness, he shall then be set apart by fasting and prayer, by the hands of the Presbytery…

A Concise History of the Kehukee Baptist Association, From its original rise to the present time, Joseph Biggs. Tarborough, NC: George Howard & Tarborough N.C.  Free Press, 1834. pp. 65-66.

Good preaching

“That’s some good preaching,” he said—but what did he mean? Was it good because of how it was delivered, or good because of what was delivered? Too often folks just mean the how and not the what!

On Facebook, Monday September 28th, Pastor Herman Johnson posted this quote: “Preaching is only good when the doctrine is sound.” That caught my eye because earlier that same day I told a preacher his sermon was good—then thought to add, good because it was true. It was a very well-preached sermon, but it was the truth that was preached. Well-preached would not matter if he had not preached the truth. (Well, we could say it does matter, but in a negative way. It is a bad thing when error is “well-preached.”)

It is a good thing, a plus, that the truth be presented well. When we hear someone who is so detached from and dispassionate about his message that it seems he himself is not moved by it—we might wonder if he actually believes what he is saying. We should like the truth to be “well-preached.” Nevertheless, it is the truth, sound doctrine, that makes the sermon good rather than how well it is preached.

_____________________

Two other preaching quotes:

 “If people leave worship saying, ‘What an amazing preacher!’ we have failed. Instead, we must long for them to say, ‘What an amazing God.” Alistair Begg

“A desire to preach without a burden to study is a desire to perform.” H. B. Charles Jr.

Christianity As A Costume

“Churches that accommodate the surrounding culture’s moral assumptions tend to empty out within two or three generations...Theological substance — creation, fall, redemption, resurrection, judgment, human dignity, sexual ethics, and the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ — is precisely what makes Christianity worth believing. Strip that away in the name of openness, and you’ve kept the brand while destroying the product.”

Andrew T. Walker

Evening Hymn

Psalm 4:8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.

“The Day is Past and Gone” – originally titled “Evening Hymn” – seems to be the most published of all the hymns of John Leland. In The Sacred Harp it appears with the tune Evening Shade, written by Stephen Jenks in 1805.

1. The day is past and gone,
The evening shades appear;
O may we all remember well
The night of death draws near.

2. We lay our garments by,
Upon our beds to rest;
So death will soon disrobe us all
Of what we’ve here possessed.

3. Lord, keep us all this night,
Secure from all our fears;
May angels guard us while we sleep,
Till morning light appears.

4. And if we early rise,
And view th’unwearied sun,
May we set out to win the prize
And after glory run.

5. And when our days are past,
And we from time remove,
O may we in thy bosom rest,–
The bosom of thy love.

The above hymn was written by John Leland. It is printed under the title “Evening Hymn” in The Writings of the Late Elder John Leland: including Some Events in His Life (Miss L. F. Greene, New York, NY: G. W. Wood, 1845, page 322). It is usually dated to 1790.

John Leland was an influential Baptist minister in America, before, during, and after the Revolution. He was born at Grafton, Massachusetts May 14 or 15, 1754, the son of James Leland. He began to preach at the age of 20 in Massachusetts. He moved to Virginia for about 15 years, ministering there, then returned to Massachusetts circa 1790. Leland supported the struggle for religious liberty, and exerted some influence on Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and others. He married Sarah Devine in 1776, and they had several children. Leland died January 14, 1841. He and his wife are buried at the Cheshire Cemetery in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. John Julian describes Leland as eccentric and states, “His influence seems to have been equalled by his peculiarities” (John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, 1907, p. 670).

Other hymns written by John Leland include:

• Brethren, I have come once more
• Come and taste, along with me
• O when shall I see Jesus
• Christians, if your hearts are warm.

The composer of Evening Shade, Stephen Jenks, was born March 17, 1772, the son of John Jenks and Lydia Bucklin of Rhode Island. Jenks became a composer and singing school teacher – and between 1799 and 1818 was author or coauthor of ten published music collections. These works included 125 pieces of sacred music of his own composition. According to Warren Steel, “Jenks was a prolific exponent of the American music idiom developed by Daniel Read and other Connecticut composers during the late eighteenth century.” Jenks first married Hannah Dauchy around 1792. After her death he married Rachel Travis in 1801. After Rachel’s death he married Abigail Ross. They moved to northern Ohio in 1829, and died there. Stephen Jenks died June 3, 1856. He and Abigail are buried at the Maple Grove Cemetery in Thompson, Geauga County, Ohio.

Steel also notes that Stephen Jenks’s “large manuscript tunebook shows that he continued to compose as late as 1850 and that he grappled with the changing styles of nineteenth-century hymnody.” He left nearly 100 unpublished tunes from his later years. In addition to Evening Shade, Jenk’s tunes Liberty, Mount Vernon, and North Salem continue to be popular with Sacred Harp singers.

In Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs (Knoxville, TN: Melody Publications, 2020), this text is paired with the tune Leland by L. M. Fosbery. The tune appeared as #31 in the 1899 Book of Worship with Hymns and Tunes, published by the General Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the United States. However, it was published at least as early as 1892 in The New Laudes Domini: a Selection of Spiritual Songs, Ancient and Modern for Use in Baptist Churches. Nothing further is known of the composer.

What to know, 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.

• What to know about the breakaway traditionalist Catholics defying Pope Leo XIV -- “The ultratraditionalist Society of St. Pius X is defying Pope Leo XIV by consecrating four bishops without his consent at its seminary in Econe, Switzerland.”
• Waiting on the Wings -- “There are Texas sunsets—and then there’s the sunset I saw on the outskirts of San Antonio one evening: 15 million bats blotting out the sun.”
• The Palace in Paris -- “Maxey received a pardon from President Andrew Johnson after a personal vouch from Maxey’s U.S. Military Academy classmate and friend, Ulysses S. Grant.”
• Theological Triage: A Trojan Horse for Liberalism -- “Scripture gives no warrant for this. Theological triage is a man-made philosophy.”
• The Unscriptural Decline of Singing the Psalms in Churches -- “Roman Catholic inquisitors hunting the Waldenses frequently noted that they could identify them because even their uneducated peasants, weavers, and shoemakers would constantly sing the Psalms in their native tongue while working.”
• The National Museum of American History Has Become Wholly Un-American -- “Using the museum leaders’ own words, the report clearly documents how the museum has shifted its mission from history to woke activism.”
• The Impact of the First Democratic Nation in 1776 -- “There are only six countries on earth that do not claim to be democratic...Even states that have no intention of functioning as democracies feel the need to pretend that they do.”
• Should a church use a Christian web hosting company? -- “Many tech companies support causes and organizations that are in direct opposition to our beliefs and values.”
• Setting Realistic Expectations for Your Wife’s Ministry in the Church -- “...some members tend to press unnecessary expectations on pastors’ wives.”
• Regional body of United Methodist Church sues Highland Park UMC -- “A regional governing body of the United Methodist Church is accusing local church leadership in court documents of quietly trying to sever its connection with the conference and broader denomination.”
• Locked In, Cradle to Grave? -- “Facebook’s tone-deaf manner of colonizing the social space of children as the next frontier is consistent with its history of cringe-worthy decisions.”
• Gravestone Symbols of the American Revolution -- “If you’ve spent much time poking around old cemeteries in New England, you know that some of the most common gravestone symbols from the American Revolutionary era are the winged skull and the cherub or soul effigy.”
• “Draw Nigh unto My Soul”: English Baptist Piety and the Means of Grace in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries -- “Given this prominence of the Scriptures in the life of Baptists, it is not surprising that hearing the Word preached was regarded by them as a vital spiritual discipline...”
• Are you paying too much for your domain? -- “A very pervasive scam asks you to pay a ‘domain listing’ service or something similar. But they’re literally just scammers.”
• 10 Things You should Know about Tithing under the Mosaic Covenant -- “To give only 8% or to give 15% is equally permissible. Not to give at all, or to give disproportionately to your income (which is the case with most Christians today), or to give grudgingly, is indeed sin.”

The Triune God

The Human Heart

In this world we see all sorts of dissension – factionalism, hatred, enmity, strife, jealousy, resentment, envy, malice, and viciousness. We blame evil on systems, institutions, opposing groups, history, and ancestry. The Bible places the blame elsewhere. There is an underlying fundamental problem, the human heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Genesis 6:5; Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 15:18-20). We can try to blame everything and everyone else, but the Bible refuses to do so. The problem of the heart is present in every human being, and cannot be whisked away by special works or sincere wishes.

Weak theological systems and woke philosophical systems discard this truth about the human heart to agree among themselves that man is basically good. We just need a better environment, more money, more education, and all will be well. Try as we might, this never works. So try harder, with all your might! Still doesn’t work. The wickedness of the human heart may produce cruelty in one context and self-righteousness in another context – and both cruelty and self-righteousness in another. The impulses emerge from the same human nature, the same kind of human heart that exists in every human person. Recognition of the underlying problem calls for a different solution, which is essentially spiritual heart surgery (Romans 2:28-29; Romans 10:8-10; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22).

The good news is “that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15).

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Looking for a present participle

In October 2025, a member of the Textus Receptus Academy,[i] named John, created a poll about the accuracy of and difference between the KJV and the NKJV in the text of Luke 6:10a. These verses read:

• AKJV: And looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man…
• NKJV: And when He had looked around at them all, He said to the man…

The purpose seemed ostensibly to defend the NKJV rendering. According to that author, “The KJV has Jesus speaking while looking. The NKJV has Jesus speaking after looking.” In the poll he asked respondents to vote, “Which is correct?” The poll options were: The KJV is correct; The NKJV is correct; both are correct; both are incorrect.

According to the creator of the poll, the right answer was “both are correct.” I agreed with this as the answer, but not for the same reason he gave: “We don’t know for sure the timing—either one is possible and it could be accurately rendered either way.” Actually, I even agree with the last part of that statement, that either understanding is accurate, based on the Greek. He teased out the fact that the aorist participle περιβλεψάμενος can translated either as antecedent (prior) to or as contemporaneous (simultaneous) with the action of the main verb. This is correct. However, in the end, I believe that John and many others of the polled missed it. When he wrote that “both are correct” what he actually meant was that both are possible correct translational renderings. He did not actually mean that “both are correct” because he went on to say “Historically, only one of the two actually happened.” In other words, he is saying either only simultaneous action happened or antecedent action happened. Both can’t be true. So, he explanation was somewhat contradictory.

However, when I say that both are correct, I am saying that Luke 6:10a in the KJV and NKJV actually mean the same thing in English. “Looking round about upon them all” (in English) is a present participle clause.[ii] Often, present participle clauses show two actions that happen at the same time. Apparently the poll creator and several others were laboring under the false conception of that being the only way a present participle clause can be used. That first explanation is a short and simple answer that does not include all the facts. Present participle clauses are used in the English language in at least six different ways: to describe simultaneous action, to show cause for an action, to give the result of an action, to add information about the subject of the main clause, adjectivally, or even to replace a full relative clause. Here are a couple of examples of how the present participle clause might be used in ways that are not simultaneous action.

• Opening the envelope, I found two train tickets.
• Running late, I missed the train.

In the first case the present participle clause expresses an action that happens in close proximity to, but just before another action (rather than simultaneous). The second case shows cause. The point is not that I was simultaneously running late while missing the train, but that I missed the train because I was running late. We speak and write this way, and are capable of understanding this way, if not set on an agenda. I believe that John’s not understanding the various uses of the present participle clause led him to assume that the meaning of Luke 6:10a in the King James and the New King James had to be mutually exclusive. Understanding the different uses of the present participle clause shows us we can understand the King James translation of Luke 6:10 as in the first example above – “looking” expresses an action that happens in close proximity to, but just before another action (rather than simultaneous). Jesus knew the thoughts of the onlookers, he asked them a question, and looked around at all of them. With no answer forthcoming, he addressed the man, “Stretch forth thy hand.” The looking occurred in very close proximity of time but immediately prior to his addressing the man with the withered hand. This interpretation will not only harmonize with the context of Luke 6:6-11, but it also harmonizes with the parallel passage in Mark 3:1-6.

Mark 3:5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man…

An interpretation that does not the realize the harmony of Luke 6:10 and Mark 3:5 is incorrect and unacceptable. To me, this poll seemed to be an argument only for the purpose of arguing. Straining at a gnat, John swallowed a camel.

---

[i] I wrote this out then but, deciding the argument was a waste of time, I did not continue to reply in the Facebook group.
[ii] A present participle is a form using a verb + ing.

If you knew what he knows about death

Do you not see that God is as continually restoring as taking away—that every bereavement is a restoration—that when you are weeping, others, who love as well as you, are clasping in ecstasy of reunion? If you have not learned this, you cannot have been doing the will of the Father, or you would not be as you are. If you reply, how little I know your loss, I respond, indeed it is great! It seems to include God! If you knew what he knows about death, you would clap your listless hands.

George MacDonald

Lead by example

A hymn by Thomas Nichols, No. 856 in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs.

1. We, who the blessed gospel preach,
Should by example also teach;
By good example sin reprove, 
And ev’ry stumbling block remove.

2. O! may we by our lives express
The same religion we profess;
O! let us not our selves deceive,
Nor hinder those that would believe.

3. O! how shall we account for those,
Who, by us, to destruction go;
Whom we have not reproved for sin,
But rather joined with them therein.

4. O! let us by no means intrude
On men, by such ingratitude;
But flee from sin, to God confess,
And pray him to forgive and bless.

5. We are the instrumental means
And cause of the most awful scenes;
If we God’s holy ways refuse,
And his most precious cause abuse.

Little is known of Thomas Nichols, the author of the above hymn. He published Hymns and Anthems: Composed on Divine Subjects, Agreeable to Sacred Scripture, Inspected and approved by the Rev. Isaac Backus (Albany, NY: Charles R. & George Webster, 1793). Thomas Nichols was affiliated with the New-Britain Baptist Church in Rensselaer County, New York (see also The Universal Register of the Baptist Denomination in North America, 1790-1794). David Music states that the book contains “206 hymns and thirty-two anthems” which “appear to be entirely original.” The book contained a recommendation by Isaac Backus.

This Thomas Nichols is probably the same Thomas Nichols who lived at Stephen Town (Stephentown) Albany County, New York, as recorded in the 1790 U. S. Census. Rensselaer County would be created from Albany County in 1791. In 1796, the Thomas Nichols who compiled Hymns and Anthems published “A Discourse on Poverty & Riches, in a Medium of Gospel Doctrine.” The fact that no address was given for ordering, but that it was available for purchase at the office of the Vermont Gazette (in Bennington, Vermont) suggests that the author lived in that general area. Bennington is in a neighboring county of Rensselaer County, New York and is roughly 30 miles from Stephentown, New York. 

Some genealogists have Thomas Nichols born in East Greenwich, Rhode Island in 1723 and died in 1798 in Vermont. However, I believe the 1798 death in Vermont is confused with a different Thomas Nichols who also came from Rhode Island. The birth in East Greenwich agrees with Isaac Backus’s note in his diary in 1791, “…Feb…The 15th, old Mr. Thomas Nichols, of Eastgreenwich, came here, and got me to examine and recommend a Hymn-book which he had composed, in an evangelical strain. He went away the 17th.” (Backus would only have to have been referencing where he was originally from, not where he currently lived in 1791.)

Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs pairs this hymn with Earl, an anonymous tune found in The Silver Chime of 1862, by George F. Root.

In Rephidim

Where Jesus Leads.

To Rephidim, to Rephidim, we follow him, we follow him.
In places dry and battles grim, in Rephidim, in Rephidim.
Where Jesus leads is always right,
Whether in sunshine or shadow of night.
Where Jesus leads is always wise,
E’en in dry places where battles arise.
Where Jesus leads is always best,

By the still waters to eternal rest.
To Rephidim, to Rephidim, we follow him, we follow him.
In places dry and battles grim, in Rephidim, in Rephidim.

The name Jehovah

Q. Why does the King James sometimes depart from the standard convention of translating יְהוָה as Lord in order to translate it as Jehovah 7 times?

A. The King James Bible uses Jehovah 7 times, 4 times as God’s name, plus 3 times where his name is part of a place name.

• Exodus 6:3 and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.
• Psalm 83:18 that men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.
• Isaiah 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
• Isaiah 26:4 Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:
• Genesis 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen.
• Exodus 17:15 And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi:
• Judges 6:24 Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abi-ezrites.

Some have answered that Jehovah is used in these places because it is used as a proper name. That does not suffice, because it is a proper name in the other places. These seven choices break down into three categories.

A place name.

In Genesis 22:14, Exodus 17:15, and Judges 6:24 Jehovah is part of a place name. In Genesis 22 and Judges 6, a geographical location; in Exodus 17, an altar at a particular place, given a name.

A double name.

In Isaiah 12:2 and 26:4, there is a double name, in the Hebrew יָהּ יְהוָה (Jah Jehovah). So the translators use the standard convention once and Jehovah once to translate the double name.

A (contextually) unique name.

Jehovah as used in Exodus 6:3 and Psalm 83:18 is contextually unique, seen by the way his name is referenced. For example, Christopher Yetzer writes, “Exodus 6:3 is pointing out the name which He was not known by and in Psalms the name which is alone His.”

I will take Jesus at his word

 This is what much so-called Christianity in the United States has degenerated to:

“I always think of all the world’s faith traditions as a circle, with that divine mystery of the universe in the middle. We all have different names for that mystery, whether it’s God or Yahweh or Allah or Nirvana or Great Spirit. Whatever you call it, this is all different pathways to the same fundamental truth.” James Talarico

I will take Jesus at his word.

The Bible Made Them Baptists

From time to time I have written on “The Bible Makes Baptists.” Here is an excerpt from “Brazil Needs Gospel Preachers,” by Harvey Boyce Taylor (1870-1932) in News and Truths, September 27, 1922. Paraíba is state in northeastern Brazil. Recife is the capital city of Pernambuco, another state in northeastern Brazil. This is another historical example of the reading of the Bible producing Baptist belief.

The third case in point is the capital of the state of Paraíba. We had no missionary, no preaching, no Baptists in that capital. Quite a number of disciples were made under the preaching of a Presbyterian missionary. In a little while after reading their New Testament, they got dissatisfied with Presbyterianism and went to the missionary and asked him if there wasn’t anybody who did things like they did in Bible days. He tried to satisfy them but couldn’t and then told them where they could get a Congregationalist preacher, as one of the things they did not like was the Presbyterian form of church government. The Congregationalist preacher came up from Recife. After talking with these folks and trying to satisfy them, and failing, he told them they were Baptists. They had never heard of the Baptists. They had simply read the New Testament and it had made them what they were. They got in touch with a Baptist missionary down at Recife and he came out and baptized 40 of them and organized them into a church. That was the first New Testament church in the state of Paraíba.

Life is Good

“Life is good ... It is a blessing and a privilege to have this life, because God ultimately said, I’ll give this one to Jamie, because I know that he is the right person for it. And I think God gave you your life because he knew you were the right person for it.”

Jamey Carrington, speaking of the privilege of the life he has been able to live with spinal muscular atrophy

Psalm 109

Psalm 109 (metrical version from the 1650 Scottish Psalter)

Common Meter.

Suggested tune: Bangor, by William Tansur.

O thou the God of all my praise,
Do thou not hold thy peace;
For mouths of wicked men to speak
Against me do not cease:

The mouths of vile deceitful men
Against me opened be;
And with a false and lying tongue
They have accused me.

They did beset me round about
With words of hateful spite;
And though to them no cause I gave,
Against me they did fight.

They for my love became my foes,
But I me set to pray.
Evil for good, hatred for love,
To me they did repay.

Set thou the wicked over him;
And upon his right hand
Give thou his greatest enemy,
Ev’n Satan, leave to stand.

And when by thee he shall be judged,
Let him condemned be;
And let his pray’r be turned to sin,
When he shall call on thee.

Few be his days, and in his room
His charge another take.
His children let be fatherless,
His wife a widow make.

His children let be vagabonds,
And beg continually;
And from their places desolate
Seek bread for their supply.

Let covetous extortioners
Catch all he hath away:
Of all for which he laboured hath
Let strangers make a prey.

Let there be none to pity him,
Let there be none at all
That on his children fatherless
Will let his mercy fall.

Let his posterity from earth
Cut off for ever be,
And in the foll’wing age their name
Be blotted out by thee.

Let GOD his father’s wickedness
Still to remembrance call;
And never let his mother’s sin
Be blotted out at all.

But let them all before the LORD
Appear continually,
That he may wholly from the earth
Cut off their memory.

Because he mercy minded not,
But persecuted still
The poor and needy, that he might
The broken-hearted kill.

As he in cursing pleasure took,
So let it to him fall;
As he delighted not to bless,
So bless him not at all.

As cursing he like clothes put on,
Into his bowels so,
Like water, and into his bones,
Like oil, down let it go.

Like to the garment let it be
Which doth himself array,
And for a girdle, wherewith he
Is girt about alway.

From GOD let this be their reward
That en’mies are to me,
And their reward that speak against
My soul maliciously.

But do thou, for thine own name’s sake,
O GOD the Lord, for me:
Sith good and sweet thy mercy is,
From trouble set me free.

For I am poor and indigent,
Afflicted sore am I,
My heart within me also is
Wounded exceedingly.

I pass like a declining shade,
Am like the locust tossed:
My knees through fasting weakened are,
My flesh hath fatness lost.

I also am a vile reproach
Unto them made to be;
And they that did upon me look
Did shake their heads at me.

O do thou help and succour me,
Who art my God and LORD:
And, for thy tender mercy’s sake,
Safety to me afford:

That thereby they may know that this
Is thy almighty hand;
And that thou, LORD, hast done the same,
They may well understand.

Although they curse with spite, yet, Lord,
Bless thou with loving voice:
Let them ashamed be when they rise;
Thy servant let rejoice.

Let thou mine adversaries all
With shame be clothed over;
And let their own confusion
Them, as a mantle, cover.

But as for me, I with my mouth
Will greatly praise the LORD;
And I among the multitude
His praises will record.

For he shall stand at his right hand
Who is in poverty,
To save him from all those that would
Condemn his soul to die.

The 1650 Scottish Psalter may be more properly known as The Psalms of David in Metre. This English-language book of psalms in meter was first approved by the Westminster Assembly. The Assembly felt a need for a unified psalter in church use. Thus, they began with recent versifications of the psalms by Francis Rous (1643). This work was revised and approved in 1646. This work underwent even further revision by the Scots, and was authorized for public worship in November of 1649 by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland – and first printed and used beginning in 1650.