The new morality

Nine new graphic cigarette warning labels were unveiled Tuesday by the Food and Drug Administration, part of the agency's sweeping new powers to regulate tobacco and tobacco products.

The government can't "legislate morality" -- unless it wants to. Living in a world that moves further and further from traditional morality, the anti-moralists nevertheless have to get on their high-horses once in awhile to fight evil. I guess that's OK as long as they don't get on the same side of an issue with biblicists -- like no homosexual marriage and such like. Seeing it is not enough to simply warn folks of the dangers of smoking, now they will have pictures. A dead guy with his chest sewn up. A smoker exhaling through a hole in his neck. Despite all the rhetoric of the anti-tobaccoites, a few graphic pictures will not have the desired effect. I particularly like this one: "Tobacco smoke causes fatal lung disease in non-smokers." Now that will frighten the smoker to death!

The sea

The sea.

If for a time the air be calm,
Serene and smooth the sea appears;
And shows no danger to alarm
The inexperienced landsman's fears.

But if the tempest once arise,
The faithless water swells and raves;
Its billows, foaming to the skies,
Disclose a thousand threat'ning graves.

My untried heart thus seemed to me,
(So little of myself I knew)
Smooth as the calm unruffled sea,
But ah! it proved as treach'rous too!

The peace, of which I had a taste,
When Jesus first his love revealed
I fondly hoped would always last,
Because my foes were then concealed.

But when I felt the tempter's pow'r
Rouse my corruptions from their sleep;
I trembled at the stormy hour,
And saw the horrors of the deep.

Now, on presumption's billows borne,
My spirit seemed the LORD to dare;
Now, quick as thought, a sudden turn
Plunged me in gulfs of black despair.

LORD, save me, or I sink, I prayed,
He heard, and bid the tempest cease;
The angry waves his word obeyed,
And all my fears were hushed to peace.

The peace is his, and not my own,
My heart (no better than before)
Is still to dreadful changes prone,
Then let me never trust it more.

John Newton (1725-1807)
Olney Hymns, 1779

The time of judges

In a period called the time of the judges, the sad commentary on the people was that "every man did that which was right in his own eyes." In that sad time, when things got bad enough, God raised up judges -- leaders who would deliver the people.

We too live in a sad time. But the tables have turned. Now the world has raised up "judges" who do (and rule) that which is right in their own eyes. A pitiful example comes from a few days back in Corpus Christi, Texas. District Court Judge Jose Longoria (and some prosecutors share blame, and family members), accepted a plea in the case of Rosalina Gonzales for Injury to a Child for spanking her daughter. I am not acquainted with all the details of the case, so this commentary does not deal with all the details. But...the judge, so-called, charged Gonzales, "You don't spank children today." This was clearly his opinion which he tried to pass off as the force of law.

"You don't spank children today," said Longoria, "in the old days, maybe we got spanked, but there was a different quarrel. You don't spank children. You understand?"

In contrast to Longoria, the Texas Attorney General's website says, for example, "Texas law allows the use of force, but not deadly force, against a child by the child's parent, guardian, or other person who is acting in loco parentis. Most parents do, in fact, use corporal punishment..."

Ultimately for the Christian, it does not matter what the judge or the attorney general says. What does God say? We live in a rapidly degenerating time. Soon laws may prohibit spanking. If so, Christians will have to decide whether they will obey God or men.

judge Longoria: You don't spank children today.
The Word of God: He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

judge Longoria: You don't spank children today.
The Word of God: Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.

judge Longoria: You don't spank children today.
The Word of God: Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.

judge Longoria: You don't spank children today.
The Word of God: Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.

judge Longoria: You don't spank children today.
The Word of God: hou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

judge Longoria: You don't spank children today.
The Word of God: The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

judge Longoria: You don't spank children today.
The Word of God: And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Who are you going to believe?

Voltaire and the cottager

The path to bliss abounds with many a snare;
Learning is one, and wit, however rare.
The Frenchman, first in literary fame
(Mention him, if you please. Voltaire?—The same),
With spirit, genius, eloquence, supplied,
Lived long, wrote much, laugh’d heartily, and died;
The Scripture was his jest-book, whence he drew
Bon-mots to gall the Christian and the Jew;
An infidel in health, but what when sick?
Oh—then a text would touch him at the quick;
View him at Paris in his last career,
Surrounding throngs the demi-god revere;
Exalted on his pedestal of pride,
And fumed with frankincense on every side,
He begs their flattery with his latest breath,
And, smother’d in’t at last, is praised to death!

Yon cottager, who weaves at her own door,
Pillow and bobbins all her little store;
Content though mean, and cheerful if not gay,
Shuffling her threads about the live-long day,
Just earns a scanty pittance, and at night
Lies down secure, her heart and pocket light;
She, for her humble sphere by nature fit,
Has little understanding, and no wit,
Receives no praise; but though her lot be such
(Toilsome and indigent), she renders much;
Just knows, and knows no more, her Bible true—
A truth the brilliant Frenchman never knew;
And in that charter reads with sparkling eyes,
Her title to a treasure in the skies.
Oh, happy peasant! Oh, unhappy bard!
His the mere tinsel, hers the rich reward;
He praised perhaps for ages yet to come,
She never heard of half a mile from home:
He, lost in errors, his vain heart prefers,
She, safe in the simplicity of hers.

From the poem Truth by William Cowper

An early appointment

I received the following story via e-mail. I don't know whether or not it is true, but I thought it had a good sentiment.

It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80's arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had to be somewhere by 9:00 am. I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would to able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided, since I was not busy with another patient,
I would evaluate his wound.

On exam, it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound. While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer's.

As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late.

He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now.

I was surprised, and asked him, "And you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?"

He smiled as he patted my hand and said, "She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is."

Truth by William Cowper

Man, on the dubious waves of error toss’d,
His ship half founder’d, and his compass lost,
Sees, far as human optics may command,
A sleeping fog, and fancies it dry land;
Spreads all his canvas, every sinew plies;
Pants for it, aims at it, enters it, and dies!
Then farewell all self-satisfying schemes,
His well-built systems, philosophic dreams;
Deceitful views of future bliss, farewell!
He reads his sentence at the flames of hell.

From the poem Truth by William Cowper

Hope in Despair

Encompassed with clouds of distress,
And tempted all hope to resign,
I pant for the light of Thy face,
That I in Thy beauty may shine.

Disheartened with waiting so long,
I sink at Thy feet with my load;
All plaintive I pour out my song,
And stretch forth my hands unto God.

Shine, Lord, and my terror shall cease;
The blood of atonement apply,
And lead me to Jesus for peace –
The Rock that is higher than I.

Speak, Savior, for sweet is Thy voice,
Thy presence is fair to behold;
I thirst for Thy Spirit, with cries
And groanings that cannot be told.

"Hope in Despair", by Augustus M. Toplady

Wrong again

I'm still here. Either I missed the rapture or Harold Camping got it wrong.

Harold Camping is a religious quack who "discovers" deep mysteries, while missing simple statements of our Lord such as "no man knoweth (or will know) the day or the hour." Some people never learn.

Much of the news media revealed they are journalistic quacks. How many times did you hear yesterday was "the end of the world". A simple click of the mouse would have revealed that wasn't exactly what Camping said. But what did they care; they just found something they could manipulate.

Christians, don't be discouraged. Let us keep looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. False prophets will get it wrong. Scoffers will increase. But He that shall come WILL come, and will not tarry.

Syrup in the buttermilk

On a number of occasions I heard my Dad tell of one of his grandfather's habits. He said at meals (mainly supper, IIRC), Grandpa Vaughn would always have two glasses of buttermilk. The first he drank "as is", but to the second glass he added syrup. This was ribbon-cane or sorghum syrup, raised on his farm and cooked at his syrup mill.

Last night I found myself with a glass of buttermilk in hand and a jar of sorghum syrup on the kitchen counter. This memory raised up and tempted me to try it -- sorghum in the buttermilk. I must say it wasn't bad. Not nearly as bad as I imagined. In fact, I could grow to like it.

This whole thing got me to wondering. Was this concoction just my great-grandfather's peculiar quirk, or was that possibly some old bygone Southern favorite?

John Jay study on child abuse

Yesterday I heard National Public Radio report on a research study conducted by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice -- The Nature and Scope of the Problem of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests and Deacons in the United States. This study, commissioned by Roman Catholic bishops in the U.S., was designed "to analyze the pattern of clergy sex abuse" of minors.

There seems to be a lot of criticism of the study. One criticism I have, not of the study itself, is that the online information is difficult to navigate -- especially to figure where certain info reported in the news will be found in the study. This may be as much a defect of the news reporting as of the online set-up.

But what caught my attention was NPR saying something about this child sex abuse having nothing to do with homosexuality. I may or may not have heard correctly on the radio. All the online news reports I found say that the study concluded that the sex abuse was not caused by homosexuality. With this second statement I agree. With the first I would not.

We have reached a point in the homosexuality debate in the United States in which both sides, pro & con, tend to define people as either "heterosexual" or "homosexual". This creates a unclear thinking. A person is either male or female. We need to return to this common sense thinking based on simple facts.

Sexual behaviour itself does not define who we are, but what we do. Human sexual behavior is a choice. Whether married couples engaging in heterosexual sex, adulterous heterosexuality, homosexuality, bestiality, or whatever, all of these are chosen behaviour. One's personal identity is not the same as what sexual choices he or she chooses to engage in.

BTW, though clergy child sex abuse may not be caused by homosexuality, the majority of the acts are homosexual. The study found 4 out of 5 alleged victims were male.

Three things about the Bible

II Timothy 3:14-17 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

The Bible is inspired. All scripture, not just parts of it, is given by inspiration of God. God is the eternal source of His word. It existed with Him in eternity. "Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven" (Psalm 119:89). "Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever" (Psalm 119:152). God used men as the pen through which the "ink" of His word flowed (II Peter 1:21). The fact that God is the inspiration, the source, of the holy scriptures guarantees us that it is truth, faithful and believable in all points. "Every word of God is pure" (Prov. 30:5).

The Bible is preserved. Some folks who defend verbal inspiration, after espousing it, run to a place of retreat that cannot be challenged. They claim that ONLY the autographs -- the original writings of Moses, David, Peter, Paul and all others -- are inspired. Certainly I agree with them that the original writings were inspired! Not only that, I would agree that this is where the immediate inspiration took place!! But I cannot accept that only these autographs are the inspired word of God, for that theology in fact leaves us WITHOUT the inspired word of God. Paul told Timothy that from a child He had known the holy scriptures. But much of it had been written thousands of years before Timothy was born. How could he know them? Because God not only inspired the holy scriptures, He also preserved them! The holy scriptures of Timothy's day existed in copies of the originals and translations of the copies. Yet he KNEW the holy scriptures. Let us not run as frightened children from the doctrine of God preserving His word even to us in this generation! "The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever" (Ps. 12:6-7). "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." (Matt. 24:35). "But the word of the Lord endureth for ever." (I Pet. 1:25).

The Bible is sufficient. The scriptures that Timothy knew and Paul espoused were profitable, so profitable as to throughly furnish the children of God with every nourishment needed to grow to complete maturity in Christ. We have His word; we need no other. What shall we believe? It is profitable for doctrine. What are we doing wrong? Is it profitable for reproof. What should we do instead of the wrong? Is it profitable for correction. What is the basis of morality? It is profitable for instruction in righteousness. The Bible, the holy scriptures, is a complete curriculum to school the born again child of God. Add not thou unto His words.

II Peter 3:2 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

Moses, Aaron, and Joshua

HYMN 124, C. M.

Moses, Aaron, and Joshua.
*Joshua, the same with Jesus, and signifies a Savior.

'Tis not the law of ten commands
On holy Sinai giv'n,
Or sent to men by Moses' hands,
Can bring us safe to heav'n.

'Tis not the blood which Aaron spilt,
Nor smoke of sweetest smell,
Can buy a pardon for our guilt,
Or save our souls from hell.

Aaron the priest resigns his breath
At God's immediate will;
And in the desert yields to death,
Upon th' appointed hill.

And thus on Jordan's yonder side
The tribes of Isr'el stand,
While Moses bowed his head and died
Short of the promised land.

Isr'el, rejoice, now Joshua* leads,
He'll bring your tribes to rest;
So far the Savior's name exceeds
The ruler and the priest.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Book II, 1707

Meeting, this weekend

Lord willing, I will be preaching at Grace Herald Baptist Church Friday and Saturday nights (13th & 14th) at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday morning the 15th beginning at 10 a.m. Brother Johnny Wright in the pastor. We invite you to come.

Grace Herald's church house is on Hwy 323 just west of the intersection with TX Hwy 42 at Old London/New London, TX. This is roughly 15 miles northwest of Henderson traveling out Hwy 323.

Where is your refuge?

"It is a peculiar happiness to observe, that in matters of spiritual concern, the philosopher and ploughman (if truly regenerate) have the same feelings, speak the same language; they all eat of the same spiritual meat, and drink of the same spiritual rock that follows them, and that rock is Christ. Hence that similitude of experience, or to speak figuratively, that strong and striking family likeness which obtains among the converted people of God, in every period of time, and in every nation under heaven.

"They all, without exception, feel themselves totally ruined by original sin; they, all without exception, take refuge in the righteousness and cross of Christ, and unite in ascribing the whole praise of their salvation to the alone free grace and sovereign mercy of Father, Son, and Spirit."

-- Augustus M. Toplady (author of "Rock of ages, cleft for me")

Never fear...

...your federal government is looking out for your interests, targeting dangerous criminals such as an Amish farmer selling raw milk.

With the power off

"Contemporary Christian artists almost always use instruments in their recordings and concerts. Their music is instrumentally conceived, and without instruments (in traditional a cappella settings) the music doesn't work effectively. Instrumentally accompanied church music provides the singers/congregation with harmonic and rhythmic backgrounds. In such an environment, there is much less need for singers to employ and appreciate harmony. Praise teams to a great extent exist to provide, promote and perpetuate harmony for the congregation. When churches embrace the contemporary sound, they are led to make accommodations — trained singers, sound systems, instrumental accompaniment, vocal and instrumental percussion, and the like. I find it interesting that among instrumental churches of various descriptions that I have visited, I don't hear much real singing by the congregation going on. I have thought on many occasions that if the electrical power were cut off, there would be very little sound of singing by the congregation. The congregation increasingly is playing the role of observer rather than participant."

Arthur Shearin is a director of concert choir and former music department chairman at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas. Quoted in article "Take notes: Church music lacks true harmony, singing experts say" by Tamie Ross in The Christian Chronicle.

Jehovah our righteousness

JEHOVAH our righteousness.
Jer 23:6

My God, how perfect are Thy ways!
But mine polluted are;
Sin twines itself about my praise,
And slides into my prayer.

When I would speak what Thou hast done
To save me from my sin,
I cannot make Thy mercies known,
But self-applause creeps in.

Divine desire, that holy flame
Thy grace creates in me;
Alas! impatience is its name,
When it returns to Thee.

This heart, a fountain of vile thoughts.
How does it overflow,
While self upon the surface floats,
Still bubbling from below.

Let others in the gaudy dress
Of fancied merit shine;
The Lord shall be my righteousness,
The Lord forever mine.

William Cowper (1731-1800)
Olney Hymns, 1779

Easter Sunday

We approach the day many Christians and the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and various & sundry events that have no connection (e.g. Easter egg hunts) or a contrived connection (e.g. sunrise services). Amidst is all, let us with true hearts glory in His triumphant resurrection, remembering also that in every baptism we preach the gospel of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus; that in the memorial Lord's Supper we imply His resurrection through "shew(ing) the Lord's death till he come"; and that EVERY first day of EVERY week should be a poignant reminder of the lesson of the empty tomb -- He is not here, He is risen!"

The voice of God regard

Sinners, the voice of God regard;
'Tis mercy speaks today;
He calls you by His sacred Word
From sin's destructive way.

Like the rough sea that cannot rest,
You live devoid of peace;
A thousand stings within your breast
Deprive your souls of ease.

Your way is dark, and leads to hell;
Why will you persevere?
Can you in endless torments dwell,
Shut up in black despair?

Why will you in the crooked ways
Of sin and folly go?
In pain you travel all your days,
To reap eternal woe.

But he that turns to God shall live
Through His abounding grace:
His mercy will the guilt forgive
Of those that seek His face.

Bow to the scepter of His Word,
Renouncing every sin,
Submit to Him, your sovereign Lord,
And learn His will divine.

His love exceeds your highest thoughts,
He pardons like a God;
He will forgive your numerous faults,
Through a Redeemer's blood.

John Fawcett (1740-1817)
Hymns Adapted to the Circumstances of Public Worship and Private Devotion, 1782

Book reviewed

My book, Materials Toward a History of Feet Washing Among the Baptists, is reviewed by Keith Harper in The Journal of Baptist Studies, Volume 4 (2010) (p. 91).

Announcing numbers at singings

Awhile back on Fasola Discussions there was a brief but intense discussion about announcing and repeating the song numbers at singing conventions. Sounds like something simple enough to have no impassioned supporters or detractors, right? Wrong.

At Sacred Harp singings anyone who wishes is given an opportunity to call a number, stand in the "hollow square" and lead it (or "teach the class a lesson"). Some people come to the square and announce their numbers clearly and distinctly. Others may speak in a way that is less audible. When this happens someone may ask for the number, and someone may repeat the number loudly.

Knowing the page number of the song being sung is a necessary part of the democratic process of joining in sacred song. If you don't know the number then you're left out -- at least to begin with. After a song is started experienced singers will often know where to go. Beginners will still be left out. I believe it is a given that numbers MUST be repeated in such circumstances. Herein in the rub. Who will repeat it, how often and how loudly?

It has been suggested that there are some problems:

1. Loud calling or re-calling of the number disturbs the spiritual moment of preparation to singing.

2. Loud calling or re-calling of the number negatively affects sound recordings that are being made.

3. Loud calling or re-calling of the number should be undertaken by the officers of the singing or someone approved/appointed to that task (front row tenors, for example).

4. Loud calling or re-calling of the number can be more hindrance than help if the person re-calling the numbers is getting the numbers wrong.

To these stated problems I reply:

1. Even if this be true (though I don't understand it), not knowing the number certainly disturbs the spiritual moment and even the SINGING moment. So we either have two competing "spiritual moments" that cancel each other, or we have to decide the lesser of two evils? For comparison, might it be more or less spiritual for a minister to mutter his text so few could understand or state it and clearly so all who wish may read along?

2. I'm sure this can be true. But singings are for SINGING. Listening, recording, et al. are merely by-products. The recording of a singing should not trump the singing itself. Hopefully a happy medium can be achieved, but singing comes first.

3. This is not a universal tradition, but apparently held as appropriate in different areas. I don't think many will object to the convention taking the lead in this area. If this is the practice of a certain region or convention we should abide by it, and the convention officers should see that the service is actually being provided. Under this tradition, the convention officers should be notified if it is not, and they should make certain -- to the best of their ability -- that singers have the opportunity to know the page numbers of the songs being sung. (I say to the best of their ability because there are situations like folks not hearing because they or folks next to them are talking, people who have significant enough hearing loss that they will not understand the number regardless, etc.).

4. This is true when the numbers are called wrong. That is basically the same situation as not knowing the number to start with.

It is incumbent on leaders at Sacred Harp singings to learn to announce their numbers for all to hear (again to the best of their ability). Some folks are capable of being more distinct and articulate than others. For some perhaps the quiet muffled announcement is ignorance, misunderstanding, or just the thought that the front row WILL repeat their numbers. Some may have been taught this. If so, their teachers performed a disservice to the Sacred Harp community. Do not assume someone will or should repeat your song number. I was taught to announce the number loudly and clearly. I hope I accomplish that. To you leaders I say, "Do you just want those standing right in front of you to sing?" Or do you expect help from the larger group? Announce your number to whomever you expect to sing with you. Stand up, announce your number clearly before you come forward, and again when you are in the square. Speak the numbers distinctly by saying each number separately -- four, six, eight (468). Even turn around and say it once to the altos who are behind you! Someone pointed out that 3 digit song numbers can be repeated 4 times in less than 10 seconds. Everyone is entitled to locate the number being sung before the singing of it starts. Proactive leaders announcing numbers distinctly will go a long way toward reducing the need of loud repeating of numbers.

Lastly, let us all be considerate of one another and seek to have the best singing each time we come together.

Early American composers

Early American composers "were the products of a homegrown system of music education that had its own teachers, its own apprenticeships, its own publications, and its own artistic standards. The foundation of this musical system was a body of indigenous music that had been rejected by the nineteenth-century sacred music establishment. For the Sacred Harp tradition, the stone the builders rejected had become the cornerstone." -- Neely Bruce, "The Sacred Harp as Experimental Composition," p. 18

Despite being rejected by musical elitists, these old tunes are still being sung several hundred years later.

Against the Apocrypha as Scripture

As a sort of addendum to posts on the Apocrypha, I notice a few points made against the Apocrypha as inspired scripture:

• The Apocrypha contains several false teachings. While I agree with this statement, it is lacking as a matter of proof since it is based on the prior assumption that the Apocrypha are not scripture.
• There are no direct quotations from the Apocrypha in the New Testament, by either Jesus or his disciples. Though some claim there are similarities between the New Testament and some apocryphal writings, point of origin cannot be proven in mere references to common themes.
• Among the strongest points is that of Jesus’s references to a complete Old Testament canon. For example, Luke 24:44 records, “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.” This reference covers the three-fold division of the Old Testament, and excludes the so-called Apocrypha. Again in Luke 11:51 Jesus said, “From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.” In his illustration and condemnation, Jesus draws from the entire range of the accepted Jewish Canon of Scripture from one end to the other – “From the blood of Abel” recorded in the first book in order of the Hebrew Bible (Genesis 4:8) “unto the blood of Zecharias” recorded in the last book in order of the Hebrew Bible (2 Chronicles 24:18-21). Unlike the order in our English Bibles, in the Hebrew Canon the first book was Genesis and the last book was Chronicles. Jesus effectually rejects the Apocrypha as Scripture by addressing a “list” or order of the books of the Bible that accepts the recognized canon and does not include the secondary additions.

Notes on the Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew contained 24 books – all of the same books as our 39 books, but arranged differently, both in order and by combination. In some cases what appear as two or more books in the English canon are combined in one book in the Hebrew canon. All of the 12 Minor Prophets (Hosea through Malachi) were considered one book. 1 & 2 Samuel are considered one book, as are 1 & 2 Kings and 1 & 2 Chronicles.

The Hebrew Bible was organized into three main sections – the law (Torah, or Teaching or Pentateuch), the prophets (Nebiʾim), and the psalms (Ketubim, or Writings or Hagiographa). The complete canon is referred to as the Tanakh (a word combining the first letter of the names of the three main sections). The sections or subdivisions are: Law/Torah (5 books: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), Prophets/Neviʾim (8 books: Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets) and Psalms/Ketuvim (11 books: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, and Chronicles).

Scripturalism

"Scripturalism is that system of belief in which the Word of God is foundational in the entirety of one’s philosophical and theological dealings. This system of thought avers that Christians should never try to combine secular and Christian notions. Rather, all thoughts are to be brought into captivity to the Word of God (2 Corinthians 10:5), which is (a part of) the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16)." -- "Scripturalism: A Christian Worldview" by W. Gary Crampton in The Trinity Review, March-April 2011

Elijah's example

ELIJAH fed by ravens.
1Ki 17:6

Elijah's example declares,
Whatever distress may betide;
The saints may commit all their cares
To him who will surely provide:
When rain long withheld from the earth
Occasioned a famine of bread;
The prophet, secure from the dearth,
By ravens was constantly fed.

More likely to rob than to feed,
Were ravens who live upon prey;
But when the Lord's people have need,
His goodness will find out a way:
This instance to those may seem strange,
Who know not how faith can prevail;
But sooner all nature shall change,
Than one of God's promises fail.

Nor is it a singular case,
The wonder is often renewed;
And many can say, to his praise,
He sends them by ravens their food:
Thus worldlings, though ravens indeed,
Though greedy and selfish their mind,
If God has a servant to feed,
Against their own wills can be kind.

Thus Satan, that raven unclean,
Who croaks in the ears of the saints;
Compelled by a power unseen,
Administers oft to their wants:
God teaches them how to find food
From all the temptations they feel;
This raven, who thirsts for my blood,
Has helped me to many a meal.

How safe and how happy are they
Who on the good Shepherd rely!
He gives them out strength for their day,
Their wants he will surely supply:
He ravens and lions can tame,
All creatures obey his command;
Then let me rejoice in his name,
And leave all my cares in his hand.

John Newton (1725-1807)
Olney Hymns, 1779

The vanity of man

PSALM 144 PART 2 v.3-6
C. M.

The vanity of man and condescension of God.

Lord, what is man, poor feeble man,
Born of the earth at first?
His life a shadow, light and vain,
Still hasting to the dust.

O what is feeble, dying man,
Or any of his race,
That God should make it his concern
To visit him with grace?

That God who darts his lightnings down,
Who shakes the worlds above,
And mountains tremble at his frown,
How wondrous is his love!

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
The Psalms of David, 1719

The Christian

The christian.

Honor and happiness unite
To make the christian's name a praise;
How fair the scene, how clear the light,
That fills the remnant of his days!

A kingly character he bears,
No change his priestly office knows;
Unfading is the crown he wears,
His joys can never reach a close.

Adorned with glory from on high,
Salvation shines upon his face;
His robe is of th' ethereal dye,
His steps are dignity and grace.

Inferior honors he disdains,
Nor stoops to take applause from earth,
The King of kings himself, maintains
Th' expenses of his heav'nly birth.

The noblest creature seen below,
Ordained to fill a throne above;
GOD gives him all he can bestow,
His kingdom of eternal love!

My soul is ravished at the thought!
Methinks from earth I see him rise;
Angels congratulate his lot,
And shout him welcome to the skies!

William Cowper (1731-1800)
Olney Hymns, 1779

Does God control chiggers?

"And I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow (Joshua 24.12)."

"Some of the preacher brethren have been criticized as being 'extreme' on the doctrine of predestination, just because they believe that God predestinated and controls the whereabouts of chiggers, fleas, flies and gnats, and these preachers are neither afraid nor ashamed to say publicly that they believe it...If God cannot or does not control chiggers, then I suppose either devils or angels must, or else chiggers control themselves. We know for certain that man cannot control them. Now, if God doesn’t control a chigger and man can’t, then it is doubtful that angels or devils do." -- Hornets, by C. C. Morris

Lamp, Wick...no oil

"The devil dresses up countless swarms of goats as preachers, writers, and talkers, with the lamp and wick of correct doctrine. Not a drop of oil." -- John Kay, "Inspiration" in The Gospel Standard, 1838

The passion and exaltation of Christ

HYMN 84 S. M.

The passion and exaltation of Christ.

Come, all harmonious tongues,
Your noblest music bring;
'Tis Christ the everlasting God,
And Christ the man, we sing.

Tell how he took our flesh,
To take away our guilt;
Sing the dear drops of sacred blood
That hellish monsters spilt.

Alas! the cruel spear
Went deep into his side,
And the rich flood of purple gore
Their murd'rous weapons dyed.

The waves of swelling grief
Did o'er his bosom roll,
And mountains of Almighty wrath
Lay heavy on his soul.

Down to the shades of death
He bowed his awful head;
Yet he arose to live and reign
When death itself is dead.

No more the bloody spear,
The cross and nails no more
For hell itself shakes at his name,
And all the heav'ns adore.

There the Redeemer sits
High on the Father's throne;
The Father lays his vengeance by,
And smiles upon his Son.

There his full glories shine
With uncreated rays,
And bless his saints' and angels' eyes
To everlasting days.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Book II, 1707

What we say

Today I heard an auto glass commercial promoting fixing dings on the windshield before they crack. Good idea. But the commercial suggested that if you have insurance there is "no cost". Hundreds of dollars a year for auto insurance is "no cost"? I don't think so. Yes, if you have insurance there may be no extra cost to you, but there is a cost.

Right now a lot of people are talking about what they're getting back from the Internal Revenue Service. Some people are. But a person who is receiving more from the IRS than he or she paid in income tax is not getting back (some of what they paid in). That is person is getting someone else's money!

How often I hear someone who has purchased a lottery ticket talking about what he was "won". Do the math! If you just told me you purchased a $5 lotto ticket and won $3 -- hey, you actually just lost two dollars!

Happy Valentine's

"None can see Him but His friends,
And they were once his foes....
Did He but shine alike on all,
Then all alike would love."

From "Seeking the Beloved" by William Cowper

Prayer for the continuance of the gospel

Once, while we aimed at Zion's songs,
A sudden mourning checked our tongues!
Then we were called to sow in tears,
The seeds of joy for future years.

Oft as that memorable hour
The changing year brings round again;
We meet to praise the love and pow'r
Which heard our cries, and eased our pain.

Come, ye who trembled for the ark,
Unite in praise for answered prayer!
Did not the LORD our sorrows mark?
Did not our sighing reach his ear?

Then smaller griefs were laid aside,
And all our cares summed up in one;
"Let us but have thy word, we cried,
In other things, thy will be done."

Since he has granted our request,
And we still hear the gospel voice;
Although by many trials pressed,
In this we can, and will rejoice.

Though to our lot temptations fall,
Though pain and want, and cares annoy;
The precious gospel sweetens all,
And yields us med'cine, food, and joy.

John Newton (1725-1807)
Olney Hymns, 1779

Seen on a billboard

"The Master Weaver knows what looms ahead."

I saw the above quote on a church billboard. I agree with it. But the thought struck me that there are many who agree with the above -- that God knows -- but deny that the Master Weaver not only knows, but also planned the tapestry and is actively weaving it.

Words

Christopher Morley once said, "Words are a commodity in which there is never any slump."

Mothers and church

(Two tales I received via e-mail)

One Sunday morning, a mother went in to wake her son and tell him it was time to get ready for church, to which he replied, "I'm not going."

"Why not?" she asked.

I'll give you two good reasons," he said. "They don't like me, and I don't like them."

His mother replied, "I'll give YOU two good reasons why you SHOULD go to church. You're 59 years old, and you're the pastor!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An elderly woman walked into the local country church. The friendly usher greeted her at the door and helped her up the flight of steps, "Where would you like to sit?" he asked politely.

"The front row please," she answered.

"You really don't want to do that," the usher said "The pastor is really boring."

"Do you happen to know who I am?" the woman inquired.

"No." he said.

"I'm the pastor's mother," she replied indignantly.

"Do you know who I am?" he asked.

"No." she said.

"Good," he answered.

Interesting...

...since I work in Nacogdoches.

The Marx Brothers came to Nacogdoches, Texas in 1912, performing (mostly singing) at the Opera House. Their performance was interrupted by someone shouting about a runaway mule. Many in the audience went outside to see what was going on. Julius Marx (aka Groucho) was angered by the interruption. When the rest of the audience came back, he began to insult them with "Nacogdoches is full of roaches" and other comments. The audience laughed, thinking he was joking. It is claimed that this incident made the Marx Brothers aware of their comic potential.

The Fuging Tune

Just putting together some comments on the "fuging tune" [Example], a song type of British origin and popularized by the "First New England school". The "First New England School" includes American musicians such as William Billings, Supply Belcher, Daniel Read, Oliver Holden, and Justin Morgan (most of whom lived from the mid-1700s to the early-1800s). These writers developed a musical style largely independent of European models. Because of this, the "First New England School" is usually considered the first uniquely American music.

Most scholars agree that the term fuging tune is a shortened form of the English phrase "fuging psalm tune".

"Fuging tune: A tune upon which a fugue is built." -- Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary

In The American Fuging Tune: 'Marks of Distinction', Maxine Fawcett-Yeske describes fuging tunes as "three- or four-part polyphonic choral settings of metered sacred texts" and notes that "Imitation, sequence, and the rudimentary spinning-out of musical motives are procedures present in the early British models that find their way to varying degrees into the American repertory."

In American Fuging Tunes in The Sacred Harp, Molly Cronin describes the common form: "The fuging tune as we know it today is a binary form with a homophonic, homorhythmic A section, followed by a repeated polyphonic B section, often using points of imitation. The earliest fuging tunes had these contrapuntal sections simply as optional extensions of the homophonic section."

"fuging tune, a form of hymnody developed by American composers of the so-called First New England school during the period of the American Revolution (1775–83).

"A typical fuging tune places the tune in the tenor voice and harmonizes it with block chords. In the next-to-last phrase, called the fuging section or fuge, each of the four voices enters in turn singing the tune or a slightly varied version of it. The last phrase is again chordal. The fuge, although all four parts follow each other in melodic imitation, is not a classical fugue but merely a passage that uses imitative writing."
"fuging tune." -- Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 21 Jan. 2011.

Karl Kroeger’s definition of fuging tune is one which "contains at least one section in which the voices sing different words simultaneously." (American Fuging Tunes, 1770-1820, 1994.)

"A shape-note fuging tune has one or more sections with staggered entrances; the various parts begin the fuge in different measures, rest, enter again, and sing over each other, indeed making the music soar." -- Malinda Snow, Georgia State University in "The Sacred Harp" in The New Georgia Encyclopedia

George Pullen Jackson provides more of a description than a definition the fuging tune in White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands, as follows:

"In the fuging tune all the parts start together and proceed in rhythmic and harmonic unity usually for the space of four measures or one musical sentence. The end of this sentence marks a cessation, a complete melodic close. During the next four measures the four parts set in, one at a time and one measure apart. First the basses take the lead for a phrase a measure long, and as they retire on the second measure to their own proper bass part, the [tenors] take the lead with a sequence that is imitative of, if not identical with, that sung by the basses. The tenors in turn give way to the altos, and they to the trebles, all four parts doing the same passage (though at different pitches) in imitation of the [part in the] preceding measure. ... Following this fuguing passage comes a four-measure phrase, with all the parts rhythmically neck and neck, and this closes the piece; though the last eight measures are often repeated."

Not everybody liked them:
"Instead of those plain and easy Compositions...away they get off, one after another, in a light airy jiggish Tune....The matter of the Psalm has very little Share in their Attention." -- From a 1764 letter to a Boston newspaper, quoted in Church Music in America, 1620 to 2000, by John Ogasapian, p. 34

That Old Ship of Zion

Some songs using the "ship of Zion" metaphor:

1. I was standing on the banks of the river
Looking out over life's troubled sea
When I saw the old ship that was sailing
Is that the old ship of Zion I see.
2. Its hull was bent and battered
From the storms of life I could see
Waves were rough but that old ship kept sailing
Is that the old ship of Zion I see,
3. At the stern of the ship stood the captain
I could hear as he called out my name
Get on board it's the old ship of Zion
It will never pass this way again
4. As I step on board I'll be leaving
All my sorrows and heartaches behind
I'll be safe with Jesus the captain
Sailing out on the old ship of Zion.

M. J. Cartwright, 1889
I was drifting away on life’s pitiless sea,
And the angry waves threatened my ruin to be,
When away at my side, there I dimly descried,
A stately old vessel, and loudly I cried:
“Ship ahoy! Ship ahoy!”
And loudly I cried: “Ship ahoy!”

Prayer for children

Prayer for children.

Gracious Lord, our children see,
By thy mercy we are free;
But shall these, alas! remain
Subjects still of Satan's reign?
Israel's young ones, when of old
Pharaoh threatened to withhold;
Ex 10:9
Then thy messenger said, "No;
Let the children also go."

When the angel of the Lord
Drawing forth his dreadful sword,
Slew, with an avenging hand,
All the first-born of the land:
Ex 12:13
Then thy peoples' doors he passed,
Where the bloody sign was placed;
Hear us, now, upon our knees,
Plead the blood of CHRIST for these!

LORD we tremble, for we know
How the fierce malicious foe;
Wheeling round his watchful flight,
Keeps them ever in his sight:
Spread thy pinions, King of kings!
Hide them safe beneath thy wings;
Lest the rav'nous bird of prey
Stoop, and bear the brood away.

William Cowper (1731-1800)
Olney Hymns, 1779

Happy Birthday, Kim

J-E-S-U-S

We are not fond of acrostics, but we remember an old preacher describing the name of Jesus: "J-E-S-U-S: Jesus Exactly Suits Us Sinners." -- B. A. Ramsbottom, editor of The Gospel Standard

Grace o'er sin abounding

Sovereign grace o'er sin abounding,
Ransomed souls, the tidings swell;
Tis a deep that knows no sounding
Who its breadth or length can tell?
On its glories
Let my soul forever dwell.

What from Christ that soul shall sever,
Bound by everlasting bands?
One in Him, in Him forever,
Thus th' eternal cov'nant stands;
None shall pluck thee
From the Strength of Israel's hands.

Heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus,
Long ere time its race begun;
To His name eternal praises,
O what wonders He hath done!
One with Jesus,
By eternal union one.

On such love, my soul still ponder,
Love so great, so rich and free:
Say while lost in holy wonder,
"Why, O Lord, such love to me?"
Hallelujah!
Grace shall reign eternally.

John Kent (1766-1843)

Dispel our sadness

Holy Ghost, dispel our sadness;
Pierce the clouds of nature's night;
Come, great Source of joy and gladness,
Breathe Your life, and spread Your light.
From the height which knows no measure,
As a gracious shower descend,
Bringing down the richest treasure
Man can wish, or God can send.

Author of the new creation,
Come with blessing and with power.
Make our hearts your habitation;
On our souls Your graces shower.
Hear, O hear our supplication,
Blessèd Spirit, God of peace!
Rest upon this congregation,
With the fullness of Your grace.

Johann Cruger
Praxis Pietatis Melica, 1648.
translated by August Montague Toplady (author of "Rock of Ages")

ABOUT

I am pastor of Old Prospect, a Baptist Church that meets near Mt. Enterprise, Texas. My wife and I have two adult children and two grandchildren. I was ordained to the ministry in 1983, am a tent-making minister, and worked in the education industry (now retired). In addition to family, church, and work, I am active in Sacred Harp singing, and also write songs in this style. I have a long-time interest in history and genealogy. I am the former editor of a Baptist newsletter styled The Baptist Waymark and a founding editor of The Trumpet (no longer in publication). To some extent Seeking the Old Paths blog functions as an electronic successor to The Baptist Waymark.

Two important mentors to me were Louis Asher and J. W. Griffith, both of whom were once my pastors. They were historians and seminary professors who had much to do with nurturing my predisposition toward things historical. Though I rejected the seminary path as outside the pale of New Testament orthopraxy, I hold them in very high esteem as men, preachers, teachers, and historians. Above all in the flesh, I honor my father as the great influence in my life.

PUBLICATIONS
• “The Noted Singer and Music Instructor”: A. N. Whitten and the Harp of Ages, 2020
• Angus McAllister Stewart: “Man of God, Friend of All Mankind,” and the Founding Father of the Free Will Baptist Church in Texas, 2017
• Songs Before Unknown: a Companion to The Sacred Harp, Revised Cooper Edition 2012, 2015
• Thaptology: Toward a Christian Theology of the Disposition of the Dead, 2015
• History of the Old Prospect Baptist Church, Sand Flat, Rusk Co, Texas, 2014
• Rethinkin’ Our Thinkin’: Thoughts on Sacred Harp ‘Myths’, 2013
• A Sheaf of Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 2009
• A History of Smyrna Baptist Church 1873-2008, (with J. W. Griffith) 2009
• A Better Paradigm for the Study of Baptist History? (with Nathan Finn, Mark Osgatharp) 2009
• Materials Toward a History of Feet Washing among the Baptists, 2008
• Minutes of the Mt. Carmel Baptist Church, Rusk County, Texas: Oct 1868–Nov 1871, 2006
• Approaching 150: a Brief History of the East Texas Musical Convention, 2005
• Unaffiliated Landmark Baptist Churches Survey: a Listing of Unaffiliated Independent Landmark Baptist Churches, 2001
• American Baptist Association: a Survey and Census of its Churches and Associations, 2001

• Washing the Saints’ Feet in Hymning the Lamb: Hymns on Feet Washing written by or used among the Baptists, 2013 (manuscript, not printed)

MEMBERSHIPS

• Georgia Baptist Historical Society (now defunct)
• J. H. Spencer Historical Society
• Texas Baptist Historical Society
• (lapsed member of the) Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies

CONTACT
rl_vaughn -AT- yahoo.com

PURPOSE
The purpose of this blog is glorify Jesus Christ while posting thoughts about things that interest me. The main themes of the blog, based on my interests, will be the Bible and Baptists, songs, hymns, and history. Announcements, current events, and such like will creep in from time to time.

VERY BRIEF DOCTRINAL STATEMENT
Foundational truths
All fundamental doctrines grow from two foundational truths – that God is and that He has revealed Himself in the sixty-six books we call the Holy Bible. God is. The Bible is inspired.

Fundamental doctrines

• All things were created by and exist by God, who reveals Himself as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
• The work of God in the world through Jesus Christ is the central truth of the Bible.
• Salvation is a need of man and a work of God.
• The gospel is how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
• The gospel is to be preached throughout the world.
• The Son of God was born into this world of a virgin, lived sinlessly in the flesh, died on the cross and rose from the grave. He has promised to return again.

No rights reserved. All content on this website (except that owned by a third-party) is public domain.

(If you wish to know more about my doctrinal statement or other matters, please contact me by e-mail.)

Praise for the incarnation

Praise for the incarnation.

Sweeter sounds than music knows
Charm me, in EMMANUEL'S name;
All her hopes my spirit owes
To his birth, and cross, and shame.

When he came the angels sang
"Glory be to GOD on high,"
Lord, unloose my stamm'ring tongue,
Who should louder sing than I.

Did the Lord a man become
That he might the law fulfill,
Bleed and suffer in my room,
And canst thou, my tongue, be still?

No, I must my praises bring,
Though they worthless are, and weak;
For should I refuse to sing
Sure the very stones would speak.

O my Savior, Shield, and Sun,
Shepherd, Brother, Husband, Friend,
Every precious name in one;
I will love thee without end.

John Newton (1725-1807)
Olney Hymns, 1779

Mary's song

From HYMN 60 L. M.
The Virgin Mary's song. Luke 1:46ff.

He spake to Abram and his seed,
"In thee shall all the earth be blessed;"
The memory of that ancient word
Lay long in his eternal breast.

But now no more shall Isr'el wait,
No more the Gentiles lie forlorn:
Lo, the desire of nations comes;
Behold, the promised seed is born!

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707

The chalice or the basin

"I protest that I have no choice whether to be the chalice or the basin. Fain would I be whichever the Lord wills so long as He will but use me...So you, my brother, you may be the cup, and I will be the basin; but let the cup be a cup, and the basin a basin, and each one of us just what he is fitted to be. Be yourself, dear brother, for, if you are not yourself, you cannot be anybody else; and so, you see, you must be nobody...Do not be a mere copyist, a borrower, a spoiler of other men's notes. Say what God has said to you, and say it in your own way; and when it is so said, plead personally for the Lord's blessing upon it" -- (Charles H. Spurgeon, An All Round Ministry, pp. 73-74)

Rest for weary souls

Does the gospel-word proclaim
Rest, for those who weary be?
Then, my soul, put in thy claim,
Sure that promise speaks to thee:
Marks of grace I cannot show,
All polluted is my best;
Yet I weary am, I know,
And the weary long for rest.

In the ark, the weary dove
Found a welcome resting-place;
Thus my spirit longs to prove
Rest in CHRIST, the ark of grace:
Tempest-tossed I long have been,
And the flood increases fast;
Open, LORD, and take me in,
Till the storm be overpast.

From "Rest for weary souls", by John Newton (1725-1807)
Olney Hymns, 1779

Poison and medicine

Sometimes the only difference between a medicine and a poison is the dosage.

The works of creation

Psalm 135 Part 2 v.5-12. L. M.
The works of creation, providence, redemption of Israel, and destruction of enemies.

Great is the Lord, exalted high
Above all powers and every throne:
Whate'er he please, in earth or sea,
Or heav'n or hell, his hand hath done.

At his command the vapors rise,
The lightnings flash, the thunders roar;
He pours the rain, he brings the wind
And tempest from his airy store.

'Twas he those dreadful tokens sent,
O Egypt, through thy stubborn land,
When all thy first-born, beasts and men,
Fell dead by his avenging hand.

What mighty nations, mighty kings,
He slew, and their whole country gave
To Isr'el, whom his hand redeemed,
No more to be proud Pharaoh's slave!

His power the same, the same his grace,
That saves us from the hosts of hell;
And heav'n he gives us to possess,
Whence those apostate angels fell.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
The Psalms of David, 1719

A word for today

Stentorian. adjective: Loud and powerful.

Jesus lived and loved

William Gadsby, # 584 7s.

Jesus lived, and loved, and died,
Rose, and lives to intercede;
And with Zion on His breast,
He has said He’ll ever rest.

Long before this world was made,
Or that monster, Sin, appeared,
God was love, and loved the men
He ordained and then redeemed.

Love constrained the Lamb to die,
For a wretch so vile as I;
Love, immensely great and free,
Christ has shown to worthless me.

Once I rolled in guilt and sin,
Heeded not a heart unclean;
But I now with wonder tell,
Jesus saved my soul from hell.

Christian Harmony, 2010

The new 2010 edition of The Christian Harmony is now available.

To thee our wants are known

To thee our wants are known,
From thee are all our pow'rs;
Accept what is thine own,
And pardon what is ours:
Praises, LORD, and prayers receive,
To thy word a blessing give.

Oh, grant that each of us
Now met before thee here,
May meet together thus,
When thou and thine appear
And follow thee to heav'n our home,
Even so, amen, LORD JESUS, come!
Rev 22:20

John Newton (1725-1807)
Olney Hymns, 1779

Scans and searches

Recent comments on full body scanning and invasive body searches by the Transportation Security Administration:

Benjamin Franklin: "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Patrick Henry: "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

Companion to the 1991 Sacred Harp

The Sacred Harp Publishing Company now has available The Makers of the Sacred Harp by Warren Steel and Richard Hulan.

The authors have put a great deal of time and effort in this work. The Makers of the Sacred Harp references all the tune and hymn writers with songs and hymns in the 1991 edition published by The Sacred Harp Publishing Company. Since many of the hymn writers and composers also have material in other books, it will be useful beyond just the 1991 edition of the Sacred Harp.

Bless This House

Bless this house, O Lord we pray,
Make it safe by night and day.

Bless these walls so firm and stout,
Keeping want and trouble out.

Bless the roof and chimneys tall,
Let thy peace lie over all.

Bless this door that it may prove,
Ever open, to joy and love.

Bless these windows shining bright,
Letting in God's heavenly light.

Bless the hearth, a-blazing there,
With smoke ascending like a prayer!

Bless the people here within,
Keep them pure and free from sin.

Bless us all that we may be,
Fit O Lord to dwell with thee.

Bless us all that one day we
May dwell, O Lord! With Thee!

Words and Music by Helen Taylor and May H. Morgan, 1927

Text codes

Parents, don't know what your teen is saying in those crazy text messages? Try No Slang.com Internet Slang Dictionary & Translator to translate internet slang and acronyms.

In Immanuel's land

In heaven:
The bride eyes not her garment,
But her dear bridegroom’s face;
I will not gaze at glory,
But on my King of Grace:
Not at the crown He giveth,
But on His piercèd hand;
The Lamb is all the glory
Of Immanuel’s land.
--Samuel Rutherford

Did you vote?

Two days ago, Americans in great numbers went to polls (or not). Were you among them? I want to focus this post on why or why not people vote. Did you vote? If so, why? If not, why not?

Yes
It is a valuable right/duty/privilege.
I can change/support the direction the government is headed.
I wanted to cancel the vote of my spouse/brother/sister/uncle/cousin.
My employer gives me time off to go vote.
My brother was running for dog-catcher, and it's a good paying job.

No
Dumb and dumber is not an option; there was no way to select "none of the above".
Christ's kingdom is not of this world; we are strangers and pilgrims who should focus on the gospel and remain apolitical.
It doesn't matter; nothing ever changes.
I was too lazy to walk/run/drive/ride to the polling place.
My brother was running for dog-catcher.

The above are given as thought-provokers. Don't confine yourself to any idea I suggested. Please tell us from your heart why you did or did not vote.

Singing this weekend

Something to do, Saturday November 6th

The annual Little Hope Church and Russell Singing meets this weekend (d.v.) at the Little Hope Primitive Baptist Church building on FM 1669, north of Huntington, Texas. For more details, click HERE.

Word today

esprit de corps. noun: a spirit of solidarity; a sense of pride, devotion, and honor among the members of a group. [From French esprit (spirit), de (of), corps (body, group)]

The church is the garden of God

PSALM 92 PART 2 v.12ff L. M.
The church is the garden of God.

Lord, 'tis a pleasant thing to stand
In gardens planted by thine hand;
Let me within thy courts be seen,
Like a young cedar, fresh and green.

There grow thy saints in faith and love,
Blest with thine influence from above;
Not Lebanon with all its trees
Yields such a comely sight as these.

The plants of grace shall ever live;
(Nature decays, but grace must thrive;)
Time, that doth all things else impair,
Still makes them flourish strong and fair.

Laden with fruits of age, they show
The Lord is holy, just, and true;
None that attend his gates shall find
A God unfaithful or unkind.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
The Psalms of David, 1719

Singing this weekend

Something to do, Saturday October 30 and Sunday October 31

The Fall Session of the Southwest Texas Sacred Harp Convention meets this weekend (d.v.) at the Austin Waldorf School on 8700 S. View Rd. in Austin, Texas. For more details, click HERE.

Running red lights

The city of Houston -- the largest city in Texas -- will vote on Nov. 2nd whether to keep the red light cameras they installed four years ago. A red light camera captures an image of a vehicle that illegally goes through an intersection when the light is red. Based on license & registration, tickets are mailed to owners of the violating vehicles.

For arguments
Increases safety
Saves lives
Reduces instances of red light violations

Against arguments
A money-making scheme (for the city & the company that runs the camera business)
Violates privacy
Punishes owners rather than drivers

If I hear one more "it doesn't matter if you're not doing anything wrong" argument, I think I'll scream! Otherwise, I'd like to hear your opinions.

Regenerator

Savior and Regenerator!
Thee alone, God we own,
Father and Creator.

Word Incarnate, we adore Thee!
Hosts above, God of Love,
Cast their crowns before Thee.

Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
One in Thee, Lord, we see,
Who Thy grace inherit.

May Thy Word be our Instructor,
Night and day, on our way,
Our divine conductor!

Visit us with Thy salvation;
Let Thy care still be near,
Round our habitation.

Jesus, our divine Protector,
Guide us still, let Thy will
Be our sole director!

John Cennick, (1718-1755)

True Grit(s)

Say it with love. Say it from the heart. Say it with grits.

Paula Deen's Grits Pie

Taste of the South's Salsa Pepper-Jack Grits Dip

mm...mmm good

Seen on a billboard

Profanity -- strong words said by weak minds

Tune, Zinzendorf

Point and click on pictures to enlarge

Words for this tune

Christ is all, by Mike McInnis

Ever possessed of eternal being
Robed in light which knew no dawn
Long ere time had its beginning
Stood our God with glory crowned
There amidst ten-thousand glories
Lacking nought and needing none
He conceived salvation's story
In covenant with His blessed Son.

Come ye ruined of the fall
Sing the song: 'Christ is All'

In that pact of free salvation
Christ became our Paschal Lamb
Slain before the world's foundation
How glorious that eternal plan
In the fullness of the appointed hour
Came to earth made like a man
Bore sin's curse, which was all ours
Satisfied the Law's demand.

Come ye ruined of the fall
Sing the song: 'Christ is All'

Hanging there in shame and suffering
Not for crimes of His own hand
But for the sins of His own people
Given Him ere the world began
Tho tasted of death's awful ruin
When He stooped to salve our fall
Yet the grave could not contain Him
Who is Lord of life and all.

Come ye ruined of the fall
Sing the song: 'Christ is All'

Now with the Father, interceding
By the merits of His blood
He cries not with useless pleading
To bring His ransomed home to God
In glories high above the world
Our King of kings is dressed
Before whom every knee shall bow
And every tongue confess.

Come ye ruined of the fall
Sing the song: 'Christ is All'
Christ is All, Christ is All
Yes, sing the song: 'Christ is All.'

By Mike McInnis 1975

In memory 1922-2010

Funeral services for Brother Herbert D. George, 87, of Huntington, Texas were held today (Friday, October 15, 2010) at 10 a.m. in the Highway Missionary Baptist Church in Huntington. His body was laid to rest to await the resurrection in the Pleasant Grove Cemetery in Maydelle. Brother George was born October 27, 1922 and died October 12, 2010.

Brother George was a veteran of World War II (Navy), a Missionary Baptist pastor in East Texas for 61 years, including 25 years at Highway Missionary Baptist Church, and father & father-in-law of our friends Becky and Charles Whisenant. May God comfort his family.

humiliation and exaltation

HYMN 63 L. M.
Christ's humiliation and exaltation. Rev. 5:12.

What greater honors shall we bring
To thee, O Lord our God, the Lamb,
When e'en the notes that angels sing
Are far inferior to Thy name?

Worthy is He that once was slain,
The Prince of Peace that groaned and died;
Worthy to rise, and live, and reign
At His Almighty Father's side.

Power and dominion are His due
Who stood condemned at Pilate's bar;
Wisdom belongs to Jesus too,
Though He was charged with madness here.

All riches are His native right,
Yet He sustained amazing loss;
To Him ascribe eternal might,
Who left His weakness on the cross.

Honor immortal must be paid,
Instead of scandal and of scorn;
While glory shines around His head,
And a bright crown without a thorn.

Blessings for ever on the Lamb
Who bore the curse for wretched men;
Let angels sound His sacred name,
And every creature say, Amen.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707

Examples of Christ and the saints

HYMN 140 C. M.
The examples of Christ and the saints.

Give me the wings of faith to rise
Within the veil, and see
The saints above, how great their joys,
How bright their glories be.

Once they were mourning here below,
And wet their couch with tears;
They wrestled hard, as we do now,
With sins, and doubts, and fears.

I ask them whence their victory came,
They, with united breath,
Ascribe their conquest to the Lamb,
Their triumph to his death.

They marked the footsteps that he trod
His zeal inspired their breast;
And, following their incarnate God,
Possess the promised rest.

Our glorious Leader claims our praise
For his own pattern giv'n,
While the long cloud of witnesses
Show the same path to heav'n.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Book II, 1707

Some things in the news

Yoga: Not Christianity
Southern Seminary President Albert Mohler says "he objects to 'the idea that the body is a vehicle for reaching consciousness with the divine'."

"'That's just not Christianity,' Mohler told The Associated Press."

Soldier Dad sues Fred Phelps
"It is an emotional battle at the Supreme Court of the United States, pitting free speech, no matter how vile and hate-filled against the right to privacy.

"Al Snyder is suing Pastor Fred Phelps for protesting at his son’s funeral, Lance Cpl. Mathew Snyder."

Wide-spread healing streams

CLICK HERE for a tune with these words.

Eternal depth of love divine,
In Jesus, God with us, displayed;
How bright Thy beaming glories shine!
How wide Thy healing streams are spread!

With whom dost Thou delight to dwell?
Sinners, a vile and thankless race:
O God, what tongue aright can tell
How vast Thy love, how great Thy grace!

The dictates of Thy sovereign will
With joy our grateful hearts receive:
All Thy delight in us fulfill;
Lo! all we are to Thee we give.

To Thy sure love, Thy tender care,
Our flesh, soul, spirit, we resign:
O fix Thy sacred presence there,
And seal the abode for ever Thine.

O King of glory, Thy rich grace
Our feeble thought surpasses far;
Yea, even our crimes, though numberless,
Less numerous than Thy mercies are.

Still, Lord, Thy saving health display,
And arm our souls with heav'nly zeal;
So fearless shall we urge our way
Through all the powers of earth and hell.

original by Nikolaus L. von Zinzendorf, 1726.
translated by John Wesley (1703-1791)
Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739

Sacred Harp Saturday

What: Sacred Harp Singing, using 2006 Cooper Book
When: Saturday, October 2, 2010
When: 10 a.m. till 3 p.m. (dinner served at noon)
Where: Smyrna Baptist Church, 5 miles west of Mt. Enterprise

Directions

Come one, come all; come ye, come y'all.

Don't know much about religion?

Some old song admitted, "don't know much about history." For what it's worth, a new Pew Forum Survey says Americans "don't know much about religion".

Tempest-tossed

Hymn by John Kent, number 1093 in the Gadsby Hymnal.

1. How welcome to the tempest-tossed,
Amidst the storm’s career,
While horror spreads from coast to coast,
Is some kind haven near!
2. But far more welcome to the soul
Is that secure abode,
(When terrors o’er the conscience roll)
The Rock prepared of God.
3. Jesus, arrayed in mortal form,
Of whom the prophets tell,
On his dear head, O what a storm
Of awful vengeance fell!
4. To him, my only Hiding-place,
Let me for shelter fly;
The storm of death draws on apace,
And who can say how nigh?
5. In that dread moment, O to hide
Beneath his sheltering blood!
’Twill Jordan ’s icy waves divide,
And land my soul with God.

Edwards and Whitsitt

Directly opposite of Morgan Edwards, who lamented that the kind of reasoning used to deny anointing the sick with oil would lead Baptists to discontinue every positive rite, Whitsitt believed the abandoning of things like feet washing and anointing the sick with oil should lead Baptists to abandon immersion and strict communion as well.

"The crowd this evening filled aisles and gallery, and the Baptists must receive a position in the respect of the citizens such as they have never held before. I am half disposed to look with better favor upon them, although I can perceive no good reason why they should retain either immersion or strict communion. Still they do retain them, and it would be destructive to say aught against either of them. The time is coming, far off perhaps, when both will be abolished.

"Both of them are according to the Apostolic model--at any rate immersion is beyond any question the Apostolic mode--but so are foot washing, the holy kiss, the anointing of the sick with oil and numbers of other items that have fallen into disuse in deference to changes in time & season. Why hold to those when these are rejected?" – From Whitsitt's diary (1886), Vol. 2, pages 10-11, as cited in W. H. Whitsitt: the Man and the Controversy by James H. Slatton, Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2009

Sacred Harp this weekend

Saturday September 18, 2010
Pasadena Singing—2nd Annual
First United Methodist Church
1062 Fairmont Parkway, Pasadena, Texas
Starts at 10 a.m.
(1991 Revision)

"Pediatric Alzheimers"

Having a little experience with folks with Alzheimer's, I find it sad to learn there is a childhood version, known as Neimann Pick Type C. Please watch this video.

Christ the substance

HYMN 12 C. M.

Christ is the substance of the Levitical priesthood.

The true Messiah now appears,
The types are all withdrawn;
So fly the shadows and the stars
Before the rising dawn.

No smoking sweets, nor bleeding lambs,
Nor kid nor bullock slain;
Incense and spice of costly names
Would all be burnt in vain.

Aaron must lay his robes away,
His mitre and his vest,
When God himself comes down to be
The offering and the priest.

He took our mortal flesh, to show
The wonders of his love;
For us he paid his life below,
And prays for us above.

"Father," he cries, "forgive their sins,
For I myself have died;"
And then he shows his opened veins,
And pleads his wounded side.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Book II, 1707

Sluggard, et al.

The sluggard.
Prov 6:10; 24:30; 22:13; 20:4; 1 Cor 9:24; Luke 13:24

The wishes that the sluggard frames,
Of course must fruitless prove;
With folded arms he stands and dreams,
But has no heart to move.

His field from others may be known,
The fence is broken through;
The ground with weeds is overgrown,
And no good crop in view.

No hardship, he, or toil, can bear,
No difficulty meet;
He wastes his hours at home, for fear
Of lions in the street.

What wonder then if sloth and sleep,
Distress and famine bring!
Can he in harvest hope to reap,
Who will not sow in spring?

'Tis often thus, in soul concerns,
We gospel-sluggards see;
Who if a wish would serve their turns,
Might true believers be.

But when the preacher bids them watch,
And seek, and strive, and pray,
At every poor excuse they catch,
A lion's in the way!

To use the means of grace, how loath!
We call them still in vain;
They yield to their beloved sloth,
And fold their arms again.

Dear Savior, let thy pow'r appear,
The outward call to aid;
These drowsy souls, can only hear
The voice, that wakes the dead.

John Newton (1725-1807)
Olney Hymns, 1779


Time Enough by Daniel S. Warner

Time enough, the sluggard cries,
He thinks the season’s slow;
Yet time enough, he hopes, and dies,
And sinks to endless woe.

Time enough, the fool exclaims,
And mocks his awful doom;
Then cries, when bound in icy chains,
“Oh, must I go so soon?”

Time enough, the sleeper dreams,
While death is standing by;
Soon lost amid eternal scenes,
He wakes to Satan’s lie.

Time enough, oh, cursed spell!
Sing not that siren song,
Ye mortals on the brink of hell,
Where time is endless long.


Poetry by Nancy Ann Goode Andrews

I've tried to act the prudent part,
In all I do or say,
But so deceitful is my heart
It often leads astray.

This promise hath been sent to me,
And doth my soul sustain,
Thy Maker shall thy husband be,
The Lord of Hosts His name.

Sacred Harp defined

Sacred Harp "...singing at the top of your lungs, and from the bottom of your heart." (someone's definition)

Random

"Life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone."

homespun –adjective: Unsophisticated; unpolished; rustic.

ennui –noun: a feeling of utter weariness and discontent

Book burning

The Dove World Outreach Center, a non-denominational church in Gainesville, Florida, plans to burn copies of the Koran (Islam's holy book) on September 11 of this year. This is a protest of Islam as "a religion of the devil" and its part in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and its citizens.

My opinion.
The church has every right to do so if they wish (except for possible burning ordinances in Gainesville). That does not mean it is a good idea, but I defend their freedom to do so. I believe Islam is a false religion, but feel this is more of a publicity stunt than something of actual worth.

I remember one occasion of book burning in the book of Acts. But it was a burning of real substance -- people who had converted to Christianity burning their own books and leaving their past behind. This burning is one of symbolism that will probably do three things: 1. Gain publicity or notoriety for the Dove World Outreach Center and its pastor; 2. Anger Muslims; and 3. Increase sales of the Koran (I assume that the 50 some-odd members don't just have a lot of previous Korans laying around and went out and bought books for the occasion; but that is an assumption on my part).

The truth of God the promiser

HYMN 60, L. M.
The truth of God the promiser; or, The promises are our security.

Praise, everlasting praise, be paid
To him that earth's foundation laid;
Praise to the God whose strong decrees
Sway the creation as he please.

Praise to the goodness of the Lord,
Who rules his people by his word,
And there, as strong as his decrees,
He sets his kindest promises.

Firm are the words his prophets give,
Sweet words on which his children live;
Each of them is the voice of God,
Who spoke, and spread the skies abroad.

Each of them powerful as that sound
That bid the new-made world go round;
And stronger than the solid poles
On which the wheel of nature rolls.

Whence then should doubts and fears arise?
Why trickling sorrows drown our eyes?
Slowly, alas! our mind receives
The comfort that our Maker gives.

O for a strong, a lasting faith,
To credit what th' Almighty saith!
T' embrace the message of his Son,
And call the joys of heav'n our own.

Then should the earth's old pillars shake,
And all the wheels of nature break,
Our steady souls should fear no more
Than solid rocks when billows roar.

Our everlasting hopes arise
Above the ruinable skies,
Where the eternal Builder reigns,
And his own courts his power sustains.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Book II, 1707

Singing in Ringgold

Lord willing, we will be singing tomorrow (Saturday September 4) at New Providence Primitive Baptist Church at Ringgold, Louisiana. To reach the church building, go to downtown Ringgold and travel east for 1 mile on Hwy. 154. The church building and cemetery are on the left/north side of the road.

We will start at 10 a.m. and sing until about 3 p.m. Cooper (2006) and Denson (1991) Sacred Harps will be used.

Medical mania

The KTBB (Tyler, TX) radio station asked for opinions this morning, "Should parents be charged in 'faith-healing' deaths?". I received no answer after the 8th phone ring, so decided to post my opinion on my blog instead.

A couple who are members of the Followers of Christ church in Oregon City, Oregon, pled not guilty to manslaughter on Monday. The charge is for failing to provide medical care to their son, who died shortly after birth. The baby was premature, weighing a little over 3 lbs. The birth was neither attended by a doctor, nor was one called. The members of this church believe in using prayer instead of medicine.

In general parents should have the right to make medical decisions for their minor children, whether they believe in prayer only, medicine only, or a combination of both. Since children are involved this becomes a very emotional issue.

We have lived in a secularized society so long that many do not believe God can heal and that medical attention is always the proper and necessary option. In cases like this one in Oregon City, most will assert that the child would have lived if he had gotten medical attention. But if we think little deeper about it we would remember that children getting medical attention die every day. Some die in spite of the medical attention, and some die from the medicines or procedures they get. Do you want to charge those parents with manslaughter too? If not, why not?

[Note: I do not endorse the religious views of the Followers of Christ church in Oregon City, Oregon, and I do not believe it is wrong to seek medical attention.]