The Influence of Family Worship on Children

The Episcopal Recorder, Saturday April 29, 1848.

Influence of Family Worship on Children

The simple fact that parents and offspring meet together every morning and evening for reading the word of God and prayer, is a great fact in household annals. It is the inscribing of God’s name over the lintel of the door. It is the setting up of God’s altar. The dwelling is marked as a house of prayer. Religion is thus made a substantive and prominent part of the domestic plan. The day is opened and closed in the name of the Lord. From the very dawn of reason, each little on grows up with a feeling that God must be honored in everything; that no business of life can proceed without him; and that the day’s work or study would be unsheltered, disorderly, and in a manner profane, but for this consecration. When such a child comes, in later years, to mingle with families where there is no worship, there is an unavoidable shudder, as if among heathen or infidel companions. In Greenland, when a stranger knocks at the door, he asks, “Is God in this House?” and if they answer “Yes,” he enters.

As prayer is the main part of all family worship, so the chief benefit to children is, that they are the subjects of such prayer. As the great topic of the parent’s heart is his offspring, so they will be his great burden at the throne of grace. And what is there which the father and mother can ever do for their beloved ones, that may be compared with their bearing them to God in daily supplication? And when are they so likely to do this with melting affection, as when kneeling amidst a group of sons and daughters? And what prayers are more likely to be answered, than those which are offered thus? The direct influence of family prayer is then to bring down the benediction of Almighty God upon the children of the house. Divine authority, the example of all the godly in every age, and the practical benefits which are ever accruing from it, commend it to the adoption of every Christian household."

Working Christians

the
Presbyterian Magazine
April, 1858.
edited by Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D.D.
Published in Philadelphia by Joseph M. Wilson.

Fragments. p192.

“Working Christians”

Learn to be working Christians. “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” It is very striking to see the usefulness of many Christians. Are there none of you who know what it is to be selfish in your Christianity? You have seen a selfish child go into a secret place to enjoy some delicious morsel undisturbed by his companions. So it is with some Christians. They feed upon Christ and forgiveness; but it is alone, and all for themselves. Are there not some of you who can enjoy being a Christian, while your dearest friend is not, and yet you will not speak of Him? See, here you have got work to do. When Christ found you, he said, “Go, work in my vineyard.” What were you hired for, if it was not to spread salvation? What blessed for? Oh, my Christian friends! How little you live as thought you were the servants of Christ! How much idle time and idle talk you have! This is not like a good servant. How many things you have to do for yourself! How few for Christ and his people. This is not like a servant.—McCheyne.

Praying and Working

From the Introduction to Praying and Working; Being Some account of what Men can Do when in Earnest, by Rev. William Fleming Stevenson. (Printed by Robert Carter in New York, 1863).

Praying and Working

“...Work is lauded and glorified, even for its own sake, without regard to its end. It is held to be something sacred, a thoroughly manly and almost devout pursuit. Nay, it has been exalted into a kind of deity in our day, to be worshipped with a pure and rigorous devotion. Life is to be doing, because it is felt more than ever that there is power in life. And insensibly this character of force and strength has spread itself over the various fields of thought. Literature, science, art, bear witness to the dominant practical tone as much as the ceaseless ring of the workshop, the fever of modern business, or the structure of our social life. There is even a muscular Christianity,--curious outgrowth of a strong-limbed generation. And there is a healthiness about this zeal for work. ... There is something genuine and through and earnest about it. It is some recognition of the meaning and dignity of life. And looking at what has been accomplished, the vast stride forward that has been taken, looking at the vigor of Christian work and the numberless Christian activities that have been called into play, there is cause of honest, thankful congratulation. Yet there is also cause for much fear and regret. There is a rapid growth of materialism. ... People demand a sensation, unreal or immoral, if it be only sensation. The tendency is to exalt the lower and visible agencies, to depreciate the higher and spiritual, to measure life by what it can shew for itself rather than by what it is; to cultivate and respect mere display of strength...”

“Is there not the notion that the world is only what the world sees itself to be, that if you take any other than worldly forces you will come to no result? Is there not more than ever the disposition to throw over upon praying men, who believe in an invisible power and skill and law and presence, the charge of folly, enthusiasm, fanaticism? To work is honest enough; but prayer over and above the work is treated as a courteous superfluity. Let the work be done manfully, it is preached; let it be even blundering, provided it is sincere; but as for prayer, it is somewhat a waste of energy. Or, if there be prayer, it is freely hinted, let it be kept apart; let it have its own sphere, and not intrude upon the working day; nay, let it have its praying men, and give us our working men. Praying men may not always have been judicious; there may be some plausible foundation for separating the working from the praying man; foolish and impracticable things may have been attempted by well-meaning and unwise people. Prayer, moreover, has its own sphere, and is not to encroach upon another; it is not to usurp the place of work. But neither is it to be divorced from work, nor is it less real and needful; and to say that the praying man is to be kept distinct from the working man is practically to close the common energies of life against the intrusion of prayer. Those who say it have a vague impression that a man who lays stress upon prayer is deficient in practical wisdom; that the devotional element of character tends to remove a man from the region of common sense to the borders of the fairy-land of sentiment; that he becomes a dreamer of dreams that will never fit into the plain rough order of the world. If that were true, it would be worth considering. Any element of character existing in excess will disturb a man’s balance. But if the inevitable tendency of a prayerful spirit were to thwart a man’s activity and usefulness, it would be incompatible with Bible-teaching and Christian principle. There is no need to deny any inevitable tendency of the kind. The Bible, which exhorts to prayer, is the most practical of all books; devout men are at least as practical as their neighbors; and if they were not, it would be because they have not rightly understood the Bible doctrine, or because of some strong natural fault. If three men were singled out who laid almost extravagant stress upon prayer, whose belief in it would startle many modern Christians, they would be Augustine, and Bernard, and Luther; yet men of the most various temperament, and men of the rarest practical gifts and insight. For the greatest workers will always be the foremost in communion with God, and communion with God is the very heart of prayer.”

“Nor are prayer and work connected by any arbitrary link, but as different aspects of the same man. ‘Ora et labora,’ writes Dr Wichern in one of his pleasant papers, ‘is carved on a peasant’s house in the Vierland. ‘It must be French,’ said a neighbor’s wife, as I stood looking at the legend, ‘but you know it just means ---
With this hand work, and with the other pray,
And God will bless them both from day to day.’’
Ora et labora [pray and work] is the legend of the Christian’s faith, and the plan of his life. His fervent prayer begets honest, manly, unshrinking work; his work, as it is faithful,--and it is faithful in proportion as he realizes it is for God,-- throws him back upon prayer.”

“...Work is no more prayer than prayer is work, although the looseness of the expression is often forgiven for the deeper truth of the thought. Work is no more prayer than a walk in the fields is religious worship. To the devout man both are devout. To the undevout man they are nothing. Nay, work without prayer is as dangerous, ay, and more, than prayer without work. It is the practical ignoring of God, of a spiritual world and spiritual laws. It is the start downwards of the grossest and most superstitious materialism. It is a clear peril of our present time. ...we do want to be taught the need and sacredness of prayer, and that it is a force, of which though the world knows nothing, yet it establishes greater than the world’s works.”

“And it just so happens that in our own generation [that of 1863] there is a singular group of men, who, somewhat about the same time, and without the least knowledge of one another, and in very different spheres, took for their watchword that “French” puzzle of the simple Vierlander, and over whose lives might be written, as their clearest exponent, Ora et labora. They are men who maintain that God exercises some direct influence in the affairs of the world; who therefore appeal to Him in any puzzle or difficulty; who expect His help, and as they believe that He has the hearts of all men in His hand, do not know any special circle or class of men, or any special type of actions, within which that help must be limited. They distinctly believe in God as their Father, and never acre to realize Him either as a pure, infinite Intelligence, or as an eternal Law. They believe, also, that prayer is not an arbitrary provision for temporary circumstances, but that it is fixed in the ways of God, and in harmony with the settled relations of the world and the laws of human conduct. And they believe that if in God’s name they begin a fitting work, God will establish it; answer their prayers regarding it; enable them to deal wisely, and righteously, and prosperously by it; and that behind every other means to its success, and as the very highest means, and often supplanting the others, there is prayer itself.”

“...These men are all one in the principle of their work, but very various in its application. It is a mistake to suppose that that principle discourages the use of means. It is merely selecting from many means what appears the most efficient; and to these men that is prayer. As to other means, some use them more freely than others, but they all use them in subordination to the first. They do not hold that prayer nullifies a man’s wit, or thrift, or counsel, or prudence, but intensifies and guides and purifies them. From what has been said already ,it may be inferred they do not hold that prayer justifies inaction. They are conscious of work to do; it is in the strength of that consciousness that they commit it to God; that while using every likely way to success they believe there may be unlikely ways, that they do not see all God sees. Nor are they so foolish as to believe that God will help them to a work for which they have no fitness; but on the other hand, they believe that the man who prays that he may do a work for which he has no aptitude is praying against the laws of prayer."

What is it to be a Christian?

"What is it to be a Christian?”

In these days when the Spirit of God is searching the hearts of men and convincing them of sin, the inquiry often arises, “Am I a Christian?”

This question is not to be settled by vague impressions, made in some mysterious way upon the mind. Nor is it safe to permit dreams, visions, or voices to settle this question. Nor will the sudden recurrence of the mind to some passage of Scripture—such as, “Son, daughter, be of good cheer, thy sins which are many are forgiven thee”—be a sufficient reason for regarding the person thus cheered as a Christian. Nor will any amount of happy emotions, which may follow conviction of sin, determine that the person is a Christian. Nor will the cherishing of a hope settle the question. What, then, is it to be a Christian? The Christian is:

1. One who believes or trusts in Christ as God’s appointed sacrifice for sin, through whom it may be forgiven, and through whose righteousness and mediation all else needful to salvation may be obtained. His whole expectation of salvation is reposed upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. The Christian has the Spirit of Christ. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.” “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
3. The Christian is the property of Christ. He acknowledges that he is not his own, but that he is under the highest obligations to glorify God in his body and spirit, which are God’s. He aims to be conformed to this obligation; hence, he strives to eat and drink and do whatever he does to the glory of God.
4. He loves the service of Christ. He accounts as more than his meat and his drink to do the will of his Father who is in Heaven. In keeping of the commandments he finds great reward.
5. He loves the kingdom of Christ. The prayer for its full establishment in the earth is prominent in all his supplications at the throne of grace. He seeks it first, as involving all his own highest good, as well as that of others.
6. He loves the friends of Christ. “Hereby,” said our Saviour, “shall ye know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one for another.”
7. He is not ashamed of Christ. He is not ostentatious in the profession of religion. Nor is he careful to conceal his attachment to Christ. He knows that he who is despised and rejected of men, is at the summit of power and glory in the heavens; therefore he accounts it his highest honour to be known as a servant and friend of Christ.
   

Reader, are you a Christian?

From The Presbyterian Magazine, November, 1858. Edited by Dr. Van Rensselaer.

A Gem from an Old Casket

From the Presbyterian Magazine, September 1858. Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, editor. Pages 405-406. [edited by SML – or shall I say, (lightly) freshened?]

“A Gem From An Old Casket.”

... “The desire of novelty,” says Mr. Hamilton of London, writer of The Mount of Olives, “is not in itself blameworthy; but there is one form of it which we would like to see more frequent. To freshen old truths is nearly as important as to discover new ones; and instead of telling or hearing some new thing, our time would often be as advantageously occupied in thinking over and brightening up some old thing.”...

“One often thinks what a pity that so excellent a work as the “Westminster Shorter Catechism,” greatly as it is prized, should not be prized and used far more than it is. Let us freshen it up. Let us commend it, not only to the young, but to the old too. Let us point out its beauties and dilate upon them. Take for instance the answer to question thirty-six.

“The benefits which in this life do accompany or flow from justification, adoption, and sanctification, are assurance of God’s love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace, and perseverance therein to the end.”

What a cluster of diamonds! What an assemblage of glorious things! Is it possible in any other words of the same compass to set forth so much of the blessedness of the Christian’s portion this side of heaven? Poor, sorrowing, lost, afflicted soul; sometimes you are sorely tempted almost to despair. But cheer up. Think of your portion—not of that unspeakable one in sure reserve, but of that now in hand. No matter what your lot. It may be you are overwhelmed with ills under which mere nature cannot sustain you. But think a moment. You have a title to—nay, you have possession of—priceless blessings. Think over these five benefits.

Assurance of God’s love. –Not his general love, his love of benevolence merely, but of complacency too. He delights in you for what he has wrought in you. Amazing grace! And to be assured of this benefit; to have a warrant to say, I know in whom I have believed, and am persuaded he is able to keep what I have committed to him, against that day. Not everyone attains to this blessing; but God has graciously made it accessible to all; and what but the Christian’s own fault hinders his actual possession of it.

Then, Peace of conscience. –Ah, you are somewhat sensible to your ill desert and sinfulness. But the gracious covenant is so ordered as to make full provision for you. God in Christ is not only reconciled to you, but He has in a measure removed your unholy opposition to Him. And since you are reconciled to God, you know the import of the blessed word—peace. John, 14:27.

Your glorious Advocate has so triumphantly interceded for you, that the next benefit in order, Joy in the Holy Ghost, follows as a matter of course. And when it pleases God to grant a large measure of this earnest of heaven, then it does not matter what the outward accidents of the humble soul may be,--lofty or lowly, honoured or despised in the world’s regard, living in a palace, embracing a dunghill, or pining in a dungeon—it is all one. That soul has within itself a fund of life and joy. Who shall harm it? No wonder it joys in God.

But full conformity to the image of Christ will not be attained to in this life. It is therefore a blessed provision that the lineaments of that image shall be growing more and more distinct and symmetrical. Child of God, you will never be satisfied with your attainments here, and if you think you are now perfect, you have not yet learned your first lesson in the school of Christ. Reach forward. Despair not. God will grant thee Increase of grace.

As the outward man perishes, the inward man shall be renewed, day by day. And this by logical sequence involves the next benefit, Perseverance to the end.—Practically considered, this is the culminating point. What would it avail to have the blessedness of heaven in prospect, and desires awakened for its fruition, if, as a matter of fact, the gracious soul may come short of the prize? You know full well, humble child of God, that of yourself you could not persevere. But you shall be held up—kept by the power of God, through faith unto salvation—being confident of this very thing, that He that has begun a good work in you will perform it till the day of Jesus Christ. Is not this a most blessed truth?

“The soul that to Jesus hath fled for repose;
He will not, he will not forsake to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavour to shake,
He’ll never, no never, no NEVER forsake.”

Perseverance to the end! And that end, though it may seem dark, and clouds may gather around it, and for a time terrors may encompass the soul in view of it, yet darkness, and clouds, and terror shall soon vanish. That sad end shall be but the bright beginning of immortal blessedness—the portal of eternal life and joy.

Thus have I worked to freshen one of the beauties of the old Catechism. But in that Casket of Gems there are a hundred and six beside, all rich and polished. True, they are somewhat old-fashioned, but not a whit for the worse for that; nay, the better....”

The Presbyterian Magazine: Individuality in the Church (Part 1)

The Presbyterian Magazine
January, 1850
Miscellaneous Articles.

Individuality in the Church

It was a custom of the Apostles to send their Christian salutations to individual believers in the churches to which their epistles were written, but in no other epistle is it done so largely as in that to the Church at Rome.

In the last chapter there are not fewer than twenty-eight persons mentioned by name, besides two families, the heads of which are named, and other little circles of friends, called “the Church that is in their house,” or, “the brethren which are with them,” or “all the saints which are with them.” Of the number distinctly designated, seventeen or eighteen were men and ten were women.

The epithets, or descriptive expressions, applied to many of the individuals, are not without interest, as well as meaning. One is called “out sister, who is a servant of the Church ... a succourer of many and of myself also.” Others are named “my helpers in Christ Jesus,” “my work-fellow,” “well-beloved,” “beloved in the Lord,” “approved in Christ,” “in Christ before me,” “who bestowed much labour on us,” “my fellow-prisoners,” “who labour in the Lord,” “salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.”

It is further to be noticed that other Christians joined the Apostle in these particular messages. Eight persons, including the amanuensis, are named as taking the opportunity of sending their Christian greeting; most probably from their residence in Corinth to their friends in Rome.
The object of these apostolic messages was principally that of friendly remembrance of Christians, whom Paul had found to be distinguished by their piety and zeal in the little Church at Rome, who had given him their assistance in promoting his Gospel errand, or who were remembered from some other interesting association with his evangelical visits. Some of them had been ready to lay down their own necks to protect the Apostle from persecutors. Some were, in his mind, as “the first fruits of Achaia;” and one purpose was to commend to their attention a member of the Cenchrean Church, then about to go among them, probably the bearer of this introduction, on some concern of religious benevolence.

The chapter into which these paragraphs are thrown, furnishes traits of the early Church that may suggest some useful patterns for the imitation of our own day.

1. One of these traits is the social fellowship of these primitive believers. They were duly organized churches with their officers, ordinances, and discipline; they had ministers of apostolic dugnity to serve them, and to be over them in the Lord. But the community was more than that of a corporate body, or an ecclesiastical estate, or a hierarchy. The mode of address used by this Apostle is more like that of an absent member of a family writing home, than that of a dignitary issuing an authoritative document. Yet it was more than an ordinary domestic letter he had been dictating. It was as a postscript to one of the most important theological and church papers ever transmitted through the instrumentality of man, that these holy greetings were inserted. But when the doctrines had been fully recorded, when the messages of the Holy Ghost had been first reduced to manuscript, with what honest simplicity does the pen of the writer set forth, in the incidental forms of the last page of a letter, the brotherly intimacy and affection that subsisted between himself and his correspondents. He calls them by name. He knows their families. He does not forget what individual members of the Church had done, nor their several characteristics.
   
   This very mention of names shows that these disciples were on terms of intimate fellowship among themselves; otherwise, they could not comply with the writer’s request to communicate his messages one to another. And they were not only the twenty-eight individuals named that were thus known as one circle or class out of the whole Church; but such expressions are used as show the mutual acquaintance and fellowship to have been as wide as “all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.” Naming five persons, he adds, “and the brethren that are with them.” Naming five others, he adds, “and all the saints who are with them.” “Salute one another,” he says again. Paul himself must have felt this interest in them individually, and when he says, “without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers” (Rom. i), it is most probable that he prayed not only distinctly for the Church at Rome, as he did also for that at Corinth, and that at Galatia (1 Cor. I, Gal. i), and for others (Eph. I, Phil, i, Col. I, 1 Thess i, 2 Thess. i), but that he prayed for them by name as individuals. The frequent messages and references to particular persons indicate this specific knowledge and regard on the part of the Apostle. He would not only say “greet them that love us in the faith,” “grace be with you all,” “salute every saint in Christ Jesus,” but, as John did, “greet the friends by name.” It is likely, therefore, that he prayed for them by name, and the more so, as he so often wrote “pray for me.” He remembered that Marcus was sister’s son to Barnabas; that Andronicus and Junias were converts before himself; that he had baptized Crispus and Gaius, and the household of Stephanas. In Rome, he remmeber that Euodias and Syntyche, of Philippi, were not of the same mind in the Lord. He did not forget that Onesiphorus visited him in prison; he prescribed for the ailments of Timothy; he provided for the personal comforts of Zenas and Apollos on their journey; he exerted himself for the slave Onesimus. He knew that the churches felt an interest in him personally, and could refer to such as Tychicus “that ye may know my affairs and who I do.” He thought that the Church of Philippi would be pleased to hear that Epaphroditus was recovering from illness, and he was glad at the arrival of Stephanas, and Fortunatus, and Achaicus. What fervent fellowship must have prevailed in the Church.
   
   
2. Another fact is evident from this chapter, and others like it; it was common to see active co-operation in the whole body of believers.
   
   To be continued...
   

The Christian's Daily Walk: In the Company of Others (part 3)

Henry Scudder, The Christian’s Daily Walk in holy Security and Peace. Phila, Presbyterian Board, nd. Pages 109-115. [barely edited by SML]

Chapter 8: Of Company in General. Rules Concerning It. Part 3

Fourthly, your conversations amongst all must be loving: you should be kind and courteous towards all men, Tit. iii.2. Do good to all, according as you have ability and opportunity, Gal.vi.10. Give offence willingly to none, I Cor,x.32. Do wrong to no man, 1 Cor.vi.1-8, either in his name, life, chastity, or estate, or in any thing that is his; but be ready to forgive wrongs done to you, Col.iii.13, and to take wrong, rather than to revenge, or unchristianly to seek your own vindication. As you have calling and opportunity, do good to the souls of your neighbors; exhort and encourage unto well-doing, 1 Thess.v.14. If they show not themselves to be dogs and swine, Matt.vii.6; that is, obstinate scorners of good men, and contemnors of the pearl of good counsel, you must, so far as God gives you any interest in them, admonish and inform them with the spirit of meekness and wisdom, Lev.xix.17. With this cloak of love you should cover and cure a multitude of your companions; infirmities and offences, 1 Peter iv.8. In all your behavior towards him, seek not so much to please yourself as your companion, in that which is good to his edification, Rom.xv.2.

1. Speak evil of no man, Tit.iii.2; nor yet speak the evil you know of any man, except in these or the like cases.
   
   (1) When you are thereunto lawfully called by authority.
   (2) When it is those whom it concerns, to reform and reclaim him of whom you speak, and you do it to that end, 1 Cor.i.11.
   (3) When it is to prevent certain damage to the soul of estate of your neighbor, Acts xxiii.16, which would ensue, if it were not by you thus discovered.
   (4) When the concealment of his evil may make you guilty and accessory.
   (5) When some particular remarkable judgment of God is upon a notorious sinner for his sin, then, to the end that God may be acknowledged in his judgments, and that others may be warned, or brought to repent of the same or like sin, you may speak of the evils of another, Psa.lii.6,7. But this is not to speak evil, so long as you do it not in envy and malice to his person, nor with aggravation of the fault more than is cause, nor yet to the judging of him as concerning his final estate.
   
   
2. When you shall hear any in your company speak evil of your neighbor, by slandering, whispering, or tale-bearing, whereby he detracts from his good name; you must not only stop your ears at such reports, but must set your speech and countenance against him, like a north wind against rain, Prov.xxv.23.
   
   
3. When you hear another well reported of, let it not be grievous to you, as if it detracted from your credit; but rejoice at it, inasmuch as God has enabled him to be good, and to do good; all which makes for the advancement of the common cause of religious, wherein you are interested; envy him not therefore his due praise.
   
   
4. Detract not from any man’s credit, either by open backbiting, Psa.xv.3, or by secret whispering, Prov.xvi.28, or by any cunning means of casting evil aspersions, whether by way of pitying him, or otherwise: as, He is good or does well in such and such things; but, &tc. This but mars all.
   
   
5. And, in a word, in all speeches to men, and communications with them, your speech must be gracious, Col.iv.6, that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace, not vice, to the hearers. If must not be profane, nor any way corrupt, Eph.iv.29, as defiled with oaths, curses, or profane jests; it must not be flattering, Job xvii.5, nor yet detracting; not better, not railing, censorious, or injurious to any man, Eph.iv.31. It must not be wanton, lascivious, and filthy, Eph.v.3,4. Col.iii.8. It must not be false, Col.iii.9; no, nor yet foolish, idle, and fruitless; for all evil communication does corrupt good manners, I Cor.xv.33. And we must answer for every idle word which we speak, Matt.xii.36. Besides, a man may easily be discerned of what country he is, whether of heaven, or of the earth, by his language; his speech will betray him.
   
   
6. There is no wisdom, or power here below, can teach and enable you to do all, or any of the aforementioned duties. This wisdom and power must be had from above, James iii.13-18. Wherefore, if you would in all companies carry yourself worthy the gospel of Christ:
   
   First, Be sure that the law of God, and the power of grace be in your heart, else the law of grace and kindness cannot be in your life and speech, Psa.xxxvi.30,31. Prov.xxxi.26. You must be endued, therefore, with a spirit of holiness, humility, love, gentleness, long-suffering, meekness, and wisdom; else you can never converse with all men as you ought to do. For such as the heart is, such the conversation will be. Out of the evil heart come evil thoughts and actions, Matt.xv.19; but a good man, out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and according to the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, Matt.xii.34-35. A man must have the heart of the wise, before the tongue can be taught to speak wisely, Prov.xvi.23.
   
   Secondly, you must resolve beforehand, as David did, to take heed to your ways, that you sin not with your tongue; and that you will keep your mouth as with a bridle, Psa.xxxix.1. Before your speech and actions, be well advised; weigh and ponder in balance of reason, all your actions and words, before you vent them.
   
   Thirdly, let no passion of joy, grief, fear, anger, &tc. get the head, and exceed their limits. For wise and good men, as well as bad, when they have been in any of these passions, have spoken unadvisedly with their lips, Job iii.3,23. Psa.cvi.32,33. Mark ix.5,6. Jonah iv.8,9. Mark vi. 22,23. And experience will teach you, that your tongue never runs before your wit so soon, as when you are over-afraid, over-grieved, over-angry, or over-joyed.
   
   Fourthly, you must be much in prayer to God, before you come into company, that you may be able to order your conversation aright; let your heart also be lifted up often to God when you are in company, that he would set a watch before your mouth, and keep the door of your lips, and that your heart may not incline to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity, Psa. cxli. 3,4; and that he would open your lips, that your mouth may show forth his praise, Psa. li. 15; and that you may speak as you ought to speak, knowing how to answer every man, Col.iv.6; for the tongue is such an unruly evil, that no man, but God only, can tame and govern it, James iii.8.

The Christian's Daily Walk: In the Company of Others (part 1)

Henry Scudder, The Christian’s Daily Walk in holy Security and Peace. Phila, Presbyterian Board, nd. Pages 109-115. [barely edited by SML]

Of Company in General. Rules Concerning It.

When you are in company, of whatever sort, you must amongst them walk with God.

Directions relating to this are of two sorts:

• First, showing how you should behave towards all:
  
• Secondly, how you should behave towards good or bad company.

First, in whatsoever company you are, your conversation in word and deed must be such, as may procure

1. Glory to God, Matt, v.16
   
2. Credit to religion, 1 Tim. vi.1.
   
3. All mutual, lawful, content, help, and true benefit to each other, Gen. ii.18.

For these are the ends, first, of society, secondly, of the variety of the good gifts that God has given unto men to do good with, 1 Cor. xii. 7-25.

To attain these ends, your conversation must be, 1. Holy; 2. Humble; 3. Wise; 4. Loving.

First, It must be holy, 1 Peter i.15; you must, as much as in you is, prevent all evil speech and behavior, which might else break forth, being careful to break it off, if it be already begun in your company. Suffer not the name and religion of God, nor yet your brother’s name to be traduced, or evil spoken of; but in due place and manner vindicate each. Be diligent to watch, and improve all fit opportunities of introducing pious and useful conversations; even whatsoever may tend to the practice and increase of godliness and honesty.

Secondly, Your conversation must be humble. You must give all due respect to all men, according to their several places and gifts; reverencing your betters, submitting to all in authority over you, 1 Peter ii.17, Eph. v.21; esteeming others as better than yourselves, in honour preferring them before you, Phil ii.3; condescending unto, and behaving respectfully towards, those of meaner rank, Rom. Xii.16.

...Part 2.

Perseverance

from J. R. Macduff, Palms of Elim; or Rest and Refreshment in the Valleys. New York: Carter, 1879.

"And they came to Elim ['Valleys'], where were ... threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there." -- Exodus 15:27

"This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing"--

"He which hath begun a good work in you, will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ." -- Phil 1:6

"We shall not die." -- Hab 1:12.

Perseverance.

In looking from underneath the shade of the palm-trees, on the long untrodden journey ere the true Canaan can be reached, the thought cannot fail to obtrude itself, Can we trust to be safeguarded through this great and terrible wilderness? Can we rely on the God of the Pillar-cloud conducting us to the brink of Jordan and thence to "the shining fields" beyond? Rather, is there no danger to be apprehended of spiritual drought and famine, or spiritual death, overtaking us? May it not be sadly fulfilled, with us, in a spiritual sense, as it was with the Pilgrim Hebrews in a literal, that through apostasy, unbelief, and backsliding, "we shall never enter into His rest"?

No. We have the sure word of promise of "a God who cannot lie," "Ye shall go over and possess that good land" (Deut. 4:22). "But now thus says the Lord that created you, O Jacob, and He that formed you, O Israel, Fear not; for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle on you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour" (Isa 43:1-3). All is guaranteed to us in what the old writers call "the charter-deed of the Everlasting Covenant." The immutability of the Divine counsel has been confirmed to us by oath. In the first of our motto-verses the great Apostle speaks with unhesitating assurance; --"being confident of this very thing, that He which has begun a good work in you, will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ." He does not, indeed, aver that "good work" is never to be impeded. God has never given promise in Scripture, with regard to spiritual experience, of an unclouded day--uninterrupted sunshine. "The morning without clouds" is a heavenly emblem. The earthly one is "a day in which the light shall neither be clear nor dark" (Zech 14:6). The analogy of the outer world of nature, at least under these our checkered and ever-varying skies, teaches us this. Spring comes smiling, and pours her blossoms into the lap of summer. But the skies lower, the rain and battering hail descend, the virgin blossoms droop their heads and almost die. Summer again smiles, and the meadows look gay; the flowers ring merry chimes with their leaves and petals and swing their fragrant censers. But all at once the drought comes with her fiery, merciless footsteps. Every blade and floweret, gasping for breath, lift their blanched eyelids to the brazen sky; or the night winds rock the laden branches and strew the ground. Thus, we see, it is not one unvarying, unchecked progression, from the opening bud to the matured fruit. But every succeeding month is more or less scarred by drought and moisture, wind and rain and storm. Yet, never once has Autumn failed to gather up her golden sheaves; aye, and if you ask her testimony, she will tell that the very storm, the blackened skies, and descending torrents you dreaded as foes, were the best auxiliaries in filling her garners. Do not be despondent now, because of present passing shadows, but "thank God, and take courage." "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholds him with His hand" (Ps 37:24). It is written, that "at evening time it shall be light" (Zech 14:7). The sun may wade all day through murky clouds, but he will pillow his head at night on a couch of vermilion and amber. "Though you have lien among the pots, yet shall you be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold" (Ps 68:13).

The second of our motto-verses forms part of an impassioned appeal of the Prophet Habakkuk in the prospect of impending national calamity. The great military power of that era of the world was menacing the cities and homes of Palestine. "Terrible and dreadful"--their horses "swifter than the leopards, and more fierce than the evening wolves" (1:7-8). Overwhelmed at the thought of imminent judgment and desolation; the seer can discern no silver lining in the cloud. He turns from man to God. He takes refuge in that sublime truth--the Immutability of a covenant Jehovah; and breaks out in these beautiful words of calm confidence, "Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die!" No: though the hosts of the Chaldeans should sweep the battle-plains; though they should leave behind them a track of blood and ashes and smoke; though the cry of suffering thousands should ascend apparently succoured to heaven, "We shall not die." The God of our Fathers will not be untrue to His oath, or unmindful of His covenant. He will not cast off forever, or root out our name and remembrance from the earth.

"I give unto them," is His own blessed word and guarantee to His true Israel still, "eternal life, and they shall never perish." "What God hath spoken, He is able also to perform." The good work begun, He will also finish. Let this ever be our rallying call when wounded in the fight, "This is mine infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High!"

"He will never fail us,
He will not forsake;
His eternal covenant,
He will never break.
.......................
Onward, then, and fear not,
Children of the Day!
For His Word shall never,
Never pass away!"

"It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of God."

Seasons of Life

a 'Brevity' from
The Presbyterian Magazine
February, 1858.
edited by Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D.D.
Published in Philadelphia by Joseph M. Wilson.

"Trials"

It is not in the light and sunny places of the wilderness that the traveler most sweetly reposes. It is under the shadow of a great rock, or in the depth of a sequestered valley; and so it is with a Christian. The sun of prosperity withers our joys, and changes the green leaves into the sickly colors of autumn. Adversity is like the winter, which prepares the ground for the reception of the seed, and for the rich and glowing luxuriance of spring-time.

Chalmers on what Life is

the
Presbyterian Magazine
February, 1858.
edited by Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D.D.
Published in Philadelphia by Joseph M. Wilson.

Brevities.

“Life,” p94-95.

The mere lapse of years is not life. To eat, drink, and sleep; to be exposed to darkness and light; to pace around in the mill of habits, and turn the mill of wealth; to make reason our bookkeeper, and thought an implement of trade—this is not life. In all this but a poor fraction of the unconsciousness of humanity is awakened; and the sanctities still slumber which make it worth while to be. Knowledge, truth, love, beauty, goodness, faith, alone can give vitality to the mechanism of existence; the laugh of mirth which vibrates through the heart, the tear which freshens the dry wastes within, the music that brings childhood back, the prayer that calls the future near, the death which startles us with mystery, the hardship which forces us to struggle, the anxiety that ends in being.—Chalmers.

Gillespie's Miscellany Questions: Stability and Firmness in the Truth

A Treatise of Miscellany Questions: Wherein Many useful Questions and Cases of Conscience are discussed and resolved: for the satisfaction of those, who desire nothing more, than to search for and find out the precious truths, in the controversies of these times.

By Mr. George Gillespie, late minister at Edinburgh.

Published posthumously by his brother, Mr. Patrik Gillespie, minister at Glasgow. Edinburgh, 1649, Pages 138-142.

Chap XI.

Of Stability and firmness in the truth.

It is good Divinity to maintain that Skepticism, fluctuation and wavering concerning those things which God hath revealed, to be believed or done by us, is a sin: and to be firm fixed and established in the truth, to hold fast the profession thereof, to stand fast in the faith, is a duty commanded...

Now the preservatives against Wavering, and helps to steadfastness in the faith, are these:

1. Grow in knowledge and circumspection; be not simple as Children in understanding. There is a slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive: so speaks the Apostle of these that spread diverse and strange Doctrines, Eph. 4.14 and Rom 16.18. he warns us that they do by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Thou hast therefore need of the wisdom of the serpent that thou be not deceived, as well as of the simplicity of the Dove, that thou be not a deceiver, Phil: 1.9:10. Do not rashly engage into any new opinion, much less into the spreading of it. With the well-advised is wisdom: Pythagoras would have us Scholars only to hear, and not to speak for five years. Be swift to hear but not to speak or engage: Prove all things, and when thou hast proved, the be sure to hold fast that which is good. 1 Thess 5.21. Mat: 7.15.17. There was never an Heresy yet broached, but under some fair plausible pretence; beguiling unstable souls, as Peter speaks, 2. Pet 2.14. Pro: 14.15. The simple believes every word. Be not like the two hundred that went in the simplicity of their hearts after Absalom in his rebellion, not knowing anything, but that he was to pay his vow in Hebron, 2 Sam: 15:11.
2. Grow in grace and holiness, and the love of the truth, for the stability of the heart in grace, go hand in hand together, Heb: 13.9. David’s rule is good, Ps.24.12. What man is he that fears the Lord, him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose. Which is also Christ’s rule, John 7.17. If any man will do his will he shall know of the Doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. See also Deut 11.13,16. Elisha healed the unwholesome waters of Jericho by casting salt into the fountain, 2. Kings 2.21, so must the bitter streams of pernicious errors be healed by getting the salt of mortification, and true sanctifying grace in the fountain.
3. Be sure to cleave to thy faithful and sound teachers, the sheep that follows the shepherd, are best kept from the wolf. I find the exhortation to stability in the faith, joined with the fruitful labors of faithful teachers, Phil 3.16.17 Heb:13 7,9. So the Apostle Eph 4. from the work of the Ministry verse 11.12,13. draws this consequence v.14. that we henceforth be no more Children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of Doctrine. The Galatians were easily seduced, als soon as they were made to disgust Paul.
4. Watch and be vigilant against the first beginnings of declining, against the first seeds of error, Gal 5.9. It was while men slept, that the enemy came and sowed tears among the Wheat, and when he had done, went his way, Mat.13.25. Therefore watch ye, stand fast in the faith, I Cor 16.13. go hand in hand together.
5. Avoid and withdraw from the Authors and spreaders of Heresies and dangerous errors, Rom. 16.17. I Tim: 6,5. 2 epist John, 10.11. Phil 3.2. He that would be godly should not use ungodly company, and he that would be Orthodox should not sue heretical company, unless he have some good hopes to convert some who have erred from the truth, and come into their company only for that end, Ja.5.19,20: I remember Chrysostom in diverse places warns his hearers how much they endangered their souls by going into the Jewish synagogues, and there was a great zeal in the Ancient Church to keep Christians that were Orthodox from the Assemblies and company of Heretics.
6. Get Church Discipline established & duly exercised, which is ordained to purge the Church from false Doctrine. Rev. 2.14.20.
7. Lean not to thy own understanding, and be not wise in thine own eyes, Prov. 3.5.7. Let reason be brought in captivity to the obedience of Christ, 2 Cor: 10.5. That which made the Antitrinitarians and Socinians fall away from the belief of the Trinity of persons in the godhead, and of the union of the two natures of God and Man in the person of Christ, was because their reason could not comprehend these articles: which is the ground of their opinion professed by themselves. When I speak of Captivating reason, I do not mean implicit faith: the eyes of my understanding must be so far opened by the holy Ghost, that I may know such an article is held forth in Scripture to be believed, and therefore I do believe that it is, though my reason cannot comprehend how it is.
8. Count thy cost, and be well resolved before hand what it will cost thee to be a Disciple of Christ, to be a constant professor of the Truth. Luk. 14.26. to verse 34. Act 14.22. Confirming the souls of the Disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God. This is surer than to confirm our selves with the hopes of a golden age of prosperity in which we shall fell no affliction.
9. Search the Scriptures, Joh. 5.39, Act, 17.11. Do not take upon trust new Lights from any man, be he never so eminent for parts or for grace, but to the law and the Testimony.

The upshot of all is that we ought to hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, and be steadfast and even unmovable in the truth, and not to give place to the adversaries, no not for an hour, Gal, 4,5...

the Presbyterian Magazine: Religious Lessons

the
Presbyterian Magazine
May, 1858.
edited by Rev. C. Van Rensselaer, D.D.
Published in Philadelphia by Joseph M. Wilson, pp 239-240.

This copy was owned and signed by Rev. Charles Hodge.

------

To Those Commencing A Religious Life

1. Do not expect so sudden and remarkable a change as to leave no doubt of its reality. Did religion enter the soul in perfection, and to the entire exclusion of sin, the change would be so marked and obvious as to leave no room for doubt. But usually, there is, in the Christian heart, a perpetual struggle between good and evil, and thus a continual competition of evidence for and against, according as the good or evil prevails.
2. Evidence of piety is not so much to be sought in high emotions of any kind, as in real humility, self-distrust, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, sorrow for sin, and a continual effort, in every-day life, to the nature, and not the degree of our affections which is to be regarded in the examination of our evidences.
3. Do not expect to find, in your own case, everything you have heard or read of in the experience of others. For it may be, that many things we hear and read of are not correct feelings, and do not afford just grounds of confidence for any one; and if they are correct experience, it may be the experience of a mature Christian, and not to be expected in the beginning of a religious life.
4. Do not suppose that religion is a principle of such self-preserving energy, that when once implanted in the soul, it will continue to thrive and increase without effort. God will not sustain and bring to maturity the work of grace, without your own voluntary concurrence in the diligent use of means, more than he will cause the harvest to whiten in the field of the sluggard.
5. Do not expect to be made happy by religion unless you become eminent Christians. A half-way Christian can neither enjoy the pleasures of the world nor the pleasures of religion, for his conscience will not let him seek the one, and he is too indolent to obtain the other. The Christian may be the happiest man on earth, but he must be a faithful, active, and devoted Christian.
6. Do not make the practice and example of other Christians the standard of piety at which you aim. By this means, a more disastrous influence has been exerted on the Church and on the world, than perhaps by all other causes that could be named. But look into your Bible and see how Christians ought to live. See how the Bible says those who are Christians must live, and then if you find your Christian friends living in a different way, instead of having cause for feeling that you may do so too, you have only cause to fear that they are deceiving themselves with the belief that they are Christians when they are not.
7. Remember that your evidence of possessing ceases when anything else has the first place in your thoughts and interests. Religion should not lessen our love for our friends, or our enjoyment of rational pleasures; but the desire to please God, in all our ways, should be the prevailing feeling of the mind. Our Saviour says, we cannot have two masters; God and his service must first be in our thoughts and affections, or else the world and its pleasures are first. If, then, we would find whose servants we are, we must find who has the first place in our thoughts and affections.
8. Never for one day omit to read the Bible, with prayer. This is a most important direction. It is of the utmost importance that you should never, for once, break through this habit. Prayer and the Bible are your anchor and your shield; they will hold you firmly in the path of duty, and protect you from temptation.
9. Attempt, by your efforts and example to raise the standard of piety and activity. If all who are now commencing the Christian life should make this an object, and not fall into the temptation which professed Christians so often set before the lambs of the flock, the Church would indeed soon rise before the world, "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners."
10. Be active in promoting all benevolent objects. Make it an object to prepare to lead with propriety, when necessary, in all social devotional duties. At this period, when prayer and effort must unite in hastening the great day of the Lord, let every Christian learn to guide the devotions of others, as well as to lift up his own private supplications.
11. Remember that the principal duty of a Christian, as it respects others, is to excite them to the immediate performance of their religious duty. There is no Christian but can find some one mind, at least, over which he can have some influence, and if we can do anything to save others from eternal death, nothing should for a moment prevent our attempting it.
12. Lastly, do not be discouraged because you find that you are very deficient in every one of the particulars specified. Remember, that the Christian life is a warfare, and that it is only and the end that we are to come off conquerors, and more than conquerors. When you feel your own strength and resolution failing, go to Him who hath said, "My grace is sufficient for thee, and My strength shall be made perfect in weakness," Call upon Him, "and He will be very gracious unto the voice of thy cry when he shall hear it, He will answer thee." Remember, also, that the conflict is short; the race will speedily be accomplished.