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Volume II : Number 1 : January 2018

THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OFCOWETA PARTICULAR BAPTIST CHURCH

The Baptist

FORUMfo·rum /̍fôrəm/: a place, meeting, or medium where ideas and views on a particular issue can be exchanged

THE CHRISTIAN’S NOBLEST RESOLUTIONby Anne Steele

COATS, MITES, AND FOOTPRINTSby Dr. Teresa Suttles

GOOD MANNERS: A MARK OF TRUE RELIGIONby W. Luke Suttles

PRECIOUS JEWELS: ANNE STEELEby Dr. Teresa Suttles

THE NATURE AND ORDER OF GOSPEL WORSHIPby John C. Gormley

GRAB HOLD ON THE PROMISESby Dr. John Suttles

LETTER FROM THE EDITORby Dr. John Suttles

CONTENTS Letter from the Editor by Dr. John Suttles……………………………………………2 Grab Hold on the Promises by Dr. John Suttles……………………………………………5 The Nature and Order of Gospel Worship by John C. Gormley…………………..…………………….14 Precious Jewels: Anne Steele by Dr. Teresa Suttles………………………….……………21 Good Manners by W. Luke Suttles………………………………..………..26 Coats, Mites, and Footprints

by Dr. Teresa Suttles………………………...…………..32 The Christian’s Noblest Resolution by Anne Steele……………………………...……………….39

Coweta Particular Baptist Church

Holding forth the Gospel

of Jesus Christ and maintaining the doctrinal standards of the Baptist

Confession of 1689

Remove not the ancient landmark which thy

fathers have set. Proverbs 22:8

"Cu m s tu diō e s t sc i en t ia e t sa p ient ia "

THE BAPTIST FORUM

T h e Q u a r t e r l y J o u r n a l o f t h e C o w e t a P a r t i c u l a r B a p t i s t C h u r c h V o l u m e I I N u m b e r 1 J a n u a r y 2 0 1 8

Mission Statement

The primary mission of this Church in the issuance of this journal is to glorify Christ Jesus our Lord by encouraging the understanding of the Scriptures within the framework of our Baptist Heritage by promoting inquiry, study, and discussion.

Contact www.cowetaparticularbaptist.org

[email protected]

The Baptist Forum is a quarterly journal of articles highlighting the Baptist Heritage created to edify and encourage all Christians.

Publisher: Coweta Particular Baptist Church Editor: Dr. John Suttles

Volume II Number 1 1 January 2018

Dear Friends,

The sands of time never cease! It seems almost astonishing that a whole year has passed since we first began to publish The Baptist Forum. Four issues have gone out now, and how grateful we are for our Lord’s kindness to us in this endeavor. We have tried to remain true to our original commitment to you, our readers. While this journal is not specifically intended for the scholastic audience, we’ve continued to refuse to pander to the ignorance of the “sound-bite” generation in which we live and serve our risen Lord. We continue to publish large portions of many blessed and powerful writings of our hallowed forefathers whose labors are all but forgotten to this generation. The value of their works to our people is impossible to overlook. In this issue, we will begin a new series of studies in the lives of the godly men and women who helped shape our hymnody and our worship. We have chosen also to include a sermon preached in the series entitled A Faithful Generation. We intend to resume the series on DY-ing in the next issue.

Since this is, in fact, our first issue for this new year, I’m sure that I could do no better than to reproduce for you an ever-enduring message delivered by the beloved Gardiner Spring whose sixty-three-year pastorate (1809-1872) of the same church gives ample testimony to his constancy and faith. Sometime before 1838, he published his Reflections on the New Year. I reproduce it, in part, for you here. Can it be that another year has fled? With all its joys and trials, all its sins and

duties, all its instructions and privileges—is it fled? Yes, it is gone. It has terminated the lives of millions, and like an irresistible current, has borne them on to the grave and the judgment. It has gone. Like a dream in the night, it has gone! Amid the rapids of time, there are few objects a man observes with less care and distinctness than himself. To one standing on the shore, the current appears to pass by with inconceivable swiftness; but to one who is himself gliding down the stream…all around him is dead calm. It is only by looking toward the shore, by discerning here and there a distant landmark, by casting his eye backward upon the scenery that is retiring from his view, that he sees he is going forward. And how fast! It is but a few years ago, and I was greeting life’s opening day. But yesterday, I thought myself approaching the meridian. Today I look for those meridian splendors, and they are either wholly vanished, or just descending behind the evening cloud. I can-not expect to weather out the storms of this tempestuous clime much longer. A few more billows on this dangerous sea, perhaps a few days of fair weather, is the most I can look for, before I am either ship-wrecked or reach my desired haven. On what rapid wings has this last year sped its course? How sure and certain an approximation to the close of this earthly existence! Every year adds to what is past and leaves less to come. “What is your life? It is even as a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” (James 4:14) How fugitive! How frail! Hardly has the weary traveler laid himself down to rest, when he is summoned away to pursue his

Letter from the Editor


journey or called to his everlasting home. “We spend our years as a tale that is told.” (Psalm 90:9) The flying cloud, the evanes-cent vapor, the arrow just propelled from the string, the withering grass, the flower whose beauty scarcely blooms e’er it is faded, and whose fragrance is scarcely perceptible e’er it is gone, are all apt similitudes of the life of a man. I am but a wanderer, a pilgrim, a sojourner on earth…this world is not my home. I have made it my resting-place too long. I hear a voice today, in accents sweet as angels use, whispering to my lonely heart, “Arise and depart hence, for this is not your rest!” (Micah 2:10) I am away from my Father’s house. I have felt vexation and trials. I have experienced disappointments and losses. I have known the alienation of earthly friends. I am not a stranger to dejected hopes. I know something of conflicts within. But now and then, I have a glimpse of that distant promised inheritance, which more than compensates me for all… To live here, however happily, however usefully, however well, must not be my ultimate object. I was born for eternity. Nay, I am the tenant of eternity even now. Time belongs to eternity. It is a sort of isthmus, or rather a little gulf, with given demarcations, set off and bounded by lines of ignorance; but it mingles with the boundless flood—it belongs to eternity still. A great change indeed awaits us. We must drop this tabernacle and go into a world of spirits. But we shall be in the same duration. I must live for eternity. In entering on another year, I know not from what unexpected quarter, or at what an unguarded hour, difficulties and dangers may come. O, that I could enjoy more of the favor of God, more of the presence of the Saviour, more of the sealing of the ever-blessed Spirit! O, for a calm, approving conscience, and more of the delightful

influence of the peace-speaking blood of Jesus Christ! I am afraid lest I should turn aside from the straight path; lest I may repose in the bower of indolence and ease; lest I should be ensnared, if not destroyed by an unhallowed curiosity; lest I should be betrayed by my own presumption and self-confidence…the enemy is not asleep. Many a time have I been baffled by his artifices. Rest where I will, and rise when I may, he is always at my side. And shall I dream of peace? Shall I not watch and pray? Will not presumption and sloth cost me dear? Blessed God? Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe! Pity Thy erring creature. Forgive Thy wandering child. Keep, and with bounties of Thy grace, bless Thy poor suppliant. Preserve him another year. Let him not be conformed to this world. Give him a warm and humble heart. Let nothing interrupt, or retard his progress toward the Zion above!

I would live another year, if it be my Heavenly Father’s will. And yet, I would not live to sin, and fall, and reproach my Saviour and His blessed cause. Better die than live to no good purpose! I would live till my work is done—cheerful when it is most arduous, and grateful for strength according to my day. But I would not be afraid to die. Shall the child desire to be away from his Father’s house? Shall the traveler, already weary, choose to have his stay in the wilderness prolonged? It were a sad sight to see a Christian die with regret—to see him go home, as if he were going to prison! O let me think much and often of my heavenly home! Let me then often climb the mount of contemplation and prayer and praise, and there try to catch a glimpse of the “glory to be revealed,” (Romans 8:18) and get my cold heart affected with a view of its yet distant endearments… Let me greet every truth, every provi-dence, every meditation that shall invite me to more intimate intercourse with heaven.


Let me dwell upon the communications sent down from that blessed world to cheer my fainting spirit and revive my courage by the way. Let me welcome those messengers of divine providence that are designed and adapted to intercept my constant view of earth, and bring the realities of eternity near. Let me grieve at nothing that makes me familiar with heaven. Let me never mourn when some little stream of comfort and joy is dried up, and I am driven more directly to the Fountain. Let me take a fresh departure for the land of promise from the beginning of this New Year. I would fain look upward with a more steadfast eye and march onward with a firmer step. Nor would I lose sight of the “cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night,” but go where it goes and rests where it rests.1 May that testimony of our long-departed brother be our own as we face the New Year together.

Dr. John Suttles

Time Flying and Death Approaching I

Awake, my soul, nor slumb’ring lie Amid the gloomy haunts of death;

Perhaps the awful hour is nigh, Commission’d for my parting breath.

II

That awful hour will soon appear, Swift on the wings of time it flies,

When all that pains or pleases here, Will vanish from my closing eyes.

1 Gardiner Spring, Fragments from the Study of a Pastor, (New York: John S. Taylor, 1838), 42-50.

III Death calls my friends, my neighbors hence,

And none resist the fatal dart; Continual warnings strike my sense,

And shall they fail to reach my heart?

IV Shall gay amusements rise between,

When scenes of horror spread around? Death’s pointed arrows fly unseen,

But ah, how sure, how deep they wound!

V Think, O my soul, how much depends

On the short period of a day; Shall time, which heav’n in mercy lends,

Be negligently thrown away?

VI Thy remnant minutes strive to use, Awake! rouze ev’ry active pow’r! And not in dreams and trifles lose

This little now! This precious hour!

VII Lord of my life, inspire my heart

With heav’nly ardour, grace divine; Nor let thy presence e’er depart,

For strength, and life, and death are thine.

VIII O teach me the celestial skill,

Each awful warning to improve; And while my days are short’ning still,

Prepare me for the joys above.

IX Insure my nobler life on high,

Life, from a dying Saviour’s blood! Then though my minutes swiftly fly,

They bear me nearer to my God. Anne Steele


Editor’s Note: This article is a transcript of a sermon of the same title and in the series A Faithful Generation. The audio of the sermon is also available.

…as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

Joshua 1:3-5 We have come today in our consid-eration of this book of Joshua to verses three through nine in chapter one. In former messages, I have dealt at some length with the finality of Moses’ death in verses one and two; and the profound impact of that event on the national life of Israel—and on Joshua especially. It was time now for Joshua to “arise” and “go over” to lead a faithful generation. So then, here in verse two, our Lord begins His “marching orders” in their detail. If I might just pause my exposition at this point and entertain to your minds a very valuable sidelight. Joshua, in verse three, is reminded of what the Lord had already said to Moses: “as I said unto Moses.” Might I remind us all today that it was not even with Moses that these promises had their first appearance. Indeed, all these plans were laid out hundreds of years before in clear detail even to Abraham; and it is from this fact that

I would extract a vital lesson to our hearts as a sidelight from this text.

Finally, the time for their fulfillment has come; but O, what a long time it has been! Might I just press upon our hearts here today that our God is in no haste and feels no pressure in the performance of His promises. It would serve us well to pause and reflect on that statement. Our God “inhabits eternity” (Isaiah 57:15) and “a thousand years” with Him is “but one day.” (II Peter 3:8) We, in our frailty often grow weary and impatient; but our Lord is never stressed by the con-straints of time. How gloriously did William Cowper bring this truth home to us by his hymn:

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea, And rides upon the storm.

His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding every hour; The bud may have a bitter taste,

But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan His work in vain; God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain.

Notwithstanding our frail impatience, our God is always true to His Word and

Grab Hold on the Promises

Dr. John Suttles serves as pastor of Coweta Particular Baptist Church and as the Editor of The Baptist Forum. He has written both Gospel tracts and numerous articles on practical theology which are

available at www.cowetaparticularbaptist.org.


faithful to His promises; and so, it is that Joshua is finding in our text for today. If I may now just give you some of the valuable lessons of God’s promises to this new and “Faithful Generation.”

Extent of the Promises

First, I would have us note their extent: Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I

said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great

sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. (verses 3-4)

O, the blessings of God’s promises are not impaired or diminished! Isaiah 59:1: Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither is His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. Well did John Newton write:

Thou art coming to a King, With thee large petitions bring,

For His grace and power are such None can ever ask too much.

One commentator has well observed that when God said these words to Joshua, “He sent him a promise so wide in its scope that not even a foot’s breadth will be exempted.” Hallelujah! Listen again to John Newton when he writes:

Behold the throne of grace! The promise calls us near;

There Jesus shows a smiling face And waits to answer prayer.

That rich atoning Blood,

Which sprinkled round I see, Provides for those who come to God

An all-prevailing plea.

My soul, ask what thou wilt,

Thou canst not be too bold, Since His own Blood for Thee He shed

What else can He withhold?

Beyond thy utmost wants His love and power can bless;

To praying souls He always grants More than they can express.

I have often had the thought, when in a

season of prayer, that my very first glimpse of Christ in glory will embarrass forever all the weakness and smallness of my prayers! Oh, how fitting to my own heart is that which our Lord asked Abraham in Genesis 18:14: Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Did not the Lord rebuke the prophet in Jeremiah 32:27 when He put to him this rhetorical question: Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for Me?” Oh, says our Lord to Joshua, “every place—every place—every place…I will give it to you”! I pray that our God would help us to enlarge our tents, and expand our hearts with a fuller understanding of the extent of His promises!

Since His own blood for thee He shed, What else can He withhold?

Certainty of the Promises

But now, secondly, in our text, I would have us to notice the certainty of the pro-mises.

There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not

fail thee, nor forsake thee. (verse 5) Joshua, like us so often, needed encouragement. Someone wisely commented:

He needed the urgent precept and supporting promise. He was no youthful dreamer, but one long past middle life, who had no exaggerated estimate of Israel’s


faithfulness, and no illusions about his task. He needed, and here receives, the quickening influence of a sacred charge. As God spake to him, so he would speak to all who are constrained by a sense of duty to God or man to undertake some task that seems beyond their powers…they who enter into great wars “with a light heart,” do not take long to gather heaviness. And Joshua, advanced in life, acquainted with the difficulties of his task, doubtless was tempted to feel that with Moses the heroic age had ended and only common life remained. Probably the people shared this feeling; and with the departure of this great servant, there was the feeling that all greatness and glory was gone.2

The revered Dr. George Bush comments: When it is considered that Joshua was

now ninety-three years of age, that he had to govern a perverse and rebellious people, and was going to fight with a war-like and formidable enemy, it will appear that nothing short of the Divine assurance he now received, could have sustained his courage in such an arduous station.3

Oh, how often are we left to such “feelings of impossibility”; but then, here is another glorious truth which Joshua will find soon enough, that with every command from our God, comes the power to discharge it! If the palsied man is commanded to

“take up thy bed and walk” (Matthew 9:6), then with this command is the power of resto-ration to do it! (Matthew 9:7)

If the blind is commanded to see (Mark 10:46), then with that command is imparted the power of sight! (Mark 10:52)

If the dead are commanded to “come forth” (John 11:43), halle-lujah! then

2 H.D.M. Spence and Joseph S. Excell, The Pulpit Commentary, Volume 3, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, Co., 1978), 12.

with that charge, comes the power of life! (John 11:44)

So then, if God commands us to “be ye holy even as I am holy” (Leviticus 20:7) and that “we should be holy and without blame before Him” (Ephesians 1:4), then with that demand will come the power of His Holy Spirit to form Christ in us. If our God commands us to “come out from among them (the world) and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing” (II Corinthians 6:17), then with that command comes the power of God to “purge us with hyssop” (Psalm 51:7) and make us clean! If our Saviour demands us to “love not the world neither the things in the world” (I John 2:15-17), then, my beloved saints, our God will give us a holy nature averse to all such worldliness. And if our blessed Lord says: Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me: he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he that taketh not His cross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me. (Matthew 10:34-38)

Then, praise His holy Name, He will be a “friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (Psalm 18:24) and “when my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.” (Psalm 27:10) I’m just trying to get us to see from my text this morning that our God always gives the power to obey when His commands are sent forth. But then, many of us are paralyzed by the power of fear. Fear would rob us of the ability to “rise up and cross over.” Someone has well said: “Fear is the parent

3 George Bush, Joshua and Judges, (Minneapolis: Klock & Klock Christian Publishers, Inc., 1852, 1981 Reprint), 15.


of every kind of vice. Fear exaggerates difficulties, murmurs at duties, shrinks from reproach, postpones duty, then neglects it, and then hates God with the bitterness of despair.”4 But notice with me what inducement the Lord uses to encourage and animate Joshua—“as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” Listen carefully now! The Lord did not say, “You will now be Moses.” But “as I was with Moses, so will I be with thee.” Joshua will never be Moses, but he may expect Moses’ God to be his God as well. Oh, how many saints are troubled into despair, at times, by trying to be someone else—someone they will never be! Another commentator has well said our God, “will hallow, not equalize, varieties of constitution; will not make a Joshua into a Moses, nor an Elisha into an Elijah; but with special grace for their special tasks will equally endue each one.”5 The simple reality is, I cannot be Wil-liam Carey! I cannot be Adoniram Judson! I cannot be Dr. John Scudder! But just as God was with William Carey and Adoniram Judson and John Scudder, so He will be with me! How fittingly did Dr. Blaikie say: In what a remarkable variety of dangers and trials was God with Moses. Once he had to confront the greatest monarch on earth, supported by the strongest armies, and upheld by what claimed to be the mightiest gods. Again, he had to deal with an apostate people, mad upon idols, and afterwards with an excited mob ready to stone him. Then again, he had to overcome the forces of nature and bend them to his purposes; to call water from the rock, to sweeten the bitter fountain, to heal the fiery bite, to cure his sister’s leprous body, to bring down bread from heaven, and to people the air with flocks 4 The Pulpit Commentary, 13. 5 Ibid.

of birds. Moreover, he had to be the messenger of the covenant between God and Israel, to unfold God’s Law in its length and breadth and to obtain from the people a hearty compliance. What a marvelous work Moses did! What a testimony his life presented to the reality of the Divine presence and guidance! And thus, what a solid and indefeasible ground of trust God gave to Joshua when He said, “As I was with Moses so will I be with thee.”6 Oh, what great courage we may draw from those who walk with God before us in this our desire to build a Faithful Generation. His presence is never-failing. Do you remember that blessed old pilgrim of Mr. Bunyan’s? It was after that fearful and exhausting battle with Apollyon in which Christian “was almost quite spent” that Bunyan tells us that it was at that time: …there came to him a hand with some of the leaves of the tree of life, the which Christian took and applied to the wounds that he had received in the battle, and was healed immediately. He also sat down in that place to eat bread and to drink of the bottle that was given him a little before: so, being refreshed, he addressed himself to his journey with his sword drawn in his hand… Oh! Bless His holy Name! “…as I was with Moses, so shall I be with you.” Dr. Bush, in his commentary, says it all so uniquely when he says, “Those who contend with Joshua were contending with Omnipotence; and in this unequal contest they must necessarily be worsted.”

Demands of the Promises

6 William Garden Blaikie, The Book of Joshua, (Minneapolis: Klock & Klock Christian Publishers, 1908, 1978, Reprint), 58.


But now, notice with me also that with the certainty of God’s promises also comes the demands.

Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. (verses 6-7, 9)

First Demand: Be strong and very courageous

Notice first that these demands are nothing more nor nothing less than a firm and final repeat of those demands already stated time and again. For example, in Deuter-onomy 31:7-8, 23, the Scripture tells us:

And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath shown unto their fathers to give them: thou shalt cause them to inherit them. And the Lord, He it is that doth go before thee; He will be with thee, He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee; fear not, neither be dismayed.

…and He gave Joshua the son of Nun a charge, and said, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I sware unto them: and I will be with thee.

And so, our Lord in our text repeats these same words over again. But lest you think that such repetition may be a useless exercise in redundancy, I need only remind your

hearts of our Lord’s words to Israel in Matthew 13:15:

For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart… And then again in Hebrews 5:11 where He says to the Hebrew saints: …of whom we have many things to say and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. Oh, how often are we like Philip in John 14:8-9 where, Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? If we are to be a Faithful Generation, it will be necessary time and again for our Lord to repeat many things to our dull and slothful hearts.

What poor scholars we often are in Christ’s school of discipline. All who are familiar with the methods of our own teachers, are aware of their habit of often repeating the same lessons and instructions. Such is the requirement for us even as adults.

What then exactly are the demands on a Faithful Generation? These are conditions on which the promises of God hang in the balances. These verses according to Dr. Bush, who wisely observes in his commentary that the word only in this text:

…clearly indicates that a condition is stated on which the promise of the foregoing verse shall be made. This condition is the constant and rigid observance of Divine command, and an inflexible firmness in adhering to that code of precepts contained in the Law of Moses. This he was incessantly to make the man of his counsel and the theme of his daily and nightly study. It was in this respect mainly that his courage and fortitude were to be evinced. A steadfast obedience to the mandates of Jehovah would require a stronger principle of courage than his


anticipated conflicts with the most formidable enemies. The important lesson which we hence learn is, that in nothing is there more scope for the display of the highest moral heroism than in daring, in all circumstances, to cleave steadfastly to the Word of God as the rule of our conduct.7

There will be some “graces” needed! George W. Butler in 1878, sets us right when he says, in a quaint turn of phrase, “Grace does not supersede the need for graces.” There will be things needed, yea, required of us; for Joshua there were two. First: “be strong and very firm.” Again, Dr. Butler speaks to us:

In truth, this grace of hearty resolution is just that that makes the difference between a good character and one that is worthless. It stands next to faith in Peter’s list of necessary virtues (II Peter 1:5). It is this grace that enables a man to overcome the lusts of the flesh, the solicitations of the world, and the wiles of the devil. It was this grace that David charged Solomon to exercise (I Chronicles 28:20). To this, Paul stirred up Timothy (II Timothy 2:3). It is to this grace the same apostle encourages the churches: “My beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable…stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. (I Corinthians 15:58; 16:13)

It is this holy courage that enables men to pursue their course in spite of both friends and foes. Courage says, “No” to temptation, and “Yes” to duty. Courage means resolution to begin, and perseverance to continue.

…but, be it understood, that the strength of mind that God bids Joshua put forth, is not mere hardihood. It is not a matter of nerve and animal spirits, but of faith and principle. The courage that Joshua is to exercise is to spring from a realization of the presence of 7 Bush, Joshua and Judges, 20.

God that has been promised him and it is this which is to impel him in the path of obedience.8 The true and spiritual strength needed by a Faithful Generation is not the brute barbarism of a stubborn head, but the quiet resolve of a fixed heart of principle.

Second Demand: Observe to do…the Law

But the second demand of a Faithful Generation is to “observe to do…according to the Law.” Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. (verses 7-8) This is the great and all-encompassing demand! Blaikie says: Here lay the most difficult part of his task. To conquer the country required but the talent of a military commander; to divide the country was pretty much an affair of trigonometry; but to settle them in a higher sense, to create a moral affinity between them and their God, to turn their hearts to the covenant of their fathers, to wean them from their old idolatries and establish them in habits of obedience and trust that the doing of God’s will would become to them a second nature—here was the difficulty for Joshua.

8 George W. Butler, The Lord’s Host or Lessons from the Book of Joshua, (Edinburgh: Wm. Oliphant & Co., 1878), 21-22.


They had not only to be planted physically in groups over the country, but they had to be married to it morally, otherwise they had no security of tenure, but were liable to a summary eviction. It was no land of rest for idolaters; all depended on the character they attained; loyalty to God was the one condition of a happy settlement.9 So critical is this “demand” that our Lord goes on in verse eight to explain the means to its attainment.

Foundations of the Promises

And so I shall give you, finally, the foundation of the promises—the Law of God. The Lord here seems to say to Joshua, “Take it; it shall be thy food, live upon it: carry it as a torch, and it will illumine thy pathway in the thickest darkness: in the vigor of thy manhood, it shall be thy wand of truth to scatter doubt and error from before thee, and it shall be a staff to sustain thee in the decrepitude of age.”10 Oh, here is the true test of our commitment to God’s Word! We may test the value of our meditation by the obedience which results from it. Obedience is the proof of holding the things we read in due estimation. Says Delitzsch:

The Law is in our mouth, not only when we are incessantly preaching it, but when we are reading it intelligently for ourselves, or conversing about it with others. To this there was to be added meditation, or reflection upon it both day and night (Psalm 1:2). This word does not mean theoretical speculation about the Law, such as the Pharisees indulged in, but a practical study of the Law, for the purpose of observing it in thought and 9 Blaikie, The Book of Joshua, 67. 10 The Pulpit Commentary, 14. 11 C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament in Ten Volumes, Volume II, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1973), 30.

action and carrying it out with the heart, the mouth, and the hand.11

Not the Word of God studied merely for the academics of it! Not for debate or discussion. No! But for digestion. Matthew Henry presses this truth when he says:

If ever any man’s business might have excused him from meditation, and other acts of devotion, one would think Joshua’s might at this time. It was a great trust that was lodged in his hands; the care of it was enough to fill him if he had had ten souls, and yet he must find the time and thoughts for meditation. Whatever affairs of this world we have to mind, we must not neglect this one thing needful. Joshua must “observe to do according to all this Law.” To this end, he must meditate therein, not for contemplation sake only, or to fill his head with notions, or that he might find something to puzzle the priests with, but that he might, as a man and as a magistrate, observe to do what was written therein.12

Oh! This is the age-old warning of Proverbs 23:7: For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he. A Faithful Generation will be a people of the Book.

But not only must one in a Faithful Generation “meditate on this Law,” he must himself (as Joshua) “do it”—“observe to do.”

Encouragement to Obedience

So then, in closing this study of the “promises” to a Faithful Generation in verses three through nine, we come, finally, to verse nine, wherein the Lord would encourage Joshua (and any Faithful Generation) in these words: Have not I commanded thee?

Encouragement is needed even in the strongest of men and women; and well did Matthew Henry say again, “…so many

12 Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, Volume 2, (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996), 4.


discouragements there are in the path of duty that those who will proceed and persevere in it, must put on resolution.” And nothing will put the steel in that resolution like this precious reminder from our Lord: Have not I commanded thee?

In closing our study of this text today, as I have said that I would sometimes do, I cannot part from my text without a plain word of spiritual application. My own words could never serve to press it home to our hearts better than those of blessed old Simeon, who, speaking to the Christian, said:

It will require no little courage so to subdue and mortify all his corrupt inclinations, as to have them brought into subject to the laws of God. And to maintain such an habit in the midst of an ungodly world will expose him to the heaviest trials. A man who enlists in an army has but to contend with enemies: but the Christian soldier will have to maintain sore conflicts even with his friends: yea, “his greatest foes will be they of his own household.”

Nor is it only for a season, during a few campaigns, that he must fight; but every day, every hour, throughout his whole life. He is never off the battlefield: he is never at liberty to relax his vigilance for a single hour. His armor must be gird upon him day and night. The weapons, too, with which he is assaulted, are formidable in the extreme. Shall it be thought that death alone has its terrors? I scruple not to say, that there are thousands who would find it easier to face a battery of cannon, than to withstand the sneers, and pity, and contempt, and ridicule, of their nearest and dearest friends.

The Christian soldier must be prepared to “resist even unto blood.” If he will not lay down his life for Christ, he cannot be His disciple. And does this not require courage? Worldly soldiers have many things to 13 Charles Simeon, Expository Outlines on the Whole Bible, Volume 2, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988), 451-452.

animate and embolden them, which the Christian soldier lacks. They are surrounded by multitudes, who are engaged in the same contest, and who invigorate one another by their voices and example; but he engages alone, so nearly so, at the point of attack, and at the time that he is most pressed. They are applauded in proportion to their exertions, and commend themselves to the esteem of all who behold them: but the more strenuously the Christian soldier exerts himself, the more he is hated and despised by all who ought to encourage and commend him: and, instead of looking for any reward in this life, he knows that to his dying hour, he has no other treatment to expect.

Verily, it is not for naught that the Christian soldier is bidden to be strong and very courageous: for there is more need of a principle of fortitude in him than in any other person under heaven, and none can do that who know not this truth—“Have not I commanded thee”!13

Can God demand of Christ, His Son, Great drops of blood in vain? Can He demand, without reward, His sinless soul such pain? Would He secure no prize for toil, No certain ransom meet? Must He pour out that sacred fount, Yet pardon, not complete? No! Heaven would melt and stars would fall, And every soul be damned, ‘Ere Christ should lose one drop of blood, And useless, mix with sand! Nay, every drop hath payment made, And every stripe atoned, For souls which God His Father swears, To bring with Him back home!

Dr. John Suttles


The Nature and Order of Gospel Worship

Editor's Note: This is the third of four arti-cles we propose to publish on the subject of worship.

And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an al-abaster box of ointment, And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment... And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I en-tered into thine house, thou gavest me no wa-ter for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment. Luke 7:37-38, 44-46 Our first article in this series focused on the foundational principles of true worship, while the second briefly traced their example in the sacred record and then in Church his-tory, especially in relation to our Baptist predecessors. In both these articles our ob-

ject has been to draw a line directly back to Christ’s institution of worship and set that in bold contrast, as stated in our first article, “to all other worship—however ingeniously conceived, however sincerely offered, how-ever scrupulously conducted—that does not correspond to the heavenly pattern.” In this third article we turn our attention to some practical matters, that is to say, cer-tain characteristics or features commonly received as acceptable worship, proposing to examine them at the bar of inspiration and against the example of those faithful forefa-thers of whom we have previously written. Like the ancient prophets, these features may be tested by this rule: To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them (Isaiah 8:20). To be borne in mind in all spiritual things, and not less in worship, is the Apos-tle’s solemn warning, For not he that com-mendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth, (2 Corinthians 10:18). We are obliged, then, to make diligent search for those who have Christ’s divine endorsement as true worshippers—and meticulously emulate their spiritual example. Such were the disciples on the mount with Christ in Matthew 28 and Luke 24 (see Article 2 of this series). Such was the woman in Luke’s record that commences this article. A careful examination of her example will

Spirit and Truth

John C. Gormley is the deacon of Coweta Particular Baptist Church and the editor of a republication of Thomas Baldwin’s The Baptism of Believers Only available at www.cowetaparticularbaptist.org.

He has authored several articles and is currently preparing a biography of the late Baptist pastor Dr. Thomas Baldwin.


better fit us to know the true that we may discern the counterfeit in worship. This woman, infamous for her past, had steadfastly resolved upon a singular act of homage to Him whose gracious voice had spoken pardon to her sinful soul (else why would she hazard herself to enter among those that, in self-righteous indignation, might deal violently with her for her pre-sumption?). She had marked the Lord’s movements in her village with utmost inter-est from that hour when she heard the words of life from His lips, perhaps that divine in-vitation, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I WILL give you REST.” Her heart, made willing in the day of His power, ran out after the precious promise. Believing, she sought out Him whom her soul now loved, and her single eye was set on worship, worship of the One who had forgiven her sins, that she herself knew were many.

This was a worship that magnified the Savior

Yet she must have been aware that her reputation would precede her and that her presence at that meal might prove a scandal to herself and the Savior. No one could feel the great weight of shame for her former sin-fulness more than her, a weight surely in-creasing with each step, as she came ever nearer the house and then into the very hall where He who knew no sin was reclining. But love for her Redeemer pressed her on even as He irresistibly drew her with those imper-ceptible bands of His love, strong as death. Stopping behind His couch and taking the posture of the lowest of servants she poured forth upon His feet in a flood of tears and fragrant oil the demonstration of her gratitude, inexpressible in words, for the free pardon of all her debt, heedless of the

scruples of religious hypocrites or the ex-pense of the costly ointment. May we be so bold as to say that anyone who can remain unmoved at the contemplation of this scene must have no experience of the feelings of a Christian! We hasten to add that here, if anywhere, is an exhibition of that worship—and that worshipper—succinctly described by the Lord Himself in John 4:24 as true. Let us then proceed to a brief examination of her motives and her actions. This was a worship that magnified the Savior. There is not the least hint here that she wished to make herself the focus of at-tention at that supper. Her thought, her only thought as evidenced by the text, was to honor her Lord. She shared the same spirit and sentiment with John the Baptist—He must increase, but I must decrease. So con-sumed was she by her errand she seemed not to notice the presence of anyone else—not the scorning Pharisees, not the table servants, not even the Lord’s disciples that perhaps accompanied Him inside—no one other than the Master filled her eyes and it was on Him alone that she fixed her attention and her adoration. While the proud Pharisee could not be troubled to offer even the customary courtesies due to a guest, she was forward to offer the homage due to a king! Like Thomas at a later time, she will have Him to be known now as my Lord and my God and she would spare nothing of herself or her possessions to have it so. Little to be wondered at, for she perceived, infinitely more than all the others gathered at the table that day, that she kissed the feet of not only a gracious Savior but a glorious Sovereign. She knew—experi-entially—the truth, who can forgive sins but God only? (Mark 2:7). The inspired record gives ample testi-mony to this her purpose: “And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.” She was


thoroughly consumed with magnifying Him who in love to her soul had cast all her sins behind His back (Isaiah 38:7), and her every action was intended to promote this end; penitential tears, reverent kisses, and pre-cious oil flowed to offer the sacrifice of praise. Like Hannah of old, she spake in her heart...but her voice was not heard (1 Samuel 1:13), yet the “words” were understood by Him who seeth not as man seeth. “She showed her love for Him by a kiss of affec-tion; her humility, by bathing His feet; her veneration, by breaking a costly box—per-haps procured by a guilty life—and anoint-ing His feet.”14 She required no pomp, no circumstance, no ornate venue, no musical fanfare, no manipulative rhetoric to work up an “atmosphere” of worship. She was in the presence of her Beloved and that was all she required to exult with Mary, My soul doth magnify the Lord (Luke 1:46).

None of self and all of Thee

This was a worship that abased the wor-shipper. Knowing painfully, more fully than even the contemptuous Pharisee could, her unworthiness to come, she came with a self-effacing submission well expressed by the old hymnwiter:

Lord, Thy love at last has conquered: “None of self, and all of Thee.”

She would hide herself behind Him, as it

were, so that she might be unseen and, feel-ing the infinite distance between her sinful soul and the Holy One, as her tears began to silently flow she would approach no nearer than His feet. Yet at His feet she was con-tent to abide knowing how great was the condescension of the King of kings to grant

14 Albert Barnes, Commentary on Luke.

her an audience (and in the end to grant all her desire as well—Thy sins ARE forgiven thee.) But to be in His presence was still in-sufficient; she must perform all that she had purposed in her coming and in so doing she would further humble herself. She wept abundantly and continuously, she soiled that which was her glory counting it a privilege to wipe the mingled dust and tears from His feet with her hair. Surely, she was of a kindred spirit with that other true worshipper, King David: I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight (2 Samuel 6:22). Then finally, with the astonished and scandalized Pharisees looking on, she broke the seal and spilled upon His feet all that box of fragrant oil the value of which was to the ancients measured in single drops. Thus, with eyes dimmed by tears, hair damp and clotted with dust, and the precious ointment emptied upon her Lord, she ceased not to kiss His feet in humble adoration, unwilling to be parted from Him until He should speak peace to her soul. It is worth pausing to wonder where such worshippers as this are to be found among the multitudes of professed Christians today, worshippers who will spare no pains to thus abase themselves in spirit before their Redeemer? Yet the Father seeketh such to worship him. This was a worship predicated upon an experiential knowledge of forgiveness, a transforming work of grace, and a love for Him who first loved us. Many a suppliant had come to the Lord by this time in His ministry seeking health for the body, and of these he turned none away, but we read of none other in all the Gospel record who came worshipping in gratitude for the pardon of sin—except this woman. We have the testimony of the Lord Himself that she was indeed already a possessor of His pardon: Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for (more properly therefore) she loved much (v. 47). It is not too obvious a point to state: Only


those new creatures, those who, pressed under with the knowledge of their guilt, have fled for refuge to the Lamb of God and there found redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, only these can worship and only these will worship. So it was here. She had received from Christ what she had not received, could not receive from any man—mercy. He had spoken pardon and peace to her soul. Her heart was too full with gratitude for unexpected, unmerited mercy, too full of joy and peace in believing, to do anything other than worship! Others were astonished at his doctrine (Matthew 7:28), were amazed at his words (John 7:46), marveled at his miracles (Matthew 9:33), but this woman worshipped because grace had wrought faith in the Messiah and shed abroad the love of God in her heart. The response of her soul was one with the confession of the Samaritan woman: ...see a man which told me all things that ever I did (and then frankly forgave them): is not this the Christ! Worship is the first act of the redeemed (Exodus 15:1-2), the native air of the Christian throughout his pilgrimage (Psalm 5:7), and the unceasing activity of the saints who encircle the throne in heaven at this hour (Revelation 5:9). And it is these ALONE that worship, because only these know the joy of forgiveness, the blessedness of grace, and the surpassing delight of His love. Many who, to every outward appearance, “bid fair for the Celestial City” and made a fair show in the flesh of honoring Christ were rather admon-ished by the Lord as self-servers (John 6:26), time-servers (Luke 9:59-60), and lovers of this world (Luke 18:22) but this woman, who spoke never a word, received from the Master the commendation of a true worshipper and was dismissed in (literally into) peace (Luke 7:50). Incontrovertible evidence, this, that true worshippers are those only which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3).

Having examined briefly her spirit and conduct, enough surely has been noticed to draw comparisons, and contrasts, with that which is popularly esteemed worship in our day. Much is made in our generation of the “circumstances” of “worship” with an em-phasis upon the indispensable necessity of creating the right environment for the event. What is really meant by this idea, prevalent in modern congregations, is planning and arranging external conditions and managing them during their execution so that the de-sired effect and emotional response is achieved. Just as the world has learned how to manipulate emotions of consumers, thea-ter-goers, etc., by the clever and well-timed use of various stimuli, so too, sadly, have many a religious leader learned (intended or not) how to move a crowd, bend their feel-ings and sway their passions with the right word, the right music, the right gesture, the right scene at just the right moment. More sadly, this is often true not only of those who are well-known in religious circles for such antics, but also in many a church that professes attachment to the “old paths.” Ar-tificially limiting what they call “worship” into those periods when the congregants are “up and doing,” such assemblies have then relentlessly increased these alternately fre-netic then mystical periods until they nearly consume the allotted time and the preaching of the word is all but forgotten. While we can readily discern such a trend in modern megachurches, have we failed to properly identify its leaven in some if not many of the practices of our own congregations? By little and little, liturgical calendars and recitations (dare we mention “Advent” season and “Easter”?), rituals and ceremo-nies (even our Baptist ones), performances pleasing to the eye and the ear, and music, yes, especially the music, have, like stars, shone ever brighter in the constellation that is called worship. They have all played their part in the nearly ubiquitous modern presup-


position15 that “worship” can be manufac-tured, conjured up by the imaginative com-bination and recombination of some or all of these parts that, like a confluence of streams, grows in depth and strength until it carries the “worshippers” away in a thrilling flood. Of course, the participants little realize they are being manipulated; and often those steering the watercourses are blissfully unaware that they are doing the manipulating! J. Colver Wightman, whom we have quoted in previous articles, has given us the key to un-derstanding this phenomenon when he quotes a fellow minister in his 1867 essay: What does all this mean? Has an inex-plicable mania seized upon a number of foppish young clergymen intent on a new sensation? This explanation would be false from beginning to end. The clergymen are often neither young nor foppish, nor is this movement a mania. The intention is to give the church a priesthood...16 We do not quote this statement lightly but the practical result of all such invention and manipulation is just that stated above—to re-establish a human priesthood in churches, whether it be the “priesthood” of the “worship leader” or “team” whose claim is that they are able to lead the assembly “in-to the presence of Jesus,”17 or the “priest-hood” of that pastor who—by hortatory ex-citements, emotional appeals, extorted “tes-timonies,” well-timed pleas for religious ver-bal gymnastics (“Amens,” “Hallelujahs” and other well-known religious sound bites), each and all bracketed with regular calls for yet another “special song”—assures his con-stituents that his only interest is in moving

15 We use this term purposely because the idea has become so firmly rooted in the ethos of modern religion that it is taken for granted, its adherents mostly unaware that their reasonings and actions on the subject assume the unquestioned legitimacy of this premise.

them to really “worship.” Since man’s de-fection in the garden he has ever been con-tent to allow other men, men immersed in the mysteries of each particular expression of idolatry, to invent for him ritual forms and formulas that, if executed with the requisite exactness and sincerity, ensure the desired result of “worship.” It is, unhappily, so even in many assemblies that profess themselves to be sound in the faith.

To re-establish a human priesthood in churches

How infinitely different is all this from the simple worship of this woman, a worship that we point out, again, Christ received and commended. Hers was the true worship of a redeemed soul that will be satisfied with nothing less than magnifying her Redeemer and a worship that needed nothing of carnal props. Thus, her worship forever condemns the gaudy performances of so much of mod-ern religion with its cavalcade of “moving parts” and purposeful contrivances to pro-duce an effect. The “effect” had been wrought in this woman’s heart ere she came to the Lord’s feet—a work of divine grace had made a saint of a sinner—and the natu-ral, yea, the inevitable result of that was worship! She came as a humble, penitent, forgiven sinner to that greater than Solomon and she communed with him of all that was in her heart. The tears, the kisses, the spent oil were the effusion of this soul which had been redeemed from the hand of the enemy and was glad to obey the psalmist’s exhortation to say so (Psalm 107:2). How long has it been,

16 S. G. Green, Public Worship, in J. Colver Wightman, “The Fundamental Law of Christian Worship,” The Baptist Quarterly, (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1867), 192. 17 The author has heard this very statement made by a “worship leader” in a recent religious spectacle.


dear readers, since we have seen, and ourselves entered into, a worship that began with real tears of godly repentance, that kissed the Lord’s feet by a real, willing sub-mission to His absolute and uncontested sovereignty over us, and that was consum-mated with the real outpouring of all that we are and have for the demonstration of our infinite obligation to His grace and mercy? Borrowing from Dr. Owen his observations on a different subject, we find it imminently applicable to the present case: “there are only a few footsteps now left of it in the visible church; some marks only that there it had been. It is as to its luster and splendor, re-tired to heaven, abiding in its power and effi-cacious exercise only in some corners of the earth and secret retirements.” Yet it was exactly this worship that this extraordinary woman left an example that we should fol-low spiritually.

We have filled church buildings with goats

Instead we have multitudes of modern Pharisees (like those in Luke 7), curious about this Jesus, who crowd into meeting houses expecting that He, through the reli-gious activities of the hour, will “work them up” into the heat of emotion that has come to be called worship so that they may pass judgment on whether it was sufficient to their liking. Should this fail of effect, they are quite ready, like Simon in Luke’s record, to judge Him no true prophet, else He would have gratified their curiosity and dispensed the necessary excitements. These are no dif-ferent from those in Matthew 12 who came with “Master” upon their lips but demands for signs in their bosom. And these will re-ceive the same answer from the Lord: there shall NO sign be given.

In short, the first and greatest difference between this woman and the multitudes de-scribed above is that she was a possessor of spiritual life by the gracious work of sover-eign mercy, and that she knew herself to be a redeemed sinner, while these others had neither this life nor this knowledge. To state it more simply, she was a sheep, these are goats, and only Christ’s sheep will magnify the Redeemer, abase themselves, and rejoice in superabounding mercy, for they alone have a living spiritual principle dwelling within them that is the root and source of such worship. This, THIS is where we have stumbled at the threshold for generations now. We have filled church buildings with goats and then labored to exhaustion to extract worship from those who know nothing of redemption. Here is the juncture of defective doctrine and unsound practice. A theology that makes salvation and conversion a matter of merely mumbling a few flattering words about the Savior has amassed to us multitudes of fans for our religious team, but who know nothing of a real work of grace in their soul. Yet they have been given the place and name of Christian in many a church, and in return for the favor they have fundamentally changed the nature and order of worship. The unre-generate have no interest in humbling themselves in repentance, kissing the feet of a sovereign Savior, or pouring out all they are and have in solemn joy for unmerited mercy. They do, however, take delight in being en-tertained, in participatory performances, and rejoicing in their ability to work themselves into an emotional frenzy. This sad reality goes very far towards explaining how it is that churches have moved so far, and so quickly, away from the Biblical foundations and faithful practice of our spiritual forefathers. Our Baptist ances-tors took great pains to thoroughly examine every profession before consideration was given to admitting an individual into the


covenant body.18 By so doing they prevented much evil in the form of false professors from entering the church. Were they perfect in their examinations? Their own humble acknowledgements in their histories affirm they were not, but will we twist this into an excuse that simply accepting a few pious words from a smiling applicant is sufficient to ensure wolves are prevented from coming among the flock? The history of recent gen-erations of the Church is ample evidence of the foolhardiness of that practice. As startling as it may be to conclude that the unregenerate have been “received into membership” in our churches in staggering numbers and that they have profoundly in-fluenced our turning aside from the worship exemplified by the woman of Luke 7, there is another, equally searching principle that must be considered. We have noted repeatedly that the character of this other “worship,” this worship not conformable to Christ’s institution and this woman’s example, demands the primacy of the external, the primacy of doing rather than of being (hence the painful accuracy of that modern phrase, to “do worship”). Liturgical recitations, invented ceremonies and rites, musical performances, music as mystical channel to the divine, and a thousand other beside are all just so much religious activity for the senses. We may go further and state categorically that all these things are artificial, they are artifices contrived as a cause that produces worship and procures merit of the divine favor. True worship, spiritual worship is an effect, a response.

18 As an example of such examinations the reader is urged to a serious study, in Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, of the questioning of Christian by Watchful the Porter, Discretion, Prudence, Piety, and Charity BEFORE he was ever admitted to the House Beautiful.* The questions asked and answers returned would form a very useful guide for re-establishing a more searching, and Biblical, inquiry

We are far from arguing that there is no external component to worship. We sing and pray with our voice, we hear the word preached with our ears, we partake in the Lord’s Supper with all our senses, we give offerings out of our substance. But for any and all of these to be true worship they must proceed from the response to a real work of grace in the heart. Wightman again offers insight on this principle: Worship...consists of spiritual addresses and responses between God and man...Preaching viewed as worship...is the response of the preacher to the word of God; if the congregation worship also, they join in the spiritual response of the preacher and endorse the Divine testimony with the seal of faith. Prayer as petition is the response of the heart to the Divine promises apprehended and believed; thanksgiving and praise are the replies which grateful hearts return for mercies and joys received...The Lord’s Supper is the authorized response of baptized believers to the doctrine of the atonement...[who] declare to God in the presence of each other, ‘We live by this broken body and shed blood of Jesus Christ.’19 The singular question to be asked of the advocates of these artificialities is this: can they worship without them. The reality is, that to them all these things are worship. They can no more conceive of “worship” without them than they can conceive of sun-shine without the sun. Strip away, layer by layer, one by one all these props; and once

into those who present themselves to our churches for admission—perhaps also for those who have already been admitted under the present defective but all too popular methodology.* Thomas Scott’s footnote on this scene (found in some 19th century editions) is also highly instructive. 19 Wightman, 211-212.


they are all gone, such worshippers would be wholly unable to worship. How very unlike this woman in Luke’s record! She needed nothing but her whole soul and herself in the Master’s presence to offer a worship that infinitely exceeds all the human devices that so permeate our generation. While we have focused on our modern culture this is no new obsession. The pomp of Roman Catholicism held sway over the minds and hearts of Europe for more than a millennium, and even after the light of the Reformation dawned it was not long before men clamored again for the seen and felt in their “worship.” Rev. Charles Stanford, in an 1870 lecture to his Baptist brethren in England, warned of the insidious nature of such demands. Speaking of the desire for “improvement” in the public worship of their churches he reflects: It would not be an improvement, I think, to aspire after a more showy, ornate and expensive mode of worship...For the de-scendants of Henry Jessey, William Kiffin, or John Bunyan to think it so, and to find themselves engaged in grave inquiry as to whether it would be right or wrong to adopt forms of worship that fascinate sensation, is an idea that excites a smile...We are told that we ought to adapt ourselves to the age we live in, and that the age demands that religion, to be popular, must be modally impressive; that without the charm of this enchantment we suffer much disadvantage; that our standards will be deserted by our children and will repel strangers; that the accidents of worship may be as the magnetic point, attracting tens of thousands to our denomination, and mediately to Christ Himself, or as the repellent pole of the magnet, driving them back for ever from all Christian influences; that using the means we decline to use, 20 Charles Stanford, “On Improvement in the Mode of Public Worship,” A Paper Read at the Annual

Romanists and Ritualists gain ground, that crowds are drawn to their churches by the passionate magic of music, the concert of colors, or the spell of liturgical perfection, and why should we not employ similar agencies to bring the same class within the hearing of a sound Gospel?20 Had we not said that Reverend Stanford was speaking in 1870, we might think his description a faithful portrait of our own times. His lament demonstrates that little has changed in the intervening 150 years. Yet he goes further to point out the futility of such arguments as he described: We question the wisdom of such advice. We would rather not try to cast out ritualism by ritualism. If the church could be the rival of the theater, and if our services could command the same elements of imaginative and emotional excitement, perhaps mul-titudes would come on Sundays to the house of prayer as, at other times, they frequent the place of amusement, simply to escape from thought, to enjoy variety, and to sharpen sensation; but we could hardly reckon such effects among the revivals of worship or the victories of truth.21 The simple, spiritual worship of this woman at Christ’s feet is a perpetual rebuke to all who would add to the Lord’s institution and the Apostle’s example. She came with only that He would commend: a renewed heart, sensible of its infinite debt to grace and overflowing with gratitude for forgiveness, magnifying the Savior and abasing herself. Nothing else is needed or authorized. A return to such a worship in our churches would be the herald, to use Reverend Stanford’s words, of “the revivals of worship and victories of truth.”

Session of the Baptist Union, 1870, London: Yates and Alexander, 3-4. 21 Stanford, 4.


Editor’s Note: To assist in the mainte-nance of hymnody in our local congrega-tions, brief biographies of sacred hymn-writers will be included—less renowned sprinkled among the renowned—with our prayer for your richest blessings in the coming New Year. Josiah Miller wrote in the preface of his second edition of Singers and Songs of the Church, that it was hoped that the labor required for the substantial enlargement of the second edition would be valued by the general reader, and “especially by the class who take delight in Hymns and Hymnology.” He continued in his note that the “familiar words” of the hymns sung by Christians in weekly worship influence the “daily and most sacred feelings” and interweave “themselves in the very fabric of their spiritual nature.”

And with that motivation before him, Mr. Miller stated: “It is the object of this work to provide such information of the authors and origin of our hymns as will add to the pleasure and advantage of private devotion and public worship.” Such a noble objective cannot be improved upon nor stated with any more perspicuity. That was written in March 1869. This is written in January 2018. The objective remains the same.

22 Presbyterian, s.v. “A Chapter in Hymnology,” The Christian Treasury, (Edinburgh: Johnstone, Hunter & Co., 1857), 146.

My heart, my life, my tongue are Thine

Anne Steele (1716-1778)

The private life of Anne Steele re-mained, for the most part, stored away in the obscurity of the Angus Library, Regent’s Park College, Oxford until the publication of Timothy Whelan’s book Nonconformist Women Writers, 1720-1840 in 2011. The Christian Treasury published in 1857, noted:

It is surprising how few biographical details exist respecting one whose compositions are so familiar to English and American Christians, and whose skill as a writer of sacred lyrics associates her with Watts, and Newton, and Cowper, and Dod-dridge. No biographical dictionary we have ever seen devotes a line to the record of her uneventful life. The extensive English biblio-graphical works do not deign to name her among English authors. Her unpretending volumes, filled with only the devout breath-ings and heavenly aspirations of a contem-plative mind, and expressing, in their con-fessions, their praises, and their prayers, only the experience of a suffering but patient and trustful Christian, could not attract their notice. 22

Precious Jewels Anne Steele


Life is a journey, heav’n my home

Devout Baptist Family In 1720, Anne Froude Steele died in

childbirth, leaving her husband William, a timber merchant and Particular Baptist pastor, with a young son and infant daughter. Three years later, Anne Cator Steele became little Anne’s step-mother. Her father was described by the family friend Dr. Caleb Evans (1737-1791)23 in his brief biography of Anne (1780) as “a dissenting minister, a man of primitive piety, the strictest integrity and benevolence, and the most amiable simplicity of manners. He was for many years the affectionate and faithful pastor of an affectionate and harmonious congregation at Broughton in Hampshire…”24

Nuggets of information from the lives of the Particular Baptist family and community were recorded in the second Mrs. Steele’s diary. Anne, it is learned, attended Kathern Hurn’s boarding school for young ladies at Trowbridge. Mrs. Hurn’s husband served as deacon in the Baptist chapel where many of the Froudes, Cators, and Cottles—all Steele relatives—worshiped. Here Anne boarded with her cousin Grace Cottle; but it was while a student here, that she first contracted a fever that was a malady afflicting her for life, along with other ailments that would contribute to her eventual confinement in later life.25

Anne briefly attended an Anglican finishing school in Salisbury Cathedral Close; but with her return, she lived at home in Broughton for the remainder of her life.

23 Dr. Caleb Evans and a group of Particular Baptist ministers and laymen founded the Bristol Education Society in June 1770 for the education of Baptist ministers. 24 Theodosia, The Works of Mrs. Anne Steele, Complete in Two Volumes, (Boston: Munroe, Francis, & Parker, 1808), 6-8.

Joseph Ivimey wrote in his History of the English Baptists (1830) that Anne had become engaged to Mr. James Elcomb in 1737, who drowned the day prior to their wedding; whereupon, Anne devoted her remaining life to “works of piety and benevolence.” But Caleb Evans, in the biographical preface to his 1808 reprinting of her poems, failed to mention any such incident. As a family friend, Dr. Evans was, no doubt, aware that the supposed engagement had never actually been formalized.

In 1742, Anne received solicitations from the Baptist pastor Benjamin Beddome, who like Anne, would gain renown for his hymns. But she remained single, devoting herself to writing. After she was prevailed upon by many pious friends to publish her poems, the first volumes of her poems and hymns were printed in 1760. Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional in two volumes appeared under the pseudonym Theodosia. The profits of her publications were all donated to charity, specifically the Bristol Education Society.

Dr. Evans explained to the public that since Miss Steele spent the “most part” of her life in retirement in a peaceful village, it could not be expected for such a life to furnish a “variety of incidents” as those that would arise in the lives of those who “moved in circles of greater activity.” It was the “duties of friendship and religion” that had occupied her time and the “pleasures of both constituted her delight.” He testified that although the life of Miss Steele was punctuated by “uncommon and agonizing pains” in the latter part of her life, she was

25 One biographical account labeled this fever as “tertian malaria.” It is possible that she contracted a type of malaria that, improperly treated, caused a chronic infection or other complications.


never deprived of her native “cheerfulness of disposition.” He wrote of her suffering:

In every short interval of abated suffering, she would in a variety of ways, as well as by her enlivening conversation, give pleasure to all around her. Her life was a life of unaffected humility, warm benevolence, sincere friendship, and genuine devotion. A life, which it is not easy truly to describe, or faithfully to imitate.26 Such tranquil serenity of Anne’s idyllic village life, encompassed by extended family and churches of common faith dotting the countryside seemed to confound students of hymnody. How could compositions of such profound magnitude flow from a heart not ravaged by affliction? Could a woman of such genteel and sheltered circumstances plumb the depths of the riches of Scripture? But Anne Steele was indisputably the hymnist of the Particular Baptists. From the time of publication, her hymns could be found in multiples among the most prominent hymnals of the various denominations.

It is interesting to observe the proportion which the fame of this humble Christian bears to her usefulness. Her life was spent in unnoticed and unrecorded deeds of benevolence, in pious filial ministrations to an aged father, and in the daily deaths of a protracted illness. Unlike some other sacred lyrists, she has found no biographer. Perhaps the current of her life flowed too smoothly, and through scenes too tame and uninteresting, to invite any one to follow it. She founded no church, built no chapel, went on no foreign mission—she only wrote a few sweet hymns.27

26 Theodosia, The Works of Mrs. Anne Steele, Complete in Two Volumes, (Boston: Munroe, Francis, & Parker, 1808), 7-8. 27 The Christian Treasury, “A Chapter in Hymnology,” 147.

My Saviour God—and can I call Thee mine?

Dr. Caleb attributed the beauty of her hymns to her “capacious soaring mind.” Anne had been nurtured by pious parents, who, wisely, had provided the best academic education available for Anne and her sister. Anne’s life was spent under the faithful preaching of her devout father and like-minded preachers. She had been surrounded by pious family and friends, united by the same precious denominational calling; and the peaceful constancy of her life had nourished the fertility of her soaring mind and cultivated the rich fruits of hymns that remain consoling and comforting today. Penning her hymns was her obedient service to her Lord. She was gifted, and she was faithful in her calling in the kingdom work.

But in thus using the poetical talents which she recognized as divinely given, she did that which exceeds in importance and value the works of many who have filled a more conspicuous place in the history of the church and the world. Her usefulness has far distanced her fame. She exerts an influence where her history is unknown.28

The death of her father, as Dr. Caleb affirmed, deeply affected Anne. He wrote: “Her health was never firm, but the death of her honoured father, to whom she was united by the strongest ties of affectionate duty and gratitude, gave such a shock to her feeble frame, that she never entirely recovered it…”29 Words from the pen of the sorrowing daughter reflect the godliness of mind and purpose of father and child:

28 Ibid. 29 Theodosia, The Works of Mrs. Anne Steele, Complete in Two Volumes, 6.


What cannot love omnipotent effect? Ah! now one tender, one endearing tie That held me down to earth, death has

torn off, And with it rent my heart strings—bid

me come, To Thee my refuge; prostrate at Thy

feet, O bid me say, with faith and humble

hope, Heal gracious Father, heal my bleeding

heart! Thy healing hand alone can bring relief

For woes like mine; can bring what most I want,

An humble resignation to Thy will. How hard the lesson! (yet it must be

learn’d) With full consent to say, “Thy will be

done.”30

Safe lead me through this world of night

As the last years of her declining health ended her earthly tenure, enfolding her with excruciating pain, her mind, as confirmed by her friend Dr. Caleb, remained “perfectly serene.” He described the scene as “when the interesting hour came, she welcomed its arrival,” and uttered not a murmur; but she was “all resignation, peace, and holy joy.” Her departure evoked the same tranquility as had her life:

She took the most affectionate leave of her weeping friends around her, and at length, the happy moment of her dismission arriving, she closed her eyes, and with these animating words on her dying lips, “I know that my Redeemer liveth,” gently fell asleep in Jesus.31 30 Ibid., 7. 31 Ibid.

Departing the painful tethers of this world, she left remaining behind her hymns—a cloak of double blessing to all whose blessed hap it is to find them!

She ministers by many a sick-bed. She furnishes the songs in many a night of affliction. Every Sabbath hears her hymns in a hundred sanctuaries. The words which she wrote in those tedious years of pain are sung or read in a thousand closets. Men use her hymns who never heard her name; and many a one has uttered his penitence or his desires in language whose author he never knew until he joined with her in higher and nobler songs before the throne of God.32

So engraved upon her tombstone are

etched the words resounding through the ages:

Silent the lyre, and dumb the tuneful tongue,

That sung on earth her great Redeemer’s praise;

But now in heaven she joins the angelic song,

In more harmonious, more exalted lays.33

Death and Heaven I

Oft have I said, with inward sighs, I find no solid good below;

Earth's fairest scenes but cheat my eyes, Her pleasure is but painted woe.

II Then why, my soul, so loth to leave

These seats of vanity and care? Why do I thus to trifles cleave,

And feed on chaff, and grasp the air? III

There is a world all fair and bright;

32 The Christian Treasury, “A Chapter in Hymnology,” 147. 33 Theodosia, 8.


But clouds and darkness dwell between, The sable veil obstructs my sight,

And hides the lovely, distant scene. IV

Whene'er I look with frighted eyes On death's impenetrable shade, Alas! what gloomy horrors rise,

And all my trembling frame invade! V

O death, frail nature's dreaded foe, Thy frown with terror fills my heart;

How shall I bear the fatal blow, Which must my soul and body part?

VI 'Tis sin which arms his dreadful frown,

This only points his deadly sting; My sins which throw this gloom around

And all these shocking terrors bring. VII

O could I know my sins forgiv'n, Soon would these terrors disappear;

Then should I see a glimpse of heav'n. And look on death without a fear.

VIII Jesus, my Saviour, and my God, To thee my trembling spirit flies;

Thy merits, thy atoning blood, On this alone my soul relies.

IX O let thy love's all-pow'rful ray

With pleasing force, divine control, Arise, and chase these clouds away, And shine around my doubting soul.

X Then shall I change the mournful strain, And bid my thoughts and hopes arise,

Above these gloomy seats of pain, To glorious worlds beyond the skies.

XI With cheerful heart I then shall sing,

And triumph o'er my vanquish'd foe— O death, where is thy pointed sting?

My Saviour wards the fatal blow. XII

O when will that illustrious day, When will that blissful moment come,

That shall my weary soul convey Safe to her everlasting home?

XIII Then shall I leave these fetters here, And upward rise to joys unknown; And call, without an anxious fear,

The fair inheritance my own. XIV

Adieu to all terrestrial things; Come, bear me through the starry road, Bright Seraphs, on your soaring wings,

To see my Saviour, and my God. Anne Steele

Pardoning Love Jeremiah 3:22; Hosea 14:4

I

How oft, alas, this wretched heart Has wander’d from the Lord!

How oft my roving thoughts depart, Forgetful of His word.

II Yet sov’reign mercy calls, Return;

Dear Lord, and may I come? My vile ingratitude I mourn; Oh take the wand’rer home.

III And canst Thou, wilt Thou yet forgive,

And bid my crimes remove? And shall a pardon’d rebel live To speak Thy wond’rous love?

IV Almighty grace, Thy healing pow’r

How glorious, how divine! That can to bliss and life restore

So vile a heart as mine. V

Thy pardoning love, so free, so sweet, Dear Saviour, I adore;

O keep me at Thy sacred feet, And let me rove no more.

Anne Steele


Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous

1 Peter 3:8

Ironically, to do justice to this subject here would be impolite. The subject of manners raises many important questions regarding cultural custom, traditions and their relation to doctrines, the reasonable boundaries of public and private passions, class distinctions, objective standards for subjective offenses, gender roles and capacities, and the role of law in matters of etiquette, to name only some! Far too much time would be required to delve into these things. Any of these aspects would be worthy of your study, but for the present I hope only to make a brief case for the obligation to courtesy in the Christian life. I believe this is a much-neglected subject among Christians, and increasingly so with each generation. Most Christians would agree, in theory, that courtesy ought to be a part of the Christian life. But one must ask what that courtesy ought to look like. Most commonly we judge the goodness of our manners by one of two standards. Either we define good manners as simply how we have a habit of acting (after all, If I’m doing it, it must be okay!); or we call good manners ‘what Mom

and Dad taught me’; and we act out these manners without ever examining them in the light of Scripture. Are you behaving courteously, because you say so? Or does the Scripture approve of your habits? I would wager these are tough questions for many of us, including myself. Now, before we go any further, let me be clear about some things. I want to be sure that my efforts to earnestly recommend biblical courtesy to you are not harmed by your assuming I am being narrow-minded about cultural differences or old-fashioned in ideas or a poor logician by assuming a particular view of the subject just because it is friendly to my own habits. In other words, I want you to know that I am not defending a certain standard simply because it is close to my own habits. I am well aware there is such a thing as cultural context and that it plays much into the consideration of “good” manners. I also agree that just because something is the way it is in my culture, it does not necessarily make it right in God’s eyes.

Are please and thank you really in the Bible?

Good Manners: A Mark of Pure Religion

W. Luke Suttles is the author of several Gospel tracts and booklets. This article was first presented in sermon form. Both the tracts and sermon audio are available from

www.cowetaparticularbaptist.org.


Furthermore, for our excessively modern and juvenile church today, because a man like myself is “old-fashioned” in many doctrinal or socio-political aspects, it does not have to mean that my arguments for manners commonly associated with a previous era are fatally biased and therefore only have the weight of individual opinion. I will endeavor to show that good manners are not simply a matter of opinion but are founded upon eternal principles and expressive of notions that are fundamental to the Christian faith throughout time. The question is: Are “please and thank you,” “yes sir and no sir,” “yes ma’am and no ma’am,” etc. really in the Bible? More to the point, do the Victorian manners practiced by our Southern ancestors, and, prior to that, those of Christian Europeans prior to the Victorian era, really model Bible principles? I would argue that, precisely because they were built upon Scriptural principles worked out in very refined cultures, they are among the finest examples to be found in history of truly good manners. I am taking for granted that these old manners in our culture ought to be faithfully revived among us in whatever ways we have departed from them. I would argue, further, that, while the collection of manners considered good may vary in form from this Victorian model somewhat from culture to culture, a study of refined cultures will reveal that every such culture has its equivalent courteous practices, more or less. The less refined the culture in learning and religion, the less refined its manners will be, too. And what is true of culture is true of a person. The less refined one’s learning and heart religion, so too, will their manners be more coarse and unpleasant. I would argue, finally, that in America as a whole, while we have an enviable heritage of Christian culture, less and less may be found among us to indicate that fact. In the way of manners, we are a rude and indecent people becoming worse so by the day. Barely

anything is left among us of gentlemanly chivalry or genteel femininity. Shamefully, church folk often lead the way. From child to grandparent, we are so many self-centered, disrespectful, inconsiderate people. Good old manners are hard to find. But what are good manners anyway?

The Foundations. The answer is really in the question. Everyone has manners—good ones or bad ones. But to begin to identify good manners requires coming to terms with what good is. All manners must answer to God’s Word. By the principles set out in His Word we may sort out which manners need to go and which manners are worth keeping. Manners themselves in any culture are just behavioral customs. No verse in the Bible will say directly, for example, thou shalt open a door for a lady or speak when spoken to. But what Scripture does is illuminate for us whether our customs are rooted in goodness or not. If they are rooted in goodness, as the Bible calls goodness, then we are obliged to practice them (which means it is not a matter of opinion). If they are good, Christians will want to practice them; for the fruit of the Spirit is goodness (Galatians 5:22). If we do not have manners that are supportive of goodness, as the Bible calls goodness, we need to develop them promptly. In a word, then, and at the risk of over-simplification, good manners are cultural customs that promote godliness among us.

thou shalt open a door for a lady or speak when spoken

to

This is what the apostle had in mind in our passage (1 Peter 3:8). A study of the Greek in this passage informs us that what is


in mind is behavior towards one another that is kindly-minded or courteous. Then, for help with our English we refer to Mr. Webster. He informs us that to be courteous is to be polite, civil, graceful, elegant, and complaisant (a lovely old word meaning pleasing in manners). So then, the Lord is clearly not okay with us being rude. We have at least one simple command to the contrary. But what other Bible concepts underpin the formation and practice of good manners? Consider these things, understanding that the order given here is not intended to suggest an order of importance.

Considerations from Scripture. 1. Humility.

Except where good manners are only being used to gain an advantage for an otherwise haughty person, there is a direct relationship between genuine courtesy and humility. Courteousness comes easily to someone who is not afflicted with a high view of themselves. Arrogant people can’t seem to understand why they should be bothered with the demands of civility, especially when there is often little perceived advantage in it for them. Immediately after making the sweeping admonition “all of you be subject one to another”, the very language of service and kindness, Peter (1 Peter 5:5) goes on, “and be clothed with humility”; for without a spirit of meekness, performing the offices of love to other people becomes exceedingly difficult. Good manners are a symptom of humility. Is courtesy hard for you? Then pride likely isn’t. 2. Respect. I speak of a fundamental respect of other persons as image bearers of God. The Christian religion, unlike any other religion in the world, has had this basic notion at its core—the sanctity of every human life.

Biblical courtesy is a natural outworking of respect for human beings.

Unforgiving people strain to be genuinely courteous

Every person, regardless of how nasty or unkind they may be, has an inherent value as a possessor of the sacred gift of life and an image bearer of God. This is so because God has ordered it so. A Christian, of all people, ought to be motivated to courtesy on these grounds alone, if no other. It is this notion, among others, that is behind the commands to bless those that curse you (Luke 6:27) and never to render evil for evil but rather blessing (1 Peter 3:9). However badly God’s other creatures may be acting, they are still and yet God’s creatures. Our being rude to people can often be a case of us seeking to exercise a form of punishment over creatures not really under our authority. 3. Self-denial. Romans 12:10 instructs us to prefer one another above ourselves. Biblical manners are a practical outworking of this instruction, because biblical manners take of our time and care to honor another, even if for only a moment and only in a small way. The issue for some is that this type of giving requires a denial of self. It can actually take some energy and thought to be courteous, and some are frankly just too lazy or selfish to be polite. On the other hand, one familiar with the way of a disciple struggles little to prefer others in the form of good manners. 4. Forgiveness.

How is forgiveness related to courtesy, one may wonder? Just in this way. As sinful creatures, we are habitually setting ourselves at odds with others. Even with those we love,


we are always doing irritating or offensive things so that to have good manners may often require covering a multitude of differences among us, both small and great. Unforgiving people strain to be genuinely courteous while a generally forgiving spirit is an easy bedfellow with sincere politeness. 5. Beauty. Good manners are endearing. Genuine courteousness, unstained by pretend piety or begrudging obedience, can single-handedly recommend an entire person to the world. Courteousness makes way for peace. It promotes communion. It makes mutual respect easy. It leans against a violent world with the hand of gentleness. It tills a straight furrow to lay some gospel seeds. It imitates the kindly softness of the Savior among fallen men. For all these reasons and more, courtesy is lovely. And God loves beauty. No wonder that He directs us to spend time thinking about whatever things are lovely (Philippians 4:8). These are those things, Dr. Gill says, “which serve to cultivate and increase love, friendship, and amity among men; and which things also are grateful to God and lovely in His sight, in opposition to all contention, strife, wrath, and hatred”34. We may rest assured then that as courtesy promotes loveliness in God’s creation so God likes it and will bless it. Is this not motivation to godly manners? 6. Reputation (witness) Manners are handmaids of reputation. Tell me of a significant man or woman in history, good or bad, about whom we may talk for long without speaking of their habit of manner? A person’s civility or lack thereof is a stamp upon their life that is inseparable from their person in the 34 John Gill, The Baptist Commentary Series, Vol.9, (Arkansas: The Baptist Standard Bearer, Inc., 1989), p. 158.

estimation of the beholder. In short, like it or not, your manners, good or bad, always figure into another person’s view of you. For a Christian, the significance of this should be obvious. “A good name is better than precious ointment,” says the preacher (Ecclesiastes 7:1). Your manners ought to be impeccable as they figure largely into making a way for you as you fish for souls. Being “without rebuke” (Philippians 2:15) among men, speak with your manners; and they will often hear your message. 7. Place.

Finally, considering motivations and obligations for courtesy, I submit to you that God would have us to recognize place. Each of us occupies a different place in life, in the providence of God. Contrary to the godless egalitarianism of the times, this is perfectly okay! Our social structure today assumes, says the late Dr. Dabney, that “all men are born free and equal” and that the social fabric is “constituted of individuals naturally absolute and sovereign” and defines “each one’s natural liberty as freedom to do whatever he wishes.”35 But the Bible knows of no such environment. Some are rich; some are poor. Some are owners; some are employees. Some are citizens; some are rulers. Some are thinkers; some are not. Some are slow; some are fast. Some are parents; some are children. Some are strong; some are weak. Some are young; some are old. Some are men; some are women. Some are free; some are not. And it is exactly as God would have it to be. There are heads and arms and feet, says the apostle (1 Corinthians 12). And for all of time, every man’s attempt to eradicate these differences has only ever ended in debasing and tragic

35 R.L. Dabney, Anti-Biblical Theories of Rights, (Virginia: Society for Biblical and Southern Studies, 2007), p. 10.


failure; for where God has made a difference, there will be a difference. Inasmuch as we endeavor to level a playing field that the Grand Umpire has unleveled we play at once both a fool and a felon. It is not for us to eradicate place. It is for us to recognize it and to conduct ourselves prudently and morally within its confines. Manners—real biblical courtesy—is con-ducive to peace in large part because it recognizes this very fact; and, far from pulling against the Creator’s harnesses, it runs with them.

We are inclined to treat our children as body servants or

toddlers forever

Every person in every place has unique obligations to every other person according to the place they occupy, but they all share in common the requirement for courtesy. Godly manners recognize that no person anywhere at any time is free to act independently of other people without consideration of place. We are obliged to know our places and conduct ourselves accordingly. You do notice, I hope, that I did not say we are obliged to make sure others know their place and respect ours. We are often interested in place only as much as it means someone else respecting us. But God is not amused by our one-way morality.

Scripture Examples. There are many instances in the Scripture which may inspire us to refine our courtesy. We would be remiss at this point not to remind ourselves of the manner of the Savior with His Father. At all times, though He was the Son of God, He yet acted the part of a Son. So, we find Him say, “Father, if it please you. Father, Thy will be done. Father, I thank you. Father, glorify Thyself.”

Knowing His place in the economy of salvation, He acted accordingly. When we think of our civil leaders, do we imagine that taxes are the only thing in mind when we are told to render to Caesar “the things that are his”? (Luke 20:22) Did the same Bible not also say, “Curse not the king, no not in thy thought” (Ecclesiastes 10:20) and “My son, fear thou the Lord and the king” (Proverbs 24:21)? The fact that our civil leaders may act like animals is no cause for us to treat them as such in our manner.

Decent civility is a great ornament to piety

The same may be said for our ecclesiastical offices. There is an honor inherent in the place ordained which deserves our civility even where the office holder is inadequate or unfaithful. Let elders that oversee well be counted worthy of double honor, says the apostle, (1 Timothy 5:17). Any are worthy of honor, by virtue of their place. Those that oversee well, are worthy of double honor. Then, honor thy father and thy mother! (Ephesians 6:2) The great practice field for all courtesy is in the home. The trial of honoring parents early on proves the honor that will be shown to others, or not. We act as though there is an expiration upon the command. As if, our being over 20 suddenly puts us on an equal footing with our parents, or any of our elders for that matter! Or perhaps we imagine that if our parents are less than honorable or accomplished or religious or wealthy or educated—or just less than the way we would like them to be—that the commandment of God lapses. Honor thy father and thy mother means that and nothing else! God gave no exceptions or qualifications to the command. We never outgrow its obligations. Parents


never escape its privileges. It is the first commandment with promise, clearly indicating its place in God’s heart. If your courtesy here is lacking, you are almost certainly the worse for it in every other relationship; for if you cannot find it in you to be civil to parents, you will only ever show a counterfeit and fragile kindness to anyone else since your cherished self-exaltation will be always lurking in the background. On the other hand, where we would have a one-way street, God has made it two. For in the following verse (Ephesians 6:4) we read, “ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath,” clearly indicating a parental responsibility to honor those under them, as well. We are inclined to treat our children as body servants or toddlers forever, while it behooves us rather to remember that we are always to be striving for their maturation in all things, a process which requires, inevitably, that we treat them as the thing that we would have them to be—independent and responsible. How better to provoke a child of any age than by being a condescending snark to them? Be courteous and so avoid wrath! And all of this is not even to touch the matters of work relationships and civil obligations to peers, all of which are easily addressed in Paul’s admonitions to laborers and masters and servants. No matter the relationship, the admonitions of Scripture compel us to be a civil people—a people of decorum, a people of good manners. No matter the relationship, the examples of Scripture inspire us to be a people of courtesy. Observe Christ, washing the feet of disciples (John 13), looking to the needs of the crowds (Luke 9) and giving His life for sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). Observe the mighty Solomon—how he stood for his mother, and bowed (1 Kings 2:19). Observe 36 Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary, (Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1991), p. 93.

Abraham, having seen three men approaching in the heat of the day. “When he saw them, he ran to meet them…and bowed himself.” (Genesis 18:1-2) You need to know that Abraham was then 99 years old! Says Mr. Henry, he did so “in a most obliging manner, and with all due courtesy.” Then, says Mr. Henry, “Religion does not destroy, but improve, good manners, and teaches us to honor all men. Decent civility is a great ornament to piety.”36 I leave you with the challenge of the venerable apostle James (3:13): Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. If I may paraphrase: You that ought to know better than the world, prove it in the way that you act towards others. Be courteous.

I

My Maker and my King, To Thee my all I owe;

Thy sovereign bounty is the spring Whence all my blessings flow.

II

The creature of Thy hand, On thee alone I live;

My God, Thy benefits demand More praise than I can give.

III

Lord, what can I impart, When all is Thine before?

Thy love demands a thankful heart, The gift, alas! how poor!

Anne Steele


Editor’s Note: This article is adapted from the audio entitled Dorcas: A Woman of Service presented in a ladies’ class. Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: This woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did…and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.

Acts 9:36-41

Who is Tabitha? Is she Dorcas? It was common in the early days of the

New Testament church—because the Greeks and then the Romans had ruled over that part of the world—that many Jews had both Greek and Hebrew names. Her Hebrew name Tabitha means beauty and grace, derived from the Aramaic word gazelle and translated into the Greek name Dorcas which also meant gazelle. Dorcas, then, by virtue of her name should have been an emblem of beauty and grace. Dorcas lived in the city of Joppa, the large, coastal city now known as Jaffa. The city lay within the boundary of the tribe of Dan’s inheritance and had been built on a hill so high that it is said that the city of Jerusalem

37 Herbert Lockyer, All the Women of the Bible, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 46-47.

could be seen forty miles away. It was from Joppa that Jonah departed bound on his infamous journey to Tarshish. Peter would also lodge in Joppa at the house of Simon the tanner and would have his vision of the clean and unclean animals. (Acts 10:5-18) The family of Dorcas was unknown, and the church in Joppa was purported to have originated from the ministry of Philip the Evangelist. Nothing is known of the salvation of Dorcas nor of her membership in that local assembly other than reference is made to her as a “certain disciple” and that “she was full of good works.” But, no doubt, her works were “good” because they were the result of a heart of grace.

Herbert Lockyer wrote: “…there are many public-spirited women who, with humanitarian ideals, are engaged in various relief activities, and whose sole object is to do good. But they are not actuated by Christ.”37 Dr. Lockyer accentuated the note on her good works as those “which she did.” He suggested that too many people talk about good works but never do anything. Some propose projects, but leave others to do the work. But Dorcas planned and worked to relieve the poor—she knew what she could do and did it.

Coats, Mites, and Footprints

Dr. Teresa Suttles is a pastor’s wife and teacher holding graduate degrees in Christian Education and Christianity and Culture. She has published six books and numerous articles.


We do not know how she was financially able to provide for widows; but evidently, she was more financially secure than those other widows gathered around her deathbed. Perhaps, she had been a widow herself. In those days, women typically had no means of providing for themselves. Although Lydia may be held up as a paradigm of self-employed women in that time, most women were destitute if provisions had not been made for them by a husband, son, or male relative. The record of the ministry in the Jerusalem church to care for widows is recorded in Acts 6:1; and in I Timothy 5:16, Paul gave instruction to the local churches for the care of widows.

Dorcas had been well-known. It was obvious that her testimony as a giving disciple of the church in Joppa had made her an integral part of the community; she was mourned by the widows—those whom she had clothed. But her life of giving had taught others by example, and gathered together those who had benefitted by her good works.

The widows prepared her and laid her upon the bed. Interestingly, however, they did not anoint her with oil, as was the custom to prepare the body for burial. In their grief, they, too, did a good work—by sending to Peter!

They had heard Peter was in the near-by village of Lydda, (about six to eight miles away); and no doubt, they had heard over in Joppa that Peter had healed Aeneas since all that dwelt at Lydda and Saron saw him, and turned to the Lord (Acts 9:35). Two men were dispatched to Lydda to make an urgent request for Peter to come—that he would not delay to come to them. In other words, hurry up! But the urgency was not to conduct the funeral.

There’s no indication that Peter had known this “certain disciple” in Joppa who 38 Charles Simeon, Expository Outlines on the Whole Bible, Vol. 14, (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1988), 363.

was “full of good works.” Yet, what must he have thought when two breathless men arrived, summoning him to Joppa. But he knew when he entered the death-chamber filled with weeping women. Simeon understood that “the tears of the godly, and the lamentations of the poor, are the noblest monuments that departed worth can have.”38 No hired mourners were needed to wail for this departed one.

So as Peter entered the room, the grieving widows gathered around the bed held up the garments made for them by Dorcas. This was a living testimony to Peter of the many good works of the woman lying in death upon the bed. Lockyer believed this presentation had a two-fold effect. When Dorcas was raised from the dead, her mourners were comforted by mercy. Their beloved friend was restored to them, and Dorcas herself was enabled to return to her life of good works.

But secondly, throughout the village of Joppa and beyond, the news spread of this remarkable event that a disciple of Christ was raised from the dead! This resurrection was the verification of the Christian faith—that the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament was the Resurrection. (Isaiah 25:8) He had called Lazarus forth from the tomb; and many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him (John 11:45). He was the Anointed One Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death (Acts 2:24); and by Him, death is swallowed up in victory (I Corinthians 15:54).

So after Peter had asked them all to leave the room, he prayed; and the Lord raised her up. Why?—so that Dorcas may continue her life of good works and the church may be edified and that many people would be


brought to Christ and that God would be glorified.

Good works proceed afterward from faith

Results It seems all too obvious that Dorcas was

unaware of the “magnificent” work she had been doing in her own home or in the church in Joppa or of the far-reaching consequences. She was dead. Most probably, she wasn’t aware that her giving heart and working hands deserved more renown than any other of the humble members of that local congregation.

But actually, aren’t living believers to be dead to “self” and to reckon themselves to be living sacrifices freely giving themselves? (Romans 12:1-2) So then, whether or not accolades are forthcoming for good works really doesn’t matter—for dead folks don’t hear accolades. Dorcas had all these dear ladies standing around her bed telling Peter what she had done, but she didn’t hear it.

But what a marvel that when we give, our giving will be returned to us—abounding! Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again (Luke 6:38).

Now, our giving is not a suggestion since the word “give” in Luke is in the imperative. We are told to give; we are required to give. Yet, when we obey in doing what we are told to do, He blesses us as if we had done it without being told. What a loving Heavenly Father. He gives us a commandment to give from a heart of grace and faith—the heart of grace and faith He has given to us—and then He returns to us in a good measure. His

return will be pressed down, shaken together, and running over.

Her work, according to Simeon, was “a habit of consideration, compassion, diligence, and self-denial.” Instead of telling her neighbors, “Be warm and filled”; she made coats! Isn’t that what giving is—not pious platitudes cluttering morning and evening devotions—but true Biblical giving by “doers of the Word and not hearers only”?

Dorcas had not only done “good works,” but she had been “full of good works.” She had done them as a “certain disciple.” Not even a cup of cold water, we are assured in Matthew 10:42, passes unnoticed or fails to be rewarded by the Lord. Calvin explained that “the root of all virtues…the fruits of good works proceed afterward from faith.”

But what is a “good work”? It is that which is done in faith. …and shewing the coats and garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them. This Greek verb made is in the tense that implies that she “had been in the habit of making.” She didn’t just make a stack of garments, distribute them among the poor widows, and then quit her sewing. According to the text, she was in the habit of making garments.

Her mode and method excelled that of just giving money; since, as she worked with her hands, it kept the poor before her and in her mind all the time. In other words, she not only did good works; but she was full of them. She didn’t just write a check for the offering plate and leave herself free to do as she pleased with her time.

Certainly, there is a more pressing involvement required in a “hands-on” participation of a gift. Its takes time and effort and the giving of oneself to prepare a gift that meets the need of someone and to deliver that gift in person. This is the example of Dorcas—a personal involvement in meeting the needs of someone else. Giving like this, places the person giving before the face of the person receiving that’s not


experienced when giving is only through a mediating agency. Our personal connection is lost. Designating a fifty-dollar donation is not the same as delivering a pot of soup to an elderly neighbor. This puts a face and a name on what is being done and an endearment in the project itself. People often misunderstand or devalue the worth of an ability or artistic gift because of their own lack of ability. It’s much more convenient to assign a dollar-amount to a gift invested with time and talent and concern from the impoverished perspective of one who lacks the ability or the concern or the willingness to expend personal time on the behalf of others. “This is what it’s worth to me”—not understanding the hours invested in a knitted shawl or a home-made cake.

But to give as Dorcas gave is to give from the heart. She had a face to each garment she made. Not only did she spend the money to buy the cloth requisite for the garment, she took her time to sew it together and to present it to a dear widow face to face.

I know thy works

Application Should the life of Dorcas be the impetus to spawn organizations and societies with the mission to do good works? Extra-ecclesiastical societies trimmed with Bible texts and formed with benevolent goals have the reputation for degenerating from their stated purpose and deviating from all Bible references. Their works remain works of benevolence, but these are not necessarily deeds of mercy flowing from hearts redeemed by grace. These works of grace are the works of the church.

Dorcas sat in her home, privately, preparing garments to meet the needs of widows in her community. She worked without any need to build a building or set up

a special program or create a para-church organization. Then “many believed,” and the church was edified and enlarged, and Christ was glorified. But when the church fails in doing “good works,” how many are turned away and given excuse to despise the Gospel and despise Christianity?

The hearts of redeemed ones can be engaged in the work of the church just as Dorcas had been. In truth, only the redeemed of Christ can obey Paul’s admonition in Galatians 6:9-10: And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. Our good works are to benefit all kinds of people, but most especially those who join with us in the household of faith.

It is to the saints in the church at Rome that Paul wrote in Romans 12:10-13: Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love, in honor preferring one another…Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality… These directions governing the work of the church require vigilant watch-care imbued with brotherly love for each other and the readiness to give and to be hospitable to all; and the responsibility falls under the purview of the elder generation teaching the younger: In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works...(Titus 2:7).

One generation should learn from the previous one to do good works. Paul wrote to the Philippian church: …no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only. For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account (Philippians 4:15-17). What an abiding testimony that the saints in Philippi knew how to minister to Paul’s needs in constant good works!


But can the unfeeling selfishness and self-concern in a younger generation lacking in their Christian service be strengthened when their ensamples are languishing in the anemia of lukewarmness and shunning self-sacrifice themselves? Just such a sobering pronouncement was given to the Laodicean church when the Lord rebuked their lack of good works: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth (Revelation 3:15-16)

This is the testimony of a church self-focused; it is not the testimony of Dorcas and not the giving of Luke 6:38. But would the Laodiceans cast aspersions at the modern church peopled by a younger generation who have grown into adulthood without the example of an older generation who have been immersed in doing good works? But does the responsible generation governing the churches now remember the previous generation as those who were fixated on providing for themselves with no notion of their role as examples? Sadly, with such a disastrous precedent, what can be expected of the rising generation whose teachers have fallen so short?

I desire fruit

When Money is the Only Choice39 It is an undisputed fact that sometimes

money is the only gift that will meet the need. Of course, folks have practical needs like food and clothing; but they also have monetary needs to provide for housing,

39 This section is taken in part, with permission, from the forth-coming publication Under the Hopia Tree: The Life of Ann Hasseltine Judson. 40 Helen Barrett Montgomery, Western Women in Eastern Lands, (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1910), westernwomenine01montgoog.pdf, 11.

transportation, medical costs and a host of other things.

Money has been the medium of exchange for these needs through the years; and it was certainly so when the newly-minted coinage of the young United States funded the pioneer missionaries going West in America and across the vast ocean to the oriental East.

It had been the influence of the Second Great Awakening that had birthed the Female Cent Societies, Mite Societies, Sewing Societies, and Female Praying Societies.40 These societies were largely groups of women in a church or community who were loosely knit around the common goal of praying and giving to the work of missions. Some of the members were from middle class families, but many were laboring wives and mothers who had no extras to share with others. Yet, they took from their own household accounts to often give just a cent—hence the name of Cent or Mite Societies from the giving of the widow’s mite referenced in Luke 21: 2-3: And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all…

The first organized society for foreign missions was begun in 1800 by young Mary Webb who was confined to a wheelchair from childhood. Eight Baptist ladies and six Congregationalist ladies began the Boston Female Society for Missionary Purposes on October 9, 1800, in the home of Mary and her mother Mrs. Webb. The annual membership fee was two dollars.41 Miss Webb was encouraged in her mission endeavor by her eminent pastor Dr. Thomas Baldwin of the

41 Albert L. Vail, Mary Webb and the Mother Society, (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1914), Female Mission Societies.pdf, 33.


Second Baptist Church, Boston, who often attended the society’s prayer meetings.

But these women understood that not all Christians were called to leave their own native land, and they equally understood that the work of missions was a corporate affair—a partnership of those who go and those who remain behind to faithfully pray and provide. This was recorded in the Preamble of this esteemed Society’s Constitution that has since faded into the annals of historical record:

Animated by the noble exertions which are making in the various parts of the Christian world, to spread the knowledge of divine truth, and by the success with which the great Head of the Church has seen fit, in many instances, to crown the united endeavors of His dear people, a number of females, feeling interested in the glorious cause, and desirous of promoting it, have formed themselves into a Society to collect a sum for the express purpose of aiding missions. The destitute and afflicting situation of thousands of our fellow creatures calls aloud to charity; and while a needle can be instrumental of spreading the knowledge of a Saviour’s name, shall a Christian female forbear to exercise it in the best of causes? No, in imitation of those who ministered to the necessities of our divine Lord, we will offer our mite for the relief of His elect body…42

According to one of Mary Webb’s

biographers, the Society’s main objective was the distribution of Bibles and religious books.43 The value of such printed material

42 Mrs. L. H. Daggett, Historical Sketches of Woman’s Missionary Societies in America and England, (Boston: published by author, 1879), 13. 43 Vail, Mary Webb, 32.

would have been of incalculable value to the work in every mission field.

Impressive though their giving was, it was not the only function of this Society. Besides private and corporate prayer for the work of missions, they corresponded with other women’s missionary societies to form a wide network of praying women. They corresponded with the missionary women in their fields of service to encourage and to learn of needs first-hand.44 Then they gathered clothing and school supplies, and other essentials for mission schools, churches, orphanages, and the missionary families themselves.

Sister societies were formed in other towns and states; and the Baptist Missionary Magazine began to publish their offering reports, listing impressive amounts often totaling hundreds of dollars. Out of these early mission societies grew the Women’s Baptist Missionary Society and sister societies more closely affiliated with the Baptist Missionary Society than the earlier Mite Societies, having a designated section in the monthly mission magazine to publish their financial reports and their own regular correspondence to missionary women. Their recommendation and financial support of several single women for mission service was embraced by the mission board to meet the desperate need for teachers in all the various Baptist mission stations.

I know thy works

Footprints Left Behind These historical nuggets verify that

“little is much when God is in it.” Perhaps these footprints left behind by Baptist sisters

44 Albert L. Vail, The Morning Hour of American Baptist Missions, (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1907), 95.


of another century are overwhelming to those of us now who are walking in the way. But should they really be? If so much was accomplished by such small amounts faithfully shared—a mite, a coat—what has changed?

We could consider what we have done or how much we give. We could ask how hospitable we are as Christians. Do we love one another? Do we care for one another? Do we give until it costs us something?

But we can also be encouraged that the footprints left for us are just the right size. We, too, can “covet to tread” in the steps of Dorcas and Mary Webb as the sons of Mr. Bunyan’s Christian sought the path of their father:

The woman is the wife of one Christian,

a pilgrim of former times, and these are his four children. The maid is one of her acquaintance, one that she that persuaded to come with her on pilgrimage. The boys take all after their father, and covet to tread in his steps; yea if they do but see any place where the old pilgrim hath lain, or any print of his foot, it ministereth joy to their hearts, and they covet to lie or tread in the same. (Great-heart—The Pilgrim’s Progress Part 2)

When we are gone, will we have left footprints behind as did Christian—clearly seen for those coming after to follow?

Give and it shall be given unto you…it is incumbent upon us as Christians to give—to give until it costs us something. And if we do that as Dorcas did—giving from hearts of affection and love to Christ—the reward will be great, as the Scripture promises: pressed down, shaken together, running over. We will have good works that can be held up with the same testimony given around the bed of Dorcas: “This is what she did for me”; and there will be those who regret that we’re 45 Charles Simeon, Expository Outlines on the Whole Bible, Vol. 14, 363-364.

gone. This was the testimony of Dorcas—that she was “full of good works”—and the Church of Christ was glorified. Indeed, she was the emblem of beauty and grace!

The question for us then remains—Will there be “Coats and Mites and Footprints” left behind us?

Dr. Simeon’s eulogy of Dorcas por-trayed the noble monuments of the godly departed: “O that we may all so live, as to be thus regretted by the Lord’s people, and to have our memory engraven in the hearts of all who knew us! And let us take care that the survivors may have substantial proofs of our piety to exhibit. We are not all able to do good in the same way, or to the same extent: but we may all have some ‘works to praise us in the gates’ and some fruits ‘to evince the sincerity of our faith’ and love.”45

I

Eternity is just at hand! And shall I waste my ebbing sand, And careless view departing day, And throw my inch of time away?

II Eternity! Tremendous sound!

To guilty souls a dreadful wound; But O, if Christ and heaven be mine, How sweet the accents! How divine!

III Be this my chief, my only care,

My high pursuit, my ardent prayer— An interest in the Saviour’s blood,

My pardon sealed, my peace with God. IV

Search, Lord, O, search my inmost heart,

And light, and hope, and joy impart: From guilt and error set me free,

And guide me safe to heaven and Thee. Anne Steele


I Ah, wretched souls, who strive in vain, Slaves to the world, and slaves to sin;

A nobler toil may I sustain, A nobler satisfaction win.

II

May I resolve, with all my heart, With all my powers, to serve the Lord,

Nor from His precepts e’er depart, Whose service is a rich reward.

III

O, be His service all my joy; Around let my example shine,

Till others love the blest employ, And join in labors so divine.

IV

Be this the purpose of my soul, My solemn, my determined choice—

To yield to His supreme control, And in His kind commands rejoice.

V

O, may I never faint or tire, Nor, wandering, leave His sacred ways;

Great God, accept my soul’s desire, And give me strength to live Thy praise.

—Anne Steele

The Christian’s Noblest Resolution

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