thisday.pcahistory.orgThis Day in Presbyterian History · Daily devotional readings in Scripture, the Westminster Standards

This Day in Presbyterian History · Daily devotional readings in Scripture, the Westminster Standards, & Presbyterian history. This Day in Presbyterian History Daily devotional readings in Scripture, the Westminster Standards, & Presbyterian history. Subscribe to feed August 3: Maltbie Babcock 2 August, 2020 in August 2020 by Wayne Sparkman | No comments Seeing My Father’s world by Rev. David T. Myers He never even heard the hymn which he wrote, sung by a choir or congregation. He never heard it as an instrumental musical piece. That is because he wrote it as a poem in 1901 and it wasn’t published until 1916, set to music for the Presbyterian songbook for Children. But more than children have made it a favorite of theirs. Maltbie Davenport Babcock was born on August 3, 1858 in Syracuse, New York of wealthy and prominent parents. With an amiable personality and an outstanding mind, he soon began to make the proverbial waves at the University of Syracuse. An outstanding athlete combined with a skill in music caused him to be chosen to be the director of the University orchestra. He could have been anything in life, but he chose the ministry, and specifically the Presbyterian ministry. Studying at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York, and graduating in 1882, he was ordained and became the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. It was there that the words of this poem and eventually the hymn of “This is My Father’s World” came into being. It was said that he loved to walk in the morning and see the beauty of God’s creation. In fact, he would say to anyone he met that “I am going out to see my Father’s world.” His next place of ministry took place in Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, Maryland. There, he had such an impact among the students of nearby Johns Hopkins University, that the educational institution set up a special room on campus so he could minister to the student body. He had a unique manner of presenting spiritual truths in new and fresh ways. With the death of Henry Van Dyke at the Brick Presbyterian Church in New York, Rev. Babcock went to New York City for his third charge. It was there that they sent him, after a time of labor, to the Holy Land. In the midst of that trip, he suddenly died on May 18, 1901. His wife Katherine waited until 1916 before she published his poems. This one on His Father’s Word was set to music by Franklin L. Sheppard in 1915. It originally had sixteen verses, but he chose only three verses, which are found in the red Trinity hymnal on page 111. In the blue Trinity hymnal, it is found on page 109. We need to reflect often on God’s creation. Or by Pastor Babcock it, this is our Father’s world. Words to Live By: Found on the flyleaf of Pastor’s Babcock’s Bible is the following quote. It says, “Committed myself again with Christian brothers to unreserved docility and devotion before my Master.” Whether this was at a conference or even a small group of Christians, we don’t know. But Maltbie Babcock’s life was committed to Christ during his three pastorates. To him, “though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.” With that as his comfort, he could and did go forward to serve His heavenly Father. Share this: Share Print Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Like this: Like Loading... August 2: God’s Providence in the Church 2 August, 2020 in August 2020 by Wayne Sparkman | No comments God’s Providence in the Church. by Rev. Henry A. Boardman, pastor of Philadelphia’s Tenth Presbyterian Church, from 1833 until his retirement in 1876. The Church has lived on through all changes, not without feeling them. It is the only earthly witness which has seen these vicissitudes from the beginning; for it is older by two thousand years than even the Jew, who antedates by more than half that period any existing nation. It has been a spectator of the convulsions which have so often sported with the European nations, and dissolved and re-constructed them as children play with their nursery-blocks. It saw the Northern hordes devastate Rome. It saw the rise of Antichrist, and the blood-stained career of Mahomet. It saw the Holy City burned up, and the chosen nation dispersed over the earth. It stood by the cross in mute anguish when its Lord was crucified. It looked on in adoring wonder when Media and Assyria dissolved in smoke. It shared the seventy years’ captivity, and long before that, the bondage in Egypt, and the wanderings in the desert. It dwelt with the patriarchs in their tents. The ark bore it in safety over the waters of the flood. It saw the confusion of tongues in Babel. It received into its bosom Enoch and Seth, and their pious contemporaries, and bore witness to the faith of the proto-martyr Abel. What a record is this to be made of any existing Institution! And yet it is literally true of the Church. Nay, it is but a small part of the truth. It were remarkable that any Institution should survive in a world like this for six thousand years. This is seen in the fact that no other Institution has survived for half that time. But the peculiarity of this case, is, that between the Institution thus distinguished, and the world, there is a radical and permanent antagonism. Had all nations and governments, however differing among themselves, united in cherishing and protecting it, the preservation of the Church had been less remarkable—though even then, it would have been a more extraordinary event than almost any other which history records. But the Church could look for no such indulgence. It was the wickedness of the world which gave occasion for its establishment. It was founded as a witness for God and His truth, to testify against the world continually, that the works thereof were evil. This it has never ceased to do. It has done it, just in proportion to its own faith and purity, in all lands, and under all circumstances. It used no violence. Its only weapons were light and love—truth and holiness. Yet neither the wisdom and excellence of its requirements, nor the moderation with which they were enforced, could save the Church from persecution. But God has its interests in view in all the dispensations of His Providence. It was an ancient promise concerning Zion—“No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper: and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn.” Most signally has this pledge been redeemed: and the redemption of it has involved the fulfillment of a correlative prediction against the hostile nations: “For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.” So has the event proved: the nations have been consumed as by the moth, but the gates of hell have never prevailed against the Church. Trials and afflictions may still await it; but the end is sure. Christ will yet come to present it to Himself, a glorious Church, and all who have faithfully served Him, or faithfully suffered for Him, will then rise and reign with Him forever. Share this: Share Print Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Like this: Like Loading... August 1: Rev. C. W. Grafton [1846-1934] 31 July, 2020 in August 2020 by Wayne Sparkman | No comments “Tell me about them big arms!” Cornelius Washington Grafton was born on December 21, 1846 and died on this day, August 1st, in 1934 . Trained for the ministry at Columbia Theological Seminary, Rev. Grafton was for forty-three years the pastor of the Union Church Presbyterian Church in rural Mississippi. Most of our resources on this memorable pastor are not at hand, and so we will glance over further details of his life, but the transcript of a little booklet he wrote on his years of ministry is available and it presents some interesting insights into rural ministry before the advent of the automobile. In the following portion of that booklet, Rev. Grafton gives an overview of his work as a pastor in a rural s...