Thoughts and Meditations

Personal comments made by David F. Reagan unless otherwise stated

September 20, 2005

America’s Four Corner Stones – “A good number of years ago there appeared in the “Christian Advocate’ the following: ‘America rests upon four corner stones: the English Bible, the English language, the common law, and the tradition of liberty. But liberty, language, and law might have been drawn from the Bible alone. Had we brought nothing with us across the sea besides this supreme Book, we might still have been great. Without this Book, America could not have become what she is and when she loses its guidance and wisdom, she will be America no more.’ ” –from The Seven Laws of the Harvest (p.22-23) by John W. Lawrence.

Hurrying Spirit – The February 19, 1748, journal entry of American Baptist preacher Isaac Backus reads: “On Friday evening I returned and preached at Joseph Leaches with Considerable freedom: but toward the close of the meeting one Sister was seized and overcome pretty much with a Hurrying Spirit. But my Soul cried that God would prevent Satan’s getting advantage against us: and I discoursed with her afterwards. She seemed to be sensible of the snare.” A modern editor’s note reads: “By ‘Hurrying Spirit’ Backus meant a spirit of religious enthusiasm or emotionalism that under the excitement of the moment seemed to him to force or rush the coming of the Holy Spirit.” –from Isaac Backus: Diary – Volume One (p.32-33).  See Romans 10:2; Galatians 4:17-18.

September 19, 2005

Three Aspects of Faith – “There seems to be confusion over what it means to believe or have faith. The Reformers distinguished between three aspects of faith: knowledge, assent, and trust. Knowledge refers to an intellectual understanding of the facts of the gospel; assent means that one agrees with the facts of the gospel; and trust means that one commits oneself to the Christ of the gospel and the Gospel of Christ. The Reformers understood clearly that ‘believing’ is not just understanding the gospel or assenting to the gospel. One does not believe until committing self to Christ.” –from Lordship: What Does It Mean? by R. Alan Day (p.14). See John 8:31-32.

September 16, 2005

Faults in Perspective – “When we look at others’ faults, our eyes have a strange magnifying effect; but when we turn the glass on ourselves, it reduces and minimizes our sins. We see extenuating circumstances, and our self-love weaves a veil of embroidery which hides the corruption within. Men can wax eloquent over world wrongs, social wrongs, and never imagine that in their own homes they are tyrants and heartless despots. Just as some loathed disease is less tolerable when seen in another than in ourselves, so sin looks worse in my neighbor than it does in me.”  --from The Parables of the Old Testament by Clarence E. Macartney (p.37).  See Matthew 7:1-5.

September 15, 2005

Not Called to be Adam-Christ Believers – “It is said that Emperor William refused request for an audience prepared by a German-American. The Emperor declared that Germans born in Germany but naturalized in America became Americans: ‘I know Americans; I know Germans; but German-Americans I do not know.’ Even so, I was once bound in Adam. I am now freed in Christ. The cross cut me off, killed me outright to the old citizenship and life. I am no Adam-Christ believer. Such a position will get me no audience with my King, bring me no deliverance from bondage to the old man. Let me cease at once any such unholy duplicity. Let me declare that I am Christ’s and His alone. Let me yield fully unto Him as one ‘dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord’ (Romans 6:11).” –from Born Crucified by L. E. Maxwell (p.24).

Forbidding to Eat Meat - “Fish was the staple diet of Londoners in the Middle Ages. It was cheap and plentiful, and, even more importantly, meat eating was forbidden on religious grounds on as many as 150 days of each year.” Yet, according to 1Timothy 4:1-5, one of the “doctrines of devils” was “commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving.” –book quote from England’s Heritage by Derry Brabbs (p.76).

September 14, 2005

Calvinism of Early Baptists – David Benedict, in his 50 Years Among the Baptists (p.144), speaks of John Leland (1754-1841), the Baptist preacher who had much success in establishing the liberties that we have in America. Benedict wrote: “John Leland, although a Calvinist, was not one of the strictest class. Two grains of Arminianism, with three of Calvinism, he thought, would make a tolerably good compound.” See 1Timothy 4:10.

Hiding Hymns in the Heart – “A feature of Dr. Lloyd-Jones’s ministry, which has escaped reference thus far, was his tendency to quote hymns. He had a wide-ranging knowledge of these which probably is traceable back to his boyhood and the ‘singing festivals’ common to the denomination in which he was brought up. Most of the hymns he quotes are of an experiential nature. They were born out of revival and are descriptive of profound, religious experiences. They also seemed [to] be expressing for him what he had personally known. One favourite to which he often refers was by William Williams:

            Tell me thou art mine dear Saviour

            Grant me an assurance clear

            Banish all my dark misgivings

            Still my doubting, calm my fear:

            O my soul within me longeth

            Now to hear thy voice divine,

            So shall grief be gone for ever

            And despair no more be mine.”

September 13, 2005

Praying According to the Will of God – James O. Fraser (1886-1938), the greatly used missionary to the Lisu people of China, wrote these words about prayer: “I do not think that a petition which misses the mind of God will ever be answered (1John 5:14). Personally, I feel the need of trusting Him to lead me in prayer as well as in other matters. I find it well to preface prayer not only by meditation but by the definite request that I may be directed into the channels of prayer to which the Holy Spirit is beckoning me. I also find it helpful to make a short list, like notes prepared for a sermon, before every season of prayer. The mind needs to be guided as well as the spirit attuned. I can thus get my thoughts in order, and having prepared my prayer can put the notes on the table or chair before me, kneel down and get to business.” –from Behind the Ranges by Mrs. Howard Taylor (p.107).

September 12, 2005

All Always At It – “John Wesley named as the rule for a successful church—‘All at it, and always at it.’ ” –from Chinese Characteristics (p.27) by Arthur H. Smith (published 1894). See Ecclesiastes 9:10; Colossians 3:23.

Myth of Scientific Method – Sir Peter Medawar was Director of Britain’s National Institute for Medical Research from 1962 to 1971 and he was a Nobel Prize winner. In The Limits of Science (p.16-17), he refutes the idea of a neat and orderly scientific method by which scientists come to discover truth. He says: “I go along with the opinion of William Whewell, Bertrand Russell and Karl Popper that scientists do not make their discoveries by induction or by the practice of any other one method. ‘The’ Scientific method is therefore illusory. ‘An art of discovery is not possible,’ said William Whewell, and more than a century later we can say with equal confidence that there is no such thing as a calculus of discovery or a schedule of rules by following which we are conducted to a truth…

September 9, 2005

Testimony of Clean Living – In his autobiography (p.6), the English Baptist pastor John Kershaw (1792-1870) gives this record from his youth. “On one occasion, I ran away, unknown to my parents, to some cock-fightings that were held in the neighbourhood. I joined the crowd of people outside the building, but did not see the cocks fight. I heard, however, too plainly the oaths and curses of those within. I would gladly have been inside, but could not find the money to see such cruel sports. The intervals between each battle were occupied by all sorts of carnal diversions, which pleased my sinful inclinations wonderfully. Thus I was one with them, not a jot or tittle better than the rest, considering my age and means.

“This happened during Whit-Week; at which time a double lecture was preached in the chapel my father attended. AsI stood by the roadside amongst the ungodly crowd, two men, dressed in their Sabbath-day clothes, came past. I knew them well; they were friends of my father’s. I had often heard them talk together on religious subjects, and I knew they were going to the chapel. The sight of these godly persons on that occasion was like a dagger to my soul… Oh what a beauty I saw in their demeanor, and the path which they had chosen! But what a wretch did I see and feel myself to be!” See 2Corinthians 7:8-10.

September 8, 2005

Sin of Denying God’s Faithfulness – “God’s faithfulness in the promise is God Himself… Whatever else may fail, He will not allow His faithfulness to fail. Psalm 89:34-35: ‘My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.’ Hence it is that I say unbelief is a sin of such horrid guilt, because it dishonors God in that point of which He is so jealous and tender. God can no more lie than he can die; to doubt or deny His faithfulness is to doubt or deny His being. 1John 5:10: ‘He that believeth not God hath made him a liar.’ ” –from Practical Godliness: The Ornament of All Religion by Vincent Alsop (p.53).

Topics: Faithfulness of God, Promises, Disbelief

God Can Be Trusted – “Though God, as true, be the object of our trust, yet God, as wise, is the foundation of our trust. We trust him in his promise; the promise was made by mercy, and it is performed by truth; but wisdom conducts all means to the accomplishment of it. There are many men, whose honesty we can confide in, but whose discretion we are diffident of: but there is no defect, either of the one of the other, which may scare us from a depending upon God in our concerns.” –from The Existence and Attributes of God: Volume One  by Stephen Charnock (p.583). Read Psalm 118:8-9; Isaiah 26:3-4.

September 7, 2005

Selfish Desire for Experience – After the spiritual Awakening of 1905, E. M. Bound noticed that “people tended to look after experiences rather than walking by faith because prayers were directed toward the needs or desires of the church and not toward the reaching of the lost. Worship started to evolve in the direction of the four gods: ‘I,’ ‘me,’ ‘my,’ and ‘mine.’… Bounds believed and lived the premise that if a Christian in holy communion with almighty God focuses on God rather than on prayer and experience, sin will become so repugnant to him that he cannot return to it. Also, when his focus is upon God and His exaltation, God will direct his path in the way of righteousness, service, and ministry. Bounds also felt that if God expected His children to do only what they were naturally capable of doing, they would do it in their own strength. When the focus is on God, He directs our path in what we can do by faith.” –from E. M. Bounds by Darrel D. King (p.139). Read Psalm 63:1-2; Matthew 6:33.

Topics: Experience, Prayer, Victory over Sin

Speculation From the Pulpit – “Speculation is an index of the spiritual poverty of the man who surrenders himself to it. His flour has all been used, so he tries plaster of Paris; he has no more gold or silver, so he coins the baser metals. He cannot prophesy after the measure of faith, so he exercises his immeasurable imagination. His own experience does not serve him with topics for his ministry, and therefore he takes airy flights into regions of which he knows nothing.” –from An All-Round Ministry by C. H. Spurgeon (p.140). See 1Timothy 1:7; 6:4; 2Timothy 3:7.

September 6, 2005

Preaching Through a Printed Sermon – “Once, during a voyage to Oregon, someone found a copy of a Spurgeon sermon and pressured one of the passengers to read it aloud. Practically the entire contingent of passengers plus some of the crew gathered around the reader. Sometime afterwards, in San Francisco, the reader of the sermon met a man who declared that he had heard him ‘preach.’ ‘Of course,’ the reader replied, ‘I am not the preacher, my friend.’ The man related that he had heard him read the sermon by Spurgeon that day. He was one of the sailors and he said, ‘I never forgot that service; it made me feel that I was a sinner, and I had found Christ and I was so glad to see you again.’ ” –from Spurgeon: Prince of Preachers by Lewis Drummond (p.325).  See Psalm 68:11.

Topics: Tracts, Sermons, Power of the Word

No Prison for the Inner Man – John Bunyan wrote the following in his Prison Meditations:

            For though men keep my outward man

              Within their locks and bars,

            Yet by the faith of Christ I can

              Mount higher than the stars.

--from A Tinker and a Poor Man by Christopher Hill (p.267).  See 2Corinthians 4:16.

September 5, 2005

Praying as a Child to the Father – “The Jewish law and the prophets know something of God as a Father. Occasional and imperfect, yet comforting glimpses they had of the great truth of God’s Fatherhood, and of our sonship. Christ lays the foundation of prayer deep and strong with this basic principle. The law of prayer, the right to pray, rests on sonship. ‘Our Father’ brings us into the closest relationship to God. Prayer is the child’s approach, the child’s plea, the child’s right. It is the law of prayer that looks up, that lifts up the eye to ‘Our Father which art in heaven.’ [Matthew 6:9] Our Father’s house is our home in Heaven. Heavenly citizenship and heavenly homesickness are in prayer. Prayer is an appeal from the lowness, from the emptiness, from the need of earth, to the highness, the fullness and to the all-sufficiency of Heaven. Prayer turns the eye and the heart heavenward with a child’s longings, a child’s trust and a child’s expectancy.” –from The Reality of Prayer by Edward M. Bounds (p.28-29).

Topics: Prayer, Father, Sonship

Wanting a Calf or a Captain – “There are two melancholy phases of unbelief exhibited in Israel’s history in the wilderness: the one at Horeb, the other at Kadesh. At Horeb, they made a calf, and said, ‘These by thy gods, O Israel, that brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.’ [Exodus 32:4] At Kadesh, they proposed to make a captain to lead them back into Egypt. [Numbers 14:4] The former of these is the superstition of unbelief; the latter, the willful independence of unbelief; and most surely we need not marvel if those who thought that a calf had brought them out of Egypt should seek a captain to lead them back.” –from Noted of the Penteteuch by C. H. Mackintosh (p.508-509).

September 2, 2005

Studying God’s Answers to Prayer – Colossians 4:2 states, “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.” If “any study will furnish you this way, it is the studying out of God’s answers to your prayers: the reason you pray so much, and give thanks so little is, that you observe not God’s answers: you do not study them. When we have put up a faithful prayer, God is made our debtor by promise, and we are to take notice of his payment and give him an acknowledgement of the receipt of it, he loseth of his glory else.” –from The Return of Prayers by Thomas Goodwin (p.13-14).

Topics: Prayer, Thanksgiving, Answers to Prayer

Teaching Slaves in Virginia – “Teaching slaves was an integral part of congregational life in antebellum Virginia. Especially in Baptist churches, slaves were often a majority of members. In the 1840’s, for example, twenty-one of thirty-nine churches in the Dover Baptist Association had a majority of free black and slave members, and the Rappahannock Association counted one hundred more blacks than whites in its membership of almost fifty thousand. Nine all-black Baptist churches, primarily in the cities, had a combined membership of about six thousand, many of whom were freemen and women…

“By 1852, a group of prominent Richmond Baptists signed a ‘resolution supporting the education of colored people in Richmond.’ The signers were the pastors and leading laymen of all three white Baptist churches in the city, including bank directors and officers, insurance company officers, a carriage maker, and a leather dealer. In 1856, the forty-four Baptist churches of the prominent Baptist Dover Association resolved to promote the education of blacks. This position flew in the face of public opinion and even undermined support for the clergy. Leading Richmond Baptist pastors were periodically accused of aiding the escape of slaves and even of abolitionist sympathies.” –from The Gospel Working Up by Beth Barton Schweiger (p.72-73). See 1Timothy 3:2; Hebrews 5:12.

September 1, 2005

Help for Depression – From George Whitfield’s Journals (p.200), we read his entry of Thursday, January 18^th, 1739: “Perceived myself much disordered, so that I was obliged to lie down to sleep; but afterwards God greatly enlarged my heart, and enabled me to expound to two Societies. I made a collection for two poor housekeepers. I find action is the best way to take all oppression off the spirits. God will meet and bless us when doing His work.” Read Psalm 118:5; 1Corinthians 16:13.

Topics: Depression, Oppression, Distress, Action

Farewell and Fare Well – Thomas B. Montayne was baptized as a young man by John Gano in the First Baptist Church of New York City. He served as a Baptist pastor in New Jersey and as a chaplain in the army during the War of 1812. “Montanye had possessed a strong physical constitution until 1829, when he suffered an attack of jaundice. In July he seemed to improve somewhat, but soon his condition worsened, and he preached his last sermon in September. Talking to a fellow pastor, Brother Montanye gave the following testimony: ‘I go to the footstool of mercy as a poor, unworthy sinner, resting my whole salvation on the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.’ On the day before his death, as a pastor friend left his company, he said, ‘farewell in Christ Jesus; you can fare well no where else.’ ” –from This Day in Baptist History (p.221-222). See Luke 23:46.

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