1902
Whoever attempts to escape work avoids his best friend. We read the story of man's fall in the light of subsequent revelation, only to find that work is not a curse, but our highest privilege. The fact that the seasons end urges us on to do our best. An endless probation is simply none at all. There is no more pathetic lamentation in all literature than this. The summer is ended and we are not saved. Probation is over. The Judge enters the field and counts the sheaves. The summer ever reproduces itself. They come in their annual succession, but each holds its own place. This summer will be this but once. Another will come, but it won't be this. Nothing is ever repeated. The second resembles the first, but is not to be identified with it. The sun never greets the earth twice the same. Probation is written everywhere. — Presbyterian Journal.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
The Book of Jude
1902
Jude's is one of the briefest of all the letters in the New Testament, containing only twenty-five verses. It is, perhaps, the last of the epistles. Though the date is not infinitely settled, it was probably written after the destruction of Jerusalem, when most of the apostles had finished their work. There is a most delightful spirit of humility in the letter. The writer called himself a servant, and the bondsman of Jesus Christ and the brother of James, and that is a beautiful modesty, for, in fact, it is generally believed that he was the Lord's own brother and the son of Joseph and Mary.
To no particular church or people was the letter written, but the accounts make it especially applicable to us. It is very practical. The heart of Jude was stirred because certain men were denying God and the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, because of this, "I exhort you that you should contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." That expression in the Greek, however, reads for the faith delivered "once and for all" to the saints. So the doctrine is the same today. — J. Wilbur Chapman.
Jude's is one of the briefest of all the letters in the New Testament, containing only twenty-five verses. It is, perhaps, the last of the epistles. Though the date is not infinitely settled, it was probably written after the destruction of Jerusalem, when most of the apostles had finished their work. There is a most delightful spirit of humility in the letter. The writer called himself a servant, and the bondsman of Jesus Christ and the brother of James, and that is a beautiful modesty, for, in fact, it is generally believed that he was the Lord's own brother and the son of Joseph and Mary.
To no particular church or people was the letter written, but the accounts make it especially applicable to us. It is very practical. The heart of Jude was stirred because certain men were denying God and the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, because of this, "I exhort you that you should contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." That expression in the Greek, however, reads for the faith delivered "once and for all" to the saints. So the doctrine is the same today. — J. Wilbur Chapman.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
The Revelation of St. John the Divine
This link is to a new blog I started, including clips and thoughts from the Book of Revelation. I'm posting the link because for some unknown reason Google is not indexing it.
Words of Wisdom
1902
Pride spells peril.
Deeds are indelible.
Every effort educates.
The call of duty never contradicts itself.
Paint cannot make a picture by its own power.
Charity seldom crawls out of a crowded purse.
It takes much misery to make some men seek mercy.
Obscurity furnishes a good pedestal for lasting fame.
Poverty makes a goodly frame for the picture of purity.
The waiting work furnishes us sufficient warrant to do it.
It doesn't take much gold-leaf to cover the pupil of the eye.
He cannot consecrate his gift who fears to have it consumed.
It is possible to smother the fire of zeal by too much fuel of effort.
Effort does not always produce the best effect in spiritual things.
No amount of culture could make a cabbage grow out of an oak.
If you use a mirror to find your own faults you will forget to use a microscope for those of others. — Ram's Horn.
Comment: I think this one is pretty profound: "Effort does not always produce the best effect in spiritual things." That's today's moment of Zen.
Pride spells peril.
Deeds are indelible.
Every effort educates.
The call of duty never contradicts itself.
Paint cannot make a picture by its own power.
Charity seldom crawls out of a crowded purse.
It takes much misery to make some men seek mercy.
Obscurity furnishes a good pedestal for lasting fame.
Poverty makes a goodly frame for the picture of purity.
The waiting work furnishes us sufficient warrant to do it.
It doesn't take much gold-leaf to cover the pupil of the eye.
He cannot consecrate his gift who fears to have it consumed.
It is possible to smother the fire of zeal by too much fuel of effort.
Effort does not always produce the best effect in spiritual things.
No amount of culture could make a cabbage grow out of an oak.
If you use a mirror to find your own faults you will forget to use a microscope for those of others. — Ram's Horn.
Comment: I think this one is pretty profound: "Effort does not always produce the best effect in spiritual things." That's today's moment of Zen.
God's Opportunity
1903
Someone has said that "each human life is another opportunity for God to display His grace and power." So it is and the thought will grow upon you as you meditate upon it. Just think, "I am God's opportunity!" Isn't it wonderful! Isn't it glorious! When we look at others whom God has richly blessed and honored in service we can see how it is, but do we ever think of ourselves as God's opportunity?
Every one that responds to God's call, "Come!" gives God a large place in the world. Every one who obeys God's command, "Go!" assists God in gaining a larger place in the hearts of men. Every regenerated heart and life is a new garden in which God plants His seeds of love and grace; a fountain out of which flow constant streams of healing power. Take it home and say to yourself, "I am God's opportunity." Be that, and your life will become unutterably grand, and your experience unspeakably sweet. — Presbyterian Journal.
Someone has said that "each human life is another opportunity for God to display His grace and power." So it is and the thought will grow upon you as you meditate upon it. Just think, "I am God's opportunity!" Isn't it wonderful! Isn't it glorious! When we look at others whom God has richly blessed and honored in service we can see how it is, but do we ever think of ourselves as God's opportunity?
Every one that responds to God's call, "Come!" gives God a large place in the world. Every one who obeys God's command, "Go!" assists God in gaining a larger place in the hearts of men. Every regenerated heart and life is a new garden in which God plants His seeds of love and grace; a fountain out of which flow constant streams of healing power. Take it home and say to yourself, "I am God's opportunity." Be that, and your life will become unutterably grand, and your experience unspeakably sweet. — Presbyterian Journal.
The Brand of Drink
1903
Sin sets its seal upon the human face as distinctively as righteousness, says the Union Signal. An article in a New Orleans paper states the fact that experienced barkeepers can tell what a man drinks by the peculiar discoloration of his skin. There is, it appears, a livery of whisky, of brandy, beer, absinthe, each one doing its deadly work with strict individuality. In no little corner of the creation is law inoperative, whether it be the law of life or the law of sin and death.
Sin sets its seal upon the human face as distinctively as righteousness, says the Union Signal. An article in a New Orleans paper states the fact that experienced barkeepers can tell what a man drinks by the peculiar discoloration of his skin. There is, it appears, a livery of whisky, of brandy, beer, absinthe, each one doing its deadly work with strict individuality. In no little corner of the creation is law inoperative, whether it be the law of life or the law of sin and death.
Making Others Happy
1903
When you rise in the morning form a resolution to make the day a happy one to a fellow creature. It is easily done; a left-off garment to the man who needs it, a kind word to the sorrowful, an encouraging expression to the striving — trifles in themselves light as air — will do at least for the twenty-four hours.
And if you are young depend upon it, it will tell when you are old, and if you are old, rest assured it will send you gently and happily down the stream of time to eternity. By the most simple arithmetical sum look at the result. If you send one person, only one, happily through each day, that is 365 in the course of the year. And supposing you live forty years only after you commence that course of medicine, you have made 14,600 beings happy at all events for a time. — Sydney Smith.
When you rise in the morning form a resolution to make the day a happy one to a fellow creature. It is easily done; a left-off garment to the man who needs it, a kind word to the sorrowful, an encouraging expression to the striving — trifles in themselves light as air — will do at least for the twenty-four hours.
And if you are young depend upon it, it will tell when you are old, and if you are old, rest assured it will send you gently and happily down the stream of time to eternity. By the most simple arithmetical sum look at the result. If you send one person, only one, happily through each day, that is 365 in the course of the year. And supposing you live forty years only after you commence that course of medicine, you have made 14,600 beings happy at all events for a time. — Sydney Smith.
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Uses of The Church
1935
The Church is not a refrigerator for preserving perishable piety. It is a dynamo for charging human wills with power. The object of the church is not to tell men how to dodge difficulties, but to furnish strength and courage to meet them. The business of the church is not to furnish hammocks for the lazy; it is rather to offer well-fitting yokes for drawing life's loads. The man who does not attend any church practically votes to do away with all churches.
Why not accept the invitation and COME TO CHURCH NEXT SUNDAY?
—D. CARL YODER
The Church is not a refrigerator for preserving perishable piety. It is a dynamo for charging human wills with power. The object of the church is not to tell men how to dodge difficulties, but to furnish strength and courage to meet them. The business of the church is not to furnish hammocks for the lazy; it is rather to offer well-fitting yokes for drawing life's loads. The man who does not attend any church practically votes to do away with all churches.
Why not accept the invitation and COME TO CHURCH NEXT SUNDAY?
—D. CARL YODER
Sermonograms
1935
Adversity tries faith; prosperity tries fidelity.
The man who has a right to boast does not have to.
A beauty not explicable is dearer than the beauty which we can see the end of. — Emerson.
The reward of a thing well done is to have done it. — Emerson.
It is much wiser to steer well than to honk your horn.
It takes brains to make money; it takes character to use it right.
Church membership is not an elevator into heaven.
If you hold your religion lightly, you are sure to let it slip.
God never reveals what man can discover.
A pessimist is a person who is seasick during the entire voyage of life.
When it comes to coddling imaginary wrongs, the average person is a faithful nurse.
Even if you are too deaf to hear the preacher, the Church is still a good place for listening to God. — Holmes.
Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.
The less of it they have, the more people seem obsessed with the inclination to speak their mind.
Action unaccompanied by thought is folly, but thought unaccompanied by action is vain.
Unless we can learn the supremacy of spiritual forces, the pall bearers that have carried out dead civilizations wait at our door. — Fosdick.
Don't throw mud; you might miss your mark, and you are sure to get your hands dirty.
Hard work is the yeast that raises the dough.
The duty of the many should not be the task of the few. Many a man saves everything but his soul.
Adversity tries faith; prosperity tries fidelity.
The man who has a right to boast does not have to.
A beauty not explicable is dearer than the beauty which we can see the end of. — Emerson.
The reward of a thing well done is to have done it. — Emerson.
It is much wiser to steer well than to honk your horn.
It takes brains to make money; it takes character to use it right.
Church membership is not an elevator into heaven.
If you hold your religion lightly, you are sure to let it slip.
God never reveals what man can discover.
A pessimist is a person who is seasick during the entire voyage of life.
When it comes to coddling imaginary wrongs, the average person is a faithful nurse.
Even if you are too deaf to hear the preacher, the Church is still a good place for listening to God. — Holmes.
Opportunities always look bigger going than coming.
The less of it they have, the more people seem obsessed with the inclination to speak their mind.
Action unaccompanied by thought is folly, but thought unaccompanied by action is vain.
Unless we can learn the supremacy of spiritual forces, the pall bearers that have carried out dead civilizations wait at our door. — Fosdick.
Don't throw mud; you might miss your mark, and you are sure to get your hands dirty.
Hard work is the yeast that raises the dough.
The duty of the many should not be the task of the few. Many a man saves everything but his soul.
Seven Sentence Sermons
1935
Adversity is the first path to truth. — Byron.
* * *
It is the wit and policy of sin to hate those we have abused. — Davenant.
* * *
Riches that the world bestows,
She can take and I can lose:
But the treasures that are mine
Lie afar beyond her line.
—Isaac Watts.
* * *
When you put on your clothes, remember the labor of the weaver; when you eat your daily bread, think of the hardships of the husbandman. — Chinese Proverbs.
* * *
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. — Prov. 15:17.
* * *
Yet each man kills the thing he loves,
By each let this be heard;
Some do it with a bitter-look,
Some with a flattering word;
The coward does it with a kiss.
The brave man with a sword.
—Oscar Wilde.
* * *
The difference between coarse and refined abuse is the difference between being bruised by a club and wounded by a poisoned arrow. — Johnson.
Adversity is the first path to truth. — Byron.
* * *
It is the wit and policy of sin to hate those we have abused. — Davenant.
* * *
Riches that the world bestows,
She can take and I can lose:
But the treasures that are mine
Lie afar beyond her line.
—Isaac Watts.
* * *
When you put on your clothes, remember the labor of the weaver; when you eat your daily bread, think of the hardships of the husbandman. — Chinese Proverbs.
* * *
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. — Prov. 15:17.
* * *
Yet each man kills the thing he loves,
By each let this be heard;
Some do it with a bitter-look,
Some with a flattering word;
The coward does it with a kiss.
The brave man with a sword.
—Oscar Wilde.
* * *
The difference between coarse and refined abuse is the difference between being bruised by a club and wounded by a poisoned arrow. — Johnson.
Friday, February 29, 2008
They Knew Faith
1900
A teacher, wishing to impress upon the minds of her pupils the full nature of faith, took them one day to the riverside and, seeing a boat in the middle of the stream, said:
"Now, my little dears, if I were to tell you that there was a leg of mutton in that boat, would you believe me?"
"Yes."
"Well, then," she said, "that is faith."
Some time after the same children were going through an examination when the question was asked, "What is faith?" and all the class, as with one voice, shouted out, "A leg of mutton in a boat!"
A teacher, wishing to impress upon the minds of her pupils the full nature of faith, took them one day to the riverside and, seeing a boat in the middle of the stream, said:
"Now, my little dears, if I were to tell you that there was a leg of mutton in that boat, would you believe me?"
"Yes."
"Well, then," she said, "that is faith."
Some time after the same children were going through an examination when the question was asked, "What is faith?" and all the class, as with one voice, shouted out, "A leg of mutton in a boat!"
Manna a Fungus
1900
It seems that in the present day Arabs who are obliged to traverse the sandy wastes of Arabia depend to a large extent upon "angel's food" both for themselves and for their camels. The manna is in reality a fungus which is found in great quantities on the sand after rain. Of a gray color and of the size of a pea, it has a pleasant, sweet taste, and although its analysis shows that it is by no means a perfect food, it is sufficiently rich in nitrogenous matter and carbohydrates to sustain life for a long period. — Chambers' Journal.
It seems that in the present day Arabs who are obliged to traverse the sandy wastes of Arabia depend to a large extent upon "angel's food" both for themselves and for their camels. The manna is in reality a fungus which is found in great quantities on the sand after rain. Of a gray color and of the size of a pea, it has a pleasant, sweet taste, and although its analysis shows that it is by no means a perfect food, it is sufficiently rich in nitrogenous matter and carbohydrates to sustain life for a long period. — Chambers' Journal.
What Should Ministers Preach?
1900
An opinion as to what ministers should teach in from The Presbyterian:
Perhaps better and larger gains from the world would follow if ministers not only expected, but taught their people to expect, conversions through the ordinary preaching of the word. We have got so much into the habit of awaiting the arrival of the evangelist or of relying upon spasmodic and special revival work that we do not either look or work for the salvation of souls in ordinary church conditions.
God is not confined to extraordinary operations. He has his regular agencies. He has promised to bless them where faith, earnestness and energy accompany them. Healthy developments in Christian activity and in religious life greatly justify God and advance his kingdom.
An opinion as to what ministers should teach in from The Presbyterian:
Perhaps better and larger gains from the world would follow if ministers not only expected, but taught their people to expect, conversions through the ordinary preaching of the word. We have got so much into the habit of awaiting the arrival of the evangelist or of relying upon spasmodic and special revival work that we do not either look or work for the salvation of souls in ordinary church conditions.
God is not confined to extraordinary operations. He has his regular agencies. He has promised to bless them where faith, earnestness and energy accompany them. Healthy developments in Christian activity and in religious life greatly justify God and advance his kingdom.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
A Heifer on Her Haunches
1918
The speaker in the evening was Dr. Leon Tucker, whose subject was "A Heifer on Her Haunches." In his address, Dr. Tucker compared wayward mankind with the heifer of the ark which was unwilling to be a sacrifice on the altar of the Lord and only by force gave itself up. Dr. Tucker emphasized the need of workers to go out "into the highways and the byways of life" in Christian teaching, and in response to a call for those who would devote their lives wholly to the work of Christ, some 150 young people pledged themselves to do so.
—Racine Journal-News, Racine, Wisconsin, Nov. 11, 1918, p. 11.
1916
A Treat Promised
Dr. Tucker to Preach at Presbyterian Church Sunday
W. Leon Tucker will be the preacher at the Presbyterian church tomorrow at both services. His subject in the morning will be "A Corrupt Leper and Two Clean Birds." His subject in the evening will be "A Heifer Upon Its Haunches." This will be the last opportunity for Tyronians to hear this wonderful Bible teacher.
—Tyrone Daily Herald, Tyrone, PA, Nov. 11, 1916, p. 2.
1917
REFORMED
Dr. W. Leon Tucker will preach to the two congregations, the Presbyterian and the Reformed, in the Presbyterian church at the morning service. In the evening he will preach to the two congregations in the Reformed church. His topic in the evening will be "A Heifer on its Haunches." This is a wonderful sermon and should be heard by everybody. The usual church offerings will be taken, at the morning service, but the offering in the evening will be for Dr. Tucker. Dr. Tucker will also give one of his lectures in the Reformed church Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock.
—Daily Gazette, Xenia, Ohio, Jan. 13, 1917, p. 3.
1921
In Lima Churches Sunday
First Baptist, High and McDonald Sts, Warren L. Steeves, minister. Morning service at 10:30, subject, "A Heifer on Her Haunches."
—Lima News, Lima, Ohio, July 9, 1921, p. 4.
Note: No mention of Dr. Tucker being there. There was a book called "A Heifer on Its Haunches and Other Sermons" by Dr. Tucker, and he published numerous other books.
The speaker in the evening was Dr. Leon Tucker, whose subject was "A Heifer on Her Haunches." In his address, Dr. Tucker compared wayward mankind with the heifer of the ark which was unwilling to be a sacrifice on the altar of the Lord and only by force gave itself up. Dr. Tucker emphasized the need of workers to go out "into the highways and the byways of life" in Christian teaching, and in response to a call for those who would devote their lives wholly to the work of Christ, some 150 young people pledged themselves to do so.
—Racine Journal-News, Racine, Wisconsin, Nov. 11, 1918, p. 11.
1916
A Treat Promised
Dr. Tucker to Preach at Presbyterian Church Sunday
W. Leon Tucker will be the preacher at the Presbyterian church tomorrow at both services. His subject in the morning will be "A Corrupt Leper and Two Clean Birds." His subject in the evening will be "A Heifer Upon Its Haunches." This will be the last opportunity for Tyronians to hear this wonderful Bible teacher.
—Tyrone Daily Herald, Tyrone, PA, Nov. 11, 1916, p. 2.
1917
REFORMED
Dr. W. Leon Tucker will preach to the two congregations, the Presbyterian and the Reformed, in the Presbyterian church at the morning service. In the evening he will preach to the two congregations in the Reformed church. His topic in the evening will be "A Heifer on its Haunches." This is a wonderful sermon and should be heard by everybody. The usual church offerings will be taken, at the morning service, but the offering in the evening will be for Dr. Tucker. Dr. Tucker will also give one of his lectures in the Reformed church Sunday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock.
—Daily Gazette, Xenia, Ohio, Jan. 13, 1917, p. 3.
1921
In Lima Churches Sunday
First Baptist, High and McDonald Sts, Warren L. Steeves, minister. Morning service at 10:30, subject, "A Heifer on Her Haunches."
—Lima News, Lima, Ohio, July 9, 1921, p. 4.
Note: No mention of Dr. Tucker being there. There was a book called "A Heifer on Its Haunches and Other Sermons" by Dr. Tucker, and he published numerous other books.
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