8/11/2019 2007 Issue 4-5 - Here We Raise Our Ebenezer at Jamestown Virginia - Counsel of Chalcedon
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ere
We Raise
Our benezer at
Janaestovvn \Tirginia
Joseph lI1 orecrqft III
Oorne thou
1i'oun(;
ql' every blessing, Tune
my
heart
t:o
sing thy grace;
Strea7ns qf nwrcy never ceasi'ng, GaJl.fbr songs qf loudest praise.
Teach rne sorne m.elodiO'l.I.8 sonnet, 8wng by fla1nirl fj ton,fj'l.Les abc) oe;
Praise
(;he
nwunt
11rn
fixed
upon
it,
1I1rntnt: qf
Clod
redeern'i-ng love
.flere I raIse nw Ebene:z:;er; I-fitheT by ( ; h ~ help I'm. corne;
And 1hope, by thY good pleasu.re, 8qfe{v to ctrT'ive
at:
lunne.
Jesus
sOlf ght
1ne when
a
s t r a , f l l J e 1 ~ rVa:nd'rin,g/rorn the/old qf Goel:
He
to
1 eSCUe
nw.fiorn.
da/nger. h. t;eTposed
his pTeo'ious blood.
o
to
gnwe
ho'w g-reat: a debtoT Daily
I'm.
constraIneel to be,
Let that gn-ice
1UYW, li ?-e
a,fetter, Bind 111[V 'teJanci'1ing hem t
to
thee.
Prone to w a n d e 1 ~ Lonl,
lfeel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
HeTe:
1ny
heart, tahe
and
sea.l it, Seal it;for
thy
co'urts above.
TRINITYliYMNAL, p. 400
King David was a
student
of
history. Thinking about God s
wonderful aots
in the
history of
God s people enoouraged hinl
in
his own struggles. He wrote
songs of God s viotories so those
people might oontinue down
through their generations to
glorify God and to work for the
advanoe of God s kingdOln over
all the earth. Here are David s
own words in Psahn145:
I lIm:ll extol
You, n ~ v
God, 0 I{ing
And I 'will bless
Ybu,r
na1ne jore'ver
and
eve1:
/Eve1)' da.V I 'lQ,,ill bless Ybu.,
And I 'will pra:ise Your
narne
OTeVe1
and
e've?:
A[a,king the Ncxti01is Ghrist s Disciples
reat
is
the LORD, and
high(y
to
be
pra
ised;
And IIis greatness is
unsearohable.
One
geltera,t,1:on
shall praise
Your 'W01' ?,S to a.nother,
And shall deelare
Ibu1
rnight.y acts,
On
the glorious splendor
qf'
Your rnajesty,
And on }70'u.'1'
'(Q)onde1jul
're'orhs,
J 'teJill m.editate.
And
1nen shall speak qf the
power
q/
Your awesome aots;
.And I'12-,ill tell
qf
Yonr gl'eatness.
rthey shall eager(y utter
the m.enuny
oj
bU1
abundant
goodness,
And
shaJI shont O:xf11l(V
qf
Ihnr righteousness.
Th.e
LORD is graeiou,s
and
m
erO'fiu1;
Blow to anger
and
great;
1:n,lovingkind1tess.
The LORD is good to all,
And His nwroies
(t'1'e
o'ver all I-fls 'work.s.
All
YonT
W01 hs
stwJl gi've
thanhs
t;o
1o.u
0
LORD,
.luut l iJur
god(V
ones
shctll bless Yhu..
They sh,all speah qf the
glory
qf
Your h'i:ngdol1 L,
And
talk
qf 1'fJu.1" p O l e e l ~
To ma./?'e
known
to the sons
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8
Here
e
Raise
Our
Ebenezer
qf men
Yi:n l :r n ~ i h t y
acts,
And
the
glO J:Y
ql the majesty
ofYowr ]?ingdom.
Y ntr
kingd01n is an
e verlasting kingdorrt,
.A.nd Your dorn/tnion endwres
thnntghou,t ll genenxtions.
We have
gathered here
today
to fulfill the prophecy of
this
psalm: to
praise
our God for
His works from one generation
to
another
to declare His
mighty acts to
meditate
on
the
glorious splendor of
His majesty, to tell of His
greatness to give thanks
to
Him and
to
speak
of
the
glory of His
kingdom and
of
His power, to
make known
to
our children the
glory
and
majesty
of His everlasting
kingdom that
endures
throughout all generations.
For
never
has God s
undeserved
goodness,
grace
and
mercy been more
unforgettably
displayed
than
in the
founding of
Jamestown
Virginia.
Furthermore
God said
in
Proverbs 22:28 and
23:10-12-
Do
not
move the
ancient
landmark
which your fathers
have set. -- Do
not
move
the
ancient landmark or
go into
the
fields of
the
fatherless; for
their
Redeemer
is strong; He
will plead
their
case against
you. Apply
your heart
to
discipline, and
your
ears
to words of knowledge.
The LORD sub-divided
the
Land
of
Promise
among
the
Twelve Tribes of Israel
with
each
allotment having
distinct
boundaries. These allotments,
sovereignly
distributed
by
the
LORD, were to
remain in
the
various
tribes and in the
families of
their descendants.
Therefore, these boundary
markers,
or
land-marks
were
sacred,
because
the Law
of the Lord says: You shall
not
move
your
neighbor s
boundary mark which the
ancestors have set,
in your
inheritance which you
shall
inherit in the land
that
the
LORD
your
God gives you
to possess. --
Cursed
is he
who moves
his
neighbor s
boundary
mark. And all
the
people
shall
say, Amen,
Deuteronomy 19:14; 27:17.
Centuries
later the
prophet
Hosea applied
these
laws
and
proverbs to
his situation in
5:10-
The princes
of
Judah
have become like those who
move a
boundary; on them
I
will
pour out
y wrath like
water. The political leadership
of
Judah
was breaking down
the
antithesis between
right
and
wrong, truth and
falsehood, Jehovah and Baal;
and thereby
encouraging
the
people
to
evil and apostasy.
Our culture like Hosea s, is
busy
tearing
down
the ancient
landmarks that commemorate
the
display of God s grace
and
power
in our
heritage.
t
is
ignoring
and
reinterpreting
what God
has
done in
our
history to
bring us
where we
are today.
This
revision of
history has
as
its
purpose
to
leave
the impression with our
youth that history is on the
side of anti-christianity
rather
than
Biblical Christian ity.
You and I
must
resist and
overcome all
attempts
of
our
culture to
cut
itself loose
from the past, from solid
historical precedents
and
milestones, like the founding of
Jamestown as a
beachhead
of
Christianity in
the
new world,
from
tried
and
proven guides
in truth and
ethics,
such
as
the
Protestant Reformation
and
English
Puritanism in
the 16th
and
17th centuries,
and
from
the
absolute moral
standard
of God s law. Today s
western culture
has
broken
down the
barriers
between
right and wrong, between
God
and
false gods; and in
doing this it is murdering
Western Civilization.
The
removal of
the
old
landmarks
of history,
truth
and morals
has
been the major
goal of humanistic education,
politics and
jurisprudence in
the
20th and 21st
centuries.
The old landmarks
are
being replaced with
new
re
interpreted
and
relativistic
ones; and relativistic
landmarks are
not
landmarks
at
all. With
the
old ones
removed and
the
new ones
in
place, all is fluid, nothing
is certain right is wrong,
heaven is hell, God is Satan.
These Biblical texts call us
not only to resist the removal
of the old landmarks
but
also
to work diligently to
maintain
them in our
generation,
in
our
sons
and our
grandsons
generations. We
must
work
to preserve them as the
foundation upon which our
posterity can build
their
future.
We
are encouraged
in
this task because
our
texts tells
us
that
God s almighty power
is engaged for
the
protection of
the
old landmarks, and those
proud
and
powerful people
in
The (}ounsel qf Chaleedmt
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church,
school
and state
who
reinove and r e ~ i n t e r p r e t the
old landmarks will
not
only
find that they are no Inatoh for
the God of truth
and
history,
they
also set themselves
at
peril
by their evil designs.
We have come here to reolahn
an old landmark by celebrating
and erecting a
monument
to declare to the world for
generations the greatness
of
our
God
in
the founding
of JaInestown, Virginia.
By
the
way, my favorite
historical marker
in
Georgia
is
in
Macon, Georgia outside
the
front door of
the
First
Presbyteri an Church. The
Inarker informs all passers
by
that after AppOlnatox, Union
General Jaines 'Vilson required
the oitizens of Macon to
gather
in
First Church for a
Thanksgiving service that
the war was over and that the
Yankees had won. He
ordered
the
pastor
of the
church
to
lead
the
service,
but
he refused
beoause of the nl0ckery of the
occasion. Then, the Inarker
infonns us that Rev. Franois
R.
Goulding led
the
service
which
consisted of his reading Psahn
37 For they
that carried
us
away oaptive required of us
a song ..
How
oan we sing the
Lord's song in a foreign land ..
Ereoting monuments and
historioalmarkers
to oelebrate
the hand
of God
in the
lives
of Inen
and
women in our
history is essential to the
preservation and advance of
Christian civilization down
through our generations. 'Ve
have
seen
this to be
true tit11e
and again
in
the history of
God's people in the Bible.
lYlaking
the
NaLio'ns Ghrist's Disciples
First, remember ,,,hen God
tested AbrahaIn's faith in
the
pr01l1ised seed
by
ordering
hitl1
to sacrifice Isaac on an
altar on Mt. Moriah, Genesis
22? Do you reinember ,,,hat
Abraham
did after God
stopped hitl1 from offering his
son
and
provided a
ranl to
be
sacrificed as a
burnt
offering
in his place?
Then
Abrahaul
called the naIne of that place,
"The LORD will prOVide,
(Jehovah Jireh), as it is said
to
this
day,
In
the mount of
the LORD it will be provided,
Genesis 22:14. And
because
Abrahanl
passed
his test, God
oonfinned His promise to
hinl by saying, "By Myself I
have sworn," says the LORD,
"because you have done this,
and have
not
withheld
your
son, your only son, indeed I
will greatly bless you, and I
will greatly nlltltiply your
seed
eneI11ies. And
in
your
seed
all
the nations of the earth shall
be blessed, beoause you have
obeyed
My
voioe, 22:16-18.
By
giving that plaoe of
sacrifice the naIne, Jehovah
Jireh, AbrahaIl1 was
COnll11eI11orating
the great
deliverance Jehovah
had
provided for his son. Jehovah
provided. Jehovah's provi sion
took care of everything
This oonllnelnorative naIl1e
continued to affect generations
of Abraham's
desoendants. t
beCaIl1e a proverbial
phrase
in
Israel: The LORD will prOVide.
It taught the people of
God
to
expeot something yet to COlne.
God would continue to provide
for theIn;
but
supreI11ely
He would provide for
their
salvation by the
sending
of His
Son, Jesus, the Messiah, to be
the
substitutionary
sacrifioe,
turning away God's wrath
.L-R: A ~ U t
Friedrich k erey, Joe : Bechy 1rwecntJ't
as the
stars
of the heavens,
and as the
sand
which is on
the seashore;
and your seed
shall possess the gate of their
and saving
thenl
fr0111 their
sins, so that through faith in
Hinl they might be oounted
as righteous before God.
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Here
e
Raise Our benezer
Then
God encouraged obedient
Abraham
by
reaffirming His
promise
to
him that through
the
sacrifice and resurrection
of
Jesus
Christ, typified
in
the
"sacrifice
and
resurrection
of
Isaac, the whole world would
experience
the blessings of
salvation
in
fulfillment of
God's covenant: and in your
Seed
all the nations of
the
earth shall be blessed.
What
a landmark What a
brilliant thing
Abraham did
that
day
by
naming that location
"Jehovah Jireh,"
because by
that
landmark-name, Abraham
preached the gospel of Christ
to generation after generation
Second, do you remember
the
wrestling match between
Jacob
and the Angel of the
LORD recorded
in
Genesis
32?
God crippled Jacob
that
day to humble him, and to
teach
him
that he had
better
be
more concerned with Jehovah
than worrying about Esau.
This place was of
such
significance to Israel that Jacob
commemorated the place of his
encounter with
God
by naming
it
Peniel, for
he
said, "I have
seen God face to face, yet my
life
has
been preserved," 32:30.
Penier'
means the
Face of
God." Having encountered
the Jiving God and survived
meant that he
could now face
Esau and
his approaching
army and
not
turn away
in
fear. By giving
this
place the
Qommemorative name of Peniel,
Jacob, now Israel, is making
sure
that
the memory of God's
grace should never
perish
from Jacob's descendants.
Third, the LORD miraculously
parted
the Jordan
River to
enable the
armies
of Israel
commanded
by Joshua to
enter Canaan to conquer
it,
Joshua
3:13f.
That
was
an
unmistakable
sign of
the
LORD's
continuing presence
with His people.
In
spite of
the
past
forty years of failures
on
the
part of Israel, the LORD is
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just
as faithful to His people
at
the Jordan
River, as He was
to His people at the Red Sea.
The passing of time and the
sins of Israel did
not
cause
God's mercy to wear
thin
or
grow old. f this were not
true,
Jamestown would never have
been permanently settled.
In Joshua 4:1 after Israel
had completely crossed the
Jordan
River "on
dry
land,"
the LORD
told Joshua:
Take for yourselves twelve
men
from the people, one man from
each tribe,
and
command them,
saying, "Take up for yourselves
twelve stones from here out of
the middle of the Jordan, from
the place where the priests' feet
are
standing firm, and carry
them over with you, and lay
The Counsel of Ghalcedon
8/11/2019 2007 Issue 4-5 - Here We Raise Our Ebenezer at Jamestown Virginia - Counsel of Chalcedon
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them
down
in the
lodging plaoe
where you will lodge tonight."
So Joshua oalled the twelve
men Wh0111 he had appointed
fr0111 the sons of Israel, one l11an
fl 0111
eaoh tribe;
and
Joshua
said to them, "Cross again to
the
ark
of the LORD your God
into the l11iddle of the Jordan,
and eaoh of you take up a stone
on his shoulder, aooording to
the
number
of
the
tribes of the
sons of Israel. Let this be a
sign among you, so that
when
your ohildren ask later, saying,
'What do these stones mean
to you?' then
you
shall say
to
them, 'Beoause
the
waters of
the Jordan were out off before
the ark of the oovenant of the
LORD when it orossed the
Jordan, the ,vaters of the Jordan
were out off.' So
these
stones
shall be00111e a l11emorial to
the sons of Israel forever."
These menlorial stones, or
historioall11arker, would
be
"a sign
al110ng
you." The
Hebrew word for "sign" also
means 111el11orial, and its
pri111ary
purpose was for
future generations: Let this
be a sign
al110ng
you, so that
when your ohildren ask later,
saying, ""That do these stones
mean
to you?' then you shall
say to thel11, 'Beoause
the
waters of
Jordan
were out off
before
the ark
of
the
oovenant
of
the
LORD
when it
orossed
the Jordan
.. " God's aots
of salvation on His people's
behalf must be perpetuated
in the mel110ry of ooming
generations, so our desoendants
will remel11ber with loving
refleotion and faithful aotion
the
display of God's graoe
in
behalf of
their
anoestors.
Then, in Joshua
4 : 2 0 ~ 2 4
we
aking the Nations Ghrist s Disciples
read that the twelve l11em,orial
stones whioh
they
had
taken
frol11
the
Jordan
River were
set
up
again
at
Gilgal,
the
first plaoe Israel oal11ped
after
orossing
the
o r d a n ~
(20)
And
those twelve
stones
which
they had taken
fr0111
the
Jordan, Joshua
set
up at Gilgal.
(21) And he said
to
the
sons
of
Israel, "When your children
ask
their fathers
in
tit11e to
COl11e, saying,
hat are
these
stones?' (22) then you shall
inforI11
your ohildren, saying,
'Israel orossed this Jordan
011
dry
ground.' (23) For
the
LORD your God
dried
up the
waters of the Jordan before
you until you
had
orossed, just
as the LORD
your
God had
done to the Red Sea, whioh
He dried up before us until we
had
crossed; (24) that all
the
peoples of the
earth
l11ay know
that
the
hand of the LORD is
l11ighty,
so that you
l11ay
fear
the LORD your
God
forever.
'hat
was
the
signifioance
of this pile of stones , this
historioalmarker,
this ancient
landl11ark? Our
text
says
that
it
served two purposes.
Its first purpose was
to
tranSl11it
the
knowledge of our oovenant
heritage to future generations
in order that they
l11ight
have a
l11el11ory and
a sound
foundation on whioh
to
develop
what was begun by
their
fathers
and
nl0thers. lt11agine a godly
Israelite taking his children
to
the
twelve stones
at
Gilgal
and saying: "Look
These
stones were taken up out of the
Jordan. I was there. I saw
it
happen," Then
the
grandfather
would tell the grandchild, and,
though the people gradually
died off, the story would go on.
Here e Raise Our benezer
We
should
always
be
"piling
up
l11el11orial
stones to
retnind coming generations
of the work of our God in
previous generations. Our
posterity
l11USt be
firI111y
and
knowledgeably rooted in
the PAST so they can l110ve
Victoriously into the FUTURE,
being
obedient
to
Christ
in
the PRESENT. People without
a sense of history, without
roots, are often recklessly
and
irresponsibly present
oriented," with no
regard
for
oonsequenoes in the future.
The seoond
purpose
of
these stones was to tell the
world's nations
that Jehovah
is
uniquely
different fronl
all
other
gods, whioh nlen
worship. He real ly exists. He
is the living God. He is the
Ah11ighty, sovereign God,
who lives with His people
and who governs the world
to
guarantee the fulfillnlent of all
His pr0111ises
in
and anl0ng His
people. He governs the world
for the
sake
of His people.
Here in
Joshua : 2 ~ 2 4
is a
propheoy
that,
as God's people
faithfully l11ark
and
declare
the
l11ighty aots of God in
their
history
shOWing His
oovenant faithfulness, all the
people of the earth will know
the providential hand of God
in
the
life and history of His
people, and will fear the LORD
your
God forever.
This
pr0111ise
looks beyond
the
geographical
boundaries of
Canaan and
the
ethnio qualities of Israel to a
day when l11en and nations, of
vast ethnio
and
geographical
backgrounds, will know
and
fear Jehovah
in
Christ. We
have gathered
here today
hUl11bly to beseeoh God
to
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Here
l Ve
Raise O ur Ebe ne.zer
be
faithful
to this
promise
in
the lives of our children.
Fourth, in
I Samuel
7: 2
we
see another incident
of raising
historical markers
celebrating
God's goodness to His
people-
Then
Samuel took a stone
and set t between
Mizpah
and
Shen,
and named it
Ebenezer, saying, Thus far
the LORD
has
helped us.
The remarkable
victory of Israel
over the Philistines could
not
be
allowed to
sink
into oblivion.
Therefore
Samuel
also
erected
a
monument,
a memorial
stone, to
commemorate
God's
mighty
acts
in
Israel's behalf
in order
to
instruct
and
encourage future
generations.
The marker did not
contain
the names of
the
heroic dead,
but
the
name of the living
God of grace who delivered
Israel. Therefore, the stone
was
named,
Ebenezer,
which
means
stone of
the
Helper,
because
Jehovah is
their
help
and
their shield, Psalm 115:9-11
The
erection
of the memorial
stone
was
an
expression of
gratitude for God's help, and
a
permanent monument
to
perpetuate
the
memory of His
help. But it was much more.
The
phrase,
Thus
far,
in
Samuel's
statement,
Thus
far
has the
LORD helped
us,
implies
an
unbroken
succession of interventions
and deliverances by God
in
the history
of Israel, thereby
linking
the present events
with Israel's past, forming
a witness to
the
enduring
faithfulness
and
mercy of a
covenant-keeping God.
But
there
is
something
strange
about this
phrase, considering
the
immediate circumstances.
How could Samuel have
forgotten
about
the
most recent
tragedies
at
Shiloh:
the
capture
of
the ark
of
the
covenant
by
the Philistines,
the death
of
Eli,
the
high priest, and his
two sons, along
with
the wife
of
one
of them,
and
the victory of
the Philistines plundering and
destroying Shiloh,
with
such
severity that
it
was given the
name,
Ichobod, i.e., the glory of
God
has
departed?
How could
Samuel have
erased an entire
chapter
from Israel's history?
With all
this
fresh
on
his mind,
how could
he
honestly say,
Thus far has the
LORD helped us?
Samuel knew
And it
appears
that
there was
more need
for chastenings
in order
for God's people to
accomplish the goals to which
God
had
called them. Happy
are
those
people, who full of
confidence
in the
faithfulness
and
love of God,
can take
a
similar view of His providentia l
dealings with them.
With all the apparent defeats
and
set-backs God's people
have experienced in
the
20th
Century
and early
21st
Century, we can still
face
the
future confident of
victory, still declaring
to
the
all this. Even in
the midst
of
the
devastation
at
Shiloh,
the Lord
was helping
them,
helping them to
know themselves
and
their
sins,
and helping
them
to know the bitter
Rev. JoewloTecnift Douglas Phillips
fruit
and severe,
but
just, punishment of sin. He
was helping
them
to achieve
the great purpose for which He
had
called them: to keep alive
the
knowledge of
the
one, true
God
and His worship, until
the
great messianic promise
should
be
fulfilled,
when Christ
would come
in whom
all
the
families of
the
earth were to be
blessed.
The links in this
long
chain
of divine interventions
implied
by
Samuel's
thus
far were not all of
the
same
kind. Some were
in
the form
watching world: Thus far
has
the
Lord helped us, for
our
God does
not
change.
In
I Samuel 7:3-4, Samuel
calls Israel to national
repentance- If
you return to
the LORD with all your heart,
remove
the
foreign gods
and
the
Ashtaroth from among you
and
direct your hearts to the
LORD and serve Him alone;
and
He will deliver you from
the hand
of the Philistines.
So
the
sons of Israel removed
the
Baals
and
Ashtaroth
and
of merciful deliverances, others served
the
LORD alone.
were in the form of chastenings.
Through the
Spirit-empowered
The
Counsel
ql lhalcedon
8/11/2019 2007 Issue 4-5 - Here We Raise Our Ebenezer at Jamestown Virginia - Counsel of Chalcedon
7/17
preaching
of
S3ll1uel, Israel
repented
and experienoed
true national revival. She
abandoned her idolatry,
destroyed the monUl11ents
conll11enlOrating idolatry,
and
gave herself to the servioe and
worship of Jehovah.
'Vhat
a
great day this was Israel was
beoOl11ing, by God's graoe, what
God had oalled her to be: a
faithful nation in oovenant
with
her
Lord and Savior.
The 'Vestminster Larger
Oateohisnl
Q 108 on the
seoond oOl11mandment lis ts
as
one
of
the
duties
required
of us by
that
oonll11andment:
aooording to eaoh one's plaoe
and
calling, removing .. all
nlonUl11ents of idolatry.
The
phrase , nl0numents of idolatry,
refers to any mOntll11ent,
plaque, historioall11arker,
institution, publication or
practice
that
preserves
the
nlenl0ry of that idolatry
or
that l11ight seduce people
to
return
to it. This
nleans
that
it
is
the
God-given duty
of individuals, fanlilies,
churches, conll11unities
and nations to
re1110ve
all
nl0nUl11ents of idolatry fr0111
a culture, according to eaoh
one's plaoe and calling,
lawfully, and not
in
a reckless
or an irresponsible l11anner.
Whenever Israel experienced
periods of Spirit-produced
revival
and
reformation
by
the
'Vord
of
God,
such
nl0numents dedicated to
"religious pluralisnl" were
rel11oved,
II Chronicles
15:8-
19; II Ohronicles 31:1; II Kings
18:4-7; II Ohronicles 23:16-17;
II Chronicles
34:2-7, 33. There
can be
no comprOl11ise. The
expunging of these nlonUl11ents
of idolatry must
be
total.
1t1. xhing the ations Ghrist 8 isciples
God alone is God,
and
He
will
not
share His glory with
another . He denlands of
us
that
we
become
"wholly and
only" His. Our forefathers
dedioated
us
to
the triune
God by oovenant time and
again.
Our
republio was
frol11
its beginning dedicated to the
God of
the
Bible, and if ,ve
dedioate ourselves to another
god, or fail tD give
Hh11 the
worship and service He is
due, God will dedicate us to
destruotion, as He
has
done
to nlany peoples
in the
past.
All nl0nUl11ents of idolatry
are to
be
taken do,vn for two
reasons: they re111ind and they
nl0ve. They renlind
in
that
they preserve
the l11el11ory
of
idols in people's nlinds.
They
allow people to rel11el11ber
those things that ought
not
to
be even n3l11ed
an
ong us, but
should lie
buried in the eternal
darkness of silent oblivion."
George Gillespie, A DISPUTE
AGAINST THE ENGLISH
POPISH OEREMONIES
OBTRUDED UPON THE
CHUROH OF SOOTLAND.
They nl0ve
in
that
they
often
nl0ve people to turn back to
the
idolatry of hUl11anisnl and
statisnl. These renlinders
not
only allow
the l11el11ory
of
the
superstitions
they represent
to continue anlong
the
people,
but l11any
th11es
that
l11el11ory,
imagination
and
curiosity
seduce people to reSUl11e
the
superstition and idolatry,
DeuteronOl11Y
7:25-26; 12:29 .30.
The
point
is
that in
order for
nl0ntll11ents conll11el11orating
God's l11ighty acts to
accOl11plish
their purpose,
all
I11DnUl11ents
conll11el11orating
idolatry nUlst be discredited
Here n e Raise UT
Ebene:..--;er
and
rel11oved.
Our
God will not
share
His glory
with
another
Therefore,
in
I
S3l11uel
7:5-6, Sal11uel
oalled for a
publio assel11bly for national
confession, repentance, and
oovenant renewal
with
o -
Then Sal11uel said, Gather
aU
Israel to Mizpah, and I will
pray
to the LORD for you." And
they gathered to Mizpah,
and
drew water and poured it
out
before the LORD,
and
fasted
on
that
day,
and
said there,
"'Ve have
sinned
against the
LORD." Four iI11portant
things
happened
at
that gathering:
1).
The prayer of S3ll1uel
in
which
he interceded
before
God
in
behalf of His people
that
He would
return in l11ercy
and
grace to His
undeserving
people; (2).
The
draWing
and
pouring
out .of water
before
the
LORD
by
Israel. Obviously
this
sYl11bolized
the
people's
pouring
out
of
their hearts
like water
in
confession of
sin and repentance
before
the
LORD.
t
was
an act
of
deepest
hUl11iliation before
the LORD. (3).
The
fasting
of Israel on that day, giving
additional expression
to her
humiliat ion for
her
sin, her
Willingness to repent, and
her
desire for forgiveness
and
restoration
by
God.
4).
The national oonfession of
sin, which ,vas a
gathering
up
and sunll11arizing of
the
confessions and rededications
of the entire nation. This
corporate confession of
sin
l11ay have
been
siI11ilar to that
corporate and twice daily
confession of sin
in
J3l11estown
at
every changing of
the guard
during
the
adl11inistration
of Sir ThOlllas Dale:
33
8/11/2019 2007 Issue 4-5 - Here We Raise Our Ebenezer at Jamestown Virginia - Counsel of Chalcedon
8/17
4
Here Raise Owr Ebeneze r
And
thou our
Father
of all
mercies, that
hast called us
unto thee, hear us
and
pity
thy
poor servants, we have indeed
sinned
wondrously against
thee through
our
blindness
of mind,
prophaneness
of
spirit, hardness of heart,
self love, worldliness, carnal
lusts, hypocrisy, pride, vanity,
unthankfulness, infidelity,
and
other
our
nature
corruptions,
which being bred in us, and
with us, have defiled us even
from
the
womb, and
unto this
day, and have broken
out
as
plague sores into
innumerable
transgressions
of all
thy
holy
laws, the good ways whereof
we have willfully declined,)
and
have
many
times displeased
thee, and our own consciences
in
choosing those things
which
thou hast
most justly
and severely forbidden us.
And besides all this we have
outstood
the
gracious time
and means
of our conversion,
or
at least
not
stooped
and
humbled
ourselves before thee ,
as we ought, although we have
wanted none of those helps,
which
thou
vouchsafest
unto
thy wandering
children
to fetch
them home withal, for we have
had
together with
thy glorious
work, thy word calling upon is
without, and
thy spirit
within,
and have been solicited by
promises, by threatenings, by
blessings, by
chasti
sings and
by
examples,
on
all hands:
And
yet
our
corrupted spirits
cannot
become wise before
thee, to
humble themselves,
and
to take heed as we ought,
and wish to do. Wherefore 0
Lord
God, we do acknowledge
thy
patience
to have been
infinite and incomparable, in
that
thou hast been able
to
hold thy hands from revenging
thy self upon us thus long, and
yet pleasest to hold
open
the
door of grace, that might
come
in
unto
thee
and be saved.
And now 0 blessed Lord God,
we are desirous
to
come
unto
thee, how wretched soever
in
our selves, yea our very
wretchedness sends us
unto
thee with whom the fatherless,
and
he that has no helper
finds mercy, we
come
to thee
in
thy
Son's name not daring
to
come
in our own:
In
his
name that came for us, we
come
to
thee,
in
his
mediation
whom
thou has
sent: In
him
o Father,
in
whom thou hast
professed thyself to be well
pleased, we come unto thee,
and do most humbly beseech
thee to pity us, and to save us
for thy mercies sake in him.
After this day of public
repentance,
Israel, a revived
nation, experienced victory in a
third war with the Philistines, I
Samuel
7:7-14.
Having
already
defeated
them in
battle, the
Philistines invaded Israel.
When the Israelites heard of
it, they were fearful, but they
did not act out of fear, they
acted in faith in the LORD. At
this point in her history, Israel
was in a different spiritual
condition than she was earlier
when
she suffered defeat
at
the hands
of the Philistines.
The
situation
could
not
have
been more different. They
requested Samuel to pray for
them-Do
not
cease to cry
to the LORD our God for us,
that He may save us from the
hand of the Philistines, 7:8.
Samuel responded
by
offering
a burnt offering to the LORD,
because
without the shedding
of blood
there
is no forgiveness
of sins,
and
then proceeded to
intercede
in
prayer with God
for Israel-and Samuel cried
to the LORD for Israel, and
the
LORD answered him,
7:9.
And
then,
what happened next
is thrilling: Now Samuel was
offering up the burnt offering,
and
the Philistines drew near
to battle against Israel. But the
LORD thundered with a great
thunder
on
that
day against
the Philistines
and
confused
them, so
that they
were
routed before Israel,
7:9,10.
To
commemorate
this massive
defeat of the Philistines in
answer to Samuel's prayer
for spi ritually revived Israel,
Samuel took a stone and set
it between Mizpah and Shen,
and named it Ebenezer, saying,
"Thus far the LORD has helped
us,"
7:12.
The result of this
famous incident was
that
the
Philistines were subdued and
they
did
not come
any more
within
the border
of Israel.
And the hand
of
the
LORD
was against the Philistines
all the days of Samuel, 7:13.
What
a remarkable story I
hope w will never forget
it In fact, I
pray that
as we
raise this commemorative
monument to
the
courageous
founders of Jamestown,
Virginia, that beginning in
this place we will see similar
things
happen
to
us
and
to
our beloved nation: renewed
repentance, Spirit-produced
revival and reformation,
victory over our enemies and
the resounding defeat
and
removal of antichristianity
from the borders of our nation
to the praise
and
glory of
the God of the Bible besides
The
ounsel
qf C;halcerlon
8/11/2019 2007 Issue 4-5 - Here We Raise Our Ebenezer at Jamestown Virginia - Counsel of Chalcedon
9/17
Wh0111 there is no other god.
We have come here today
in thanksgiving to God to
conllllelllorate
and
celebr(lte
the good hand of God in the
lives of the
men
and women
who first settled Jalllestown,
Virginia. As John Tyler, the
tenth president of the United
States, and who,
later
in
life, was elected to represent
Virginia in the Congress
of the Confederate States
of Alllerica, said,
in
1857,
in
his speech at
the
250th
anniversary
celebration of
the
settling of Jamestown:
The 111elllory of a glorious
ancestry
should
be
kept
bright in
the recollections
of their posterity; and their
noble daring in the cause of
civilization, and brave resolves
in favor of freed0111 should
be
recounted from generation
to
generation. -- f there ever
v{ere 111en worthy to be held
in
relllelllbrance,
they
were those
who
settled
this now flourishing
country,
and
incorporated with
its
very
soil
the
principles of
hUlllan
right-what wonderful
results have arisen fr0111 that
event which we have 111et here
to celebrate? A snlall body
of 111en planted on this spot
the
seed
of a mighty el11pire.
It sprung up, its growth at
first sickly, and often near
perishing, but finally it grew
and
flourished
until
at
this
day
millions of
the hUl11an fal11ily
shelter under its
branches,
and
its leaves are
watered
by the dews of two oceans.
--
hat
if the inscriptions on
the
nl0nUl11ents erected over
the
dead be rendered illegible
by til11e and the nl0ntll11ents
the111selves be in fragnlents;
lHaJ? ing
the ]\fa tions
Christ s
Disciples
yet
is there a glory enCircling
those ruins, and
arising
f1 0111
the earth on
which those
adventurers trod,
which
decay
cannot reach, and which
the
lapse of
centuries can
only
111ake
more
il11posing.
Vve
are
here to do
them
reverence, and
in
the silent
language of
the
heart to utter thanksgiving and
praise to our Heavenly Parent
for the great benefits which,
under his good providence,
their hardy
and successful
adventures have conferred
upon us and upon the world.
Here Hre Raise Our Ebenezer
through two
hundred
and fifty
years;
and
il11plore
that Great
Being who so often
and
signally
preserved
thenl
through
trials
and difficulties, to continue
to
our
country
His
protecting
guardianship and care.
Let us be absolutely
clear
about what we have C0111e
here
to COnll11e1110rate celebrate
and 111emorialize for future
generations: the ah11ighty,
undeserved
and
sovereign
grace
of the triune God nlanifested
-- I-Iere 3111id
the
graves of our
ancestors, we renew
our
pledges
to
those
principles of self
govenll11ent, which have been
consecrated by their eXal11ples
in the settling of
Janlestown,
Virginia. What happened here
and what its consequences have
been in this
continent
were the
results
not
of the desserts of the
111en
who first arrived
here
in
1607 and thereafter, but of the
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35
8/11/2019 2007 Issue 4-5 - Here We Raise Our Ebenezer at Jamestown Virginia - Counsel of Chalcedon
10/17
6
Here
Raise
Otlr Ebene. 0er
sheer
grace of God to
undeserving sinners. When
you
study the good history
books
about
Jamestown,
and
many are available, nothing
could be more obvious.
When
you read
about this
settlement
and
its
history, or walk around
its landscape remembering
what has grown from this
place, all you will be able to
say over and again is: Praise
God for His grace Praise
God for His mercy Praise
God for His goodness Praise
God for His power Praise
God
for His wisdom Praise
God for His amazing grace
We praise God that
Virginia and
New England were permanently
settled by English
Puritans
and
not
by the French who settled
much of
Canada or the
Spanish
that settled
the Caribbean,
Central
and South America,
whose anti-Protestant religion
always produces tyrannies
and cultures of superstition.
We praise God for the vision
he
gave men like Richard
Hakluyt,
more
responsible
than
any
man
in his time for
the
English colonization of
the America, that led to
the
establishing of the Virginia
Company responsible for
the founding of Jamestown.
Haklukt said in 1584:
Wee shall
by
plantinge [in
America] inlarge the glory
of
the
gospel. ..and provide a
safe and sure place to receave
people from all
partes
of
the
worlds
that
are forced to flee
for
the
truthe of Gods warde.
We
praise God for the first
charter of the Virginia
Company in 1606 that
spelled out
the purpose
for
the settling of Virginia:
We,
greatly commending, and
graciously accepting of, their
Desires for the
Furtherance
of so noble a Work, which
may, by the Providence of
Almighty God,
hereafter tend
to
the Glory of His Divine
Majesty,
in
propagating of
Christian
Religion
to
such
People, as
yet
live in Darkness
and miserable Ignorance
of
the
true Knowledge and
Worship of God, and may in
time bring the Infidels and
Savages, living in those parts,
to
human
CiVility,
and
to a
settled and quiet Government;
DO, by
these
our
Letters,
Patents, graciously accept
of,
and agree to,
their
humble
and well-intended Desires.
We praise God for the
Virginia Company's added
statement A True and Sincere
Declaration," spelling
out
the
The ounsel
qf
Ghalced(Ht
8/11/2019 2007 Issue 4-5 - Here We Raise Our Ebenezer at Jamestown Virginia - Counsel of Chalcedon
11/17
principal
and
main end
of
the settling
of
Virginia:
[The settlers] were first to
preach and baptize into the
Christ ian religion, and by
propagation of
the
Gospel, to
recover
out
of
the
arms of
the
Devil, a nUlllber of poor and
miserable souls, wrapt up
unto
death
in
a11110st invincible
ignorance;
to
endeavor the
fulfilling an accomplishment
of the
nUl11ber of the
elect
which shall be gathered fr0111
all corners of the
earth
..
We praise God for Captain
John SI11ith without whon1
J al11estown would have died
in its birth. God used hiIll to
keep the original inhabitants
of JaIllestown frolll self
destructing from 1607 to
1609. He
protected then1
fron1 the Powatan Indians. He
established commerce with
the Powatans, obtaining food
fr0111 then1 to keep the people at
Jal11estown alive. John Sn1ith
spent n10nths exploring and
mapping the Chesapeake region
and conducting both diplO111acy
and hard bargaining with the
Powatans. During the one
year
that
he served as leader
of the colony,
John SI11ith
brought order and discipline to
JaIllestown, impleillenting the
policy: 'He who will
not
work,
shall not eat.' - Bill Potter, THE
HISTORY OF JAMESTOWN
THE PROCEEDINGS OF
THE ENGLISH COLONIE OF
VIRGINIA, written in 1612,
says of John Smith's character
after his departure from
JaIllestown: Thus we los t hin1
that, in all his proceedings,
made Jus tice his first guid, and
experience his second; ever
hating basenesse, sloth, pride
MaJdng the
Nfl tions Ghrist s Disciples
and
indignitie n10re than any
dangers; that
never allowed
l110re
for hiIllselfe than his
souldiers with hhll;
that
upon
no danger would send then1
where he would not lead thelll
hhllselfe;
that
would never see
us want [lack] what
either
had,
or could an
111eans
get for us;
that he
would rather
want
[do
without] than borrow, or starve
than not pay; that loved actions
n10re than words, and
hated
falsehood and [cowardace]
worse than death; whose
adventures were
our
lives
and whose loss our deaths.
His writings
are peppered
with
statel11ents
that
ren1ind us
of Stonewall
Jackson
and his
finll faith in the sovereignty
and providence of God. He
speaks of God as the absolute
disposer of all hear ts, who
by
l11eans
of the settlers ships
and guns, caused then1 [the
Indians] to retire. Sicknesses
in Jal11estown
on
one occasion
he
attributed to the fact of
God being angry
with
us
and therefore plagued us with
such
faIlline
and
sickness.
While
l11any
others died, John
SI11ith
hhllself recovered
fr0111
an
extrel11e sickness only
by God's assistance. The
Indians were n10ved to
trade
with the settlers thereby saving
thel11 fr0111 starvation because
dG
d
please 0 to l110ve
thel11 to do so. (All of these
references
are
fr0111
Sll1ith's
book, A TRUE RELATION.)
John SI11ith's last will and
testaIllent states: First, I
conllllend Illy soul
into
the
hands of Ahllighty God Illy
l11aker, hoping through
the
Iller its of
Christ
Jesus Illy
Redeel11er to receive full
Here
e
Raise
ur
benezer
rel11ission of all n1y sins,
and
to
inherit
a
place
in
the
everlasting kingd0111.
We praise God for Pocahontas,
daughter of the
great
el11peror of
the
Powatans,
Wahunsonacock, for the n1ajor
role she played
in
the survival
of
the
fledgling J aIllestown. As
a young girl she rescued John
Sll1ith
fr0111
death at the hands
of
her
own people, by placing
herself
between
Sn1ith and his
would-be killers. She would
bring food
fr0111 the
Powatans
to J aIllestown when
they
were
on the verge of starving. She
warned J aIllestown of
Indian
attack. She was converted to
Christ,
took
the naIlle Rebecca,
111arried John Rolfe, for whon1
we also
praise
God, visited
England, including
the
king
and queen,
bore
a son,
Th0111as,
and
through hhll
descended
generations of fatll0US and
influential leaders
in
the young
Al11erican. Through her n1any
descendants today, Pocahontas
lives
on
in
Al11erican history.
John Sn1ith said of her
that
next under
God
[she was]
the instrul11ent to preserve
this colony fron1
death,
faIlline, and
utter
confusion ..
God
l11ade
Pocahontas.
Vve praise God for the early
preachers of
the
gospel God
sent
to Jal11estown. For the
first fifteen years they were
all English Puritans, who
preached and taught
fr0111
the
Geneva Bible,
translated
frolll the original languages
into English, with a running
conllllentary on each page,
by n1en1bers of John Knox's
English Puritan congregation
in Geneva, Switzerland, during
the l11inistry of John Calvin.
37
8/11/2019 2007 Issue 4-5 - Here We Raise Our Ebenezer at Jamestown Virginia - Counsel of Chalcedon
12/17
ere We
Raise
Our EbenezerI'
The Geneva
Bible came to
Jamestown
with
John
Smith,
Robert Hunt
and the others
in 1607.
In
1609, William
Strachey, secretary of
the
Virginia Company, arrived
in
Jamestown, and
quoted from
the
Geneva
Bible
in
writing
his history
of Virginia. Pastor
Alexander
Whitaker, who
came
to
Virginia
in
1611, used
the
Geneva
Bible as documented
in
one of his sermon manuscripts.
The
first
preacher in Jamestown
came to America
with
the
very
first settlers. He was Anglican
Puritan
minister, Robert Hunt,
1568-1608. He planted
the
first Protestant Church in
America. In
the
early months
of Jamestown's life, he
spent
much
time preaching to
the
men, praying
with them,
breaking
up many
quarrels
among them, and making peace
between
them. It
was sa id of
him:
Many were the mischiefs
that
daily sprung up from their
ignorant
spirits;
but
the good
doctrines
and
exhortations of
our
Preacher Minister Hunt
reconciled them
.. Another
said
of
him
after a fire
had
destroyed
all his possessions
in 1608: Good master
Hunt
lost
all his library, and all that
he
had but
the
clothes
on
his
back,
yet
none ever did see
him
repine at
his
loss... Yet we
had
daily Common Prayer morning
and evening, every Sunday
two
sermons
and
every
three
months the
Holy Communion
till
our
Minister died.
When the
first settlers landed
on the
Virginia
beach on
April 26, 1607, Pastor Hunt
called for three days of prayer
and
fasting in repentance for
sins
and in prepara tion for
dedicating
this new land
to
God. - Jamestown: Where
America Became a
Christian
Nation, www.christianlaw.org.
His first convert to
Christ
among
the Indians
was a
person
named Navirans, who
was of great
assistance
to
the
early settlers. After his
death
in July
1608,
John Smith
said
of him that till he could
not
speak, he never ceased
to his utmost to animate
us
constantly
to persist; whose
soul, questionless, is with God.
He composed a prayer for
the
colonists
that
was prayed
morning
and evening:
Almighty God ..we beseech
Thee to bless
us and
this
plantation which we and our
nation
have
begun
in
Thy
fear
and
for
Thy
glory ..
and
seeing
Lord,
the highest
end
of
our
plantation
here
is
to set up
the
standard and display
the
banner
of
Jesus
Christ, even
here where Satan's throne
is, Lord
let
our
labour be
blessed in labouring for the
conversion of the
heathen
..
Lord sanctify
our
spirits and
give
us
holy
hearts, that
so
we
may be Thy
instruments
in this most
glorious work.
The second
two
preachers
were
Anglican
Puritans
Richard
Bucke and William Mease.
Pastor Bucke arrived
in
1609
and remained there until
1620.
He
described the
settlers as
poore gentlemen, tradesmen,
serving men,
libertines
and
such like,
ten times
more fit
to spoil a commonwealth,
than either begin one, or
but
helpe to
maintain
one. Praise
God for
the
manifestation of
His
unmerited
grace
in the
founding of Jamestown.
Other
ministers, carefully
chosen
by the
Virginia
Company, were
sent
to
the
Jamestown environs in
those early years. Some of
their
names were Nicholas
Glover, William Wickham,
Thomas Bargrave, Samuel
Macock, George Keith
and
Patrick Copeland.
The
most
famous preacher
in
those early years for which
we praise God is Alexander
Whitaker, a Presbyterian
dissenter, who came to
Jamestown
in
6 with
the
new governor, Si r Thomas
Dale. He
pastored
the
new
settlements of New Bermuda
and
Henrico
City,
where
his
expository
and practical
preaching
was
distinguished
by
the
distinctives
of English
Puritanism.
His
ministry
in
Virginia
extended
from 1611
vlercy l\ {orecra t
to 1617,
during
which time
he
was
known
as the apostle
to the Indians. In his
famous sermon, written in
1613,
entitled
Good News
From Virginia, which had
a great effect in England
in
encouraging more people to
colonize Virginia for the glory
of God, he said that the survival
of Jamestown in its beginning
was evidence
that
the finger
of God
hath been
the only
true worker here;
that
God
The C:ounsel of Ghf'tleeclon
8/11/2019 2007 Issue 4-5 - Here We Raise Our Ebenezer at Jamestown Virginia - Counsel of Chalcedon
13/17
first showed us the place, God
first called us hither, and
here
God by His special Providence
hath
111aintained us."
Under Governor Thomas
Dale's leadership
and
with Captain
John
Rolfe's
encouragement, Alexander
Whitaker taught Pocahontas
how to read, discipled her
in
the Christian Faith from
the
famous Geneva Bible.
He
had
her 111emorize the Apostles'
Creed,
the
Lord's Prayer, the
Ten Conl111andnlents and the
questions and answers
of
a
short
Calvinistic cateohisl11.
In the early spring of 1614,
he
eXa111ined
the credibility
of her profession of faith in
Christ, heard her renunciation
of
paganisnl and baptized
her fronl a baptisnlal
made of a tree
trunk.
We
praise God for using Lord
De La Warr, Sir Thomas West,
the new governor,
in
1610 to
abolish conl111unal farming
and to provide for
the
private
ownership of property and
free enterprise. With that,
the
situation greatly inlproved
in
Jamestown, as we would
expeot. \Ve also praise God
for His providential rescue
of
Ja111estown
by Lord
De
La
Warr earlier
that
year. In the
winter of 1609-1610, known
as the Starving Time," of the
nearly 500 colonists left by
John
S111ith,
when he
departed
for England
in
September,
1609, only 59 were alive six
months later. The rest had died
of
starvation
and
starvation
related diseases. The situation
was bec0111ing desperate, and
so,
the
settlers determined to
abandon
Ja111estown
and return
to England. S0111e wanted
lv/aJdng th
N(l.tions Ghrist s Disciples
to
burn
down Jamestown,
but others kept that frol11
happening. The weary and
hungry
settlers got on boats
and
sailed to
the
nl0uth of the
Ja111eS
River, where
they
were
l11et by Lord
De
La Warr
and
his three ships well-supplied
with food and
other
necessities,
whioh ships had been dat11aged
in
a ston11 off the coast of
Ben11uda, and then repaired
there. The joyous settlers
returned to
Jal11estown with
the
new arrivals with Lord De La
Warr
and
began again. God was
not
through
with Janlestown
We
praise God for Sir Th0111as
Dale, governor
of
Ja111estown
fr0111 1610-1611, and for
his
oourageous attenlpt to establish
Janlestown on
the Puritan
principles of the preaching of
the
Word of God, devotion to
Christ, obedience to Biblical
Law for
the
glory of God and
fervent prayer to God. Let
e give one
eXa111ple
of his
laws
that
brought order
and
discipline to Ja111estown's
chaos and
111isery,
along with
parts
of a prayer that
he
required the
conl111anding
officer
to
pray
at
the changing
of
the
guard on
the
nlorning
and
evening
of
every day.
In Dale's "Laws Divine, Morall
and
Martiall," which S0111e have
referred
to
as
the
first
written
111anifestations of conlnl0n
law
in
A111erioa,
we read: .
First, since we owe our highest
and SUpre111e
duty,
our
greatest,
and all our allegiance to Hinl,
fr0111
Wh0111 all power
and
authority is derived, and flows
as
fr0111
the first,
and
only
fountain,
and
being especial
soldiers,
i111pressed
in this
sacred cause, we nlust alone
He1e
We Ra.ise
GU1 Ebeneze1
expect our
success
from Hi1n,
who is only
the
blesser of
all good attel11pts, the King
of kings, the Conl111ander
of conl111anders,
the
Lord of
Hosts, I do
strictly
c0111111and
and chaTge all Captains and
Officers, of
what
quality
or nature soever,
whether
oonll11anders in the field,
or
in
the town, or towns, forts or
fortresses,
to
have a
care
that
the Ah11ighty God be duly and
daily served,
and
that
they
call upon their people to hear
Sen11ons, as that also they
diligently
frequent
Morning
and
Evening
prayer
the111selves
by
their
own
exe111plar and
daily life, and
duty
herein,
encouraging others thereunto,
and
that
such, who shall
often
and
Willfully
absent
themselves, be duly
punished
according
to
the nlartial
law
in
that case provided.
The follOWing is the conclusion
of
the
prayer Dale wrote to
be read
twice a day
upon
the
changing of the guard:
o Lord we
earnestly
beseech
thee
to
receive us into
thy
favor and protection, defend us
fr0111 the delusion of the devil,
the 111alice of the heathen,
the invasions of our enel11ies,
and nlutinies and dissentions
of our own people, knit our
hearts
altogether in faith and
fear of thee, and love one to
another, give
us
patience,
wisd0111
and constancy to go
on
through
all difficulties and
temptations, till
this
blessed
work be acc0111plished, for
the honor
of
thy nat11e, and
glory of
the
Gospel of Jesus
Christ:
that
when
the
heathen
do know
thee
to be their God,
and Jesus Christ to be their
9
8/11/2019 2007 Issue 4-5 - Here We Raise Our Ebenezer at Jamestown Virginia - Counsel of Chalcedon
14/17
Herre
{tVe
Raise Our Ebene zer
salvation,
they
may say, blessed
by the
King
and
Prince of
England, and blessed by the
English
nation, and
blessed
forever
be the most
high God,
possessor
of
heaven
and
earth,
that
sent
them amongst us ..
We
praise
God
for the
persevering and ordinary men
and women in
Jamestown
that
kept it alive through the
years so
that, by God's grace,
it would
become the
cradle
of
this
American Republic."
We praise God
for
the third
charter of the Virginia
Company
in
1618, giving
the people of Vi:r:ginia the
freedom to elect their own
representatives
and
legislate
their own laws. And we praise
Him for
the
first representative
republic
in
North America that
charter established in
1619,
at
a time
when the
Stuart despots
were
trying to
move England
deeper and deeper
into tyranny.
Now we
know that
from
those
humble roots has grown the
greatest representative republic
in
the
world,
based on
the
United
States
Constitution.
We
praise
God
for Sir Edwin
Sandys, who was most
responsible for the change to
representative government
in
James town. He was a
prominent
Puritan
leader
in
the
House of Commons
in Parliament, and also the
treasurer
of the Virginia
Company in
1619. His vision,
influenced by Richard Hakluyt,
was informed
by
Jesus' Great
Commission to His Church
recorded
in
Matthew 28 that
calls us to make the world's
nations
Christ's disciples,
and
by the Creator's Dominion
Mandate
in
Genesis 1:28
that
calls
us to
build civilizations
founded on God's Word.
Sandys understood that to have
a prosperous and successful
colony, it
must
be more than
a commercial enterprise.
t must be a
permanent
settlement
populated with
men,
women
and
children-
families, devoted to Christ,
His Word, the converting of
the
Indians to Christ,
and
the building of a Christian
civilization
in
i r g ~ n i a
The ournal o Modern Ministry
Jay Adams, General Editor, started in
May
2004 with two issues,
and continues
in
2006 with three issues planned each year.
In it
are articles
in
the following areas: Editorials, Issues, General
Ministry, Counseling, Preaching, Medicine, Cults and Reviews.
lYear- 24,
2Year- 45,
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Subscribe
:for
yourself
or
give a gift subscription to your pastor
The
section editors include John Street, Lance Quinn, Lou Priolo, Bill Slattery, Steve Vogel M.D., Kevin Backus
and Donn Arms. This extraordinary group
of
ministering author-editors also solicit articles from the finest men
known today for their uncompromising biblical emphasis, and receive from lesser known writers articles they
believe worthy of publication.
To subscribe: www timelesstexts com
The
Counsel qf Ohalcedon
8/11/2019 2007 Issue 4-5 - Here We Raise Our Ebenezer at Jamestown Virginia - Counsel of Chalcedon
15/17
We praise God for
the
Powatan
boy named Chanco, who had
bec0111e a Christian and saved
Jal11estown frol11 extinction.
On
March 22, 1622, the
Great Massacre took plaoe,
during which
the
Powatans
under the leadership of Ohief
Opechancanough, attaoked
the
villages
surrounding
Jat11estown, slaughtering 347
of the
1240
people living in
Virginia. The Great Massaore
would have been even worse,
were
it
not for Chanoo, who
warned Jamestown and
the
nearby plantations, so
they had
time to
prepare
for defense.
As a result
the
Powatans were
unable to invade Jamestown
and
the
nearby
plantations.
One early historian wrote:
"The slaughter
had
been
universal, i God had not
put it into
the
heart of an
Indian
.. to reveal it.
..
"
In summary, we praise God
for
the
legaoy Jat11estown
Virginia
has
left
us,
aooording
to Douglas Phillips in his
article, "'Vho will win the
war on Anlerioa's history?"
Jal11estown was a courageous
attelupt
to oarry out the
Great
Con11uission
in
North Amerioa.
Jaluestown was a hard-fought
attelupt to
build a civilization
on
the
Word of
God
oomprised
of English people and Indians.
Jaluestown was the first
penuanent
settleluent in
North Amerioa
to
establish
a legal system based directly
on God's law in the Bible.
Jatuestown was the first
attelupt to
establish a
representative republic
in
North
Aluerioa,
which
was
the
model of the U.S. Constitution,
NIa.king
the ations
Ghrist's Diseiples
finding its origin in
the
Hebrew Republio of
the
Old
Testaluent and the Presbyterian
ohuroh government in
the
New Testament.
'Vhile
the
legacy of ..
Jaluestown is not
without
bUl11PS
and
warts,
the
lasting
influence of
the
settlement
would ohange the
world-and
dratuat ically for
the
better.
Before the arrival of these
Protestant
Christians and
the successful plan ting of
the
first
penuanent
English
settleluent, North Aluerica
was d01uinated by
warring
tribes engaged in denlonic
aotivities, like paganism,
cannibalism and ritual
torture.
On this occasion we need
to hear again the powerful
words frolu the nineteenth
century
of one of
the greatest
of all Virginians, Robert
L.
Dabney. His foous in these
words was
the
"new South"
that
was
the result
of
the
'Val'
Between
the
States,
but
,ve
can
apply his words just as
aptly
to the
history of Jaluestown,
VA
and her detractors.
[In disluissing
the
anit110sities
and failures of
the
past, Iuake
sure
that you] retain all that
was true in its principles
or
ennobling
in
its exanlple.
There
are
those
..who eXclaitu:
Let us bury the dead past. Its
issues
are
antiquated,
and
of
no Iuore prac tical signifioance.
Let us forget the passions of
the
past. Te are
in
a new
world. Its new questions alone
ooncern us." I rejoin: Be
sure
that
the
fonuer issues
are
really dead before
you
bury
theIu
There are
issues
which
oannot die ,vithout
the death
of
the
people, of their honor,
their
civilization
and their
greatness. Tal{e care
that
you
do not
bury
too
nluch,
'hile
burying
the
dead pa st;
that
you do not bury
the inspiring
memories [of
those
great
tnen
and
w01nen] whose actions,
whether successful or
not,
are
the eternal glory of your
[nation]; the
influence
of their
virtues, the guiding precedents
of their histories. -- 'Vill
you
bury true history whose yeaTS
are those of the God of truth?
[Do not] allow the d01ninant
party to teach [your children] a
perverted history
of
the past
..
This is a I11istake of \vhioh
you
are in in11ninent peril. "Tith
all
the astute
activity of [their
position], our [antichristian]
oonquerors strahl
every nerve
to pre-occupy the ears of
all AI11ericans
with the
false
version of affairs
\vhich
suits
[their purposes]. 'Vith a
gigantic sweep of [deliberate
untruthfulness], this
literature
aims
to
falsify
or
I11isrepresent
everything. .. Its sheets C0111e
up, like the frogs of Egypt, into
our
houses,
our bed chaI11bers,
our very kneading troughs.
Now
against
this deluge of
perversions I solet11nly
warn
[young people],
not
for
our
sakes, but for their own. [Be
careful
not to
believe ,vhat
is ,vritten down] by the pen
of slanderous history.
It
is
essential
to
your future
that
you shall
learn
the
history of the past truly.
Our age
presents the strange
instanoe
of a nUI11erous party,
who think they
can cirCUI11vent
the resistless forces of truth
by systeI11atically I11isnaI11ing
facts and fallacies, who are
deliberately building a whole
41
8/11/2019 2007 Issue 4-5 - Here We Raise Our Ebenezer at Jamestown Virginia - Counsel of Chalcedon
16/17
Here We
Raise Our
EbeTLezer
system of empire on the
substitution of light for darkness
and darkness for light, of good
for evil and evil for good, cal ling
that
master
in
our
government
which was servant, that
patriotism which
was treason,
and
that treason which was
true,
law-preserving patriotism,
and
that
aggression which was
righteous
defense.
f
you
wish
to
be buried
deeper
than
thrice
buried Troy
beneath
the
final
mountains of
both
defeat and
shame, go
with
these architects
of
detraction.
They are but
arraying
themselves
against
the
unchangeable
God who
has
said:
The lying tongue is but for a
moment, but the lips of
truth
shall be
established
forever.
TheNew
South
by Robert L.
Dabney in
his DISCUSSIONS,
Vol. IV given
at
Hampton Sydney
College
in
1882, reprinted
by Sprinkle
Publications,
Harrisonburg, VA 1979.
So then, we gather today
on
this
historical
occasion-and
I
trust
you can feel the importance of
this day
for
the
future-to
praise
God for the display of His grace,
wisdom and power in Jamestown
in
the early 17th century, and
for
the
legacy
it has
bequeathed
us. May God have mercy on
us for how we have
neglected
and despised that legacy. May
He
be merciful
to
us
by giving
us renewed
dedication
to
the
preservation
and
development
of that legacy down
through
our
future generations.
And so, in conclusion: I
cannot
stand on
this precious
ground without crying out:
sic semper tyrannis. And
I leave
you with the
words
of
Pastor
William
Cranshaw
in
his preface to Alexander
Whitaker's
famous sermon:
Good News from Virginia
Go
forward in [Christ's] name
and
by the strength of
the
Lord
our
God,
and rest
assured
that
His goodness will either raise
you more
strength
or
will
make
the
strength you have already
able to prevail. Be not therefore
faint-hearted, but remember it
is God's cause you have taken
in hand.
t may therefore
be hindered,
but
cannot be
overthrown. f we then were
so base as to betray or forsake
it, God
whose
it is will
stir
up
our
children after us and
give
them
that good
land to
enjoy,
which we are
not
worthy of, and
which
nothing but
our
sins and
sluggishness can keep from us.
Let
us not therefore to our own
shame
leave so blessed a work
to them that follow us, lest the
ensuing ages say of us, Why
was
there
such a prize put
into
the hands of fools who
had
not
hearts to take it? (Proverbs)
Stand
to
it
therefore
and be
not wanting to yourselves, and
God
will
never
be wanting
to you
nor
it, till His blessed
providence
hath brought
it to
pass
that
men
shall say, God
hath
made
His ways known
upon earth, and His saving
health
amongst
all nations:
and
blessed
by the Lord
God
of
Virginia, world
without
end.
.Joe 1Horecrajt
III
Ghalcedon Presbyterian Gh:u:rch
}umlnin/J, G A
J1..tne 8,
2 7
Soli
Deo Gloria
J he Counsel qf Ghalcedon
8/11/2019 2007 Issue 4-5 - Here We Raise Our Ebenezer at Jamestown Virginia - Counsel of Chalcedon
17/17
rologue
For the
400th
Jubilee Celeb1 at-ion
of
the
first
per manent settle l1wnt
qf
the
English
at
Jam,estown,
Virginia - .1607-2007
This is
an eleven
page p o e n ~
filshioned
in, the style
of
IJongjellow and
Tennyson
u lwse poem,s
mj'
1 a n r 1 : k ( , t h e 1 ~
Elihu lJira1n
Anderson
Presbyte1 ian m,iniste1
and
sohool teaohe?;
and
rny deu?
m,othe'1; Anita Anderson, Belohe?; teacher and '[(I)rite?; taught I1W to love as a ohUd. It is a st01)
telling poem,. I hope it blesses those who read it and excites thei1 inte1 est in our /Jodb' herita,ge a,s
f, nation Rebecoa BeloheT Morecrajt
God's sovereign Ineroy still stands
finn --
His graoe will ne'er grow old
Who led our fathers to this land four-hundred years ago
A glory rests
on
graves forgot, as tales fronl ruins
re
told.
The
h nd
of Providenoe revealed as wondrous works unfold.
We
raise our Ebenezer here, in Janlestown,
on
this shore.
Stones of renlenlbranoe will we lay
--
nlay skeptios doubt
no
nlore
this true reoounting
of
our past, not reoonstructed lore;
we
oelebrate
our
heritage
nd
draw froln history's store.
The Great Conlnlission stirred
these
nlen to leave
their
native lands,
traversing wild Atlantio seas to Janlestown's silver strand.
Genevan
dust
poured from
their
shoes the ground on which they'd stand
to build a Christendom on law, not tyranny's demands.
Not all were brave
--
they were nlere men; oft failure followed fear.
When food was gone and savages came, death's loathsome face loomed near.
Starvation nd strange illnesses
sn tched
helpless souls th t year.
Their ship of
st te
survived
the
waves, for
t the
heInl, God steered.
These stories, rich with strange events the h nd of Prov'dence Inade
are fit for fireside telling
or
for sununer's restful shade.
Come sit with one who lived by grace, to tell h is own grandson,
a true, first-hand, true relation how
this
nation was begun.
We ponder Providenoe awhile as evening lanlps are hung
and garner hope through history. COlne, see what Godh s done
RemeInber
nd
Persevere
... to be continued
1Y.fahing the Ncxtions CJhrist s Disoiples
4