Robert Breckenridge was a famous pastor who stood against slavery in the early 19th century. He was also the grandfather of a famous theologian we have featured on the show multiple times.
Special thanks to Nathaniel Owen for reading this episode of Revived Thoughts.
If you would like to read a sermon for Revived Thoughts, reach out to us at revivedthoughts@gmail.com
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[00:00:56] This is Troy and Joel, and you're listening to Revived Thoughts.
[00:00:59] In sober truth, this book is not only the book of God, but also the book of the human race.
[00:01:08] So to reject it is at once to be separated from the Lord and from enlightened man.
[00:01:13] Every effort to be a better person is a waste of time and energy.
[00:01:23] So to reject it is at once to be separated from the Lord and from enlightened man.
[00:01:53] the kids home to have a nice peaceful summer, is that right?
[00:01:57] Yeah it's great. We are almost to the end. Let me tell you
[00:02:00] the last two months or so of the year where we are
[00:02:04] is always just activity after activity. You have so many after-school things so
[00:02:09] it is nice to finally be kind of clear of that
[00:02:12] margin and be seeing some light at the end of the tunnel of all our busyness
[00:02:16] getting a little bit cleared up. But it is a little sad we had to graduate
[00:02:19] some good kids off that are going to go off to
[00:02:22] different schools around the world. I am very excited for them but
[00:02:25] I am going to miss them. They are some good ones. The really cool thing
[00:02:28] has been just seeing some of their faith journeys. I had one
[00:02:31] of them I have been kind of counseling and working with this
[00:02:34] student basically it was like at the beginning of the year
[00:02:37] I didn't believe in God and here is where I am at now.
[00:02:40] It is never tiring to see how the gospel works on people.
[00:02:45] To just see the changes and know that man that person
[00:02:48] I remember they were very far from God and where they are headed now they are in
[00:02:51] a much better place. It is really a privilege to be able to
[00:02:55] be a part of that. Well Joel how about you? How are things
[00:02:57] going for you over in the states? It is getting hot I imagine.
[00:03:01] For us it is always hot but I imagine it is starting to get hot for you.
[00:03:04] Not too bad. Not yet. It is stormy.
[00:03:09] This is like you know like in the
[00:03:13] Twister movie. There is another one they are making a new Twister.
[00:03:16] I heard about new Twister.
[00:03:20] Of all the things to remake and not do it again I am actually okay
[00:03:24] with Twister 2. Twister 1 was such an unserious movie.
[00:03:27] I am actually like can we add more Twisters? You know I don't
[00:03:30] care. Yeah there is something about 90s action silliness that I feel like
[00:03:37] our current society could use more of.
[00:03:40] You know like bring back. Everything has gotten
[00:03:44] ridiculously dark and serious in all of our media.
[00:03:48] You go back you watch movies from the 90s. I think they had something
[00:03:52] figured out there where it is just pure dumb silliness in a way that
[00:03:57] is entertaining and enjoyable. Twister is a prime example.
[00:04:01] Maybe the penultimate example of just a movie that didn't take itself
[00:04:06] too seriously but also was just completely a fun time to watch. For
[00:04:09] me though when I think of Twister I think of Universal Studios where
[00:04:12] there is like a Twister ride where you like stand there and it like blows wind
[00:04:16] on you gently and you are like oh this is so scary. It is kind of like a
[00:04:18] real tornado and for me that was always a blast so I am all about it.
[00:04:23] Yeah I remember the Twister exhibit. I remember thinking
[00:04:26] it was pretty dumb but who knows maybe they will spice it up now and
[00:04:31] they will do something new to it. They got to
[00:04:33] grow with the times. But no a lot of storms rolling through. We have had like
[00:04:38] again I don't know what the numbers are but it feels like a record amount of
[00:04:41] of tornadoes in such. I feel like every few days
[00:04:45] for the past like four weeks we have had
[00:04:48] some pretty deadly tornadoes that have rolled through the Midwest so
[00:04:53] it is interesting to see. Thankfully
[00:04:56] my city has gone unscathed so far. For the most part I did get some hail damage on
[00:05:00] a car which is never fun but you know that is part of living in the
[00:05:04] Midwest. It is just all cars having dents all the time.
[00:05:07] I will say as somebody who is from afar reading the news so occasionally
[00:05:11] we will get emails from people in the inbox and they will be like I
[00:05:13] heard there was an earthquake in Indonesia. Are you okay? And it is like
[00:05:16] yeah that island is as far away from me as you are probably from
[00:05:20] Florida or Chicago. So yeah we are completely fine but thank you for
[00:05:22] checking in kind of thing. But I feel that way a little bit now
[00:05:25] where I have been seeing a lot of news articles and I feel like I see
[00:05:28] this devastating Twister was caught on camera like news article
[00:05:32] every couple days. I even remember it was just a couple days I was talking to
[00:05:34] Elise. I was like there is getting a lot of tornadoes over there. Is
[00:05:37] everybody okay? That does feel like from afar it felt like you had
[00:05:42] higher numbers of Twisters this year. Yeah from a near it feels like we have
[00:05:46] higher Twisters. Let's jump into this though. We have got some positive
[00:05:50] responses to go over on Revive Thoughts. I worked really hard to create a
[00:05:54] diverse palette and I feel like I managed to do it. So we have this one
[00:05:59] comes in from Facebook where somebody tagged the studio. I was listening to
[00:06:02] my friend podcast aka Revive Studios a couple of days ago. I was listening to
[00:06:06] the episode about the missing history of the French Revolution and it was so
[00:06:10] interesting. Three days later I still find myself thinking about it. If I
[00:06:13] can't help but wonder what would have happened if the Christians would have
[00:06:16] stood up against the atheists and tore down the high places being used for the
[00:06:19] public demon worship. Sarah thank you for your comments and I have to say I also
[00:06:24] wonder what could have happened. It is such a just a bizarre story like you
[00:06:27] said missing history there. I really think that the French Revolution was
[00:06:32] missing that stuff going on and it is a great question. What would have
[00:06:35] happened had all the Christians kind of risen up together and said no instead
[00:06:39] of just what probably many of them probably did which was kind of go quiet
[00:06:42] or not say and do a whole lot. Another one we got Joel was on our YouTube where
[00:06:48] we had on our five years of Revive Thoughts someone said hi guys
[00:06:51] congratulations and it looks like a little celebratory emoticon. Thank you
[00:06:55] Danielle. We are excited to be able to say the studio is now officially five
[00:06:59] years old and it was fun to be able to talk about those things with Joel.
[00:07:03] Patreon we've gotten two for that because if you are a listener and you
[00:07:08] know I have we have been talking for almost a year straight about our Chinese
[00:07:12] Taiping rebellion deep dive that we were going to drop and if you are a
[00:07:16] patreon you have officially listened to or at least had the opportunity now to
[00:07:19] listen to part one of that deep dive and I I gotta say I was a little nervous. I've
[00:07:25] been talking about it for a while. It is a really weird story. I was like is it
[00:07:29] gonna translate? Are people going to be able to follow along with that weird
[00:07:33] weird story and the answer is so far all the responses have been absolutely and
[00:07:37] it's crazy. So one person reached out and said Troy I enjoyed your deep dive into
[00:07:42] the Taiping rebellion. I learned so much. Thank you for sending us that that one
[00:07:46] there and they also clarified that they were really grateful that Joel and I
[00:07:51] were able to kind of keep the names separated a bit so that was really good
[00:07:54] too and then Ellen over on our Patreon chat said finish part one on Taiping
[00:07:59] rebellion interesting and looking forward to hearing more. So we have a
[00:08:03] Patreon chat if you are on our Patreon not only do you get to listen to the
[00:08:08] Chinese uh the sorry the the deep dive into the Chinese Taiping rebellion and
[00:08:12] hear about how Jesus's brother took over China and you'd also get access to other
[00:08:18] deep dives even the ones we've never released Joan of Arc, First Crusade and
[00:08:22] Salem with trials but you also now get access to a fun little chat room. It's
[00:08:26] not it's not like going crazy in there but we it is I find it to be a very
[00:08:30] little pleasant little chat room where people drop little thoughts they have
[00:08:33] and things that are going on so all of these things plus more plus all the other
[00:08:38] stuff that come along with the Patreon are access to you if you jump in on there
[00:08:42] so what are you what are you waiting for let's get on it. Let's get on it to
[00:08:47] Robert Breckenridge. Robert Breckenridge do you know anything about Robert
[00:08:51] Breckenridge before this episode Troy? Absolutely Robert Breckenridge I mean we
[00:08:56] own a household no I had never heard of Robert Breckenridge in fact the way I
[00:09:00] will explain how I found Robert Breckenridge at the end of the episode
[00:09:05] but it was actually by accident I was looking up something for someone else
[00:09:09] when I discovered this guy now you know he has a cool story but it was not what
[00:09:13] that's what I do. Go ahead. We should we should so he I'll lightly tease he's the
[00:09:18] grandfather of a well-known speaker that we have covered multiple times on this
[00:09:25] show oh and why didn't I think of that so yeah but we so you have to guess but
[00:09:30] and by the time we get to the end of the intro you'll see if you're right or not
[00:09:33] that's good that is a good way so you got us know after you listen did you
[00:09:37] figure it did you get it get it right who is this guy this mystery man and as
[00:09:41] soon as you hear you're gonna if you didn't if you don't already know who it
[00:09:44] is you're gonna go of course of course that's who it would be but I so it's
[00:09:47] funny when I found this guy I found him because I was looking at the the guy that
[00:09:50] the famous guy we know and I was like oh he's grandpa with somebody and I was
[00:09:53] reading a story I was like he's a pretty cool guy he seems like a great
[00:09:55] guy we should cover him and then I sent the sermon out months ago months and
[00:10:00] months go by I come back I do the research on this episode in the very end
[00:10:02] I'm like oh he's so-and-so's grandfather and I was like of course he is I
[00:10:05] remember months ago that was why I had chose him in the first place and so I
[00:10:09] like got to be like re-surprised by that so there you go okay let's jump into
[00:10:15] this Joel take us away okay Robert Breckenridge born in the year 1800 so
[00:10:20] for people doing the math about who's his grandchild might be you can you can
[00:10:24] follow the the line down born in the year 1800 boy does he seem like he comes
[00:10:30] from the closest thing to royalty that we had in America at the time like he
[00:10:36] like just like the rich you know when you think of like your the the drama and
[00:10:41] stuff happens with super rich families this seems like this seems like what was
[00:10:45] up his alley cuz his whole family was super rich and they were had their
[00:10:50] fingers in a bunch of pots and were very they had political people they had
[00:10:54] ministers in the family and people that held a lot of power in a family so that
[00:10:58] Breckenridge family was probably you know it was one that people knew he was
[00:11:02] born in Kentucky but when he was just a boy at the age of six his father would
[00:11:08] end up dying and he ended up being raised largely by you know essentially
[00:11:13] like tutors the educational systems in place and he was educated very well at
[00:11:20] a scholarly level his tutor growing up was the brother of John Marshall who is
[00:11:25] the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court at the time one of his brothers graduated
[00:11:29] Princeton and he had another brother that was going there so in 1817 he
[00:11:33] enrolled to go to Princeton himself however the bleen the black sheep out
[00:11:38] you know this is this is the type of stuff movies are made out of right cuz
[00:11:42] he got into a fight his senior year got kicked out of Princeton and that made him
[00:11:47] quite bitter to Princeton itself and while Princeton you know kind of set in
[00:11:54] line a path of redemption and forgiveness for him to continue to graduate he was
[00:11:59] done with Princeton and so he left not finishing the school even though he was
[00:12:05] so close I think that's funny because that will not be his only run in with
[00:12:08] Princeton now he then enrolled in Yale and by the way I do love these guys in
[00:12:12] 1800s like I'm done with Princeton I'm going to Yale now you know that does
[00:12:15] something that most of us cannot relate to he only had three months of courses
[00:12:20] at Yale and he should have been done but apparently Yale did not give you a
[00:12:24] graduation until you live there for at least a year like you could not walk and
[00:12:28] so he was like I'm not going to sit around Yale for nine more months with
[00:12:31] nothing to do no classes to take on he was that close to being done at Princeton
[00:12:35] so they changed his plans once again it went to Union College and just finish it
[00:12:40] up there and said I don't know any year I can just be done and be I can be done
[00:12:43] with this all very quickly so ran through as many colleges as he could
[00:12:46] there Breckenridge really did not follow God during this time and I say not I
[00:12:51] mean not at all he was not a Christian I know no hints or beliefs of it at all
[00:12:56] he's out in the open about it he had no direction after he graduated he was the
[00:13:01] guy who just basically kind of kept coasting his family had money he would
[00:13:04] go from one party of aristocrat you know like people in America to another at one
[00:13:11] point he offended a guy and a guy wanted to get in a duel with him
[00:13:14] Breckenridge kept refusing and everyone called him a coward he kept like
[00:13:18] changing the dates of the duel finally he did buy pistols to do the duel but he
[00:13:22] was doing everything he could to stop the duel and then this one I've never
[00:13:26] seen in our episodes before but the Freemasons the Masonic Lodge basically
[00:13:31] found out about the duel and was like hey wait a second here this this guy
[00:13:35] that you're gonna get a duel with is one of our members and we don't want this
[00:13:39] to happen so we're basically telling you both of you don't get in the duel and
[00:13:43] Breckenridge was like I didn't want to get in the duel in the first place so
[00:13:45] fine by me but I mean what a weird odd story and that just tells you I think I
[00:13:49] feel like that's a really good example like this is the kind of life he was
[00:13:52] living like he's he's all over the place he's he's a ruffian and he's not even
[00:13:56] trying he's just trying to have fun one of his brothers was really trying to
[00:14:00] encourage him to kind of get back into serious stuff you're a smart guy he
[00:14:04] told him he should go into law school he kind of was considering it and then
[00:14:08] around that same time that that brother of his just died suddenly unexpectedly
[00:14:11] and Breckenridge ended up with the family fortune but he count he kind of
[00:14:16] at this point now needed to do something and so he decided he would run for office
[00:14:21] and again that even itself to me it's funny I've got money I'm running the
[00:14:25] family I guess I should just run for office and it worked he got elected he
[00:14:29] was a very very good speaker and he would go on to get reelected three times
[00:14:34] until he quit the quit the he didn't you know he never got ousted he never got
[00:14:37] beaten he just he didn't he decided he was done at the age of 28 and this was
[00:14:41] because he had recovered from a very bad illness that almost took his life he had
[00:14:45] recently lost one of his daughters and he had earlier lost a second daughter and
[00:14:49] he just felt like what's the point of living life like I'm getting crushed
[00:14:53] here I almost died I'm losing children I'm not yes I'm elected to office and
[00:14:58] yes I have a lot of money but none of this is fulfilling to me what am I
[00:15:02] actually supposed to be doing here and so he started talking to his brother going
[00:15:07] his brother was a Presbyterian minister and his brother was basically like come
[00:15:11] with me come to church you need you need Jesus and going to his brother's church
[00:15:15] getting counsel from him he converted became a Christian and and and that's
[00:15:20] when everything starts to change so these first 28 years of his were were
[00:15:23] really quite rough and I don't know I mean he almost died in a duel for crying
[00:15:27] out loud but it once he once he becomes a Christian there is a stark contrast
[00:15:32] between that before and that after yeah so then he goes back to work as a
[00:15:38] congressman but this time as a Christian congressman which is a very different
[00:15:42] type of congressman he fought against things like the enslaved Africans and
[00:15:47] also against transporting mail on the Sabbath he started to host what he
[00:15:52] called in the woods prayer revival meetings he really wanted to be a person
[00:15:57] that was very involved in ministry one minister said of him brethren you had
[00:16:02] better be careful how you receive mr. Breckenridge he'll either make or break
[00:16:06] the Presbyterian Church before his conversion he was considered the best
[00:16:10] dancer the best hunter and the best stump speaker in Kentucky that was well
[00:16:14] said Joel I could really tell your Kentucky accent was coming out I
[00:16:18] wouldn't even try that would be we would get hate mail for sure yeah for sure
[00:16:25] within a couple years he had gone back to Princeton to study theology but he
[00:16:31] wouldn't actually end up finishing that degree either because his brother's old
[00:16:36] church needed a pastor and you know he thought hey why why stick around here
[00:16:41] when I'm needed right now so he went to go and pastor his brother's church
[00:16:44] however as a member of the church he was a controversial figure surprise
[00:16:49] surprise I will say I do think Princeton ends up honor giving him like an
[00:16:52] honorary degree at one point but I don't remember so don't don't come I didn't I
[00:16:56] could look that up but we need to move on but it is funny to me how many times
[00:16:59] he's like I'm going to Princeton I just kidding I'm back out like that
[00:17:02] sometimes it's amazing not sound like a ton of times but that's probably a lot
[00:17:06] more times than the rest of us have gone to Princeton and backed out so it just
[00:17:09] makes me laugh I first he wrote some pamphlets attacking the Catholic Church
[00:17:14] basically he literally said all superstitions in the country can be
[00:17:18] stemmed on some way back to the Catholic Church now I don't know that every
[00:17:23] single superstition can be but I mean it's true they can certainly go in that
[00:17:28] direction but the Catholic Church was like okay you can't say all of them stem
[00:17:31] from us so they sued him for libel in 1840 the Catholic Church went to I mean
[00:17:37] which tells you what kind of impact he was making at least on his town that
[00:17:40] they took him to court and said he blamed every single superstition on us
[00:17:44] we you can't do that and he only got away with it because the jury was a hung
[00:17:49] jury where you know they can't they couldn't completely decide whether or not
[00:17:53] he was actually suable for libel on this or not so he got off on a technicality
[00:17:58] and that really didn't stop him he would go on to continue writing more pamphlets
[00:18:02] and books so he was very fiercely like I'm getting Christianity out there and
[00:18:06] I'm gonna tear down anybody who gets in my way
[00:18:09] internally though inside the Presbyterian Church he was also he was
[00:18:12] making waves at the time the Presbyterian Church was sending
[00:18:15] missionaries to work for other organizations and Breckinridge demanded
[00:18:19] that Presbyterian missionaries should be overseen by the Presbyterian Church
[00:18:22] which caused a stir and I was thinking about that I was like at first I was
[00:18:26] like well that doesn't seem like a very controversial position like of
[00:18:29] course the missionary you know the SPC looks after their people with the their
[00:18:34] I think it's the IMB right and then the you know a lot of times the
[00:18:38] denomination does look after their own missionaries but then I was like well
[00:18:41] wait a second though if you're a Presbyterian and you want to join Hudson
[00:18:43] Taylor and the China Inland Mission you know Breckinridge would say no you have
[00:18:48] to be under a Presbyterian group and so then I was like okay actually that is a
[00:18:52] pretty controversial thing I could see why that would cause a big stir
[00:18:55] for people to decide I can see why Breckinridge would say hey if we're
[00:18:59] elders over these people we should be over them when they're working overseas
[00:19:02] and I can also see why people who want to go work for Hudson Taylor and China
[00:19:06] Inland Mission but they have maybe varying beliefs would want to say don't I
[00:19:10] could see how that could be very controversial his wife of 12 years died
[00:19:13] around the same time and he ended up becoming a college president shortly
[00:19:17] thereafter but the students led an uprising against him at the school and
[00:19:20] so he shortly left after that I looked for information like why did they rise
[00:19:24] rise up against him and I couldn't find it but I mean he's the first guy in all
[00:19:28] of our times of talking to presidents and talking to you know they took over
[00:19:31] these schools and stuff he's the first guy I've ever seen where they rioted
[00:19:33] against him so he must have I hate to be harsh on the guy but I'm thinking that
[00:19:38] he did something that might have made them angry I'm not gonna blame him maybe
[00:19:41] it was maybe he was making changes that needed to happen but he is the first
[00:19:44] person on our school list that we've seen this happen and around this time he
[00:19:50] fell in love with another woman and she was a widow they exchanged love letters
[00:19:53] and poems everyone everyone advised against them going together but they got
[00:19:57] married anyway and the children of their previous marriages from both sides
[00:20:01] were very causing a lot of tension it almost led to them divorcing but they
[00:20:05] eventually worked through it and end up being happily married together in the
[00:20:09] end of it until she died after becoming the chief superintendent and he is known
[00:20:15] as the father of modern public schools in Kentucky during the time Kentucky was
[00:20:20] very rural and a school system but in place took a lot more work than it did
[00:20:23] in other places from what I was reading and he helped do that in the 1840s and
[00:20:28] 1850s after that he went on to found Danville Theological Seminary which I he
[00:20:34] has a very diverse life he's been all over the map here in 1860 he was 60
[00:20:39] years old and he went to preach to an audience remember he had always been
[00:20:42] this great speaker and people were really looking forward to it sadly though it
[00:20:46] seemed like his age had caught up with him the only commentary you can find on
[00:20:51] this speech was one of the people basically said yeah dr. Robert J
[00:20:55] Breckenridge preached here last Sabbath I suppose his reputation is too well
[00:21:00] known for me to say anything to you about him yet his feeble feeble voice
[00:21:03] his lack of teeth and his lack of the graces of a great orator caused a lot of
[00:21:07] disappointment among the audience who came to hear him so a little sad to hear
[00:21:11] that in his later years he seems to be trying his best he's doing lots of great
[00:21:15] work but he seems to have lost some of that speaking that shine he once had
[00:21:20] which actually when the first time I've ever seen somebody be like yeah he
[00:21:22] seemed great when he was younger I mean I feel like that's pretty realistic
[00:21:26] though like we don't like I think people normally it's all hailers and angels and
[00:21:31] they say you know even till his 95th birthday he still a whisper in from the
[00:21:36] deathbed he still had it it was I think it can be but you know George Mueller
[00:21:41] and some of those guys we cover I think it's true but it was really interesting
[00:21:44] to see somebody be like he was probably better back in the day and I'm like wow
[00:21:48] when you had to get that one Civil War starts American Civil War that puts him
[00:21:55] in a weird spot because he lives in the south and he's from the south but he is
[00:21:59] very much a man against those values of the South being a Christian believer
[00:22:06] that is very much against slavery coming from a wealthy family and also from the
[00:22:13] second marriage he did inherit a bunch of slaves but he was a big proponent of
[00:22:17] Abraham Lincoln and he would give speeches for Lincoln despite a lot of
[00:22:22] controversy within his family his own nephew was the vice but he would have
[00:22:27] been the vice president to the the Democratic Party the opposing party but
[00:22:32] Breckinridge himself he pushed very hard for the north to win the Union and put
[00:22:37] his seminary firmly behind the you the Union writing regular updates and reports
[00:22:43] of the situation to them it was a pretty messy family ordeal you know you hear
[00:22:48] about a brother fighting brother you know if they're else that's like that kind of
[00:22:52] standard cliche saying in the Civil War but for many families including his it
[00:22:58] was a literal reality two of his sons fought in the Union and two of his other
[00:23:05] sons fought in the Confederacy at one point his son-in-law was going to be
[00:23:08] executed and he stepped in and used some of his political power to it seems like
[00:23:16] you know pull them pull them off that executioners block there yeah so you can
[00:23:20] see I mean and imagine too it's one thing to think okay both your sons
[00:23:23] fought on separate sides of this big war but once the war is over I don't imagine
[00:23:28] those scars immediately heal so this is gonna be something that your family has
[00:23:32] to deal with for a very long time at 71 he dies he had a rough life of illnesses
[00:23:37] multiple losses of family now's the time to start your next adventure behind
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[00:24:41] through and had to deal with all the stuff of the Civil War and he had taken
[00:24:45] a lot of heat for his pretty much his entire career once he became a Christian
[00:24:50] for his very vocal opposition to slavery in Kentucky also I thought it was I wrote
[00:24:55] it in there I just thought it was funny that he was when he became a Christian
[00:24:58] like two of his big points about slavery needs to go and also no delivering the
[00:25:02] mail on the Sabbath like it's funny to me that like those things in his mind
[00:25:05] were of equal sins against God but anyway he said but his whole life he's
[00:25:10] his vocal opponent against slavery at its I mean during the Civil War in
[00:25:13] Kentucky that was not be a necessarily easy thing to do yet he never compromised
[00:25:17] his walk with God after becoming a follower of Christ it really seems like
[00:25:22] even though his life wasn't easy he had a riot at a school he lost a white a lot
[00:25:26] of stuff going on people he seemed to really be following the Lord all the way
[00:25:30] through and certainly a completely different life than his pre saved 28
[00:25:34] years where he was just partying and starting duels
[00:25:46] his family also is important though and the reason we told you at the top this
[00:25:50] guy is a grandfather of an important person well his daughter Mary will end
[00:25:55] up marrying a man named William Warfield and they will go on to have a son
[00:26:00] Benjamin Breckenridge Warfield which we know today as the B Warfield which
[00:26:07] we've had on our show a couple different times and is a pretty famous figure that
[00:26:10] has loomed over a lot of our episodes in a good way that we really respect a lot
[00:26:15] of what he did and the reason I found them in the first place I was looking up
[00:26:18] something on Warfield saw that he was named after his grandfather Breckenridge
[00:26:22] and I thought well who's this Breckenridge guy when I read his story
[00:26:25] he seems like a pretty wonderful guy now this sermon you're going to be listening
[00:26:29] to is called plea for restoration and I if you remember he was in charge of the
[00:26:33] public school system to a degree in Kentucky and during this this sermon he's
[00:26:39] giving these speeches to these different societies that are there they societies
[00:26:44] reformed to get the Bible back in the public schools you maybe hear people talk
[00:26:48] about that today well 200 years ago they were doing the exact same thing
[00:26:51] and this is one of those speeches where he's pleading for the Word of God to be
[00:26:55] put back into the schools apparently they were not and he's saying we've got
[00:26:59] to get him back in the schools we've got to get the Bible back in the hands of
[00:27:02] young students I read this sermon I thought a this is super applicable to
[00:27:07] stuff that's going on today but to to the B the second point here is it's also
[00:27:11] just a really good defense for the Word of God and it's really interesting
[00:27:14] because many many of the same arguments for the Word of God being the center of
[00:27:20] our lives today were the exact same arguments it seems that they were having
[00:27:23] 200 years ago so I hope you enjoyed this sermon by him called the plea for
[00:27:27] restoration
[00:27:30] the use of scripture as a reading book in common schools is of such importance
[00:27:48] as to deserve immediate and universal encouragement in all our states and
[00:27:52] territories in the very fact of our organization as a society for the
[00:27:57] printing and distributing of the scriptures we have assumed as
[00:28:01] undeniable the great truths that the Bible is a divine revelation from God
[00:28:05] that it is given for the whole human race that it is most fit to be received
[00:28:10] by all and that it is perfectly adapted to produce its intended effects even
[00:28:15] more that it is our duty to make efforts for the multiplication and
[00:28:19] dissemination and the general reception of these scriptures among men and still
[00:28:24] more clearly the one I stand here to advocate has this great advantage that
[00:28:29] while it fully accords with the whole objects and principles of the society it
[00:28:33] opens a vast and nearly unexplored field for its exertions it is the beginning as
[00:28:39] I trust of a national effort to restore in youth the divide between piety and
[00:28:44] knowledge between God and the first search of childhood after mental
[00:28:49] treasures perhaps the most striking aspect of my duty is that its performance
[00:28:53] should have ever been needed but especially in this country and at this
[00:28:57] present time from the beginning of time till a period very near to us and among
[00:29:02] the entire race of man except for reformed Christians of these recent days
[00:29:06] but the general principle that is the base of this subject has been
[00:29:10] universally received and acted on as of paramount importance every people
[00:29:15] without exception has thought it necessary to teach its religion to its
[00:29:19] children as the very basis of all other knowledge and every nation that has been
[00:29:24] sufficiently advanced to have a written religion and places for the regular
[00:29:28] instruction of youth in knowledge has made the national religion a national
[00:29:33] study in childhood the sacred books of all heathen nations have been known to
[00:29:38] all who knew anything at all the pages of the Quran in every age and country
[00:29:43] have been the first study of every follower of the false prophet the very
[00:29:47] highest literature of all antiquity is thoroughly enmeshed in the popular
[00:29:52] religion that every Greek and Roman youth was made a scholar and a pagan by
[00:29:56] the same education process Hebrew parent by the most express command of God made
[00:30:02] his child from its very birth by very outward mark and every inward
[00:30:06] accomplishment at home by the wayside in the school in the sanctuary in the
[00:30:10] halls of justice on the field of battle and upon the throne itself thoroughly
[00:30:14] and intensely a Hebrew the early Christian church was in no degree less
[00:30:19] diligent in the same devotedness to the exact and universal religious instruction
[00:30:24] of the young every corrupt and apostate sect which has forsaken or renounced our
[00:30:30] divine Redeemer and most conspicuously those that have thoroughly and openly
[00:30:34] rejected the Bible has been sure to teach its own particular heresies by
[00:30:38] every means not excluding their schools into the minds of their children the
[00:30:43] leaders of the glorious reformation of the 16th century and for two centuries
[00:30:47] and more all their true followers received as from God the solemn duty of
[00:30:52] the public as well as private instruction of the young in the word
[00:30:56] of life the illustrious spirit of Luther as he drew near his rest in a review of
[00:31:01] his literary labors rejoiced the most in this that he had written his book
[00:31:06] De Servo Arabitrio against Erasmus and had prepared his small catechism for
[00:31:12] children a performance which like the similar one of his immortal fellow
[00:31:16] John Calvin remains each after the lapse of 300 years respectively the symbol of
[00:31:22] churches state and races no until a period so little remote that many who
[00:31:28] hear me can recall it the schoolhouse and the church stood side by side
[00:31:32] throughout our country the Bible and the catechism constituted in both the basis
[00:31:38] of perpetual instruction it is not my present duty to trace the cause and the
[00:31:43] manner of the exclusion of the Bible from our schools it is sufficient to
[00:31:47] indicate as the chiefest the spirit of potpourri which everywhere suppresses the
[00:31:51] Word of God the spirit of indifference which treats it with total apathy and
[00:31:56] the spirit of infidelity which openly rejects it other causes less obvious
[00:32:01] have no doubt conspired in the production of the same fatal result
[00:32:04] among which are the excessive multiplication of school books of
[00:32:08] inferior quality a proportionate increase of incompetent and unworthy
[00:32:12] teachers and that part of the education of youth which could be turned to
[00:32:16] immediate profit nor can it be denied that the system of Sunday school
[00:32:21] instruction so valuable in itself has been at least an occasion for this great
[00:32:25] evil but the public has been allowed it may be even induced to consider the
[00:32:30] moral instruction done there a sufficient substitute for that formally
[00:32:34] given in the weekday schools if not even a substitute for that before being
[00:32:39] received under the parents roof a general review of the efforts which have
[00:32:43] been made in our day to restore the Bible to the schools would occupy far too
[00:32:47] much time to now be attempted although this like the motive its exclusion is a
[00:32:52] portion of this great subject full of interest and importance it may be
[00:32:56] sufficient to state in passing that the minds of Christians over the whole world
[00:32:59] have been for some years deeply pondering this matter the Protestant
[00:33:04] churches generally throughout Europe have made a more steadfast resistance
[00:33:07] than ourselves to the exclusion of the Bible from the course of general
[00:33:11] education and are therefore in this respect generally in a better condition
[00:33:15] than ourselves in England there's no school system of sufficient extent to
[00:33:19] deserve the name of national but the institution which has the oversight of
[00:33:24] what are called the national schools has introduced the scriptures into them the
[00:33:28] schools of Scotland as far as they have been under the care of the National
[00:33:32] Church of that kingdom remain on their ancient model but in regard to our own
[00:33:36] country the only successful effort of a general kind with which I am acquainted
[00:33:40] has been lately made in the state of Maryland where the admirable society
[00:33:45] which I represent this day are now in the midst of an attempt which has been
[00:33:48] attended with the most cheering success in the course of that movement two facts
[00:33:54] of great importance in themselves and strongly illustrative of the past and
[00:33:58] present spirit of the country have been fully established the first is that the
[00:34:03] public mind is more thoroughly prepared for this great reform and all the
[00:34:07] sources of public influence and authority are much more accessible in
[00:34:11] regards to it than the most optimistic had supposed that is God has prepared the
[00:34:16] work to our hands before we had faith and zeal to undertake it the second fact
[00:34:21] is that the more prestigious the schools are the more completely is God excluded
[00:34:26] from them and the strongest in opposition to the introduction of the
[00:34:29] Bible well many of the humblest sort have all along kept the scriptures in
[00:34:34] them but it is the richest sort of our people who in many other respects have
[00:34:39] been among the most of all indifferent to God and removed from an evangelical
[00:34:44] influence it is an item in this hasty outline too significant and too
[00:34:48] pleasing to be left out that all our Christian missionaries as it is believed
[00:34:52] without exception have made the Bible the principal class book in every school
[00:34:57] established by them it may be observed then as the first accepted truth of
[00:35:02] every individual consideration on this subject that religion is the most
[00:35:07] imperative necessity of the human soul no people has ever been without the
[00:35:12] elements of a regular system of religious faith so that man is as
[00:35:16] essentially religious as he is a rational speaking or even a defined being
[00:35:21] at all it is equally undoubted that this necessity of the soul is developed as
[00:35:25] early as any other need of it and that it has evolved with a steadiness and
[00:35:30] intensity equal to any other so what conceivable excuse can be made for not
[00:35:36] providing for this necessity from the first moment of its development since it
[00:35:40] is necessary why would you not instruct and direct it for not sustaining and
[00:35:45] molding this confiding and absorbing impulse by the power and the wisdom
[00:35:48] which God has made manifest to this very end I let it be further considered that
[00:35:54] there are but two possible foundations upon one or the other of which all
[00:35:58] religion must repose one is authority and the other conviction the former
[00:36:03] professing to emanate from the throne of God and to be perpetuated in a manner
[00:36:07] always supernatural sustains its pretensions by unceasing miracles and
[00:36:12] appears before men only to state its claims and receive unqualified obedience
[00:36:17] to its commands to hear to believe and to obey are in its view the sole duties
[00:36:23] of mankind while to reason to investigate to compare to inquire to
[00:36:27] analyze are all alike rebellious against its sacred character on the other hand
[00:36:33] the religion of conviction recognizing God as its author and the present
[00:36:38] blessedness and eternal glory of man as its immediate ends throws open the heart
[00:36:42] the mind and the conscience to its sweet and ennobling influences it appeals
[00:36:48] constantly to understanding it pleads for nothing more earnestly than for the
[00:36:52] most ample thorough and mature considerations it asks for dominion over
[00:36:56] the affections the conscience the intellect only when that dominion will
[00:37:01] have been conceded by a willing and enlightened a convinced spirit this is
[00:37:06] our religion this Bible is at once its sacred repository and the great
[00:37:11] instrument of its spreading why then will we withdraw it from the very seats
[00:37:17] of knowledge why withhold it from the active and inquiring spirit of childhood
[00:37:21] our religion is based on knowledge founded in Liberty approved by
[00:37:26] conscience let us act as if we felt this to be true in the general education of
[00:37:32] youth we commit a great mistake as to what education really is and in deciding
[00:37:37] who is educated they fall into a fatal error to emit an education all moral
[00:37:43] training is to train imperfectly for time and not at all for eternity it is
[00:37:48] indeed to neglect the man himself and to train some of his inferior powers no
[00:37:53] man is or can be educated whose moral faculties have not been adequately
[00:37:57] trained and if they have been mistaught he has been enslaved not educated
[00:38:02] degraded not enlightened now it so happens that among us the case is so
[00:38:08] presented by reason of a thousand different circumstances that no adequate
[00:38:12] moral instruction can be furnished generally in our public schools unless
[00:38:17] the Bible itself be put into the hands of the pupils so that we are shut up to
[00:38:21] the necessity of rejecting from public education all true discipline and
[00:38:25] instruction of the better and more urgent part of our being or of using for
[00:38:30] those purposes the best and greatest and fittest of means the teacher of teachers
[00:38:35] the very Word of God himself which forces a people panting to be taught to
[00:38:40] remain in ignorance or learn of God for if we restrict our views of education so
[00:38:46] narrowly as to embrace in its scope only that which is purely mental no absurdity
[00:38:51] can be more audacious than to reject the Bible even from such a plan is it of
[00:38:56] use to know what we are what we can be and where we have been to know how we
[00:39:01] can be and achieve whatever is the most excellent is it a part of instruction to
[00:39:07] set before us the highest exhibition of whatever is great and striking in the
[00:39:11] past the greatest virtue the greatest passion of achievement of effort of
[00:39:17] transcendent civilization and of unparalleled crime well what is the
[00:39:21] Bible it is among other things the record the safest often the only record
[00:39:26] of the largest the longest the most striking part of the history of genius of
[00:39:31] knowledge of sublime adventure of all glorious success yes of man himself it
[00:39:37] is the textbook out of which to unriddle the great mystery of God's providence
[00:39:41] and the government of the world the greatest of all poets philosophers
[00:39:45] orators moralists lawgivers rulers and conquerors who have adorned those long
[00:39:51] annals which cover two-thirds of the whole duration of human existence here on
[00:39:54] earth these are the men who have written this book it contains their legacy of
[00:39:59] wisdom and instruction to generation of generations a legacy so vast and so
[00:40:04] enduring that one single man and he the beginner of this book has bestowed in a
[00:40:09] few brief pages the elements of civilization of organized society of law
[00:40:14] of morals and of religion upon every age that has succeeded him and stamped
[00:40:19] the impression of his mind upon the whole human race by this book which is
[00:40:24] the sum and substance of all literature more ancient than the Greek is the dirt
[00:40:28] also of whatever exists in our modern tongues the two great Protestant
[00:40:33] translations of the Bible the Germanic and our own formed in truth the two
[00:40:37] languages and they reign over them still when centuries have passed they
[00:40:42] are the highest classic respectively in each language in sober truth this book
[00:40:48] is not only the book of God but also the book of the human race so to reject it
[00:40:53] is at once to be separated from the Lord and from enlightened man let us turn for
[00:40:59] a moment to the social aspect of this question our great Republic and all our
[00:41:04] free and sovereign Commonwealth's have been frankly periled upon this great
[00:41:08] stirring truth that man is capable of self-government not men everywhere for
[00:41:13] history would contradict us not man brutal and demoralized for our previous
[00:41:18] reasonings show this to be absurd but generally the truth that man enlightened
[00:41:23] civilized and free is the safest depository of all ultimate authority if
[00:41:28] this is not true our country is undone if it is true that people must
[00:41:33] nevertheless be sustained in that condition which we call enlightened
[00:41:36] civilized and free but I believe no reflecting man will hesitate to admit
[00:41:41] that of all influences which affect the character the prosperity the duration the
[00:41:46] glory and the usefulness of nations moral influences are incomparably the
[00:41:51] most controlling and of that immense class of influences which might in a
[00:41:56] large sense be called moral the most important and enduring are beyond all
[00:42:01] doubt those which are strictly religious is it too much to assert that the
[00:42:05] influence of a national religion is greater upon national character than all
[00:42:10] other influences combined is it going too far to declare that the destinies of
[00:42:15] states have been more deeply affected by their religious faith than by all other
[00:42:19] circumstances the very history of mankind is essentially and chiefly a
[00:42:25] history of religious ideas and religious developments the great intellects of all
[00:42:29] ages have comprehended this truth and though they differed about what religion
[00:42:33] is or should be yet they felt and saw that to the world it is in fact
[00:42:38] everything in every nation before these latter days of scoffing the entire mass
[00:42:43] of men felt the same truth and so the passionate opposition of them all to
[00:42:49] every change in their national faith the sentiment uttered on this platform
[00:42:53] today by the chief magistrate of this Commonwealth that without the Bible this
[00:42:58] Republic would never have existed is as just as it is emphatic and I solemnly
[00:43:04] insist upon this inference from that truth that without the Bible this
[00:43:08] Republic cannot continue but the general principle contended for has a most
[00:43:14] peculiar application to ourselves our institutions belong to an advanced
[00:43:19] condition of society they can be sustained only by a community whose
[00:43:24] moral condition is as special and as advanced as their social system the
[00:43:29] Bible contains the religion of this nation this Bible which alone is able to
[00:43:34] prepare our children for virtuous and enlightened liberty which contains the
[00:43:38] sanction of our Creator to the principles of our polity and throws the
[00:43:43] sacredness of religion around the simple upright humane and free spirit of our
[00:43:47] institutions this Bible which is a value to us equal to the value of liberty
[00:43:53] and independence because it contains our religion and which has besides this
[00:43:57] inappreciable worth that its religion is true and divine and the only religion
[00:44:02] that is either one or the other this Bible which will perpetuate our glory if
[00:44:07] that it can be done at all and if it cannot will prepare our posterity to be
[00:44:12] and to do in the midst of all calamities whatever becomes the worthy descendants
[00:44:16] of our glorious ancestors this treasure of all treasures we dishonor and defile
[00:44:21] by a deliberate act of national rejection no truth is more clearly
[00:44:27] established by the whole course of history than that there is a wise and
[00:44:31] holy providence continually exerted over the nations of the earth they rise and
[00:44:36] flourish and pass away under the eye and by the purpose of him who in the
[00:44:40] development of his sublime proposals will not allow them to abide in strength
[00:44:45] which would be used to his dishonor and who in piety to suffering man will not
[00:44:50] permit the principles of evil to consolidate their force and accumulate
[00:44:54] through successive ages irresistible means to do wrong without the blessing and
[00:45:00] favor of God no nation can stand no people endure oh how multiplied and how
[00:45:06] sad are the evidences of this truth and how continually he has taught us that
[00:45:11] his blessing is to be expected only by the grateful and the obedient that his
[00:45:16] favor is bestowed only as we walk in the ways directed by him and toward the ends
[00:45:21] which he proposes in all his pervading goodness but the revelation of his will
[00:45:26] is contained plainly and alone in this blessed volume which we dishonor by a
[00:45:32] great public act and the promises of his favor and protection are written in
[00:45:37] those pages which he has so urged persuaded commanded us to make the light
[00:45:41] of life in every condition every age every relation and every office through
[00:45:47] which his providence may guide us oh blessed are those people whose God is
[00:45:52] the Lord is it not to be assumed that such an event as the exclusion of the
[00:45:56] Word of God from popular education could occur or continue for a considerable
[00:46:01] time without resulting in situations by which even good men might be deceived
[00:46:05] several objections the restoration of the scriptures to the schools are so
[00:46:10] often urged by persons deserving to be heard that it seems necessary briefly
[00:46:15] to state and answer them among these the most frequent perhaps are urged against
[00:46:20] the scriptures themselves which it is alleged are in many cases far above the
[00:46:25] comprehension of children and youth and which are moreover so often disfigured
[00:46:29] by a certain plainness of expression as to be unsuitable for promiscuous or even
[00:46:34] public reading before the young to this the first reply may well be that God who
[00:46:39] created us and who perfectly knows us has judged otherwise and that he made
[00:46:43] the volume of his word such as we have it and has added the most express and
[00:46:48] emphatic commands that it be early constantly publicly constantly read to
[00:46:55] all this he has joined the most precise assurances that exact obedience to this
[00:47:00] precept will have no other tendency than to make us wise and pure here below and
[00:47:06] blessed beyond conception forever that all manner of intercourse with him and
[00:47:11] all communion with his holy word are most pure and profitable that all
[00:47:15] contrary attempts are highly offensive to him and full of dishonor to his infinite
[00:47:20] being as a second reply it may be stated of equal truth that all experience
[00:47:25] proves the objection to be entirely mistaken for of all mankind the wisest
[00:47:29] the purest the best are selected to write this sacred volume and in all ages
[00:47:35] the objectors themselves will even say if this has not been eminently the
[00:47:39] character of those who have been the earliest the most thoroughly and the
[00:47:43] most sincerely pondered mastered imbibed and rejoiced in its precious contents
[00:47:49] but as a final answer it is to be considered that if the objection has any
[00:47:54] weight it will lie not only against the early and promiscuous study of the Bible
[00:47:59] but also in a fundamental manner first against the Christian religion itself
[00:48:04] and secondly against all religion completely as being in itself to obscure
[00:48:09] for profitable study and to a modest for public statement for there are
[00:48:13] multitudes of truth which adult years do not unravel better than the simplicity
[00:48:17] of childhood yes of truths which are the most vital in Christianity and as
[00:48:22] religion in a large sense if it is true and profitable to all must teach us what
[00:48:28] God is and what he requires of us a second objection which seems to be
[00:48:33] urged out of a spirit of special concern for the Bible itself they would exclude
[00:48:37] it from the course of systematic education or else create too much
[00:48:41] familiarity with it in its early life which could harm religion itself in
[00:48:45] later years this conceit is founded on total ignorance of the human heart and
[00:48:50] they who utter it overlook one of the firmest and most unalterable laws of our
[00:48:55] moral being the objects which we cherish most fondly and most steadfastly are
[00:49:01] those which first occupy our early and passionate thoughts the soul cherishes a
[00:49:05] kind of immortal gratitude for which made it first acquainted with itself and
[00:49:10] revealed to it all its strengths our earliest associations are our most
[00:49:15] enduring ones our first friendships are not only our sweetest but as one by one
[00:49:20] they fail and pass away we learn with surprised grief that they are
[00:49:24] friendships which cannot be replaced we make new friends valued dear perhaps
[00:49:29] even more deserving but oh they are those we trusted first in childhood not
[00:49:34] those whose images grew into the substance of our hearts the deepest
[00:49:38] feelings of the human breast have been linked by God and adamantine chains with
[00:49:43] the strong impressions and vivid remembrances of our early years the
[00:49:47] objects of that period are the sacred objects of life and the heart will not
[00:49:52] endure to have the least of them invested with less than the costliest of
[00:49:56] its treasures oh that we could bind the early and tender affections of the whole
[00:50:01] people to the name of Christ to the throne of God oh that this fatal
[00:50:06] familiarity with divine truth was the universal heritage of the children of
[00:50:11] our country there are those who make it a third objective to restoring the Bible
[00:50:15] to the schools that we have a reason to dread great strifes and permanent
[00:50:19] division among the friends of education if not of religion itself by pursuing
[00:50:24] this enterprise it is to be feared that many who call themselves the friends of
[00:50:28] education are totally opposed to all religious influence either in the school
[00:50:33] or the community and there are many reasons to suppose that there are plans
[00:50:37] whose success would exclude forever all moral instruction from the course of
[00:50:42] popular education of this a branch of this great subject needs and must
[00:50:46] receive first or last a thorough sifting but this is not the occasion I will at
[00:50:52] present merely say there can be no union of effort between those friends of
[00:50:56] education who exclude from their system all moral training and those who make
[00:51:01] conscience of taking the Bible to school with them and the sooner the question is
[00:51:06] made between them at the bar of the public the better for the country the
[00:51:10] question involved is no less than this whether the education of religious
[00:51:15] people will be subjected to an infidel or Christian control as it relates to
[00:51:20] the true friends of the Bible there can be no cause or even occasion of strife
[00:51:25] here if there's one single point in which all true Christians can unite it is
[00:51:30] surely this that the Word of God should be given to the human race and be
[00:51:34] received by it or if this may not be it is the strongest possible proof that
[00:51:39] there must be some inherent or some providential hindrance to all united
[00:51:44] action against those who are earnestly contending for the same general object
[00:51:49] this I do not believe we will find the Christians of this country united not
[00:51:54] divided by the present proposition while it may separate the friends of the Bible
[00:51:59] more widely from its enemies it will bind them more firmly to each other for
[00:52:04] the rest strifes and divisions are the price we pay for all that is precious in
[00:52:09] a sinful world it can be nowhere better met than under the shadow of the cross no
[00:52:15] standard is more worthy to endure them under than the banner of divine truth
[00:52:19] no object can be set before us for which we might better suffer them than the
[00:52:23] charter of salvation beloved brethren friends of the Bible and of the Lord
[00:52:28] Jesus this is the instrument which God himself has provided with which to
[00:52:32] subdue the earth to himself and triumph over sin and hell nothing can stand
[00:52:37] before a weapon whose edge has been tempered in heaven it is our part to use
[00:52:42] this great weapon of our sacred warfare the sword of the Spirit of God which we
[00:52:47] know to be through him mighty to pull down every stronghold of iniquity to use
[00:52:52] it as men who combat not with flesh and blood but with principalities and powers
[00:52:57] yes as men who fight the good fight of faith under the eye and guidance of him
[00:53:02] who has long ago openly triumphed over our stoutest enemies and led captivity
[00:53:07] captive and why should doubts arise in our minds or faith or courage for a
[00:53:12] moment fail us what hasn't the past witnessed what victories of grace and
[00:53:16] redeeming love has it not received let history repeat itself time would utterly
[00:53:21] fail us to speak of the triumphs of this blessed volume in great antiquity its
[00:53:26] triumphs while it was itself incomplete the triumphs of all even its smallest
[00:53:31] parts each adding trophy upon trophy as proof of its own title to be added to
[00:53:36] the portions that had come from the skies before it how great was its career
[00:53:41] throughout all the East the great Shemite age the early manhood of the
[00:53:45] world then in the mighty transition age of the Greeks Egypt and Asia surrendering
[00:53:51] civilization to Europe Shem transferring the golden scepter to Japheth the light
[00:53:56] of the world only chasing away the night before the advancing radiance of the
[00:54:00] light from above then came the mighty Caesars victorious over all besides and
[00:54:06] they and Rome itself subdued by three centuries of meek endurance and
[00:54:10] uncomplaining martyrdom sat down also at the feet of Jesus its next trophies
[00:54:17] came from fierce barbarians subdued by empires and by armies rather than by
[00:54:21] single men invading millions the shadow of whose banners obscured the Roman
[00:54:26] world as they descended like successive floods overwhelming every seat of
[00:54:31] civilization savages who without the Bible had sealed the doom of man greater
[00:54:37] perhaps than all past its achievements during the long night of the Middle Ages
[00:54:41] that time and times and the dividing of times when all open sacrifice of praise
[00:54:47] seemed lost and the weeping and bleeding church sat desolate in the great moral
[00:54:52] wilderness listening in silence to the only voice that dared speak truth or
[00:54:56] utter comfort here is that voice meek but unbeaten as in those centuries of
[00:55:02] despair here are those witnesses ready to speak and die and live again as when the
[00:55:07] gloomiest sackcloth covered them but God heard their testimony when man was
[00:55:12] deaf to their pleas and God restored again as from the dead his persecuted
[00:55:17] and corrupted church the Reformation was in the strictest sense accomplished by
[00:55:22] the Bible and its great fruits were the restoration of the Bible with its
[00:55:26] knowledge liberty and righteousness to man similar were the fruits of what men
[00:55:30] strangely call the great rebellion of England but which was in fact a rebellion
[00:55:35] to God and against iniquity which has until now exerted so great an influence
[00:55:40] over all the interests of the human race and in the midst and by the means and
[00:55:45] through the agents and influences of which the Bible had its golden age in
[00:55:49] England and last of all amongst ourselves amid all the blessings we
[00:55:54] enjoy and all the efforts we are making what Christian does not admit that all
[00:55:58] all are the fruits of the blessed Word of God and that word believed obeyed
[00:56:03] received into our hearts and held forth in our lives and all these great
[00:56:08] successes which the past records all these victories which our eyes behold
[00:56:12] are proofs to us as from God himself of what we might still achieve by the same
[00:56:18] living word let us not fear let us not faint give us but the Word of God and
[00:56:24] scope to spread and teach it all else is nothing let darkness revisit the earth
[00:56:30] let error ignorance and superstition return let the defeated enemies of truth
[00:56:35] and light come back and rule set up your tyrants in the state your bigots over
[00:56:40] the church establish falsehood by the law corrupt the ministers of truth and
[00:56:45] once more its martyrs at the stake do this and more twice already since Jesus
[00:56:51] bled has it been done throughout the earth yes done for long and bloody ages
[00:56:56] and yet again we expect such things will be for so God said it would be what then
[00:57:02] give us just the Bible and we will purge your priesthood dethrone your tyrants
[00:57:08] defeat your bigots put shame on error and make again the martyrs blood the
[00:57:13] churches see give us the Bible the Bible without note or comment the Bible
[00:57:19] as God gave it and we will with this alone by God's indwelling grace defy
[00:57:24] death and hell and for the third time conquer the world for Christ
[00:57:34] in this sermon and speech he was giving he makes it very clear that the Word of
[00:57:45] God is the most important thing you can give young people so often and in I I
[00:57:50] see this where I am overseas I see I've seen this my entire life we always
[00:57:55] know it we will appeal to these other outside sources yes we want to give them
[00:58:00] the Bible but also but also they need these other things that we don't want to
[00:58:04] over inundate them in Christianity or we need to be exposed to the world and all
[00:58:09] this stuff and I just think that Breckenridge makes a great point that if
[00:58:12] you're not building them on the Word of God you're just not building them on
[00:58:15] anything else that matters everything else has a worldview in a scent and an
[00:58:21] idea attached to it and it's not that you can't expose or show them other
[00:58:26] things or read other books to them but why wouldn't you start with the one book
[00:58:30] that comes to us from God the most important book the book that will build
[00:58:33] the firm foundation so they can understand those other things and
[00:58:37] whether or not it's about putting the Bible back in the public school or
[00:58:40] whether I think what whether it's to raising your own children or helping to
[00:58:44] raise the new Christians and the church around you whatever you are I think all
[00:58:48] of us can apply this idea of putting that Word of God first and foremost in
[00:58:52] all things because look at Breckenridge his life he was a sinner living that
[00:58:57] party lifestyle and when he became a Christian and made that Word of God
[00:59:00] centered to him you can just see how much his life changed and because his life
[00:59:05] changed his daughter and his grandson BB Warfield were able to live different
[00:59:10] lifestyles that were just completely raised in the Word of God and were able
[00:59:14] to make an impact that far outlived his own legacy because the Word of God
[00:59:18] became so central to him
[00:59:29] thank you for listening to today's episode of revived thoughts a sermon was
[00:59:35] narrated by Nathaniel Owen big thanks to Nathaniel for recording this and if you
[00:59:39] want to record an episode of revived thoughts write into us revived thoughts
[00:59:43] at gmail.com we can get you set up at the top of this episode we reminded you
[00:59:48] that we have a patreon if you listen to this episode you guy would like to know
[00:59:52] some more things about church history you've got to hop on over to that patreon
[00:59:55] feed and join us and listen to part one of the typing rebellion episode and
[01:00:01] learn the insane wild interesting fascinating twist and turn story lots of
[01:00:07] people said they like the London fire episode that we put out about a year
[01:00:10] ago I love that episode but I gotta say I do think the typing rebellion story is
[01:00:14] easily up there in the same category of just twist turn and what in the world is
[01:00:19] going to happen next kind of stuff so we hope you will listen to it and join us
[01:00:22] on patreon for it this is Troy and Joel and this is revived thoughts welcome to
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