West Port Experiment

The following are quotes are from A Body of Practical Divinity (1838 edition):

“We glorify God, when we give God the glory of all we do. . . . As the silk-worm, when she weaves her curious work, she hides herself under the silk, and is not seen; so when we have done Constantine did use to write the name of Christ over his door, so should we write the name of Christ over our duties; let him wear the garland of praise” (27).

“The word being begun to be preached, hear it with reverence and holy attention. ‘A certain woman, named Lydia, attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.’ Acts 16: 14. Constantine, the emperor, was noted for his reverent attention to the word” (381).

While expounding the Fifth Commandment: “Father is of different kinds; as the political, the ancient, the spiritual, the domestic, and the natural.

“[1] The political father, the magistrate. He is the father of his country; he is to be an encourager of virtue, a punisher of vice, and a father to the widow and orphan. Such a father was Job. ‘I was a father to the poor, and the cause which I knew not, I searched out.’ Job 29: 16. As magistrates are fathers, so especially the king, who is the head of magistrates, is a political father; he is placed as the sun among the lesser stars. The Scripture calls kings, ‘fathers.’ ‘Kings shall be thy nursing fathers.’ Isa 49: 23. They are to train up their subjects in piety, by good edicts and examples; and nurse them up in peace and plenty. Such nursing fathers were David, Hezekiah, Josiah, Constantine, and Theodosius. It is well for a people to have such nursing fathers, whose breasts milk comfort to their children” (396).

“These spiritual fathers are to be honoured ‘for their work’s sake.’ They come, like the dove, with an olive branch in the mouth; they preach glad tidings of peace; their work is ‘to save souls.’ . . . Honour these spiritual fathers, by becoming advocates for them, and wiping off those slanders and calumnies which are unjustly cast upon them. 1 Tim 5: 19. . . . Constantine was a great honourer of the ministry; he vindicated them; he would not read the envious accusations brought against them, but burnt them. Do the ministers open their mouths to God for you in prayer, and will not you open your mouths in their behalf? Surely, if they labour to preserve you from hell, you should preserve them from slander; if they labour to save your souls, you ought to save their credit” (397-98).

“Love to our Heavenly Father is seen by loving his Children; 1 Iohn 5.1. Every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. If we love God, the more we see of God in any, the more we love them; we love them though they are poor: A Child loves to see his Fathers picture, though hung in a mean frame; we love the Children of our Father though they are persecuted; 2 Tim. 1.16. Onesiphorus was not ashamed of my chain. Constantine did kiss the hole of Paphnusius‘s eye, because he suffered the loss of his eye for Christ” (515).