Window on the Word

English pastor Robert C. Chapman (1803-1902) penned these true words about the Bible:

This book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and the happiness of believers.  Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable.  

Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy.  It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you.  

It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, and the Christian's character.  

Here paradise is restored, Heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed.  Christ is its grand object, our good is its design, and the glory of God its end.  It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.  

Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully.  It is given you in life and will be opened in the judgment and will be remembered forever.  It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.

Richard Allen

Once a slave, who paid for his freedom through working off his master's debt, Richard Allen became a fiery preacher and proponent for the free worship of African-Americans.  In 1799 he was officially ordained as the first black deacon of the Methodist Church, and opened the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first fully independent black denomination in America.

As Richard sought God for a way to bring his people out of poverty and shame, God guided him through a process that made a tremendous difference in many lives - not only of the citizens of Philadelphia but also of many black heroes to come.  Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, and Biddy Mason all attended the AME church.

If we are lazy and idle, 

the enemies of freedom plead it as a cause 

why we ought not to be free, 

and that giving us our liberty would be an injury to us.  

By such conduct we strengthen the bands of oppression, 

and keep many in bondage.  

Will our friends excuse - will God pardon us - 

for the part we act in making strong the hands of the enemies of our color?

Richard Allen

(1760-1831)