The Service of a Faithful Sexton: Joshua Kinney

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Sexton: A sexton is an officer of a church, congregation, or synagogue charged with the maintenance of its buildings and/or the surrounding graveyard (Wikipedia definition).

There is a whole chapter in Wyndham B. Blanton, The Making of Downtown Church (1945) [not currently available at LCP], concerning the Second Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Virginia, about the role of the Sexton. And it is primarily about one special Sexton in particular: Joshua Kinney (1870-1953).

This writer once served as a sexton in his youth and has an appreciation for the labors and services of such an individual. They are often unrecognized, but happily, Joshua Kinney was very much appreciated and recognized by his church. There were congregational observances of the 25th, 35th, 40th, 45th and 50th anniversaries of his tenure, which began in 1886.

His autobiographical reflections were published in 1931 under the title My Years of Service. We have recently added this work to Log College Press at the suggestion of Wayne Sparkman.

Kinney wrote much about his first pastor, Moses D. Hoge, his second, Russel Cecil, and also his third, William E. Hill, who wrote the introduction. He recounts how there was a period of time when the pastor was named Moses, the pastor had a butler named Daniel, and the sexton was, of course, Joshua. He wrote of his deep appreciation and affection for Miss Katherine H. Hawes and her company of Covenanters. He shared about an experience when an intruder held a gun to face and threatened him. And he spoke of his occupation as a life of service to others.

Kinney’s concluding thoughts are worth highlighting:

First, let me say how happy I have been to have my home here at this church; and how many real true friends I have here. And again, how many I have seen carried out to the last resting place. Of the friends of today, what a joy they are to me, to meet and greet them on a Sunday morning, and to have a hand-shake and a little joke. Why, it is more than anything in this world to me.

So I am closing this little book of mine of this dear old church with the texts of two of its pastors and the closing words of the text of the first.

I. “Show me thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths.”
II. “Certainly I will be with thee.”
III. “I am going to lay my burden down when I have fought and won.”

I think that is all.

The Family Altar

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As chairman of the Executive Committee of Publication of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS), James Power Smith wrote the preface to a valuable work on family worship titled The Family Altar (1915). This has recently been added to Log College Press.

The Family Altar contains Scripture readings, hymn selections and suggested prayers for each day of the week, over a period of four weeks, as well as special occasional prayers from men such as Edward Reynolds of the Westminster Assembly, Henry Van Dyke, Jr., James Isaac Vance, Russell Cecil, Richard Clark Reed, William Marcellus McPheeters, and James Russell Miller.

Smith writes:

The daily worship of the household is of early origin. The Hebrew patriarchs builded their altars where they pitched their tents, and there called on the name of the Lord. The disciples of Jesus in earliest Christian times had "the church in the home." It has a natural foundation and reason, in the unity of the family, the close and tender relations of the household, and the sanctity and love of the Christian home; suggesting and inviting the family acknowledgment of mercies and petitions for Divine presence and blessing. Upon the family altar, continued through the ages, has rested the blessing of God.

It honors God, the giver of all our good, the source of all our happiness. It makes the home a sanctuary for God's dwelling. It binds the household together in a more hallowed love. It pleads the grace of Covenant promise. It instructs and unites all hearts in the truth and grace of Christ. It builds a wall of defense against the error and evil of the world around us. It bears witness for God, our Saviour, to the stranger within our gates. It devotes the day to the highest service and sweetens all the hours. It plants in every heart sacred memories to be profitable and happy in all the following years. It brings down from Heaven that blessing of God which maketh rich, and He addeth no sorrow with it.

Be encouraged to take up the duty and privilege of family worship by this valuable aid published over a century ago. Daily family mercies received should lead to daily family prayers and thanksgivings. To God be the glory!

The Making of a Minister by Russell Cecil

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Among the many notable addresses given at the Centennial Celebration of Princeton Theological Seminary in 1912 is one titled “The Making of a Minister” by Russell Cecil (1853-1925), who at the time was serving as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States (PCUS).

He begins by establishing some of the necessary prerequisites for any minister, and goes on to describe what else is important and most valuable in the building blocks of the ministry.

Among those things that are essential and necessary, he says, are the following:

  • a minister must be male;

  • a minister must be godly;

  • a minister must be learned in the Scriptures; and

  • a minister must be called to his office by God.

Other non-essential, but nevertheless important and helpful factors in what makes up a good ministerial candidate, highlighted by Cecil, include the following:

  • a godly, religious, stable upbringing, emphasizing the influence of family and education;

  • a wholesome spiritual atmosphere at seminary, which is conducive to the spiritual and academic learning by the student of the ministry;

  • a course of theological study that is broad and encompasses a full range of useful matter for pastoral ministry; and

  • a studied effort to improve one’s method of expression, including both composition and delivery of the message.

It was also Cecil’s view that every pastor should be imbued with “the missionary spirit,” no matter whether they were going to be established at a country church or sent to foreign shores. An evangelistic zeal for sharing the gospel should be part of the spirit of one’s theological training that one should carry with them throughout their pastoral career.

He closes with this thought:

I close with the remark that Christian people every where feel that humanizing influences should be thrown around the young men in our seminaries; that they should not be cloistered scholastics, withdrawn from the stirring life of the day; but that they should be men of loving hearts, who, when they come forth to their work, are able to sympathize with the poor and needy, and know how to dispense the gospel of the grace of God to our perishing race.

Read the full address by Cecil here and see how he fleshes out his message. It is a worthy read about “The Making of a Minister,” a most excellent and noble calling.