Psalm 19: Coeli Enarrant
by Sir Philip Sydney
English gentleman, poet and soldier

The heavenly frame sets forth the fame
Of him that only thunders;
The firmament, so strangely bent,
Shows his handworking wonders.

Day unto day doth it display,
Their course doth it acknowledge,
And night to night succeeding right
In darkness teach clear knowledge.

There is no speech, no language which
Is so of skill bereaved,
But of the skies the teaching cries
They have heard and conceived.

There be no eyen but read the line
From so fair book proceeding,
Their words be set in letters great
For everybody’s reading.

Is not he blind that doth not find
The tabernacle builded
There by His Grace for sun’s fair face
In beams of beauty gilded?

Who forth doth come, like a bridegroom,
From out his veiling places,
As glad is he, as giants be
To run their mighty races.

His race is even from ends of heaven;
About that vault he goeth;
There be no realms hid from his beams;
His heat to all he throweth.

O law of His, how perfect ’tis
The very soul amending;
God’s witness sure for aye doth dure
To simplest wisdom lending.

God’s dooms be right, and cheer the sprite,
All His commandments being
So purely wise it gives the eyes
Both light and force of seeing.

Of Him the fear doth cleanness bear
And so endures forever,
His judgments be self verity,
They are unrighteous never.

Then what man would so soon seek gold
Or glittering golden money?
By them is past in sweetest taste,
Honey or comb of honey.

By them is made Thy servants’ trade
Most circumspectly guarded,
And who doth frame to keep the same
Shall fully be rewarded.

Who is the man that ever can
His faults know and acknowledge?
O Lord, cleanse me from faults that be
Most secret from all knowledge.

Thy servant keep, lest in him creep
Presumtuous sins’ offenses;
Let them not have me for their slave
Nor reign upon my senses.

So shall my sprite be still upright
In thought and conversation,
So shall I bide well purified
From much abomination.

So let words sprung from my weak tongue
And my heart’s meditation,
My saving might, Lord, in Thy sight,
Receive good acceptation!

If you are using the classical method to teach your children, or if you just get a kick out of history, I’ve got a book to recommend that will make your history studies a little more peppy, from a guy named Cuppy…got that? Peppy from Cuppy.

It’s called The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody by Will Cuppy (illustrated by William Steig). In good “classical approach” style, it begins in ancient Egypt and proceeds to chronicle the highlights of history in 230 pages. Of course, you won’t get a thorough historical education from such a small book, but you will get a few belly laughs.

For example, Cuppy begins the chapter on Alexander the Great, thus:

Alexander III of Macedonia was born in 356 B.C., on the sixth day of the month of Lous (note: That is what the Macedonians called the month of Hecatombaeon, Plutarch says, and he ought to know.) He is known as Alexander the Great because he killed more people of more different kinds than any other man of his time (note: Professor F.A. Wright, in his Alexander the Great, goes so far as to call him “the greatest man that the human race has as yet produced.”) He did this in order to impress Greek culture upon them. Alexander was not strictly a Greek and he was not cultured, but that was his story, and who am I to deny it?

Of Elizabeth I he says:

Queen Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. She resembled her father in some respects, although she beheaded no husbands. As she had no husbands, she was compelled to behead outsiders.

She never intended to behead Mary Queen of Scots and the Earl of Essex, but somehow she did (note: She was funny that way.) Mary Queen of Scots was very beautiful, but Queen Elizabeth was not so bad herself aat one time. Many people believe that Elizabeth was always a hatchet-faced old lady in a red wig. She was no such thing. She was once sweet sixteen and rather good-looking (Note: It shows what can happen.)

Be aware that this book, published posthumously in 1950, has a few risqué cartoonish drawings and a small amount of off-color language. Will Cuppy was a New York book reviewer and the author of a series of books on natural history. The introduction to this book says that his Greenwich Village apartment “overflowed with books—in bookshelves along all living-room walls right up to the ceiling, in his bedroom, and even int he kitchen—over the refrigerator, on top of the stove, and on supply shelves.” He was an eccentric fellow, and the introduction by his editor, explaining about Cuppy’s life, is almost as amusing as the book itself. It should be easy to find at the library. Enjoy.

The now-famous Benjamin is in the Bay Area this weekend, attending a conference sponsored by Reformed Heritage Church in San Jose. The featured speaker is Pastor Chris Strevel of Georgia, a one-time student of Greg Bahnsen and disciple of Pastor Joseph Morecraft. The topic is “Are You Ready?” It begins this evening and continues through the day tomorrow, and pre-registration is not required.

I’m sorry I didn’t give the information for today’s conference earlier, but this summer RHC is sponsoring another conference: the West-Coast Christian Worldview Conference, which I hope my older children will be attending. It will be at Bethany College in Santa Cruz in July. The scheduled speakers are Joe Morecraft, Brian Abshire, James Nickel, and others. Last year, young people came from as far as Texas to attend this conference, where there were many opportunities to interact with the speakers during the week. Pieter and Ben both attended last year’s conference and enjoyed it very much.

I’ll try to give you lots of notice as the time draws closer so that you can decide if you want your young people to attend.

The emotional force of the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) has an overwhelming impact on everyone. GAP picture displays make a horrendous point that will create an impression on even the most hardened of hearts. My own experiences with people that have seen these graphic pictures tell a sad, yet often joyful story.

The most powerful of encounters that I have yet had happened this January at the pro-life protest and rally on the west side of the California capitol.

This was the third year in a row that I had attended the annual gathering to protest the �choice� that is forced upon unborn babies. The 2002 rally introduced me to the group Teens For Life (T4L) of Sacramento, with which I quickly became actively involved in pro-life ministry. I learned, through a series of classes, to debate the issue so effectively that no logical argument could stand.

I went to the 2004 rally as a member of Teens For Life. Through them, I met Survivors. Survivors is a pro-life activist group that is based out of L.A. and has ties to T4L. The college-aged members of Survivors were on a campus tour to proclaim the truth at colleges around the country. Over the two days at the capitol, I spent time with these wonderful people, especially with one guy named Nate. 19-year-old Nate had come all the way from his home state of Colorado, spending a semester on the road with the Survivor campus tour.

The first day, the 21st, was a quiet day for us. That morning we had a protest in front of the Planned Parenthood state headquarters. The Survivors were leading it, but showed up late. Many people probably wondered what such a big group of youths was doing at Planned Parenthood. Then Survivors arrived. Complete with signs and banners, the protest started.

I had never met the Survivors before, and I found in them one of the most energetic, charismatic groups of people that probably exists.

Even one person with charisma can move a group to complete its goal. This group, united in an effort to proclaim that abortion is genocide, and to save babies’ lives, made an impression and brought change to lives, even in the short time that I spent with them.

After the morning clinic protest, my brother Pieter and I went with Survivors to protest a �choice� rally at U.C. Davis. We didn�t return until mid-afternoon.

Nate drove back to the capitol with Pieter and me. I was with Nate, back at the picture display, when we met and stopped to talk to a girl dressed in goth-style clothing who was viewing the GAP signs.

The conversation started like any other.

Nate asked her what she thought of the pictures. She said that what it showed was horrible, a very normal reaction to the pictures. They seemed to disturb her and she agreed that what happened to those babies was one of the sickest things that she could think of. But, as we drew her out in conversation, we discovered something that completely surprised us.

She worked at the state headquarters of Planned Parenthood. She had not come to work until after the protest, but had heard about it from the others there. Curious, she had come over to see what we were doing. After a little while she met us. We didn�t learn the rest of the story until later.

The 22-year-old girl also worked at an abortion clinic. She agreed with us that what happened to the babies was �disturbing.� Her job was some innocuous desk job, right next to where women were having their abortions. She even had to be present for one of them. That experience was giving her doubts, BIG doubts, about her present job.

The reason she stayed? The money. Abortion clinic employees are in such a high stress environment that the pay has to be very high to keep them from leaving. There is an enormously high turnover rate at these clinics. Most can�t take it for long, and this girl had almost reached the end of her emotional strength in staying there.

Over and over as we talked, she told us that she had to go, that if she stayed, her mind would be changed. She knew what she was doing, what she was helping with, was wrong. But her moral standard was so skewed that she just couldn�t think of it as more than a �job.�

At one point her cellphone rang. The person on the other end may have been a boyfriend. She talked to him, then asked if Nate would talk to him…he did, but her friend soon decided that he had to go.

By the time we finished talking with her, almost 45 minutes had passed. She said that she would stop working at the Planned Parenthood; we can only pray that she was telling the truth.

Afterwards, one of the T4L mentors, Mrs. Ficker, came up to us and filled us in as to what had happened with the girl before our arrival.

The goth girl had shown up around lunch time. She had walked around all four sides of the display, viewing the pictures and looking very unhappy. Coming to the end, she had stood there and…cried. A minute later she left, then returned again about a half hour later. She did the same as before, looking at every picture, then stopping to the side by herself to vent her emotions.

Mrs. Ficker went up to her at that point, asking if she wanted to talk. The girl was angry and very rude to her, refused to talk and left. But she came back, and that is when I came back with Nate. She was willing to talk to us, and didn�t even hint about her early trips to the display. I can only pray that we made a difference.

That Monday evening T4L had their weekly meeting, this one was a wrapup to the capitol events. Survivors came to the meeting. Somebody had asked that we do the �hot seat,� which is a form of mock debate to hone our skills in pro-life arguments with pro-abortionists. As April, a young woman with Survivors (engaged to be married), exclaimed in response to the unfeeling criticisms and arguments of another pro-lifer during a mock debate, �Babies aren�t like tumors, babies are BEAUTIFUL!!�

It is sad and unbelievably cruel that babies are being aborted all across our country, to think that our generation is in the business of killing our generation. The problem is that so many of those that are born have not been raised with the morals to make them see that this legalized murder is worse than any other form of mass murder that has existed thus far. Those who are raising kids must make sure that those children are raised with the right moral values which are so scarce in today�s society.

Ben Friedrich is 15 years old and has been homeschooled all his life. He enjoys weightlifting, playing with his cat, Pippin and watching “Jeeves and Wooster.” When asked if he’s avant-garde, he responded, “Huh?”

While the storms of theological controversy rage, while kings and presidents rise and fall, while fair-weather friends fly in our faces with scornful words, the dailiness of life and the trials it brings to our little kingdoms creep up and knock us over with a feather. We must not minimize the great work God is doing in our homes and families through our faithful service to Him…and we must be prepared for the attacks that come in the form of discouragement, weariness and doubt.

Here is a short homily from John Newton (the one who wrote “Amazing Grace”), which is a reminder of the benefits of affliction. After you read that, print out this poem and put it in your Bible (which is where I keep my copy). It was given to me by a friend at church when I was having a hard time after several weeks on pregnancy bedrest.

Prayer Answered by Crosses
by John Newton

“These inward trials I employ,
“From self and pride to set thee free;
“And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
“That thou mayst seek thy all in me.”