THE BIBLICAL STANDARD

FOR COVENENT FATHERS AND

FAMILY WORSHIP
The late Rev. J. Gary Aitken
A Message Delivered to the Ministers
Fellowship
Columbia, SC, Jan. 7, 1974
When voices are raised on every side prescribing
solutions for all our social and domestic problems, which
are too often mutually contradictory, where shall we tum
to find tlle right way and to whom shall we listen wiili
confidence as trnly authoritative? Ours is an age in which
ilie velY foundations of family and nation are not only
tlrreatened, but are breaking up and disintegrating. All
too often our churches attempt to counteract ilie forces of
their own attrition by introducing stylish new programs
and methods aimed at the youth or young married
couples or for the golden years generation depending on
particular situations. While much of this looks sound and
reasonable at first glance, I do not believe it stands the
test of close examination by the light of Scripture. While
we specialize in particular age groups and ignore the
family almost completely. We devise an endless variety
of special programs and activities replete with tlle most
graphic displays and teaching aids. How dramatically
does ilie old Heidelberg Catechism cut to ilie heart of
iliese vain and unbiblical efforts at Question 98: But
may not pictures be tolerated in churches as books for
the laity? No; declares tlle answer, for we should not be
wiser than God who will not have his people taught by
dumb images but by the lively preaching of his Word.
I believe that the Scriptures are emphatic in precluding
tlle use of pictures, or "dumb images" in the church,
tlle displacing of the exposition of the Word of God in
favor of musical programs, films, dramas, and a host of
other innovations which have swept into our churches
like a whirlwind in tlle twentieth century. Yet all these
novelties continue to spread like a veritable plagne
today in the circle of my acquaintance. I find wiili
distressing frequency an openness and curiosity among
lay people that I believe is the very seed bed in which
such antibiblical tendencies take root. I make so bold as
to set forth a tllesis in this regard. The largest reason for
the declension in our churches generally and the flood of
unscriptural practices in our corporate worship
will be found to lie in the almost total neglect of family
worship day by day and specifically in tlle catastrophic
abdication by covenant fatllers and husbands of their
responsibilities to lead their families in family worship
and indoctrination.
The regulative principle of Scripture which holds iliat
notlling may be included in the worship and service of
God by His people except those elements which He has
Himself ordained, includes also the rule iliat nothing is
to be excluded which He has commanded or required.
One aspect of tllis limiting and specific principle has
reference to the proper qualifications of tllOse who lead
God's people in fulfilling ilieir obligations as parents in
Christian families. Therefore my object here will be to
apply this principle in the area 0 our covenant homes and
to consider the particular duties which God lays upon
covenant fathers. This ought to be the object of our most
intense personal concern, as I believe it was in ilie minds
ofilie Presbyterian divines at ilie Westminster Assembly
who wrote "An Introductory Preface to ilie Standards"
iliese words:
TO THE CHRISTIAN READER, ESPECIALLY
HEADS OF FAMILIES .... We cannot but with
grief of soul lament those multitudes of errors
blasphemies and all kinds of profaneness which
have in this last age like a mighty deluge, overflown
this nation; so, among several other sins which
have helped to open the flood-gates of all these
impieties, we cannot but esteem the disuse of family
instruction one of the greatest.
Two words of Scriptural advice were offered as a direct
means of rectifying iliese grievous evils. First, iliey were
to labor diligently to advance ilieir personal knowledge
of the Standards, improve their individual walle and
example by being thus grounded and settled in their
faiili. Then, secondly they were to follow the example
of Joshua in leading their families in holy living, not
only by ilieir holy example but also by diligent personal
instruction tlrrough the use of the Creeds, Confessions,
and Catechisms. They concluded this exordium wiili the
following warm pastoral call to covenant fatllers:
If, therefore, there be any spark in you of
love to God, be not content that any of
yours should be ignorant of him whom
you so much admire, or any haters of him
whom you so much love. If there be any
compassion to the souls of them who are
under your care, if any regard of your being
found faithful in the day of Christ, if any
respect to future generations, labor to sow
these seeds afknawledge, which may grow
up in q/ier-times.
All out vaunted efforts to turn our churches around
and to see them brought to a better circumstance will
continue to be plagued with frustration, confusion, and
ephemeral success until we come to terms with the
biblical pattern for Christian heads of homes and for
families. All our mass evangelism cmsades,
"CalImg Our Continent to Christ in '73," or "Calling
All Nations in '74," all our child evangelism and lay
evangelism and whatever else avoids or iguores the
cmcial and elemental importance of the individual
family and the priority offathersin obeying the word
of God, doom us to continued frustration and failure in
every other high and worthy ambition which may fill our
hearts with desire to see Ii God-owned time of refreshing
in our day. I assert that it is impossible to enjoy a '
spiritually healthy situation in a local congregation
where men who are "good and regular standing'" before
their sessions are in flagrant violation of their duties
as heads of families. I further assert that we inevitably
engage in pitiable self deception when we depend on
the standards of success epitomized by somebody as
"Numbers, Nickels and Noise!" while at the same time
our church families are bereft of the most elementary
of daily family worship and covenantal
indoctrination, to say nothing of the co=on failures
in too many homes to practice even the most basic
principles of discipline.
So basic is the principle I seek to expound that if! were
given a choice of pastoring a congregation in which
I was assured of ten sound, biblically motivated and
controlled covenant fathers or of pastoring a comparable
congregation qevoid of such men but with a hundred
teenagers who were "On fire for the Lord" without a
moments hesitation, I wolild choose the former as giving
promise of more blessing not only for this generation;
but for thousands to follow. For did not God describe
himself to Moses as a jealous 'Goa, "visiting the iniqnity
of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth
generation of them that hate me, and shewing mercy
unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my
commandments"?
In the first instance these principles must be addressed to
ministers. We must examine ourselves in these regards
as we shepherd the families of our congregations. If!, as
a minister, fail to guide my own wife and children day
by day as the head of my personal covenant family, I fail
not only God who put them in my care, but those who
are ''flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone" as well as
every other family in my congregation. Every family of
the chw:ch at my family and find an example
of practical holmess m these regards which they may
copy, as the pastor and his family pattern their lives
according to the scriptural standard. Here is where we
may, if it pleases God, do our noblest and most enduring
work. Though I am tempted to take the great text which
Richard Baxter employed as the basis for his classic The
Reformed Pastor, space forbids a proper development of
it. I simply quote it as a present reminder of your highest
and greatest duties, who will one day give account of
your stewardship as undershepherds of God's flock.
"Take therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock
over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to
feed the church of God which he hath purchased with his
own blood," Acts 20:28. In these matters we must take
heed to ourselves, if we would lead others.
Now, however, I direct your attention to the
consideration of those great texts of Scripture which
set forth the pattern for life and practice of Christian
families and, most especially, covenant fathers. The
Bible sets forth in the clearest terms the scope of a
covenant father's duties. In no sense are we to take these
specifications as optional or elective. If men fail in these
they fail not only themselves, but their posterity
WIth the gravest enduring consequences. When God gave
to Moses for a second time the two tables of the Law we
read in Exodus 34:5ff., "And the LORD descended in
the cloud, and stood with him there and proclaimed the
name of the Lord, and the LORD passed by before him
and proclainIed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful
and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness
and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the
children's children, unto the third and to the fourth
generation." Jeremialt, seeing the painful implications of
this, same covenantal failure cried out in Lamentations
5:7, "'Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have
borne their iniquities."
Though the pattern of the family with the guiding
and controlling presence of the father was established
long before Abraham's time in SCripture, it is he
to whom Christians as well as Jews look as primal
covenant father, the father of all the faithful. When
God reconfimIed His purpose to beget of Abraltam an
innumerable covenantal progeny, "Seeing that Abraltam,
The BibLicaL Stan{)ar{) For Cormant Father.} An{) Family Wordhip
shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all
the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him," God
underscored the effect of Abraham's covenant inflnence
by declaring further in Genesis 18: 19, "ForI know him,
that he will command his children and his honsehold
after him and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to
do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring npon
Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." Thns, on
the human side, through the means appointed by the
Almighty we see how God will bring to pass the great
covenant promise given Abraham earlier in Genesis
17:7, "And I will establish my covenant between me
and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for
an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to
thy seed after thee." The purpose and power then are of
the Almighty. The means of his appointing are believing
fathers, like Abraham, who will command their children
and their households after them.
When Moses reviewed the laws which God had given
Israel at Horeb, he reminded them that they were not
to add to or diminish anything from the Word He had
given (Dt.4:2.). Further, commanded Moses, "Only
take heed to thyself, and keep thy sonl diligently, lest
thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen,
and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy
life: but teach them to thy sons, and thy sons' sons."
(Dt. 4:9). However, it is in the magnificent "Shemah"
of Deuteronomy 6:4-7, that we catch a vision of the
pervasive quality of godliness in the patriarchal family.
"Hear, 0 Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
and thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And
these words, which I command thee this day shall be in
thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto
thy children, and shalt talk ofthem when tllOu sittest
in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and
when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Here is
a Scriptural cOllUnand which overarches the generations,
gives lasting significance to evelY relationship in
believing families as well as purpose and direction for
each day, and even for every hour covenant fathers spend
with their children. In commenting on tllis passage,
Calvin writes, "He would have it (the Law) implanted in
their hearts lest forgetfulness of it should ever steal over
them; and by the word 'heart' He designates the memory
and other facnlties of the mind; as though He had said
that tllis was so great a treasure that there was good
canse why they should hide it in tlleir hearts, or so fix
this doctrine deeply in tlleir minds that it should never
escape. Afterwards He enjoins that constant conversation
should beheld about it with tlleir children in order that
fathers should diligently attend and apply themselves to
the duty of instruction. The Hebrew word shanan which
Moses uses means properly 'to whet' ... that is, tllat
tlley should cause it to penetrate their minds, as if they
shonld prick them with the point of a sword." In our day,
as in Moses', this great Scriptural injnnction stands as
a monumental expression of the essence of covenantal
duty for every believing father.
The Book of Proverbs gives detailed instructions for
covenantal families. Proverbs 22:6 commands, "Train
up a child in the way he should go and when he is old,
he will not depart from it." Matthew Poole added to
the margin of his commentary the 'word "catechize"
for the word 'train up." The implication of the Text and
of Poole's pregnant comment is that this training begin
very early and be pervasively thorough. The directive, I
remind you, was not to the Jewish religious community,
not to the priests or teachers, but to covenant fathers.
And thus Thomas Manton could compare tile family to a
seminary for the Chnrch and State. I would not minimize
the duties and opportunities of covenant mothers to
engage in this early teaching. Indeed, in Proverbs 31 :26
we read ofthe godly mother that, 'She opens her mouth
with wisdom; and in her tongue is the "law of kindness."
Further, "She looketh well to the ways of her honsehold,
and eateth not tile bread of idleness." Reading such texts
with their full force and significance does not mitigate
the inescapable and even primal duties of covenant
fathers in these regards. They must lead and their wives
are to support and confirm ti,e practice and teaching
of their husbands by their own consistent example and
teaching. To take these texts regarding godly women
and use tI,em as pretexts for encouraging women to
assume the ascendancy in these matters is monstrous
and wicked. When God cOllUnands children to "hear
the instruction ofthy father, and forsake not the law of
thy mother" as in Proverbs 1:8 and 6:20, the burden of
obedience for a child is equal toward both parents, and
we may say both parents are responsible for overseeing
tI,eir children, but the dnties of mothers do not mitigate
the primary responsibilities of fathers to train up their
children in all holiness.
Turning to the New Testament, we consider the words of
Paul at the begilllling of Ephesians 6. First he addresses
children applying to them the explicit precepts of the
fifth commandment. Their duties are toward bOtil parents
'in ti,e Lord." Then at verse four, he speaks directly to
"fatllers." The comment ofthe Expositors Testament is
pointed and perceptive. "The parental duty is set forth
in terms of the fatl,er's obligation without particular
mention of the. mother's, not because children of maturer
age are in view, but simply because the father is the
ruler in the house, as the husbandis the head of the ffife;
the mother's rule and responsibility being subordinate
to his and represented by his." I am convinced that this
text serves as a veritable "crux interpretum" regarding
the priority of covenantal duties for Christian fathers.
Here is the key not only to spiritually vital homes,
but churches. The other relevant passages in the New
Testament confirm this interpretation. Consider first
the substantially parallel qualifications which Paul sets
for elders and deacons in First Timothy 3:4, 5 and 12.
Though one may not set this qualification of ruling
one's own house and children above the various other
qualifications there is yet an emphatic quality to this
standard which if a man fails to achieve, he is ipso facto
incompetent to hold office in the Church. Speaking
from my personal experience, I cannot readily recall
any congregation with which I have had reasonably
close personal knowledge in which some of the officers
were not derelict by reason of failing to rule their own
houses well. I am not inferring here that ministers should
suddenly come before their sessions and congregations
to demand immediate compliance at this point. I fear
that in too many cases, however, we have not felt the
importance of this qualification until certain men had
been elected by. the congregation and then we have
broached the matter only tentatively, if at all, and ended
by justifying some in their failures at this point, who
because of their sincerity were approved as exceptional
cases. I speak in some measure by way of confession,
but the burden of this issue ~ i g h s upon me much more
heavily now than heretofore.
Finally, I call attention to that exceptional circumstance
which Paul reveals in writing his second epistle to
his spiritual son Timothy, when he writes, "I call to
remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which
dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother
Eunice and I am persuaded that in thee also (1 :5) Which
when added to the apostolic exhortation in 3: 14.15,
"But continue in the things which thou hast learned
and hast been assured of, knowing of :whom thou hast
learned them, and that from a child thou hast known the
holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee ffise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus" bring
us properly to concede that Timothy was .brought up in
a home ffithout benefit of the spiritual oversight of a
believing father or grandfather. I am bold to suggest two
great principles which derive from Timothy's experience
as a covenant child. First God is pleased to give added
grace and to supply that which might otherwise be
lacking in the spiritual character of a godly and widowed
mother.ofIsrael upon whom the burden of raising one or
more covenant children falls. All that I have set forth in
this paper, then, should not bring the smallest measure
of trepidation or uncertainty to a contemporary Lois or
Eunice. Not only were they protected according to the
Mosaic Law, Exodus 22:22, from any affliction, but also
Isaiah commands Israel to "Plead for the widow, (1: 17)
and Jeremiah comforts even the broken families of Edom
declaring in 49: 11, "Leave thy fatherless children, I will
preserve them alive; and let thy widows trust in me. So it
was then and so, I believe, it is today.
Yet, I draw a.second deduction from the circumstances
of Timothy's home. There are two things worse and
more tragic for a covenant child to endure .than being
bereft of a covenant father. In degree of tragedy, the
next worst circumstance for such a child is to have an
unbelieving and godless father living in his home. Yet
even in such a situation there was a measure of hope
given by the Apostle Paul in Eirst Corinthians 7:14. ''For
the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife and
the unbelieving ffife is sanctified by the husband: else
were your children unclean; but now are they holy."
God's grace makes up in a substantial measure for the
spiritual deficiencies of a home in which only one parent
is a believer. However, there is one tragedy vastly more
painful and blasting to a life of faith and holiness for
a covenant child. That is to be the child of a false and
hypocritical professor. But hear Robert L. Dabney as he
sets forth the plight of such a home, when he compares
the relative benefits of a pagan home' to those in a merely
nominal Christian home. "This pClgan child may have
for his father a gross, sensual barbarian, and for
his mother a superstitious, silly, lying babbler. He
may have been carried while an infant to the idol
temple, before the horrid image of Siva or Kali.
This situation is bad enough. But he has not yet
experienced the spiritual curse, to which every
pretended Christian home is subjected, of detecting
his own father and mother whom he is to revere,
if he reveres anything - in practicing cheats upon
their God in promising sacredly what they have no
purpose of performing, and in giving the practical
lie, by their actions all the week, to the holiest
professions they make on the Lord's day. "
Here then, I believe is the heart of our declension
today: the nominally Christian home, and most
monstrous ~ blasting in his effect on not only his'
1_- ..
The BibLicaL Standard For Covenant FatherJ And FamiLy ]f/orJhip
own children, but on countless future generations
is the nominal and pretended Christian Father.
How perceptive a prophet was Dr. John F. Cannon,
Minister of the Grand Avenue Presbyterian Church
of Saint Louis, in his remarks to the General
Assembly of our Church in 1897, on the occasion
of the 250th Anniversary of the Westminster
Convention, when he declared:
"That deep yearning of the soul the gospel
answers with the assurance that as we
confidently commit ourselves, so may we
commit our children, in the arms of redeeming
love. This precious feature of our holy
religion the Westminster Standards clearly
expound, and I am not sure but it is their most
distinctive glory. Now when this foil gospel
of the grace of God is embraced; when Jesus
Christ is accepted not only as a personal
Savior, but also as the Savior of the house,
Joshua s resolve becomes the natural response
of the heart: 'As for me and my house, We
will serve the Lord. 'The home takes on the
character and shape of a religious institution.
It becomes a Bethel. The family altar is
reared. The rule by which the household
is ordered is the Word of God. Hence, as a
matter of fact, wherever Presbyterianism
has prevailed, homes have been found like
the home of Abraham, characterized by two
features-family discipline with family worship.
It is no accident that the Cotter s Saturday
Night
1
was written by a poet trained under
the Westminster Standards, and that its scene
is laid in a land molded by Presbyterianism.
A Scots servant-girl hearing the poem read
before a company of admiring English
people naively said that she saw nothing Ve1Y
wonderfUl about it, for that was the way they
did at her father s house every night. Such
scenes are indigenous to Presbyterian Soil;
and if our beloved old church ever loses her
glory, it will be when the fires go out on her
family altars . ..
Here is where we are losing not merely a battle, but
the whole war. Only God can revive His church, but
how dare we even pray for renewal and heavenly
refreshment when by our carelessness and silence
we condone the failures of our own professed
covenant fathers amongst us. Surely we shall
have to reckon with the warning words of God to
Ezekiel, for are we not also watchmen? "So thou,
o son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the
house ofIsrael; therefore thou shalt hear the word
at my mouth, and warn them for me. When I say
unto the wicked, 0 wicked man, thou shalt surely
die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from
his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity;
but his blood will I require at thine hand, Ezekiel
33:7,8. We are watchmen not only for our own
generation, but for those to come. From how many
of our grandchildren will the glory have departed,
so that they shall be called "Ichabod" as was the
grandson of Eli?
Or how many of us will have cause to weep over
our lost children as David cried over Absalom: 0
my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would
God I had died for thee, 0 Absalom, my son, my
son!" And why? Because on the human side, David
had failed as a covenant father.
Ifwe would have more godly and faithful officers
in our churches, we must have more faithful fathers
leading our families by means of their personal
examples of consistent holiness in word and in life.
We begin too late when we try to train officers for
the church by scriptural standards. These biblical
obligations devolve upon every covenant father. Our
officers are often so deficient because the reservoir
of covenant families in our congregations from
which they are drawn is so deficient and polluted
with ungodliness and ignorance of God's Word.
Let me conclude by sharing with you the letter of a
father in our own Presbyterian Lion who, near death
himself, wrote this moving exhortation to his eldest
son, Gillespie Robbins Thornwell, then just 17 years
of age, serving with the Legion of General Wade
Hampton in Virginia.
June 19,1861.
"MY DEAR GILLESPIE:
It has been on my heart for some time back to
have a serious and solemn conversation with you
touching the great interests of the soul. During all
my sickness nothing has pressed upon my mind
more than the condition and prospects of my boys
in relation to the salvation of the gospel. 1 have
dedicatecf2 you and your brothers to God. 1 have
prayed that He would call ~ t all into His kingdom;
and 1 once ventured to hope that 1 might seeyou
all ministers of the gospel. There is nothing worth
livingfor but the glory of God; and 1 do most
devoutly wish that your eyes may be opened to see
the transcendent importance of eternal things. You
have but one soul; and if you lose that, all is gone;
and once lost, it is lost for ever.
You may say that you acknowledge the truth of
all this, but you do not feel it. My son, you must
strive to feel it. You must think upon the.matter
seriously and earnestly; you must pray over it.
You must confess and deplore your hardness of
heart, and seekfrom the Lord a clean heart and a
right spirit. Resolve never to give over until you
find that you are interested and warmly interested
in the great salvation. You cannot imagine what
a comfort it would be to me in my declining days
to see you humbly and sincerely following the
Lord Jesus Christ. And why not do it? Can you
gain anything by carelessness and remissness?
Are you happier when you do not know but that
at any moment you may be summoned before
God altogether unprepared? Is not the fear of the
Lord the beginning of Wisdom? And do they not
exhibit the soundest understanding who keep God's
commandments? My son, you know not how much 1
love you and cannot know how much 1 feel for your
immortal interests. Do me, your father, the favor to
give your mind to the matter at once and decidedly.
Seek to be a thorough-going, devoted Christian.
Seek the Lord with your whole heart. Renounce all
sin, and renounce it for ever; and betake yourself
to the blood of Christ for pardon and acceptance.
Do more; have an eye to the eternal good of your
younger brothers. They look up to you; they respect
you; they try to do as you do. Set them a good
example. Go before them in the way of eterizallife.
Religion cannot be maintained without regular
prayer, and regular reading of the Scriptures, and
regular attendance upon the ordinances. Never omit
your morning and evening devotions and try to be
interested in them; think over what you pray for;
think before you pray. When you read the Bible,
read in orderto get knowledge. Meditate on what
you read: and beg God to seal it on your heart by
the Holy Ghost. At church try to be profited. Apply
to yourselfwhatyou hear. Lookupon the preaching
as God's appointment and expect His blessing in
attending upon it. My dear boys reflect upon what
1 have said to you; and gladden my heart when 1
see you again by your interest in all that concerns
the glory of God, and the salvation of the soul.
Pray over this Letter; look upon it as your father's
legacy; andfor his sake as well as your own awake
to the importance of these high themes.
As to my health 1 cannot say that there is any
marked change yet. 1 think upon the whole 1 am
improving. The atmosphere here at present is very
cool and delightfitl. Our nights are charming; and 1
enjoy the magnificent forests about here very much.
I can never gaze on these enough. And now, my boy,
may God bless you. Be true to Him and He will be
faithfiil to you.
Your affectionate father,
J. H THORNWELL."
Within nine months the son followed his father
in death. The record indicates that Gillespie as
a believer met his father before the throne of
God, "He met death," we are told, "Not only
with firmness, but with perfect resignation and
comp'osure. Although under circumstances which
cut him off from the friends to whom he might have
unbosomed himself, the hospital nurse says that 'he
talked beautifully' to him, saying he 'did not fear
to die and was perfectly willing to go, only that he
could have wished to see his mother and the dear
ones at home once more. They rest in the sweet
The Bi6!iJ:aL Stalldard For COf'enallt Fatherd Alld FamiLy ]f/ordhip
assurance that through faith in his Redeemer's
blood, he was ready for the change."
May we not join the desire of Dr. Thomwell
expressed in a letter to a sympathizing friend
following the death of his eldest daughter? He wrote
"Pray for us, my dear friend; especially pray that
I may have no un-converted child. The event has
been greatly sanctified to me and my wife. God
grant that we may never grow faint. I never relax
my hold upon the covenant. Jesus has been more
precious to me than I have felt him for a Long time
and the gospel more glorious. Henceforth I am
bound, I trust, for etemity. I want to live only for the
glory of God. Pray for me and mine."
D D D D D
1 See Robert Burns "The Cottar's Saturday Night" in this issue.
2 For historical integrity Dr. Thornwell's remarks are preserved. See
The Presbyterian Doctrine of Children in the Covenant by Lewis
Bevins Schenck (P & R Publishers) for a critique of Thomwell's view of
Covenant Children.
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P.O. BOX C
Haysi,VA 24256
These songs represent some of the pleasures and
pains I've experienced over the last five years.
They say cataclysmic times make excellent fodder
for songs. I hope "they" are right.
God bless! Kerry
scotchstrings@hotmail.com
PO Box 650 Haysi, VA 24256
For live performances write or call
276-865-5144
the COUNSELofCHALCEDON 38