Samuel Rogers' View From The Top
"Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honour the face of the old man, and fear thy God: I am the Lord." (Lev. 19:32.) God requires us to show respect to the person of the aged. He also counsels us to hear the wisdom of those who reach old age, especially those who grow old in the way of righteousness. (Job 12:12; Prov. 16:31.) While we should regard no man "above that which is written," there is surely a place in our lives for the wisdom those who reach the top of life are able to hand down to those yet standing on the lower lands. It is with this thought in mind that we give some of the views that Samuel Rogers held as he surveyed life from its lofty heights.
"There is a critical period in the history of every backslider, when a little encouragement and instruction may save from irrecoverable ruin."
"It is perfectly natural that the greater the effort to draw men from extremes of one sort, the more imminent the danger of falling into extremes of an opposite character."
"Flattery has ruined many a young preacher; hence, many good men are afraid to give a poor young preacher the word of encouragement that his soul pants for, and which is indispensable to his life and strength as a preacher."
"We had the mourners' benches in those days (the early nineteenth century) and they were things unauthorized by the Word of God. We long since abolished them, and we did right in so doing; but I almost fear that we did it in such a way as to abolish the mourners also."
"When the devil wants to make us slaves, he baits his traps with sentiments of extreme liberality and a show of all-abounding love. When he wants to enslave men, he is not so silly as to let them see the prisons he has prepared, or the chains he has forged for them. When he comes to us with purposes of hate, he often covers himself with a cloak of charity, and many are weak enough to take the bait, and lose their liberty forever."
P. O. Box 83, Tuckerman, Arkansas