Volume 2: Issue 3 | May 2019
Special Edition:
In Memory of Pastor William H. Cornell
Thankful Remembrance of the Pastorate of William H. Cornell
Pastor of First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Cambridge,
1979-1985
"There was a little city with few men in it;
and a great king came against it, besieged it, and built great snares around it.
Now there was found in it a poor wise man,
and he by his wisdom delivered the city.
Yet no one remembered that same poor man."
-- Ecclesiastes 9:14-15, NKJV
There is today a spiritually alive congregation worshiping at 53 Antrim Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, blessed through the preaching of the present pastor, Noah Bailey, and giving praise to God. Morning worship attendance averages around 70, and many of the worshipers stay long after the service, enjoying one another’s fellowship. The congregation is young, vigorous, and welcoming to newcomers.
It was not always so in this 123 year-old congregation. In 1977, the future looked bleak, as worship attendance was dwindling, there were few members under 50 years old, and the congregation was without a pastor. The members seriously considered giving up and shutting down. However, Elder C. F. Millican and his wife Janet vigorously opposed closing the doors, and persuaded their fellow members to call a pastor – if one could be found who would come. The congregation called William H. Cornell, and in God’s gracious providence, he accepted the call and began his ministry in Cambridge in mid-1979.
Bill was thirty years old when he came to Cambridge. He came from a working-class background in Delaware, having grown up in a broken home. He had come to faith in Christ as a teenager by reading the Bible on his own. After his conversion, he swiftly grasped and embraced the Reformed faith. His mind was very sharp, enabling him to get straight A's in all his courses at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia – no mean feat. While at Westminster, he attended the nearby Elkins Park RPC where he became convinced of the theological positions of the RPCNA and joined the denomination. In 1974, he was licensed for a call, and in 1975 was ordained and installed by our presbytery as associate pastor of the Broomall, PA congregation for church planting in Phoenixville, PA. The church planting did not prosper, however, and it was terminated in 1979. Bill then accepted the call of the Cambridge congregation.
Coming to minister in Cambridge was a great challenge. Would a man with Bill’s social background be able to minister the gospel in a city full of pseudo-sophisticated, standoffish academicians and business types? Would he be able to build up the deeply discouraged members of the congregation? Would this congregation of reserved New Englanders be willing to interact with Bill about changes that might be needed? Above all, would the congregation respond to the ministry of the Word, be molded by it, and bear fruit? The answers to these questions became clear as Bill ministered.
Bill, rooted as he was in the Reformed faith, understood well what the members of his congregation needed most: good teaching and shepherding. No bells and whistles – just teach and shepherd, teach and shepherd, teach and shepherd. And that was what Bill did. He taught the Word informally (in Sunday School classes and privately with individuals), and formally from the pulpit; and, along with the elders, he pastored the flock diligently. Usually, he preached through books of the Bible, both morning and evening, and his preaching was consistently very good. He was thorough and conscientious in preparation for all his preaching and teaching. He would never preach the same sermon twice; if he had occasion to preach on a text he had preached before, he would begin with the Scriptures and exegete them afresh. My wife observed that at the end of almost every service, she felt confident that Bill had brought forth the true sense of whatever passage he was preaching on. His preaching through Ecclesiastes and through Colossians were particular blessings to me personally.
In addition to general pastoral care of all members, Bill’s ministry in Cambridge had a large component of visitation of the elderly, both shut-ins and institutionalized members. A note in the session minutes (January 22, 1982) made clear the extent of that ministry: “The moderator [Bill] informed us that we now have ten shut-ins or institutionalized persons whom he sees on a regular basis.”
And when the congregation had communion (each spring and fall), the pastor and an elder and several members would go to nursing homes in the afternoon to hold brief communion services with church members who resided there. The session minutes of May 10, 1981, record that on that afternoon, Bill conducted no less than four communion services in institutions where four members lived. And in one year (1981?), Bill, by his own count, conducted nine funerals, mostly for members of the congregation.
Another significant part of Bill’s ministry was sending greeting cards, postcards and brief letters to members, particularly the elderly. By this means, he was able to minister to some members whom he had not visited for some time, or who were experiencing some kind of difficulty. He chose his words carefully, seeking to bring comfort and strength to members, and he almost always included an appropriate quotation from Scripture that was to the point.
When Carol and I and almost-two-year-old Esther arrived in Cambridge in 1980, the only other child in the congregation was a twelve-year-old boy. There were seven teenagers on the roll from two households of the congregation, but most of them had stopped attending church regularly. Bill and the session sought diligently to reclaim them, but most did not respond, and four of them eventually had to be excommunicated.
While Bill gave focused pastoral care upon the elderly, his preaching ministry blessed all who worshiped in our church. His preaching drew visitors of all ages, a steady trickle of whom became members. As new members were added, some of them raised reasonable questions about particular practices of the congregation. Any of these issues could have caused strife, but careful listening and wise handling by Bill and the session led to peaceful resolutions.
A reading of the session minutes from those years revealed four significant issues that arose:
1. Flags (U.S. flag and Christian flag) on either side of the pulpit: removed after considerable discussion in session, congregation and presbytery.
2. Women advisers to the Deacon Board: These were disbanded.
3. Communion tokens (cards given to intended communicants, to be completed with their names and the names of the churches where they were members and presented to the elders as the communicants came to the Table): These were continued.
4. Request for Church Goals: Bill preached 12 sermons on the biblical priorities of the Church, and the session then adopted congregational goals which Bill had drawn up. The goals were classical Reformed goals, which focused on the three central ministries of the Church:
- The Ministry of Worship (focus on God),
- The Ministry of Mutual Edification (focus on believers, both members and adherents),
- The Ministry of Witness (focus on the unbelieving World), and
- The Maintenance of Presbyterian Church Government, which would enable the Church to carry out the other three goals (A copy of the statement of goals is included elsewhere in this issue of A Little Strength).
Bill served faithfully until the spring of 1985. As a single person, he lived simply, always seeking to benefit the church by keeping utility bills, travel costs and other expenditures as low as possible. One winter day a friend who was visiting him in the parsonage found ice in the toilet! I hasten to add that Bill was not ascetic. I remember him saying from the pulpit that God bestows many material blessings on His people and that He “has given us all things richly to enjoy (I Timothy 6:17).”
Bill was short of stature, with thinning, sandy-colored hair. He wore a gray Mennonite jacket when preaching. He was a friendly man and a good neighbor. During the six years that he ministered in Cambridge, he got to know many local residents, and he became known among them as the man who could fix cars. Not respecting his work as a pastor, and taking advantage of his difficulty in saying “No,” some of these “friends” would drop off their cars or pick-up trucks in the parsonage driveway for him to repair. My daughter remembers his hands being the hands of a mechanic when he grasped the pulpit.
Bill spent around 40 hours per week on sermon preparation, much of it done during hours when most people were sleeping. Because of exhaustion and because of the needs of his mother and sister, he resigned in April 1985 and returned to Delaware. He made it clear that he was not resigning because of anything that the congregation or any of its members had done or not done. He died suddenly in 1998 of a heart attack at age 48.
In spite of his keen intellect, Bill was an unpretentious and self-effacing man who walked humbly with his God (Micah 6:8). Like all of us, he had spiritual weaknesses; and sadly his inability to say “No” was a weakness that led to his resignation. I wept the evening that he told the session that he was going to have to resign, feeling at that time that no pastor that I knew could minister to the Cambridge congregation as well and as effectively as Bill. Reflecting now from the vantage point of 30 years later, I think that I was overly concerned, as subsequent pastors did minister effectively. But the five years that I sat under his ministry were uniquely blessed to my soul and I truly learned more about the things of God (theologically, practically and spiritually) from Bill than from any other teacher that I had ever had, excepting my father, himself a pastor, who taught me all the years of my growing up.
During Bill’s six years of ministry, the total membership of the congregation (communicant and baptized) increased from 41 to 49 – not a large increase. But when you consider that a significant number of older members died during those six years and were replaced by younger members, the growth was significant.
In my opinion, the most abiding fruit of Bill’s labor was in the hearts of those who received his preaching and shepherding, through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. By the work of the Spirit, a dying congregation of people who had almost lost hope was transformed into a living body. With great love and care, Bill shepherded the congregation through the critical transition from being a congregation of mostly older, established RPs to being a younger group of relative newcomers to the R.P. Church.
Bill built the infrastructure, which others later built upon. The Apostle Paul summarized it well: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6).” During the ministry of Christian Adjemian (2000 to 2009), the membership grew rapidly, reaching 122 in 2008. During that time, Christ RPC was successfully planted in Providence RI, and a solid attempt was made to plant a church in the Berkshires (western Massachusetts). Bill was taken into God’s immediate presence before those things happened, but without his labors in the Cambridge congregation, it seems quite unlikely to me that any church planting would have originated from Cambridge. Actually, I think it likely that, without Bill’s acceptance of the congregation’s call, and his six years of ministry, the Cambridge church would have gone under in a relatively short time, and there would be no Reformed Presbyterian church in Cambridge today. Bill, through his self-giving six-year ministry, was enabled by God to bring the congregation back from the brink, and re-lay the foundation. Glory be to God!
"Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me,
'Write: "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on."'
'Yes,' says the Spirit, 'that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.'"
-- Revelation 14:13
-- Christopher Wright
Elder Emeritus
First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Cambridge
December 20, 2018
Bill Cornell Memories
Our memories of Bill Cornell all bring a smile to our faces. First would be his marvelous ability in and dedication to teaching. He studied countless hours. He read five languages. He preached two very full sermons and an in-depth Psalm explanation every single week. They were marvelously full of the wondrous grace of God.
Another memory is of his Mennonite suits. Bill owned two. We are not sure what started him on wearing them other than his extreme poverty. They were much cheaper than regular suits. He looked good in them. They fit his humble simplicity.
Another favorite memory is of Bill’s custom of regularly writing notes, all kinds of notes—to the sick, to the shut-ins, to the discouraged, to those in mourning, for birthdays, for all sorts of occasions. His notes were thoughtful, compassionate, encouraging. Far more people received one of Bill’s notes than we could begin to count. We received a note from him just before he died.
One last memory is of Bill’s discernment. He knew so much and loved the Lord so deeply that he could see to the heart of false teaching, no matter how many layers of flattery and smoky deception covered it. We once had a recording of an address that two friends of ours in Pittsburgh had heard. They knew there was something wrong with it. They were older and well taught Reformed people, but they couldn’t figure it out. When they came to visit us, they brought the recording with them. We couldn’t figure it out either, but we did know there was something very wrong with it. The two women were also old friends of Bill’s, so we invited Bill to dinner. After dinner we played the tape for him (yes, back in the dark ages when there were cassette tapes). When it was done, he said, “Well, you want to know what’s wrong about it?” and went on zip, zip, zip to dissect the teaching going straight to the heart of the error. We looked at each other dumbfounded. It was so obvious once Bill pointed it out. “Why couldn’t we see that?” we asked each other. We had been fooled by the smoke screen. Bill had not.
-- Charles and Betty Burger
Note: I never asked Bill about the Mennonite suits because I assumed they were in honor of the Mennonite College he attended on scholarship.
-- Bill Edgar
Samples of Bill’s Encouraging Personal Notes to Church Members
In his large cursive handwriting, Bill Cornell wrote countless short notes of encouragement as well as long letters to answer questions from people inside and outside the Church. More than one person still retains a collection of Bill’s notes two decades after his death. I got a postcard from Bill years ago that I remember:
“Dear Bill,
Someone from Geneva College contacted me and asked about your suitability to be president. I said that you are
mostly sane but would probably abolish the football program.”
My daughter Betsy recalls a card Bill sent her while she was majoring in physics at Penn State. The card featured blue whales swirling through nebulae and galaxies, and Bill's glorious commentary:
"I saw this card and thought immediately of you and your studies. It's got MASS! And ENERGY! And LIGHT!
I must stop now or I shall become overwrought."
Here are some of Bill’s notes that folks at Broomall supplied me:
To a woman caring for her dying mother:
3/24/96: Dear ____, I will be away from Broomall for a few weeks, and I wanted to let you know I am still praying for you. In the afternoon service today, you were also prayed for. I realize that you have been very busy in caring for the urgent needs of family illness. There’s a small bag of candy (blue color bag, on top of coat racks) for you. Next time you can get to church be sure to pick it up. May God strengthen you in these difficult days. Bill Cornell.
To Broomall’s church treasurer:
12/4/95: Dear ____, I enclose 1) offering check, 2) materials from WORLD IMPACT and SGM (Scripture Gift Mission). World Impact administers the relief ministry in the public housing projects in Chester, Pa., but I don’t have the specific material to send you now. I recall that the work included children’s and teenage clubs, tutoring, thrift store, summer programs. As far as I know, World Impact works with local evangelical churches and does not conduct services on its own. It is possible to designate financial support for the Chester work. My acquaintance with World Impact goes back only a few years. A former co-worker at a Bible conference from many years ago became an administrator at Harmony Heart Camp, a summer ministry to inner city children. When World Impact acquired Harmony Heart (and actually saved it, as the camp was about to close due to its insolvent condition), I began to receive World Impact’s mailings…. I am more familiar with SGM, which has been a sort of alternative Bible society resembling the former New York Bible Society from earlier generations…Both S.G.M. and I.B.S. are confessionally evangelical, while the American Bible Society has no creedal position. My preference for SGM is chiefly due to their withstanding pressures to engage in sensationalistic fundraising approaches…I once wrote to SGM and explained that I was not in a position to support them financially on a regular basis, and their American office director wrote back that the support they value most is prayer support, and I think he really meant it. I’ll probably see you Dec. 17th. Cordially, in Christ, Bill Cornell.
To a newly married couple:
Dear ____, I am very sorry I was not at the wedding. May God bless your home with peace and joy, Bill Cornell.
To the wife, a new church member:
Dear ___, Welcome as a new member to the church at Broomall. I am sorry I was not here on the day you were received. God bless you. Jesus said: “Whoever acknowledges Me before men, I will acknowledge before My Father in Heaven. Matthew 10:28.
To the husband:
Welcome back! Bill Cornell.
To the same couple after a miscarriage:
Though words, however gentle, cannot take your loss away, may this heartfelt message help somehow to comfort you today. Bill Cornell, Psalms 126:5-6, 147:3.
Another time:
Thank you VERY MUCH for the soup and the bread. It was a very nice lunch, and you are very thoughtful. I will be away at Elkins Park and Lancaster for several weeks. There are cookies for you in the church refrigerator. Bill Cornell.
To the wife:
Thank you very much for the good kimchi. It tastes better than the kimchi I bought at the store. You are very kind to remember me with such a gift. Sincerely in Christ, Bill Cornell.
Again:
Thank you very much for the hat and also for your friendship and thoughtfulness, and for your good soup also! Bill Cornell.
Another time:
Thank you very much for the birdseed. It is the right kind for my sister’s bird feeder. Bill Cornell.
Later:
Thank you very much for the nice present you gave me. I am sorry that it took me 2 months for me to return to Broomall to get the present, but the socks will be useful any time. Thank you also for your friendship and encouragement. Bill Cornell May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, as ye trust in Him. Romans 15:1.
And a last sample:
Dear ___, Thank you for the beautiful photograph and for the postcard from the Philippines. May the Lord fill the New Year with much joy for you! Praise to the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has come and has redeemed His people. –Luke 1:68
Introductory Comments by Bill Edgar
Note About Bill Cornell by Jonathan Wright
Thank you for thinking of us regarding Bill Cornell's ministry to us when we were in Cambridge.
We appreciated Bill very much - he was a caring and insightful pastor for us. As well as his preaching, Bill did indeed help us through those written notes of encouragement. He had an excellent command of language, written and spoken.
I can still remember the series he preached on Ecclesiastes - sobering, but that is surely the significant aspect of the book, and what I needed to consider at the time.
He was always engaging and pleasant in our interactions, but you got the sense of an underlying heaviness - which, as it turns out, must have been almost overpowering for him. I am thankful for his care and concern for us even as he carried such burdens. We were very sad to see him leave Cambridge.
I remember you saying how he would pray for relief and then how indeed the Lord answered his prayer... but not as we might have wished.
Vanity of Vanities
Sermon Excerpt: Bill Cornell, Cambridge, early 1980's.
"The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north;
it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full;
unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
All things are full of labour; man cannot utter it:
the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done:
and there is no new thing under the sun.
Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new?
it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
There is no remembrance of former things;
neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after."
-- Ecclesiastes 1:1-11
It is almost a pity to ruin such a cheerful, sunny day, with words like, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” Even if we’re not sure exactly what that means, it still sounds gloomy. These words are like music that might be played at the beginning of a program or a film, one you’ve never heard of before and can’t tell from the title what kind of story it’s going to be, but the music at the beginning gives you an idea. The music here is sad and doleful; it sets a very dreary scene.
Back to verse 1. What does “vanity” mean? Some Bible translations use other words, but I don’t think they’re quite on the mark, so we’re sticking with “vanity.” We just need a little explanation. How we use the word today doesn’t help much: vanity table (you’re so vain) points to “vanish,” and “evanescent.” Vanity equals “not permanent,” “not substantial,” “of no lasting effect or value,” “mist,” “something you see from the corner of your eye.” Life in this world is a matter of vanity. James 4:14 – “For what is your life? It is just a mist that appears for a little time and then fades away.”
And not just “vanity,” but “vanity of vanities” – the Hebrew expression of superlative, as “Holy of holies,” and “King of kings.” Everything is REALLY vain; UTTERLY vain; MOST vain.
Now, don’t you feel better that I explained it? You thought it was gloomy enough before, now here we have a passage in the Bible proclaiming that everything in this life is really vain – of no lasting effect. Is that Biblical? It’s in the Bible, but should it be? The Book of Ecclesiastes bothers some people – they feel that its gloomy tone does not fit the glorious hope we have as believers in Christ. Where is the sense of being triumphant, of overcoming, of having joy unspeakable, and a living hope through Christ’s resurrection?
Ecclesiastes, when read carefully, does not undermine any of that – in fact, the book of Ecclesiastes assumes the resurrection of the dead – it declares a final judgment – and the book makes no sense at all and has no coherence at all without those doctrines. I realize that does not appear on the surface, but stay with me as we go through the book. Ecclesiastes presents us with the disappointment and bleakness of false hope, that we might place our hope in the living God and not be disappointed. The book brings us face to face with a grim, difficult reality: that life in this world is short, and it’s often disappointing, unfair, and perplexing – that all people are only people, wise and stupid, godly and profane, face weariness and frailty. Death relentlessly blocks every way that people try to cope with that situation. It brings us to despair that we might understand the kind of hope that is offered by the God of the covenant. The book is like being shown a room you are in has no way out: the windows and doors and vents are all just painted on the walls by people who want to get out, but there is no real way out, it seems.
But unlike the philosophers of despair, our book says, yes, there IS a way out after all, and the way out of the room is to turn to the One who made the room – that is the teaching of this book. All is vanity because God has made it that way.
Ecclesiastes 1:15: “That which is crooked cannot be made straight: and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.” Ecclesiastes 7:13: “Consider the work of God, for who can make that straight what he hath made crooked?” Psalm 39:5-6: “Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.” Psalm 90:5- 6: “Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.” Romans 8:20: “For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope.” Hebrews 13:14: “Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.”
But God did not subject this world to vanity in some whim: not because God thought it would be fun to subject everything to vanity. The problem is really connected to our sinfulness. Psalm 90:7-8: “For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.” Psalm 39:11: “When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.” Ecclesiastes 7:29: “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.”
Christians try to present to skeptics and unbelievers the orderliness of the world and the great intricacies of the creation as evidence of a Creator. I wouldn’t belittle or deny many of the things presented – snowflakes, genetic code, migratory birds, not to mention the exquisite beauty of much of what we see in the sky driving at night or on the earth – but there is much that is horrific in our world as well, and those things also must be considered. They’re inescapable. They face us at every turn. All is vanity! They are evidence that we live and move in a creation under wrath and judgment.
Psalm 127:1. Its first chord is vanity! “Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” I Corinthians 3:11: “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Vanity is one side of the picture, but not the whole picture. Psalm 127:3-4: “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD; and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hands of a mighty man, so are children of the youth.” We don’t get ahead! Vanity, one aspect of weariness and tedium – what do we get? The question just comes and goes for all the work in this world. For all the sweat, has anything really been changed? Have death and misery been pushed one inch away? Have sadness and fragility been reduced in the slightest by the efforts of man? Yes! There is more than enough labor to provide for the necessary economic service of people. Psalm 127:3-4: “Children are as arrows in the hands of a mighty man.” The activities and succession of generations of people are like blinking lights against the backdrop of the earth.
But the backdrop is like the sun: sunrise, sunset, sunrise, over and over again. Nothing changes, nothing moves ahead, and nothing is really established. Or it is like the wind (verse 6): it blows around and around. Or it is like the streams (verse 7): they flow and run dry over and over again. It isn’t that history is cyclical; it’s that it does not go anywhere.
No, these things are just meant to be illustrations of what life is like: that in spite of all the activities, all the motion, nothing is ultimately changed or resolved. Life is like brushing your teeth morning and evening, doing the laundry day after day, and mowing the grass every week. Verse 9: “The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.” There is the conclusion: there is nothing new under the sun. “Plus ca change, plus c’est la meme chose.” The more things change, the more they stay the same.
We pass from the opening music to the story itself in 1:12. This really gets into the area of the next study, but I need to introduce the writer. 1:1: “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.” 1:12: “I the Preacher was king over Israel in Jerusalem.” Traditionally the author is Solomon, not identified by name as in Proverbs or the 8 A Little Strength Song of Songs, but in regard to the way he describes himself, the “son of David,” “king in Jerusalem.” And also because of the wealth and wisdom he mentions. It’s hard to find someone else who really fits the description. Among people who accept the Scriptures as truly the Word of God, it is the majority view that the writer is Solomon, but not the exclusive view. My own view is that Solomon wrote the book, although I acknowledge that there are some unanswered questions about his authorship.
Over all, nevertheless, there is some reason why the writer chooses to refer to himself by his office rather than his name. He is the Preacher. “Ecclesiastes” is the Latin transliteration of the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “Kohelet,” meaning “Preacher.” He is the Preacher to the congregation of Israel, which in the New Testament becomes the Church. Thus the Preacher foreshadows a greater son of David and king of Israel, Christ in his office as Prophet. Psalm 22:25:
“My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation.” So, in Ecclesiastes the greater Son of David calls on us not to rely on strange gods or false hopes which are vanity, but to trust in the God who raises from the dead and who will free us all from the bondage of a creation he subjected to vanity and bring us into the glorious liberty of his children. We will get to the main concern of this portion of the chapter next time – in it the Preacher begins to discuss things he tried in an attempt to overcome vanity. It has been a long introduction: vanity proclaimed, vanity described, and the Preacher introduced.
Transcriber’s Note:
Bill wrote his sermons with a fountain pen in cursive longhand, but it would have been very difficult for him to read them when preaching. For one thing, Bill’s manuscripts contain many cross-outs, arrows, and abbreviations. For another, his writing style is intended to mimic spoken English rather than standard written English. By the time Bill finished working over a manuscript, sometimes in different colored pens, adding and sometimes crossing out whole paragraphs, with arrows going to different pages, he was able to speak directly to the congregation without much actual reading. In only a very few places in Bill’s first sermon on Ecclesiastes, I had to guess at the meaning of an idiosyncratic abbreviation, choose punctuation, or fill in an ellipsis where Bill knew what he wanted to say. When I preached through Ecclesiastes once, I used Bill’s old manuscripts as one of my commentary sources. -- Bill Edgar
Ecclesiastes 9: 13-16
Sermon Excerpt: Bill Cornell, Cambridge.
"I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me.
There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it,
building great siege works against it.
But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city.
Yet no one remembered that poor man.
But I say that wisdom is better than might,
though the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard."
-- Ecclesiastes 9:13-16
The Preacher tells us: don’t expect the real significance of your wisdom and your contributions to be recognized or appreciated in this world. It may not be recognized or appreciated at all, yet the value of a God-fearing life is not diminished in the slightest by the disregard and disrespect of others. So, don’t get your hopes up too high, yet don’t regard wisdom as a waste.
He tells a story. A city with few defenders was besieged. Against it came a great king with a large army, which built siege ramps to allow enemy soldiers into the city. In the city, there was a poor, wise man, who by his wisdom saved the city, how is not germane to the story the Preacher tells. And after the city was saved by the poor man’s wisdom, no one remembered him. As far as the people and leaders of his city were concerned, he might as well have never existed.
There are many unsung heroes in the world of business, which succeed because of the unrecognized and uncompensated labors and ideas of minor employees. How many shaky businesses may survive because of the resourcefulness of their workers? This will also happen to the God-fearing person – he’ll strive to make the most out of life. He’ll seize every opportunity offered – through his discipline and wisdom, get things accomplished – but all the acclaim and recognition may go to a loudmouth who doesn’t deserve it. And despite the value of wisdom, a loud, uninformed mouth, or a cold hard weapon, often win. But that warning should not discourage us.
James writes: “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him (James 1:12).” “ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you (James 4:8).” “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain (I Corinthians 15:58).”
In its proper time, the true result of trusting in God will be evident, even if those who trust in him now are disregarded. So don’t set yourself up for a disappointment, and so don’t let a fear of failure in the world’s eyes keep you from living for the sake of Christ.
The sluggard says there is a lion outside (Proverbs 22:13), or “I will be murdered in the streets.” Work now, because now is the time of significance and accomplishment. Once life is over, opportunity is over – your role in this world is over. But now, in this life only, there is the opportunity to believe in Christ, to work for the establishment of his Kingdom. Now is the time, in this life, to enjoy God’s gifts to you, even in the world such as this. Not everyone has the same opportunities – but whatever our portion might be, now is the time, in this life, to enjoy and make use of it.
I direct these comments to Christians this morning: your understanding of the resurrection is more explicit, more full than the understanding of those who lived in Solomon’s day, although they had the same hope, the coming of a Savior. His sufferings, death, and resurrection were matters of prophecy, and the details were shadowy and indistinct. To us, they are a glorious history, and I would not want anything in this message to be taken or misunderstood as some sort of dampening or underplay of the resurrection.
But we are misled and confused if we make that knowledge and hope of the resurrection a reason for diminishing the importance of this life. If our hope is really set on the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, if this, “I’ll believe later – I’ll take hold of life and use it wisely later – I’m too young – I’m too busy – there will be time – I’m too old – I’m a student – I’m just starting out myself with faithful living later – the Preacher reminds us of the unpredictability of life. You cannot calculate your place in ten years based on what you’re doing now. Things don’t turn out the way we expect. If you are strong now and swift now, remember, you are in God’s hands. Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.
The purpose of this warning from the Preacher that our work may not be appreciated is NOT to make us think it’s useless to do anything, but we are reminded that we cannot presume on tomorrow. This goes not only for opportunities for service. It’s a warning also to unbelievers who think they can arrange to wait until they’re on their deathbeds before repenting and believing. It also applies to being thankful for God’s gifts and enjoying what God gives you in life.
It is wise to prepare for tomorrow, to save for a rainy day, but life can have sudden turns, and you may end up with a sense of wistful regret over lost opportunities and lost joys if you refuse to take what God gives you now. Life is precious. Each moment is precious. But don’t set yourself up for a disappointment. A life lived for the glory of God can result in some really great accomplishments, but remember: they may never be noticed by others in this life.
Transcribed by Bill Edgar as best he could. Bill’s cross-outs, arrows, and abbreviations were a challenge, for example, “B J Xp.” Can you tell what he meant? Neither can I.
Letter to the Editor
Chris Wright contacted me to say that you were looking for remembrances by people in our church who profited from Bill Cornell’s ministry. Three things come immediately to mind.
The first was that he was always kind to the children of our congregation. I recall that he frequently made time to chat with them after church.
Second, there is something Bill said to me that I’ve frequently called to mind over the last 35 years. Bill met with me several times in preparation for my becoming a communicant member. On one of those occasions, he noted that because the church is a body, each member must be concerned about the well-being of others. “Remember,” he said, “that what is good for your brothers and sisters is also good for you.” It was a very simple insight, but I’d never heard it expressed so succinctly and memorably. It also reflected, I think, Bill’s own humble attitude. Anyway, it’s something that I have repeated many times in the years since when I’ve taught church membership classes.
Third, he gave a sermon illustration that I have never forgotten. He pointed out that piano teachers frequently say to their students, “Keep your eyes on the music, not on your hands.” Pretty much anyone who has ever taken piano lessons remembers being told that! Bill used it to make the point that Christians need to keep their eyes on Jesus, and not on themselves. It probably only “worked” for those who had taken piano lessons, but I found it helpful.
Thanks for doing an article on Bill. He was someone who was, in my opinion, often under-appreciated.
Blessings,
-- Tom Fisher
First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Cambridge
Statement of Congregational Goals
Adopted by the Session August 26, 1983;
received by the congregation with Session’s report October 17, 1983.
1. To offer praise, thanksgiving, and supplication to God, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, in accordance with the Scriptures.
2. To acknowledge Christ as the King and Head of the church through the maintenance of Scriptural church government.
3. To foster spiritual growth and Christian maturity through a ministry of mutual edification and prayer, and to conduct and support those meetings, programs, and institutions that are appropriate to the ministry of edification.
4. To promote and stand for the truth of the Scriptures, bearing a faithful testimony for the kingship of Jesus Christ in matters of social and civil righteousness, and proclaiming the Gospel of Christ and calling the unconverted to believe in Him.
(The longer statement of congregational purpose, from which these goals were taken, is also available upon request.)
APPENDIX B: Items Received by the 1997 Synod - Memorials
Bill Cornell
"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints."
-- Psalm 116:15
William H. Cornell was translated from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant on Saturday, June 7th, 1997. He died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 48. His funeral service was conducted by Rev. William J. Edgar, pastor of the Broomall RPC.
Bill grew up without the benefits of a Christian upbringing and came to faith through the study of the Scriptures as a teenager. He was a gifted theological student, graduating first in his M.Div. class at Westminster Seminary. Ordained as associate minister of the Broomall, PA R.P. Church in 1975, he served in a mission work in Phoenixville, PA from 1975 to 1979. Bill's labors there were used by the Lord to bring several people to faith. From 1979 to 1985, he was pastor of the Cambridge, MA congregation, where his ministry attracted many to the Reformed Presbyterian Church. In 1985, he moved back to Wilmington, DE to care for his mother and sister. Taking up full-time work as a truck driver since that time, Bill maintained an active ministry as a truck stop chaplain, as a ruling elder on the Broomall session and as a faithful preacher of the Word in several congregations of the Atlantic Presbytery.
Bill was so conscientious that he would never preach the same sermon twice: if he had occasion to preach on a text he had preached before, he would begin with the Scriptures and exegete them afresh. The clarity and simplicity of Bill's preaching could easily make one lose sight of the hours of careful study and thought that he put into each sermon. His death is a tremendous loss to the Atlantic Presbytery, and particularly to the Broomall congregation.
In Cambridge RPC, we spent a Sabbath evening giving thanks to God for bringing Bill Cornell into the life of our congregation. We thanked the Lord for using Bill to shepherd the congregation through the critical transition from being a congregation of mostly older, established RPs to being a younger group of relative newcomers to the R.P. Church. We are thankful for Bill's sense of humor, for his wisdom, for his knowledge of the Scriptures and of church history, for his thoughtfulness expressed in countless cards and notes of encouragement, for his clarity of thought, for his guilelessness, and for his constant, selfless devotion to others. Most of all, we thank God for his sound and faithful proclamation of the Word of God. All of these testify to the abundance and graciousness of God's work in Bill Cornell's life.
Never seeking to draw attention to himself, Bill poured himself out in the service of others because he was a true servant of Jesus Christ. He has now entered into the joy of his Lord, and we rejoice that God has given Bill this gracious deliverance from his earthly labors. Please remember to pray especially for his surviving sisters, who do not know the Lord, for non-Christians touched by his ministry, and for the Broomall congregation.
“And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me,
‘Write, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth:
Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors;
and their works do follow them.’ "
-- Revelation 14:13
-- Tom Fisher
Cambridge, MA, RPC
Funeral Sermon for Bill Cornell
“Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you;
and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.”
-- Hebrews 13:7
What is the result of Bill Cornell's conduct? Many people loved Bill because Bill loved many people. He was like the ancient Christian woman Dorcas who lived in Joppa on the Mediterranean Sea. “This woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity, which she continually did,” the Bible says (Acts 9:36). One day she fell sick and died, and because the Apostle Peter was nearby they sent for him. When he came, “all the widows stood beside him weeping, and showing all the tunics and garments that Dorcas used to make while she was with them (Acts 9:39).”
What happened when Bill died? The same thing! People began to pull out postcards and notes that Bill had written and show them to friends. And there were tears. On Saturday, shortly after we learned of Bill's death, Chris Wright from Boston pulled a letter from Bill Cornell out of his pocket. There was the familiar impeccable black cursive script. On the Lord's Day, Emma Sweltz from our church told me that she had kept all of Bill's notes and cards to her. Monday I had a call from Ken Smith of Syracuse, NY, about Bill's death. He remembered the card that Bill had sent to him after Ken had had a heart attack. At the end of his note to Ken, Bill wrote that surviving a heart attack has advantages. “Now,” he wrote, “when things aren't going the way you'd like in a Session meeting, you can just grab your chest and mumble something about your heart.” Imitate Bill's faith? Go out and buy 500 postcards and send several dozen a week to children having birthdays, friends who are sick, people who have asked you questions.
“Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.” Bill was a teacher of the Word of God. He taught it clearly and simply. He taught it truly. He always kept his attention on the main thing, which was to teach the truth about God and man, that a person can be saved only by faith in Jesus Christ. I complained to Bill once about a preacher who taught what was true, I said, but spoke with such a complicated theological vocabulary, and in such a tedious way, that he was dull. Bill's short comment: “That makes him better than half the preachers in the country.” His eye was on the main thing, the true Word of God.
Bill, of course, was never dull. Like Jesus, he saw in everyday affairs the shadow of spiritual reality, sometimes with a certain grotesque twist that Jesus also used: remember the camel going through the eye of a needle, or the beam in your eye? In Bill's way of putting things, we should not follow the example of the Three Stooges, God is not like King Kong, and we humans are a lot like inchworms. In connection with the Apostle Paul's question, “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3), Bill warned against the danger of letting the seductive error that we can earn our salvation by good works come sneaking back into our thoughts. “Don't be like the Three Stooges and bolt the door against the gorilla while it comes in the back window,” he exhorted. In another sermon, Bill compared our inability to see the future, or even the full context of our lives in the present, to the limited perspective of an inchworm creeping up Broad Street – Bill was from the Philadelphia area – and approaching an intersection. The worm did not know what was coming, but he kept his course. The illustration in a Communion Table Address that many at Broomall remembered for years, and teased Bill about, was the rare one that seemed to go awry. God, he said, is not like King Kong on the Empire State Building, swatting planes out of the air. Well, no, we thought, none of us has ever quite pictured God in that way. People sent Bill pictures of King Kong for years. Yet even here I remember his point. God means us good and not harm, so we don't have to go through life fearful of what dreadful thing God has in store for us. Bill knew that, so even when his life was difficult and sorrowful, he never complained about God's dealings with him.
Many will miss Bill, the teacher of God's Word. When Paul left the elders of Ephesus at Miletus, “He knelt down and prayed with them all. And they began to weep aloud and embraced Paul, and repeatedly kissed him, grieving especially over the word which he had spoken, that they should see his face no more (Acts 20:36-38).” We would have done the same with Bill had we had the opportunity. The outcome of his life, you see, is the tears of many who loved him.
“Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.” What other things should the saints imitate from Bill when we remember one who taught us? Well, he worked hard. He died at age 48, having already done the work of a lifetime. Bill always had a love for trucks and buses. His mother told my wife some years ago that when Bill was little, he would pretend to be one or the other. She would have to ask him, “What are you today, Bill, a truck or a bus?” So it was fitting that while he preached the Good News about Jesus Christ in the 1970's in Phoenixville, he drove a school bus. And later when he moved back to Wilmington to care for his family, he drove a truck at night, while still continuing to preach throughout his Presbytery, at Broomall where he was an elder, and in other places. During holidays he filled in at a truck stop chapel. Indeed, his preaching helped two congregations, Elkins Park PR Church and Lancaster RP Church, survive difficult months when they were without preachers. Bill worked.
What else? Bill loved his family, his mother, his sisters, and his uncles and aunts. For years he weekly washed and cared for an uncle in a nursing home. He bought groceries for relatives. He supported his family. The Bible says that “If any man does not provide for his own, and especially those of his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel (I Timothy 5:8).” Bill was never open to that charge. Indeed, he gave his money and his time to all kinds of people, always eager at every opportunity to do good to all men.
Bill was a man of integrity. There was only one Bill, a man for all seasons, the same person with everyone: always gentle, always honest, always courageous, uncomplaining, not given to self-pity, sober and wise, an elder in the Church of Jesus Christ. He would talk to children, and they would talk to him, happy for someone who would listen to them patiently. The children of his church will miss him.
“Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.” How do you imitate Bill's faith? He was a humble man, intelligent, well educated, but never parading it. He was quite content to associate with the lowly as well as with the high. But Bill was not naturally humble. Once he was a rebel against God, proud and defiant, going his own way to destruction, without the knowledge of God, an alien from God's promises. Then the Spirit of God began to work in Bill, provoking him to ask, “What is true? How can a man know God?” He was still in high school then. He looked many places for the answers to the deepest questions of life. He also read the Bible. And in the Bible the Holy Spirit showed Bill the truth about God. He made us. No one has made himself so we owe our Creator all glory and thanks. But we don't like to retain God in our thoughts. The truth about all men is that we are sinners who fall short of the glory of God. And Bill admitted that that was true about him. He was a sinner who fell far short of the glory of God. He was humbled before God and said what every person who has ever sinned should cry out, “God be merciful to me, the sinner.”
But the Holy Spirit did not stop with merely humbling Bill. He showed him in the Bible how God sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins, and then raised Christ to life again to save us, conquering even death. Jesus says, “Knock and I will open (Matthew 7:7),” and Bill knocked. Jesus says, “Believe on me and you will have everlasting life (John 3:16, 36),” and Bill believed. Jesus says, “Come unto me all of you that are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls (Matthew 11:28-30).” And Bill came to Jesus with his whole heart, a humbled man and therefore a humble man. Do you imitate Bill's faith? Or are you still proud and defiant of God, laboring away to make your own life, but dead inside in trespasses and sin? Bill would encourage you not to continue proudly trying to make your own life. In fact, you are not much more on top of things than an inchworm moving slowly up Broad Street. Bill would quietly remind you that you don't need to shy away from God in fear. He is not like King Kong. He is good and ready to forgive all who come to him asking for mercy in Christ's name. There was nothing more important to Bill than pointing people to the only One who can give them a secure home and peace. There was nothing more important to Bill than telling people about God our Maker, who so loved us that he sent his only Son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. So he became a preacher!
Bill worked hard. He was always tired. But he found rest in his soul in Christ long before he died. He found peace with God through Jesus Christ. And in Christ he learned to be humble; all he had to do was imitate Jesus. Bill also found hope that is real hope, not for this life only but for eternity, because Bill is not dead in any final sense. He is asleep in the Lord, gone to be with him, and sure to rise again at the Last Great Day. Therefore, we “do not grieve as those who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus (I Thessalonians 4:13-14).” Bill has “fought the good fight,” he has “finished the course,” he has “kept the faith.” The “crown of righteousness” will be awarded to him on that day, and not only to him “but also to all who have loved [Christ's] appearing (II Timothy 4:7-8).” Are these things your hope? See what good fruit the tree of faith in Christ produced in Bill and imitate his faith.
We will surely see Bill again at the Resurrection. But for now we miss him. Who cannot lament with King David, “How have the mighty fallen?” “Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel?” “How have the mighty fallen.” We are distressed and miss our brother Bill. “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.”
-- Bill Edgar
