No surer shorter way there is than when a man is led to despise the present life and meditate upon heavenly immortality. From this derive two rules: The first rule is that those who use this world must have as little affection for it, as if they used it not; those who marry, as if they did not marry; those who buy, as if they did not buy–according to St. Paul’s rule. The second rule is that we learn equally to bear poverty with grateful and patient hearts, and to use affluence with moderation.
He who bids us use this world as if we used not, not only suppresses all intemperance in eating, drinking, all delights too great ambition, pride, overfastidiousness in buildings, clothing, styles of life; but also corrects all care and inclination that divert and hinder us from thinking  on the heavenly life and from decking our soul with its true ornaments. Long ago Cato truly said, “Where there is great care for dress there is great neglect of virtue.” And as the old proverb bears it out that those who are much occupied with pampering and decking our their bodies do not take sufficient care of their souls.
Therefore, although the freedom of the faithful in outward matters must be restricted to fixed formulas, still it is subject to this law, namely that they allow themselves as little as possible on the other hand that they be watchful to cut back all superfluity and vain show of affluence–but not intemperately and diligently to guard against making hindrances of the things that ought to help them.
—John Calvin, “The Piety of John Calvin”

Any of you relate to the genie in the bottle of grief?

You can go on for weeks, months, and barely give the source of the grief a thought; you make a deliberate choice to not dwell on it, not think about it, so that you can just get on with your life to the glory of God, as best as you can. But then, its brought to  mind one way or another, and the wound once re-opened is like the genie in the bottle you can’t stop back up.

None but the upright, who are indeed renewed by the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, will in all things make Christ’s will their rule and in everything hold close to it, preferring it before their pleasure, profit, preferment or any other outward allurement. They who do so, give good evidence that they belong to the body of Christ, and maybe sure that Christ is their Saviour.
Christ became a King to govern us, a Prophet to instruct us, a Priest to make atonement for us…He wholly sets us apart  for our use and benefit.
–William Gouge “Domestical Duties”

Let me ever hold in grateful reverence and estimation that Sabbath which commemorates the resurrection of my Saviour. O, on this day, may I always be enabled to hold fellowship with the Father and the Son–honouring the Son even as I honour the Father; and rendering the tributes of  all my acknowledgements to Him who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
—-Thomas Chalmers “Sabbath Scripture Readings” Luke xxiv

The goodness in redemption extends itself to the lower creation. It takes in not only man, but the whole of creation, except the fallen angels…The fall of man brought misery not only upon himself, but a vanity upon the creature; the earth groaned under a curse for his sake… debased to serve the lusts of a traitor; his enmity, luxury, sensuality.
But when all the fruits of redemption shall be completed, the goodness of God shall pour itself upon the creatures, “deliver them from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the goodness of God”…freed from the vanity under which they are enslaved (Rom 8:21)… Nature shall put on triumphant vestments… Thus does the divine goodness spread its arms over the whole creation.
–Stephen Charnock, “Existence and Attributes of God.”

I used to dream of a world like this, but now, I know for me at least, it will only be realized in death, and release from this prison my body makes. Sometimes that day, can’t come too soon.

Nella Fantasia

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

In my fantasy I see a fair world,
Where everyone lives in peace and honesty.
I dream of a place to live that is always free,
Like a cloud that floats,
Full of humanity in the depths of the soul.

In my fantasy I see a bright world
Where each night there is less darkness.
I dream of spirits that are always free,
Like the cloud that floats.

In my fantasy exists a warm wind,
That breathes into the city, like a friend.
I dream of souls that are always free,
Like the cloud that floats,
Full of humanity in the depths of the soul

Nella fantasia io vedo un mondo giusto,
Li tutti vivono in pace e in onestà.
Io sogno d’anime che sono sempre libere,
Come le nuvole che volano,
Pien’ d’umanità in fondo all’anima.

Nella fantasia io vedo un mondo chiaro,
Li anche la notte è meno oscura.
Io sogno d’anime che sono sempre libere,
Come le nuvole che volano.

Nella fantasia esiste un vento caldo,
Che soffia sulle città, come amico.
Io sogno d’anime che sono sempre libere,
Come le nuvole che volano,
Pien’ d’umanità in fondo all’anima

“God who is rich in mercy…. loved us even when we were dead in our sins [and] quickened us together with Christ.” Why did he do all this? “That in ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards  us in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:4-7). So he allures others and their children to come to him and partake of the same grace through Jesus Christ.
As the Jerusalem sinners were of the highest sort among the Jews, so these Ephesian sinners were of the highest sort among the Gentiles (Eph 2:1-3; 2:11, 12)…. When God saves one great sinner, it is to encourage another great sinner to come to him for mercy.
—John Bunyan “The Jerusalem Sinner Saved”

Did Christ die the cursed death of the cross for believers? Then though there be much of pain, there is nothing of curse in the death of the saints. It still wears its dart, by which it strikes; but has lost its sting, by which it hurts and destroys. Death poured out all its poison, and lost its sting in Christ, when He became a curse for us.
But what speak I of the harmlessness of death to believers? It is their friend and benefactor. As there is no curse, so there are many blessings in it. Death is yours (1 Cor. 3:22). Yours as a special privilege and favour. Christ has not only conquered it, but is more than a conqueror; for He has made it beneficial, and very serviceable to the saints. When Christ was nailed to the tree, then He said, as it were, to death, which came to grapple with Him there, “O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction”: and so He was, for He swallowed up death in victory, spoiled it of its power. So that now it may frighten some weak believers, yet it cannot  hurt them at all.
If Christ died the cursed death of the cross for us, how cheerfully we should submit to and bear any cross for Jesus Christ? He had His cross, and we have ours; but what are ours compared with His? His cross was a heavy cross indeed, yet how patiently and meekly did He support it! He endured His cross; we cannot endure or bear ours, though they cannot be compared with His.
—John Flavel “The Fountain of Life”

I am not one of these folks who believes there is never a time to judge, I think Scripture clearly says that there is.  However, I have also seen in action,  the law without love,  which pretty much amounts to what this picture says. (1 Cor. 13)

That love which naturally parents bear to their children ought in equity to breed in children a love to their parents. For love deserves love, and most unworthy are they to be loved who cannot love in return. The love of parents above all others is to be answered with love on the children’s part, to the uttermost of their power, because it is free, great, and constant.
Besides there is a necessity of love in children to their parents, lest for lack thereof, their subjection (which above all ought to be most free) should turn into slavish servitude.
William Gouge “Domestical Duties”

I have a significant amount I would like and hope to say on The dreamer, John Bunyan over the coming time, (DV); but for now, I offer two poems on this man of God. One from William Cowper, the other from Rudyard Kipling.

May we all learn to live our faith, with the convictions of the immortal dreamer, Bunyan, and have our consciences bound to God alone as he did.

William Cowper:

“Oh thou, whom borne on fancy’s eager wing,
Back to the season of Life’s happy spring,
I pleased remember and while memory yet holds
Fast her office here can never forget.
Ingenious dreamer, in whose well-told tale
Sweet fiction and sweet truth alike prevail;
Whose humorous vein strong sense and simple style
May teach the gayest, make the bravest smile;
Witty and well employed, and like thy Lord,
Speaking in parables His slighted word.”
“Rather Than Thus to Violate My Faith and Principle”

Rudyard Kipling:

“A tinker out of Bedford,
A vagrant oft in quod,
A private under Fairfax,
A minister of God;
Two hundred years and thirty
Ere Armageddon came
His single hand portrayed it,
And Bunyan was his name.
“All enemy divisions,
Recruits of every class,
And highly screened positions
For flame or poison-gas;
The craft that we call modern,
The crimes that we call new,
John Bunyan had ‘em typed and filed
In Sixteen Eighty-two.
“He mapped for those who followed,
The world in which we are —
This famous town of ‘Mansoul’
That makes the Holy War.
Her true and traitor people
The gates along her wall,
From Eye Gate into Feel Gate,
John Bunyan showed them all.”

It is not sufficient to be established and grounded in the faith, we must daily increase and grow and more therein… It is the holy ambition of Christians to be more like God every day… None are so knowing but that they may know more… Here we are in a state of progress, not of rest and perfection… always reaching forth and pressing onward.
To grow in faith means to persevere in faith. Man is of an active nature; either he grows better or worse. We shall not keep what we have received if we do not labour to increase in it, as a house begun to be built goes to decay and drops down more and more, if we do not go on to finish it.
Thomas Manton “The Epistle of Jude”

Regeneration consists in spiritual renovation of our nature… This will infallibly produce a reformation of life.
—John Owen “Discourse on the Holy Spirit”

If the understanding be clear in its apprehension of truth, and the will sincere, vigorous, and fixed in its purposes for that which is holy and good, then he is a strong Christian… Satan comes as a serpent in the persons of false teachers, [or] as a lion in the persons of bloody persecutors… To defend us against this, we need to have truth girt about us, so that with a holy resolution we may maintain our profession in the face of death and danger.
—William Gurnall “The Christian in complete Armour”

It is a common theme in Christian history, that well known historical figures lost their mothers when very young, and it is often the case, that their mothers were deeply devout, and pious women, who in the few short years into their own lives lived, exerted a strong influence over their sons.  John Calvin, John Bunyan, and John Newton to name just three that come to Mind. Calvin lost his mother when he was six, Newton when he was seven, and Bunyan, when  a little older. The one name of course recognized throughout the Reformed world is Monica, mother of Augustine.

The little bit I read of Joseph Hall’s mother, resonated with me. As it is often the case, that the suffering are thought to be of no use, of no account, and quite set aside from those more prosperous and are left to languish. Yet, it is often the case, that those who  have been in the school of Christ, the school of very severe suffering,  have insights into spiritual things, that prosperity clouds from view.  Joseph Hall’s memory of his mother, seemed to confirm this also.

As Robert Browning wrote in his well known “Walked a Mile”

I walked a mile with Pleasure,
She chattered all the way;
But left me none the wiser
for all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow
and ne’er a word said she
But oh the thing I learned from her
When Sorrow walked with me.

I want to quote a little excerpt from the Life of Joseph Hall by the Rev. James Hamilton. Hall  was born on July 1, 1574.

His mother, Winifred Bambridge, was the Monica of Bishop Hall. A body always feeble and often anguish-stricken, was the appropriate tenet of a spirit sorrowful and sorely exercised. But happily the clouds which at one time shaded the piety of this excellent woman, did not render it forbidding to the more genial temper of her son. He rejoiced in the light when others would have complained of the halo, nor refused to be conducted to the Kingdom by a guide whose countenance was sometimes sad, And he at last had the satisfaction of seeing her set free from these vexing thoughts, and deriving the joy of a religion of hope. “What with these trials, so had she profited in the school of Christ, that it was hard for any friend to come from her discourse no whit holier. How often have I blessed the memory of those divine passages of experimental divinity which I have  heard from her mouth! What day did she pass without a large task of private devotion, whence she would still come forth with a countenance of  undissembled mortification. Never any lips have read to me such feeling lectures of piety; neither have I known any soul that more accurately practiced them than her own. Temptations, desertions, and spiritual comforts, were her usual theme; her life and death were saint-like”

The world is Satan’s bait. He seldom throws out a naked hook. Let murder, fraud, lying, or idolatory be presented in their undisguised turpitude, and only few people of good education and correct morals will be taken in by him. But he conceals the hook in a godly bait, and like a skillful angler, he knows how to use the temptation best suited to our palate… For one, he has a golden bait; for another, pleasure; for a third, worldly fame and honours.
And his line is thrown out everywhere–in our place of business, in our families, in our studies, at our tables and on our pillows.
—Arthur Jackson, “A Homiletic Encyclopedia” p. 4680

The spiritual beauty and comeliness of the soul consists in its conformity to God… Grace gives beauty… The beauty originally consisted in the image of God in us, which contained the whole order, harmony, and symmetry of our natures, in all their faculties and actions, with respect to God and our utmost end… Sin has a deformity in it, brings spots,  stains, and wrinkles on the soul… Holiness and conformity to  God is the honour of our souls. It is that alone which makes them truly noble…This we have only by holiness, or that image of God wherein we are created. Whatever is contrary to this is base, vile, and unworthy.
—John Owen, “Discourse on the Holy Spirit”

Eighth Pastoral Letter

Warnings to the Unsaved—Causes Why So Many Among Us are Unsaved.

Edinburgh, March 20, 1839.

TO all of you my dear flock, who are dearly beloved and I longed for, my joy and crown, your pastor wishes grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

In my last letter I showed you that, in all human probability, there are many of you to whom I have preached the gospel of salvation, to whom I shall never preach it again face to face. I cannot be blind to the many dangers that accompany foreign travel—the diseases and accidents to which we shall be exposed; but if, through your prayers, I be given to you again, how many blanks shall I find in my flock! How many dear children of God gone to be “where the weary are at rest,” where the imperfect “are made perfect!” How many of you that have stood out against all the invitations of Christ, and all the warnings of God, shall I find departed, to give in your account before the throne! It is to these last I wish now to speak.

For two years I have testified to you the gospel of the grace of God. I came to you in “weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling;” and if the case of the children of God and of backsliding souls has often lain heavy at my heart, I can truly say that your dreadful condition—“settled like wine upon her lees,” when you are about to be “turned upside down, as a man turneth a dish and wipeth it”—has been a continued anxiety to me; and sometimes, when I have had glimpses of the reality of eternal things, it has been an insupportable agony to my spirit. I know well that this is a jest to you, that you care not whether ministers go or stay; and if you get a short sermon on the Sabbath day that will soothe and not prick your conscience, that is all you care for. Still, it may be the Lord who opened Manasseh’s heart will open yours, while I go over solemnly, in the sight of God, what appear to be the chief reasons that, after my two years’ ministry among you, there are still so many unconverted, perishing souls. continue

The children of this world have their all in hand, and nothing in hope, Luke 16:25; while the children of God have their all in hope, and next to nothing in hand.
—Matthew Henry Commentary on Genesis 36

Here we read of John Knox answering the call to the ministry as called out by John Rough.
If ever there was no man more suited to the ministry and who worked great things by the power of God by his ministry, it would be Knox. Yet today, it often seems, that people enter the ministry without any real calling to. They may have some notion that they can do good, yet, if unsuited and it not being their true calling, they may be responsible for being the instrument for many souls to perish. Being a Christian, is no reason to think one has what it takes to be a minister of the Gospel. The state of the ministry today, in much of Christendom, validates this. The call if the ministry is a very special and high calling. Those who have the calling and are faithful ministers for Christ and his gospel, is a different thing entirely from those who on some notion that has nothing of God given wisdom behind it, think themselves fit to enter the ministry to do so, and do far more harm than good, and far more work for Satan than for God.
No fitter candidate for the office of Minister existed than John Knox, yet he recognized the great responsibility that went with it, and he wrestled with it, heavy in heart, because he didn’t want to go where he was not truly called to be. Oh for more men to take notice of Knox’s example in this way, and for many to recognize, that unlike Knox, they do not have what it takes to be a minister of the Gospel, without doing Satan’s work. Passing all one’s exams is one thing, but head knowledge never did make a heart what it needs to be, for any mission or calling in life.
As told by Thomas McCrie in his life of John Knox, of Knox’s anguish at this time in his life after John Rough called him out publicly to take up the call of Minister of the Gospel of Christ:

This scene cannot fail to interest such as are impressed with the weight of the ministerial function, and will awaken a train of feelings in the breasts of those who have been intrusted with the gospel. It revives the memory of
those early days of the Church, when persons did not rush forward to the altar, nor beg to “be put into one of the priests’ offices, to eat a piece of bread”; when men of piety and talents, deeply impressed with the awful responsibility of the office, and their own insufficiency, were, with great difficulty, induced to take on those orders, which they had long desired, and for which they had labored to qualify themselves. What a glaring contrast to this was exhibited in the conduct of the herd, which at this time filled the stalls of the popish Church! The behavior of Knox also reproves those who become preachers of their own accord; who, from vague and enthusiastic desires of doing good, or a fond conceit of their own gifts, trample upon good order, and thrust themselves into a sacred public employment, without any regular call. continue