I ordered some books today; some of them are ones I have wanted to get hold of for a while, and it is likely to be the last time I am able to spend that much money on books at once. I am sharing them with any readers who have an interest in puritanism, in case they are titles you may not be aware of and because at least a couple of them are worthy of pointing out a few things about:

The Above Title along with William Haller’s Rise of Puritanism are worthy of special note. Because until around 50-60 years ago, puritanism was very much still a dirty word, a by-word, and people really had a cock-eyed impresssion of who the puritans were, what they stood for, and the lives they lived.  These two books are two that earlier this century helped to set the record straight.  And perhaps started the tide turning, so that in those days, there was around 10-25 puritan titles printed in the preceding fifty years, that in the fifty years since then,  it well into treble figures, and around 50-60 new titles are being printed every year that was written by the puritans. Another book I ordered of which the same is true as the two preceding book is this one:

These 3 titles in particular I have wanted for some time. If we are going to either encourage their thought, or refute and reject any group of people’s thoughts or ideology then the least we can do, is have an informed opinion,  one not based on fable or folk-lore, or the BBC, but  by things that have been proved to be fact and some good men have set these things down on paper just for the very reason that we need not be ignorant.

A couple more I ordered as relatively inexpensive paperbacks were these:

If I had to pick just 2 or 3 as recommendations, it would either be William Haller,  Worldly Saint’s and/or Visible Saint’s. I’ve heard enough to know they changed the face of how the  puritans as a group of people are perceived, though sadly, much ignorance does still reign over this issue, which is the reason for this blog post, because today, we have no justification for ignorance to continue forever.

However, I do want to add a short anecdote I heard last weekend, as far as exhorting or reading the puritans.  That we can read all we like, it is only a walk and life to match, and  a heart cleansed by Christ’s blood in sanctification that will lead us to purer lives and purity in the puritan vein.  I heard  a well known preacher relate this tale the weekend and I shall use my own words to get across what he said. He knew a man who had a vast puritan library. He was very proud of his library. He was thought to be a pillar of the Christian community,  and a bright light.  But what no one outside of his home knew, was that next to his wonderfully spiritually rich puritan library, in the next room, he had a different kind of library, of shelf after shelf of triple X movies, and the police had raided him, and he was now in prison on pornography charges and was an active and practicing homosexual. AS Christ so wisely said, and it applies no less to good stuff as bad stuff, that it is not what goes in that defiles a man, (or improves him) its what comes out, as that shows what is in our hearts.

It is about time, we as Presbyterians took our foot out of Rome, which it is sad to say, much of Presbyterianism is still steeped by Romish superstition.

On  a sermon preached on December 25, 1551, his 20th sermon on Micah,  on  Micah: 5:7-14 Calvin preached:

Now, I see here today more people than I am accustomed to having at
the sermon. Why is that? It is Christmas Day. And who told you
this? You poor beasts. That is a fitting euphemism for all of you
who have come here today to honor Noel. Did you think you would be
honoring God? Consider what sort of obedience to God your coming
displays. In your mind, you are celebrating a holiday for God, or
turning today into one. But so much for that. In truth, as you have
often been admonished, it is good to set aside one day out of the year
in which we are reminded of all the good that has occurred because of
Christ’s birth in the world, and in which we hear the story of his
birth retold, which will be done on Sunday. But if you think that
Jesus Christ was born today, you are as crazed as wild beasts. For
when you elevate one day alone for the purpose of worshipping God, you
have just turned it into an idol. True, you insist that you have done
so for the honor of God, but it is more for the honor of the Devil.

Let us consider what our Lord has to say on the matter. Was it not
Saul’s intention to worship God when he spared Agag, the king of the
Amalakites, along with the best spoils and cattle? He says as much:
“I want to worship God.” Saul’s tongue was full of devotion and good
intention. But what was the response he received? “You soothsayer!
You heretic! You apostate! You claim to be honoring God, but God
rejects and disowns all that you have done” [1 Samuel 15:8,9].
Consequently, the same is true of our actions. For no day is superior
to another. It matters not whether we recall our Lord’s nativity on a
Wednesday, Thursday, or some other day. But when we insist on
establishing a service of worship based on our whim, we blaspheme God,
and create an idol, though we have done it all in the name of God.
And when you worship God in the idleness of a holiday spirit, that is
a heavey sin to bear, and one which attracts others about it, until we
reach the height of iniquity. Therefore, let us pay attention to what
Micah is saying here [Micah 5:7-14], that God must not only strip away
things that are bad themselves, but must also eliminate anything that
might foster superstition. Once we have understood that, we will no
longer find it strange that Noel is not being observed today, but that
on Sunday we will celebrate the Lord’s Supper and recite the story of
the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ. But to all those who barely
know Jesus Christ, or that we must be subject to him, and that God
removes all those impediments that prevent us from coming to him,
these folks, I say, will at best grit their teeth. They came here in
anticipation of celebrating a wrong intention, but will leave with it
wholly unfulfilled.

The Westminster Confession of faith, chapter XXI says thus:

I. The light of nature showeth that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all; is good, and doeth good unto all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served with all the hearth, and with all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture.

The Directory for The Public Worship of God, also penned by the Westminster Divines, says thus:

THERE is no day commanded in scripture to be kept holy under the gospel but the Lord’s day, which is the Christian Sabbath.

Festival days, vulgarly called Holy-days, having no warrant in the word of God, are not to be continued.

Nevertheless, it is lawful and necessary, upon special emergent occasions, to separate a day or days for publick fasting or thanksgiving, as the several eminent and extraordinary dispensations of God’s providence shall administer cause and opportunity to his people.

As no place is capable of any holiness, under pretence of whatsoever dedication or consecration; so neither is it subject to such pollution by any superstition formerly used, and now laid aside, as may render it unlawful or inconvenient for Christians to meet together therein for the publick worship of God. And therefore we hold it requisite, that the places of publick assembling for worship among us should be continued and employed to that use.

The Reformation was built and stood on the principles of Sola Scriptura. By Scripture Alone. The Regulative Principle also stands on the same principle. Can any Presbyterian, who denies or rejects the teachings of our Reformed fore-fathers, and instead opts for celebrating the Christ mass and Easter, expressly rejected by our Reformed fore-fathers,  and even more importantly has no warrant from the word of God, in truth say they are reformed? Because I humbly suggest they cannot. There is far more to Calvinism than T.U.L.I.P. Calvin’s Calvinism, is not met by the majority of the Reformed churches today, they say they are following Calvin while practicing entirely opposing things to what man himself did.
There is a huge difference in my opinion, in people who are open to the truth, but may not have arrived at a full understanding of this yet,  to those who just utterly reject this principle, on no Biblical grounds whatsoever. Scripture is either sufficient or is it not? And if Sola Scriptura is what the Reformation was built upon, why would Reformed people now want to add to Scripture? The argument is commonly used that God never forbade it. It’s something I don’t have the health to go into at this point in time, but, He never commanded it. And in other places in Scripture one can only draw the conclusion by sure and necessary consequence it is an abomination in his site, and an unacceptable sacrifice.

Is any Presbyterian who may read this, willing to argue against Sola Scriptura?  And if not, if also partaking of man made festival days, we are expressly denying the sufficiency of Scripture while proclaiming with our lips by Scripture alone.  As I have said a thousand times,  Actions speak much louder than words.

Deut 19:14
Deut 27:17
Prov 22:28
Prov 23:10-12
Hos 5:8-10

Why the Westminster Standards are more important than ever today:

An image of the kind of person that the Westminster Standards type of Presbyterianism bred, in the lands of those times they were authored.

One person, describes The Scottish Peasant of those times, as the most remarkable man in Europe. Furthermore, the writer who said that, was an Anglo-catholic, rather than a Calvinist.

Dignity, intellect and character, of the typical Scottish peasant, largely flowed from the memorization of the shorter Catechism. They were far more equipped as a result of memorizing the shorter catechism, for conceptual thinking, than most 21 st century citizens of England or America.

They lived in huts, and toiled the land, wore kilts, and often seemed intellectually stinted due to their simplicity, in living, yet they are described as the most remarkable men in Europe. In the days when Education started to be esteemed and prized and sought after, it was the Scottish peasants, who were the most remarkable. And that was a result of the effect, of them memorizing, applying and believing, the Westminster Standards. What a man believes, so he is.

Nowadays, those entering the ministry are taught it, whereas it was written for children, and most 8 year olds in those days, had it memorized. How far we have fallen! What a tenth of their nobility we desire and should crave.

The covenanters had a strictness of life and behaviour and worship By that, I mean, they were a self denying lot in following the word of God. Their whole lives were regulated a by the Scriptures.

These men and women were courageous to the last. They had a high regard for people in need, and denied themselves to fulfil that need, and their courage seemed to know no bounds , as the list of martyrs shows us. They counted it a joy to sacrifice for the Lord. They lived in dangerous times, deadly times to believe and uphold the Truth of God that they did, but their actions proved by far more than speech, and didn’t only defend causes where they had very little to lose like we do today, in our self indulgent soft societies.

Calvinist’s in those days, were marked by a love of God and truth, justice, purity of character , and historically, they always shone in all these virtues above any other professing group of Christians.

One person wrote of the Calvinist’s of those times:

“We may with confidence maintain, that the world has never known, a higher type of Stalwart manhood, nor a gentler, purer, or more lovable womanhood, than has prevailed amongst those people in whose hearts and lives has entered the Calvinist creed. ”

Rather than the slant that is put on puritans historically, and the spin, which distorts the truth, and calls evil good and good evil, and presents those men and women as harsh, severe, unloving fanatics, the above is the truth, and history bears witness to testify to the truth of it.

Do you think the Covenanters or Calvinists today are producing the same kind of character? I would say unhesitatingly, a resounding no in many cases! Some of those traits remain, but the ones that made them stand out a head and shoulders above others, is no longer the typical Calvinist or Covenanter, of either England or America. I get infuriated at times, by how much it is not true. How their luke warm sense of serving, is a joke as compared to those days. As to my mind, it disgraces the great, rich, noble heritage that the name today trades on, yet fails to live up to in many cases. Today Reformed doesn’t always mean reformed. That’s where the crux lies I believe.

The Biblical picture we have of the true Christian home, is built on the standards and beliefs and practices of the Westminster Divines; they lived and breathed Scripture; the family homes were the nurseries of the church.

The democratic nations we live in, where the individual is upper most in importance, where political correctness is the emphasis, means Presbyterianism, built upon the Westminster Standards has been squeezed out. And man has become his own god. The landmarks and boundaries have not just been removed, they have been eradicated, as if they never existed. The covenants, made and swore to in Scotland, are no longer remembered, or even known anything about by most Christians in my country, even though it is their own country, that historically was at the fore of all these events.

Everything is now relative, on if it fits man’s taste, rather than us bending to God’s will, again, man is Sovereign of his own destiny, sovereign of our own behaviour and conduct, his own god. Discipline, both in our family homes, and self-discipline, is a dirty word.  Ignorant people within the so-called Reformed church but where Deformed would be the better term, believe that practicing it, and denying ourselves, makes us no better than the monks, of trying to win God’s favour, by our works, rather than the truth being of simply being obedient to what God desires and doing it cheerfully, not counting it a burden but a joy.

Presbyterianism, as set forth by the Westminster Standards, give us liberty. Presbyterianism and Tyranny cannot co-exist.. The same is true of the true Calvinistic or Reformed faith. We don’t need to be genius’ or above intelligence any more than anyone else. Some of us are distinctly below the majority! But again, where Calvinism and ignorance meet, one of them leaves the field.

We have an heir to the throne here, who will have to change the constitution if and when he takes the throne, to not be Defender of THE faith, but to become as he has said he will, “Defender of Faiths.” And that all faiths are equal. That is a scary thought to my mind, and I also wonder if he will take the oath as his mother did before him at the Coronation, for her to uphold the True religion in Scotland, as that is still included in the coronation oaths. She apparently took it but her son plans to openly defy that. Christ is the ruler of the Kings of the earth, but Charles seems in some form to be resurrecting to some degree, the divine right of kings by what he proposes. As the Scripture references above clearly show, God pours out his wrath on the removing of the landmarks and boundaries, and I believe the spiritual decay and decline that exists in England is evidence of that.

All the men who just before the writing of the Westminster standards, who were at the front of upholding tyranny, like King Charles, I and Archbishop Laud, were executed shortly after the completion of the Standards, and tyranny started to be squeezed out. Tthose works of Westminster, gave us liberty. True Liberty. The only True Liberty is liberty in Christ, which we find in the pages of Scripture.

Most faiths are accepted in our society, on a live and let live basis. If you take a different view you are seen as an intolerant bigot.  It is only the True Faith, the Reformed faith, based upon the Biblical teachings of the Westminster standards that today, makes for there being hostility against us. Universalism, popery, and arminianism, will be gladly tolerated. Yet try and tell people from a world view based on the Westminster Standards your point of view, you will not get the toleration or live and let live attitude you will be an outcast, someone who is causing “schism” because you hold to the truth, among the brethren here who hold to otherwise. Furthermore, the choice will have to be made, between pleasing the Lord and holding to the truth, or pleasing men, and your Christian brethren on one’s own doorstep, at the cost of betraying the truth you love. There is no contest! Yes, we need the courage, and nobility, of those Scottish peasants, that were so remarkable, even among the best of Christians, we are not prepared to go so far, or be as fierce and have the same goals and the same priorities. Our courage we leave behind the door, by comparison to protect ourselves and put ourselves first, which is why the easy way out of almost any situation, is the most oft chosen option. We are not prepared to suffer unduly, for either the Truth or the brethren. In doing so, we move the landmarks and make them shaky. The nobility that lived in a grass hut, among the Scottish peasants, in the fields of Scotland, put us to shame. They had so little, yet were willing to part with it all, even with dear life. We need to get our landmarks and boundaries put back in place. Only then, can or will England and America revive. And Scotland can once again glory, in the upholding of the Covenants!

“Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? I shall not die.’ Then, just before the end, he lifted the napkin from his face, and cried, ‘The Covenants, the Covenants shall yet be Scotland’s reviving!’ [from an account of James Guthrie’s martyrdom]

[Blog owners note: of course there are may faithful calvinists around today, but sadly, there are also those who shame the name and noble heritage. And within the Reformed faith on the days of those Scottish peasants in the hills of Scotland that was not the case.  And Calvinism in these days, often doesn't represent Calvin's Calvinism at all, but a luke-warm, watered down version of it.  Those who hold to the same Calvinism as Calvin, are for the most part faithful Christians. There will always be the exception in any faithful church, as theology maketh no Christain, not on its own at least.  But Presbyterianism has taken on some many forms since those days, that Presbyteiranism in our day, doesn't always mean reformed.  They should call  themselves something other, to not degrade, defame and shame the noble history of Calvinsim.]

I have heard it said, and I’m sure many of you may have experienced it to some degree, that those within the Reformed faith community can be unloving. Sadly, this is often the case, but it should not be.   Being God’s elect should not make us the frozen chosen.

John Calvin who is quite greivously slandered and misrepresented in death as much as he was in life, made this well known statement:

Doctrine is not an affair of the tongue, but of the life; is not apprehended by the intellect and memory merely, like other branches of learning; but is received only when it possesses the whole soul, and finds its seat and habitation in the inmost recesses of the heart.

Experimental religion doesn’t just appear as good theology, and doctrinal learning, it reaches into every recess of our lives and practices, it affects the whole man in the whole of life. It certainly doesn’t make us blocks of stone, because true Christianity, is about having tender hearts, and having the attributes that God does, though in a less perfect way, some of those ways being compassion, loving-kindness, long-suffering, and a few others I could mention.
This is a subjet that until a short time ago, I could not have written about without it turning into a rant at the cold, discompassionate Christians I have known, who have only sought their own or immediate families welfare, and anyone outside of that doesn’t count, and their soul is not worth nurturing, but now I am detached enough from the hurts I have felt for a very long time, since first being strapped to a sick bed, and left to basically die alone, by Christian “friends” both in my local vicinity and “friends” in the online world, whose faith didn’t extend outside their own four walls, or barely at least. But it is long over-due for saying even so.
In the times of the Reformers and puritans and Scots Covenanters, these people had a deep care and concern for the welfare of their brethren. Calvin never heard of an afflicted church, or someone awaiting martrydom, but he would write them a letter of comfort and consolation even if they were in different countries. He was not one of the frozen chosen.
This was displayed clearly in his concern for Servetus. Forget the fables you have read about that whole case, if you want to read an accurate account of events of Calvin and Sevetus then I may suggest you read an accurate and well researched account I posted some time ago, HERE.
If Michael Servetus at the last, escaped the flames of hell, it would have been because of how God used John Calvin to talk him out of his heresy. And there are some reports that when in the flames the last words he was heard to utter was, “eternal Father, accept my Spirit” I hope that is the case. But Calvin persevered so tirelessly in the case of Servetus because of his concern for his soul. It is why he was so frequent a visitor to him in his prison cell as he awaited execution, because he wanted him to repent before he died. Calvin certain wasn’t one of the frozen chosen.

The Wesminster Directory for the Publick Worship of God says this about visiting the sick:
Concerning Visitation of the Sick.

IT is the duty of the minister not only to teach the people committed to his charge in publick, but privately; and particularly to admonish, exhort, reprove, and comfort them, upon all seasonable occasions, so far as his time, strength, and personal safety will permit.

He is to admonish them, in time of health, to prepare for death; and, for that purpose, they are often to confer with their minister about the estate of their souls; and, in times of sickness, to desire his advice and help, timely and seasonably, before their strength and understanding fail them.

Times of sickness and affliction are special opportunities put into his hand by God to minister a word in season to weary souls: because then the consciences of men are or should be more awakened to bethink themselves of their spiritual estate for eternity; and Satan also takes advantage then to load them more with sore and heavy temptations: therefore the minister, being sent for, and repairing to the sick, is to apply himself, with all tenderness and love, to administer some spiritual good to his soul, to this effect.

He may, from the consideration of the present sickness, instruct him out of scripture, that diseases come not by chance, or by distempers of body only, but by the wise and orderly guidance of the good hand of God to every particular person smitten by them. And that, whether it be laid upon him out of displeasure for sin, for his correction and amendment, or for trial and exercise of his graces, or for other special and excellent ends, all his sufferings shall turn to his profit, and work together for his good, if he sincerely labour to make a sanctified use of God’s visitation, neither despising his chastening, nor waxing weary of his correction.

If he suspect him of ignorance, he shall examine him in the principles of religion, especially touching repentance and faith; and, as he seeth cause, instruct him in the nature, use, excellency, and necessity of those graces; as also touching the covenant of grace; and Christ the Son of God, the Mediator of it; and concerning remission of sins by faith in him.

He shall exhort the sick person to examine himself, to search and try his former ways, and his estate towards God.

And if the sick person shall declare any scruple, doubt, or temptation that are upon him, instructions and resolutions shall be given to satisfy and settle him.

If it appear that he hath not a due sense of his sins, endeavours ought to be used to convince him of his sins, of the guilt and desert of them; of the filth and pollution which the soul contracts by them; and of the curse of the law, and wrath of God, due to them; that he may be truly affected with and humbled for them: and withal make known the danger of deferring repentance, and of neglecting salvation at any time offered; to awaken his conscience, and rouse him up out of a stupid and secure condition, to apprehend the justice and wrath of God, before whom none can stand, but he that, lost in himself, layeth hold upon Christ by faith.

If he hath endeavoured to walk in the ways of holiness, and to serve God in uprightness, although not without many failings and infirmities; or, if his spirit be broken with the sense of sin, or cast down through want of the sense of God’s favour; then it will be fit to raise him up, by setting before him the freeness and fulness of God’s grace, the sufficiency of righteousness in Christ, the gracious offers in the gospel, that all who repent, and believe with all their heart in God’s mercy through Christ, renouncing their own righteousness, shall have life and salvation in him. It may be also useful to shew him, that death hath in it no spiritual evil to be feared by those that are in Christ, because sin, the sting of death, is taken away by Christ, who hath delivered all that are his from the bondage of the fear of death, triumphed over the grave, given us victory, is himself entered into glory to prepare a place for his people: so that neither life nor death shall be able to separate them from God’s love in Christ, in whom such are sure, though now they must be laid in the dust, to obtain a joyful and glorious resurrection to eternal life.

Advice also may be given, as to beware of an ill-grounded persuasion on mercy, or on the goodness of his condition for heaven, so to disclaim all merit in himself, and to cast himself wholly upon God for mercy, in the sole merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, who hath engaged himself never to cast off them who in truth and sincerity come unto him. Care also must be taken, that the sick person be not cast down into despair, by such a severe representation of the wrath of God due to him for his sins, as is not mollified by a sensible propounding of Christ and his merit for a door of hope to every penitent believer.

When the sick person is best composed, may be least disturbed, and other necessary offices about him least hindered, the minister, if desired, shall pray with him, and for him, to this effect:

“Confessing and bewailing of sin original and actual; the miserable condition of all by nature, as being children of wrath, and under the curse; acknowledging that all diseases, sicknesses, death, and hell itself, are the proper issues and effects thereof; imploring God’s mercy for the sick person, through the blood of Christ; beseeching that God would open his eyes, discover unto him his sins, cause him to see himself lost in himself, make known to him the cause why God smiteth him, reveal Jesus Christ to his soul for righteousness and life, give unto him his Holy Spirit, to create and strengthen faith to lay hold upon Christ, to work in him comfortable evidences of his love, to arm him against temptations, to take off his heart from the world, to sanctify his present visitation, to furnish him with patience and strength to bear it, and to give him perseverance in faith to the end.

That, if God shall please to add to his days, he would vouchsafe to bless and sanctify all means of his recovery; to remove the disease, renew his strength, and enable him to walk worthy of God, by a faithful remembrance, and diligent observing of such vows and promises of holiness and obedience, as men are apt to make in times of sickness, that he may glorify God in the remaining part of his life.

And, if God have determined to finish his days by the present visitation, he may find such evidence of the pardon of all his sins, of his interest in Christ, and eternal life by Christ, as may cause his inward man to be renewed, while his outward man decayeth; that he may behold death without fear, cast himself wholly upon Christ without doubting, desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, and so receive the end of his faith, the salvation of his soul, through the only merits and intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ, our alone Saviour and all-sufficient Redeemer.”

The minister shall admonish him also (as there shall be cause) to set his house in order, thereby to prevent inconveniences; to take care for payment of his debts, and to make restitution or satisfaction where he hath done any wrong; to be reconciled to those with whom he hath been at variance, and fully to forgive all men their trespasses against him, as he expects forgiveness at the hand of God.

Lastly, The minister may improve the present occasion to exhort those about the sick person to consider their own mortality, to return to the Lord, and make peace with him; in health to prepare for sickness, death, and judgment; and all the days of their appointed time so to wait until their change come, that when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, they may appear with him in glory.

The whole document can read at one of my sister sites 2. Covenanted Reformation.

William Perkins, who is said to be the father of English puritans, and the first puritan, first  congregation was in a jail in Cambridge. He worked tirelessly with these men, many of them facing execution for their crimes, and he worked often never seeing the wages for his work.  One day however, a young man was awaiting execution at the jail, came to him in great distress about facing death, and his fear of it.  Perkins begged him and pleaded with him in tears, to accept Christ, telling him of the Gospel and how he could be sure of being like the thief on the cross and after execution be with Christ in paradise.  His tears and pleadings so affected the young prisoner that he did accept Christ, and he faced his execution with great courage, and it was a testimony to God’s grace at how bravely he met his death.  William Perkins, was not one of the frozen chosen. Neither were the Westminster divines who penned the Director of Publick Worship.

It is often said of Samuel Rutherford, that his life was one self sacrifice and consisted of: “always praying, always preaching, always visiting the sick, always catechising, always writing and [always] studying.”   Samuel Rutherford, was not one of the frozen chosen.

If you read for any time through Calvin’s letters, you will see his words of comfort and consolation to those facing death, awaiting martydrom, exhorting them to be constant to the end, not only out of his pastors heart, but out of real concern for their souls.

Oliver Cromwell, whatever one may think of him in history, is another one who was deeply moved by the sufferings of the puritans.  Oliver Cromwell was not one of the frozen chosen.

If people are sick, and facing death or uncertain futures, they need to be built up and prepared to die, to be ready to meet their maker, for their souls to matter enough to spend time in trying to get them  to a good spiritual estate.  I was blessed to have one friend who was not one of the frozen chosen.

Richard Baxter in his “The Reformed Pastor” wrote his of ones duties towards the sick and/or dying.

We must be diligent in visiting the sick, and helping them to prepare either for a fruitful life, or a happy death. Though this should be the business of all our life and theirs, yet doth it, at such a season, require extraordinary care both of them and us. When time is almost gone, and they must now or never be reconciled to God, oh, how doth it concern them to redeem those hours, and to lay hold on eternal life! And when we see that we are like to have but a few days or hours more to speak to them, in order to their everlasting welfare, who, that is not a block or an infidel, would not be much with them, and do all he can for their salvation in that short space!
Will it not awaken us to compassion, to look on a languishing man, and to think that within a few days his soul be in heaven or hell? Surely it will try the faith and seriousness of ministers, to be much about dying men! They will thus have opportunity to discern whether they themselves are in good earnest about the matters of the life to come. So great is the change that is made by death, that it should awaken us to the greatest sensibility to see a man so near it, and should so excite in us the deepest pangs of compassion, to do the office of inferior angels for the soul, before it departs from the body, that it may be ready for the convoy of superior angels to the “inheritance of the saints in light.” When a man is almost at his journey’s end, and the next step brings him to heaven or hell, it is time for us, while their is hope, to help him if we can.
—Richard Baxter, “The Reformed Pastor” B.O.T. pp. 102

Richard Baxter was not one of the frozen chosen. But through my pilgrimage through this world in such an afflicted condition the last few years I seem to have sure come across and known and even been friends with alot of the frozen chosen, or as Baxter calls them “blocks or infidels.”
It is not always the case among Calvinists today, but sadly it is too rife and I have seen and experienced that from the sharp end. Doctrine and theology maketh no man. A man with good doctrine and all his theological ducks lined up, and maybe even with the voice of an angel for the holy words he speaks, if his actions say otherwise, it counts not one iota, and the puritans and reformers, of which just a few instances there are above and there could be countless others added to it, were both theologically astute, but also practiced experimental religion and were very self denying and self sacrificing. Their brethren’s sufferings mattered to them, they wept with those who wept, and had concern for their souls.
But finally, what does our good Lord say about the frozen chosen? In Matthew 25:31-46 he says thus which should deter anyone from being so self seeking or self serving only, to not be those mentioned in this passage because of the end that is threatened to them

Matthew 25:31-46 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Faith and religion is not passive, or just holy sounding words. Actions speak far louder than words, and show the inclination of our hearts, much more readily than any amount of holy sound words can ever do. Let us get back to the days of experimental religion. In the above example the whole sum of the law is broken, by not loving our neighboutr as ourself. And if we do not do so, then we do not love God aright either. As only when we love God rightly, we will be able to love our fellow man aright too. It does not only apply to Pastors, because we are all part of the royal priesthood

The Nonsuch Professor
Application
Having despatched that which is doctrinal, I now come to the discussion of that which is practical. And I shall here propose two considerations:

First, For the erection of singular principles.
Secondly, The direction of singular practices.

First, For the erection of singular principles.

Natural men obey natural principles, and spiritual men obey spiritual principles. No man can expect that bitter roots should produce sweet fruits. Though civil principles may be kindled at the torch of nature, yet sacred principles are lighted at the blaze of Scripture. continue

The Nonsuch Professor
20. The last singular action of a sanctified Christian, is,
To value a heavenly reversion above an, earthly possession .

Some say, that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush; but surely such a bird in the bush is worth two in the hand. If others dote upon the streams, let us admire the fountain.

Socrates being asked what countryman he was; answered, ‘I am a citizen of the whole world.’ But ask a Christian what countryman he is; and he will answer, ‘I am a citizen’ of all heaven.’ Believers build their tombs where others build their tabernacles. The men of the world fix upon the things of the world; that is the cabinet wherein they lock up all their jewels. Though God has given the earth to beasts, yet such beasts are men, as to give themselves to the earth.

It was the saying of a cursed cardinal, ‘I prefer a part in the honours of Paris, to a part in the happiness of paradise.’ What is the glimmering of a candle, to the shining of the sun? or the value of brass, compared with gold? Thoughtless children are taken up more with present counters than with future crowns. Thus while the shadow is embraced, the substance is neglected; and shortsighted man courts the veil, when he should admire the face.

That man who is a labouring bee for earthly prosperity, will be but an idle drone for heavenly felicity. ‘If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.’

There is no need of blotting out the characters of our affections, but of writing them on fairer paper. There is no necessity for drying up these running waters, but for diverting them into their proper channels. Why should we wholly destroy these valuable plants, when they might thrive so well in a better soil? He who looks upon heaven with desire, will look upon earth with disdain. Our affections were made for the things which are above us, and not for the things which are about us.

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This is another post that didn’t get imported from the old site, and feel it is worth re-posting as a “new” post. As it is likely too my readership may have changed since first writing it.

Most Christians will answer yes to that, to a smaller or greater degree. They will feel obliged to; or as if they are letting the side down if they are not. After all, a Christians life is not an easy one, but it is a blessed one, right?

What makes us happy?

The Catechism says this well in the opening question:

What is mans chief end?

To glorify God and enjoy him forever.

I believe the only way a Christian can be truly happy in this life, no matter if they be rich or poor in a temporal sense, is by the enjoyment of God. Do we delight in God? Few really do. Do we delight in the days of Christian Sabbaths, where we are commanded to have our minds in heaven and upon God continuously? Few really do.

What makes us happy?

Are you happy with your job? Your status in life? Your car or spouse, or children or parents? Those things are all good and all blessings, (or should be) and reasons to be thankful to the God of Heaven, yet they should not be the chief means of our happiness.

I was reading in some puritan title some months ago now That, one can tell if the joy one has, is joy in and from the Lord, by if you lose all or most of your estate and temporal blessings, relations and health,  and you still have joy despite your losses and now impoverished state. Of course, when we have such loss, we all need a time of mourning, a time of grieving. But as Solomon said, there is a season for everything. To go on for months, or years, in overmuch sorrow, is not what the Lord tells us to do, no matter how poor our estate. We should have heavenly comfort and consolation.

The world, as they look at us sometimes, wonder why we proclaim to be different, or blessed, when we are such a bunch of misery guts, who whine and complain at everything, and have seemingly very little joy. The reason we seem joyless is, because we are not enjoying God. And therefore we are not glorifying him. If we were, the world would get the picture of how blessed we are, no matter our estate or poverty or suffering.

I have gone through many a rocky path on this, and it lasted longer than I care to admit. Yet, in the extraordinary circumstances and sufferings I find myself in, I believe perseverance was the key. When I listened to a lecture on the life of David Brainerd, some months ago now; of how he sat alone in his hut, on the Indian mission field, spitting up blood daily, and heard how the thing that caused him most conflict and angst and in some sense instability, was his longing and yearning, deep within his soul for Christian company. That was the first time I felt I knew of someone who knew exactly how I  have felt in the past.  The illness is different, yet there is very little difference in how alone I am, how it can be days or sometimes weeks between seeing a human being, and suffering dreadful illness all that time. Brainerd has many critics, because of his modes of instability and sometimes the way he spoke when in times of mental and emotional anguish because of his sufferings. And yet the lecture I heard, the speaker said, the thing that made him noteworthy, was that he persevered to the end despite his sufferings, and ultimately, when he died, triumphed in faith. Perseverance for me, even if joyless for longer than I should have been, was the key too.

I see other believers in much richer circumstances, and far more blessed lives, that they have regular down times where they are as the world sees, a “misery guts,” and so if they have blessings quite abundantly and the love of God, why do they lack joy at all quite regularly? I can’t presume to know the answer to this. But what would it take, when they have abundant riches and the love of God to not make them joyless and “misery guts” at regular intervals? I will tell you what I think. They need to enjoy God. Not in a formal or surface way, but they need to delight in him. They need to read his word, and not just meditate on it, but become besotted with the loveliness of Christ and delight in Him and His ways.

Someone used to tell me, some while ago, that you cannot simultaneously be suicidal and glorifying and praising God. How right they were! When we have times of angst or misery, no matter our afflictions, no matter how reasonable it may seem to the world, given what we are going through, we need to focus on enjoying God. Delighting in Him. Becoming so entranced by God and the things he reveals to us in the Scriptures that there is NO ROOM left for misery and depression, or spiritual lethargy. The delight of God, will give us an energy that we seem to largely not have today. To actively pursue God with every fibre of our being, and delight in him from morning till night. To be less neutral than we often appear to be.

One often hears Jonathan Edwards portrayed, as a dour, fanatical individual who would break out into religious speech in the most offensive way one could imagine. And yes, the terms and speech that Edwards used in things such as “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God,” would shock and offend many even today. Yet it was his passion for God, his delight in him, that made him so bold. Edwards practiced to the utmost redeeming the time well. He made a much better job of it than I have any hope of doing, even knowing my time may not be that long, and that Redeeming the time has become important to me the last few years. He practiced it in a way that no one would ever dream of doing so today. Even down to the amount he would eat, so that it would not interrupt his day in any way, with either indigestion, or how long it would take for him to digest the food, needing to sleep, or be distracted through headaches because of eating the wrong types of food. You see Edwards saw all those possible consequences of simply eating a meal, as ways that could unnecessarily eat into his day, and time, time he could be in the pursuit and delight of God. So he ate little, and healthy foods to make sure his time of studying God and delighting in Him would not be interrupted through his own carelessness of eating the wrong foods or over indulging.

Edwards vision of personal holiness and God enriched world, has never been replaced or superseded. Yet we need to try to edge our ways forward to imitating great men like Jonathan Edwards in their personal piety and personal holiness. Sadly, these men nowadays, seem to be used for little more than getting our impression or our view or beliefs about God from, instead of from God Himself. But Edwards had practical piety in the fullest. He knew how to enjoy and delight in life, no matter the circumstances. (And he didn’t always have it easy) Because he knew how to enjoy and delight in God, no matter what. And in doing so, he glorified God as much as any man is able to do. The opening question of the Catechism, was lived out by Edwards, to its fullest and is an example to us all who followed him after.

Questions to Ponderize:

Are you happy? Are you satisfied?

And.

Does your happiness and satisfaction chiefly proceed from the right source? Would you still be joyful if the uncertain riches of this world, was suddenly vanished and gone for good? Would you delight in God and be joyful in him, if you had nothing else left that you now have that contributes to your happiness of a temporal nature? These are important questions to be asking and searching ourselves about I think. Because we cannot guarantee that the good things in this life that God has given us, will still be there next week, next year or even tomorrow.

The Nonsuch Professor
19. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is,
To take all the shame of his sins unto himself, and to give all the glory of his services unto Christ.

Many people take all the glory of their services to themselves, and lay all the shame of their sins on him; as if he who died on earth to redeem us from them, should live in heaven to confirm us in them.

The devil may flatter us, but he cannot force us, he may tempt us to sin, but he cannot compel us to sin. He could never come off a conqueror, were he not joined by our forces. The fire is his, but the tinder isours. He could never enter into our houses, if we did not set open our doors.

Many complain for want of liberty, who thrust their feet in Satan’s fetters. ‘The woman thou gavest me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.’ As if he had said, ‘I took that as a gift from her, whom thou gavest as a gift to me.’ It is the worst of sins to chargeGod with our sins. They may receive theirpunishment from him, but they shall never receive their nourishment from him. He cannot be the unrighteous upholder of what he is the righteous avenger.

0 blasphemy, to charge that sun with darkness, by which the heavens are enlightened; or that sea with a want of moisture, by which the whole earth is watered! Our impiety is as truly the offspring of our souls, as our posterity is the issue of our bodies. ‘Every good and perfect gift cometh from above, from the Father of light, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.’ Whatsoever is truly good, hath its origin in God. Now the same spring cannot send forth both sweet and bitter waters. It is a known rule, that contraries destroy each other.

Many have more leaves to cover their wickedness, than they have garments to cover their nakedness. They lay their heresy at the door of the sanctuary; and call their diabolical seductions, evangelical revelations; as if the Father of light could bring forth the issues of darkness. What is this, but to set a crown of lead upon a head of gold?

We can defile ourselves, but we cannot cleanse ourselves. The sheep can go astray alone, but can never return to the fold without the assistance of the shepherd. Till we taste the bitterness of our own misery, we shall never relish the sweetness of God’s mercy. Till we see how foul our sins have made us, we shall never pay our tribute of praise to Christ for washing us.

If we were left to ourselves but for a moment, we should destroy ourselves in that moment. We are like glasses without a bottom, which are no sooner loosed than they fall. Many advance themselves to depreciate Christ; but we should look upon ourselves as nothing, and Christ as everything. ‘Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.’ Paul was willing to be esteemed a cypher, so that Christ might stand for a figure. Well may we abase ourselves for his advancement, who abased himself for our establishment. ‘Let Luther be accounted a devil, so Christ may be exalted as a God,’ said that flaming seraph of himself.

‘Without me ye can do nothing.’ The pen may as soon write without the hand that holds it, as our hearts work except the Spirit move them. Not only the enjoyment of our talents is from God, but the improvement of them is from him. ‘Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.’ It is not my pains, but thy pound that hath done it.

The children of God are like a clock, which soon stands still if it be not wound up. ‘Did not our hearts burn within us?’ But how long did the flame last? All the time he talked with them. When he gave over breathing on them, their fuel gave over burning.

Gracious hearts are like stars in the heavens, which shine not by their own splendour. He that takes the brick must give the straw to make it. There is no water except he smite the rock, nor fire except he strike the flint.

If he call us to the work of angels, he will supply us with the strength of angels. ‘For when we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.’ A Christless soul is also a strengthless soul. Man is indebted to God for what he has, but God is not beholden to man for what he does. ‘For of him, and through him, and to him are all things; to whom be glory for ever, Amen!’ The humble heart knows no foundation but God’s grace; and the upright man knows no end but God’s glory.

Waters may rise as high as they fall. Whatsoever action hath God for its author, hath God for its centre. A circular line makes its ending where it had its beginning.

Reader, take heed of turning a sacred privilege into a privy sacrilege. If God give that grace which is not due to you, will you deny the praise which is due to him?

The wicked make their end their God; but we make God our end. The firmament is made more glorious by one sun, than by all the stars that stud the heavens. Thus Jesus Christ hath more glory given to him from one saint, than from all the world beside. He takes more pleasure in their prayers, and is more honoured by their praise.

‘Whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.’ From the lowest act of nature, to the highest act of grace, there is no argument for the pride of man; but every consideration for the praise of God. If he make our nature gracious, we should make his name glorious. He that would be fingering the honour of God, is not worthy to receive the honour of a man. Caesar once said to his opponent, ‘Either I will be Caesar, or nobody.’ So the Lord saith, ‘Either I will be a great God, or no God.’ That man disparages the beauty of the sun, who sets it upon a level with the twinkling stars.

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The Nonsuch Professor
18. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is,
To set out for God at our beginning, and to hold out with God unto the end.

First, To set out for God at our beginning. ‘Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.’ In the distillation of strong waters, the first drawn is fullest of spirits. ‘The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God.’ God prizes a Christian in the bud; and delights in the blossoms of youth, above the sheddings of old age.

Is it not a pity that those plants should be found in Egypt, that will thrive so well in Canaan?

Naturalists inform us, that the most oriental pearls are generated of the morning dew. Had any of the children of Israel stayed to pass through the Red Sea with the Egyptians, they would probably have perished with them. That field is full of the richest corn, which is cleansed from its noxious weeds in the spring.

How pleasant is it to see the thousands of Israel seeking the heavenly manna in the morning of their lives! Is it not better to cry for mercy on earth with the publican, than to call for water in hell with Dives? To discover grace in an old sinner, is well; but to view it in vigorous youth, is better. All the beasts of sacrifice were offered to God in their prime. Jesus was carried in triumph upon a colt, the foal of an ass.

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The Nonsuch Professor
17. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is,
To be more employed in searching his own heart, than he is in censuring other men’s states.

Those bishops are too busily employed, who lord it over another man’s diocese. We are to allow believers for their failings, though we are not to allow them in their failings, ‘Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.’ It is a matter of greater moment to know the state of our hearts, than the state of our flocks.

Censorious men commonly take up magnifying glasses, to look at other person’s imperfections; and diminishing glasses, to look at their own enormities.

Plato entertaining a few friends at an elegantly spread table, Diogenes, a famous cynic philosopher, coming in at the same time, trampled upon it, saying, ‘I trample upon the pride of Plato!’ To whom Plato immediately replied, ‘Yea, but with a greater pride in Diogenes.’

They are fittest to find fault, in whom there is no fault to be found. There is no removing blots from the paper, by laying upon them a blurred finger. ‘Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.’ Reader, what do you get by throwing stones at your enemy’s windows, while your own children look out at the casements? He that blows into a heap of dust, is in danger of putting out his own eyes.

Reader, are there not the same lusts lodging in your heart, that are reigning in other men’s lives? The reason why there is so little self-condemnation, is because there is so little self-examination. For want of this, many persons are like travellers, skilled in other countries, but ignorant of their own.

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The Nonsuch Professor
16. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is,
To be more in love with the employment of holiness, than with the enjoyment of happiness.

Thousands of professors prize the wages of religion above its works; but a Christian will prize its works above its wages. Give me that singular preacher, who prefers his labour to his lucre; and the flock he attends, to the fleece he obtains.

Some men serve God, that they may serve themselves upon God. He loves not religion sincerely, who does not love it superlatively.

‘Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself.’ Empty and yet fruitful; fruitful and yet empty. Thus that fertility which springs up from the bitter roots of self, has nothing but vacuity in the account of God.

Such professors do not make gain stoop to godliness, but godliness to gain, which is, as if a man should fit his foot to the shoe, when he should fit the shoe to his foot.

That tradesman is poor and needy, who must have ready money for all he sells. In all the good a carnal man doth for God, he seeks himself more than God. The clock of his heart will stand still, unless its wheels of profit be oiled.

If the virgin should only give her hand in matrimony for her bridegroom’s riches, she would not espouse herself unto his person, but unto his portion. This were not properly to make a marriage with him, but a merchandise of him. Saint Austin hath an excellent saying: ‘He loves not Christ at all, who docs not love Christ above all.’

‘Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.’—Christ was the object of their actions, but self was the end of their actions. They came to Christ to serve their own turns, and when their turns were served, they then turned away their service. They were cupboard disciples, more than men at their meat, but less than women at their work. When the loaves were gone, the disciples were gone; when he left off feeding them, they left off following him.

Reader, till you can love the naked truth, you will never love to go naked for the truth. Most persons are mercenary in those works wherein they should be filial and free. They look more after the streams, than upon the spring from whence they constantly run; and admire the beams more than the sun, from whence they are emitted. The want of pardon is the only spring of a servile man’s duty; he plies his prayers, as sailors do their pumps, only in a storm, or when fearful of sinking.

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The Nonsuch Professor
15. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is,
To take up his contentment in God’s appointment.

As many do the things which God dislikes, so they dislike the things which God does. If the children of Israel obtain no meat for their lusts, then they are weary of their lives. They are delighted with their burning corruptions, but are enraged with their trying conditions; which is nothing less, than to be in love with their malady, and out of love with their remedy. They studied more how to gratify their humour, than to satisfy their hunger. They complained of the shoe, but the disease lay in the foot.

Those who think too highly of their own deserts, will think too meanly of their estates. It is even the task of God, to satisfy the desires of men. He can do everything, but they are not pleased with anything.

There is no man but what has received more good than he has deserved, and done more evil than has been inflicted: he should therefore be contented, though he see but little good; and not discontented, though he suffer much evil. ‘Let your conversation be without covetousness; for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.’ Where the seal of faith hath been set to the bond of truth, he who hath said it, will maintain thee in the want of maintenance.

When a wicked man’s purse grows light, his heart grows heavy. When he has something without to afflict him, he has nothing within to support him. That well known Scripture is unknown to him, ‘I know how to be abased, and how to abound; everywhere and in all things I am instructed, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.’ It is hard to carry a full cup without shedding; or to stand under a heavy load without bowing. It is difficult to walk in the clear day of prosperity without wandering; or in the dark night of adversity without stumbling: but from whatsoever point the wind blows, the skilful mariner knows how to meet it with his sails.

Repenting is the act of Christian men, but repining is the act of carnal men. Though their estates be like a fruitful paradise, yet their hearts are like a barren wilderness. Such people are like spiders, which suck poison out of the sweetest flowers; and by an infernal chemistry, extract dross from the purest gold.

Outward prosperity cannot create inward tranquillity. Heart’s-ease is a flower that never grew in the world’s garden. The ground of a wicked man’s trouble is not because he has not enough of the creature, but because he cannot find enough in the creature. His possession is great enough, but his disposition is not good enough. Some are satisfied under the hand of God, because they are not sensible of the hand of God. They never fret, because they never feel.

We are not to be troubled that we have no more from God, but we are to be troubled that we do no more for God. Christians, if the Lord be well pleased with your persons, should not you be well pleased with your conditions? There is more reason that you should be pleased with them, than that he should be pleased with you. Believers should be like sheep, which change their pastures at the will of the shepherd; or like vessels in a house, which stand to be filled or emptied at the pleasure of their owner. He that sails upon the sea of this world in his own bottom, will sink at last into a bottomless ocean. Never were any their own carvers, but they were sure to cut their own fingers.

A covetous man is fretful, because he has not so much as he desires; but a gracious man is thankful, because he has more than he deserves. It is true, I have not the sauce; but then, I merit not the meat. I have not the lace; but then, I deserve not the coat. I want that which may support my dignity, but I have that which supplies my necessity. ‘Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content.’—Here is the flesh of the creature to fill us, and the fleece of the creature to cover us.

It is reported of a woman who being sick, was asked whether she was willing to live or die, she answered, ‘Which God pleases.’ ‘But,’ said one, ‘if God should refer it to you, which would you choose?’ ‘Truly,’ replied she, ‘I would refer it to him again.’ Thus, that man obtains his will of God, whose will is subjected to God.

A contented heart is an even sea in the midst of all storms. It is like a tree in autumn, which secures its life when it has lost its leaves. When worthy Mr. Hern lay upon his deathbed, his wife, with great concern, asked him what was to become of her and her large family; he answered, ‘Peace, sweetheart; that God who feeds the ravens, will not starve the Herns.’ If the child be jealous of his father’s affection, he will soon be dubious of his father’s provision.

Our most golden conditions in this life are set in brazen frames. There is no gathering a rose without a thorn, till we come to Immanuel’s land. If there were nothing but showers, we should conclude the world would be drowned; if nothing but sunshine, we should fear the earth would be burned. Our worldly comforts would be a sea to drown us, if our crosses were not a plank to save us. By the fairest gales, a sinner may sail to destruction; and by the fiercest winds, a saint may sail to glory. When our circumstances become necessitous, our corruptions become impetuous; they rage the more, because stopped by the dam of poverty. If God withhold the hand of providence, we employ the tongue of insolence. We too frequently bite at the stone, till we break our teeth. We murmur because we are in want, and therefore want because we murmur.

A skilful pilot knows what winds tend to blow us into our harbour. An unquiet mind makes but a slow recovery. Contentment is the best food to preserve a sound man, and the best medicine to restore a sick man. It resembles the gilt on nauseous pills, which makes a man take them without tasting their bitterness. Contentment will make a cottage look as fair as a palace. He is not a poor man that hath but little, but he is a poor man that wants much. In this sense, the poorest are often the richest, and the richest the poorest.

‘Godliness with contentment is great gain.’ This is too precious a seed to grow in every soil. Though every godly man may not always be contented, yet every truly contented man is godly. ‘The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.’ Such a Scripture will bring us plenty in scarcity; fulness out of emptiness. The water in a cloud soon ceases, but the water of a fountain continues.

As Seneca said to Polybius, ‘Never complain of thy hard fortune so long as Caesar is thy friend;’ so say I to thee, ‘Never complain of thy hard fortune, Christian, so long as Jesus is thy friend.’

Let your condition be never so flourishing, it is a hell without him; let it be never so fluctuating, it is a heaven with him. Can that man want anything who enjoys Christ? or can he be said to enjoy anything who is without Christ? Why should Hagar lament the loss of the water in her bottle, while there is a well so near?
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The Nonsuch Professor
14. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is,
To take up every duty in point of performance, and lay it down in point of dependence.

When the purest duties have been performed, the purest mercies should be implored. Many have passed the rocks of gross sins, who have suffered shipwreck upon the sands of self-righteousness. Some people live more upon their customs, than they do upon Christ; more upon the prayers they make to God, than upon the God to whom they make their prayers. This is, for the redeemed captive to reverence the sword, instead of the hand which wrought his rescue.

The name of God with a sling and a stone, will do more than Goliath with all his armour. Duties are but dry pits, though never so curiously wrought, till Christ fill them. Reader, I would neither have you be idle in the means, nor make an idol of the means. Though it be the mariner’s duty to weigh his anchor, and spread his sails, yet he cannot make his voyage until the winds blow. The pipes will yield no conveyance, unless the springs yield their concurrence.

What is hearing without Christ, but like a cabinet without a jewel? or what is receiving without Christ, but like a glass without a cordial? We can only ascend to heaven upon that ladder which was let down from heaven. The most diligent saint has been the most self-diffident saint. ‘And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.’ If you be found in your own righteousness, you will be lost by your own righteousness. That garment which was worn to shreds on Adam’s back will never make a complete covering for mine.

Duties may be good crutches to go upon, but they are bad Christs to lean upon. When Augustus Caesar desired the Senate to join some person with him in the consulship, they replied, they held it as a great dishonour to him to have any one joined with him who was so capable himself. It is the greatest disparagement that Christians can offer to Christ, to put their services in equipage with his sufferings. The beggarly rags of the first Adam, must never be put on with the princely robe of the second Adam.

Man is a creature too much inclined to warm himself by the sparks of his own fire, though he lie down in eternal flames for kindling them. Though Noah’s dove made use of her wings, yet she found no rest but in the ark. Duties can never have too much of our diligence, or too little of our confidence. ‘For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.’ A believer doth not perform good works to live, but he lives to perform good works.

It was a haughty saying of one, Coelum gratis now accipiam, ‘ I will not accept of heaven gratis.’ But he shall have hell as a debt, who will not take heaven as a gift.‘ For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.’ A true Christian stands at as great a distance from trusting in the best of his services, as in the worst of his sins. He knows that the greatest part of his holiness will not make the least part of his justifying righteousness. He has unreservedly subscribed to this sentiment, that ‘when we have done all, we are unprofitable servants.’

When we have kept all the commandments, there is one commandment above all to be kept; that is, ‘to trust not in an arm of flesh.’ In most of our works, we are abominable sinners; and in the best of our works, we are unprofitable servants. Our doings are not like the crystal streams of a living fountain, but like the impure overflowings of an unruly torrent. ‘I will go in the strength of the Lord God; I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.’ You see, beloved, the righteousness of Christ is to be magnified, when the righteousness of a Christian is not to be mentioned.

It is hard for us to be nothing in ourselves, amidst all our watchfulness; and to be all things in Christ, amidst all our weakness. To undertake every duty, and yet to overlook every duty, is a lesson which none can learn but Christ’s scholars. Our obedience at best, is like good wine, which relishes of a bad cask. The law of God will not take ninety-nine for a hundred. It will not accept the coin of our obedience, either short in quantity, or base in quality. The duty it exacts, is as impossible to be performed in this our fallen state, as the penalty it inflicts, is intolerable to be endured in our eternal state.

We do not sail to glory in the salt sea of our own tears, but in the red sea of a Redeemer’s blood.—Crux Christi est clavis paradisi, ‘ the cross of Christ is the key of paradise.’ We owe the life of our souls, to the death of our Saviour. It was his going into the furnace which keeps us from the flames. Man lives by death; his natural life is preserved by the death of the creature, and his spiritual life by the death of the Redeemer.

Moses must lead the children of Israel through the wilderness, but Joshua must conduct them into Canaan. While we are in the wilderness of this world, we walk under the guidance of Moses; but when we enter the spiritual Canaan, it must be under the leadings of Jesus. The same hand which shut the doors of hell, to keep us out of perdition, has opened the gates of heaven, to admit us to its eternal fruition.

Those who carry the vessel of hope, to the puddle of their own merit, will never draw the water of comfort from the fountain of God’s mercy. Luther compares the law and gospel to earth and heaven; we should walk in the earth of the law, in point of obeying, and in the heaven of the gospel, in point of believing. It was the saying of one, that he would swim through a sea of brimstone, so he might but arrive safe at heaven. Ah, how would natural men sing, if they could but soar to heaven upon the pinions of their own merit! The sun-beams of justice will soon melt such weak and waxen wings.

He that has no better righteousness that what is of his own providing, shall meet with no higher happiness than what. is of his own deserving. ‘For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.’ If such people rest not from duty, then they rest in duty. They are determined to sail in their own bottom, though they sink in the ocean. I would that all such did but know, that though good works are not destroyed by Christ, yet they must be denied for Christ.

When a glass reflects the brightness of the sun, there is but an acknowledgment of what was, not an addition of what was not. A curious picture praises a beautiful face; not by communicating what it wants, but by presenting what it enjoys. As God has none the less, for the mercy he gives, so he has none the more, for the duty he receives. Man is such a debtor to God, that he can never pay his due to God; yea, the more we pay him, the more we owe him for our payments.

It is Christ only, who is the righteousness of God to man, and man to God. We are so far from paying the utmost farthing, that at the utmost we have not a farthing to pay. That man will be a miserable spectacle of vanity, who stands upon the lame feet of his own ability.
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The Nonsuch Professor
13. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is,
To take those reproofs best which he needs most.

It was the saying of a heathen, though no heathenish saying, ‘That be who would be good, must either have a faithful friend to instruct him, or a watchful enemy to correct him.’ Should we murder a physician, because he comes to cure us; or like him worse, because he would make us better?

The flaming sword of reprehension, is but to keep us from the forbidden fruit of transgression.‘ Let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness; and let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head.’ Let him smite me as with a hammer, for so the word signifies. A Boanerges is as necessary as a Barnabas.

‘Am I become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?’ Truth is not always relished, where sin is nourished. Light is pleasant, yet it may be offensive to sore eyes. Honey is sweet, though it cause the wound to smart: but we must not neglect the actions of friends, for fear of drawing upon ourselves the suspicions of being enemies. It is better to lose the smiles of men, than the souls of men. ‘Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy heart, nor suffer sin to lie upon him.’ He who loves a garment, hates the moths which fret it.

‘Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee; but rebuke a scorner, and he will hate thee.’ Reproof slides from a scorner’s breast, as water from an oiled post. Instead of loving a man amidst all his injuries, he will hate him for all his civilities. Most people are like restive horses, which no sooner feel the rowel, than they strike with their heels; or like bees, which no sooner are angered, than they put out their stings.

There is much discretion to be observed in reprehension: a word will do more with some, than a blow with others. A Venice glass is not to be rubbed so hard as a brazen kettle. The tender reed is more easily bowed than the sturdy oak. Christ’s warfare requires no carnal weapons. Dashing storms do but destroy the seed, while gentle showers nourish it. Chariots too furiously driven, may be overturned by their own violence.

How many are there, who check passion, with passion; and are very angry in reproving anger! Thus, to lay one devil, they raise another; and leave more work to be undone, than they found to be done. Such a reproof of vice is a vice to be reproved. In reprehension, we should always beware of carrying our teeth in our tongues; and of biting while we are speaking. A surgeon would not be justifiable in dismembering a body, if he could effect a cure without it.

‘Brethren, if any man be overtaken in a fault, you that are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness.’—The word signifies, to set him in joint again; and to set a dislocated bone, requires the lady’s hand; tenderness, as well as skilfulness. Reprehension is not an act ofbutchery, but an act of surgery. Take heed of blunting the instrument, by putting too keen an edge upon it. Mark the reason which the apostle assigns for gentle reproof, ‘Considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.’

If thy neighbour’s house be on fire, thine own may be in danger. We should be willing to lend mercy at one time, as we may have occasion to borrow it at another. We should do with other’s sins, as we do with our own sores; which, if a gentle scar will produce a sufficient discharge, we avoid cutting and slashing. If ravenous birds can be frayed away by a look, we need not expend powder and shot.

It is true, open sinners deserve open censures; but private admonitions will best suit private offences. While we seek to heal a wound in our brother’s actions, we should be careful not to leave a scar upon his person. We give grains of allowance in all current coin. That is a choice friend, who conceals our faults from the view of others, and yet discovers them to our own. That medicine which rouses the evil humours of the body, and does not carry them off, only leaves it in a worse condition than it found it.

It must be lamented, that many are as lost to the softest tongue of reproof, as the deaf adder is to the sweet voice of the charmer: they are always administering the bitter pills of calumny, for the sweet cordials of charity. Men love to be adored, yet hate to be reproved. But how can we praise what they do, when they are so far from doing what is worthy to be praised?

How securely would David have slept, if Nathan had not been sent to rouse him! How far do many travel in the downward road, for want of a wholesome friend to stop them in their journey! Private admonition is rather a proof of benevolence, than of malevolence. It was the saying of Austin, when his hearers resented his frequent reproofs, ‘Change your conduct, and I will change my conversation.’ The more a serpent is stirred, the more he gathers up his poison.

Some are to reproof, as tigers are to drums; because they cannot stop them, they will tear their own flesh. Man is a cross creature, and cannot endure to be checked; he would have a Touch me not, written upon himself: but who would chide the dog for barking, when the thief is approaching?—Sin is like a nettle, which stings when it is gently touched, but hurts not when it is roughly handled. Beloved, this rough hewing of reproof, is but to square us for the celestial building. As for flatterers, they may be named the devil’s upholsterers; who no sooner see men troubled at their lusts, than they are for laying pillows under their elbows: but let such know, that their want of the fire of zeal, will be punished with the fire of hell. He is an unskilful limner, who paints deformities in the fairest colours.

Reprehension should tread upon the heels of transgression. The plaster should be applied as soon as the wound is received. It is easier to extinguish a flaming torch, than a burning house. Gentle medicine will serve for a recent distemper, but chronical diseases require powerful recipes.

The sword of reproof should be drawn against the offence, and not against the offender. Man thinks this cup is not sufficiently bitter, except he mingle it with his wormwood and gall. ‘But the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.’ The severest sentences of the church are not mortal, but medicinal. They are to raise the dead to life, and not to put the living to death.

Who knows how much the majesty of a reprover may tame the insolence of an offender? ‘He that hateth reproof is brutish.’ He is brutish, like an angry dog that snarls and bites while the festering thorn is being taken out of his foot; or like a vicious horse that strikes the groom while he is rubbing off the dirt.

‘If thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone; if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.’ The spaniel loses the prey, by barking at the game. The presence of a multitude makes a man take up an unjust defence, rather than lie down under a just shame. It is better to censure a man in private, than to spread his guilt by proclamation. How many do that in the market, which they should do in the closet! Sin is a miry depth; if we attempt to help others out, do not we sink them the deeper! Remember, tender lambs, though straying, must be gently returned to the fold.
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The Nonsuch Professor
12. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is,
To render the greatest good, for the greatest evil.

Mariners look for a storm at sea, when the waters begin to utter a murmuring noise. Theodosius the emperor, being urged to execute one who had reviled him, answered, ‘So far from gratifying your wish; were it in my power, if he were dead, I would raise him to life again; rather than, being alive, to put him to death.’

He makes a good market of bad commodities, who with kindnesses overcomes injuries. For a man to conquer another’s person, and be captivated by his own passions, is but to lose the palaceofa prince, to gain the cottage ofa peasant. A spark of fire falling in the ocean expires immediately; but dropping upon combustibles bums furiously. God has bound every believer in gospel cords to his good behaviour.

A carnal man may love his friends, but it is a Christian man that loves his enemies. ‘But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you.’ He calls to patience, who is patience itself; and he that gives the precept, enforces it by his own example. It is unnatural to hate them that love us; and it is supernatural to love them that hate us. A sinner can do much evil, but he can suffer none; a saint can suffer much evil, but he will do none.

He that takes up fire to throw at his adversaries, is in great danger of burning his own fingers. A gun ill charged, instead of hitting the mark, does but recoil on him that discharges it. He who glories in wounding others, will finally wound himself. If injuries be our enemies’ weapons, forgiveness should be ours. How many have had their blood seen, because they would not have their backs seen. Men’s actions towards others, are generally excused by others’ actions towards them. There is a twofold frenzy: that of the head, which deprives men of prudence; and that of the heart, which deprives them of their patience. To forget an injury, is more than nature can promise; but to forgive it, is what grace can perform. Patience affords us a shield to defend ourselves; but innocence denies us a sword to offend others. If ever you hope that your charity should live after you, then let resentment die before you.

It is written in the law of Mahomet, that God made angels of light, and devils of flame. Sure I am, that they are of hellish, constitutions, who play off the fire-works of contention. ‘Be ye angry, and sin not.’ Anger should not be a burning coal from Satan’s furnace; but a blazing coal from God’s altar. It should resemble fire in straw; which is as easily quenched, as suddenly kindled. He that would be angry and not sin, must be angry at nothing but sin. ‘Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil.’ He that carries passions to bed with him, will find the devil creep between the sheets; and why should we give place to him, who crowds in so fast himself?

0 man, shall thy life bemortal, and thy wrath immortal? Should we not give place to an offending brother, rather than to a designing murderer? How many are there who professto forgive, but cannot forget an injury! Such are like persons who sweep the chamber, but leave the dust behind the door. Whenever we grant our offending brethren a discharge, our hearts also should set their hands to the acquittance.

We should not only break the teeth of malice by forgiveness, but pluck out its sting by forgetfulness. To store our memories with a sense of injuries, is to fill that chest with rusty iron which was made for refined gold. The pot of malice should not stand upon the fire till it boils over. Christian, can you expect better treatment in the world, than he who was better than the world?

When Aristides, the Athenian general, sat to arbitrate a difference between two persons, one of them said, ‘This fellow accused thee at such a time.’ To whom Aristides answered, ‘I sit, not to hear what he has done against me, but against thee.’ How should a Christian shine, if a heathen give such light! ‘If therefore thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.’ Not the coals of vengeance to consumehim, but the coals of kindness to soften him.

Jesus was an intercessor both in his life and death; his dying breath was praying breath, and that not only for his sorrowful disciples, but for his enraged murderers also. ‘Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.’ Thus he gave them the best wine for the bitterest gall. The Lord Jesus spreads a large table every day, and the major part who feed thereat are his enemies. ‘The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the failing together; and a little child shall lead them.’ The Lord Jesus can both tame the most cruel beast, and quench the most raging lust.

None but a patient Christ can make us patient Christians. As our passions were the causeof his, so his passion ist he cure of ours. Reader, if you cannot forgive others, God will not forgive you. You have his own authority for this, ‘For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive your trespasses.’ In vain do we ask God to be pacified to us, while we live at variance with others. How can we expect to have pounds remitted to us, if pence are not remitted by us?

I have read of a person who imbrued his hands in his own blood, because they were too short to reach his enemy’s. Poor revenge! How repugnant was this to the apostolic advice, ‘Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath.’ This was the conduct of dying Stephen, ‘And he kneeled down, and prayed with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. Could living men do worse to a dying man, or a dying man pray better for living men?

To do evil for good, is human corruption; to do good for good, is civil retribution; but to do good for evil, is Christian perfection. Though this be not the grace of nature, yet it is the nature of grace.

When Shimei cursed David in his distress, Abishai was for an immediate retaliation: ‘Shall I take off the head of this dead dog, for why should he curse my lord the king?’ What was David’s answer? ‘So let him curse, because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David.’ He was so far from taking off his head, that he does not even attempt to shut his mouth. The shoulders of charity are able to carry the burden of injury, without either being moved with violence, or removed from patience.

Though God suffer not his people to sin in avenging their enemies, yet he suffers not the sin of their enemies to go unavenged. ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. ‘Anger resteth in the bosom of fools.’ Where there is the most indignation, there is the least discretion. No men do more readily brook insults from others, than such as have learned to despise themselves. Make not an enemy of your friend, by returning evil for good; but make a friend of your enemy, by returning him good for evil.
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The Nonsuch Professor
11. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is,
To be more afflicted at the distresses of the church, than affected at his own happiness.

When we suffer not from the enemies of Christ by persecution, we should then suffer for the friends of Christ by compassion. Let not Zion’s sons be rejoicing, while their mother is mourning. ‘Are not her breaches like the sea, and there is none to heal her?’ If her breaches be irreparable, our hearts should be inconsolable. It is observed of doves, that if one be sick, the other laments: yea, the savage beasts will mourn over the afflicted creatures of their own species; and shall that be lost among men, which is found among beasts? Christianity never was designed to strip men of humanity. Reader, can you see the church bleeding, and never ask balm for her wounds? How can you rejoice when she stands, if you do not mourn when she falls? It rejoiced impious Neroto see the Christians burning, but it should wound usto hearof it. The cruel massacre of the Judean infantswas a pleasant sight to bloody Herod.

We may justly prefer that charge against many nominal Christians, which God did against nominal Israel: ‘They drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.’

Many can weep a flood for the groans of a child, but they cannot drop a tear for the groans of the church. Their love to relations transcends their love to religion. He that has property on board the church’s ship, cannot but be alarmed at every storm. I conclude that to be a silver eye in the spiritual head, and a wooden leg in the spiritual body, ‘that is insensible to all its sorrows. That man who has no compassion for afflicted Christians, may rest persuaded that God will have no compassion on him. His language will be, ‘Depart ye cursed: for I was hungry, and ye fed me not; sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.’

The enemies of the church may toss her as waves, but they shall not split her as rocks. She may be dipped in water as a feather , but shall not sink therein aslead. He that is a well of water within her, to keep her from fainting, will also prove a wall of fire about her, to preserve her from falling. Tried she may be, but destroyed she cannot be. Her foundation is the Rock of Ages, and her defence the everlasting Arms. It is only such fabrics as are bottomed upon the sand, that are overthrown by the wind. The adversaries of God’s people will push at them as far as their horns will go; but when they have scoured them by persecution as tarnished vessels, then God will throw such wisps into the fire.

Many would rather see the church’s expiration, than her reformation: it would afford them more pleasure to find her nullified, than purified; for they suppose that happiness increases, in proportion as holiness decreases. Christians! when persecutors make long furrows upon the saint’s back, then we should cast in the seed of sympathetic tears. Saul made the Saviour feel, before he opened his commission to apprehend his members at Damascus: ‘Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?’ Thus the head cries out in heaven, while the toe is trod upon on earth.

Though Jesus Christ has altered his condition, yet he hath not changed his affection. Death took away his life for us, but not his love from us. He that washed away the blood of guilt from our hearts, will soon wipe away those briny tears that disfigure our cheeks. He who paid so great a price for our redemption, will not resign us into the hands of our cruel tormentors. ‘Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people, saith your God: speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned.’ If the Father of mercies thus proclaim pardon to returning prodigals, we may expect soon to hear of music and rejoicing among all the heavenly harpers.

When we see the church pledging her Beloved in the cup of affliction, we should then drink to her in the cup of consolation

A heavy burden may easily be borne by the assistance of many shoulders. Some are like Gallio; they care for none of those things: nay, when they should be sympathizers, they are censurers. They conclude that the gold is not good, because it is tried; and that the ground is naught, because it is ploughed. They wound those with the arrows of reproach, whom God has only corrected with the rod of reproof.

It is dangerous to smite those with our tongues, whom God has smitten with hishand. His right to correct is not ours. Because Christ sufferedfor transgressors, many numbered him with transgressors; but that was to give him the sharpest vinegar, when they should have given him the sweetest wine. ‘Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.’ Why David? ‘For they persecute them whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.’

Sympathy is a debt we owe to sufferers. For Christians to be rejoicing when their brethren are weeping, is like putting silver lace upona mourning suit. Our own particular losses and distresses resemble the extinguishing of a candle, which only occasions darkness in one room; but the general distresses of the church are like the eclipsing of the sun, which overshadows the whole hemisphere. Pliny informs us of two goats meeting together on a narrow bridge, where neither of them could either proceed or recede; at last one of them lay down, that the other might go over him. How much of the man was there in those beasts! and how much of the beast is there in some men!

It is certainly better to be in the humble posture of a mourner than in the proud gesture of a scorner. The woman of Canaan could not rest while her daughter was restless: the torture of one, was the torment of the other; but a word from Jesus relieved them both. Sympathy renders a doleful state more joyful. Alexander refused water in a time of great scarcity because there was not enough for his whole army.

It should be among Christians as among lute-strings, when one is touched the others tremble. Believers should neither be proud flesh nor dead flesh. Fellow members should ever have fellow feelings. Other men’s woes are our warnings:—their desolation should be our information.

Jeremiah suffered not in his own person, being under the protection of the divine Being; but though he dwelt securely from the hand of mortality, yet he was filled with the bowels of sympathy. Though he wrote of the Jews’ desolations , yet he named them Jeremiah’s Lamentations.
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The Nonsuch Professor
10. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is,
To seek to be better inwardly in, his-substance, than outwardly in appearance.

This is a business which no hypocrite chooses to be employed in; he prefers varnish to massy gold. It little concerns him how much the house be infected with the leprosy, so it be but outwardly fair to human inspection. He forgets that, ‘He is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit.’

Formality frequently takes its dwelling near the chambers of integrity, and so assumes its name; the soul not suspecting that hell should make so near an approach to heaven. A rotten post, though covered with gold, is more fit to be burned in the fire, than for the building of a fabric. Where there is a pure conscience, there will be a pure conversation. The dial of our faces does not infallibly shew the time of day in our hearts. The humblest looks may enamel the former, while unbounded pride governs the latter. Unclean spirits may inhabit the chamber, when they look not out at the window.

A hypocrite may be both the fairest and the foulest creature in the world; he may be fairest outwardly in the eyes of man, and foulest inwardly in the sight of God. How commonly do such unclean swans cover their black flesh with their white feathers! Though such wear the mantle of Samuel, they should bear the name of Satan.

Many appear righteous, who are only righteous in appearance; but while they are deceiving others with the false shews of holiness, they are also deceiving themselves with the false hopes of happiness. The hypocrite would not willingly seem evil, and yet would inwardly be so; he would fain be accounted good, and yet would not be so. 0 man, either appear what you are, or be what you appear! What will the form of godliness do for you, if you deny the power thereof? Own this or God will disown thee, Those who have the power of godliness, cannot deny the form; while those who have the form, may deny the power.

Hypocrites resemble looking-glasses, which present the faces that are not in them. Oh, how desirous are men to put the fairest gloves upon the foulest hands, and the finest paint upon the rottenest posts! To counterfeit the coin of heaven, is to commit treason against the King of heaven. Who would spread a curious cloth upon a dusty table?

If a mariner set sail in an unsound bottom, he may reasonably expect to lose his voyage. No wise virgin would carry a lamp without light. 0 professor, either get the latter, or part with the former! None are so black in the eyes of the Deity, as those who paint for spirit spiritual beauty,

Some persons are better in shew than in substance; but not so with true Christians: they are not like painted tombs, which enclose decayed bones. ‘The king’s daughter is all glorious within.’ She is all glorious within; though within is not all her glory. That is a sad charge which the God of truth brings against certain false professors, ‘I know the blasphemy of them who say they are Jews, and are not; but are the synagogue of Satan’ A false friend is worse than an open enemy. A painted harlot is less dangerous than a painted hypocrite. A treacherous Judas is more abhorred of God than a bloody Pilate.

Christians! remember the sheep’s clothing will soon be stripped from the wolf’s back. The velvet plaster of profession shall not always conceal the offensive ulcer of corruption. Neither the ship of formality nor hypocrisy will carry one person to the harbour of felicity. The blazing lamps of foolish virgins may light them to the Bridegroom’s gate, but not into his chamber. Either get the nature of Christ within you, or take not the honours of Christians upon you.

Oh what vanity is it to lop off the boughs, and leave the roots which can send forth more; or to empty the cistern, and leave the fountain running which can soon fill it again! Such may swim in the water as the visible church; but when the net is drawn to shore, they must be thrown away as bad fishes. Though the tares and the wheat may grow in the field together, yet they will not be housed in the granary together.

How pious and devout did the Pharisees appear before men! They concluded them to be the only saints upon earth. They judged the inward man by the outward; but not so with the heart-searching God; for, ‘He said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men, is abomination in the sight of God.’ That sepulchre is not always the repository of gold, which is outwardly garnished. Herod was a god in the esteem of the people, when he was but a fiend in the sight of the Lord: they adored him, he destroyed him.

A man’s conversation may be civilized, when his heart is not evangelized. There is as much difference between nature restrained and nature renewed, as between the glimmering of a glowworm and the splendour of the noonday sun. A bad man is certainly worst when he is seemingly best. We must not account every one a soldier, who swaggers with a sword. A rusty scymitar may frequently be found in a highly-trimmed scabbard.

What is it to have our hands as white as snow, if our hearts be as black as the bottomless pit? Such professors resemble curious bubbles, smooth and clear without, yet only filled with air.

A man may wear the Saviour’s livery, and yet be busied in Satan’s drudgery. The skin of an apple may be fair, when it is rotten at the core. Though all gold may glitter, yet all is not gold that glitters. The errantest hypocrite may have the colour of gold, but not the value of gold. What comparison is there between the gilt tun filled with air, and the homely vessel filled with generous wine?

Very few deceivers duly weigh that notable saying of the wise man, ‘He that walketh uprightly, walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.’ He that promises to cover the Christian’s infirmities, threatens also to disclose the anti-Christian’s impieties. Well would it be for such to remember that arch-traitor Judas, who purchased nothing by his deceitful dealings, but a halter for his body, in which he was hanged, and fire for his soul, in which he is burning,
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The Nonsuch Professor
09. Another singular action of a sanctified Christian, is,
To keep his heart the lowest, when God raises his estates the highest.

St. Paul saw the need of this, when he enjoined Timothy to charge those that were rich in this world, not to be high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches. Sinful arrogance usually attends creature confidence. Worldly wealthiness is a quill to swell the bladder of high-mindedness: for when men’s estates are lifted up, it is but too common for men’s hearts to be puffed up. Oh how fond is thin dust of thick clay! Pride breeds in great estates, as worms do in sweet fruits.

Remember, Christian, if you be poor in the world, you should be rich in faith; and if you be rich in this world, you should be poor in spirit. The way to ascend, is to descend; the deeper a tree roots, the wider do its branches spread. The sun of prosperity shines the clearest in the sphere of humility. The true nobility of the mind, consists in the humbleness of the mind. Consider, that as none have so little, but they have great cause to bless God; so none have so much, as to have the least cause to boast before God.

Shall the theatrical vagrant be proud of his borrowed robes, or the mud wall swell because the beams of a beautiful sun shine upon it? Gold in your bags may make you great; but it is grace in your hearts, which makes you good. Goodness, without greatness, shall be esteemed; when greatness, without goodness, shall be confounded. Proud sinners are the fittest companions for proud devils. The more prosperity man enjoys, the more humility God enjoins.

Nature teaches us, that those trees bend the most freely, which bear the most fully. As a proud heart loves none but itself, so it is beloved by none but itself. Who would attempt to gain those pinnacles, that none have ascended without fears, or descended without falls? It is recorded of Timotheus the Athenian, that when he was giving an account of his government and successes to the state, he frequently asserted with a vaunting air, ‘In this fortune had no hand.’ After this he never prospered, was quickly after disgraced, and died in exile. When men through daring pride cast off all allegiance to God, he in just derision casts them out from the inheritance of God. If we refuse to acknowledge him, he will refuse to acknowledge us.

It is reported of Philip of Macedon, that after having obtained the honour of an unexpected victory, he was observed to look very much dejected; on being asked the reason, he replied, ‘That the honours which were obtained by the sword, might also be lost by the sword.’ Was he pensive when Providence crowned him with victory? and shall we be vainly elated when Providence makes us wealthy? The supreme Majesty cannot suffer us to glory in any but himself; therefore, when we glory in our pride, he stains the pride of our glory. It is a difficult matter, to be grand in the estimation of others, and base in our own. The face of no mere man ever shone so illustriously as that of the ancient Jewish Lawgiver’s; and yet it is affirmed, that no man’s heart was ever so meek: but most men resemble chameleons, which no sooner take in the air, than they begin to swell.

As that is a rebellious heart, in which sin is allowed to reign; so that is not a very enlarged heart, which the world can fill. Alas, what will it profit us to sail before the pleasing gales of prosperity, if we be afterwards overset by the gusts of vanity? your bags of gold should be ballast in your vessel to keep her always steady, instead of being topsails to your masts to make your vessel giddy. Give me that distinguished person who is rather pressed down under the weight of all his honours, than puffed up with the blast thereof.

It has been observed by those who are experienced in the sport of angling, that the smallest fishes, bite the fastest. Oh, how few great men do we find so much as nibbling at the gospel hook! ‘I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the Lord, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.’ Mercy favoured them, but gratitude could not bind them.

When king James’s tutor lay upon his expiring pillow, his Majesty sent to enquire how he did: ‘Go tell,’ saith he, ‘my royal sovereign, that I am going where few kings go.’ The tree of life is not often planted in a terrestrial paradise. Under the Levitical law, the lamb and the dove were offered in sacrifice, when the lion and the eagle were rejected. The shining diamond of a great estate may frequently be found upon an unsound and idolatrous heart. Prosperity is not to be deemed the greatest security. The lofty unbending cedar is more exposed to the injurious blast than the lowly shrub. The little pinnace rides safely along the shore, while the gallant ship advancing is wrecked. Those sheep which have the most wool, are generally the soonest fleeced. Poverty is its own defence against robbery. A fawning world is worse than a frowning world. Who would shake those trees upon which there is no fruit?

Many think to be saved, because they are poor; and others, because they are rich; but these are all capitally mistaken; for numbers of the former are not saved, and not many of the latter will be saved. ‘Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called.’ You nobles, I call yon to see, that not many nobles are called. He does not say, ‘Not any,’ but ‘not many.’ Blessed be God, we can say of them, as Luther once said of Elizabeth, a pious queen of Denmark, ‘Christ will sometimes carry a queen to heaven.’ Rich men are choice dishes at God’s table.

Some people, when their estates are low, their hearts are high; but true believers, when their estates are high, their hearts are low. What an excellent commendation does the beloved prophet of Israel give the beloved prince of Israel! ‘Then went king David in, and sat before the Lord, and said, Who am I, 0 Lord God? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?’ The weighty clusters of mercy, completely bowed the branches of this royal vine. He does not contend with God for mercies denied; but he adores him for mercies granted. The eye of his humility views the grace of God, and then he is thankful: it also views the folly of his heart, and this makes him mournful.

Theodosius deemed it more honourable to be a member of the church, than a monarch of the world; and so did king David. Ah, what wilt thou set thy heart upon that which is not? For everything will come to nothing, but he who formed all things out of nothing. Many think it must go well with them hereafter, because it is so well with them here: as if silver and gold, which came out of the bowels of the earth, would carry them to the bosom of the God of heaven. Though the gates of heaven will open to admit the heaven-born soul, yet they are not unlocked with a golden key. A man may bask in the beams of prosperity now, and yet burn in the flames of eternity with infidels hereafter.

The worm of pride is always injurious to celestial plants: either this vice must be shut out on earth, or we shall be shut out in heaven. The bowing reed of an humble mind shall be preserved entire, while the sturdy oak of a proud lofty mind shall be broken to shivers. A proud person thinks everything too much that is done by him, and everything too little that is done for him. God is as far from pleasing him with his gifts, as he is from pleasing God with his works. Remember what the observant prophet Habakkuk declares, ‘Behold his soul which is lilted up in him is not upright.’ Observe, he introduces the subject with a Behold; he that lifts up himself, is not lifted up of God. I will not say, a good man is never proud; but I will say, a proud man is never good.
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The Nonsuch Professor
08. And lastly, the disciples of Christ do more than others,
Because they expect more than others.

A true hope of heaven, excites an utter dislike to the earth. ‘And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.’ Hope is too pure a plant to flourish or grow in an impure soil.

Reader, you must not look to toil for the prince of darkness, all the long day of your life, and then sup with the Prince of light at the evening of death. There is no going from Delilah’s lap, to Abraham’s bosom. It is not the tyrannic reign of sin in your mortal body, which makes way for the triumphant reign of your soul in eternal glory. Grace is such a pilot, as without its steerage you will certainly suffer shipwreck in your voyage to everlasting tranquillity.

There is no gaining admittance into the King of heaven’s privy chamber of felicity, without passing through the strait gate of purity. ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.’ A dusty glass will not distinctly represent the face. To look for a Turkish paradise, is to conceive of the heaven of purity as a house of impurity; but while they expect to bathe themselves in carnal pleasures, you should look to be the chaste and happy consort of the Lamb.

The Lord’s gratuitous bestowments on saints, awaken the grateful sentiments of saints. ‘Giving thanks unto the Father, who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.’ Men commonly season the vessel with water, before they trust it with costly wine. Thus God will season the vessel of your heart with his grace, before he pours into it the wine of his glory. It is hard to say, whether God discovers more love in preparing heavenly mansions for the soul, than in preparing the soul for heavenly mansions.

Reader, if the Lord has made you a true believer, you earnestly desire that your present deportment may be suitable to your future preferment. You know there is no living a vicious life, and dying a righteous death. As divine justice crushes none on earth before they are corrupted, so divine mercy crowns none in heaven before they are converted.

Holiness and happiness are so wisely joined together, that God will never suffer them to be put asunder: ‘Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.’ Though holiness be that which a sinner scorns, yet it is that which a Saviour crowns.

The soul of man is the Lord’s casket, and grace the jewel: now, wherever the jewel is not found, the casket will be thrown away. Though the wheat be for a garner, yet the chaff is for the fire. The Scripture presents you, not only, with an account of what God will do for a Christian, but also what a Christian will do for God.

The high prize of heavenly bliss, is at the end of the gospel race: ‘So run that you may obtain.’ To neglect the race of holiness, is to reject the prize of happiness. He that made you without your assistance, will not crown you till he has saved you from your disobedience.

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The Nonsuch Professor
07. The disciples of Christ do more than others,

Because they are appointed to be judges of others.

If you consult the Holy Scriptures, you will find that both the Father, the Son, and the saints are to judge the world. The ordination is the Father’s, the execution is the Son’s, and the approbation is the saints’. This shall no more derogate from the honour of Christ, than the sessions of the justices derogate from the authority of the judges.

When the apostle Paul would quash the sinful suits among the believing Corinthians, he informed them that they did not so much require men of eminence to terminate their controversy, as men of godliness. ‘Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? If you are to judge in causes between God and man, how much more in controversies between man and man?’ If about matters that are eternal; why not in affairs that are temporal?

Felons may be jovial in the prison, and bold at the bar; but they will tremble at the tree. When wicked men come like miserable captives out of their holes, the godly shall rise like an unclouded sun above the horizon of the grave.

There is a, cloud of witnesses to prove the Christian’s judicial process, —Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, ‘Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all.’ Again he saith, ‘When the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.’ Now the world judges the godly, but then the godly shall judge the world. The act of the head is imputed to the members, and the act of the members is acknowledged by the head.

Reader, in the great day there will be no distinction made between him who now sitteth on the bench, and him who standeth at the bar. Tell me, how will you be capable of passing a righteous sentence on others, for those evils which you have lived in the constant commission of? The true Christian can cordially subscribe to that ancient maxim, ‘Because I enjoy the greatest share of religious majesty, I am therefore entitled to the least share of licentious liberty.’ It was once said to Caesar, ‘Seeing all things are lawful to Caesar, therefore it is the less lawful for Caesar to do them.’

‘By faith Noah, being warned of God, prepared an ark, —by which he condemned the world.’ Noah’s believing set him to prosecute his building. Thus the sanctified Christian judges the world, both by his faith and his practice.

Christian reader, remember, that the gospel purity of your life, shews to worldlings the impurity of theirs. The usual prejudices which the world has against religion, is, that it makes no man better, though it may make some men stricter.

We too frequently behold that those who exclaim against the pride of others, are as proud as others. As they so constantly meet together, they are expected to be more godly; but they are not more godly for their meeting together. Take away their profession, and you take away their religion. They have nothing belonging to the sheep, but its skin.

Mark, how the God of Israel expostulates with the professing Israel of God, ‘Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.’ Here is a professing people, outdone by a people who made no profession. If heathens take up their gods, they will zealously keep up their gods. They were true to the false gods, while Israel was false to the true God.

‘Hear, 0 heavens, and be astonished, 0 earth!’ Why, what is the matter? ‘The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.’ God does not call in a jury of angels to condemn them; but he empannels a jury of oxen and asses, to pass sentence upon them. Alas, that oxen and asses should be more religious than men who professed religion! In their kind they are more kind. If their owners feed them, they readily own their owners.

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The Nonsuch Professor
06. Another reason why believers should do more than others, is,

Because if they do no more, it will appear that they are no more than others.

As there is no man so vicious, but some relative good may be performed by him to man; so there is no one so religious, but some evil may be committed by him against God. As one swallow does not prove the approach of summer, neither does one good action prove a man a believer. There is in every being a natural tendency to some centre. God is the centre of the saints, and glory is the centre of grace. Now where we do not discover that bias, we may deny the being.

Reader, would you be thought more than publicans and sinners? then beware of living as publicans and sinners. Jesus Christ gives you an excellent mirror in his memorable sermon upon the mount, for you to behold your own likeness in: ‘Ye shall know them by their fruits.’ There is no ascertaining the quality of a tree, but by its fruits. When the wheels of a clock move within, the hand on the dial will move without. When the heart of a man is sound in conversion, then the life will be fair in profession. When the conduit is walled in, how shall we judge of the spring, but by the waters which run through the pipes?

As a sinner will discover the good he wants; so a saint will shew the good he enjoys. When the sun dawns upon the earth, it is presently known; and when the Sun of righteousness arises upon the heart, it cannot be hid. It is said of the Saviour, that ‘he could not be hid.’ As it is with the head, so it is with the members: ‘Ye are the light of the world.—Let your light so shine among men, that they may see your good works.’ When Saul was made a sovereign, he had another spirit poured out upon him; a spirit of government, for a place of government: and when a sinner is made a saint, he has also another spirit poured out upon him. As he is what he was not, so he does what he did not.

It is reported of a harlot, that when she saw a certain person with whom she had committed folly, she renewed her enticements; to whom he replied, ‘I am not now what I once was.’ Though she was the same woman that she was before, yet he was not the same man he was before.

Were the sun to give no more light than a star, you could not believe he was the regent of the day; were he to transmit no more heat than a glow-worm, you would question his being; the source of elementary heat. Were God to do no more than a creature, where would his Godhead be? Were a man to do no more than a brute, where would his manhood be? Were not a saint to excel the sinner, where would his sanctity be?

Professor, if you live and walk as a worldling, you subject yourself to that apostolic rebuke, ‘Are ye not carnal, and walk as men?’ If men debase themselves as beasts, the Lord will nominate them beasts; and if Christians walk as men. God will call them men. There is no passing for current coin in heaven, without the stamp and signature of heaven.

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 Another reason why Christians should do more than others, is,
Because they are looked upon more than others.

If once a man commence a professor, the eyes of all are upon him; and well they may, for his profession in the world, is a separation from the world. Believers condemn those by their lives, who condemn them by their lips. Righteous David saw many who were waiting to triumph in his mistakes. Hence the more they watched, the more he prayed: ‘Teach me thy way, 0 Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.’ It may be rendered, ‘because of mine observers.’

Christian, if you dwell in the open tent of licentiousness, the wicked will not walk backward, like modest Shem and Japheth, to cover your shame; but they will walk forward, like cursed Ham, to publish it. Thus they make use of your weakness as a plea for their wickedness.

Men are merciless in their censures of Christians: they have no sympathy for their infirmity; while God weighs them in more equal scales, and says, ‘The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ While the saint is a dove in the eyes of God, he is only a raven in the estimation of sinners. Consider Christian, that an unholy conversation, strips off the rich ornamental jewels from the neck of the bride, the Lamb’s wife. Sin indulged in a believer, is like a rent in a richly embroidered garment; or like a crack in a silver bell. A foul spot is soonest discerned in the fairest cloth. The world will sooner make an excuse for its own enormities, than for your infirmities.

The behaviour of some professors has often given the wicked an opportunity to reproach religion. Lactantius reports, that the heathens were wont to say, ‘The master could not be good, when his disciples were so bad.’ The malice of sinners is such, that they will reproach the rectitude of the law, for the obliquity of their lives who swerve from it. 0 that your pure life, did but hang a padlock upon their impure lips! Such will ever be throwing the dirt of professors, upon the face of profession.

If the sun be eclipsed one day, it attracts more spectators than if it shone a whole year. So if you commit one sin, it will cause you many sorrows, and the world many triumphs. Dr. Whitaker, on reading the fifth of Matthew, brake out, saying, Aut hoc non est evangelium, aut nos non sumus evangelici,‘ either this is not the gospel, or we are not of the gospel.’ The cruelty of the Spaniards to the Indians, made them refuse Christian baptism, ‘For,’ said they, ‘he must be a wicked God, who has such wicked servants.’ 0 that God’s jewels did but sparkle more in this benighted world!

That was a glorious encomium given to Zacharias and Elizabeth: ‘And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.’ God made them both righteous, and then men saw them righteous. Their religion was undefiled before God and the Father: and their lives unspotted from the world.

Reader, would you be righteous in God’s sight? then you must be righteous in God’s Son. Would you be unspotted from the world? then remember, you are not of the world. When the godly are left to fall, then the envious sinner will exclaim, ‘There is your religion.’ No wonder if a Barbarian gives the alarm, when the leprosy is in an Israelitish house.
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There are plenty of things I believe are worth getting up and fighting for over, in the Christian religion. I am a great proponent for purity in worship and returning back to the churches glory days, where Christ reigned in his Church in the manner of which he is to be worshipped. For that reason, even if Providence did not prevent me attending Church, because of chronic illness, there would be very many churches that I could not in good conscience attend, believing I would be partaking of sin to do so just by being there.

However, in America, the Presbyterian church is much more visible than in England, we have 3 Reformed Presbyterian churches of the Scots covenanting tradition,  for the whole of England. But in America, Presbyterianism means different things, many of the Presbyterian churches are quite liberal, and I would call them deformed rather than reformed. If I was the other side of the pond, then in no way could I join myself to any of the Presbyterian churches that fit that description.

BUT, I also think one can have an air of being too exclusive. To make the terms of membership to a church something that many people would have a hard job to square with either conscience or logic as part of the terms of communion and if you do not subscribe to those things, then I think that is unnecessary dividing the house of God, and going further than Scripture warrants. And in doing so, just as those who have wandered away from the Reformed history they were bred from by dethroning God in the practice of worship, then there is the other extreme, of extra creedal and extra Biblical requirements, which is no less schismatic than the first group. The schism in the first group, many Reformed Presybterians who hold to Reformation attainments, , couldn’t join themselves to those churches who have wandered away from them, because it would go against their beliefs and in many cases conscience. It is the sin of those churches in dethroning Christ that causes the need to separate from them, as far as not being able to join with them in worship.

The same with the other end of the extreme. Though I believe they are probably fewer in numbers. Those  that have extra creedal and extra Biblical requirements for joining to their church, which is of course legalism, by adding requirements that God has not imposed, and binding people’s consciences to those requirements is a form of tyranny, because the conscience should be answerable only to the Lord, and not to the doctrines of men. Yet there are some, who hold to these extra creedal requirements for terms of communion. They come from within the Covenanter groups, yet I am a covenanter myself, but not one that will go further than Scripture does, whether its in the liberal way of the first group of “anything goes,” or the exclusivity and extra Biblical strictness of the second group, the steelite covenanters, who clearly go further than Scripture requires to be able to join yourself to their church. But the result of either group, the liberals or the extra creedal churches is schism and unnecessary division. And in the second group, an unhealthy exclusivism, that in no way would the Lord warrant or approve of.

Christ’s priestly prayer of John 17 speaks to me in a way that many other Scriptures don’t. It will move me to tears for the desire of his and what he wants to see for his church of brotherly unity. It’s also interesting, that John Knox, that was the very passage of Scripture on which he “first cast anchor,” and was responsible for his conversion. On his death-bed, he asked his wife to read him again the passage of where he had “first cast anchor,” and the whole priestly prayer of Christ was very dear to him, and I feel a great attachment to that passage myself.

There is a time for separation for the good of Christ and his church, but we should not unnecessarily rent his body apart, on trifles or without Biblical warrant to support the stance we are taking on whatever the matter may be.

I am reading a book by puritan William Ames, called “A Fresh suit against Human ceremonies in God’s worship” Volume one, as the subject of purity in worship, and Christ reigning in his church by what is allowed and what is not allowed in the Worship of God is a subject very dear to me. But despite that, I still don’t believe that there should ever be things from outside of Scripture that causes separation, division, or being set apart and exclusive. What God has joined together, let no man put asunder. This is a quote from the William Ames book mentioned above.

There is a.. sort of profound disputers in the world, who apprehending they reach to be beyond the reason and writings of other men, have out of the depth of their judgments, devised a way judiciously to deceive their own souls; and out of their pick-lock subtlety, count it easy to make way for themselves, and maintain their way in any question. And this they do by making a maze of divisions, and cut things in so many shreds, by multitude of distinctions, that at length they lose their cause, the truth, and themselves in the issue, and must of necessity bewilder the reader, unless he be of searching judgment: This kind of distinguishing is like snuffing of the candle that is too near, putting out the light wholly, while they intend to make the light burn more clearly: so do these men darken the truth, professing to discover more of it. When to avoid the dint of argument concerning significant ceremonies and worship, his distinctions are so many and intricate, that one member destroys another, and the true nature of worship also.

Whether the Pharisees in their ceremonies did not pretend more holiness than other men? However, these men, in who effect say to all other men, stand back, I am more holy than thou. [William Ames]

The Gospel and its message was not meant to be shut up and an exclusive club that one may not be good enough to partake of in the worship of God. That kind of exclusivity is both unhealthy and unbiblical. And it perhaps is self serving since in separation from the vast majority of other Christians, they have no obligations with or real sense of brother hood. If that were not true, you could join in their worship service any Lord’s Day of your choosing, in an official public worship setting at least. Yet the terms of communion would make it almost impossible for anyone logical or right minded to be able to subscribe to the terms, so you would not be able to.

The steelites have serious error I believe, and there is a bent of legalism amongst them. That’s not to say they still don’t have a lot of good things about their beliefs and practices, but I still believe the later to be true, and rather than just this post which gives thoughts without Biblical reasons of why, I shall at some later point in time, with the Lord’s assistance in both, discernment, and giving me the time to, address in more detail, with the reasons from Scriptures and creeds, of why it is wrong.

I think it is a very slippery slope actually, when one considers the fiascos at the Edmonton Church who were also like-minded, and they became more and more exclusive and continued to add thing after thing that had no Biblical warrant, to continue being part of their church. The result was, that the church at Edmonton imploded on itself.

However, just because they have some error, I believe at least, and I doubt I am alone in this belief, doesn’t mean one should throw the baby out with the bath water and ignore the good and focus on the bad, or erroneous, or to start bandying words such as cults about them as is commonly done. But I do think they are on a slippery slope. I am a covenanter, through and through. I am not a steelite Covenanter however.

A Fresh Suit Against Human Ceremonies in God's Worship Vol 1 by William Ames

The Nonsuch Professor

04. Another reason why Christians do more than others, is,
Because they are inwardly conformed to the image of their Redeemer more than others.

As Jesus Christ is the fountain of all excellency, to which all must come; so he is the pattern of excellency, to which all must conform. As he is the root on which a saint grows; so he is the rule by which a saint walks. God has made one Son in the image of us all, that he might make all his sons in the image of that one. Jesus Christ lived to teach us how to live, and died to teach us how to die. Therefore he commands us, saying’,‘ Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.’ 0 reader, if the life of Christ be not your pattern, the death of Christ will never be your pardon! Though the Lord Jesus was a man of many sorrows, yet he was not a man of the least sin. No man can equalize him in holiness; yet every man ought to imitate him in holiness.

As the sun is the glory of creation, so is Christ the glory of redemption. The summit of moral religion consists in imitating God: without this, your religion will be found a Tekel: when it is weighed in the balance, it will be wanting. It would be well if there were as great a similarity between the life of Christ and the life of Christians, as there is between a just copy and the original. What he was by nature, that we should be by grace. As face answereth to face in water, so should life answer to life in Scripture. He that was a way to others, never went out of the way himself.

A truly religious life, is a crystal glass; wherein Christ sees his own likeness. In our sacramental participations, we shew forth the death of Christ: but in our evangelical conversation, we shew forth the life of Christ. An excellent Christ, calls for excellent Christians. As he was never unemployed, he was never ill-employed. For, ‘he went about doing good.’ As our happiness lay near his heart, so his honour should lie near our hearts.

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03. Another reason why Christians do more than others, is, Because they profess more than others .

Though there be many professors who are not true believers; yet there are no true believers, but what are professors. As trees are known by their fruits, so believers are known by their works. Such as have received Christ’s bounty, are unwilling to fight under Satan’s banner.

There are many who ‘profess to know God, but in works deny him; being abominable, disobedient, and to every good work reprobate.’ Man is not what he says, but what he does. For a man to say what he does, and not to do what he says, is to resemble those trees which are full of leaves, but void of fruits; or those barns wherein there is much chaff, but no grain. ‘What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord.’

Ah, how intolerable will the punishment of those professors be, who have appeared as burnished gold to men, and are found only base metal in the sight of God! What will it profit, to put off the old manners, and not put off the old man? A snake may change its skin, and yet preserve its sting. The gospel professed, may lift a man unto heaven; but it is only the gospel possessed, that brings a man into heaven. To profess piety, and yet to practise impiety, will be so far from advancing a man’s commendation, that it will assuredly heighten his condemnation.

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The Nonsuch Professor
02. Another reason why Christians do more than others, is,
Because they stand in a nearer relation to God than others.

The nearer the relation, the stronger are the ties of obligation. In this view, believers on earth are superior to angels in heaven. Christ is related to these as a lord to his servants; but he is united to those as a head to its members. In this head, there are no glazed eyes, nor are there any withered or dead members in this body. While others are made of God, these are born of God. While others stand before him as prisoners before their judge, these appear before him as children before a father, and as a bride before a bridegroom. There are no stillborn children in the family of grace. God is the living Father, and therefore all his children live by him; he is also the everlasting Father, and therefore he will have due honour paid him. ‘For a son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear?’ As a father, he will be revered for his goodness; and as a master, he will be feared for his greatness.

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The Nonsuch Professor
01. One reason why Christians do more than others, is,
Because more is done for them than is done for others.

Am 3:2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

You only have I known of all the families of the earth

See JFB: Ho 13:5

PINK:
When God said to Israel, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth” (Am 3:2), it is evident that he meant, “You only had I any favourable regard to.” When we read in Ro 11:2 God hath not cast away his people (Israel) whom he foreknew,” it is obvious that what was signified is, “God has not finally rejected that people whom he has chosen as the objects of his love —cf. De 7:7-8. In the same way (and it is the only possible way) are we to understand Mt 7:23. In the day of judgment the Lord will say unto many, “I never knew you.” Note, it is more than simply “I know you not.” His solemn declaration will be, “I never knew you”—you were never the objects of my approbation. Contrast this with “I know (love) my sheep, and am known (loved) of mine” (Joh 10:14). The “sheep,” his elect, the “few,” he does “know;” but the reprobate, the non-elect, the “many” he knows not—no, not even before the foundation of the world did he know them—he “NEVER” knew them!

therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities

HENRY:
Idolatry is winked at among the Gentiles, but not in Israel.

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Decline idleness, the very rust and canker of the soul, the devil’s cushion, pillow, chief reposal; his very tide-time of temptation, as it were, wherein he carries with much ease, and without all contradiction, the current of our corrupt affections to any cursed sin. Be diligent, with conscience and faithfulness, in some lawful, honest, particular calling, (a good testimony, if other saving marks concur of truth, and true-heartedness, in thy general calling of Christianity) not so much to gather gold and engross wealth, as for necessary and moderate provision for family and posterity; and in conscience and obedience to that common charge, laid upon all the sons and daughters of Adam to the world’s end, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground,” Gen 3:19. 1. But ever go about the affairs of thy calling with a heavenly mind, seasoned and sanctified with habitual prayer, ejaculatory elevations, and willingness, if God so please, to be dissolved, and to be with Christ; filled with heavenly matter and meditation, picked out of the passages of thy present business. For instance, let the husbandman, in seedtime, collect this sacred soliloquy and heavenly thought:—If I now take not the season, I shall have no harvest, but starve in winter; so, proportionably, if I gather not grace in this sunshine of the gospel, and day of my visitation, I shall find nothing but horror upon my bed of death, and burn in hell for ever hereafter, etc. 2. In all the civil businesses of thy personal calling, let thy eye and aim be upon God’s glory, as the prime and principal end of allthy actions, 1 Cor 10:31, and in them seek and serve the glorious end of God’s honour, not so much in procuring thine own, as the good of the church, commonwealth, neighbours, and family. 3. By earthly employments do not become an earthworm. In using the world, grow not a worldling, and such a one as finds more sweetness and pleasure in worldly dealings, and the coming-in of thy profits, than in thy heavenly traffic and treasures through the practice and business of Christianity.
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The Nonsuch Professor
00III. The Nonsuch Professor
What do ye more than others?— Mt 5:47.

In a mountain the law was propounded to Moses, in a mountain the law was expounded by Jesus; the former to a man of God, the latter by the Son of God: the one to a prophet of the Lord, the other by the Lord of the prophets.

As the works of Christ were miraculous, so the words of Christ were mysterious; they were such a depth which none could sound but those whom God had furnished with the plummet of an enlightened understanding. Before any one can peruse the Scriptures to profit, the Lamb of God must open the seven seals.

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The Nonsuch Professor
00II. Recommendatory Note
Recommendatory Note

The Character described in this small volume, is unhappily a very uncommon one-the consistent Christian. It is drawn, more from the holy scriptures, than from living examples. Those persons, however, who are sincerely desirous of knowing and becoming such Christians, will derive advantage from a perusal of “Secker’s Nonsuch Professor..” It is written for men of plain sense, and is adapted to the taste of no other reader. It is a book of practical godliness. Without that show of criticism, which is attractive to the scholar, it explains and applies the word of God to the heart and life of man; and without formal didactic discussion, it is replete with sentiments corresponding with the analogy of faith.

There is nothing to amuse or gratify the reader of taste; neither is it calculated to comfort the religionist, who builds his hope of immortality upon party zeal, or upon the inward feelings of an indistinct and uncertain experience. Mr. Secker points to Jesus as the rock upon which the soul rests, and insist upon Good works as the only conclusive evidence, that the professor of religion can give of his having the faith of god’s elect. The style, though destitute of taste and elegance, is perspicuous and pointed. The attentive reader cannot mistake the meaning of the author. We recommend the book to those who are desirous of being humbled and sanctified, as an excellent help in their endeavours to live to him who died for them.

New York 1815

BY Alex. M’Leod, D.D. I.B. Romeyn, D.D.
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