I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. Psalme 122:1 (Geneva Bible)

The Principles of Christ’s Doctrine
Benjamin Keach (1640–1704)

epentance is wrought in my soul,.
And faith for to believe;
Whereby on Jesus I do roll,
And truly Him receive,
As my dread Lord and Sovereign,
Him always to obey,
And in things over me to reign,
And govern every day.

Christ’s baptism is very sweet,
With laying on of hands;
My soul is brought to Jesus’ feet,
In owning His commands.
These ordinances men oppose,
And count as carnal things.
I have closed with, and hold to those,
From theme rare comfort springs.

My precious Lord I must obey,
Though men reproach me still;
I’ll do whatever Christ doth say,
And yield unto His will.
On Christ alone I do rely,
Though men judge otherwise;
Because I can’t God’s truth deny,
I am reproached with lies.

Let them deride, yet for Christ’s sake,
Resolved now am I,
In his own strength the cross to take;
Yes, and for Him to die.
Because I’ll ever turn my back
On Him whom I do love;
For I do know, I shall not lack
His presence from above.

For He has promised to the end,
To me He will be near;
And be to me a faithful friend,
Which makes me not to fear
Whatever men of devils do
In secret place design;
He soon can them quite overthrow,
And help this soul of mine.

The resurrection of the dead
I constantly maintain;
When all those which lie buried
shall rise to life again,
And at the judgment day will come,
When Christ upon the throne,
Shall pass a black eternal doom
Upon each wicked one.

But all the saints then joyfully
With bowels He’ll embrace,
And crowns to all eternity
Upon their heads will place.
And in Thy kingdom shall the reign,
Prepared long before,
And also shall with Christ remain
In bliss forevermore.

The sun doth now begin to shine,
And breaketh forth yet more and more;
Mere darkness was that light of mine,
Which I commended heretofore.
I was involved in my sin,
Had day without, but night within.

My former days I did compare
Unto the sweet and lovely spring;
I thought that time it was as rare,
As when chirping birds do sing:
But I was blind, for now I see
There was no Spirit nor life in me.

My spring it was in winter time;
Yet like the midst of cold December,
The sun was gone out of my clime;
And also I do now remember,
My heart was cold as any stone,
My leaves were off, my sap was gone.

God is a sun, a shield also;
The glory of the world is He:
True light alone from Him doth flow,
And He has now enlightened me.
The sun doth His sweet beams display,
Like to the dawning of the day.

How precious it is the see the sun,
When in the morning it doth rise,
And shineth in our horizon,
To purify the clouded skies!
The misty fogs by His strong light
Are vanished quite out of sight.

Thus doth the Lord in my poor heart,
By His strong beams and glorious rays,
The light from darkness clearly part,
And make in me rare shining days:
Though fogs appear, and clouds do rise,
He doth expel them from mine eyes.

Were there no glorious lamp above,
What dark confusion would be there!
If God should quite the sun remove,
How would the seamen do to steer?
My soul’s the world, and Christ’s the sun;
If He shines not, I am undone.

In winter things hang down their head,
Unto Sol’s beams do them revive;
So I in sin lay buried,
Till Jesus Christ made me alive.
Alas, my heart was ice and snow,
Till sun did shine and winds did blow.

Until warm gales of heavenly wind
Did sweetly blown, and sun did dart
Its light in me, I could not find
No heart within my inward part.
Then blow thou wind, and shine thou sun,
To make my soul a lively one.

In natural men there is a light,
Which for their sins doth them reprove;
And yet they are but in the night,
And not renewed from above.
The moon is given--it is clear--
To guide men who in darkness are;

The sun for brightness doth exceed
The stars of heaven, or the moon;
Of them there is but little need,
When sun doth shine toward high noon;
Just so the gospel doth excel
The law God gave to Israel.

All those who do the gospel slight,
And rather have a legal guide,
The sun’s not risen in their sight,
And therefore ’tis that they deride
Those who commend the gospel sun,
Above the light in every one.

Degrees of light they do perceive,
Some of them weak, and others strong;
That which is saving none receive,
But those unto whom Christ belong;
Yet doth each light serve for the end,
For which to man God did it send.

—from Worthy Is the Lamb (Soli Deo Gloria, 2004).

salme 139 (Geneva Bible)
To him that excelleth. A Psalme of David.

1 O Lord, thou hast tried me and knowen me.
2 Thou knowest my sitting and my rising: thou vnderstandest my thought afarre off.
3 Thou compassest my pathes, and my lying downe, and art accustomed to all my wayes.
4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but loe, thou knowest it wholy, O Lord.
5 Thou holdest mee straite behinde and before, and layest thine hand vpon me.
6 Thy knowledge is too wonderfull for mee: it is so high that I cannot attaine vnto it.
7 Whither shall I goe from thy Spirite? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?
8 If I ascende into heauen, thou art there: if I lye downe in hell, thou art there.
9 Let mee take the winges of the morning, and dwell in the vttermost parts of the sea:
10 Yet thither shall thine hand leade me, and thy right hand holde me.
11 If I say, Yet the darkenes shall hide me, euen the night shalbe light about me.
12 Yea, the darkenes hideth not from thee: but the night shineth as the day: the darkenes and light are both alike.
13 For thou hast possessed my reines: thou hast couered me in my mothers wombe.
14 I will praise thee, for I am fearefully and wonderously made: marueilous are thy workes, and my soule knoweth it well.
15 My bones are not hid from thee, though I was made in a secret place, and facioned beneath in the earth.
16 Thine eyes did see me, when I was without forme: for in thy booke were all things written, which in continuance were facioned, when there was none of them before.
17 Howe deare therefore are thy thoughtes vnto me, O God! how great is ye summe of them!
18 If I should count them, they are moe then the sand: when I wake, I am still with thee.
19 Oh that thou wouldest slay, O God, the wicked and bloody men, to whom I say, Depart ye from mee:
20 Which speake wickedly of thee, and being thine enemies are lifted vp in vaine.
21 Doe not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and doe not I earnestly contend with those that rise vp against thee?
22 I hate them with an vnfained hatred, as they were mine vtter enemies.
23 Try mee, O God, and knowe mine heart: prooue me and know my thoughtes,
24 And consider if there be any way of wickednes in me, and leade me in the way for euer.

ecommended
Sermons

Bret Capranica
Steve Weaver
Phillip M. Way
Jason Robertson
John MacArthur
Phil Johnson & Don Green
David Legge
David Strain
R.C. Sproul

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lorde Jesus Christ.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. Psalme 122:1 (Geneva Bible)

GOD AND MYSELF

Lord God Almighty,

hy understanding is unreachable and infinite,
Thy arm cannot be stayed,
Thy agency extends through limitless space,
All works hang on thy care,
With thee time is present now.

Holy is thy wisdom, power, mercy ways, works.
How can I stand before thee
with my numberless and aggravated offences?
I have often loved darkness,
observed lying vanities,
forsaken thy given mercies,
trampled underfoot thy beloved Son,
mocked thy providences,
flattered thee with my lips,
broken thy covenant.
It is of thy compassion that I am not consumed.
Lead me to repentance, and save me from despair;
Let me come to thee renouncing, condemning,
loathing myself,
but hoping in the grace that flows
even to the chief of sinners.
At the cross may I contemplate the evil of sin,
and abhor it,
look on him whom I pierced,
as one slain for me, and by me.
May I never despise his death by fearing
its efficacy for my salvation.
And whatever cross I am required to bear,
let me see him carrying a heavier.
Teach me in health to think of sickness,
in the brightest hours to be ready for darkness;
in life prepared for death.
Thus may my soul rest in thee, O immortal
and transcendent one,
revealed as thou art in the Person and work
of thy Son,
the Friend of sinners.

—from The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett, editor (Banner of Truth Trust, 2002).

salme 146 (Geneva Bible)

1 Praise ye the Lord. Praise thou the Lord, O my soule.
2 I will prayse the Lord during my life: as long as I haue any being, I wil sing vnto my God.
3 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the sonne of man, for there is none helpe in him.
4 His breath departeth, and he returneth to his earth: then his thoughtes perish.
5 Blessed is he, that hath the God of Iaakob for his helpe, whose hope is in the Lord his God.
6 Which made heauen and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth his fidelitie for euer:
7 Which executeth iustice for the oppressed: which giueth bread to the hungry: the Lord loseth the prisoners.
8 The Lord giueth sight to the blinde: the Lord rayseth vp the crooked: the Lord loueth the righteous.
9 The Lord keepeth the strangers: he relieueth the fatherlesse and widowe: but he ouerthroweth the way of the wicked.
10 The Lord shall reigne for euer: O Zion, thy God endureth from generation to generation. Prayse ye the Lord.

ecommended
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Michael Beasley
Bret Capranica
Steve Weaver
Phillip M. Way
Jason Robertson
John MacArthur
Phil Johnson
David Legge
David Strain
R.C. Sproul

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lorde Jesus Christ.

I have become increasingly interested lately in the history of the Church and in the lives and writings of the pastors and theologians to whom we owe our great heritage. Among the books I have had my eye on recently is Devoted to the Service of the Temple: Piety, Persecution, and Ministry in the Writings of Hercules Collins, which I discovered at Pastor Steve Weaver's Blog (Steve is co-editor). (Who can resist Reformed Baptist theology from a guy named "Hercules"?) Steve has become one of my favorite Bible expositors (listen here), so whatever he is reading is of interest to me. Pastor Weaver has provided the following information on the new book:

The new book exploring the spirituality of 17th century Baptist pastor Hercules Collins is now in stock at Reformation Heritage Books and available for order online here.

Description:

While largely forgotten in modern times, Hercules Collins (1646/7-1702) was highly influential among the late 17th and early 18th century Calvinistic Baptists of London. Through a biographical sketch and 35 sample selections collected from Collins's writings, Michael A. G. Haykin and Steve Weaver introduce us to the vibrant spirituality of this colossal figure.

Product Details:

ISBN: 9781601780225
FORMAT: Paperback, 160 pages
RETAIL PRICE: $10.00

Commendations:

"Hercules Collins is one of the great figures from our Baptist heritage—a pastor who suffered much for the cause of Christ and left a great legacy for generations that followed. There is something especially compelling about the witness of a man who was oppressed and imprisoned for his faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. The witness of Hercules Collins as pastor, prisoner, and preacher is worthy of the closest attention in our own times. We are indebted to Michael Haykin and Steve Weaver for bringing Hercules Collins to life for a new generation." —R. ALBERT MOHLER, JR.

"The secret of Collins's courage and strength lay in his relationship with the Lord Christ. The enormous contemporary value of reading his life and writings is not just in its exposition of his evangelistic methodology, and its indirect comments on today's broader theological scene, but in the inspiration it gives to the heart of each Christian for growth in grace and deeper spirituality." —GEOFF THOMAS

"We are indebted to Michael Haykin and Steve Weaver for these carefully chosen selections …. For too long Baptists have had little access to the richness of their theological tradition. We have a great past, and many able servants have given their lives to the cause of our churches, and yet so few of their works have been reprinted. This book continues a very encouraging recent trend, in which the best works are being restored to print. May the Lord bless this book, and the efforts of its editors." —From the FOREWARD by JAMES M. RENIHAN

Authors:

MICHAEL A. G. HAYKIN is Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky & Research Professor of Irish Baptist College, Constituent College of Queen's University Belfast, N. Ireland.

STEVE WEAVER is the pastor of West Broadway Baptist Church in Lenoir City, Tennessee.

Previews:

Front Cover
Back Cover
Foreward by James Renihan
Excerpt #1: "God is the Gospel"
Excerpt #2: "Plain Preaching"

Jonathan Moorhead has tagged me to identify my worst and best post, a post on which I have changed my mind, and my most-commented-on post. So here they are:

Thirsty Theologian Worst post: I wrote a short post quite a while back on limited atonement that I disliked so much that I unpublished it. It was actually not a bad post. It was very Biblical, logical, and made its point quite well. Unfortunately, the point it made so well was not the point it claimed to make concerning the doctrine of limited atonement. In fact, according to its stated purpose, it was quite lame. I might, one day, republish it with a new title and introduction. Then it will be as brilliant as I originally thought it was.

Thirsty Theologian Best post: Saddam and I: Equally Unrighteous. See me in a rare moment of humility.

Thirsty Theologian Changed His Mind Post: None that I can recall. Yes, I am set in my ways. I have changed my mind on a few things since I began blogging, just not anything I’ve spouted off on here. One would be Modalism. I used to believe that Modalists were simply in error, but still genuine believers. I no longer believe that. Sorry, Bishop Jakes. Repent and believe, for the remission of your sins!

Thirsty Theologian Most Comments Post: I don’t know. Probably one in the God Gave C₂H₆O series. Controversy sells—better than beer.

“Tagged for humiliation” (Jonathan’s phrase):
• James White (because I would love to know if he’s ever changed his mind)
• Jason Robertson (because he needs another chance to rant about eschatology)
• Tim Challies (because he has never, ever, responded to a tag and I want to see if I can break his iron will)
• Brian Thornton (because he tagged me once, and it’s payback time)

After receiving several books for review purposes, I have learned a couple of things. First, I would rather choose my own books. Second, I don’t like reading books for the purpose of reviewing them. I would rather read for my own education and edification. My hope is that this will benefit some beyond myself. With that said, I hope you’ll understand if this is not a particularly well-written review. It is, after all, my first book review, as well.

The Grand Weaver: How God Shapes Us through the Events of Our Lives is the first book I have read by Ravi Zacharias. I had, of course, heard of him as an author, apologist, and conference speaker. By all reliable accounts, he is fairly sound theologically, and well spoken of by others whose work I do know and respect; so my expectations going into this book were high. Perhaps those high expectations colored my thinking as I read and made me too susceptible to disappointment, and disappointed I was. I want to state clearly that this is not a bad book. It simply did not, in my opinion, demonstrate biblically “how God shapes us through the events of our lives.”

Throughout the book, especially in the first half, Dr. Zacharias depends on anecdotes that illustrate the providential hand of God in directing our lives. These stories, for the most part, serve that purpose well, although, at times, I wondered if Zacharias was not leaning a bit too far toward the mystical. Too little was added by the author, however, to draw that conclusion—and that is a major complaint I have about this book. Have you ever had a conversation with someone who drops the ends of sentences and, with a meaningful look, expects you to get it? That’s how I felt reading this book. Zacharias would almost make his point, and then offer an anecdote, poem, or quote intended to convey the message. It was like . . . you know?

The second half of the book contains two chapters that are really quite good and could easily stand alone, Your Will Matters and Your Worship Matters. The following quote from the latter is the kind of solid, straight-forward writing that is lacking elsewhere in the book:

Teaching must become the center of worship again, and the ideas that shape our expressions must be biblically induced and shaped. I am not for a moment suggesting that right teaching will guarantee a throbbing, lively church. It may not. But I am suggesting that displaced and misplaced teaching will guarantee a heretical church.

The message of the book is that God is directing the circumstances and events of your life to make you who he wants you to be, and that you will never see this until you begin to look at your life from his perspective. And that’s an important message. It is a message that is conveyed, after a fashion, through the stories in this book. I only wish it had been conveyed more through biblical exposition.

You may enjoy the style of this book. I didn’t. If you are easily moved by poignant stories, this book is for you. If you are a pastor looking for fresh illustrations to spice up your sermons, this book might be for you. However, if you are looking for a biblical exposition of the sovereignty and providence of God, this is not that book.

Congratulations to Rey and Mrs. Rey of the Bible Archive, who have "gotten a man from the Lord." It's always a blessing to see a child born into a home where Christ is Lord and the Bible is taught. God bless you and enable you to bring him up "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."

Devoted to the Service of the Temple: Piety, Persecution, and Ministry in the Writings of Hercules Collins is a collection of the writings of seventeenth-century Particular Baptist pastor Hercules Collins edited by Dr. Michael Haykin and Pastor Steve Weaver. At 139 pages, including a bibliography, it is a short, easy read, but one that is packed full of rich pastoral theology.

The book begins with a thirty page introduction, providing a brief biography of Hercules Collins and the historical setting of his writings, followed by thirty-five short chapters, which are excerpts of his writings. This book can easily be read in one sitting, as I did, or one chapter (2–3 short pages) a day, as a devotional. In fact, one would be hard pressed to find such rich theology in any devotional book written today.

We owe considerable gratitude to Dr. Haykin and Pastor Weaver for bringing us this collection of writings from this great, though lesser known, “dead theologian.” I heartily recommend it to you, and leave you with this quote from chapter five, titled God is the Gospel:

There are many good objects in heaven and earth besides thee. There are angels in heaven and saints on earth. But, soul, what are these to thee? Heaven, without thy presence, would be no heaven to me. A palace without thee, a crown without thee, cannot satisfy me. But with thee can I be content, though in a poor cottage. With thee I am at liberty in bonds. . . . [I]f I have thy smiles, I can bear the world’s frowns. If I have spiritual liberty in my soul that I can ascend to thee by faith and have communion with thee, thou shalt choose thy portion for me in this world, “For in the multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul.”

Devoted to the Service of the Temple is available to purchase from Reformation Heritage Books.

From The Hidden Smile of God by John Piper:

The fruit of William Cowper’s affliction is a call to free ourselves from trite and chipper worship. If the Christian life has become the path of ease and fun in the modern West, then corporate worship is the place of increasing entertainment. The problem is not a battle between contemporary worship music and hymns; the problem is that there aren’t enough martyrs during the week. If no solders are perishing, what you want on a Sunday is Bob Hope and some pretty girls, not the army chaplain and a surgeon.
   Cowper was sick. But in his sickness he saw things that we so desperately need to see. He saw hell. And sometimes he saw heaven. He knew terror. And sometimes he know ecstasy. When I stand to welcome the people to worship on Sunday morning, I know that there are William Cowpers in the congregation. There are spouses who can barely talk. There are sullen teenagers living double lives at home and school. There are widows who still feel the amputation of a fifty-year partner,. There are single people who have not been hugged for twenty years. There are men in the prime of their lives with cancer. There are moms who have risked all for Jesus and bear the scars. There are tired and discouraged and lonely struggles. Shall we come to them with a joke?
   They can read the comics every day. What they need from me is not more bouncy, frisky smiles and stories. What they need is a kind of a joyful earnestness that makes the broken heart feel hopeful and helps the ones who are drunk with trifles sober up for greater joys.

—John Piper, The Hidden Smile of God, 167.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. Psalme 122:1 (Geneva Bible)

HYMN 12. (C. M.)
Free grace in revealing Christ. Luke x. 21.
by Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

esus, the man of constant grief,
A mourner all his days;
His spirit once rejoiced aloud,
And tuned his joy to praise:

“Father, I thank thy wondrous love,
That hath revealed thy Son
To men unlearned, and to babes
Has made thy gospel known.

“The mysteries of redeeming grace
Are hidden from the wise,
While pride and carnal reasonings join
To swell and blind their eyes.”

Thus doth the Lord of heav’n and earth
His great decrees fulfil,
And orders all his works of grace
By his own sovereign will.

—The Psalms & Hymns of Isaac Watts. Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Book I: Collected from the Holy Scriptures (Soli Deo Gloria, 1997).

salme 3 (Geneva Bible)
A Psalme of Dauid, when he fled from his sonne Absalom.

1 Lord, howe are mine aduersaries increased? howe many rise against me?
2 Many say to my soule, There is no helpe for him in God. Selah.
3 But thou Lord art a buckler for me: my glory, and the lifter vp of mine head.
4 I did call vnto the Lord with my voyce, and he heard me out of his holy mountaine. Selah.
5 I layed me downe and slept, and rose vp againe: for the Lord susteined me.
6 I will not be afrayde for ten thousand of the people, that should beset me round about.
7 O Lord, arise: helpe me, my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies vpon the cheeke bone: thou hast broken the teeth of the wicked.
8 Saluation belongeth vnto the Lord, and thy blessing is vpon thy people. Selah.

ecommended
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Bret Capranica
David Legge
David Strain
Jason Robertson
John MacArthur
Mark Loughridge
Michael Beasley
Phil Johnson
Phillip M. Way
R.C. Sproul
Steve Weaver

Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lorde Jesus Christ.

In his Preface to The Roots of Endurance, John Piper wrote:

   As I write this Preface I have just preached to my people several messages in which I pleaded with them to be “coronary Christians,” not “adrenal Christians.” Not that adrenaline is bad, I said; it gets me through lots of Sundays. But it lets you down on Mondays. The heart is another kind of friend. It just keeps on serving—very quietly, through good days and bad days, happy and sad, high and low, appreciated and unappreciated. It never says , “I don’t like your attitude, Piper , I’m taking the day off.” It just keeps humbly lub-dubbing along. It endures the way adrenaline doesn’t.
   Coronary Christians are like the heart in the causes they serve. Adrenal Christians are like adrenaline—as spurt of energy and then fatigue. What we need in the cause of social justice (for example, against racism and abortion), and the cause of world missions (to plant churches among the unreached peoples of the world), and the cause of personal holiness and evangelism (to lead people to Christ and love them no matter what) is not spurts of energy, but people who endure for the long haul. Marathoners, not sprinters.

—John Piper, The Roots of Endurance, 11-12

Jonathan Moorhead recently asked (although I have searched in vain to find it on his blog, I’m sure it was he*) what epitaph we would like on our grave. I think I’ve found mine.

John Newton died on December 21, 1807, at the age of eighty- two. A month previously he wrote:

It is a great thing to die; and, when flesh and a heart fail, to have God for the strength of our hearts, and our portion forever. I know whom I have believed, and he is able to keep that which I have committed against that great day. Hence forth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the lord, the righteous judge, shall give me that day.

—Quoted in The Roots of Endurance by John Piper, 52.

This is one of those blog posts about blogging that I rarely read when others post them. Your time would be better spent clicking through.

Are they gone yet? OK, those of you who have nothing better to do and are still sitting in your parent's basement reading this, maybe you can answer a question. How does this Truth Laid Bear thing work? Does anyone know?

Back when I started blogging (May 2005), I was as much of a stats nerd as anyone. I registered my blog at truthlaidbear.com and joined the Blogdom of God (a title that seems hopelessly crass now) and the League of Reformed Bloggers. I watched my status—I think I acheived "Maurading Marsupial"—and got excited whenever I jumped a level. However, by the time I moved from thethirstytheologian.blogspot.com to thirstytheologian.com, I no longer cared. I didn't update my URL on any of those aggregators (I can't even remember my log-in at TTLB if I wanted to).

Yesterday, on a whim, I went to TTLB to check my status. I'm at 7698, right in the middle of the "Slithering Reptiles," in the neighborhood of, and even above, a couple of very fine blogs that I can't match for quality now, and certainly never did at that URL. 7698 out of 100,000+ blogs.

Folks, in case you've missed this point, this is not thirstytheologian.com I'm talking about. This is my abandoned blogspot blog. I am mystified. I know they haven't followed me here (could they do that?) because I get two to three times the traffic here that I ever got there, and about five times as many blogs link here, so whatever they go by, that doesn't fit.

I don't get it. Is TTLB as meaningless and useless as I think it is?

Another quote from John Piper:

   When [John Newton] wrote his Narrative in the early 1760s he said, “I know not that I have ever since met so daring a blasphemer.” The hymn we know as “Amazing Grace” was written to accompany a New Year’s sermon based on 1 Chronicles 17:16, “Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, ‘Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?’”

Amazing grace!—how sweet the sound—
That saved a wretch like me,
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.

   The effect of this amazement is tenderness toward others. “[The ‘wretch’ who has been saved by grace] believes and feels his own weakness and unworthiness, and lives upon the grace and pardoning love of his Lord. This gives him an habitual tenderness and gentleness of spirit. Humble under a sense of much forgiveness to himself, he finds it easy to forgive others.”
   He puts it in a picture:

A company of travelers fall in to a pit: one of them gets a passenger to draw him out. Now he should not be angry with the rest for falling in; nor because they are not yet out, as he is. He did not pull himself out: instead, therefore, of reproaching them, he should show them pity. . . . A man, truly illuminated, will no more despise others, than Bartimaeus, after his own eyes were opened, would take a stick, and beat every blind man he met.

   Glad-hearted, grateful lowliness and brokenness as a saved “wretch” was probably the most prominent root of Newton’s habitual tenderness with people.

—John Piper, The Roots of Endurance, 72-73.

I reioyced, when they sayd to me, We wil go into the house of the Lord. Psalme 122:1 (Geneva Bible)

I Rest in Thee
Augustus Toplady (1740–1778)

h, may I never rest,
Till I find my rest in Thee;
Till of my pardon here possessed,
I feel Thy love to me!
Unseal my darkened eyes,
Unfettered feet unbind,
The lame shall, when Thou say, “Arise,”
Run swifter than the hind.

Oh, draw the alien near,
Bend the obdurate neck,
Oh, melt the flint into a tear ,
And teach the dumb to speak;
Turn not thy face away,
Thy look can make me clean;
Me in thy wedding robe array,
And cover all my sin.

Tell me, my God, for whom
Thy precious blood was shed;
For sinners, Lord, such as I come,
For such the Saviour bled.
Then raise a fallen wretch,
Display Thy grace in me!
I am not out of mercy’s reach,
Not too far gone for thee.

Thou quickly wilt forgive,
My Lord will not delay;
Jesus, to Thee the time I leave,
And wait the accepted day.
I now rejoice in hope
That I shalt be made clean;
Thy grace shall surely lift me up
Above the reach of sin.

Hast Thou not died for me,
And called me from below!
Oh, help me to lay hold on Thee,
And never to let Thee go!
Though on the billows tossed,
My savior I’ll pursue;
Awhile submit to bear his cross,
Then share his glory too.

—from Worthy Is the Lamb (Soli Deo Gloria, 2004).

salme 10
(Geneva Bible)

1 Why standest thou farre off, O Lord, and hidest thee in due time, euen in affliction?
2 The wicked with pride doeth persecute the poore: let them be taken in the craftes that they haue imagined.
3 For the wicked hath made boast of his owne heartes desire, and the couetous blesseth himselfe: he contemneth the Lord.
4 The wicked is so proude that hee seeketh not for God: hee thinketh alwayes, There is no God.
5 His wayes alway prosper: thy iudgements are hie aboue his sight: therefore defieth he all his enemies.
6 He saith in his heart, I shall neuer be moued, nor be in danger.
7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceite and fraude: vnder his tongue is mischiefe and iniquitie.
8 He lieth in waite in the villages: in the secret places doeth hee murder the innocent: his eyes are bent against the poore.
9 He lyeth in waite secretly, euen as a lyon in his denne: he lyeth in waite to spoyle the poore: he doeth spoyle the poore, when he draweth him into his net.
10 He croucheth and boweth: therefore heaps of the poore doe fall by his might.
11 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten, he hideth away his face, and will neuer see.
12 Arise, O Lord God: lift vp thine hande: forget not the poore.
13 Wherefore doeth the wicked contemne God? he saith in his heart, Thou wilt not regard.
14 Yet thou hast seene it: for thou beholdest mischiefe and wrong, that thou mayest take it into thine handes: the poore committeth himselfe vnto thee: for thou art the helper of the fatherlesse.
15 Breake thou the arme of the wicked and malicious: searche his wickednes, and thou shalt finde none.
16 The Lord is King for euer and euer: the heathen are destroyed foorth of his land.
17 Lord, thou hast heard the desire of the poore: thou preparest their heart: thou bendest thine eare to them,
18 To iudge the fatherlesse and poore, that earthly man cause to feare no more.

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Grace be with you, and Peace from God our Father, and from the Lorde Jesus Christ.

John Piper on William Wilberforce:

   But he was practical with a difference. He believed with all his heart that new affections for God were the key to morals and lasting political reformation. And these new affections and this reformation did not come from mere ethical systems. They came from what he called the “peculiar doctrines” of Christianity. For Wilberforce, practical deeds were born in “peculiar doctrines.” By that term he simply meant the central distinguishing doctrines of human depravity, divine judgment, the substitutionary work of Christ on the cross, justification by faith alone, regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and the practical necessity of fruit in all life devoted to good deeds.

The Fatal Habit of Nominal Christians

He wrote his book [A Practical View of Christianity] to show that the “bulk” of Christians in England were merely nominal because they had abandoned these doctrines in favor of a system of ethics and had thus lost the power of ethical life and the political welfare. He wrote:

The fatal habit of considering Christian morals as distinct from Christian doctrines insensibly gained strength. Thus the peculiar doctrines of Christianity went more and more out of sight, and as might naturally have been expected, the moral system itself also began to wither and decay, being robbed of that which should have supplied it with life and nutriment.

   He pled [sic] with nominal Christians of England not to turn “their eyes from the grand peculiarities of Christianity, [but] to keep these ever in view, as the pregnant principles whence all the rest must derive their origin, and receive their best support.”
   Knowing that Wilberforce was a politician all his adult life, who never lost an election from the time he was twenty-one years old, we might be tempted to think that his motives were purely pragmatic—as if he should say, “If Christianity works to produce the political welfare, then use it.” But that is not the spirit of his mind or his life. In fact, he believed that such pragmatism would ruin the very thing it sought, the reformation of culture.

—John Piper, The Roots of Endurance, 119–121

More John Piper on William Wilberforce:

The Decisive Direction of Sin: Vertical

Take the example of how people define sin. When considering the nature of sin, Wilberforce said, the vast bulk of Christians in England estimated the guilt of an action “not by the proportion in which, according to scripture, [actions] are offensive to God. but by that in which they are injurious to society.” Now, on the face of it that sounds noble, loving, and practical. Sin hurts people, so don't sin.
   Wouldn't that definition of sin be good for society? But Wilberforce says, “Their slight notions of the guilt and evil of sin [reveal] an utter [lack] of all suitable reverence for the Divine Majesty. This principle [reverence for the Divine Majesty] is justly termed in Scripture, ‘The beginning of wisdom’ [Psalm 111:10].” And without this wisdom, there will be no deep and lasting good done for man, spiritually or politically. Therefore, the supremacy of God’s glory in all things is what he calls “the grand governing maxim” in all of life. The good of society may never be put ahead of this. That would dishonor God and, paradoxically, defeat the good of society. For the good of society, the good of society must not be the primary good.

—John Piper, The Roots of Endurance, 121–122

I’m presently reading Contending for Our All by John Piper, the fourth and final volume in his The Swans Are Not Silent series. Over the next few days, I’ll be posting some excerpts from this book. While all four are excellent books, this one—at least the first section that I have read, on Athanasius—is one of the most important and (for you emergent types), the most currently relevant.

And now I am going to break one of my cardinal rules (#7 here) by quoting C. S. Lewis* simply because I like the way he expresses the following principle:

There is a strange idea abroad that in every subject the ancient books should be read only by the professionals, and that the amateur should content himself with the modern books. . . . [Students are directed not to Plato but to books on Plato]— all about ‘isms’ and influences and only once in twelve pages telling him what Plato actually said. . . . But if he only knew, the great man, just because of his greatness, is much more intelligible than his modern commentator. . . .
   Now this seems to me topsy-turvy. Naturally, since I myself am a writer, I do not wish the ordinary reader to read no modern books. But if he must read only the new or only the old, I would advise him to read the old. And I would give him this advice precisely because he is an amateur and therefore much less protected than the expert against the dangers of an excusive contemporary diet. A new book is still on its trial and the amateur is not in a position to judge it. It has to be tested against the great body of Christian thought down the ages, and a its hidden implications (often unsuspected by the author himself) have to be brought to light. . . .
   It is a good rule, after reading a new book, never to allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one in between. If that is too much for you, you should at east read one old one to every three new ones. . . .
   We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books. . . . We may be sure that the characteristic blindness of the twentieth century—the blindness about which posterity will ask, "But how could they have thought that?"—lies where we have never suspected it, and concerns something about which there is untroubled agreement between Hitler and President Roosevelt or between Mr. H. G. Wells and Karl Barth. None of us can fully escape this blindness. . . . The only palliative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries bowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books.

—C. S. Lewis, quoted in Contending for Our All by John Piper, 10-11

continue reading On Reading Old Books