Last will and testament of Jonathan Edwards

Some days I feel so ill, that death no longer seems that distant, far off, remote thing that most of us still believe in our hearts as far as it being something we imagine happening, is a long way off. Some days I feel in the valley of death in a very real way.

I, Jonathan Edwards of Stockbridge, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England…first of all, I give and commend my soul into the hands of God that gave it, and to the Lord Jesus Christ, its glorious, all-sufficient, faithful and chosen redeemer relying alone on the free and infinite mercy and grace of God through his worthiness and mediation, for its eternal salvation and my body I commend to the earth, to be committed to the dust in decent Christian burial, at the discretion of my executrix, hereafter named; hoping through the grace, faithfulness and almighty power of my everlasting Redeemer, to receive the same again at the last day, made like unto his glorious body. [Jonathan Edwards]

Shameful line of the Week

In one of these real life counselling TV programmes.  To a young woman who had a baby with a boy/man before splitting up with him. the host of the show asks her, “If you don’t want him back,  or to split him and his new girl-friend up, why did you sleep with him 3 weeks ago?”

Answer from the girl: “Because he was there” 

I think it was Sherper Tennison, or maybe the explorer Hilary, who when asked why he wanted to conqueor  Mount Everest, replied, “Because it was there.” THAT I can understand, the girl’s comment leaves me speechless.

I’ll let you decide your own thoughts on a statment like that! The worst thing is, there’s a small child invovled, and this seems only too comon!

A Father’s wise counsel

Excerpt from a letter from the hand of Johathan Edwards to his daughter Esther, after she had married and  left home and lived a long way away from her parents and after she had some life threatening illness and remained in a very weakned state after it.

Labour while you live, to serve God and do what good you can, and endeavour to improve every dispensation to God’s glory and your own spiritual good, adn be content to do and bear all that God calls you to in this wilderness, and never expect to find this world anything better than a wilderness. Lay your account to travel through it in weariness, painfulness and trouble, and wait for your rest and your prosperity till hereafter where they that die in the Lord rest from their labours, and enter into the joy of their Lord. You are like to spend the rest of your life (if you should get over this illness) at a great distance from your parents, but care not much for that. If you lived near us, yet our breath and yours would soon go forth, and we should return to our dust, whither we are all hastening. ‘Tis of infinitely more importance to have the presence of a heavenly Father, and to make progress towards an heavenly home. Let us all take care that we may meet there at last. {Jonathan Edwards to his daughter during a severe illness she had]

Practicing the Art of Patience

Waiting for the rain to stop!

The Lord’s day, a day of bodily rest and spiritual labour

When one sees how many of the devastating disasters that take place in the world, occur on the Lord’s Day, it’s not hard to see that God judges the nations on our lack of keeping His day holy and profaning and desecrating it. Shops are now open on Sunday’s as well as any other day. You can eat out at almost any restaurant or food chain you like, they will be open, and money will be changing hands. Hardly a Biblical picture or what the God of heaven had in mind for Sabbath keeping, even under the New Covenant. None of us keep it perfectly, and we never shall do while in these jars of clay. Yet it’s still saddening to see how little an “attempt” and how the Sabbath Day doctrine is neglected, at least in England, and I’m talking about amongst the Church.

Watching TV or finding other ways of amusing or entertaining ourselves is the norm. Self still take the day away from God, as far as giving him what is rightfully his. The reason the puritans had such a battle on their r hands as regards the Sabbath, is because it was the one day of the week, where folks were off work, the one day they had time to themselves. Many people wanted to spend that time, as they saw fit that they would gain the most pleasure from. The puritans sought to reform the Sabbath, and in this doctrine particularly the way they went about it, they sought to reform the nation through it. Things that were tolerated in the past would no longer be so. You could find yourself in gaol for the profaning of this day that the Lord told us to keep holy. [Ex 20:8] In those days, the labour and life of the citizens was hard. They didn’t have our comfort and ease, they didn’t have the many forms of enetratngment that we do now, though they had some also that we now do not have. Like bear baiting and cock-fighting and dog-fighting. (at least legally). They worked long, long hours for very small wages. They, most likely come the Sabbath thought after working all week for sometimes 18 hour days, in the hardest of physical, manual labour for many of them, that deserved a day to let off steam and and have some fun and refreshment by letting their hair down. By going to the local tavern, or seeing a show at the local music hall. We today, have no such excuse!
We have everything at our disposal for ease and comfort. None of us would probably last a week of the hard manual labour they worked for year after year. They died early in those days, because disease was rife, and because life was so grim and hard on the body. They often suffered chronic illness from early in life, because medicine had not advanced then in the way it has now. They often worked when unfit to work, or their families would starve or go to the workhouse. A thing of shame and reproach and not something anyone chose to do if they had a breath in their body to give to doing otherwise. But we are in the age of entertainment the age of technology, and everything that was once hard labour and a chore, is now easy and straightforward. (doing laundry would be one simple example) We no longer start work, at about ten years old, and up until the beginning of this century it was 14 years old in this country at least. We have full, long childhoods, and full long lives in most cases, and from childhood to the grave we seem to spend most of it “playing.” The Sabbath should be the exclusion to the rule, amongst the people of God.

The chores that one would normally need to do on a Sunday, should be prepared on a Saturday. Whether that is food, or anything else that is part of my Lord’s Day, if at all possible. Laundry, and other house hold chores can and should wait until the Lord’s Day is past. Spending money and trading in whatever form, barring some emergency need, should not be something I should do. We have six days of the week to make sure we have everything in the home we need, for that one day, so encouraging shops, restaurants, gas stations to stay open on the Lord’s Day, by frequenting them and making it pay for them, should not be somethigmnI should do. We should rest. Rest our bodies, rest form all physical toil that we normally do as part of our routine in the week. Acts of mercy to the poor, afflicted or sick, is the one case where that is the exception of course. And that also extends towards animals or livestock. All this is clearly taught in Scripture, much of it by Our Lord Himself. But we should set to work spiritually, like no other day of the week, and gain ourselves a blessing. A spiritual blessing, of which there are second to none as far as other types of blessings. We should have a market day for our soul as the puritans named the Christian Sabbath, and in doing so, we will be refreshed, revived spiritually and ready to face the week ahead, and it should make it easier to handle any distresses, problems, hassles or anything negative that comes up, as our souls are enriched and relived by the Market Day for them we had this past Lord’s Day so that we are able to do everything in His strength and do not have to rely on our own. If we do that, the problem will overcome us, will become bigger than it actually is and take our mind and attention off all spiritual things, until we are only filled with worldly concerns. Having a market day for the soul, has long lasting and long reaching affects. The Christian Sabbath is the nearest thing a Christian has to Heaven on earth. We should try to make it our own little heaven on earth, and bit by bit, we shall learn that we can have heaven while still on earth and it is not some far away distant thing in the future. As Christians, no matter the circumstances, we should have heaven on earth, at least some of the time. We all have frailties, and weaknesses sand human infirmities so that none of us can keep this up steadfastly without an interruption/. But it’s what we should aim for and in doing so, we will be closer to God, our mind will be more in heaven and upon holy things. By this we shall become more conformed to Christ and the life of faith is a reality by more than just an outward profession, but it should make our lives become testimonies and pictures of the Bible we profess to love. So put down that remote control! Don’t go to that retail outlet and encourage profaning the Lord’s Day, and take part in doing so by you going there today! Turn the washing machine or vacuum cleaner off! And give your soul, to God, let Him work in you and reign in you. The blessing you will have, you will never believe until you do it. Not just once or twice, but weekly and constantly. You can’t fool God by “giving it a go” for a week or two, with the thought in your mind, that if you are not spiritually enlarged you will revert back again. I feel sad for people who do not keep the Christian Sabbath in its fullness. I feel sad for them, because I don’t think they have a clue what they are depriving themselves of, by depriving their soul of the market Day that God has given them for it. They would be so much more fulfilled and happier by being spiritually enlarged and blessed if they only knew. They think that watching American Idol or something similar will give them pleasure and enjoyment, on this day? The enjoyment that one gets from a soul revived, renewed and refreshed, is beyond words .American idol will be gone in an hour. The fruits of an enlarged or enriched soul are long lasting and endures, and helps you through your hard week ahead, no matter the conflicts or difficulties that arise. Take up our cross and deny  let us deny ourself, deny our flesh this day, deny doing the things we enjoy that have no spiritual bearing on anything. As the whole day should be one of spiritual devotion. And see if by denying yourself in the here and now, immediately does not bring long term reward and blessings and richness by the Sabbath changing from a days of dos’ and don’ts and you thinking it a legalistic point of view, to a day of Spiritual delight, because your soul is renewed, refreshed, revigorated, and you can now take anything the world has to throw at you, because the refreshment in your soul, leaves you with the all the Things in eph 6 that Paul lists as Christian Armour, so that the world cannot affect your joy or happiness or peace.

my rule for the Sabbath for myself is, apart from necessity, and emergency, if it’s not Spiritual, it’s not valid to be doing it on the Sabbath.

To keep holy the Sabbath Day is not to cease from bodily labour that thou shouldst the more licentiously give thy mind to the wearng of gallant apparel, to banqueting, to idle-talk, to vain pastimes, and such other filthy pleasures of the flesh; but that thou, setting aside all worldly business, should the more freely apply thyself to read, hear and learn the Word of God, to pray in the temple with the congregation, to be thankful to God for his benefits, to be present at the minstratin of the sacraments, to be partakers of the mysteries of the Lord’s body and blood, to give some good thing to the relief of the poor, to visit and comfort the sick and them that are in prison, and casting away the works of the flesh, wholly to exercise thyself in the fruits of the Spirit. [Thomas Becon--Puritan]

Self-examination the difference between life and death

I often write on my blog on the need for us to self-examine ourselves. As this is a doctrine that has become sorely neglected in more recent times. Even in a Reformed Church, it may not be that unusual in our days, before the Ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, to not see people examining their hearts to see if they are partaking it sinfully or not. If that is neglected, then personal quite, self-examination will go by the board mostly, and we see in our day, that this is the case. I am talking about Biblical self-examination of course, not some deep introspective thing that becomes all about us. Richard Baxter, put very well the need for this practice. If the visible church was to put this into practice, it may prevent or lessen so many of its members going to eternal damnation, which is no doubt why God called us to it.

If thou art willing indeed to be converted, do thy best to discover that yet thou art unconverted, and in a lost and miserable state.

Who will endeavour to cure a disease which thinks he hath not? or to vomit up the poison which he thinks he never took, or taketh to be no poison? or to come out of the ditch, that thinks he is not in it? or who will turn back again, that will not believe but he is in the right way? Who will labour to be converted that thinks he is converted already? Or who will come to Christ as the physician of his soul, that thinks he is not sick, or is cured already? The common cause that men live and die without the grace of repentance, sanctification, and justification, which should save them, is because they will not believe but that they have it, when they have it not: and that they are penitent, and justified and sanctified already. It is not my desire to make any of you think worse of your condition that it is; but if you will not know what it is, you will not be fit for recovering grace, nor use the means for your own recovery: you think it is so sad a conclusion, to find yourselves in a state of condemnation, that you are exceeding unwilling to now it or confess it.

But I beseech you consider but these two things: first, either it is true that you are in so miserable a state, or it is not true: if it be not true, the closest trial will but comfort you, by discovering that you are sanctified already; but if it be true, then do you think it will save you to be ignorant of your danger? Will it cure your disease to believe that you have it not? Will thinking well of yourselves falsely, prove that you are well indeed? Is it the way to grace, to think you have it, when you have it not? Will it bring you to heaven to think that you are going thither, when you are in the way to hell? Nay, do you not know, that it is the principal temptation of the devil to keep men form a state of repentance and salvation, to deceive thus, and persuade them that they are in such a state already? Judge soberly of the case. Do you think if all the impenitent unconverted sinners in the world were certain that they are indeed in a graceless state, if which they died, they were past all hope, that they would not quickly look about them, and better understand the offers of a Saviour, and live in continual solicitude and fear, till they found themselves in a safer state? If you were sure, yourselves, that you must yet be made new creatures, or be damned, would it not set you on work to seek more diligently after grace than ever you have done? The devil knoweth this well enough; that he could scarce keep you quiet this night in his snares, but you would be ready to repent and beg for mercy, and resolve on a new life, before tomorrow if you were but sure that you are yet in a state of condemnation. And therefore he doth all he can to hide your sin and danger from your eyes, and to quiet you with the conceit, that though you are sinners, yet you are penitent, pardoned sinners.

Well, sirs, there can be no harm in knowing the truth. And therefore will you but try yourselves whether you are unsanctified or not? You were baptized into the name of the Holy Ghost as your Sanctifier; and if you now neglect or mock at sanctification, what do you but deride your baptism, or neglect that which is its sense and end? It doeth not so much concern you to know that you live the life of nature, as to know whether sanctification have made you spiritually alive to God.

And let me tell you this for your encouragement, that we d not call you t know that you are unconverted and unpardoned, and miserable, as men that have no remedy, but must sit down in despair, and be tormented with the fore-knowledge of your endless pains before the time. No; it is but that you may speedily and thankfully accept of Christ, the full remedy, and turn to God, and quickly get out of your sin and terror and enter into a life of safety and peace. We desire not your continuance in that life which tendeth to despair and horror: we would have you out of it, if it were in our power, before tomorrow; and therefore it is that we would have you understand what danger you are in, that you may go no further, but speedily turn back, and seek for help. And I hope there is no hurt, though there be some present trouble in such a discovery of your danger as this is.

On swearing or oaths

I recently found myself doing other than the Biblical command of not taking oaths in the ways mentioned below a few weeks ago. I was desperate to be taken seriously at the time, and for the person I was talking to, to know I would never be anything but truthful about whatever the issue was.  So I swore on something that is very dear to me, to as I thught at the time,  validate my intent. Yet it was wrong, and a breaking of God’s commands. A few weeks prior to that, I had occassion to realize up close and personal too, just how futile and meaningless this oath taking in the wrng way was. I had a bit of a dispute with my neighbour over his nouse levels with his dog still barking at five am,  and he swore on his kids lives that something that came up as we were talking wasn’t so.  Five minutes later, he had remembered something relevant to the point in question, and despite hsi swearing on his ids lives,  it was indeed so he conceded five minutes later.    I felt bad for his children more than anything, that to do that, seemed to show what little regard or esteem he held them in, to treat their lives so casually But Scripture is not silent on this matter.  The west minster confessin of faith in Chapter XXII says this:

I. A lawful oath is a part of religious worship, wherein upon just occasion, the person swearing solemnly calleth God to witness what he asserteth or promiseth; and to judge him according to the truth or falsehood of what he sweareth.
II. The name of God only is that by which men ought to swear, and therein it is to be used with all holy fear and reverence; therefore to swear vainly or rashly by that glorious and dreadful name, or to swear at all by any other thing, is sinful, and to be abhorred. Yet, as, in matters of weight and moment, an oath is warranted by the Word of God, under the New Testament, as well as under the Old, so a lawful oath, being imposed by lawful authority, in such matters ought to be taken.

And John Calvin in his commentary on Isa 19:18 says also:

And swearing by Jehovah of hosts. First, employing a figure of speech in which a part is taken for the whole, he shews that their conversation will be holy, by exhibiting a single class of them, for in swearing they will make profession that they worship the true God. It may also be read, swearing to the Lord, or, by the Lord, for ל (lamed) often signifies by. If we read, “to the Lord,” the meaning will be, that they will promise obedience to him, and that by a solemn oath, as when any nation promises fidelity to its prince; as if he had said, “They will acknowledge the authority of God, and submit to his government.” But since another reading has been more generally approved, I willingly adopt it; for since one part of the worship of God is swearing, by taking a part for the whole, as I have said, it fitly describes the whole of the worship of God. Again, to “swear by the Lord” often means to testify that he is the true God. (De 6:13.) In a word, it denotes a perfect agreement with the Church of God

And further again in his commentary on James 5:12 he says:

12 But above all things. It has been a common vice almost in all ages, to swear lightly and inconsiderately. For so bad is our nature that we do not consider what an atrocious crime it is to profane the name of God. For though the Lord strictly commands us to reverence his name, yet men devise various subterfuges, and think that they can swear with impunity. They imagine, then, that there is no evil, provided they do not openly mention the name of God; and this is an old gloss. So the Jews, when they swore by heaven or earth, thought that they did not profane God’s name, because they did not mention it. But while men seek to be ingenious in dissembling with God, they delude themselves with the most frivolous evasions.
It was a vain excuse of this kind that Christ condemned in Mt 5:34. James, now subscribing to the decree of his master, commands us to abstain from these indirect forms of swearing: for whosoever swears in vain and on frivolous occasions, profanes God’s name, whatever form he may give to his words. Then the meaning is, that it is not more lawful to swear by heaven or by the earth, than openly by the name of God. The reason is mentioned by Christ — because the glory of God is everywhere inscribed, and everywhere shines forth. Nay, men take the words, heaven and earth, in their oaths, in no other sense and for no other purpose, than if they named God himself; for by thus speaking they only designate the Worker by his works.

But most significantly, our dear Lord in Matthew 5:34-37 couldn’t have put it any clearer when he says:

But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne:
Mt 5:35 Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
Mt 5:36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
Mt 5:37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.

Poppy’s great adventure

You would think a cat who has been too unwell the past few weeks to go further than the back yard, when she sudddenly finds herself feeling better than for a long time, no syptoms of diabetes, no getting her insulin shots, no constantly throwing up like she has done for months now, when asking to go out into the road, would at least go a bit further than right under my front window!!  But, newp, Pop is just like me. I don’t like bieng out on my own unless I have to be. There is nothing worse than feeling so sick or suddenly being struck by pain that makes you start throwing up by its severity,  to make home feel the safest most comfortable place.  Pop when she does go out, rarely goes further than she can still see through the front window.  I think she too feels safe as long as she can.  But even by Pop’s standards, after so long shut in now, this pic taken from my front window, takes the biscuit!

One Thing neccessary

If like me, you have a distinct bent towards procrastination you will recognize the relevance of this quote by Baxter.  Do not be like me, who only delighted in spending the time in the ways below, when strapped to a sick-bed for however long I may have left. Redeeming the time has become very important to me the last while, because though I could go on years, I also know tomorrow may never come, and have a very tangible reminder of that by my body doing all the things it does in this illness. But  in the book of Timothy, the Aposlte also spoke of how none of us can take any of the blessings we now have, of still having them tomorrow. of uncertain riches. [1 Tim 6:17] Today it is me strapped to this sick bed, and God finally got my attention by doing so. Don’t  wait till that happens to you,  but go to Him glady and joyfully and give him not just the first fruits, but  all that he is due, as is within your power:  I wish I had done so, yet it was good for me to be afflicted,  as then I learned to walk in his statutes.[Psalm 119:71} Before the world and its pleasures, meant it would always be "tomorrow" that I  turned to God.   Don't walk the same road as I did.

As thou lovest thy soul, do not love thy pleasure or business so well as to refuse to treat with the Spirit of God, who comes to offer thee greater pleasures, and to engage thee in a more important business. O lay by all, to hear awhile what God and conscience have to say to thee. They have greater business with thee, than any others that thou converset with. They have better offers and motions to make to thee, than thou shalt hear from any of thy old companions. If the devil can but take thee up a while, with one pleasure, one day, and another business another day, and keep thee from the work that thou camest into the world for, till time be gone, and thou art slipping unawares into damnation then he hath his desire, and hath the end he aimed at, and hath won the day, and thou art lost forever.

It is like thou settest some limits to thy folly, and purposest to do thus, but a little while; but when one pleasure withereth, the devil will provide a fresh one for thee to pretend necessity, another, and another, and another will succeed, and thou wilt think thou hast such necessity still, till time is gone, and thou see, too late, how grossly thou wast deceived. Resolve, therefore, that whatever company, or pleasure, or business would divert thee, that thou wilt not be befooled out of thy salvation not taken off from minding the one thing necessary, if company plead an interest in thee, know of them whether they are better company than the Spirit of God and thy conscience;--if pleasure would detain thee, inquire whether it be more pure and durable pleasures, than thou mayst have in heaven, by hearkening unto grace;--if business still pretend necessity, inquire whether it be a greater business than to prepare thy soul and thy accounts for judgement, and of greater necessity than thy salvation. If not, let it not have the presidency: if thou be wise, do that first must needs be done; and let that stand by that may be best spared. What will it profit thee to win all the world, and lose thy soul? At least if thou durst say that thy pleasure and business are better than heaven, yet might they sometimes be forborne, while thou seriously thinkest of thy salvation. [Richard Baxter]

What excommunication meant for the Puritans

Excommunication meant a very different thing in the times of the Puritans. And yet they suffered and often died for their beleifs, and didn’t compromise their beliefs even so. You don’t see this happen often today.

In those days, excommunication meant than spiritual deprivation. It was meant that he who was subjected to that penalty must not merely be turned out of the congregaton of the faithful, but as a citizen would be rendered incapable of suing for his lawful debts and be liable to be imprisoned for life by process of the civil courts, or until reconciled to the Churc; and when he died would be degradingly denied Christian burieal.[John Brown]