Renwick’s visit to Peden’s Death-bed

The names and circumstances may change, but the nature of things rarely change for those of us in perilous, persecuted times.

Through the small and dingy lattice gleamed the last red beams of day—
One wintry burst from the setting sun—where the dying prophet lay;
Where, from his weary wanderings, with toil and suffering worn,
He had come close to his pilgrimage within his native Sorn.
His eyes are closed, but not in sleep—he murmurs forth a prayer,
That poor and wasted remnant, Lord, do Thou in sweet mercy spare!

The wolf has burst into the fold, the shepherds they are gone,
In all our hills and valleys round we are not left with one.
As he entered, Peden raised his eyes, and asked the strangers name,
And what the errand was for which to this lone place he came:–
‘Father, my name is Renwick, I have come to speak with thee—
To see thee in these troublous times, and crave thy prayers for me!’

The old man’s face with something flushed between the scowl and sneer,
For false reports against the young were scattered far and near:
‘Are you the Renwick that has made such noise throughout the land?
Turn round about, and let me view your measure as you stand.

Narrow thy shoulders, frail thy limbs; slim youth, thy heart is bold!
If thou dost not think that thou alone canst Scotland’s Church uphold!
‘O father, do not mock me thus; to thee my spirit cleaves;
The railing Shimeis pain me not, but thy least whisper grieves.

The noise and strife are not by me, my Lord’s reproach I bear;
And in the scandal of His Cross I also have found my share:
They seek to drive me from the land, a hissing and a scorn!
O father, hear and pity me, my heart with grief is torn!

The old man softened as the dew, and Renwick’s hand he takes—
‘Tis a bloody land—a treacherous time! We walk on asps and snakes,
Sit down by me, and tell me o’er the story of thy life
For well I know that cruel words cut sharper than a knife.

Peden did not die in a cave as is often reported. I think that is a bit of Covenanter Folklore, and myth to add to the legend that Alexander Peden was. But it isn”t true though he did spend some time living in a cave before that.

Renwick’s visit to Peden’s Death-bed

The names and circumstances may change, but the nature of things rarely change for those of us in perilous, persecuted times.

Through the small and dingy lattice gleamed the last red beams of day—
One wintry burst from the setting sun—where the dying prophet lay;
Where, from his weary wanderings, with toil and suffering worn,
He had come close to his pilgrimage within his native Sorn.
His eyes are closed, but not in sleep—he murmurs forth a prayer,
That poor and wasted remnant, Lord, do Thou in sweet mercy spare!

The wolf has burst into the fold, the shepherds they are gone,
In all our hills and valleys round we are not left with one.
As he entered, Peden raised his eyes, and asked the strangers name,
And what the errand was for which to this lone place he came:–
‘Father, my name is Renwick, I have come to speak with thee—
To see thee in these troublous times, and crave thy prayers for me!’

The old man’s face with something flushed between the scowl and sneer,
For false reports against the young were scattered far and near:
‘Are you the Renwick that has made such noise throughout the land?
Turn round about, and let me view your measure as you stand.

Narrow thy shoulders, frail thy limbs; slim youth, thy heart is bold!
If thou dost not think that thou alone canst Scotland’s Church uphold!
‘O father, do not mock me thus; to thee my spirit cleaves;
The railing Shimeis pain me not, but thy least whisper grieves.

The noise and strife are not by me, my Lord’s reproach I bear;
And in the scandal of His Cross I also have found my share:
They seek to drive me from the land, a hissing and a scorn!
O father, hear and pity me, my heart with grief is torn!

The old man softened as the dew, and Renwick’s hand he takes—
‘Tis a bloody land—a treacherous time! We walk on asps and snakes,
Sit down by me, and tell me o’er the story of thy life
For well I know that cruel words cut sharper than a knife.

Peden did not die in a cave as is often reported. I think that is a bit of Covenanter Folklore, and myth to add to the legend that Alexander Peden was. But it isn”t true though he did spend some time living in a cave before that.

Database Problems

I have had computer problems the last 24 hours, and finally get that sorted and get back online to find my wordpress database has totally ground itself up  into corruption. It may be able to be fixed, but for now have set up a separate one. If your links are normally on my side-bar please be patient, they will be put back ASAP

Database Problems

I have had computer problems the last 24 hours, and finally get that sorted and get back online to find my wordpress database has totally ground itself up  into corruption. It may be able to be fixed, but for now have set up a separate one. If your links are normally on my side-bar please be patient, they will be put back ASAP

The Pitiful yet glorious site of Lord Warriston as he was martyred.

I think I have met a few of those hard hearts mentioned below in my own infirmities and afflictions:

Many of the ejected ministers had the boldness to preach against the measures of government, some of whom were thrown into prison, and others compelled to seek refuge in foreign lands. The fate of Lord Warriston next attracted great sympathy. He had been an eminent Covenanter; he was clerk to the assembly of Glasgow; he had taken an active share in all public measures, particularly n the punishment of Montrose; he had accepted and appointment, which gave offense to some of his weaker brethren, under Cromwell, and after the restoration, had escaped to the continent. The vengeance of his enemies pursued him thither. He was surprised at this prayers, dragged on board a ship, and, notwithstanding the accumulated infirmities of age, conducted on foot, and bareheaded, from Leith to the Tollbooth of Edinburgh. Utterly broken down in body and spirit, feeble as a child in mind, he moved the pity of his sternest judges, although it is said that Sharp and the other bishops treated his superannuation with shouts of brutal laughter. While his intellect was nearly gone, his piety remained. He submitted meekly to the sentence of the court, and calmly prepared for death. Hard as the hearts of hell must have been those which remained unmoved, as he tottered up the scaffold, supported by his friends, and died, with hands uplifted to heaven, and with the words, “Pray, pray; praise, praise,” trembling from his tongue.
–Quoted from “The Martyrs, Heroes and Bards of the Scottish Covenant by George Gilfillan

The Pitiful yet glorious site of Lord Warriston as he was martyred.

I think I have met a few of those hard hearts mentioned below in my own infirmities and afflictions:

Many of the ejected ministers had the boldness to preach against the measures of government, some of whom were thrown into prison, and others compelled to seek refuge in foreign lands. The fate of Lord Warriston next attracted great sympathy. He had been an eminent Covenanter; he was clerk to the assembly of Glasgow; he had taken an active share in all public measures, particularly n the punishment of Montrose; he had accepted and appointment, which gave offense to some of his weaker brethren, under Cromwell, and after the restoration, had escaped to the continent. The vengeance of his enemies pursued him thither. He was surprised at this prayers, dragged on board a ship, and, notwithstanding the accumulated infirmities of age, conducted on foot, and bareheaded, from Leith to the Tollbooth of Edinburgh. Utterly broken down in body and spirit, feeble as a child in mind, he moved the pity of his sternest judges, although it is said that Sharp and the other bishops treated his superannuation with shouts of brutal laughter. While his intellect was nearly gone, his piety remained. He submitted meekly to the sentence of the court, and calmly prepared for death. Hard as the hearts of hell must have been those which remained unmoved, as he tottered up the scaffold, supported by his friends, and died, with hands uplifted to heaven, and with the words, “Pray, pray; praise, praise,” trembling from his tongue.
–Quoted from “The Martyrs, Heroes and Bards of the Scottish Covenant by George Gilfillan

The Loveliness of Christ

What can I get from God? This question seems to be a prevailing question among the visible church. We go to public worship, to see what we can get from God, rather than highly esteeming the worship of God and feeling privileged to be able to worship God, honoured that he has invited us to come to the table and feast, we go with the attitude of what can I get from God. How can I be blessed by God by doing this?

And isn’t that the truth about many issues in life and faith. When I first heard the outward call, I was a lot richer than I am now. Less impoverished, less alone, not ill in the way I am now. And yet my life had been hard by anyone’s standards up to that point, it never even occurred to me, that things could become harder still than I had ever experienced previously. I loved the things I had in my life. My friends, my health, my abilities, my freedom everything. I loved them and to a great extent took them for granted that I could count on those things as much as anyone else.

Yet the Scriptures warn us about depending on uncertain riches. (1 Tim 6:17)

Yet at the same time, I had a deep, penetrating ache within my soul, from many wounds and hurts over a few decades that many people will never experience the same degree in an entire lifetime that I wanted relief from. I was haunted by a past that made Freddie Kruger look friendly. And I wanted God to make me whole. To take away the pain and open wounds, the stings I felt, the harshness of unspeakable things and how my life had been forever changed by those things.

I wanted God to make me whole. To take the pain and grief deep within my soul, to give me back some semblance of normality. But you see, this is what I am talking about. I wanted GOD not for Himself, first and foremost. I wanted him first out of a self love to make my wounds less hurtful. My life less painful. To have a hope because of all that I had been through, a hope of something better in eternity, that would make the pain of so much suffering, vanish in an instant when the Lord called me home. Yet I wanted God. I was desperate for Him. However, I didn’t want Him for his own excellency, and glory and majesty. The beauty of Christ was not my first uppermost thought or longing for. I recognized that God was powerful, and that He was the God of the Bible, and that He could do all things and no one or anything could stop him. Yet it wasn’t a living faith, it was belief that was to never change my soul, or lead me one inch further towards a heavenly life. A Holy life.

I wanted Jesus to take my burden, that was unspeakably heavy even then, and carry it for me. Furthermore, that would leave me free to not only have hope for the future, but also free to enjoy the good things in my life that I still had then, rather than wasting the days in tears and anguish from a past that would never quite go away and haunted me..

The Scriptures say that He loves us before we loved him, and that is true. God’s love for the elect is sure since the foundation of the world, nothing can alter that. But we do not love Him, because He loved us first, that would need us to have faith before we actually do have faith, to recognize, acknowledge, and magnify that love He gave us when he gave up his life on the cross. We are unable to do that till after we have faith. If we love God, on any mistaken notion, or what he can do for us, that we love him because we convince ourselves that he loves us, without any ground or foundation to us believing he loves us, then we are self-decieving ourselves and others, and our faith does not rest on a sure foundation of any kind, it is purely self-love. We must love God, for the beauty, excellency, majesty and loveliness of himself altogether first, without any mistaken notions of what he can do for us, or about his having done for us, as far as loving us or anything else, before we base our love for Him on the solid foundation of the altogether loveliness of Christ himself.

If we go the other way around, and profess, we have faith that we have love for and to God, due to what he has done for us, what he will do for us, what he can do for us, and, that he loved us first. It will be real easy on that foundation for us to then, (but secondary not first place) to be able to speak of the loveliness of Christ, and all his majestic attributes. However, if we do that in the secondary way, we are deceiving ourselves because it is based on an uncertain foundation, that does not speak of true love to God or Divine operations of the holy Spirit but merely the common operations that are common to all men, natural men too. If we do fool ourselves in that way, chances are we will have very great presumption for the rest of our lives, believing we have faith when we do not have true faith. Beleiving ourselves to be true Christians, because after all, we speak of and believe of the love of God, of what he does for us, and his loveliness in himself don’t we? Yes we do, but unless we see the altogether loveliness of Christ first, without any of the rest, then we do not at this time have true and certain and living faith, but we do have great presumption and are not true heirs to Christ’s Kingdom.

You see, I speak as someone, who fell down every pitfall, there could be on my way to having true, believing faith. I have lived through the despair and hopelessness of such a shaky foundation. Because my “love” to God, was based on what God could do for me. Rather than loving Christ for himself.

Sometimes I hate my afflictions ; Most of the time, I can say with the Psalmist that it was good for me to be afflicted. (Psalm 119:71) Because if I had not have been strapped to a sick bed, forsaken of all earthly comforts, with no hope of a way out in this life, I doubt I would have ever seen the Altogether loveliness of Christ for HIMSELF. God taking everything else away, allowed for that to happen.

I am going to stick my neck on the line here, and say that I believe Jonathan Edwards, “Religious Affections,” is one of the ten most important books ever written for what it makes known. Some people find Edwards hard to read yet I cannot say I have found this. I find him a breeze beside John Owen. But this book, could be a life changing book for many people. Those sat comfortably in false presumption, deceiving both themselves and those around them. Because there is no sure way to tell the wheat from the tares in these instances. If this applies to anyone who reads this blog post, then I implore you to get hold of the book. It does far more than cause us to examine ourselves and make sure that we be in the faith, it strips many false notions and beliefs that the church is full of such stories, down, to show them as nothing but delusions.

If anyone has ever listened to Dr James Dobson’s Focus on the family, he has had guests on with similar stories about their lives of faith. And yet many of these, if you take the marks of Edwards for what are real operations of the Spirit and common ones that natural men experience, many of those guests are yet to have true conversions. This in my opinion, is what is causing much of the church to be “left behind” today. In any church, there will be more tares than wheat. Yet all we can do is make sure of our own salvation, and that we are not one of these self-deluded believers who are not heirs to the Kingdom, no more than people who are open devil worshippers are. I guess Matthew Mead described them well, as the “almost Christian,” You cannot get almost to heaven; you are either an heir to the kingdom or not. You cannot almost have true faith; you either believe and it is based on a sure and Biblical foundation for that belief of loving Christ who is altogether lovely for himself, first, or not. We may know all the theology, say we own all the correct doctrine, and be able to talk about it expertly, and debate the best their is, but if not for a faith with a solid foundation, all that learning and knowledge will still take us to hell.

Self-love may not only influence men, so as to cause them to be affected with God’s kindness to them separately; but also with God’s kindness to them as parts of a community: as a natural principle of self-love, without any other principle, may be sufficient to make a man concerned for the interest of the nation to which he belongs: as for instance, in the present war, self-love may make natural men rejoice at the successes of our nation, and sorry for their disadvantages, they being concerned as members of the body. So the same natural principle may extend further, and even to the world of mankind, and might be affected with the benefits the inhabitants of the earth have, beyond those of the inhabitants of other planets, if we knew that such there were, and how it was with them. So this principle may cause men to be affected with the benefits that mankind have received beyond the fallen angels. And hence men, from this principle, may be much affected with the wonderful goodness of God to mankind, his great goodness in giving his Son to die for fallen man, and the marvelous love of Christ in suffering such great things for us, and with the great glory they hear God has provided in heaven for us; looking on themselves as persons concerned and interested, as being some of this species of creatures so highly favored: the same principle of natural gratitude may influence men here, as in the case of personal benefits.

Britney Spears & Amy Winehouse, Poor little rich girls.

We heard on the TV today, that Britney Spears is on her way back.Has over come the problems of the last year or so, and is relaunching herself, and her career and is said to be appearing live on the X-factor possibly even tomorrow. ##
Another thing I heard was everyone patting her on the back, saying, “hasn’t she done great,” to get herself back on track. My jaw was rather dropped at that comment! Another thing one commonly hears to do with Britney Spears is a blaming her parents, for forcing her into the limelight and talent competitions when eight years old, and putting their child under that kind of pressure. That generally makes me madder than a moneky whose had their banana taken off them. As all it does is excuse her apalling behavour, lifestyle, making a public spectacle of herlsef, and even justifying putting her children in danger! As long as we excuse, continue to wrap up in cotton wool, the Britneys’ of this world, she will keep turning to the wrong things and making the wrong choices.
Okay, so lets say she had pushy parents! I can think of far more diaboloical childhoods than that of Britney Spears without needing to look very far. And of course our past helps make us who we are, it doesn’t have to control us into the future though, and always give us a get out clause of why we do the things we do, that are extreme, outrageous or self destructive and perhaps destructive to others too. In this case, her small, helpless children.
I was haunted by a past for many many years, that was extrteme in suffering by anyones standards. Then God gave me a present, not just as equally hard, but ten times as hard, and the past started to lose its grip, and yet Miss Spears has it all, the world at her feet, she doesn’t have to wait till she has is shut in a grave alive, to realize that she should make the most of what she has and how blessed and priveleidged she is. She’s a spoil little rich girl, who folks excuse time and time again, when she could really do with a good slapping to make her wake up and smell the coffee.

In Amy Winehouse who has also melted down the last year, I believe we have a very great talent, much brighter than that of Britney, yet a few weeks ago in the one of the later episodes, she was rushed to the ER, suffering a seizure, as a result of dink and drugs binging. Are we supposed to feel sad or sorry at these famous people who have the world at their feet are handed eveyrhting on a plate and yet are so bent on self destructing they despise the good things in their lives to merely live a life style that can only end in tragedy and heartbreak. I for one have not one iota of sympathy in my body for these women. When they fall or take the next step of self destruct they have everyone rushing aruond to help them up and give them everything they need to get them back on the right track. Having someone do everything for you, that you have managed to tear apart through your own foolishness is no great feat. Yet the rich, whether its ordinary people comparatively, or the mega rich like Britney get so well thuoght of for having many hands to help them, while the poor and without are often just despised because they do not have the same assistance so it may take them longer to pick themselves up.

So, no, I don’t think its any great feat of Britney Spears to be back on track. To be appearing at gigs and functions again. I think its just another example, of how the rich get richer, and the rich will always have folks to help them, and the poor and afflicted who have nothing or no one get poorer, because they are too busy giving to the rich to remember the poor. The ones I feel sorry and sad for, are the children of such parents as Britney Spears. The ones who are given totaly wrong values and given all the wrong examples and role models, and who may end up motherless one day, because their parents hit the self destruct button once too often and did destroy themselves utterly. The children who the Briitney Spears and Amy Winehouses of the world, value less than theiru next fix or drink, and that they are likely to come second to through most of their lives. If most normal mothers had a choice to make, between a drug and their child, there should be no contest, though increasingly yuo see in ordinary families the choice for the drug is made over that of the children, and the children are then messes up and the cycle continues.

But please don’t tell me how great Miss Spears is for getting her life back; don’t tell me how great she has done. As she deliberatlay put herself into the terrible place she was in, and then had every hand that could help her out of it.

***This blog writer does not believe in physically slapping people, its just a metaphorical phrase that everyone can understand.

Britney Spears & Amy Winehouse, Poor little rich girls.

We heard on the TV today, that Britney Spears is on her way back.Has over come the problems of the last year or so, and is relaunching herself, and her career and is said to be appearing live on the X-factor possibly even tomorrow. ##
Another thing I heard was everyone patting her on the back, saying, “hasn’t she done great,” to get herself back on track. My jaw was rather dropped at that comment! Another thing one commonly hears to do with Britney Spears is a blaming her parents, for forcing her into the limelight and talent competitions when eight years old, and putting their child under that kind of pressure. That generally makes me madder than a moneky whose had their banana taken off them. As all it does is excuse her apalling behavour, lifestyle, making a public spectacle of herlsef, and even justifying putting her children in danger! As long as we excuse, continue to wrap up in cotton wool, the Britneys’ of this world, she will keep turning to the wrong things and making the wrong choices.
Okay, so lets say she had pushy parents! I can think of far more diaboloical childhoods than that of Britney Spears without needing to look very far. And of course our past helps make us who we are, it doesn’t have to control us into the future though, and always give us a get out clause of why we do the things we do, that are extreme, outrageous or self destructive and perhaps destructive to others too. In this case, her small, helpless children.
I was haunted by a past for many many years, that was extrteme in suffering by anyones standards. Then God gave me a present, not just as equally hard, but ten times as hard, and the past started to lose its grip, and yet Miss Spears has it all, the world at her feet, she doesn’t have to wait till she has is shut in a grave alive, to realize that she should make the most of what she has and how blessed and priveleidged she is. She’s a spoil little rich girl, who folks excuse time and time again, when she could really do with a good slapping to make her wake up and smell the coffee.

In Amy Winehouse who has also melted down the last year, I believe we have a very great talent, much brighter than that of Britney, yet a few weeks ago in the one of the later episodes, she was rushed to the ER, suffering a seizure, as a result of dink and drugs binging. Are we supposed to feel sad or sorry at these famous people who have the world at their feet are handed eveyrhting on a plate and yet are so bent on self destructing they despise the good things in their lives to merely live a life style that can only end in tragedy and heartbreak. I for one have not one iota of sympathy in my body for these women. When they fall or take the next step of self destruct they have everyone rushing aruond to help them up and give them everything they need to get them back on the right track. Having someone do everything for you, that you have managed to tear apart through your own foolishness is no great feat. Yet the rich, whether its ordinary people comparatively, or the mega rich like Britney get so well thuoght of for having many hands to help them, while the poor and without are often just despised because they do not have the same assistance so it may take them longer to pick themselves up.

So, no, I don’t think its any great feat of Britney Spears to be back on track. To be appearing at gigs and functions again. I think its just another example, of how the rich get richer, and the rich will always have folks to help them, and the poor and afflicted who have nothing or no one get poorer, because they are too busy giving to the rich to remember the poor. The ones I feel sorry and sad for, are the children of such parents as Britney Spears. The ones who are given totaly wrong values and given all the wrong examples and role models, and who may end up motherless one day, because their parents hit the self destruct button once too often and did destroy themselves utterly. The children who the Briitney Spears and Amy Winehouses of the world, value less than theiru next fix or drink, and that they are likely to come second to through most of their lives. If most normal mothers had a choice to make, between a drug and their child, there should be no contest, though increasingly yuo see in ordinary families the choice for the drug is made over that of the children, and the children are then messes up and the cycle continues.

But please don’t tell me how great Miss Spears is for getting her life back; don’t tell me how great she has done. As she deliberatlay put herself into the terrible place she was in, and then had every hand that could help her out of it.

***This blog writer does not believe in physically slapping people, its just a metaphorical phrase that everyone can understand.

The Tearing down of Marriage

We read of Peaches Geldof, getting married expressing on how long it may last, that she loves him at the moment, and expect to continu to love him for quite a while, so that is as good a reason as any to get married. Okay, so she is a young girl who could probably do with a good slap(!) to think about what she is doing, but mariage as an institution seems to becoming more devalued by the month almost.

We started of a decade or two ago, hearing of the celebrities having “pre-nuptial agreements,” so that if it went wrong, the poorer half of the union could not fleece the richer halfs fortune. And that was the start of the slippery slope, at least as far as celebrities went. And so marriage as an instittuion has continued to be devalued and not held in the Biblical idea of mariage at all.

If you go into marriage expecting or thinking its not for life, then chances are very likely that it indeed will not be for life. Expect the worst it is very likely a prophecy that will self-fulfil. Go into a marraige sure it is for life, and sure if it does for some reason fall apart, then you are likely to be very wounded and hurt, because you had such high expectations and are bitterly disappoitned along with wounded and hurt, but if you marry someone, you are then one flesh, so you should be very wounded and hurt if it fallls apart.
But in this age where we put SELF beofore anything or anyone else, certainly before God, whether self-esteem, self-indulgence, self-preservation or any of the other self terms, it could be a mixture of many of the SELF oritented reasons of why one goes into a marraige with low expectations of it being for life. A very wise woman told me some years ago, that if you are using one of the SELF terms as a rule of life, then chances are it is very wrong. And she was wholly right in that.

Why would one even want to marry if you do not expect it to be for life? What is the point of getting married unless it is a life long commitment. What is the point of an uncommitted marraige where you have a back door get out clause in the back of ones mind from the start?

It is the very opposite of the Biblical idea of marriage.

And it seems little point to me. It’s also a very immoral way of thinking to start off ones married life. But as the Biblical institution of marraige is both changed in definition and meaning, we see God’s moral law more and more left out of the picture as men and women are the idols of their own hearts and seek to please their own flesh and lusts.

May God have mercy when the judgement comes, (and it surely will at some point) upon the gross indolence and immorality of our nations, as we go furuther and further towards hell in a handbasket.