The Believer's Journey - a simple picture

Genesis 12:5 'and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came'.

What is the believer's destination?
The heavenly Canaan.

How does this journey begin?
The eyes of the soul are opened to see the wrath to come, to which they are heading but from which they must flee.

How are they turned away from this direction into the right way?
They are given faith which runs out after Christ as the only way to life and the city of refuge to whom they must flee. They are also given repentance which turns their back upon their sins, so that they longer walk according to the course of this world.

How do they begin in the journey?
They begin with a blessedness upon them and rejoicing and singing. The love of their espousals makes them are strong and active in setting out in the way and they lift up their feet.

How long is the journey?
Although some are only a short time in the wilderness, usually it is a long journey and they are often longing to be at their destination, looking for a better country and the city whose builder and maker is God.

What is the wilderness like through which they must pass?
It is not only a strange country but a waste howling wilderness, with no provision in it for their journey.

How do they get strength for this journey?
They have no strength of their own but with a sense of their own weakness they go up out of the wilderness of this world leaning upon the Beloved.

Is it an easy journey?
It is not a smooth but a narrow, hard and rugged way, they must labour to enter into that rest and it can be lonely because only a few travel on this path. Yet because it is the right way they acknowledge them to be ways of pleasantness and that all these paths are peace.

What holds back the believer in their journey?
Remaining sin still easily besets and entangles them, sometimes they are blinded by their old sins so that they cannot see afar off, and so their progress is hindered.

How does the believer deal with these hindrances?
The believer must be killing sin and so laying it aside. They will make no progress without defending themselves to the death against the sin that seeks their life. These are like the Amalekites that fought against the Israelites in the wilderness but the Lord is the banner of His people and through the Spirit they are able to overcome.

What adversities does the believer meet with in the land of Providence?
They meet with many storms, steep and stony, even perilous or else slippery places. In the darkest of valleys, however, they are never left to find their way alone. The heat of trials and temptations and the fierce storm of afflictions are often intense but they have an apple-tree under which they may rest and a hiding place from the wind, a covert from the tempest and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. All the adversities that they face however, work for their good and help them further in their journey and make them more earnest to reach their destination.
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What sustains the believer in their journey?
The bread of life is given to them daily for the journey - there are also wells and pools of grace for them to drink of in the way. They often have the light and heat of the Sun of righteousness upon them. They are also upheld in their goings by the Holy Spirit. Sometimes their heart is so enlarged that they are enabled to run the way marked out for them. Then they have the statutes of God for their songs in the days of their pilgrimage.

What guides are given for the way?
Light and truth lead the way for the believer and goodness and mercy follow them for their help.

What is the general character of the believer's progress?
They go from strength to strength and their path is shining ever brighter unto the perfect day.

Is this always true of the believer?
Although this is the general character yet they can also grow weary and stumble in the way. They are perplexed but not in despair, cast down but not destroyed. When they slide back in their path, they are restored. Though they fall, they arise and though they may have difficulties they cannot go altogether out of the way.

How do they arrive in the heavenly Canaan?
Their journey ends in peace and they arrive in the heavenly Canaan with singing and everlasting joy.

James Durham on the Intercession of Christ

There is much encouragment in this sermon by James Durham on the text Isaiah 53:12. And made intercession for the transgressors.

Encouragement for the individual
Durham shows how "Disposition for duty, and help in the performance of duty, flows from his intercession. It is this that makes us pray, and that gives us boldness in prayer, and in other duties, that there is such an high priest over the house of God (as it is, Heb. 10:19-21). It is this that gives us ground of approaching to God, and to expect a hearing; and (as it is, Luke 13:7-8), it is his digging and pains, that makes the barren fig tree fruitful."

He goes on to say: "It flows from this, that our prayers are heard, though there be much infirmity in them, and that they are not cast back in our faces as dung, but are made savory to God, it is through the efficacy of his intercession. We have a type of this [in] Rev. 8:4-5, where John sees an angel come and stand at the altar, having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it up with the prayers of all saints, and the smoke of the incense which came up with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God. It was savory and acceptable to God, and made the prayers of all saints acceptable; for the weight of God’s accepting their prayers, is laid on the smoke of his incense. It is he that takes the mangled and half prayers of his people, and presents them to God; and when they would be cast back, as the supplication of an enemy, he as great Master of requests, through the acceptation that he has with God, makes them acceptable. We should have no ground to pray with confidence, nor expectation to be heard, if there were not a golden censer in his hand."

For those oppressed by their sin in holy things and duties - there is this help that "our Lord, by his intercession, takes away the guilt of our holy things; for when we approach to God in worship, there is a carnalness and pollutedness in the best things we do; much irreverence, much unbelief, much [lack] of humility, zeal, sincerity and tenderness; so that all our righteousnesses are but as filthy rags. But the high priest (Ex. 38:28), has on his forehead, Holiness to the Lord; and his office is, to bear the iniquities of the holy things of the children of Israel, that they may be accepted before the Lord; and in this he was a type of Christ, the great high priest going in unto heaven, to make intercession for his people, who bears not only their iniquities, but the iniquity of their holy things. Aaron answers for them as the type, our Lord Jesus as the Anti-type; he being eminently Holiness to the Lord, and having holiness on his forehead, and being so well pleasing to the Father. However our prayers and praises, and other parts of service, be but little worth; yet he makes them acceptable, and procures that they be not rejected, when he is for this end employed and made use of."

Further we ought to consider that "we come never to hear preaching, but we are beholden to it; it being a peculiar fruit of his intercession, that gifts are given to men, and that the gospel is sent through the earth. And if ever any get good of a sermon, it is by virtue of this intercession, seeing he has said that he will pray the Father, and that he will send the Comforter [John 14:16]; and whenever we come to hear preaching, there would be (to say so), a reviving of the thoughts of Christ’s intercession, and a stirring up of ourselves to get the faith of it lively in its exercise."

Encouragement for the Church

In a day of small things the exercised Christian has many fears in relation to the Church. Like Eli, they tremble for the ark of God. Durham shows how these fears are largely incorporated into 4 main fears which are answered in the intercession of Christ.

"1. The first is the fear of a scarcity, or weakness of the public ministry; that being the great gift which he has given for the edifying of his body;and it being a prejudice to the Church, when she has not pastors according to God’s own heart. But compare Ps. 68:18 with Eph. 4:8, 12-14, and we willfind that his intercession answers all that fear. In the Psalm, it is said, Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast received gifts for men; which supposes his seeking of, or making suit for them; or, as the word is, ‘thou hast received gifts in the man,’ that is, being in our nature, he procured them. And, Eph. 4, it is said, He gave gifts to men; and compare these two places with a third, to wit, Acts 1:4 where he bids his apostles tarry at Jerusalem, till he send the promised Spirit; and immediately, after his ascension (as it is, Acts 2), he poured it out, which abode on them, in the likeness of cloven tongues of fire. It is likewise said that that Spirit was not given, for Jesus was not yet glorified (John 11:39). All which show an influence that Christ’s ascension has on the pouring out of the Spirit, and on the gifts given to men, whether ministers or others. There is nothing amongst men readily less cared for, than a ministry; some would have none at all, others would have them of such a stamp, as would please and humor them. But our Lord has received gifts to be given unto men; and he that poured out such gifts on the apostles and others, has what gifts he pleases, and sees needful for his Church’s edification, yet to give. And that he gives such gifts to men, that his people are not praying much for; whence is it, but from his intercession? Therefore, we will find that he delights in this property, as a piece of his spiritual state and grandeur, That he holds the stars in his right hand (Rev. 1:16); such is his respect to them, and his it is to dispose of them.

2. It is a greatly exercising difficulty to the Church of God, to think of the mighty opposition that is made by enemies; Mahomet, heathens, Antichrist, false brethren, threatening to swallow up the little stock, the Church of Christ, which is like a bush burning with fire, and not consumed. But for this there is a consolation in Christ’s intercession, according to that word (Heb. 10:13), He sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting, till his enemies be made his footstool. He has this for his suit at the Father’s bar, and is backing it. Upon this it followed, and as a fruit of it, that all the first persecutions were broken; on this it has come to pass, that Antichrist’s kingdom is tottering; and it is on this ground, that his bearing-down and utter-breaking will be accomplished. Hence it is most emphatically said (1 Cor 15:24) that he must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet; according to the promise made by Jehovah to him (Ps. 110:1), The Lord said to my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. He cannot be an Intercessor, but his enemies must down. For who, I pray, will be able to stand, when he gives in his complaint against them? Who will plead Antichrist’s and other persecutors’ cause, when he appears against them? And he is so certain of his enemies being made his footstool, that he is waiting till he see it done; he must reign till then, maugre [notwithstanding] all the malice and might of devils and men.

3. It is a difficulty to the Church and people of God, to think on such great confusions as are in the world; there are but a few judicatories that are for Christ; but few governors, higher or lower, that do consult his honor, or regard him; it is others that have the throne and court, and the guiding of things, than friends and favorers of his interest, for most part. But here the consolation lies, that there is a court in heaven that gives out orders, where the Church has an agent constantly lying, where the devil and the world has none; Jesus Christ is the Church’s agent and intercessor there. Daniel has a word to this purpose (Dan. 10:13), The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days, but Michael the chief Prince came to help me. And (Dan. 10:21), There is none in all the court of Persia that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your Prince. The great intercessor was at court, looking that nothing went wrong, seeing that no decree was passed to the prejudice of the people of God, and his work. In the time when they were building the temple, He is said (Zech. 6:13), to build the temple of the Lord, to bear the glory, and to be a Priest, sitting and ruling on his throne; having the government committed to him. What hazard then is there here, when heaven guides all, when the Church has an Agent at the court, to see (as I said), that nothing go wrong, when Michael the Prince is there, and sees all the acts and decrees of the court, and reads them, yea draws them, and looks well that there be nothing in them hurtful to his Church. And O! may we not, and should we not thank God for this?

4. A fourth thing that troubles the Church of God, is the abounding of offences in herself, and the spreading of error, which, like a flood, threatens to drown the Church; and great stormy winds come, that are like to blow down the house of God; offences and stumblings abound, and error, which (I just now said), as a flood is like to drown all. When the devil is put from the throne, and gets not violence acted, he turns about, and falls on another way, and spews out his flood of error, to devour the Woman and her Child; but our Lord has a vote here also. After the persecution of the heathen is over (Rev. 7:1-2), John sees an angel ascending from the east, the great Lordkeeper, or Chancellor of the Father’s council, the supreme Deputy over all under-officers, that has the keeping of the great-seal of the living God, and there is nothing relevant nor valid till it be sealed by him. And mark the time when he appears; it is when the winds are held, and ready to blow, as verse 1, but he cries with a loud voice, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of God in their fore-heads. ‘Stay,’ he says, ‘a little; ere these winds blow that will take the most part off their feet, ere that delusion go forward; there are some servants of God that must be marked, and put without the reach of the hazard, and the winds shall get leave to blow.’ What reason then of anxiety is there, or could be here, if the solid and lively faith of this intercessor, and advocate, his being in heaven, and thus interceding, were in our hearts?"

My counsel would be to read the whole sermon. There is also an interesting blog developing on Durham's preaching.

the agenda behind Blair's inter-faith mission

Tony Blair has announced that he wants to encourage inter-faith cooperation in his retirement. He "plans to act as an ambassador for multi-faith dialogue in Britain and abroad." Blair recently declared: "The tragedy is that Christians, Jews and Muslims are all Abrahamic religions. We regard ourselves as children of Abraham but we have fought for so long." The plan is to set up a Blair Foundation having as one of its main aims to promote further communication between Christians, Muslims and Jews. Apparently Blair's discussions with the present Pope in May 2006 centred around interfaith conversation and cooperation between religious leaders in order to combat extremism and international conflicts. The Blair foundation is said to have won the support of Canon Guy Wilkinson, the Church of England's adviser on interfaith relations, and Sir Sigmund Sternberg of the Three Faiths Forum.

Blair has also been in conversation with ecumenical Swiss Roman Catholic theologian Hans Küng whom he has taken for his mentor. Hans Küng is founder and president of the Global Ethic Foundation in Tubingen, where Tony Blair has met him and spoken at his conferences. Küng champions what he calls a "global ethic" for people of different belief systems, both religious and non-religious. Küng's aim is to seek common religious ground in a global affirmation of human rights as defined by western liberal ideas. He believes that this will lead toward universal peace. In 1992 he drafted a "Declaration of the Religions for a Global Ethic" for the "Council for a Parliament of the World Religions". This synthesised all the major religions of the world to create a consensus of their moral teachings. He is said to have gained the interested support of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and other world leaders.

Küng's latest book "Islam: past, present and future" pursues this goal further.
Küng demands categorically that Christian theology and the Christian Churches should recognise "without reservation" that: "Through the Qur'an the Prophet gave countless people in his century and in the centuries that followed infinite inspiration, courage and power to make a new religious beginning: a move towards greater truth and deeper knowledge and a breakthrough towards enlivening and renewing traditional religion. Islam was the great help in life."

Concerning dialogue among Christians, Jews and Muslims, Küng argues that historic Christology must be jettisoned in favour of a Christology that would be decidedly "Jewish-Christian in character" would make this possible. Küng believes that the Nicean Creed and Chalcedon have "altered the message of the New Testament".

Although he was a key figure behind Vatican II, long ago Kung had his canonical license to operate as a Roman Catholic theologian removed. He had discussions with the current Pope in 2005, however, and he remains a priest.

Thomas Goodwin - God is Love

I was very pleased to find that the Works of Thomas Goodwin are now all online. Here is an excerpt.

Our God being love, even love itself, 1 John 4:16, 'And we have known and believed the love God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.' Our God loving, where he sets his love, with an infinite love as himself is, which love of all things else in him he loves to shew the utmost of, and of all works, works of love have the most delight in them, therefore mercy is called his delight, his darling: Micah 7:18, 'Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.' Our God being thus love, and mercy his delight, he would gladly shew how well he could love creatures, he was most glad of the greatest opportunity to shew it; therefore he resolves upon this course, to reconcile enemies, whatsoever it should cost. And the more they should cost him, the gladder should they [he] be. The making of a thousand new friends could not have expressed so much love as the reconciling one enemy. To love and delight in friends, who had never wronged him, was too narrow, shallow, and slight a way. He had heights, depths, breadth of love: Ephesians 3:18, 'May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height.' Which heights and depth of love he would make known, and which nothing but the depths of our misery could have drawn out.

And that this is the reason, see Rom. 5: 8, 10, ' But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' Ver. 10, 'For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.' God commends his love towards us, that whilst we were yet enemies, he gave his Son for us, not to be born only, but to die. Both our being sinners, and his giving his Son, commends or sets out his love; and that he might commend it, he pitcheth on this course. And that this love should be pitched upon men, not the angels that fell, it yet further commends his love. There were but two sorts of sinners whose sins could be taken away; and of the twain, who would not have thought but the fallen angels should have been propounded first, and have passed more easily? They were fairer and better creatures than we; and if he regarded service, one of them was able to do him more than a thousand of us. When he had bought us, he must be at a great deal of more trouble to preserve and tend us, than we were able ever to requite-in service and attendance upon him. He must allow us much of our time to sleep, and eat, and to be idle in; to refresh our bodies, and tend us as you would tend a child; rock us asleep every night, and make our beds in sickness; Psalm 41:3, 'The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness;' and feed us himself in due season. Whereas the angels, they could stand in his presence day and night, and not be weary. And, besides, the nature of the angels had been a fitter match a great deal for his Son. They are spirits, and so. in a nearer assimilation to him. Who ever thought he should close to match so low as with us? All this makes for us still the more love, for it was the more free. And the more unlikely it is that he could 'love such as we, the more his love is commended. The less we could do for him or for 'ourselves, the more it would appear he did for us. He is honoured more in our dependence than our service. He hath regard to the lowness of his spouse and handmaids, and lets the mighty go, principalities and powers; he loves still to prefer the younger, and make the elder serve them, Romans 9. The angels are ministering spirits for their good. Among men he culls out still the poor, the foolish, not many wise or noble; and he makes as unlikely a. choice amongst his creatures.

BBC broadcast Gay Romish Mass

For their "Sunday Worship" programme the BBC decided to broadcast a service from the Roman Catholic Parish of Most Holy Redeemer, San Francisco which is notorious for its support of gay activism. In the script of the mass Fr Donal Godfrey, Society of Jesus, leads the service "exploring how gay people can find a place in the Christian narrative and speaks of the gift of faith" Godfrey says "approximately 80% of the parishioners here are gay" and goes on to say "what you thought was evil, corrupting, life denying is in fact good, liberating, and life giving."

Sr Cleta Herold goes on to say later in the service: "When we decided to open the doors of this church to the gay community, 22 years ago, I discovered that what we were doing was in fact unbinding God. We were having to look at our own narrative of who god is, be it a white god, or a black god, male, female, straight, or gay."

The preacher was Dr. James Alison a Roman Catholic theologian, priest, and author. He is noted for his work on gay issues and lives in England. His books include: "The Joy of Being Wrong, Original Sin Through Easter Eyes", "Faith Beyond Resentment, Fragments Catholic and Gay (2001)" and "Undergoing God: Dispatches from the Scene of a Break-In".

The incident reveals further what many have known for some time, the popularity of homosexuality within Roman Catholicism, particularly in the USA.

300 years ago today

On 1 May 1707 England and Scotland became the ‘United Kingdom of GREAT BRITAIN’. The new united kingdom was to be represented by a ‘union’ flag and governed by a British parliament at Westminster and a shared head of state. The Act of Union of 1707 provided security for the Church of Scotland by legislating to "establish and confirm the said true Protestant religion, and the worship, discipline, and government of this Church to continue without any alteration to the people of this land in all succeeding generations". The Act also "ratifies, approves, and forever confirms the fifth Act of the first Parliament of King William and Queen Mary, entitled " Act Ratifying the Confession of Faith, and Settling Presbyterian Church Government," with the whole other Acts of Parliament relating thereto, in prosecution of the Declaration of the Estates of this kingdom". Some felt that whatever the union sacrificed it functioned as a bulwark against the Roman Catholic threat.

The idea was not completely popular in Scotland, however. Presbyterian stalwarts like the historian, Robert Wodrow feared for the safety of presbyterianism after the union. Wodrow together with Thomas Halyburton were concerned that liberal bishops in England and their Episcopal friends in Scotland were adopting Socinian as well as Arminian doctrines. Writing after the union of the two kingdoms, Halyburton worried that the “Times are infectious, and Deism is the Contagion that spreads” (Natural religion insufficient, and revealed necessary to man’s happiness in his present state or a rational enquiry into the principles of the modern deists, Edinburgh, 1714, p.15. It is fair to say that the effects of the union were that the Church of Scotland did witness a liberalisation in terms of the theological views embraced within it as Moderatism developed.

There had been rioting in Glasgow and Edinburgh in 1706. The most vociferous protests were in the most strongly Presbyterian areas. There was strong Covenanter opposition, and on 20 November 1706 300 armed Cameronians entered Dumfries, ceremonially burnt the articles of union as ‘utterly destructive of the nation's independency, crown rights, and our constitute laws, both civil and sacred’, and denounced those in the Scots parliament who ‘shall presume to carry on the said Union by a supream power, over the belly of the generality of this nation’ (W. Ferguson, Scotland's relations with England: a survey to 1707, 1977, p.268). Covenanters believed the Union betrayed the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643 and instead of establishing Presbyterianism throughout the kingdoms it would place 'an eternal embargo upon all such endeavours.'

In Providence it was the 1 May 1707 that Thomas Boston was inducted to Ettrick. He writes: "On the first day of May I was admitted minister of Ettrick; a day remarkable to after ages, as the day in which the union of Scotland and England commenced, according to the articles thereof agreed upon by the two parliaments. And on that very account I had frequent occasion to remember it; the spirits of the people of that place being embittered on that event against the ministers of the church; which was an occasion of much heaviness to me, though I never was for the Union, but always against it from the beginning unto this day."

On the Sabbath after his admission, he began his ministry at Ettrick by preaching from the text, 1 Sam. 7:12, “Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”
Thus began a most notable and fruitful ministry. It was hard, however. Hard to leave his previous congregation:“Thus, I parted with a people
whose hearts were knit to me, and mine to them; nothing but the sense of God’s
command that took me there making me to part with them.”

It was also hard ground to till after 3 years the first communion witnessed only 57 communicants. Boston had privately interviewed each candidate to determine their fitness for the sacrament. By the time of Boston's last communion in 1731, however, there were 777 communicants — including all four of his surviving children.

Yet it was also hard personally for Boston. The same year 1707 he writes: "It pleased the Lord, for my further trial, to remove by death, on the 8th September,
my son Ebenezer. Before that event, I was much helped of the Lord; I had never
more confidence with God in any such case, than in that child’s being the Lord’s. I
had indeed more than ordinary, in giving him away to the Lord, to be saved by the
blood of Jesus Christ. But his death was exceeding afflicting to me, and matter of
sharp exercise. To bury his name, was indeed harder than to bury his body; and so
much the heavier was it, that I could fall upon no scripture example parallel to it; but I saw a necessity of allowing a latitude to sovereignty. I could not charge myself with rashness in giving him that name. But one thing was plain as the sun to me, that day eight days before, my heart was excessively led away from God towards the creature; and I had not visited my pillar so often and seriously as I ought to have done." This was a reference to the first text he had preached on after his induction, 1 Sam. 7:12, “Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.”

Scotland may say the same over these 300 years. "Except Jehovah of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah." {Isa 1:9}.

penal substitution and 'evangelical' confusion

N.T. Wright, Bishop of Durham and theologian, seems very confused. First of all he rightly rejected out of hand the recent remarks by Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans (a notorious homosexual) which in the following critique. Jeffrey John simply repeats the old threadbare idea that penal substitution makes God out to be a torturer and murderer of His own son. “In other words, Jesus took the rap and we got forgiven as long as we said we believed in him,” he says. “This is repulsive as well as nonsensical. It makes God sound like a psychopath. If a human behaved like this we’d say that they were a monster.” He prefers to suggest that Christ was crucified so he could “share in the worst of grief and suffering that life can throw at us.”
Bishop N. T. Wright “accused Mr John of attacking the fundamental message of the Gospel.” “He is denying the way in which we understand Christ’s sacrifice. It is right to stress that he is a God of love but he is ignoring that this means he must also be angry at everything that distorts human life".

So far, so good but then the bishop goes on in the same article to protect Steve Chalke, the 'evangelical' who has been pushing exactly the same views in The Lost Message of Jesus and sharply censure those defending penal substitution. Of Chalke he says, “the reality that I and others refer to when we use the phrase ‘penal substitution’ is not in doubt”. A plain reading of Chalke's statements shows that he rejects penal substitution as such, however. His article explaining the book makes everything quite clear. "Those who criticise me for The Lost Message of Jesus hold a particular view of what happened on the cross (or ‘model of the atonement’) commonly known as ‘penal substitution’ – penal referring to punishment, substitution to Christ acting in our place. Initially based upon the writings of Anselm of Canterbury (1033- 1109), penal substitution was substantially formed by John Calvin’s legal mind in the reformation. The model as it is understood and taught today, however, rests largely on the work of the 19th century American scholar Charles Hodge." He also states: "In The Lost Message of Jesus I claim that penal substitution is tantamount to ‘child abuse – a vengeful Father punishing his Son for an offence he has not even committed."

Wright, who wrote a commendation of Chalke's book on its cover, conveniently ignores this and instead takes to task a new book by some conservative Anglicans Mike Ovey, Steve Jeffrey and Andrew Sach, Pierced for Our Transgressions: Rediscovering the Glory of Penal Substitution (IVP, 2007). According to Wright "it is deeply, profoundly, and disturbingly unbiblical" indeed "hopelessly sub-biblical". He makes his own position clearer: "I regard the 'Christus Victor' theme as the overarching one within which substitution makes its proper point." This is the model which Chalke prefers to penal substitution.

We are living in dangerous times.

Why do ordinary people commit evil deeds?

Various people have begun to comment on the dreadful massacre at Virginia Tech University. A particularly insightful one is here. The BBC website has also published an article entitled "Why do ordinary people commit evil deeds?" It's author is Prof Phil Zimbardo, creator of the Stanford Prison Experiment - where a mock prison was run by psychologists. In this experiment "good, young men" became as prison guards involved in "chilling abuse and torture". The conclusion is that "given certain conditions, ordinary people can succumb to social pressure to commit acts that would otherwise be unthinkable". Another conclusion is that "Prejudiced beliefs lead to discrimination, and in turn to abuse." Zimbardo maintains that "rather than dismissing [evil] as a bad deed done by a bad person" we should seek "to identify corrosive social forces" that create the situation that fosters such actions.

This doesn't take us very near to understanding the Virginia Tech massacre - although we should admit that a culture which glorifies sin also encourages it. Our society is at a loss to understand evil because it has persisted in calling evil good and good evil. No doubt, there are certain external restraints (social and otherwise) upon the evil of our own hearts and when these are absent the evil becomes much more likely, but the removal of the restraints certainly doesn't create the evil.

Towards the end of the article, the conclusion is drawn rather starkly that "Anything that any human being has ever done - anything imaginable - is potentially doable by any of us in the same situation." Although this depends on the idea of situational forces practically compelling us to evil, it is still a remarkable observation from a psychologist.

Few have been as eminently holy in their life as Robert Murray M’Cheyne. His frequent prayer was "Lord, make me as holy as a pardoned sinner can be made". Yet he wrote in his Diary, published after his death: "I have begun to realize that the seeds of every known sin still linger in my heart." We should acknowledge that for ourselves with all sincerity: "The heart is deceitful above all things and desparately wicked" - Jeremiah 17:9.

Historical origins of the cult of the saints

Roman Catholicism still reveres those that it calls "the saints".

The political capital that the Pope makes from this and the unseemly haste to canonise the last Pope show that it is still an important business.
The Official Catechism (956) quotes from Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, one of the principal documents of Vatican II, on the intercession of the saints. "Being more closely united to Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in holiness.... They do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, as they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through the one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus.... So by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped."

What is a saint in Scripture?

Does it refer only to those that the Pope has canonized? To these and also
to 'uncanonical' saints that are venerated regardless? Only miracle-workers?
Only martyrs? Anyone deceased who might have been at all good or at all
Christian? The New Testament provides this definition whenever it uses the
word hagios, which is rightly translated as saints: those who are
consecrated and sanctified unto God. It is clear from its various contexts
that it refers to ordinary believers in local churches. Paul even uses the
title for the Corinthians ( 1 Cor. 1:2 and very significantly I Cor. 6:1-2)
despite their being 'yet carnal' (I Cor.3:3). Were all apostles? Were all
prophets? Were all teachers? Were all workers of miracles? (cp. 1 Cor.
12:29). In the opening verses of Ephesians and Colossians Paul identifies
the saints with the 'faithful brethren' and not exclusively with the
overseers and deacons (Phil. 1:1). In Hebrews we find a whole chapter
devoted to why 'so great a cloud of witnesses' (Heb. 12:1) (greek.
martyrion - martyrs) are to be regarded as martyrion. Only by faith is the
message of chapter 11. These are of course not largely supposed to be saints
in the Roman Catholic system.

Historical origins of 'the mediation of the saints'

How then did the veneration of saints arise? Consensus among historians is
that what they term the 'cult of the saints' emerged in the fourth century.
Roman Catholic theologians would not deny that the beginning of the Roman
Catholic Church was in the establishment of Christianity in 330 AD, and as I
recall the motto of Roman Catholicism has been semper idem - always the
same. There is little doubt that 'Christianity' in the fourth century was
half-paganised. Constantine patronised important foundations of pagan
religion as well as Christian. Paganism was of course only suppressed in 385
it had coexisted officially with Christianity for this century and had been
recently revived under Julian the Apostate. Augustine reports a member of
his congregation:

'To be sure, I visit the idols, I consult magicians and soothsayers, but I
do not forsake the church of God. I am a catholic Christian'. Psalms 88
Sermon III.4.

Although the saint was regarded as residing in heaven, his intercession only
rested partly on that fact, the belief in his presence at his tomb was of
equal importance:

'Here lies Martin the bishop, of holy memory, whose soul is in the hand of
God; but he is fully here, present and made plain in miracles of every kind'
.

Gregory of Nyssa spoke of relation of praying to the saints with their
decomposed bodies or relics thus:

'those who behold them embrace, as it were, the living body in full flower:
they bring eye, mouth, ear, all the senses into play, and then, shedding
tears of reverence and passion, they address to the martyr their prayers of
intercession as if he were present.'

We must take note of the syncretistic influence of the spirit of the 3rd and
4th centuries - neoplatonism - which was influential amongst the
theologians, particularly the Alexandrian and Cappadocian fathers. The
policy of ecclesiastical authorities in the fourth century was to conserve
as much as possible, when churches replaced temples there was no sudden
change: services, pagan inscriptions, images and idols were kept. Cardinal
J.H.Newman in his book 'The development of the Christian religion'
catalogues an extensive list of Roman Catholic rituals which he admits to be
of 'pagan origin'. Msgr. O'Sullivan in 'The externals of the catholic church
' wrote similarly: 'thus, it is true that some Catholic rites are a
reproduction of those pagan creeds'.

We may look at the influence of the Hellenistic and Roman beliefs which were
still very much current in Late Antiquity. There was the ancient cult of
heroes whereby the dead were idealised, it was accepted that some form of
worship was due to the deceased in the family or in a public cult of
emperors and heroes. We find however a distinction kept between the cult
worship of the heroes and the gods. Tombs of Christian martyrs carried the
same name as those of the older heroes - heroon.

Augustine also speaks of how 'When peace came to the church, a mass of
pagans who wished to come to Christianity were held back because their feast
days with their idols used to be spent in an abundance of eating and
drinking' and that 'Pagans had now entered the church and brought their evil
habits with them'. We know that in external forms there was no real
difference between the pagan cult of the dead and the Christian feasts of
saints. Candles were burnt on graves, offerings were made of lamps, flowers,
ointments and foodstuffs. Practices such as leaving the infirm to spend a
night in the tomb of the saint for healing have their precursor in the cults
of the healer gods Asclepius, Sarapis and Isis. As in pagan custom also,
effigies of healed limbs were hung in thanksgiving. We know too that the
cult of relics was not unknown to antiquity - the bones of Theseus for
example.

The gods were localised and guardians of particular cities, a role the
saints came to assume. Direct substitution of saint for god was normal
procedure for instance Constantine's cousin Gallas brought the bones of St.
Babylas to Daphne to replace the oracle of Apollo there.

The concept of the patron saint was popular at this time, an invisible
friend for protection and inspiration. Ammianus Marcellinus relates the
theology of this at the time:

'The Theologians maintain that there are associated with all men at their
birth...certain divinities of that sort, as directors of their conduct.' For
the 2nd century rhetor Aelius Aristides it was the god Asclepius, for the
Christian poet Paulinus it was St. Felix. This was where the custom of a
Christian name came in. Baptism was supposed to have cancelled the influence
of the stars that had initially formed the personality, the individual was
given a new protecting spirit and new genius as well as taking the name of
the saint who was supposed to guarantee all this.

These protecting figures were called in to do their job at death
particularly. In the burial chamber of the Vincentii (late 3rd-early 4th
century) the lady Vibia is depicted being led into the feast of the gods by
her good angel. In 396 Lady Veneranda is depicted in her burial chamber
together with the martyr saint Petronilla - the supposed daughter of the
apostle Peter, and who hasn't been mentioned since. Worshippers lost many
advocates for their times of need when the temples and shrines were finally
closed and it is not difficult to speculate how they filled the void. (The
bulk of the evidence presented here is selected from 'The cult of the
saints: its rise and function within Latin christianity' by PRL Brown).

There are also social and political reasons for a particular rise of
interest in saints at this time, but in the interests of space I cannot
recount them here. We may not be inclined to doubt the Roman Catholic
scholar Karl Adam when he declares in his 'The spirit of Catholicism' (p.2):
'We Catholics acknowledge readily without shame, nay with pride, that
Catholicism cannot be identified simply and wholly with primitive
Christianity, nor even with the Gospel of Christ.'
The basis of prayer

In Christ's teaching on prayer, we are directed to pray 'our Father' because
the basis of prayer is the Father and child relationship. Earnestness,
amount of words and vain repetitions do not count (Matt. 6:7ff.). It is only
upon the basis of our sonship that we are heard. All our requests are to be
made known to God (Phil.4:6). Moreover, our access to God depends solely
upon Christ's work for us (Heb.10:19-22). We are raised to sit with him in
heavenly places (Eph.2:6). We come boldly to the throne of grace for help
in time of need therefore (Heb. 4:16). We know that there is only one
mediator between God and men and that is Christ (1 Tim.2:5). It is sometimes
said however that the infinite and perfect mediator we have in Christ is our
primary mediator and the saints are our secondary mediators. When however,
secondary evidence, reserves, ballots, braking etc. come into play it is
only once the primary has been proved insufficient. There is no possibility
of this being the case with Christ. The cult of the saints clearly
undermines therefore, the unique mediatorial glory and all-sufficiency of
Christ. Is his righteousness not enough that the "merits" of the saints
should be dispensed instead of his?

This is one obvious area where Roman Catholicism is not only far away from
the Gospel but actively undermining and counterfeiting it.

The best and surest way to please God

The best and surest way to please God, and gain a cheerful quiet heart in the way to heaven is, to walk with God in uprightness, (through faith in Jesus Christ,) being careful in nothing: but in every thing, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, to make your request known unto God, which if you do, the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall so establish your heart and mind, in and through Christ Jesus, that you may live in a heaven upon earth, and may be joyous and comfortable in all estates and conditions of life whatsoever.

The Christian's Daily Walk, Rev. Henry Scudder, (Member of Westminster Assembly)

No love, no life

The life of Christianity consists very much in our love to Christ. Withoutlove to Christ, we are as much without spiritual life as a carcass when thesoul is fled from it is without natural life. Faith without love to Christis a dead faith; and a Christian without love to Christ is a dead Christian,dead in sins and trespasses. Without love to Christ, we may have the name of Christians, but we are wholly without the nature. We may have the form of godliness, but are wholly without the power. 'Give me thine heart' is thelanguage of God to all the children of men (Prov. 23:26). And 'give me thy love' is the language of Christ to all His disciples. Christ knows the command and influence which love to Him, in the truth and strength of it,has. It will engage all the other affections of His disciples for Him, that if He have their love, their desires will be chiefly after Him. Their delights will be chiefly in Him, their hopes and expectations will bechiefly from Him; their hatred, fear, grief, anger will be carried forth chiefly to sin, as it is offensive to Him. He knows that love will engage and employ for Him all the powers and faculties of their souls...If they have much love to Him, they will not think much of denying themselves, taking up His cross, and following wherever He leads them; love to Christ then being essential to true Christianity, so earnestly looked for by our Lord and Master, so powerfully commanding in the soul and over the whole man, so greatly influential on our duty.

Thomas Vincent

The True Christian's Love of the Unseen Christ

in 'Day by Day with the English Puritans'

Compiled and Edited by Randall J Pedersen published by Hendrickson

In-wrought faith

It is not faith as our act that unites savingly to Jesus Christ, but faith,
that in-wrought spiritual capacity which is of God.

We are made one with Christ through an in-wrought faith, through the grace
of faith, and not through the act of faith.

Alexander Comrie 1734 Scottish minister in Holland

Christ's Mediatorial Kingdom and the angels

As Mediator he [Christ] is carrying on a glorious scheme for the recovery of man, and all parts of the universe are interested or concern themselves in this grand event; and therefore they are all subjected to him, that he may so manage them as to promote this end, and baffle and overwhelm all opposition.

The elect angels rejoice in so benevolent a design for peopling their mansions, left vacant by the fall of so many of their fellow-angels, with colonies transplanted from our world, from a race of creatures that they had given up for lost. And therefore Christ, as a Mediator, is made the head of all the heavenly armies, and he employs them as his ministering spirits, to minister to them that are heirs of salvation. These glorious creatures are always on the wing ready to discharge his orders in any part of his vast empire, and delight to be employed in the services of his mediatorial kingdom.

This is also an event in which the fallen angels deeply interest themselves; they have united all their force and art for near six thousand years to disturb and subvert his kingdom, and blast the designs of redeeming love; they therefore are all subjected to the control of Christ, and he shortens and lengthens their chains as he pleases, and they cannot go a hair's breadth beyond his permission.

From The Mediatorial Kingdom and Glories of Jesus Christ by Samuel Davis, a Virginia preacher of the Presbytery of Hanover in the mid1700s.

The benefits of Family Worship

Families have hereby their communion kept with God, & thus are kept in the suburbs of heaven; hereby they tell him all their wants, and make known to him all their desires, cast all their care and burdens on him, consult him in all difficult cases, & get their resolutions.

John Brown of Wamphray (Covenanter)

School lessons in depravity

The Government has now pushed through both Houses of Parliament newregulations to make it illegal to discriminate against homosexuals inproviding goods, facilities and services, and in the exercise of publicfunctions. These regulations also cover schools and the teaching of thecurriculum in seeking to ensure the equal promotion of homosexuality in awide range of school subjects. This must be a matter of real concern forparents. While they have a legal right to withdraw their children fromReligious and Moral Education and Personal, Social and Health Education,they do not have such a right to withdraw their children from nationalcurriculum subjects. In Canada legislation extending the same kind ofprotections to homosexuals has been used by homosexual activists in aimingto force the promotion of their perversion in a range of school subjects.The Christian Institute have indicated that some councils already recommendthe promotion of homosexuality in national curriculum subjects such asHistory, English, Art and Music. There is also evidence of this being taughtin some schools.Various materials for sex education already used in Personal and SocialEducation (PSE) actively promote homosexuality as normal and acceptable andpromote homosexual households as 'families'. Many parents are unaware ofwhat is already being taught to their children especially in relation to sexeducation, which is being taught from the later stages of primary schoolupwards, and becoming increasingly more explicit in the early stages ofsecondary education. The prevailing approach assumes that it is unrealisticto expect young people to abstain from sexual activity. Instead the idea isto limit the inevitable through education by promoting contraception. Morethan this, sexual activity outside marriage is said to be a 'right' and a'choice' in such materials and the abortifacient 'morning after pill' ishighlighted as a means of contraception. It is a public scandal that themorning-after pill can be given to girls under 16 legally without anyparental knowledge or consent.

It is little wonder that the Government and the Scottish Executive arefinding teenage conceptions rising fastest in areas where special programmesto combat them have been implemented. Studies in recent years by Glasgow andEdinburgh Universities have shown that this kind of permissive sex educationhas failed to reduce the levels of unsafe sex or unwanted pregnancy despitemillions of pounds being poured into such initiatives. According to ValerieRiches in her book "Sex Education or Indoctrination: How ideology hastriumphed over facts" by Valerie Riches (published by Family & YouthConcern, Jubilee House, 19-21 High Street, Whitton, Twickenham, MiddlesexTW2 7LB www.famyouth.org.uk), this failure is because the government'sapproach to teenage sexual health is not based on research but on theideology that the state is the parent of everyone's children. She arguesthat sex education has never really been about preventing unwantedpregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, but about changing theshape of the family and increasing the role of the state. Valerie Richesidentifies the exclusion of parents from the knowledge of what is happeningto their children, as a key legal change campaigned for by sex educators andsexual health advocates.

Foremost in promoting this ideology is the International Planned ParenthoodFederation which receives 6.0 million per year UK Government funding. Itpromotes 'freedom of sexual expression' and 'sexual pleasure as a validsexual and reproductive health need for all young people' (defining 'youngpeople' as those aged 10-24) through its network of family planningassociations. These focus on permissive sex education at earlier ages,coupled with the provision of contraception to teenagers, including underagegirls, without the knowledge or consent of their parents. Parents have avital role and should not allow themselves to be undermined in this way. Arecent study of over 400 adolescents clearly showed that where parents,especially mothers, were the major source of sexual information, theiradolescents' sexual behaviour was restrained. The only sort of effectiveeducation which will reduce teenage conceptions and disease is that whichteaches abstinence outside of marriage. When the government wishes to reducesmoking amongst teenagers it promotes abstinence but fails to see that onlythis approach will change the UK's position as the teenage pregnancy capitalof Western Europe. How true it is that "the instruction of fools is folly"(Prov 16:22).

The Standards in Scotland's Schools Act 2000 sets out clear guidelines forschools in their conduct of sex education: materials are to be selected withgreat care and sensitivity to the age and understanding of pupils; schoolsare to consult with parents before introducing any sex education programmeto their children; parents are to be given the opportunity to view anymaterials in advance; schools are to be sensitive to parental concerns andtheir religious views; there is no statutory requirement for participationin sex education and ultimately therefore parents may withdraw theirchildren. Scottish Executive Circular 2/2001 states that, all parents andguardians have a legal right to be consulted when schools are developing orreviewing sex education programmes yet this is rarely if ever done. It isthe local school not the local authority which decides on the detail of anysex education programme. There is little control, however, in what schoolsteach in this subject; they are obliged merely to "have regard" togovernment guidelines. The Executive's "A Guide for Parents and Carers" alsoconfirms: "If you have a particular concern about the sex education beingprovided by the school for your child the first thing to do is to discuss itwith your child's headteacher". Parents ought to take this step and ask tobe be made aware under their legal right to preview sex education materials.It is worth noting that while a school may not be using some of the morenotorious materials, most secondary schools appear to be using other equallyexplicit materials which have shocked not only Christian but non-Christianteachers also.

Parents may not be aware that many of the most obscene materials being usedare not in printed form but are shown on video, given as part of lessonstaken by outside agencies or involve certain web-sites. We would encourageparents to find out not just what is to be taught but who is to deliver it -very often outside agencies like the local Health Authority are involved whohave an agenda of their own, namely the promotion of their sexual healthservices. Parents also have a right to withdraw their children from suchclasses. The UK Government's "Sex and Relationship Guidance DfEE 0116/2000"confirms that when formulating their statement of policy on sex education,the governors and head teachers of a school are required to state withinthis policy the right of a parent to withdraw their child from the school'ssex education programme. There is real pressure from such agencies as theBrook Organisation to make PSE a compulsory part of the national curriculum,meaning that parents would no longer have the right to withdraw theirchildren from it (0-19 Magazine, July 2005, p.14). At present, parents dostill have this right and therefore ought to give very serious considerationto exercising it. The Christian Institute briefing "Scottish Sex and DrugsEducation: What you can do to help at a local level" is very helpful inadvising parents in this regard.

One would question whether in view of the prevailing contempt for marriageand the law of God in society at large there can be many who are fit toinstruct our children in these matters. The Larger Catechism Q130 inspeaking of the sins of parents against their children in relation to thefifth commandment identifies the sin of "careless exposing, or leaving themto wrong, temptation, and danger". The wisest and safest course of actionwould be no doubt for parents to withdraw their children from such classesentirely. Only when we have dealt faithfully in relation to baptismal vowsin protecting our children from such permissive values will we, as parents,be able to say in sincerity: "Cease, my son, to hear the instruction thatcauseth to err from the words of knowledge". (Prov 19:27)

A Fountain Sealed - Spiritual Ordinances

In Song of Solomon 4:12 the church is compared to a garden shut up, a fountain sealed, which is to be understood not only in respect of the defence and protection God vouchsafes to His church (that none can destroy her) but also, because strangers and wicked men are not able to drink of her delicacies, or smell of her sweetness.

A spiritual sermon is a fountain sealed up; the spiritual administration of a sacrament is a garden enclosed. Superficial Christians understand not nor perceive the full sweetness thereof. There were many people in a throng and crowd about our Saviour, but only the infirm woman felt the efficacy come from Him. Although many may attend the ordinances, frequent the assemblies, few find the inward power of Christ derived unto their souls.

As, therefore, Thomas, though spoken wrongly on a false ground, said he would not believe Christ to be risen unless he saw His wounds and put his fingers into them, so neither must you believe your estate to be good and sound, unless you may see and feel the efficacy of Christ in His ordinances upon thee.

Anthony Burgess

Burgess was a member of the Westminster Assembly and wrote at least a dozen books that were based largely on his sermons and lectures. This extract is from a sermon contained in his major work, Spiritual Refining, a massive, two-volume work of 1100 pages that has been called an 'unequalled anatomy of experimental religion'.

Heresy and Vatican equivocation

The Vatican has censured the writings of Father Jon Sobrino, a Roman Catholic priest in El Salvador notorious as an advocate of liberation theology. Pope Benedict XVI has ordered the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to denounce publicly on March 14, 2007 certain writings by Fr Jon Sobrino, SJ a well-known theologian, for containing "erroneous" and "dangerous" theses and "notable discrepancies with the faith of the Church" that "may cause harm to the faithful".

There are no direct steps to remove Sobrino, to prevent him from "teaching Catholic theology" or to stop Roman Catholics from reading his books. The warning assumes that Roman Catholics will continue to read Sobrino's works and simply seeks "to offer the faithful a secure criterion, founded on the doctrine of the Church, by which to judge" what they will read. The warning ends vaguely "The purpose of this Notification is precisely to make known to all the faithful the fruitfulness of theological reflection that does not fear being developed from within the living stream of ecclesial Tradition."

It seems that in the late 1970s or early 1980s the Vatican accused him of denying that Christ was both "true God and true man". They later dropped the charges when Fr Juan Alfaro SJ defended him. The Vatican now say that Sobrino "does not deny the divinity of Christ" but that he fails to "affirm" it with "sufficient clarity". Also his writings "tend to exclude" Jesus' self-awareness of being divine". The Vatican are pulling back from what is quite obvious just because the language of this author is slightly obscure. Sobrino says "the limited human is predicated of God, but the unlimited divine is not predicated of Jesus" (Christ the Liberator, 223, cf. 332-333). He also says that "[The New Testament] makes clear that he was intimately bound up with God, which meant that his reality had to be expressed in some way as a reality that is of God". Sobrino believes that the major Councils of the early Church moved away from the historical Jesus.

The Vatican statement also notes that "In some texts some assertions of Father Sobrino make one think that, for him, Jesus did not attribute a salvific value to his own death: "Let it be said from the start that the historical Jesus did not interpret his death in terms of salvation, in terms of soteriological models later developed by the New Testament, such as expiatory sacrifice or vicarious satisfaction […]. In other words, there are no grounds for thinking that Jesus attributed an absolute transcendent meaning to his own death, as the New Testament did later" (Jesus the Liberator, 201). "In the Gospel texts it is impossible to find an unequivocal statement of the meaning Jesus attached to his own death" (Ibidem, 202). "…Jesus went to his death with confidence and saw it as a final act of service, more in the manner of an effective example that would motivate others than as a mechanism of salvation for others. To be faithful to the end is what it means to be human" (Ibidem, 204)."

The statement circles around these issues in a very equivocal way, hinting at but refusing to condemn the writings as heretical. Sobrino is simply guilty of "imprecisions". It shows that the Vatican is aware of error but feels that this is the most that it can do nothing to take firm action against it.

The reason that the Vatican has been reticent to condemn Sobrino overmuch is seen in the backlash against the statement by Jesuits across the world. In Italy, Australia and Brazil there have been protests. In Spain, three groups, the Association of Theologians of John XXIII, Somos Iglesia (We Are Church) and Christianity and Justice, a Jesuit study centre in Catalonia have attacked the statement accusing the Vatican of engaging "in a secret process, without discussion and in an authoritarian manner". In Germany, the Roman Catholic theological faculties of Graz and Münster universities expressed their deep concern at the Vatican reprimand and avowed their full support for the theologian.

The Vatican must be more worried now than it was originally.

The Reformation: a brief guide

TM Lindsay The Reformation: A Handbook, Banner of Truth 2006 ISBN 0-85151-932-6 pbk 277pp £ 7.75

At a time when Rome is claiming to have reversed the Reformation in our land and to have become the dominant religion once more, sound teaching on the history and principles of the Reformation are needed as never before. Originally written for the young, this is a clear summary of the history of the period. It would be hard to find a brief book on this subject that covers so much ground and is so easy to read. The book is valuable even simply for the chronological summary of the Reformation with which it concludes. There are also vital chapters on the principles of the Reformation and the Catholicity of the Reformers.

Lindsay is regarded as one of the foremost historians of the Reformation and this book represents a more manageable and accessible account than his two volume History of the Reformation in Europe. Lindsay is noted for giving attention to the social, political and intellectual context of the history of the Reformation, although this does not detract from his main emphasis upon the Reformation as a revival of religion. Besides the main countries such as Germany, France, Switzerland, England and Scotland; Denmark, Sweden and Holland are also covered.

Far greater space has been given to the Reformation in England than to any other country. We would assume that this is due to the complicated history of the progress of the cause of truth in that country. To a significant degree this was caused by the dependence upon the royal supremacy in ecclesiastical matters. Lindsay's own assessment is that “the royal supremacy gave the Church of England the halting character of its Reformation”.

Lindsay was Free Church professor in Glasgow. This book was first published in 1882 just after Lindsay had been engaged in defending his friend, the heretic Robertson Smith, during his prosecution in the church courts. If Lindsay sympathised with Robertson Smith's higher critical view of Scripture it is not apparent in this work, except where the Scriptures are emphasised solely as a means of grace while avoiding any reference to their infallibility.

We would emphasise, however, that the book is largely a straightforward historical summary and in this it has great value for all ages and levels of interest. It is a blessed thing to “remember the years of the right hand of the most High” and His “wonders of old” (Ps. 77:10-14). Books such as this can greatly help us in this respect.

(This review has been submitted for The English Churchman)

Rome's gay-friendly masses

A recent statement has been issued by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster "concerning its outreach and ministry to homosexual persons" in parts of London's West End, and the desire of "a number of homosexual Catholics, together with their parents, families and friends, for pastoral care". These Masses have already been taking place and the diocese proposes as part of "its pastoral outreach to homosexual people" a bimonthly Mass to be held in Soho. http://sohomasses.googlepages.com/thestatements

The Masses have been running since July 2005, arranged by the "Soho Masses Pastoral Council" (SMPC) for "lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered [LGBT] Catholics, and their parents, families and friends". The diocese and the SMPC have been discussing how to take this forward SMPC has responded with satisfaction at "an agreement that [these Masses] will particularly welcome LGBT Catholics, their parents and their families". They state that "Being proudly lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered, and proudly Catholic is at the heart of this community of faith". http://sohomasses.googlepages.com/

Apparently there are "bidding prayers" which are used in these Soho Masses to celebrate and seek blessing for same-sex unions following their civil partnerships on the third Sunday of each month. This is an example of a recent bidding prayer used at St Anne's: "For all who have entered into civil partnerships during this past month, and for all who are keeping their first anniversaries around this time: that God will preserve them in love and faithfulness."

Rome's hypocrisy and ease at taking contradictory positions is quite astonishing. It seeks to present a public face that opposes homosexuality while condoning and encouraging it on the other in those that are happy to receive mass but still "proudly lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered". This brings the abmomination of the blasphemous mass together with the abomination of hoomsexuality. Rome is struggling every bit as much as the Church of England to cope with the diverse opinions on homosexuality that exist within its midst not to mention practice. The Anglican communion, without in any way commending its alarming confusion, is a lot more honest about these problems, however.

Bible rankings

The CBA (Christian Booksellers Association) has released their March figures for sales of Bibles in their stores during January.
Their Bible sales ranked as:
1 King James Version
2 New International Version
3 New Century Version
4 New King James Version
5 New Living Translation
6 English Standard Version
7 Holman Christian Standard Bible
8 New American Standard Bible update
9 The Message Eugene Peterson
10 Reina Valera 1960 (Spanish)

What is most obvious from this is that the Authorised Version remains the bestseller in the USA. It also noteworthy that the ESV has not managed to supplant even the New King James or New Living Translation. It is also notable that the TNIV has dropped off the list for this particular month. It is sad, however, that The Message, which is a particularly bad and dangerous paraphrase should be in competition with translations, albeit that many of these have paraphrastic qualities themselves.

long hair and feminity

A BBC website article entitled
"Mark of a Woman" discusses the relationship between long hair and femininity.

Hair is so significant because of what it is and where it is," says Dr Martin Skinner, social psychologist at the University of Warwick. "It is part of us, much more intimate than things like clothes. If you cut it away, you are cutting away a bit of yourself. Whatever we do with it is very much part of our identity."

The article focuses on the link between long hair and femininity. It has always been so, psychologist Lorraine Sherr says, "As far back as cavemen, there are drawings of women with longer, glossier hair."

The article points out that a shaved head for a woman always has negative connotations. "It has been used a badge of shame, often linked to sexual promiscuity. During World War II, for example, French women who fraternised with German soldiers were punished by having their heads shaved. "

"When a woman does something like shave her head it is not what society would expect of her, or dictates to her," says psychologist Simon Moore. "People don't like it because they don't know how to act, they don't know what it means."

The article then goes on to interview a lady named Nicki Hastie, 37, who shaved her head nearly 20 years ago. She says. "It's about doing something for yourself, despite all the pressures out there to conform." "We need to widen what's acceptable for women and men, and accept there are different layers of femininity and masculinity in one person."

A reader from the Democratic Republic of Congo comments: "Cutting hair to a woman here in my country is looked to be a bad habit...It is like a shame for a wamon to cut her hair without a specific reason. Here we consider that having the long hair is a style for the women, but the short hair for the men."

Answers

These discussions are interesting but if we want real answers for living we must turn to the Scriptures, and to 1 Corinthians 11.

"every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven. For if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn: but if it be a shame for a woman to be shorn or shaven, let her be covered. For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the gloryof the man. For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man. For this cause ought the woman to have power on her head because of the angels. Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, even so is the man also by the woman; but all things of God. Judge in yourselves: is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her: for her hair is given her for a covering. But if any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God."

We learn from this that:

- Nature teaches us that women should have long hair but that it is shameful for men to have long hair
- It is shameful for women to have short hair (shorn) as well as shaved
- If a woman has short hair she is dishonouring her head (i.e. her husband or is denying the principle of male headship)
- Long hair is given to women for their glory and for modesty.
- It is not only natural but the church should have no other practice in these mattters
 
Short hair on women is also a clear violation of God's law relating to maintaining the God-ordained difference between the sexes established at creation. It appears that it was common for lesbians of the time to prefer short hair in order to look like men. Paul states that nature should teach us of this distinction. The word nature (phusis) in Scripture is always used to refer to creation ordinances. This is the case in Romans 1:26 where Paul refers to homosexuality as against the creation ordinance of marriage between men and women: "For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature [phusis]". Homosexual behavior, the apostle says, is against nature; that is, it is against God's original order established at creation. That which subverts and perverts such creation ordinances is regarded as an "abomination" to the Lord (Deut. 22:5). This is also therefore true of hair length. When Paul speaks of long hair on a man as shameful according to nature he uses the same Greek word atimia that is used in Romans 1:26 to describe the vileness of homosexual practice. That which is highly esteemed among men, is abominable in the sight of God.



People will want to ask, sometimes implicitly disputing with the words of inspiration, the sufficiency of Scripture and the wisdom of God, "how long is long then?". There is an evident difference between long and short. They are relative. Medium is another relative term in measuring length. These things are clear enough for those that categorize hairstyles according to hairlengths for women in glossy magazines. But there are other considerations that help us. Paul uses the various Greek words related to kalumma (katakalupto, akatakaluptos, akatakalupto) in 1 Corinthians when referring to head covering, but then introduces the word peribolaion when referring to hair as a covering shows that he is distinguising between different kinds of coverings. Moreover, the word peribolaion signifies literally "to throw all around" like a mantle or veil. It therefore refers to something copious that wraps about a person. This gives the indication that long hair must be at least shoulder-length since a veil must cover the face.

Lastly, since Scripture is clear, the church must be clear and uniform. "If any man seem to be contentious, we have no such custom, neither the churches of God". One notable example of this is the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland ruling of Synod.

Is the Reformation over in the UK?

Roman Catholicism is set to become the dominant religion in Britain for the first time since the Reformation because of massive migration from Catholic countries across the world. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article1386939.ece

The growing dominance of Rome has been more than evident since the deluge of media attention given to the death and funeral of Pope John Paul II. As one historian put it at the time - it showed that Protestant Britain was dead. We can expect a growing exodus to Rome as the Anglican communion continues to fudge the homosexuality issue.

It shows that Anglicanism is dying but not the Reformation. The royal supremacy in the government of the Anglican church meant that the Reformation was always limited and weakened since it was not led by the ministers of the word. It has often followed the preferences of men rather than adhering to the Word of God. It is witnessing the reality that a church can become broader and broader but there comes a point when the varying parties within it have nothing of conviction in communion but merely happen to belong to the same communion.

The nation needs a Reformation afresh, but when we have despised the one that we have had how can we expect another? Unless the Lord in His wrath will remember mercy and revive His work in the midst of the years. The man of sin can only be destroyed by the breath of Christ's lips, the Word of God (2 Thess. 2). He is able to make that Word to grow mightily and to prevail.

the day of small things

It must be evident to any serious minded and gracious soul with a sincere
interest in the things that concern the cause of Christ in our land that
our's is comparatively a day of small things. This can be witnessed in the
low state of right doctrine, vital godliness and genuine Christian
experience.

It is right to recognise when it is truly a day of small things. It is not
wrong to speak in this way. Indeed, it is realistic. Those who have
understanding of the times accept that this is so. the signs of a day of
small things, not only in the nation but also in the professing Church, are
clear for those with true discernment. It is a day of blasphemy and rebuke.

There is however, a warning against despising such a day: the Word of God
asks 'who hath despised the day of small things?' This is to regard the day
of small things as though there were nothing of value and the only proper
response was one of discouragement or despair. We ought never to despise
what is small and weak if the hand of the Lord is in it (Matt. 12:20).

The exact response to the temptation to despise small things is given in
verse 6 of Zechariah chapter 4. Any obstacle in the way of the Lord, even
though it may be a mighty mountain, will be reduced to a plain. The Lord
Jesus Christ will build the church that He has founded. The pleasure of the
Lord shall prosper in His hand. God has not forgotten His people. The eyes
of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth in order that He may show
Himself mighty on their behalf.

It is not wrong to speak of a day of small things, but there is a reproach
upon those who despise the day of small things. The despisers of Zechariah's
day were looking back to better days and asking 'what is the cause that the
former days were better than these?' (Eccl. 7:10) This is a forbidden
question, however, the Word tells us 'thou dost not enquire wisely
concerning this'. We may compare our own times with former times and
conclude that the former days were better than these, but we ask amiss when
we question the cause.

To ask 'what is the cause' is to question infinitely wise and holy
providence, to impugn the infinite, eternal wisdom of God in His ordering of
the times and season (Eccl. 3:11). He has appointed a time of revival and a
time of declension for His glory and the good of the Church. He is not
answerable to our foolish questioning of His ways (Rom. 11:34; Ps. 77:19).
To despise the day of small things is to resist His will and make ourselves
arbiters of His counsel.

This is our generation, no doubt a wicked and adulterous generation, but we
ought to ask how we like David are to serve our generation by the will of
God (Acts 13:36). We ought to ask what our duty is in such a day of small
things and whether our sinful negligence is contributing to the weakness of
the day. Does our perception of the smallness of the things around us send
us to fervent wrestling prayer or does it make the hands hang down and the
knees grow feeble (Heb 12:12)? If we have decided that God's sovereignty in
disposing things as they are has cancelled out our duty, then we have become
fatalists and have drifted away from the true apprehension of and obedience
to divine sovereignty.

It is wrong to despise the day of small things because the Lord is able to
take the small, weak and insignificant and to transform it for His use and
glory. 'Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive
tree, two or three berries on the top of the uttermost bough, four or five
in the outmost fruitful branches thereof' (Is 17:6). In a day of small
things we are to hope in God and in His Word, waiting more earnestly and
patiently than those that wait for the morning. The Word of God remains our
rule to direct us how we are to understand the day in which we live and how
we are to conduct ourselves by still glorifying and enjoying the God of all
grace.

Roman Catholic Hypocrisy in Brazil

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Paraíba has denounced a prosperity gospel church group as the "commercialisation of faith" after its members opened a 5,000-seat temple in one of the poorest and most drought-prone states in Brazil. The temple was built by the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God and contains television and radio studios as well as parking for 520 vehicles, was opened recently in João Pessoa.

The Archbishop of Paraíba, Aldo di Cillo Pagotto, told the national daily Folha de São Paulo on Tuesday it was "impossible to remain silent" as he saw so many former Catholics whose lack of guidance in a community of faith had left them vulnerable to "religious groups who captivate people by inducing them to show their faith by giving their money".

We have no interest in defending the prosperity gospel cults but the duplicity and hypocrisy of the Roman Catholic archbishop is quite astonishing. Rome has been building ornate and extortionate temples all over the world for centuries in countries afflicted by severe poverty. And it is quite breathtaking to hear a Roman priest warn anyone against "religious groups who captivate people by inducing them to show their faith by giving their money" while defending a 'Church' that has been selling indulgences and masses amongst other religious extortion rackets for hundreds of years. The key issue is that Rome is losing serious ground in Brazil and any means to address this, however hypocritical are easily adopted.

Mr James Renwick, Rebel

Scotland was a land of darkening shadows when James Renwick was born in 1662 but by the time he was executed just 26 years later the darkness was almost night. Renwick was one of the last of the Covenanter martyrs, but also to many "the dearest, kingliest and best, whom the scaffold had taken".

James Renwick was a young minister who loved the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ so much that he could well say "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning; let the tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy" (Psalm 137:5-6). It was a time when to be faithful to Christ meant that ministers were put out of their congregations, men and women could be imprisoned and lose all their property and possessions or even be banished from their homeland. More than this many many were put to death.

Early years

Renwick was born to poor but godly parents in Dumfriesshire, an area that was extremely faithful to the cause of Christ and who had severe fines imposed upon them as a result. All the other children born to this couple had died as infants but his mother continued to seek a son from the Lord. In gratitude they prayed that it might please the Lord to make their son a minister of the gospel. James had very early instincts to godliness, even at the age of two he showed a concern for secret prayer and later in reading the Scriptures for himself. His youth was no calm and silver sea, however, when he went to Edinburgh University as a teenager he went through a painful period of temptation to deny the existence of God. The fierce wind of scepticism and the high waves of unbelieving doubt threatened to drown his troubled soul. Once while he was walking by himself in open countryside he was so distressed by these attacks that he said "If these hills were all-devouring furnaces of brimstone, I should be content to go through them all if so be I could be assured there was a God". But the storm was changed into a calm when the Lord delivered him from all these fears and also gave him a deep assurance of his own salvation. When he finished his course he was unable to graduate because he had to swear an oath to the king that acknowledged that King Charles rather than the Lord Jesus Christ was Head of the Church.

Turning Point

On the 27th July 1681, James Renwick witnessed an event that would change his whole life dramatically. The godly, perscuted Covenanter preacher Donald Cargill was brought to the Mercat Cross in Edinburgh in order to be executed for his adherence to the cause of Christ. He addressed the crowd that gathered and though the soldiers tried to drown out his words by beating their drums, his words carried. "Now I am near to the possession of my crown, which shall be sure; for I bless the Lord that He hath brought me here, and makes me triumph over devils and men and sin: they shall wound me no more". Renwick's heart was fixed, like Elisha after the departure of Elijah he would take up the mantle that Donald Cargill had been forced to lay down. He was sent to Holland in order to be trained for the ministry, and at the age of twenty-one arrived back in Scotland.

Gospel-preacher

The flocks to which Renwick returned were in his own words, "a poor, wasted, wounded, afflicted, bleeding, misrepresented, and reproached Remnant and Handful of suffering people". There were no church buildings open to Renwick for him to preach in. This was no great hindrance however, congregations assembled on the hillside under the open sky in order to year the young minister. Many travelled long distances to hear almost the only minister in Scotland who was determined not to compromise the truth of God's word and the glory of Christ's kingship. Within a year he had baptized over six hundred children. Earnestly he pleaded with men and women to come to Christ, forsaking their sins. "I have but one sermon ," he said, "Come, sinners, and look on Christ. I preach the Lamb that was slain; that draws hearts".

Hunted

King David spoke of being hunted as a "partridge in the mountains" when he was pursued by Saul. James Renwick could say the same. The king's soldiers were always on the lookout for him. Once he was riding with three companions when they met a company of soldiers the only option was to turn around and flee for their lives. The other three were captured but Renwick made it to the top of a hill where he dismounted. Behind a cairn on the hill top there was a pit in which he could hide. Until sunset he remained there strengthened through prayer and the promise "He shall give his angels charge concerning thee". If we thought that this Renwick's life was an exciting, adventurous existence we would be mistaken. It required his health from him. "Excessive travel, night wanderings, unseasonable sleep and diet, and frequent preaching in all seasons of weather, especially in the night, have so debilitated me that I am often incapable for any work". But whatever he suffered was as nothing compared with the reward: "ten thousand deaths, ten thousand hells wuld seem nothing to a soul who gets a sight of Christ at the other side".

The government were determined, however, to arrest and put to death "Mr. James Renwick, rebel", as they called him. He was almost caught while in the town of Peebles, and when in Edinburgh shortly afterwards his voice was recognised as he engaged in prayer. The next morning troops broke in to sieze him, he managed to escape through several streets but was eventually caught and brought to the the captain of the City guard. The captain was astonished to find that the forceful preacher and shaker of Scotland was the frail young man before him, "is this boy that Mr. Renwick whom the nation has been so troubled with?", he exclaimed. A preaching ministry of only four years was now at an end.

The Bridegroom comes

Prison did nothing to weaken James Renwick. Even there we find him writing in his Last Speech and Testimony to exhort all "to make sure your personal reconciliation with God in Christ: for I fear many of you have that yet to do; and when ye come where I am, to look pale death in the face, ye will not be a little shaken and terrified, if ye have not laid hold on eternal life". Renwick approached death with joy. "Welcome scaffold, for precious Christ" he said. When the drum began to beat out the first warning for his execution, he leapt up with these words "Let us be glad and rejoice for the marriage of the Lamb is come". At the scaffold he was able to testify to Christ as "the Prince of the Kings of the Earth, who alone must bear the glory of ruling his own kingdom - the Church". He sang Psalm 103 read Revelation chapter 19 and prayed aloud. Addressing his God he said, "By and by, I shall be above those clouds; then I shall enjoy Thee and glorify Thee without intermission for ever".

the psalms: "an inexhaustible variety of the noblest matter"

Commentary On The Psalms, George Horne, (reprinted by Old Paths Publications, $18.00, available from Reformation Heritage Books, Grand Rapids USA, www.heritagebooks.org)
Horne's Commentary on the Psalms is a devotional classic. Spurgeon wrote: "He is among the best of our English writers on this part of Scripture and certainly one of the most popular." It is a commentary intended to be of devotional value to every Christian not a learned and technical Horne believes that the Psalms are "an epitome of the Bible, adapted to the purposes of devotion". The Psalms contain that which is found elsewhere in Scripture in terms of doctrine, history, duty and prophecy but express them in the spirit of devotion. Horne's commentary explains the Psalms in "their literal or historical sense, as they relate to King David, and the people of Israel" but also spiritually in "their application to the Messiah, to the Church, and to individuals as members thereof." In his own refreshingly meditative approach, Horne finds Christ in most of the Psalms. Not limiting himself to those cited in the New Testament alone, he follows the principles underlying the apostolic interpretation of the Psalms. His approach follows from the best insights of Chrysostom and Augustine on this portion of Scripture.

Many in our own day do not recognise the sufficiency and entire relevance of the Psalms. Nothing could be better suited for the purposes of devotion. Horne notes that the "Psalms when thus applied, have advantages, which no fresh compositions, however finely executed, can possibly have...they point out the connexion between the old and new dispensations, thereby teaching us to admire and adore the wisdom of God displayed in both, and furnishing us while we read or sing them, an inexhaustible variety of the noblest matter that can engage the contemplations of man." This is a commentary designed to help the individual Christian to sing with the spirit and the understanding.

Horne (1730-1792), was a noted evangelical preacher who was Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, Dean of Canterbury, and Bishop of Norwich. While his Anglican allegiance appears in various interpretations and expressions it is not over intrusive in the commentary which he published commentary in 1771. He comments on the pleasure that he had in meditating on the Book of Psalms in putting together the Commentary. "Happier hours than those which have been spent on these meditations on the Songs of Sion, he never expects to see in this world". It was written for those "who will exercise their faculties in discerning and contemplating the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and who are going on to perfection: to increase their faith, and inflame their charity: to delight them in prosperity, to comfort them in adversity, to edify them at all times". And truly if we use and apply the Psalms aright they will be blessed to us in this way.

how to approach the Lord's Supper

Meditations on the Lord's Supper
John Willison
Reformation Press, Stornoway, 1990, £1.80,
ISBN 1 872556 00 0 Publisher website
How do you prepare for the Lord's Supper? Hopefully you examine yourself in relation to appropriately challenging passages of Scripture and seek to acknowledge your condition in prayer. Sometimes, however, if we are honest, we find it difficult to maintain the right frame of spiritually-mindedness. These meditations stir the soul and provide an example of those spiritual breathings that we long for. There are nine meditations for before going to the table and eight for afterwards.
John Willison, best known as the author of the Mother's Catechism, ministered in Dundee almost 300 years ago. The language is not particularly dated, however, and the booklet is at a price that anyone could afford. Although they are short, only about a page and a half, they are especially full of the spiritual power of Scripture imagery as the following quotation shows.

O if our Lord Jesus Christ's love and glory would come flowing like a full sea, or the rushing of a mighty wind, and fill all the corners of His house and of His table, that great grace might be on all His people. O to hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, a sign that God is gone forth before us to smite the hosts of our lusts, and triumph over our enemies. O that the kindly breathings and prosperous gales of God's Spirit would enliven all the drooping hearts, and fill all the empty sails of wind-bound communicants. O that the heavenly wind would blow from the right airth, that poor leaky vessels might come speed in their voyage, and sail straight forward to the shores of Emmanuel's land.

Click here for another excerpt.

worldliness

Worldliness, John P Thackway, Bible League Quarterly, Words of Truth booklets No. 4, 2004. ISBN 1741-5969. £1.25, 48pp. available from 46 Bulbridge Road, Wilton, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP2 0LE Website of Bible League Trust

This is a vitally important and highly practical booklet. Mr Thackway laments that whereas historic evangelicalism asserted holy living together with doctrinal orthodoxy, modern evangelicals finds this concern embarassingly unfashionable. As Thackway expresses it: 'Fear of being judged “old fashioned” grips them much more than “the fear of the Lord” and how “to walk and to please God”. Engagement with the world in the name of relevance now means that any talk of separation from it is 'equated with seriously hindering meaningful witness'. The booklet begins by defining what the Bible means by the term 'the world' and proceeds to identify what it says about the Christian's pilgrim relationship to the world.

Application of these truths is followed through in terms of Scripture in the areas of speech, entertainments, the home and the church. Largely speaking principles are laid down as opposed to extensive practical application. While examples are used, perhaps it would not hurt to be even more specific. The benefit of the approach taken, however, is that it encourages the reader to think things through from a principled basis. We are too apt to see worldliness in things and practices rather than words and attitudes. The booklet concludes with sound principles for separation.

family worship

Returning to the Family Altar: A Commentary and Study Guide on the
Directory for Family Worship, Douglas W. Comin, £3.00 (including postage within UK),ISBN 0-9539241-2-2, 64 pp., booklet, James Begg Society, 2005(order from Donald Morgan, 7 Cearn Sheileidh, STORNOWAY, Isle of Lewis, HS1 2YW.

In a generation which as witness unprecedented attacks upon the family, so that Christian parents are struggling to raise a godly seed in the fear and admonition of the Lord, every help possible must surely be welcome. The wellbeing and future prospects of society and the Church have a connection with the vitality of family religion. It is no surprise therefore that the devil seeks to attack the very keystone of family religion, which is family worship. As the author of this booklet puts it: “ A big part of the solution to the erosion of Biblical family life lies in a return to the sincere and consistent practice of family worship.”

This booklet is a commentary and study guide on the somewhat neglected Directory for Family Worship which was approved by the Church of Scotland in 1647. It was not part of the documents produced by the Westminster Assembly which perhaps accounts for some of its neglect. It is no coincidence, however, that the Directory was approved by the Church of Scotland in the same year that they ratified the Westminster Confession of Faith. It expands in a practical way upon the Westminster Confession's requirement of the worship of God “in private families daily” and the relevant parts of the Larger Catechism Q129-130.

Describing family worship as “a necessary duty”, the Directory gives especially practical help and guidance as to why, when, how and by whom it is to be conducted. With fifteen sections in total, other matters are also addressed such as the elements of family worship, its benefits and how it is to be maintained on the Lord's Day. The language of duty is in no way extreme as the American Presbyterian John Girardeau indicates: “the awful imprecation, 'Pour out Thy fury upon the heathen that know Thee not, and upon the families that call not on Thy name' (Jer. 10:25), while it furnishes support to the view just expressed, also enforces, under sanctions of the most dreadful character, the duty of family worship...They who neglect this obligation are classed with heathen, and are threatened with the fury of the Almighty poured upon them like a storm.”

Comin makes brief comments on each section, highlighting the spiritual wisdom of the Directory and seeks to apply it. He makes the telling point that churches have devised all kinds of meetings for all kinds of age groups yet often never emphasise and enforce family worship. It might have been better to give a fuller defence of the biblical requirement of family worship and deal with potential objections in view of the sad fact that it is so widely neglected. Others have undertaken this before, however, for instance the Covenanter John Brown of Wamphray gave twenty four proofs that family worship is required by God together with answers to seven objections. . More could be said on the subject, and there are other longer treatments such as J W Alexander's Thoughts on Family Worship. This is, however, a very helpful and inexpensive booklet on the subject which will be of great benefit to those that have been engaged in family worship over many years as well as those that need encouragement to begin by God's grace.