The Decline of Order, Justice and Liberty in England

A Brief History of Crime: The Decline of Order, Justice and Liberty in England
Peter Hitchens Atlantic Books 2003 ISBN 1 84354 148 3 hbk pp. 315

Against a background of a rumoured election, an epidemic of violent crime and a crisis in the prison system one does not have to look for reasons to think about the state of law and order in the UK. Add to this the fear that Christians will soon find that some of their beliefs are outlawed. Those that are concerned, as all ought to be, that the civil powers should be 'a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil' and that 'we may live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty' will share a concern similar to the author of this book. It is written 'to show that much of the public debate on crime and punishment in modern England is based on mistaken beliefs, misunderstood figures and cheap slogans – especially on the death penalty, imprisonment, drugs, policing and the right to bear arms.' Hitchens shows a keen insight into these failures describing the unchecked slide into disorder: 'England is rapidly becoming a place where the good are afraid of the bad and the bad are not afraid of anything'. 'A society that clearly and decisively punishes wicked actions will have no need to document, restrict or spy on the millions who do not do such actions...the more generously and considerately we create safeguards for transgressors, the fewer freedoms will remain for those who behave themselves'.

Crime is seen by those in power as an endemic social and economic disease 'produced by poverty, bad housing, poor schools and all the other ills that socialism claims to be able to cure'. Their response is only therefore to try and contain it. The bureaucratic repression that is mobilised to deal with this has more restrictive effect upon the law-abiding than the criminal. The danger of this solution is that it will ultimately 'create a social and legal system so stifling and intrusive as to be uncomfortably close to dictatorship'. The measures implemented under Blair pose 'the gravest threat to English liberty since the 17th century'.

Hitchens traces the dramatic post-war descent of Britain, in terms of law and order. He blames a political establishment that has systematically dismantled all the supports of effective punishment of crime. Policing has abandoned any attempt at prevention by removing the patrolling officer. 'The machinery and structure of the English police have been designed since 1966 to react to crime instead of prevent it before it happens'. The policy of responding to incidents after they have happened 'has given evildoers a new feeling of freedom from fear and so made streets less pleasant and less safe'. Police officers are now the servants of political correctness instead of the ordinary citizen. Hitchens supports capital punishment by recalling the days when murder, a 'crime of unique horror', was punishable by a unique punishment, society's most civilised response to murder. The book concludes with a postscript which reviews the case of the elderly street preacher Harry Hammond who was assaulted, arrested and then convicted and fined for holding a simple placard of protest. We do not necessarily commend every way in which the author expresses his case but it is a sober and well-researched treatment of the subject. The book concludes: 'One major purpose of this book is to warn that there is now a real threat to liberty, thought and speech in this country, a threat which cannot be lightly dismissed by any observant or alert citizen'.

A paperback version has been issued under the title 'The Abolition of Liberty'.

John Kennedy of Dingwall

A new website has been set up devoted to the works of Rev. Dr. John Kennedy of Dingwall http://www.john-kennedy-dingwall.co.nr/. It contains a Memoir of Dr Kennedy appeared in the Inverness Courier newspaper in 1893. Mrs Kennedy regarded it as the best account of her late husband that had appeared in any form.
The memoir states that "The life of Dr Kennedy, written by his friend, Mr Auld, is a good, faithful book, but inadequate. It gives us dates, facts, diaries, letters, but it does not give us the man. Dr Kennedy was vital to his finger tips." It goes on "Briefly, he was a Scottish Puritan who adhered with the utmost tenacity of grasp – and his grasp was singularly powerful and tenacious - to all the tenets of the [Westminster] Confession of Faith as interpreted by the Evangelical party before the Disruption. He was a Calvinist, bowing down with humble head before the divine sovereignty, and seeking no philosophical or rationalistic explanations of the inscrutable. He accepted the authority of Scripture without question. To him it spoke with such plentitude of inspiration that its words carried conviction to his heart."

It quotes from one of his lectures: "The blessing of the Most High," he exclaims, "is what Scotland needs. This alone could make her truly rich. This alone can save her from her perils. This alone could have made her what she once became and secured the continuance of her prosperity. Whatever may betide her in the age next to come, I love to think of her, on some bright future day, emerging with all the nations of the earth from the darkness and the storms of antemillennial times into the brightness and the calm of many ages of blessedness, receiving on her bosom the light of heavenly favour and the dew of heavenly grace, till a verdure richer than ever clothed her shall cover her all over, and fruits of righteousness shall grow throughout all her borders, such as are befitting the very garden of the Lord."

The Sorrows Of The Bereaved Spread Before Jesus

by Jonathan Edwards
September 2, 1741.

Matthew 14:12, "And his disciples came and took up the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus."

It was now a sorrowful time with John's disciples; when they were thus bereaved of him whose teachings they had sat under. And the manner of his death was doubtless very grievous to them. They were like a company of sorrowful, distressed, bereaved children. And what do they do in their sorrows, but go to Jesus with their complaint. The first thing that they do, after paying proper regards to the remains of their dear master, is to go to Christ, to spread their case before him, seeking comfort and help from him. Thus they sought their own benefit.

And probably one end of their immediately going and telling Jesus was, that he, being informed of it, might conduct himself accordingly, as his wisdom should direct, for the interest of his own kingdom. When so great a person as John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, was thus martyred, it was a great event, in which the common cause, in which both Christ and he were engaged, was greatly concerned. It was therefore fit that he that was at the head of the whole affair should be informed of it, for his future conduct in the affairs of his kingdom. And accordingly we find that Jesus seems immediately to be influenced in his conduct by these tidings; as you may see in the next verse. "When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by a ship into a desert place apart." Thus John's disciples sought God's glory.

The observation from the words that I would make the subject of my discourse at this times, is this:

When anyone is taken away by death, that has been eminent in the work of the gospel ministry, such as are thereby bereaved, should go and spread their calamity before Jesus.

Though in handling this subject I might particularly speak to several propositions that are contained in this observation, and many things might profitably be insisted on under it, if there were room for it within the compass of a sermon; yet I shall only give the reasons of the doctrine, and then hasten to the application.

The following reasons may be given why, in case of such an awful dispensation of Providence, those that are concerned in it, and bereaved by it, should go and spread their sorrow before Jesus:

1. Christ is one that is ready to pity the afflicted. It is natural for persons that are bereaved of any that are dear to them, and for all under deep sorrow, to seek some that they may declare and lay open their griefs to, that they have good reason to think will pity them, and have a fellow-feeling with them of their distress. The heart that is full of grief wants vent, and desires to pour out its complaint; but it seeks a compassionate friend to pour it out before.

Christ is such an one, above all others. He of old, before his incarnation, manifested himself full of compassion towards his people. For that is Jesus that is spoken of [in] Isa. 63:9, "In all their affliction he was afflicted; and the angel of his presence saved them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old." And when he was upon earth in his state of humiliation, he was the most wonderful instance of a tender, pitiful, compassionate spirit, that ever appeared in the world. How often are we told of his having compassion on one and another! So Mat. 15:32, "Then Jesus called his disciples, and said unto them, I have compassion on the multitude." So he had compassion on the man possessed with devils. Mark 5:19, "Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done to thee, and hath had compassion on thee." So we read of his pitying the mother, that was bereaved of her son. Luke 7:13. There we have an account, when Christ went into the city of Nain, and met the people carrying out a dead man, the only son of his mother, that was a widow, that when he saw her, he had compassion on her. So when the two blind men that sat by the wayside cried to Jesus, as he passed by, saying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David," we read that Jesus had compassion on them. Mat. 20:30. So we read of his being moved with compassion. Mat. 14:14, "And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and when he saw them he was moved with compassion." His speeches to his disciples were full of compassion; especially those that he uttered a little before his death, of which we have an account in the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th chapters of John. His miracles were almost universally deeds of pity to persons under affliction.

And seeing such a pitiful heart appeared in him on all occasions, no wonder that John's disciples, when bereaved to their dear guide and teacher, and their hearts were full of sorrow, came to him for pity. Which likewise induced Mary and Martha to come and fall down, pouring out their tears at Jesus' feet, when their dear brother Lazarus was dead. Other Jews came to comfort them, before Jesus came, whom they little regarded, but when they heard that Jesus was come, they soon go and spread their sorrows before him. They were assured that he would pity them; and their expectation was not frustrated; for he was most tenderly affected and moved at their tears. We are told that on that occasion he groaned in spirit and was troubled. John 11:33. And when he came to the grave, it is observed, and a special note seems to be set upon it, that he wept, verse 35.

He was one that wept with those that wept. And indeed it was mere pity that brought him into the world, and induced him not only to shed tears but to shed his blood. He poured out his blood as water on the earth, out of compassion to the poor, miserable children of men. And when do we ever read of any one person coming to him when on earth, with a heavy heart, or under any kind of sorrow or distress for pity or help, but what met with a kind and compassionate reception?

And he has the same compassion now he is ascended into glory. There is still the same encouragement for the bereaved ones to go and spread their sorrows before him.

Afflicted persons love to speak of their sorrows to them that have had EXPERIENCE of affliction, and know what sorrow is. But there is none on earth or in heaven that ever had so much experience of sorrow as Christ. Therefore he knows how to pity the sorrowful...

2. Christ has purchased all that persons need under such a bereavement. He has purchased all that miserable men stand in need of under all their calamities, and comfort under every sort of affliction. And therefore that his invitation to those that "Labour and are heavy laden," with either natural or moral evil: he has purchased divine cordials and supports for those hearts that are ready to sink: he has purchased all needed comfort and help for the widow and the fatherless: he has purchased a sanctified improvement and fruit of affliction, for all such as come to him, and spread their sorrows before him.

3. Christ is able to afford all that help that is needed in such a case. His power and his wisdom are as sufficient as his purpose, and answerable to his compassions. By the bowels of his mercies, the love and tenderness of his heart, he is disposed to help those that are in affliction; and his ability is answerable to his disposition. He is able to support the heart under the heaviest sorrows, and to give light in the darkness. He can divide the thickest cloud with beams of heavenly light and comfort. He is one that gives songs in the night, and turns the shadow of death into the morning.

Persons under sorrowful bereavements are ready to go and lay open their sorrows to them that they think will be ready to pity them, though they know they can but pity them, and cannot help them. How much more is here in such a case to induce us to go to Jesus, who is not only so ready to pity, but so able to help, able abundantly more than to fill up the breach, and able to turn all our sorrows into joy!

A Solemn and accurate observation

'...if British freedom is to be subverted, the process will be begun by Sabbath desecration; will proceed by the consequent degradation of the people through the inevitable loss of faith and holiness, and will end in the assumption of despotic power by those who degrade in order to enslave; who not fearing God, neither regard man.'

William Hetherington 1844

160 years later we know the truth of this by experience.

True Spiritual Hunger

Rev. John Willison of Dundee

1 . True hunger is unsatiable without food : Bring a treasure, a crown, or the greatest preferments to a hungry man, all cannot satisfy him: So nothing can
satisfy the hungry soul but Christ ; not his ordinances or benefits only, but himself ; not the supper or bread of the Lord but the Lord of the supper and the Lord of the bread, Ps. lxxiii. 25. Job xxiii. 3.

2. Hunger is unsupportable without meat ; the man must die if he want it ; so the truly hungry soul cannot live or subsist without Christ ; he can bear the want of other things, but Christ he cannot want, Psalm cxliii. 7, 9.

3. Hunger makes a man resolute, active, and industrious; he will spare neither cost nor travel for food, it would even break through stone walls : So a hungry soul will venture through all difficulties to find Christ, Cant. iii. 2, 3.

4. Hunger makes a man very humble ; he will make the coarsest bread, or meanest crumb, very welcome : So tbe truly hungry will be content to have Christ upon any terms, though it were even to be the meanest servant of his house,
or set with his dogs, provided always he may have a relation to his family, Luke xv. 10.

5. Hunger makes a man restless and impatient of delays till food be brought ; so the hungry soul cries oft, " How long, Lord, wilt thou forget me ? How long wilt thou hide thy face ? When shall I come and appear before God ?" Psalm xiii. 1. Psalm xliii. 1, 2.

6. It makes a man prefer Christ and his ordinances to all his worldly interests, and willing to part with all things to obtain these, Luke v. 11.

7. It makes Christ and his spiritual benefits very sweet and pleasant to the soul, and likewise the ordinances that do convey them, Cant. ii. 3. Psal. cxxxii. 1.

why some people never make the spiritual progress they desire

This excerpt from the puritan Robert Bolton explains some reasons why some people never make the spiritual progress they desire. In the past a deeper work of conviction was seen as a vital part of conversion. The danger is on the one hand to slip into the idea that we need a particular degree of conviction but on the other hand not to seek deeper conviction.

'Therefore observe that contrition in a new-born soul ordinarily is in proportion to his former vanity. To whom much is forgiven, they love much: and this is a fountain of evangelical repentance. As a traitor condemned to die, receiving a pardon, would wonderfully break his heart to think he should be so villainous to so gracious a prince: so it is with a Christian that beholds God's mercy to him.

Christians after their conversion desire to see their sins to the utmost, with all the circumstances that make them hateful, such as the object, nature, person, time, age, etc. in which, or how they were done, that so they may be more humbled for them.

If it be not so (it may be otherwise, for God is a free agent, and is not tied to any proportion of sorrow) then such troubles as these usually seize on them:

First. They are often afflicted with this, that their conversion is not thorough and sound, and so do not perform the duties of godliness with such heartiness and cheerfulness.

Second. They are many times haunted with listlessness and coldness in their progress in Christianity.

Third. They are visited with some cross or other that sticks by them: to make them lay a greater load upon sin.

Fourth. They are more subject to be overtaken with their easily besetting sin, because they have no more sorrowed for it; for the less it is sorrowed over, the more it ensnares men.

Fifth. Some of them have been assaulted upon their bed of death with sorrowful and strong temptations. Not that men should think this is always the reason of it, for God has aims in all His works known only to Himself; but I have known some have so been troubled, and this may be in great mercy to make a weak conversion more strong. Lest any Christian should be troubled at it, note in contrition there must be sorrow of heart because of sin: there must be a dislike of it in the will: there must be a strong reasoning in the mind out of the word of God against sin; this is the sinew of repentance: there must be a resolution, and striving and watching against it, like Job who made a covenant with his eyes, Job 31: l: there must be a grieving that he is not excelling in all these, and here he must make up what he wants in the former. These be in some measure in all Christians. Some are more eminent in one part, some in another; as Joseph had little sorrow, but a strong resolution, because he had so strong a temptation, and withstood it; he had strong reasons beyond nature to resist sin, and resolve against it: so that it is not so much the measure as the truth of every part that is required. But if they be not excelling in great sinners, they are to mourn for the want of them. To help here, observe these ten degrees of repentance, or rather helps to humiliation.'

The ten helps can be read at http://www.bibleteacher.org/bolton.htm

Fundamentalism and Evangelicals

Fundamentalism and Evangelicals, Harriet A Harris, Oxford Theological Monographs, Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1998, pp.384, ISBN 0-19-826960-9

While liberals like Bishop Spong have tended to smear the 'Fundamentalist' label with convenient alacrity, evangelicals, such as John Stott, Derek Tidball and Alistair McGrath have, on the other hand, tended rather anxiously to define a straw-man fundamentalism. In view of these extremes it is useful to find a more judicious and careful examination of the relationship between fundamentalism and evangelicals. Harris rightly emphasises fundamentalism as a mentality or tendency rather than a coherent movement. She begins with a historical study of the roots of 1920's Fundamentalism that details the various strands of revivalism, holiness teaching and premillenariansism. The power base of this movement was largely located in conferences and Bible Institutes that had their ancestry in the Albury and Niagara prophetic conferences. The entire relevant history of the last century and a half on both sides of the Atlantic is sketched in well to include all the usual suspects.

The second chapter proceeds to James Barr's critique of fundamentalism. Harris maintains that Barr does not simply equate conservative evangelicalism with fundamentalism he rather prefers to view them as overlapping circles. Barr's analysis represents fundamentalism as a rather incoherent and undeveloped mentality with assorted doctrines but no clear theology. Philosophically, it adheres to an 18th century type of evidentialism while its pretensions to critical scholarship are belied by a determination to skew the evidence. Interestingly, however, Barr prophesies (in 1977) significant shifts for conservative evangelicals on a number of issues, he expected the charismatic/pentecostal movement to subvert their endemic rationalism.

Chapter 3 considers the philosophical roots that Barr refers to, namely Scottish Common-Sense philosophy, which was the dominant philosophy at Princeton Seminary during the nineteenth century. This tradition sought to oppose Humean scepticism with a robust Realism especially in relation to language. Harris gives sufficient space to a study of Thomas Reid's thought showing that although this foremost Common Sense Realist was a Moderate rather than Evangelical, evangelicals such as Robert Haldane, Louis Gaussen and Alexander Carson nevertheless borrowed arguments from him in order to defend the perspicuity of scripture. They asserted innerrancy with a vigorous inductive method that made their conclusion dependent upon 'evidences'. In America Common Sense principles undergirded the educational system from the time of Independence but it was largely James W Alexander and Charles Hodge who developed a 'scientific' theological method. Harris argues, however, that this reached an intense pitch in the thought of B.B. Warfield who often gave evidences a foundational rather than a supporting role. Warfield believed that textual criticism would vindicate and clarify the problem areas of Scripture. Scripture was therefore not so much self-authenticating as evidence-authenticated. Controversially, later evangelicals such as Daniel Fuller and Clark Pinnock have claimed to be following Warfield's principle of letting 'induction control from beginning to end' to its logical conclusion in developing a doctrine of limited inerrancy. In this sense even Creation Scientists are comparatively less fundamentalist (as Barr himself suggests) than those that revise their biblical interpretation to fit scientific opinion.

Chapter 5 enacts a dialogue between liberal and fundamentalist opinions of one another and between their respective views of Scripture. The tension of objectivist and subjectivist tendencies within the evangelical position are drawn forth rather well (although it should be recognised that this has always been a difficulty for liberals as well). Harris maintains that evangelical inductive apologetics bears little influence in individual testimonies and experiential factors are instead predominant.

Harris then devotes two chapters to Dutch Neo-Calvinism as represented in Abraham Kuyper's thought and influence. Kuyper's abiding influence is traced in following chapters. Cornelius Van Til's apologetic similarly discounted evidences and according to sources this was one of the main reasons for the 1937 schism at Westminster Seminary. Van Til follows Warfield a considerable distance on inerrancy and therefore, in Harris's opinion, limits the effectiveness of presuppostionalism as an alternative to rational empiricism. Harris finds Van Til's mix of British Idealist philosophy with Kuyperian ideas and Calvinist theology together with Warfieldian thinking rather strange. She also concludes that both presuppostionalism and evidentialism display circular reasoning departing from deductive premises.

In the last chapter evangelical engagement with phenomenological hermeneutics is considered.

In many ways Harris extends the critique applied by James Barr. One doesn't need to adopt Barr's theology to recognise the sharpness of some of his observations. In fact recent evangelicals such as David F. Wells have recognised the absence of theology in evangelicalism. What Barr emphasises is the opportunism or determined pragmatism of evangelicals which entails making use of the work of those not theologically or philosophically alligned for their own ends. One doesn't need to go back to Thomas Reid, the example of C.S. Lewis is appropriate enough. This magpie mentality believes in making evangelicalism 'electable', contemporary or relevant and it is this populist impulse which perhaps defines Protestant fundamentalism - anything is suitable so long as it works. This attitude goes back to 'The Fundamentals' themselves: Volume 2 concludes with 'Tributes to Christ and the Bible by Brainy Men not known as Active Christians'. In this sense Harris's volume is a useful assessment of the options and weaknesses facing evangelicals in the present time. It demonstrates the rootlessness experienced by evangelicalism in not adhering fully to Reformed theology.

How modern versions mislead about textual criticism

An article by a textual critic has criticised the misleading way that the NIV treats text critical matters. The article "Some Witnesses Have ...": The Representation of the New Testament Text in English Bible Versions is by Holger Szesnat of the Cambridge Theological Federation. http://rosetta.reltech.org/TC/vol12/Szesnat2007.pdf He is also critical of the CEV which manages to confuse notes relating to translation and notes relating to textual criticism in its Preface.

New King James Version
The article does not address one of the most confusing translations with respect to textual criticism, the New King James Version. The marginal notes relating to textual criticism in this version are among the most extensive since such matters were introduced by the Revised Version. The footnotes in the NKJV make constant reference to the Nestle-United Bible Society critical Greek text and in some cases to the Majority text and thus create exactly the same kind of doubt with respect to the original text of Scripture that is in the other modern versions. By questioning the authenticity of such verses and phrases the notes create confusion for the reader and even skepticism. There is an expectation that Bible students will be able to pick and choose according to their subjective sense of what is authentic. Or else there is an assumption that readers will initiate themselves into the philosophy of textual neutrality or eclecticism, of picking and choosing between the readings of competing texts and versions. The latter seems to be entirely the intention according to the New King James Bible Study Edition which states that:
'It was the editors' conviction that the the use of footnotes would encourage further enquiry by readers. They also recognized that it was easier for the average reader to delete something he or she felt was not properly in the text, than to insert a word or phrase which had been left out by the revisers'.

Textual criticism is a complex,technical discipline requiring the knowledge of many ancient languages and in-depth historical awareness of the history of texts. Modern versions would launch the general reader with very little intelligible information into a vast field of knowledge that they cannot hope to process adequately.

New American Standard Bible
This version had originally cut out various parts of the New Testament on the basis of textual criticism and has recently had to reinstate them. One of these passages was the ascension of Christ in Luke. The NASB originally left this ascension account out, claiming it was not found in the best witnesses. It is now restored. As Theodore Letis pointed out they did so 'on the basis of the discovery of papyrus75, (p75), a very early third century witness to the validity of this ascension account. This papyrus was discovered in the 1950s, just about the time that the NASB project was getting off the ground. The NASB New Testament portion appeared in stages between 1960 and 1963, but the entire bible did not materialize until 1971 and as with the current Updated Edition of the NASB which already lags behind the most current edition of the Greek N.T., 27th ed., the original NASB N.T. edition never took full advantage of this new evidence (p75 was first published in 1961, thus affording them plenty of time to adjust their text to this new data'. Can we even believe that these modern versions have got their homework right in relation to the position that they take on textual criticism? As Szesnat's article shows, there is much that is misleading in this connection within the NIV. It is important to note that the Today's New International Version has not really changed the NIV's treatment of text critical matters.

New International Version

Szesnat notes the confusing way that text critical matters are introduced in the preface to the NIV. The preface states (ix-x):
'The Greek text used in translating [the New Testament] ... was an eclectic one. No other piece of ancient literature has such an abundance of manuscript witnesses as does the New Testament. Where existing manuscripts differ, the translators made their choice of readings according to accepted principles of New Testament textual criticism. Footnotes call attention to places where there was uncertainty about what the original text was. The best current printed texts of the Greek New Testament were used ... In the New Testament, footnotes that refer to uncertainty regarding the original text are introduced by 'Some manuscripts' or similar expressions'.

As Szesnat points out what is the reader to make of this? An "eclectic text"? "Manuscripts"? "Witnesses"? "Original text"? "Best current printed texts"? He says: 'Clearly, it would be most difficult to understand the statement in the NIV's preface without basic text-critical training. It does not present the reader with an explanation of basic text-critical issues—in fact, it almost seems as if the preface has a trained exegete in mind, rather than the ordinary reader'. Szesnat goes on to point out that 'even more problematic is a claim implicit in the preface, namely that footnotes in the NIV are given only if there is "uncertainty" as to the original text. The preface seems to suggest that it is only in those cases noted in the NIV that there is any doubt about the "original text".

He states that this is misleading, 'if only because the NIV gives footnotes in many cases where there would be little 'uncertainty' among the vast majority of textual critics (e.g., Acts 8:37)'

'The NIV offers some 133 text-critical indicators in its text of the New Testament; two of these come in the form of notes within the text itself, the rest by way of footnotes. The format of these footnotes is fairly uniform, with few exceptions: variants are introduced as "some manuscripts
read / add..."(e.g. Mt 5:22) or "some manuscripts omit / do not have..." (e.g. Mt 12:47). It must also be noted that the abbreviations 'Mss' for manuscripts and 'MS' for manuscript, which are sometimes used in the footnotes of the NIV, are never explained. This seems odd, since these
abbreviations are hardly common outside the academic scene.'

In some instances, other indications are given with regard to the number of mss concerned: "a few" (e.g. Mt 27:35); "many" (e.g. Jn 13:32); "one" (only in Acts 10:19 and Heb 10:38); or "other" (only Acts 10:19). In some cases, temporal qualifiers are added: "some late manuscripts
..." (e.g. Mt 5:44); "some early manuscripts..." (e.g. Mk 6:14). In one instance, the variant reading is cited as being supported by "some less important manuscripts" (Jn 5:3)... One wonders though what the ordinary reader is to make of the information given: since no real introduction to textual criticism and the state of the NT text is offered, the reader's imagination is bound to run wild.'

In Mark 16 and John 8 there is some more of an explanation. 'The rather terse note reads: "The most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20." But 'what do concepts like 'manuscripts' and 'witnesses' mean? Why are they important? What are 'reliable' or, for that matter, 'unreliable' mss?'

'In a number of cases, the NIV's description of external evidence is unnecessarily simplistic, if not misleading. A typical example is Heb 10:38, where the NIV states in a footnote: "one early manuscript But the righteous". Yet apart from "one early manuscript" (a reference to P13?) this
reading is supported inter alia by the so-called Majority Text...Another example of curious representation of text-critical matters is 1 Thess 3:2, where the NIV translates "Timothy, who is our brother and God's fellow-worker". A footnote states: "some manuscripts brother and fellowworker;
other manuscripts brother and God's servant." This selection is strange given that there are several other variant readings here, including the form that the TR / AV chose ("and servant of God and your fellow worker")'.

'Once or twice the textual variant is reported in ambiguous ways. Acts 13:18 (translated as "he endured their conduct for about 40 years in the desert") sports a foonote after 'conduct' which reads: "Some manuscripts and cared for them". The reader might therefore think that the variant
reading is "he endured their conduct and cared for them for about 40 years in the desert", whereas the translators presumably wanted to refer to the variant "and he cared for them for about 40 years in the desert". The footnote at 2 Pt 2:13 is a similar case.'

What is implied in the NIV is that the age of the mss is the most crucial aspect of textual criticism. But, quite apart from the importance of internal evidence (even if one is not a proponent of radical eclecticism), external evidence hardly works that way'.

The NIV, perhaps unwittingly so, implies an extraordinarily simplistic view that 'early' mss equal 'reliable', 'faithful', or 'accurate' scribes—somewhat akin to the desire of 19th century source critics of the New Testament to find the oldest gospel in the New Testament, assuming that it would necessarily be more 'accurate', or 'reliable', than the others. In this sense, it represents a simplistic, indeed naive, 'search for origins'. On the whole, this gives a rather erroneous impression, if only because it was precisely in the earliest stages of textual transmission that the scribes who copied the New Testament experienced the greatest freedom to alter the text quite deliberately (cf. Aland & Aland 1989;
Ehrman 1993; Parker 1997).

As John Burgo said of the Revised Version
'For, the ill-advised practice of recording, in the margin of an English Bible, certain of the blunders--(such things cannot by any stretch of courtesy be styled 'Various Readings')--which disfigure 'some' or 'many' 'ancient authorities,' can only result in hopelessly unsettling the faith of millions.

It can not be defended on the plea of candour,--the candour which is determined that men shall 'know the worst.' 'The worst' has NOT been told: and it were dishonesty to insinuate that it has. If all the cases were faithfully exhibited where a 'few,' or 'some,' or 'many ancient authorities' read differently from what is exhibited in the actual Text, not only would the margin prove insufficient to contain to the record, but the very page itself would not nearly suffice . . . . It is the gross one-sidedness, the patent unfairness, in a critical point of view, of this work...which chiefly shocks and offends us.'

The devotional value of the Westminster Confession

The Westminster Confession of Faith is not simply a document full of doctrinal statements. It has a practical and devotional use for every Christian. It is a document that may be made utterly personal. This is evident from the vows that office-bearers must take when they subscribe it totally in its entirety, without reservation: 'Do you sincerely own and believe the whole doctrine contained in the Confession of Faith, approven by former General Assemblies of this Church, to be founded upon the Word of God; and do you acknowledge the same as the confession of your faith; and will you firmly and constantly adhere thereto..?'

They must own it in a personal way as the confession not simply of the Church but of their own faith. So, they must not only answer affirmatively to this question but then also sign with their name to the written statement "do sincerely own and believe the whole doctrine contained in the Confession of Faith, approven by former General Assemblies of this Church to be the truths of God; and I do own the same as the confession of my faith."

They confess publicly that the truths of this document have become their convictions by the work of the illumination of the Holy Spirit on the Word of God. They have come to love them. The fact that they have not written the words themselves is not relevant. It cannot reduce their personal devotion to the truths. They are able to make use of them because it is the same Spirit that has opened the mind and heart to receive them. Paul Woolley comments on the fact that 'most modern people hold the view that a creed is something to be forced, or imposed on other people. That is utterly perverse .... Nothing could be further from the proper function for a creed. It ought to be a very joyful affirmation of the truth which has benefited the affirmant, and which he wants to pass on to others in a clear and simple form.' (Paul Woolley, 'What is a Creed for?' in Scripture and Confession, ed. John H. Skilton, p. 98).

BB Warfield calls attention to some of the reasons as to why the Confession possesses this character. It is because the Westminster divines 'wrote these definitions aiming before all things to be saints: is it strange that we see the saint through the theologian and have our hearts warmed by the contact? Certain it is that the Westminster Standards have a spiritual significance to us which falls in no wise short of their historical and scientific significance.

Open these standards where you will and you will not fail to feel the throb of an elevated and noble spiritual life pulsing through them. They are not merely a notably exact scientific statement of the elements of the gospel: they are, in the strictest sense of the words, the very embodiment of the gospel. They not only know what God is; they know God: and they make their readers know Him—know Him in His infinite majesty, in His exalted dominion, in His unlimited sovereignty, in the immutability of His purpose and His almighty power and universal providence, but know Him also in that strangest, most incomprehensible of all His perfections, the unfathomableness of His love. Their description of Him transcends the just limits of mere definition and swells into a paean of praise—praise to Him who is "most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin, the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." And how profound their knowledge is of the heart of man—its proneness to evil, its natural aversion to spiritual good, its slowness of response to spiritual influence, the deviousness of its path even under the leading of the Holy Ghost. But, above all, they know, with a fulness of apprehension which startles and instructs and blesses the reader, the ways of God with the errant souls of men—how He has condescended to open the way to them of having fruition of Him as their blessedness and reward, how He has redeemed them unto Himself in the blood of His Son, and how He deals with them, as only a loving Father may, in disciplining and fitting them for the heavenly glory. Where elsewhere may we find more vitally set forth the whole circle of experience in the Christian life—what conversion is and how God operates in bringing the soul to knowledge of Him and faith in its Saviour, what are the joys of justifying grace and of adoption into the family of God, and what the horrors of those temporary lapses that lie in wait for unwary steps, and what the inconceivable tenderness of God's gracious dealings with the stumbling and trembling spirit until He brings it safely home? Who can read those searching chapters on Perseverance and Assurance without feeling his soul burn within him, or without experience of a new influx of courage land patience for the conflicts of life? It is not a singular experience which Dr. Thornwell records, when he sets down in his journal his thanksgiving to God for this blessed Confession. "I bless God," he writes, "for that glorious summary of Christian doctrine contained in our noble Standards. It has cheered my soul in many a dark hour, and sustained me in many a desponding moment." We do not so much require as delight, with consentient mind, in his testimony, when he declares that he knows of "no uninspired production in any language, or of any denomination, that for richness of matter, soundness of doctrine, scriptural expression and edifying tendency can for a moment enter into competition with the Westminster Confession and Catechisms." The Westminster Standards, in a word, are notable monuments of the religious life as well as of theological definition, and, speaking from the point of view of vital religion, this is their significance as a creed.' (BB Warfield 'The Significance of the Westminster standards as a creed: an address delivered before the Presbytery of New York, November 8, 1897, on the occasion of the celebration of the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the Completion of the Westminster Standards').

John Murray in 'The Work of the Westminster Assembly' wrote similarly. 'The work produced by the Westminster Assembly has lived and will permanently live. The reason is obvious. The work was wrought with superb care, patience, precision, and above all with earnest and intelligent devotion to the Word of God and zeal for His glory. Sanctified theological learning has never been brought to bear with greater effect upon the formulation of the Christian Faith. While it would be dishonoring to the Holy Spirit to accord to these documents a place in any way equal to the Word of God either in principle or in practical effect, yet it would also be dishonoring to the Holy Spirit, who has promised to be with His church to the end, to undervalue or neglect what is the product of His illumination and direction in the hearts and minds of His faithful servants. Other men laboured and we have entered into their labours'.

It should be our delight to find increasing devotional value and spiritual significance within the Confession, simply because its doctrines are the doctrines of Scripture. Devotion must be derived from and feed upon the fulness of the truth. As Thornwell puts it, our devotional requirements will be met in the 'richness of matter, soundness of doctrine, scriptural expression and edifying tendency' of the Westminster Confession of Faith.

true experience

'oh what an empty thing religion should be if it had not this word experience in its grammar; that secret and sure mark whereby the Christian knoweth the scripture is of God; how thus the Lord hath sealed their instruction in a dark plunge; how life and power, enlivening influences, to the melting of their heart have of trysted them in a very dead frame and now they know that verily God heareth prayer; now they are persuaded and have learned by the cross that he is indeed a comforter'
Robert Fleming - The Fulfilling of the Scripture (1669) p.10

The following pages give more information about Robert Fleming.
http://www.mslick.com/fleming.htm

http://www.electricscotland.com/history/other/fleming_robert.htm

Robert Fleming was born at Bathans in 1630, the son of a minister of the gospel, James Fleming. He studied under Samuel Rutherford.

By the time he was 23, he was a pastor at Cambuslang, in Clydesdale until after the restoration of King Charles II. He had seven children by Christina Hamilton. He lived at Edinburgh until September of 1673 when "all the ministers in and about Edinburgh were called to appear before the Council to hear their sentence, and repair to the places of their confinement." He chose not to appear. As a result, he was persued, eventually apprehended, and imprisoned in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh. After his release he went to Holland.

He had a custom established from sometime around his sixteenth or seventeenth year of age "to set apart the first day of every year for renewing his covenant with God; and if interrupted that day, to take the next day following." Following is a sample taken from his journal.

1691. In the entry of this new year, as I have now done for many years most solemnly, I desire again to renew my personal engaging of myself to the Lord my God, and for Him, and with my whole heart and desire to enter myself into His service, and take on His blessed yoke, and humbly to lay claim, take, and embrace Him (O Him!) To be my God, my all, my light, and my salvation, my shield, and exceeding great reward." ("The Scots Worthies," by John Howie, of Lochgoin. Edingburgh and London: Oliphant, Anderson, & Ferrier, 1870, page 574)

He produced many works: Confirming Work of Religion, Epistolary Discourse, and The Fulfilling of the Scriptures.

He left behind a writing called, A Short Index of some of the Great Appearances of the Lord in the Dispensations of His Providence to His Poor Servant." Apparently, the Lord moved miraculously upon Robert Fleming. Following are excerpts taken from that work and recording in Scots Worthies on pages 578 - 560.

3. The strange and extraordinary impression I had of an audible voice in the church at night, when, being a child, I had got up to the pulpit, calling me to make haste.

10. The extraordinary dream and marvelous vision I had, twice repeated, with the inexpressible joy after the same.

21. The dream at Boussay, wherein I got such express warning as to my wife's removal, with the Lord's marvelous appearance and presence the Thursday after, at St. Johnston's.

24. Those great and signal confirmations give me at my wife's death, and that great extraordinary voice, so distinct and clear, which I heard a few nights after her death.

34. The remarkable warning I was forced to give, that some present should be taken away by death before next Lord's-day.

Unity of Visible Church in Song of Solomon

James Durham shows how the Song of Solomon teaches the unity of the catholic visible church. When he speaks of subdivisions and particular churches he is referring to different national churches. It is important to bear in mind the remarks of James Walker:

'The visible church, in the idea of the Scottish theologians, is catholic. You have not an indefinite number of Parochial, or Congregational, or National churches, constituting, as it were, so many ecclesiastical individualities, but one great spiritual republic, of which these various organizations form a part. The visible church is not a genus, so to speak, with so many species under it. It is thus you may think of the State, but the visible church is a totum integrale, it is an empire. The churches of the various nationalities constitute the provinces of this empire; and though they are so far independent of each other, yet they are so one, that membership in one is membership in all, and separation from one is separation from all . . . This conception of the church, of which, in at least some aspects, we have practically so much lost sight, had a firm hold of the Scottish theologians of the seventeenth century.' Dr. James Walker in The Theology of Theologians of Scotland. (Edinburgh: Rpt. Knox Press, 1982) Lecture iv. pp.95-6.

It should be clear that Durham shared the view of all the Second Reformation divines who 'had such a conception of the importance of the unity of the church, and such a horror of the evil of schism, and were so firmly convinced that anyone who withdrew from church communion without absolute cause, that is without feeling assured that he could not remain in such fellowship without committing sin, was guilty of a most heinous offence, that they were ready to give their most favorable consideration to any sort of suggestion of reasons why they should refuse to go out of a church, notwithstanding the existence in it of many corruptions against which they must protest.'

http://www.naphtali.com/articles/schism-separatism/the-sin-of-schism/

Song 6 Verse 2. My Beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

He is 'gone down to his garden,' which implieth the similitude, formerly expressed, of a man's retiring from his chamber or closet to his garden: this 'garden' signifies the church, as chap. 4:12,15, and here, as opposed to gardens, in the words following, it holdeth forth the catholic visible church, as gardens signify particular societies, or congregations: the church is like a garden that is within one precinct, yet divided into divers quarters and inclosures: this being the church that hath the promise of Christ's presence, and where he is ever to be found, must be understood of no particular church, of which that cannot be asserted, that Christ shall be always there: it must therefore be the catholic church, distinguished from particular churches, or gardens.

2. He is gone 'to the beds of spices:' as gardens have distinct plots of flowers, and beds of spices, and some particular parts are allotted for these, where especially they grow; so in the church Christ hath his plants, whereof some are sanctified with grace (therefore compared to spices) and these, in some parts of the visible church, are more abounding than in other parts, (as spices in beds together, that may be elsewhere but in particular stalks and not so frequent) and as men love and frequent that plot of their garden most; so doth Christ most manifest himself in his ordinances ordinarily, where he hath his spices and lilies in greatest abundance: and thus this last part qualifies the former, he is in his church, but especially where his spices are most abounding: and therefore would you have him? Seek him in his church and amongst his people, and especially in such societies of his people, where true and lively believers are most to be found.

Here observe (besides what was observed on chap. 4:12,) Christ's church, tho' it have many subdivisions, yet is it one church; one whole catholic church, whereof particular churches are parts, 1 Cor. 12:28.

2. It is in that church and no where else, that Christ's presence is to be found, and where believers, the spices and lilies are planted.

3. There may be, in that one visible church, many more real converts in one part thereof, than in another; 'spices' in 'beds' are not in every place of the 'garden.'

4. Tho' Christ hath a singular care of, and respect for, his whole church, and hath a peculiar presence there wherever there is any part thereof, yet where he hath much people, beyond what he hath in other places (as in Antioch, Acts 11:21, in Corinth, Acts 18:10, and Ephesus, Acts 19:20,) there especially is he present, and there ordinarily continues he the power and life of his ordinances.

5. Those who desire Christ, should not run out of the church to seek him, or expect any way of finding him, which others have not found out before them but should seek after him by the ordinary means, in his church; for, this answers their question, 'Where is he?' proposed for that end, that they might seek him and find him.

Song 6 verse 9. My dove, my undefiled is but one.

She is one, which sets her out not only with unity in her affections, but (to say so) with a kind of oneness in herself: thus the visible catholic church is one garden, verse 2, comprehending many beds of spices; one church, made up here of many particular churches: and thus, oneness or unity is a great commendation to her, or a special part of her excellency.

Social Epidemics

Some popular non-fiction books can be worthwhile. I haven't read this one, but 'The Tipping Point' by Malcolm Gladwell has an interesting sound to it. The main focus is upon why things can change so quickly and unexpectedly. Sometimes the smallest changes can effect the greatest results. Certain messages have a stickiness factor that means that they have an impact that lasts through being memorable while others are easily forgotten.

Gladwell believes that ideas and behaviour and messages and products sometimes behave just like outbreaks of infectious disease. They are social epidemics.

An idea, trend or social behaviour can be contagious in exactly the same way that a virus is. One chapter, for example, deals with the very strange epidemic of teenage suicide in the South Pacific islands of Micronesia. In the 1970's and 1980's, Micronesia had teen suicide rates ten times higher than anywhere else in the world. Teenagers were literally being infected with the suicide bug, and one after another they were killing themselves in exactly the same way under exactly the same circumstances. Gladwell also asks: Isn't this the explanation for the current epidemic of teen smoking in this country? No generation has been better educated about the dangers – yet they persist. And what about the rash of mass shootings in the USA over past years?

Gladwell believes this can be positive too, but it's worth thinking about social epidemics. Why is crime contagious? The book refers to the problem of fare-beating on the New York subway – this snowballed simply because people joined in after watching others do it. One explanation is that if people can see prohibited behaviour as marginally accepted and permissible with no significant consequences they will follow suit. Gladwell gets tied up with nature versus nurture – whether our environment shapes us or whether it is down to genetics and personality. He refers to the Broken Windows Theory which argues that crime is the inevitable result of disorder – that crime is contagious and the criminal is prompted to commit crimes based on his perceptions of the world around him. An alternative view believes that the criminal is a personality type. Peter Hitchens' book 'A Brief History of Crime' is a discerning analysis of this crime crisis that the UK has descended into. Hosea 4:1-2 'Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood'

To these things we must say to our politicians and rulers as well as to the sociologists, as with Anselm in his book 'Cur Deus Homo': 'You have not as yet estimated the great burden of sin'. This is what underlies any destructive social epidemic.

adding to the Word of God

The Better Bibles Blog is not one that supports the Authorised Version but in an even-handed way it has commended its accuracy.

http://englishbibles.blogspot.com/2007/08/inserting-words-into-text.html

"Here are a few examples of where a word has been inserted into the English text of Bibles. Only the KJV doesn't do this. That is one thing you can be comfortable with in the KJV. And if words are added they now appear in italics."

The examples provided include 1 Cor. 2:1 "And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God." KJV

The TNIV has added the word "human".

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. TNIV

In 1 Cor. 1:7 modern versions add a word, this time the word "spiritual" to read spiritual gifts. So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: KJV

In Romans 12:19 we read "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath" KJV
But even the NASB which is more literal than others adds the words "of God" to read "wrath of God".

Sabbath public transport - the historical view

Some people think that the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland position opposing the use of public transport on the Sabbath is rather idiosyncratic and divides them from the rest of the Christian world unnecessarily. They think it is rather extreme, but they fail to realise that it is warranted by Scripture and that godly men of the past have taken the same view.

The use of public transport on the Sabbath is against Scripture because it is a commercial transaction taking place on the Sabbath requiring someone to work for a purpose other than that of necessity and mercy. The traveller is effectively hiring the transport and the driver and employing someone on the Sabbath. A clear provision and consequence of the fourth commandment is that we cannot employ someone or make them work on the sabbath, 'the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates' (Exodus 20:10).

As Thomas Boston put it – this is a commandment that prohibits 'all handy-labour or servile employments tending to our worldly gain'. Public transport is being run on the Sabbath for the purposes of profit and the traveller is involved in this commercial enterprise. Chapter 11 of The History of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland 1893-1970, which can be viewed at http://www.puritans.net/news/FPCSchapter11.pdf outlines the reasons that the Free Presbyterian Church took this stand. As the Synod in 1928 put it It...is wrong - wrong, because, in itself it is, and claims to be, nothing more or less than a piece of worldly, "week-day" business, conducted on worldly, "week-day" lines, and transacted on God's holy day in which "He challengeth a special propriety for Himself' - wrong on the part of the payee, because, without deference, implied or expressed, to what the Fourth Commandment prohibits, on the one hand, or allows, on the other, he, as a contracting party, carries forward into the business of the Lord's Day the same mercenary aims, the same working conditions, and the same contract terms which he lawfully and necessarily employs on the six days during which, God says, "thou shalt do all thy work" and wrong on the part of the payer, because, as the other contracting party, by availing himself of the service, and by paying the stipulated fare, he voluntarily, and for the most part, cheerfully accommodates himself to these aims and conditions and accepts these terms. Nor can any amount or species of motive serve to make it right.'

It is quite clear that the paying traveller cannot remain guiltless in using this transport: 'Any use made of them on the part of an individual entails the giving by that individual of a certain proportionate moral and material contribution towards the support of the evil, thereby making him a party to it and involving him in the guilt of it.'

'This may appear in the case of some to constitute a hardship in so far as it precludes them from worshipping under conditions to which they had formerly accustomed themselves. The Synod believe, however, that in the end this will be found to be a hardship in appearance only; that the difficulty of it will be seen to have yielded to the forces of faith and faithfulness; and that the compensations of obedience to the truth and of preserving a conscience void of offence toward God and man are more than sufficient to counter-balance any amount of specious comfort foregone and of inconvenience suffered. "Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect to all thy commandments."

In order to be consistent the church that does not bar those using public transport on the sabbath from sealing ordinances cannot bar those driving and operating such public transport on the sabbath. And if one form of employment in the realm of worldly gain can be permitted then to be consistent no type of employment on the Lord's Day can be made a matter of discipline. So the church that is consistent in this way will be left with no witness against the breach of the Sabbath whatsoever.

Witness against Sabbath public transport in the past

Those that profane the Lord's Day for worldly gain are like those that profaned the Lord's house with their profiteering money-changing. The Church has always treated this as breach of the Fourth Commandment. The Church of Scotland in the 1640s passed Acts against those that set sail in boats on the sabbath and proceeded in discipline against masters that allowed their servants to work on the sabbath even though it was not in their direct employ.

Previous generations understood this clearly. Evangelicals across the ecclesiastical spectrum were staunchly united against public transport on the sabbath. The prominent Anglican evangelical JC Ryle wrote: 'When I speak of public desecration of the Sabbath, I mean those many open, unblushing practices, which meet the eye on Sundays in the neighbourhood of large towns. I refer to the practice of keeping shops open, and buying and selling on Sundays. I refer especially to Sunday pleasure excursions by public transport and the opening of places of public amusement; and to the daring efforts which many are making in the present day to desecrate the Lord's Day, regardless of its Divine authority.

Last, but not least, these ways of spending Sunday inflict a cruel injury on the souls of multitudes of people, Public transport cannot be run on Sundays without employing thousands of persons if people will make Sunday a day for travelling and excursions. Entertainments cannot be opened on Sundays without the employment of many to cater for those who patronise them. And have not all these unfortunate persons immortal souls? Do they not all need a, day of rest as much as anyone else? Beyond doubt they do. But Sunday is no Sunday to them, so long as these public desecrations of the Sabbath are permitted. Their life becomes a long unbroken chain of work, work, unceasing work: in short, what is play to others becomes death to them.'

The Drummond Tract Enterprise in Stirling had its foundation in protest against breach of the Sabbath. In 1848 Peter Drummond published a series of tracts against taking the ferry across the river for Sabbath picnics at Cambuskenneth Abbey, and he also sought to prevent the trains running on the Sabbath. An edition of ten thousand copies of the tract, entitled 'The Sabbath' was exhausted within a month.

Robert Murray McCheyne opposed those seeking to run the railways for profit on the sabbath. “Unhappy men, who are striving to rob our beloved Scotland of this day of double blessing, "ye know not what you do." You would wrest from our dear countrymen the day when God opens the windows of heaven and pours down a blessing. You want to make the heavens over Scotland like brass, and the hearts of our people like iron. Is it the sound of the golden bells of our ever-living High Priest on the mountains of our land, and the breathing of His Holy Spirit over so many of our parishes, that has roused up your satanic exertions to drown the sweet sound of mercy by the deafening roar of railway carriages? Is it the returning vigour of the revived and chastened Church of Scotland that has opened the torrents of blasphemy which you pour forth against the Lord of the Sabbath? Have your own withered souls no need of a drop from heaven? May it not be the case that some of you are blaspheming the very day on which your own soul might have been saved? Is it not possible that some of you may remember, with tears of anguish in hell, the exertions which you are now making, against light and against warning, to bring down a withering blight on your own souls and the religion of Scotland?”

John Kennedy also spoke out forthrightly against Sabbath trains:
“What a contrast a Scottish Sabbath now presents to that of earlier times – to that even of the generation which has just passed away! Think of our railway trains rushing over all parts of the country with their thousands of passengers, disturbing the Sabbath quiet and tempting so many to forget that there is a “God in the earth who judgeth righteously” – think of so many open shops along the streets of our cities, on the day of rest, which is the day of God, and receiving such support as tempts ungodly men to extend the traffic – think of the increasing crowds of those to whom the Sabbath has become a day of amusements, who never think of entering a place of worship, and who by their conduct prove that vice is the ally of ungodliness – think of how even those, who are not prepared utterly to abandon the public worship of God, are beginning to act as if an enforced partial attendance in the courts of God’s house earns for them a right to do what they please on what remains of the Sabbath – think, too, of the easy tolerance of such practices already so apparent in the unfaithful supineness both of the Church and of the State while all this desecration of the Sabbath is in progress – and what a contrast the Scottish Sabbath of today presents to that of times gone by! And what unspeakably greater contrast is the present observance of the day of the Lord to “what is required in the Fourth Commandment”!”

In 1868 James Begg opposed the desecration of the Sabbath by unnecessary employment of cabs on the Lord's Day. In the meeting of Presbytery in January, he stated that he and others had had an interview with the magistrates of the city on the subject. "There was," he said, "an impression abroad that there was an obligation on the part of cab-proprietors to place their cabs on the stances on the Lord's-day; but they had succeeded in obtaining from the magistrates a contradiction of that impression."

In America at an earlier stage the Presbyterian Church was stirred up to a defence of the Sabbath. The 1836 General Assembly declared that “the owners of stock in the steam boats, canals, rail roads, &c. who are in the habit of violating the Sabbath, are lending their property and their influence to one of the most wide-spread, alarming, and deplorable systems of Sabbath desecration, which now grieve the hearts of the pious and disgrace the church of God.” Instead they urged that “the friends of the Lord's day” should “establish such means of public conveyance as shall relieve the friends of the Sabbath from the necessity under which they now labour, of travelling at any time in vehicles which habitually violate that holy day; and thus prevent them from being partakers in other men's sins, in this respect.”
The noted presbyterian minister Samuel Miller took the leading part in the preparation of this motion. The strength of the opposition expressed is remarkable even to denounce sabbath transport as tending to 'disgrace the church of God' and to be 'partakers in other men's sins'.

In 1855 the Presbyterian Board of Publication, Philadelphia, U.S.A., under the title, 'Monitory Letters to Church Members'. One of these is a 'Letter to one who travels on the Sabbath'. Part of that letter reads as follows: 'You find yourself distant a hundred and fifty miles from home on Saturday night; and you ask whether you are not justified in spending the night in a steamboat, and reaching home early the next morning, rather than remain where you are, and perhaps spend the Sabbath in a hotel. I am to say, I think not. For, take the best view of the case you can, you certainly pervert several hours of the Sabbath to a worldly purpose; or if you say that you do nothing worse than sleep, the answer is, that the boat in which you travel is not managed by sleepers, and that you patronize a systematic violation of God's holy day.'

Certain owners of hired carriage businesses in the USA were keen to advertise that they were maintaining their business on Sabbath-keeping principles. In 1859 in Pittsburgh had passed strict blue laws, which were then used against the very Presbyterians who had urged their passage. Two prominent Presbyterian laymen, Mr. Logan and Judge Lowrie, were fined in October for hiring men to drive their carriage to church on the sabbath.

These examples could be multiplied but they serve to demonstrate that the FP position in relation to public transport on the sabbath is neither novel nor extreme but simply an unchanged position in continuity with the godly men of the past.

Highland evangelicalism and the Clearances

The church history of the Highlands is a fascinating area of study, particularly the development of a distinctive evangelical Presbyterian spirituality. The best history of this thus far is the book 'The People of the Great Faith - The Highland Church 1690-1900' by Douglas Ansdell, published by Acair, paperback, 240 pages, £15.99. Yet this is rather detached from its subject - especially in comparison with John Kennedy's 'Days of the Fathers in Ross-shire'.

A new book now yields the fruits of vital ground-breaking research in relation to the religious culture of the Scottish Highlands and Islands in the nineteenth century. It represents the first full-scale examination of Christian social teaching amongst the Highland Churches during this period.
Land, Faith and the Crofting Community: Christianity and Social Criticism in the Highlands of Scotland 1843-1893 is by Allan W MacColl is published by Edinburgh University Press. The book gives particular focus to the Clearances and dispels the myth that the Calvinism of ministers and people led them to subject themselves in a fatalistic passivity to the forces of oppression. Ministers have often been accused of doing little or nothing to help the thousands who fell victim to eviction and are often reckoned to have told people being turned out of their homes that their troubles were a punishment for their sins.
http://www.eup.ed.ac.uk/edition_details.aspx?id=12522

Dr Allan MacColl is currently training for the ministry of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Allan gave a lecture on his book which can be listened to at http://www.htc.uhi.ac.uk/audio/clearance.mp3. The lecture is deeply interesting and summarises some of the main findings of the book.

Why are you so strict?

The world is constantly seeking to make the Church more in conformity with itself - not to be so strict. Yet this is also a question that has been asked many times down through the centuries by those within the Church that are afraid of giving too close obedience to the Scriptures. It can be focused against the commitment to applying carefully and faithfull the authority and sufficiency of Scripture in doctrine, practice or worship. It was asked during the Covenanting times. Charles II offered an Indulgence to the Scottish ministers, allowing them to return to their parishes if they acknowledged his authority over the church. This was refused by many as a requirement to deny that Christ alone was King and Head over the Church. There was great persecution as a result for the Covenanters who were fined, pursued, exiled, imprisoned and martyred. When one of the ministers who had accepted the King's Indulgence heard of Donald Cargill's rejection of it, he asked, "What needs all of this ado? We will get heaven and they will get no more." When Cargill heard of this remark, he replied, "Yes, we will get more; we will get God glorified on earth, which is more than heaven." The true Christian does not seek just to "be saved" but to glorify God to their utmost. They desire that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

The puritan Richard Rogers suffered greatly through his refusal to conform to any requirements of the Church of England that were not required by the Scriptures, he refused to comply for instance with using the sign of the cross in baptism. Bishop Kennet remarks, "that England hardly ever brought forth a man who walked more closely with God." Rogers was once with a gentleman of respectability who said to him, "I like you and your company very well, only you are too precise." "Oh sir," he replied, " I serve a precise God." When we regard the requirements of Scripture as too strict or to be dispensed with we are displaying our true attitude to God. As the Lord Jesus Christ taught, if we love Him we will keep His commandments. The godly man's delight in God's law is unreserved, he believes in obeying all God's precepts concerning all things no matter how hard or how contrary to carnal taste and wisdom. Psalm 119:128 "Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right". He gives all of God's commandments equal respect not discarding some and emphasising others. "The many "alls" in this verse used (not unlike that in Ezekiel 44:30) showeth the integrity and universality of his obedience. "All" is but a little word, but of large extent." (John Trapp)

"Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:19).

The Visible Church

One of the best elucidations of the doctrine of the visible Church as set out in the Westminster Confession of Faith was written by the Covenanter John Brown of Wamphray the friend of Samuel Rutherford. Brown emphasises the oneness of the Church throughout the world.

Brown writes of the visible Church in the context of making it plain that "it would be unlawful on account of the scandals of the members of the Church or on account of the neglected Ecclesiastical discipline, or discipline not faithfully enough administered, to separate from the Church". This is a vital truth to remember. Christ never instructed the faithful to separate from those of the Seven Churches of Asia where discipline was not being carried out faithfully.

Brown wrote originally in Latin but the work has now been fully translated and available at

http://www.cpjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/cpj2-intranslatione.pdf

George Gillespie on Uniformity

Of the church of the New Testament it was prophesied, that God would give them one way as well as one heart, Jer. xxxii. 39; that there shall not only be one Lord, but his name one, Zech. xiv. 9.

We are exhorted to walk by the same rule, so far as we have attained; that is, to study uniformity, not diversity, in those things which are agreed upon to be good and right, Phil. iii. 16. Doth not the Apostle plainly intimate and commend an uniformity in the worship of God, 1 Cor. xiv. 27, "If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret;" ver. 33, "For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints;" ver. 40, "Let all things be done decently, and in order"? He limiteth the prophets to that same number of two or three, even as he limiteth those that had the gift of tongues, ver. 29. And was it not a great uniformity, that he would have every man who prayed or prophesied to have his head uncovered, and every woman covered, 1 Cor. xi.? Doth not the same Apostle, besides the doctrine of faith and practical duties of a Christian life, deliver several canons to be observed in the ordination and admission of elders and deacons, concerning widows, concerning accusations, admonitions, censures, and other things belonging to church policy, as appeareth especially from the epistles to Timothy and Titus? And, 1 Cor. xvi. 1,2, he will have an uniformity between the churches of Galatia and of Corinth in the very day of putting forth their charity, "Now, concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store," &c. In the ancient church, although there was not an uniformity in all particulars among all the churches,-for instance, in the point of fasting, some fasting on the Sabbath, some not; some taking the Lord's supper fasting, some after meals (which differences in fasting gave occasion to the old rule, Dissonantia jejunii non dissolvit consonantiam fidei); although, likewise, there was a great difference between the custom of one church and another in the time and manner of celebrating the Lord's supper, and in other particulars, as Augustine, Socrates, and the author of the Tripartite history record unto us,-yet the Centurists, and other ecclesiastical historians, show us in every century a great uniformity in those ancient times, even in very many things belonging to church government and form of worship. Neither can any man doubt of the great uniformity in the ancient church. Who is a stranger to the canons of the ancient councils?

Ruling Elders

The Church's Ruling Elders: Their History, Warrant and Work, George G. Hutton, 2007, Inverness, 152pp., pbk. £7,
(available from Free Presbyterian Bookroom, 133 Woodlands Rd, Glasgow. www.fpbookroom.org)

This book is written for the ordinary church member and gives a very helpful overview of the office and functions of the ruling elder. Its brief chapters, straightforward style and consistent reference to Scripture helps in this aim.

As its title suggests, the author covers the relevant historical background (especially the Reformation)and the biblical warrant and qualifications for the eldership. There is clear argument from biblical principles for the importance of the eldership and in giving the clear reasons that female members do not qualify for this office.

There are also various profitable insights such as the need for ruling elders to have a sense of calling to their work and the way that the eldership must work collectively.

The book is very practical in counselling the elder how he should go about the working of praying and caring for the flock over which he has oversight. The elder's study and use of time is also considered.

Although written from a presbyterian perspective, the focus is upon the local congregation and those from independent churches will still find it equally helpful.
There are very few books on this important subject and this publication will be of great value to ministers, elders and church members.

Matthew Vogan
Inverness

Church Unity and Schism

Although in our day some people have little time for the unity of the Church and do not worry about questions of schism, they are vitally important. The New Testament does not speak of lots of competing denominations. As Thomas McCrie put it: "The unity of the Church is implied in the most general view that can be taken of its nature, as a
society instituted for religious purposes. True religion is essentially one, even as God, its object, is one." "The unity of the Church, in profession, worship, and holy walking, was strikingly exemplified in the primitive age
of Christianity". "The original word in the New Testament translated schism or division, signifies any rent or breach, by which that which was formerly one is divided; and when applied to the Church, it is always used in a bad sense. Christians are reprehended for giving way to schism, and exhorted to avoid those who cause it. It is a relative term, and cannot be understood without just views of that unity and communion of which it is a violation."

McCrie states that to accept a variety of denominations is to adopt "a principle of difformity which, however congenial to the system of polytheism, is utterly eversive of a religion founded on the unity of the divine nature and will, and on a revelation which teaches us what we are to believe concerning God and what duty he requires of us."

McCrie's work on this subject can be found at http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/unity_00.htm

McCrie reflects the historic Scottish biblical position also found in James Durham and James Walker in his book Scottish Theology and Theologians.

We ought to have a love for the unity of the Church. "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us" (John 17:21).

There are comments that McCrie makes which reflect helpfully on the current divided situations where denominations seem to spring up so easily:
"I need scarcely add, that if in providence we can find a church already constituted to which we can conscientiously accede, regard to the communion of the saints, and aversion to unnecessary division, ought to induce us to prefer this course to the formation of a new society".

There is a lawful separation as McCrie acknowledges:
"When the public profession and administrations of a church have been settled conformably to the laws of Christ, and sanctioned by the most solemn engagements, if the majority shall set these aside, and erect a new constitution sinfully defective, and involving a material renunciation of the former, the minority refusing to accede to this, adhering to their engagements, and continuing to maintain communion on the original terms, cannot justly be charged with schism." The Disruptions of 1843 and 1893 would be in harmony with these principles.

McCrie does not look favourably on litigation in Church matters.

"The subject of litigation among Christians, and even the relation which they stand in to one another as such, render the adjustment of their differences more delicate and embarrassing. It is always a work of difficulty to reconcile hostile parties, whatever the matter of strife may happen to be. Once involved in litigation about civil rights and property, men, not of the most contentious or obstinate tempers, have been known to persevere until they had ruined themselves and their families. When unhappily discord and contention arise between those who are allied by blood, or who were united by the bonds of close friendship, their variance is of all others the most inveterate and deadly. "A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city; and their contentions are like the bars of a castle" (Prov. 18:19). If "love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave" (Song 8:6). Of all the ties which bind man to man, religion is the most powerful, and when once loosened or burst asunder, it is the hardest to restore. Religious differences engage and call into action the strongest powers of the human mind. Conscience comes to the aid of convictions of right, and zeal for the glory of God combines with that jealousy with which we watch over everything that is connected with our own reputation.

Feelings of personal offense and injury form no inconsiderable obstacle in the way of removing divisions in the Church. In one degree or another these are unavoidable, when religious differences arise and grow to a height. They are no proper ground of separation, and the recollection of them ought not to be allowed to stand in the way of a desirable reunion. If in any instance personal injury has been combined with injuries done to truth, those who have been the sufferers need to exert the utmost jealousy over their own spirits. Self-love will lead us insensibly to confound and identify the two; and what we flatter ourselves to be pure zeal for religion and hatred of sin, may, in the process of a rigid and impartial examination, be found to contain a large mixture of resentment for offenses which terminated on ourselves.

How ready are we to associate our own honor with that of the religious society to which we belong, and under the influence of this compound feeling to forget the paramount homage we owe to that "Name which is above every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come!" (cf. Phil. 2:9; Eph. 1:21). How much does this enter into our public contendings! What regard is often shown to it in negotiations for union! Victory, not truth, is too often the object of litigant parties, and provided they can gain this, though it should be achieved by over-reaching one another, and by practicing the low tricks of worldly policy, they will boast of a religious triumph.

Every candid and observing person will admit, too, that, in those religious denominations which have truth and right on their side, there are persons whose choice has not been determined by enlightened views of the importance of the cause which they have espoused, and who stoutly resist every conciliatory measure from attachment to certain venerated names, from early associations, and preference of some external forms, which have varied in different periods and places without any infringement of the laws of Christ or any real injury to Christian edification. Even those who are not averse to sacrifice truth to peace often show themselves keen sticklers for the credit of a party, and rather than compromise it in the slightest degree, or admit the most distant reflection on themselves or their associates, would break off or endanger the success of the most promising and reasonable overtures. With them the question is not, "Can we make such concessions and accede to such terms, without relinquishing truth, and acting unfaithfully to God?" but, "Can we do this without constructively confessing that we have been so far in an error, and acknowledging that others have been more righteous, or honest, or intelligent than we?" "My brethren, these things ought not so to be" (Jam. 3:10). So long as a spirit of this kind prevails, every attempt at healing divisions in the Church will prove abortive, or will lead to such general, ambiguous, or contradictory arrangements, as merely cover the disease, while they plant the seeds of future disquiet and disunion."

Forsaking All

Extract from a sermon by the late Rev. Donald MacFarlane, Dingwall, on Mark 10:28-30.

It is always the duty of those who would follow Christ to forsake sin, but it is sometimes the duty of those who would follow Him to forsake those things that are lawful for them to have. It is lawful enough for us to have a house to dwell in, and friends to associate with, such as brethren, sisters, mothers, wives, children, and lands; but when these come in competition with following Christ, we are bound to forsake them. In the history of the Church, there were times when the Lord's people did this, while others did not. At the time of the Disruption in 1843, the evangelical ministers, to the number of over 400, left their manses and churches for Christ and the Gospel ... In 1893 the same test was put on the Free Church that came out at the Disruption, and of all the ministers in the Free Church, it was only two who stood the test. There was a godly man in Strathspey, named William Grant, who predicted that there would be another Disruption in the Free Church. After speaking to the Question at Moy on the Friday of a communion, he asked leave to speak again, which was readily agreed to. He said that since he sat down it was revealed to him that this would be the last communion he would be at in the world, and that there was something on his mind, that he wished to tell them before he died, and that was that there would be another Disruption in the Free Church, and that of all the ministers in the Church only two would follow Christ and the Gospel, and that if he were alive he would be with them. When, we made a stand in defence of the truth it was told to a man who had heard William Grant's prediction, that the disruption which he predicted took place. The man said that if there were more than two ministers it could not be the disruption predicted by William Grant. He was told that there were only two ministers, and then he said he believed it was what William Grant spoke of. It was lawful enough for the two ministers to have churches and manses, but they left these for the sake of Christ and His Gospel. The ministers and the people who followed them parted not only with churches and manses, but also with friends and near relations with whom they were formerly associated. Families were divided, some following the truth, and others following error. This was foretold by our Saviour when He said: "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law . . . He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me." We were blamed for causing divisions in families — it was Christ's work. He kept some to His truth and permitted others to forsake the truth. There was good reason for the disruption that took place in 1893. This was acknowledged by some who failed to stand in defence of the truth when the trial came. When errors were coming to a height in the Free Church, Dr. Aird of Creich said that the cause of the Disruption in 1843 was small as compared with the cause we have now to separate for from the so-called Free Church. It was only one doctrine that was denied in 1843, but now all the fundamental doctrines of the Bible were either ignored or denied; but when the trial came, Dr. Aird remained in the Church which he so strongly condemned.

Reasons for the scarcity of experimental religion

Further extracts from Thomas Boston sermon

I shall point out some of the causes of the scarcity of experimental religion.

1. The Lord has a controversy with our mother, and therefore has withdrawn, and it fares the worse with the children. She was some time Hephzibah, and her land Beulah; but now her gold is become dross, and her wine mixed with water. She has forgotten her husband, and has been gadding after other lovers. She hath cast herself into a loathsome disease; her kindly heat and warmth is gone; any thing of it that is left has struck out to the outward parts, leaving a key-cold heart within. And, by all appearance, she will not be cured, till blood be let of her.

2. People's spiritual senses are dulled with the luscious sweets of a present world. Farms and merchandise take away people's appetites for the marriage-supper, Matt. 22:4, 5. The devil makes birdlime of the things of the world to catch professors, that they find, when they would get upward, their feet stick in the mire. Many of us, I trow, when our worldly incomes were less, our spiritual incomes were more. Or, if the world go against people, their spirits are so embittered, that they find no sweetness at all in religion.

3. Religion is not made people's business, but just a by-hand work. Men are like the mole, whose abode is in the earth; and though sometimes it come above ground, it hastes in again to its hole, to be in its element. They will say their prayers indeed, evening and morning; but for walking with God in the interval of duties, they know nothing about it. Their religion is over when duties are over. They are like a man that takes physic indeed, but he just vomits it up again when he has got it, giving it no time to work, Gen. 6:9. Religion's chance-customers will never grow rich by it.

4. People's not holding hand to any attainment they make in religion, like 'the slothful man, not roasting that which he took in hunting,' Prov. 12:27. They are, it may be, at some pains to earn something in religion, but they put it in a bag with holes. Sometimes they are in a fair way to gain experience of religion, they get some taste of it, but then they do not follow on, Hos. 6:3. The spark is kindled, but they let it go out; they do not feed it, and presently they have a cold coal to blow again.

5. Lastly, Formality in religion, when people content themselves with outward worship, doing the work, but make it not their business to worship God in the spirit; by faith in him, love, dependence, fear, hope, patience, &c. It is these and the like graces that bring in the experimental knowledge of Christ and religion into the soul. These are they that get forward to God, even to his throne. And duties without them are useless and vain, like liquor that has lost all the spirits.

Attractiveness of experimental religion

1. Experimental religion is a sort of heaven on earth. Heaven is the eternal feeling of that goodness which is in God the chief good. It is his eternal pouring out of his goodness into the souls of his people, making them drink of those rivers which they heard were at his right hand. Now, ye may begin it here with tasting the word of life. That will make great delight, as the full enjoyment makes perfect joy there.

2. There are none who, being capable of that enjoyment on earth, that get the first taste of it in heaven. No; they all begin it here, John 17:3. For God first gives men a taste of Christian experience, and then they desire the full enjoyment of it, and they get it in heaven. And this is the reasonable way with the rational creature. Whosoever taste not here, shall not drink above.

3. The experimental Christian has the counterpart of the Bible in his breast, though imperfect. He has things old and new to bring out of his treasure, that answer to scripture doctrines and promises, as the copy to the original. The experimental Christian is a walking Bible. He has a body of divinity formed of experiences, which is an excellent sort of learning, a thousand times preferable to all the raw unfelt notions of noisy professors, that are like the sounding brass and tinkling cymbal.

4. The experimental Christian is fit to sail to heaven, whatever wind be blowing; for he hath both sail and ballast. He has experienced of the goodness and faithfulness of God, and of the sanctifying power of truth; that is sail that will carry him through in all storms; and he has experience of the corruption of his own nature, the deceit of his own heart, and of his pitiful weakness; and that will be ballast to him. For want of these in time of trial, few get through.

(1.) It is very hard, without experience of religion, to stand in a time when the proud contemners of God seem to be most happy: when the sun shines bright on the way of wickedness and apostasy from God, and nothing but clouds and darkness appear in the way of holiness, Mal. 3:15, 16. It is strange if those who never felt more sweetness in religion than in the world, do not at such a time turn their back on it altogether; but the experimental Christian will not do so: for 'the righteous shall holden his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger,' Job 17:9.

(2.) When the night of error overtakes a church, and errors like locusts swarm abroad, how hard is it then to stand without experience! 2 Thess. 2:10. Where truth sinks not into the heart, but floats in the head, it makes itching ears, to which novelties have easy access. They to whom old truths are unsavoury, lie a prey to new notions. And hence it has come to pass, that many noted professors have been carried away in such a time. But he that has tasted of the power of truth, will say from his experience, 'The old is better,' Luke 5, ult.

(3.) When divisions enter into a church, it is hard to keep right without experimental religion. Division is a great plague from the Lord, a stain on the beauty of the church, and a dreadful snare to men. When church-builders are like Babel-builders, how can the work thrive? It turns some quite off from all religion; while they see one going one way, and another, another way, they know not whom to follow, and they cast of all together. Others, whose religion was never so deep as the bottom of their hearts, exhaust the whole of their vigour on the controverted points, and so they become dead in the vitals of godliness. So that, unless people be experimental Christians, and exercised to godliness too in the time, having the ballast I spoke of before, they will run into terrible excess of selfishness, judging not only practices, but hearts: a very unchristian employment!

(4.) When great men, and good men are falling, how hard is it to stand, unless men have a witness to the truth from within? God, in his holy providence, for the further trial of men, permits the fall of men of name for gifts and piety: and when these fall, readily they fall not alone, but as mighty oaks break down others about them, unless they be well rooted and grounded. And therefore, they will never bring their religion to a good account, whose religion is only to do as others do.

(5.) Lastly, When it comes to hard and sharp personal persecution, especially to resisting unto blood. When extreme hardships, even death itself, are laid in the balance with an unfelt religion, it is hard to think how one should stand, who has had no experience of the power of it. Should God give us up into the hands of a bloody antichristian enemy, it would not be hard for them that have not been sealed by the Spirit, to refuse the mark of the beast.