long hair and feminity

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Answers

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

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

We learn from this that:

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



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

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

Is the Reformation over in the UK?

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

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

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

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

the day of small things

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Roman Catholic Hypocrisy in Brazil

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

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

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

Mr James Renwick, Rebel

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

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

Early years

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

Turning Point

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

Gospel-preacher

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

Hunted

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

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

The Bridegroom comes

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

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

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

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

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

how to approach the Lord's Supper

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

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

Click here for another excerpt.

worldliness

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

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

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

family worship

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

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

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

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

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

The Lord's Day

O Day most calm, most bright,
The fruit of this, the next worlds bud,
Th’ indorsement of supreme delight,
Writ by a friend, and with his bloud;
The couch of time; cares balm and bay:
The week were dark, but for thy light:
Thy torch doth show the way.

The other dayes and thou
Make up one man; whose face thou art,
Knocking at heaven with thy brow:
The worky-daies are the back-part;
The burden of the week lies there,
Making the whole to stoup and bow,
Till thy release appeare.

Man had straight forward gone
To endlesse death: but thou dost pull
And turn us round to look on one,
Whom, if we were not very dull,
We could not choose but look on still;
Since there is no place so alone,
The which he doth not fill.

Sabbaths the pillars are,
On which heav’ns palace arched lies:
The other dayes fill up the spare
And hollow room with vanities.
They are the fruitfull beds and borders
In Gods rich garden: that is bare,
Which parts their ranks and orders.

The Sabbaths of mans life,
Thredded together on times string,
Make bracelets to adorn the wife
Of the eternall glorious King.
On Sabbath heavens gate stands ope:
Blessings are plentifull and rife,
More plentifull then hope.

This day my Saviour rose,
And did inclose this light for his:
That, as each beast his manger knows,
Man might not of his fodder misse.
Christ hath took in this piece of ground,
And made a garden there for those
Who want herbs for their wound.

The rest of our Creation
Our great Redeemer did remove
With the same shake, which at his passion
Did th’ earth and all things with it move.
As Sampson bore the doores away,
Christs hands, though nail’d, wrought our salvation,
And did unhinge that day.

The brightnesse of that day
We sullied by our foul offence:
Wherefore that robe we cast away,
Having a new at his expence,
Whose drops of bloud paid the full price,
That was requir’d to make us gay,
And fit for Paradise.

Thou art a day of mirth:
And where the Week-dayes trail on ground,
Thy flight is higher, as thy birth.
O let me take thee at the bound,
Leaping with thee from sev’n to sev’n,
Till that we both, being toss’d from earth,
Flie hand in hand to heav’n!

This is a poem written by the early 17th century Anglican minister and poet George Herbert(1593–1633). Herbert was a classical Calvinist episcopalian. Herbert is said to have described his book of poems as ‘a picture of the many spiritual Conflicts that have past betwixt God and my Soul, before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus my Master’.

The original title of the poem above is "Sunday" and I have taken the liberty of amending Sunday to Sabbath in the poem. I appreciate that this detracts from the way that Herbert plays on the word sun but I still think it best to avoid the connection with the pagan name and give the day a biblical name where possible . Sometimes Herbert is obscure in his poetry but this poem is very clear and bright with the spirit of rejoicing in the day of resurrection, which inaugurated in a special way the New Creation that Christ's redemption opened up for His people. Herbert shows here how the Christian sabbath replaces the Old Testament sabbath which was connected with the broken Covenant of Works. He makes Samson a type of Christ in his physical removing of the gates of Gaza (Judges 16:3).

The Bible's testimony against Christmass

At this time of year many churches are busy with carol services, nativity plays, Christmass day services and the like. Very few stop to ask why they do these things. Does God in His Word require these things? If he does not, how do we know whether or not they are acceptable?

The origins of the festival of Christmass in Babylonian paganism in terms of its date and its customs are quite obvious (see Alexander Hislop's study http://philologos.org/__eb-ttb/sect31.htm). The Encyclopedia Britannica makes this clear "In the south of Europe, in Egypt and Persia, the sun gods were worshipped with elaborate ceremonies at the season of the winter solstice, as a fitting time to pay tribute to the benign god of plenty, while in Rome the Saturnalia reigned for a week. In northern lands mid-December was a critical time, for the days became shorter and shorter and the sun was weak and far away. Thus these ancient peoples held feast at the same period that Christmas is now observed." (1961 ed.), 5:643.

Christmass was not celebrated by the apostles or the early church. It was not until the middle of the 4th century, that many churches in the Latin west celebrated Christmass and during the 5th century, Christmass became an official Roman Catholic holy day. The Roman Catholics of that time believed in bringing pagans into the Church by "Christianizing" their pagan religious customs and practices. They simply transferred the symbols of the worship of pagan gods and gave them a Christian significance. Although a successful "missionary strategy" outwardly it was in direct rebellion against God who commands: "Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain" (Jer. 10:2-3). "Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods" (Deut. 12:31).

Even if Christmas had no pagan associations of the past or with Roman Catholicism we ought to reject it because the Bible does not teach the observance of Christmas. The Scriptures make it clear exactly how we are to worship God, including special days that we should observe, “what thing soever I command you, observe to do it; thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it”. (Deut. 12:32 cf Lev. 10:1-3). For other Scriptures maintaining this principle see: Genesis 4:3-5; 2 Samuel 6:3-7 and 1 Chronicles 15:13-15, cp. Numbers 4:6 and 15. The second commandment teaches us that we are only to worship God in the way that He requires. Answer 109 of the Westminster Larger Catechism explains that the commandment forbids "any other wise approving, any religious worship not instituted by God himself." The teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ reinforces this: - “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men” (Mark 7:7-8). The Apostle Paul likewise warns against “will worship” (Col. 2:22-23), worship that originates in the wishes of man wants to do rather than the commandment of God.

The Lord Jesus Christ commands the Church to teach men to observe all things that He had commanded (Matt. 28:20). They had no authority to add or take from what He has commanded. This scriptural teaching that whatever Scripture does not command is to be excluded from worship is known as the "regulative principle”. We exclude uninspired hymns, musical instruments and also holy days appointed by man. It is of course appropriate to respond to the providence of God with days of thanksgiving or prayer and humiliation as the Westminster Directory For Public Worship explains: “Nevertheless, it is lawful and necessary, upon special emergent occasions, to separate a day or days for public fasting or thanksgiving, as the several eminent and extraordinary dispensations of God’s providence shall administer cause and opportunity to his people” (Westminster Directory For Public Worship), it goes on to say, however, that, “festival days, vulgarly called ‘Holy-days’, having no warrant in the Word of God, are not to be continued”.

While events and situations in providence vary across the years and century and across nations, the facts of the redemption that has been accomplished do not. The death and resurrection of Christ are commemorated through the Lord's Supper and the Lord's Day. No other days have been appointed and therefore they are not needed. To appoint other days is to reject the wisdom of God, believing that His appointment was insufficient.

King Jeroboam of Israel violated the regulative principle by ordaining a holy day “which he had devised of his own heart” (1 Kings 12:32-33). It was similar to the one that God had ordained and it was in worship of the same God but it was not on the day that God had commanded but on a day of Jeroboam’s devising.

v32 And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of
the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.

v33 So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day
of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart;
and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar,
and burnt incense.

Some may appeal to the feast of Purim in the book of Esther. The feast of Purim was not, however, worship as Esther 9:18, 26, and 28 makes clear. It was a day of gladness, but not an institution of worship like Jeroboam’s sacrifices. The Westminster Confession speaks of “solemn fastings, and thanksgivings upon special occasions, which are, in their several times and seasons, to be used in an holy and religious manner.” (WCF Chapter 21, Section 5). It uses Esther 9:20-22 as a proof text for “and thanksgivings upon special occasions”, not for the ordinances of worship which it deals with before this.

For an excellent study of this matter see The Regulative Principle of Worship and Christmas by Brian Schwertley
http://reformedonline.com/view/reformedonline/xmas.htm

The Third Day

On which day did the Lord Jesus Christ rise again from the dead?
The Lord Jesus Christ rose again from the dead on the third day (1 Cor 15:4; Luke 24: 7, 21, 26; Acts 10:40).

Why does Scripture speak of resurrection after three days as well as on the third day?
Scripture speaks of the resurrection as upon the third day most frequently which assumes only 1 day and 2 nights intervening between the day of His death and His resurrection. Scripture uses the same expression in other instances e.g. Luke 2:46 “after three days” which means the third day. According to the divine commandment circumcision was to be on the eighth day after birth which would allow for only six whole days intervening, but Scripture says that Christ was circumcised after eight days – it is plain however that both expressions mean the same thing (Luke 2:21). Three days and the third day are therefore to be regarded as equivalent.

How do the Scriptures prophesy of Christ's rising from the dead on the third day?
By types, prophecies and the words of Christ Himself.

Who were the types of Christ's rising from the dead on the third day?
Jonah, who was in belly of the fish for 3 days and nights (Matt. 12:40). Even so Christ was taken out of the jaws of death and restored to the land of the living. Isaac was to Abraham dead for 3 days while he prepared to sacrifice him and he was restored to life in a figure (Gen. 22:4; Heb. 11:19).

What else was a type of Christ's resurrection on the third day?
1.Moses receiving the law (Ex. 19:11, 15-16, 20) when it was said that “the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai”and that the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount.
2.Under the ceremonial law purification from the pollution of death was effected on the third day (Num. 19:12, 19; 31:19).
3.The peace-offerings had to be eaten before their corruption the third day (Lev. 7:15-18; 19:6-8). Thus Christ did not see corruption in the grave (Ps. 16:10).
4.The first-fruits were offered the day after the sabbath of the Passover (Lev. 23:10-12), which was the exact day on which Christ arose. One sheaf was selected as the best and waved before the LORD in the name of all the rest. Thus Christ is the firstfruits “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” (1 Cor. 15:20 & 23). It was on the third day of creation that the earth brought forth her fruit (Gen. 1:11-12), these were the very first firstfruits.

Where is Christ's resurrection on the third day prophesied?
Hosea prophesies of Christ's resurrection “After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” (Hos. 6:2-3). David prophesies of it in Psalm 16:10 in making it clear that the Messiah would not see corruption in the grave (Acts 2:27). The Lord Jesus Christ refers to these in Luke 24:46.

Where does Christ predict His rising again from the dead on the third day?
He speaks most frequently of rising on the third day (Matt. 16:21; Matt. 17:23; Matt. 20:19; Mark 9:31; Mark 10:34; Luke 9:22; Luke 18:33; Luke 24:7) and on two occasions of rising after three days (Mark 8:31; John 2:19).

Who, besides the disciples, were witnesses that Christ rose on the third day?
The soldiers who guarded the tomb until the third day (Matt. 27:64).

Why did Christ rise on the third day?
If He arose suddenly and immediately it would be open to question by doubters that He may merely have swooned and revived without dying completely. It was necessary therefore to assure all that He did die and then arose from the dead. Lazarus arose from the dead after 4 days by which time his body had entered into corruption as expected (Jn. 11:39). Christ rose on the third day without His body entering into corruption because it was preserved by His divine nature to which it was still united though parted from His human soul.

How does Christ's resurrection on the third day relate to the sabbath?
Christ rested in the grave on the Old Testament sabbath but rose again on the first day of the week to sanctify the Christian sabbath, thus preserving the commandment but changing the day. Christ rested from His works of laying the foundation of the New Creation in and by His resurrection. The Christian sabbath remains then, as a pledge of our future full entering into His rest (Heb 4:9-10).

Why was the day changed?
For His own honour and service and to mark the completion of redemption, Christ, who is the Lord of the Sabbath, has appointed this day above that of the Creation sabbath - which was connected with the Covenant of Works. The rest of Creation was spoiled by the Fall, but the rest of Redemption can never be marred. Redemption is therefore a far greater and more excellent work than even that of Creation. The yearly calendar was changed after the Exodus (Ex. 12:2 and Deut 5:15), yet the redemption wrought by Christ was greater therefore a change in the day is equally appropriate.

How can the change of the Sabbath from the last to the first day of the week be proved from Scripture?
(See Fisher's Catechism).
1.the Lord Jesus Christ after His resurrection, met ordinarily with His disciples on the first day of the week;
2.after the ascension, He poured out His Spirit in an extraordinary manner on that day;
3.the apostles honoured this day above all others for the public worship in their example
4. by command of the apostles this day was to be kept for Sabbath service
5.this day is given the special title of the Lord's Day

relationship not a religion?

Among many evangelicals the word "religion" is quite literally an anathema. The slogan that real Christianity is a "Relationship not a Religion" is everywhere. For many it is the key content of evangelism, "What God wants is for you to respond to His invitation to join Him in a relationship", they say. For others it is a crucial principle of church growth theory. Potential church members are supposed to be looking for fulfillment, meaning, balance, relationships, mentors, a sense of community, and, first and foremost, "Relationship, not Religion."

As with all slogans there is an element of truth distorted by generalisation. Slogans were never meant to be definitions but simply an advertising technique. Of course it's possible to make religion an end in itself and to be very religious but miss salvation altogether. Those that go about to establish their own righteousness through religion but have not submitted to the righteousness of God which is by faith. The problem is not so much with religion itself but with the way in which people use it. If we are to despise everything God-given that man in his depravity can abuse we will be left with nothing.

The definition that "Religion is the human effort to reach God through rules and rituals" is a bit off the mark. What they have defined is salvation by works, some religions are based upon that but not all have to be. Of course we need to be apprehended of Christ in salvation and to come into union and communion with Him by faith. But there is also the vital matter of obedience as an evidence of that union and communion. "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (Jn 14:15). There is relationship and religion but they are not being opposed. "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him." (1 John 2:3-5). The claim to a relationship without any fruit of holiness and obedience is just as empty as religion that has no true bond with the Saviour.

The problem is that the Bible uses the word religion, and it uses it in a positive way. What about the pure and undefiled religion of James 1:27? Keeping oneself unspotted from the world - isn't there rules and regulations in that? Religion involves a distinctive set of beliefs as well as distinctive life and worship. It isn't just a claim to "know Jesus" without making it clear who the Lord Jesus Christ is, how He is to be worshipped and served. The word relationship can mean lots of things. There are many kinds of relationships. It seems to allow for the cherished idea of "unconditional love no matter what we do". Forgiveness is a precious doctrine and reality but so is sanctification.

The root problem is with popular evangelicalism rather than with religion itself. It has turned conversion into mental assent, worship into a carnal feel-good factor, and made obeying Christ as Lord into an optional extra. They have attracted people that come to church for the music and the friends, the relationships but yet they are not really converted. Is it any wonder that they are finding that there is very little reality in this at all?

The word religion comes from a Latin word which means "to be bound back". We ought to be bound back to God by covenant. We must have been drawn by His lovingkindness (Jer. 31:3), with the cords of a man (Hosea 11:4) and held by covenant grace. When we are baptised we are engaged to be His, there are covenant obligations sealed in that ordinance, that we should love and serve God all the days of our lives. The name of Christ is upon those that have been baptised, in the most solemn of vows. As the Puritan Christopher Nesse puts it: "The covenant of your God is upon you, the bond of the covenant should bind you fast (as the word 'religion' signifies) unto God and godliness. O break not those bands, nor cast away those cords from you, for then you are sure to be broken as a potter's vessel that cannot be patched up again...[as] he that breaks His covenant with the great God who will assuredly avenge the quarrel of His covenant. O keep yourselves in the love of God and continue in Christ's love, which constrains you to obedience and holiness." O to know that sweet constraint, the constraint of true religion 2 COR 5:14 "the love of Christ constraineth us". A constraint that enables us to put sin to death and to keep ourselves from the world. "I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart" (Psalm 119:32).

what 5 November means for Scotland

Scots have a reason to remember the 5 November 1688, the beginning of the glorious revolution, when William III landed at Torbay at the head of 15,000 men in order to save Protestantism. Eventually he displaced the Romanist Stuart king James II from the throne. James was determined upon restoring Roman Catholicism in Britain. In the spring of 1688 he ordered his Declaration of Indulgence, suspending the penal laws against Catholics, to be read from every Anglican pulpit in the land. The Church of England and its staunchest supporters, the peers and gentry, were outraged. The birth of an heir, James Francis Stuart (later known as the Old Pretender) increased public concern about a Roman Catholic dynasty; fears confirmed when the baby was baptised into the Romanist faith. Open favour to the Roman Catholic cause was in fact manifest when the official commemoration of the Gunpowder Plot in Edinburgh (Fountainhalls Notices, 5 November 1685) was discontinued; no sermon was preached and no salute of cannon from the castle ramparts took place. The object apparently was not to upset any papists.

In Scotland James had waged war upon the Covenanters and they were hunted across the mountains and moors. According to Daniel Defoe's report to the English Parliament during the Killing Times over 18,000 men, women and children were killed or suffered severe hardship in the furnace of persecution, he reckoned that “above 18,000 people have suffered the utmost extremities their enemies could inflict”. It was a war still continuing in 1688. As Alexander Shields, the author of A Hind Let Loose, a defence of the Covenanters first printed in Holland in 1687, says: 'The more they (i.e. the authorities) insisted in this inquisition, the more did the number of witnesses multiply, with a growing increase of undauntedness, so that the then shed blood of the martyrs became the seed of the Church; and as, by hearing and seeing them so signally countenanced of the Lord, many were reclaimed from their courses of compliance, so others were daily more and more confirmed in the ways of the Lord, and so strengthened by His grace that they chose rather to endure all torture and embrace death in its most terrible aspect, than to give the tyrant and his accomplices any acknowledgement, yea not so much as to say, God save the King, which was offered as the price of their life'.

James Renwick, Scottish Covenanter, was born on February 15, 1662 and was executed on February 17, 1688. He was the last Covenanter minister to be martyred for the faith during the "Killing Times." In June 1688, in Sorn, Scotland, the Royalists interrogated a sixteen-year-old boy called George Wood. hoping for leads. When he proved unable or unwilling to tell them anything they shot him. Wood was officially the last and youngest victim of the Killing Times. The most notorious and vicious of the persecutors was John Graham, Earl of Claverhouse, Viscount of Dundee known as "Bloody Clavers" because of his brutality. In 1688 when William of Orange invaded, James II made Graham second-in-command of the Scottish army and named him Viscount Dundee. Less than a year later he was mortally wounded at the Battle of Killikrankie.

On 5 November 1688 the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion and they were as men that dreamed. It was a revolution which ended the Stuart tyranny and extinguished the fires of persecution. As John Willison of Dundee, the evangelical minister of the 18th Century put it:

"BUT behold how the mercy of God appeared for us, after innumerable provocations, and when all ranks had made fearful defections from God and their engagements to him. And after this church had lien under oppression for near twenty eight years, and Popery was far advanced, and the civil power in the hands of Papists, and there was but little wanting to accomplish the ruin both of our civil and religious liberties; the mighty Lord stept in, and in made a wonderful appearance for us, by sending over the Prince of Orange (afterwards proclaimed king) in November 1688, to rescue us from Popery and tyranny, and that at a time after several attempts for our relief had misgiven, and the hearts of all true Protestants were beginning to faint within them, and the Popish faction had a numerous army to support them. Yet now, when God's time was come, our deliverance was brought about with great facility, through the wonderful working and concurrence of Divine Providence: So that it was not our own arm, but the Lord's right hand, that wrought this salvation for us; a salvation never to be forgotten by the friends of religion and liberty.—In particular, the church of Scotland ought always to commemorate the glorious deliverance and revolution in 1688, whereby she was raised out of the dust, and to be thankful to the great God the Author thereof, and to have a savoury remembrance of the name of king William the happy instrument of it under God."

sins of omission and the 10 commandments

Does God require a perfect conformity to His law?

Yes; there is a curse pronounced against every one that continues not in all
things written in the book of the law to do them, Gal. 3:10. Every deviation
from God's holy law, in terms of omitting what it commands is sin, Isaiah
43:22.

What are the sins of omission relating to the first commandment?

They are the omission or neglect of anything due to God, required in this
commandment;[Isa. 43:22-24]:
not knowing and acknowledging of God to be the only true God, and our God
and also not having and avouching him for God, and our God;[1]
not worshipping and glorifying Him accordingly,[2]
not thinking on Him [3]
not meditating on Him,[4]
not remembering Him,[5]
not highly esteeming Him,[6]
not honouring Him,[7]
not adoring Him,[8]
not choosing Him,[9]
not loving Him,[10]
not desiring Him,[11]
not fearing Him;[12]
not believing Him[13] trusting,[14] hoping,[15] delighting,[16] rejoicing in
Him;[17]
not being zealous for Him;[18]
not calling upon Him, giving all praise and thanks,[19] or yielding all
obedience and submission to Him with the whole man;[20]
not being careful in all things to please him,[21] or sorrowful when in
anything he is offended;[22]
and not walking humbly with him.[23]

1. I Chr. 28:9; Deut 26:17; Isa. 43:10; Jer. 14:22; Psa. 81:11
2. Psa. 29:2; 95:6-7; Matt. 4:10
3. Mal. 3:16
4. Psa. 63:6
5. Eccl. 12:1
6. Psa. 71:19
7. Mal. 1:6
8. Isa. 45:28
9. Josh. 24:15, 22
10. Deut. 6:5
11. Psa. 73:25
12. Isa. 8:13
13. Exod. 14:31
14. Isa. 26:4
15. Psa. 130:7
16. Psa. 37:4
17. Psa. 32:11
18. Rom. 12:11; Num. 25:11
19. Phil. 4:6
20. Jer. 7:28; James 4:7
21. I John 3:22
22. Jer. 31:18; Psa. 119:136
23. Micah 6:8

What are the sins of omission relating to the second commandment?

They are:
not receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious
worship and ordinances as God hath instituted in his word;[1] particularly
prayer and thanksgiving in the name of Christ;[2] the reading, preaching,
and hearing of the word;[3] the administration and receiving of the
sacraments;[4] church government and discipline;[5] the ministry and
maintenance thereof;[6] religious fasting;[7] swearing by the name of
God,[8] and vowing unto him:[9]
not disapproving, detesting, opposing, all false worship;[10] or, not
according to our place and calling, removing it, and all monuments of
idolatry.[11]

1. Deut. 32:46-47; Matt. 28:30; Acts 2:42; I Tim. 6:13-14
2. Phil. 4:6; Eph. 5:20
3. Deut. 17:18-19; Acts 10:88; 15:21; II Tim. 4:2; James 1:21-22
4. Matt. 28:19; I Cor. 11:23-30
5. Matt. 16:19; 18:15-17; I Cor. ch. 5; 12:28
6. Eph. 4:11-12; I Tim. 5:17-18; I Cor. 9:1-15
7. Joel 2:12-13; I Cor. 7:5
8. Deut. 6:13
9. Isa. 19:21; Psa. 76:11
10. Acts 17:16-17; Psa. 16:4
11. Deut. 7:5; Isa. 30:22

What are the sins of omission relating to the third commandment?

They are not using of God's name as is required;[Mal. 2:2] especially:
not using holily and reverently the name of God or any means whereby he
makes himself known, in terms of His titles, attributes,[1] ordinances,[2]
the word,[3] sacraments,[4] prayer,[5] oaths,[6] vows,[7] lots,[8] His
works,[9].
not using these holily and reverently in thought,[10] meditation,[11]
word,[12] and writing;[13] by an holy profession,[14] and answerable
conversation,[15] to the glory of God,[16] and the good of ourselves,[17]
and others.[18]

1. Matt. 6:9; Deut. 28:58; Psa. 29:2; 68:4; Rev. 15:3-4
2. Mal. 1:14; Eccl. 5:1
3. Psa. 138:2
4. I Cor. 11:24-25, 28-29
5. I Tim. 2:8
6. Jer. 4:2
7. Eccl. 5:2, 4-6
8. Acts 1:24, 26
9. Job 36:24
10. Mal. 3:16
11. Psa. 8:1, 3-4, 9
12. Col. 3:17; Psa. 105:2, 5
13. Psa. 102:18
14. I Peter 3:15; Micah 4:5
15. Phil. 1:27
16. I Cor. 10:31
17. Jer. 32:39
18. I Peter 2:12

What are the sins of omission relating to the fourth commandment?

They are not sanctifying or keeping holy to God the Christian sabbath, or
The Lord's day.
not holy resting all the day,[1] from such works as are at all times sinful,
or from worldly employments and recreations as are on other days lawful;[2]
not making it our delight to spend the whole time (except so much of it as
is to betaken up in works of necessity and mercy)[3] in the public and
private exercises of God's worship:[4]
not preparing our hearts, and with such foresight, diligence, and
moderation, to dispose and seasonably dispatch our worldly business, that we
may be the more free and fit for the duties of that day.[5]
omitting any duty required on the sabbath,[6]
omitting from the quality of those duties through a careless, negligent, and
unprofitable performing of them, and being weary of them;[7].

1. Exod. 20:8, 10
2. Exod. 16:25-28; Neh. 13:15-22; Jer. 17:21-22
3. Matt. 12:1-13
4. Isa. 58:18; 66:23; Luke 4:16; Acts 20:7; I Cor. 16:1-2; Psa. ch. 92; Lev.
23:3
5. Exod. 16:22, 25-26, 29; 20:8; Luke 23:54, 56; Neh. 13:19
6. Ezek. 22:26
7. Acts 15:7, 9; Ezek. 33:30-32; Amos 8:5; Mal. 1:13

In the case of heads of families, employers and rulers, sins of omission are
not ensuring that the sabbath is observed by all those that are under their
charge; and not ensuring that they require nothing which would prevent the
proper observance of the day[1]

1. Exod. 20:10; 23:12; Josh. 24:15; Neh. 13:15, 17; Jer. 17:20-22

What are the sins of omission relating to the fifth commandment?

In considering the fifth commandment we should remember that its general
scope covers the duties which we mutually owe in our several relations, as
inferiors, superiors, or equals.[1]

1. Eph. 5:21; I Peter 2:17; Rom. 12:10

Inferiors are prone to omitting duties required to superiors [Matt. 15:4-6],
especially:
due reverence in heart,[1] word,[2] and behaviour towards their
superiors;[3]
prayer and thanksgiving for them;[4]
imitation of their virtues and graces;[5]
willing obedience to their lawful commands and counsels;[6]
due submission to their corrections;[7]
fidelity to,[8] defense [9] and maintenance of their persons and authority,
according to their several ranks, and the nature of their places;[10]
bearing with their infirmities, and covering them in love, that so they may
be an honour to them and to their government.[11]

1. Mal. 1:6; Lev. 19:3
2. Prov. 31:28; I Peter 3:6
3. Lev. 19:32; I Kings 2:19
4. I Tim. 2:1-2
5. Heb. 13:7; Phil. 3:17
6. Eph. 6:1-2, 5-7; I Peter 2:13-14; Rom. 13:1-5; Heb. 13:17; Prov. 4:3-4;
23:22; Exod. 18:19, 24
7. Heb. 12:9; I Peter 2:18-20
8. Titus 2:9-10
9. I Sam. 26:15-16; II Sam. 18:3; Est.. 6:2
10. Matt. 22:21; Rom. 13:6-7; I Tim. 5:17-18; Gal. 6:6; Gen. 45:11; 47:12
11. Psa. 127:3-5; Prov. 31:23

Superiors are prone to neglect of the duties required of them towards
inferiors,[Ezek. 34:2-4] especially according to that power they receive
from God, and that relation wherein they stand:
to love,[1] pray for,[2] and bless their inferiors;[3]
to instruct,[4] counsel, and admonish them;[5]
countenancing,[6] commending,[7] and rewarding such as do well;[8]
discountenancing,[9] reproving, and chastising such as do ill;[10]
protecting,[11] and providing for them all things necessary for soul [12]
and body:[13]
grave, wise, holy, and exemplary carriage, to procure glory to God,[14]
honour to themselves,[15] and so to preserve that authority which God hath
put upon them.[16]

1. Col. 3:19; Titus 2:4
2. I Sam. 12:28; Job 1:5
3. I Kings 8:55-56; Heb. 7:7; Gen. 49:28
4. Deut. 6:6-7
5. Eph. 6:4
6. I Peter 3:7
7. I Peter 2:14; Rom. 13:3
8. Esth. 6:3
9. Rom. 13:3-4
10. Prov. 29:15; I Peter 2:14
11. Job 29:12-17; Isa. 1:10, 17
12. Eph. 6:4
13. I Tim. 5:8
14. I Tim. 4:12; Titus 2:3-5
15. I Kings 3:28
16. Titus 2:15

Equals are prone to omitting the duties required by this commandment [Rom.
13:8] in:
not regarding the dignity and worth of each other,[1]
not giving honour to go one before another;[2]
not rejoicing in each other's gifts and advancement, as their own.[3]

1. I Peter 2:17
2. Rom. 12:10
3. Rom. 12:15-16; Phil. 2:3-4

What are the sins of omission relating to the sixth commandment?

We omit from the requirements of the sixth commandment by:
not carefully and lawfully endeavouring, to preserve the life of ourselves
[1] and others [2] by resisting all thoughts and purposes,[3] subduing all
passions,[4]
not avoiding all occasions,[5] temptations,[6] and practices, which tend to
the unjust taking away the life of any;[7]
not justly defending the lives of any against violence,[8]
not patient bearing of the hand of God,[9] quietness of mind,[10]
cheerfulness of spirit;[11]
not making sober use of meat,[12] drink,[13] medicine,[14] sleep,[15]
labour,[16] and recreations;[17]
not displaying charitable thoughts,[18] love,[19] compassion,[20] meekness,
gentleness, kindness;[21] peaceable,[22] mild and courteous speeches and
behavior;[23] forbearance, readiness to be reconciled, patient bearing and
forgiving of injuries, and requiting good for evil;[24]
not comforting and succouring the distressed, and protecting and defending
the innocent.[25]

1. Eph. 5:28-29
2. I Kings 18:4
3. Jer. 26:15-16; Acts 23:12, 16-17, 21, 27
4. Eph. 4:26-27
5. II Sam. 2:22; Deut. 22:8
6. Matt. 4:6-7; Prov. 1:10-11, 15-16
7. I Sam. 24:2; 26:9-11; Gen. 37:21-22
8. Psa. 82:4; Prov. 24:11-12; I Sam. 14:45
9. James 5:7-11; Heb. 12:9
10. I Thess. 4:11; I Peter 3:3-4; Psa. 37:8-11
11. Prov. 17:22
12. Prov. 25:16, 27
13. I Tim. 5:23
14. Isa. 38:21
15. Psa. 127:2
16. Eccl. 5:12; II Thess. 3:10, 12; Prov. 16:26
17. Eccl. 3:4, 11
18. I Sam. 19:4-5; 22:13-14
19. Rom. 13:10
20. Luke 10:33-34
21. Col. 3:12-13
22. James 3:17
23. I Peter 3:8-11; Prov. 15:1; Judg. 8:1-3
24. Matt. 5:24; Eph. 4:2, 32; Rom. 12:17, 20-21
25. I Thess. 5:14; Job 31:19-20; Matt. 25:35-36; Prov. 31:8-9

What duties are we prone to omit from the seventh commandment?

Sins of omission in connection with the seventh commandment are,
not maintaining chastity in body, mind, affections,[1] words,[2] and
behaviour;[3]
not seeking to preserve chastity in ourselves and others;[4]
not having a watchfulness over the eyes and all the senses;[5]
not having temperance,[6]
not keeping chaste company,[7]
not being modest in apparel;[8]
not marrying when we do not have the gift of continency,[9]
not showing conjugal love,[10] and cohabitation;[11]
not labouring diligently in our callings;[12]
not shunning all occasions of uncleanness, and resisting temptations
thereunto.[13]

1. I Thess. 4:4; Job 31:1; I Cor. 7:34; Prov. 5:7
2. Col. 4:6
3. I Peter 2:3
4. I Cor. 7:2, 35-36
5. Job 31:1
6. Acts 24:24
7. Prov. 2:16-20
8. I Tim. 2:9
9. I Cor. 7:2, 9
10. Prov. 5:19-20
11. I Peter 3:7
12. Prov. 31:11, 27-28
13. Prov. 5:8; Gen. 39:8-10

What duties are we prone to omit from the eighth commandment?
The sins of omission in connection with the eighth commandment are:
not maintaining truth, faithfulness, and justice in contracts and commerce
between man and man;[1]
not rendering to everyone his due;[2]
not making restitution of goods unlawfully detained from the right owners
thereof;[3]
not giving and lending freely, according to our abilities, and the
necessities of others;[4]
not maintaining moderation of our judgments, wills, and affections
concerning worldly goods;[5]
not ensuring a provident care and study to get,[6] keep, use, and dispose
these things which are necessary and convenient for the sustentation of our
nature, and suitable to our condition;[7]
not pursuing a lawful calling,[8] and diligence in it;[9]
not maintaining frugality;[10]
not avoiding unnecessary lawsuits [11] and suretyship, or other like
engagements;[12]
not endeavouring, by all just and lawful means, to procure, preserve, and
further the wealth and outward estate of others, as well as our own.[13]

1. Psa. 15:2, 4; Zech. 7:4, 10; 8:16-17; James 2:15-16; I John 3:17
2. Rom. 13:7
3. Lev. 6:2-5; Luke 19:8
4. Luke 6:30, 38; I John 3:17; Eph. 4:28; Gal. 6:10
5. I Tim. 6:6-9; Gal. 6:14
6. I Tim. 5:8
7. Prov. 27:23-27; Eccl. 2:24; 3:12-13; I Tim. 6:17-18; Isa. 38:1; Matt.
11:8
8. I Cor. 7:20; Gen. 2:15, 3:19
9. Eph. 4:28; Prov. 10:4
10. John 6:12; Prov. 21:20
11. I Cor. 6:1-9
12. Prov. 6:1-6; 11:15
13. Lev. 25:35; Deut. 22:1-4; Exod. 23:4-5; Gen. 47:14, 20; Phil. 2:4, Matt.
22:39

What are the sins of omission relating to the ninth commandment?

The particular sins of omission relating to this commandment are:
not preserving and promoting of truth between man and man,[1] and the good
name of our neighbour, as well as our own;[12]
not appearing and standing for the truth;[3] and not from the heart,[4]
sincerely,[5] freely,[6] clearly,[7] and fully,[8] speaking the truth, and
only the truth, in matters of judgment and justice,[9] and in all other
things whatsoever;[10]
not having a charitable esteem of our neighbors;[11]
not loving, desiring, and rejoicing in their good name;[12] sorrowing
for,[13] and covering of their infirmities;[14]
not freely acknowledging of their gifts and graces,[15] defending their
innocency;[16]
not readily receiving of a good report,[17] and being unwilling to admit of
an evil report,[18] concerning them;
not discouraging talebearers,[19] flatterers,[20] and slanderers;[21]
not showing love and care of our own good name, and defending it when need
requireth;[22]
not keeping of lawful promises;[23]
not studying and practicing of whatsoever things are true, honest, lovely,
and of good report.[24]

1. Zech. 8:16
2. III John 1:12
3. Prov. 31:8-9
4. Psa. 15:2
5. II Chr. 19:9
6. I Sam. 19:4-5
7. Josh. 7:19
8. II Sam. 14:18-20
9. Lev. 19:15; Prov. 14:5, 25
10. II Cor. 1:17-18; Eph. 4:25
11. Heb. 6:9; I Cor. 13:7
12. Rom. 1:8; II John 1:4; III John 1:3-4
13. II Cor. 2:4; 12:21
14. Prov. 17:9; I Peter 4:8
15. I Cor. 1:4-5, 7; II Tim. 1:4-5
16. I Sam. 22:14
17. I Cor. 13:6-7
18. Psa. 15:3
19. Prov. 25:23
20. Prov. 26:24-25
21. Psa. 101:5
22. Prov. 22:1; John 8:49
23. Psa. 15:4
24. Phil. 4:8

What are the sins of omission relating to the tenth commandment?

We are guilty of sins of omission relating to the tenth commandment when we
do not have a full contentment with our own condition,[1] and such a
charitable frame of the whole soul toward our neighbor, as that all our
inward motions and affections respecting him, tend unto, and further all
that good which is his.[2]

1. Heb. 13:5; I Tim. 6:6
2. Job 31:29; Psa. 122:79; I Tim. 1:5; Est. 10:3; I Cor. 13:4-7

what to pray for

Sometimes we feel that "we know not what to pray for as we ought". There is much help from the Puritans in this area but The Church of Scotland's Directory for Family Worship 1647 is also a vital document which gives sound advice and encouragement for secret and family prayer. It gives some suggestions as to the structure and content of such prayers "for their greater encouragement, let these materials of prayer be meditated upon, and made use of".

-Let them confess to God how unworthy they are to come in his presence, and how unfit to worship his Majesty; and therefore earnestly ask of God the spirit of prayer.

-They are to confess their sins, and the sins of the family; accusing, judging, and condemning themselves for them, till they bring their souls to some measure of true humiliation.

-They are to pour out their souls to God, in the name of Christ, by the Spirit, for forgiveness of sins; for grace to repent, to believe, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly; and that they may serve God with joy and delight, walking before him.

-They are to give thanks to God for his many mercies to his people, and to themselves, and especially for his love in Christ, and for the light of the gospel.

-They are to pray for such particular benefits, spiritual and temporal, as they stand in need of for the time, (whether it be morning or evening,) as anent health or sickness, prosperity or adversity.

-They ought to pray for the kirk of Christ in general, for all the reformed kirks, and for this kirk in particular, and for all that suffer for the name of Christ; for all our superiors, the king's majesty, the queen, and their children; for the magistrates, ministers, and whole body of the congregation whereof they are members, as well for their neighbours absent in their lawful affairs, as for those that are at home.

-The prayer may be closed with an earnest desire that God may be glorified in the coming of the kingdom of his Son, and in doing of his will, and with assurance that themselves are accepted, and what they have asked according to his will shall be done.

How to Get the Most from Reading your Bible

by Thomas Watson
Abridged and Adapted

1. Remove hindrances. (a) remove the love of every sin (b) remove the distracting concerns of this world, especially covetousness [Matt. 13:22] (c) Don't make jokes with and out of Scripture.

2. Prepare your heart. [1 Sam. 7:3] Do this by: (a) collecting your thoughts (b) purging unclean affections and desires (c) not coming to it rashly or carelessly.

3. Read it with reverence, considering that each line is God speaking directly to you.

4. Read the books of the Bible in order.

5. Get a true understanding of Scripture. [Ps. 119:73] This is best achieved by comparing relevant parts of Scripture with each other.

6. Read with seriousness. [Deut. 32:47] The Christian life is to be taken seriously since it requires striving [Luke 13:24] and not falling short [Heb. 4:1].

7. Persevere in remembering what you read. [Ps. 119:52] Don't let it be stolen from you [Matt. 13:4,19]. If it doesn't stay in your memory it is unlikely to be much benefit to you.

8. Meditate on what you read. [Ps. 119:15] The Hebrew word for meditate' means to be intense in the mind'. Meditation without reading is wrong and bound to err; reading without meditation is barren and fruitless. It means to stir the affections, to be warmed by the fire of meditation [Ps. 39:3].

9. Read with a humble heart. Acknowledge that you are unworthy that God should reveal himself to you [James 4:6]

10. Believe it all to be God's Holy Word. [2 Tim 3:16] We know that no sinner could have written it because of the way it describes sin. No saint could blaspheme God by pretending his own Word was God's. No angel could have written it for the same reason. [Heb 4:2]

11. Prize the Bible highly. [Ps. 119:72] It is your lifeline; you were born by it [James 1:18] you need to grow by it [1 Pet 2:2] [cf. Job 23:12].

12. Love the Bible ardently [Ps. 119:159].

13. Come to read it with an honest heart. [Luke 8:15] (a) Willing to know the entire and complete will of God (b) reading in order to be changed and made better by it [John 17:17].

14. Apply to yourself everything that you read, take every word as spoken to yourself. Its condemnation of sins as the condemnation of your own sin; the duty that it requires as the duty God would require from you [2 Kings 22:11].

15. Pay close attention to the commands of the Word as much as the promises. Think of how you need direction just as much as you need comfort.

16. Don't get carried away with the minor details, rather make sure to pay closest attention to the great things [Hosea 8:12].

17. Compare yourself with the Word. How do you compare? Is your heart something of a transcript of it, or not?

18. Pay special attention to those passages that speak to your individual, particular and present situation. e.g. (a) Affliction -- [Heb. 12:7, Isaiah 27:9, John 16:20, 2 Cor 4:17. (b) Sense of Christ's presence and smile withdrawn -- [Isaiah 54:8, Isaiah 57:16, Ps. 97:11] (c) Sin -- [Gal 5:24, James 1:15, 1 Peter 2:11, Prov 7:10&22-23, Prov 22:14] (d) Unbelief -- [Isaiah 26:3, 2 Sam 22:31, John 3:15, 1 John 5:10, John 3:36]

19. Pay special attention to the examples and lives of people in the Bible as living sermons. (a) Punishments [Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, Num 25:3-4&9, 1 Kings 14:9-10, Acts 5:5,10, 1 Cor 10:11, Jude 7] (b) mercies and deliverances [Daniel, Jeremiah, the 3 youths in the fiery furnace]

20. Don't stop reading the Bible until you find your heart warmed. [Ps 119:93] Let it not only inform you but also inflame you [Jer 23:29, Luke 24:32].

21. Put into practice what you read [Ps 119:66, Ps 119:105, Deut 17:19].

22. Christ is for us Prophet, Priest and King. Make use of His office as a Prophet [Rev 5:5, John 8:12, Ps 119:102-103]. Get Christ not only to open the Scriptures up to you, but to open up your mind and understanding [Luke 24:45]

23. Make sure to put yourself under a true ministry of the Word, faithfully and thoroughly expounding the Word [Prov 8:34] be earnest and eager in waiting on it.

24. Pray that you will profit from reading [Isaiah 48:17, Ps 119:18, Nehemiah 9:20].

Natural obstacles You may still be able to profit from reading even though:

a. You don't seem to profit as much as others do. Remember the different yields [Matt 13:8] though the yield isn't as much as others it is still a true and fruitful yield.

b. You may feel slow of understanding [Luke 9:45, Heb 5:11].

c. Your memory is bad (i) remember you are still able to have a good heart despite this (ii) you may still remember the most important things even if you cannot remember everything, be encouraged by John 14:26.

Why the Bible contains difficult passages

Adapted from William Whitaker's Disputations on Holy Scripture

1. Because God intends that we should be stirred up to be persistent in prayer in order to seek His help in interpretation.

2. Because God intends that we might come to know and acknowledge that the understanding of the Word is given by God Himself.

3. Because God intends to stimulate our diligence in reading, meditating upon, searching and comparing the Scripture and making use of the due and ordinary means of understanding and interpretation.

4. Because God wanted to prevent our losing interest in the Scriptures and the temptation to despise it or place small value on it. Our corrupt nature grows weary of easy things and we think we have gone beyond what we have understood completely.

5. Because God intended that the truth would to be sought and found with real effort and labour and to be the more esteemed and valued because of that - things easily obtained are despised but matters of great difficulty are only surmounted with extraordinary effort.

6. Because God wished to subdue our pride and expose to us our ignorance

7. Because God willed that the sacred mysteries of his word should be opened freely to pure and holy minds and that impure dogs and swine be kept from holy things.

8. Because God wished to divert our minds from the pursuit of external things and daily occupations and focus them and our time upon the study of the Scriptures.

9. Because God intended to accustom us to a certain internal purity and sanctity of thought and feeling because this is what we need in order to profit from the Bible. Those who bring profane minds to the reading of the Scriptures do not profit from reading and seeking to understand them but those with holy minds get real spiritual advantage from them.

10. Because God willed that in his church some should be teachers and some disciples. We are more apt to esteem the ministry of the Word which has been ordained for the opening and interpreting of Scripture when God uses it in order to make plain the difficult areas of Scripture (Eph 4:11&14).

Hold fast to God's Word

[An extract from notes of a sermon preached on the text "Behold, I come quickly: hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown" - Revelation 3:11 at the induction of Rev. James Tallach at Kames, 4th May,
1931. The preacher is presumably Rev. Donald Beaton. The notes were published in the Free Presbyterian Magazine in September 1935. Headings have been added to make it easier to read on the internet. This extract shows how we must hold fast to God's Word in spite of all opposition.]

Hold fast so that you do not let it slip

When we are exhorted here to "Hold fast," it is a command, and implies...that you should not hold it loosely so that it might slip. Hold it fast, and although you should lose the world, and even your very life, don't lose your hold. Others held it so fast in Scotland, that they allowed their lives to be taken rather than lose God's Word. Alas, that we should be the offspring of such men and women, when we esteem the Word of God so lightly - the Word that they gave their lives for. How worthless we are when we would not say to any man, who would try to take this Word out of our hands - "Hands off, that belongs to me. It is God's Word, and He gave it to me, and commands me to hold it fast." It cannot be said that you are holding it fast if you let this and that part slip. You must hold it so that not one iota of it will slip out of your hands.

Hold fast so that it it is not take from you

It also implies that there will be some who will try to take it from you, otherwise there would be no reason to ask you to hold it fast, and it is then that you will have to show what grip you have of it, and what value you see in it, and how much you are prepared to sacrifice in order to keep it.

The great enemy of God's truth down through the ages, from the days of Cain and Abel, never ceases to try to take this treasure from God's Church. Satan has done his very utmost to take this Word out of the hands of the Church, and when we look into the history of the Bible, of Cain and Abel, that is what he was trying to do there. What we have there is whether Abel would let go God's truth and hold by the opinions of his own brother, and there are many in the world who think that anything they may devise is a worship good enough for God, and that He is bound to accept of it, but will He?

What was the cause of all the misery that came upon the Old Testament Church? Was it not because they allowed Satan and his false prophets to take God's Word out of their hands. Satan can transform himself into an angel of light, and he was doing this, and so strong was the force he had in the days of Elijah, that when that Prophet of God on Mount Carmel came to try to take the people back to the worship of God, there were over a thousand false prophets to face one man, who was holding fast by God's Word. There is nothing new in our day when you look back on the history of the past.

wandering thoughts in the worship of God

How often is it that you find your concentration lapsing either in personal devotions or in public worship? Once, a few times or even perhaps much of the time? The most helpful book on this subject is 'A Remedy for Wandering
Thought in the Worship of God' written by the Puritan Richard Steele (recently it has been reprinted by Sprinkle Publications). The following is an abridged extract in slightly updated language from that book. The passage deals with the problem of distraction and the vital duty of watchfulness in every individual part (or ordinance) of worship. Steele calls watchfulness the perpetual or most continual duty of a Christian: this is the garment we must put on every day, in every duty.

Watching in worship
What is the first step in an ordinance? Watchfulness. What is the second step in an ordinance? Watchfulness. The third step? Still watchfulness.

In Prayer
Prayer is a pouring out of the heart unto the Lord; by a distraction you pour it aside. 'My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him' Psalm 62:5. A distraction imposes two masters on the soul to wait on. Rovings in prayer make that which is our most reasonable service the most irrational thing in the world. There is nothing more foolish than speaking to one person while thinking of another.

In hearing God's Word
This is the audible address of the Almighty to your soul. A distraction lets him talk unto the walls. When you come to a sermon, you 'stand on your watch, and set yourself on the tower, and watch to see what God will say to you' Habakkuk 2:1. By a distraction, you are doing almost the same as a servant who stops his ears at the orders that his master is giving.

In reading
In the Scriptures you peruse God's heart in black and white, where you may believe every letter to be written in bleeding love. A distraction neither understands nor applies those sacred letters. Would you read your father's last will in this way, especially in matters that concerned yourself? One chapter, one page, one verse, well read and applied will do your heart more good than a hundred read with half a heart.

In singing psalms
You need to watch in the singing of the psalms. By this ordinance you pay to God the rent of his mercies. With a distraction it is as though the payment is made with a counterfeit coin because it turns the heart to do homage unto the Devil. David had the best resolution: 'Bless the Lord. O my soul, and all that is within me praise his holy name' (Psalm 103: 1). Your melody is debased if the main strength of your soul is not in it.

I am persuaded that God has allowed this ordinance in particular to be slurred again and again, to be neglected by some and rejected by others out of his just judgement because there is such a widespread disregard for doing it with felt, inward grace. Where is the worshipper who actually lets each word and line in the psalms run through their heart as they sing them? The truth is that hardly one passage is felt from the beginning to the end, because if it were what heavenly affection it would produce and leave upon the soul! If you felt something of this you would not part with this ordinance for all the world in either your families or congregations.

In meditation
Here you must watch, or else when the soul is soaring aloft, like the eagle, before you are even aware these darts will strike down the heart again. How hard it is to spend even a quarter of an hour in meditation without a distraction! If there is anything in the imagination or memory, anything in the room, if there is anything in the world, you will have it in withdrawing your heart from God. As a rule, the more spiritual the duty, the more distractions.

The permanent habit of Watchfulness
You can be safe nowhere without watchfulness, at all times, in all places, with all companies, even with no company at all, in all callings: there is a snare for the heart everywhere. 'Wait on thy God continually' (Hosea 12:6) 'Be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long' (Proverbs 23:17), especially but not only in your morning and evening sacrifices.

Many praying people are extremely devout and serious in God's service morning and evening, but follow them all day long and hardly one word of God or heaven is in their mouths, as though religion were hemmed up in times of worship. Be in the fear of the Lord, involved, surrounded and swallowed up in the sense and fear of God's glorious presence all the daylong. This will put you in the right spirit for duties of worship. A watchful Christian has his heart ready and on call. It is easily put into tune when it was never out of tune. Holy duties are not unwelcome to a holy heart. A short preface or none at all is sufficient in approaching him with whom you have been conversing all the day. Sometimes, however, the whole work of a prayer is in making God's acquaintance.

Heavenly contemplation

At one point in The Pilgrim's Progress the pilgrims reach the Delectable
Mountains where they were able to view the Celestial City through a glass or
telescope. It is a picture of meditating upon heaven and experiencing
something of a foretaste of that future joy. The Puritans often stressed the
importance of focussing upon heaven, pointing to the doctrine that we have
been made to 'sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus' (Ephesians
2:6). In Colossians chapter 3 Paul develops and applies the doctrine: 'If ye
then be risen wih Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on
things on the earth'. Puritan ministers also sought to remind their readers
and hearers that as Christians they ought to make much of the fact that
their 'conversation [life] is in heaven' (Philippians 3:20) and that we are
to be changed from 'glory to glory' (2 Corinthians 3:18). The benefit of
this was unfolded by Richard Sibbes who spoke of it as necessary
to holiness, strength and devotion in the Christian life: "If we walk aright
in God's ways, let us have heaven daily in our eye, and the day of
judgement, and times to come, and this will stern the course of our lives,
and breed love in the use of the means, and patience to undergo all
conditions".

Richard Baxter wrote a whole book on this particular subject entitled The
Saints Everlasting Rest. Baxter wrote the book during illness and against
the backdrop of the Civil War raging through England. The Saints Rest opens
up the themeby urging believers to 'meditate on the joys above' expressly
seeking to imagine what it will be like to experience them. We need concrete
thoughts concerning glory suggests Baxter or else they are not particularly
fixed: 'get the liveliest picture of them in thy mind that possibly thou
canst', he says, 'meditate of them as if thou wert all the while beholding
them, and as if thou wert even hearing hallelujahs, while thou are thinking
of them; til thou canst say,"Methinks I see a glimpse of glory"'. It is
important to focus closely upon what the Bible teaches and to see by the
means of Scripture, "without these spectacles we are lost, and have nothing
to fix our thoughts upon". John Bunyan held the same point, speaking of the
throne in Heaven as described in the book of Revelation: "We must labour for
more clear Scripture-Knowledge of this Throne; for the Holy Word of God
is...the Magnifying-glass that will cause us to behold with open face the
glory of this Lord".

How are we to have our 'conversation' (life) in heaven? The answer is
perhaps best given in a little Puritan book that was one of the first godly
books that John Bunyan ever read: his first wife brought it with her amongst
her belongings after their marriage: Arthur Dent's Plain Man's Pathway to
Heaven. Here life in heaven is explained as an 'inward conversation with
God' that may only be maintained 'by much prayer, reading, meditation, and
heavenly affections'.

Specific Directions for the mortifying of sin

Adapted from John Owen On the Mortification of Sin in Believers

1.Consider the dangerous symptoms of the sin that you are seeking to mortify:
(a) Is it inveterate? Has it been allowed to fester and gain strength for a long time and also become familiar to the mind and conscience?
(b) Does your heart retain a good opinion of itself and think that it can satisfy the conscience with certain evidences of grace while ignoring sin? Does it think that there is mercy without mortifying the sin?
(c) Does the sin gain frequent success against you?
(d) Do the only arguments that you use against the sin relate to its consequences or punishment and not to gospel privileges and motivations?
(e) Is there a spiritual hardening with it?
(f) Has the sin has already withstood God's dealings and chastisements against it?

2.Get a clear abiding sense in your mind and conscience of the guilt, danger and evil of the sin:
(a) Its guilt is aggravated and heightened by the amount of grace and light that you have received and against which you are sinning.
(b) Its danger lies in loss of peace and strength all our days, chastisements and temporal corrections because of it, the peril of being hardened by its deceitfulness, eternal destruction if we are resolved to continue in that sin.
(c) Its evil lies in grieving the Holy Spirit, wounding Christ afresh and taking away our usefulness in our generation.
3.Load your conscience with the guilt of the sin:
(a) In general terms that it is against God's law, that it removes evidence that you are free from the condemning power of sin, that it undermines the truth and purpose of the gospel.
(b) In particular things such as God's infinite tenderness towards you in many instances in gracious providences and especially in recovering you from the hardening power of sin.
4. Get a constant longing in your soul for deliverance from this sin
5.Consider how you are naturally prone to this sin:
(a) It is important to stress that this does not relieve you of the guilt of it but rather aggravates that guilt
(b) It means that you will be better able to watch against it
(c) You will be then be able to deal with the appetites of the body by fasting in watching
6.Consider what occasions and opportunities it takes and watch against them
7.Rise immediately against the first actings of this sin
8.Meditate upon things that will humble and abase you with a sense of your own vileness. Meditate upon the difference between God's majesty, greatness and holiness and yourself. Meditate also upon how little you know Him and Christ in His being and perfections.
9.Do not speak peace to your guilty soul until God does so

Application
1. Act faith upon Christ, on His provision and fulness in expecting relief from Him in the war against your sin
2. Act faith on the death of Christ

8. The Biblical Doctrine of Election is Useful

The doctrine of election is not an abstract truth with no practical significance for the Christian, rather it is vitally edifying when handled aright. As Calvin describes it “though the discussion of predestination is regarded as a perilous sea, yet in sailing over it the navigation is calm and safe, nay pleasant, provided we do not voluntarily court danger. .those who investigate it rightly, and in the order in which it is exhibited in the word, reap from it rich fruits of consolation”. When Puritans sought to make practical application of doctrine they spoke of its uses. The Biblical doctrine of Election is preeminently full of practical use and application.

Preaching
Some say that election should not be preached because it is so mysterious or difficult but all Scripture is profitable for doctrine, and Scripture is full of expressions and implications of this doctrine. Although it may be unpopular or challenging it must still be preached. If preaching election can fan doubts and fears for genuine believers, preaching regeneration easily could do the same for those who have fears and doubts whether or not they have truly been born again.

Preaching exalts God in Christ and abases man and this is the true result of unconditional election by the effectual working of the Holy Spirit. Calvin rightly says: “Those who preclude access, and would not have any one to obtain a taste of this doctrine, are equally unjust to God and men, there being no other means of humbling us as we ought, or making us feel how much we are bound to him.”

In preaching, however, election is to be handled with special prudence, humility and care so that it is only emphasised in proportion to the degree that it is stressed in Scripture. It would be unwise to press it prominently upon anxious seekers, sceptics, or those who have not grasped the gospel and other basic truths first. It must be taught in relation to effectual calling and obedience to the gospel with proportionate emphasis upon man’s responsibility.

Assurance and comfort
Election is the basis of our eternal hope: that those whom he predestined, them he also called. We have no hope in ourselves as guilty, lost and ruined. But we have hope in the only Redeemer of God's elect who is Himself the elect one appointed to lay down his life for the people given to him in the eternal counsels. The golden chain joining election and glorification assures us that Nothing will thwart God's ultimate purpose. We doubt ourselves but we cannot doubt his promises.

The Canons of Dordt wisely counsel that the elect gain assurance of their election “not by inquisitively prying into the secret and deep things of God, but by observing in themselves with a spiritual joy and holy pleasure the infallible fruits of election pointed out in the Word of God such as, a true faith in Christ, filial fear, a godly sorrow for sin, a hungering and thirsting after righteousness, etc.” The Christian receives comfort and assurance by following these fruits of election to their source. The Spirit thus assures us of our adoption and therefore of our election: "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." Rom. 8:16).

In their useful summary of the orthodox doctrine of election the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England affirm winsomely the same teaching as Dordt that “the godly consideration of Predestination, and our Election in Christ, is full of sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort to godly persons, and such as feel in themselves the working of the Spirit of Christ, mortifying the works of the flesh, and their earthly members, and drawing up their mind to high and heavenly things, as well because it doth greatly establish and confirm their faith of eternal Salvation to be enjoyed through Christ, as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God”.

Election when rightly considered in this way will truly humble us to say with David, “Who am I, O Lord GOD? and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto? ... And is this the manner of men? And what can David say more unto thee? For thou, Lord GOD knowest thy servant?” The sense of that debt flows out in loving obedience to his revealed will. The elect are called with an holy calling (2 Tim. 1:9) unto holiness and their manner of life shows this. Election does not produce carelessness but careful obedience and acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. The Canons of Dordt indicate this: “The sense and certainty of this election afford to the children of God additional matter for daily humiliation before Him, for adoring the depth of His mercies, for cleansing themselves, and rendering grateful returns of ardent love to Him who first manifested so great love towards them. The consideration of this doctrine of election is so far from encouraging remissness in the observance of the divine commands or from sinking men in carnal security, that these, in the just judgment of God, are the usual effects of rash presumption or of idle and wanton trifling with the grace of election, in those who refuse to walk in the ways of the elect.”

Praise and devotion
Election should instill within us a spirit of praise, love and devotion. It is all to the “praise of the glory of his grace” and "we love him because he first loved us". No credit is due to the creature but all the glory belongs and is due to God alone. "We are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation" (2 Thess. 2:13). What a high privilege election is. They are a people chosen to show forth his praises. They are blessed indeed "Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts" (Ps. 65:4). "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him" (Eph. 1:3, 4). Does the Lord say: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." And will not our love rise in response? This spirit of praise is well expressed in the following words of the Dutch theologian Herman Witsius:

Didst thou, O Lord, from eternity, entertain thoughts of glorifying me, a miserable wretch, who am less than nothing; and shall I not again carry thee for ever in my eyes, and always in my bosom? shall I not delight in meditating on thee? shall I not cry out, how precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! Psalm 139.17. Shall I not, with the most sincere repentance, bewail that time, in which so many hours, days, weeks, months, and years, have passed over my head, without one single holy and pleasing thought of thee? Didst thou, out of mere love, choose me to salvation? And shall not I again choose thee for my Lord, my king, my husband, for the portion of my soul, for my chief, or rather my only delight?

Unconditional Election must bring us to this. It will naturally lead to this when handled with special prudence and care as the Westminster Confession teaches: “So shall this doctrine afford matter of praise, reverence, and admiration of God; and of humility, diligence, and abundant consolation to all that sincerely obey the gospel”. We emphasise again Anthony Burgess's words: 'This point of election... is not to be agitated in a verbal and contentious way, but in a saving way, to make us tremble and to set us upon a more diligent and close striving with God in prayer, and all other duties.' May this be our own experience to the praise of the glory of his grace alone.