How to Tell If Your Grace is Weak or Counterfeit

I am guessing that many people have never actually read the Puritans. If they had they would not be able to maintain the view that Puritans are impractical men with their head in the clouds—helpful to nobody and a nuisance to all. These men were deeply helpful and excelled in soul care.

William Bridge is one of those Puritans. In his work, A Lifting up for the Downcast, Bridge gives seven differences between weak grace and counterfeit grace. If you are wondering how you can determine if your struggles reveal that you merely have counterfeit grace, Bridge hopes to open up for you the possibility that it is weak grace and not counterfeit*. Here are seven marks of weak, but true, grace.

1. True grace, though weak, will not oppose more grace
2. True grace loves examination; counterfeit grace likes to hide.
3. True grace seeks to grow in knowledge of God
4. True grace is engaged in the work of humiliation
5. True, though weak, grace is always laying the foundation; counterfeit grace pursues another foundation.
6. True grace is willing to learn from other people; counterfeit grace will not relish what is brought to him by the hand of another.
7. True grace is very sensible of its own weakness

That fifth point is a little difficult to summarize. Listen to how Bridge expounded upon it:

[True grace] staggers at the promise, yet it goes to the promise; it doubts of Christ’s love, yet it runs to Christ; it stumbles, yet it keeps its way; it is ignorant of Christ, and not so forward in the knowledge of Christ as it should be, yet it lays the foundation, Hebrews 6:1. It is the fault of a weak Christian, that he is always laying the foundation, yet he is laying the foundation. (Bridge, 101)

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*I have modernized Bridge’s language where necessary.

You can (and should) purchase Bridge’s work here.

An Asterisk For Discouragement

“The saints and people of God have no true reason for their discouragements, whatever their condition be” –William Bridge

I wholeheartedly agree with that William Bridge quote…provided that I get to add an asterisk. And after this asterisk I like to put the words “except for mine”. You see, I agree in principle with what Bridge is saying. It’s really great advice for you and all of the stuff that you are dealing with. But it’s not totally true for me.

You see, I’m unique.

I am entitled to discouragement and sorrow. If you knew some of the things that I have been through you would understand that I am exempt from commands like “rejoice in the Lord always”. Discouragement is the only fitting response to the situations that I find myself in. It would be inhuman for me to not be discouraged.

I’m wondering if you want to claim an exemption too.

You’ve worked your tail off at your present job. You have given this company everything; long hours that you should have spent with your family, holidays working, not to mention the toll it takes on you physically and emotionally. When the possibility for a promotion comes around you are certain that the job will be yours.

It’s not.

You’ve been passed over. Some younger, less qualified, less dedicated guy gets the promotion. So you give up. You aren’t going to work as hard anymore and you send your resume to a rival company. You’re ticked off at God too. You had prayed for this—hardcore sweating and pleading type of praying—but apparently to no avail. You spiral into depression, discouragement, bitterness, and a host of other nasty words.

Do you get an asterisk?

What Discouragement Really Is

According to Bridge, we ought not be discouraged because we “have possession and interest in God Himself”. If you are a believer then you are in union with Jesus Christ. Discouragement is actually saying that God is not enough. It’s not simply a result of fatigue, circumstances, or having a bad frame. Those might be things that make discouragement an easy temptation to succumb to, but they are not the cause of despair; idolatry is.

In reality our discouragement is stupid and faithless. Discouragement is to wail over broken cisterns that we do not need. To have Christ is to have everything that we need.

Stop telling yourself that your suffering is unique and more significant than the redemption of Christ. You and I do not have a license to be discouraged. No matter how deep in the pit you descend, the Lord Jesus has sank further and redeemed it(see here).

Thankfully, Jesus even rescues and redeems those like you and I that have faithless episodes of discouragement. May we live out that redemption and stop pretending like that isn’t better than any other news you’ll receive today.

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That William Bridge quote is from his book A Lifting Up for the Downcast, which is an excellent book that I would recommend to anyone battling depression or discouragement.

Why Does God Permit Believers to Lose Peace?

When a believer loses his/her sense of peace it is a terrible thing. Many of souls have been crushed by this trial. This often leaves those on the outside looking in, as well as those going through the trial, wondering why a loving God would permit a believer to lose peace. William Bridge, in his excellent work A Lifting Up for the Downcast, gives six reasons why “permits his own people and dearest children to be discouraged, and their peace to be interrupted”:

1. Because “so long as man has encouragement elsewhere, he does not encourage himself in the Lord his God”. Our peace is interrupted so that we might run to Him who is our greatest good.
2. Because “the interruption of an ordinary blessing does raise it to an extraordinary”. We are at times discouraged so that we might further appreciate the graces we take for granted.
3. Because “He would not have His children to love their nurse more than Himself.” In other words, so that we will not be ripped off by pursuing inferior lovers.
4. So that “He might train them up unto more perfection”. “Because as [God’s] comforts do wean us from the world’s comforts, so we have need to be weaned again from these weaners.”
5. Because “many times the children of God…grow secure, vain, frothy and wanton under their peace and comfort”.
6. Because Christ is a great surgeon. “He sees that the comforts of His people sometimes are not right laid, and therefore, says He, though I desire this poor wounded soul may be quickly cured, yet because this comfort, this promise, this experience does not lie right, it must be taken off again”. The Lord would have us to be truly and deeply healed.

This book is a great resource for those that feel crushed and those that minister to those that do. Get it here.

20 Directions for New Believers

After years of desiring its possession I have finally secured a copy of A Christian Directory written by Richard Baxter. It has proven a great help thus far. In one section Baxter gives twenty directions for new believers. I have modernized these and make them available for your benefit:

1. True grace over novelty. Make sure that it is true grace that is captivating you and not simply that the gospel has become “the next best thing” in your life. Time will tell this as those not truly captivated by grace will end up bored with the gospel and/or will run away once suffering and discomfort come.
2. Knowledge AND practice. Give equal attention to knowledge and practice as the two are intimately joined together.
3. Theological Triage. Truths have a dependence on one another. Some are more significant than others. Doing the lesser truth at the expense of the greater truth is a sin. A solid catechism helps with this.
4. Slow to controversy. Do not be hasty to jump into controversy. If/when you do be sure to keep these lesser matters in their place.
5. Thankful but not arrogant. Be grateful for the grace you’ve been given but do not get cocky. Remember that you are but an infant in grace.
6. Do not be discouraged with your humble beginnings. Again remember you are an infant in the faith. Some things that seem almost impossible now will be second nature later.
7. Sound preaching. If at all possible be certain to sit under the ministry of a sound gospel preacher. This would include pursuing counsel outside of his pulpit ministry as well.
8. Beware of factions. Love Christians as Christians. Be very cautious of developing a “party” spirit. (Not the spirit of someone that likes to drink a bunch of Jack Daniels and dance on tables in a bar—though that too should be avoided. A "party” spirit means be careful of following too closely to one particular brand of the Christian faith—ex. the Young, Restless, and Reformed).
9. Grounded in Trials. Don’t let persecution embitter you and make you less than your profession. Do not be shocked when the world hates you or embittered to them when they do.
10. Balance. When running from one error be careful not to go off into the other extreme. New believers will have a tendency to take new information and make as much of an error out of it than the opposite error that they just escaped from.
11. You Could Be Wrong. Do not be overly confident in the “disputable matters” or religion. Remember you are an infant in the faith. Be confident in the substantial matters of the faith but know that you will likely change your mind on many of these disputable issues.
12. Stay on the sidelines in controversy. If there is controversy in your area look for common truths and do not pick a side yet. Pursue unity.
13. Godliness=Happiness. Joy is found in holiness not in sin. Though Satan, the world and your own flesh might try to convince you otherwise know that true rest, peace, and happiness is found in a life of godliness.
14. Mortify. Be diligent in mortifying the sin and lusts in your life. Get to know your diverse temptations and seek to avoid them and mortify their lusts. (Mortify is an older Puritan-type of word that means “to kill).
15. Watch Your Companions. Be careful of your teachers and your company. This is not to say avoid unbelievers, but do not make your choicest companions those that do not treasure the Lord.
16. Watch Your Library. Be careful what books you read. You do not have to avoid all unsound books but be cautious in everything that you read.
17. Freedom isn’t License. Do not fall into libertinism. Free grace should not lead to carnal security and sloth. Jesus Christ is a promoter of holiness and not sin.
18. Counterfeits are Tricky. Watch against obvious decays of grace but also counterfeit and carnal affections. The tempter will be happy to have you practicing Christianity outwardly and making a fine show of it all the while inwardly you are withering away.
19. Life is a vapor. Do not promise yourself a long life. Life is but a mist, live your life as if this is true—because it is.
20. Be God-centered. In everything that you do make sure that the Lord and His glory is your aim. Your pursuit and your prize is the Lord Himself.

10 Reasons Why The YRR Crowd Digs the Puritans

Last week Anthony Bradley asked a really great question on Twitter, “Why do the YRR like the Puritans so much”.  (It was something similar to that).  I offered a quick answer that it’s because we love the gospel and the Puritans are gospel-rich.  That was probably too simplistic of an answer but sometimes it’s hard to really not be on Twitter. 

Today I hope to expand on that answer.  Rather than just straight up list 10 reasons why the YRR (Young Restless and Reformed) crowd loves the Puritans I want to make a sort of progressive list. 

Why do the YRR love the Puritans?

Or how did we start loving the Puritans?

1. Because Mark Dever does.

What I mean by that is that within YRR circles there are several leaders (see T4G) that we really admire.  Though often it brings the accusation of hero worship, I think for the most part it’s that God is really moving in our generation and they feed us Jesus.  So we look up to them because they bless us in Christ.  So, it’s only natural then that we start reading the things that they suggest we read.  Couple this with the fact that one of Dever’s aims is to get solid books into peoples hands (and often for free at conferences and such) and you see how we started liking the Puritans.

2. Because J.I. Packer and others did

If Dever and the T4G crowd don’t introduce you directly to the Puritans you’ll eventually get introduced to them by J.I. Packer and Martin Lloyd-Jones.  Puritan-love has been going on pretty strong since the 1950’s.  If you are young, restless, reformed and love to read you’ll either get introduced through the Puritans by the T4G crowd or MLJ (and probably both).  When all these dear men of God are rockin’ out to the Puritans why shouldn’t you.

3. Banner of Truth

When you have a publishing company churning out books from the Puritans for under 10 bucks and you’ve got guys like Timmy Brister doing a Puritan Reading Challenge then it’s only inevitable that we’ll start reading the Puritans. 

But why do you love them so much when you do read them?

4. We Aren’t Turned Off By Their Reformed Theology

Though a good chunk of the YRR crowd are Baptists and don’t agree with their infant baptism and aspects of their Covenant theology we aren’t turned off by the Calvinism of their Reformed Theology.  That means that we don’t stumble over that and have a bad taste in our mouth from their unashamed Calvinism.  So we are left to enjoy…

5. Their gospel-centrality

This goes back to my original answer.  The Puritans are gospel rich.  Seriously, if you embrace Reformed theology then you will not trip over their expositions of the gospel.  You’ll revel in them.  You’ll rejoice as John Bunyan reflects on the gospel promises and as he waxes on about the excellencies of Christ.  These dudes had a way of bringing everything back to Jesus. 

6. Their big view of God

The YRR crowd has a very big view of God.  Hopefully, nobody sees that as a bad thing.  So did the Puritans.  We have a shared vision of God.  Piper is just an Edwardsean Puritan with a microphone.  If you love Piper you’ll love the Puritans—so long as you are okay with the labor of reading them.

7. Their practical theology

Though often presented as pie-in-the-sky theologians arguing about angels dancing on the heads of pins and what exactly constitutes a witch, the Puritans were immensely practical.  Occasionally as we reflect on the bigness of God we are left wondering how to put into practice the theology that we are growing to embrace.  The Puritans helps with that and we love it. 

Sure, but there are other groups of people that have a big view of God, love the gospel, and will give you practical theology.  So is it just their Reformed theology or is there something else?  Some cultural similarity perhaps?

8. They were underdogs like us

This may only apply to the Baptist brand of the YRR crowd but we are underdogs.  The majority of people in the SBC (and other Baptist groups) are not Calvinists.  They aren’t necessarily militant non-Calvinists but they aren’t Calvinists either.  We are underdogs.  So were the Puritans.  We share an affinity with them.

9. They were a reform movement like us

The Puritans were passionate about reforming stale and stagnating church.  We live in an era much like the Puritans that might claim to be Protestant but we are filled with stale and stagnant churches too.  When the Puritans preach passionately about this it stirs us, exhorts us, and comforts us.  As they preach to awaken “sleeping and stupid sinners” they spur us on to do the same with a bold confidence that God can raise up these dry bones.

10. They were physicians of the soul in a hurting culture

They ministered in an era with such maladies as the plague.  They ministered to suffering people.  So do we.  The Puritans were some of the first people to talk about depression (fits of melancholy).  As we minister to hurting people the Puritans are a gold-mine to applying gospel-rich and God-centered theology to the lives of broken and hurting saints. 

But if I’m being honest it’s really…

They had cool hats and awesome beards.

Joy in the Midst of Hope Deferred

Have you ever had a really brilliant idea that was followed with enthusiasm and passion and almost overwhelming hope at the prospect of how much this new idea would further kingdom of Christ?  You absolutely knew that this was God’s will for your life.  He had given you this vision.  He has called and equipped you to accomplish this task. 

And then.

You fell flat on your face with your dream crashing on top of you. 

I imagine that is a little what Samuel Rutherford must have felt like.  In 1627 at the ripe old age of 27 Rutherford saw his dreams come true as he found a place for that fire within his bones to expend itself.  He had become the pastor at Anwoth, which was a rural parish where this new minister could give his heart to. 

Shortly after his arrival to Anwoth, though, the Rutherford family was hit by sadness.  His wife fell ill, suffered for a year, and then died in their new home.  This was followed up by the untimely death of two of his children as well.  To top it all off in 1636 Rutherford found himself in prison.  He wrote a book defending Calvinism against the Arminian church authorities.  They 1-starred his book on Amazon and sent him off to exile where he found himself in prison for nonconformity. 

It’s not difficult to understand how Rutherford could say:

At my first coming here [to prison] I sulked at Christ and would, indeed, summon him for unkindness.  I sought a plea of my Lord and was tossed with challenges whether he loved me or not, and disputed over again all that he had done to me, because his word was a fire shut up in my bowels, and I was weary with forbearing, because I said I was cast out of the Lord’s inheritance. 

With everything that he was going through Rutherford, as we too would be tempted towards, began questioning the Lord’s love for him.  He even wondered if this imprisonment was a sign to him that he was no longer useful in ministry and worse yet if he was shut out of the Lord’s inheritance. 

Then time passed.

Nothing changed in his circumstances.  Only his heart and his experience of Christ.  Rutherford would say of his questioning the Lord’s goodness, “I know see that I was a fool.  My Lord overlooked all and did bear with my foolish jealousies, and overlooked that ever I wronged his love”.  He would even, later, refer to his prison as “a palace”.  Through this suffering time Rutherford was met with great comfort from Christ. He even wished that all of Scotland and Ireland could have his experience:

O if Scotland and Ireland had part of my feast!  And yet I get not my meat but with many strokes.

May we come to find, with Rutherford, that the sweetest experiences of the Lord’s grace is seldom on the mountain top while we are living out our dreams.  Instead it is often when our face is flat on the ground and our hopes feel as a burden on our back mocking our demise that we come to see that Christ is more precious than anything else.  We would rather have Jesus than even living out the dreams of serving the kingdom. 

Churches Can’t Afford to Think It Is 1600’s England

I had an experience awhile back that was really uncomfortable.  This, I presume good-hearted, chap decided that I needed to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior.  At this point I had been a believer in Christ for a good 5-6 years and was at this point a youth pastor.  That did not phase him.  He was convinced, through no words or actions of my own, that I must simply be one of those that professed Christ but did not really know him.

Have you ever tried to convince an “evangelist” that you really do know Jesus? 

It was tough.  And in fact a little frustrating.  I appreciate hearing the gospel and I wasn’t offended by him proclaiming it to me.  But what was disconcerting was when he remained undeterred and spent his evangelistic zeal on somebody (me) that really does know Jesus. 

This passionate man comes from an era much different than mine.  In the 50’s and 60’s in the Midwest and Southern US it was almost assumed that everybody went to church.  If you didn’t attend church you must massacre innocent kitties (if they exists) and sacrifice them at your Thursday evening bloodlettings and witch parties.  What kind of person must you be if you don’t attend church?  You must be the most vile, wicked, scum of the earth.  Good decent folk attend church even if they sleep through it. 

The same could be said of England throughout the Puritan era and for years after.  During one stretch of her history you could be fined and even imprisoned for not attending a Church of England service.  Though the laws were more lax by then, in 1782 John Newton would say of his parishioners:

I could wish to be useful to the people who by law are obliged to contribute to my support.  And I have still hopes that some of them will one day know what pertains to their peace.  But if they absent themselves from the church, their places are filled up by others.

Churches in this era were filled with lost people and people that were “mere professors”, just as in our day there are nominal Christians filling the rolls of many churches.  In such a context such sermons as An Alarm to the Unconverted would be expected.  In fact you wouldn’t be a faithful minister to have a host of unbelievers hearing your sermon and you never get around to passionately, faithfully, and evangelistically sharing the gospel with them.

When Church Isn’t Mandatory

Yet what does a church do whenever attendance is not mandatory?  Do you keep preaching evangelistically? 

One strategy is to continue preaching evangelistic messages while you encourage those within your church to bring their lost friends to hear the message.  Such a strategy, often called the attractional model, would require the church to be attractive to the lost world to draw them in to hear the gospel message.

That certainly is a strategy.  And in as much as these churches are faithful to the gospel message and sinners are saved I rejoice.  I’m thankfully that God uses humble servants to invite friends to church where faithful preachers explain the gospel clearly, the Spirit moves and works, and people are converted. 

Personally, I think there is a better option.  Use Sunday mornings to disciple members to “go get ‘em”.  Encourage, edify, and exhort those that are attending by choice to go and tell.  Then have them bring back more believers that can be equipped to live out the gospel and reach the lost. 

I am not in any way saying that a faithful pastor will not consider lost people on a Sunday morning.  You had better preach the gospel every Sunday.  One, because believers need to hear it every day.  Secondly, because God through his grace does bring people into a church building to hear a word from Him.  If they don’t know Christ that word from them is repent and believe in Christ.  The gospel had better be presented every time the church gathers.

Living like it’s 1642

Yet it seems that some ministers might be trying to preach sermons for a Christianized 1612 rather than a postmodern and unChristian 2012.  If you live in such a context a large portion of the people in your church are probably there because they are believers.  Yet, if you continue to pretend that it’s 1612 and the people are there because it is mandatory and they are just mere professors you will be starving sheep and not equipping them to reach the lost. 

In other words, we had better be discipling our people and not have a ministry of telling our choir they need to get saved every Sunday.  Tell them how the gospel rocks their life and empowers them to proclaim the gospel to those that need to come to Christ.  And I would just about bet that if the gospel truly informed our communities and people were faithfully discipled some of those mere professors would be so weirded-out by authentic Christianity that they’d either leave altogether or be jolted into knowing a real relationship with Jesus.

Preach to your congregation.

The Slough of Despond (2/2)

Yesterday, I quoted from John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress concerning the Slough of Despond (otherwise known as the Swamp of Despair).  This swamp of despair is the place that many who set out to follow Christ and remove the burden of the Law end up falling into.  Some liken it to depression.  Others liken it to what happens whenever you have a deep conviction of sin without a vision of Christ.  Both are probably somewhat in view.

As I was thinking through Bunyan’s Slough of Despond and my own battle with depression (that often feels like despair) my eyes were opened to an error in my thinking.  Sometimes when I fall into this pit I spend a good amount of time trying to familiarize myself with the descent into the abyss. 

While in the pit of depression and despair I spend a good portion of my time trying to figure out how I got in the pit.  I look around and try to familiarize myself with my unwelcome surroundings.  I replay in my mind everything leading up to my descent.  I long to have my feet on the land just inches before my plummet.  In my mind I study everything prior to the pit and everything that now encompasses me. 

Why do I do this?  Why do I spend time studying my gloom? 

In my mind I do this so that it can help me battle.  If I know what the ground looks like just inches before an abysmal plunge then I can keep my eyes open and prevent this from happening again.  If I study my surroundings I can perhaps acclimate myself to life in the pit, keep myself alive, and somehow figure a way out of this pit. 

Sounds good.  One problem, though.  It forgets about Jesus. 

While there may be benefit in thinking through what caused my descent and trying not to follow that path again, it may not really help me in getting out of the pit—or even preventing other descents.  My above strategy would work if I were the one responsible for getting out of the pit.  But it’s not me. 

    He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
        out of the miry bog,
    and set my feet upon a rock,
        making my steps secure.
(Psalm 40:2 ESV)

My time would probably be better spent focusing on the strong hand that gets me out of the pit than studying my descent.  After all He knows the pit better than I do.  He directs my steps.  He makes my feet secure. 

Practically?

What does this look like practically, you ask?  It means that rather than spending my energies trying to figure out why I fell I expend my energies on grabbing the holy hand that pulls me out of the pit.  If I can only read Scripture for 2 minutes before the darkness takes over then I read passionately for two minutes.  It means that I throw all of my energies into meditating on the objective truth of the gospel and not the subjectivity of the pit of despair.  It means that when the Lord does reveal to me sin that led to my fall that I engage in faith-fueled repentance. 

If you find yourself in a pit today don’t try to acclimate yourself with your surroundings.  Instead open your eyes and look for the strong hand that’s reaching down to pull you out of this pit.  Trust him. 

People You’ve Maybe Never Heard of But Should: Jeremiah Burroughs

Jeremiah Burroughs was born sometime around 1600.  He went to college at Emmanuel College in Cambridge in 1617 finally graduating with a Master of Arts in 1624.  His tutor was another famous Puritan--Thomas Hooker. 

He began his ministerial “career” as an assistant to Edmund Calamy in Suffolk.  Here he and Calamy vehemently opposed King James’ Book of Sports, refusing to read “the king’s proclamation in church that dancing, archery, vaulting, and other games were lawful recreations on the Lord’s Day.”  Eventually he moved to Norfolk where he served as pastor until 1636 when he was suspended for refusing to read the Book of Sports, bow at the name of Jesus, and read prayers rather than speak them extemporaneously. 

From 1638-1640 the ejected Burroughs ministered in the Netherlands with other Congregationalist pastors.  By 1640 he returned to London and became a very popular preacher.  He pastored two of the largest congregations in London: Stepney and St. Giles, Cripplegate.  Burroughs remained in London until his death in 1646.  He died two weeks after a fall from his horse. 

Why You Should Know Him:

He’s a Puritan with a stately mustache an awesome hat and what appears to be double-jointed fingers, what more do you need to know to be inspired to read him? 

Not only did Burroughs pave the way for great mustaches but he was also had a great influence on the Westminster Assembly.  He was one of the few Independents that opposed the Presbyterian majority.  Yet he did so with his typical moderate and irenic spirit.  Those of us churches that come from an Independent strain of Puritanism owe a great deal to the work of men like Jeremiah Burroughs who paved the way for a middle-ground between Presbyterianism and the more chaotic Brownism. 

Though Burroughs is worth studying for his historical value and influence on Westminster the greatest reason to get to know Jeremiah Burroughs is his prolific writing career.  (Actually his books are really nothing more than a compilation of his sermons).  One of Burroughs’ works that has had a great influence on me personally—and many other believers—is his Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. 

Burroughs’ writing contains within it an engaging Christian spirit and a steadfast dedication to the gospel.  He writes like many of the Puritans of his time, in that he will tear open up your soul with the Law and then apply the gospel for healing. 

Sample:

As far as God sees Christ in anyone He accepts them. If Christ is not there, no matter what they have, He does not regard them. Christ is all in all, even in the esteem of the Father Himself. He was the delight of the Father from all eternity, Prov.8:30, and the Father undertook infinite contentment in Him upon His willingness to undertake this blessed work of the redemption of mankind. God the Father is infinitely satisfied in Christ. He is all in all to Him. Surely if Christ is an object sufficient for the satisfaction of the Father, much more, then, is He an object sufficient for the satisfaction of any soul.

I will give you just this note: if it were your last time to pray to God and your everlasting estate depended on God's mercy, should you seek God never so earnestly, if it is only in a natural way as your Creator, your condition would be very dreadful and you would perish eternally. If God should lay any of you upon your sick or death beds and you should cry to God for mercy, be sure to take Christ along with you and look upon God through Christ, or else all your cries will be of no avail. Luther said that God looked upon outside of Christ is most dreadful and terrible. And it proves a great deal of ignorance in us when we think we can go to God and find mercy in Him without considering Him as a God that will be reconciled to us only through His Son.

Both selections are from Christ is All in All an excellent piece worthy of your reading.

Further Reading:

Joel Beeke’s Biography from Meet the Puritans is helpful and also includes a listing of his Modern Reprints available for purchase.  (NOTE: I’m indebted to Beek’s biography for much of the material above). 

The full text of The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment is available for free here. 

You can find almost anything you want to know at the Jeremiah Burroughs Homepage.  Phil Simpson has also written a biography that I may try to check out at some point.  You can buy that biography here.

I’ve also quoted and written a few things from Burroughs on my own site—a search on Borrowed Light will yield you some fruit.

People You’ve Maybe Never Heard of But Should: Anne Bradstreet

Anne Bradstreet was born in 1612 of nonconformist stock.  Her father, Thomas Dudley, was a solider that had managed the affairs of the Earl of Lincoln.  Due to her families position Anne was a well-educated woman.  At the age of sixteen she married Simon Bradstreet.  Her husband (as well as her father) served as a governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.  Anne and her husband, along with Anne’s family, sailed for America in 1630 as a Puritan emigrants.  The Bradstreet and Dudley family were instrumental in founding Harvard.

Anne gave birth to eight children.  Throughout her life she would taken her family (often while pregnant) and move all around New England with her husband.  She died at the age of 60 in 1672. 

Why You Should Know Her:

Anne Bradstreet is actually New England’s first published poet.  In 1647 her brother-in-law, John Woodbridge, sailed to England carrying with him a manuscript of her poetry.  There is some discussion as to whether Anne knew it was to be published or not.  More than likely she had intentions of publication but had to carry a hint of surprise at its publication because during this time period women authoring books was quite controversial. 

Bradstreet was a friend of Anne Hutchinson but was less “liberal” in her views.  Using contemporary terms Bradstreet saw herself as a complementarian but was very much an early feminist.  Many believe that those around Bradstreet also believed that a godly and educated woman such as Anne could do such things as write and that would not necessarily contradict her other roles as a wife and a mother.  Few held this view at the time and Bradstreet faced much opposition during her life. 

Bradstreet’s poems are endearing and reflect much about the life of a Puritan woman.  They were probably not originally intended for publication so they almost serve as a diary and an autobiography of the life of a godly and intellectual Puritan wife and mother. 

Samples:

One of Bradstreet’s poems was written before the birth of one of her children.  In it one can see that those living in New England lived with constant reminders of their own mortality.  Here we see both the joys and fears of a new mother.  Even upon the joy of a child this pervasive death and toil is evident in her writing:

All things within this fading world hath end,
Adversity doth still our joys attend;
No ties so strong, no friends so dear and sweet,
But with death's parting blow is sure to meet.
The sentence past is most irrevocable,
A common thing, yet oh, inevitable.
How soon, my Dear, death may my steps attend.
How soon't may be thy lot to lose thy friend,
We both are ignorant, yet love bids me
These farewell lines to recommend to thee,
That when that knot's untied that made us one,
I may seem thine, who in effect am none.
And if I see not half my days that's due,
What nature would, God grant to yours and you;
The many faults that well you know
I have Let be interred in my oblivious grave;
If any worth or virtue were in me,
Let that live freshly in thy memory
And when thou feel'st no grief, as I no harms,
Yet love thy dead, who long lay in thine arms.
And when thy loss shall be repaid with gains
Look to my little babes, my dear remains.
And if thou love thyself, or loved'st me,
These O protect from step-dame's injury.
And if chance to thine eyes shall bring this verse,
With some sad sighs honour my absent hearse;
And kiss this paper for thy love's dear sake,
Who with salt tears this last farewell did take.

Further Reading:

Several of Bradstreet’s poems can be found here.
You can find a good amount of information on Bradstreet here.
Some may be interested in her interesting genealogical record.  (President Calvin Coolidge is a descendant of Bradstreet).
Also check out AnneBradstreet.com

A Little Care and Watchfulness Now…

…had the heart been well guarded at first, it had never come to this height: the temptation had been stopped in the first or second act.  And indeed there it is stopped easily: for it is the motions of a tempted soul to sin, as in the motion of a stone falling from the brow of a hill; it is easily stopped at first, but when it is set agoing, [it gathers strength as it goes]: And therefore, it is the greatest wisdom in the world to observe the first motions of the heart, to check and stop sin there.  The motions of sin are weakest at first, a little care and watchfulness may prevent much mischief now, which the careless heart not heeding, is brought with the power of temptation.  (John Flavel, from A Saint Indeed, emphasis mine)

Frequently Going Out of Tune

Thankfully the Lord knows our frame and is able to keep us though this is ever so true:

For though grace hath, in a great measure, rectified the soul, and given it an habitual and heavenly temper: yet sin often actually discomposes it again: so that even a gracious heart is like a musical instrument, which, though be it never so exactly tuned, a small matter brings it out of tune again; yea, hang it aside but a little, and it will need setting again before you can play another lesson on it; even so stands the case with gracious hearts; if they are in frame in one duty, yet how dull, dead, and disordered when they come to another.  (John Flavel, from Saints Indeed)

May we long for the day when we no longer “get out of tune again”. 

A Searching Question

I think it is not very difficult to discern, by the duties and [conversations] of Christians, what frames their spirits are under; take a Christian in a good frame, and how serious, heavenly, and profitable, will his [conversations] and duties be!  What a lovely companion is he during the continuance of it!  It would do any one’s heart good to be with him at such a time.   (John Flavel, from Saint Indeed, emphasis mine)

This caused me to ask a very searching question of my own life and heart, “Does it do people’s hearts good to have spent time with me?” 

What I Hope to Say at the End of Ministry

My dear flock, I have, according to the grace given me, labored in the course of my ministry, among you, to feed you with the heart-strengthening bread of practical doctrine; and I do assure you, it is far better you should have the sweet and saving impressions of gospel-truths feelingly and powerfully conveyed to your hearts, than only to understand them by a bare [reasoning]…Leave trifling studies to such as have time lying on their hands, and know not how to employ it: remember you are at the door of eternity, and have other work to do; those hours you spend upon heart-work in your closets, are the golden spots of all your time, and will have the sweetest influence upon your last hour.    (John Flavel, From Saints Indeed)

Bringing All Delights Into Our Hearts

This from Thomas Goodwin:

Oh, what sweetness will there be one day in heaven in the fullness of converse and manifestation of these three persons.  It will be, if not all, yet the great discourse that will be had and heard in heaven with your poor souls by the three persons, bringing all the delights They have had in you from eternity down into your hearts, and revealing Them to you to all eternity

Two Heaps, Neither Named Todd

Some 300 years ago Cotton Mather gave this advise to new ministers, and it is worth heeding today:

Simply put: there are some things in life and ministry that you are simply not going to understand.  File those away under unintelligble.  Some things you will not be able to fix.  File those away under incurables. 

Mather’s advice to consider some some un-persuadable people as incurables is a little hard for me to swallow.  I do not like to think that any person is “incurable”.  Such a statement seems to be negating the power of God. 

However, I think if we are careful not to press Mather’s advice too far it is sound.  There are certain times when it becomes apparent that I have done everything that I know to do as far as counseling some person.  When I have done all that I can, then certainly I must continue to pray, and perhaps pray that the Lord will open up a door for some other person to come into their life. 

What do you think of Mather’s advice? 

Quotes You Don’t Expect From a Puritan #1

This gem is from Thomas Goodwin.  He is speaking hear of how Christ longs for His own return:

The truth is, I cannot live without you and I shall never be quiet till I have you where I am, that we may never part again; that is the reason of it.  Heaven shall not hold Me, nor My Father’s company, if I do not have you with Me, My heart is so set upon you; and if I have any glory, you shall have part of it.  (From The Heart of Christ in Heaven Towards Sinners on Earth)

A Weak Faith, A Strong Christ

“A weak faith may lay hold on a strong Christ”

I could have swore that this quote was from Richard Sibbes.  I know for certain that Thomas Watson wrote it in his work A Body of Divinity.  Regardless of where it came from I know that it has been used by God to encourage and strengthen my soul. 

When I interviewed for my current position as associate pastor one of the questions asked me was this:  What is the most important aspect of your faith?  My response was simple.  It’s object. 

Of course you want to increase your faith.  As faith increases our experience of God intends to increase.  This seems to be what Paul was praying for when he prayed for the Ephesians that “the eyes of [their] hearts may be enlightened”.  That’s a decent definition of faith: seeing Jesus with the heart.  The result, says Paul, is that “you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe…”  In other words,

more faith—>greater sight—>deeper experience of the grace already received

So, we should passionately pursue an increase in faith.  But we must constantly remember that our pursuit is a greater sight of faith’s object; namely, Jesus Christ. 

For those that feel weak in faith be encouraged by the fact that the gospel is true in your life no matter if your trust in Christ is weak or strong.  The hope of the gospel is fixed for all those that embrace Christ, even if that faith is no bigger than a mustard seed. 

Our faith doesn’t save us.  Our Savior does.  And he is very strong.  As Spurgeon once said:

Ah! the bridge of grace will bear your weight, brother. Thousands of big sinners have gone across that bridge, yea, tens of thousands have gone over it. I can hear their trampings now as they traverse the great arches of the bridge of salvation. They come by their thousands, by their myriads; e'er since the day when Christ first entered into His glory, they come, and yet never a stone has sprung in that mighty bridge. Some have been the chief of sinners, and some have come at the very last of their days, but the arch has never yielded beneath their weight. I will go with them trusting to the same support; it will bear me over as it has borne them.

Jesus is indeed Mighty to Save!

Luxury and Preaching

Richard Baxter speaking to pastors, encouraging them to model self-sacrificial living:

Think not of being rich; do not seek great things for yourselves or your [descendants]…If you believe that God is the safest [keeper of goods] and that to [be spent] in his service [yields the best interest], show them that you do believe it. [I know that flesh and blood will complain against this] but mark this, that man who has any thing in the world so dear to him, that he cannot spare it for Christ, if [Christ] calls for it, is no true Christian.  (The Reformed Pastor, 66-67, modernized by me)

A few points to consider:

What does my lifestyle display that I believe about the value of God?  When you see the things that I spend my time and money on does it show that I believe heaven is the greatest treasure—or am I building a personal kingdom for myself and my descendants?  I think the American dream has taught us that God is actually cool with both…in fact he is quite happy to “bless us” with luxuries so long as we thank him for it.  I’m simply not convinced that many of my “luxuries” are not more the result of sin than they are a result of “
"God’s blessing”. 

Is there anything in my life that Christ is calling me to expend for His kingdom?  If I am not careful I will quickly dismiss this question.  Because I do not hear a “still small voice” telling me to buy a smaller refrigerator I may assume that He is not calling.  But perhaps He is calling!  Perhaps if my eyes are open to the reality of world hunger, the darkness of nations without the gospel, and my brothers and sisters without adequate provisions I will hear the thunderous voice of Jesus asking for water, dying children asking for food, and blind men begging for the light of the gospel.  The better question may be, “what will it take”, rather than “what can I do without”. 

If we are not careful topics like this can lead to deep feelings of guilt (sometimes false—sometimes real).  There is one statement I have been saying to myself as I consider these things: “Let us not stop until we are obedient”.  That is what I think Richard Baxter is calling for—scratch that—that is what Christ is calling for.  I do not want to stop changing things in my life until I am obedient.  Baxter said it this way, "we must have nothing but what we have for God".

Treasuring Christ=Treasuring Missions

Do you treasure Christ? 

In his classic work The Godly Man’s Picture, Thomas Watson gives 8 evidences of prizing Christ.  Here is #7:

If we are prizers of Christ, we will be willing to help others to get a part in him.  That which we esteem excellent, we are desirous our friend should have a share in it.  If a man has found a spring of water, he will call others that they may drink and satisfy their thirst.  Do we commend Christ to others?  Do we take them by the hand and lead them to Christ?  This shows how few prize Christ, because they do not make more effort that their relations should have a part in him.  They get land and riches for their posterity, but have no care to leave them the Pearl of Price as their portion.

A few things to consider:

I cannot say that I really prize Christ if I am unwilling to sacrifice comfort so that others may see Jesus.  That communicates that I prize comfort more than I prize Jesus. 

I truly believe that as my little boy grows up you will see what Nikki and I prize by what Isaiah prizes.  Will he set a great price on “objects” or will he make much of Jesus?

This explains why sharing Jesus with people is not “unloving and prideful”, though it can sometimes be.  We share Jesus with unbelievers because we have found a spring of water and we want them to drink.  It is not arrogant of us to give water to thirsty.  It is arrogant for the thirsty to refuse the spring and even worse to deny their thirst.

If I prize Christ then I will not be satisfied with millions of Muslims bowing a knee to Allah and honoring Mohammed above Christ.  Jesus deserves their worship.  I will not be satisfied with the millions that bow a knee to Buddha, Krishna, or any other god.  Jesus deserves their worship.  I cannot be satisfied until Christ is the prize of the nations.  And Christ is not the prize of the nations when 40% of them have never heard his name.  Christ is not the prize of the nations when a larger portion deny Him and instead worship gods of their own making.  Therefore, if I prize Christ I will prize missions.

You can buy Watson’s entire book for only $5.60.