Category Archives: Puritans

>The Lord Gave and the Lord Has Taken Away by Thomas Brooks

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Thursday of Borrowed Words…
We are reading around our family table, Voices from the Past: Puritan Devotional Readings, and yestrday after dinner, we read a devotional by Thomas Brooks (1608- 1680), which I thought it was proper to share with you, because it is fitting with our reading of the book, A Place for Weakness by M. Horton, over at Elizabeth’s blog.
May we have humble souls….

“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord”
Job 1: 21
“The humble soul will bless God under misery as well as under mercy, when God frowns as when he smiles, when He takes as when He gives, under crosses and losses as under blessings and mercies. The humble believer looks through all secondary causes, and sees the hand of God. He lays his hand upon his heart and sweetly sings ‘Blessed be the name of the Lord’. The language of the humble soul is: ‘If it is your will that I should be in darkness, I will bless you; and if it is your will that I should be again in light, I will bless you; if you comfort me, I will bless you; and if you afflict, I will bless; if you make me poor, I will bless; if you make me rich, I will bless’ The humble soul sees the rod in his Father’s hand; but also the honey on the top of every twig. He sees sugar at the bottom of the bitterest cup, and knows that God’s house of correction is a school of instruction.The humble soul knows that the design of God in all things is his instruction, reformation, and salvation….
O the pride of men’s hearts when the rod is upon their backs! There are many humble professors while the sun shines, while God gives, smiles and strokes. But when he frowns, and strikes, O the murmurings of proud souls! They kick when God strikes. But the humble soul wisely and patiently bears reproof. The proud scorns the reprover and his reproofs too. Pride and passion ho armed; touch them ever so gently, yet, like the nettle, they will sting you; deal roughly with them and they will become violently hostile.”
Becky

>Meditate on Heaven

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>Today is Thursday of Borrowed words, it is a day in which I enjoy sharing with you some findings from my reading corner.

This month I will be sharing with you quotes about Heaven; Oh how we need to live with our eyes fixed on Jesus and our heart longing for our eternal home in Heaven! It is so easy to get caught up in the temporary things, in the to do list and the calendar that we must remind our souls that we are pilgrims here, that we our citizenship in in Heaven. We must remind ourselves that even though we live in the frame of time, we are destined to live eternally. I pray that these wise words that I’ll be sharing here may help you long to draw nearer to the only One who can lead you to Heaven: Jesus Christ.


Meditate upon HEAVEN. 
Heaven is the quintessence of all blessedness. 
There the saints shall have all their holy hearts can desire! 
We shall behold the King in His beauty!
What a glorious place will this be! In heaven
“God will be all in all” beauty to the eye, music to the ears, 
joy to the heart; and this He will be to the poorest saint, 
as well as the richest. 
O Christian, who is now at your hard labor,
perhaps following the plough—you shall sit on the throne
of glory! The poorest believer shall be taken from his
laboring work, and set at the right hand of God, having
the crown of righteousness upon his head!
“For our momentary light affliction is producing for us
an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory!”
2 Corinthians 4:17
Meditation on heaven would excite and quicken
OBEDIENCE. It would put spurs to our sluggish hearts,
and make us “abound in the work of God, knowing that
our labor is not in vain in the Lord!” 
The weight of glory would not hinder us in our race—
but cause us to run the faster! 
This weight would add wings to duty!
Meditation on heaven would make us strive after heart
PURITY, because only the “pure in heart shall see God.”
Meditation on heaven would be a pillar of SUPPORT under
our sufferings.
Heaven will make amends for all. 
One hour in heaven will make us forget all our sorrows!
The sun dries up the water; just so—one beam of God’s
glorious face will dry up all our tears!
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no
more death or mourning or crying or pain!” Rev. 21:4

>Holy, Holy, Holy

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Holy, holy, holy

(Thomas Brooks, “The Crown and Glory of Christianity,
 or, HOLINESS, the Only Way to Happiness“, 1662)

“Who is like You, glorious in holiness?” Exodus 15:11

God is . . .
  infinitely holy,
  transcendently holy,
  superlatively holy,
  constantly holy,
  unchangeably holy,
  exemplary holy,
  gloriously holy.

All the holiness that is in the best and choicest
Christians is but a mixed holiness, a weak and
imperfect holiness. Their unholiness is always
more than their holiness.
Ah, what a great deal . . .
  of pride is mixed with a little humility,
  of unbelief is mixed with a little faith,
  of peevishness is mixed with a little meekness,
  of earthliness is mixed with a little heavenliness,
  of carnality is mixed with a little spirituality,
  of harshness is mixed with a little tenderness!

Oh, but the holiness of God is a pure holiness, it is
a holiness without mixture; there is not the least
drop or the least dreg of unholiness in God! “God
is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5

In God there is . . .
  all wisdom without any folly,
  all truth without any falsehood,
  all light without any darkness, and
  all holiness without any sinfulness.

God is universally holy.
He is holy in all His ways,
and holy in all His works.
His precepts are holy precepts,
His promises are holy promises,
His threatenings are holy threatenings,
His love is a holy love,
His anger is a holy anger,
His hatred is a holy hatred, etc.

His nature is holy,
His attributes are holy,
His actions are all holy.

He is holy in sparing;
  and holy in punishing.
He is holy in justifying of some;
  and holy in condemning of others.
He is holy in bringing some to heaven;
  and holy in throwing others to hell.

God is holy . . .
  in all His sayings,
  in all His doings,
  in whatever He puts His hand to,
  in whatever He sets His heart to.
His frowns are holy,
His smiles are holy.
When He gives, His givings are holy giving;
when He takes away, His takings are holy takings, etc.

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty!” Isaiah 6:3

God is eminently holy.
He is transcendently holy.
he is superlatively holy.
He is glorious in holiness.

There is no fathoming,
there is no measuring,
there is no comprehending,
there is no searching, of that
infinite sea of holiness, which is in God.
O sirs! you shall as soon . . .
  stop the sun in its course, and
  change the day into night, and
  raise the dead,
  and make a world, and
  count the stars of heaven, and
  empty the sea with a cockle-shell,
as you shall be able either to conceive or express
that transcendent holiness which is in God!

God’s holiness is infinite.
It can neither be . . .
  limited, nor
  lessened, nor
  increased.

God is the spring of all holiness and purity. All that
holiness which is in angels and men flows from God,
  as the streams from the fountain,
  as the beams from the sun,
  as the branches from the root,
  as the effect from the cause.
Ministers may pray that their people may be holy,
parents may pray that their children may be holy;
but they cannot give holiness, nor communicate
holiness to their nearest and dearest relations.
God alone is the giver and the author of all holiness.
It is only the Holy One who can cause holiness to flow
into sinners’ hearts; it is only He who can form, and
frame, and infuse holiness into the souls of men.
A man shall sooner make make a world—than he shall
make another holy. It is only a holy God, who can . . .
  enlighten the mind, and
  bow the will, and
  melt the heart, and
  raise the affections, and
  purge the conscience, and
  reform the life, and
  put the whole man into a holy gracious temper.

God is exemplary holy. He is the rule, example, and
pattern of holiness. “Be holy, as I am holy.” 1 Pet. 1:15.
God’s holiness is the copy which we must always have in
our eye, and endeavor most exactly to write after.

Let us bless our Holy God today.

Related Posts:

What to do With Today’s Sermon
The Lord’s Day

On the former blog:

Sunday’s Poem

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>Hallowed be Your Name

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Thomas Watson. Read His Biography at Monergism

The Lord taught us how to pray and the first petition is this,  “Hallowed by your name” Matthew 6:9
 Thomas Watson explains us how we should sanctify God’s name, and among his teaching, he says:

“We hallow and sanctify God’s name when we hallow his day.

“Hallow the sabbath day.” Jer 17:22. Our Christian Sabbath, which comes in the place of the Jews’ Sabbath, is called the Lord’s day. Rev 1:10. It was anciently called a day of light, wherein Christ the Sun of Righteousness shines in an extraordinary manner. It is an honor done to God to hallow his Sabbath.

(1) We must rest on this day from all secular works. “Bring in no burden on the sabbath day.” Jer 17:24. As when Joseph would speak with his brethren he thrust out the Egyptians; so when we would converse with God on this day, we must thrust out all earthly employments. Mary Magdalene refused to anoint Christ’s dead body on the sabbath day. Luke 23:56. She had before prepared her ointment and spices—but came not to the sepulcher until the Sabbath was past; she rested on that day from civil work, even the commendable and glorious work of anointing Christ’s dead body. 
(2) We must in a solemn manner devote ourselves to God on this day; we must spend the whole day with God. Some will hear the word—but leave all their religion at church; they do nothing at home, they do not pray or repeat the word in their houses, and so rob God of a part of his day. It is lamentable to see how God’s day is profaned. Let no man think God’s name is hallowed, while his Sabbath is broken.” (source@ Grace Gems)
Let us set apart this today to sanctify His name in all we do!

Related Posts:

 Sunday’s Psalm – Psalm 19-
A Prayer for Today
The Lord’s Day

Visit Rebecca for more hymns and devotionals for the Lord’s Day.

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When Light Meets Daily Life -III- and The Bruised Reed Ch. 3

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The pictures on this post are from Claire B.
Aren't they great? Thank you, Claire for letting me use them.
 

This is the second Thursday I share about the book we are reading together at Challies.com The book is The Bruised Reed by the Puritan author Richard Sibbes.
My comments on chapters 1 and 2 are here.

 
 
 
 

Chapter 3. The Smoking Flax

This is not an easy chapter, this is a chapter that brought tears to my eyes. Its words are like spades, they reached deep within my soul.

Sibbes, reminded me on how my spiritual life started, with little faith, with a “small beginning of grace” . And I just can’t but think how even that little portion of faith was given to me as an undeserved gift by my Father in Heaven, and was enough to save my life from an eternity far from Him.

So broken, so bruised, so dirty was my life, but He reached and gave me His saving Grace to “strive to perfection, and to keep me in a low opinion of myself“

He saw me; He reached to me, a bruised reed, and did not break me forever, He did not despise me.

Little beginnings full of grace. That is all we need.

Grace upon grace.

Grace for every day.

Small changes soaked in His grace.

Grace came and changed me, it gave me eternal life, but “grace does not do away with corruption all at once, but some is left for believers to fight with. The purest actions of the purest men need Christ to perfume them; and this is his office.”

The thorns of my flesh, are there, every day, to remind me of my desperate need of Him. To remind me that I am a bruised reed , to “preserve me from those two dangerous rocks which our natures are prone to dash upon, security and pride…”

I am in a daily journey to heaven…and “even as a candle in the socket shows its light, and sometimes the show of light is lost; so sometimes “I am” well persuaded of myself, sometimes at a loss.”
So here too, I see His light shining on this bruised reed, which is my own life.

A repost from the archives 

 

A Prayer for Today

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The Lord’s Supper
God of all good,
I bless thee for the means of grace;
teach me to see in them thy loving purposes
and the joy and strength of my soul.

Thou hast prepared for me a feast;
and though I am unworthy to sit down as guest,
I wholly rest on the merits of Jesus,
and hide myself beneath his righteousness;
When I hear his tender invitation
and see His wondrous grace,
I cannot hesitate, but must come to Thee in love.

By Thy Spirit enliven my faith rightly to discern
and spiritually to apprehend the Saviour.

While I gaze upon the emblems of my Saviour’s death,
may I ponder why He died, and hear him say,
“I gave my life to purchase yours,
presented myself as offering to expiate your sin,
shed my blood to blot out your guilt,
opened my side to make you clean, 
endured your curses to set you free,
bore your condemnation to satisfy divine justice”

O may I rightly grasp the breadth and length of this design,
draw near, obey, extend the hand, take the bread,
receive the cup, eat and drink,
testify before all men that I do for myself,
gladly, in faith, reverence and love, receive my Lord,
to be my life, strength, nourishment, joy, delight.

In the supper I remember his eternal love, boundless grace,
infinite compassion, agony, cross, redemption,,
and receive assurance of pardon, adoption, life, glory.

As outward elements nourish my body,
so may thy indwelling Spirit invigorate my soul,
until that day when I hunger and thirst no more,
and sit with Jesus at His heavenly feast.

The Valley Of Vision

Have a most blessed Lord’s Day!