The Solitude of Alexander Selkirk

William Cowper, The Poetical Works of William Cowper, pp. 207-209:

Verses
Supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk, during his
solitary abode in the island of Juan Fernandez.

I am monarch of all I survey,
My right there is none to dispute;
From the centre all round to the sea
I am lord of the fowl and the brute.
O Solitude! where are the charms
That sages have seen in thy face?
Better dwell in the midst of alarms
Than reign in this horrible place.

I am out of humanity's reach,
I must finish my journey alone,
Never hear the sweet music of speech,
I start at the sound of my own.
The beasts, that roam over the plain,
My form with indifference see;
They are so unacquainted with man,
Their tameness is shocking to me.

Society, friendship, and love,
Divinely bestow'd upon man,
O, had I the wings of a dove,
How soon would I taste you again!
My sorrows I then might assuage
In the ways of religion and truth,
Might learn from the wisdom of age,
And be cheer'd by the sallies of youth.

Religion! what treasure untold
Resides in that heavenly word!
More precious than silver and gold,
Or all that this earth can afford,
But the sound of the church-going bell
These valleys and rocks never heard,
Never sigh'd at the sound of a knell,
Or smiled when a sabbath appear'd.

Ye winds, that have made me your sport,
Convey to this desolate shore
Some cordial endearing report
Of a land I shall visit no more.
My friends, do they now and then send
A wish or a thought after me?
O tell me I yet have a friend,
Though a friend I am never to see.

How fleet is a glance of the mind!
Compared with the speed of its flight,
The tempest itself lags behind,
And the swift-winged arrows of light.
When I think of my own native land,
In a moment I seem to be there;
But alas! recollection at hand
Soon hurries me back to despair.

But the seafowl is gone to her nest,
The beast is laid down in his lair;
Even here is a season of rest,
And I to my cabin repair.
There's mercy in every place,
And mercy, encouraging thought!
Gives even affliction a grace,
And reconciles man to his lot.

Gratefulness

George Herbert, The Complete English Poems, pp. 115-116:

Gratefulness

You that have giv'n so much to me,

Give one thing more, a grateful heart.

See how your beggar works on thee

By art.

He makes your gifts occasion more,

And says, If he in this be crossed,

All you have giv'n him heretofore

Is lost.

But you did reckon, when at first

Your word our hearts and hands did crave,

What it would come to at the worst

To save.

Perpetual knockings at your door,

Tears sullying your transparent rooms,

Gift upon gift, much would have more,

And comes.

This notwithstanding, you still went on,

And did allow us all our noise:

Nay, you have made a sigh and groan

Your joys.

Not that you have not still above

Much better tunes, than groans can make;

But that these country-airs your love

Did take.

Wherefore I cry, and cry again;

And in no quiet can you be,

Till I a thankful heart obtain

Of thee:

Not thankful, when it pleases me;

As if your blessings had spare days:

But such a heart, whose pulse may be

Your praise.

Be Kind, For Everyone You Meet Is Fighting A Hard Battle

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." This saying is widely attributed on the internet to Plato. However, students of Plato will agree that this saying, even in translation, does not quite sound like it was written over 2,000 years ago.

Thanks to Quote Investigator, the quote's origin has been shown to be of more recent origin. John Watson, D.D. (1850-1907), a minister in the Free Church of Scotland (also serving as the 1896 Lyman Beecher lecturer at Yale University, and the moderator of the 1900 synod of the English Presbyterian Church) who wrote many successful books under the pseudonym of 'Ian Maclaren,' making him one of the most popular authors of his day in Great Britain and America, said in 1897/1898: "Be pitiful, for every man is fighting a hard battle."

This Day in Presbyterian History

Just launched yesterday, a promising new blog will endeavor to share with its readers nuggets of Presbyterian church history day by day throughout 2012. Host and contributor Dr. Wayne Sparkman of the PCA Historical Center has teamed up with author Dr. David T. Myers to produce an historical devotional in blog format called This Day in Presbyterian History (subtitled "Daily devotional readings in Scripture, the Westminster Standards, and Presbyterian history"). The first entry marks the 75th anniversary of the passing of J. Gresham Machen on January 1, 1937. It should be an edifying read for the year ahead. Be sure to check it out.

Radiations of Divine Light

Curt Daniel, The History and Theology of Calvinism, p. 405:

How is it that a totally non-Christian artist can paint a beautiful painting? Why is it that not all art by unbelievers is directly blasphemous? Calvinists such as Hans Rookmaaker have discussed the Calvinist theology of art, or Reformed Aesthetics. They point out that not all workers on the Temple were Israelites. Some were pagans, but they were good artists and architects. How? Because they had been endued by Common Grace with cultural gifts.

Abraham Kuyper, Lectures on Calvinism, p. 97:

I have already, more than once, called your attention to the important significance of the Calvinistic doctrine of "common grace," and of course in this lecture on art I must refer to it again. That which is to be ecclesiastical must bear the stamp of faith, therefore genuine Christian art can only go out from believers. Calvinism, on the contrary, has taught us that all liberal arts are gifts which God imparts promiscuously to believers and unbelievers, yea, that, as history shows, these gifts have flourished even in a larger measure outside the holy circle. "These radiations of Divine Light," [John Calvin] wrote, "shone more brilliantly among unbelieving people than among God's saints." And this of course quite reverses the proposed order of things. If you limit the higher enjoyment of art to regeneration, then this gift is exclusively the portion of believers, and must bear an ecclesiastical character. In that case it is the outcome of particular grace But if, at the hand of experience and history, you become persuaded that the highest art-instincts are natural gifts, and hence belong to those excellent graces which, in spite of sin, by virtue of common grace, have continued to shine in human nature, it plainly follows that art can inspire both believers and unbelievers, and that God remains Sovereign to impart it, in His good pleasure, alike to Heathen and to Christian nations. This applies not only to art, but to all the natural utterances of human life, and is illustrated by the comparison in early times between Israel and the other nations. As far as holy things are concerned, Israel is chosen, and is not only blessed above all nations, but stands among all nations, isolated In the question of Religion, Israel has not only a larger share, but Israel alone has the truth, and all the other nations, even the Greeks and the Romans, are bent beneath the yoke of falsehood. Christ is not partly of Israel and partly of the nations; He is of Israel alone. Salvation is of the Jews. But just in proportion as Israel shines forth from within the domain of Religion, so is it equally backward when you compare the development of its art, science, politics, commerce and trade to that of the surrounding nations. The building of the Temple required the coming of Hiram from a heathen country to Jerusalem; and Solomon, in whom, after all, was found the Wisdom of God, not only knows that Israel stands behind in architecture and needs help from without, but by his action he publicly shows that he, as the king of the Jews, is in no way ashamed of Hiram's coming, which he realizes as a natural ordinance of God.

Hans Rookmaaker, "We and Art" in The Complete Works of Hans R. Rookmaaker, Vol. 4, pp. 350-351:

For now we want to concentrate on the first question, namely, that of whether God has assigned his people a positive task in connection with art. Has he given us the vocation to create art, to make ‘Christian art’ in distinction from ‘worldly art’? For only too often people have said, thinking things through ‘consistently’, that we must claim all fields for Christ and therefore also let our distinctive voices be heard in the realm of art. Yet in this way we may perhaps out of self-willed religiosity saddle ourselves with possibly irresolvable problems and heavy burdens. If we have such zeal for God yet without comprehension – since not according to God’s word and commandment (Romans 10:2 [‘they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge’]) – then the Lord will also reproach us as in Micah 6:3 ‘My people . . . how have I burdened you?’ For already in Micah’s day there were some who thought to justify themselves in such matters by appealing to David’s example, while at the same time forgetting the covenant (Amos 6:5). If we turn now and search the Scriptures to see where and how they speak of art, then we find that that only happens a few times and then almost in passing, nd that the Lord nowhere gives us an explicit commandment, for or against.

We find that for the making of the ark, God himself designates some artisans and fills them with wisdom and understanding so that they know how to make all the work in the service of the sanctuary according to God’s commandments. Yet the matter is one of a very narrowly defined commission extended to a handful of selected people. In 2 Chronicles 2 and 3 we learn of the building and furnishing of God’s Temple by Solomon. And who does he seek out to be responsible for the decorating and furnishing? There is no one in the nation of Israel whom he regards as suited. And so he sends to Hiram, the king of Tyre, to ask for his help. And the king of Tyre sends him Hiram Abi, the son of a worker in precious metals from Tyre. We do not know if this smith was a believer, yes or no, only that his mother was of the tribe of Dan. However that may be, he had learned his art, including the style, in Tyre. He was renowned for his wisdom and his understanding in making works of brass, including works decorated with figures and scenes. Naturally Solomon would have seen to it that the fonts dedicated to God were not decorated with heathen images, but for the rest this art would in principle not have differed in appearance from that of Tyre.

There is little more to be found about these matters in the Scriptures, including the New Testament, so we can conclude that God has not assigned us a special task with respect to them. God does not demand of us that we create a distinctive art or style of our own! On the other hand, it is obvious that if one of the Lord’s people is an artist, one may not just go out and make anything one wants in the way a worldly person might do, in disobedience to God’s commandments. Yet no great difficulties should arise here. For it is obvious that one may not make blasphemous or immoral presentations. The latter might lead people into temptation and incite them to commit unholy acts. And naturally one will also keep one’s distance from art that clearly bears the stamp of an apostate way of life. I have in mind, for example, modern Surrealism, which holds up to us a world that is totally devoid of meaning, without norms, decadent and without hope: but what believer could possibly be won for such ideals? Thus it is not so much the positive task of the Christian artist to create a distinctive style from scratch unconnected with the world; it is much rather the negative task of not producing works in which the theme selected or the thought communicated is contrary to God’s commandments or could lead believers, God’s children, into temptation.

A Time to Meditate

Thomas Manton, Sermons Upon Gen. 24.63 in The Works of Thomas Manton, Vol. 17, pp. 265-266; and 298-299:

4. The last circumstance in the text is the time, 'In the even-tide,' which is also a matter of an arbitrary concernment. Time in itself is but an inactive circumstance; all hours are alike to God; he taketh no more pleasure in the sixth or ninth hour than in the first hour; only you should prudently observe when your spirit is most fresh and smart. To some the morning is quickest, the fancy being fittest to offer spiritual and heavenly thoughts, before it hath received any images and representations from carnal objects abroad. Morning thoughts are, as it were, virgin thoughts of the mind, before they have been prostituted to these inferior and baser objects, and so are more pure and sublime and defecate; and then the soul, like the hind of the morning, with a swift and nimble readiness climbeth up to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense: Song of Sol. 4:6,’Until the day break and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of mvrrh and to the hill of frankincense;’ and it tended much to season the whole day when we can talk with the law in the morning: Prov. 6:22, ‘When thou awakest, it shall talk with thee.' To some the evening seemeth fitter, that when the gayishness and vanity of the spirit hath been spent in business, their thoughts may be more serious and solemn with God; and after the weights have been running down all day through their employments of the world, they may wind them up again at night in these recesses and exercises of piety and religion; as David says; Ps. 25:1, 'Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.' To others the silence and stillness of the night seemeth to be an help, and because of the curtain of darkness that is drawn between them and the world, they can the better entertain serious and solemn thoughts of God. David speaks everywhere in the psalms of his nocturnal devotions: Ps. 63:6, ‘When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night-watches.’ The expression is taken from the custom of the Jews, who divided the night into so many watches. Whilst others were reposing their bodies on their beds, David was reposing his soul in the bosom of God, and he have the less rest to his eyes that he might give the more to his soul. So Ps. 119:148, ‘Mine eyes prevent the night-watches, that I might meditate in thy word.’ Certainly in the night, when we are taken off from other business, we have the greatest command of our thoughts, and the covert of darkness that God hath stretched over the world begetteth a greater awe and reverence. Therefore Mr. [Richard] Greenham, when he pressed any weighty point, and perceived any careless, used to beg of them that, if God by his providence should suffer them to awake in the night, they would but think of his words. Certainly the mind, being by sleep emptied of other cares, like a mill falleth upon itself, and the natural awe and terror is the effect of darkness helpeth to make the thoughts more solemn and serious. So that you see much may be said for the conveniency of either of these seasons, evening or morning, or night. It is your duty to be faithful to your own souls, and sometimes to take the advantage either of the night or of the day, or the morning, or the evening as best suits us. David saith, Ps. 119:97, ‘Oh! how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.’ So he describes his blessed man: Ps.1:2, ‘His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night;’ that is, sometimes in the day and sometimes in the night; no time can come amiss to a prepared spirit. Isaac’s hour was in the even-tide; in the evening he went out to meditate, in which two things are notable:...
...
CASE 4. When must we meditate?

1. In the general, something should be done every day; seldom converse begetteth a strangeness to God, and an unfitness for the duty. It is a description of God's servant, Ps.1:2, ' His delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he meditate day and night.' At least we should take all convenient occasions. It is an usual way of natural men to make conscience of duties after a long neglect; they perform duties to pacify a natural conscience, and use them as a man would use a sleepy potion or strong waters; they are good at a pinch, not for constant drink. Alas! we lose by such wide gaps and distances between performance and performance; it is as if we had never done it before.

2. For the particular time of the day when you should meditate, that is arbitrary. I told you before you may do it either in the silence of the night, when God hath drawn a curtain of darkness between you and the things of the world; or in the freshness of the morning, or in the evening, when the wildness and vanity of the mind is spent in worldly business.

3. There are some special solemn times, when the duty is most in season:
[1.] After a working sermon; after the word hath fallen upon you with a full stroke, it is good to follow the blow; and when God hath cast seed into the heart, let not the fowls peck it away : Matt 13:19, ' When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart.' Ruminate on the word, chew the end; many a sermon is lost because it is not whet upon the thoughts: James 1: 23, 24, ' He is like a man that beholdeth his natural face in a glass; for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was:' Matt. 22: 22, ' When they heard these things, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.' You should roll the word in your thoughts, and deeply consider of it.
[2.] Before some solemn duties, as before the Lord's supper, and before special times of deep humiliation, or before the sabbath. Meditation is, as it were, the breathing of the soul; that it may the better hold out in religious exercises, it is a good preparative to raise the spirits into a frame of piety and religion. When the harp is fitted and tuned, it doth the better make music; so when the heart is fixed and settled by a preparative meditation, it is the fitter to make melody to God in worship.
[3.] When God doth specially revive and enable the Spirit. It is good to take advantage of the Spirit's gales; so fresh a wind should make us hoist up our sails. Do not lose the Spirit's seasons; the Spirit's impulses are good significations from God that now is an acceptable time.

Case 5. What time is to be spent in the duty?

I answer - That is left to spiritual discretion. Suck the teat as long as milk cometh. Duties must not be spun out to an unnecessary length. You must neither yield to laziness, nor occasion spiritual weariness; the devil hath advantage upon you both ways. When you rack and torture your spirits after they have been spent, it makes the work of God a bondage; and therefore come not off till you find profit, and do not press too hard upon the soul, nor oppress it with an indiscreet zeal. It is Satan's policy to make you out of love with meditation by spinning it out to a tediousness and an unnecessary length.

Case 6. Whether should the time be set and constant?

I answer - It is good to bind the heart to somewhat, and yet leave it to such a liberty as becomes the gospel. Bind it to somewhat every day, that the heart may not be loose and arbitrary. We see that necessity quickeneth and urgeth, and when the soul is engaged it goes to work the more thoroughly. Therefore the Lord asks, Jer. 22:21, ' Who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me?' It is good to lay a tie upon the heart; and yet I advise not to a set stinted hour, lest we create a snare to ourselves. Though a man should resist distractions and distempers, yet some business is unavoidable, and some distempers are invincible. I have observed this, that even religious persons are more sensible of their own vows than of God's commands; when men have bound up themselves in chains of their own making, their consciences fall upon them, and dog them with restless accusations, when they cannot accomplish so much duty as they have set and pre-scribed to themselves. And besides, when hours are customary and set, the heart groweth formal and superstitious.

Evensong

Janet Adam Smith, ed., The Collected Poems of Robert Louis Stevenson, p. 284:

Evensong

The embers of the day are red
Beyond the murky hill.
The kitchen smokes: the bed
In the darkling house is spread:
The great sky darkens overhead,
And the great woods are shrill.
So far have I been led,
Lord, by Thy will:
So far I have followed, Lord, and
wondered still.

The breeze from the embalmed land
Blows sudden toward the shore,
And claps my cottage door.
I hear the signal, Lord -- I understand.
The night at Thy command
Comes. I will eat and sleep and will not
question more.

Never Too Soon or Too Late

Joseph Hall, Holy Observations I, in Works, Vol. 6, p. 82:

As there is nothing sooner dry, than a tear; so there is nothing sooner out of season, than worldly sorrow: which, if it be fresh and still bleeding, finds some to comfort and pity it; if stale and skinned over with time, is rather entertained with smiles than commiseration: But the sorrow of repentance comes never out of time. All times are alike unto that Eternity, whereto we make our spiritual moans: that which is past, that which is future, are both present with him. It is neither weak nor uncomely, for an old man to weep for the sins of his youth. Those tears can never be shed too soon, or too late.

Heavenlize Your Spirit

Bartholomew Ashwood, The Heavenly Trade, pp. 144-146:

Fifthly, Dwell much in the meditation of Heaven; this will heavenlize your spirit: 'Twas this made the Apostles persons of such heavenly spirits; they did often look to things above. 1 Cor. 4.18. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. No affliction could discourage them from owning and professing Christ; nor earthly comforts allure their desires and delights from Christ; and that which so strongly guarded their hearts from either of these dangers, was a firm persuasion of an interest in future glory, and a diligent observing eye upon this glory: a levelling look at this mark does wonderfully raise the heart towards it, and put in a new spirit and life into the soul, strongly engaging all its attempts towards the enjoyment of it: Frequent contemplations of Heaven do much wean the heart from this Earth. If thou remembrest thou art not of this world, earthly things shall only be admitted into the Court of the Temple, not into the heart, which is the Holy of Holies, [Anthony Burgess] on 17. John. How contemptibly did those Worthies of old look on this world, when once they got sights of Heaven! Heb. 11, They counted themselves strangers and pilgrims on the Earth; were not mindful of their own Country; went out from it; would no more return to it; sought an heavenly Country; were persuaded of those great and glorious things above, and embraced them; laid hold of them by faith: and made after them: and that which did so powerfully work over their spirits to these things above, was their believing sights of them. V. 13. These all died in the faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off; that, the things promised, (viz.) heavenly things, of which Canaan was a type. So [David] Pareus refers the participles here to the things signified of the promise, that heavenly Country which they only desired. Things nearest Heaven (saith one [Thomas Adams]) take least care of the Earth: The Fowls of the Air neither plow nor sow. The glory of the world seems little to one that dwells much on the believing views of Heaven. 'Tis said of Fulgentius, That when he beheld the splendour and joy of Rome, the glory of the Roman nobility, the triumphant pomp of King Theodorick, he was so far from being taken with it, that it raised up his desires after heavenly joys the more, saying, How beautiful may the Celestial Jerusalem be, when [terrestrial] Rome so glittereth! If such honour be given to lovers of vanity, what glory shall be imparted to the Saints, who are lovers and followers of truth! Serious thoughts of Heaven will inflame desires after it: Our conversation is in Heaven (saith Paul) whence also we look for the Saviour, who shall change our vile bodies into the likeness of his glorious body. Phil. 3.20. We wait, hope for, and expect Heaven, to be where this blessed Country is; the breadth and length of which we now look into by faith. If your thoughts be much on Heaven, your longings will be much for Heaven. I have read of one being in his journey towards Jerusalem, though he saw famous Cities in his way, and met with many friendly entertainments; yet would often say, I must not stay here this is not Jerusalem: So will thy heart say (if thou conversest much in Heaven now) when thou meetest with the most desirable comforts of this life; yet this is not Heaven; my affections must not stay here. Allow time every day to take some turns in the upper world, and to get thy heart held in the galleries above; where are the sweetest delicacies, and most delighting views to take thy heart, and sublimate thy affections to these pure and eternal things?

Thomas Watson, A Body of Practical Divinity, p. 448:

1. Are we heavenly in our Contemplations? Do our Thoughts run upon this Kingdom? Do we get sometimes upon Mount Pisgah; and take a Prospect of Glory? Thoughts are as Travellers: Most of David's Thoughts travelled Heaven's Road, Psalm 139.17. Are our Minds heavenliz'd? Psalm 4812. Walk about Zion, tell the Towers thereof, mark ye well her Bulwarks. Do we walk into the heavenly Mount, and see what a Glorious situation it is? Do we tell the Towers of that Kingdom? While a Christian fixeth his Thoughts on God and Glory, he doth as it were tread upon the Borders of the heavenly Kingdom, and he peeps within the Vail: As Moses, who had a sight of Canaan, tho' he did not enter into it; so the heavenly Christian hath a sight of Heaven, tho he be not yet entered into it.

MHCC 51: Brown Bread and the Gospel

Matthew Henry on Isa. 30.19-20:

It was a common saying among the old Puritans, Brown bread and the gospel are good fare.

The Worthy Sayings of Old Mr. [John] Dod, p. 32:

Brown bread with the Gospel is good fare.

Old Mr. Dod's Sayings, p. 16:

Though we have things below, very rare / Yet brown bread with the Gospel is good fare.

Robert Leighton, Exposition of the Lord's Prayer, in Works, Vol. 4, p. 91:

Though he hath no more of the world but daily bread, and of the coarsest sort, he hath a continual feast within, as he that said, Brown bread and the gospel is good fare.

John Spencer, Things New and Old, Vol. 1, p. 20:

Brown bread and the Gospel (said Mr. [Richard] Greenham), is good cheer; and indeed, brown bread, and the blessing of God, is a rich banquet.

Father Brakel's Translation Anniversary

Today marks the 300th anniversary of the death of "Father Brakel," a giant among the Dutch Nadere Reformatie, who was translated to be with his Savior on October 30, 1711. Author of the classic devotional systematic theology and his magnum opus, The Christian's Reasonable Service, Wilhelmus à Brakel was born on January 2, 1635, in Leeuwarden, the Netherlands.

His father, Theodorus à Brakel, was himself a noted minister (whose pastoral career began in 1637), and his mother, Margaretha Homma ensured that Wilhelmus grew up in a pious home. All five of Wilhelmus sisters died in their youth, leaving him alone to survive his parents. Just as the prayers of Theodorus' grandmother made a deep impression upon Theodorus, so too did the prayers of Theodorus and Margaretha make an early and deep impression upon Wilhelmus. Before joining the Labadists, Anna Maria van Schurman was among those who visited the family home. Theodorus himself was known to spend a third of each day in private prayer and meditation. Theodorus published a devotional work under the title Het Geestelyken Leven; after his death, Wilhelmus would later publish a set of his father's spiritual manuscripts under the title De Trappen des Geestelyken Levens (The Steps of Grace in Spiritual Life), which includes a spiritual dialogue between father and son.

Wilhelmus followed in his father's footsteps and was ordained to the ministry in 1659, yet continued his studies in Utrecht under the mentorship of Gisbertus Voetius for several more years due a lack of pulpit vacancies. His pastoral career began at Exmorra, Friesland in 1662, where he married Sara Nevius. Eventually, he settled in Rotterdam where he finished his ministerial labors. He was involved in a few controversies over the years, including his notable defense of the church (and Jacobus Koelman, in particular) against the Erastian tendencies of the Dutch government, and the siren call of the Labadists, that is, Jean de Labadie and his followers, who sought, much like Harold Camping in our day, to draw believers away from the organized church in pursuit of a "pure" church. As concerned as à Brakel was about the spiritual health of the Dutch Reformed Church in his day (particularly in regards to the issue of Sabbath-keeping), he wisely resisted the temptation to remove himself from the means of grace established by Christ in the ordinances and ecclesiastical institutions of the church, and ably responded to Labadist arguments in Leer en Leydinge der Labadisten (Doctrine and Government of the Labadists), later also affirming the duty to join the church as espoused in Article 28 of the Belgic Confession. It was at Rotterdam that he wrote his magnum opus, De Redelijke Godsdienst (1700, 3 volumes; the definitive third edition of 1707 contained 2,350 pages; the English translation by Bartel Elshout under the title The Christian's Reasonable Service was published in 4 volumes, 1992-1995). (The English translation remains incomplete, since a decision was made not to translate the final section of this work consisting of à Brakel's exposition of the Book of Revelation, see here for my earlier plea for this to be translated.) This work, contemporaneous with the publication of Matthew Henry's Commentary in England, represents, in my view, the high-water mark of Dutch Puritan orthodoxy and spiritual piety. It is his greatest legacy to the church, and in large measure the reason why he came to be known endearingly as Father Brakel when, during the 18th century, readings from this beloved devotional work were so often a part of Dutch family worship that it went through 20 editions in that century alone.

More can be learned about the life of this Puritan giant of the faith at Dr. Elshout's website here as well as here; and The Christian's Reasonable Service may be read online or downloaded here. If you have not previously been acquainted with the life and works of Wilhelmus à Brakel, this anniversary of his passing provides a good opportunity to learn more and, I trust, be greatly edified. It is good to remember the saints who have gone before us, and it may be truly said of such a man as Father Brakel that "the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance" (Ps. 112.6).

Remember Your Baptism

John Willison, A Sacramental Catechism, pp. 56-59:

Q. How is it, that we ought to improve our baptism?

A. 1. Be sensible of the greatness of the privilege and dignity conferred upon you, in being baptized in the name of Christ, and sacramentally sprinkled with his blood for the remission of sin; and think much upon it. Alas, there are many who never think on Christ, or his blood, and put no value upon their baptism. I have read of Lucian a scoffing Atheist, when he apostasized from the profession of Christianity, he mocked at his baptism, saying, 'He got nothing by it, but a syllable to his name; he was Lucian before, and at baptism was called Lucianus.' And what do many get by their baptism, but a name? Why, they undervalue their baptism, never think on it, nor study any way to improve it.

2. You ought personally and explicitly to renew your covenant and solemn dedication to God sealed at baptism. It is not enough that you are Christians by your parents dedication, but you must be so by your own also, by ratifying your parents deed, when ye are of age; otherwise your baptism will profit you nothing; nay, instead of profiting you, it will be a witness against you, if you do not personally transact with God in Christ, and give away yourselves to the Lord in truth and sincerity.

3. Improve your baptism, by labouring to secure and clear up your interest in the pardon of sin, adoption, sanctifying grace, and other blessings sealed to you in that sacrament. Remember, that these blessings were only sealed to you conditionally, upon your believing in Christ; and that they are not actually conferred, till you be sensible of sin, and close with Christ and his righteousness. Go then, O penitent sinner, apply to the blood of Christ by faith, which was sacraementally applied to you at baptism as a strong argument for it, say, "Lord, have I not thy seal, as well as thy promise for my pardon? God I not a pledge of it from thee at my baptism? Behold thy ring and thy bracelets; are they not thine? Lord, make good thy word, thy sealed promise;" I believe, Lord, help my unbelief.

4. Press also for the joyful sense of this benefit of pardon sealed to you in baptism; the having whereof, is the most comfortable thing in the world. We see the Eunuch, when he had got this seal of baptism, "went on his way rejoicing: O now (thought he) my case is blessed, I am a pardoned man, God hath received me into his family, and taken me into covenant with himself, and implanted me a member of his mystical body: I that was the plant of a strange vine, am now ingrafted into a noble stock: and shall I not be glad and rejoice in his salvation?" Thus, O believer, improve the seal of baptism, in order to your growing up to the comfortable assurance of your pardon of sin, and adoption into God's family: seeing these blessings are irreversibly promised and sealed to you in that sacrament.

5. Improve your baptism as a spur to holiness and diligence in Christ's service; forget not him whose name you bear, whose livery you wear, and whose colours you are sworn to. Seeing you are solemnly dedicated to God, and all you have is consecrated to him at baptism; O then live as these who are not your own; spend your strength and time, not in serving sin and the world, but in worshipping of God, in loving, praising and glorifying him, whose you are, and whom you ought to serve. Alas, there are many, who lift themselves into God's service by baptism, and yet turn deserters, and go over to the devil's camp, taking on to fight against their King and Lord to whom they are sworn. They live as if they had been solemnly devoted to, and baptized in the name of the cursed trinity of hell, the devil, the world, and the flesh, instead of the ever blessed and glorious Trinity of heaven: Alas, they live as if they had renounced that, and not the other; which is certainly a most fearful guilt, and cannot miss to be attended with a severe doom.

6. Be humbled for your manifold pollutions, your falling so much short of the grace of baptism, and walking unsuitably to your solemn engagements. Have you not cause to lament before God, for forgetting and slighting the free love of God manifested to you in baptism; and for having so little recourse to the fountain that was opened to you therein, for sin, and for uncleanness; and that you feel so little of the efficacy of the precious blood of your Redeemer (which was represented and applied to you in that ordinance) for melting of your hearts, cleansing you from sin, and quickening you to holiness.

7. Improve your baptism as a shield against Satan's temptations; 1. Are you tempted to despairing thoughts of mercy, or troubled with perplexing doubts and fears? Then remember the seal of free love you got in baptism. Christ himself was tempted after his baptism, to doubt of his filiation and sonship; but gave Satan a peremptory repulse; teaching us thereby to do the same. Luther saith, that all his answer to the devil, when he tempted him to despair, was, baptizatus sum, et credo in Christum, I am baptized into the belief of Christ. 2. Are you at any time tempted to sin? Then remember your baptism: Luther also tells of a holy virgin, that when she was tempted to sin, replied, baptizata sum, I am baptized. And indeed this is a sufficient answer to all Satan's temptations, "I am baptized and dedicate[d] solemnly to God; I am not my own but the Lord's; I am sworn to Christ, and how shall I serve the devil?" Profanity in a Christian is apostacy from Christ, and on the matter a renouncing of his baptism, which is a fearful, nay, a devilish sin.

8. Improve it as an argument to courage and resolution in time of danger or persecution. Stedfastly adhere to the doctrine of the Trinity, in whose name you are baptized; be not ashamed of Christ or his truths, seeing his name is called upon you, and you solemnly owned him before the whole congregation. "He that is ashamed of me (saith Christ) and of my words, in this sinful and adulterous generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels," Mark viii. 38. Dionysia, encouraged Majoricus her son, an African martyr, when he was going to die, with these words, "Remember, son, that thou was baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."

Lastly, Do not trust to your baptism, and your having the name of Christ called upon you: an empty name and profession of Christianity will not save you; Simon Magus was baptized, and yet perished: many go with baptismal water on their faces, and sacramental bread in their mouths to hell at last. Kings have both their common and privy seals. Rest not in the outward seal, but seek the inward seal of God's Spirit, changing your natures, and applying the blood of Christ for cleansing your souls.

On Affliction

John Bradford, "On Affliction," in The Writings of John Bradford, Vol. 2, p. 368:

On Affliction

In the midst of my misery
To God will I make my moan,
And patiently abide
Till he shall hear my groan.

And therefore thou enemy
Rejoice not at my fall:
For, through the goodness of my God,
Get up again I shall.

Though now for God's good time
In darkness I do sit,
Yet doubtless will his mercy great
Restore me to his light.

In the meanwhile will I
Myself patiently sustain,
His anger and displeasure eke,
Though it be to my pain:

For I have sinned sore
Against his goodness oft.
Howbeit I know he will eftsoons
Set my poor soul aloft,

To see his light to my comfort
And gladding of my heart,
When without means shall fall
Death his grievous dart.

MHCC 50: Inspiration for Charles Wesley

Thomas Jackson, The Life of Charles Wesley, Vol. 2, pp. 200-202:

Few persons would think of going to the verbose Commentary of Matthew Henry for the elements of poetry; but the genius of Charles Wesley, like the fabled philosopher's stone, could turn everything to gold. Some of his eminently beautiful hymns, strange as it may appear, are poetic versions of Henry's expository notes. One specimen may be given. The Commentator, explaining the name of God, as it was given to Moses, and recorded in Exodus xxxiv. 6, 7, says, --

"(1.) He is merciful. This bespeaks his tender compassion, like that of a father to his children. This is put first, because it is the first wheel in all the instances of God's good-will to fallen man, whose misery makes him an object of pity, Judg. x. 16; Isa. lxiii. 9. Let us not then have either hard thoughts of God or hard hearts towards our brethren. (2.) He is gracious. This bespeaks both freeness and kindness; it intimates not only that he has a compassion to his creatures, but a complacency in them and in doing good to them, and this of his own good-will, and not for the sake of any thing in them. His mercy is grace, free grace; this teaches us to be not only pitiful, but courteous, 1 Pet. iii. 8. (3.) He is long-suffering. This is a branch of God's goodness which the wickedness of sinners gives occasion for; that of Israel had done so: they had tried his patience, and experienced it. He is long-suffering, that is, he is slow to anger, and delays the execution of his justice; he waits to be gracious, and lengthens out the offers of his mercy. (4.) He is abundant in goodness and truth. This bespeaks plentiful goodness, goodness abounding above our deserts, above our conception and expression. The springs of mercy are always full, the streams of mercy always flowing; there is mercy enough in God, enough for all, enough for each, enough for ever. It bespeaks promised goodness, goodness and truth put together, goodness engaged by promise, and his faithfulness pledged for the security of it. He not only does good, but by his promise he raises our expectation of it, and even binds himself to show mercy. (5.) He keepeth mercy for thousands. This denotes, [1.] Mercy extended to thousands of persons. When he gives to some, still he keeps for others, and is never exhausted; he has mercy enough for all the thousands of Israel, when they shall multiply as the sand. [2.] Mercy entailed upon thousands of generations, even those upon whom the ends of the world have come; nay, the line of it is drawn parallel with that of eternity itself. (6.) He for giveth iniquity, transgression, and sin. Pardoning mercy is specified, because in this divine grace is most magnified, and because in this divine grace is most magnified, and because it is this which opens the door to all other gifts of his divine grace, and because of this he had lately given a very pregnant proof. He forgives offences of all sorts—iniquity, transgression, and sin, multiplies his pardons; and with him is plenteous redemption."

The valuable sentiments thus expressed in humble prose Mr. Charles Wesley embodies in elegant and energetic verse. He sings in the full exercise of faith, and of adoring gratitude; and millions of hearts and voices still unite in the same hallowed strain: --

Merciful God, thyself proclaim
In this polluted breast;
Mercy is thy distinguish'd name,
Which suits a sinner best:
Our misery doth for pity call,
Our sin implores thy grace;
And thou art merciful to all
Our lost, apostate race.

Thy causeless, unexhausted love,
Unmerited and free,
Delights our evil to remove,
And help our misery:
Thou waitest to be gracious still,
Thou dost with sinners bear,
That saved we may thy goodness feel,
And all thy grace declare.

Thy goodness and thy truth to me,
To every soul, abound,
A vast, unfathomable sea,
Where all our thoughts are drown'd:
Its streams the whole creation reach,
So plenteous is the store,
Enough for all, enough for each,
Enough for evermore.

Faithful, O Lord, thy mercies are,
A rock that cannot move;
A thousand promises declare
Thy constancy of love:
Throughout the universe it reigns,
Unalterably sure;
And while the truth of God remains,
The goodness must endure.

Reserves of unexhausted grace
Are treasured up in thee,
For myriads of the fallen race,
For all mankind, and me.
The flowing stream continues full,
Till time its course hath run;
And while eternal ages roll
Thy mercy shall flow on.

Merciful God, long-suffering, kind,
To me thy name is show'd;
But sinners most exult to find,
Thou art a pardoning God.
Our sins in deed, and word, and thought,
Thou freely dost forgive;
For us thou by thy blood hast bought,
And died that I might live.

Erik Routley & Paul Akers Richardson, A Panorama of Christian Hymnody, p. 69:

71 A Charge to Keep I Have

A charge to keep I have,
a God to glorify,
a never-dying soul to save
and fit it for the sky;
to serve the present age,
my calling to fulfill:
O may it all my powers engage
to do my Master's will.

Arm me with jealous care
as in thy sight to live,
and O! thy servant, Lord, prepare
a strict account to give.
Help me to watch and pray,
and on thyself rely,
assured, if I my trust betray,
I shall for ever die.

Charles Wesley
Short Hymns on Select Passages of Scripture, 1762
based on Matthew Henry's Commentary, 1700, Leviticus 8:35:

We have every one of us a charge to keep, an eternal God to glorify, an immortal soul to provide for, needful duty to be done, our generation to serve; and it must be our daily care to keep this charge, for it is the charge of the Lord our Master, who will shortly call us to account about it, and it is at our utmost peril if we neglect it. Keep it, "that ye die not"; it is death, eternal death, to betray the truth we are charged with.

Charles Wesley, Preface to Short Hymns on Select Passages of Scripture:

God, having graciously laid His hand upon my body, and disabled me for the principal work o fthe ministry, has thereby given me an unexpected occasion of writing the following hymns. Many of the thoughts are borrowed from Mr. Henry's Comment, Dr. [Robert] Gell on the Pentateuch, and Bengelius [Johann Albrecht Bengel] on the New Testament.

Comforts in a Box

Ezekiel Culverwell, "Epistle to the Christian Reader" in Richard Sibbes, Divine Meditations and Holy Contemplations, in Sibbes' Works, Vol. 7, pp. 181-184:

As sweet spices yield small savour until they are beaten to powder, so the wonderful works of God are either not at all, or very slightly smelled in the nostrils of man, who is of a dull sense, unless they be rubbed and chafed in the mind, through a fervent affection, and singled out with a particular view; like them which tell money, who look not confusedly at the whole heap, but at the value of every parcel. So then a true Christian must endeavour himself to deliver, not in a gross, but by retail, the millions of God's mercy to his soul; in secret thoughts, chewing the cud of every circumstance with continual contemplation. And as a thrifty gardener, which is loath to see one rose leaf to fall from the stalk without stilling; so the Christian soul is unwilling to pass, or to stifle the 'bed of spices,' in the garden of Christ, without gathering some fruit, Cant. vi. 2, which contain a mystery and hidden virtue; and our 'camphire clusters in the vineyards of Engedi,' Cant. i. 14, must be resolved into drops by the still of meditation, or else they may be noted for weeds in the herbal of men, which hath his full of all kinds. But some are slightly passed over, as the watery herbs of vanity, which grow on every wall of carnal men's hearts, and yield but a slight taste how good the Lord is, or should be to their souls. It therefore behoveth us, first, to mind the tokens of his mercy and love, and afterwards for the helping of our weak digestion, to champ and chew by an often revolution, every part and parcel thereof, before we let it down into our stomachs; that by that means it may effectually nourish every vein and living artery of our soul, and fill them full with the pure blood of Christ's body, the least drop whereof refresheth and cheereth the soul and body of him which is in a swoon through his sin, and maketh him apt to walk and talk as one who is now living in Christ.

By this sweet meditation the soul taketh the key where all her evidences lie, and peruses the bills and articles of covenant agreed and condescended unto between God and man. There she seeth the great grant and pardon of her sins, subscribed unto by God himself, and sealed with the blood of Christ.

There he beholdeth his unspeakable mercy to a prisoner condemned to die, without which at the last in a desperate case he is led and haled unto execution, by the cursed crew of hellish furies.

Here she learneth how the Holy Land is entailed, and retaileth by discourse the descent from Adam, unto Abraham and his son Isaac, and so forward unto all the seed of the faithful. By meditation the soul prieth into the soul, and with a reciprocal judgment examineth herself and every faculty thereof, what she hath, what she wanteth, where she dwelleth, where she removeth, and where she shall be.

By this she feeleth the pulses of God's Spirit beating in here; the suggestions of Satan; the corruptions of her own affections, who like a cruel step-dame mingleth poisons and pestilent things to murder the Spirit, to repel every good motion, and to be in the end the lamentable ruin of the whole man.

Here she standeth, as it were with Saul upon the mountains, beholding the combat between David and Goliath; between the Spirit and the uncircumcised raging of the flesh, the stratagems of Satan, the bootless attempts of the world.

Here appear her own infirmities, her relapses into sin, herself astonied by the buffets of Satan, her fort shrewdly battered by carnal and fleshly lusts, her colours and profession darkened and dimmed through the smoke of affliction, her faith hidden because of such massacres and treasons; her hope banished with her mistrust; herself hovering ready to take flight from the sincerity of her profession.

Here she may discern, as from the top of a mast, an army coming, whose captain is the Spirit, guarded with all his graces; the bloody arms of Christ by him displayed, the trumpets' sound, Satan vanquished, the world conquered, the flesh subdued, the soul received, profession bettered, and each thing restored to his former integrity.

The consideration hereof made Isaac go meditating in the evening, Gen. xxiv. 63.

This caused Hezekiah to 'mourn like a dove, and chatter like a pye' in his heart, in deep silence, Isa. xxxviii. 14.

This forced David to meditate in the morning, nay, all the day long, Ps. lxiii. 6, and cxix. 148th verse, as also by night in 'secret thoughts,' Ps. xvi. 7.

This caused Paul to give Timothy this lesson to meditate, 1 Tim. iv. 13, seq. And God himself commanded Joshua, when he was elected governor, that he should meditate upon the law of Moses both day and night, to the end he might perform the things written therein, Josh. i. 8.

And Moses addeth this clause, teaching the whole law from God himself, 'These words must remain in thy heart, thou must meditate upon them, both at home and abroad, when thou goest to bed, and when thou risest in the morning,' Deut. vi. 7.

This meditation is not a passion of melancholy, nor a fit of fiery love, nor covetous care, nor senseless dumps, but a serious act of the Spirit in the inwards of the soul, whose object is spiritual, whose affection is a provoked appetite to practise holy things; a kindling in us of the love of God, a zeal towards his truth, a healing our benumbed hearts, according to that speech of the prophet, 'My heart did wax hot within me, and fire did kindle in my meditations,' Ps. xxxix.3, the want whereof caused Adam to fall, yea, and all the earth, into utter desolation; for there is no man considereth deeply in his heart, Jer. xii. 16. If Cain had considered the curse of God, and his heavy hand against that grievous and crying sin, he would not have slain his own brother. If Pharaoh would have set his heart to ponder of the mighty hand of God by the plagues already past, he should have prevented those which followed, and have foreslowed his hasted in making pursuit, with the destruction of himself and his whole army.

If Nadab and Abihu had regarded the fire they put in their censers, they might have been safe from the fire of heaven.

To conclude, the want of meditation hath been the cause of so many fearful events, strange massacres, and tragical deaths, which have from time to time pursued the drowsy heart and careless mind; and in these our days is the butchery of all the mischiefs which have already chanced unto our contrymen; for whilst God's judgments are masked, and not presented to the view of the mind by the serious work of the same, though they are keen and sharp, it being sheathed, they seem dull, and of no edge unto us, which causeth us to prick up the feathers of pride and insolency, and to make no reckoning of the fearful and final reckoning which most assuredly will be made, will we, nill, before God's tribunal. Hence it cometh to pass that our English gentlewomen do brave it with such outlandish manners, as though they could dash God out of countenance, or roist it in heaven as they carve it here, so that thousands are carried to hell out of their sweet perfumed chambers, where they thought to have lived, and are snatched presently from their pleasant and odoriferous arbours, dainty dishes, and silken company, to take up their room in the dungeon and lake of hell, which burneth perpetually with fire and brimstone.

And for want of this, God's children go limping in their knowledge, and carry the fire of zeal in a flinty heart, which, unless it be hammered, will not yield a spark to warm and cheer their benumbed and frozen affections towards the worship and service of God, and the hearty embracing of his truth.

By this God's works of creation are slipped over, even 'from the cedar to the hyssop that groweth on the wall,' 1 Kings iv. 33.

The sun, the moon, the stars, shine without admiration; the sea and the earth, the fowls, fishes, beasts, and man himself, are all esteemed as common matters in nature. Thus God worketh those strange creatures without that glory performed which is due, and his children receive not that comfort by the secret meditation of God's creation as they might.

Hence it proceedeth that they are often in their dumps, fearing as though they enjoyed not the light; whereas if they would meditate and judge aright of their estates, they might find they are the sons of God, and heirs of that rich kingdom most apparently known and established in heaven, and shall suddenly possess the same, even then most likely when their flesh thinketh it farthest off; as the heir being being within a month of his age, maketh such a reckoning of his lands that no careful distress can trouble him. But this consideration being partly through Satan's, and partly through their own dulness and over-stupidness, they fare like men in a swoon, and as it were bereaved of the very life of the Spirit, staggering under the burden of affliction, stammering in their godly profession, and cleaving sometimes unto the world. Through this they carry Christ's promises like comforts in a box, or as the chirurgeon his salves in his bosom.

Meditation applieth, meditation healeth, meditation instructeth. If thou lovest wisdom and blessedness, meditate in the law of the Lord day and night, and so make use of these Meditations to quicken thee up to duty, and to sweeten thy heart in thy way to heavenly Jerusalem.

On My Candle Burning Out

Heiman Dullaart (1639-1684), was a student of Rembrandt van Rijn, who has come to be better known for his poetry than his paintings.

Heiman Dullaart, On My Candle Burning Out (trans. by Frank J. Warnke, in Harold B. Segel, ed., The Baroque Poem: A Comparative Survey, p. 161):

O rapidly extinguished candle flame,
Since thou dost fail me in my busy search
For useful knowledge hid in volumes rich
For the eye which lust of knowing still doth claim.
Supply me with a book wherein to learn
My life's too brief and quickly running hour:
A lesson which the virtuous heart may pour
Into the heart of him who can discern.
Emblem which doth our transient life define,
Thou chok'st in darkness as thy light doth die,
But I through death from our my darkness fly
To the unquench'd light which doth in Heaven shine.

Heiman Dullaart, On My Candle, About to Burn Out (Martijn Zwart & Ethel Grene, Dutch Poetry in Translation: Kaleidoscope, p. 75):

O candle with your near-extinguished flame! You try
Your best to help me as I diligently look
To glean some wisdom out of every learned book,
So richly laden for a scholar's greedy eye;
And you give me a book that teaches me to start
To see these last hours of the mortal life I live,
A basic lesson that a virtuous heart could give
If an attentive man would take it to his heart.
But, living symbol of this fleeting life of mine,
You smother in the darkness with your light's last breath;
While I shall go out from my darkness now through death
To Heaven's quenchless light, that shall forever shine.

MHCC 49: How Little We Know

Matthew Henry on Prov. 30.3:

Some suppose Agur to be asked, as Apollo's oracle was of old, Who was the wisest man? The answer is, He that is sensible of his own ignorance, especially in divine things. Hoc tantum scio, me nihil scire -- All that I know is that I know nothing.

Matthew Henry on Eccl. 1.17-18:

The more we know the more we see of our own ignorance....the more we know the more we see there is to be known...Let us not therefore be driven off from the pursuit of any useful knowledge, but put on patience to break through the sorrow of it; but let us despair of finding true happiness in this knowledge, and expect it only in the knowledge of God and the careful discharge of our duty to him.

Evening Meditation on the Northern Lights

Mikhail Vasilevich Lomonosov, Evening Meditation of the Majesty of God on the Occasion of the Great Northern Lights:

The day conceals its countenance,
Dark night has covered over fields;
Black shade has climbed the mountains' heights;
The sun's rays have inclined from us;
A star-filled vault has opened up;
No number is there to the stars,
No bottom is there to the vault.

A grain of sand in waves of sea,
A small spark in eternal ice,
A light dust in a roaring wind,
A feather in a raging fire
Am I, engulfed in this abyss,
As worn by thought, I lose my way.

The mouths of sages do proclaim
A multitude of worlds are there;
Innumerable suns burn bright;
And people live and die as we;
And to God's glory ever more,
There nature has an equal force.

But where, O Nature, is your law?
The dawn comes up from northern lands!
Does not the sun set there its throne?
Do icy seas not stir the fire?
We have been cloaked by a cold flame!
At night, day came upon the earth!

O You, whose swift gaze penetrates
The volume of eternal laws,
To whom the small sign of a thing
Reveals a principle of life:
To you the planets' course is known.
What is it so disturbs us, tell?

At night, what vibrates lucid rays?
What subtle flame cuts firmament?
And without stormy thunderclouds,
Wherefrom does lightning rush to earth?
How can it be that frozen steam
In midst of winter brings forth fire?

Dense fog and water quarrel there;
Or brightly glitter rays of sun,
Inclining to us through thick air.
Or tops of fertile mountains burn;
Or zephyrs cease to blow the sea,
And tranquil waves the ether beat.

Your answer is replete with doubts
About the places nearest man.
Pray tell us, how vast is the world?
What lies beyond the smallest stars?
In creatures' end unknown to You?
Pray tell, how great is God Himself?

To Every Thing There Is A Season

Richard Sibbes, The Soul's Conflict With Itself, and Victory Over Itself By Faith, in Works, Vol. 1, p. 249:

Though in evil times we have cause to praise God, yet so we are, and such are our spirits, that affliction straitens our hearts. Therefore, the apostle thought it the fittest duty in affliction to pray. 'Is any afflicted? let him pray,' saith James; 'is any joyful? let him sing psalms,' James v. 13; shewing that the day of rejoicing is the fittest day of praising God. Every work of a Christian is beautiful in its own time. The graces of Christianity have their several offices at several seasons. In trouble, prayer is in its season. 'In the evil day call upon me,' saith God, Ps. xci. 15. In better times praises should appear and shew themselves. When God manifests his goodness to his, he gives them grace with it to manifest their thankfulness to him. Praising of God is then most comely, though never out of season, when God seems to call for it by renewing the sense of his mercies in some fresh favour towards us. If a bird will sing in the winter, much more in the spring. If the heart be prepared in the wintertime of adversity to prase God, how ready will it be when it is warmed with the glorious sunshine of his favour!

Our life is nothing but as it were a web woven with interminglings of wants and favours, crosses and blessings, standings and fallings, combat and victory, therefore there should be a perpetual intercourse of praying and praising in our hearts. There is always a ground of communion with God in one of these kinds, till we come to that condition wherein all wants shall be supplied, where indeed is only matter of praise.

Divine Sonnets

George Herbert, Sent to His Mother as a New Year's Gift From Cambridge (1610) in George Herbert, The Poems of George Herbert, p. 231:

My God...
...Doth Poetry
Wear Venus' livery? only serve her turn?
Why are not sonnets made of Thee, and layes
Upon Thine altar burnt?

Anne Locke (1530 - c. 1598) -- friend of John Knox and a fellow Marian exile in Geneva; husband of Henry Locke and, later, Edward Dering -- was the author of A Meditation of a Penitent Sinner (1560), the first sonnet sequence written in English, based on Psalm 51, which includes this extract:

For lo, in sinne, Lord, I begotten was,
With sede and shape my sinne I toke also,
Sinne is my nature and my kinde alas,
In sinne my mother me conceiued: Lo
I am but sinne, and sinfull ought to dye,
Dye in his wrath that hath forbydeen sinne.
Such bloome and frute loe sinne doth multiplie,
Such was my roote, such is my iuyse within.
I plead not this as to excuse my blame,
On kynde or parentes myne owne gilt to lay:
But by disclosing of my sinne, my shame,
And nede of helpe, the plainer to displaye
Thy mightie mercy, if with plenteous grace
My plenteous sinnes it please thee to deface.

Henry Locke (c. 1553 - c. 1608) -- Anne's son -- wrote Sundry Sonnets of Christian Passions, including one based on Psalm 130, as found in Alexander Grosart, ed., Poems by Henry Lok; Gentleman: (1593-1597), p. 75:

From pit of deepe perplexities to Thee for helpe I cry,
O Lord giue eare vnto my plaint, and aide me speedily.
If strictly Thou my sinnes behold, O Lord what flesh is iust?
But mercy proper is to Thee, and thereto do we trust.
Vpon Thy promise I attend, Thy word is alwayes true,
With morning and with euening watch, I will my sute renue.
Thy servant must depend on Thee, in Thee is mercie found,
Thou wilt redeeme their soules from death, Thy grace doth so abound.

Falling in Love With the Geneva Bible

Lewis F. Lupton, History of the Geneva Bible, Vol. 1, pp. 11-12:

It was on a sketching tour soon after the War that I fell in love with a [Geneva] Bible. It lay invitingly open in a window shop in Chichester. The left-hand page had an old map with galleons and sea monsters on it while the right had a gorgeously decorative title and border. It was early closing day so we drove on to Bosham with our easels and canvasses. But I always regretted missing that Bible and in the end, some three years later, I wrote to see if it was still there. It was, and thereby hangs this tale.

I soon found that there was more to the volume than met the eye, especially for people who feel a sneaking sympathy with those underdogs of our school history books -- the Puritans and Roundheads. I found that this old book was a real Puritan Bible. As I dug out more and more bits of information about it I found myself back in a thrilling world of romance, of little ships slipping their moorings at night, of galloping horses, of the roar of siege cannon, of snowy Alpine passes, of printing presses, of mean who feared neither man nor devil, Queen nor Emperor, of a royal Duchess trudging a lonely road in pouring rain at midnight and carrying her husband's sword while he carried her baby, of long among exiles in foreign cities, of births, of deaths and a hundred other things of which I could write if this book were a Geneva quarto or one of Christopher Barker's great folios instead of a mere 20th century demy octavo.

My Sun's Returned

Anne Bradstreet, Meditation, May 13, 1657:

As spring the winter doth succeed
And leaves the naked trees do dress,
The earth all black is clothed in green.
At sunshine each their joy express.



My sun's returned with healing wings,
My soul and body doth rejoice,
My heart exults and praises sings
To Him that heard my wailing voice.

My winter's past, my storms are gone,
And former clouds seem now all fled,
But if they must eclipse again,
I'll run where I was succored.

I have a shelter from the storm,
A shadow from the fainting heat,
I have access unto His throne,
Who is a God so wondrous great.

O hath Thou made my pilgrimage
Thus pleasant, fair, and good,
Blessed me in youth and elder age,
My Baca made a springing flood.

O studious am what I shall do
To show my duty with delight;
All I can give is but Thine own
And at the most a simple mite.

Sabbath Reflections

Wilhelmus à Brakel, The Christian's Reasonable Service, Vol. 3, pp. 146-147:

Reflection is also needful to preserve the sabbath disposition and blessing. First, this consists in reflecting upon how the day was spent publicly and privately, and upon the sins which one has committed; that is, laxity, listlessness, lack of spirituality, and the failure to abhor these. Confess this with sorrow before the Lord, and seek forgiveness through Christ.

Secondly, it consists in reflecting upon the good we have performed on this day, upon the upright objective to hallow the sabbath, and the efforts to do everything in such a manner as is pleasing to God. It furthermore consists in reflecting upon the blessings, refreshments, comforts, illumination, and quickening we enjoyed from the Spirit of the Lord. One must acknowledge this and rejoice in this, even if it were ever so little. Even if the insatiable desire of our soul has not been satisfied, we should yet thank the Lord for the good we received.

Thirdly, it consists in the acknowledgment of God‘s goodness to His church in giving her the sabbath, enabling her to gather publicly and conduct all her public worship services, and for the privilege to enjoy a holy rest.

Fourthly, it consists in yearning and longing for the rest which remains for the people of God (Heb 4:9), in rejoicing in this hope, in forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Blessed is he who thus begins, observes, and ends the sabbath.

Project Psalms

Lovers of psalmody will be glad to know that Project Psalms is undertaking the first comprehensive Psalms recording project in English, using the Scottish Psalter of 1650. Their goal is to produce the most memorable way to learn the Psalms.

For a long time, my personal favorite audio recording from the 1650 Scottish Metrical Psalter has been that 5-volume CD set produced by the Northern Presbytery Choir of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (available at Crown & Covenant Publications here). However, although it is a beautiful group recording, it does not cover all the Psalms in the Psalter.

For Project Psalms, an individual professional tenor, Neil Mason, is currently recording the entire Psalter, which means all 150 Psalms, which is projected to include 386 song segments over approximately 3 hours (15 audio CDs/4 MP3 CDs), and it is expected to be completed by the end of 2011, Lord willing.

The 1650 Scottish Metrical Psalter is the text being employed, but the tunes are primarily derived from the 1979 Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland split-leaf Psalter edition, and include many that will familiar to most, including, such as the tunes from "Amazing Grace," "Crown Him With Many Crowns" and many other favorites.

The work is ongoing and donations/pre-orders may be made via the Project Psalms website.

The final package from Project Psalms will include:

• A 15 Audio CD set with the first-ever comprehensive recordings of the metrical Psalms (including 2 versions for 13 of the Psalms) as found in the original Scottish Psalter of 1650 (sung unaccompanied by a professional tenor).

• A 4 MP3 CD set with the same recordings but in MP3 format.

• A hard-copy booklet containing the Scottish Psalter of 1650 text and also notes by John Brown of Haddington.

• A hard-copy booklet containing the sheet music for the tunes used throughout the recordings.

• A soft-copy booklet (on the last MP3 CD) with sheet music and the Scottish Psalter of 1650 text in one PDF for easy reading of both the tune and the text together.

Visit the Project Psalms website for more information including pricing and be sure to check out their Facebook page as well. This project is a wonderful contribution to the concert of praise to which we are called by our Heavenly Conductor: "Sing ye to him, sing psalms; proclaim / his wondrous works each one" (SMV).

HT: Edgar Ibarra

New Matthew Poole Synopsis Volume (Leviticus) Is Now Available

"Rabbi Assi said: 'Why do young children commence [their studies] with the Book of 'The Law of Priests', and not with the Book of Genesis? - Surely it is because young children are pure, and the sacrifices are pure; so let the pure come and engage in the study of the pure.'" (Leviticus Rabbah 7:3)

Although in a former, and perhaps wiser, age, the Jews began the religious instruction of their children with the Book of Leviticus, it has been largely neglected by the modern Church. This is a shame, for in its pages Christ, His Priesthood, and His atoning sacrifice are set forth with a brilliance that makes a deep impression upon the mind and heart. It is a good season to recover this portion of the inheritance of God's people.

For the first time in English, Matthew Poole's Synopsis Criticorum on the Book of Leviticus is available (The Exegetical Labors of the Reverend Matthew Poole: Volume 6: Leviticus). It is something of a verse-by-verse history of interpretation, surveying the opinions of the Jewish Rabbis, Church Fathers, Medieval Schoolmen, and Reformation-era Commentators and Theologians. The ascended Lord Jesus Christ promised to provide faithful teachers for His Church in all ages (Eph. 4.11-12): Matthew Poole's Synopsis Criticorum is a record of their teaching and testimony, a thing of surpassing value. For more information on the Matthew Poole Project, click here for a radio interview with the translator, Dr. Steven Dilday.

It is a good time to get acquainted with the Matthew Poole Project. All available volumes (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, and Revelation) have been marked down 20% by the publisher, and 20% by the printer (coupon code: SUMMERBOOKS); but these mark-downs will not last long so don't delay.

Visit the Matthew Poole Project website for more information and join us on Facebook as well.

The Benefit of Meditation

Joseph Hall, The Art of Divine Meditation in Works, Vol. 7, p. 44:

It is not, I suppose, a more bold than profitable labour, after the endeavours of so many contemplative men, to teach the Art of Meditation: a heavenly business, as any that belongeth either to man or Christian; and such as, whereby the soul doth unspeakably benefit itself. For, by this, do we ransack our deep and false hearts; find out our secret enemies; buckle with them, expel them; arm ourselves against their re-entrance: by this, we make use of all good means; fit ourselves to all good duties: by this, we descry our weakness; obtain redress; prevent temptations; cheer up our solitariness; temper our occasions of delight; get more light into our knowledge, more heat to our affections, more life to our devotion: by this, we grow to be, as we are, strangers upon the earth; and, our of a right estimation of all earthly things, into a sweet fruition of invisible comforts: by this, we see our Saviour, with Stephen; we talk with God, as Moses: and, by this, we are ravished, with blessed Paul, into paradise; and see that heaven, which we are loth to leave, which we cannot utter. This alone is the remedy of security and worldliness, the pastime of saints, the ladder of heaven; and, in short, the best improvement of Christianity. Lean it who can, and neglect it who list: he shall never find joy, neither in God nor in himself, which doth not both know and practise it.

MHCC 48: Matthew Henry's Guide to the Proverbs

Matthew Henry prepared this topical index to the Proverbs which is a helpful guide to navigate the wisdom of Solomon:

Twenty chapters of the book of Proverbs (beginning with ch. x. and ending with ch. xxix.), consisting mostly of entire sentences in each verse, could not well be reduced to proper heads, and the contents of them gathered; I have therefore here put the contents of all these chapters together, which perhaps may be of some use to those who desire to see at once all that is said of any one head in these chapters. Some of the verses, perhaps, I have not put under the same heads that another would have put them under, but the most of them fall (I hope) naturally enough to the places I have assigned them.

1. Of the comfort, or grief, parents have in their children, according as they are wise or foolish, godly or ungodly, ch. x. 1; xv. 20; xvii. 21, 25; xix. 13, 26; xxiii. 15, 16, 24, 25; xxvii. 11; xxix. 3.
2. Of the world's insufficiency, and religion's sufficiency, to make us happy (ch. x. 2, 3; xi. 4) and the preference to be therefore given to the gains of virtue above those of this world, ch. xv. 16, 17; xvi. 8, 16; xvii. 1; xix. 1; xxviii. 6, 11.
3. Of slothfulness and diligence, ch. x. 4, 26; xii. 11, 24, 27; xiii. 4, 23; xv. 19; xvi. 26; xviii. 9; xix. 15, 24; xx. 4, 13; xxi. 5, 25, 26; xxii. 13, 29; xxiv. 30-34; xxvi. 13-16; xxvii. 18, 23, 27; xxviii. 19. Particularly the improving or neglecting opportunities, ch. vi. 6; x. 5.
4. The happiness of the righteous, and the misery of the wicked, ch. x. 6, 9, 16, 24, 25, 27-30; xi. 3, 5-8, 18-21, 31; xii. 2, 3, 7, 13, 14, 21, 26, 28; xiii. 6, 9, 14, 15, 21, 22, 25; xiv. 11, 14, 19, 32; xv. 6, 8, 9, 24, 26, 29; xx. 7; xxi. 12, 15, 16, 18, 21; xxii. 12; xxviii. 10, 18; xxix. 6.
5. Of honour and dishonour, ch. x. 7; xii. 8, 9; xviii. 3; xxvi. 1; xxvii. 21. And of vain-glory, ch. xxv. 14, 27; xxvii. 2.
6. The wisdom of obedience, and folly of disobedience, ch. x. 8, 17; xii. 1, 15; xiii. 1, 13, 18; xv. 5, 10, 12, 31, 32; xix. 16; xxviii. 4, 7, 9.
7. Of mischievousness and usefulness, ch. x. 10, 23; xi. 9-11, 23, 27; xii. 5, 6, 12, 18, 20; xiii. 2; xiv. 22; xvi. 29, 30; xvii. 11; xxi. 10; xxiv. 8; xxvi. 23, 27.
8. The praise of wise and good discourse, and the hurt and shame of an ungoverned tongue, ch. x. 11, 13, 14, 20, 21, 31, 32; xi. 30; xiv. 3; xv. 2, 4, 7, 23, 28; xvi. 20, 23, 24; xvii. 7; xviii. 4, 7, 20, 21; xx. 15; xxi. 23; xxiii. 9; xxiv. 26; xxv. 11.
9. Of love and hatred, peaceableness and contention, ch. x. 12; xv. 17; xvii. 1, 9, 14, 19; xviii. 6, 17-19; xx. 3; xxv. 8; xxvi. 17, 21; xxix. 9.
10. Of the rich and poor, ch. x. 5, 22; xi. 28; xiii. 7, 8; xiv. 20, 24; xviii. 11, 23; xix. 1, 4, 7, 22; xxii. 2, 7; xxviii. 6, 11; xxix. 13.
11. Of lying, fraud, and dissimulation, and of truth and sincerity, ch. x. 18; xii. 17, 19, 22; xiii. 5; xvii. 4; xx. 14, 17; xxvi. 18, 19, 24-26, 28.
12. Of slandering, ch. x. 18; xvi. 27; xxv. 23.
13. Of talkativeness and silence, ch. x. 19; xi. 12; xii. 23; xiii. 3; xvii. 27, 28; xxix. 11, 20.
14. Of justice and injustice, ch. xi. 1; xiii. 16; xvi. 8, 11; xvii. 15, 26; xviii. 5; xx. 10, 23; xxii. 28; xxiii. 10, 11; xxix. 24.
15. Of pride and humility, ch. xi. 2; xiii. 10; xv. 25, 33; xvi. 5, 18, 19; xviii. 12; xxi. 4; xxv. 6, 7; xxviii. 25; xxix. 23.
16. Of despising and respecting others, ch. xi. 12; xiv. 21.
17. Of tale-bearing, ch. xi. 13; xvi. 28; xviii. 8; xx. 19; xxvi. 20, 22.
18. Of rashness and deliberation, ch. xi. 14; xv. 22; xviii. 13; xix. 2; xx. 5, 18; xxi. 29; xxii. 3; xxv. 8-10.
19. Of suretiship, ch. xi. 15; xvii. 18; xx. 16; xxii. 26, 27; xxvii. 13.
20. Of good and bad women, or wives, ch. xi. 16, 22; xii. 4; xiv. 1; xviii. 22; xix. 13, 14; xxi. 9, 19; xxv. 24; xxvii. 15, 16.
21. Of mercifulness and unmercifulness, ch. xi. 17; xii. 10; xiv. 21; xix. 17; xxi. 13.
22. Of charity to the poor, and uncharitableness, ch. xi. 24-26; xiv. 31; xvii. 5; xxii. 9, 16, 22, 23; xxviii. 27; xxix. 7.
23. Of covetousness and contentment, ch. xi. 29; xv. 16, 17, 27; xxiii. 4, 5.
24. Of anger and meekness, ch. xii. 16; xiv. 17, 29; xv. 1, 18; xvi. 32; xvii. 12, 26; xix. 11, 19; xxii. 24, 25; xxv. 15, 28; xxvi. 21; xxix. 22.
25. Of melancholy and cheerfulness, ch. xii. 25; xiv. 10, 13; xv. 13, 15; xvii. 22; xviii. 14; xxv. 20, 25.
26. Of hope and expectation, ch. xiii. 12, 19.
27. Of prudence and foolishness, ch. xiii. 16; xiv. 8, 18, 33; xv. 14, 21; xvi. 21, 22; xvii. 24; xviii. 2, 15; xxiv. 3-7; vii. 27; xxvi. 6-11; xxviii. 5.
28. Of treachery and fidelity, ch. xiii. 17; xxv. 13, 19.
29. Of good and bad company, ch. xiii. 20; xiv. 7; xxviii. 7; xxix. 3.
30. Of the education of children, ch. xiii. 24; xix. 18; xx. 11; xxii. 6, 15; xxiii. 12; xiv. 14; xxix. 15, 17.
31. Of the fear of the Lord, ch. xiv. 2, 26, 27; xv. 16, 33; xvi. 6; xix. 23; xxii. 4; xxiii. 17, 18.
32. Of true and false witness-bearing, ch. xiv. 5, 25; xix. 5, 9, 28; xxi. 28; xxiv. 28; xxv. 18.
33. Of scorners, ch. xiv. 6, 9; xxi. 24; xxii. 10; xxiv. 9; xxix. 9.
34. Of credulity and caution, ch. xiv. 15, 16; xxvii. 12.
35. Of kings and their subjects, ch. xiv. 28, 34, 35; xvi. 10, 12-15; xix. 6, 12; xx. 2, 8, 26, 28; xxii. 11; xxiv. 23-25; xxx. 2-5; xxviii. 2, 3, 15, 16; xxix. 5, 12, 14, 26.
36. Of envy, especially envying sinners, ch. xiv. 30; xxiii. 17, 18; xxiv. 1, 2, 19, 20; xxvii. 4.
37. Of God's omniscience, and his universal providence, ch. xv. 3, 11; xvi. 1, 4, 9, 33; xvii. 3; xix. 21; xx. 12, 24; xxi. 1, 30, 31; xxix. 26.
38. Of a good and ill name, ch. xv. 30; xxii. 1.
39. Of men's good opinion of themselves, ch. xiv. 12; xvi. 2, 25; xx. 6; xxi. 2; xxvi. 12; xxviii. 26.
40. Of devotion towards God, and dependence on him, ch. xvi. 3; xviii. 10; xxiii. 26; xxvii. 1; xxviii. 25; xxix. 25.
41. Of the happiness of God's favour, ch. xvi. 7; xxix. 26.
42. Excitements to get wisdom, ch. xvi. 16; xviii. 1; xix. 8, 20; xxii. 17-21; xxiii. 15, 16, 22-25; xxiv. 13, 14; xxvii. 11.
43. Cautions against temptations, ch. xvi. 17; xxix. 27.
44. Of old age and youth, ch. xvi. 31; xvii. 6; xx. 29.
45. Of servants, ch. xvii. 2; xix. 10; xxix. 19, 21.
46. Of bribery, ch. xvii. 8, 23; xviii. 16; xxi. 14; xxviii. 21.
47. Of reproof and correction, ch. xvii. 10; xix. 25, 29; xx. 30; xxi. 11; xxv. 12; xxvi. 3; xxvii. 5, 6, 22; xxviii. 23; xxix. 1.
48. Of ingratitude, ch. xvii. 13.
49. Of friendship, ch. xvii. 17; xviii. 24; xxvii. 9, 10, 14, 17.
50. Of sensual pleasures, ch. xxi. 17; xxiii. 1-3, 6-8, 19-21; xxvii. 7.
51. Of drunkenness, ch. xx. 1; xxiii. 23, 29-35.
52. Of the universal corruption of nature, ch. xx. 9.
53. Of flattery, ch. xx. 19; xxvi. 28; xxviii. 23; xxix. 5.
54. Of undutiful children, ch. xx. 20; xxviii. 24.
55. Of the short continuance of what is ill-gotten, ch. xx. 21; xxi. 6, 7; xxii. 8; xxviii. 8.
56. Of revenge, ch. xx. 22; xxiv. 17, 18, 29.
57. Of sacrilege, ch. xx. 25.
58. Of conscience, ch. xx. 27; xxvii. 19.
59. Of the preference of moral duties before ceremonial, ch. xv. 8; xxi. 3, 27.
60. Of prodigality and wastefulness, ch. xxi. 20.
61. The triumphs of wisdom and godliness, ch. xxi. 22; xxiv. 15, 16.
62. Of frowardness and tractableness, ch. xxii. 5.
63. Of uncleanness, ch. xxii. 14; xxiii. 27, 28.
64. Of fainting in affliction, ch. xxiv. 10.
65. Of helping the distressed, ch. xiv. 11, 12.
66. Of loyalty to the government, ch. xxiv. 21, 22.
67. Of forgiving enemies, ch. xxv. 21, 22.
68. Of causeless curse, ch. xxvi. 2.
69. Of answering fools, ch. xxvi. 4, 5.
70. Of unsettledness and unsatisfiedness, ch. xxvii. 8, 20.
71. Of cowardliness and courage, ch. xxviii. 1.
72. The people's interest in the character of their rulers, ch. xxviii. 12, 28; xxix. 2, 16; xi. 10, 11.
73. The benefit of repentance and holy fear, ch. xxviii. 13, 14.
74. The punishment of murder, ch. xxviii. 17.
75. Of hastening to be rich, ch. xxviii. 20, 22.
76. The enmity of the wicked against the godly, ch. xxix. 10, 27.
77. The necessity of the means of grace, ch. xxix. 18.

Memento Mori

Charles Drelincourt, The Christian's Defence Against the Fears of Death, pp. 59-60:

And let the most learned Philosophers learn, That the soundest Philosophy is the Meditation of Death.

In short, Whatever be our Employment, Condition, or Age, let us lift up our Minds and Hands unto GOD, to speak to him in the Language of the Prophet David; Lord, let me know my end, and the number of my days, that I may know how long I am to live. Or of Moses, So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto Wisdom.

A Prayer and Meditation on our Mortality.

O My God and Heavenly Father, since 'tis thy Pleasure, that I should be mortal, and that my Body should return to the Dust; Grant me Grace to be always mindful of my frail Condition, the Variety of Seasons, the Unconstancy of the World, and Alterations I meet with, as Memento's of my last Change and Departure. Let my Infirmities and frequent Distempers be looked upon as so many Messengers sent to summon and warn me that I must shortly leave this Tabernacle. Let the Bed I rest on call to my mind, that when all the Business of my Life shall be finished, I must lie down and rest in a Bed of Dust. Let the Garments that I cast off at Night, the Sleep that benumbs my Senses, the Tombs of my Predecessors, Forefathers and Friends, refresh in me the Thoughts of my Departure to my last Home. Gracious GOD, give me Grace so often to look upon Death and the Grave, that I may be acquainted with them, and that they may not fright or terrify, but comfort me; for tho' I know I am born to die, I know also this, that Death shall introduce me into the Presence of my GOD, the only Author of Life and Happiness, to live for ever with Him in Bliss. Amen.

Cotton Mather and the Sea Monsters

In 1726, a slave ship en route from Jamaica to West Africa, the "Elizabeth," was overtaken by mutineers, led by one William Fly. Under the Jolly Rogers flag, and renamed the "Fames' Revenge," Fly and his men sailed north and terrorized the Eastern Seaboard of the American colonies, capturing about five ships during a two month period, before the pirates were captured by sailors on a ship they were attempting to seize. Brought to Boston, sixteen pirates were tried, twelve being released, and four were convicted of the capital crime of piracy. While they were in chains, Cotton Mather famously met with the pirates and implored them to repent before they were hanged. Three of the men did so publicly -- Samuel Cole, Henry Greenville and George Condick -- but William Fly remained impenitent to the end. Whereas the others attended a sermon by Mather and at their own hangings confessed their sins and warned others to avoid their path, Fly instead warned ship captains not to mistreat their sailors. He claimed that he had mutinied because of ill treatment that he had received from his captain, and his two month rampage was an act of revenge against cruel captains like his own. He was, according to Mather, determined to die as "a brave fellow." He even protested that the knot of his noose was prepared poorly, reproaching the hangman for his inexpertise, and finally retying the knot himself. Ultimately, while all four pirates were hanged, Fly's alone was gibbeted in Boston Harbor as a warning to other pirates. Mather told the story of this episode in The Vial Poured out upon the Sea. A Remarkable Relation of CertainPirates Brought unto a Tragical End (1726), in which he wrote:

The Ministers of Boston...[bestowed] all possible Instructions upon the Condemned Criminals; Often Pray’d with them; Often Preached to them; Often Examined them, and Exhorted them; and presented them with Books of Piety, suitable to their Condition…. [P]erhaps, there is not that Place upon the face of the Earth, where more pains are taken for the Spiritual and Eternal Good of Condemned Prisoners.

Mather referred to pirates as "Sea-Monsters who have been the Terror of them that haunt the sea." Yet, as much as he loathed their conduct, he cared deeply for their souls. Partly because the port of Boston was a major center of both piracy and the legal efforts to stop it, and partly because Mather had such a heart full of concern for those wayward "Sea-Monsters," this witness to pirates was a thread that ran through his life-long ministry, as we see in extracts from his Diary, as well as in sermons and pamphlets that he wrote from time to time.

Mather's Diary (April 1699):

After the other public Services of the Day were over, I visited the Prison. A great Number of Pyrates being there committed, besides other Malefactors, I went and pray’d with them, and preach’d to them. The Text, in which the Lord helped mee to Discourse, was Jer. 2. 26. The Thief is ashamed, when hee is found. I hope, I shall have some good Fruit of these Endeavours.

Faithful Warnings to Prevent Fearful Judgments (April 22, 1704):

There has been a Time, when some have come and Seduced and Enchanted several of our Young Men, to Piratical Courses; and there were some Unhappy Advantages, which the Sinners took to shelter themselves in the Prosecution of their Piracies. But the Government of New England will by a severe Procedure of Justice, forever make it an Unjust thing, to Reflect on the Countrey, as if such dangerous Criminals might hope ever to be lately Nested here.

An Account of the Behaviours and Last Dying Speeches of the Six Pirates (1704) tells the story of John Quelch (executed following the first admiralty trial held outside of England) in which Mather writes:

God know the Prayers, the Pains, the Tears, and the Agonies that have been Employ’d for them.

Samuel Sewall was one of the judges who participated in his trial, and like Mather, wrote about Quelch's execution in his diary.

In 1717, nine crewman of pirate Samuel Bellamy were the sole survivors (out of a crew of 149) of a nor'easter which sank Bellamy's two ships. Possibly due to Mather's intervention, two crewman were spared, while six were convicted of piracy, and one, a Miskito Indian named John Julian, was sold into slavery to John Adams, Sr. (father of President John Adams and grandfather of President John Quincy Adams). Mather's final sermon to the six convicted pirates at the gallows was published as Instructions to the Living from the Condition of the Dead: a Brief Relation of Remarkables in the Shipwreck of above One Hundred Pirates (1717). Bellamy's ship, the Whydah Gally, was recovered in 1984, along with a massive treasure haul, and remains to this day the only fully-verified pirate shipwreck ever discovered.

Useful Remarks: An Essay upon Remarkables in the Way of Wicked Men (1724) tells the story of the crew of Ned Low, one of the most infamous pirates of all time, whose tale (along with that of Bellamy) is also recounted by the author of A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates (1724) [thought by some to be Daniel Defoe]. In this sermon, based on Job 22.15 ("Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?"), Mather gave nine propositions marking the way of sinful men, as warnings to his auditors and readers, and pointing out God's justice in the judgments rendered against such.

Charles Chauncy, president of Harvard College, relates an interesting anecdote, which is retold in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society (For the Year 1800, Vol. VIII of the First Series, pp. 252-253):

At a time when the famous Low and other pirates infested the American coast, they proved very troublesome to the fishermen at the Shoals, though they could obtain but little booty from them. One of these fishermen, (Charles Randall) with others, were taken by them, and having no property, these barbarous pirates whipped them with much severity; after which they said to them, "You know old Dr. Cotton Mather, do you?" -- "Yes," they replied, "we have heard of him as a very good man." "Well, then," said the pirates, "our orders are to make each of you jump up three times, and to say each time, "Curse Parson Mather," otherwise you are all to be hanged." To save their lives they all complied.

Abijah Perkins Marvin, The Life and Times of Cotton Mather, pp. 429-430:

Pirates infested commerce on our coast as well as other portions of the sea in those times, and it is stated by Dr. Mather that the pirates sometimes made the captive sailors whom they forced into service show their consent by cursing Cotton Mather. To be cursed by pirates was an honor to the sin-hating minister. But these same pirates, when in prison and facing death and the judgment, made choice of this minister for their religious guide. He visited them in prison, set before them their wickedness with uncompromising fidelity to the truth and to their souls, showed them an all-mighty Saviour to the penitent, and went with them to the scaffold as a friend.

When pirate John Phillips and his crew were caught in Boston, Mather recorded in his diary (May 31, 1724) how they besought him for both prayers and sermons:

The Pyrates now strangely fallen into the Hands of Justice here, make me the first Man, whose Visits and Counsils and Prayers they beg for. Some of them under Sentence of Death, chuse to hear from me, the last Sermon they hear in the World.

Thus in Mather's ministry to the pirates of New England, we find a remarkable example of one in whom "[m]ercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other (Ps. 85.10) and in whom "mercy rejoiceth against judgment" (James 2.13). It is a lesson to all of us in how we are relate to those who may be monstrous yet whose souls are precious.

Note: Reference and grateful acknowledgment is made to the most fascinating article "Cotton Mather, Preacher to the Pirates," by Cindy Vallar.