When the Soul Rings Like a Bell

Jeremiah Burroughs, Gospel Worship, pp. 63-67:

Preparation for worship consists in these five things:

First, in possessing the heart with the right apprehension of that God before whom we come to tender our duties. Then we make conscience to prepare our hearts when we labor upon our going to worship God to get our hearts possessed beforehand with right apprehensions of the majesty of that God whom we are going to worship, and of the greatness and weight of the duty that we are setting about, the nature of it, the manner how it is to be performed, the rule by which we are to guided, and the end at which we are to aim.

Meditation is a good preparation to holy duties. And these are the general headings of our meditation for our preparation to duty: what God He is, with whom we have to deal. Meditate on God's attributes, and then them, the rule of them, and the end of them. Get your hearts possessed with meditations of this nature, and in this, as a special thing, does your preparation to holy duties consist. That's the first thing.

The second thing in which the preparation to a duty consists is in taking the heart off from every sinful way (the endeavor at least). If there is iniquity in your hand or heart, labor to put it out. When you come into God's presence, do not bring into the presence of God the love of any sin in your heart, but labor to put it from your heart. In 2 Chronicles 29:5, we find what is required for preparation. Hezekiah said unto them, "Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place." So sanctifying our hearts is done by carrying forth the filthiness out of our hearts so as to be fit for a duty. Job 11:13-14: "If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hand towards him [what then?], if iniquity be in thine hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacles." These two must be together.

A third thing is this: the preparation of the heart is the disentangling of the heart from the world and from all occasions and businesses in the world. Speak thus to yourself: "I am to worship God, but how is my heart ensnared and entangled in this and the other business? Now when I come to worship God, I must lay aside all." There's the preparation of the heart, separating it for such a work. That's the nature of sanctification: separating a thing from its common use. "I am to worship God. Now I must labor to separate my heart from a common use. At other times God gives me liberty to let out my heart to common uses, but, when I come to worship Him, I must separate my heart from all common uses so that my heart may be wholly for God."
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The fourth thing for preparation is to watch and to pray. We should watch over our hearts lest they be made unfit for duties. So we should prepare for prayer all day long in this sense. That is, we should watch over our hearts so that they are not let out so far as will hinder us in prayer when we come to it. I remember Tertullian said that the Christians supped as if they were about to pray. So, when you are with company, you should watch unto prayer. Oh, that you did so! You cannot but be conscious of the fact that oftentimes, when you have been out of tune and frame, so much so that you have been in no way fit for prayer. When you come home, your house and family finds it so. You who take such delight in company and sitting up late, I appeal to your consciences whether you can come home and find yourselves fit either in your family or closet to go and open your hearts to God.

This is one note, by the way, whereby you may come to know whether you have been immoderate in company at any time. God does not give men liberty to be busy in any outward occasions in the world so as to make them unfit for His service. Preparation consists in watching over your hearts so that you may not be unfit for any holy duty when God calls you to it, but that you may be ready even to every good work.

Fifth, preparation consists in the readiness of the faculties of the soul and the graces of the Spirit of God to act upon the setting upon a holy duty. When a man or woman shall find the faculties of their soul and the graces that are in them to be ready to act as soon as every they fall upon duty, they will be like a company of bell raising of the bells, then the instant when they begin to pull all the bells go in that tune according to their skill. And so it should be with our hearts, the faculties of our souls and graces. Though now we are not upon duty, yet we should be so ready that, upon a pull, as it were, all the faculties of our souls and graces of God's Spirit should work in a melodious way.

There are those who keep their hearts so prepared that, the very first moment they set about the duty of worship, all faculties and graces begin to act and stir and are working towards God like a fire. When all the matter is already laid, presently it comes to be kindled and flame out -- and thus it should be with our hearts. So now you see wherein preparation of our hearts to duty consists.

Adversity, The Teacher

Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.

It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes. (Psalm 119.67, 71)

Jeremiah Burroughs, Moses His Choice, With His Eye Fixed Upon Heaven, p. 53:

They that are afflicted, do better understand Scripture, says Luther, but those who are secure in their prosperity, read them as a verse in Ovid.

Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices, p. 90:

They that are in adversity, saith Luther, do best understand the Scriptures; but those that in prosperity, read them as a verse in Ovid.

Mary Rowlandson, British-born settler in colonial Massachusetts, was taken captive during the King Philip's War. Her account is told in the autobiogaphical The Narrative of the Captivity and the Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. During one period of her experience, the "Fifteenth Remove," she wrote about her hunger during the forced march, and takes note of how affliction enables us to take special note of the Scriptures.

And after I was thoroughly hungry, I was never again satisfied. For though sometimes it fell out, that I got enough, and did eat till I could eat no more, yet I was as unsatisfied as I was when I began. And now could I see that Scripture verified (there being many Scriptures which we do not take notice of, or understand till we are afflicted) "Thou shalt eat and not be satisfied" (Micah 6.14). Now might I see more than ever before, the miseries that sin hath brought upon us. Many times I should be ready to run against the heathen, but the Scripture would quiet me again, "Shall there be evil in a City and the Lord hath not done it?" (Amos 3.6). The Lord help me to make a right improvement of His word, and that I might learn that great lesson: "He hath showed thee (Oh Man) what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God? Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it" (Micah 6.8-9).

Half Christ

John Calvin, Commentary on Gal. 5.2:

And what else do our modern Papists but thrust upon us, in place of circumcision, trifles of their own invention? The tendency of their whole doctrine is to blend the grace of Christ with the merit of works, which is impossible. Whoever wishes to have the half of Christ, loses the whole.

John Calvin, Letter to William Farel (May 12, 1541), concerning his observations at the Colloquy of Regensburg, an attempt at rapprochement between Catholics and Protestants, at which he served as a junior member:

So far as I could understand, if we could be content with only a half Christ we might easily come to understand one another.

Jeremiah Burroughs, Irenicum, p. 8:

It was a notable speech of Calvin to those who were offended with troubles they met with in the work of Reformation, If wee could be content with halfe a Christ, (says he) our worke would more easily goe on, we could soone bring about what wee would have, we should not meet with so much opposition, but nothing but a whole Christ will serve our turne.

MHCC 21: Choose Affliction Over Sin

Matthew Henry writes on Ex. 22.5:

We should be more careful not to do wrong than not to suffer wrong, because to suffer wrong is only an affliction, but to do wrong is a sin, and sin is always worse than affliction.

The Scriptures teach plainly what our choice ought to be between the one or the other:

Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; (Heb. 11.25)

William Tong, one of Matthew Henry's continuators, later wrote on Heb. 11.25:

Suffering is to be chosen rather than sin, there being more evil in the least sin than there can be in the greatest suffering.

Thomas Watson adds succinctly elsewhere (A Body of Practical Divinity, In a Series of Sermons on the Shorter Catechism Composed by the Reverend Assembly of Divines at Westminster, p. 587):

There is more evil in a drop of sin, than in a sea of affliction.

And Jeremiah Burroughs before him, The Evil of Evils, or The Exceeding Sinfulness of Sin, p. 4:

Better be under the greatest Affliction then be under the guilt or power of any Sin.

Pagan Calendar Names

The Quakers, Brownists and Gibbites ('Sweet Singers' who followed the teachings of John Gibb (d. 1720?)) were known, among other things, for their rejection of pagan and Roman calendar names relating to both months and days of the week. Not all Puritans shared this conviction, but there was sympathy with the expressed desire to purify the calendar of heathen and popish influences, and in particular, Puritans took a particular stand about using Biblical names for the first day of the week, i.e., the Christian Sabbath or the Lord's Day.

In Puritan New England, for example, it was common to reckon days and months with numerals; therefore, when writing to express a date such as Monday, December 23rd, it would be done in this way: 23d 10m (March being the first month of the year in the Julian calendar, therefore December was the tenth month), cf. Michael G. Hall, The Last Puritan: The Life of Increase Mather, 1639-1723, p. 14).

Ezra Hoyt Byington, The Puritan in England and New England, pp. 166-167:

Our Puritan fathers made it a matter of conscience to call the days of the week by numerals, and to call the months in the same way, as the Quakers do to this day. It was a singular scruple which they had, and it had its origin amongst the Lollards, and the Anabaptists, from whom the Quakers and some other Protestant sects came. They thought it was giving honor to the heathen gods, and to pagan worship, to call their days Sunday, or Monday, or Tuesday, or Wednesday, or to call their months January, or March, or May. But while this scruple has been so tenacious among the Friends, that even Mr. Whittier continued to follow it as long as he lived, our Puritan fathers had laid it aside before their colonies had completed their first century.

Charles Edward Jefferson, "The Puritan Sabbath and Ours," in Forefathers' Day Sermons, p. 203:

The Puritans liked to call their day of rest the "Sabbath." Sometimes they called it the "First Day." This was the expression employed in the Gospels. More frequently, they called it the "Lord's Day." They had authority for this in the first chapter of the book of the Revelation. But their favorite name was "Sabbath." This was the word which Moses had used, and David, the sweet singer of Israel, and all the Prophets, and it was, therefore, presumably the favorite of Heaven. The word "Sunday" they would not use because it was not to be found in the Bible. It was a word of pagan origin, meaning Sun's Day, just as Monday means Moon's Day, and any word coined in heathen mint could not be applied to a divine institution. Scriptural sanction was essential for all their religious names and customs, and, therefore, "Sunday" was among them a name tabooed.

George Gillespie, A Dispute Against the English Popish Ceremonies, pp. 190-191:

Sixthly, Papists themselves teach...Yea, they condemn the very heathenish names of the days of the week imposed after the names of planets, Sunday, Monday, etc.40

40. Rhem. on Apoc. 1:10.

Maurice Grant, No King But Christ: The Story of Donald Cargill, pp. 160, 261-262:

Events soon proved the truth of Cargill's prediction. At the beginning of May [John] Gibb and his followers were all seized by the soldiers and carried to Edinburgh. The mere were imprisoned in the Canongate Tolbooth; the women were consigned to the 'correction house', the usual repository for the loose and immoral in the city. After some weeks in prison Gibb drew up a paper setting out his principles, which he presented to the Council. It was a wild, unbalanced document, aptly demonstrating the mind of its author and scarcely deserving to be treated seriously. It denounced the use of chapters and verses in Scripture, the metrical Psalms, the translation of the Bible out of the original languages, the Confession of Faith and the Catechisms, the Covenants and the Form of Church Government, the Queensferry paper, the Sanquhar Declaration and even the names of months and days of the week.1

1. The view that the common names of the days and months, being derived from pagan deities, were not worthy to be used by Christians, was not confined to Gibb and his followers. As contemporary records show, it was one of the chief points of difference between James Russel and the United Societies in the years following Cargill's death. Russel's friend and associate, Patrick Grant, maintained that his and Russel's views on the subject had been shared by William Cuthill, who died along with Cargill, and that Cuthill had asserted them in the portion of his last testimony which was supressed by the editors of the Cloud of Witnesses (1714 ed., p. 118). Grant also claimed that in his letter to Gibb's followers in the Correction House Cargill himself had expressed approval of these views, but there is nothing in Cargill's letter to lend support to this. Nevertheless it is clear that some who attended on Cargill's ministry and held him in the highest respect adopted the practice at about this time. A manuscript copy of Cargill's sermon at Dovan Common on 26 June, obviously recorded by a friendly hand, is dated 'the 26th day of the sixth month'. A letter from Patrick Forman, who with four others was put to death at the Gallowlee in Edinburgh in October 1681, is dated 'the 16th of this ninth month' and his testimony 'the 8th day of the tenth month'. The practice did not, however, become general, and was not adopted by James Renwick nor the other members of the United Societies.

Jeremiah Burroughs, An Exposition of the Prophecy of Hosea, p. 147 (on Hosea 2.16-17):

It were good therefore, seeing God hates and loathes it so much, that we should hate and loath it also, and therefore cast out even the name and memory of it; it were a happy thing if the names of popish, as well as heathenish, idols could be banished from the church; but I know not how it happens that we Christians still retain the use of them; the very days of the week among us are called by the names of planets, or heathen gods: not that I think it a sin, when it is the ordinary language of the world, to speak so as may be understood, for the apostle mentions the name of Castor and Pollux; but if there could be an alteration by general consent, (as our brethren in New England have), it were desirable; and still more so, that our children might not be educated in the use of heathen poems, whereby the names of heathen idols are kept up fresh amongst us: the papists themselves acknowledge so much in the Rhemish Testament, in their notes on Rev. i.10: "The name Sunday is heathenish, as all other of the week-days, some imposed by the Romans after the name of planets, some from certain idols which the Saxons worshipped, and to which they dedicated their days before they were Christians. These names the church rejecting, has appointed to call the first day Dominic, (the Lord's) the others by the name of Feries, successivly to the last day of the week, which she calls by the old name of sabbath, because that was of God, and not by imposition of the heathen." And in their Annotations upon Luke xxiv.1, "The first day of the sabbath; that is, the first after the Sabbath, which is our Lord's day. And from the apostle, 1 Cor. xvi.2, commanding a collection to be made on the first day of the sabbath, we learn," (say they) "both the keeping that day as the sabbath, and the church's naming the days of the week the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th of the sabbath, and so on, to be apostolical, and the calling of the days of the week, the second, the third, the fourth, &c., to be likewise apostolical, which St. Sylvester afterward named the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Feriam." Thus you have the papists acknowledging the Lord's day to be apostolical, and the calling of the days of the week the second, the third, the fourth, &c., to be likewise apostolical. The heathenish Roman names of the days were taken from the seven planets: 1. Sol, thence Dies solis, Sunday dedicated to the sun. 2. Luna, Monday, dedicated to the moon. 3. Mars, Tuesday, dedicated to Mars. Our Tuesday is a Saxon name, from Tuisco, who they say was, since the Tower of Babel, chief leader and ruler of the German nation, who, in honour of him, called this day Tuesday, Tuisco's day. 4. Mercurius, to whom Wednesday is dedicated, and we call it so, is from the Saxon's Woden, who was a great prince among them, and whose image they adored after his death. 5. Jupiter, to whom Thursday is dedicated; so called by us from the Saxon Thor, the name of an idol which they anciently worshipped. 6. Venus, to whom our Friday, which name is given it from Friga, an idol of the Germans. This idol was an hermaphrodite, and reputed to be the giver of plenty, and the causer of amity; the same perhaps which the Romans called Venus. 7. Saturnus, dedicated to Saturn, whence our Saturday; or, as others think, from Seater, an idol of the Germans. Exod. xxiii.13, we have this charge, "In all things that I have said unto you, be circumspect: and make no mention of the names of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth." And Psal. xvi.4, David professes he will not take the names of idols into his lips.

Mercy and Sacrifice

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. (Hos. 6.6)

Jeremiah Burroughs, as Tony Reinke has noted, is known for "his warm devotional heart, keen exegetical eye, and sensitive perception to the sinful human heart." This especially shines through in his observations on Hosea 6.6. I want to highlight some of his observations for contemplation on this Lord's Day. It is not enough to go through the motions, even when one outwardly adheres to the ordinances of worship which God has commanded and abstains from offering strange fire. God requires that our heart be fully engaged to him, and such a heart puts a premium, as does God, on mercy, sweet mercy.

Jeremiah Burroughs, An Exposition of the Prophecy of Hosea (1643-1657), pp. 332-333 (2006 Solid Ground Christian Books ed.):

Obs. 1. Carnal hearts which make little conscience of their duties, and are very cruel in their dealings towards men, yet may be contented to submit to instituted worship. This very scripture, "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice," is a secret rebuke to such people. Such were those in Jer. vii. 4, who cried, "The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord;" and yet were wicked in their dealings. Those hypocrites in Isa. lviii. could be content to submit to instituted worship, frequent in solemn duties of fasting and prayer, yet were such as did smite with the fist, oppress, and grind the poor. In Ezek. xxiv. 21, the sanctuary was accounted their strength, the excellency of their strength, and that which their eyes did pity, and yet were they very wicked; and, in the 25th verse, their minds were on it, their hearts did love it, yet they themselves were carnal.

Because men may be exercised in instituted worship without any power of godliness, the outward act of performance is a very easy work to flesh and blood, there is little difficulty in it.

Because it has the most show of the power of godliness; they seem to be as sincere as any in their worship, there is a great show in the flesh, in the outward man; whereas God's worship is inward, soul worship, which carnal hearts cannot endure, nor do they desire it, it is outside worship which they prize. Now God forbid that any should have low conceits of ordinances, because wicked men join in them.

Obs. 2. Carnal men think to satisfy their consciences by joining in outward ordinances. Thus did they in this place think to put off God and their own consciences, by living in the external acts of worship, while they continued in the love of known sin. What a deal of stir had the prophet to convince these hypocrites of this their wickedness!

Obs. 3. God and men's consciences will not be put off. God will despise both it and them. The heathen gods would not be put off with such outsides, in the judgment even of the heathen themselves. Plato saith, What a vile thing is it to think, that the gods will be put off with gifts! No, these are despised by them, they look that the soul should be just. And Seneca, It is not fat sacrifices, but inward performances, that God regards.

Obs. 4. The Lord has a high esteem of mercy; and it appears in this, that he will have it preferred before sacrifice, and this is called, a "sacrifice acceptable," and a sweet savour in God's nostrils, Phil. iv. 18. Chrysostom saith, that he had rather work a work of mercy than a miracle: and surely that must needs be high in God's eyes and esteem, which he pays so dear for.

O Christians! Imitate God in this, let your esteems of mercy be raised higher than ever before, from this that you have heard concerning its excellency. The works of mercy are glorious works, there is more in such than in those acts of religion which men think are more spiritual. I speak the more of this, because it is a scandal which is laid upon godly men by the men of the world, that they are miserable and close-handed; now in this we should labor to convince the world by the practice of mercy.

Obs. 5. It is the Christian's skill, when two duties come together, which to choose. This is a snare in which many Christians are caught and foiled; they think both must be done at the same time, whereas the one is the duty, the other is not.

Obs. 6. Though the object of an action be spiritual, yet it is not a sufficient ground to prefer it before another action, whose object may be but natural. The ordinances of God have God for their object, and the enjoying of communion with him; yet in the performance of other actions which may be only natural, I may show more obedience to God than in offering up of sacrifice.

Obs. 7. If God's own worship may be forborne in case of mercy, how much more men's institutions and inventions! Oh what a vile spirit is there in those men who will not suffer their superstitious vanities to give place to mercy! men must be undone in their bodies and estates, rather than their wills be disobeyed! The prelatical faction have themselves confessed, that the cross, the surplice, and the rest of that trash, were their own institutions; yet ministers must be silenced, bodies imprisoned, families starved, and thousands of souls destroyed, rather than their wills should not be fulfilled. What did these men's actions say but this, Let Christ never be revealed to thousands and millions of souls, rather than these ceremonies shall be omitted or neglected?
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Obs. 11. The duties of the first and second table are to be joined together. Mercy and sacrifice, knowledge of God and burnt-offerings, when in their place, are acceptable, therefore let us take heed of separating that which God has joined.

Obs. 12. The knowledge of God is a most excellent thing. This is that which sanctifies God’s name, and manifests him to be very glorious in the world. Paul accounted all things but loss and dung in comparison of the excellency of this knowledge of Christ. Instruct then your children and servants in this knowledge, else how can God have his glory from them? How few are there which glorify God as God! And the reason is, because of the ignorance which is in their minds, Eph. 4:18.

Obs. 13. Men may be very diligent in instituted worship, and yet very ignorant. None so acted in their instituted worship as these people, yet none so ignorant as they.

That you are foward in instituted worship is your commendation, but take heed this be not your sin, to be ignorant of fundamental things....

Obs. 14. Soul-worship must be preferred before all other worship. We must not give God a carrion service, a carcass without a soul. Strong are the expressions in Scripture which are used against such outside, formal worship. Isa. i. 11-13, God professes of them, that he regards them not, he is full of them, his soul loathes them, they are iniquity, and a trouble to him, they are looked upon as a burden to him, such as God will hide his eyes from, and when they make many prayers he will not hear them. In this one scripture we have fourteen expressions against outside, formal duties, besides the four which we find in Isa. lxvi. 3. Thus you have the mind of God in this short but full sentence.

Now God forbid that what hath been said out of this scripture should be sinfully abused to carnal indulgence.

Too Heavenly-Minded?

For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: (Phil. 3.20)

Oliver Wendell Holmes was known to say "Some people are so heavenly-minded that they are no earthly good." Johnny Cash picked up on that refrain in his song "No Earthly Good." It is a common complaint against not only mystics and ascetics, but Puritans in general and the Puritan-minded that they were or are pie-in-sky people, so consumed with thoughts of heaven that they were or are useless dead weights, people who waste time in prayers closets when they could be out doing good for society.

The Protestant work ethic, however, tells a different story. Calvinists, far from living with their heads in the clouds and their feet floating in the air, worked hard, played hard, and emphasized the necessity of glorifying God in the little mundane things as well as in church each Sabbath morning. Puritans were not Gnostic who thought that their was virtue in keeping oneself from the things of this world, such as food and drink, sex, "secular" work and the like. Far from it, God gave these things to us for use as his stewards. Puritans saw themselves as pilgrims passing through a world that was fading away but nevertheless belong to God who required that they give a good account for their stewardship.

Leland Ryken, Worldly Saints, p. xii:

There was for them no disjunction between sacred and secular; all creation, so far as they were concerned, was sacred, and all activities, of whatever kind, must be sanctified, that is, done to the glory of God. So, in their heavenly minded ardor the Puritans became men and women of order, matter-of-fact and down-to-earth, prayerful, purposeful, practical.

The same Word of God which teaches us, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matt. 6.33) and "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matt. 6.21; Luke 12.34), also teaches us, for example, "that if any would not work, neither should he eat" (2 Thess. 3.10) and "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10.31). The same Lord who bids us "Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Col. 3.2) also holds to account as stewards of all his good gifts, graces and talents (Matt. 25.14-30) and teaches that "unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required" (Luke 12.48).

For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (Rom. 8.6)

If anything, Puritans viewed themselves, like all men, as naturally prone to be too earthly-minded. Their directions for avoiding "all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2.16) did not call for them to "go out of the world" (1 Cor. 5.10), but rather to use the things of the world, as not abusing them, for this world will pass away (1 Cor. 7.31).

Jeremiah Burroughs, A Treatise of Earthly-Mindedness, pp. 115-116:

Seventhly, Then our Conversation is in Heaven, When in Earthly employments, yet we are Heavenly: when we use earthly things after a Heavenly manner; it is not the place that God looks at so much, where his Saints are, But what they do: Though while we live on the earth we use earthly things, yet when we can use them in an heavenly manner, then our Conversation may be in heaven though we be upon hearth.

As thus first, when in the use of earthly things, we do quickly pass through earthly things to God, we make use of them, but we do not stick to them; we make them the means to pass through to God, and get quickly through: a carnal heart stick in the things of the earth, mingles with the earth; but a spiritual, and heavenly heart makes earthly things but as Conduits for conveyance of him to Heaven, we here carry about with us the flesh, and because we have so much earth, we have need of these earthly things, I but they are means of conveyance to spiritual and Heavenly things.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Phil. 1.21)

C.S. Lewis, The Joyful Christian, p. 139:

Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one. Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you will get neither.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. (Heb. 11.13-16)

Brooke Fraser wrote the C.S. Lewis Song which contains the refrain:

If I find in myself desires nothing in this world can satisfy,
I can only conclude that I was not made for here
If the flesh that I fight is at best only light and momentary,
then of course I'll feel nude when to where I'm destined I'm compared

based on Lewis' words as found in Mere Christianity, pp. 136-137:

If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others to do the same.

Being a citizen of heaven on a pilgrimage through earth is a humbling experience. Christians are taught not to be naive or foolish concerning the ways of the world. Christ in fact taught that "the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light" (Luke 16.8) and that we ought rather to be "wise as serpents, and harmless as doves" (Matt. 10.16). We may take a lesson from those who are so diligent as to work for their treasure on earth despite the corruptions of moth and rust and the danger of thieves, although ours is in heaven (Matt. 6.19-21). There are no laurels to rest on as Christian, wherein we may leisurely whittle the time away while waiting on the Lord to take us home. On the contrary, those foolish virgins who wasted time while their Lord was away were condemned (Matt. 25.1-13), for Christ bids us "[o]ccupy till I come" (Luke 19.13), that is, be diligent in the business that God has set before you, which is to redeem the time (Eph. 5.16).

It was the prayer of Christ for his disciples that they should not be taken out of the world, but rather kept from evil, for they were in the world, but not of the world (John 17.15-16). Oh to be more heavenly-minded that we might serve Christ faithfully in this earthly tabernacle (2 Cor. 5.1) in the little things and, when he calls us, then to enter into that great reward prepared for his saints where there is peace and joy and love eternally in his presence with the multitude of heavenly hosts!

Richard Baxter, The Saints' Everlasting Rest, p. 230:

Happy the people that have a heavenly minister! Happy the children and servants that have a heavenly-minded father or master! Happy the man that hath a heavenly companion, who will watch over thy ways, strengthen thee when thou are weak, cheer thee when thou art weak, cheer thee when thou art drooping, and comfort thee, with the comfort wherewith he himself hath been so often comforted of God!

Moses' Swan Song

Deuteronomy 32 has been referred to by many as Moses' "swan song." Robert Jamieson notes that Robert Lowth "beautifully styled" it as "the Song of the Dying Swan." Writing on Deuteronomy 32.5, Jeremiah Burroughs spoke of "Moses' Song that he sung a little before he was to die. This is much like the swan that sings sweetest when death approaches" (Spots of the Godly and of the Wicked, pp. 15, 99). F.B. Meyer writes,

Deuteronomy 32 is one of the sublimest human compositions on record. It was Moses' swan song. It is the store from which later Scripture writers draw plentifully. It has been called the Magna Charta of Prophecy. It is worthy to be compared to only one other song, the Song of the Lamb, with which it is combined by the harpers on the margin of the glassy sea: "They sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb" (Rev. 15:3).

Hear the words of Moses as he ascribes glory to God and join with him in his praise:

3 Because I will publish the name of the Lord: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. 4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

Matthew Henry:

Now what a bright and amiable idea does this one verse give us of the God whom we worship; and what reason have we then to love him and fear him, to live a life of delight in him, dependence on him, and devotedness to him! This is our rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him; nor can there be, Ps. xcii. 15.

The Continuators Continued (Part 2)

This is, ahem, a continuation of a previous post on the continuators of certain Puritan works for those interested in such trivia.

Jeremiah Burroughs' Exposition of Hosea

Jeremiah Burroughs died before completing his exposition of Hosea, but it was completed by his close friends, Thomas Hall (see below) (Hosea 13.12-16) and Edward Reynolds (Hosea 14).

Zacharius Urinsus' Exposition of the Heidelberg Catechism

David Pareus completed the commentary of Zacharias Ursinus on the Heidelberg Catechism after Ursinus' death.

William Ames' Fresh Suit

Thomas Hooker assisted William Ames in writing A Fresh Suit Against Human Ceremonies in God's Worship and wrote an advertisement and preface for the work after Ames died.

Fisher's Catechism

Fisher's Catechism, an exposition of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, was the product of James Fisher, Ebenezer Erskine and Ralph Erskine. Ralph died (November 6, 1752) prior to the publication of the first edition (February 1753) and Ebenezer died soon thereafter (June 2, 1754) while James (d. September 28, 1775) continued to expand the work (apparently writing the whole second part of the exposition as well as contributing to the first part, according to one source) as he notes in the advertisement to the third edition.

A Summary of the Gospel

Jeremiah Burroughs, Extract from Gospel Conversation:

The gospel of Christ in general is this: It is the good tidings that God has revealed concerning Christ. More largely it is this: As all mankind was lost in Adam and became the children of wrath, put under the sentence of death, God, though He left His fallen angels and has reserved them in the chains of eternal darkness, yet He has thought upon the children of men and has provided a way of atonement to reconcile them to Himself again.

Namely, the second Person in the Trinity takes man's nature upon Himself, and becomes the Head of a second covenant, standing charged with sin. He answers for it by suffering what the law and divine justice required, and by making satisfaction for keeping the law perfectly, which satisfaction and righteousness He tenders up to the Father as a sweet savor of rest for the souls that are given to Him.

And now this mediation of Christ is, by the appointment of the Father, preached to the children of men, of whatever nation or rank, freely offering this atonement unto sinners for atonement, requiring them to believe in Him and, upon believing, promising not only a discharge of all their former sins, but that they shall not enter into condemnation, that none of their sins or unworthiness shall ever hinder the peace of God with them, but that they shall through Him be received into the number of those who shall have the image of God again to be renewed unto them, and that they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.