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Jonathan Edwards – Delighting in Christ

6 Dec

It has often appeared to me delightful, to be united to Christ; to have him for my Head, and to be a member of his body; also to have Christ for my Teacher and Prophet. I very often think with sweetness, and longings, and pantings of soul, of being a little child, taking hold of Christ, to be led by him through the wilderness of this world. That text, Matt. xviii. 3. has often been sweet to me, ‘Except ye be converted, and become as little children,’ &c. I love to think of coming to Christ, to receive salvation of him, poor in spirit, and quite empty of self, humbly exalting him alone; cut off entirely from my own root, in order to grow into and out of Christ: to have God in Christ to be all in all; and to live, by faith on the Son of God, a life of humble, unfeigned confidence in him. That scripture has often been sweet to me, Ps. cxv. 1. ‘Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.’ And those words of Christ, Luke x. 21.. ‘In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.’ That sovereignty of God, which Christ rejoiced in, seemed to me worth of such joy; and that rejoicing seemed to show the excellency of Christ, and of what spirit he was.

~Jonathan Edwards~






The Works of Jonathan Edwards Vol. 1 (Peabody, MA; Hendrickson Publishers, Inc; 2007) p. lxxxix. Memoirs of Jonathan Edwards

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Charles Spurgeon – The Sight of Mercy

5 Dec

1. “Have mercy upon me, O God.” He appeals at once to the mercy of God, even before he mentions his sin. The sight of mercy is good for eyes that are sore with penitential weeping. Pardon of sin must ever be an act of pure mercy and therefore to that attribute the awakened sinner flies.


~Charles Spurgeon~


The Treasury of David Vol. 1 (Peabody, MA; Hendrickson Publishers, 1988) p. 402. Commentary on Psalm 51:1

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Old Guy Hymns: Now Let Us Join With Hearts and Tongues

4 Dec

Now let us join with hearts and tongues,
And emulate the angels’ songs;
Yea, sinners may address their King
In songs that angels cannot sing.

They praise the Lamb who once was slain;
But we can add a higher strain;
Not only say, “He suffer’d thus,
“But that he suffer’d all for us.”

When angels by transgression fell,
Justice consign’d them all to hell;
But Mercy form’d a wondrous plan,
To save and honour fallen man.

Jesus, who pass’d the angels by,
Assum’d our flesh to bleed and die;
And still he makes it his abode;
As man he fills the throne of God.

Our next of kin, our Brother now,
Is he to whom the angels bow;
They join with us to praise his name,
But we the nearest int’rest claim.

But, ah! how faint our praises rise!
Sure, ’tis the wonder of the skies,
That we, who share his richest love,
So cold and unconcern’d should prove.

Oh, glorious hour, it comes with speed!
When we, from sin and darkness freed,
Shall see the God who died for man,
And praise him more than angels can.


~John Newton~


Our Own Hymn-Book (Pasadena, TX; Pilgrim Publications; 2002) p.66.

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Charles Hodge – A Most Precious Gift

3 Dec

[Commenting on Ephesians 1:11-14]

Those influences of the Spirit which believers now enjoy are both a foretaste of future blessedness, the same in kind though immeasurably less in degree, and a pledge of the certain enjoyment of that blessedness, just as the firstfruits were a part of the harvest and a guarantee of its ingathering. It is because the Spirit is a guarantee of our inheritance that his indwelling is a seal. It assures those in whom he dwells of their salvation and renders that salvation certain. Hence he is a most precious gift, to be most religiously cherished.

~Charles Hodge~


Crossway Classic Commentaries – Ephesians (Wheaton, IL; Crossway Books; 1994)

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Jonathan Edwards – Our Need to Read Scripture

2 Dec

Saturday, May 23. How it comes about I know not, but I have remarked it hitherto, that at those times when I have read the Scriptures most, I have evermore been most lively and in the best frame.

~Jonathan Edwards~






The Works of Jonathan Edwards Vol. 1 (Peabody, MA; Hendrickson Publishers, Inc; 2007) p. lxxvii. Memoirs of Jonathan Edwards

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Herman Bavinck – No Revelation, No Religion

1 Dec

Now if the recognition of revelation were a philosophical proposition, it would be of relatively little weight. In fact, however, a profound religious interest is at stake here. Religion itself is inter-connected with, and dependent on, revelation. Those who abandon revelation also lose the religion based upon it. The revelation of Scripture and the religion of Scripture stand or fall together.

~Herman Bavinck~




Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic; 2003) p. 367.

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Book of the Week

30 Nov


Herman Bavinck’s: Reformed Dogmatics


Arguably the most important systematic theology ever produced in the Reformed tradition – I have found it to be the most valuable. – Richard Gaffin

From the Publisher:

“In partnership with the Dutch Reformed Translation Society, Baker Academic is proud to offer in English for the very first time all four volumes of Herman Bavinck’s complete Reformed Dogmatics. This masterwork will appeal not only to scholars, students, pastors, and laity interested in Reformed theology but also to research and theological libraries.

Includes:
Volume 1: Prolegomena
Volume 2: God and Creation
Volume 3: Sin and Salvation in Christ
Volume 4: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation ”

From J.I. Packer:

“Bavinck’s Dutch masterwork was the Everest of which the textbooks by Louis Berkhof and Auguste Leoerf were foothills and Berkouwer’s studies in dogmatics were outliers. Like Augustine, Calvin, and Edwards, Bavinck was a man of giant mind, vast learning, ageless wisdom and great expository skill. Solid but lucid, demanding but satisfying, broad and deep and sharp and stabilizing, Bavinck’s magisterial Reformed Dogmatics remains after a century the supreme achievement of its kind.”


Get the 4 Volume set here.

Or, check out individual volumes:
Volume 1: Prolegomena
Volume 2: God and Creation
Volume 3: Sin and Salvation in Christ
Volume 4: Holy Spirit, Church, and New Creation

Also, there is a newly released abridged version: Reformed Dogmatics Abridged in One Volume

And, another popular digest of his 4 Vol. work written by Bavinck himself: Our Reasonable Faith


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Charles Spurgeon – The Reality of the Holy Spirit

30 Nov

You tell the worldling, “I have the Holy Ghost within me.” He says, “I cannot see it.” He wants it to be something tangible–a thing he can recognize with his senses. Have you ever heard the argument used by a good old Christian against an infidel doctor? The doctor said there was no soul, and asked, “Did you ever see a soul?” “No,” said the Christian. “Did you ever hear a soul?” “No.” “Did you ever smell a soul?” “No.” “Did you ever taste a soul?” “No.” “Did you ever feel a soul?” “Yes,” said the man–“I feel I have one within me.” “Well,” said the doctor, “there are four senses against one; you only have one on your side.” “Very well,” said the Christian, “Did you ever see a pain?” “No.” “Did you ever hear a pain?” “No.” “Did you ever smell a pain?” “No.” “Did you ever taste a pain?” “No.” “Did you ever feel a pain?” “Yes.” “And that is quite enough, I suppose, to prove there is a pain?” “Yes.” So the worldling says there is no Holy Ghost, because he cannot see it. Well, but we feel it. You say that is fanaticism, and that we never felt it. Suppose you tell me that honey is bitter, I reply, “No, I am sure you cannot have tasted it; taste it and try.” So with the Holy Ghost; if you did but feel his influence, you would no longer say there is no Holy Spirit, because you cannot see it. Are there not many things, even in nature, which we cannot see? Did you ever see the wind? No; but ye know there is wind, when you behold the hurricane tossing the waves about, and rending down the habitations of men; or when, in the soft evening zephyr, it kisses the flowers, and maketh dew-drops hang in pearly coronets around the rose. Did ye ever see electricity? No; but ye know there is such a thing, for it travels along the wires for thousands of miles, and carries our messages; though you cannot see the thing itself, you know there is such a thing. So you must believe there is a Holy Ghost working in us, both to will and to do, even though it is beyond our senses.


~Charles Spurgeon~


Spurgeon’s Sermons Vol. 1 (Southwark, England; New Park Street Chapel, 1855) No. 4; A Sermon titled: The Personality of the Holy Ghost. Delivered on Sabbath Morning, January 21, 1855

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John Owen – God’s Glorious Attributes Revealed in Christ

29 Nov

God, by the work of the creation, by the creation itself, did reveal himself in many of his properties unto his creatures capable of his knowledge—his power, his goodness, his wisdom, his all-sufficiency are thereby known… But yet there are some properties of God which all the works of creation cannot in any measure reveal or make known—as his patience, longsuffering, and forbearance. For all things being made good (Gen. 1:31), there could be no place for the exercise of any of these properties, or manifestation of them. The whole fabric of heaven and earth considered in itself, as at first created, will not discover any such thing as patience and forbearance in God; which yet are eminent properties of his nature, as himself proclaims and declares (Ex. 34:6–7)….

There are some of the most eminent and glorious properties of God (I mean, in the manifestation whereof he will be most glorious; otherwise his properties are not to be compared) that there is not the least glimpse to be attained of out of the Lord Christ, but only by and in him; and some that comparatively we have no light of but in him; and of all the rest no true light but by him.

~John Owen~


Communion With The Triune God (Wheaton, IL; Crossway Books; 2007) p. 185-186

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Herman Bavinck – Does Christianity Teach Asceticism?

28 Nov

We can even much less think of revelation and nature as opposites when we note the content and purpose of the revelation as given in Christ. For it proclaims to us that God loved the world, and that Christ came not to condemn but to save the world (John 3:16,17), to destroy not the works of the Father but only the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). And just as Christ himself assumed a full human nature, denied the natural life in an ethical sense but did not mutilate and mortify it physically, and in the end again raised his body from the dead, so his disciples, while indeed called to cross-bearing and self-denial and following their Master, are not called to asceticism and world flight.

On the contrary, Jesus prayed to the Father that his disciples would not be taken out of the world but kept in the world from the evil one (John 17:15). In line with this, Christians did not have to go out of the world (1 Cor. 5:10), but to remain in their occupations (1 Cor. 7:17-23); to obey the powers God had ordained (Rom. 13:1); to regard all things their own (1 Cor. 3:21-23); to enjoy every gift of God with thanksgiving (1 Tim. 4:3-5); and to consider godliness as of value in every way, as it hold promise for the present life and also for the life to come (1 Tim. 4:8). And that, too, was what the Reformation wanted: a Christianity that was hostile, not to nature but only to sin.

~Herman Bavinck~




Reformed Dogmatics Vol. 1: Prolegomena (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic; 2003) p. 362.

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