The Life of God in the Soul of Man, by Henry Scougal (Christian Heritage Publications, 1996)

John Piper writes, “This timeless classic was originally written to encourage a friend and stimulate his spiritual life. It was so appreciated that it was later published as a book for a wider readership. A hundred years later a copy was sent to George Whitefield by his friend, Charles Wesley – it was instrumental in Whitefield’s conversion. This book provided much of the stimulation behind the Methodist Revival of Britain and the Great Awakening in America.” (Quote from MonergismBooks.com)

NOTE: Quotes in Bold Italics are statements which particularly impressed, inspired or convicted the editor (me).

A brief notice of the life of Rev Henry Scougal

The Rev Henry Scougal was the second son of the Rev Patrick Scougal and Margaret Wemys.  His father was Bishop of Aberdeen for more than twenty years after the Restoration. (29) Accordingly, the son, who was of a most sweet and serene temper, employed those leisure-hours, which are generally spent by children in play, in reading, meditation and prayer. (page 30)  … at fifteen years of age, he entered the University of Aberdeen. (31) …at the age of 26 . . . he was brilliant and precocious (he served as Professor of Philosophy in Aberdeen University for four years, from the age of 19); granted, he was the son of a bishop, and a godly one, and had had every spiritual advantage in his upbringing plus, as it seems, a heart responsive to God from his earliest days . . . (9)… he became the victim of consumption, which put and end to his life on the 13^th June 1678, before he had completed his twenty-eighth year.  The time of his sickness was as cheerfully spent in suffering the will of God as the time of his health in doing it. ‘He used not the least harsh expression, either to those who waited upon him, or concerning the present Providence.’  He was wrapped in admiration of God’s goodness to him, and perfectly submissive to his will.  (38)

Introduction – J.I. Packer

Henry Scougal’s exposition of true religion’ . . . genuine Christianity. (page 7)

I once heard a Christian testify, ‘I knew I was converted when religion stopped being a duty and became a delight.’ (8)

During the century that followed the Reformation conflicts, English Puritans like Perkins, Owen and Baxter, Anglicans of the ‘holy living’ school like Jeremy Taylor, Lutheran pietists like Johannes Arndt, and Roman Catholic teachers like Ignatius Loyola, Francis de Sales, Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross, had all centred attention on the realities of the Christian’s inner life, to such an extent that scholars can nowadays speak of the seventeenth-century devotional revival. (8)

‘Christians,’ declares Scougal, ‘know by experience that true religion is a union of the soul with God, a real participation of the divine nature, the very image of God drawn upon the soul, or, in the apostle’s phrase, “it is Christ formed within us”.’ (9)

Scougal calls it ‘an inward free and self-moving principle … a new nature instructing and prompting’. (9)

Love, basically, is love of God: ‘a delightful and affectionate sense of the divine perfections, which makes the soul resign and sacrifice itself wholly unto him, desiring above all things to please him, and delighting in nothing so much as in fellowship and communion with him, and being ready to do or suffer anything for his sake, or at his pleasure … A soul thus possessed with divine love must needs be enlarged towards all mankind … this is … charity … under which all parts of justice, all the duties we owe to our neighbour, are eminently comprehended; for he who doth truly love all the world … so far from wronging or injuring any person … will resent any evil that befalls others, as if it happened to himself.’ (10)

And humility means ‘a deep sense of our own meanness, with a hearty and affectionate acknowledgment of our owing all that we are to the divine bounty; which is always accompanied with a profound submission to the will of God, and great deadness to the glory of the world, and the applause of men.’ (11)

[J. I. Packer, speaking of Scougal's writings] “One could wish, however, that his exposition had been more explicitly and emphatically Christ-centered.  Like so many seventeenth-century writers, he lets himself assume that his readers know all about Jesus and need only to be told about real religion.” (12)

Whitefield’s witness … “I know the place: it may be superstitious, perhaps, but whenever I go to Oxford, I cannot help running to that place where Jesus Christ first revealed himself to me, and gave me the new birth … “ (14).

Whitefield Quote – An Evangelistic Invitation: … “Sinners in Zion, baptised heathens, professors but not possessors, formalist, believing unbelievers, talking of Christ, talking of grace, orthodox in your creeds, but heterodox in your lives, turn ye, turn ye, Lord help you to turn to him, turn ye to Jesus Christ, and may God turn you inside out … may that glorious Father that raised Christ from the dead, raise your dead souls! … Bless the Lord that Jesus stands with pitying eyes, and outstretched arms, to receive you now. Will you go with the man? Will you accept of Christ? Will you begin to live now?  May God say, Amen; may God pass by, not in anger, but in love … and say to you dead sinners, come forth, live a life of faith on earth, live a life of vision in heaven; even so, Lord Jesus: Amen.‘ (16)

On Preaching

‘… preaching is an exercise of which many are ambitious, and none more so than those that are the least qualified for it; but it is not so easy a matter to perform this task aright.  To stand in the presence of God, and speak to his people in his name, with that seriousness, gravity and simplicity, that zeal and concern which the business requires; to accommodate ourselves to the capacity of the common people, without disgusting the more knowing ones; to awaken the drowsy souls, without terrifying tender consciences; to carry home the charge of sin, without the appearance of personal reflection; in a word, to approve ourselves unto God as workmen that need not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.’ (34)

‘You see, sirs, to what a dreadful and important charge you aspire. Consider, I beseech you, what great pains are necessary to fit you for it.  It is not a knowledge of controversy, or the gift of eloquence; much less, a strong voice and bold confidence, that will prepare you for it. Your greatest work lies within, in purifying yourselves, and learning that wisdom which is necessary to win souls. Begin, I pray you, and preach to your passions, and try what good you can do to your friends and neighbors.  Be not forward in rushing into public; it is better to be drawn than to run.’ (34)

‘Again, we are not to entertain our people with subtle questions, and metaphysical niceties, etc.  Let us study to acquaint them with the tenor of the Gospel-covenant, and what they must do to be saved; and teach them in their duties to God and men.  But it is not enough to speak these things, to tell men what their duty is; we must endeavor to stir them up by the most powerful and effectual persuasions.  The judgment being informed, we must move the affections and this is the proper use of our preaching.  “The people that commonly sit under the pulpit (as the excellent Herbert observes) are usually as hard and dead as the seats they sit on, and need a mountain of fire to kindle them.”  The best way to preach the things first to ourselves, and then frequently to recollect in whose presence we are, and whose business we are doing.’ (35

Part I – The Occasion of this Discourse

It is true, this Divine life continueth not always in that same strength and vigour, but many times suffers sad decays, and holy men find greater difficulty in resisting temptations, and less alacrity in the performance of their duties; yet it is not quite extinguished, nor are they abandoned to the power of those corrupt affections, which sway and over-rule the rest of the world. (45)

This forced and artificial religion is commonly heavy and languid, like the motion of a weight forced upward: it is cold and spiritless, like the uneasy compliance of a wife married against her will … (48)

In a word, the difference betwixt a religious and a wicked man is, that in the one, Divine life bears sway, in the other, the animal life doth prevail. (50)

The root of the Divine life is faith: the chief branches are love to God, charity to man, purity and humility. (54)

The love of God is a delightful and affectionate sense of the Divine perfections, which makes the soul resign and sacrifice itself wholly unto him, desiring above all things to please him, and delighting in nothing so much as in fellowship and communion with him, and being ready to do or suffer any thing for his sake, or at his pleasure. (55)

Humility imports a deep sense of our own meanness, with a hearty and affectionate acknowledgment of our owing all that we are to the Divine bounty; which is always accompanied with a profound submission to the will of God, and great deadness toward the glory of the world, and applause of men. (56)

Speaking on Jesus and Prayer – Another instance of his love to God was, his delight in conversing with him by prayer, which made him frequently retire himself from the world, and with the greatest devotion and pleasure spend the whole nights in that heavenly exercise, though he had no sins to confess and but few secular interests to pray for; which, alas! are almost the only things that are wont to drive us to our devotions: nay, we may say his whole life was a kind of prayer; a constant course of communion with God: if the sacrifice was not always offering, yet was the fire still kept alive: nor was ever the blessed Jesus surprised with that dullness, or tepidity of spirit, which we must many times wrestle with, before we can be fit for the exercise of devotion. (61)

Part II – The Excellency and Advantage of Religion

• LOVE

Divine love … when once the soul is fixed on that supreme and all sufficient good, it finds so much perfections and goodness as doth not only answer and satisfy its affection, but master and overpower it too: it finds all its love to be too faint and languid for such a noble object, and is only sorry that is can command no more.  It wisheth for the flames of a seraph, and longs for the time when it shall be wholly melted and dissolved into love: and because it can do so little itself, it desires the assistance of the whole creation, that angels and men would concur with it in the admiration and love of those infinite perfections. (75) (Editor’s Note: Worship = Love; therefore, No Worship = No Love)

Perfect love is a kind of self-dereliction, a wandering out of ourselves; it is a kind of voluntary death, wherein the lover dies to himself, and all his own interests, not thinking of them, nor caring for them any more, and minding nothing but how he may please and gratify the party whom he loves: thus, he is quite undone, unless he meets with reciprocal affection; he neglects himself, and the other hath no regard to him; but if he be beloved, he is revived, as it were, and liveth in the soul and care of the person whom he loves; and now he begins to mind his own concerns, not so much because they are his, as because the beloved is pleased to own an interest in them: he becomes dear unto himself, because he is so unto the other. (76)

But oh! how happy are those who have placed their love on him who can never be absent from them!

What an infinite pleasure must it needs be, thus, as it were, to lose ourselves in him, and being swallowed up in the overcoming sense of his goodness, to offer ourselves a living sacrifice always ascending unto him in flames of love. (78)

The exercises of religion, which to others are insipid and tedious, do yield the highest pleasure and delight to souls possessed with divine love … (79)

The severities of a holy life, and that constant watch which we are obliged to keep over our hearts and ways, are very troublesome to those who are only ruled and acted by an external law, and have no law in their minds inclining them to the performance of their duty … (80)

He who loveth his neighbour as himself can never entertain any base or injurious thought, or be wanting in expressions of bounty; he had rather suffer a thousand wrongs than be guilty of one, and never accounts himself happy, but when some one or other hath been benefited by him … (81)

Had I my choice of all things that may tend to my present felicity, I would pitch upon this – to have my heart possessed with the greatest kindness and affection towards all men in the world. (82)

They are not only his creatures, the workmanship of his hands, but such of whom he taketh special care, and for whom he hath a very dear and tender regard, having laid the designs of their happiness before the foundations of the world, and being willing to live and converse with them to all thew ages of eternity.  The meanest and most contemptible person whom we behold is the offspring of heaven, one of the children of the Most High; and however unworthy he might behave himself of that relation, so long as God hath not abdicated and disowned him by a final sentence, he will have us to embrace him with a sincere and cordial affection. (127)

• PURITY

… purity is accompanied with a great deal of pleasure: whatsoever defiles the soul disturbs it too: all impure delights have a sting in them, and leave smart and trouble behind them. (84)

• HUMILITY

I know not what thoughts people may have of humility, but I see almost every person pretending to it … (85)

… the proud and arrogant person is a trouble to all that converse with him, but most of all unto himself: every thing is enough to vex him; but scarce any thing sufficient to content and please him. (86)

It is impossible to express the great pleasure and delight which religious persons feel in the lowest prostration of their souls before God, when, having a deep sense of the divine majesty and glory, they sink, if I may so speak, to the bottom of their beings, and vanish and disappear in the presence of God, by a serious and affectionate acknowledgment of their own nothingness, and the shortness and imperfections of their attainments; when they understand the full sense and emphasis of the Psalmist’s exclamation, ‘Lord, what is man?’ and can utter it with the same affection. (87)

A Prayer – But, oh! when shall it be! Oh! when wilt thou come unto me and satisfy my soul with thy likeness, making me holy as thou art holy, even in all manner of conversation!

Part III – The Despondent Thoughts of Some Newly Awakened to a Right Sense of Things

‘In a word, when I reflect on my highest and most specious attainments, I have reason to suspect, that they are all but the effects of nature, the issues of self-love acting under several disguises; and this principle is so powerful, and so deeply rooted in me, that I can never hope to be delivered from the dominion of it.  I may toss and turn as a door on the hinges, but can never get clear off, or be quite unhinged of self, which is still the centre of all my motions …’ (92)

Away then with all perplexing fears and desponding thoughts: to undertake vigorously, and rely confidently on the divine assistance, is more than half the conquest, ‘Let us arise and be doing, and the Lord will be with us’ (1 Chronicles 22:16). (97)

• ON GOD’S JUDGMENT

Let us therefore accustom ourselves to consider seriously, what a fearful thing it must needs be to irritate and offend that infinite Being upon whom we depend every moment, who needs but to withdraw his mercies to make us miserable, or his assistance to make us nothing. (104)

… think what horror must needs seize the guilty soul, to find itself naked and all alone before the severe and impartial Judge of the world, to render an exact account, not only of its more important and considerable transactions, but of every word that the tongue hath uttered, and the swiftest and most secret thought that ever passed through the mind. (105)

Let us sometimes represent to (place before) ourselves the terrors of that dreadful day, when the foundation of the earth shall be shaken … when all the hidden things of darkness should be brought to light, and the counsels of the heart shall be made manifest (1 Cor 4:5): when those secret impurities and subtle frauds, whereof the world did never suspect us, shall be exposed and laid open to public view, and many thousand actions which we never dreamed to be sinful, or else had altogether forgotten, shall be charged home upon our consciences, with such evident convictions of guilt, that we shall neither be able to deny nor excuse them. Then shall all the angels in heaven, and all the saints that ever lived on the earth, approve that dreadful sentence which shall be passed on wicked men .. (105-106)

The love of the world, and the love of God, are like the scales of a balance, as the one falleth, the other doth rise … (113)

Let us be often lifting up our hearts toward God; and if we do not say that we love him above all things, let us, at least, acknowledge that it is our duty, and would be our happiness, so to do: let us lament the dishonour done unto him by foolish and sinful men, and applaud the praises and adorations that are given him by that blessed and glorious company above: let us resign and yield ourselves up unto him a thousand times, to be governed by his laws, and disposed of at his pleasure: and, though our stubborn hearts should start back and refuse, yet let us tell him, we are convinced that his will is always just and good; and therefore to desire him to do with us whatsoever he pleaseth, whether we will or not. (117)

• PRAYER AND MEDITATION

Let us often withdraw our thoughts from this earth, this scene of misery, and folly, and sin, and raise them toward that more vast and glorious world, whose innocent and blessed inhabitants solace themselves eternally in the divine presence, and know no other passion but an unmixed joy, and an unbounded love. (120)

… and when we have framed unto ourselves the clearest notion that we can of a being, infinite in power, in wisdom, and goodness, the author and foundation of all perfection, let us fix the eyes of our soul upon it (Lamentations 3:58), that our eyes may affect our heart; and, while we are musing, the fire will burn (Psalm 39:3). (123)

Nothing is more powerful to engage our affection to find that we are beloved. (123-124)

That which makes any body esteem us, is their knowledge or apprehension of some little good, and their ignorance of a great deal of evil that may be in us; were they thoroughly acquainted with us, they would quickly change their opinion.  The thoughts that pass in our heart in the best and most serious day of our life, being exposed unto public view, would render us either hateful or ridiculous; and now, however we conceal our failings from one another; yet sure we are conscious of them ourselves, and some serious reflections upon them would much qualify and allay the vanity of our spirits.  Thus holy men have come really to think worse of themselves than any other person in the world: not but that they knew that gross and  scandalous vices are in their nature more heinous than the surprises of temptations and infirmity, but because they are much more intent on their own miscarriages, than on those of their neighbors, and did consider all the aggravations of the one, and everything that might be supposed to diminish and alleviate the other. (131-132)

THOUGHTS OF GOD GIVE US THE LOWEST THOUGHTS OF  OURSELVES

But it is well observed by a pious writer, that the deepest and most pure humility doth not so much arise from the consideration of our own faults and defects, as from a calm and quiet contemplation of the divine purity and goodness.  Our spots never appear so clearly as when we place them before this infinite Light … (132)

The Secret Key To Heaven by Thomas Brooks (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 2006)

Arguments for Private Prayer

• Christ Engaged in Secret Prayer

Christ’s choosing solitudes for private prayer, does not only hint to us the danger of distraction and deviation of thoughts in prayer, but how necessary it is for us to choose the most convenient places we can for private prayers. (p. 13)

• Secret Duties Shall Have Open Rewards

“God, in the great day, will recompense his people before all the world, for every secret prayer, and secret tear, and secret sigh, and secret groan that has come from his people.” (p. 23)

• God Most Manifests Himself In Secret

Private prayers is a golden key to unlock the mysteries of the Word to us. (p. 28)

Luther professes, ‘That he profited more in the knowledge of the Scripture by private prayer in a short space, that he did by study in a longer place.” (p. 29)

• Secret Prayer and Secret Sins

‘Who can understand his errors?’  This question has the force of an affirmation” ‘Who can?’ No man! no, not the most perfect and innocent man in the world.  O friends! who can reckon up the secret sinful imaginations, the secret sinful inclinations, or the secret pride, the secret blasphemies, the secret hypocrisies, the secret atheistical risings, the secret murmurings, the secret repinings, the secret discontentments, the secret insolencies, the secret filthiness, the secret unbelievings, etc., that God might every day charge upon his soul!  Should the best and holiest man on earth have but his secret sins every day written on his forehead, it would not only make him blush, but it would make him pull his hat over his eyes, or cover his face with a double scarf. (p. 46)

• God is Omnipresent

There is not the darkest, dirtiest hole in the world into which a saint creeps, but God has a favourable eye there.  God never lacks an eye to see our secret tears, nor an ear to hear our secret cries and groans, nor a heart to grant our secret requests, and therefore we ought to pour out our souls to him in secret … (p. 61)

“If a Christian cannot hide himself from the sun, which is God’s minister of light, how impossible will it be to hide himself from him whose eyes are ten thousand times brighter than the sun? (p. 62)

God is an infinite and immense being, whose centre is everywhere, and whose circumference is nowhere. (p. 63)

• Those Near to the Lord Should Engage in Secret Prayer

… consider that the near and dear relation that you stand in to the Lord calls aloud for secret prayer, John 15:14-15.  You are his friends.  Now, a true friend loves to visit his friend when he may find him alone, and enjoy privacy with him.  A true friend loves to pour out his heart into the heart of his friend when he has him in a corner, or in the field, or under a hedge.  You are his favourites; and what favourite is there that hides his secret from his prince.  Do not all favourites open their hearts to their princes when they are alone?  You are his children; and what ingenious child is there that does not delight to be much with his father when he is alone, when nobody is by?  (Oh, how free and open are children when they have their parents alone, beyond what they are when company is present.)  You are the spouse of Christ; and what spouse, what wife is there that does not love to be much with her husband when he is alone? (pages 68-69)

True lovers are always best when they are most alone … (p. 69)

• Satan’s Enmity to Secret Prayer

“Every secret prayer adds to the devil’s torment, and every secret sigh adds to his torment, and every secret groan adds to his torment, and every secret tear adds to his torment.” (p. 72)

• Reasons to Pray

First, …fellowship with God in his holiness;

Secondly, …fellowship with God in his blessedness, viz., in the  [beautiful] vision and brightness of glory.  (p. 110)

Other Quotes

• … uprightness, holiness, heavenliness, spiritualness, and brokenness of heart: these are the things that make a conquest upon God, and that turns most to the soul’s account. (p. 135)

• Prayer is nothing but the turning of a man’s inside outward toward the Lord.

• Prayer is nothing but the breathing of that out before the Lord that was first breathed into us by the Spirit of the Lord.  Prayer is nothing but a choice, a free, a sweet, and familiar intercourse of the soul with God. (p. 152)

• Augustine: ‘Every saint is God’s temple, and he that carries his temple around with him, may go to prayer when he pleases.’ (p. 160)

• The design of God in all the weaknesses that affect your body, is to wind you more off from your worldly trade, and to work you to follow your heavenly trade more closely. (p. 176)

• It is better with Evagrius to lie on a bed of straw with a good conscience, than to lie on a bed of down with a guilty conscience. (p. 178)

• Now if your indisposition to private prayer be total, then you must wait upon the Lord in all his appointments for a changed nature, and for union with Christ; but if your indisposition to private prayer be only partial, then the Lord will certainly pardon it, and in the very use of holy means in time remove it. (p. 181)

• No a transient, accidental, occasional, or fleeting indisposition to that which is good may be found upon the best of saints, as you may see in Moses (Exodus 4:10-14); and in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5-8, 17-19; 20:9); and in Jonah (Jonah 1); and in David (Psalm 39:2,3).  Now if this be the indisposition that you are under, then you may be confident that it will certainly work off by degrees, as theirs did that I have last cited (Isaiah 65:2). (p. 181)

Instructions Concerning Private Prayer

• … therefore they are afraid to neglect closet prayer, lest conscience should question, arraign, and condemn them for their neglects.  Sometimes when men have greatly sinned against the Lord, conscience becomes impatient, and is still accusing, condemning, and terrifying them; and now in these agonies they run to their closets, and cry, and pray, and mourn, and confess, and bitterly bewail their transgressions, but all this is only to quiet their consciences; and sometimes they find upon their performance of closet-duties, that their consciences are a little allayed and quieted; and for this very end and purpose do they take up closet prayer as a charm to allay their consciences; and when the storm is over, and their consciences quieted, then they lay aside closet prayer -  as the monk did the net when the fish was caught – and are ready to transgress again. (192)

• This was Bernard’s temptation, who, being a little assisted in duty, could stroke his own head with bene fecisti Bernarde [well done, Bernard], this was gallantly done, now cheer up yourself. Ah, how apt is man, when he has been a little assisted, heated, melted, enlarged, etc., in a way of duty, to go away and stroke himself, and bless himself, and hug himself, and warm himself with the sparks, with the fire of his own kindling (Isaiah 50:11). (p. 195)

• Oh, rest not on anything on this side of Jesus Christ; say to your graces, say to your duties, say to your holiness, You are not my saviour, you are not my mediator; and therefore you are not to be trusted in, you are not to be rested in. It is my duty to perform closet-duties, but it is my sin to rely upon them, or to put confidence in them; do them I might, but glory in them I must not. He that rests in his closet-duties, makes a saviour of his closet-duties.  Let all you closet-duties lead you to Jesus, and leave you more in communion with him, and in dependence upon him; and then thrice happy will you be. (p. 196)

• O sirs! it is God himself that is your resting-place; it is his free grace, it is his singular mercy, it is his infinite love that is your resting place; it is the arms of Christ, the favour of Christ, the satisfaction of Christ, and the pure, perfect, spotless, matchless, and glorious righteousness of Christ, that is your resting-place; and therefore say to all your closet duties and performances, Farewell; prayer, farewell; reading, farewell; fasting, farewell; tears, farewell; sighs and groans, farewell; meltings and humblings, I will never trust more to you, I will never rest more on you; but I will now return to my resting-place, I will now rest only in God and Christ, I will now rest wholly in God and Christ, I will now rest for ever in God and Christ.

• It was the saying of a precious saint, that ‘he was more afraid of his duties than of his sins; for the one made him often proud, the other made him always humble’. (197)

• It is not a piece, it is not a corner of the heart, that will satisfy the Maker of the heart; the heart is a treasure, a bed of spices, a royal throne in which he delights.  God looks not at the elegancy of your prayers to see how neat they are; nor yet at the geometry of your prayers, to see how long they are; nor yet at the arithmetic of your prayers, to see how many they are; nor yet at the music of your prayers, nor yet at the sweetness of your voice, nor yet at the logic of your prayers; but at the sincerity of your prayers, how hearty they are.

• It is not the lifting up of the voice, nor the wringing of the hands, nor the beating of the breast, nor an affected tone, nor studied motions, nor seraphical expressions, but the stirrings of the heart, that God looks at in prayer. (pages 200-201)

• It was the saying of blessed John Bradford, that, ‘he would never leave a duty, till he had brought his heart into the frame of the duty … (p. 201)

• In all your private retirements, take up nothing below fellowship with God, in nothing below a sweet and spiritual enjoyment of God (Psalm 73:28) … (p. 212)

• Though closet duties are weak in themselves, yet when a man has communion with God in them, then they prove exceeding powerful to the casting down of strongholds, and vain imaginations, and every high things and thought, that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. When a man comes out of his closet with a heart more fully and steadfastly set against every known sin, but especially against his bosom sin, his darling sin, his Delilah that he played and sported himself the most with, and that he has hugged with pleasure and delight in his arms, then certainly he has had private communion with God. (p. 232)

• A man’s most glorious actions will at last be found to be but glorious sins, if he has made himself, and not the glory of God, the end of those actions. (p. 235)

Means, Rules, and Directions for Faithful Private Prayer

• … there is not a greater hindrance to closet prayer than sloth and idleness. (p. 248)

• He who goes to school to his own reason has a fool for his schoolmaster. (p. 250)

• In my treatise Apples of Gold [Brooks' Works, vol. 1], I have proved by many arguments that the sins of the saints shall not be brought into the judgment of discussion and discovery in the great day, and therefore understand this second particular of such who live and die in their secret sins without repentance and faith in the blood of Christ.  (p. 262, footnote)

• The books of God’s omniscience, and man’s conscience, shall then be opened, and then secret sins shall be as legible in your forehead, as if they were written with the most glittering sun-beams upon a wall of crystal.  All men’s secret sins are printed in heaven, and God will at last read them aloud in the ears of all the world: 1 Corinthians 4:5. (p. 263)

Closing Advice

• For a close, remember this, that though secret sins are in some respects more dangerous than other sins are, yet in three respects they are not so bad nor so dangerous as other sins are:

1. First, In that they do not so scandalize religion as open sins do.
2. Secondly, In that they do not shame, grieve, and wound the hearts of the saints as open sins do.
3. Thirdly, In that they are not so infectious to others, nor such provocations to others to sin against the Lord as open sins are. (272-273) (Polity)

• Keep a diary of all your closet experience (Deuteronomy 7:18-19; Psalm 66:12).

• Oh, carefully record and not down all your closet mercies!  Oh, be often in reading over your closet experiences, and be often in meditating and in pondering upon your closet experiences! There is no way like this, to inflame your love to closet prayer, and engage your hearts in this secret trade of private prayer. (p. 274)

• Bernard: ‘O saint, do you not know that your husband Christ is bashful, and will not be familiar in company; retire yourself by meditation into your closet, or into the fields, and there you shall have Christ’s embraces ‘.  Meditatio nutrix orationis, meditation is the nurse of prayer. (p. 275)

• … be sure that you do not spend so much of your precious time in public duties and ordinances as that you can spare none for private duties, for secret services. (p. 277)

• Divine love will make all closet duties more easy to the soul, and more pleasant and delightful to the soul; and therefore do all you can to strengthen your love to Christ, and your love to closet work. (p. 279)

• O sirs, divine fortitude, holy resolutions, will make you like a wall of brass that no arrows can pierce; they will make you like armour of proof, that no shot can hurt; they will make you like that angel who rolled away the stone from before the door of the sepulchre (Matt 28:2); they will either enable you to remove the greatest mountains of oppositions that lie between you and closet prayer, or else they will enable you to step over them.  (p. 281)

• … the more any man is now under the blessed pouring out of the Spirit of Christ, the more that man gives himself up to secret communion with Christ. (p. 283)

• The more any man has of the Spirit of Christ , the more he loves Christ, and the more any man loves Christ, the more he delights to be with Christ alone.  Lovers love to be alone.  The more any man has of the Spirit of Christ, the more his heart will be set to please Christ. (p. 283)

• Augustine’s prayer was “Hack me, hew me, burn me here, but spare me hereafter, spare me hereafter.” (p. 288)

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Editor’s note: So reader, areUserious about prayer? Am I? Wow! I don’t think so. But God the Father calls us to Himself, although we come weakly, feebly, often self-centeredly and distracted. But we bring our poor hearts to Him and pour out our hearts to Him, the One who truly cares and welcomes us. Meet the Savior privately and often and seek His love for the upkeep of your soul.

Quotes in Bold Italics should be granted special attention.

The Reed and the Bruising

• What It Is To Be Bruised – The bruised reed is a man that for the most part is in some misery, as those were that came to Christ for help, and by misery he is brought to see sin as the cause of it, for, whatever pretences sin makes, they come to an end when we are bruised and broken.  He is sensible of sin and misery, even unto bruising; and, seeing no help in himself, is carried with restless desire to have supply from another, with some hope, which a little raises him out of himself to Christ, though he dare not claim any present interest of mercy.  This spark of hope being opposed by doubtings and fears rising from corruption makes him as smoking flax; so that both these together a bruised reed and smoking flax, make up the state of a poor distressed man.  This is such an one as our Saviour Christ terms ‘poor in spirit’, who sees his wants, and also sees himself indebted to divine justice. (pages 3-4)
• … this bruising makes us set a high price upon Christ.  Then the gospel becomes the gospel indeed; then the fig-leaves of morality will do us no good.  And it makes us more thankful and, from thankfulness, more fruitful in our lives; for what makes many so cold and barren, but that bruising for sin never endeared God’s grace to them? (p. 4)
• … for the most part, the Holy Spirit, to further the work of conviction, joins with it some affliction, which, when sanctified, has a healing and purging power.  (p. 5)

Christ Will Not Break the Bruised Reed

• Who Are The Bruised Reeds – By the bruised here is not meant those that are brought low only by crosses, but such as, by them, are brought to see their sin, which bruises most of all.  When conscience is under the guilt of sin, then every judgment brings a report of God’s anger to the soul, and all lesser troubles run into this great trouble of conscience for sin.
• Now, he that is thus bruised will be content with nothing but with mercy from him who has bruised him.  He has wounded, and he must heal (Hos 6:1).  The Lord who has bruised me deservedly for my sins must bind up my heart again.  Again, a man truly bruised judges sin the greatest evil, and the favour of God the greatest good.  He would rather hear of mercy than of a kingdom.  He has poor opinions of himself, and thinks that he is not worth the earth he treads on.  Towards others he is not censorious, as being taken up at home, but is full of sympathy and compassion to those who are under God’s hand.  He thinks that those who walk in the comforts of God’s Spirit are the happiest men in the world.  He trembles at the Word of God (Isaiah 66:2), and honours the very feet of those blessed instruments that bring peace unto him (Rom 10:15). He is more taken up with the inward exercises of a broken heart than with formality, and is yet careful to use all sanctified means to convey comfort. (p. 11)
• “It is better to go bruised to heaven than sound to hell.” (p. 13)

The Smoking Flax

• The purest actions of the purest men need Christ to perfume them; and this is his office.  When we pray, we need to pray again for Christ to pardon the defects in our prayers. (p. 18)
• … we carry about us a double principle, grace and nature.  The end of it is especially to preserve us from those two dangerous rocks which our natures are prone to dash upon, security and pride, and to force us to pitch our rest on justification, not sanctification, which, besides imperfection, has some stains. (p. 19)

The Spirit of Mercy Should Move Us

• In the censures of the church, it is more suitable to the spirit of Christ to incline the milder part, and not to kill a fly on the forehead with a mallet, nor shut men out of heaven for a trifle. (p. 30)
• The church of Christ is a common hospital, wherein all are in some measure sick of some spiritual disease or other, so all have occasion to exercise the spirit of wisdom and meekness. (p. 34)

Marks of the Smoking Flax

• We must beware of false reasoning, such as: because our fire does not blaze out as others, therefore we have no fire at all. (p. 35)
• … a spark of fire is fire, as well as the whole element.  Therefore we must look to grace in the spark as well as in the flame. (p. 36)
• A weak hand may receive a rich jewel.  A few grapes will show that the plant is a vine, and not a thorn.  It is one thing to be deficient in grace, and another thing to lack grace altogether. (p. 36)
• We must remember that grace sometimes is so little as to be indiscernible to us.  The Spirit sometimes has secret operations in is which we know not for the present, but Christ knows. (p. 37)

Help for the Weak

• By prayer we learn to pray. (p. 51)
• Would Paul do nothing because he could not do the good that he would?  No, he ‘pressed toward the mark’. (p. 51)
• ‘Lord, I believe’ (Mark 9:24), with a weak faith, yet with faith; love thee with a faint love, yet with love; endeavor in a feeble manner, yet endeavor.  A little fire is fire, though it smokes. Since thou has taken into thy covenant to be thine from being an enemy, wilt thou cast me off for these infirmities, which, as they displease thee, so are they the grief of my own heart? (p. 52)

Duties and Discouragements

• The more spiritual the duty is, the more reluctance there is. (p. 53)
• … if God brings us into the trial he will be with us in the trial, and at length bring us out, more refined. (p. 54)
• … the Sacrament, it was ordained not for angels, but for men; and not for perfect men, but for weak men; and not for Christ, which is truth itself, to bind him, but because we are ready, by reason of our guilty and unbelieving hearts, to call truth itself into question. (p. 55)
• The desire is an earnest of the thing desired. (p. 56)
• A Christian’s behaviour towards Christ may in many things be very offensive, and cause some strangeness; yet he will own Christ, and Christ him; he will not resolve upon any way wherein he knows he must break with Christ.
• … Christ counts it his honour to pass by many infirmities, nay, in infirmities he perfects his strength.  There are some almost invincible infirmities, such as forgetfulness, heaviness of spirit, sudden passions and fears which, though natural, yet are for the most part tainted with sin.  (p. 60)
• Sin against conscience us as a thief in the candle, which spoils our joy, and thereby weakens our strength.  We must know, therefore, that willful breaches in sanctification will much hinder the sense of our justification.

• What course shall such take to recover their peace?  They must condemn themselves sharply, and yet cast themselves upon God’s mercy in Christ, as at their first conversion.  And now they must embrace Christ the more firmly, as they see more need in themselves; and let them remember the mildness of Christ here, that he will not quench the smoking flax. Often we see that, after a deep humiliation, Christ speaks more peace that before, to witness the truth of this reconciliation, because he knows Satan’s enterprises in casting such down lower, because they are most abased in themselves and are ashamed to look Christ in the face, because of their ingratitude. (pages 60-61)

• In time of temptation, believe Christ rather than the devil. (p. 61)

Believe Christ, Not Satan

• ‘But for all this, I feel not Christ so to me,’ says the smoking flax, ‘but rather the clean contrary. He seems to be an enemy to me.  I see and feel evidences of his just displeasure. (p. 63)
• When Doubt Assails Us – Satan, as he slanders Christ to us, so he slanders us to ourselves. (p. 64)
• The sighs of a bruised heart carry in them a report, both of our affection to Christ, and of his care to us. (p. 66)
• God sees fit that we should taste of that cup of which his Son drank so deep, that we might feel a little what sin is, and what his Son’s love way. (p. 66)

Christ’s Judgment and Victory

• The same Spirit that convinces us of the necessity of his righteousness to cover us convinces us also of the necessity of his government to rule us. (p. 79)

Christ’s Wise Government

• The whole conduct of a Christian is nothing else but knowledge reduced to will, affection and practice. (p. 86)

Grace Shall Reign

• God often works by contraries: when he means to give us victory, he will allow us to be foiled at first; when he means to comfort, he will terrify first; when he means to make us glorious, he will abase us first.  A Christian conquers, even when he is conquered. (p. 95)
• Weakness with watchfulness will stand, when strength with too much confidence fails. (p. 96)
• Failings, with conflict, in sanctification should not weaken the peace of our justification and assurance of salvation.  (p. 96)
• Love once kindled is strong as death.  Many waters cannot quench it, and there it is called a vehement flame, or flame of God, kindled in the heart by the Holy Ghost.  That little that is in us is fed with an everlasting spring. (p. 97)
• When we are so far satisfied with the government of Christ’s Spirit that we are willing to resign up ourselves to him in all things, then his kingdom is come to us, and our wills are brought to his will.  It is the bent of our wills that makes us good or ill. (p. 99)

Means to Make Grace Victorious

• … what the heart likes best, the mind studies most. (p. 103)
• If Christ possessed the affections, there is no dispossessing of him again.  A fire in the heart overcomes all fires without. (p. 103)
• We should always be fit for communion with God, and be heavenly-minded in earthly business, and be willing to be taken off from it to redeem time for better things.  We should be ready at all times to depart hence, and to live in such a condition as we would be content to die in.  (p. 105)

Christ’s Public Triumph

• Therefore when we have fallen, and by falls have been bruised, let us go to Christ immediately to bind us up again.  (p. 114)
• He strives in vain who is not dependent. (p. 114)
• … naturally we aspire to a kind of divinity, in setting about actions in the strength of our own abilities; whereas Christ says, ‘Without me ye’, the apostles, who were in a state of grace, ‘can do nothing’ (John 15:5).  He does not say, you can do a little, but nothing. (p. 114)
• We are as reeds shaken with every wind. (p. 114)
• Hence proceed those spiritual desertions in which he often leaves us to ourselves, in regard to both grace and comfort, that we may know the spring-head of these to be outside ourselves. Hence it is that in the mount, that is, in extremities, God is the most seen (Gen 22:14). (p. 115)

Through Conflict to Victory

• The victory lies not with us, but with Christ, who has taken on him both to conquer for us and to conquer in us. (p. 122)
• Let us strive a little while, and we shall be happy for ever. (p. 123)
• Satan will object, ‘You are a great sinner.’ We may answer, ‘Christ is a strong Saviour.’ But he will object, ‘You have no faith, no love.’  ‘Yes, a spark of faith and love.’  ‘But Christ will not regard that.’  ‘Yes, he will not quench the smoking flax.’  ‘But this is so little and weak that it will vanish and come to nought.’  ‘Nay, but Christ will cherish it, until he has brought judgment to victory.’ (p. 123)
• Treasure The Least Degree Of Grace – … he who has the least measure is within the compass of God’s eternal favour.  Though he is not a shining light, yet he is a smoking wick, which Christ’s tender care will not allow him to quench.  (p. 125)
• Luther ingenuously confessed that he often acted inconsiderately and moved by various passions.  But when he acknowledged this, God did not condemn him for his errors, but, the cause being God’s, and his aims being holy, to promote the truth, and being a mighty man in prayer, and strong in faith, God by him kindled that fire which all the world shall never be able to quench.  According to our faith, so is our encouragement to all duties, therefore let us strengthen faith, so that it may strengthen all other graces.  The very belief that faith shall be victorious is a means to make it so indeed.  Believe it, therefore, that, though it is often as smoking flax, yet it shall prevail. (p. 127)

ON RELIGIOUS AFFECTIONS:

The holy scriptures do everywhere place religion very much in the affection; such as fear, hope, love, hatred, desire, joy, sorrow, gratitude, compassion, and zeal.  (20)

From a vigorous, affectionate, and fervent love to God will necessarily arise other religious affections; hence will arise an intense hatred and abhorrence of sin, and a dread of God’s displeasure, gratitude to God for his grief when He is absent, and a joyful hope when a future enjoyment of God is expected and fervent zeal for the glory of God.  (23)

Will any say that the saints in heaven, in beholding the face of their Father and the glory of their Redeemer, and contemplating His wonderful works, and particularly His laying down His life for them, have their hearts nothing moved and affected by all which they behold or consider?  (27)

For although to true religion there must indeed be something else besides affection, yet true religion consists so much in the affections that there can be no true religion without them.  (30)

And let it be considered, that they who have but little religious affection have certainly but little religion.  And they who condemn others for their religious affections, and have none themselves, have no religion.  These are false affections, and there are true.  A man’s having much affection, does  not prove that he has any true religion; but if he has no affection, it proves that he has no true religion.  (31)

Love is an affection, but will any Christian say, men ought not to love God and Jesus Christ in high degree?  And will any say, we ought not to have a very great hatred of sin, and very deep sorrow for it?  Or that we ought not exercise a high degree of gratitude to God for the mercies we receive of Him, and the great things He has done for the salvation of fallen men?  Or  that we should not have very great and strong desires after God and holiness?  Is there any who will profess that his affections in religion are great enough, and will say, “I have no cause to be humbled, that I am no more affected with the great things of religions than I am; I have no reason to be ashamed, that I have no greater exercise of love to God and sorrow for sin, and gratitude for the mercies which I have received?”  (33)

THE RIDICULE OF AN INWARD EXPERIENCE OF FAITH IN CHRIST:

How greatly has the doctrine of the inward experience, or sensible perceiving of the immediate power and operation of the Spirit of God, been reproached and ridiculed by many of late! (38) (Written in 1740)

ON HYPOCRISY:

The Hypocrite:

1. He has not a cautious spirit, that great sense of the vast importance of a sure foundation, and that dread of being deceived.
2. The hypocrite has not the knowledge of his own blindness, and the deceitfulness of his own heart.
3. The devil does not assault that hope of the hypocrite as he does the hope of a true saint.
4. He who has a false hope has not that sight of his own corruption which the saint has.  A true Christian has ten times so much to do with his heart and its corruptions as a hypocrite. (56)

Hence is appears, that impressions which some have received in their imagination, or the imaginary ideas which they have of God or Christ, or heaven, or anything appertaining to religion, have nothing in them that is spiritual and be mixed with it, yet in themselves they have nothing that is spiritual, nor are they any part of gracious experience.  (75)

SPEAKING (IT COULD APPEAR) ON AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY TODAY:

Self-love may be the foundation of an affection in men towards God, through a great insensibility of their state with regard to God, and for want of conviction of conscience to make them sensible how dreadfully they have provoked God to anger.  They have no sense of the heinousness of sin against God, and of the infinite and terrible opposition of the holy nature of God against it.  And so, having formed in their minds such a God as suits them, and thinking God to be such an one as themselves, who favours and agrees with them, they may like Him very well and feel a sort of love to Him, when they are far from loving the true God.  (91)

[The] selfish proud man naturally calls that lovely that greatly contributes to his interest, and gratifies his ambition.  (91)

THE IMPACT OF GOD’S LOVELINESS:

But the exercises of true and holy love in the saints arise in another way.  They do not first see that God loves them, and then see that He is lovely, but they first see that God is lovely, and that Christ is excellent and glorious, and their hearts are first captivated with this view, and the exercises of their love are wont from time to time to begin here, and to arise primarily from these views; and then, consequentially, they see God’s love, and great favour to them.  (91)

OF THE AFFECTIONS OF HYPOCRITES:

And when their affections are raised, then they view those high affections, and call them great and wonderful experiences; and they have a notion that God is greatly pleased with those affections; and this affects them more; and so they are affected with their affections.  So they are great talkers about themselves.  (94) The true saint, when under great spiritual affections, from the fullness of his heart, is ready to be speaking much of God and His glorious perfections and works, and of the beauty and amiableness of Christ, and the glorious things of the gospel:  but hypocrites, in their high affections, talk more of the discovery, then they do of the thing discovered. (95)

THE IMPACT OF ENCOUNTERING GOD’S GLORY:

But saints and angels behold that glory of God which consists in the beauty of His holiness; and it is this sight only that will melt and humble that hearts of men, wean them from the world, draw them to God, and effectually change them.  (101)

Gracious affections are attended with evangelical humiliation.  Evangelical humiliation is a sense that a Christian has of its own utter sufficiency, despicableness, and odiousness, with an answerable frame of heart.  (126)

THE INADEQUACY OF THE BELIEVER’S LOVE:

The highest love that ever any attain in this life, is poor, cold, exceedingly low, and not worthy to be named in comparison of what our obligations appear to be; and this will appear from the joint consideration of these.  (132)

CHRISTIAN HUMILITY:

The humble Christian is more apt to find fault with his own pride that with other men’s.  He is apt to put the best construction on others’ words and behaviour, and to think that none are so proud as himself.  (138) He is apt to yield to others, for he knows others are above him:  he is not stiff and self-willed; he is patient with hard fare; he expects no other than to be despised, and takes it patiently; he does not take it heinously that he is overlooked and but little regarded; he is prepared to be in a low place; he readily honours his superiours; he takes reproofs quietly; he readily honours others as above him; he easily yields to be taught, and does not claim much to his understanding and judgment; he is not over nice or humoursome, and has his spirit subdued to hard things; he is not assuming, nor apt to take much upon him, but it is natural for him to be subject to others.  (139)

ON PRAYER:

When men have been conversing with Christ in an extraordinary manner, there is a sensible effect of it remaining upon them; there is something remarkable in their disposition and frame, which if we take knowledge of and trace to its cause, we shall find it is because they have been with Jesus, Acts 4:13.  (143)

HOW LOVE FOR GOD GROWS:

The more a true saint loves God with a gracious love, the more he desires to love Him, and the more uneasy is he at his want (lack) of love to Him; the more he hates sin, the more he desires to hate it, and laments that he has so much remaining love to it; the more he mourns for sin, the more he longs to mourn for sin; the more his heart broke, the more he desires it should be broke:  the more he thirsts and longs after God and holiness, the more he longs to long, and breathe out his very soul in longings after God.  (159).

GRACE LEADS TO WORKS:

That true faith, by which persons rely on the righteousness of Christ, and the work that He hath done for them, and truly feed and live upon Him, is evermore accompanied with a spirit of earnestness in the Christian work and course.  (163)

THE HOLY SPIRIT’S INFLUENCE:

Gracious affections arise from those operations and influences which are spiritual, and that the inward principle from whence they flow is something divine, a communication of God, a participation of the divine nature, Christ living in the heart, the Holy Spirit dwelling there in union with these faculties of the soul, as an internal vital principle, exerting His own proper nature in the exercise of those faculties.  For in the heart where Christ savingly is, there He lives and exerts Himself after the power of that endless life that He received at His resurrecting.  (165)

ON SELF-DENIAL:

Self-Denial [is] making a full choice of God as our only Lord and portion, forsaking all for him, and, in a full determination of the will for God and Christ, on counting the cost; in our heart’s closing…giving up ourselves, with all that we have, wholly and forever, unto Christ, without keeping anything, or making any reserve; or, in one word, in the great duty of self-denial for Christ; or in denying, i.e., as it were, disowning and renouncing ourselves for Him, making ourselves nothing that He may be all.  (167-168)

ON THE “CARNAL” CHRISTIAN:

It is therefore exceedingly absurd, and even ridiculous, for any to pretend that they have a good heart, while they live a wicked life, or do not bring forth the fruit of universal holiness in their practice.  For it is proved in fact that such men do not love God above all.  It is foolish to dispute against plain fact and experience.  Men that live in ways of sin, and yet flatter themselves that they shall go to heaven, or expect to be received hereafter as holy persons without a holy life and practice, act as though they expected to make a fool of their Judge.  (182)

There is a sort of external religious practice, without inward experience, which in the sight of God is esteemed good for nothing.  And there is what is called experience, that is without practice, being neither accompanied nor followed with a Christian behaviour; and this is worse than nothing.  (195)

ON JUDGING MEN’S HEARTS:

Our discerning, with regard to the hearts of men, is not much to be trusted.  We can see but a little way into the nature of the soul, and the depths of man’s heart.  The ways are so many whereby persons’ affections may be moved without any supernatural influence, the natural springs of the affections are so various and so secret, so many things have oftentimes a joint influence on the affections, the imagination, and that in ways innumerable and unsearchable, natural temper, education, the common influences of the Spirit of God, a surprising concourse of affecting circumstances, an extraordinary coincidence of things in the course of men’s thoughts, together with the subtle management of invisible malicious spirits, the ways are so many.  (199)

In classic J. Oswald Sanders tradition, these quotes tell much about the men who made them:

Count Nikolaus Zinzendorf, founder of the great missionary Moravian church, “I have one passion:  it is He, He alone!”  (69)

Samuel Chadwick, “Satan laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray.”  (109)

David Brainerd, early missionary to the Indians of the Unites States, “I cared not how or where I lived, or what hardships I endured, so that I could but gain souls for Christ.”  (69)

Henry Martyn, missionary, “I desire not to burn out for avarice, to burn out for ambition, to burn out for self, but looking up at that great Burnt-offering, to burn out for God and His world.”  (70)

Jonathan Edwards, “I will live with all my life while I live.”  (72)

The founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth, “So far as I know, God has had all there was for me.”  (72)

Augustine, “O God, that I might have towards my God a heart of flame; Towards my fellow-men a heart of love; Towards myself, a heart of steel.”  (91-92)

Mahatma Mohandas Gandhi, “I cannot accord to Christ a solitary throne, for I believe God has been incarnated again and again.”  (45)

One cannot capture the essence of a book with a few significant quotes, but the quotes below are an attempt to introduce the reader to the depth of thought which characterizes the work and writing of the profound Puritan preacher John Owen (bold italics my emphasis).

ON THE REWARDS OF SIN:

The pleasures of sin are the rewards of sin; a reward that most men lose their souls to obtain.  (17)

ON THE PEACEFULNESS OF LUST:

They are at peace with their lusts, by being in bondage with them.  (23)

ON THE BELIEVER’S FIGHT WITH SIN:

Do you find it dwelling in you, always present with you, exciting itself, or putting forth its poison with facility and easiness, at all times, in all your duties, “when you would do good?”  What humiliation, what self-abasement, what intenseness in prayer, what diligence, what watchfulness doth this call for at your hands?  What spiritual wisdom do you stand in need of?  What supplies of grace, what assistance of the Holy Ghost, will be hence also discovered?  I fear we have few of us a diligence proportionable to our danger. (24)

ON THE THREEFOLD DOMAINS OF THE HEART:

The [word for] heart in the Scripture is variously used; sometimes for the mind and understanding; sometimes for the will; sometimes for the affections; sometimes for the conscience; sometimes for the whole soul.  Generally, it denoted the whole soul of man, and all the faculties of it, not absolutely, but as they are all one principle of moral operations, as they all concur in our doing good or evil.  The mind as it inquires, discerns, and judges what is to be done, what refused; the will, as it chooses, or refuses, and avoids; the affections as they like or dislike, cleave to, or have an aversion from, that which is proposed to them; the conscience as it warns, and determines, are altogether called the heart.  (27)

ON DEALING WITH OUR INDWELLING SIN:

It rises up in the heart, is denied by the law of grace, and rebuked; it returns and exerts its poison again; the soul is startled, casts it off; it returns again with new violence and importunity; the soul cries out for help and deliverance, looks round about to all springs of gospel grace and relief, trembles at the furious assaults of sin, and casts itself into the arms of Christ for deliverance.  (86)

ON TEMPTATION:

The great wisdom and security of the soul in dealing with indwelling sin, is to put a violent stop to its beginnings, its first motions and acting’s.  Venture all on the first attempt.  Die rather than yield one step of it. (88)

ON THE IMPORTANCE OF THE MIND:

The principal care and charge of the soul lies on the mind.  (126)

ON GOD LOOKS AT THE HEART:

God does not look at what duties we perform, as to their number and tale, or as to their nature merely, but whether we do them with that intention of mind and spirit which he requires.  (127)

ON PURPOSE FOR GOD’S GLORY:

And if we suppose that, in general, we aim at the glory of God, as we all profess to do, yet if we attend not to it distinctly, upon every duty that occurs in our way, we shall never attain the end aimed at.  (136)

ON THE NATURAL INCLINATION OF SPIRITUAL INTEREST IN THE BELIEVER; A DANGER:

An habitual declension from first engagements to God, from first attainments of communion with God, from strictness in duties and obedience, is ordinary and common among professors.  (210)

ON THE INABILITY OF UNBELIEVERS TO BELIEVE THE GOSPEL:

Blindness of mind, stubbornness of the will, sensuality of the affections, all concur to keep poor perishing souls at a distance from Christ. (253) We see it, by experience, that men are not easily wrought upon by the word; the most of men can live under the dispensation of it, all the days of their lives, and continue as senseless and stupid as the seats they sit upon, or the flint in the rock of stone.  Mighty difficulties and prejudices must be conquered; great strokes must be given to the conscience, before this can be brought about.  It is as the stopping of a river in his course, and turning his streams another way; the hindering of a stone in its falling downwards, or the turning away of the wild ass, when furiously set to pursue his way, as the prophet speaks, Jeremiah 2: 24; to turn men from their corrupt ways, sins, and pleasures; to make them fast, pray, hear, and do many things contrary to the principles of flesh, which is secretly predominant in them, willingly and gladly; to cause them to profess Christ and the gospel.  (255-256)

ON “INEXPRESSIBLE GRACE”:

Indeed the power that the Holy Ghost puts forth by the word, in the staggering and conviction of sinners, in the awakening of their consciences, the enlightening of their minds, the changing of their affections, the aweing of their hearts, the reforming of their lives, and compelling them to duties, is inexpressible.  (256)

Are You Serious?

I chose the name for this website based on the concept which Dr. James I. Packer (noted theologian and Christian scholar) explains as he discusses the world of the Puritans (see his excellent book, A Quest for Godliness, a treatise on the Puritan vision of the Christian life). Speaking of the Puritan view of Christian spiritual maturity, the esteemed Dr. Packer says that, in their day, if a Puritan believer wanted to discover whether or not an individual was growing in his or her walk with the Lord, the Puritans would simply ask that individual, “Are you serious?” Meaning, are you growing in your reflection on this life and its impact on the life to come and is it making any difference in the way you live presently? Are  you living with the Bible and the cross in mind and do you make your decisions accordingly? I love this concept, since I think that there is a lot of frivolous Christianity projected out into the public domain, a Christianity with no “serious” thoughts about taking up the cross daily, denying self, taking Christ’s call seriously and living and repenting in the face of the most serious concept on the face of the earth, “eternity.”

At the same time, I must admit that I often wonder if I personally can answer the question, “areUserious?” “Rod, areUserious?” Of course, I’m not wondering about this because I have a good sense of humor, one probably worse (sicker) than the next guy. I have, as cartoonist Gary Larson calls it “a Far Side” mind which constantly thinks up the most absurd concepts possible and many of them are pretty funny (if and when I go public with them). I think God made me that way, so I’m not too disturbed about that. What I wonder about and what does disturb me is that even though I know and believe some very serious concepts, like death is coming and there is an ultimate day of “reckoning” ahead and my eternity is at stake, I still don’t allow eternity to sway my temporality as much as it should. So, I have to ask the question of myself: “amIserious?” I do believe, however, that I can live in this tension – I can laugh and find humor in life and yet be very serious about the life with which God has entrusted to me. I think God allows me to laugh, help others laugh and to enjoy life, while simultaneously being very serious about God’s calling for me in His world.

I am mindful of the comment that the late Frank Kik, one of our RTS/Charlotte professors in the early days, made periodically to all of his students. Speaking of the Christian ministry and of being a minister, Dr. Kik stated, “We take what we do (the work of God) very seriously, but we cannot take ourselves too seriously.” Dr. Kik always demonstrated wisdom in his teaching. Yes, knowing, living for, serving, worshiping and loving God are very serious matters for every Christian. But don’t take yourself too seriously because it’s not all about you. You’ll blow it. And when you do, look at Christ’s finished work, laugh at yourself (mourn when you sin), and be thankful that God uses bumbling idiots (and sinners) in His kingdom and then, with faith in Christ and his finished work, move on and move forward and upward.

But when I consider the question, “areUserious?,” I am reminded that most probably the most serious word in the human vocabulary may indeed be the word (or reality of) “eternity.” However, I recognize that the common curse words, “Hell” and “Damn” may be even more serious in their import than the freestanding word “eternity,” since those two words attached to the word “eternity” make the concept of eternity very serious. Of course, our culture trivializes the concept of eternal damnation with its casual (but ironically emphatic) use of the words “Hell” and “Damn.”  Their non-serious usage is a cultural form of denial and mental survival.  Otherwise, we could hardly take the thought of eternal damnation (or hell) seriously and exist from day to day. If, however, these are words addressing a reality beyond us, then they are very serious words indeed and we had better be serious about them as well.

Now, one might try to build a case that the word “God” is the most serious word we can utter, particularly since, supposing He exists and has created us, we will be held absolutely accountable to Him for our eternal existence (heaven or hell is at stake, regarding our souls) and also because in the first few commandments of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20), we find that….

1. God is quite serious about having no idols before Him,
2. God is a jealous God who deserves our undivided worship, loyalty and allegiance and will punish violators who worship anything but Him,
3. God wants His name constantly revered (reverenced and properly used and honored) and
4. God calls for His people to worship His glorious being on the day He designates, i.e. in the Old Testament, known as the Sabbath and since the resurrection of Christ, known as the Lord’s day.

God is a pretty serious topic whether we consider Him as a personal being (our Creator and Sovereign) or whether we think of the requirements He places upon His creatures (holiness, sinlessness and perfection) – assuming that one takes the time to reflect upon life and God much at all.

Therefore, I ask the question of myself, of the religiously bent, of philosophers and theologians, of scholars and meditators, of the man on the street, of the woman behind the desk, of the mom transporting children, of the husband flirting with his co-worker, of the agnostic and of the atheist (who gets really serious at times, but has to deal with a stark reality – or non-reality – does it even matter at all?): “areUserious?”

To be serious is to think about God and eternity. To be serious  (to be a growing, maturing Christian follower of Christ) is to constantly look to the cross of Christ, the wisdom of God (it’s beyond our comprehension, but we can believe it by His grace and Spirit) and the power of God (it transforms and changes us – a work from above) and to bow before the One on the cross, the God-man, who came from heaven, lived perfectly, died a horrid death but rose again and who gives meaning to this crazy place we call earth and to live each seemingly temporal day (with its laughs and tears) in light of Christ’s second coming, in light of the great white throne of judgment and in light of eternity, where we will live forever, the wicked and unbelieving unto everlasting death (now that’s serious) and the righteous unto everlasting life through Christ, dwelling incomprehensibly, in the presence of the Almighty and all-glorious God who loves us.

Come to think of it, I am, at least, a little serious!

areUserious?

Merry Christmas 2009

From The Culbertson Family

Hilary, Graham, Hunter, Tyler, Cathy, Rod, Helen, Steve

Dear Friends, Loved Ones and Extended Family in Christ:

Merry Christmas to you all on this very cold December evening. If Christmas is supposed to feel cold, then it feels like Christmas tonight! Here’s the latest on our family. It’s been a busy year!

The biggest news, out of a lot of news, is that Helen and her boyfriend, Steve got engaged in May. The big date is still a ways off (2011), but the wedding is planned for Washington, DC where Steve works, while Helen is in graduate school at the University of Maryland (“Fear the Turtle”) studying for an MBA degree. When she graduates, they are planning to get married.

Graham and Hilary made a big move this summer, as they journeyed to Pittsburgh, because Hilary was accepted into a Ph.D. program in Art at the University of Pittsburgh (“Go Panthers!”). Graham is teaching at Robert Morris University (“Go Colonials!”), while he gradually works on his Ph.D. dissertation in English from UNC (“Go Heels!”).

Hunter moved back home (there goes the empty nest), after working at UNC for a year upon graduation. He is applying for a Masters degree in Sports Administration (his undergraduate degree) and looking at a number of schools: University of Florida (“Go Gators!”), UNC, University of Texas (“Hook ‘em Horns”) and  University of Tennessee (“No Vols!” This could be bad; he might be robbed by UT football players outside of local convenience stores in Knoxville or by Lane Kiffin himself).

Tyler is in his third year at UNC/Wilmington (“Go Seahawks!”) and is working with the middle school youth at Christ Community Church, a great church in the area. He is majoring in Parks and Recreation with a goal to eventually work in Sports Administration with Hunter.

Cathy continues to work with OrthoCarolina (“Go Panthers!” – OC takes care of them) as a nurse and is also using her nursing skills to take care of her mom in Columbia, SC as she has been suffering for a number of months with extreme pain from a degenerative disk in her back. She (Cathy, not her mom) ran a half marathon in Raleigh in March with Graham and then had to have knee surgery in May and is slowly recovering. I told her not to do that!

I continue teaching and working with students at Reformed Seminary (“Go….hmmm, we don’t have a mascot.”*) I really enjoy what I am doing. I was appointed Interim Academic Dean for the seminary for just a few months, while our actual Academic Dean was on sabbatical. Student grades rose, classroom cheating decreased and I dismissed three students who preached really poor sermons. Actually, I mostly just handled various administrative questions. I also joined Facebook and have had a blast with that and started a website called areUserious.org.

Cathy and I went to Lake Placid, NY this summer to celebrate our 30^th wedding anniversary and we had the best time ever in our marriage (except of course, every day previously when we were raising 4 lovely children). We rode on a lot of the 1980 Winter Olympic rides, swam in crystal clear Mirror Lake (cold but fun), climbed a beautiful Adirondack mountain, rode over Lake Champlain on a ferry and visited Burlington, Vermont, a beautiful northeast city.

A friend of mine recently said that the appeal of Christmas lies in its universal attraction around the story of a baby’s birth. We all like babies. Actually, we don’t hardly mind babies at all, except that they can be troublesome, but at the same time he said we are mostly in charge of the babies. We console them, protect them, transport them and they depend on us. The problem with the Christmas baby, however, is that he not only grew up, became a man, lived a perfect and miraculous life, died a gory redemptive death on the cross and rose again, but this baby was actually “God in the flesh,” who will come again in greater glory and will personally judge everyone who ever lived. The Christmas story could be described as cute, curious, glorious and powerful, but the Word of God says that the baby is our Creator. That’s one dangerous baby. He can change our lives and we’ll meet him someday, prepared or not. No wonder that, in our culture, Santa (ironically, based on a true Christian “saint” – very politically incorrect) gets more press and the baby’s glory wanes.

I hope that this Christmas, you find the glorious grown-up baby as your Lord and Saviour and worship Him, Jesus, the Son of God, forever.

In Christ’s joy,

Rod, for All

PS: *(Oh yeah, how about “Go Calvin!”)

“The great delight that parents take in the secret lispings and whisperings of their children, cannot be compared to the delight which Christ takes in the secret prayers of his people. And therefore, as you would be friends and promoters of Christ’s delight, be much in secret prayer.” (p. 48)

“God, in the great day, will recompense His people before all the world, for every secret prayer, and secret tear, and secret sigh, and secret groan that has come from His people.” (p. 23)

“…consider that Satan is a very great enemy to secret prayer. Secret prayer is a scourge, a hell to Satan. Every secret prayer adds to the devil’s torment, and every secret sigh adds to his torment, and every secret groan adds to his torment, and every secret tear adds to his torment.” (p. 72)

“There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that lost by not trying.”
– Francis Bacon, Sr.