Happy Birthday, Samuel Davies

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Yesterday was the 290th anniversary of the birth of Samuel Davies (1723-1761), a powerful preacher during the Great Awakening in colonial America. Davies was a skilled orator whose rhetorical style influenced a young Patrick Henry. He eventually succeeded Jonathan Edwards as president of the College of New Jersey (later renamed Princeton). On one fundraising trip for the College, King George II of England invited him to preach at the royal chapel. Reportedly, when the king whispered during the sermon, Davies stopped and directly addressing the king, said, “When the lion roars, all the animals in the jungle fall silent; and when the Lord speaks, the kings of the earth shut their mouths.”

Davies also wrote poems and was one of the first hymn writers in colonial America. My hymn of the week is this poem which beautifully describes the call and free offer of the gospel.

“The Fountain”

(The Invitations of the Gospel)

Today the living streams of grace
Flow to refresh the thirsty soul;
Pardon and life and boundless bliss
In plenteous rivers round us roll.

Ho, ye that pine away and die,
Come, and your raging thrist allay;
Come all that will, here’s rich supply,
A fountain that shall ne’er decay.

“Come all,” the blessed Jesus cries,
“Freely My blessings I will give.”
The Spirit echoes back the voice,
And bids us freely drink and live.

The saints below, that do but taste,
And saints above, who drink at will,
Cry jointly, “Thirsty sinners! haste,
And drink, the spring’s exhaustless still.”

Let all that hear the joyful sound,
To spread it through the world unite;
From house to house proclaim it round,
Each man his fellow man invite.

Like thirsty flocks, come let us go;
Come every color, every age;
And while the living waters flow,
Let all their parching thirst assuage

The Bible for the People

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“the reformation had to undo the untold damage caused by the decision made by leaders of the Roman Catholic Church that the Bible was too difficult for ordinary people, and was reserved for scholars; and that instead of the Bible, the ordinary people would have statues and paintings; ‘the bibles of the uneducated.’ This policy produced generations of people who knew Bible images, but had no idea what they meant.”[1]

This statement helps us understand the world before the Reformation and how we have benefitted from the Reformation. It is also a challenge to our current setting. Here in the West people aren’t forbidden to read the Bible, just very often though don’t bother. The idea that the Bible is too difficult for “ordinary people” is common in our churches and people rely on “images” gathered from pop Christian songs and films or simply from the culture at large. As a result we have returned to a setting in which many people know some basic Bible images or concepts but know very little of what it all means. We are in need of a great renewal in the church directing us once more to the Scripture, so that we might properly grasp the Gospel and its implications.

Semper Reformanda!


[1] Peter Adam, “Calvin’s School of Christ for Preachers,” in Aspects of Reforming: Theology and Practice in Sixteenth Century Europe, ed. Michael Parsons (Paternoster, 2013), p. 119.

Reformation Day 2013

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Happy Reformation Day!

Halloween just has no draw for me when we have the opportunity to celebrate the recovery of the gospel and its implications for life. We celebrate the recovery of God’s word, which points us to the gospel which brings life and the certain hope of resurrection.

This year my family has been singing the great little hymn, “God’s Word is Our Great Heritage” as we prepared for and celebrate Reformation Day. It is set to the tune of “A Mighty Fortress” and captures an essential element of the Reformation.

God’s Word is our great heritage
And shall be ours forever;
To spread its light from age to age
Shall be our chief endeavor.
Through life it guides our way,
In death it is our stay.
Lord, grant while time shall last,
Your Church may hold it fast
Throughout all generations.

What a heritage we have in God’s Word! Spreading the light of this Word is indeed our chief endeavor, as we seek to remind believers of its truths and take those truths to those who’ve yet to believe or never heard. And this Word is our guide and strength in life and in death. I want to be reminded of these truths and to instill them in my children from their earliest days. I want them to see their father rejoicing in and seeking to live out these truths. In this way we labor for the church to hold fast to Scripture throughout the ages.

Flung to the heedless winds

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Here is another hymn related to the Reformation. A key aspect of the Reformation story concerns the people who died for the faith, seeking to being the Scriptures and the gospel to their people. This hymn written by martin Luther captures this reality. The story is that Luther wrote these words after getting word that two young men had been burned at the stake in Brussels.

Flung to the heedless winds,
Or on the waters cast,
The martyrs’ ashes, watched,
Shall gathered be at last.

And from that scattered dust,
Around us and abroad,
Shall spring a plenteous seed,
Of witnesses for God.

The Father hath received,
Their latest living breath,
And vain is Satan’s boast,
Of victory in their death.

Still, still, though dead, they speak,
And, trumpet tongued, proclaim,
To many a wakening land,
The one availing Name.

Words: Martin Luther, 1523 (Ein neues Lied wir heben an); translated from German to English by John A. Messenger.

Poem for Reformation Week

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This week’s poem comes from Paul Spe­ra­tus, who helped Martin Luther assemble the first Lutheran hymnal. It is long, but it nicely lays out the futility of works, the place of the Law, justification by faith alone and how works result from faith.

SALVATION UNTO US HAS COME

Salvation unto us has come
By God’s free grace and favor;
Good works cannot avert our doom,
They help and save us never.
Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone,
Who did for all the world atone;
He is our one Redeemer.

What God did in His law demand
And none to Him could render
Caused wrath and woe on every hand
For man, the vile offender.
Our flesh has not those pure desires
The spirit of the Law requires,
And lost is our condition.

It was a false, misleading dream
That God His Law had given
So sinners could themselves redeem
And by their works gain Heaven.
The Law is but a mirror bright
To bring the inbred sin to light
That lurks within our nature.

From sin our flesh could not abstain
Sin held its sway unceasing;
The task was useless and in vain,
Our guilt was e’er increasing.
None can remove sin’s poisoned dart
Or purify our guileful heart—
So deep is our corruption.

Yet as the Law must be fulfilled
Or we must die despairing,
Christ came and hath God’s anger stilled,
Our human nature sharing.
He hath for us the Law obeyed
And thus the Father’s vengeance stayed
Which over us impended.

Since Christ hath full atonement made
And brought us to salvation,
Each Christian therefore may be glad
And build on this foundation.
Thy grace alone, dear Lord, I plead,
Thy death is now my life indeed,
For Thou hast paid my ransom.

Let me not doubt, but trust in Thee,
Thy Word cannot be broken;
Thy call rings out, “Come unto Me!”
No falsehood hast Thou spoken.
Baptized into Thy precious Name,
My faith cannot be put to shame,
And I shall never perish.

The Law reveals the guilt of sin
And makes men conscience-stricken;
The Gospel then doth enter in
The sinful soul to quicken.
Come to the cross, trust Christ, and live;
The Law no peace can ever give,
No comfort and no blessing.

Faith clings to Jesus’ cross alone
And rests in Him unceasing;
And by its fruits true faith is known,
With love and hope increasing.
Yet faith alone doth justify,
Works serve thy neighbor and supply
The proof that faith is living.

All blessing, honor, thanks, and praise
To Father, Son, and Spirit,
The God that saved us by His grace—
All glory to His merit!
O Triune God in Heav’n above,
Who hast revealed Thy saving love,
Thy blessèd Name be hallowed.

–         –  Paul Spe­ra­tus, 1523

 

C. S. Lewis, Children, Property & Justice

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Here is C. S. Lewis dealing, parenthetically, with an issue which parents often ask about. I think he is exactly right.

“The question whether the disputed pencil belongs to Tommy or Charles is quite distinct from the question which is the nicer little boy, and the parents who allowed the one to influence their decision about the other would be very unfair. (It would be still worse if they said Tommy ought to let Charles have the pencil whether it belonged to him or not, because this would show he had a nice disposition. That may be true, but it is an untimely truth. An exhortation to charity should not come as rider to a refusal of justice. It is likely to give Tommy a lifelong conviction that charity is a sanctimonious dodge for condoning theft and whitewashing favouritism.)”
–          C. S. Lewis, Reflectionson the Psalms (New York: Harcourt, Brace, and World, 1958), 17-18.

[Also posted at The Children’s Hour]

“The Saints Should Never Be Dismayed”

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My poem of the week this week comes from William Cowper, one who was well acquainted with feelings of dismay. Yet, in this hymn he draws comfort from the Scriptural testimony of God’s care and aid to his people. May these words encourage you as they do me.

 

THE SAINTS SHOULD NEVER BE DISMAYED

The saints should never be dismayed,
Nor sink in hopeless fear;
For when they least expect His aid,
The Savior will appear.

This Abr’am found: he raised the knife;
God saw, and said, “Forbear!
Yon ram shall yield his meaner life;
Behold the victim there.”

 

Once David seemed Saul’s certain prey;
But hark! the foe’s at hand;
Saul turns his arms another way,
To save th’invaded land.

When Jonah sunk beneath the wave,
He thought to rise no more;
But God prepared a fish to save,
And bear him to the shore.

 

Blest proofs of power and grace divine,
That meet us in His Word!
May every deep felt care of mine
Be trusted with the Lord.

Wait for His seasonable aid,
And though it tarry, wait:
The promise may be long delayed,
But cannot come too late.

 

Words: William Cowper, Olney Hymns (London: W. Oliver, 1779).

Erasmus, Confidence in Scripture

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“Consider, too, that none of those things you see with your eyes and touch with your hands are as real as the truths you read there [in Scripture]…. Remember that men lie, that they are deceived, but that the truth of God neither misleads nor is itself misled.”

– Erasmus, Enchiridion

God only speaks for our profit

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In his first sermon on 2 Timothy John Calvin discusses God’s aim in preaching and his gracious desires for his people.

God only speaks for our profit. He wants his love, his mercy, is infinite goodness, to be laid out before us. He wants us to be assured of our salvation. He wants us to be drawn out of everlasting death. He wants us to be loosed out of Satan’s bands. He wants us to be set at liberty out of the slavery of death and be made inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. Therefore since God means nothing but this, shall we not say that Satan has bewitched us too much if we are not ready to receive such a doctrine? And therefore, when we feel any rebellion in ourselves, or any disagreeing, or too much slackness, so that we are not nimble and ready as we would wish to allow ourselves to be led by God’s mouth that we do not have such a burning and earnest affection as one would wish, let us call that to remembrance what St. Paul says here about the gospel, namely, that God does not want it to be preached to us for any gain that he would receive for his part, but for our profit.

This is a helpful point. When we find ourselves resistant to the obedience we owe to God, we should call to mind how gracious he has been in saving us. We should remind ourselves of the glorious graciousness of the gospel and in light of his grace toward us we should be ready and willing to obey.

And, preacher: if these truths- God’s love, mercy, infinite goodness- do not come out in your sermon, you should question whether you are engaged in Christian preaching. You will not help your people grow in godliness by beating them with the law. Rather it is the truth of God’s grace which will empower growth in godliness.