04.17.08
Calvin on the Value of the Psalms
The following really needs no introduction, and so I will give none. Let me merely say, that the godliest in all ages have been men and women who meditated much upon the Psalms.
“The Psalms, it follows, that in proportion to the proficiency which a man shall have attained in understanding them, will be his knowledge of the most important part of celestial doctrine. Genuine and earnest prayer proceeds first from a sense of our need, and next, from faith in the promises of God. It is by perusing these inspired compositions, that men will be most effectually awakened to a sense of their maladies, and, at the same time, instructed in seeking remedies for their cure. In a word, whatever may serve to encourage us when we are about to pray to God, is taught us in this book. And not only are the promises of God presented to us in it, but oftentimes there is exhibited to us one standing, as it were, amidst the invitations of God on the one hand, and the impediments of the flesh on the other, girding and preparing himself for prayer:thus teaching us, if at any time we are agitated with a variety of doubts, to resist and fight against them, until the soul, freed and disentangled from all these impediments, rise up to God; and not only so, but even when in the midst of doubts, fears, and apprehensions, let us put forth our efforts in prayer, until we experience some consolation which may calm and bring contentment to our minds.
Although distrust may shut the gate against our prayers, yet we must not allow ourselves to give way, whenever our hearts waver or are agitated with inquietude, but must persevere until faith finally come forth victorious from these conflicts. In many places we may perceive the exercise of the servants of God in prayer so fluctuating, that they are almost overwhelmed by the alternate hope of success and apprehension of failure, and gain the prize only by strenuous exertions. We see on the one hand, the flesh manifesting its infirmity; and on the other, faith putting forth its power; and if it is not so valiant and courageous as might be desired, it is at least prepared to fight until by degrees it acquire perfect strength. But as those things which serve to teach us the true method of praying aright will be found scattered through the whole of this Commentary, I will not now stop to treat of topics which it will be necessary afterwards to repeat, nor detain my readers from proceeding to the work itself. Only it appeared to me to be requisite to show in passing, that this book makes known to us this privilege, which is desirable above all others — that not only is there opened up to us familiar access to God, but also that we have permission and freedom granted us to lay open before him our infirmities which we would be ashamed to confess before men.
Besides there is also here prescribed to us an infallible rule for directing us with respect to the right manner of offering to God the sacrifice of praise, which he declares to be most precious in his sight, and of the sweetest odour. There is no other book in which there is to be found more express and magnificent commendations, both of the unparalleled liberality of God towards his Church, and of all his works; there is no other book in which there is recorded so many deliverances nor one in which the evidences and experiences of the fatherly providence and solicitude which God exercises towards us are celebrated with such splendor of diction, and yet with the strictest adherence to truth, in short, there is no other book in which we are more perfectly taught the right manner of praising God, or in which we are more powerfully stirred up to the performance of this religious exercise.
Moreover although The Psalms are replete with all the precepts which serve to frame our life to every part of holiness, piety, and righteousness, yet they will principally teach and train us to bear the cross; and the bearing of the cross is a genuine proof of our obedience, since by doing this, we renounce the guidance of our own affections and submit ourselves entirely to God, leaving him to govern us, and to dispose of our life according to his will, so that the afflictions which are the bitterest and most severe to our nature, become sweet to us, because they proceed from him. In one word, not only will we here find general commendations of the goodness of God, which may teach men to repose themselves in him alone, and to seek all their happiness solely in him; and which are intended to teach true believers with their whole hearts confidently to look to him for help in all their necessities; but we will also find that the free remission of sins, which alone reconciles God towards us and procures for us settled peace with him, fa12 is so set forth and magnified, as that here there is nothing wanting which relates to the knowledge of eternal salvation.” [From Calvin’s preface to his Commentary on the Psalms]
How mistaken is the argument used against exclusive Psalm-singers; that the Psalms are inadequate!
G.M.
04.08.08
Owning Christ as King…Pressing on to Victory
The following is the kind of end we ought to be seeking in the civil realm; and the kind of hope we need in our breasts:
“In particular the Christian people of these lands, who would be faithful to Him whose honour these matters concern, should arouse themselves and, in the spirit of the Reformers, demand the application of the following great Scriptural doctrines and principles in church and state by public declaration and enactment:-
1. The acknowledgment of the Word of God as the supreme directory of action in all the departments and relations of civil government, of God as the source of all authority and power, of Jesus Christ as the King over all nations, and of the duty of nations to bring their whole constitution and administration into harmony with the revealed will of God.
2. The acknowledgment of the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ over the church, of the inherent spiritual jurisdiction and independence of the church, of the duty of the state to protect the church against all invasions of her independence, and of the propriety and Scriptural necessity for both powers to enter into mutual alliance for the advantage of both in promoting the glory of Him, who is the King of the church and the King of kings.
These two departments comprehend the great fundamental principles, in outline, of the Reformation which is the pressing demand of the present times. On the attainment of these, other stages in their practical application would be reached. Scriptural qualifications would be required in rulers, and doors of the legislature closed to Romanists, Jews, Atheists, and other enemies of God and His anointed; all laws and statutes fostering unscriptural systems would be repealed; the usurped headship of the Church of England would be abolished; all acts in favour of the Reformation would be restored to their original place and force; the church would acquire her complete spiritual independence, and both the church and state would go forward in loving harmony and holy effort to lead all nations and peoples to Him who says of Zion, ‘I will establish it for ever,’ and of the earth, ‘As I live the earth shall be filled with my glory.’
Doubtless this is a large programme, a very large programme! Visionary! Unreasonable! What fanaticism! Those describe it as visionary who have no wish to help it forward. Is it larger than the Word of God warrants and demands? Does it exceed the doctrines of the Word? Does it reach beyond the promises of the Word? Visionary! Is it inconsistent with the conditions to be realised in the period of the Millennium? Shall we ridicule as irrational and visionary the promised dawn of a day for the world when ‘the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun as the light of seven days in one?’ When politicians of note are putting forward their programmes for the social regeneration of the nations – programmes which, by some party or other, are always denounced as visionary – ought not Christian men to put forward theirs, and press it with uncompromising perseverance upon the attention of men, especially when they have reasons so reassuring to believe that their programme shall be the popular one by and by?
What matters the ridicule with which such proposals are met? The cry of sectarianism with which they are assailed? The prophecies of failure that are uttered in all sides? ‘He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap.’ Jesus our Lord, amid the gathering clouds, and the blast of the bitter winds, went forward to Calvary confident of triumph and, in His majesty, arose from the grave bringing to light life and immortality, and by His death and resurrection and exaltation to the throne of the universe gave infallible guarantee that all things shall be put under Him. In this spirit, hope and assurance, let His faithful disciples live, and pray and labour. The future will tell whether these proposals are visionary, and that future may be nearer than is generally supposed.
Around this standard, meanwhile, all Protestants, Presbyterians, Christians should gather. This would lift many out of the mist-covered valleys of Voluntaryism and Erastianism, and raise then to an eminence whence they would more clearly behold the sun; this would stay the accelerating degeneracy of a backsliding nation; this would be the raising of the old battle-cry that rang throughout the moors and glens of the land three hundred years ago – ‘God and our country,’ ‘Christ’s Crown and Covenant.’ There would come a third Reformation, more excellent than any of the past. ‘Open ye the gates that the righteous nation that keepeth the law may enter in.’ (Memorial Volume to the Rev. James Kerr, D.D. by Rev. A. Homes, Glasgow: Aird & Coghill, pp. 75-78.)
G.M.
04.04.08
Do you know an Iranian? Send them this Link.
Following from what we posted on the conversion of many to Christianity in Iran and their subsequent persecution, I am reminded of a website our brother Pooyan Mehrshahi has started.
Pooyan is the pastor in Providence Baptist Chapel, Cheltenham, England, an Iranian by birth although he was not from a Muslim family (Zoroastrian I think). The site is written in the Iranian language (Farsi) A Reformed Persian Blog.
(Pooyan is also the author of The Young Puritan blog.)
G.B
04.03.08
Death Penalty for Converts Threatened in Iran
The Majlis (parliament) in Tehran are discussing a law to mandate the death penalty for anyone born to Muslim parents who decides to convert to another faith. Currently converts to Christianity in Iran face arrest and years in prison.
However, a wave of enthusiastic conversions to Christianity have dismayed Muslim leaders and led to the demand that Mohammad’s dictum to kill “apostates” be enforced in Iran.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads’ government is under pressure to move swiftly to stem the tide of young people abandoning Islam. Some sources estimate that in the last five years as many as one million Iranians have abandoned Islam and joined Evangelical churches.
As one Iranian Evangelical leader, who himself used to be a Muslim, described it: “We find ourselves facing what is more than a conversion to the Christian Faith, it’s a mass exodus from Islam.”
From Frontline Fellowship
