Some gleanings from Catalyst

Alfred North Whitehead saw philosophy as a series of footnotes to Plato. In a similar way we can see Scripture as a series of footnotes to Genesis 3:15. (SF)

Be a Baranabas not a Sabanarab! (SF)

For the only duty of the philosopher is to 'open' the truth. And I do not care much how it should be opened, whether you should use a wooden key or a golden key. It is far better to open it with a wooden key than to shut it with a golden key. (Augustine)

When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude. (G K Chesterton)

A heart of thankfulness is an entry point . We're to enter God's gates with thanksgiving. (Sam Crabtree)

I. Resolved, that I will endeavor hereafter, by God's help, to remember more deeply and solemnly than I have ever yet done, that I am not my own, but Christ's servant; and of course, bound to seek, not my own things, but the things which are Jesus Christ's.

II. Resolved, that I will endeavor, by the grace of God, to set such an example before the candidates for the ministry committed to my care, as shall convince them, that, though I esteem theological knowledge and all its auxiliary branches of science very highly, I esteem genuine and deep piety as a still more vital and important qualification.

III. Resolved, that I will endeavor, by the grace of God, so to conduct myself toward my colleague in the seminary [Archibald Alexander], as never to give to give the least reasonable ground of offence. It shall be my aim, by divine help, ever to treat him with the most scrupulous respect and delicacy, and never to wound his feelings, if I know how to avoid it.

IV. And whereas, during my residence in New York, a very painful part of my trouble arose from disagreement and collision with a colleague, I desire to set a double guard on myself in regard to this point. Resolved, therefore, that, by the grace of God, while I will carefully avoid giving offence to my colleague, I will, in no case, take offence at his treatment of me. I have come hither resolving, that whatever may be the sacrifice of my personal feelings - whatever may be the consequnce - I will not take offence, unless I am called upon to relinquish truth or duty. I not only will never, the Lord helping me, indulge a jealous, envious, or suspicious temper toward him; but I will, in no case, allow myself to be wounded by any slight, or appearance of disrespect. I will give up all my own claims, rather than let the cause of Christ suffer by animosity or contest. What am I, that I should prefer my own honor or exaltation to the cause of my blessed Master? (1813 Resolutions of Samuel Miller - see more here)

The only singular immediate act of the person of the Son on the human nature was the assumption of it into subsistence with himself. (John Owen)

The Sabbath is an ascent to the summit (Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel)

... the horror of Sunday used to cast its prescient gloom as far back in the week as Friday ... (John Ruskin  on his evangelical childhood)

The eschatological is an older strand in revelation than the soteric. (Geerhardus Vos)

But one day, as I was passing in the field, and that too with some dashes on my conscience, fearing lest yet all was not right, suddenly this sentence fell upon my soul, Thy righteousness is in heaven; and methought withal, I saw, with the eyes of my soul, Jesus Christ at God's right hand; there, I say, as my righteousness; so that wherever I was, or whatever I was adoing, mGod could not say of me, He wants my righteousness, for that was just before him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. (Bunyan in Grace Abounding)

O death, we defy thee! A stronger than thou

hath entered thy palace; we fear thee not now!

Oh, sing hallelujah, oh, sing hallelujah,

oh, sing hallelujah! Be joyful and sing,

death cannot affright us - Christ Jesus is King! (William Plunket)

Therefore I say, we get no other thing in the Sacrament than we get in the Word. Content yourself with this. But if this is so, the Sacrament is not superfluous.

Would you understand then, what new thing you get, what other things you get? I will tell you. Even if you get the same thing which you get in the Word, yet you get that same thing better. What is this “better”? You get a better grip of the same thing in the Sacrament than you got by the hearing of the Word. That same thing which you possess by the hearing of the Word, you now possess more fully. God has more room in your soul, through your receiving of the Sacrament, than he could otherwise have by your hearing of the Word only. What then, you ask, is the new thing we get? We get Christ better than we did before. We get the thing which we had more fully, that is, with a surer apprehension than we had before. We get a better grip of Christ now, for by the Sacrament my faith is nourished, the bounds of my soul are enlarged, and so where I had but a little grip of Christ before, as it were, between my finger and my thumb, now I get him in my whole hand, and indeed the more my faith grows, the better grip I get of Christ Jesus. Thus the Sacrament is very necessary, if only for the reason that we get Christ better, and get a firmer grasp of him by the Sacrament than we could have before.

(Robert Bruce in The Mystery of the Lord’s Supper)

Anchored

On Tuesday I headed down to Guildford for a new day conference called Anchored. About fifty gathered, mainly ministers. Part of the idea is to promote the work of the magazine Reformation Today, now very much tied to the Carey Conference that comes each January. Between 9.30 and 3.30 we crammed in four sessions, two from Jeremy Walker on Scripture in the 1689 Confession, one from Robert Strivens on making better use of church history resources and one from Alex Arrell, one of the pastors in Guildford, who ended the day with a nice piece on Bunyan and his Bibline qualities. On reflection, perhaps Scripture was not the subject we needed to hear most about and some other part of the Confession could have been tackled. It would have been worth putting the chapter on a screen or handout because we are a lazy lot and few had read the chapter recently. More time for discussion too. This was a first try, however, and things rarely fall straight into place. It would be worth trying it again in Spring or next September. Good to meet people.

Pilgrim's Progress

Just over a year ago I was at the Art of Shepherding Conference in Islington and they were selling copies of the attractive Banner edition of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress at a good price and so I bought a copy. Not much happened for a while but then I adopted the current policy of trying to read through the classics bit by bit and so this morning I finished the second part. I have read this second part at least once before and it is very good though not as good as Part 1 which I have read several times. It is the sort of book worth reading several times in a lifetime. If not every year, every ten years at least. At present I am also reading The Holy War and one or two other things.

Grace Abounding

Over the last few weeks I have been slowly re-reading John Bunyan's classic autobiographical work - Grace abounding to the chief of sinners. I say re-reading as this was one of the first Christian books I read. I got hold of a list of secondhand books from somewhere in Northern Ireland and bought and old hardback copy in blue cloth. (I had read Pilgrim's Progress and would go on soon to read Bunyan's work on prayer - I am currently re-reading the former too). Bunyan was an obsessive who had certain peculiarities. However, God's grace to him is not in doubt and his story does make for interesting and salient reading. The Banner edition is done beautifully (as is their PP; they should do The Holy War in similar style).

10 Famous people with connections to St Giles Cripplegate, London

1. John Milton 1608-1674 Buried there (next to his father)
2. John Foxe 1517-1587 Buried there
3. Oliver Cromwell 1599-1658 Married there (1620)
4. Lancelot Andrewes 1555-1626 Vicar there 1588-1605
5. Sir Martin Frobisher c1539-1594 Buried in the church (though part of him is in Plymouth)
6. John Speed 1552-1629 Buried there (with his wife)
7. Daniel Defoe 1660-1731 Born in the street where the church is and buried nearby
8. John Bunyan 1628-1688 Often preached nearby
9. Ben Jonson 1572-1637 Lived in the parish and two of his sons are buried there
10. William Shakespeare 1564-1616 Lodged here; his rother Edmund had two sons christened there

10 Men of God called John

Having decided that we would look at three men called John at the Evangelical Library this Autumn I have been trying to recall an anecdote I came across at some time. I now have it. It is from a Spurgeon sermon. He says

I do not think Rowland Hill was at all foolish when he rode over from Cambridge, a distance of thirteen miles, to see an old woman who was on her deathbed. He said, “You are older than I am, but I am getting older, and, even now, I sometimes think they have forgotten me; but in the meantime, since you are going first, take my love to the four great Johns - John who leaned on Jesus’ bosom, and John Bunyan, and John Calvin, and John Knox; take my love to them, and tell them poor old Rowly will be coming by and by.” I have no doubt that the message would have been delivered. I think there is such a connection between earth and heaven that we shall see those who have gone before. How comforting it must be to some aged ones, when they think that though they are taken from that part of the family which remains on earth, they have a larger family circle probably in heaven than here!

So

1. John the Apostle
2. John the Baptist
3. John Chrysostom
4. John Calvin
5. John Knox
6. John Bunyan
7. John Owen
8. John Berridge
9. John Cennick
10. John Murray

(Obvious omissions: John Elias, John Fawcett, John Gill, John Newton, John Ryland, John Sutcliff, John Wesley, John Wycliffe)

10 thoughts on conversion from John Bunyan

In The Acceptable Sacrifice or The Excellency of a Broken Heart: Showing the Nature, Signs, and Proper Effects of a Contrite Spirit John Bunyan summarises himself thus

And thus have I showed you the necessity of a broken heart.

1. Man is dead, and must be quickened

2. Man is a fool, and must be made wise

3. Man is proud, and must be humbled

4. Man is self-willed, and must be broken

5. Man is fearless, and must be made to consider

6. Man is a false believer, and must be rectified

7. Man is a lover of sin, and must be weaned from it

8. Man is wild, and must be tamed

9. Man disrelishes the things of God, and can take no savour in them, until his heart is broken

We can add

10. Man is bound for hell, and must be rescued

10 or more statements about the cross by John Bunyan

I shall therefore show you, first, what was expected of God in the sacrifice in the type, and then show you how it was answered in the antitype. Secondly, I shall show you the manner of the offering of the type, and so answerable thereto to shew you the fitness of the sacrifice of the body of Christ, by way of answering some questions.

1. God did expect that sacrifice which he himself had appointed, and not another; to signify, that none would serve his turn but the body and soul of his appointed Christ, the mediator of the new covenant, John 1:29

2. This sacrifice must not be lame nor deformed; it must have no scar, spot, or blemish; to signify, that Jesus Christ was to be a complete sacrifice by covenant, I Pet 1: 29

3. This sacrifice was to be taken out of the flock or herd; to signify, that Jesus Christ was to come out of the race of mankind, according to the covenant, Heb. 10:5

But, secondly. As to the manner of it

1. The sacrifice, before it was offered, was to have the sins of the children of Israel confessed over it; to signify, that Jesus Christ must (Isa. 53:4-7, 1 Pet 2:24) bear the sins of all his children by covenant - As for thee, by the blood of thy covenant, in his own body on the tree Zech. 9:10-12

2. It must be had to the place appointed - namely, without the camp of Israel; to signify, that Jesns Christ must be led to Mount Calvary, Luke 23:33

3. The sacrifice was to be killed there; to signify, that Jesus Christ must and did suffer without the city of Jerusalem for our salvation.

4. The sacrifice must not only have its life taken away, but also some of its flesh burned upon the altar; to signify, that Jesus Christ was not only to die a natural death, but also that he should undergo the pains and torments of the damned in hell.

5. Sometimes there must be a living offering and a dead offering, as the goat that was killed, and the scape-goat, the dead bird and the living bird, (Lev. 14:3-6) to signify, that Jesus Christ must die, and come to life again.

6. The goat that was to die was to be the sin offering; that is, to be offered as the rest of the sin-offerings, to make an atonement as a type; and the other goat was to have all the sins of the children of Israel confessed over him, (Lev. 16:7-22) and then to be let go into the wilderness, never to be catched again; to signify, that Christ's death was to make satisfaction for sin, and his coming to life again was to bring in everlasting (Rom. 4:25) justification from the power, curse, and destroying nature of sin.

7. The scape-goat was to be carried by a fit man into the wilderness; to signify, that Jesus Christ should be both fit and able to carry our sins quite away from us, so as they should never be laid to our charge again. Here is grace.

8. The sacrifices under the law, commonly part of them must be eaten, (Exod.12:5-11) to signify, that they that are saved should spiritually feed on the body and blood of Jesus Christ, or else they have no life by him, John 6:51-53)

9. This sacrifice must be eaten with unleavened bread; to signify, that they which love their sins, that devilish leaven of wickedness, they do not feed upon Jesus Christ.

(10) Now, of what hath been spoken this is the sum, that there is a sacrifice under the new covenant, as there were sacrifices under the old; and that this sacrifice did every way answer that, or those; indeed, they did but suffer for sin in show, but he in reality; they as the shadow, but he as the substance.

10 People who died at the age of 59

It's that time of year again.

1. Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell
2. Preacher and writer John Bunyan
3. Theologian and linguist Desiderius Erasmus
4. Footballer Cyrille Regis
5. Actor Rock Hudson
6. Actor Clark Gable
7. Author Virginia Woolf
8. Author Fedor Dostoevsky
9. Playwright Truman Capote
10. Singer Dusty Springfield

10 things about the sinfulness of sin

Ralph Venning says these ten things of sin in his Plague of plagues. Numbers 2-6 are from Bunyan

1. It turns his grace into wantonness and is
2. The dare of God’s justice
3. The rape of his mercy
4. The jeer of his patience
5. The slight of his power
6. The contempt of his love
7. The upbraiding of his providence
8. The scoff of his promise
9. The reproach of his wisdom.
10. It opposes and exalts itself above all that is called God.

Bunyan on despair

I am going through Pilgrims Progress with the kids on Sunday mornings. Recently we did Christian and Hopeful in Doubting Castle. I was surprised how upfront Bunyan is about suicide. I'd not really seen that before.

... Now Giant DESPAIR had a wife, and her name was DIFFIDENCE; so when he was gone to bed, he told his wife what he had done, to wit, that he had taken a couple of prisoners, and cast them into his dungeon, for trespassing on his grounds. Then he asked her also what he had best to do further to them. So she asked him what they were; whence they came; and whither they were bound: and he told her. Then she counselled him, that when he arose in the morning he should beat them without any mercy: so when he arose, he gets him a grievous crab tree cudgel, and goes down into the dungeon to them, and there first falls to rating of them as if they were dogs, although they gave him never a word of distaste; then he falls upon them, and beats them fearfully, in such sort, that they were not able to help themselves, or to turn them upon the floor. This done, he withdraws and leaves them, there to condole their misery, and to mourn under their distress; so all that day they spent the time in nothing but sighs and bitter lamentations.

The next night, she talking with her husband about them further, and understanding that they were yet alive, did advise him to counsel them to make away with themselves. So when morning was come, he goes to them in a surly manner, as before; and perceiving them to be very sore with the stripes that he had given them the day before, he told them that since they were never like to come out of that place, their only way would be, forthwith to make an end of themselves, either with knife, halter, or poison: "For why," said he, "should you choose life, seeing it is attended with so much bitterness?" But they desired him to let them go; with that he looked ugly upon them, and rushing to them, had doubtless made an end of them himself, but that he fell into one of his fits; for he sometimes in sunshine weather fell into fits, and lost (for a time) the use of his hand; wherefore he withdrew, and left them (as before) to consider what to do. Then did the prisoners consult between themselves, whether it was best to take his counsel or not: and thus they began to discourse.

Christian. "Brother," said CHRISTIAN, "what shall we do? the life that we now live is miserable: for my part I know not whether is best—to live thus, or to die out of hand. ‘My soul chooses strangling rather than life’ (Job 7:15); and the grave is more easy for me than this dungeon. Shall we be ruled by the Giant?"

Hope. Indeed our present condition is dreadful, and death would be far more welcome to me than thus for ever to abide; but yet let us consider, the Lord of the country to which we are going hath said, "Thou shalt do no murder," no, not to another man’s person. Much more, then, are we forbidden to take his counsel to kill ourselves. Besides, he that kills another can but commit murder upon his body; but for one to kill himself, is to kill body and soul at once. And, moreover, my brother, thou talkest of ease in the grave; but hast thou forgotten the hell, whither for certain the murderers go? "for no murderer hath eternal life." And let us consider again, that all the law is not in the hand of Giant DESPAIR; others, so far as I can understand, have been taken by him as well as we, and yet have escaped out of his hand: who knows but that God who made the world may cause that Giant DESPAIR may die that, at some time or other, he may forget to lock us in?—or, but he may in a short time have another of his fits before us, and may lose the use of his limbs? And if ever that should come to pass again, for my part I am resolved to pluck up the heart of a man, and to try my utmost to get from under his hand. I was a fool that I did not try to do it before; but however, my brother, let us be patient, and endure awhile; the time may come that may give us a happy release; but let us not be our own murderers.

With these words HOPEFUL at present did moderate the mind of his brother; so they continued together (in the dark) that day, in their sad and doleful condition.

Well, towards evening, the Giant went down into the dungeon again, to see if his prisoners had taken his counsel. But when he came there, he found them alive; and truly, alive was all: for now, what for want of bread and water, and by reason of the wounds they received when he beat them, they could do little but breathe. But I say, he found them alive; at which he fell into a grievous rage, and told them that, seeing they had disobeyed his counsel, it should be worse with them than if they had never been born. qAt this they trembled greatly; and I think that CHRISTIAN fell into a swoon; but coming a little to himself again, they renewed their discourse about the Giant’s counsel, and whether yet they had best to take it or not. Now CHRISTIAN again seemed to be for doing it; but HOPEFUL made his second reply, as follows: Hope. "My brother," said he, "rememberest thou not how valiant thou hast been heretofore? APOLLYON could not crush thee; nor could all that thou didst hear, or see, or feel, in the Valley of the Shadow of Death. What hardship, terror, and amazement, hast thou already gone through—and art thou now nothing but fear? Thou seest that I am in the dungeon with thee, a far weaker man by nature than thou art! Also, this Giant has wounded me as well as thee, and hath also cut off the bread and water from my mouth; and with thee I mourn without the light: but let us exercise a little more patience. Remember how thou playedst the man at Vanity Fair, and wast neither afraid of the chain nor cage, nor yet of bloody death; wherefore let us—at least to avoid the shame that becomes not a Christian to be found in—bear up with patience as well as we can."

Now night being come again, and the Giant and his wife being in bed, she asked him concerning the prisoners; and if they had taken his counsel? To which he replied, "They are sturdy rogues; they choose rather to bear all hardship than to make away with themselves." Then said she, "Take them into the castle yard tomorrow, and show them the bones and skulls of those that thou hast already dispatched; and make them believe, ere a week comes to an end, thou also wilt tear them in pieces, as thou hast done their fellows before them."

So when the morning was come, the Giant went to them again, and took them into the castle yard, and showed them as his wife had bidden him. "These," said he, "were pilgrims as you are, once, and they trespassed’ in my grounds, as you have done; and when I thought fit, I tore them in pieces; and so within ten days I will do to you: go, get you down to your den again!" And with that he beat them all the way thither. They lay, therefore, all day on Saturday in a lamentable case, as before.

Now when night was come, and when Mrs. DIFFIDENCE, and her husband the Giant, were got to bed, they began to renew the discourse of their prisoners; and withal the old Giant wondered that he could neither by his blows nor counsel bring them to an end. And with that his wife replied: "I fear," said she, "that they live in hope that some will come to relieve them; or that they have picklocks about them; by the means of which they hope to escape." "And sayest thou so, my dear?" said the Giant; "I will therefore search them in the morning." ...

Bunyan on the Lord's Day

Have a special care to sanctify the Lord's Day; for as thou keepest it, so it will be with thee all the week long. Make the Lord s day the market for thy soul; let the whole day be spent in prayer, repetitions, or meditations; lay aside the affairs of the other part of the week; let thy sermon thou hast heard be converted into prayer. Shall God allow thee six days, and wilt thou not afford him one? In the church be careful to serve God, for thou art in his eyes, and not in man's.

John Bunyan's Dying Sayings

Run John Run

 

At the Carey Mike Bullmore alluded to the following ditty which I had not heard before

 

Run, John, run, the law commands
But gives us neither feet nor hands,

Far better news the gospel brings:
It bids us fly and gives us wings

 

The couplets are usually spoken of as John Bunyan's (it's certainly his style). According to Justin Taylor, Jason Meyer pins it on Ralph Erskine. (Spurgeon goes for John Berridge).

More here.

Banner Conference 2015 04

Our second morning session was Mike Reeves on the Puritans and suffering. What was to take three Puritans (Flavel, Bunyan and Goodwin) and draw out some of their teaching on suffering and stressing (in the first two cases that they were men who knew what they were talking about).

Flavel says that

"The wisdom of God is much seen in the choice of his rods. It is usual with God to smite us in those very comforts which stole away too much of the love and delight of our souls from God; to cross us in those things from which we raised up too great expectations of comfort. These providences bespeak the jealousy of God over us, and his care to prevent far worse evils by these sad, but needful strokes. It is a good sign our troubles are sanctified to us, when they turn our hearts against sin, and not against God."

Flavel points us to Scripture, to God and to the future.

When in prison, Bunyan found comfort in Jeremiah 49:11 and in 1 Corinthians 11.

Goodwin expounded Hebrews 4:11 in his Heart of Christ in Heaven towards Sinners on Earth.

Strict Baptist Historical Society 2015

It was good to be at the annual meeting of the Strict Baptist Historical Society in Bethesda, Kensingtion Place, last Friday. There was a good turn out to hear the speaker, Dr Crawford Gribben, who spoke on the subject of Owen and the Baptists. Gribben is a John Owen expert, well read in the great man's works and his careful, erudite paper was something of an encouragement to Baptists, given how highly respected the Congregationalist theologian is. The basic idea was that Owen generally avoided the baptism question  and especially so as he matured and actually met Baptists such as Henry Jessey. He appears to have moved from an advocacy of baptismal regeneration to a more middle of the road infant Baptist position. A posthumous work that appears to look at the subject is probably spurious. Sadly, Dr Gribben was unable to cast any light on the relationship between Owen and Bunyan. The lecture can be seen and heard on Vimeo here.

10 Biographies of Puritans

1. Henry Smith: England's Silver-tongued Preacher by Ronald B. Jenkins
2. Richard Sibbes by Mark E Dever
3. The life and times of Arthur Hildersham by Leslie A Rowe
4. A life of Gospel Peace: A Biography of Jeremiah Burroughs by Philip Simson
5. John Owen: Prince of Puritans by Andrew Thomson
6. Glimpses of glory: John Bunyan and English Dissent by Richard Greaves
7. Thomas Manton A Guided Tour of the Life and Thought of a Puritan Pastor by Derek Cooper
8. The life and times of the Rev Philip Henry by Matthew Henry
9. Life and death of the Rev Joseph Alleine by Alexander Duff
10. Samuel Rutherford by Andrew Thomson

CYSK 02 John Bunyan

Thomas Sadler, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

John Bunyan (1628 – 1688) was an English Puritan preacher, best known for his book The Pilgim's Progress, written in prison for nonconformity. He wrote many iother excellent books. A member of an Independent church in Bedford, he has been described both as a Baptist and as a Congregationalist, though he himself preferred to be described simply as a Christian. More here.

Bunyan Illustration

I once heard a story from a soldier who...had laid siege against a fort, that so long as the besieged were persuaded their foes would show them no favour, they fought like madmen. But when they saw one of their fellows taken and received with favor, they all came tumbling down from their fortress and delivered themselves into their enemies’ hands. I am persuaded that if men believed that there is that grace and willingness in the heart of Christ to save sinners, as the Word imports there is, they would come tumbling into His arms. But Satan has blinded their minds so that they cannot see this thing. Nevertheless, the Lord Jesus has, as I said, that others might take heart and come to Him, given out a commandment that mercy should,in the first place, be offered to the biggest sinners.“Begin,” says He, “ at Jerusalem”.

Reading the Bible B

God's book of 'grace' is just like his book of nature; it is his thoughts written out. This great book, the Bible, this most precious volume is the heart of God made legible; it is the gold of God's love, beaten out into gold leaf, so that therewith our thoughts might be plated, and we also might have golden, good, and holy thoughts concerning Him.

John Bunyan

Novelists 1 John Bunyan

John Bunyan 1628-1688 was born November 1628, in Elstow, England. A celebrated English minister and preacher, he wrote The Pilgrim's Progress (1678), the book that was the most characteristic expression of the Puritan religious outlook. His other works include doctrinal and controversial writings; a spiritual autobiography, Grace Abounding (1666); and another allegory The Holy War (1682). He is buried in Bunhill Fields.